That was how it happened.

The basement was easily found.

The entrance was seen once removing the floor, a wooden box was placed on top of it to substitute as weight. At such a weird location, I thought it was strange a wooden box was placed there

Rather than a basement, its a slightly spacious storage room. A total of five boys and girls was there, the children are around 10 years old.

Taking the children outside, I start thinking of what to do next.

The current time has just passed 6:00pm, we should be back at the Royal Capital by 8:30pm if we leave now.

However, I also cant leave these kidnappers alone

Nee, you kids. After leaving this forest, are you able to head to the Royal Capital by yourselves?

What Id thought up was to send the children out of the forest, from there the children will head to the Royal Capital by themselves and call for some soldiers.

Once leaving the forest, although the sun will have gone down considerably, itll still be up.

It took me around two hours to reach the Royal Capital by foot. If they take the highway then theyll be mostly safe.

After I see the children off, I can keep watch of the kidnappers here.

Aa, its all right. You can do it.

Amongst the uneasy children, the eldest looking boy says

But, what are you going to do? Youre the youngest out of all of us right? Are you going to stay here by yourself?

Wai, this again? Furthermore, for this child (probably a little over 10 years old) to also

Its all right, because Im 15 years old and an adventurer. Im also the person who defeated those guys you know?

Ee!?Saying youre 15 years old is obviously a lie! Youre even shorter than me!

Im an adult, Im an adult,WATASHI WA OTONA.1

Anyway, its all right. So, can you go to the Royal Capital and speak to a soldier-san?

Aa, leave it to us.

Alright. Ill send you guys outside of the forest, so lets go.

It takes about 10 minutes to leave the forest from here, so the distance from coming and going might take around 30 minutes.

First of all, for the kidnappers that have currently woken up, I once again put them back to sleep.

Having moved to the outside of the forest together with the children, I taught them the direction of the Royal Capital and saw their retreating figures off, then once again returned back to the kidnappers cabin.

It should take approximately five hours until the Royal Capitals soldiers arrive.

In the meantime, I started a bonfire and ate my dinner (I made some soup since there was time), the kidnappers that have woken up (because they were annoying) was once again put back to sleep.

The time is now 11:30pm

While feeling sleepy as I waited, my ears pick up a voice of a person.

Straining my ears, its the voices of several people. It seems its the soldiers from the Royal Capital.

In order for them to find me easier, I call out from where I am and lift up a piece of wood from the bonfire.

After that, appearing to have figured out my location, several soldiers immediately turned up.

The soldiers were firstly surprised when they saw me, and then surprised again after seeing the tied up and fainted kidnappers.

Since its about time, because I want to sleep, I show them my adventurers card and briefly explained the situation while leaving the remaining for tomorrow.2

The soldiers tied up the fainted kidnappers again an

d brought them along.

I also follow along.

I get the carriage waiting outside the forest to take me to my inn, after telling me I need to come to the Chivalric Orders office tomorrow (today?) at 7 koku (2pm), I return to the inn.

Even though I usually wake up at 5am, I was late today as expected, it was already 9:30am by the time I woke up.

After having a late breakfast, I entered the bath since I couldnt yesterday, once I completed my preparations to leave, it was already 11:00am.

Going to the guild to report my commission, I received the reward for my six Ceribsa grass.

Ill also need to report about the group of kidnappers.

One of the kidnappers talked about a commission from the guildne.

Although it wasnt intentional, what if I had snatched away another persons commission? That was one of the worries I had.

As a result, it was just me needlessly worrying.

Because it wasnt a commission that needed to be accepted, it was the kind where whoever resolves it will get rewarded.

Maa, if I think about it, no one knows whether or not they could capture them, if push comes to shove, the kidnappers could run away to a faraway place, with the risk of failure being so high, there wouldnt be anyone to accept itne.

So, if I can get the Chivalric Order to verify that I was the one who resolved it, it seems Ill be able to take the reward. An unexpected profit!

After having a long talk, I leave the guild while being a little cheerful about my unexpected profit.

Checking the wristwatch in my pouch, its before 1pm. Since Im not hungry after my late breakfast, I decide to eat a light meal.

After having tea and a light meal at a nearby coffee shop(cafe?), I head to the Chivalric Orders office since yesterday I was told to go.

Reporting that I had business at the Chivalric Orders reception desk, three knights appeared as I was waiting in the designated room.

After I gave my greetings,maa, because that happened as usual, I showed them my adventurers card and they came to an understanding.

This Chivalric Order seems to be the division which generally defends the town.3

A knight-san gave me a summary of the kidnappings, I hear that the kidnappers abduct children then sell them to a northern country as slaves (although theres no slavery in this country, slavery exists in some other countries).

I talk about yesterdays events of how I found the kidnappers hiding place and other details.

After that, I tell them about the kidnappers from yesterday.

Summarizing it, the kidnappers were calculative and cautious, even gathering rumours in the town, even though the guild had only put out the commission the day before yesterday, they had already planned to escape in the morning today.

If I hadnt been able to catch them yesterday, those children wouldve been sold to a northern country by now.

Finishing our conversation after an hour, two sheets of paper was handed to me as I was about to leave.

When I looked at it, the two sheets of paper were like some sort of certificate.

I think the first sheet is to certify that I resolved the kidnapping case, but whats the other sheet for?

When I tilted my head to the side, a knight-san informed me.

This covers the reward for capturing the leader of the kidnappers yesterday. Youll receive the bounty if you take this to the adventurers guild.

Eh?The bounty for the leader, is it the so-called reward for his head? Is it that, theW A N T E Dthing?4

Uwaa, on top of the reward for the kidnapping I might be able to achieve my goal.

Thank you very much!

Lets head to the Adventurers Guild immediately!