72. Witch Hunt (3)
72. Witch Hunt (3)
Had the Demon Summoning episode already begun?
Unfortunately, my knowledge of the original game offered little help in judging when the episode had begun.
The school closure, which should have ended within a week thanks to Karina's area-wide heal, had continued for over two weeks.
Because the Hellhound Incident had killed a heroine and injured many people, the story had already diverged from the original, so I doubted the episode would play out the same way. For instance, suppose a victim who appeared in the original, like Elina, had died during the Hellhound Incident.
A victim who was already dead could not be killed again, so the target would change.
That alone could derail the entire episode. It meant the little information I had could become useless scraps of paper. It was a cruel way to think, but if I acted based only on my half-baked knowledge of the original, the consequences could become irreversible.
...For now, should I start by asking around?
I needed to keep my eyes wide open and my ears pricked. I had no idea when the first disappearance signaling the start of the case would happen. The problem was, my ears weren't that sharp.
Was there some way around it?
"Yohan? Why the long face?"
"...I was thinking about Elisa."
"What, did you fall for her or something?"
I shook my head at Reni's teasing question. Fall for her? Like hell. Why would I fall for someone who had called me a monster?
My thoughts must have shown on my face, because Reni chuckled, said, "Just kidding," and popped a piece of bread spread with jam into her mouth.
"Fall for? Who?"
Millia, who had been munching on bread with jam smeared around her mouth, immediately took the bait. I grabbed a tissue—something you'd expect to see in the modern world, not this early modern setting—and wiped Millia's mouth as I spoke.
"Do you remember that female student we met at the cafeteria last time?"
"Uh... the one who screamed 'monster'?"
"That's right."
"What about her?"
What was with that reproachful look? I swallowed a sigh at Millia's sharper-than-usual attitude. Why did that one girl have to make things so bothersome?
"I met her on the way to see Karina. She fainted when she saw me."
"She even wet herself..."
Even looking back, it was absurd. Did I really look that frightening? Fine, I had scars and burn marks on my face, so I could accept that I might look scary. But fainting? Wasn't that crossing the line? It wasn't as if I looked like a zombie.
If I had been thin-skinned, I'd probably have been holed up in a corner crying by then.
"Yohan! It's okay! Because I like you, Yohan!"
"Ah, yeah... thanks."
Could you maybe talk without flinging bread crumbs at me? Unable to bear the unsightly scene, I placed a hand on top of Millia's head and turned her away.
"Hey!"
"Don't talk with food in your mouth."
"If you do that at school, you won't make any friends, you know?"
"No!"
"I said shut it."
Only then did Millia close her mouth and chew quietly. At last, some peace.
"Ugh, I'm full. Yohan, if you're done eating, come with me. I'll teach you what you need to do as an Escort Knight."
"Sure."
"I wanna come too!"
I looked at Reni. She was my senior now and outranked me, so it wasn't my place to give permission. Millia seemed to know that too, because she clasped her hands and looked up at Reni pleadingly. I doubted Reni would give in just because Millia was acting cute...
"...Well, fine. But you can't get in the way, alright?"
"Okay! Thank you!"
A faint smile tugged at Reni's lips. Whatever she said, Reni was a member of the Millia fan club too. She interacted with her less often, but judging by the snacks and other things she gave her, she clearly doted on her. Millia was almost like everyone's little sister. Karina had also looked after her well since they escaped the dungeon.
"Then let's go right away."
"You can eat more. There's still some left."
"I want more!"
"Alright, alright."
Millia deftly reached out and transferred three more pieces of bread onto her plate. Her appetite was terrifying, as always. I didn't know how a Dullahan's stomach was built, but it was probably incomparably larger than an ordinary person's. Her frame wasn't especially large for all that, though. I watched her mercilessly devour the bread.
"I'm done eading! Less go!"
"Told you to keep your mouth shut."
"Hngh."
--------------------------
"Alright, these are the gifts sent to Saintess Karina by her sponsors."
"...Damn, that's a lot."
I swept my gaze over the boxes stacked in one corner of the room. Gift boxes of every size. I had no idea what was inside, but they certainly wouldn't be cheap. Considering the Saintess's reputation, they had to contain impressive things. I was a little curious.
"Karina gets so many presents! I'm jealous... I want presents too!"
"Once I start getting paid, I'll buy you one."
