“Goldie, what’s wrong? Do you want to go with your big sister?”

“Meow!”

It was quite a firm answer.

Unable to resist the sparkling large eyes sending pitiful looks, I picked up Goldie.

“Ah well, fine. Let’s go together. But you can’t try to run away, okay? That would be big trouble.”

“Meow.”

“Miss, are you really sure it’s okay to take Goldie?”

“Yeah, Carl is there anyway.”

Even though our Goldie was a fast and agile baby cat, I knew Carl was one step above.

Our bondservant was an all-purpose bondservant who could accomplish anything with his master’s orders, right?

So I departed for the plaza with Goldie. Carl, who saw Goldie after a while, narrowed his eyes strangely.

“The more I look, the more unsettling it gets.”

“What?”

“It resembles the Tower Master—”

“Kyaaak!”

Before Carl could finish his words, Goldie cried out sharply.

I quickly patted the baby’s back to calm him down. Carl looked at Goldie as if bewildered, then chuckled.

“Oh my, he has quite a temper.”

“Don’t provoke Goldie for no reason. If he runs away, you’ll have to catch him.”

“Ah. That would be really annoying, so I absolutely must not touch him.”

He raised both hands and obediently moved away from Goldie.

I distributed flyers to people while holding Goldie in one hand.

It was the second week since the Tower Master went missing.

Among the people who had initially only worried about him, all kinds of strange rumors were spreading.

‘Did you hear? They say the Tower Master actually converted to heresy!’

‘No, I heard he was bewitched by a demon and took his own life.’

‘Well, they say he eloped after falling in love with a fairy-like heretic!’

‘You’re all wrong! The Tower Master was originally a gambling addict, and when he accumulated huge debts, he deliberately went into hiding!’

Such rumors circulated among both commoners and nobles.

To my ears, they all sounded like nonsense, but since I knew nothing, it was hard to deny them.

“No way! I don’t want to receive flyers about demon followers!”

A man who seemed to believe the Tower Master conversion theory roughly knocked my hand away.

Because of that, not only the flyers I was holding but also my bag fell.

I grabbed Carl’s hand as he immediately frowned and shook my head.

“What’s the point of fighting with civilians?”

“But that man hit your hand, Master……”

“It’s fine. Let’s hurry and pick them up instead.”

When I gestured toward the papers scattered messily on the ground, Carl bent down with a displeased face.

I also crouched down to gather the flyers and reached for my bag when—

Swish—!

A boy who suddenly appeared snatched my bag and ran away.

“Ah, thief!”

Having been pickpocketed out of nowhere, I instinctively commanded.

“Carl, catch him!”

Then Carl shot out like a Pokémon and chased after the boy.

Kids these days are really scary. Stealing bags right in front of people.

I shook my head and was getting up when I felt a hand pulling me from below.

When I looked down, some girl was staring up at me blankly.

“Sister.”

“What’s wrong? Did you lose your mom?”

“No, that’s not it. I’ve seen this brother before.”

The child pointed at the flyer in my hand. Precisely at the Tower Master’s face drawn there.

“What? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I saw him at the green door house that comes out if you go over there.”

A small, short finger moved sideways and pointed to an alley.

“I can take you there too.”

“Really……?”

When a witness who hadn’t appeared despite the Magic Tower’s desperate search suddenly showed up, I felt slightly suspicious.

Of course, the other party was a child who looked less than ten years old, and if that’s why they couldn’t find him, it was understandable.

‘I have nothing to lose, so should I go take a look……?’

Maybe the child saw someone who resembled the Tower Master and was mistaken, or maybe she really saw the Tower Master.

“Meooooow!”

“Oh my, why is he suddenly acting like this?”

I patted the suddenly crying Goldie and took the child’s hand, following where she led.

About halfway through the alley, a house with a green door actually appeared. When I carefully grabbed the door handle and turned it.

Click.

The door opened easily.

I stepped into the dark interior and looked around the empty surroundings.

She saw the Tower Master in a place like this……?

