Chapter 88 – The Missing Children (Two)

“You dropped your book. Young gentleman.”

A clear voice resonated through the space.

Philip, with a somewhat dazed expression, received the book without taking his eyes off the noblewoman’s neck.

“Ah… thank… you.”

“Impressive. You look young, yet you’re reading such a difficult book.”

“Ah, yes.”

The noblewoman, who had flashed a slight smile, turned to return to her original spot.

Philip’s lips twitched.

As if he had something he wanted to ask.

But hesitation firmly locked his lips shut.

“Do you reside in this Sector?”

The question came from Ray.

The noblewoman stopped.

Turning her body with a beaming smile, she met Ray’s gaze and soon answered with her usual gentle smile.

“That’s right. The place I originally lived was a lower-numbered Sector, but I wrapped up my work and came down to live here. Curious young gentleman. Is there something else you’re wondering about?”

“No. Thank you for answering.”

A light nod followed.

The noblewoman picked a book from her original spot and disappeared into another bookshelf.

A few seconds later, Ray asked.

“Do you think she could be your mother?”

“……”

Philip’s mind was still dazed.

He was six when he parted from his mother.

Ten years ago from now.

Much time had been painted over his childhood memories, and many things about his mother had become obscured and invisible.

One of them was her face.

Philip did not remember his mother’s face.

That is to say, that was the story.

Mid-to-late 30s. Brown hair.

The story that every woman who fit the criteria held the potential possibility of being his mother.

After being lost in thought for a while, Philip shook his head vigorously and spoke.

“If it were Mom, she would have recognized me. Even if I didn’t recognize her first. And it doesn’t make sense for Mom to be here looking like that now.”

Considering various variables, the possibility of the noblewoman being his mother was extremely slim.

Of course, there’s no way he could meet his long-lost mother so easily.

“……”

But it was also true that the anxiety sleeping deep in his heart had been stirred.

「Couldn’t the mother who left have started a completely new life?」

「Couldn’t she pretend not to know even if they met, or perhaps genuinely not recognize him?」

Those were the fears.

“Right. I also don’t think she’s your mother. For one, she was a Wizard.”

“Huh?”

“A 2nd Circle Wizard. Your mother wasn’t a Wizard, was she?”

“…That’s true. I’m not certain, but I have no memory at all of her using anything like Magic.”

Ray flipped through the books Philip had brought and lowered his voice.

“And, there’s a possibility she’s an operative of Mercread. She was wearing a necklace with a red gem.”

“Necklace? Ah!”

Philip made a belatedly realized expression.

He had been so focused on the brown hair and the presence of scars on her neck that he hadn’t deeply considered the noblewoman’s adornments.

“That’s right. We should probably investigate just in case. I’ll add it to the list of instructions for the informants.”

“It shouldn’t be hard to investigate. She said she lives in this Sector.”

Continuing their conversation, Philip picked up the pile of books he had set down.

“Ugh. I’ll take these to the counter first. Look around slowly and come.”

Philip precariously advanced toward the counter.

Ray, confirming the noblewoman was nowhere in sight, reached out and cast Enhancement Magic on Philip.

“Oh? Ooh? Oooh!”

A much more comfortable posture and faster steps.

Watching Philip accelerate toward the counter, Ray turned his head and directed his gaze to the spot where the noblewoman had been standing.

‘The look in her eyes when she was watching us earlier was clearly…’

What Ray felt from the noblewoman’s gaze was a sense of incongruity.

If his intuition wasn’t wrong, within her gentle smiling eyes was concealed an additional layer of gaze.

The kind he had seen before in some residents of the 50th Sector during the period he was deeply immersed in studying people.

So, in other words.

‘Like when a blacksmith or carpenter examines material before crafting a piece.’

It was very similar to the look he had seen then.

Ray slowly moved his steps and checked what kinds of books were on the shelf the noblewoman had been examining.

「Positive Discipline」

「To Become a Respected Mother」

「Empathy. A Guide for Proper Childrearing」

All were books about raising children.

“There were no books about Black Rain. It seems there’s been almost no research conducted, just as the old man said.”

The party headed toward the counter, each holding a few books they had chosen.

Veronica had chosen research books on soil.

Ray had chosen psychology books dealing with human behavioral principles.

Philip had chosen books on finance and capital.

“Actually, I’ve never read a book before, but I still thought I should study up.”

Philip said awkwardly.

It was the result of multiple factors at play.

“We’ll soon have to visit the bank, and I’m also in charge of managing our money.”

That was partly due to a sense of responsibility.

“Seeing Ray was cool. The fact that he’s constantly studying something.”

It was also partly due to motivation through appropriate stimulation.

As they were calculating and packing the books into a bag.

“Guys. Over there.”

Veronica spoke while looking at the entrance-side wall of the bookstore, which had a full glass front.

Beyond the Wall, boys with shabby appearances were loitering, glancing inside the bookstore.

Philip snorted heavily and said.

“Impatient. I told them to come to the front of the inn and even gave them the address.”

“……”

Ray counted the number of visible enemies.

‘One… two… three… Just the ones visible in front of the glass are seven.’

Additionally, there were quite a few guys who looked like the same gang in the distant alley or by the benches.

Combined, the number was over twenty.

Indeed, it seemed their plan was to pressure with numbers, given the gang’s large size.

‘Even better.’

With that many, the probability of the leader being among them is high.

The more thoroughly he breaks them in front of many subordinates, the easier it will be to give orders and issue commands later.

