Sword, Magic and Academic Society-Chapter 296Vol. 1 - - Rosario (2)

We walked down the flight of stone stairs to the gloomy basement, stopped only by a swing door—the type you would see in those wild west movies, closed but you can still push through effortlessly.

They seemed pretty redundant for the cellar, or perhaps the basement was also just another floor for the tavern in the past... It could also be gambling den for all I knew.

As I came out through the swing door, the prisoners—two girls and one boy—let out a yelp and stared at me with frightened eyes, presumably mistaking me as a buyer, or similar.

The moldy, dimly lit basement had a central corridor, with four narrow cells lining each side, and a single larger cell at the far end. And just as I had suspected, Jeu and Rina were not there.

"I am a knight, and have come to help you. You're safe now."

I spoke in as gentle a tone as I could and slowly approached the cells.

◆◆◆

After unlocking the cells with the keys hanging on the wall and escorting the children upstairs, I found several thugs sprawled near the entrance.

They were the three men who had stood up earlier when I confronted the owner.

Apparently, they had thought they could force their way past Coco at the door. They clearly paid for that mistake.

“They're truly a bunch of dumbasses…”

Coco might have set his focus on the civil course, but he was still a student of Class-A of the academy. These ruffians just never had a chance. He would often joke like he was the weakest among the class, though if you ask me, there was no one like him with experience in fieldwork.

"...I managed to round them up without drawing the blade, however they jumped at me at once.

He remarked with a nonchalant face.

Yeah, I know he wouldn't jumpstart a fight, but that old man had trained us the same regardless of our courses, so it was quite fitting I say.

"Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on!! A-ah, a knight... I am Yagus, the police officer appointed to this town."

The situation at the tavern had already attracted a crowd of peanut gallery. Someone among them must've informed the officer. They'd just come in, and their eyes turned saucer wide as soon as they captured my mantle in their sight.

"Hello there, Yagus-san. I am the provisional member affiliated to the Third Legion of Knight Order, Allen Rovenne."

The police officer's eyes peeled wide even more when I introduced myself. I even heard some screams erupting from the crowd. ...You know what, I didn't even have energy to complain.

"...I received a tip that a child trafficking ring is active in the basement of this tavern. I just went through it, and secured what I have presumed to be victims. The owner and the three lying over there apparently are part of these illegal activities. I ask for your cooperation in the investigation.”

When I summarized the situation like that, Yagus paled. "H-Human trafficking? Yes, of course we would help." He replied stammeringly, and immediately had one of his subordinates come out to help.

At that point, the boss let out a long sigh, asked one of the officers to take over guarding the window, then grabbed the dazed tavern owner by the collar and yanked him out from behind the counter.

It seemed he had decided there was no point in playing nice anymore.

“Spill everything you know… and do it now!!”

The boss roared like a cracked bell. The owner shook his head frantically, his face drained of color.

“I-I don’t know! I swear, I really don’t know anything about some woman like that! I’m telling you the truth!”

I knelt down so I was at eye level with the children, who were still visibly shaken, and spoke gently.

“Did any of you see a blonde girl, about thirteen years old, who looked like she came from a noble family, brought here a few days ago? She was probably wearing a sister’s outfit, and she might have been with another girl—an orphan, around ten.”

The three of them glanced at one another, then nodded. The oldest-looking girl spoke up for them.

“…Yeah. I think all of us saw them. There was a blonde sister and another girl. They were arguing about something. And after that, no new kids were brought in, and no customers came to inspect us anymore, so we remember it.”

Boss gripped the owner’s face in his left hand and lifted him up.

“You bastard… you think you can play dumb with Lynd of the Apple House?! You knew, didn’t you?! You wanna die that badly?!”

His grip tightened with a sickening creak, and the owner let out a strangled cry.

“Gaaah! I-I swear, I wasn’t involved! It’s true that a little while ago, a regular asked me to lend the place to two people I didn’t know, but they said plans changed and left almost immediately! I never saw what that ‘cargo’ was, and I don’t know where they went! I don't know anymore, believe me!”

“A regular, huh?! Tell me about that piece of shit?!”

“I-I don’t know! Customers only come in through introductions, and nobody’s stupid enough to give their real name or identity! You know that, that’s why you came here through Vardha’s connections, right?! That guy was loaded, and would always spend big-time! This time, too, he threw a huge sum at me, so I reluctantly agreed!”

I tilted my head toward the girls who had been imprisoned and silently asked them whether his words were true.

“…Yeah. They really did leave after about an hour. They were brought into a large wooden crate and carried off by someone who looked like a smuggler, so it’s possible he never actually saw them.”

I nodded once, then asked another question.

“You said earlier that there was some kind of argument. Do you remember anything about what it was like?”

The girls thought for a while, then answered little by little.

“Um… I think at first we weren’t really listening. They were talking normally about something—something about a choker. Then all of a sudden the man completely lost it and started beating the little girl really badly…”

“Yeah… and then the sister pulled him off her by force. She said that if he laid a hand on the girl again, she would break her oath and die. That she had been granted the right to die…”

Just imagining the scene made my chest feel like I was choking. Even after getting caught in the situation, she was literally protecting Rina with her life.

...I need to save them, no matter what.

And it appeared Fey was right. Jeu was indeed being controlled with «Choker of Virtue.»

“…Was there anything else you remember?”

“What else... oh, right. The other guy. He had narrow eyes, kind of like a fox. He stopped the first one, and said something like "our target isn't her, you know, right?" And to settle the score, they first need to draw someone out. And for that, they had to deliver the sister there and get that person to cooperate.”

A fox-eyed man who knows about my connection to Apple, huh.

—I’d suspected you were involved.

It appeared I made a grave mistake. I shouldn't have left them with just a typical warning.

—But, you know, Red. You shouldn't have crossed that line.

“Did they say where that ‘place’ was?”

“…I don’t think they did.”

The children all shook their heads.

“Choker. That place. Needing cooperation… No... way...”

Coco, who had been silent with a finger pressed to his temple, suddenly looked up. His face was twisted with more distress than I’d ever seen before.

“Coco? …Did you figure something out?” 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He bit his lip, then slowly nodded.

“I think Jeu was deliberately provoking them, right up to the limit of what wouldn’t violate her oath, to leave us clues.”

I thought the same. Jeu would never recklessly anger someone and needlessly put herself and Rina in danger.

When I nodded in agreement, Coco continued.

"I think there's an important clue in their exchange. And if I take that location into account from Rosario... then there's only one place, in the Leverance region, that fit in the puzzle piece."

"L-Leverance?"

The words triggered a pause in my thoughts. The Leverance region was governed by Marquis Leverance, Jeu's father.

Even as we speak, her father and the entire marquisate should be currently looking out for the Jeu's whereabouts. It should be the last place they would ever want to go near.

It was an unexpected choice—but even so, the risk would be absurdly high. Plenty of people there would recognize Jeu on sight.

As I muttered that in confusion, Coco nodded firmly.

"There's a place... one that's not seen to be a part of Leverance Marquisate despite being located in it. It's a land beyond Yuglia's jurisdiction, and not even the Knight Order has any authority to investigate. It's a complete zone of complete extraterritoriality…”

A place inside the Yuglia where its own law didn't apply...?

Coco nodded again and spoke the name aloud.

“It’s the «Holy Land» where only followers of the Neo-Sterlight faith are permitted to enter. A mountain located deep in the San Angol mountain range, and its name is—”

The Holy Land of Lunazart.

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