Don't Touch the Cat (1)
An ordinary village, unremarkable in every way.
A guild hall, bustling and loud, packed wall to wall with people of every stripe.
And in front of the quest board inside it, two men stood side by side, wearing expressions of remarkable seriousness.
"A reconnaissance quest? For the abandoned church in Elm Forest?"
"That's the place. Where all the folks the village kicked out used to live."
They stared at the quest notice pinned to the board, mulling it over with grave, knitted brows.
"It's been abandoned forever. There's nothing left to see out there. Why would anyone want it scouted?"
"Word is people have been hearing strange noises around the church lately."
"Ah, wasn't the next village over ravaged by a monster swarm recently? The whole place left in ruins. You think it's connected to that?"
"That's probably what the notice is meant to confirm."
Long ago, it had been a place where outcasts gathered and lived with something like vigor. But relentless monster attacks and the merciless predations of bandits had turned the church into a place where no one could survive anymore.
Now it was a wretched, forsaken land that no one so much as wanted to visit—let alone set foot in.
"...A lot of history there, I'll admit. But isn't this the kind of quest that's actually easy money, if you play it right?"
"No way. That place has been creepy and abandoned since before we were born."
"Come on, it's just a building. If people are hearing noises, that means somebody's living there. And we can't go check out a building?"
"That's not the point. Nobody knows what's in there. If monsters or bandits have moved in, it's dangerous either way."
A simple reconnaissance job—which meant a meager reward.
Between the long-abandoned, ill-omened building and the total mystery of whatever might be living inside, no fool of an adventurer would willingly take such an unpleasant job.
But the man staring thoughtfully at the notice was thinking differently.
"Actually, if bandits or monsters are holed up in there, that's better for us. We can demand more than the reward written on this thing."
"What?"
"Look closely. This notice says 'reconnaissance' and nothing else. Not one word about monsters or bandits."
"So what's your point?"
"Say you take a job believing it's simple reconnaissance, and then suddenly you're expected to fight monsters or bandits. That's unfair on its own terms, right?"
"Well... yeah, I guess."
"So if that happens, we lodge a protest with legitimate grounds. From that moment on, the price is whatever we say it is."
What the man holding the notice said sounded quite convincing.
After all, if circumstances turned out differently from what was written on a quest notice, the guild was obliged to pay an adventurer more than the reward originally posted.
"So you want to take this quest?"
"Yeah. But not us."
"...You can't be serious."
"What's the harm? That's what rookies are for."
With that single remark, the man slowly turned his head to gaze fixedly at the rookie sitting rigid with tension at a rough-hewn wooden table.
"Hey. Priscilla."
"Y-yes, sir!"
At his call, Priscilla snapped her back straight and went stiff as a board. Within moments she was breaking out in cold sweat, blinking furiously fast.
"I'm entrusting this quest to you. It's simple reconnaissance—nothing difficult. You just go, take a look, and come back."
"Re-Reconnaissance? Would I be going alone...?"
"I just said I'm giving it to you. It's nothing but a look-around. Why would a whole crowd of us need to go?"
Priscilla had only just joined the guild and had no real experience to speak of.
She had suffered through endless trials at the training academy to finally become an adventurer, yet being sent off alone on her very first quest was an intimidating burden to bear.
"B-but... I'm a rookie. I only just joined the guild..."
"Did the academy teach you nothing? You can't even scout without a crowd holding your hand?"
"N-no, sir...! I can do it!"
"There we go. That's more like it. It's not that far, either. Do it right and you'll be back within a day."
Under the relentless pressure, Priscilla had no choice but to accept the quest notice from his hand.
Even in that moment, her hand trembled like a leaf in the wind—yet sadly, the man, thinking of nothing but easy money, noticed none of it.
"The abandoned church in Elm Forest...?"
"You know where it is?"
"No... I only just learned there was a church building in Elm Forest at all..."
"Hmm, well, I suppose you wouldn't. It's been abandoned for over thirty years, after all. It's really nothing special once you see it."
