小嫂子的味道

Three humanoid figures walked side by side in an alleyway. The arena in which this alleyway was going through was of slums situated at the northern border of the Sofrora city—the capital of the Zenith kingdom.

Here out in the borders, the population consisted mainly of people who were even below than commoners in terms of social ranks and money. This also was a popular place for traveling adventurers to stop by as the expenses of staying here for a day or two were cheap.

A part of this place was also used as a relief camp for soldiers who were injured in the wars which took place multiple years ago. There were also refugees who ran away from their home kingdom during those wars.

By providing them with the right to work, to health, and to education, refugees can start productive lives in their host countries. The faster they can integrate into the labor force, the faster they can become productive members of society.

But aside from that, the three people walking side by side were standing out in the crowd quite too much. Their clothing looked expensive and delicate even though it was just an academy uniform, and each of them had a sword tied to their waist.

They were looking around and scanning the surrounding with their eyes as if trying to find something…or someone?

These three humans were, of course, Anya, Leon, and Ellyn. After successfully getting the permission to leave the academy and search for Zero, they\'d been roaming around in this slum district for about half an hour.

And they were not lost but were searching for a building—in which Zero was possibly held captive. However, there was a slight problem. None of them were accustomed to this district hence they weren\'t able to find that building even when the address was written in the message Anya received.

Though a few more minutes of roaming here and there and asking the directions from random strangers on the road, they finally found the building.

Right now the trio was by far in the most outset area of the city. Just a little further away from the walls which protected the city, was a big warehouse.

It was located in between many small houses and taverns but the warehouse because of its big size, stood out and was visible even from a distance.

The three of them were standing right outside the gates but surprisingly no one was here to stop them. They\'d at least expected some guards or bandits to be blocking there but it was not like that even the slightest. Aside from the people on the roads, there was dead silence.

The warehouse was surrounded by intertwining fencing of meal wires hence there was no one near it—it was like a separate property, unlike other buildings here which were stuffed together.

Opening the almost worn-out gate attached to the fence, the trio stepped inside and entered a dusty ground. A couple of steps later they reached the actual warehouse.

"Be on your guard," Leon warned as he went forward and let the two girls stay in the rear.

He carefully pressed his hand against the metal door and slowly pushed it backward. Surprisingly, it wasn\'t locked and opened with a creaking sound.

Leon peeked inside to see if it was safe or not and when he was sure of that, he turned around and signaled the girls to come inside. They didn\'t want to take a chance and attract the enemy\'s attention that\'s why they were either using sign language or only short commands if speaking.

The trio made its way in, the insides were almost dark as the only source of light was the sunlight coming inside from the door Leon just opened.

Each of them had their hand on the hilt of their swords; ready to attack or defend at any time. As they moved forward, they were looking around and scanned the surroundings.

Here they found one thing. This building might look like a warehouse from the outside and be of the same size, but it wasn\'t exactly one. The shell was sure the same but the interior was completely different; instead of it being a large ass storage room, it was divided into many sections as there were multiple doors on the front wall.

Three doors were visible so possibly three more chambers were there. The chamber in which the trio currently was was maybe bigger than the other two—it can be determined by comparing the length of the chamber with the overall length of the warehouse from the outside.

However, aside from that everything else was fine. But that was the problem here—it was quiet.

…Too quiet.

"Isn\'t anyone here? Or were we given the wrong address?" Ellyn asked in a not-so-loud voice.

It indeed was true that they could\'ve been provided with a false address by Challes so that he can buy time to escape or something. After all, they had believed in that message and without a second thought, they thought it must be real.

Though this wasn\'t exactly their fault; at that time Anya was panicking—even if didn\'t show it on her face Leon and Ellyn were able to pick up on that—and second of the most, Ryfin assured them that Challes is not that kind of person who\'d do something this low.

Both the situations mixed and this here was the result. They can\'t blame anyone if it turns out that they were misled and this was a false address.

"I don\'t think that\'s true," Leon said, answering Ellyn\'s question a bit late.

And he was not saying this just to comfort her, his words were stating just what he was seeing.

Out of the three doors in front of them, the one in the middle opened and a person came out from the room behind it. He was wearing a grey colored shirt and black pants, with glasses on his face.

He was Challes. His eyes weren\'t those of a teacher looking at their students, but something far worse.