The World's Ego

Missing

Rimuru POV

Now that the problems with the merchants had been settled, everyone gathered inside a large conference hall. The routine nightly conference this time included King Gazel, Elmesia, Youm's party, Fuze, Yuuki, Hinata, and even Masayuki. Including my executives, the place was already pretty packed so I had to leave the Milim and the other Demon Lords out of it. Veldora was here too, but I find him moping in the corner, probably about how no challengers had shown up.

Even though I told him that he won't be able to have any for... maybe a few years. I'll have to comfort him later. First, there are a few problems to tackle, namely the incidents that happened during the festival.

I looked around the room again and finally noticed the absentees that were supposed to be here for the meeting as well.

"Where are Mobius, Kalpas, Sakura, and Aponia?" I asked Shuna, who was beside me

"That's..." Shuna glanced around, finally noting their absence as well, "... Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Sakura-san at all today."

"Eh? I thought maybe Kalpas-dono was with her today, so I didn't look for him." Beni added to her words, "So you didn't see her either?"

"No."

Iris looked over to Vesta, "Dr. Mobius did not visit the lab today?"

"No... I thought she was still in the labyrinth with you." Vesta replied while shaking his head

Kalpas was one thing, but for Sakura and Mobius to be away from duty without prior notice is odd... I know I asked them to check on Floor 10 for Herrscher activities, but Iris is here, so why aren't they...?

"Then what about Aponia?" I asked again, hoping for an answer from anyone, but no one seemed to know where she was either

Should I ask Keith...? But calling him here right now would be... I should ask Kosma using magic communication.

"Oh, right. I wanted to call Pardo-san too, but I couldn't find her at all today, either. I thought she might be wandering about, so..." Masayuki voiced out with a raised hand

... Oh no... Raphael-san! How is the analysis of the feather?

<Report. The feather seems to be based on a form of consciousness. There are no other results from <<Analyze and Access>>.>

... Can you find the Flame-chasers with their Signets as beacons?

<Locating the individuals... Report. The Signets have been traced, however, they are warped in a currently unreachable subspace. Unable to pinpoint an exact location or establish magic communication.>

What?!

The door suddenly opens and surprisingly, Griseo peeked in. She looked hesitant due to the number of people inside, but as soon as she saw me, she quickly withdrew her hesitance and ran straight to me.

"Why are you still awake, Griseo? It's late." 

She leans up to whisper something shocking to me, "I snuck out. Mama Aponia and Kosma haven't returned home yet. Big Brother Keith was worried and is looking for them right now."

That's not possible... The Flame-chasers are missing?! Raphael-san, use Fenghuang Down to analyze the subspace you found!

<Understood. Analyzing the subspace with the power of Fenghuang Down... Successful. The subspace created has similar properties to Fenghuang Down. This may be the work of the same entity that controlled the great-spider.>