“What on earth… happened here…?”

Rio muttered as she looked around the room, taking a sharp breath. But no matter how long they stayed here, the chances of Ivan and Phonia returning were zero. Shu expanded his presence detection to its fullest and began scanning the surroundings.

“I don’t know… Damn it, even at full range, presence detection isn’t picking up anything.”

“If Phonia-chan and the others were captured by pursuers…”

“Then it wouldn’t be in Reblos, but at the Lagroi Marquis household in the Imperial Capital.”

Ivan had fled from the Imperial Capital to Reblos. If he had been captured and taken away, the most likely destination was the capital.

“Alright, let’s head to the Imperial Capital immediately.”

“Yeah.”

“Nir, let’s go.”

“Woof!”

With a bark, Nir, who had been sniffing around the room, perked up. Without hesitation, they left the hideout and set off toward the capital.

Now that Shu thought about it, he had heard at the Reblos Adventurers’ Guild that there was a D-rank request for capturing runaway slaves. Could it still be open, with Ivan and Phonia as the targets? No, it was hard to imagine they would leave two overlapping requests like that active…

As Shu prepared to take to the skies for the fastest route, Rio suddenly stopped him.

“Wait a second, Shu!”

“Huh?”

“What if we fly ahead and end up overtaking Phonia-chan and the others?”

“Ah…”

She had a point. If they charged straight to the marquis’ estate, they could end up with nothing. Worse, their plan to free Ivan and Phonia under the chaos of the Sea Emperor Turtle’s attack could fail. If they had only been taken today, rushing in from above would be the worst move.

“Woof woof!”

“Nir? What’s wrong?”

Just as Shu was considering a slower, ground-based pursuit through the forest, Nir barked and started sniffing the ground before dashing off.

“Oh, is he tracking their scent?”

“Let’s follow him!”

They ran through the forest, following Nir as he pursued the scent. Shu used aerial mobility to keep up, ensuring they stayed on his trail. However, they never managed to catch up to Ivan and Phonia before emerging onto the highway.

“Let’s trust Nir and follow the scent from here.”

“Right. There’s a chance they didn’t head straight for the capital, so we need to be thorough.”

Better safe than sorry. They needed to be fast, even if it meant disturbing some of the travelers on the road. People with keen-eyed guards tensed up as Shu and Rio raced by at high speed, but they didn’t slow down.

After about an hour, they finally reached the Imperial Capital. It had taken longer than flying, but confirming the scent led here was a success in itself.

The entrance to the capital was, as always, crowded with long lines of people. Since Reblos hadn’t suffered a full-blown attack from the Sea Emperor Turtle yet, there weren’t many refugees, so the congestion was manageable.

Fortunately, as S-rank adventurers, they had a special privilege. According to Lowell, they were allowed to use the noble’s entrance. A convenient perk, especially when in a hurry.

That said, Shu already knew they would get stopped.

“We should just walk up with our adventurer IDs out,” he muttered.

“Hey, wait! You’re in the wrong line!”

Shu and Rio exchanged amused glances. As expected, it wasn’t that simple.

“I heard that S-rank adventurers are allowed to pass through this gate.”

“Yes, I’m also an S-rank adventurer.”

They both held up their adventurer IDs clearly for the guards to see. The two gatekeepers immediately started whispering to each other.

“Forging an S-rank adventurer ID is a serious crime, you know?”

“Yeah, but… who would be dumb enough to fake something that would get caught instantly?”

“…They’re just kids. Maybe they don’t realize how big of a deal this is.”

What’s with these guys? Shu sighed inwardly.

They were here on a request from the Imperial Army, after all.

Deciding to speed things up, Shu pulled out the request document from his spatial storage.

“We’ve brought the heads of the Sea Emperor Turtle per the Imperial Army’s request. Can we pass?”

““Huh?””

The guards gawked at them, about to ask where the proof was. Before they could, Rio opened her spatial storage.

““AAAAAAHHHH!!!””

Both guards screamed and fell backward at the sight.

“We’re in the middle of transporting these. Can we go through?”

Shu pressed the question, and the guards frantically nodded while pointing toward the city.

“Thank you.”

Rio smiled sweetly, but instead of being charmed, the guards turned pale.

Her smile was supposed to be adorable—Shu couldn’t understand their reaction.

With that, the three of them stepped past the gate, under the watchful eyes of those waiting in the general queue.

It was Shu’s first time properly looking at the capital, as they had skipped over it when traveling to Reblos. The city felt bustling and chaotic, much like the port town.

Nir continued tracking the scent. The trail indicated that Ivan and Phonia had entered through the general entrance.

“So, we’ve made it to the capital…”

“Yeah. If they’ve already been handed over to their employer, this could get tricky.”

It was crucial to decide how to act now. Should they assume the worst and plan accordingly?

“Bringing up the slave capture request could give us a legitimate reason to visit the Lagroi Marquis household.”

“But then what?”

“That’s the problem… I don’t like it, but we might have to use our last resort.”

“Last resort?”

“Well… since they’re slaves, in the worst-case scenario, we could just buy them back.”

As they discussed their approach, they followed Nir deeper into the capital’s affluent district.

Their bad feeling proved correct.

Eventually, Nir came to a halt in front of a grand estate.