The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

I noticed something was off with Seori when the little girls were having their usual squabble.

"Ah! You took a meatball from my plate again, didn't you?"

"Mm. Your imagination."

"I saw it! I won at rock-paper-scissors, so I'm supposed to get one more than you!"

"Didn't lose. Hand slipped."

"That's what losing means. Know your limits, you sore loser!"

"Mm, I don't lose. Didn't take it."

"You did!"

"Didn't. It was mine to begin with."

"Ah, see, you just confessed! Hey Ruruk~ Properly scold this evil woman today, will you~?"

While exasperated by the little girls' appetite that caused such a big fight over a tiny meatball, I was also continuing with my own meal.

The inn's dining hall was crowded, and the surrounding guests seemed annoyed, so I wished they would be quiet.

I'm Ruruk. A timid person who can only mumble responses even when spoken to on trains or in elevators.

"Hey Ruruk~. I'm always the victim~"

"Mm, objection. Yesterday, you ate my pudding."

"T-That's because you said I could eat it..."

"Eating is eating."

Well, they're both as bad as each other, so there's no need for me to intervene.

"Master! I'm a little short~!"

"Oh, is that so? Then you can have my meatball."

"Yay! Thank you~!"

"That's not fair!"

The little girls immediately reacted when I offered my plate to Punisuke.

It was while we were having such a lively breakfast.

I noticed it in the lower left of my vision—a status notification.

Originally, in this world, you can check your own basic status and common skills. Notifications for the activation of automatic skills are also displayed in the status information.

I don't understand how it works, and it's not as convenient as in games, but I'm grateful that visual changes are easy to understand.

Anyway, there was a change in the familiar information—Seori's mental state.

"This is... fear?"

Also, she was slowly moving westward.

I couldn't tell her exact current location, but I could clearly grasp our mutual distance and direction. It's exactly the same performance as the sheep doll.

I wish Punisuke had this function too.

"Did something happen to Seori?"

"Yeah. She's moving west while terribly frightened. Looks like she's left the mansion, so something must have happened... Shall we head out after eating?"

"I'll go prepare our luggage in the room first!"

Saaya pushed her plate of meatballs onto Elen and went up to the room alone. She seemed quite flustered.

I understand the feeling of urgency because Seori is a friend, but her physical condition is normal except for her heart racing with fear. It's probably not an immediate life-threatening situation.

"Lucky. Munch munch."

"I shouldn't be the one to say this, but Elen, you're really laid-back, aren't you?"

Elen was happily munching on the meatballs she got from Saaya.

That said, it's not like I'm not worried.

Saaya is probably hurriedly storing the scattered luggage in her item box right now, but actually, I'm also performing the feat of directly storing all the luggage in my item box using the "Equipment Summoning" skill.

Though to the eye, I'm just elegantly drinking after-meal tea.

Just as Elen put the last meatball in her mouth, Saaya came back with loud footsteps.

"Elenora, what are you doing?! I've packed the luggage for you!"

"Mm. Helpful."

"It's not helpful! Come on Ruruk, let's go quickly!"

"Okay. Aunty, thank you for the night. The food was delicious too."

"Adventurers are always in a hurry! Come again!"

After greeting the inn's aunty, we immediately left the inn.

We moved to an inconspicuous place and all together used "Spatial Transfer" to move to the dragon capital in one go.

We returned to the roof of an inn in the dragon capital.

If you're talking about an inconspicuous place, the roof is the best, right? Almost all buildings in this dragon capital are two-story, so we can't be seen from windows.

"Now then. Seori is from here... Hm?"

Despite it being morning, the surroundings are unusually quiet. Looking down at the street, there are fewer people than usual.

By the way, in this world, there's no concept of holidays. Basically, everyone just takes one day off a week personally, and the idea of a two-day weekend is a black company practice that can go to hell. Well, in exchange, everyone is quite relaxed about work, so the working hours are relatively short.

Just in case, I look around with "Eye of Illusion," but there are hardly any people inside the houses either. I made sure not to look into Mererosu's room. My self-control is super impressive.

"What's with this lack of people?"

"Hey Ruruk, which way is Seori?"

Saaya tugs at my clothes, and I'm about to answer, but I have a slightly bad feeling.

For now, let's ask about the reason why people have disappeared from the surroundings all at once.

"Wait a bit. Let's talk to Tessa."

We jumped down to the street and then entered the lobby through the inn's front entrance.

Tessa was at the reception as usual.

"Good morning, Tessa-san. We've returned from the quest."

"Oh, welcome back, Ruruk-chan. Welcome back to the others too."

"We're back (nano)!"

"Um, Tessa-san. For some reason, I can't find the townspeople anywhere. Do you know anything about that?"

"Didn't you know? Late last night, a messenger ran around, and an order came down for the residents of the relevant districts to come to the procession route to see off the Dragon Princess, who will be parading in a carriage to the west gate."

"...An order?"

An order?

Is there such an obligation for the townspeople?

"This country is protected by the Dragon King, you know. You must always obey the orders of the True Ancestor clan. Except for employees of public facilities like the guild and inns, that is."

"I see. So that's why."

No wonder people have disappeared in droves.

So Seori is moving by carriage. I'll go directly to confirm the reason why she's frightened, but... somehow, I have a feeling I can guess.

For now, I thank Tessa and receive the key.

"Then we'll rest in our room. Oh, and this is a souvenir."

"Oh, thank you again. What's this?"

"Holy water and high potions I got from a merchant we helped. It's a dangerous world, so please keep them as a precaution."

"Oh, that's helpful. You can never have too much of this stuff."

We parted from Tessa and returned to the room.

Saaya had been fidgeting the whole time, so as soon as we entered the room and locked the door, I said:

"Saaya, I'm going to check on the situation alone for now."

"Eh? Is something wrong?"

"Considering the flow of events so far, I think we need to watch how things unfold. Especially since we have no idea who Seori's enemies and allies are, we need to investigate that too. I understand you're worried, but I want you to leave this to me."

"...I see, you need to be stealthy. Then please take care of Seori."

She's as understanding as ever.

It would be troublesome if she made a fuss, so let's be grateful for Saaya's intelligence here.

I immediately left through the window and used "Relative Transfer" repeatedly to head towards Seori. What I saw there was, frankly speaking, a sickening sight.

A carriage proceeding through the western street.

The populace hurling abuse at Seori.

Seori trembling in fear, praying for the nightmare to end.

While I sympathize with the citizens who were ordered to collect almiraj horns and then moonflowers on unreasonable demands, this was too much. The carriage that paraded for half a day was continuously exposed to criticism and malice the entire time.

If Seori hadn't fainted midway, I might have taken her away on my own.

And in the early afternoon, the carriage left the dragon capital, and the dragon man who was acting as the coachman flew into the forest with Seori on his back. I immediately followed, but there my suspicions turned into certainty.

A young elf child, hurt and restrained so they couldn't escape.

And the dragon man ordering Seori to kill them.

I listened intently to the conversation between Seori and that man, and I see, Seori had been deceived. At this rate, the almiraj horns and moonflowers probably weren't Seori's demands either.

She's such a pure princess. She probably didn't know how to doubt those around her.

The one thing I was impressed by was that Seori never tried to lay a hand on the elf child, even when threatened. Even with her mind dominated by fear and despair, she didn't try to harm others to escape.

That choice of Seori's strongly pushed my back.

"Relative Transfer"

The man grew impatient and tried to directly lay hands on Seori, so this is where the situation assessment ends.

I've grasped quite a bit of information anyway.

I transferred behind the man and punched him flying.