I noticed that, as miss Lisette and I were strolling, that the ratio of men to women was fairly large. Let’s say ten to one.

‘So this has happened a lot before.’

People had been disappearing all over uncle Henry’s territory. George was probably leading knights from the Knight Order to get to the bottom of everything by now. Most likely, they’d investigate the already abandoned villages before moving onto the villages that were marked as viable targets.

If Hurge city was affected by this then the duke would lose the trust and connections he had built up all these years. That would prove how unsuited he was to be the lord of a city. He would also lose his wealth and vassals.

Arielle, Eric and Kenia would most likely be the main targets of aggression for the duke’s mistakes.

‘The city is large so adventurers might be able to protect the people from whatever was causing all these disappearances.’

It was strangely similar to the Divide. Nearly half of the kingdom’s people vanished and most never returned. Only, this time there wasn’t a God rank spell that literally altered all forms of life. Zero’s 《Ra》couldn’t have been the case this time.

Then what?

Ting…!

“Welcome, customers!”

When miss Lisette and I entered a clothing shop, a cheerful voice greeted us. A catgirl wearing a frilly maid uniform appeared.

“Hi. I’d like to know if I can get help picking out clothes for her?” I pointed at miss Lisette. She was silently standing behind me.

“Oh! Of course, meow! Please follow me, meow!” The catgirl took miss Lisette’s hand.

“I’ll be right here, miss Lisette.”

“O-Okay.” She nodded and let go of the robe her other hand was holding.

The two went to the ladies section of the store. They began picking out different kind of dresses. Of course, the catgirl had to describe the kind of clothes they were so miss Lisette could know whether she wanted to buy it.

Meanwhile, I sat down on a nearby chair and took out the map. We were still travelling down the Devil’s Path since it was a large area. Once we exited the mountains and forest then we’d enter the land of Karn. Karn was a viscount family who ruled the land surrounding Salvesteer.

The head was also the lord of the city.

I was thinking of asking around that city if anyone had ever heard of the Astley household. The information guild might have some clue as to where my father’s brother was.

I didn’t know what I’d do if I found him. All that I wanted to do was find him before thinking of anything else.

The more important question was if he and Annette actually came into contact with each other over these two decades.

“What do you think, meow?” The worker stood in front of me with miss Lisette.

Miss Lisette was wearing a long blouse with shorts. She was also wearing sandals.

It seemed to me that she thought the clothes were awkward because she kept squirming.

“It looks good but how does it feel, miss Lisette?”

“W-Well, isn’t it kinda cold outside? Wearing something like this…” She tried to hide her legs by lowering the blouse.

“It’s casual wear that you can put on when the sun gets too hot, meow! Why not take it now? Our prices are cheaper than most shops out there, meow!” The catgirl advertised shamelessly.

“As long as she likes it, I don’t mind.” I took out two gold to show her that we had the money.

“I’ll get more clothes right away, meow!” The girl pulled miss Lisette away. She was taken to the ladies section once again.

I chuckled before looking at the map again. I marked the path we walked. I didn’t know what this town’s name was so I followed the path we had to take next. To go in the direction of Salvesteer, we had to take the west gate and cut through the forest. There was a mountain in that path which was probably a breeding spot for dragons.

We had to take the route along the mountain.

‘Shit. Travelling is hard.’

I had never gone on such a long journey before so I didn’t know what one had to do. Making sure you’re sticking to the critical path was common sense so I had no worries in that area. However, I didn’t really know what we needed for the journey.

What if something that even Undine couldn’t handle attacked us? How would I call for help?

‘Let’s just hope nothing bad happens.’

Miss Lisette finished getting all the clothes she needed. Our next stop would be a market where I could buy vegetables. Sure, we had fish meat but eating that alone every day wasn’t very healthy, you know?

Lisette was wearing warm clothes under the cloak she threw over herself. She also threw the hood over her head and covered most of her face. That was to hide the bandages over her eyes. The two of us left the store after buying the necessary clothing that she needed.

◇

“Thanks for shopping with us!”

I left the market carrying two bags filled with vegetables and bread. Miss Lisette was outside, sitting on a bench.

It was around 4pm when I checked my pocket watch.

‘We should look for an inn soon.’

I didn’t want to keep her outside at night. We had to be inside by the time the lamp poles switch off.

Miss Lisette seemed to have heard someone approach as she turned in my direction.

“Anyone look for trouble while I was inside?” I asked and handed her a skewer.

“Nope. Most believe that if they antagonize a priest then they’d be cursed by the gods we worship. I’m still wearing my cross to show that I’m a priest.” She showed her cross to me.

“Huh? Really?”

“It sounds ridiculous but people still believe it. That’s how I never ran into trouble with strangers even when I was alone.” She took the rope in her hand again when she stood up. “Where to next ,sir Clyde?”

“We’ll go look for an inn.” I said. We walked down the sidewalk with the bags in hand. Miss Lisette took the grocery bags while I carried my backpack.

“My skin feels rather sticky so that’s a relief. Hehe… Are inns expensive? I’ve never stayed in one before.”

“You haven’t?”

“Nope. I was in the church most of my life.” Miss Lisette seemed to be staring into an empty space despite being blind. Her expression was stoic and emotionless.

‘Is she thinking of something?’

“Ah, there’s one.” I saw an inn standing over the street where a blacksmith was located at. “Let’s go book the rooms.”

“Mm.”

The two of us crossed the street after waiting for the carriages to ride past.

