Chapter 623 (2/2)

「Romio, do you know where he is?」

「Romio…? Oh, that cute little kid that the Director brought?」

「Nn」

「Eh? He’s not with us? That’s a big problem then!?」

The students around her nodded in agreement with Charon’s exclamation.

「I mean, the magic beast this time was an opponent that even the Director has to fight seriously, right?」

「But we may not have enough time to find them now, you know?」

「This is bad…」

I didn’t know if I would think of the students as kind or lacking a sense of urgency, as they were still able to worry about them even at a time like this.

However, Fran seemed to have a good opinion of them. I guess it was because she shared the same sentiment.

『Fran, Weena Rhyn only ordered us to take care of them until they had escaped, right?』

(Nn)

『And we’ve already made it out of town』

(Aah, I see)

Realizing that loophole, Fran then rushed to Inez, who was walking in the lead.

「Inez」

「Yes! Do you need anything?」

「Can you handle it from here on out without me?」

「Yes! That’s not a problem!」

In response to Fran’s question, Inez nodded in agreement.

Now there were also the Adventurers escorting people from the town among them, so the escort force was more sufficient than I had imagined. As Inez said, even if Fran were to leave, there would be no problems.

「Besides… It’s not only the students we should protect, but that kid as well. We shouldn’t just turn a blind eye and leave him there」

Apparently, the instructors regretted not checking for Romio’s absence when they left. But it couldn’t be helped. On the way from the academy to Lake Vivian, Romio and Zelos Reed were under Weena Rhyn’s care.

Even after arriving at the lake, there was little to no contact between them and the instructors. So, it was asking too much to expect them to remember their presence during the evacuation.

However, it seemed that they had their pride as instructors.

「We leave it to you! Fran-dono!」

「Fran-san. We’ll be counting on you. Please help that kid」

「Actually, it was soothing for me to see him」

「Yeah. You’re right――」

「I hope he’s okay」

「Okay. I’m going to go help Romio」

So, we headed back to Sheftent, with many instructors and students watching us as we headed there.

『Urushi, you find Romio’s scent. Fran, focus on your detection』

「Woof!」

「Nn. Okay」

There was still no sign of Weena Rhyn doing anything yet. I didn’t know what she planned to do, but we needed to find Romio before the large-scale battle broke out.

Moreover, we had one more thing on our minds.

「Sierra told us before, that Weena Rhyn in that timeline used Romio’s power without caring that he was in mortal danger」

『Could it be, Weena Rhyn was going to do the same thing?』

「I’ll ask her if there’s another way」

『But what if she says there’s no other way?』

「…I don’t know」