Two Sacrificial Lambs
The next day, X barely managed to rouse the still-sleeping Lola in time for their appointment and hauled her to the meeting point. They came within a hair's breadth of being caught by the women's dormitory supervisor, but he just barely slipped past by using a transformation mask to pass as a girl.
"I came this close to being socially obliterated."
"I'm sorry..."
"I figured as much, which is why I got us out early."
"Urgh..."
Once they'd met up and run through the operation briefing one more time, the clock had somehow reached eight in the evening. There was still about an hour left until the masquerade ball began.
"Let's move. You brought the ring, right?"
"Wear it on the index finger of the left hand so we can recognize each other. That's right, isn't it?"
"That's correct. Now let's put on the masks."
X and Lola transformed their appearances with the morphing masks. They took on the same forms as last time: Tersha and her attendant.
"What if we run into Lady Tersha...?"
"According to my sources, she won't be coming. And even if she does, she'll be wearing a mask, so she won't recognize us."
The two of them activated the spatial magic stored in the rings. Mana welled from the bands, wrapping around them in a burst of light, and in the next instant the world before their eyes had changed.
A vast mansion of unparalleled splendor filled their vision. Lights of every kind drifted through the air, dazzling to the point of blindness — a spectacle so lavish it looked, somehow, like the gaping maw of a demon.
"I'll take the lead."
"O-okay..."
Lola couldn't quite bring herself to step forward, but X steeled himself and started walking. As they approached the entrance, a neatly dressed elderly man came out to greet them. The butler's uniform made his identity obvious.
So this is the guy.
"Welcome to the masquerade. I am Eren Berin, the head butler in charge of tonight's banquet."
After the greeting, Head Butler Eren calmly studied X and Lola. Behind that kindly smile, he was examining them with cold, meticulous precision. X had no intention of waiting around for the inspection to finish at its leisure. He immediately adopted an arrogant, imperious tone.
"How long do you intend to stare at Lady Tersha, daughter of the Duke, with those insolent eyes? My mistress is exhausted from her journey. If anything happens to her well-being, are you prepared to take responsibility?"
"My apologies. Please forgive the discourtesy."
Even under that high-handed pressure, Eren merely smiled and continued his examination, unhurried.
Not as easy as I'd hoped. Then again, he's probably dealt with plenty of insufferable nobles like this.
Fortunately, the inspection ended quickly.
"Would you kindly show me your tokens?"
X and Lola held up their rings. Eren's reaction upon seeing them was exactly what X had expected.
"Might I ask a few questions?"
He noticed we removed the curse, just as I thought.
Eren's posture shifted. He assumed a stance of extreme wariness, yet still asked his questions with that same kindly smile.
"Would you mind if I confirmed whether any special treatment has been applied to the tokens?"
X barely managed to suppress the tension rising in his chest. This was a situation he had fully anticipated and prepared for. He answered immediately.
"There is no reason my mistress should wear something that commoner vermin have been tinkering with. The filthy residue clinging to the rings was washed off long ago. Is that a problem?"
"..."
A perfectly reasonable answer — one that cut the suspicion off at the knees. They could hardly make an issue of the curse being removed. To point it out would be to confess that they themselves were connected to the curse. And the identity of a duke's daughter was bait he'd laid precisely for this moment. No matter how many unruly nobles Eren had dealt with, ignoring a ducal lady would be difficult.
There's no way you'd let a noble of a ducal house slip through your fingers.
The initiative was X's.
"If it is a problem, we will leave at once. And we will formally protest the waste of my mistress's precious time."
He turned on his heel as if to walk away.
"Please wait a moment."
Eren stopped them.
"It appears there has been a misunderstanding. It has been some time since we last received guests..."
"That is no excuse. I clearly warned you that my mistress is exhausted from her journey, body and mind."
"Please forgive me."
He had a firm grip on the initiative now. He was confident they could pass through as they were, but since he'd come this far, he decided to extract a little more information.
"You wouldn't be the type to beg forgiveness with words alone, I trust?"
"I'm not sure I follow..."
"I've heard that 'it' is here. Is that true?"
Eren answered with his usual calm smile.
