[ He ignores the lack of response about Sandalphon for now - though you'd better believe he's going to go home and kick himself for not remembering to ask again! - fully distracted by news of Shinji's disappearance. ]

Huh? He went missing?

[ That's unhappy news. He frowns, a small furrow appearing between his eyes. ] We've met a couple times. He was helpful to me when I first got here, and we met up for some sparring after that... you must be one of those friends he mentioned. He said that you guys fought monsters together, but wouldn't tell me much more than that.

[ He said that they fought monsters. Using monsters to fight for them? That's a new development. ]

I haven't seen him since then. Aldrip's pretty small. If you haven't found him by now, is there any chance that he decided to go check out some of the neighbouring towns? Or that he'd explore the forests? I hear they're bad news.