At that moment, while Luke and Third were turning the academy upside down, Umi was wandering around aimlessly.
“Haah…”
Why hadn’t she thought of it? The simple fact that Third could have a girlfriend hadn’t crossed her mind until he spoke.
However, even so, why did she end up running away from Third?
She knew all too well that she didn’t belong with him.
Perhaps it was because she felt too embarrassed about herself.
The awkward atmosphere that would arise when her feelings, which she had mistaken for something beautiful, were exposed to everyone, was as suffocating to Umi as a noose tightening around her throat.
So, she had no choice but to run away.
Yet even so, she couldn’t just go home right away.
‘If I go home now, Mom will ask why I’m back so early…’
Before leaving, she had certainly said, “I’m going to hang out with friends at Tigr Academy’s festival!” If she returned home less than a few hours later, what would her mom think?
She would probably worry if she had a fight with her friends or if the festival wasn’t fun.
Umi didn’t want to cause her parents any worry while she was struggling to maintain her composure.
As she contemplated these thoughts and wandered among the crowd…
“Hey— are you here? If you’re here, let’s go quickly. There are lots of pretty girls over there.”
“……!”
It was just her luck to hear a familiar but not-so-welcome voice.
“What, did you come to hit on someone?”
“Just a little diversion.”
“You said you had a girlfriend, right? Is that okay?”
“I told my girlfriend I was sick and stayed home. She won’t know.”
“Wow, you really are a scumbag! Didn’t you do that last time too?”
“Don’t make a fuss. Hey, light it up.”
“Don’t you have hands? Oh, right. You don’t. Idiot.”
“That jerk.”
That voice, and the habit of trailing off with a slightly lower intonation at the end, was all too familiar.
Umi silently hoped that the owner of that voice wouldn’t be someone she knew and adjusted her glasses.
But unfortunately, the owner of that voice was indeed Jack.
He might have some bandages here and there due to his fight with Third.
As soon as she spotted them, Umi immediately hid herself in the nearby crowd.
‘Why are they here?’
It was only natural that Jack, being a prominent figure in the academy, would enjoy the festival.
In fact, it might even be strange if he weren’t around.
But wasn’t this whole situation an incredibly horrible coincidence?
To run into them out of nowhere like this, with no path to escape!
The only saving grace was that, due to the large crowd, it didn’t seem like they had noticed her.
Moreover, they didn’t seem to be paying attention to her as they were chatting with their friends…
‘Good, I think I can hurry by in this gap.’
If she did that, they would head in different directions and wouldn’t run into each other again.
So, if she could just pass by naturally this time, the various experiences she had with Jack weighed heavily on Umi’s shoulders.
That pressure made her steps unnatural and stiff, and she found herself looking down at the ground.
And her posture and figure were something they knew all too well.
“Phew, huh? Isn’t that Umi?”
“Hmm?”
Umi’s heart sank.
At that moment, Luke said,
“Hey, Third. Did you find anything on your side?”
“No, master. I didn’t find anything. How about you?”
“I’m coming up empty too.”
How could all four of them not be Umi?
No matter how unlucky he might be, isn’t it a stretch that, after narrowing it down to just four options, the worst-case scenario would be finding her last?
But to have all four options yield no answers at all…
It was like a multiple-choice question where none of the choices were correct.
“Could there have been an error in the results? Maybe something malfunctioned?”
“That’s impossible. There were no errors.”
Luke immediately dismissed the possibility as he answered Third’s question.
He had double-checked the results, and they were the same each time.
It would be one thing if he saw different results after multiple tries, but it was problematic to consider it a malfunction if the same results kept appearing. Moreover, it was difficult to argue that it was a fault of the ‘Prophet’.
The ‘Prophet’ was a system that was maintained and managed by the state to ensure it operated without issues.
In modern society, relying on the mana of the forest to detect forest monsters was a crucial facility, and any issues with it would be catastrophic, potentially triggering a state of emergency.
While it was questionable for Luke to speak about stealing something so important, he could reasonably assume there were no errors in the results.
“Well, then… but, master.”
“Yeah?”
“Upon further reflection, is it really alright? Hacking something like that and using it without permission, even if it’s you…”
“Ah, are you worried about the consequences now?”
“Um, I was just thinking… might I have caused you any trouble with such a trivial matter…”
Earlier, he had been so anxious that he hadn’t thought much beyond how amazing Luke was, but now that he considered it, this was a rather serious issue.
Would this incident put his master in a difficult position? Or could it bring about significant losses?
However, Luke brushed off Third’s concerned tone with a laugh.
“Ha ha ha! Don’t worry, there’s absolutely no way this will lead back to me.”
Although Third had seen a small portable computer, the one Luke had actually used was not an ordinary computer.
What he had used was a supercomputer that utilized the shadow of the moon to create a key/sword/shadow interlinked remotely with the core.
In other words, it was ‘Arinseia’.
After all, how would anyone trace an address that didn’t even exist in the material world?
If they had the ability to find the lost empire hidden in the cracks of dimensions, the existence of Arinseia wouldn’t have been forgotten by everyone.
“Mmm.”
If there were no issues with the results, then why hadn’t they been able to find Umi?
There were two possibilities.
Either Umi had already left the festival and gone home, or there had been some error in the conditions set.
“Third, is there anything you forgot to mention about that child?”
“Well, I don’t think there’s anything, but…”
“Hmmm.”
Since Third was a Circle Mage, he had no reason to lie to himself, so that statement was likely true.
If that were the case, it would be more reasonable to assume she simply went home.
“Sigh, what in the world made that child run away? What did you say to her?”
“I’m not sure. There was nothing particularly noteworthy… She suddenly ran away when I mentioned you, master.”
“Do you remember what you talked about before that?”
“Well, it was trivial matters. The topic of transformation golems and cotton candy…”
“Is that all?”
“Yeah…”
No matter how much she thought about it, there really wasn’t much to it.
It was possible that Third hadn’t noticed the child’s sensitivity, but if Third couldn’t remember, then there was no point in asking.
“Is that so. I understand. If that’s the case, then she probably went home. Let’s meet at the café for now.”
“Okay, understood. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Yeah, good job.”
Having ended the call, Luke noticed something as he walked down the street.
“Why aren’t there any places selling alcohol at such a big festival! This is exactly why I dislike academy festivals!”
“Fool, didn’t I say there wouldn’t be much to see? Let’s just go check out that transformation golem.”
“Hey! At least there’s one thing to see…”
It was dwarves with short stature and bushy braided beards.
But were they naturally loud as a race, or were these individuals just particularly noisy?
Perhaps they seemed disappointed because there wasn’t any alcohol at the festival.
Dwarves must have thought a festival without alcohol was lacking, even at such a grand event.
In fact, with a little thought, it was undoubtedly reasonable.
Underage drinking is illegal in today’s world.
And since the festival is mainly led by academy students, it’s impossible for there to be alcohol present.
The only thing the dwarves might find interesting was the transformation golem that had been pointed out to them for improvement…
‘Wait, transformation golem?’
Luke felt a connection between what he had discussed earlier with Third.
‘Well, it was trivial matters, like transformation golems and cotton candy…’
Do ordinary girls like transformation golems that much?
Don’t they usually prefer simple and cute toys like dolls?
There aren’t many girls who enjoy mechanical mechanisms.
Then, could it be worth considering the possibility that Umi isn’t human but a ‘dwarf’?
Luke immediately opened the portable computer he’d stored on his arm and adjusted the search values.
Then, there was now one red dot that matched perfectly.
Luke instinctively knew.
“…Found her.”
