A Suspicious Guest (3)
Something was approaching the villa.
Certain of it, Tia clenched her fists, shut her eyes, and began tracking the movement.
Whatever it was, if it dared put Mommy in danger, she couldn't possibly let it be.
Because Mommy was just so terribly fragile.
Even if she hugged her with all her might, Mommy was so weak that Tia's gentlest squeeze would be too much.
"Huh?!"
Just then, Tia caught the sound of something tumbling, and her eyes flew wide open.
The sound of something falling from the roof to the ground.
There was no other way to read it.
Soon the footsteps that had been scampering across the roof transformed into the slow, measured click of dress shoes on the ground.
Fists clenched tight, Tia crept along the wall, tracking the sound.
The footsteps came to a halt right in front of the villa's front gate.
"I'm here to see Sailor— I mean, I am Sailor."
Clink.
The moment he murmured it quietly, the iron gate swung open on its own.
'A superpowered person who can open doors whenever they feel like it?!'
Tia's pupils trembled.
She'd heard there were people in this world who wielded wondrous magic, but this was the first time she'd actually come face to face with one.
Could she even take him on? The tension made her whole body go stiff and rigid.
The instant the dress shoes crossed inside the gate—
Tia conquered her fear and threw herself at him.
"Who goes there— huh?!"
In the split second she was airborne, Tia swept her eyes over him from head to toe and froze in confusion.
Black clothes covering him entirely, with a loose hood pulled over his head.
The figure was oddly familiar, both in dress and in build.
In the brief moment she hung in midair, Tia retraced her memories and remembered exactly who he was.
"The black person with the horns!"
"Whoa—"
Thud.
Startled by the ambush, he caught her around the waist on pure reflex.
And then Tia remembered the rest of the details, too.
Sailor.
That was definitely the codename people had used for him.
The errand-runner who had helped Irina out when she was struggling after losing her money.
Mommy had used some fancier word for what he was, but Tia couldn't remember it.
"So we meet again. And you've, uh... grown quite a lot..."
Sailor held Tia up and looked her over slowly, up and down.
The last time he'd seen her at the tavern, she'd been an infant tucked snugly in her mother's arms—now she had shot up, giving off the air of a young girl.
Utterly bewildering.
For a moment, Sailor focused on the flow of blood within her body that he could sense at his fingertips—then flinched, startled, and dropped Tia.
It was not a normal bloodstream.
To put it more precisely, it was not a human's bloodstream.
"You're the same as Tia, aren't you!"
"What?"
"'Cause Tia has horns too!"
"..."
Without giving him so much as a chance to ask what on earth she meant, Tia yanked off her hat.
The moment the beastfolk hat disappeared, black horns revealed themselves atop the girl's head.
Sailor's mouth fell open.
Horns weren't particularly rare in this world, and yet this was astonishing beyond words.
Of course it was—these weren't the horns of beastfolk or demons.
They were the horns of a dragon.
The question of why this girl of all people had appeared at this villa was answered in that instant, too.
Thinking of the villa's owner, it wasn't hard to guess who the father was.
"The same, you say?"
"Mmph! But you've got them too! Horns!"
"No, my horns are—"
"You're a demon, aren't you! You too, mister!"
"..."
Sailor found himself at a loss for words.
It wasn't that he was being mistaken for a dragon.
It was that the girl believed herself to be a demon.
He wavered for a moment over how on earth he was supposed to break the news.
"This is my first time! Meeting someone the same as Tia! So, mister, will you be Tia's friend?"
"A friend..."
Did he really have to tell her?
The moment he met those bright, sparkling eyes, the words that had climbed all the way up his throat slunk back down.
He was never going to see this child again anyway.
There was no need to go out of his way to deliver a truth that would only trouble her.
"Sure. Friends."
"Hehehe! From today on, Tia and Mister Sailor are friends!"
"Right..."
Eh, whatever. He'd indulge her.
A one-day friend.
He'd keep her company for a few minutes, finish his mission, and go home—they'd never cross paths again.
That, at least, was what Sailor thought at the time.
"Wow! Whooaah...!"
"Agh."
A moment later.
A crushing pain seized his neck as though it might snap, and Sailor let out a deep groan.
At some point, he'd ended up giving Tia a piggyback ride.
He couldn't quite recall how the whole sequence of events had unfolded.
Why, exactly, had he knelt down and offered his shoulders without even realizing it, in response to this child's rather bratty demands?
Kotodama...!
Kotodama—the art of imbuing magic directly into the spoken word, without chant or incantation. An ability only the most seasoned mages could wield.
This Tia was clearly controlling me with low-level kotodama.
With Tia perched on his shoulders as he bounded along, Sailor thought very seriously about this.
"Heeheehee! You can see everything from up here...!"
"Tia! Get down here right now!"
"Hyah?!"
At the sudden roar, Tia was so startled she hiccuped—and in her fright, grabbed hold of the nearest thing within reach.
The problem was that the nearest thing happened to be the horn Sailor kept hidden beneath his hood.
The instant his horn was seized, Sailor froze rigid in place, standing ramrod straight.
"You promised to be friends with this mister!"
"Tia! What did I say about using polite words in front of the Marquis!"
