I’d Like to Stab You
In the underground waterway, where damp air clung to the skin, a woman walked carefully along the passage.
She followed the faint path lit by the lantern hanging from the long staff in her hand.
With every step, her dark green priest’s robe and short black hair swayed.
Up ahead, she could see a space washed in a strong light unlike the lantern’s weak glow. It was sunlight streaming through the hole left when the fountain was smashed during yesterday’s monster incident.
All around her, guards in leather armor were busily investigating something.
The woman made her way toward them.
“Hello!”
“You’re from the temple? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
“Yes. I’m Melan, a 4th-Class Priest from the Horizon Sect Temple in the Holybell Commercial District. I’ve just been promoted, so I’m now allowed to handle investigations on my own. I’m sure you’ll be seeing my face often from now on!”
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Herson, captain of the guard.”
As soon as Priest Melan introduced herself, the captain bowed at once.
She looked young enough to have only just become an adult, but she was a duly ordained priest and had already risen to the rank of 4th-Class Priest. He wouldn’t dare look down on her.
“Could you tell me how far the investigation has progressed?”
“Certainly. The current findings indicate that someone broke in. We found footprints that appear to be recent, and the key to the waterway inside the guard post had also been moved, so we’re sure of it. It’s our oversight.”
“Hmm…”
After hearing the explanation, Melan looked around. She took the lantern off the Holy Staff in her hand and set it on the ground, then carefully examined the wall and floor of the waterway before closing her eyes to concentrate.
“…It looks like there was deliberate contamination here.”
She opened her eyes after finishing her detection.
“You mean the intruder did this?”
“The impurity here is especially dense, but only in this area of the waterway. I can’t say for certain, but it’s highly likely.”
Because of its nature, the underground waterway was bound to be heavier with impurity than the surface.
But the darkness concentrated around the area beneath the fountain was far too thick. It was as if someone had intentionally smeared impurity there.
“Unless there was some tragic story tied to this spot, or a rift formed here... there’s no reason for impurity to gather this heavily. That means someone did this on purpose.”
“How do you see the connection to the fountain saboteur?”
The fountain saboteur.
That was the nickname given to the pair who had caused trouble and vanished yesterday.
In the brief window between the monster’s appearance in the park and the arrival of the guards after evacuations had begun, the creature itself had vanished without a trace, and only the shattered fountain remained to prove anything had happened at all.
According to eyewitnesses, a pair believed to be an adult man in a hood and a child had hurriedly left the area.
“…You said the monster had completely covered the fountain above, correct?”
“Yes. That’s what the witnesses said. But then there was a flash of light, and a little later, a huge explosion. By the time we got there, two people were hurrying away.”
“…”
A flash of light.
A huge explosion.
That narrowed the possibilities to two.
Either a mage had used bombardment magic to blow away the fountain and the monster in one shot, or a priest had used some explosive method to destroy the fountain, then purified the monster that had already spread into the waterway with divine arts.
Whatever it was, it was insane.
Melan, who had been wearing a proud expression at the thought of her first independent mission, gradually let her face sour.
Still, if she organized everything they’d learned so far, the picture was clear.
Someone had sneaked into the underground waterway at night and spread impurity around the fountain.
The next day, the pair who’d transformed that impurity into a monster had taken it down.
—That was the likely sequence of events.
“For now... I think the intruder in the waterway and the fountain saboteur were different people.”
“That’s what I think too.”
“The intruder’s motives are definitely questionable, but the saboteur’s motives... whatever the process, it was surely done with good intentions.”
“Well... the lord’s residence is absolutely hounding us to pay for the fountain, but in the end, they did save people.”
“I’ll start looking for that pair from here. Please leave the investigation of the intruder to the guard. Since they seem to know how to handle impurity, I’ll request additional personnel from the temple.”
“Thank you.”
Exterminating monsters was the temple’s job.
Melan had come in the name of finding the two who had done it in their place and offering thanks.
Of course, if possible, the true aim was to scout them. Failing that, still scout them. And if that was impossible too, at the very least bring back their place of origin, faith, or any other personal details. But that was the real mission.
The temple suspected the two were users of divine arts.
When they had looked at the fountain from above before descending underground, there hadn’t been a trace of impurity left anywhere.
Clearly, even though the guards had moved first yesterday and priests had been dispatched afterward, someone—moreover, an extremely skilled someone—had used divine arts there.
It was possible it had been the work of a skilled mage, since fire from a powerful mage could burn away impurity as well, but still.
Priest or mage, they definitely aren’t ordinary.
Thinking that, Melan picked up the main tools of a priest—her staff and lantern—and set off.
She planned to begin at the request office, where all kinds of people and information gathered, and search for clues about the two there.
Even if she had nodded off a little on the way, she shook herself awake and walked on briskly.
***
“You’ve definitely improved since earlier.”
“Is that so?”
Endy asked with relief. Right now, he was seated on horseback, holding the reins.
Beside him stood the butler, Albet, who had offered to teach him personally when Endy said he wanted to learn how to ride.
Why had he suddenly taken an interest in riding?
From Endy’s point of view, it had started to bother him that he had to summon a carriage driver every time he went out on a request. He was supposed to be working in disguise, and that only raised the chance of being exposed.
So he’d decided it would be better to learn how to ride himself and escort the young lady around.
