A relay method includes receiving, by a first relay apparatus, a packet that includes a search formula for the target data from a terminal apparatus; acquiring the search formula from the packet; decomposing the search formula into a plurality of keywords; acquiring, for each of the plurality of keywords, fit data existing in the database from among the data of request target by searching out data corresponding to the keyword from the database of the first relay apparatus; requesting a second relay apparatus for missing data that does not exist in the database from among the data of request target; acquiring, by the second relay apparatus, the missing data; receiving, by the first relay apparatus, the missing data; combining the fit data and the missing data with each other to generate the data of request target; and transmitting the generated data of request target to the terminal apparatus.