“It’s not the weather causing this, but something else, right? Hmm… Yeah, that’s probably the only explanation.”
Lavinia’s words completely confirmed Liyami’s guess, but Liyami couldn’t feel happy about it at all. After all, she had come here for a vacation. This situation meant her vacation plans were ruined. How could she possibly be happy about that?
Even so, Liyami hadn’t forgotten her squad’s duty. So, after sighing, she began pondering what could have caused the current situation. And she quickly thought of one possibility.
“…Is it because of that? That thing you mentioned before, that… uh, what was it called again?”
“The Population Disappearance Incident,” Lavinia finished for her. “But I never thought the incident would be this serious, to affect things to this extent? I originally thought it was just a minor event, something that didn’t need to be solved urgently. I truly didn’t expect its impact to be so exaggerated.”
Lavinia felt a bit of regret. If she had known it was like this, she wouldn’t have gotten so excited about the vacation. Now it was all just wishful thinking.
Liyami, on the other hand, let out a soft sigh and said helplessly, “It seems we really came at the right time. It’s time for us to step in again. Let’s go, see if we can find any clues.”
“Wait!”
Liyami tried to leave after speaking, but Lavinia stopped her. After Liyami turned around in confusion, Lavinia slowly explained, “Have you forgotten? This isn’t our jurisdiction. Without permission from the Special Incident Handling Squad stationed in this area, we can’t just act recklessly.”
Hearing this, Liyami grew even more puzzled.
“But didn’t you say you received a request for assistance from Sunlight Island? With that request, they’d definitely agree, right? Besides, didn’t Kolin run off to investigate as soon as he arrived?”
Faced with Liyami’s questions, Lavinia hesitated, unsure how to explain. In the end, she decided to just tell the truth.
“Well, how do I put this… I, actually… didn’t receive any request for assistance. I just heard some rumors about Sunlight Island while looking for vacation spots. I originally just wanted to use it to trick Kolin into coming. Who knew the incident’s impact would be this big? So, if we want to investigate this incident, we still must get permission from the local stationed Special Incident Handling Squad.”
Hearing this, Liyami covered her face, utterly speechless at Lavinia’s maneuver. While this situation was indeed something Lavinia would do, sometimes being too true to character wasn’t a good thing.
Like now, because of Lavinia’s little deception, Liyami and the others were stuck in a predicament where they could do nothing, shattering what should have been a happy vacation plan into pieces.
Liyami really didn’t know what to say about this. Although she wanted to use this opportunity to lecture Lavinia, telling her not to do such things again. But such a lecture wouldn’t help the current situation at all. Moreover, Liyami didn’t think Lavinia would break this bad habit just because of a verbal scolding.
Therefore, after being speechless for a moment, Liyami more or less accepted Lavinia’s explanation. But before that, there was one more thing Liyami was concerned about.
“…One more question, then… what about Kolin? You just said we don’t have permission from the local squad. So what is Kolin doing right now? Didn’t he go to investigate this? Won’t that cause problems? Didn’t you consider these things before?”
Liyami couldn’t quite figure this out. If Lavinia didn’t have permission, why did she let Kolin go? Shouldn’t she have stopped him?
To this question, Lavinia’s answer was: “Don’t worry about that. I definitely considered it. Do you think anyone would refuse investigative help from the Kingdom’s strongest Holy Knight? I think they’d be overjoyed.”
Hearing this, Liyami was completely at a loss for words. What was the difference between Lavinia’s approach and just letting him do whatever?! But the biggest issue wasn’t that; it was that Liyami herself also genuinely felt there was nothing wrong with it. And, in fact, there really wasn’t any problem!
Although, as a Special Incident Handling Squad from another jurisdiction coming to investigate here, they should technically need the local squad’s permission. But leaving aside the urgent nature of the situation here, just based on Kolin’s status alone, no squad would dare refuse his help.
So, Lavinia never even considered this problem from the start. After all, for the local Special Incident Handling Squad, it would only be a good thing.
Furthermore, Lavinia had specifically looked into it. The Special Incident Jungle Squad stationed in this area also happened to be followers of the “Holy Light.” So, having Kolin help with the investigation would only make them feel it was a great blessing.
After hearing Lavinia’s explanation, Liyami had to admire her thinking. She had even considered something like this.
“So, you see, we can’t do anything right now. Unless we actually get permission from the squad stationed here, or find Kolin and have him investigate with us. Otherwise, we can only go back to the villa and wait for things to develop.”
Lavinia said somewhat guiltily. It seemed she was already regretting not investigating this place more thoroughly and not deceiving others.
Seeing that Lavinia already seemed somewhat remorseful, Liyami couldn’t say anything more. She could only take the first step, leaving this beach that, aside from the two of them, had no one else.
Seeing Liyami move, Lavinia quickly followed her. But soon, after only a few steps, Lavinia realized something—this wasn’t the way back to the villa.
Seeing this, Lavinia looked at Liyami in confusion, wanting to ask where she was going. But Liyami gave the answer before she could ask.
“Where else? Of course, we’re going to look around the island first! We can’t just go back to the villa like this, can we? Even though we don’t have investigation permission, checking out the environment first or gathering some information should be fine, right? It’s better than staying in the villa completely in the dark, knowing nothing. Isn’t it?”
Since Liyami put it that way, Lavinia naturally had no reason to object. She followed her to the front of a shopping street.
Unfortunately, this place, like the beach, was deserted. Most of the shops were tightly closed, and even the few with open doors looked desolate, as if no one was there.
Seeing this, Liyami couldn’t help but frown deeply.
“This is too much. Is the impact of this disappearance incident really this big? Even the shops aren’t open? If this situation has been going on for a long time, the problem is huge, isn’t it? Kolin went to investigate alone… will he be okay?”
Hearing this, Lavinia was about to say, “Don’t worry, Liyami, Kolin is very strong, nothing will happen to him.”
But just before she could say it, Lavinia suddenly noticed a figure standing at the entrance of an open shop in the distance. And it looked somewhat familiar.