Just as a license was practically mandatory in the modern world, he was becoming a proper member of this one.
“Maybe it’s because this horse is so docile, but I thought it’d be difficult. It’s actually easier than I expected.”
“Beasts can tell what sort of person someone is. Because you’re a trustworthy man, sir, the horse is gladly lending you its back.”
“You’re flattering me again…”
“I’m sincere, sir.”
The old man had become unusually warm with him ever since he’d taken a liking to Endy. If only even half the people above him in this mansion were like this gentleman.
“Ahem. Ahem. I think that’s enough for now, so I’ll go check on the young lady. Thank you for today, Butler.”
“Not at all. If you need anything, come by anytime... ah, speaking of which.”
“Yes?”
“The count will be returning next week. There’ll be a small welcome party that day, so please avoid going out if you can.”
“...Understood.”
“And lately, there have been unsettling things happening...”
“Unsettling things?”
“Did you not hear? A monster appeared in the park in the commercial district.”
“Oh. What a frightening thing.”
“And there was even an explosion at the fountain.”
“How dreadful! How utterly wicked.”
“Please be careful when you go out for the time being, sir.”
“Thank you. I certainly will.”
After the exchange of farewells, Endy casually headed toward the vegetable garden.
There, a cotton-candy-haired girl was tossing branches with a puzzled look on her face.
She had stuck up a drawing of Endy’s face as a target on a tree far away, then went whip, whip—
“Hmm... this doesn’t feel right...”
She muttered to herself over and over, pausing to inspect her hand after each throw.
Judging by the distance between Cream and the tree, it was about the same as the distance between her and the fountain that day.
It looked like she was trying to reproduce the trait she had used then.
Cream Holybell has acquired the trait Physical Enhancement.
Cream’s newly manifested trait.
It wasn’t surprising in and of itself, since it was something she had shown much later in the original story, but what was surprising was that she had acquired it on her own.
Had there been even a slight change in her feelings?
As he watched, Cream gave him a prim little “don’t look over here,” then went right back to hurling branches at the drawing of Endy’s face.
Whizz! The branch flew through the air, lost its strength partway, and thumped to the ground.
Whizz! Another one flew out, lost its strength midway, and went zing before dropping to the floor.
“Ngh...! Why won’t it hit, sir!”
“You can’t really ask me that...”
“I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to the picture of you over there!”
Well, she’d certainly drawn it well.
Unlike the dog doll she always carried around, which she’d made look like a limp little chimera.
In any case, it seemed she was still having trouble using her newly gained trait. She lacked the strength, so the branches kept falling short.
Even if she replaced them with needles, the result would probably be the same.
...That day was lucky, then.
It had been a kind of gamble.
The moment Endy realized the fountain itself had to be removed, he remembered the explosion that came from the meeting of Cream’s blood and purification. Just then, Cream entered the park, so he trusted her and lowered the output of his purification.
He’d gathered enough power to survive if the monster lunged at him—though it would probably hurt like hell.
Fortunately, Cream had awakened her trait and thrown the needle perfectly.
Even after all that, she was still the same grumbling, prickly young lady, but still—she was admirable beyond words.
Stats
Stamina: 51
Strength: 41
Agility: 49
Wisdom: 73
Emotion: 9
Charm: 42
Grace: 26
Morality: 2
Faith: 2
Stress: 50%
Even her Emotion had gone up by three. It had been reduced by one along the way, so the final increase was only two, but still—it had gone up. She was uniquely outstanding among the three siblings.
There had been small changes here and there as they went about their daily lives too.
Very promising.
With a satisfied nod, Endy walked over to stand before Cream.
More precisely, before the branches Cream had thrown.
Squatting down, she picked them up and looked them over from different angles, as if making a stern evaluation. Anyone watching would have thought she was a sommelier.
“…What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for a tree with a good grip.”
“Why?”
“Heh heh...”
“Sir?”
“Kuhuhu...”
Instead of answering, he only let out a sinister chuckle, and Cream slowly slid a hand inside her doll.
Was this teacher insane? Had his brain been damaged in the explosion before?
Her expression grew steadily colder, as though she’d just seen a bug, and Endy quickly gave her a proper answer.
“It’s a secret.”
“I really want to stab you.”
“You’ll understand once we go on the request I’m about to take you to. You are prepared, yes?”
“...Yes.”
With obvious reluctance, she went to fetch the bundle of luggage she had left in one corner of the garden. There wasn’t anything special in it—just a hooded cloak for going outside, spare needles, and some medicinal herbs she had dug up from the back mountain.
She came shambling back with it, and the look on her face made it plain she hated going.
“Don’t dislike it too much, young lady.”
“Don’t worry... I said I’d go with you myself, and I’ll obey properly this one time... Besides, this is the first and the last time.”
To prove that she was of no value.
To prove that her teacher was a liar.
Their first request together.
With a more solemn expression than before, Cream stood in front of Endy. Her tone held a coldness and resolve that she had never shown quite so clearly before.
“Just going together is admirable enough.”
“Hmph.”
“What do you think I prepared for your lunchbox today?”
“…”
Lunchbox.
At the word, Cream began inching forward first, one careful step at a time.
Tototot...
Tatat—
Tatata—!
At first she only drifted ahead toward the stable, but her steps gradually quickened until, before long, she was running.