At that moment, I felt an unfamiliar presence behind me and someone grabbed my shoulder firmly.

“Kyaaak!”

I screamed in surprise and struggled, then soon saw an unexpected face.

“Shh, calm down.”

“……?!”

“It’s me, Miss Sharofe.”

The man who lightly covered my mouth with his large hand took off his hat.

Bright platinum hair and vivid amethyst eyes even in the darkness.

It was Head Priest Raviel.

“Hi, Head Priest? Why are you coming out of here……?”

“That’s what I want to ask.”

The Head Priest, who let out a laugh like a sigh, placed his hand on my shoulder and said.

“It seems you entered without knowing what this house is, but it’s dangerous, so leave quickly. This isn’t a place for you to come.”

“What kind of place is this? I came because a child said she saw the missing Tower Master here……”

“Meow!”

Goldie, who had been glaring with sparkling eyes in my arms, suddenly grabbed my clothes with his front paws and glared at the doorway.

Bang!

At the same time, even though no wind was blowing, the door closed with a loud sound.

Flustered, I blinked rapidly and looked around, then realized one fact.

“The child disappeared.”

The girl who had brought me here had vanished without a trace.

When I looked at the Head Priest with a blank face, he pressed down his hat and smiled awkwardly.

“It seems we’ve fallen into a trap, Miss Sharofe.”

“Huh……?”

Before I could ask what he meant, something struck the back of my head hard.

These crazy……

I couldn’t even scream and lost consciousness.

***

Raviel reached out and caught Shailyn’s body as it fell to the floor.

A group of masked assailants appeared behind her.

“Kyaak.”

Chester, who had fallen from Shailyn’s arms, raised his tail straight up and was wary of them.

One of the assailants who glanced down at Chester kicked him with his foot.

Unlike when he was human, the small and powerless cat body was easily sent flying.

The moment the assailant, who had cruelly lit up his eyes, raised his foot once more toward Chester—

“Stop it.”

Raviel calmly blocked him.

“It seems you came targeting this lady, but is there any need to roughly treat her pet cat?”

“What are you?”

The leader of the assailant group came forward and asked. Raviel leisurely shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, should I say I’m this lady’s companion?”

“Then we’ll have to take you along too. By the way, if you don’t want to die, give up any thoughts of resistance.”

The man who drew a knife from his chest made a threat.

Although the person they were commissioned to take was only Shailyn, they couldn’t just leave a witness behind.

Raviel nodded without seeming particularly scared and said.

“I’ll follow obediently, so I’ll carry this lady. I’m uneasy leaving her to rough people like you.”

“Try any tricks and I’ll kill you immediately.”

“Go ahead.”

He replied calmly and picked up Shailyn.

Then the assailants surrounded the two people tightly, perfectly blocking any chance of escape.

The group leader pushed Raviel’s back with his knife handle and started moving.

‘No, Miss Sharofe……!’

Chester tried to urgently chase after them.

“Tsk, why is this tiny thing being so annoying from earlier?”

The man who had kicked him earlier blocked his path again and swung his leg.

Thud!

Chester, who was properly hit, rolled on the ground and coughed.

While he couldn’t move immediately and was curled up in pain, the assailant group disappeared with Raviel and Shailyn.

Chester, who got up unsteadily later, opened the window and escaped outside.

At this moment, only one person came to his mind.

The black-haired knight who always stayed by Shailyn’s side.

Meanwhile, Carl, who had been chasing the pickpocket, stopped midway.

The boy had thrown away the bag, apparently scared of being caught.

Carl silently picked up Shailyn’s bag, brushed off the dust, and didn’t chase the boy any further.

‘I left my master alone.’

He had moved reflexively at Shailyn’s command and only realized this fact belatedly.

Surely nothing happened in that brief moment?

He hurriedly returned to the original spot with the bag.

But……

“Master!”

The place was empty.

Only scattered flyers were rolling around on the ground, and Shailyn’s figure couldn’t be found anywhere.