They’re Not a Scam Ring (3)
It was nearing sunset.
It was time for tired adults finishing work and children who had come out to play to head home.
Here, too, two figures trailing long shadows were making their way back.
A girl in a black hood walked in front, and behind her came a lady in a lovely dress.
Lady Wellina felt strangely unsettled.
Though they were plainly on the road to her own home, the mysterious girl was trotting along ahead of her, and it felt almost as if she were following a fairy through a spell.
The same street, the same brick path, the same blue sky—yet with that one attendant girl leading the way, everything seemed different.
The certainty and resolve that rose from such a small body.
It was as if she were some important person’s messenger.
As she inwardly tried to laugh off the thought that, if they kept walking like this, they might not end up at home at all but in another world, a familiar building soon came into view.
A haven she had not wanted to return to, and yet one she had wanted to come back to as quickly as possible.
“…Huh?”
As soon as she stood before the door, she caught a strange smell.
A heavy odor, like something burning.
A sticky stench that clung to the inside of her nose.
Wondering what on earth it was, she looked at her attendant, but the girl merely pointed wordlessly toward the door.
Open the door with your own hand, and behold what lies within.
“S-Should I… go in?”
“Yes. Don’t be afraid. Hurry.”
“…”
The voice was gentle, yet strong.
Bolstered by that firm reassurance, the lady opened the door.
Creeeeak—
“Ghk!?”
And immediately broke into a fit of coughing.
The moment the front door swung open, a choking haze poured out, stealing her breath in an instant.
Her vision blurred, her eyes stung, and her throat turned raw. It felt as if she had inhaled a mouthful of sand.
“What on earth is this? Cough, it wasn’t like this just a little while ago.”
“The impurities are struggling with all their might.”
“W-What…?”
“My master will explain the details. Please, go inside.”
“B-But—”
“Do not fear. What is there to fear when that person is here?”
“…”
“Go and see the end of the impurities with your own eyes. You, madam, have that duty.”
A girl who could barely have reached Wellina’s lower chest stood there without the slightest trace of fear, armed to the teeth with unwavering faith in her master.
Though on the verge of tears, the lady carefully stepped into the house. With every light extinguished and the sun already gone down, the darkened interior felt alien. Still, the assistant’s composure in a situation like this gave her a little courage.
Thud—the attendant who had followed her shut the door behind them.
“Straight to the second floor.”
“Y-Yes…”
As she climbed the stairs, trembling all the while, that strange smell kept growing stronger.
It was almost like the scent of fresh grass, and yet the heavy odor she had first noticed pressed violently into her lungs.
And that oppressive feeling, as if sand dust were hanging in the air—anyone could tell something was terribly wrong. A chill ran up her spine.
“I’ve been waiting for you, madam.”
“Mister…”
The day’s rescuer—the man called teacher—was waiting in front of the storage room on the second floor. Strange black substances were smeared all over the surrounding walls and floor, and just looking at them made her skin crawl.
“T-Those things around us…?”
“They were caused by impurities. From here on, I’ll begin the actual purification, and the impurities have realized that fact and are now thrashing about.”
Wellina swallowed.
The door the teacher stood with his back to.
From inside, there came a dreadful scraping, rattling, and thudding.
And the smell.
The odor that had lingered since she first entered the house had grown so much stronger that she wanted to cover her nose. It seemed to be rising thickly from the substances around the teacher.
More than anything, there was an ominous aura.
As she drew closer to the storeroom, a cold wind seemed to seep out, raising gooseflesh over her skin.
So this was what impurities caused.
Impurities.
Wicked impurities.
The vile curse trying to devour this household.
“I-I knew it…”
“…”
“I knew it was true…! Yes, that painting really was frightening! I wasn’t wrong! I was right all along!”
“…”
“That painting was cursed—possessed by impurities!!”
“That is correct, madam.”
“Sob, sob…!”
Terrified as she was, a deep sense of vindication swelled in one corner of her heart.
However much she had pleaded with her husband, he had only ever said things like it was all in her head, or that if she kept this up she should take medicine, or please, for the love of heaven, pull herself together.
Even when she had gone to the trouble of summoning a priest, he had said there was no problem at all and left coldly because he was busy.
