9. The Village Where Children Disappear (2)
Two children had disappeared.
People began to sense something was amiss.
Some parents voiced their concerns, suggesting measures should be taken for the safety of their children. Still, most parents didn’t take it too seriously. They brushed it off with the thought, ‘It’s not my child, after all.’
Perhaps it was only natural.
People tend not to care much about others’ affairs.
Whenever I saw this, I felt both grateful—for it made my job easier—and sorry. I wondered how they could be so indifferent, even when children were disappearing.
‘Well, it’s none of my business.’
I waved back at Karl, who was waving at me from afar, and approached him. Locke and Bork were with him.
It was the tenth day since Hilda disappeared.
Since Hilda’s disappearance, the parents of the three had not let their children out, so I was seeing these friends again after ten days. I wanted to suggest something fun to do with a bright smile, but I couldn’t.
If I did, I would be considered strange.
Knowing this fact very well, I joined the group quietly without saying a word.
“It’s been ten days.”
“…Yeah.”
“….”
Excluding me, who was pretending to be sad and silent, the atmosphere among the three children was utterly gloomy. It was hard to believe these were the same children who used to run around the town with bright smiles. As I subtly observed their dejected looks, Karl cautiously broke the silence.
“You all know about Hilda’s disappearance, right?”
“…Of course. We were the first to notice.”
Locke responded to Karl’s words with a gloomy expression. Bork also lowered his eyes at his words.
Following the two, I put on a gloomy face and nodded. Then Karl, who had spoken first, clenched his fist with a stern expression.
“Let’s look for her.”
At Karl’s abrupt suggestion, the two raised their heads and stared at him. They seemed utterly confused.
Should I help a bit from the side?
Thinking so, I cautiously opened my mouth.
“Karl, are you suggesting… we go look for Hilda?”
“What? Us?”
“But mom said not to do anything dangerous….”
At my words, Locke and Bork widened their eyes in surprise. Karl, who had been silent at the two’s adverse reactions, furrowed his brows and raised his voice.
“Are we going to act like cowards!?”
“How can we find her when even the adults can’t!”
“So we’re just going to stand by and watch!? She’s our friend!”
Friend.
At that word from Karl, Locke and Bork closed their mouths.
Right, she was a friend with whom they had spent time in the same town, always together. How could they just stand by when such a friend had disappeared?
Karl’s words ignited the naive courage unique to children. Just as their courage was about to flare up recklessly, without any plan, I raised my hand.
The three turned their gaze to me, and I spoke with a serious expression to match the mood.
“If the adults couldn’t find her, doesn’t that mean we can’t find her either?”
“There’s a way for everything.”
At my question, Karl responded with a confident smile. His confident expression left me speechless.
The kid named Kaul I saw at Barkius, and Karl… I just couldn’t understand. Where on earth did that confidence come from?
In the end, it’s a courage that will crumble, a bravado that amounts to nothing. I was curious about that part and asked, tilting my head.
“In what way?”
“Adults can’t find it because they’re looking with adult eyes. To find a child, you have to look with a child’s eyes!”
“Oh…”
As expected, the words that came out of Karl’s mouth were exactly as I had predicted. The other two who were listening to the story admired it, and their eyes sparkled.
‘So, in the end, there’s no plan or method, right?’
I almost blurted out those words but swallowed them, subtly checking their reactions, and nodded along with them. We, who unanimously decided to find Hilda, each wandered around the city looking for clues.
Bork went east where the port was, Locke went north where the shops were lined up, and I went west where the forest was. And Karl went south to where Grandma Othel’s house was, and we decided to look slowly.
There was no real need to look… But I couldn’t just do nothing and pass the time, so I went out of the city and leisurely walked around the mountain and came down.
I was happy remembering walking the mountain path with Nae. But I was upset, realizing that Nae was not by my side.
“Indeed, the world should be destroyed.”
A world without Nae has no meaning for me. With that thought in mind, I returned to the meeting place and saw Locke and Bork sweating profusely from their diligent search, and I tilted my head.
“Hasn’t Karl come yet?”