"Th-thirty years?"
"We'll fill in the details when you get back. For now, just get moving."
"The more I think about it, the sketchier this feels..."
The man watched with growing displeasure as Priscilla's face drained of color, her brows drawing together in an anxious arc.
Before long, he let out a long, exasperated sigh and scowled.
"I told you—it's just reconnaissance. Who asked you to fight monsters?"
"I-I know, but..."
"Ha, this kid, honestly. When you're told to jump, you jump. What's with all the backtalk?"
"I'm... sorry?"
"It's simple reconnaissance. You go, you look, you come back. That's all."
The weight of his pressure pressed down on Priscilla like a physical force.
But she was a rookie who had only just joined the guild, and no matter how fiercely a sense of foreboding coiled around her entire body, she could not bring herself to refuse the man's order outright.
"Truly... truly all I have to do is scout and come back...?"
"That's what I said. It's written right there on the notice."
"...Understood."
Under the man's unceasing, crushing pressure, Priscilla finally rose from her seat, drained of strength.
And with every step she took, the cheerful clatter of her armor rang out—yet somehow, it only made her heart grow heavier.
"Amen."
Afternoon service, held without fail today as every day.
It was a daily routine, so by now I should have grown accustomed to it.
And yet I still found myself sighing the moment service drew near, hiding my discomfort while feeling, for some reason, a twinge of guilt on top of it.
Was it because I, a nonbeliever, was putting on a performance of piety?
Self-loathing crept over me from time to time—but the moment I thought of the children who looked up at no one but me, my peace returned as quickly as it had fled.
"Sister, service is over, so can I go read my magic tome now?"
"Of course. But don't read for too long. It's bad for your eyes."
"Okay."
Iris had fallen head over heels for magic tomes lately.
To the point of reading for hours every single day.
Her obsession worried me a little, but at the same time, seeing the gift I'd given her put to such use filled me with a quiet, honest pride.
"Levi! Can I go swing my sword in the garden too?"
"I'd like to stay in my room and pray a little longer."
"It's free time from here on out, so do as you please. That said, if you get too absorbed, I will make you stop."
"Okay!"
"Understood."
Ever since the day I'd handed each of them a weapon suited to them, the children had, quite without warning, gained jobs.
They themselves seemed entirely unaware of the fact, but I—who could see status windows—could hardly help being flustered.
I had only given them weapons with their futures in mind, nothing more.
The idea that such a simple act would count as a class change was, frankly, absurd.
"Am I some kind of NPC or something..."
I muttered the words softly to myself inside the empty church after the children had gone off.
For now, nothing much had changed—but thinking ahead, my head was already starting to ache.
There was no telling what kind of effect one thoughtless act of mine might have on the children down the road.
- Creeeak
"Levi, someone's here."
There I was, standing blankly in place with my head hanging low, when Eisen came bursting in from the garden and called my name at the top of his lungs.
"Hm?"
"Some adventurer from Erdelin. It's a woman."
A visitor arriving out of nowhere, without a word of warning—my mind went white in an instant.
For someone to show up unannounced at this church, which hadn't seen so much as a human shadow in ages, was both extraordinary and deeply suspicious.
And an adventurer, no less.
"Just the one?"
"Yeah. But something's off about her. She looks... unsettled."
"...?"
"Like she's terrified of something. She's been shaking really hard this whole time."
It was an easy description to understand—but even so, I didn't think I could judge the situation properly without seeing it for myself.
If this adventurer had come straight from town, she would have carried at least some information about this church.
So why was she so frightened she couldn't stop trembling?
I simply couldn't make sense of it.
"Understood. I'll go out and handle it myself."
"She doesn't look dangerous exactly, but something about her is seriously weird. She was hiding in the bushes, spying on me?"
"Spying on you?"
"Yeah. The second I caught her, she suddenly begged me to run away with her. I barely shook her off and ran here."
"...You did well. I'll take care of the rest. Eisen, why don't you head back to your room and rest for now?"
