Chapter 392: Romio's Location

eeking into the restaurants on the way, we finally arrived at the Adventurer's Guild. The atmosphere in the guild was calm, nothing of concern was happening.

Although Fran is more famous than I expected.

Among the adventurers, there are rumours about the incredible abilities of the girl nicknamed the "Black Lightning Princess", who easily defeated the A rank adventurer and made the famous Colbert her henchman. And if you get in the Curry Teacher's Student way, you will no longer be allowed into the curry establishments.

Most of them aren't lies, but they're still largely wrong. This is the effect of a "broken phone". Nonetheless, if it's not a problem for us, we won't do anything about it.

In the building, we met with the head of the guild, Gamudo, with whom we fought against Linford. But, we still didn't know where Gallus was.

"Since Fran inquired about his whereabouts, I tried to use my connections to find information on Gallus but I failed to find anything useful." (Gamudo)

"Hmmm..." (Fran)

After that, we exchanged information with informant Regus, who had previously investigated where Gallus could be. But it seems that he also didn't have any information on the matter.

"I can at least say that he did not return to Barbra." (Regus)

Regus specialized in errands within the city, and his information network was quite impressive. So if he says that Gallus did not return, then it must be so.

In search of information about Gallus, we came to the blacksmiths guild, but even then no one had a single guess. For a second, I thought that we were just wasting our time... But suddenly, I heard one very interesting thing.

"Although I thought that Gallus was taken by the Ashton noble family, something has recently begun to happen in the capital. Someone seems to be collecting various materials that the blacksmith might need."

This is actually pretty suspicious.

"And they don't collect it openly... Several times they lied about their name, sent intermediaries instead of themselves, and lied to our faces."

Undoubtedly, we need to go to the opening of the auction in the capital. We can meet him there, and if not, then he may be associated with the strange activities of the Ashton family.

"We don't really know where Gallus is, so we should go to the orphanage." I said.

"Nn."

Fran's grim expression softened. She was probably looking forward to seeing the children.

At the entrance to the orphanage, there was a gatekeeper who was not there last time we came. It looks like when Amanda became the boss here, she put more effort into fighting crime in the orphanages.

The gatekeeper was a former adventurer, a half-beast man, and he recognized Fran too. Thanks to this, he let us through without any problems, and as soon as Fran went inside, the children immediately ran to her.

"Ooh, it's Fran!"

"Sis Fran!"

"And Urushi is here!"

That's what I call a warm welcome! The children, as if not at all noticing the terrible muzzle of Urushi, clung to his fluffy fur, laughing with delight. Urushi was also very happy, it was clear from the way he wagged his tail, while lying imposingly on the floor. The children who managed to stroke his tail raised even louder cheers.

Although I thought that the enormous size of Urushi should definitely scare at least some of the children, it seems that no one was scared at all. What brave children they have in this shelter. Of course, in this world, children probably should be bolder anyway.

Apparently, having heard the noise of children, one of the adults hastily ran out of the building. They had weapons in their hands, and their faces were extremely stern. Apparently, they thought that someone had attacked the children.

And I recognized their faces. One of the adults was Io, who is known as a great cook who can make a great soup from the worst vegetables. But there was someone else with her whom I didn't expect to see.

"Charlotte?" (Fran)

It was the dancer Charlotte who helped us in the fight with Linford.

"Fran-chan? Long time no see! And Urushi is here too!"

"Woof!"

From the conversation it became clear that Charlotte was one of the orphans who grew up in this orphanage. She was very grateful to Fran for making Amanda pay attention to the plight of the orphanage, and saving it.

"It's so good that it's you, Fran-chan..." (Charlotte)

"What happened?" (Fran)

"Actually..."

There was a reason why Charlotte and Io came running when the children became so noisy. About two days ago, a criminal visited here, who had a sizeable bounty on his head.

"In general, although he was dressed differently, he cannot be confused with anyone. When we fought this unclean giant, I was able to get a close look at him." (Charlotte)

"Zelosried... Why was he here?" (Fran)

For some reason, Zelosried came to this orphanage. It looks like he wanted to give one boy to the orphanage who looked around three. Despite his appearance, he didn't act like a cruel criminal with a bounty on his head, his expression was apparently quite sincere.

"He said that this is the child of his deceased friend, whom he cannot raise on his own. That the children have nothing to do next to him. He was even going to pay for him to be taken..." (Charlotte)

The child looked very tired, apparently, he had a very long journey behind him.

"What was the child's name?" (Fran)

"As far as I remember, it was Romeo." (Charlotte)

I knew it was Romeo! So Zelosried decided to fulfil the last wish of Murelia, whom he had betrayed? Why would he do such a thing?

"Where is this child?" (Fran)

"No, the fact is that we didn't take him." (Charlotte)

"Why?" (Fran)

It seems that Charlotte wasn't at the orphanage at the time, the only adult present was a teacher who is not currently here. When she tried to take Romeo from Zelos, he began to scream, cry and struggle. She said there was nothing she could do. As was the case with Io, as soon as Zelosrid hugged him, he immediately stopped crying and even smiled.

The moment Zelosried tried to move away, Romeo immediately began to cry loudly.

Then she told him that she could not a child away from a man who he has bonded so strongly with. She suggested that Zelosried take care of him for a bit longer. And if he really can't take care of him, then he can come back.

As a result, not being able to leave Romeo here, Zelosrid took the boy in his arms and left. It turns out that Charlotte bumped into him as he was leaving.

"To be honest, he seemed to me like a completely different person. Such a calm atmosphere reigned around him that he could not be compared with what he was at our last meeting." (Charlotte)

"Who, Zelosried?" (Fran)

"Yes."

It is impossible to believe in it. Not only did Zelosried bring Romeo to Barbra to give him up to an orphanage, without showing his former cruel disposition, but even the boy himself became attached to him. All of this was completely impossible to believe.

"But we couldn't leave it at just that..."

Although we reported him to the soldiers, they never caught him. That being said, even at the cost of their lives, ordinary soldiers and knights probably could never even get close enough to touch him.

"Zelosried... What's he thinking?" (Fran)

"Maybe, although he betrayed Murelia, he decided to give her a parting gift, fulfilling her last request?" I said to Fran.

"But he ended up taking Romeo with him. What's he going to do with him? Sacrifice?" Fran answered me.

Hmm. Did he take it with him simply because paternal instincts awoke within him? Moreover, if the child himself became attached to him...

I looked at Fran. I remembered the time when we were just starting the journey after our first meeting. Perhaps Zelosried felt for Romeo the same way I did for Fran then? Then I can understand why he decided not to take the child to an orphanage against his will.

Although this is just my imagination. Considering the worst could happen, maybe we should find out where Zelosried is now. While Fran's safety comes first, I'm definitely worried about Romeo's circumstances.

edited by Tonatsi