Shangri La Pt. 1

84: New Discovery

"Ah– W-Well, y-you see... t-there s-seems to b-be a bit of s-situation a-at the m-moment." 

"A situation? Like what? Did the Princess become ill?" 

"N-No i-it's just... she's gone missing."

Shoto batted his eyes at the servant and seemed a bit confused as to what she just told him. 

"Ah– I don't think that would be possible, she couldn't be missing." 

"B-But you don't understand, Your Majesty, she has to be. I went to your chambers earlier thinking the Princess would be there, but your chambers were empty. So after that, I went to the Princess' chambers to see that it was also empty! I cannot remember the last time the Princess was to leave the palace, and if she did, it would be impossible for anyone not to notice her leave! She would have to have someone escorting or following her if she did go into the city, not to mention that there would be reports of her going into the city, but there hasn't been any! I thought she came here since she wasn't in either your or her chambers, but to see that it's just you and I, then something must've happened to her!"

"Okay! Okay, calm down, there has to be a reason for her disappearance, we just don't know yet. We must remain calm and not let others in this palace hear this news or it will spread like wildfire and cause chaos. Unfortunately I do not know all the places she could've gone, but I'm sure that if we just search around the palace–as calm as possible–then we can find her." Shoto noted, trying to keep the servant from starting to panic. 

"M-Mn. I-I will follow your request, Your Majesty." 

And so the Prince and the servant both searched through the palace as thoroughly as possible, but were met with no luck when it came to even a shrivel of clues to where the Princess could've gone. 

"Still nothing?" 

"None, Your Majesty." 

"This is strange, she seemed quite fine this morning with me in my chambers. That means something must've happened after I left to head to the training grounds, so perhaps she followed me there without me noticing." 

"Good idea, Your Majesty!"

But even as they arrived at the training grounds to see all the knights training as usual, there was no sight of the Princess to be seen there either. 

"This doesn't add up, why would she go missing when things were going fine?" Shoto mumbled. 

"Hm? Your Majesty, you're back." Shoto lifted his gaze to see Gin approaching him but to notice that his blond Captain was also nowhere to be found. 

"Acri– Ah– yes, is Bakugo not here?" 

"Unfortunately no, I believe he told me he went to the city to look for something, but he will return." 

'I hope.' Gin thought as he knew that the blond could be doing something important at the moment, just didn't know what exactly. 

"Hm, this is quite a strange morning indeed." 

"Is something the matter, Your Majesty?" Gin questioned.

"Hm, well I suppose I should ask you just in case, but have you seen the Princess come here at any time today?" Shoto asked. 

"Huh? The Princess? Mmmh~ I don't recall seeing her come here at all. Is there something wrong? Did something happen to the Princess?" 

"So she isn't here either. Hah~ I have been looking for the Princess for almost an hour and we have yet to find her, hence why I asked if you'd seen her at all." Shoto answered.