Vol 2 Chapter 5.1 (2/2)

I turned around as I thought about it, hoping that I might luck out, but what greeted my sight there was a squalid crowd of pedestrians consisting of humans and demi-humans.

“There is no way it would turn out that convenient for me. It can’t be helped. I have no choice but to look for him by foot.” [Youki]

I had no idea where to start my search, but Gai’s life was on the line, so this little bit of trouble was nothing to me.

I looked ahead and started running to search for Duke. Nonetheless, even after spending around 3 hours running around in the Imperial Capital, I still couldn’t find Duke, who was supposed to be patrolling the town. Although, it seemed that Duke was not the only one who was a.s.signed to keep a lookout over the town as I had encountered other knights as well. I tried enquiring them on where Duke might be patrolling, but somehow, I still couldn’t find him even after heading to those places.

“Huff…huff… Seriously where the heck is that guy?!” [Youki]

Since I had been running around the entire time, I paused for a moment so I could catch my breath.

Then I searched my surroundings again for any sign of Duke, but to no avail.

A sense of exasperation was starting to get the better of me after all my failed attempts, but I endured and tried to ponder over it calmly. Seeing that I still couldn’t find him after so long, the only possibility left was that he was inside one of the buildings.

“Could he be having lunch? No, it’s already past noon. Then, could he be at the knight’s headquarters?” [Youki]

It was a waste of time to deliberate about it any longer. For the time being, I decided to go take a look at the knight’s headquarters, so I started running towards the place without a moment’s delay.

“If worse comes to worst, I’ll ask Raven for permission to wait there until Duke returns.” [Youki]

While grumbling under my breath, I finally arrived at my destination.

“Ah!” [Youki]

However, upon entering the building, I noticed Duke at the reception desk having a conversation with someone. The elven knight whom I had met the other time could also be seen beside him.

I walked over to Duke and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Nn… Isn’t it Captain? What’s up?” [Duke]

“Utterly horrible. I’ve been searching high and low for you…” [Youki]

“You were looking for me? Is there any problem? Wait, could you hang on for a while then? I still have reports to make.” [Duke]

After saying so, he returned to his conversation with the receptionist. It didn’t seem as if it would take a short time, so I took a seat on the couch nearby to wait for him. My fatigue had been building after running around the Imperial Capital for three hours, so I leaned back on the couch to rest myself.

“Ahh… I’m tired.” [Youki]

“Umm…”

As I was leaning against the couch lazily, someone called out to me. It was the elven knight who was accompanying Duke.

“Erm, if I’m not mistaken, you’re the one with Duke…” [Youki]

“Ah, I-I am Irene. You’re an acquaintance of Duke-san, right? I’ve always been under Duke-san’s care… and today, too.” [Irene]

For some reason, she seemed fl.u.s.tered even though she was simply introducing herself. Was it because I looked scary? It could be just the way she is, but whatever the reason, she seemed like the kind of girl who it would be fun to tease.

I should try it.

“Aa, I’m Youki. Nice to meet you. I’m Duke’s captain, since he used to be my former subordinate.” [Youki]

“A-Are you a captain?! Youki-san is an amazing person, isn’t it? B-By the way, you’re a captain of…?” [Irene]

“I can’t say. Or else your life will be in danger.” [Youki]

“Eh?!…” [Irene]

“If you were to know about it, Duke might have to disappear from your sight, too.” [Youki]

“Eeeeh!?” [Irene]

I tried desperately to hold back my laughter when I saw her becoming even more agitated. Duke is one smooth operator as well for being able to work with a girl like her. He’s definitely not to be underestimated.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Capta… What’s going on here?” [Duke]

“Ah, D-D-Duke-san…I-I, I didn’t hear anything about you at all. So, so please don’t disappear from my sight!” [Irene]

On seeing her shaking Duke’s arm, I couldn’t contain my laughter anymore, so I covered my mouth with my hand.

“Captain, you were teasing Irene, weren’t you? What on earth did you tell her?” [Duke]

“…I guess I’m busted.” [Youki]

“It’s hard not to notice it from the way you’re holding back such unnatural laughter. How long do you think I’ve known you?” [Duke]

I couldn’t see Duke’s expression due to the helmet, but he must have had an amazed look on his face.

Duke was right. He understood my personality well, probably because we have known each other for many years.

“Hahaha… Well, that’s true. My bad, my bad. I may have gone a little overboard with my joke.” [Youki]

“Seriously… You hear that, Irene? I don’t know what Captain has told you, but they’re all lies.” [Duke]

“Eh?… Is that so? So Duke-san will not disappear from my sight, right? I’m glad… Eh? Then, what is he a captain of?” [Irene]

“It’s something like a nickname. You don’t need to mind it.” [Duke]

Duke calmed Irene-san down and explained it to her. Once the talk ended, Irene-san lowered her head towards me before she headed off somewhere.

“For the time being, I still have to write my report, so I can’t leave my desk. But, this is better for you, right?” [Duke]

“Well, yeah. The matter about our discussion cannot be disclosed. If I remember correctly, Duke is well-versed in demon ecology, right? …I have something to ask about Gai.” [Youki]

“I’ll try to answer whatever I can as long as it is within the scope of my knowledge. What happened?” [Duke]

While I explained to him about the incident that happened this morning, I prayed silently, hoping that what Duke knew would save Gai.

