Chapter 121

「Now then, these two people will be presented the awards and prizes by the committee chairman!!」

I left the backstage area and stood in the audience area by the front of the stage .

I couldn’t see Amelia’s face properly from backstage .

On the glittering stage, Amelia was waving towards me with a smile on her face .

I gave a slight smile in response .

The men around me thought that she was waving to them and let out cheers .

「W, well then, the 256th beauty pageant, highest award for the women’s category, Princess Amelia, Rusty . You have created a brilliant record . Therefore, we will present the awards now . Committee chairman, Rapan . 」

The spotlight became noticeably brighter, and it shone on the two people who received the certificate and the rabbit chairman .

As usual, the sweaty beastman’s hands were slightly trembling as he gave the certificates to the two people .

His name, was Rapan, huh .

「Eh–about the prize, its arrival has been delayed, and it would arrive tomorrow at the earliest . Will that be alright with you?」

At those words, Amelia unhesitatingly nodded .

Those eyes were shining with desire for the unknown food .

Which means, we will be staying here today, huh .

Are there still any open hotels… .

There were approximately five hundred people in this town, but there’s no guarantee that the people from other towns wouldn’t come here, and at the very least, half of the participants would stay here, so if worst comes to worst, we will camp outside .

Amelia, Yoru, and I were used to it and leaving aside Zeal-san, who was the Vice-Commander, and Kurou who used to be an adventurer, all that remained was Kyousuke and the others .

Would they be alright with it?

「I am fine with it as well– . 」

Standing next to Amelia, Latisneil smiled and expressed her acknowledgement .

It was unprecedented that there were two first place winners, so even if they’re preparing the prize, it was now insufficient to have just one .

The rabbit beastman looked relieved .

「…how unpleasant . 」

That rabbit, was unable to suppress the meaningful look on his face .

I have had a bad premonition, ever since we came to this continent .

It’s strange, but someone had picked a fight with us, Amelia was abducted, monsters flooded out from the dungeon, I fought with demons and almost died, the heroes came, participated in the pageant, became acquainted with the demon king’s daughter… .

Things kept happening one after the other .

Even if you searched around the world, there’s no one who was more involved in troublesome things than us .

Who was it, the god of pestilence .

…was it me .

『Now then, let us end the pageant here! Everyone, thank you very much for participating! The pageant next year will be held in the human territory, in Retice!!』

Unconsciously, I exhaled .

Speaking of, Retice was the kingdom where we were summoned, the kingdom where I was falsely accused of a crime, and was also the place where most of my classmates remained .

It was the largest country within human territory, and certainly, it would be the perfect place to hold a grand pageant .

There seemed to be foliage, as well as beautiful lakes there .

Thinking about it now, it was a beautiful country .

Honestly, as long as that king and princess were there, I would not like that country .

Suddenly, I sensed someone’s presence in front of me and I looked up .

My becoming oblivious to my surroundings when I’m wrapped up in my thoughts was a shortcoming of mine .

However, fortunately, the ones in front of me were Kurou and Zeal-san whose whereabouts were unknown until this moment .

「Oi, there’s something I want to talk about, let’s go . 」

「Ah, oi . 」

I was forcibly dragged by the two people and we headed to a dim place within a small alleyway .

It was quite different from the dazzling pageant, and was a depressing place .

When we got to a place where we couldn’t be seen from the pageant venue, the two people let go of my hand .

「…what do you guys want, in a place like this . 」

When I furrowed my brow and raised my voice in displeasure, they exchanged glances and then started talking .

「Actually, I thought that we would end up staying here, so I went ahead and searched for a hotel . 」

「And then, we heard a bad rumor . We thought that we should let you know as well . 」

Just as I was about to thank them, I stopped .

I wonder what they are talking about .

At the very least, if I didn’t hear of it from the crowds, that meant that it was underground information .

If it’s underground information, then it was intelligence that was sold by information dealers or those in the assassination business .

If they were not sensitive to information, then they wouldn’t be able to continue living .

Because of that, not only was there high credibility, but the information was always up-to-date .

Originally, I was supposed to be on that side as well, but for some reason, it was reversed .

Kurou nodded at me who had immediately guessed it, and continued .

「It was by chance that we obtained this information, but it seems that the winner of this event goes missing every year . Also, the public does not know about this . We thought that it was due to the amount of participants, but don’t you think that it’s a little strange?」

I was a bit too preoccupied to even think of that .

It was extremely suspicious .

「The black market dealers and information brokers typically work on the surface given the nature of their work . Knowing this, how did the rumors not circulate? 」

When I said this, the two of them frowned .

「The fact that I didn’t know about it was quite strange . Even if I’m retired, I usually keep track of most information whether it’s on the surface or under the table . My being unaware of it means that this information was privy to only a select few underground informants who aren’t in my network of contacts, meaning that it was tightly regulated . Knowing this, I’ve got a pretty good guess as to what they’re hiding . 」

When asked, Kurou looked disgusted and then he answered .

「It’s related to human trafficking . 」