Chapter 42
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Benton's Mad Dog
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It was a terribly hoarse voice. A rough voice, like metal scraping against a wall.
It was so small and faint that I couldn't tell if I'd heard it correctly or if it was just a hallucination.
Startled, I turned around. And I carefully scanned the room.
The room, shrouded in deep darkness, was as silent as a distant abyss. I couldn't see anything clearly; it was just eerily quiet.
I stood still, listening for any other sounds. But it must have been a hallucination, as nothing else followed.
‘Maybe I’m just tired.’
I tilted my head and left the room. Ethan was coming out of the room across the hall that I had given him. I asked him.
“Sir Ethan, were you the one who just told me not to go?”
Ethan raised an eyebrow, his expression asking what I was talking about. From that, I knew the voice I'd heard hadn't been his.
Ah, this is driving me crazy. Is this some kind of horror novel? I had a bad feeling when I was cleaning Happy House before the apocalypse, and now this feels really strange.
“Do you think someone is here?”
Ethan was holding a revolver he must have drawn at some point. He scanned our surroundings, on high alert. I looked back into the room again.
For an intruder, the words ‘don’t go’ and the voice itself were very strange. Maybe I really did hear things because I was tired.
“It’s just… No, it’s nothing. I must have misheard.”
Ethan lowered his gun with an unimpressed look. He checked the revolver’s cylinder and said.
“In any case, if we can’t get through to the capital by phone, let’s come back here. It’s best to wait in one place until reinforcements arrive. The entire country can’t be in this state.”
I suppressed the urge to tell him that, unfortunately, the entire country *was* in this state. Ethan was holstering the revolver in the gun holster on his thigh.
“It would be best not to use the gun if we can help it. The gunshot will only draw more attention. We should save it as a last resort. Do you have any other weapons?”
In response to my question, Ethan pointed to something at his waist. A scabbard.
It looked like a real sword. The kind of longsword used by knights of old.
“Oh, and I thought it was just for decoration.”
“It is for decoration. I mainly use this.”
This time, he pulled out a black, hand-span-long rod from his back pocket. He gave it a light flick, and the rod extended. It was a police baton. I clapped.
“You carry three weapons?”
“Yes, well. It’s regulation.”
Ethan replied curtly, retracting the baton and clipping it back to his waist.
I slung the holster I’d used at 61 Notium Street over my shoulder and secured my axe in it. Ethan watched me strangely, tilting his head.
“Miss Cherry, is that monstrous strength of yours congenital?”
“Not exactly. It seems to be a side effect of some medicine. I became like this after taking something my parents gave me.”
Ethan looked at me as if that was quite peculiar. I had to admit, it was strange to me too.
But since my parents, the only ones I could ask about it, were no longer in this world, I had no other way to explain it.
“Monstrous strength and an axe… it suits you…”
Ethan trailed off abruptly. At the same time, a memory flashed through my mind.
The brooch I dropped at 61 Notium Street.
Damn it. Things had been so hectic that I’d completely forgotten. It was a clear mistake.
Just as I took a step back, Ethan grabbed my arm. His piercing blue eyes glinted menacingly, like a predator that had found its prey. His attitude changed so suddenly I didn't even have time to be surprised.
The man who, just moments before, had been somewhat roguish but still polite, was now looking at me with the face of a complete stranger, his demeanor having done a one-eighty.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
His gaze was so intense it felt like he could devour me whole. The moment I met his eyes, my breath caught in my throat, and I stammered like an idiot.
“W-What was?”
To be intimidated by a mere glare despite my immense strength… I was pathetic.
“The woman who killed the monster at 61 Notium Street. That was you. This is yours, isn’t it?”
He roughly rummaged through his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a rubellite brooch. The initials ‘C.S.’ were engraved on it.
Damn it, I’ve been found out.
“What are you talking about? What is that?”
But for now, I feigned ignorance.
As I widened my eyes and put on a clueless expression, Ethan let out a smirk.
“Ahh. So you’re going to play dumb?”
The look in his eyes, a smile playing on his lips as if he were enjoying this, was like someone watching a child’s antics. He was still gripping my arm tightly.
