Chapter 204 – Ancient Missing Link (3)
“… …”
When I mentioned the topic of the thesis, the party members remained silent.
Everyone seemed uncomfortable or thinking a lot. Damn, did I say it while holding Gao too much? But it’s also true that it was a heavy topic to talk about roughly as if it were a joke.
“… Hey~?”
The one who tried to change the atmosphere was the person whose silence would be the worst poison.
What can I say, it was Lalilura.
“I know this is serious. Are you saying that seniors and Dana unnie can become dangerous while working? But if this happens, are you going to give up exploring the ruins?”
“… Wouldn’t it be better to give up? Germania feels very dangerous.”
Fran also said her thoughts. It seems that the country where pirates appeared on the way is now starting to look like a hotbed of suspicious evil organizations.
What if I ruined the good image of Germania in Fran’s head? It must have had a good image because it was a country near her hometown.
‘No, isn’t it? Maybe not.’
If you think that the neighboring country is Korea-China-Japan relations, it doesn’t seem to have a good image. It is rare to find a Korean who buys sushi with Chinese money and laughs at the fact that he lives with the curse of being sloppy.
Anyway, Lalilura looked at us at Fran’s answer.
“I think it’s good to go back, but how is the senpai?”
“There is no reason to take risks to explore the ruins of this country.”
“Then——”
“No. Still, the problem is not which region you work in. How do those unknown bastards find and harm the researcher?”
Yerna’s case seems perfect. It was only natural that she would be known around the world, as she took to the skies and made a splash in her academia. She’s saying it’s all self-employed.
But how do other scholars find out and get rid of it?
How many papers do not see the sunlight and sink, but they pick out only the papers that are offensive to them and catch them? No matter where you go, that’s what you did.
Internet community administrators would also search for each article 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and if they were told to find only specific words, they would be hit with a pot.
If you find out about papers and research that haven’t seen the light of day in the fucking academic world, I’ll be grateful before I get stabbed in the boat. Oh, I was saying that my research wasn’t just a bunch of meaningless asshole typefaces.
In terms of feel, it feels close to the black team or the terminator, a man specializing in murder.
Before being stabbed and searching for it, I was sure I wasn’t wrong! And like L whose name is written in the Death Note, you can search for it with a mental victory.
“Isn’t there a spy in the academic thesis review department or something like that? Pestilence. Just thinking about having to look at other people besides the sponsors while doing research is fucking crazy.”
Dana ruffled her hair. The experience of having to fart at the end of a research study or to a sponsor was such a fucking thing that she was always nominated for the Best 5 in the researcher’s fucking experience ranking.
No fuck, it’s definitely fucking dangerous to think that way. Isn’t it that I don’t know if my sister will be ‘Tiananmen Square’ because of her research?
“Unfortunately or fortunately, I learned a good thing. If you didn’t know this If I had, I would have had to put up ‘Looking for Her Wife’ posters door to door.”
“My husband. Are you premised on me being captured?”
“I don’t want to get caught. How can I live without my sister? I can’t die because I have Fran. If my sister is gone, my husband might fall into a ditch and rummage through the bread while eating it, not knowing whether there were raisins or kidney beans in it.”
I made Dana red all the way to her ears and activated the Elite-Garbage.
‘It’s unlikely that Dana and I will be dragged into a mysterious drug group and stuffed before the mystery of her human body.’
If my husband and I had been targeted, we would have reunited in a dark container once upon a time, show each other our insides, and then be trapped in a black toolbox and become fish food.
‘But I don’t feel comfortable thinking that this will be 100% safe again.’
Could it be that he’s trying his best to fight Yerna?
It was a misjudgment to think that a mysterious evil organization would mess things up by sending subcontractors and follow-ups first, just like in comics and novels.
What if you’re ordering the bitches who know a lot of information first?
After that, Dana, the other lab room slaves, and finally me will reach out.
There is an old saying that if there are no eyewitnesses, it is assassination. I don’t think our party members will be safe if those bastards are targeting me and Dana. Because madmen are creatures that are satisfied with blood.
“I don’t know too much to draw any conclusions.”
I said out loud. I really don’t know, Lehu.
“Still, there is something spooky about this town. It’s crazy to wander around dangerous places because you’re blinded by money. Come back to pick up the ruins or relics later. There must be many other ruins on the map.”
When I said that, the party members were relieved.
It took me over a week to come all the way here, but when I said I was going back, I said I liked it. It seemed that our reasoning felt ominous. Fran was the only one who asked with a little regret.
“Right, Dana. I’m saying this because it’s a map, but the map we picked up doesn’t show the ‘country not left in history’ that Norr said?”
