We Will Definitely Meet Again (1)
A quiet park in the Holy City of Lumenon.
The Special Task Force was having lunch here.
"If you'd rather eat at a restaurant… you could, but…"
"…It probably wouldn't be a pleasant experience."
"I figured as much."
Lumenon — the holiest city on the continent. There weren't many people here who'd want to share a meal with the cursed.
"Th-this place… nobody comes here at lunchtime… they know we're here… hehe…"
"…Even so, I like these times when it's just us."
"I don't mind it either."
"…And having the Baron join us makes it even better. …Not in that sense."
"…"
Still determined to dig that up, was he? He had a more spiteful streak than I'd expected.
"W-well… the Saintess does give us a generous meal allowance… so feel free to buy whatever you want…"
"That's a relief."
We were talking, but none of us were looking at each other. Every pair of eyes was locked on the black bear and the wolf tumbling and wrestling across the grass — a scene so feral you could almost forget they were the same people sitting with us.
"…Actually, it's not exactly because of us. It's because of Agnes."
"Pardon?"
"…Why people don't come here, I mean. …Around this time, Agnes is running around, so it's dangerous."
"Ah…"
Dorothy and Agnes. The two beast girls had shoveled an entire mountain of meat into their stomachs in the blink of an eye and were now exercising it off. Dorothy, like Agnes, seemed unable to contain her overflowing stamina.
The Forbidden Archives of the Heresy Inquisition — the Special Task Force's office.
Not long after I'd completed my first mission in the First Parish, the Special Task Force received another assignment.
"…Blarose County. …We leave tomorrow."
"What? The last mission was the same — they never used to give us deadlines this tight. We've got a backlog as it is."
"…Looks like the backlog is on hold for now. …They said they'll sort through it and reassign."
"W-well, at least they're not sending us out today… so we can rest a bit…"
Blarose County was a place I'd visited in Luke's Biography. If there was a mission involving that territory, I had a pretty good idea what it was about.
"…Blarose County isn't part of a Lumenic parish, but Count Blarose himself put in the request. …A dark mage snuck in and started running experiments."
Just because dark magic wasn't illegal in the Laviart Empire didn't mean dark mages could walk around openly wherever they pleased. Even imperial citizens knew dark magic was dangerous, and plenty of nobles looked down on it.
"…The Holy Knights subdued the dark mage, and the Enforcement Division has already been dispatched — but one of the test subjects escaped. …It's still causing damage across the county, and they haven't caught it yet."
"A test subject?"
The Enforcement Division specialized in combat. When the job was simply to burn everything to ash, no one could match them. But this time, the enemy was a poor matchup for their methods.
"…The test subject was afflicted with the Curse of Vampirism by the dark mage."
The Blood Count. Just as I'd expected — it was him.
He wasn't the same person as Count Blarose. In Luke's Biography, Count Blarose was already dead, and the creature had simply styled himself a count.
The Curse of Vampirism was a curse that drove its host to crave the blood of their own kind. The more blood they drank, the stronger they became. In Luke's Biography, the creature had drained the entire county dry. He'd grown so powerful that nothing short of the hero's party could hope to take him down.
Which meant that at this point in time, the heresy inquisitors still hadn't managed to subdue him.
The Blood Count was exceptionally skilled at moving in secret. The Enforcement Division, who knew nothing but incineration, would never catch him unless they burned the entire county to the ground. The Holy Knights wouldn't fare much better.
"The Holy Knights and the Enforcement Division? Since when do they want to work with us?"
"…Who knows."
"Is there anything else we should know?"
"…Once this is resolved, Count Blarose has agreed to convert his territory into a parish."
"Th-that's a heavy responsibility… We don't usually get missions like this…"
Normally, we just handled the low-priority jobs the Deliberation Division didn't want. But this mission looked valuable to me as well.
If I didn't intervene, the county would fall to that vampire. And since the Curse of Vampirism on the Blood Count was acquired rather than innate, I'd be able to take it for myself.
Just as the Curse of the Lycanthrope replenished life force through meat, the Curse of Vampirism could replenish it through blood. If things went well, I could erase the bloodlust with the Curse of Emotionlessness and solve the life-force drain caused by my other curses. Dorothy was already shouldering half the burden, but the remaining half still weighed on me.
How to obtain human blood was another problem — but I'd figure that out later.
"…Anyway, there's nothing scheduled for the afternoon. …Let's take care of the work that got pushed back because of the deployment mission on day one."
"And what would that be?"
"What else! Giving our new recruits a tour of Lumenon!"
"…That sounds an awful lot like going out to play."
"Hey! This is part of the job too!"
"Master. Let's go play."
"You can't say things like that during work hours."
"…It's fine — all of you go. …I'll handle organizing the Forbidden Archives."