“There’s not much to look for in the south… Shall we go?”
Bork answered my question. There was nothing particularly wrong with that, so I nodded.
“What if we miss each other? Let’s just wait.”
But Locke shook his head and stopped us. Bork seemed a bit frustrated that we had to wait quietly, but I took Locke’s side.
“Let’s wait another 10 minutes. If he doesn’t come, then we’ll go.”
“…Alright. It’s just 10 minutes.”
Bork accepted my suggestion, and Locke kept looking south with an anxious expression. As expected, even after 10 minutes, Karl didn’t come.
Since the promised time had passed, Bork and I stood up to go look for Karl. But Locke shook his head, insisting on staying put.
“Are you going to stay here alone like a coward?”
“I’m not a coward!? He might come back while you guys are gone!”
Locke was irritated by Bork’s provocation, but he didn’t let his emotions get the best of him. In the end, Locke decided to stay in case we missed each other, and Bork and I headed south.
As we were trudging south, Bork, who was walking next to me, cautiously opened his mouth.
“…Do you know Olga?”
The name that came out of Bork’s mouth was that of the only daughter of the fisherman who disappeared yesterday.
“Olga? No, who is she?”
“She was my next-door neighbor. So… I’m a bit worried.”
“Hmm…”
I didn’t know how to respond, so I just hummed. Maybe it’s because I often talk to the demon, but the child’s way of speaking felt uncomfortable.
“What’s bothering you?”
“Just… I keep thinking that one day I might suddenly disappear…”
What should I say in this situation?
That your worry will stop being a worry?
No. There’s no need to worry because it will soon become a reality.
Would it be better to tell him that?
Bork was deep in thought about what I said, and before we knew it, we had arrived at Grandma Othel’s house.
Perhaps because it was getting dark, the old house, covered in twilight, gave off a slightly eerie vibe.
Bork, who had confidently said we should go, was tense enough to swallow his dry saliva.
After gathering his courage for a while, Bork let out a short breath and looked at me.
“…Let’s go.”
“Alright.”
Swallowing his dry saliva, Bork strode forward and knocked on the firmly closed door.
After a brief wait, the tightly shut door opened with a creaking sound.
The figure that appeared as the door opened was…
“Um? Bork and Venus, what brings you here?”
As always, it was the kind Grandma Othel.
Seeing a familiar face, Bork let out a deep sigh of relief and rubbed his chest as if his tension had suddenly dissipated.
“Huh?”
I patted Bork’s back as I looked at Grandma Othel, who blinked in confusion.
“Ah, I’m sorry. We were nervous because it’s our first time coming this late. It’s rude to visit at this hour.”
“Hehe… How unusual. But it’s okay. How could I refuse a visitor who has come to alleviate this old woman’s loneliness?”
Grandma Othel said this and stroked my head.
It was a bit different from Nae’s, but it was somewhat warm.
“So, what brings you here? Are you planning to have dinner?”
“No, we were just wondering if Karl had been here.”
At Grandma Othel’s somewhat excited question, Bork shook his head and spoke.
Although Grandma Othel blinked at the unexpected question, she soon nodded.
“He was here. But it’s been a while since he left. Is there something wrong?”
Karl had come and gone.
At those words, Bork seemed relieved and relaxed his shoulders.
“No… Thank you!”
“We’ll be going now.”
“Alright, take care~”
As we left with Grandma Othel’s farewell, we decided to return to where Locke was waiting.
On the way back, Bork crossed his arms and furrowed his brow.
“Karl, he came and went, which means he’s somewhere else.”
“That’s right.”
“Then why isn’t he coming? The only place worth going in the south is Grandma Othel’s house! He couldn’t have gone off to play by himself, could he!?”
As Bork blustered and fumed, I locked eyes with him.
“Do you want to know where Karl is?”
“Huh? Do you know?”
“Yeah, I know well.”
You’ll go there too.
“What?”
As he blinked, Bork, who had been in front of me, disappeared.
No, Bork left that single word and disappeared to where Karl was.
Thanks.