“Yes. I was thinking of announcing that first if it was out there or if it was recoverable, but now that I think about it, I’m lucky. If we had made an announcement, there was a possibility that we would have been chased by that suspicious group.”
“I see. Too bad.”
It was when he chanted like it was such a waste of francs. -Smart. Someone knocked on the door
“Dana Verbeia. Are you there?”
It was a high soprano question. She is the waitress at the inn.
─Tuk. Veronica quickly kicked the stones forming the barrier. The mana that was acting on the wall disappeared and our voices could be heard outside.
“Yeah. I have it.”
Dana, whose name was called, answered as a representative.
We had been talking about things up until now, so we exchanged eye contact and prepared for battle. Like in the movie, if you break down the door and attack, you’ll be fucked.
“Ah, I’m glad. The visitor is waiting in the reception room on the first floor.”
I was thinking about how to deal with an enemy if it appeared from a window or door, but this is what it is. Doesn’t the waitress just say something with a smile and leave?
‘But why are there visitors all of a sudden?’
It’s so fucking dubious. I looked at Dana. Our eyes I shook her head as if no one would come looking for her. She, too, was awarded to be followed.
But what if you’ve been here for a hundred days?
I gathered only my family of three who could fight immediately and went down to the first floor.
I was a little worried, but I couldn’t believe they would commit a terrorist attack in the city. And it was obvious that crazy guys like that would chase after them and do shit even if they ran away.
Like a 0.5-year-old dog that just came out for sale, we raised our vigilance to the MAX and went to the self-proclaimed customer. Everyone is fully armed.
But what was waiting for it was, surprisingly, an elf.
Of course, it wasn’t Yerna. She’s a blonde female elf. It was a fucking stereotypical elf, as if Jammin, a snub-nosed guy who thought there were only him and his mother and father in the world when he was walking around in the forest, would recognize that it was an elf.
‘You’re a lab slave.’
But I smelled her fellow tradesmen in her. Not a hawk’s eye, but a bear’s nose.
I smelled her ink from her, as her military men would recognize from time to time. Her hair tied back and her thick glasses were the ghosts of lab rooms that the world had forgotten to decorate.
“Oh, welcome.”
The way his voice sank was also scholarly. Instead of gaining speed with her lightning-quick pen, she forgot how to speak her words with her own mouth. A female elf idiot was a fucking otherworldly combination.
“Who are you? It seems like I’m seeing you for the first time.”
Dana asked. Seeing us fully armed—I was even carrying a spear—the blonde-haired elf answered after smirking.
“Yeah, I’m Lillian Hersial Master, a research student in the Department of Archeology at Roadbrick University. Dana Verbeia, who said she worked with Professor Yerna… Right?”
“Yeah. The two people next to me are my family.”
Dana pointed at us and I nodded.
“This is Nord, her husband. I am an adventurer.”
“This is Francesca, the same adventurer.”
“Family… ? Oh, that’s right. Please sit down.”
Lillian raised a question mark hook for a moment at the word family, and then seemed to have noticed. Dana sat down as Lillian had instructed. Then, before my ass could feel the cold of the chair, I said.
“I can only guess one reason why the person I was invited to came to visit on purpose. The only thing we have in common or point of contact is that we are archaeologists and that we worked under the same professor.”
“Yeah? Ah yes.”
“Did you come because of Professor Gracie’s disappearance? I’m sorry, but my party has no idea what happened… I don’t think I can be of any help.”
Dana politely shot off the conclusion. It was probably because Lillian seemed in an atmosphere that seemed to take dozens of minutes to say what she had to say, even at a cursory glance.
“No, that… Almost the same, but for completely different reasons.”
Lillian used a puzzling expression as I thought. Damn, can I sit next to you too? Seeing how things are going, it seems like it will take 30 minutes to get to the point.
I thought so with a bit of dissatisfaction, but fortunately Lillian got straight to the point. Perhaps it was because she lacked the talent for eloquent introductions.
“Actually, I came because I had a clue about Professor Yerna’s whereabouts.”
“… What did you say?”
However, the main point left an effective hit more heavily than expected. Dana’s eyes grew to the size of fists, as if sparring with her child and allowing her to hit.
─It flinched. Dana endured with superhuman patience when she tried to look at me. I was going to ask for my opinion, but I held back from giving information to Lillian.
“… Have you spoken to the university?”
“Nope. I didn’t tell you.”
“Why? You know that universities are looking for it, right?”
“Yeah. But the professor told me not to.”
Lillian’s lens-covered eyes shone resolutely.