No one had listened. No one had understood. They had only treated her like a madwoman.
And yet now her rightness had been proven.
No—by now, whether she had been right or wrong hardly mattered.
She had only wanted someone to acknowledge how hard this had been.
“You were not wrong, madam.”
“Y-Yes, sir… Yes, that was it…”
“And now, it is time for you to be freed from that pain.”
The teacher spoke calmly and opened the door.
At that instant, the unpleasant sound from inside the room grew even louder.
Bang—!
Creeeeak—!
Scratching, pounding sounds, as if something were hammering on the walls themselves.
“What on earth is that noise…!”
“It is the sound of the impurities trying to escape the house. Do not worry. My assistant is taking care of matters outside.”
Come to think of it, the mysterious assistant had vanished at some point.
Only then did Wellina look straight ahead and gasp.
“Ahh, th-the painting…!”
The painting had been tainted black.
The portrait of the blonde-haired lady, who had been smiling just that morning, was now smeared from end to end with a thick, tar-like substance. And yet the shape of her smiling mouth still showed through, making it all the more chilling.
She could hardly breathe at the sight. Even when she consciously tried to draw a breath, only thin, reedy gasps came out.
It was not just the appearance that had changed, but the very atmosphere. Before, it had merely made her vaguely uneasy; now, it was exuding murderous intent so intense it made her whole body tingle.
The air in the storeroom was cold. So cold it stung her skin. Somewhere, a giggling sound rang out. Was it happy to find prey that had come right to it?
She felt as if she might be crushed under the sheer pressure of it.
And in this situation, a single survival instinct spoke to the woman who had lived her entire life in peace.
Run. Now.
“H-Haah…!”
Even a child who knew nothing would shiver in terror at the sight of a beast baring its teeth.
As Wellina tried to flee from the storeroom, something sticky snagged at her feet and she went down with a thud, her knee slamming into the floor. Too frightened to even feel the pain, she still tremblingly crawled toward the corner.
So it was true.
It really had been possessed by impurities.
Just as she was growing less afraid than she was indignant at her current plight, she squeezed her eyes shut.
Step.
Someone stood in front of her, blocking the way.
“S-Sir…!”
“Do not worry, madam.”
The thudding sound, like someone pounding on the walls, and the overwhelming murderous aura.
Wellina was certain that if her husband or the priest from before had been brought here instead, they would have reacted in exactly the same way, equally horrified.
And yet the man spoke with an unruffled calm.
“From here on, I shall purify the impurities.”
“H-How…!”
“For that purpose, all preparations have already been completed.”
The man murmured low and drew something from his robes.
It was a shabby branch. A branch about the length of a forearm. But in the hand of that confident man, it looked like some kind of sacred instrument.
Gripping it as though it were a baton, the teacher pointed straight at the painting.
“Close your eyes!”
Thunk.
At the sharp command, the noise beating at the walls stopped.
At the same time, a brilliant light so intense it hurt to look at it burst into being.
Flash—!
The pure white radiance pouring from the end of the branch filled the entire storeroom.
It was warm and powerful, as if it meant to bury all the filth in the world.
The choking stench and murky air cleared as though they had never existed. The murderous chill clinging to her skin only moments ago vanished without a trace.
In their place remained only the warmth of light and the freshness of clean air.
A ringing hum, like a birdcall—high, clear, and tingling against the ears. It felt like she had wandered into a peaceful forest, and so Wellina slowly opened her eyes.
What she saw then was astonishing.
The sticky black matter that had poured from the painting, the all-enveloping darkness—gone without a trace. The storeroom was now bright and clear.
In the center stood the man, firm and unmoving.
His robe fluttered in a breeze seeping in from somewhere.
And at the tip of the branch there was only light.
Light so dazzling it called to mind the stained-glass windows of a cathedral.
“Ah… ahhh…”
Before them, there hung the portrait of the woman, smiling now without a hint of filth upon her.
Without realizing it, the lady had gone down on her knees and folded her hands.
***
“Thank you… truly, thank you.”
“Haha, not at all.”
In the first-floor sitting room, Lady Wellina kept bowing over and over.
Endy only maintained a faint smile in response.
