75 Prelude to Conflic (2/2)

I nodded after the concise meaning of the ”essence”, I looked at Moonlight and Maple who are chattering with various topics already. From what I can tell, Moonlight has forgotten what we came here for.

Then, just as they are in the middle of having a good conversation, both phones of Moonlight and Maple rang. Even the two catgirls' phone also rang. Only mine didn't. Of course, my phone is left back home so how come I could hear any ringing phone? The four of them pull out their phones. Then, Moonlight approached me with a serious look on her face.

”You need to see this Kazuma.”

I was confused about the sudden seriousness of Moonlight. Usually, Moonlight never bothers to show her phone to me but now, she is showing the content of her phone. On her phone is the Chat group. It was a ping from the administrator itself, Zacharias.

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Zacharias: @everyone Please look for @Catmod. We have detected that his life signature is diminishing. Either he is captured by an enemy or he was out of the range of our detectors which is impossible. He was last seen yesterday to deliver an important message to someone when he disappeared when he was nearing the Magic Trial Ruins' forest area. I hope whoever has the info of his whereabouts, please inform us immediately or rescue him if he is in trouble.

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This ping is enough for us to get stunned. No wonder Catmod is no show today. It was due to him getting missing. It was all of a very sudden event that we have to immediately solve.

”Maple-san, can you detect Nekoyama-sama's essence?” Moonlight asked.

”Let me try!” Maple said as she quickly tried to check.

Her ears seem to vibrate and after a while, she calmed down and heaved a heavy breath in.

”Not good. Although I sense his essence, it was too weak and very hard to detect. If not for my special ability to detect essences easily, I would never be able to find Nekoyama-sama's location.”

”Where is he now?” I asked.

”Deep in the Magic Trials Ruins. Around the mountainous and forestry area. His essence is rapidly disappearing. I guess he is being repressed and being carried away. We have to rescue him as soon as possible. I am detecting some sort of things here. I am guessing this is a prelude to a conflict. If Nekoyama-sama's life is in danger, we need to make sure he is safe. As the second-in-command, I allowed Kazuma to remove the necklace on his neck to help with us on the search and rescue.”