Chapter 229: Family Villa

"Hm? Mochi, what’s wrong?"

[ Xiao Tao is over there. ]

"Huh?"

Mochi stretched and contracted its squishy body before pointing, or at least seeming to point, toward the window.

"Mochi, you know where Xiao Tao is!?"

[ Of course I do~ One of my companions went with him. ]

!!

Qiu Nuoya suddenly remembered that several of Mochi’s split-off fragments had been clinging to Xiao Tao earlier, absorbing his feverish heat.

"That’s amazing, Mochi! You did a great job!"

[ Ehehe~ ]

"Nuoya, don’t tell me..."

"Yeah! Mochi says it knows where Xiao Tao is!"

Mochi could not identify Xiao Tao’s exact location. It could only indicate the direction, but that alone was more than enough for now.

Still, Qiu Nuoya hesitated for a moment, wondering whether it was really all right to leave the room in such a terrible state.

Fortunately, Prince Lucien reassured him.

"We can handle things here."

With that, Qiu Nuoya decided to leave the situation to them.

Just to be safe, he summoned Long to accompany them as a bodyguard. Needless to say, Shangguan Wan’er’s excitement skyrocketed the moment she saw him.

Qiu Nuoya and the others followed Mochi as it bounced along the ground, guiding them toward their destination. They rushed through the streets after the slime, running at full speed.

An adventurer chasing after a slime at top speed was bound to attract plenty of attention, but at this point, Qiu Nuoya could not afford to worry about appearances.

"This is..."

The place Mochi had led them to was an upscale residential district on the outskirts of the city, where luxurious villas stood close together.

"Haa... haa... haa... Wait... just a moment..."

By the time Qiu Nuoya looked back, Viktor was already exhausted.

As adventurers by profession, they were all reasonably fit, but Viktor’s stamina was low due to his occupation as a mage. Mages did not fight by relying on their physical strength, after all. Even when hunting monsters, Viktor could simply use teleportation to move around, so he rarely had any reason to run at full speed like this.

Qiu Nuoya was a mage too, but his current body belonged to a lively young body, so when it came to sheer stamina, he was actually in better shape than Viktor.

Being young really is great.

"Viktor, aren’t you getting tired a little too quickly? Want me to carry you?"

"No. Thank. You."

Igor, the party’s walking powerhouse, was not even out of breath yet. Apparently, Viktor’s pride would not allow him to be carried by Igor, so he firmly rejected the offer.

"Still, haa... I thought it would be better if we were heading outside the city, but I suppose a bad feeling really does tend to come true..."

"A bad feeling?"

"There is a possibility that the mastermind behind Xiao Tao and Warren’s kidnapping is a noble. Xiao Tao was nearly kidnapped once yesterday as well, and yesterday’s culprits were also targeting black-haired children. Whoever is behind this seems to be extremely fixated on black-haired children."

Come to think of it, Viktor had already suggested yesterday that the kidnappers might be bored nobles with too much time on their hands.

Unfortunately, that suspicion had turned out to be correct in the worst possible way.

"But wasn’t the purpose of this attack the Divine Sword?"

"Then they could have simply taken the sword and left, couldn’t they? Besides, Xiao Tao is not even the sword’s owner anymore. It is true that rumors have been spreading that the owner of the Divine Sword is a black-haired child, but if the sword was their only objective, would it not have made more sense for them to simply take it and escape?"

"Well, apparently they also intended to kidnap them..."

"Those two certainly do not look like the sons of wealthy families. If I were going to kidnap someone, I would choose the Saintess. She was dressed in clothing that looked expensive enough to be worth a fortune."

When Viktor put it that way, Qiu Nuoya had to admit that the kidnapping of those two did seem strange.

[ Hey, Nuoya, are we still taking a break? ]

"Oh, no. We’re going. Which way?"

[ That way~ ]

Qiu Nuoya and the others resumed following Mochi.

The slime led them to a large, impressive mansion and began bouncing up and down in front of the gate.

[ Here~ ]

The mansion itself had an air of age and dignity about it, but it certainly did not look neglected. Both the building and the surrounding garden appeared to be meticulously maintained.

However, the moment Viktor looked up at the mansion, he let out a long, heavy sigh.

"Haah... Of all the possibilities, it looks like the one I was hoping for the least is about to come true."

"What? What is it?"

"This is my family’s villa. It is my father’s second residence."

Viktor’s father...

Cassian, the Minister of General Affairs, if Qiu Nuoya remembered correctly.

"Huh? Don’t tell me the kidnapper is your father?"

"I would rather not think about it... I highly doubt he was directly involved, but if Xiao Tao is being held here, then there is no doubt that my father was the one who gave the order. I already had a bad feeling when I saw the magical crest engraved on Xiao Tao."

Viktor’s expression looked as though he had bitten into something bitter. It was obvious from his face that he wanted nothing to do with this if he could help it.

"Well, if this is your family’s villa, getting inside shouldn’t be a problem. Let’s hurry."

Igor reached for the gate, but Viktor quietly shook his head.

"While I know the entire layout of this mansion, I am equally familiar with how extensive its security is. Igor, if you try to pass through that gate without permission, you will be burned to a crisp without so much as a warning. And once you are nicely roasted, the familiars released in the garden will probably have a delicious meal."

As Viktor spoke, he tossed a small stone over the gate.