"Yeah, okay."
A few seconds after Eisen left the church, I put my stalled feet back into motion and headed outside without hesitation.
What on earth could her purpose be?
Going by how things had gone so far, no one should have discovered that I was a vampire.
She didn't feel like a bandit, either.
A real bandit wouldn't have shown herself alone like this.
- Creeeak
Before long, I stepped onto the stairs at the church entrance, my expression clouded with unease.
And there she was—a female knight standing dead center in the modest garden, rooted to the spot, her whole body trembling violently.
"Y-you there...! What in the world are you...?!"
The instant she saw me, she ripped the sword from her hip and began threatening me without the slightest warning.
Watching her stand there, breathing hard and barely keeping upright, my questions only deepened.
"...Might I ask what you're doing, exactly? Showing up unannounced and making threats."
"I-I'm... Priscilla, of the Shield Guild...! I received a quest reporting an ominous presence here, and that's why I've come!"
"The Shield Guild?"
"Your skin is strangely pale—so you're clearly no ordinary human!"
Her manner struck me as remarkably sloppy, somehow.
But the fact that a guild member—no mere freelance adventurer—had come to this church alone gave me the sudden feeling that what I saw was not the whole of her.
It was possible the disheveled act was a ploy to lull me into letting my guard down.
"......"
"I saw earlier that there's a child living here besides you..."
"What about it?"
"According to my information, this church has been abandoned for over thirty years! There are monsters in the area—it's an environment where humans can't easily live!"
That was news to me.
Today was the first I'd learned that this church had lain abandoned for a full thirty years.
But that wasn't the important thing right now.
"Could you get to the point? Your preamble is rather long."
"Come out of there and prove to me that you're human...! Otherwise I'll judge you a monster wearing human skin and cut you down where you stand!"
So this woman did know something after all.
I'd found her suspicious from the start, but I never expected her to tip her hand this quickly.
Was she that confident?
"I'm sorry. I don't care much for sunlight."
Well, whatever the situation.
With the sun blazing high in the sky, there was nothing I could do.
That was the vampire's greatest weakness.
For now, my only option was to talk her around with gentle words and send her off sweetly, with as little harm done as possible.
"It seems there's been some misunderstanding, so I'd like to invite you inside the church, where we can speak calmly and—"
I was wearing a faint, tranquil smile, doing my best to appear composed, when—
"Sister~. I don't understand what this passage means."
Iris, who should have been in her room, suddenly appeared and came toddling toward me.
"I-Iris?!"
"Wha—?! There's another child here besides that boy I saw earlier?!"
At the sight of Iris, the knight's eyes went wide and her brows knitted in grave concern.
Then, quick as a flash, she blocked Iris's path—the little girl still toddling toward me with her tome hugged to her chest—and swept her up into her own arms.
"D-don't go...! You're being deceived right now! That nun is definitely—"
- Thud
In that instant, I felt my reason snap clean in two.
Her suspicion of me, I could overlook. I could have let it slide with a shrug.
But reaching her hand toward the children—who lived here in something like peace—was something I could not, would not, watch.
"You shouldn't lay a finger on what you can't see through to the end."
"...What?"
The knight stood frozen at the foot of the shadowed entrance stairs, staring hard up at me.
Frankly, if I'd squeezed my eyes shut and erased the sensation of pain, I could have stepped out of that shadow in an instant.
And yet I had not moved so much as a single step out of it—because I was giving this knight one last chance.
I could tell, faintly, that she was no bad person. Merely short-sighted and clumsy in her actions.
So I, too, decided that unless she did something drastic, I would meet threats with threats.
But—
- Drip
Events were unfolding in precisely the opposite direction of my intentions.
The moment I saw what was dripping, drop by drop, from beneath the knight's armor as her face crumpled into tears, shock crashed over me—and with it, a tidal wave of sheer, dumbfounded bewilderment.
"I-I'm so sorry... please, spare my life..."