Behind him, Cream was hiding. Perhaps she was having trouble keeping up the act any longer; she kept fussing at her neck and letting out dry coughs—cough, kehk—it seemed the air in the house had been quite bad.
The young lady really had suffered a great deal.
“I’ll be able to sleep in peace now. And I can safely keep my grandfather’s keepsake as well. Thank you so much, sir. And you too, assistant.”
“It is not quite over yet.”
“Pardon?”
At Endy’s words, the lady’s face seemed to darken with fear for an instant.
Then he took Cream’s handmade calming medicine from his robes.
“Please take one of these each day for two weeks. It will completely clear away the aftereffects of the impurities. My assistant made it.”
“Oh…! To think you would even take care of this for me. I honestly don’t know how to thank you…”
“Please raise your head. It was nothing difficult.”
“How modest you are…”
Truly.
It had really not been difficult.
After all, there hadn’t actually been any impurities at all.
The strange smell in the house was tar.
He had smeared tar all over the house, then, to match the time when Lady Wellina would arrive, scattered fine sand everywhere.
And with that, the choking air was complete.
He had recreated the feeling he experienced when he once went to a cursed house. The tar itself had been staged after the sticky monster he had seen in the park recently.
In particular, he had paid special attention to the storeroom. Thanks to Cream lending him her blood, he had been able to create an overwhelming atmosphere.
He had originally refused because he did not want to injure her, but since Cream had told him to do it properly if they were going to do it at all, he had followed her lead.
Once he mixed a drop of her blood into the tar and smeared it throughout the storeroom, the effect was tremendous. The space itself seemed to exude murderous intent, as though it truly were cursed. That was, after all, witch’s blood for you.
Since he had diluted just one drop in the tar bucket, the concentration was thin enough that his purification could erase it cleanly without causing an explosion.
He had been so nervous during the earlier trial runs that his heart had practically pounded out of his chest.
For reference, the pounding and laughter sounds had both been made by Cream herself from outside.
I’ll have to stamp her approval on this the moment we get back.
Seeing the lady smiling with such heartfelt relief, he could only call her deserving of praise. With an arrangement like that, she would have no choice but to believe it.
The painting really had been cursed, and today Endrew and his assistant had safely completed the purification—
That was all Lady Wellina needed to know. That was enough to cure her paranoia.
Having successfully resolved the request, Endy was preparing to take his leave.
“Wait a moment, sir.”
“Is there something you would like to ask?”
“Well… I didn’t catch your assistant’s name…”
“Ah.”
Hidden behind Endy, Cream twitched.
“You said the medicine was made by your assistant, too.”
“That is…”
“I’d really like to thank her properly by name.”
Whether she had found courage or was simply dead set on it, the timid woman spoke firmly and lowered her waist in a deep bow. She seemed eager to look Cream in the face and offer her thanks directly.
But Cream, whether from shyness or because she found it bothersome, only kept hiding behind Endy’s robe and clinging to it.
Endy gently stroked the girl’s back.
Each time he did, Cream gave a dry cough—kehk—and jerked slightly, until at last she bit her lip once and stepped forward.
“Assistant. Thank you for today.”
“N-Not at all. It was all my master’s doing.”
“Thank you for leading me home and for making the medicine. You’re so small, and yet so dependable. You must have had a hard day too, Assistant.”
One might call it a kind of professional pride, perhaps, but she was extraordinarily committed to the act and carried it through to the end.
Her voice was a little dry from all the coughing, and yet when Lady Wellina approached her so warmly, Cream silently bowed her head.
“May I ask your name?”
“Ah…”
Come to think of it, Endy had picked an alias—Andrew—but Cream had not chosen one for herself.
It would be good to decide now.
“W-Well, um…”
What name would possibly come out of that tiny mouth? Endy waited with bated breath, and after a moment, the answer came.
“R-Rimi…”
“Pardon?”
“Rimi…”
It was the alias a twelve-year-old child had come up with after about twenty seconds of thought.
Everyone should applaud.
“Thank you, Assistant Rimi. I’ll never forget that name.”
“I-It really wasn’t anything… cough.”
Cream pulled her hood low, but since it covered her face, Endy could not see what color her expression had gone.
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