Chapter 81 - Flora Kidnapped
After talking slowly in the flower field, we returned home before evening.
"I'm home, Flora. We're back now—"
When I opened the door and called out, there was no one in the living room.
"...Flora?"
Huh? That's strange. Usually, she would be the first to welcome me and give me the words "Welcome back" along with a smile.
"It's been quite a while since I've said 'I'm home.' Oh? Where is Flora-san?"
Kurune, who had entered the house to thank Flora, raised a voice of question.
"Maybe she's in the back room, or she went out?"
"Hmm, I see. But there's food in the middle of preparation left in the kitchen, so she'll be back soon, right? In that case, I'll wait here for a bit."
Looking at the kitchen Kurune was pointing to, there was indeed food left in the middle of preparation.
A soup pot that was covered, perhaps having finished being heated, and vegetables in the middle of being cut were on the cutting board.
"...Ah, alright. I'll brew some tea, so sit down and wait."
"Got it."
When I said that, Kurune put on slippers and headed for a chair in the living room.
Did Flora rush outside because a visitor came while she was cooking?
I don't know why, but my heart felt restless. As if some bad event was happening. An indescribable anxiety spread through my chest.
Before brewing tea for Kurune, I moved to the back room to check if Flora was in the house just in case.
However, there was no one there. If there was any change, it was only that the sheets had been neatly changed and the pillows were lined up beautifully.
In that case, is she in the spare room or the storage room?
Closing the door, I went around the spare room, storage room, and so on, but Flora was not to be found.
As I thought, it seemed Flora had gone outside because of a sudden visitor in the middle of cooking.
I muttered in my heart as if to convince myself, but for some reason, the anxiety in my chest did not go away.
"Aldo! Are you looking for Flora-san? There's something like a note on the table, so maybe it's written here?"
When I closed the door to the storage room, Kurune's voice came from the living room.
"Thanks. I'm coming back now."
I see, if it's Flora, if she leaves the house for a sudden errand, she would leave a note with her destination.
What was I so anxious and panicked about?
While chuckling inwardly, I returned to the living room to find Kurune sitting and pointing to a folded note on the table.
I immediately picked up the folded note and opened it.
Then, from inside the folded paper, a golden bundle slipped out onto the table.
"What's this? Thread? Could it be hair?"
Hearing Kurune's suspicious voice, the restlessness in my chest spread all at once.
I fearfully touched the golden bundle with my finger.
Golden hair like silk that felt smooth to the touch. I know this hair that shines reflecting the sunlight. I have touched it many times.
"...It's Flora's hair."
"Eh? It's Flora-san's hair? Why is something like that in there?"
That might be understood if I look at this note.
Leaving aside the surprised Kurune, I opened the folded paper.
'To Aldred the Dragon Slayer. I have taken your woman. If you want her back, prepare for battle and come alone to the depths of the forest to the south. If you say anything unnecessary to the people around you, the woman will be killed. —Zoack'
"What!"
"This is...!"
Looking at the note she reflexively peeked at, Kurune also raised a voice of surprise.
There was no mistake. Flora had been kidnapped.
And by someone belonging to a nasty Dark Guild at that.
"...Zoack."
A voice lower than even I expected came out.
The man named Zoack is a man who handles underworld jobs such as robbery, assassination, guarding, and spying. Among those, what he is best at is assassination.
Not to mention stealth and thorough preparation, above all, he is strong in interpersonal combat.
Before Zoack, ordinary knights, mercenaries, and adventurers would be nothing more than a disorganized rabble.
His obsession for survival and his fighting instinct are dangerous.
If Flora has been snatched by such a guy, there's no telling what is being done to her.
Once I thought of such things, I was so anxious I couldn't stand it, and anger toward the kidnapper, Zoack, welled up.
Before I knew it, my body was moving on its own.
Tossing aside the hateful, simply written note, I headed outside from the living room.
"Aldo! Calm down!"
However, Kurune stopped me by hugging me.
At a time when every second counts for an important person, being hindered made my voice reflexively grow rough.
"Flora has been snatched! Do you think I can stay calm!"
"Even so, it's no good going in that state. Are you planning to head toward Zoack, who kidnapped Flora-san, without even a weapon!? Get a little cool-headed!"
"In the first place, the reason Flora was snatched was because Kurune came here, wasn't it!? This happened right after Kurune came! Surely you were followed by kingdom officials—"
"............"
I was shouting, but seeing Kurune's hurt expression, I suddenly snapped back to my senses.
I just blurted out the most terrible words.
"...Sorry. In the first place, this happened because I ran away without even settling things with the kingdom. I'm sorry for saying something that pushes the responsibility onto you."
"...No, it's my fault for coming here even if it meant threatening Aldo's life. I'm sorry."
Seeing Kurune smiling somewhat lonely, feelings of regret welled up even more.
If I leave it like this, the bond with my old companion will be severed.
Feeling that way, I bowed my head again and apologized.
"I'm really sorry, Kurune. What I said just now was quite terrible."
"...It's fine. It's always the case that we both do selfish things, right? And it's been the same since a long time ago that we follow up for each other. This time it's a blunder due to my careless actions, so don't apologize so much."
"No, but because I jumped out without saying anything to the kingdom—"
"Yes, yes, you're going back to those words from earlier again? You don't have to apologize that much. Look, sit down and let's talk."
Pushed by my back by Kurune, I sat in the chair.
That's right, Kurune was always like this.
Even if the male members of 'Black Silver' acted recklessly, did terrible things, or caused trouble, she would eventually let it slide and accept it.
Of course, it's not like she would forgive anything and everything if we apologized, but whenever we were about to make a wrong choice, she always corrected us and faced us head-on.
The reason our party, which did outrageous things, was able to stay together without disbanding despite encountering trouble was surely thanks to Kurune, the only woman, supporting us.
To understand that only now is quite pathetic. I'm an unreliable leader.
However, there's no point in conveying that and apologizing here.
Right now, it's important to act calmly.
"When you say Zoack, you mean that guy who was in the kingdom's Dark Guild, right?"
"Yeah, no mistake. He probably took a request from a nobleman of the country."
I know that some nobles are connected to the Dark Guild.
When I think about who would gain the most by bringing me back to the country, as expected, it's the nobles.
I have a few ideas of nobles who would try to gain merit regardless of the means at a time like this.
"If it's to bring Aldo back to the country, isn't the part about 'preparing for battle' strange? If they want to bring you back, they should put the hostage, Flora-san, in a carriage and summon Aldo to the kingdom, right?"
That's certainly true. Even though they snatched Flora to call me back, it's strange to tell me to prepare for battle.
If they wanted to proceed smoothly, doing as Kurune said would be best.
"Isn't there some other intention?"
"...Probably, I think it's to have a rematch with me or to get revenge. Because I and Zoack fought in the past on a request to guard a nobleman."
It's a story from around the time I became an A-rank adventurer. On a request to guard a nobleman targeted by the Dark Guild, I and Zoack fought one-on-one.
"Ah, we weren't watching, but how was it then?"
"When I slashed one of his eyes, he fled."
I had been chilled by the sight of him laughing and slashing at me even while one of his eyes was cut and he was covered in blood.
"And..."
"And?"
Kurune leaned forward as I remembered.
"I feel like he was saying something on the day of the Dragon Slayer's parade too. But at that time it didn't matter, so what did I answer?"
"...No wonder Zoack is obsessed with Aldo."
This work will be released by Nox Novels on September 12th. Reservations have also started on Amazon, so please check it out!