Chapter 99 – Vi-Vi’s Past
Cruz suddenly stood from her seat after hearing the whole story.
「Okay! Let’s go and find Vi-Vi’s sister!」
「Sit. Down.」
Cruz was about to run out of the room when Luka grabbed her shoulder and sat her back in her seat.
Luka looked at Cruz and then spoke kindly.
「Cruz. Finding someone out there is NOT an easy job. Just leave the information gathering to me.」
「But…」
「Cruz, let’s do this like we usually do.」
「Hmph!」
Yureena also gently reprimanded her and Cruz puffed her cheeks out in anger.
However, it’s true you couldn’t leave something like this up to Cruz.
「I’d like to help search too, I can provide defense.」
「Al, you stay here and defend Mulg.」
「Yeah…I guess I’ll let you find her.」
「Don’t worry yourself, the job’s not that hard. It seems like she’s still looking around for zombification materials, after all.」
Since the forest hermit’s base was somewhere within a vast forest, it would have been hard to search for it.
However, as Luka said, since the hermit was still collecting materials, it shouldn’t be too hard to find where she resided.
Plus, the guild had a lot of talented scouts that could find her.
All you had to do is get the suppliers and the guilds to cooperate in finding her.
「I think we should be able to find her in less than one week. I’ll let you know as soon as we do.」
「Sure.」
While we were talking, Vi-Vi just stood, staring at the ground.
「Moo?」
Moofy was nuzzling Vi-Vi, clearly worried about her.
Vi-Vi rubbed Moofy’s head while talking, almost to herself.
「My sister isn’t the type of magician to use zombies…」
「You’re probably right.」
「My sister is strong. There’s no way she’d need to make zombies.」
「Yeah, we know, Vi-Vi.」
I tried agreeing with Vi-Vi.
Her sister might not be responsible, but it didn’t look that way.
I’d like for her sister to be innocent…I prayed it would be so.
That night. I was about to go to bed, but Vi-Vi was already there, silently awake.
With all this occurring, she must be quite lonely. That’s why she said nothing to anyone.
「Mooo.」
Moofy sidled up to Vi-Vi.
Moofy was trying her best to encourage Vi-Vi however she could.
I just silently rubbed her hair.
Vi-Vi didn’t tell me「Cut it out!」like she usually did.
「I never knew that my sister was called the forest hermit.」
「Really? I guess siblings don’t know what’s going on in each other’s lives…sometimes.」
I had no siblings, so I didn’t know.
Even so…I kind of knew it was true.
「Yeah.」
Vi-Vi looked up with distant eyes. We were in my room, but she was staring far past the ceiling.
In fact, through the ceiling itself, far past it into the starry sky.
She probably was thinking of her sister, after all.
「Were you raised in the forest, Vi-Vi?」
「Yeah, but up until recently, where it was a wasteland.」
「I’ve been through that forest, you know.」
「Is that so? Did you meet my sister?」
「No, we only went through one side of it. We didn’t go deep into it.」
She continued looking far away, and said,
「There’s a castle in the middle of the forest.」
「A castle?」
「My sister’s. A big castle.」
「I see…」
Until now, it seems that Vi-Vi thought that being raised in a castle was normal.
That’s where she was raised, and I guess that was the reason.
「Didn’t the Demon Lord come and attack your castle.」
「No, we were fine. My sister has a lot of magic she uses. She made a lot of golems too.」
「Golems?」
Golems were quite strong. They were strong against traditional weapons. Some golems are a match for 100 knights.
I guess the Demon Lord’s army thought that there was little benefit in raiding the forest and taking the castle.
It would cause more damage than benefit them.
「On top of that, the forest itself is bewitched. You can’t enter it that easily.」
「I guess you’d get lost easily. Add a bewitching spell on it, and the becomes even easier.」
Vi-Vi looked at me.
「Well, a great magician like you could probably get through the bewitching spell quite easily, Al.」
「Maybe…」
If it was me or Yureena, it would be easy to beat the bewitching spell.
Cruz probably wouldn’t even notice it, she’d just bust right into the forest without thinking.
Luka, on the other hand, would spend three days walking in circles and then waking up.
I asked her something that I had been wondering about,
「So why did you become a sub-boss of the Demon Lord?」
「…my sister was the one invited to join the army, but she refused as it was too much trouble.」
「So, you went instead, Vi-Vi?」
「Yeah, I was interested in forestation and agriculture.」
「And your sister didn’t say no?」
「She told me to do what I wanted to…」
Vi-Vi reached over and hugged Moofy.
「From then, I haven’t seen my sister.」
「So you’ve been lonely?」
「…not with Moofy around, I guess.」
「Mooo moo」
Vi-Vi still sounded quite sad and lonely when she said that.
Moofy licked Vi-Vi’s face.
It took a week until the location of Vi-Vi’s sister was finally reported.