Dungeon of Precious Stones (3)
"Should be around here..."
"Oh, there are people over there. Are they the Knights who stayed behind?"
"Yeah, you're right. Let's join them."
Upon reaching the scene, we first joined the Knight who had already started searching and proceeded to inquire about the situation."Are you from Knights of the Anis family?"
"Yes, that's correct. Are you here to help?"
"Yes, we are assisting in the search for Douglas-sama, the son of the Anis family. Can you update us on the current situation?"
"We've searched around everywhere, but there's no sign of him. Unfortunately, we haven't even figured out which direction he might have gone.”
"... I see."
Seems like there's been no progress at all.
And honestly, the idea that they just lost sight of him feels strange."Um, could you tell us the last place you saw Douglas-sama? Can you share the location with us?"
I decided to ask them to show us where he was last seen before they lost him.
"Wouldn't it be faster to scatter and search rather than looking for that place?"
"Well~ you never know, he might be hiding nearby~… or that’s what I thought."
This is the semi-transparent Diamond Forest. The only visible colors are undoubtedly those of people. Even if he was hiding in a blind spot like behind a tree, wouldn't you somehow be able to make out the navy blue color of a child's jacket through the diamonds? So, when you realize 'He's not here!' and look around, it's just strange that not only his figure but even that color is nowhere to be found. If he went so far that they can't even distinguish that, then I have to question what the guards were doing.
“”Is he hiding~?"”
"Yeah, that's right. I feel that he’s playing hide and seek. Hiding, waiting for someone to find him, maybe?"
“”Then, let’s find him~””
"Yeah, let's find him quickly since he's waiting for us to find him."
"”Okay!”"
Allen and Elena immediately began searching for Douglas-sama, who might be hiding nearby.
"Come to think of it, a good percentage of the lost children were nearby all along."
"More than half, maybe. Even if they hear the voices of the searching adults, they won't come out and just keep hiding, making it hard to find them. I remember it taking only time."
"... Here's where he disappeared."
After listening to the opinions of adventurers who have searched for lost children before, the Knights seemed willing to be guided to the location where Douglas-sama disappeared.
"It's here."
“”N~ let's see... Ah!"”
As they moved to a different location, it seems Allen and Elena discovered something.
"Huh? Did something happen?"
“"There's a hole!"”
"A hole?"
“”Yeah, over there~””
What Allen and Elena pointed to was a tree with a hollow.
"This is... just the right size for a child to enter."
Moreover, the hollow faced downward from near the ground, so the inside of the hole was beneath the ground. Even if the ground was made of diamonds, it had thickness, so the color couldn't be seen through. It just looked a bit shadowy.
“”Will take a look~.---Ah! There he is!"”
"Huh, he was really in there?"
I thought it could go either way, but it seems he was there. As expected of Allen and Elena. Peering into the hollow from above along with them, I could definitely see a sleeping boy.
"... He's in there.---Um... please confirm."
I handed the location over to the Knights and asked them to confirm whether it was indeed Douglas-sama.
"”Douglas-sama!”"
The moment the Knights peered into the hole, they desperately called out his name, trying to wake the sleeping boy. It seems to be the child they were looking for.
"Takumi, you guys are amazing~"
Dill, who had been quietly watching the situation, muttered words of genuine admiration.
"It's more about the kids than me. But it's good he was found early."
"This is the fastest we've found a lost child so far."
"”Fastest?”"
"Yeah, the fastest. It was the quickest ever."
“”Yay~””
They didn't aim for a speed record, but it seems they unintentionally set a new one. Well, it's a good thing they found the children quickly for their sake.
"Douglas-sama! Please wake up."
"... N~”
Since the hollow wasn't very large, they couldn't go deep inside, and the Knights desperately called out to Douglas-sama from the entrance. Finally, it seemed like he woke up.
"Douglas-sama, please come out."
"N~ Oh, Eric, you're late~"
"It's not 'you're late~' Why did you crawl into a place like this? We were worried, you know!"
"Because there was a hole?"
"Don't go in for such reasons! What if there were strange creatures inside or if the hole was deeper? It could have been dangerous!"
"I checked properly."
Despite their master-servant relationship, Douglas-sama and the Knight Eric seemed to have a good rapport. And surprisingly, Douglas-sama had a mischievous vibe to him.
"Come on, please come out already. The master and madam are worried about you."
"Come out!"
After Eric's persuasion, Douglas-sama, who had been reluctant to come out from the hollow, immediately emerged.
"N? Where are father and mother?"
"They're waiting outside the dungeon."
"... Is that so?"
"Now, let's hurry out."
"Okay."
Once Douglas-sama emerged from the hollow, he looked around to find his parents but seemed a bit disappointed when he couldn't locate them.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
"I'm glad he’s safe."
The Knights who joined in the search were polite from start to finish. The nobleman, Douglas-sama's father, seemed somewhat arrogant, and initially, I thought the Knights serving him might have a condescending attitude towards adventurers. However, that wasn't the case.
"Dill, should we return to the entrance just like this?"
"Yeah, that's right. While you might want to resume exploring quickly, let's go back together first."
"Understood."
So, without being able to explore much of the dungeon, we ended up leaving it.
"”Douglas!"”
"Father! Mother!"
And so, I observed the emotional reunion of the family from a distance. We had decided to leave the formalities of dealing with the noble to the adventurers who entered the dungeon upon receiving a proper search request. The initial encounter was a bit off, and there was a possibility of facing baseless complaints. To avoid that, they chose this approach.
"We heard that you found Douglas. Thank you for finding him."
"Thank you very much."
"... No need."
However, the noble couple came all the way to us to express their gratitude.
"We apologize for our behavior in the dungeon. It might sound like an excuse, but losing our child made us lose ourselves for a moment."
"I see."
It seemed that they were quite distraught after losing their child. Surprisingly, the arrogance I had perceived earlier seemed to have diminished significantly.
"I'd like to express my gratitude on top of apologizing for my impolite remarks..."
"It was not us, who handled the request inside the dungeon, but him, so please address that to him."
Though we were present, we merely observed the exchange from behind Dill. So, I declined the additional thanks, deferring to Dill instead.
"Of course, him too. But I heard that you were the ones who quickly found Douglas. Please accept this as a token of our gratitude."
"Umm... all right. We appreciate it, then."
We embarked on the search without knowing how much the fee for a lost child request would be. Since refusing the additional thanks might prolong the situation, we decided to accept it graciously.
“”Done?””
"Yeah, it’s done. There are some procedures left, but once those are done, shall we go back into the dungeon?"
“”Yeah!””
Despite getting involved in a bit of trouble shortly after entering, we gathered ourselves and decided to re-enter the Dungeon of Precious Stones.
