It was six months after the Fittoa Region vanished. Roxy had finally
reached the area, only to be greeted by nothing but grass-covered plains. She
took in the sight wide-eyed and dumbfounded.
She was standing on the main highway, a stone-paved road. No other
country had a road so magnificent that far from its capital. Asura Kingdom
had developed it and laid it out, stretching from one end of the kingdom to
the other.
But that was how the road had been when she last traversed it. Now it
was gone, abruptly cut off in front of her. There was nothing else as far as the
eye could see. Nothing but grass, spread far and wide.
"…"
Something had happened. She knew that. But she wasn't sure what. All
she knew was that the Fittoa Region had disappeared, Buena Village was
gone, and Rudeus, his kind family who had accepted her despite her race, and
everyone else, had disappeared.
Roxy caught wind of the story several times during her journey here.
She was sure it couldn't be true, sure that people were just trying to deceive
her. At any rate, she chose not to believe what she heard. She believed that
Rudeus and his family were definitely alive. They were just fine and nothing
had happened to them. She staked everything on that one sliver of hope.
At least until now, when she finally saw the reality spread out before
her.
Roxy's knees gave out from under her.
"So, you lost someone too, eh?" the driver of the coach she took said
from behind her.
"An exceptional apprentice," she answered.
"An apprentice, huh? Being a magician's apprentice, he must've been
prepared for the possibility of losing his life anyway, yeah?"
"He was only ten."
"Well…that is too soon." He patted her on the shoulder as if to soothe
her.
For a while, Roxy could do nothing but stare at the earth at her feet.
She didn't want to think about anything; she couldn't. She wasn't even sure
what she should do from here.
The driver watched her silently before he spoke again, his words
measured. "Actually, there's a Fittoa Region refugee camp. Want to go see?
Well, it'd be difficult for a ten-year old kid to survive what happened, but
you never know."
Roxy's head jerked up. "I'll go!" This was Rudeus after all. Surely he
was all right. No doubt he'd used his quick wits to survive. He was surely in
perfect health, living in that settlement.
Once again, she clutched firmly at a sliver of hope.
***
The refugee camp comprised numerous wooden buildings and was
roughly the size of a village. A great number of people bustled about. They
were anything but carefree; a dark, heavy mood hung over them.
I never thought I would see something like this in Asura Kingdom,
Roxy thought.
The Asura Kingdom Roxy knew was the wealthiest country in the
world. The people there had faces full of optimism, and there were smiles
everywhere you looked. Food was plentiful and monsters were few. It was
the easiest place to live.
There were no smiles to be found here.
The settlement didn't seem to lack for food. This was a fairly bountiful
area. They wouldn't starve, not so long as they could pull up the grass and eat
it. As long as they weren't in danger of starving, they should have been
smiling. Even if a disaster had taken place, things weren't nearly as dire as
they were on the Demon Continent. Or so she thought, but she couldn't help
frowning at the sight before her. The refugee camp had a temporary adventurer's guild. It was there, in
front of the bulletin board that normally had various requests pinned to it, that
the melancholy dwelled the thickest.
A man who had lost his house and family stood there wailing. "What
the hell, what the hell is this! Six whole months, it took six whole months for
me to get back here, dammit! Laura, Francis, why are all of you dead?!" He
lost his family, and not just them, but his house, his land, the tools of his
trade, everything he had. His heart-wrenching screams were difficult to hear,
but no one could stop him from lamenting.
"God! Is this all your fault?!" A priest threw the tools of his trade, the
symbol of a Millis religious organization, onto the ground. "I won't believe
anymore! You're not gods—you just ridicule and kill us! You're cruel
demons!" Face full of hatred, he looked up at the heavens and cursed. There
were other Millis believers present, but none of them were praying to the
gods.
A merchant was trying to slit his own throat, only to be stopped by the
people around him. "Don't stop me!"
"Hey, knock it off! What good does dying do? Good things can still
happen to you if you're alive!"
"I-If I live?! Do you seriously believe that? Dammit, I-I lost something
more important than…than my own life! Please, just…let me die! Dammit,
dammit, dammit!" The man squatted and began crying, his face contorted in
despair. His entire body trembled.
This was a horrible place. Everyone's faces were grief-stricken.
Roxy had never known a place so dominated by sadness before. She
had watched many people die, had even escaped scenes of carnage herself
numerous times. This was the first time she had ever seen a place of such
pure anguish.
This might be a pointless endeavor, she thought.
Pulled in by the heavy atmosphere, she felt close to tears, but she
pressed on and began her hunt for information.
***
An hour passed.
Roxy learned the gist of what happened. After the sky turned strange, a
large-scale mana calamity occurred over the Fittoa Region.
It was not an explosion exactly, but it did spread far and wide.
Everything in the Fittoa Region was enveloped by it and teleported randomly
to locations all over the world. The buildings and trees disappeared entirely,
scattering only the people that had been there. Some of them had managed to
return to the region, but realized nothing was left of their hometowns and lost
all hope.
"Truly terrible," Roxy muttered as she looked at the bulletin board.
There were rows of names listed as either deceased or missing. Posted beside
them were messages to family members and requests such as, If you see this
person in your travels, please bring them here.
The most eye-catching part of the notice board was a request that was
pinned under the name of Fittoa's liege lord, asking for information on the
missing and deceased, an unprecedented number of people.