"It is exactly what you imagine."
That was all he said. It wasn't enough to figure out what "it" actually was. X pressed further.
"Where did you procure it? It couldn't have been easy."
"I'm afraid I cannot answer that. But there is nothing to worry about, I assure you."
"Even if my mistress herself is curious?"
"Even then."
Unfortunately, there was no useful information to be had. Asking any more would only pile on unnecessary suspicion, so he left it there.
"So when can we obtain it?"
"Please come alone at eight o'clock, when the banquet begins."
With that, the conversation with Eren came to an end. He promptly had a servant escort X and Lola to the banquet hall.
The kindly smile on Eren's face as he watched them go vanished, replaced by a cold, expressionless mask. He spoke quietly to something nearby.
A burst of wingbeats erupted from a nearby tree as something took flight. Only after the sound faded did Eren grind his teeth, his face twisting into something ugly.
"I'd love nothing more than to grind that bastard's snout into paste and drink it down, but I'll endure it for the greater cause. When the time comes, I'll drag you to hell myself."
Eren swept the forest with a cold-blooded gaze, then returned to his post.
A moment later, someone emerged from the undergrowth beyond. A girl with straight violet hair and a sharp, venomous gaze — Circe.
"Where the hell is this now..."
Circe had long since figured out that X was plotting something with Lola. She'd been tracking them the whole time, and had followed their spatial teleportation here. Analyzing the traces of magic to pinpoint the destination had been a simple matter.
"I burned another page of the Book of Eibon for this. I don't even know if this was a good idea."
Circe glanced at the Book of Eibon she carried against her chest. It was a powerful enough artifact to let Circe, a 4th-Circle mage, cast 6th-Circle magic — but she couldn't help worrying about the cost. She was curious enough about her lost memories and the true nature of that mental barrier to take the risk.
"A mansion you can only reach by spatial teleportation..."
Circe hid herself in a suitable spot and began watching the estate. Now that she was closer, she'd expected the eavesdropping spell she'd attached to X to reconnect — but it didn't connect at all. She identified the cause immediately.
"The flow of mana is being disrupted across this entire area. Is this the Imperial Palace or something? And besides..."
An unpleasant, clinging presence registered on Circe's senses. She knew exactly what it was.
"I didn't think those demon bastards would be in a place like this."
Demons she had fought in her previous life. She recognized that alien aura without a shred of doubt. Why creatures harder to find than cockroaches would be here was one question. Why X and Lola had walked right in was a far bigger one.
They mentioned some kind of operation at a masquerade. What the hell are they planning?
Circe's pursuit drew steadily closer.
Arriving at the banquet hall, X and Lola surveyed their surroundings. Decorated in a style reminiscent of a royal palace, the hall held roughly fifty people. Most of them were nobles wearing masks.
Quite a crowd. Which means this place is that rotten.
There was still time before the banquet officially began, but other nobles were already scattered about. Every one of them wore a mask, making identification nearly impossible. Most had gathered in clusters, deep in conversation.
"My lady, can you recognize anyone?"
"It's not like I know every noble in the Empire. And they're all wearing masks."
The nobles, as a matter of course, had thoroughly concealed their identities — just as X had. None of them were stupid enough to reveal themselves in a place like this. Their identities didn't matter anyway. What mattered was the incident that was about to unfold here. It was time to move according to plan.
"My lady, I'll be moving now."
"I know. Don't worry about me."
Lola headed into the crowd of nobles. She had experience in high society — she'd handle it just fine.
"I need to gather information of my own..."
X slowly took in his surroundings. The banquet hall was a two-story structure. The center of the first floor was a wide dance floor, ringed by a buffet of refreshments. The second floor was like an observation deck, where one could sit and look down on the first.
The second floor is restricted to authorized nobles. That's where the real upper crust gathers.
Beatrice would be up there. But first, X began preparing for the operation.
"You there."
"You called, sir?"
He immediately stopped a passing servant — a man of roughly the same build as X. He looked the man over slowly, then spoke with an imperious air.
"How long have you been working here?"
"Pardon?"
"Do I have to say everything twice? I asked how long you've been working here."
"A-about three years, sir."