“…That’s how it goes. So, do you know if there’s any way to cure Gai’s body?” [Youki]

“That’s easy. It’ll be solved if you feed him with magic ores.” [Duke]

“I see… Eh?!” [Youki]

I was so completely taken aback by that reply that my voice quivered. I didn’t expect that there would be a solution right after my explanation.

“What’s with that strange cry? Even so, seeing the symptom has already worsen to the point that the body starts cracking, it is certainly dangerous. It wouldn’t be strange even if the cracks spread further, causing the body to crumble instantly.” [Duke]

“That means, if we don’t find magic ores to feed Gai soon, it’ll be really bad, isn’t it?” [Youki]

“That’s right… But, it’s strange. If he’s a gargoyle, he should know about magic ores.” [Duke]

“That’s because he’s a gargoyle who had only been sleeping the entire time in the dungeon and the village. He must have been clueless about those things, isn’t it?” [Youki]

Since he had been doing nothing but sleeping, he shouldn’t have known anything about it. I guess he didn’t have any other gargoyle companions when he was still residing in the dungeon. If he had one, they should have shared their knowledge with him.

“Still, even if this is about demon ecology, this is something that you should at least know as well. Captain, you’ve been neglecting your studies, too.” [Duke]

I didn’t expect him to start lecturing me instead. The time that could be used to study when I was still in the Demon Lord castle had gone down the drain. Considering that Duke and Happiness were around at that time, I didn’t think that I needed those knowledges so I hadn’t studied at all.

“Uuu… A-Anyway, it’s unexpected that I’ve managed to find the solution to restore Gai’s body that easily even though Tiel-chan was desperately searching for one on her side. With this, there’s a probability that Gai’s body will recover. I’m glad, I’m glad.” [Youki]

“Captain, you’re changing the subject, aren’t you? Well, it’s natural that humans wouldn’t know the methods to restore a demon’s body even if they were to go looking all over for it. After all, who would go heal an enemy? Even if they do know about it, those are usually researchers who have been studying about demons.” [Duke]

I smiled wryly when I imagined the look of amazement on Duke’s face once again.

If I had been seriously studying, I wouldn’t have needed to spend three hours running around just to find Duke today. If I had asked Duke about this from the beginning, Gai wouldn’t have end up in this state as well. But what is past is past. Dwelling on this would be pointless since it would be the same as ridiculing Tiel-chan’s effort, too. I won’t be telling this to the person in question, though.

“…Which reminds me, were you here the entire time? Since you said you were supposed to be out patrolling today, I spent three hours running all over the place to look for you.” [Youki]

“Aa… Is that so? I was indeed on patrol today. We might have missed each other.” [Duke]

“Even so, it shouldn’t have been possible for us to miss each other so many times! I ran into other knights midway and asked them about you. After that, I rushed to those places where you might be immediately.” [Youki]

I didn’t expect my string of bad luck to have continued till now. I had not recalled saying anything stupid to myself in front of the mirror today.

“To tell the truth, Irene kept getting herself entangled in thugs’ troubles at one place after another. Thanks to that, we had deviated from our patrol schedule since we had to haul those thugs back here every time. That might be the reason why we kept missing each other.” [Duke]

“Wait, how did a knight keep getting herself entangled in something like this?! It’s supposed to be a knight’s duty to help those who got caught in trouble, not the other way around.” [Youki]

That was supposed to be the reason for the patrol. Although, it did seem that Irene-san is the type of person who has a high probability of attracting trouble to herself. She was teased by me earlier, too.

“What Captain said might be true, but Irene is doing her best in her job too, so she’s not at fault.” [Duke]

“Well, she does look like a girl who seems really earnest in her work. Sorry, I guess I had somehow made fun of Duke’s partner.” [Youki]

“Weren’t you just teasing her a while ago?… You used to do that to me a lot too.” [Duke]

He murmured the last part in a barely audible voice.

“I don’t think you’re in the position to say that.” Was what I thought, but I couldn’t say it out loud.

Since I had found the way to restore Gai’s body, it wasn’t necessary to prolong this conversation, and it seemed that Duke still has work to do at the knight’s headquarters as well.

“Well anyway, thanks for that, Duke. Please apologize to Irene-san on my behalf. Good luck with your knight’s work.” [Youki]

“I got it. Best of luck too, Captain.” [Duke]

After exchanging parting greetings with each other, I left the knight’s headquarters. What I should do next was to look for magic ores to repair Gai’s body.

“By the way, where can I find magic ores? In the first place, what is a magic ore?” [Youki]

I came to this realization once I exited the knight’s headquarters. What should I do? I don’t know anything about magic ores at all.

It would be embarra.s.sing to go back and ask Duke about it after I tried to look good by giving him such a parting line, but it couldn’t be helped.

While I was having such thoughts, I suddenly caught sight of a familiar looking carriage heading towards me.

The carriage pulled to a stop in front of me and the door opened, revealing an impatient looking Cecilia who held her hand out at me.

“I finally found you. Youki-san, get inside the carriage, quickly!” [Cecilia]

“Did something happen?” [Youki]

“I’ll explain it while we’re on our way back. Anyway, get inside the carriage!” [Cecilia]

The moment I got in the carriage at Cecilia’s insistence, it took off.

“What happened? I’m actually busy right now as well.” [Youki]

“Tiel-chan’s condition has gotten worse. Sheik-kun is looking after her at the moment, but he asked me to call Youki-san over just in case. So I have been looking all over for you.” [Cecilia]

“Seriously? …Tiel-chan too?” [Youki]

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