“Wait! Wait!”
Facing the news brought by Layla, the blonde twin-tailed loli Alice was the first to frown.
Then, with a resentful look, she gave Layla—who hadn’t even had time to change clothes and woke everyone up—a thorough up-and-down glare, and immediately clicked her tongue: “How did you know Keti was missing? And…and what’s with that weird outfit! Don’t tell me…you secretly went to look for him?”
Suddenly sensing a wave of murderous aura drifting through the air, the purple-haired, jellyfish-headed big sister awkwardly coughed twice and fiddled with the button on her coat.
Ah…seriously, she knew things would turn out like this.
If she weren’t so worried about Keti’s safety and clueless about where to look, she wouldn’t have shared such important information with these two.
Wouldn’t it be better to find Keti herself and have her white knight all to herself?
“Ahem, I—I was worried Keti wouldn’t sleep well, so I wanted to bring him a mattress and pillow. After all, we made him leave the team because we were worried about his safety, right? We can’t let anything happen to his health. But when I got there, I found out Keti wasn’t at that workshop at all.”
“That’s it?”
Alice immediately yawned, then shot Layla an annoyed look.
To be woken up over something like this—
Keti’s a grown man, how could he possibly get kidnapped or something?!
Seeing that Alice still hadn’t realized the seriousness of the situation, Layla hurriedly emphasized: “But Keti doesn’t have much money on him. If he stayed in the Capital, he’d only be able to stay at that workshop—he wouldn’t look for another place to live. If he’s missing now, then where could he have gone?!”
“Maybe he just went out for a bit and happened to not be there when you arrived…”
Alice pouted, still sounding careless, but Layla shook her head and firmly denied:
“No way! I waited for hours before coming back. It’s already the middle of the night. If Keti was still living there, there’s no way he wouldn’t come back to sleep. Besides, all the materials and equipment there have been cleared out. It’s obvious Keti went back, and since he moved everything out, it means he’s not coming back.”
“DP…”
After hearing Layla’s words, Alice’s eyes brightened for a moment, but she quickly suppressed her small surge of excitement and forced herself to act calm: “Oh…well, maybe he just went back to his hometown. Heh, that guy, really can’t handle anything—runs away at the first sign of trouble.”
Alice had just finished speaking when, suddenly, Sylvia, who had been silent between the two girls, spoke up.
The green-haired Elf girl with an eye patch slowly lifted her head and muttered softly: “Keti is still in the Imperial Capital. My magic tells me he hasn’t left this area.”
“De…?! ”
Layla and Alice both blinked in confusion.
A moment later, Alice stared at Sylvia in shock and asked:
“No…wait, did you…did you put some kind of tracking magic on Keti?”
Isn’t that a bit creepy?
Wh-What the heck?
To cast such a spell silently—none of them, not even Keti himself, noticed?!
But compared to Alice’s shock, Layla was more focused on practical matters.
Before Sylvia could answer, Layla rushed up and asked excitedly:
“So, Sylvia-chan, you know where Keti-kun is right now, right? Quick, locate him!”
“Um……………..I don’t know………………”
The eye-patch girl shrank back a little, then stared at the sofa and quietly explained:
“That magic can only detect if someone leaves a certain area. If they do, I get an alert. It’s… a spell the Elf Tribe uses to confine criminals. Since there’s been no alert, Keti’s still in the Imperial Capital.”
Hearing this, Layla sighed helplessly.
Although she suspected Sylvia might be hiding Keti’s location to keep him for herself, after hearing it was a spell used for criminals, both Alice and Layla felt a cold sweat run down their backs and finally relaxed a little.
It should…probably not be a lie.
So, the situation was clear now.
Keti really seemed to be missing, and he hadn’t left the Imperial Capital…
Layla frowned deeply.
After a while, she spoke up with concern:
“Let’s look for him in the city tomorrow. Keti’s all alone, doesn’t have much money, and no friends in the Imperial Capital. I’m worried something might happen to him.”
“……”
Before she could finish, Alice suddenly clicked her tongue and clenched her fist in annoyance.
“What’s the point in looking for him? There’s nothing to worry about. That guy is definitely hiding from us on purpose right now! Hmph—”
“But…”
Layla wanted to say more, but Alice cut her off at once.
The blonde twin-tailed girl frowned and snapped irritably: “I said, don’t look for him! That guy…it’s because you all spoil him so much that he’s become like this. Don’t worry, give it a few days, and he’ll come crawling back on his own! Besides…”
Alice pouted again, then continued smugly: “So what if he really left? It’s the same with or without him. Against the Boss, he’s just a burden—doesn’t deal any damage, and always drags us down because we have to protect him. Instead of wasting time looking for him, we might as well find a new teammate. There are plenty of adventurers in this world stronger than him!!”
With that, Alice yawned, waved her hand dismissively, and headed back to her room.
“That’s it, focus on preparing for the Dungeon Boss’s final battle. Don’t waste time thinking about all this nonsense!”
“Alice………………”
Layla frowned deeply, but after a while, could only sigh helplessly…
That girl, seriously…
“Tch—!
Ugh!”
Back in her own bedroom, the blonde twin-tailed loli flopped onto her bed, hugged her pillow tightly, and angrily punched it.
Keti, that guy…what the heck is he doing?!
Alice pouted in frustration.
That’s right—though she’d acted cold and heartless just now, at this moment, she was actually annoyed to the extreme, just…
She just didn’t want Layla and Sylvia to see it.
Hearing that Keti was missing and hadn’t gone back to his hometown, but instead stayed in the Imperial Capital, Alice started to get angry.
Not to mention her backup plan of sending Keti home first, then going home herself, was now ruined.
More importantly…
Keti, that guy—wasn’t it obvious he was…hiding from her?!
Seriously, is he…really mad at her?