As an adventurer, Roxy had done her fair share of work. Never in her
life had she seen a bulletin board this full of requests, nor one that was so
desperate and so heart-wrenching. It was clear just how widespread the
damage of this calamity really was.
Perhaps she had run across someone on the list of the deceased and the
missing on the way here. She heard rumors about people suddenly
reappearing. Of course she hadn't paid it any mind at the time; there was
always idle gossip like that. If only she could remember something, she
might be of some help to the people here.
"No…" She shook her head, stopping her train of thought right there.
She'd taken the biggest highway across the Central Continent to get here.
Any information she had, someone else had probably already reported by
now.
"…"
Roxy instead turned her gaze to the list of the deceased and began
going through the names in order. Despite the scale of the disaster, the list of deceased was relatively short, and she didn't recognize any of the names.
By comparison, the list of missing people was so long it was painful to
look at. It made sense given they had all been transported elsewhere. Surely
some of them had been attacked and killed by monsters, leaving behind no
remains by which to identify them. There were many places that could kill
one instantly: mountaintops, mid-air, or in the sea. It was incredible that some
of the deaths were even confirmed.
"There it is."
Roxy furrowed her brows. She found the names of Rudeus and the
others in the missing persons column.
Rudeus Greyrat. Zenith Greyrat. Lilia Greyrat. Aisha Greyrat.
She knew that Lilia had become one of Paul's wives; Rudeus had
written as much in one of his letters. Paul and Norn's names had a line drawn
through them. She took another look at the list of deceased just in case. They
weren't there; that meant they had to be alive. Then again, it could have also
meant there was no information on them. A short-lived moment of relief. "At
least I can rejoice in the fact that they're not dead for now."
Absentmindedly she looked over the message board again. The
desperation of the writers was so clear.
Roxy wondered if her own parents were doing well back home. Quite
some time had passed since she fought with them and left her village. Until
recently, she hadn't paid much attention to the flow of time, in part because
she was a member of the Migurd race. The months passed quickly. Perhaps
she should at least send a letter.
"That's…"
She found a message on the board. The writer was Paul Greyrat.
To Rudeus,
Zenith, Lilia and Aisha are missing. Norn is safe in my custody. I don't
know where you are right now, but I'm sure that even if you're alone, you'll
make it back here. So I'll search for you last.
For now, I'm headed to Millis Continent. That's where Zenith was born and raised. I've sent a message to Lilia's hometown and house as well. I
want you to search the northern part of the Central Continent. If you find any
of them, contact me with the info below.
Zenith, Lilia, if either of you see this, please contact me as well.
For anyone that might know me or my family, or former members of
the Fang of the Black Wolf, please help me search. I'm sure the members of
the Fang of the Black Wolf may have mixed feelings about me. I won't ask
you to sweep it under the rug. You can scream at me all you want. If you ask
me to lick your boots, I'll do it. All my assets are gone, so I can't pay you, but
please. Help me search for my family.
Contact information:
Millis Continent, Holy Country of Millis's Capital Millishion,
Adventurer's Guild. Party Name: Search Squadron for Buena Village
Residents. Clan Name: Roa Region's Search for Missing Persons
Association.
—From Paul Greyrat
Paul was alive. Knowing that brought her relief. Rudeus had griped
about Paul in his letters, but it seemed Paul was especially reliable in
situations like this.
Roxy stopped to think. The best course of action would be to help with
the search. She was indebted to their family after all. Even now she thought
fondly of the two years she spent with them, for many reasons. She was more
than willing to help.
All right, let's do this, she decided. The moment she made up her mind,
her thoughts started churning. But who should I search for, and how?
Fang of the Black Wolf was likely the name of Paul's adventuring
party. Those people probably weren't acquainted with Rudeus, or Lilia, for
that matter. But since Paul had left Rudeus for last, she decided to search for
him instead. It seemed Paul thought Rudeus would return to Fittoa, but that
boy was highly adaptable. It was just as likely that he would settle in
whatever place he had been teleported off to. If that were the case, she needed
to tell him what had happened and bring him back. I'll search for Rudeus then. Now, where to start?
Paul had gone to the capital of the Holy Millis Country. That meant he
probably left similar messages along the way, specifically in three places: the
Asura Kingdom's borders, the Dragon King Kingdom's eastern port, and the
Holy Country of Millis's western port.
In that case, she should search beyond those places. That would be the
northern part of the Central Continent, the Begaritt Continent, and the Demon
Continent. One of those three. She had never been to Begaritt before, but she
heard it was full of labyrinths and monsters. And while she had some
familiarity with the geography of the Demon Continent, it was dangerous to
journey there alone.
If she wanted a safe route, then the northern region would be the best.
But that was exactly why she had to go to one of the other two. She could
find a party and journey to one of those two regions instead.
Good. Now that she had made up her mind, there was no point in
lingering here. She would head for the Dragon King's eastern port. From
there, she would look for a party heading for either the Begaritt Continent or
the Demon Continent.
Once that was settled Roxy moved swiftly. She finished the
preparations for her journey and set out from the refugee camp.
Strangely, just getting a move on was enough to lift the veil of sadness.
Not just that, but her belief that Rudeus was still alive strengthened with each
step.
I want to sit at the table with all of them again, even just once more,
she thought as her feet took her south.
That was the beginning of Roxy Migurdia's long journey.