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IBP 77
Caligo headed toward Chloe's mansion.
Naturally, that place was already in a state of chaos.
Duke Ardos was shouting loudly in front of the door to Chloe's annex.
“Search every inch of the annex immediately, and secure the main gate of the estate to ensure she hasn't slipped outside.”
“Yes, Your Grace!”
Caligo gave him a polite nod.
“Hello.”
“Ah, Grand Duke Caligo.”
“Where is Coco?”
“We haven't found her yet. Chloe needs to return... but she is currently away.”
“May I also enter the Lady's mansion to look for her?”
After a moment of hesitation, Duke Ardos nodded. Caligo quickly ascended to the second floor, where several knights were stationed.
However, the knights had also failed to find Coco on the second floor.
Just then!
Agent Jack, tapping Caligo's hand with his beak, stepped forward with a grand air.
“What is it, bird?”
Agent Jack was a bird who looked intelligent at a single glance.
He stealthily tapped the wall.
As if there were a space inside, a small black vortex appeared and then quickly vanished.
‘What is this?’
Caligo couldn't exactly understand the words or actions of the chirping bird.
But there was one thing.
Thanks to his efforts to commune with the tiger, his intuition had become sharp.
He instantly created a small shadow and moved it into the vortex.
The moment he looked inside through the vision of the shadow he had created...
Coco, whom he had been searching for so desperately, came into view.
He was prepared to leap from the ground and dive into the vortex in the wall, regardless of who was around.
But Coco...
“D-don't come.”
...While saying that, she kept her head bowed low, rejecting all approach from others.
“Coco.”
Coco instinctively realized that the shadow had come to find her.
“Um, how... how did you find me...?”
“I just found you,” Caligo murmured, barely managing to catch his breath.
“Let's get out of here quickly. It's too dark here; I can't even see your face properly.”
“But, if I go out...”
“Why? Is there a problem? Did someone say something to you?”
“No, it's not that... I-I'm too weak right now.”
“...”
“I don't want to show my face...”
Coco lightly pushed Caligo's shadow away with her tiny hand.
It looked as if a sick animal were desperately trying to hide its frailty.
Because of that, Caligo could not bring himself to reach closer to Coco.
With her head bowed and her body curled up, Coco whispered softly.
“Um, just for ten minutes...”
He simply couldn't bring himself to approach. It felt as if she might break if he did.
Caligo could only stare blankly at the wall, unable to enter the vortex.
* * *
At the same time.
A silent plain in the outskirts, where not even a breath could be heard.
Chloe raised her hand in the air and wrote down several casting formulas.
Then, a pitch-black darkness descended upon the high, clear blue sky. It looked as if sudden rain clouds had cast a shadow.
For today, she had finished blocking the visibility here.
However, perhaps because she had only just escaped the danger of a berserk state, the act of using her power still felt clumsy.
‘Clumping darkness together for an attack is easy, but shaping it into a spear to attack is still difficult.’
It felt as if her stomach were churning and pushing upward.
Still, she felt she would improve if she kept practicing.
‘At this level, it might not be so bad.’
Chloe turned her head with a fairly satisfied expression.
‘I shouldn't overdo it for the time being...’
That was the end of today's practice.
With those thoughts, she returned to the mansion.
‘I'm tired.’
She wondered if that child was playing in her annex again today.
As she was about to enter with such trivial thoughts, a servant, face pale, hurriedly bowed and spoke.
“I-I greet Lady Chloe. By any chance, have you been with the young lady or seen her today?”
“No.”
“T-then...”
Chloe, who had been about to pass by after her brief reply, suddenly looked bewildered.
“Why? What happened?”
“T-the young lady definitely entered the annex, but she... she disappeared...”
“...What? Who disappeared?”
Her mansion was riddled with secret paths created with dark magic.
If that little child had accidentally entered one of those secret paths...
‘She must be terrified.’
Though rare, there were occasional cases where maids accidentally entered the passages she had created and became trapped.
Still, it had never happened before that Coco got trapped in a passage.
Thus, she hadn't realized that her own mansion wasn't entirely safe.
She rushed into the mansion.
The thought of the child being missing made her mouth go dry.
“First, let's check the interior.”
Chloe drew a light dark magic circle in the air.
‘I must check the secret paths first.’
As she thought this, the darkness that draped over the entire mansion began to move.
Since she had just practiced dark magic, she felt a wave of nausea, but she didn't care about such a thing.
The moment the pitch-black darkness surged through the mansion like a rising tide...
She used the darkness to thoroughly search the first floor and then stepped firmly up to the second floor where her bedroom was located.
And...
She saw a figure standing still right in front of her bed.
“Lady Chloe.”
She came face-to-face with Grand Duke Caligo, who was staring intently at the wall.
“...I heard from the tiger that Coco was missing. So I just... arrived.”
Sweat was on his forehead, and his breathing was heavy.
“Everyone is searching outside, saying she's not in the mansion. But I thought Coco might be in this house. So, I listened closely.”
A brief silence followed.
And in that gap, the sound of a small sniffle could be heard from a crack in the wall.
“...It seems she is inside.”
“Yeah. I think she's trapped inside this wall, but... Coco...”
...The sound of soft sobbing from inside the passage grew slightly louder.
And that voice was enough to make Chloe snap.
“I will open the passage immediately.”
Pitch-black darkness flickered at her fingertips.
However, Caligo shook his head while looking at the wall with concern.
“...No. Coco told me not to come inside, My Lady.”
Chloe whispered lowly while staring at the wall.
“...What did she say?”
Her gaze was trembling slightly.
* * *
Ten minutes later, after hearing the full story, Chloe's gaze turned cold.
‘Why on earth was she in there?’
She thought it was a mistake, but was it intentional?
If so, there must be a reason.
Not knowing the exact reason made her anxious.
“We cannot leave her inside. It is too dark there; the child will be anxious.”
Chloe took a sharp breath in and let it out again.
After several deep breaths, she felt as though the sobbing from inside the passage had subsided slightly.
Chloe opened the door to the passage once more.
And...
It was when she took a bold step forward to walk inside and bring Coco out.
“N-not Big Sister.”
“...What?”
“...Not Big Sister. C-Caligo... please come...”
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