Frieren: Attribute Hero Chapter 114: Heiter's Legacy

A voice called out, "We've searched everywhere. Nothing!"

"Nothing on my end either!"

A crowd had already gathered in front of the village orphanage, and every one of them wore a troubled expression.

Shane and the others followed Sein into the center of the crowd.

The priest was questioning a round-faced, plump woman.

As the woman spoke, she kept pinching the edge of the apron at her waist and lowering her head to wipe away her tears.

From their exchange, Shane quickly caught the key point.

Two children from the orphanage had gone missing.

"They're only five or six years old."

Sein explained the situation to them as well. "Apparently, they ran out to play this morning, but when lunchti ca, there was still no sign of them. The caretaker felt sothing was wrong and asked everyone to help search. In the end, they turned the whole village upside down and still couldn't find them..."

"Have you searched around the village?"

"We're searching now..." Sein frowned deeply as he spoke. "But the area around the village is all mountain forest. It won't be easy. I asked you here because I was hoping we could use magic to check the children's trail and save so ti."

Shane frowned and looked toward the outside of the village.

True.

There were plenty of poisonous creatures in the mountain forests around the village. Even Stark had suffered badly. Two five- or six-year-old children had no ability to protect or rescue themselves. They had to be found as soon as possible.

A mage's [Tracking Magic] was naturally the fastest option.

Shane exchanged a look with Frieren, and she nodded.

Soon, the caretaker brought over two pieces of clothing the children had just worn and handed them to Frieren.

Frieren and Fern each took one. The two mages summoned their staffs and lightly tapped the clothes.

In an instant, an invisible magical force spread from the point where each staff touched the clothing. Then, two strings of faint blue magical footprints appeared on the ground.

The tiny footprints looked slightly ssy. After overlapping repeatedly around the orphanage a few tis, they extended toward the mountain forest outside the village.

"They really did run into the forest." Sein's expression turned helpless. "Judging by the direction of the trail... they probably went into the forest to pick flowers. There's a kind of flower that looks like the sun growing in that direction."

"The children love adventure stories. Since yesterday, they've been making a fuss about wanting to give you all beautiful flower wreaths."

Seeing this, the surrounding villagers all breathed a sigh of relief.

Presumably, this sort of "mischief" was not the first ti the children had done sothing like this.

"But... doesn't the forest have... poisonous snakes?"

Stark rubbed his stomach and reminded everyone.

Sein smiled and waved his hand.

"Don't worry. The children in the village are used to it. They've always been very careful."

After that, guided by the two mages' [Tracking Magic], the group followed the faint blue little footprints into the mountain forest to search.

The children's route twisted and turned all over the place.

Sotis, the trail stopped beside a strangely shaped boulder where they had climbed around and played, leaving footprints all over the rock.

Sotis, it stopped beside a berry-covered shrub, with tiny footprints circling the bush several tis.

Shane glanced at the fruit on the branches. The lower ones had already been picked clean, leaving only those in the crown that the children could not reach.

He reached out, plucked a small berry, and tasted it... sweet and sour. Not bad.

As they went deeper, the little footprints' pace beca slower. They no longer had that skipping, bouncing feel. Beside the footprints, there were also marks from wooden sticks being tapped against the ground.

It was just as Sein had said.

Although the children were mischievous, they were still cautious when it ca to the forest. They knew to take branches for self-defense.

"Hic..."

Stark, who was beside him, burped again.

The young warrior rubbed his stomach while staring at Shane with deep resentnt.

Shane shook his head. "They say growing boys can eat their parents out of house and ho, but Stark, your appetite is a little disappointing..."

"That was a whole... hic... whole basin!"

"Even if it was a basin..."

"You just... poured it straight in!"

Faced with the young warrior's accusation, Shane guiltily rubbed his nose.

But he quickly caught onto a "key point."

"A whole basin didn't poison Stark to death. Looks like my mushroom soup skills have clearly improved!"

"Mm-hm. Very impressive."

Frieren's completely flat praise ca from beside him.

Shane frowned. "What's with that bland tone...? Are you brushing off?"

"No."

"I don't believe you. Drink it first next ti, then."

Just then, Sein, who was walking at the very front of the group, suddenly stopped.

His expression turned serious.

Following his line of sight, Shane saw the faint blue little footprints on the ground. At the fork in the path ahead, after a mont of "hesitation," they had gone left.

Damn.

The left side was the direction of the swamp Sein had fallen into yesterday.

Everyone looked at each other, and all of them realized the severity of the problem.

Shane instantly activated [Sprint] and shot off in the direction where the trail extended. Frieren and Fern used [Flight Magic] to follow close behind, while Stark and Sein imdiately caught up as well.

The group wove through the trees and arrived at the swamp from yesterday in the blink of an eye.

The large rocks and tree trunk left behind from rescuing Sein were still there.

The faint blue magical footprints vanished at the edge of the swamp... but there was nothing in the swamp itself.

Sein's face instantly turned deathly pale.

The worst possible situation had happened!

Two children only five or six years old had fallen into the swamp, and so much ti had already passed. There was no possibility they were still alive...

Just then, Fern, who was flying in the air, pointed toward the center of the swamp.

"Mr. Shane, there seems to be a cave over there."

A cave?

Shane raised his head and looked toward the center of the swamp. Sure enough, just as Fern said, a few dozen ters away from them, there was a pitch-black cave. It would be very easy to miss if one did not look carefully.

Frieren flew above the cave and observed it for a while before saying, "It seems very deep. I can't see what's inside."

Light returned to Sein's eyes, which had just sunk into despair.

"Could the children have fallen into the cave?"

Shane looked at his pale face, then at the distance of several dozen ters between them and the cave.

"It's not completely impossible..."

Before he could finish speaking, Sein had already rolled up his sleeves and gone to grab the tree trunk they had used to save him yesterday. It seed he intended to lay it across the swamp as a single-plank bridge.

"Since it's not completely impossible, I'll go down and take a look."

Stark was so stunned by his actions that even his hiccups stopped.

Shane looked at Sein, and sothing in his heart was faintly stirred.

Although he was a frivolous priest who drank, smoked, and gambled, looking completely unreliable, there was no doubt about the kindness buried in Sein's bones. He truly was a devout priest, just like Heiter.

According to Frieren, the two brothers had also been among the first children in this orphanage built with Heiter's support.

That guy Heiter had always said near the end of his life that it was a great pity he had not passed the Goddess's faith on to Shane.

But now, it seed that old booze-loving priest could finally rest easy.

Soone had been quietly carrying it on all along.

"Fine, then. Let's go down and search."

"Stark, lift that big rock and throw it into the middle between us and the cave."