Chapter 141: Every Face But One
A short while later.
Rumble! Boom!
A single bolt of lightning fell from the sky and charred the last remaining monster to a cinder.
The long, long battle was over.
It was a hard-won, precious victory, seized despite overwhelming odds, yet not a single person on the battlefield celebrated or let out a cheer.
"..."
They simply stared at Walfred with eyes mixed with wariness, tension, and a touch of fear. Walfred, likewise, looked back at the hunters in silence.
He had no way of knowing which of them was Chief Jonah’s acquaintance. Then a man who looked to be in his fifties approached him.
"Thank you for your help."
A white-haired man with a sturdy build.
He bowed his head politely.
"You saved us."
"And you are?"
"Ah, forgive my late introduction. My name is Gordon, and I manage Coral Cave Shelter."
An A-rank hunter of the lightning attribute.
Having introduced himself, Gordon spoke up in a rather careful tone.
"May I ask your name?"
"Walfred."
"I see. Walfred... Wait, what?"
Gordon’s eyes went wide as saucers.
And he wasn’t the only one. The other hunters nearby all began to stir at once.
"W-Walfred...? For real?"
"Is it actually him?"
"He took on that whole army by himself. Wouldn’t it be weirder if it wasn’t him?"
"I mean, fair point, but..."
The mood shifted in an instant.
The tension and wariness vanished without a trace, leaving only awe behind. Ignoring the stares pouring in from every direction, Walfred looked at Gordon.
"There’s something I’d like to ask."
"Yes? Ah! Ask me anything. If it’s something I know, I’ll answer whatever you’d like."
Gordon nodded readily.
Walfred glanced around at the hunters and said.
"I’m looking for an acquaintance of Chief Jonah’s. I was told they’re here, but I never got the person’s name."
"...Chief Jonah?"
Gordon tilted his head.
His face said he was hearing the name for the first time.
"Jonah? Who’s that?"
"He’s not from Coral Cave, that much is sure..."
"Maybe a friend of the Chief’s?"
The other hunters reacted much the same.
What? Why does nobody know him?
The unexpected response threw Walfred off.
’Don’t tell me they died in battle?’
Just as that ominous thought crossed his mind, someone raised a hand.
"Um, excuse me..."
A small voice, barely above a whisper.
The person who stepped forward was the short-haired woman in her mid-twenties. The very person who had pointed out the gate boss to Walfred with a glance earlier.
With a look of dawning disbelief, she asked.
"Are you the one looking for his niece, by any chance...?"
"Yes, that’s me."
Found her at last.
Walfred walked straight toward her.
Perhaps startled by his sudden approach, she flinched and stepped back. Walfred immediately stopped in place and bowed his head politely.
"Thank you."
"...? A-are you talking to me?"
"Of course. You’re the one who looked into where my niece might be."
She hadn’t actually found Jenna.
But just learning that a large group of survivors from Brooklyn Girls’ Academy existed, and that they were staying at two different shelters, was more than worth his gratitude.
"B-but I really didn’t do anything beyond that..."
"Even so, it helped a great deal."
Checking two specific shelters was far better than combing through all of Key West.
Walfred conveyed his thanks with a smile.
Then he got to the point.
"So, if you could show me the way, please."
"What? Show you... Ah!"
The woman’s eyes widened as she caught on.
Walfred nodded and said.
"I’d like to meet the students of Brooklyn Girls’ Academy."
---
On the way back to Coral Cave Shelter.
Walfred learned that the woman accompanying him was named Aria.
She was a B-rank hunter who wielded the wind attribute, with a skill set specialized less for direct combat and more for the supporter role, bolstering her allies.
As he quietly listened to her explanation...
"By the way..."
"Yes?"
"How do you know the Chief?"
Walfred asked, sounding curious.
From what he’d heard, Aria had been active in Key West since before the world froze over.
Jonah, on the other hand, had been a hunter operating out of New York.
Their territories never overlapped, so how did they come to know each other? At Walfred’s question, Aria answered with a sheepish smile.
"A long time ago, not long after I awakened, the Chief helped me out."
She closed her eyes as if reliving the memory.
Then Aria’s story continued.
"The first gate I ever entered was an E-rank, but the teammates who went in with me were wiped out, and I ended up stranded in the gate alone."
"And that’s when the Chief...?"
"Yes. The Chief was on standby outside the gate at the time, but he sensed something was wrong, came straight in, and saved me."
Aria nodded.
"If the Chief hadn’t helped me, I wouldn’t be here today."
In other words, he had saved her life.
Walfred summed up her story, and the relationship between her and Jonah, in exactly those terms.
Time passed as they walked.
"We’ve arrived."
Gordon, walking at the head of the group, came to a stop.
He turned back to Walfred and said.
"This is our Coral Cave Shelter."
"...!"
