Warm Southern Territory - 5
Even in death it refused to go quietly, leaving behind a horrific curse—now I finally understood why it had once been called a god. Sea god, my foot. Just as the captain said, this thing was a god of calamity through and through.
"Waaaaaah! Hic… huuuuh… waaaaah!"
Irina had been desperately holding back her tears, but the moment she cracked she collapsed into full-throated, unrestrained wailing. The way she sobbed as if the sky itself were falling made me grateful I had sent the Magic Corps Commander away so quickly.
In the middle of it all I learned something new: when a person is truly devastated and out of their mind, the crying becomes so raw and piercing it can make anyone listening want to look away. Soft sniffling or quiet little "hic" sounds—those were the polite, face-saving tears people only managed while they still had some grip on themselves.
Not that I had ever wanted to know that particular fact. Or that I should have known it.
Maybe I should have gone back after all.
Watching Irina cry hard enough to make an onlooker ache, I wondered if leaving the scene would have been the kinder choice. But abandoning a sobbing child sitting alone among the pieces of a Kraken corpse was hardly better. Especially a child who had also… wet herself while crying.
My eyes accidentally drifted downward along the trail of tears and water, then snapped back up just as fast. If Irina noticed me looking at the ultimate crystallization of her humiliation, she might dive into the open sea and never come back.
What am I supposed to do about this?
Seriously, what? How do you even comfort someone in this situation?
"Don't worry, I don't mind"? She had just shown this side of herself in front of a man who was basically her family's sworn enemy—fat chance she wouldn't mind. "I didn't see a thing"? That was pure nonsense; saying it at all was the strongest possible proof that you had seen something.
How exactly was I supposed to soothe the heart of a seventeen-year-old girl who had just taken a direct hit to her most sensitive pride? It was an impossibly difficult problem.
"Irina, just a moment."
"Hic…?"
I carefully lifted her into my arms. Her throat already sounded raw from the force of her crying. Touching her when she was still afraid of even being near me felt wrong, but it was the only idea I had. Left like this she looked ready to collapse from dehydration.
She went rigid in my hold, staring up at me with a tear-streaked face. I deliberately avoided her eyes and carried us both into the sea until we were thoroughly soaked.
"You got monster fluid on you, so better safe than sorry. If we wash it off like this, nothing bad should happen."
In truth nothing would have happened even if we hadn't washed. A Kraken was only dangerous while it was alive and thrashing; the fluids it left behind after death weren't worth worrying about.
But I couldn't leave Irina sitting there with her lower half in that unpleasant state, and if both of us were soaked it would be a little less embarrassing for her alone. I knew the logic was ridiculous, but it was the best my brain could manage. Damn Kraken. If it was going to die, it should have had the decency to die cleanly.
"Let's head back. You've had a terrible shock—you need to rest."
"…Yes…"
The small reply told me she had calmed down at least a little. She was probably still stunned that I had scooped her up without permission and walked straight into the ocean, but the sheer absurdity of it had at least interrupted the storm of tears. Ridiculous situations had a way of breaking emotional momentum.
How am I ever supposed to look her in the face after this?
We had only gotten through the immediate moment. The events of the day themselves hadn't vanished. From now on Irina would probably avoid me forever. If I were her, I would grit my teeth and dodge me at every turn too.
Plenty of people would find it strange that someone who had announced he was leaving for the day came back before a full day had even passed. Coming back soaking wet beside a completely unrelated young lady would only make it stranger.
"Brother? Irina?"
That exact confusion was confirmed the moment we ran into Luise coming down the stairs. Her eyes went round as she looked back and forth between the two of us, clearly thrown by the unexpected reunion.
"I'm back. The job finished earlier than I expected."
"I'm so glad. It would have been sad if you'd come all this way to visit and spent the whole time working."
I had been worried about the same thing, but it really had wrapped up in a single day. The price of that speed had been a little catastrophic, though.
I gave a small nod of agreement. Luise hurried closer and began checking me over from every angle.
"But why are you both so wet? Did you fall in somewhere?"
"The waves were pretty rough. Got hit while we were walking by."
"You should be more careful…"
Unlike Irina, who had been wearing a swimsuit, I had walked into the ocean in my ordinary clothes. Still, if it had been enough to stop a young lady's tears, I considered it an acceptable sacrifice.
"Irina, when did you go out? Are you feeling any better?"
"Y-yeah… a little better."
"I'm so relieved. I was really worried."
Luise took Irina's hand and beamed at her. Irina's gaze immediately dropped to the floor. So she had been faking illness. Watching Luise rejoice without a single spark of suspicion must have made her feel even worse.
"I ran into her on the way back and we came together. She looks exhausted—let her rest."
"Ah, yes!"
Leaving her with Luise was clearly better than keeping her near me, so I made a polite exit. Since I had asked her to let Irina rest, Luise would take proper care of her.
"W-wait… Oppa."
Just as I was about to pass Luise, Irina's voice came from behind me. It was the first time I had heard her call me "Oppa" since that first day of the assignment, before she had known I was the Audit Department Chief.
