Chapter 177. The Dragoons' Naive Girl (2)
Honestly, it was a bit of a bewildering thing to hear.
The sudden news almost made my palms sweat, but Enoch narrowed his eyes, composed himself, and asked back.
“Not returned, are you serious?”
[That’s right! Of all the Dragoon members assigned to the reconnaissance mission near the outsourcing district, for some reason, only one has failed to return to the unit!]
Aslin’s voice was colored with bewilderment. Anyone could tell she was extremely flustered.
To think a straggler (?) would suddenly appear at this juncture. Although getting left behind during reconnaissance isn’t an easy feat either.
“Have you found her whereabouts?”
[Well, this is something that probably shouldn’t be leaked from within the unit…! But there were no other orders regarding this, and since you, Lord Enoch, are an involved party, I will tell you the gist of it!]
Aslin shouted from across the terminal.
[Actually, about that member who hasn’t returned! We’re also frantically looking for her right now! There were sightings of her just a moment ago—hyet-!]
Ah, she definitely bit her tongue.
Sure enough, Aslin's thin groan of pain could be heard through the terminal.
[Ah-heueulb…….]
…When Aslin had abruptly told me a member hadn't returned to the unit, speaking so urgently, I honestly felt a bit tense at first.
But somehow, all the tension just vanished.
For the color-bearer of the honor guard of the Dragoons, who had previously greeted me with a sharp salute, this was a side that felt so different it made me sigh.
At the very least, I could tell how flustered she was.
“So, is that why you called?”
[Yes, ye-es! I’m shorry! The unit is in a state of considerable chaos…. at the moment-sho!]
“……”
Trying her best to hide the fact that her tongue hurt, she soon cleared her throat with a ‘hmm, hmm’ and added awkwardly, her voice showing some relief from the pain.
[A-anyway! Even if Lord Enoch wishes to meet with a specific Dragoon member, it seems an interview is impossible at the moment. So I gave you an urgent call…!]
At Aslin’s words, my hand holding the terminal suddenly tightened.
The time remaining was now a day and a half. I had expected the Dragoons to return around this time, but for such a mishap to occur so suddenly?
What on earth could have happened to an elite member of the Victoria army, a Dragoon at that?
Enoch briefly turned his head and scanned the city view spread before him, lined with quaint buildings.
Well, this was an outsourcing district. A city that had always been fraught with troubles from the start.
Thinking about it calmly, there was the commotion with the freelancer who turned into a magical beast earlier. It was possible she got caught up in some incident within the city.
Still, I was about to ask if they had any idea who had gone missing and why, when I heard something.
[…Ugh. To go missing in this outsourcing district of all places, where on earth is that kid and what is she doing again….]
Wait a minute, ‘that kid’?
The moment I heard that, my head tilted instinctively. Aslin’s slip of the tongue felt like a puzzle piece suddenly clicking into place in my mind.
What if my current guess was correct?
Indeed, it occurred to me that if it was the ‘her’ Enoch knew, something like this might have happened.
She said it was an internal matter, but maybe I should try to probe a little.
“Then, are the Dragoons also looking for that missing member right now?”
[D-don’t even mention it! It’s a complete mess here! She’s the kid who wandered off somewhere during our last dispatch too, so if Colonel Shepherd finds out this time, I can’t imagine what he’ll say…!]
“Listening to you, it sounds like this has happened before. Is the missing member a habitual offender?”
[It’s a bit embarrassing, but yes, she is. The other Dragoons were always keeping an eye on her, but….]
“She should at least have a terminal. If there were sightings, she probably isn’t injured, so can’t the missing member just find her way with a map?”
[Th-that’s. She’s from the rural part of the Victoria Kazimieśi Domain, so she’s a girl from a country farm family who’s extremely clumsy with machines like terminals, I mean. A member…!]
Enoch’s eyes widened for a moment.
Then, he glanced at the terminal held to his ear.
The pitch-black screen was off during the call. In its reflection, his own dark blue eyes met his, shining clearly with conviction.
“─You mean a Dragoon girl from a farm family?”
[Yes, that’s right! She’s a complete klutz with machines and so clumsy. She has countless nicknames among the members, and we sometimes tease her by calling her the naive girl….]
Her voice vividly brought to mind the image of Aslin sighing with her head in her hands, as if she was at her wit’s end. Enoch smiled faintly.
