Chapter 4 : Tag (1)
Chapter 4 : Tag (1)
Kaltara returned to the Count's residence.
The first place she looked for upon returning was Deltain's office.
"Boss! I'm back!"
She laughed heartily and opened the door with a 'Kwang!' sound.
Deltain was resting his chin on his hand, looking at her with only his eyes rolling.
He had an indifferent expression.
"Didn't cause any trouble...."
"We parted with smiles!"
"You weren't the only one smiling when you parted, were you?"
"The Young Lady smiled too!"
Deltain scrutinized Kaltara's demeanor as if suspicious.
Then, he let out a sigh and shook off his doubts.
"Well, she's not the type of person to be swayed by something like this, anyway."
"Hm?"
"Never mind."
Deltain said that and then raised his mana.
<4th-Tier Magic: Activate Subspace.>
A pitch-black pit formed in front of Deltain's body.
He reached his hand into it and pulled out a small jewel.
Then, he threw it toward Kaltara and said.
"It's a mission."
"What is it?"
"It's a Mark of Master and Servant. Find the guy who's sending signals to it."
"Hm? You couldn't find it, Boss?"
"There's no signal. I held onto it the whole time and waited, but this bastard must have noticed something, because he's not sending any signals at all."
"Do you know what kind of demon it is?"
"The name is Gaias. From what I hear, it's a guy related to hearts."
Kaltara narrowed her brows and wore a puzzled expression.
"Hmm, that's a strange fellow."
Generally, demons were born from emotions or concepts.
As such, the phenomena caused by that demon's influence were also focused on that.
In that sense, this demon was unusual.
"I can't get a feel for it if you say it's a heart!"
"I don't have any other clues either. The fact that those possessed by that demon complain of pain in their hearts is the end of the clues I have."
"Hm, I'll keep that in mind for now. Anything else?"
"Look around the underground waterway. That's where I found that Mark of Master and Servant, too."
Kaltara nodded and put the jewel into her bosom.
Then, she stared blankly at Deltain.
Deltain's expression crumpled.
"...Why."
"Does the Young Lady please you, Boss?"
"What kind of bullshit is that?"
"Do you ever think about wanting to breed with the Young Lady?"
"Hey."
Deltain's impression was fiercely distorted.
"Are you picking a fight?"
"If not, then never mind."
Kaltara let out a boisterous laugh and waved her hand.
Then, she said that with a shamelessly innocent smile.
"It's just that the Young Lady seems to have thoughts."
"That woman's head is probably full of only those kinds of thoughts."
Deltain snorted, said that, and waved his hand.
"Get out now. I'm going to read a book."
"Rest well!"
Kaltara left the office.
*
Agnes reviewed her conversation with Kaltara from the previous day.
-Well, I think the Young Lady would cling to him miserably.
The words that she would beg Deltain for her life.
That was the reason why a deep question, for which she herself could not know the reason, had arisen.
'Me?'
What did Kaltara see in her?
No, rather than that, there was also a possibility that the words came from trust in Deltain.
-The Boss is persistent. And he always wins with that persistence.
His personality, which Agnes also knew well.
It was surely related to that.
Agnes rolled her eyes and looked at Deltain.
He, who had come out for a medical examination today as well, was stroking her wrist with an inorganic face.
Agnes's lips parted.
"How did you meet Kaltara?"
"Found her on the Western Plateau."
"How?"
"Went to hunt demons. She looked pretty useful, so I picked her up."
"Is she strong?"
"She's in the top three of everyone I know. Excluding me, of course."
"Hmm...."
Agnes's fingertips twitched.
Deltain narrowed his brows at that and said.
"Stay still. You're distracting."
"Sorry."
Agnes stopped moving.
Then, Deltain's head lifted.
Bewilderment was imbued on his face.
"...What's up with you? You're actually following my words obediently?"
Even while telling her to stay still, Deltain had expected her to resist even more severely.
It couldn't be helped.
Hadn't he been suffering until the very previous day from her pranks, which had become particularly intense lately?
In an instant, Agnes's body stopped with a jolt.
A look of wariness appeared in Deltain's eyes.
Immediately after, Agnes tickled Deltain's arm with a laugh she had belatedly sparked.
"I did it for this."
Mana rose from Deltain.
<1st-Tier Magic: Activate Silent.>
Agnes's sound stopped.
Deltain focused on the medical examination again with a 'I knew it' face.
It was a fortunate thing for Agnes.
Because, as far as she was concerned, she didn't have to show any more strange behavior under the pretext of her mouth being sealed.
'...Why did I follow him?'
Agnes felt doubt about her own actions just a moment ago.
If it were usual, she would never have followed his words no matter what Deltain said, but for some reason, at that moment, she followed his words due to the anxiety that had welled up.
Agnes continued her thoughts.
It was to find the reason for her actions and not repeat the same mistake.
But no answer came out, and in the meantime, Deltain's medical examination ended.
Agnes realized belatedly that her voice had become free.
"...Good work."
"What is really up with you today?"
Deltain had a face as if he had seen a ghost.
While he was even thinking about whether she might have been possessed by a demon due to Agnes's state, which had become even more docile than when they first met.
Agnes shook her head and answered his words.
"I don't have any strength in my body because I went out yesterday."
Deltain's expression became serious.
"...Hey, if you have something like that, you should have told me in advance."
He reached out his arm again.
Agnes was startled and slapped his arm away.
Tak!
An unpleasant silence arose.
Deltain stood stiffly, staring blankly at his hand, and Agnes held her breath and opened her eyes wide.
"...Hey, what the hell are you trying to do."