I turned. Irina hesitated, then bowed at the waist. There was no need for anything that formal.
"Th-thank you…"
"No need for thanks. It was nothing."
Hearing words of gratitude from someone of the Yoruun Count's house, of all people, was deeply awkward.
It felt as if the sky itself had collapsed. I had shown a side of myself I could never show my family—or even my closest friend—to the one person I should have hidden it from the most.
It was over. My life was over… as a woman, as a human being, everything was finished… If I had known it would come to this, I should have just let the squid eat me earlier.
After that I cried for a very long time. I cried with my mouth open, with whatever voice I had left. Dignity? Mine had already been dumped into the sea. I was finished. Even if the Audit Department Chief said something like, "It came out of your body, so of course it's the same color as your hair," I wouldn't have been able to argue.
"Irina, just a moment."
Even so, I never imagined the Audit Department Chief would suddenly lift me into his arms. And I definitely never imagined he would walk into the ocean while holding me.
Is he… going to dunk me under and leave me there?
The farther he walked into the water, the more of my body sank beneath the surface, and the more that thought grew. Was he about to declare, "You wet yourself right in front of me—House Yoruun is clearly guilty!" and simply dispose of me? I wanted to struggle, but my body had locked up and refused to move.
Yet the Audit Department Chief only walked far enough for the water to soak me. He never threw me or let go; he held me firmly so I wouldn't even sway.
"You got monster fluid on you, so better safe than sorry. If we wash it off like this, nothing bad should happen."
I could only stare blankly up at him.
Why…?
Only then could I properly see his expression. While holding me, the Audit Department Chief wore a face that held neither annoyance, nor contempt, nor mockery. It wasn't even blank.
It was the look of someone who found the entire situation awkward… and who felt sorry.
Why…?
Why are you making that face? Why is the enemy of my house looking at me like that? Why do you keep approaching me when I avoid you and fear you so much? Why do you keep caring?
Just ignore me. Then I could at least write it off as bad luck—getting caught in the natural disaster known as the Audit Department. Why do you keep showing me these strange sides of yourself, offering these strange kindnesses?
Why are you making me feel strange things?
Why, damn it.
I hate you. I truly, truly hate you.
"Let's head back. You've had a terrible shock—you need to rest."
But the person I hated most of all—
"…Yes…"
—was myself, for feeling my heart race because of someone like you.
I bit my lip hard and kept my head down. I didn't say a single word on the way back to the lodging. My feelings were too tangled. I couldn't even tell what they were.
That was why, when Luise caught me having gone outside, I couldn't give her a proper explanation. Even so she trusted me and worried about me, and that only made me feel guiltier. I'm sorry. If I had known it would turn out like this, I never would have lied to you back then.
I stared blankly at the floor for a while until I heard footsteps climbing the stairs.
Ah.
He was leaving first. The coward who had shaken my heart and was now running away.
"W-wait… Oppa."
I called out in a rush and immediately regretted it. Oppa? Calling him Oppa now, after avoiding him so hard? What would he think if I suddenly acted close—no. Calling this man Oppa was a waste of the word.
But he had saved me from dying. Didn't that earn him the right to be called Oppa? Right. I had called him that the first time we met, too. Yes. Nothing wrong with it. Completely normal.
"Th-thank you…"
I was only saying thank you. Even if he was the enemy of my house, even if I hated him, thanking someone for saving your life was basic human decency.
"No need for thanks. It was nothing."
His calm reply made me squeeze my eyes shut.
Yes. He really was a coward. Shaking my heart with nothing more than words like that. Truly, completely unfair.
The captain had witnessed the Kraken's defeat with his own eyes, and the Magic Corps Commander had confirmed the corpse. Since I had sent word ahead, the Golden Duke would already have received the news.
"You've done well. I never imagined you would finish it in less than a day."
Even so, I hadn't expected a call the moment I stepped into my room. Ah—this resort was on the Golden Duke's land. One of the staff must have informed him.
"I was lucky."
"Don't be so modest. What would become of all the hard work my retainers put in while you were away?"
"I am rather exceptional, then."
"Yes, that kind of confidence is a pleasure to see."
I had answered that way because it seemed to be the reaction he wanted, but the Golden Duke's sensibilities remained a mystery. What was so pleasant about confidence? Dukes really were all strange in their own ways.
"Ah, and about the compensation. I'm afraid we'll need to adjust it a little."
"Excuse me?"
Was this bastard about to stiff me?
No. Impossible. Even if the job had finished the same day against all expectations, the Golden Duke would never pull something that petty.
"Unlike when I first made the request, the creature's range of activity expanded considerably, did it not? That wasn't part of the original agreement, so it should be accounted for separately."
"Ah… yes."
"And I hear you prevented loss of life as well. We nearly took a serious blow to the tourism business. That must be factored in too."
As he spoke, the Golden Duke held up five fingers.
"This should be about right."
"Thank you, Your Grace."
It had risen from thirty percent to fifty.
Yes. The Golden Duke had always been a fair and upright man.
I had believed in him all along—the Golden Duke of clean deals.