Ethan closed the distance between us, leaning down to whisper in my ear.
“Don’t play innocent. ‘C.S.’ That’s Cherry Sinclair. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, should I help you remember? Tell me why you ran away that day. You know something about this whole situation, don’t you?”
His low voice, seeping into my ear, was devoid of mercy, completely emotionless.
“Looking at it now, it seems you didn’t save me by chance, you had a purpose, didn’t you? I’m getting the feeling I’ve been played by you, Miss Cherry. You’d better choose your words carefully.”
I tried to remain calm. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as I put my nerves on edge.
There’s a reason Ethan earned the nickname ‘Benton’s Mad Dog.’ Any criminal he sets his sights on gets viciously torn apart until they’re on the verge of death. Whether that means being physically torn apart, mentally tormented, or relentlessly crushed by invisible power, I didn’t know. But whatever it was, it meant being torn to shreds by Ethan.
In a situation like this, being suspected by such a man could only end badly.
‘If it comes to it, I’ll just knock him out with a blow to the back of the head.’
With monsters swarming outside, I couldn’t run away, nor could I just abandon him.
In any case, it was clear the worst-case scenario I had imagined was now a reality. This was going to be a real pain.
“I didn’t want my strength to become public knowledge. Have you ever heard that Cherry Sinclair has monstrous strength? You haven’t, right? I’m so famous, so why haven’t you heard? Because I hide it. I hide it.”
I quickly gave up on playing dumb and admitted that I was the axe woman from 61 Notium Street. Ethan seemed surprised by my swift confession, giving me a look that said, ‘Well, well, well.’
“And why did you hide it?”
“Don’t you know that the virtue of a high society lady is frailty?”
My retort made one of Ethan’s eyebrows shoot up. He shot me another smirk.
“Ah, so *the* Cherry Sinclair was concerned with the virtues of a high society lady?”
“Because I wanted to be a noble.”
I replied, then tilted my head at a defiant angle, just as he had done, and asked.
“Why, is the heir to the Lancaster family wanting to become a police officer any different from this?”
At that, Ethan fell silent for a moment, as if he’d been struck, and glared at me.
Then, he slowly covered his face with a large hand. His shoulders were shaking. He was laughing again.
What’s with him? Why is he laughing? So annoying, with his handsome face.
After a moment, Ethan’s expression became chillingly blank again, as if he’d never laughed at all, and he questioned me once more.
“Then let me rephrase. Why were you at 61 Notium Street at that time, and how did you kill the monster there? Could it be that the person who sent my sister a letter… was you?”
“Hey. That informal tone is really getting on my nerves.”
Ethan paid no mind. He even wore a relaxed, leisurely smile.
“No need to get upset. You saw me at the police station. You saw how I handle criminals. You should know by now, right? This is just how I am.”
He tilted his head slightly, looking down on me with arrogance. His persistent gaze held a subtle hint of madness. If looks could kill, I might have already been bound and suffocated by his.
Right. I knew this about him. He usually speaks much more crudely, so by his standards, this might even be a toned-down version. At least he wasn’t swearing. Why does that feel like a relief?
“Don’t even think about dodging the question. Just answer me straight. The fact that you even had an axe with you means you knew a monster was going to appear there.”
My mind raced.
‘That’s right, he said someone sent Aurora a letter.’
Having quickly found an excuse, I answered as nonchalantly as possible.
“I received a letter, too. It said a monster would appear at 61 Notium Street, and that people would die.”
Now that I’d said it, it seemed like a pretty good excuse. It would probably be best to use this to explain away any future knowledge I have from the original novel.
‘But who really sent that letter to Aurora?’
As I was wondering, Ethan’s voice, full of disbelief, cut through my thoughts.
“You’re going to have to tell me who sent it. And I’m also curious why you didn’t report such a suspicious letter to the police.”
His sharp tone and informal speech were grating on my nerves. I stared Ethan straight in the eye and retorted in the exact same manner.
“And you think anyone would have believed me if I had? You know about the monster incidents, right? The ones that were constantly being reported in the papers? No one even believed those!”