‘Should I buy more wands for myself?’

I had that trivial thought as we entered the inn. I only had two left. Due to me using advanced class spells all the time, the wands break apart after just three spells.

“Welcome!” The lady behind the reception greeted us. Looking at the place, it was probably mid-range. Nothing too fancy or too cheap.

I could see a few adventurers sitting by the lounge and the bar. They nodded their heads at me when we made eye-contact.

‘Is it because I’m wearing the badge around my neck?’ It was attached to a string. The guard told me to wear it to avoid suspicion when I leave the town.

“What can I do for you young ones? Are you experiencing the outside world together?” The woman had a teasing smile on her face.

“Ah, actually, we’re not…you know.” I winked and pointed at miss Lisette.

“Oh, my. My apologies. Brother and older sister then?”

“We’re…just teammates in a party.” Miss Lisette spoke quietly.

“Hmm…I see. You two aren’t the first boy and girl pair I’ve seen in my life so I can’t help but assume. Most of them only stay at this inn to mate like animals these days. You’d be shocked at how old they usually are. What has happened to our youth…” The aunty shook her head and sighed.

Miss Lisette turned red. “I-I see.”

I cleared my throat.

“Ah, right! What will it be? We offer meals, warm water for bathing and we have a bar. Although, I shut off the lights by midnight.” She pointed to the back where the adventurers were sitting.

“That sounds good for a day.” I said.

“However…” The woman looked uncomfortable as she spoke. “All of the two bed rooms are taken by now. There’s only one single bed room left.”

‘You’re kidding me…’

I looked at miss Lisette.

“I see. Well, is there a chance any other inn would have rooms for two people?”

She shook her head.

“Unlikely, ever since people kept disappearing during the night, most of the people accepted the homeless into their houses. The inns do the same between midnight and 5 in the morning.”

I sighed.

‘I can’t believe how shitty my luck is.’

“Miss Lisette, you take the room. I’ll—”

“No, it’s fine. We’ll take it, ma’am.” Miss Lisette interrupted me.

“Are you sure? I could always just use the tent outside the stables….”

“That’s no good! You’re the one who has to fight most of the time. You need a warm bed to sleep on. If anything, I should be the one sleeping in a tent.” Miss Lisette spoke without giving me a chance to disagree.

“Oho. Very well, young miss. That’ll be five copper for a night stay.” She took out a key from her apron pocket.

“Thank you.” I gave the money and took the key. “Oh, right. What time does the pub close?”

“Hm? You want to go drinking? You look a little too young kid.” The woman narrowed her eyes.

I smiled wryly. “I’m old enough to be in one. So?”

“The only pub we have closes at midnight as well.”

“Thank you, miss. Can you send breakfast up to our room tomorrow?”

“Sure thing.”

I bade her farewell and headed upstairs with miss Lisette. I could hear the loud snoring of the residents. There was only two floors so it wasn’t hard to find our room after checking the number.

“Are you going out later?” Miss Lisette spoke after we came into the room. I lit a candle with a spell and used another spell to heat up the cold room.

After putting down the bags, I sat on a chair. “Yeah. I’m just going to ask a few things then I’ll return.”

Miss Lisette silently climbed into the bed. It was small but not too small. At least we could both fit on it.

“Stay safe. I’ll be here.” She said nothing further and only pulled the blanket over her head.

‘Is she bored?’

“Miss Lisette.” I called out to her and rummaged in my backpack.

“Hm…?”

“Do you like books?” I pulled out a novel that I brought with me in case I got bored. It was a romance. Since Diane had so many books, I figured why not take one. Plus, she had a magic item that could read the book to you. It was fairly similar to audiobooks.

“I…do but I haven’t read one in a long time.” She got up and leaned against the headrest.

“Well, then. Try this out.” I put the small magic item which was a hexagon magic crystal. I put the book in her other hand.

“What’s this…?”

“That small crystal can mimic a person’s voice and read the book to you. All you need to do is put it on a page. I forgot that I had this in my backpack. Please use it. We won’t be getting to sleep any time soon, anyway. Plus, it must be boring if you don’t have company.” It was only six in the evening.

“Ah…How does it work?” She tapped the crystal with her finger.

I put my hand on hers, which was holding the crystal. She froze for a minute but she didn’t pull away. After clasping my hand around it, I infused mana into it. It lit up and vibrated.

“All you need to do is put your mouth near the crystal and speak. It will mimic your voice using my mana and read the contents of the book to you. The amount of mana I infused should last about three hours.”

“Amazing. I never knew something like this existed.” She lifted the crystal and whispered. A moment later it shined brighter.

“All you need to do now is put the crystal on the page. I have other genres on the table next to you. If you’re bored of romance then switch to those.”

Miss Lisette didn’t hear me since she was listening to the crystal read the book.

I chuckled. She seemed so fascinated that I didn’t interrupt her any further.

I left the room a few minutes later.

“《Barrier of Runic Protection》《Protection Against Supernatural Spirits》《Negate Negative Effects》”

I cast three High Rank protection spells on the door of our room after exiting. With this, it would be hard to get in if you weren’t at least a high rank mage. I decided to connect my mana to the spells I cast, because if one was destroyed then I'd immediately be notified of that.

After pulling down my hood, I chanted a sound spell to erase my footsteps. The inn was quiet and dark. It seemed that the adventurers decided to go to the pub as well to continue their night.

‘I wonder if I can find out more about these disappearances.’