The party exited the bookstore and immediately turned into an alley.

The boys on the street followed openly behind, without any sign of hiding or being cautious.

The place the party arrived at was a wide vacant lot they had scouted in advance.

Philip and Veronica climbed and sat on a pile of concrete cylinders on one side of the lot.

As if taking seats in an audience.

With an air of having grown accustomed to it.

Confirming that a Ward was being formed around them, Ray turned to look back.

“Hey, hey. Don’t push.”

“These idiots walked right into their own graves.”

The gang poured into the vacant lot through the narrow entrance.

The enemies that appeared totaled 25.

One of them stepped forward from the group and spoke.

“I heard you’ve been ‘caressing’ our guys. Provoking us to come find you if we want our money.”

“Are you the leader of the group?”

“Yeah. I am the famous Denine─”

“That’s strange.”

“What?”

“For a leader, you look way too old.”

Denine. 16 years old.

The leader of the Denine gang, which splits the 47th Sector.

This boy, boasting development far superior to his peers, had already been physically complete for several years.

He was easily over 180 cm tall and possessed muscular strength that overwhelmed most adult men.

However, unfortunately, such rapid development didn’t apply only to simple height or muscle growth.

It also meant that Denine looked a bit, no, a lot more mature than his peers.

Additionally.

“Up top, it’s bare.”

It also meant that the free fall of his hair was occurring earlier than others.

From Ray’s perspective, it was a truly pure expression of doubt.

In the 50th Sector, the so-called ‘peeled ones’ were at least in their 30s, no matter how young.

But the ripple effect caused by those words was enormous.

“…He’s in trouble. That guy touched Denine’s complex.”

“The one thing you should never mention.”

“That guy’s spine is going to be folded seven times and put in a drum.”

The gang whispered among themselves in the back.

Denine’s face turned as red as it could get, reaching a state where it seemed it might burst at any moment.

“You! You! You! You bastard I’ll tear to death!”

Whoosh──!

A fist the size of a bear’s paw tore through the air aiming for Ray’s face.

Exclamations erupted from various places at the ferocity mismatched with his physique, but Ray simply shifted his body slightly to the side to evade the attack.

Denine’s body swayed greatly.

“You bastard!”

Perhaps thinking Ray had luckily dodged, Denine immediately corrected his posture and tried to throw another punch.

But at that moment.

“What’s this? It really is Denine?”

His movement was halted by another force that appeared from the opposite entrance of the vacant lot.

Boys pouring in through the narrow entrance.

A gang of similar size to Denine’s side, the two factions recognized each other’s presence and seemed startled.

Denine was the first to speak.

“Melom, stay squashed. I don’t know why you showed up here, but I have important business with this guy right now.”

Melom. He was the leader of another gang Ray had smashed while roaming the streets.

Melom, who was among his gang, snorted and replied.

“Sorry, but I have business with that guy too. You’re the one who should back off, aren’t you?”

A tense battle of nerves ensued.

The two leaders glared at each other as if they were mortal enemies, neither showing any sign of backing down.

Also, perhaps thinking they had their prey cornered, neither seemed to pay much attention to Ray.

“Melom, if you don’t want to die, stay squashed on your own, okay? You’ve lost your damn mind. You’re the deficient bastard who used to tremble just meeting my eyes.”

“Talking about the old days. You can only talk about the past because you lack confidence. And the deficient one is you. Ah, sorry. Not deficient. It’s not that you didn’t grow; it all fell out.”

Suffocating air.

Tense tension.

A hair-trigger situation where a fight could break out at any moment.

But Ray was certain the two leaders would never charge at each other.

‘The anger is insufficient.’

The two leaders harbored anger and displeasure toward each other.

Objectively speaking, it wasn’t a small volume, but it also couldn’t be called very large.

Rather, the emotion currently occupying the largest space within their Vessels was bewilderment and hesitation.

“Say one more word. I’ll tear your jaw off.”

“If you’re confident, try it. Cowardly bastard. Not-deficient bastard.”

So, in other words, the two had no real intention to fight.

They were just watching each other, hoping the other would back down first.

‘I read that accumulated emotions need to be released, that only then can one live a mentally healthy life.’

Looking at the two’s anger and displeasure, Ray recalled what he had read in a book.

「Emotions that are not released and accumulate make a person’s heart sick.」

It wasn’t a statement he fully understood, but he thought he knew what emotional release meant.

‘Emotions accumulate in a person’s Vessel.’

Emotions were one of two things.

They either volatilized.

Or they accumulated.

In the latter case, emotions accumulated beyond a certain level inevitably disrupted the balance of the Vessel.

The broken balance caused instability in actions.

Then, emotions reaching a critical point explode and erupt into action, showing a pattern of vanishing at once or over time.

‘The critical point varies from person to person. It also differs depending on the emotion.’

But there is an unchanging fact.

Once the emotional eruption ends, the broken balance of the Vessel is restored.

Emotional release probably refers to that series of processes.

He thought that.

Emotional eruption and release might be like a kind of maintenance the human body performs to draw out bad blood.

Ray stared at the red anger residing in Melom and Denine’s Vessels.

‘The amount is far short for an explosion.’

Still, it’s right to draw out the bad blood accumulated in the body.

It would be troublesome if the guys he plans to use as informants take unexpected actions because of that.

After pondering, Ray decided.

To take care of the two’s mental health.

Whoosh──

Red Mana gushing from his palm flew, surging toward Melom and Denine’s Vessels.