An Apology of Ten Million Mora
After Ms. Secretary and Vita had left.
“Priest.”
“Yes.”
I was sipping green tea from a brand called Tait—a name I had absolutely no desire to say out loud—while gazing out the window, when Jamie, having just finished the dishes, came over to my side.
“If your tail gets stepped on, things could get rather troublesome for you.”
“Then wouldn’t sending an even bigger gift take care of it?”
“Pour me a cup of tea as well.”
At her bold demand for a cup of tea, I held out the one I had been drinking.
“Have this. I was only going through the motions of drinking it anyway.”
“…I trust it isn’t because you’re being stingy.”
“Of course not.”
Jamie took the cup that had touched my lips exactly three times and slurped the green tea.
“Crazy.”
Aside from the name being Tait, there was truly nothing to fault about it.
“In my opinion, there’s no chance of the tail getting caught.”
“Why is that?”
“Vita said it herself, didn’t she? Once they get a taste, they’ll slit their own bellies open just to show off their organs.”
“…Is that a joke?”
“Half and half?”
Slurp.
“The tea is exquisite.”
“It’s in the cupboard. Pour yourself some.”
We took a brief moment to clear the air.
“I don’t get the feeling those drug-crazed pieces of trash would share such good information with anyone else.”
“True enough.”
After a sip or two, she emptied the cup in an instant and gave a small nod.
“But, Priest.”
“Yes.”
“Do you really think those pieces of trash will be able to get anywhere near the perimeter before the fuse burns all the way down?”
“It depends on their condition, but from what I’ve seen, most of them look incapable of it.”
“So that part wasn’t even a consideration.”
“It’s only a gift in return for the courtesy, after all. Well, it would have been a different story if you or I had actually taken any physical damage.”
“So I’m included.”
Standing beside me and watching the street outside, Jamie’s eyes slid sideways for a sidelong glance. The way she was fidgeting with the empty cup suggested she was a little embarrassed.
“More importantly, it seems the reply to the letter I sent has arrived.”
On the morning street stirred by a chill winter wind, a young girl I had never seen before came into view.
She walked straight toward us, then vanished exactly into the entrance of this building. Not long after, a polite, rhythmic knock sounded against the closed door.
“Come in.”
The doorknob turned and the door opened. The young girl I had just seen stepped inside and bowed at the waist.
Her cheeks and the area around her nose were flushed red from the cold wind. And her eyes—black, lifeless, utterly devoid of vitality.
“Come sit over here.”
“…….”
When I gestured toward the sofa, the girl walked over with deliberate steps and carefully sat down.
“What brings you here?”
“…….”
The girl blinked once, then took a letter envelope from the small handbag at her side and held it out toward me with both small hands.
Jamie received the letter from the girl in my place.
“So this is sealing wax.”
“First time seeing it?”
“First time seeing the real thing.”
A letter envelope sealed tightly with bright red sealing wax.
At my glance, Jamie drew a dagger, cut the seal, and carefully examined the contents.
“Nothing unusual.”
“If they had any sense, they wouldn’t target us directly.”
I unfolded the letter Jamie handed me and read the words written there, one by one.
I am Lilter Park, a scholar who researches black magic.
First of all, I find it most regrettable that we must exchange greetings in this manner.
I have safely received the letter sent by the Priest.
However, due to circumstances on my end, I am unable to visit in person and so reply by letter; I hope you will understand.
Since you already know everything, I shall be frank.
It was indeed I who ordered that the Priest’s body parts be brought to me.
Though I intended to use them solely for the purpose of research, ordering them brought without the Priest’s permission was certainly my fault, and I acknowledge it.
Therefore, rather than coming in person to offer a verbal apology, I intend to compensate with material goods.
Ten million Mora.
This is the cash I can free up at once.
I shall give it all to the Priest.
If there is anything else you desire, write it on the reverse of this letter and send it back.
So long as it is not impossible by common sense, I will accept anything.
I believe this demonstrates sufficient sincerity regarding the rudeness I committed against the Priest. Thus, I hope we may conclude this amicably. Neither I nor the Priest would wish for things to become bothersome.
I sincerely hope you will accept my apology in light of my sincerity.
However, if you refuse everything and insist upon receiving a direct apology from me, then I hope the Priest will visit the 18th District. Of course, I cannot guarantee your safety, so please be careful on the way.
“That’s what’s written.”
When I turned the letter over, Jamie took it and scanned the lines with rapid eyes.
