◈ Episode 250: Each person’s choice (3)
At the disappearance of her younger sister, Sally, Arte’s face became as if the sky was about to collapse.
The only family left for Arte, who lost both of his parents, was his good-natured and obedient younger sister, Sally.
Sally didn’t come home.
When I asked the owner, the only answer was that he had never seen Sally.
“teacher. Maybe, maybe it’s good? If Sally disappears, I… … !”
“Calm down, Arte.”
Ludger calmed the tearful Arte by holding his collar.
Arte was passionate about learning and showed a grown-up attitude, but was the child still a child?
At the news that his one and only family member had disappeared, Arte was completely in a panic.
The intelligence that he usually showed did not shine in the sudden situation.
“You still don’t know exactly what happened.”
“That, that… … .”
“Think calmly. Celie is a strong kid, so I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“But these days, children are disappearing around me… … .”
“It’s because of the missing incident. Don’t worry. I will check it myself.”
“Are you a teacher?”
“okay. You will find out soon.”
After calming down Arte, Ludger immediately returned to his room and wrote a letter and posted it by the fastest post.
‘It’s a serial missing person case that’s happening these days.’
Even the yard (police) of Delica Kingdom were strangely lukewarm about this incident.
Since the victims were only the lower classes, they did not recognize the seriousness of the situation.
‘Or is there something else?’
Rudgar remembered Shelley.
Unlike Arte, who is brave and outgoing, he is timid and calm.
Even though he was scared when he first saw him, he smiled and greeted him afterwards.
Unlike her older brother, who wakes up late from studying until late at night, he was a cute kid who woke up early to help clean the store and gave Rudger warm soup for breakfast and laughed.
Although I do not have a grandiose dream of becoming a great scholar.
It possessed a simplicity and warmth that would not be defeated by anyone, and an innocence rarely seen in recent years.
If someone kidnapped the child for some reason.
“I’ll have to make you pay for it.”
By any means.
* * *
The next day after sending the letter.
Ludger sat on a bench at the train station in Delicate Kingdom and waited for someone.
“older brother.”
At that time, Hans, dressed in a business suit and fedora hat, approached and sat down next to Ludger.
‘Who is that person?’
Casey realized that something about Hans looked familiar.
It was the same when he first talked to Rudger on the day of the festival, and once in Royal Street, but it was the face he had seen passing by.
“Hans.”
“I was suddenly called and ran to you in a hurry, but what happened?”
“Recently, something interesting has been happening inside the Delica Kingdom.”
“Anything interesting?”
“Have you heard anything too?”
At those words, Hans’ expression hardened.
Hans looked at the people walking around and said quietly to Rudger.
“We’re talking here, so let’s go somewhere quiet.”
“I will.”
Ludger took Hans to his private office at Ordo University.
Hans whistled as he looked inside the office reserved only for professors.
“Whiyu. I hope you are great. Are you working in a place like this?”
“You don’t have to refuse it just because you’re offering it. By the way, I’m called Professor James Moriarty here, so don’t get me wrong.”
“Let it be. Rather, I will continue what I just said.”
Hans groaned and cleared his throat before speaking quietly about what he knew.
“There are rumors that the recent movements of the Delica Kingdom are unusual.”
“If it’s unusual, what kind of class is it exactly?”
“They say they are buying more iron than usual, and that the plant’s utilization rate has risen noticeably. The movement of the army is also unusual.”
“… … Are you going to start a war?”
“I don’t know either. However, there is no doubt that they are trying to do something at least at the national level.”
“Any other stories?”
“Recently, an increasing number of people have gone missing all over the Delica Kingdom. At first, most of them were outsiders, but they say that’s not the case these days.”
missing.
Rudger’s eyes lit up at those words.
“Explain that part in detail.”
“It’s an explanation, and I don’t know yet. Because this is all the information I came across.”
“Then I’ll have to check the information properly here.”
“… … Judging from my older brother’s reaction, it seems that I didn’t hear useless rumors.”
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The two got up from their seats at the same time.
Instinctively, he sensed that this was not normal at all.
“Hans. How long will it take?”
“hmm.”
Hans pondered for a moment, then spread out three fingers.
“It will take three days.”
* * *
While Hans wandered around gathering information, Ludgar didn’t neglect his job as James Moriarty.
He wrote his thesis as usual.
But at the same time, I had other thoughts in my mind.
‘Hans said, this case is not one or two suspicious things.’
It was also the case that the person disappeared, but the police did not investigate properly.
At first, I thought I just didn’t care because the slum dwellers, workers, and orphans were gone.
Looking around, it wasn’t just like that.
‘Rather, I have a strong feeling of knowing and avoiding it.’
It is also the case that they show suspicious movements on a national level.
At least this one must have involved someone with a high social status.
‘Then who is it?’
High-ranking nobles, military generals, senators and so on.
The personal information of the main people of the Delica Kingdom flashed quickly through Ludger’s mind.
“What are you thinking? You don’t even know I’m coming.”
Then, at the sudden voice, Rudger took his eyes off the thesis and raised his head to the wide open door of the office.
“As I’ve said before, you’d better get into the habit of knocking first when entering somewhere.”
“I’m so sorry. The door is too big to knock.”
“It’s not something the person who opened it loudly and came in said.”
“Isn’t that what a person who focused on his thesis would say without even hearing that roaring sound? No, are you immersed in other thoughts than the thesis?”
Casey Selmore dragged a chair across from Ludger and sat down casually.
Her playful expression was full of anticipation of what else they would be talking about today.
“What are you talking about today?”
“Sudah. To others, it sounds like I’m interfering with the work of a famous professor.”
“You saw it right. You have a very good eye.”
