A Sister’s Pain

When we arrived at the house and noticed the broken door, we rushed inside. Everything in the place had been destroyed, and some things were even missing. This wasn’t the work of a single man—this was definitely something premeditated, with several people involved.

However, what worried us wasn’t the material things.

Liz ran straight to Lui’s room, shouting her name again and again. I still held onto a shred of hope—that maybe we hadn’t heard her because of how softly she sometimes speaks. But that possibility vanished the moment Liz opened the bedroom door.

Just like the rest of the house, everything was destroyed. Objects were scattered everywhere, but the most heartbreaking part was Lui—she was nowhere to be found.

“Lui…” Liz whispered, collapsing to her knees, unable to process what was happening.

“Let’s check the other rooms, she might be hiding!” I shouted.

Clay and I searched everywhere. The upstairs bedrooms, closets, bathroom, kitchen—anywhere that could serve as a hiding spot. But we found nothing.

Those bastards had taken her.

When I finished searching, I returned to Lui’s room to see Liz, who hadn’t moved an inch.

“…Did you find her?” she asked in a barely audible voice.

It was hard to answer, but there was no point in denying it or trying to hide the obvious.

“…No. Most likely, they took her,” I replied, struggling to say the words.

Liz didn’t speak for several seconds. It felt as if time itself had frozen, lasting an eternity, until finally the silence was broken by the sound of her sobbing.

“Lui…” Liz whispered with a trembling voice. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The scream was gut-wrenching. No matter where you were in the house, I was certain you could hear it clearly. Even from outside, you probably could.

Liz had already lost her parents before. Lui was the last of her family, and the feeling of having to relive that tragedy—losing the only family she had left—must have been tormenting her in that moment.

It was a painful scene to witness.

“…I’ll take you to the garrison,” Clay said nervously, as though doubting whether this was the right moment to speak. “The best thing we can do now is testify so they can start the search, and see if anything can still be done.”

“No! Lui!” Liz screamed again, refusing to leave the place.

Clay was right. The best thing we could do now was cooperate with the local authorities to make the search easier. As much as we wanted to start immediately, we had no leads.

“Liz, we need to go…” I said as I approached her.

“No! I can’t! Lui!” she shouted again.

“Liz, listen!” I exclaimed, gripping her shoulders to make her look at me. “This is the only thing we can do for her right now! Let’s go with Clay and report this! It’s the best way…”

Liz’s face was a mess. Tears fell endlessly, and from the struggle her hair had gotten disheveled. Seeing Liz—a girl so energetic and cheerful—in such a state made me feel powerless. I wanted to help her, but right now I didn’t have what it took.

At my words, Liz kept crying, but this time she threw herself into my arms and hugged me tightly.

“Why!? Why her!? Why my sister!?” she cried, her voice muffled against my chest.

All I could do was return the embrace and try to soothe her. It took about an hour, but eventually, she stopped crying.

“Follow me. I’ll take you to the garrison,” Clay said.

When we stepped outside, Liz looked back at the house, which was in a pitiful state. She was about to break into tears again, but I held her hand.

“Let’s go.”

It was the only thing I could say to her.

We began walking away, and finally headed toward the town garrison.

***

Once we reached the town knights’ garrison, Liz and I were separated to give our testimonies. I told them about the trap Clay and I had run into when leaving the guild, about the pendant money, and about the “Plan B,” which seemed to be abducting Lui. Clay added his part and confirmed everything I said.

I came out shortly after telling my story, but they had some trouble with Liz. It was too recent, too painful for her, so it took her longer to recount what had happened.

While waiting for her, I discovered that Liz was actually somewhat known around town.

The town is still small, a relatively new community, so it’s common for people to know each other. Liz’s story—what had happened with her parents, and her situation with her sister—was already known by some. Now I understood how they’d been able to learn about Lui so easily.

And as for those responsible for all this, I also found out it wasn’t exactly a new issue. Clay told me the knights had already been investigating that group for a while, but had barely managed to gather any information. The situation didn’t seem very hopeful.

