ODMDD - CH 12 - One Day, My Dad Disappeared

Episode 12

When the carriage came to a complete stop, Aidan opened the door first and stepped down.

A warm breeze brushed past my cheek. So this is the East. Unlike the capital, which was filled with tall buildings, the East featured rice paddies and fields stretching endlessly, with irrigation canals intricately extending along the river.

As the wind blew, the wheat and barley shimmered like golden waves. Because it was a fertile land blessed with abundant sunlight and a wide flowing river, crops were cultivated in the fields, while fruits were grown in the forests and mountains.

Most of our Empire’s food came from here.

As if he had heard of our arrival in advance, a single guard approached with a greeting.

“Hello, I am Sage, assigned to guide you through the Eastern Central Neodymium.”

“How are patrols conducted here?”

“It’s not much different from other places.”

Leaving Aidan to look over the work roster Sage held out, I approached the Central Neodymium.

The structure was identical to the one in the capital. Right down to the empty core space in the center.

“Hmm.”

This mark felt when smoothing over the surrounding area…

This, too, was taken by my dad, after all.

“When did you learn that the core had vanished?”

“Three months ago. Since we conducted daily patrols, the discovery itself was made quickly. The shift-change team found it around dawn, you see.”

“Was there anything unusual? Like hearing a strange noise…”

“They said there was nothing special. As you know, the Eastern Central Neodymium is located in the forest like this, isn’t it? If someone stole it, it would have been late at night, but wouldn’t that be practically impossible? Who would come all the way out here?”

Sage shrugged his shoulders and looked around. It certainly wouldn’t have been easy to come here at night. Because of the distance from the village, it would be difficult unless traveling by carriage, and since there was no separate lighting, it would be pitch-black.

“Are there no village residents who come to this forest to gather things?”

“Ah, it’s fine now because it’s daytime, but at night, wild animals appear fairly often.”

“Wild animals?”

“Yes, things like wild boars or wolves. That’s why we also take a carriage together from the village entrance when commuting to work. Ordinary residents can’t come out at night to pick wild greens or mushrooms.”

If even trained guards went to work together because it was dangerous, they certainly wouldn’t have thought anyone would come in the middle of the night.

“So the ones on night patrol conducted their patrols half-heartedly?”

“…Pardon?”

Sage’s smiling face slowly froze.

“Thinking no one would be crazy enough to come all the way out there in the dead of night, they must have relaxed and goofed off comfortably. Am I wrong?”

“Ah, no! How could we! Even if our shift is at night, we don’t neglect our duties!”

“Young Lord, here.”

Just then, Aidan’s coachman politely held out a bottle. It was an alcohol bottle.

“Just as Young Lord said, when I searched a secluded spot, there were bottle after bottle dumped in the bushes over that way. Seeing that it wasn’t just one or two bottles, it seems to have been a habitual habit.”

It was just as the coachman said. Though the bushes were cleared ever so lightly, a stench assailed my nose. Alongside the smell of alcohol, leftover food cans were piled full.

“Ugh, the smell. This has fermented completely.”

Without knowing when it had been eaten, there were fruit peels and even meat bones.

As if saved to eat later, liquor sloshed inside a bottle that had its cap closed.

“Th-That’s…! At night, taking a drink like this helps us forget the cold a bit… We get scared too, so relying on alcohol gives us strength and makes time pass well, ha-ha-ha!”

“My, this is quite strong liquor. The proof is… Whoa~ 40 percent, isn’t it?”

I spoke as I examined the bottle this way and that.

“It’s amazing that you could even carry out duty after drinking this. No, since you didn’t do your duty properly, you wouldn’t have noticed even if someone broke in.”

“Indeed. With liquor this strong, you wouldn’t notice even if a wild animal came down.”

Even more so if that opponent was my dad, who could conceal his presence as well as a wild animal.

“N-No! We didn’t drink to that extent…”

“Is that so?”

Sharp green eyes swept over him. Sage quickly avoided his gaze. It seemed they really had drunk to that extent.

Honestly, at this level, even drinking a single glass would leave someone drunk in no time. I feel like I’d get drunk just from smelling it.

“You lot don’t need to worry, as I will report everything in detail to the higher-ups.”

“Y-Young Lord Winslow!”

“What. Do you have something more to say?”

At a face that looked as though pleading would be useless, Sage ultimately hung his head in defeat.

“Tsk, we won’t gain anything more by staying here.”

Agreeing with Aidan’s words, I climbed back into the carriage.

Inside the carriage, which had begun moving once more, Aidan looked out the window at the receding neodymium and let out a sigh.

“Pathetic. To think such fools were guarding the neodymium.”

“I know, right? What if the situation is similar in other places as well?”

“At least the South won’t be. The Southern Central Neodymium is built right in the middle of a tourist area. As for the North, if you drink like a fish and fall asleep, you’re bound to freeze to death right then and there.”

That’s a relief, then. But if the core there has also been gone for a long time like here, it’ll be difficult to find remaining clues.

“Then it must have been easiest for my dad to take the core in the East.”

“Certainly, compared to other places, it would have been easy. Killing one’s presence must have been basic for a mercenary. Quietly slipping out with just the core from among drunkards wouldn’t have been much of a challenge at all.”

Aidan crossed his arms and nodded.

“Were your father’s sword marks there as well?”

“Yes, they were.”

“Any other traces?”

“There wasn’t anything special. Other than the fact that he took the core using the same method, there didn’t seem to be any information to gain in particular.”

“Hmm.”

Aidan’s head must be as cluttered as mine. Enough time had passed for any proper clues to have vanished and then some.

If only the guards had reported it immediately, what kind of clues might have remained?

No, in the first place, this world erased every last bit of my dad’s existence except for me. It must have erased even the clues he left behind.

“It’ll be a bit troublesome if things keep going like this…”

****

Did those words turn out to be a jinx?

Though we went all the way to the South, we couldn’t gain any special clues other than the fact that Dad’s sword marks were here as well.

With the bleak feeling that we wouldn’t be able to find anything at this rate, both Aidan and I fell deep into thought.

“What should we do? We could move to the West like this, but I feel it’ll be the same.”

“I think so too. I feel like we need a different approach…”

Even if we go to the Central Neodymium, there’s nothing to discover except Dad’s sword marks. I looked through the diary to see if there were any other clues, but similarly, there was nothing special.

Since no one in this world except me even remembered Dad anyway, it was useless to ask them if they had seen a person with a face like his.

Even if the core is taken, the magnetic field still exists, so the gate doesn’t open. If so, it was reasonable to assume he used the core to open the gate.

However, weren’t cores only capable of causing interference?

“Since we’ve come all the way to the South, the city of tourism, why don’t we rest comfortably for a day before going? Sleeping in communal lodgings gets tiring after a day or two.”

“Ah, shall we?”

During our travels, when night fell, we stayed in official quarters at communal lodgings meant for civil servants on business trips, but frankly, the condition was terrible.

Bunk beds were crammed closely together in a single room, the building was old, and only cold water came out.

While I could sleep well even in places like that, it must have been tough for Aidan, who was raised delicately.

“Then I’ll go into town and check if there’s an inn.”

“An inn?”

Aidan tilted his head.

“What difference could there possibly be between a local inn and communal lodgings?”

“An inn is a proper accommodation facility, at least.”

“Communal lodgings are accommodation facilities too.”

Then what is he proposing we do?

“There’s a family villa near here. We can just go there.”

“Ah.”

Then he should have said from the start that there was a villa and proposed going there. Muttering complaints inwardly, I climbed into the carriage.