Half a year had passed since the Fittoa Region disappeared.
She could only stare in stunned silence.
The highway Roxy now stood on was a cobblestone road maintained by the
And yet, the road vanished at a certain boundary line ahead. As if nothing had ever happened, grassland stretched out in its place.
"..."
Something had happened. She knew that much. What exactly had happened, she did not. She could only see the result.
That the Fittoa Region had vanished. That
That
She had heard this story countless times on the way here. Surely not, she had thought. Surely they were pulling her leg. At any rate, she had refused to believe it.
Until she saw the reality before her eyes, she had clung to that last thin shred of hope.
Roxy's knees buckled beneath her.
"So you lost your family too, huh?"
The carriage driver who had given her a ride this far was suddenly standing behind her.
"A talented student of mine—"
"Student? If he was a magician's apprentice, he must have known the risk of losing his life."
"He was only ten years old."
"Well, that's... too young..."
The driver consoled her with a pat on the shoulder. After a while, he muttered offhandedly.
"Actually, there's a refugee camp for Fittoa Region survivors over there. Want to check it out? I mean, surviving at ten would've been tough, but maybe there's someone still around."
Roxy shot her head up.
"I'll go!"
If it was Rudeus and the others, they would surely be fine. He would have used his quick wits to survive. They had to be living healthily in some settlement.
Roxy once again embraced that last thin shred of hope.
--- The refugee camp had so many wooden buildings that it was less a camp and more a village unto itself. But a heavy, oppressive atmosphere hung over it all.
(In the Asura Kingdom, of all places...)
The Asura Kingdom Roxy knew was the wealthiest nation in the world. Its people brimmed with energy, and smiles were everywhere. Food was abundant, and monsters were scarce. It was the easiest place in the world to live.
And yet, there were no smiles here.
The settlement didn't appear to be short on food either. It was originally a prosperous place. One could survive simply by pulling up grass to eat.
If there was no hunger, people should have been smiling. It wasn't like the grim, cutthroat atmosphere of the Demon Continent. It shouldn't have been. And yet, Roxy could not help but grimace at the scene before her.
The refugee camp's provisional
A man who had lost his home and his family wept openly before the bulletin board. He had spent half a year making his way back, and this was how he was met.
A certain priest slammed his Milis Church cross—his tool of the trade—against the ground. He would believe no more.
A certain merchant tried to slit his own throat with a knife and had to be restrained by those around him. He claimed he had lost something more precious than life.
This was a terrible place. This might not work. Roxy began gathering information with a heavy heart, as though the atmosphere itself were dragging her down.
--- An hour later, Roxy had a rough understanding of what had happened.
After that anomaly in the sky, a large-scale magical disaster had occurred. It was not accompanied by an explosion, but its scale was enormous—the people of the Fittoa Region had been transported across the entire world. Buildings and trees had vanished to somewhere, and only the people had been flung to some unknown location across the globe.
The transported people had tried to make their way home. And upon arriving, they had found nothing remaining—and fallen into despair.
Roxy examined the bulletin board. The names of the deceased were posted there. Beside those were lists of the missing.
And further alongside those were commission after commission—messages for family members, and requests to adventurers along the lines of "If you see this person during your travels, please bring them here."
In a particularly prominent spot, a notice under the Fittoa Regional Lord's name requested information on the missing and deceased.
The volume of requests was unprecedented. Roxy had been active as an adventurer for some time. Even so, she had never seen a bulletin board overflowing with this many commissions. The sheer scale of the disaster was evident.
The deceased. The missing. Perhaps, on her way here, she had encountered some of those people. She had heard rumors of people suddenly appearing out of nowhere. There were all manner of wild tales like that, so she had paid them little mind.
Roxy began with the list of the deceased. The numbers were small. She recognized none of the names.
The list of missing persons, on the other hand, was vast. The sheer volume made her eyes sting.
After all, this was a transport across the entire world. Some would have been killed by monsters and left nothing but bones behind. On mountaintops, in the sky, in the middle of the sea—many would have died instantly. That they had confirmed the deaths of as many as they had was, in itself, an achievement.
"Found them..."
Roxy's brow furrowed. She had found the names of Rudeus and his family on the missing persons list.
Rudeus Greyrat.
She knew that Lilia had become one of
Paul and
"Well, at least I should be glad they aren't dead..."
Roxy stared vacantly at the message board. The desperation of those who had written the entries was palpable. She felt, just slightly, envious. There was no one out there who would search for her with such fervor.
Come to think of it, how were her parents back home? She had quarreled with them and left the village, and quite some time had passed since then. Until recently she had thought it a mere handful of years by Migurd standards. But time passed quickly. Perhaps she should send a letter.
"This is..."
There she found a single message. It was written by Paul Greyrat.
"For Rudeus. Zenith, Lilia, and Aisha are missing. I am protecting Norn.
I do not know where you are currently located. However, I believe that you alone could make your way back here. Therefore, the search for you will be put on hold.
I will travel to the Milis Continent. It is the homeland of Zenith. I will also leave word at Lilia's hometown and her family's home. You should search the northern Central Continent. If you find them, contact the address below. The same goes for Zenith and Lilia.
Also—to anyone who knows me or my family, or any former members of the 'Black Wolf's Fang': I ask for your help in the search. The former members of the 'Black Wolf's Fang' may have their grievances with me. I am not asking you to let bygones be bygones. You can curse me. You can tell me to lick your boots, and I will. My family's fortune has been entirely wiped out, so I cannot offer payment. But I am begging you. Help me find my family.
— Contact — Milis Continent, Kingdom of Milis, Holy Capital Millision, Adventurer's Guild. Party name: 'Buena Village Search Team'. Clan name: 'Fittoa Region Search Corps.' — Paul Greyrat"
Paul was alive. Knowing this, Roxy felt a measure of relief. Rudeus's letters had painted a poor picture of him, but in a situation like this, he was exactly the kind of person you wanted on your side.
And then she thought. Should she join the search herself?
That family had taken her in and cared for her. Those two years spent with them were still good memories—by every measure. She had no reservations about helping them.
Yes. She would join the search. Roxy decided.
How should she look?
The "Black Wolf's Fang" was most likely the party Paul had belonged to before. Those members would have no acquaintance with Rudeus. They probably didn't know Lilia either. But she would focus on searching for Rudeus, since he had been deprioritized. Paul seemed to believe Rudeus would return on his own, but that boy had remarkable adaptability. He might have settled in wherever he had been transported. If that was the case, she needed to inform him of what had happened and bring him here.
But now—where should she search? Paul had made his way to the Holy Capital of Milis. That meant he would have left messages along his route.
The border of the Asura Kingdom, Eastport in the Dragon Kingdom, Westport in the Holy Kingdom of Milis. He would have left messages at those three places at minimum. In that case, she should search outside that route.
The northern Central Continent, the Begaritt Continent, the Demon Continent. Somewhere around there.
She had never been to the Begaritt Continent, but she had heard it was a land teeming with monsters and labyrinths. The Demon Continent—she had some familiarity with the terrain, but it was dangerous to travel alone. If safety was the priority, then the northern region...
No. That was precisely why she should go. Because the land was dangerous, few would venture there. And she could infiltrate a party that was headed for one of those two places.
Yes. Once the decision was made, there was no point lingering here. She would travel to Eastport in the Dragon Kingdom. From there, she would find a party heading to Begaritt or the Demon Continent.
Roxy made up her mind and set off toward the south.
She was certain Rudeus was alive.