I didn't know how much I would earn, but the Saintess's Escort Knight couldn't be paid too poorly, right? I looked at Reni questioningly. She shrugged and said,
"Don't get your hopes up. Escort Knights are paid well, but equipment maintenance eats up a lot of money... Wait, you can repair your equipment yourself, can't you?"
"I can, as long as it's not a magic tool."
"Lucky you. Fixing broken armor and maintaining weapons costs a surprising amount of money."
"...Isn't most of it going to alcohol?"
Reni scratched her head and averted her gaze at Millia's innocent question. We'd seen her drink a bottle a day, so who was she trying to fool? She even bought liquor that looked fairly expensive. Drinking a bottle like that every day would leave nothing of her salary.
Didn't she save for retirement? Was this for real?
Was she seriously living like an alcoholic with no future?
"...Hey, stop looking at me like that! Even a bottle of hard liquor doesn't get me drunk!"
Ah, of course. She was the illustrious senior with one of the most monstrous bodies around, after all.
"Anyway! From now on, we're checking every gift one by one! We need to make sure there's nothing dangerous inside, nothing sent to the wrong person, and no food that's gone bad! We're opening every last gift box! Get to it!"
"Get to it!"
The moment Reni finished speaking, Millia raised her hand and yelled. She seemed totally thrilled at the prospect of opening presents. How fickle. But why was she staring at me? Was she telling me to do it too?
...If Millia wanted me to, I couldn't exactly refuse.
"...Get to it."
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"Yohan! Look at this!"
Millia held out a small bottle in front of me. The bottle contained some kind of pink powder. What was that?
"Oh, that's powder made by drying and grinding mana-infused azalea petals. You mix it with water and apply it to your skin. It makes the skin firm and supple, so it's very popular."
"Does it make your skin better?"
"Something like that. It's fairly hard to obtain, yet someone sent it as a gift. Can you hand it over?"
"Here!"
Reni took the bottle from Millia, opened the lid, and dipped her pinky finger in. When the tip of her pinky was covered in powder, she pulled it out and examined the powder on her finger with almost obsessive thoroughness.
"...It checks out. It's definitely azalea powder."
Reni closed the bottle and placed it among the gifts already sorted as safe. Had that many piled up already? No, come to think of it, a full third of the gifts had been deemed unsuitable. She was being remarkably strict.
Speaking of which, what happened to the rejected gifts? They ranged from an unsettling-looking doll to an ornament subtly coated with poison. What kind of lunatics sent things like that? Halphas cultists must have slipped them in, right?
"Reni. What happens to the rejected items?"
"Mostly they get discarded."
"If they're going to be discarded, could I take a few? Some of them look pretty useful—"
"...Don't tell anyone else. You know that, right?"
"Of course."
"I don't know what you plan to use them for, but I'll assume you'll put them to good use."
"Do I look like someone who'd use them for bad things?"
"Uh... yeah."
I stood proudly by my record. Whenever I did something vicious, I had a good reason. If people didn't do things like poison wells, I wouldn't have to do things like shove zombies into ponds either.
"Reni, Reni, can I take one too?"
"Which one?"
"That doll! It's cute!"
The doll Millia pointed to was a bear doll that fell slightly outside ordinary tastes and looked oddly unsettling. Reni had examined it and found a bead containing an eavesdropping spell inside. Eavesdropping here too, huh? Then again, eavesdropping was basic intelligence gathering. Of course someone would try it...
Anyway, Reni had crushed the eavesdropping bead with her fingers, so there shouldn't be any danger. Reni picked up the doll and handed it to her, and Millia happily clutched it to her chest.
"Thank you!"
"It needs to be stitched up first, so give it to me later."
"Okay!"
"Then let's get back to it. There's still a long way to go."
Just as we were about to resume work.
Knock, knock, knock.
The knock made me turn toward the door. Who was it? A servant?
"Who is it?"
"...ssor."
The voice was too faint. I exchanged a look with Reni. It wasn't a servant.
"I'll open it."
Reni silently gave her permission with a nod instead of words.
I strode across the scattered gift boxes on the floor, grabbed the handle, and turned it. The door opened slowly. Through the narrow gap, I spotted purple hair.
Huh?
"E-eek... U-um, uh, um... P-Professor Lennon..."
Hey, don't cry. Why were you doing this to me?
You were making me feel like a total piece of shit!
I looked down at the teary-eyed purple-haired girl—no, Elisa—and swallowed a sigh.