When Liz was finally allowed out, I went straight to her. Her eyes were still red from crying earlier, and most likely she had shed more tears while explaining things to the knights.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, concerned.

“Terrible… They told me they’d begin the search as soon as they could, but how long will that take?” she asked angrily. “Every minute that passes is another moment Lui could be in danger… Just thinking about it—” she added, but I stopped her right there.

“I understand how you feel, but for now the best thing we can do is rest. Until we have any information, there’s nothing we can do,” I said, trying to convince her.

There was no point in wasting energy on something we couldn’t do. Liz was still emotionally devastated, and my body was still in pieces. If we wanted to help, we had to rest, or else we’d ruin everything when the time came.

She remained silent, powerless in such a difficult situation.

Then, out of nowhere, a knight burst into the garrison shouting.

“Captain, we found it!” he said as he slammed the door open. “We found the bandits’ hideout!” he cried, brimming with excitement. Now that was important news.

At his words, the captain of the garrison—the same man who had scolded Clay during our first encounter—arrived quickly.

“What did you find!?” he asked urgently.

“A cave! There’s a cave just a few minutes from town, deep in the forest!”

“I see,” the captain replied, his eyes clouded with doubt.

At the sudden news of the criminals’ hideout—and therefore the possible location of Lui—Liz jumped to her feet and ran to the captain.

“What are we waiting for!? Let’s go get them!” she roared with determination, but the captain’s expression was complicated.

“We can’t. We still need to gather a large enough force to launch an assault, and we don’t know the place in detail; there could be traps,” he answered.

The captain’s reasoning was sound. Sending too few people into unfamiliar terrain would only lead to disaster. They needed to prepare as much as possible, but Liz wasn’t in the mood for reason.

“There’s no time! My sister is in danger right now while we sit here waiting! We need to hurry!” Liz shouted back.

The captain’s face was troubled. You could tell he understood Liz’s feelings, her desperation to rescue her sister. But as captain, he had to be careful about the decisions he made. A single misstep could cost more than one life. This wasn’t something simple.

“I’m sorry. But we’ll have to wait,” the captain concluded.

Liz seemed unwilling to give up. She wanted to keep arguing, but then a voice cut through the tension.

“Don’t be so hard on the girl, Edran!”

The voice was deep and booming, but also incredibly familiar to me. It was Mr. Draum, the instructor from the guild exam. Just seeing him made my body ache as a reminder of what had happened.

“Draum? What the hell are you doing here?” asked the captain—apparently named Edran.

The way he spoke to the instructor, dropping his usual formal tone, made me think they might be old acquaintances.

“I just came to invite you for a drink, but I see you’re busy,” Draum said, sounding slightly disappointed. “You mentioned you’re short on manpower, didn’t you?”

“Yes. It’ll take some time to gather all the knights in town. It would be reckless to leave now.”

“In that case, leave it to me!” Mr. Draum exclaimed. “I’ll round up as many adventurers as I can for this mission!”

“Seriously!?” the captain asked, shocked. “No, but we still need to investigate the area—we can’t go in blind.”

“Edran… are you underestimating us!?” Draum roared, startling everyone present. “Exploring unknown areas is daily bread for adventurers! They have the skills needed for a mission like this!”

After those words, the instructor finally lowered his voice.

“You know it well, Edran. Don’t forget how you started,” he said, putting an end to the matter.

The captain was left speechless before Draum’s confidence in adventurers, and with nothing more to object, all he could do was smile.

“Fine! Gather as many as you can!” Edran roared back, to which Draum returned a grin. “Men, attention! We leave in one hour, so prepare yourselves as best as you can!”

At the captain’s command, all the knights answered with a powerful “Yes!” that echoed throughout the garrison. Immediately, they began rushing about, preparing for the mission.

“By the way, Naoya!” Draum shouted.

“Y-yes!?” I stammered, startled by his sudden call.

“You’re coming too! Get ready for your first official task!” the instructor ordered. Of course, the answer to such a command was obvious.

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

I’ll do everything I can to make it up to Liz for what she’s done for me.

Wait for us, Lui—we’re coming for you.