Did Yerna tell you not to talk? Did she tell me where she was before she disappeared? Anticipating our question, Lillian spoke lowly.
“As Dr. Berbeia knows, Professor Yerna is a really nice person.”
It was a fucking bullshit. I had to lightly slap Dana on the back and hold Fran’s hand at the bombshell remark that had no fucking countermeasure. I should have taught my wives how to manage Professor Kurapika’s anger.
“… Yes. You are a good person.”
Dana gritted her teeth as if jumping rope with her intestines, then answered.
To be honest, even I, who is good at controlling my anger, was pissed off. His affinity for Lillian plummeted to the depths. If this was a staple food, it would have been to check the temperature of the water in the Han River.
Lillian nodded her head, as if she didn’t notice her like a idiot.
“Yes. But a few weeks before Professor Yerna’s recent disappearance, she suddenly became very sharp. He often canceled lectures, and he stopped attending at all for a week before he disappeared.”
I twisted my head. What’s wrong with that? Wasn’t the professor ‘professor’?
Could this be Lillian’s fault for not recognizing Yerna’s true nature?
The horsehair elf, who was about to open her mouth, snooped over her head as if concerned about the soundproofing of the drawing room. Then she said she was relieved.
“And you told me a few days before you disappeared. I’m planning to go exploring the ghost city of Mozuriun for a while, so I asked if you could come with me.”
At that, Dana tried to open her mouth, but then closed it.
The Ghost City of Mozuriun.
This is where we were planning to visit to find the remains of an ancient civilization. Since the markings on the map were rough, I tried to search the most suspicious area first.
If it’s the original way.
“Why did Professor Grasier say that to Miss Lillian?”
“The reason why you recommended me to explore must have been because I and the professor were both born outside of Tatarnia. The professor said that elves who weren’t born in Kitai are rare, and the professor took great care of me.”
Lillian replied bitterly.
In other words, is it like a Korean I met abroad? They say that the people you shouldn’t trust the most overseas are people from your hometown, but it was really unfortunate.
It was an opportunity for this mild-mannered elf to taste the bitterness of the world and become an adult.
Dana brooded over Lillian’s words and let out her breath.
“I know what you mean. However, we don’t know why Miss Lillian is telling us these things. Didn’t Professor Grasier ask the university to keep quiet?”
“I was so worried that I couldn’t help it. I’ve been hearing about a number of missing people in the Ghost City for weeks, but the professor hasn’t heard from me. There’s no evidence they’re there, but that was the only clue I had.”
Lillian bit her lip like a part-timer worried about the sales of a wicked convenience store owner.
Then he told us earnestly.
“Dr. Berbeia. Could you take a tour of the Ghost City instead of me being monitored by the university?”
***
Lillian spent the next half hour or so answering Dana’s questions before she went back to college.
“Because I was the last person the professor met, so the university is suspicious of me. If I go home late, it will be a nuisance to all of you.”
That was the reason. It seemed that he was suspected of being a suspect, so he had to come out before it was too late.
We returned to the inn room and put on the sound barrier. Fran watched Lillian return from the window. She also has 2 birds following her.
“Everyone, what do you think?”
“I feel like a trap. Are you the same elf?”
Lari Lura seemed very suspicious of her well-timed elf.
I do too. So while Dana was pulling her time she caught 2 birds outside and threw her food and let them chase. She had asked to keep an eye on Lillian.
Veronica thought hard, then she murmured.
“Hmm. It’s a trap I’m sure that elf is suspicious, but what was the trap for anyway? Isn’t that Yerna no reason to come and target you now?”
“I don’t know. Who knows if the History Erasing Committee will personally commit it?”
Dana snorting her snort. It was a naming sense befitting my fucking wife. When she writes a book later, it would be wise to entrust her with a naming agency or ghostwriting.
“But if it’s not this time, I’ll miss the opportunity forever.”
─Sarak. Frank closed the curtains.
“If we go back here, Norr’s revenge, and finding the enemy who might one day pursue Norr and Dana, will all go to waste.”
Frank spoke his mind and asked me a question. With that blind love that sometimes felt excessive a month ago, as if I always put my opinion first.
“What do you want Norr to do?”
Fran’s question represented the minds of the party.
It seemed that the party was going to decide how to act based on my answer. I wasn’t embarrassed or embarrassed. After all, it was I who had the deepest grudge against Yerna.
After all, isn’t it already a well-known fact that they respect me?
“… That’s right.”
After understanding 100 more times that my choice may have my life and their lives at stake, and after considering all the possibilities.
Answered quietly.
“Let’s go.”
Only God knows what form or outcome it will be.
It seemed that the time had come to put an end to this long evil relationship.
