Hour Empty Child

Vol. 8 Ch. 3 Unfortunate News Part 4

They gained some important information regarding their missing person. Aside from Sherald's coarse demeanor, they got to know about his habits and routines, something that Cirya has taken very close attention to as his guardian.

Learning them all without a hitch, Hinota led the party towards the town to find some clues to his whereabouts. They stood on the open street where dozens of citizens were passing by. This was a street that hardly any ames drive by, so everyone could cross without worry.

Standing at the center of the street, where it diverges into an intersection, Hinota stopped the party with her in front, her arms crossed.

"For now, it's best that we split up and look for some leads in these locations."

Hinota then opened up her magic bag, and pulled out several pieces of white paper with writing on them. Hinota then handed them over to Kuki, Raika, and Tsuchi.

"On those notes are the directions to where you'll be looking for clues. Raika, you look down south to the Knight station. Ask the knights if they have him since it might be possible that he's apprehended."

"U-Understood," Raika nodded, though her nervous heart still beats rapidly.

"Kuki, you look towards the south near Raika, and get to the pub there. Cirya said that she checked already, but it's possible that he might have come back."

"Roger," Kuki replied, his furrowed eyes showing his unease.

"Tsuchi, you and Mizuri go to the west to the Red-Light district. He might be there lounging around."

The Red-Light district is where many adults go to relieve their stress by partaking in sexual entertainment. Usually, the district is not open to people under the age of 21, but if they flash their growth crystals and show their quest papers, adventurers who were underage could enter for the sake of the quest. As long as the Adventurer's Guild is backing them up, the red-light district cannot restrict their access.

"Alright!" Tsuchi replied with an eager and overenthusiastic reply.

"Mizuri, you're going with him so that he won't get distracted."

"Leave it to me."

Mizuri nodded and pulled Tsuchi's left ear with a strong pinch. Tsuchi whimpered and his left eye teared up.

"Finally, Kudo, you're with me. We're going to the local Adventurer's Hub. We're going to talk to his party members if they're still there."

"Got it," Kudo nodded with a steady reply.

"Alright, ready?" Hinota raised her hands and clapped them. "Break!"

As soon as she said it, the party members headed out to their destinations without hesitation as told by their notes written by Hinota, who studied the directions from Cirya with perfect precision and wrote them down in a blink of an eye.

It was expected of Hinota who was nearing 1000 Intelligence.

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Kudo and Hinota walked along the sidewalk towards their destination. The Ames drove by with a rushing roar of the engines behind it as various beeps and honks were heard from the distance.

It was traffic time around this area, and Kudo and Hinota were at the mercy of their loud sounds.

"Hinota, where do you think he might be?" Kudo knew that asking this question was like practically guessing, but he also knew that Hinota was a calculating person.