The moment Walfred raised his head, he saw the cave entrance spread out before him, and his eyes went wide in spite of himself.
’It’s huge!’
Coral Cave was on a scale beyond any shelter he had passed through so far. It stood in a class of its own.
He had assumed it would be only a bit larger than Savannah Wine Cave at best.
But it was so enormous that even comparing the two felt embarrassing. The entrance was massive, and the interior ran so deep he couldn’t see where it ended.
"At present, about 980 people live here, including non-Awakened. We also hold two fully cleared gates."
"980..."
Was that really all?
Granted, for a single shelter that was on the high side, but compared to the sheer size of Coral Cave, the number struck him as absurdly small.
A place this size could easily hold tens of thousands at the very least. Assuming, of course, the food problem could be solved.
"Allow me to show you inside."
With that, Gordon took the lead again.
Walfred followed him into the shelter. Before long, he spotted a group of people gathered along the inner passage.
Their faces had been tight with worry, but the moment they saw Gordon, they lit up and came running.
"Ahh! Chief!"
"You’re safe!"
"Oh, thank goodness."
The people welcomed him like they had been waiting all this time.
Seeing him greeted so warmly by the shelter’s residents, the man clearly commanded deep respect. While Gordon talked with the people...
Walfred took a quick look around the shelter’s interior.
Groundwater cut across the cave floor.
Countless tents stood packed tightly along its banks. The people’s condition and the general atmosphere both looked more stable than he had expected.
Just then.
"I’ll take it from here."
Maybe because Gordon’s conversation showed no sign of ending anytime soon, Aria, who had been waiting quietly, tugged at Walfred’s sleeve and spoke up.
"The students from Brooklyn Girls’ Academy are over that way."
At those words, Walfred’s eyes gleamed.
Following Aria as she led the way, he listened to her explain how Coral Cave Shelter worked.
The shelter’s interior was divided into districts as systematically as its size demanded.
To reduce needless friction between residents, living quarters were assigned by keeping people in the same groups they had arrived with when they first joined the shelter.
"That’s also why the Brooklyn Girls’ Academy students have a residential area of their own. They’re all outsiders here, and they’re still students, after all."
"I see."
Walfred nodded quietly.
How long did they walk?
"This is it."
They had finally arrived at the Brooklyn Girls’ Academy living quarters.
Around twenty tents.
Between them, he could see girls huddled together in small clusters. Peeking out from under thick parkas were gym clothes and school uniforms he recognized.
Walfred’s eyes grew wider and wider.
’No doubt about it!’
It was the uniform of Brooklyn Girls’ Academy, the school Jenna attended. The moment this sank in, Walfred’s heart began to pound wildly.
Meanwhile, Aria called the students together. Before long, dozens of them had assembled in front of the tents.
"Well? Is your niece..."
"Let me take a look."
Cutting her off, Walfred turned his eyes to the students.
’...Jenna.’
Please, be in here.
With that desperate prayer, Walfred examined the students’ faces one by one, as carefully as he possibly could, terrified of missing her.
But.
No matter how hard he looked, Jenna wasn’t there.
Several times, a similar build made his heart jump, only for a closer look to end in disappointment. Unable to find Jenna in the end, Walfred turned back to Aria.
"Is this everyone?"
"Yes. The only people registered under the Brooklyn Girls’ Academy refuge are the students here right now."
"Is there any chance someone’s in another district, or living separately..."
"None. Under shelter rules, non-Awakened must live only in their assigned district. They can’t leave it as they please."
The answer came back firm.
Walfred let out a deep sigh.
The higher his hopes, the harder the disappointment hit. Still, it wasn’t time to give up yet.
’There’s still South Key West.’
Just as he was barely pulling himself together, Aria spoke as if she had realized something.
"Ah! One moment."
She walked over to where the students were gathered.
A short while later, Aria returned with a woman who looked to be in her early thirties.
"This is the teacher who brought the Brooklyn Girls’ Academy students here when they joined. I thought she might know something about your niece, so I brought her over."
"H-hello. I’m Emily, the school nurse at Brooklyn Girls’ Academy."
At that, Walfred’s face brightened.
A school nurse was very likely to know a wide range of students by face and name. So it was with a flicker of hope that he asked his question.
"Do you happen to know a student named Jenna?"
"Jenna? Uh, well, let me think..."
Emily searched her memory.
But the answer didn’t come readily.
Was the name alone not enough? Thinking so, Walfred was about to describe what Jenna looked like.
But right then.
"Jenna?"
From behind the students, a slightly startled voice rang out.
When he turned his gaze, he found a slender girl standing there, noticeably taller than her peers.
"Ah!"
She stared intently at Walfred, then suddenly arched her eyebrows as if something had clicked. Her face lit up as she spoke.
"You’re Jenna’s uncle, aren’t you?"
"...!"
In that instant, Walfred’s eyes went wide.