April Fool’s Greatest Alchemist?! Chapter 215

The Capital

We set foot in the imperial capital, Divine Empire Sydnia’s largest town, where the head temple of the Light God Faith is located.

Akane and Lulu-chan pinched their noses. The Imperial Capital is a large town with a large population, so that smell is dreadful. Lulu-chan and Akane, who lived in this town for a short while after being summoned, had to block out the smell.

「I’ve already resigned myself to the smell, but the town’s atmosphere sure is dark.」

Yeah, the town’s atmosphere was really gloomy. The people walking in town had no vigor.
Divine Empire Sydnia has characteristic that does not apply to the other 6 countries in this continent. They did not have monster nests. What that means is that the expanse of the farmland outside of the towns hardly have any damage from monsters. Food productivity is high because of this, and as a result, their population is not much different from other countries despite being a quarter of the size of other countries.

“Yeah, it’s really weird. There’s barely anyone around and they all look like they’re doomed. It wasn’t like this before, right Lulu?”
“Yes, Akane-sama nya. I don’t see any Beastkin around either nya.”
“I’ll go look around so you all stay in the inn.”
“No, let’s split up into groups and get information that way. We can meet up in an inn in a few hours.”

I suggested this plan, thinking it was too suspicious, but Akane rejected it and proposed another.

“I suppose we could do that. Then you girls go together.”
“No, Takumi-sama. I won’t leave your side.”
“It’s fine, Sophia. I’ll be with Kaede and Titan.”

And so, after agreeing to meet up in an inn we found and reserved a room in, we split up. I looked at the east district and they went to the west.

The east district turned out to be the lower class business district and also the slums. Half of the shops were closed and the streets were desolate, truly a strange sight in a business district in the middle of the day.

I walked around, observing everything. At the border between the lower business district and the slums, I saw a young boy around 10 years old sneakily looking at me from a dark, narrow side street. He seemed impoverished and malnourished.

“Hi there, my name is Takumi. Can I talk to you for a bit?”

I approached him, crouching to his eye level and tried initiating conversation. He was apprehensive and didn’t reply, but he didn’t leave either.

“Hey, are you hungry? I have some food with me, do you want some?”

I took out a sandwich pre-prepared by Maria and reached it over to him. He hesitated, but…

Kururuu

His stomach rumbled. He took the sandwich and immediately bit into it. I just watched and waited for him.

“W-what do you w-want?”
“What’s your name?”
“M-my name is Kalitz.”
“Is something going on in town? There’s not many people around.”
“A-are you not from t-this c-c-country?”
“Ah y… yeah. I’m here to trade and make offerings to the church, you see, so I thought it was strange.”

I realize I didn’t have a cover story for why I’m here, so I just gave out a random reason.

“Oniichan y-you look l-like a good g-g-guy. You shouldn’t g-go to the w-west district.”
“!! West district? What’s wrong with the west?”

I was alarmed by his warning. This information is crucial, so I urged him for answers.

“I heard that p-people dis-a-a-ppear in the w-west district.”
“!!!”

I thought of Sophia and the girls. They went to the west district.

“I-I don’t know! They’re just g-gone.”
“It’s okay, Kalitz. I have to go now. Have this as my thanks.”

I gave him more food and a few silvers. I quickly stood up and headed to the west district. I prayed in my heart.

Please, please be safe.

~

Meanwhile, the girls were at the west district.

The west district was comprised of the upper-class residences, close to the Cathedral and some administrative buildings. As expected, many of the residences were those of nobility, and merchants. However, some were also owned by families of high officials of the church.

“What the hell is going on? This is the west.”

The girls walked for a good while when Akane, who lived in the Capital before, found things strange.

“There are no guards here.”
“We should hurry and find something.”

Sophia, who realized the same thing as Akane, raised her vigilance even more at this oddity. Maria urged them to hurry.

“Lulu-chan, are there any places here where we can get a good view of things?”
“Hmm, that area is pretty high and open nya.”

Lulu-chan pointed towards an elevated area.

“Let’s go there to get a better view of things.”
“That’s a good idea. Okay.”

The girls headed in that direction. Halfway through, Akane saw two figures. She froze, her eyes never leaving them. The girls found it strange so they followed her line of sight.

A group of people. Among them were two black haired, black eyed boys. They were walking towards the Cathedral.

“We have to follow them.”

Akane, not taking no for an answer, started moving in the direction of the boys. Sophia, Maria, and Lulu had no choice but to follow. It was a big lead.
It led them to a warehouse-like building behind the church.

GAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hearing such a blood curdling scream. They snuck into the warehouse. What they saw there made their hearts drop.

“What the hell?”
“How dreadful.”
“Oh god.”
“Huh??”

In a room filled with torn books, someone was on the floor, in agony. Around him were people who looked lifeless, as if they had all been sucked of all energy. These people were dragged out, and soon after, a new batch of people were brought in.

“What are they doing?”

The girls watched with bated breath.

The new batch of people were given books and told to read.

Soon after, people started to scream.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Such screams echoed within the walls of the building. Tears were shed, books were torn, pages flying around, people in agony.

One such page fell into the girls’ hiding spot. They read it.

THIS CAN’T BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
NOOOOOOOOO
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

It had one line.

“April Fools!”

Sphy’s Note: Hope you enjoyed my April Fools chapter this year! So, this was uploaded earlier but the novelupdate gods quickly took it down. Hopefully they won’t this time because the REAL chapter 215 is HERE. xD