At this point, it was certain.
—It’s her.
“Then I have a proposal.”
[Ye-yes?]
Startled by Enoch’s sudden words, Aslin’s voice came back in a questioning tone, as if I could picture her eyes widening in surprise.
Enoch didn’t miss the moment of her agitation from across the terminal and brought up the main topic.
“So that we can be of help to the Dragoons. How about my squad joins the search for her?”
***
After we all came down from the hill that overlooked the area, we entered a secluded promenade near the freelancers' gathering place.
As he walked, Enoch calmly surveyed his surroundings.
It was an unexpected search for a missing person, but frankly, it was a very important matter for us.
In fact, with the Dragoons’ commander being the reclusive and rigid Colonel Shepherd, the fact that the ‘her’ I was looking for was separated from the Dragoon unit could be a very good opportunity.
It was plausible he would set a strict time limit even for a formal interview.
“Ah! Direct Lineage Member!!”
Just then, Nano, who was walking beside me, turned to Enoch and asked, her eyes sparkling with anticipation under the visor on her head.
“By any chance, are you thinking of recruiting a companion here-mka? Such a heart-pounding development is a cliché, isn’t it-mka!!”
“A cliché, you say.”
As I answered, a bit dumbfounded, April nonchalantly chimed in to support Enoch’s words.
“Umm. Well, I don’t know what the leader, the Direct Lineage Member, is thinking. But I don’t think it will be that easy.”
Nano’s eyes widened in confusion as she looked back at April.
“Ah? Is that so-mka?”
“Well, freelancers who have teamed up to come this far are usually from the same office, or at least have a relationship of trust among themselves.”
She glanced at a group of five or six freelancers passing by and shrugged.
Following her gaze, I saw they were all wearing modern tactical robes of the same design.
The same symbol was stamped on the side of their arms, indicating they were all from the same office. April watched them for a moment and added.
“It’s obvious, but even mercenaries don’t entrust their backs to just anyone.”
Nano tilted her head and summarized the point.
“Aah! So you’re saying it’s hard to find a new companion easily among the freelancers here-mka?”
“That’s right. Actually, a freelancer from my office accepted the request and came here too… They’ve probably already formed an interim among themselves and are mixed in somewhere over there.”
Nano tilted her head and asked.
“Oh, by any chance, are you not on good terms with the freelancers from your office-mka?”
“…Ghk! That is?”
April was so flustered she almost bit her tongue. She then averted her eyes, twirled her finger in the air, and her voice went up at the end of her sentences.
“In the f-first place? I’m employed by the Elsyde Direct Lineage Member, you know? And for a very high price, too~?”
She lifted her chin proudly.
But soon, she averted her gaze again, her eyelashes lowered as she muttered softly.
“…And well. In the first place, we are from the same office. But they’re not people I particularly want to get involved with during an operation.”
Enoch briefly glanced at her. Was she talking about the friction with the axe-wielding man from the same office earlier?
Nano also seemed a little puzzled, tilting her head and scratching her white cheek with a finger before asking again with a bright, cautious smile.
“Oh, what do you mean by that-mka?”
“Umm. Well, you know. It just means there are freelancers and then there are freelancers, right? Ahaha, why don't we talk about such boring things later?”
“Aah! I don’t really get it, but I’ll keep that in mind for now-mda!”
Nano then replied immediately with a bright smile, as if it didn’t matter either way.
Perhaps feeling uncomfortable that Nano might ask again, April smiled with a slightly troubled expression and pointed at Enoch.
“More importantly, who we’re looking for now is something you should ask the leader right here, not me!”
“Ah! That’s true too-mda!”
Then, Nano abruptly turned her head towards me, her blue eyes shimmering faintly in the sunlight as she asked.
“Direct Lineage Member! So who do we have to find now-mka? I’m excited that they’re joining our squad-mda!”
Sirocco, who was walking beside me, also glanced this way with her sharp eyes, which were shining.
“…Hey, the one you’re looking for. Is it another female?”
“Yes. I told you before.”
“Hmph. I get it.”
Sirocco whipped her head to the side.
For some reason, her luscious, furry red tail was gently swaying back and forth behind her.
While Sirocco’s emotions were said to be honestly expressed through her ears or tail, I was slightly perplexed about how to interpret such a reaction.
Still, I had to do what needed to be done first.