“This is the basic skill of a detective. So what were you thinking?”
Rudgar did not waver at the gaze that seemed to see right through this side, and replied simply.
“It seems like there are a lot of bad things happening around me lately. I was worried that the students might get caught up in it.”
“It’s a nasty thing. chamberlain… … Like something missing?”
“… … .”
In an instant, Ludger’s gaze toward Casey sharpened.
“Looks like I hit the mark.”
“… … okay. They say a lot of people are disappearing these days. It’s a scary story.”
“that’s right. But the yards aren’t doing a good search for the missing people. I don’t even know if I had any intention of doing it in the first place.”
“You seem to know quite well.”
“I’m chasing you.”
“Are you following me?”
Casey grabbed a pen from Ludger’s desk and whirled it around.
“I am a detective. Wouldn’t it be natural to try to solve a suspicious incident?”
“Then, isn’t there a case where you just worry about things for no reason?”
“It was like that at first, but it’s not like that these days. Maybe it’s because there are a lot of cases that I’ve solved, but I’m rather busy trying to cheer everyone up when I do something.”
Rudgar recalled that Casey’s case was always on the front page of the national newspaper.
The reasoning story about the genius detective was enough to get people’s hot attention by itself.
Even if it wasn’t so, these days, those who follow her came to see her even inside the university.
“Has there been any improvement in the investigation?”
“That is confidential. Oh, are you curious? Hmm~. If you ask me, there’s nothing I won’t be able to say.”
“I am not particularly curious. If it were you, you would figure it out.”
When Rudger took a step back, Casey pursed his lips in disapproval.
The current Casey, who watched the scene, opened his mouth.
‘Wasn’t the me of the past originally that cheap?’
If Betty, her assistant, had heard this, she would have said she was rude even now, but at least Casey was sincere.
There were some things that made me look younger than I did three years ago.
Perhaps it was because he hadn’t matured, but seeing his proud expression made me want to feed him a chestnut on his forehead.
“Is Detective Casey Selmore there?”
Then, through the open door, a new guest appeared.
He was a police officer from Delica Kingdom, wearing a dark blue uniform, and she recognized Casey right away.
“this. I guess I’ll have to go to work. I will go first.”
“I see.”
Rudgar sent Casey away, but he didn’t forget to look at the policeman who came to see her.
* * *
After Ludger wrote the letter and Hans arrived in Delica Kingdom, three days had passed.
Rudger got in a car driven by a driver and came near the lodging.
“I will get off here. You should go in and rest.”
“yes. Get some rest, Professor.”
Ludger, who sent the driver like that, headed to the lodging where Arte was waiting.
For the past three days, Arte seemed to be trying to be as self-respecting as possible, but it was clear that he was anxious about his sister who had disappeared.
As time went on, it got worse, so today I thought to give Arte the good news as much as possible.
‘If it’s Hans, he’ll come soon.’
With that thought in mind, Ludger, who arrived at the lodging where he usually stayed, heard unexpected news from the owner.
“Is Arte leaving and not coming back?”
“That, that… … I’m sure it was until I was serving tonight.”
Rudger took a pocket watch out of his breast pocket and checked the time.
In the evening, between 6pm and 7pm.
It’s 9pm now.
At a minimum, it meant that two hours had passed since Arte disappeared.
“Did you tell the police?”
“That is still. But in case you don’t know, go find them now… … .”
“All right. It won’t be a big deal, so let me wait for you here.”
“Where are you going, Professor?”
Rudgar draped his Inverness coat over his clothes, holding a staff in one hand.
And when I got back to my inn, I grabbed the hat I had taken off and put it on my head.
“It’s a good day. I will go for a walk at night.”
The owner couldn’t say anything to Ludger’s voice, which was somewhat heavy.
As we left the accommodation and came out to the main road, Hans, who was waiting for Ludger, appeared in the dark just in time.
“older brother.”
Rudger didn’t look back at Hans.
Also, the slow steps did not stop, and Hans naturally stuck to Ludger’s side and walked together.
The quiet street was full of gaslight lights.
Even that was dissipated because of the rising night fog.
“The promised three days have passed. Did you find out anything?”
“A missing person situation that has been happening recently. After digging around, I found something much bigger than I thought.”
“What did you find out?”
“First of all, this incident. It is not simply a common crime.”
It is not a common crime.
Rudger recalled the conversation he had with Hans on the first day.
“Did they say they were showing some kind of movement within the kingdom?”
“exactly.”
“And this missing incident must have something to do with the movement of that kingdom.”
“He is too.”
At that moment, a steam engine passed the two of them.
In the interior of the car disappearing with white steam thicker than the fog of a hazy night.
They obviously changed their clothes, but there was a face Ludger knew.
“Hans.”
“Yes, brother.”
“Are the police involved in this disappearance?”
“… … How did you know?”
Rudgar stopped walking.
Then he answered while looking in the direction of the steam train that disappeared beyond his sight.
“I saw it. just now.”
The person in the car a moment before was the same cop who had visited Ludger’s office this day looking for Casey.
He was clearly a man of little merit.
However, the man’s face, especially since I saw it in the office during the day, kept stepping on my eyes.
It is not a stage of theory and reasoning, but a realm of pure sixth sense.
Ironically, that sixth sense was right at this moment.
“Where did they take the kidnapped people?”
“The coal mine area a little far from here.”
“okay? It will take quite a while to get there. You will need a mount.”
“You mean a ride?”
Hans looked around.
No matter how I looked, I couldn’t see anything worth riding.
However, immediately after, Hans realized that Ludger was still staring at him, and relaxed his shoulders.
“… … Whew. My salesperson is like this.”
Hans took out a prepared beast’s tooth and stabbed it into his own wrist.