I almost asked if the Captain wasn't coming, then swallowed the words. Conversation itself was agony for her body; she hardly needed to go somewhere crowded. Even talking with us right now, she was enduring the pain.
Lumenon was a remarkably developed city. Wealthy converts to the Lumenic faith came here as tourists, and as a neutral territory belonging to no particular nation, it also served as a hub for exchange among the upper classes. Money naturally gathered, and commerce flourished. Of course, as a devout city, there were restrictions on what kinds of businesses were allowed.
Agnes dragged us all over the place — mostly to famous meat restaurants. Since we cursed folk had trouble dining inside, she stuck to places that offered takeout. Alexander looked like he wanted to show us other spots, but Agnes's sheer force of personality left him unable to get a word in.
"That skewer place over there! It's amazing! Don't you wanna try some too, wolf girl?!"
"I want to eat."
"I'll go buy some — wait here!"
"A-Agnes… the line's pretty long…"
"That's why I said wait!"
Agnes's small frame vanished into the crowd. Alexander fidgeted anxiously, shifting from foot to foot.
"Uh… wh-what do we do… should we wait…?"
"No. Let's move on. Agnes can catch up on her own. Alexander — isn't there somewhere you'd like to show me?"
"Ah! Th-then… there's a place nearby…"
Alexander brightened and led the way. Agnes's senses were as sharp as Dorothy's, so wandering a little off course wouldn't be a problem.
The place Alexander brought us to featured an enormous fountain. I wasn't exactly well-versed in the arts, so I couldn't offer a sophisticated critique — but it was genuinely beautiful. Countless lovers exchanging affections had been carved into the fountain itself, and in real life, pairs of men and women crowded around it.
"Th-this place is pretty famous… They say if you confess your love here… you're guaranteed to make it all the way to marriage…"
"It's a lovely spot."
Come to think of it, I might have seen this fountain in Luke's Biography. The same NPCs had recited the same love confessions every single day.
"Hehe… someday I'd like to… here, too…"
"Master. Ma—"
"What is she about to say this time."
I clamped a hand over Dorothy's mouth. The strength gap was too wide for me to hold it long. She casually pushed my hand aside and opened her mouth again.
"Marriage. I want to."
"Dorothy. Marriage is something you decide carefully. Fairy tales end with 'and they lived happily ever after,' so you might not realize — but if you marry the wrong person, you could be miserable for the rest of your life."
"If I marry a cool noble. I'll be happy. They said. Lots of money."
I'd expected another fairy-tale ramble, but Dorothy suddenly veered into something uncharacteristically practical.
"Lady Clara. Said so."
Right — Clara had talked about wanting to marry into a good family and get out of the countryside as fast as possible. And she'd gone and injected that ideology into innocent Dorothy.
"Hah… Then find yourself a cool noble instead of someone like me."
"Master. Is a cool noble."
"…I appreciate the compliment, but the 'cool noble' Clara meant is at least a count or higher."
"Count?"
"A count ranks higher than a baron."
"So this is where you all were. Couldn't get the skewers. They suddenly scheduled a festival for tomorrow, so they're short on stock."
Agnes walked up, scratching near the beast ears on her head. Alexander's face fell at the news.
"Huh…? A festival…? That's too bad… We're heading out on a mission tomorrow…"
"Did something good happen in Lumenon?"
"Heard some guests are coming."
"Guests?"
"Y'know, that family. Even I've heard of 'em. Cal-something? The ones famous for silver hair and purple eyes."
"…House Caligosa?"
"Ah! That's the one! Someone from that family is coming. …Baron? What's with your face."
"Uh… are you feeling all right…?"
"Ah, no. It's nothing… Anywhere else to go?"
When Agnes tried to head for yet another meat restaurant, Alexander mustered the courage to suggest a different destination. The two of them started bickering, but their words barely registered.
Why would House Caligosa be coming here?
The Duke of Caligosa was the sovereign of the Caligosa Principality, a vassal state of the Laviart Empire. Relations between the Laviart Empire and the Lumenic Church were poor — and the Caligosa Principality was no different.
We will definitely meet again.
The words of the first girl I'd met in this world circled through my mind.
Maria Caligosa.
The woman I'd wanted to stay as far away from as possible — preferably for the rest of my life. Surely it wasn't her coming here.
"Master?"
"Ah. Sorry. Got lost in thought."
Dorothy was looking at me with a worried expression. Alexander and Agnes had already started walking. Whether he'd won the argument or not, Alexander was cheerfully taking the lead.
Logically speaking, it wouldn't be Maria. Whatever the reason for the visit, it had to be something important — House Caligosa wouldn't send an illegitimate daughter. And besides, we were leaving Lumenon tomorrow. Whoever came, there wouldn't be a chance to run into them.
Having sorted my thoughts, I followed after Alexander.