“Nano, just as you said. It’s true there’s someone I’m looking for. But I have to find her within the time limit.”
Enoch looked directly at Nano and added.
“I need your help right now. Will you help me?”
As soon as she heard the request for help, Nano’s face broke into a wide smile, and she nodded her head briskly.
“Ah! Just give me the order anytime-mda! There’s nothing me and this Bzz-Bzz can’t do-mda!”
Nano was the key card to solving this problem. It wasn’t for nothing that I had recruited her, an engineer who handles drones, for this squad in the first place.
“So, what can I help you with-mka?”
In response to Nano’s question, Enoch pointed to the cross-shaped multi-purpose drone floating gently in the sky beside her.
“That drone, doesn’t it have a reconnaissance function?”
I knew very well from the original work just how fearsome the utility and combat performance of her drone was.
And one of its myriad functions was reconnaissance.
Especially a drone built with Nano’s technical skills and controlled by her was a powerful, all-weather artifact that could secure a view of the sky where the enemy’s eyes couldn’t easily reach, or even into narrow crevices.
I clearly remembered the description in Nano’s character sheet— 「The reconnaissance function ‘Sky Eye’ camera was installed from the earliest version of the multi-purpose drone and was used effectively」.
Sure enough, Nano’s eyes widened, and she nodded her head towards me.
“Ah! That’s right-mda! Are you thinking of using that-mka?”
“Yes. You know about the long, black Bombardment Lance, right? It’s a gunpowder-firing magic gear used by the Victoria army’s Dragoons.”
“Yep! I’ve seen that magic gear in person before, so I know it well-mda! So, should I fly Bzz-Bzz to find the person who has that magic gear-mka?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
As expected, it was great that the genius gearhead was a quick study.
A Dragoon member stranded here would definitely be carrying a Bombardment Lance. Since it was not a common design for a magic gear at all, it would be very easy to find.
Just as Enoch was thinking that far, Nano’s cheerful voice suddenly rang in my ears.
“Ah, but I’m a little confused, so I’d like to ask something-mda!”
“Huh? What is it.”
When Enoch asked back, Nano briefly placed a finger on her chin and tilted her head slightly, as if thinking about something.
As Enoch, sensing something was off, was wondering if he had made a mistake.
“Umm. Something is definitely strange-mda!”
Nano stared at me for a moment, then suddenly came closer, thrusting her head forward and looking up at me.
Her white-gold hair cascaded over her pale cheeks, sparkling in the sunlight.
For a moment, her ample chest, revealed above the deeply U-cut t-shirt, approached undefendedly, and Enoch almost averted his gaze from Nano's direct stare for no reason.
“Strange? Is there a problem?”
“Well, I added the module related to the reconnaissance function system to this drone just before we came out to see the festival earlier-mda! I’m sure I haven’t told anyone about it-mda!”
At that question, a chill ran down Enoch’s spine.
“Did I, by any chance, tell you about that, Direct Lineage Member-mka?”
Perhaps because my mind was racing, I realized a little too late that I had made an uncharacteristic mistake.
It happened because I was trying to find the person I was looking for as quickly as possible by mobilizing all the knowledge I had.
To Nano, who was speaking with a half-doubting expression as if she couldn't quite remember herself, Enoch shook his head as nonchalantly as possible, trying not to give anything away.
“No, it’s not that. I was just thinking about how I would have used that drone if I were an engineer. I just naturally inferred it.”
“Ah! Is that so-mka!!”
Fortunately, she seemed to be easily convinced by that explanation, as Nano smiled brightly and nodded.
Then, the mechanically designed drone made of cross-shaped panels flew in from behind her.
Nano caught it with both hands, then spread her arms wide towards the sky and released it like a bird.
The drone, which floated in the air without any propellers, circled the area once before beginning to fly up into the blue expanse where the sunlight poured down.
As I was staring blankly at the drone ascending freely into the high sky of the outsourcing district.
Right next to me, Nano put down her visor with two fingers and gave a bright smile.
“Then! Commencing the search for the missing person as per the Direct Lineage Member’s order-mda!”
…A missing person, she calls her.
Expressing my condolences to the search subject who was getting a strange label attached to her even before her appearance, Enoch quietly nodded his head.
Since the most important thing wasn't just finding a person, but finding them in time.
Now was the time when Nano, and no one else, had to play her part for certain.