“…What will you do?”
Having confirmed that the letter’s contents matched what I had already told her down to the last character, Jamie let out a heavy sigh and asked for my opinion.
“Well, he offered ten million Mora and said he’d give me whatever else I need to the best of his ability, so for today I’ll let it slide out of consideration for the sincerity.”
“…….”
When I smiled, Jamie furrowed her brow slightly, stared at me for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“Now then, what I need…”
I took out the fountain pen I always kept in my front pocket, took the letter back from Jamie’s hand, and scribbled on the reverse side.
She watched out of the corner of her eye, clearly curious about what I was writing, but once again she did not cross the line.
“Here you go.”
“…….”
I neatly folded the letter, slipped it back into the envelope, and handed it to the girl. She received it respectfully with both hands and tucked it into the handbag she carried.
“You came alone, so you can go back alone, right?”
“…….”
The girl blinked once, then slowly nodded.
“Good. Be careful on the way back.”
“…Mm.”
When I lightly stroked her head, the girl opened her mouth for the first time since entering and let me hear her voice. She seemed to rather enjoy being patted.
“…….”
When I withdrew my hand, the girl looked briefly at the hand that had stroked her hair, then rose from the sofa, bowed, and left the way she had come.
After the door closed, I looked at the sofa where the girl had just been sitting and asked Jamie,
“She didn’t look like a living child.”
“Half and half.”
Jamie’s gaze turned to the window, and I returned to the spot by the window where we had first drunk tea together. We watched the girl leave the building and retrace her path.
“Ghoul, jiangshi, zombie… the names they go by all differ.”
“What do you call them, Jamie?”
“The Boss calls those things dolls.”
I had asked Jamie personally, yet she answered with how Benjamin referred to the girl who had just left. In other words, she was telling me that Mad Dog followed Benjamin’s lead and called them dolls.
“Doesn’t seem like something easy to make.”
“I don’t know the details myself. But despite their appearance, they possess the kind of strength that can casually crush an ordinary adult.”
“My.”
I put on the expression of someone rather shocked.
“And yet you didn’t stop me from walking right up to such a dangerous creature. I’m disappointed.”
“…As you saw yourself, Priest, those things have low intelligence and can only properly perform a few programmed actions. Simply put, if they had been ordered to attack you, they would have charged the moment they saw your face.”
“Something like ‘attack after receiving the letter’ looked well within their capabilities.”
“Well, that much would be possible.”
Jamie turned and headed for the kitchen.
“I told you they’re half-alive. If they had received an order to kill or attack you, even if they didn’t charge immediately, they wouldn’t have been able to hide their hostility or killing intent.”
“I see.”
From the point where I had trusted her from the start, the reason hardly mattered. I had only asked out of pure curiosity.
“Magic is fascinating, but personally black magic interests me a little more.”
“…….”
Jamie, who had been scrubbing a cup clean, leaned her upper body back slightly and peeked only her face around to look at me.
“I have no intention of trying it.”
“…….”
“Really.”
“…….”
Her eyes narrowed like a fox’s. She watched me a little longer in that state, then straightened again and finished drying the cup.
“But from the body temperature when I touched her head, her muscles should have been too stiff to move at all.”
“As I said, I don’t know the details of black magic either.”
The sound of a cup being set on the shelf reached me, and Jamie came out into the living room wiping her wet hands on the hanging towel.
“If you’re that curious, why not ask the party concerned directly?”
“The party concerned.”
“Yes. The party concerned.”
Jamie came over and stood beside me again.
“When you said you would let it slide, you said ‘today,’ not ‘this time.’”
I quietly watched Jamie’s eyes reflected in the glass.
“Want to be my secretary?”
“I’m truly sorry, but I must firmly decline.”
“The reason—”
BOOOOM!!
A heavy roar rolled in from far away, and the few residents passing along the street clutched their heads and dropped flat to the ground.
“That roar just now is the reason. Conversation with you is certainly enjoyable, Priest. Enjoyable, but…”
She opened the window, looked at the black smoke rising in the distance, and let out a small sigh.
“That and money alone aren’t enough to make assisting your eccentricities from the side worthwhile.”
“What about a hundred million Mora?”
“I don’t want to trade my lifespan for money.”
At her honest answer, I nodded.
“I’ll have to work you hard until the construction is finished, then.”
“…Please keep it within the bounds of common sense.”
I nodded again.
Of course, whether her idea of common sense and mine were the same was another matter entirely.