"Tsk. Get lost."
"Sir? Y-yes..."
In that fashion, X sought out servants of similar build and asked each the same question. On the fifth try, he finally got the answer he wanted.
"I'm new, sir. I've only been here three months."
"Is that so. Perfect."
"Sir? What do you..."
"Do you smoke, by any chance?"
"I do, but..."
X slung an arm over the servant's shoulder and switched to a friendly tone.
"We're both in the business of serving nobles, and I've been dying to blow off some steam — but I haven't found the right person for it."
"Sir? I— what?"
"Be honest. Dealing with nobles is a living hell, isn't it?"
"Sir?!"
Since time immemorial, talking behind someone's back had been a surefire way to build rapport. And gossip about untouchable figures of power — like nobles — was always stimulating and entertaining. The servant, slightly stung, barely managed to hide his true feelings as he denied it.
"N-no, not at all. You can't say things like that here...!"
"Come now. I've been dealing with nobles a good ten years longer than you. Consider this advice from a senior."
"B-but..."
"Ah, right. Too many ears around here. Let's move somewhere else. Know a good spot?"
"W-well... I'll show you..."
The servant didn't know what to do, but he couldn't withstand X's persistence and ended up leading him somewhere — a spot in the woods outside the mansion. It was the servant's private refuge, the place he came to smoke and vent after some insufferable noble had scraped his nerves raw. For the first time, he had brought someone else there.
"'Bring me red socks this instant!' — can you believe that? He's already wearing red socks! What, does he want me to peel them off his feet and hold them up to his face?! Every time I hear something like that I want to smack him right on the top of his head!"
"Ah! I know exactly what you mean! Sometimes the demands are so insane I think I'll lose my mind! One time it was, 'I asked for wine, so why did you bring champagne?!' — and he didn't even realize he was already holding a glass of white wine!"
"You too, huh? Ha, my mistress is just the same! 'Belphegor~ bring me a white red wine~ make it a warm ice, would you~~'"
"Ahahaha! I-I'm gonna choke...!"
"There, there, pal. Have a smoke and calm down."
The servant packed the tobacco X had given him into his pipe and took a drag. It felt like the first time he'd laughed in the three months he'd been here — almost like opening up to an old friend. All of it, of course, had been by X's design.
If you want to survive ten years at a company, you'd better master the art of making friends with a few well-chosen words.
A proper working adult knew how to flatter the higher-ups in the smoking area and how to hit the younger crowd's sense of camaraderie. Once X judged that he'd built enough rapport, he started fishing for information.
"You know, thinking about it — why the hell would anyone build a mansion in a place like this? I'll never understand how nobles think. You got any idea?"
"Beats me. I've wondered the same thing these past three months, but they just say it's a 'secret.' Mana Phones don't even work inside the mansion, and you can't just go outside whenever you want. It's enough to drive you crazy."
"Well, it's not like nobles have just one or two 'secrets.' I wouldn't even be surprised if my mistress turned out to be a demon. She's already a demon as it is!"
"Ahahaha! I sometimes wonder if all nobles are demons myself. Oh, that reminds me! I did hear a rather strange rumor."
The servant glanced around, then lowered his head. He whispered, just loud enough for X alone to hear.
"A while back, some goods were delivered to this mansion that were a bit different from usual. Normally we'd carry that kind of thing ourselves, but these were moved by some hooded fellows."
"Come on, that's not even that weird."
"The thing is, they were stored in the 'basement' — a place we're not allowed to enter."
A basement?
An important keyword. A basement where something was being stored. With that clue alone, he could narrow down the possible incidents considerably.
Don't tell me it's the mass Demonification scenario. If that "it" the head butler mentioned — the thing everyone can use — is...
"But one of the maids said they keep bringing 'meat' down to that basement. Like feeding a wild beast."
"...What?"
"And there are rumors that someone saw a demon. Word is the 'host might be a demon.' Well, the maid who spread that rumor... let's just say she isn't around anymore."
"Meat" was a keyword for the large-scale demon assault scenario. "The host is a demon" was a keyword for the Bloody Masquerade. Every keyword had come up. That meant one thing.
Every scenario was going to happen.