Anger was imbued in Deltain's tone.
Agnes kept her mouth shut for a moment, then quickly spat out an answer.
"Sorry, I'm really not feeling well. I want to rest. Please leave."
Deltain's fist was clenched tightly.
Agnes did not spit out an answer even until then.
"...I'll come tomorrow."
She stared only at the floor until the moment Deltain left the room.
Kwang.
The door closed.
But the sound did not stop.
Thump.
Thump.
Agnes felt her heart beating irregularly.
This was anxiety.
*
The night passed, and Agnes agonized until the next day dawned.
It was because she felt confused about her own actions.
'Why? From where?'
She tried to grasp the reason why she had acted so obediently to Deltain.
Before long, she inferred what was presumed to be the answer.
'Kaltara?'
Kaltara's words might have been the problem.
If there was anything special that happened recently, her conversation with her was the end of it.
But, as expected, an accurate identification of the cause was impossible.
Agnes could not figure out at all why she was harboring anxiety.
Thump.
Thump.
Her heart was still showing an irregular beat.
Agnes's brows crumpled.
This was a very strange thing for her, who spent almost all her time with an expressionless face or a smile.
Meanwhile.
"I'm here...."
Deltain, who had burst the door open and entered, discovered Agnes.
His expression hardened.
He was surprised to see Agnes with her brows furrowed.
The subsequent action was fast.
Deltain went straight to the bed and checked her wrist and neck.
After one round of pulse-taking was over, he spat out words as if growling, with veins even standing out on his forehead.
"...Hey, since when were you like this. No, not the heart pounding, but the strange behavior. Since when did you start doing actions you wouldn't normally do."
His demeanor was the most ferocious of any Agnes had seen so far.
At that, Agnes began to think seriously.
'Since when was it.'
This irregular beating had started since yesterday.
The anxiety had also started since then.
But, if she thought about it according to his question, the answer was different.
"...Two days? Three days? I don't know."
Agnes pointed to a much earlier time zone.
That was it.
Agnes realized it only after focusing on 'strange behavior' rather than 'anxiety'.
'Why did I think about going out?'
It was a crazy thing to do.
No matter how much Deltain stayed by her side, it was clearly a crazy thing to do.
Agnes knew her own body condition better than anyone else.
She was a woman who knew the limits of her own life so terribly well that the reason she hadn't gone out for two years was because her body would collapse even if she pushed herself a little.
That was the same even today.
No, she today was much more careful about her lifespan than before.
It wasn't for any other reason.
It was because she needed time to build up the minimum amount of memories to remain in Deltain's memory.
But what was going out?
No, what was asking Kaltara, not Deltain, to escort her when she finished going out and returned?
Kaltara was a woman who had no way to save her if her body became critical.
That wasn't all.
Agnes realized it only now.
The words or actions she had done at Deltain's residence were clearly crossing the 'line' she had set for herself.
"...Huh?"
Agnes realized it only then.
That she, at that moment, had made a judgment that could kill her, swayed by emotions.
And that it was only yesterday that that emotion was expressed in the form of 'anxiety'.
"You're possessed."
Deltain said.
A lens blinking in blue had appeared in his left eye.
"You're possessed by a demon."
Agnes's expression hardened.
*
As soon as Deltain returned to the residence, he called all the Hounds of the residence.
And said.
"Hey, all of you, take off your clothes."
Mana boiled around Deltain's body.
At that serious demeanor, the Hounds took off their clothes without a word.
"Jebis, rip off your leg."
The blue-haired boy, the sex addict Jebis, trembled and put his hand on his leg.
With a 'Click' sound, his right leg fell off.
It was a prosthetic leg.
"Why are you doing this?"
"The Young Lady is possessed by a demon. There might be one among you who is possessed too."
At those words, the Hounds' expressions hardened.
Deltain did not say anything else and manifested magic.
<3rd-Tier Magic: Activate Chase.>
A blue lens appeared and blinked in his left eye.
It was high-tier magic that tracked the traces of demons.
Deltain's eyes scanned the Hounds once.
And they were furrowed.
"...None. There is none among you. Where the hell is the infection route?"
Deltain's bewilderment deepened.
Generally, the Devil's Temptation had characteristics similar to a virus.
In other words, it meant it was transmitted from human to human.
Especially if they ate in the same place or had physical contact, the infection probability increased even more.
Deltain was puzzled by that.
Agnes Levadein was a woman who was always stuck only in her bed.
There was a barrier Deltain had personally set up around her room, and the servants and Duke Levadein, etc., who faced her, had already finished checks before leaving the Duchy.
There was no room for her to be infected.
Deltain's expression became as serious as it could get.
As his worries deepened, he was even grinding his teeth.
'Looking at Agnes's reaction, it's definitely an Emotion-Amplifying type demon.'
There was heart pain.
There was an unstable pulse.
And according to her, it was a form where emotions went out of control and affected behavior.
This was the same phenomenon as the 'Gaias' infected person Deltain had heard about in reports.
'Gaias is a demon related to emotion amplification.'
While he was inferring even such clues.
"Boss."
Kaltara opened her mouth.
She said with a bright smile, as if she wasn't ashamed at all that she had exposed her naked body.
"There is still one infection route left."
"...What?"
Kaltara's index finger pointed toward Deltain.
With a 'jolt', even while Deltain's body was stopping, Kaltara's words continued.
"Did you forget? That the Devil's Temptation cannot be stopped by brute force."
In an instant, an interface appeared on Deltain's retina.
It was the correct answer.
Only after seeing that interface did Deltain realize.
That, as a rule, game DLCs are higher difficulty than the main game.