"Hahaha. It's quite all right."
It was not all right.
A creature who wasn't even his own kind, daring to grab his horn.
And she'd gripped it with such monstrous strength that it felt like it might snap clean off.
He was sorely tempted to grab this child by the collar and slam her straight into the ground.
But one couldn't very well hurl a child in front of her own parent, could one?
For the Marquis's sake, if nothing else, Sailor decided to swallow his anger and bear it.
"Come down now. You're exhausting him."
"Aww..."
"Go back to your room and be good. Once the guest leaves, I'll come get you."
"Friend...! I'll get to see you again, right?"
Tia, being towed away by the arm, glanced back over her shoulder.
Snared once more by those pleading eyes, Sailor sighed, walked over, and bent at the waist to meet her gaze.
In that instant, the face beneath the hood flashed into view—a beautiful face with a sharp jawline and fine, pale skin.
"Until next time. Friend."
"Yes...!"
The daughter of his benefactor.
And the subject of the Divine Oracle.
He'd wanted nothing more to do with either of them, but a promise was a promise.
It seemed he'd be seeing her again sooner or later.
And by then, how much bigger would she have grown...
There was a certain grim amusement in imagining it.
.
.
.
Clink.
The teacup settled onto its saucer with a pleasant chime.
Having set both cups down on either side of the parlor table, I stepped back a few paces.
"You don't strike me as one for small talk, so shall we get straight to business?"
"Very well. I'll begin by reporting the results of my mission, my lord."
The contractor, Sailor.
I'd assumed he was some low-grade errand-runner, but it seemed he took commissions even from high nobility like a marquis.
Quite the heavyweight in his line of work, apparently.
It occurred to me that the ten million won Irina had spent bringing in a single person might not have been such a bad price after all.
A demon, then...
That's what Tia had said.
She'd clearly seen horns sprouting beneath that hood.
There was no way there were two dragon-human hybrids like Tia in this world, so he really must be a demon.
Not that it particularly mattered.
Knowing he was a demon changed nothing.
I would simply attend to him with courtesy, as befits the Marquis's maid.
"So—you succeeded in finding her, I take it?"
"That is correct, my lord."
"Then may I place an additional order right away?"
"I must decline. My next commission is already scheduled for tomorrow. Should you wish to add an order, even a Marquis must make a reservation and wait his turn."
"Hahaha. Fame keeps a man busy, I suppose."
I'd been lost in my own thoughts, and before I knew it, the conversation was winding down.
I hadn't caught it properly, but surely nothing important had been said.
"I'll go fetch the check."
"Ah, milady. Shall I go instead?"
"No. No need—I'll bring it myself. Please stay with our guest."
"Yes, my lady..."
If it were just fetching a check, he could have sent me.
But the Marquis rose briskly to his feet and walked straight out of the parlor.
And so the quiet parlor was left with just the two of us—me and Sailor.
I waited politely in formal posture, but this errand-runner was unusually taciturn, and the silence quickly grew awkward.
Perhaps this uncomfortable silence was better than a man who talked too much, though.
"Hm? Guest?"
"..."
Then, without warning, Sailor rose from his seat and made to leave.
The Marquis hadn't even returned yet.
Flustered, I hurried after him and spoke up.
"Are you looking for the restroom, sir? It's on the other side—"
Sailor stopped dead in his tracks.
Then he spun around smoothly to face me.
His hand moved slowly, and he drew back the hood that had concealed his face entirely.
"Ah..."
The sound escaped me before I could stop it.
The face beneath the hood was very different from what I'd imagined.
Unlike Tia's, the horns swept straight upward.
They were unmistakably a demon's.
And yet the short green hair, the porcelain skin, and the slender, elegant features seemed a world away from any image of demons I held.
The demon I'd pictured had dark skin and an ugly, ogre-like face.
I was genuinely startled.
"Take it."
"I'm sorry?"
Before my surprise had even faded, he extended his hand toward me.
I reached out in a daze, and something dropped lightly into my palm.
It was a token made of metal, engraved with a strange crest I'd never seen before.
An object whose purpose and nature I couldn't begin to fathom.
"Um—what is this?"
"Keep it safe. You'll need it someday."
"..."
With those parting words, Sailor opened the parlor door and walked out.
I was so taken aback that I never even thought to follow him.
Which meant I had disobeyed the Marquis's order to stay at the guest's side.
"What on earth is this..."
I turned the metal token over in my fingers, then slipped it into my pocket.
Surely it wasn't some kind of bomb.
I'd have to ask the Marquis or Leopard about it later.
.
.
.
"Was the reunion to your satisfaction?"
"..."
Thud.
The moment Sailor stepped out of the parlor, his expression hardened.
The Marquis had been waiting directly beside the door.
When the check was held out to him, Sailor clicked his tongue and snatched it away.
"Ah. Not a reunion, is it. I hear you'd already crossed paths at Lyuba Tavern."
"..."
So it was you, of all people, who got the Saintess with child.
Suppressing the fury that surged up in waves, Sailor kept walking.
He loathed even crossing paths with the Marquis.
To defile her while her memories were lost—to force her to bear his child.
It was more repulsive than he'd imagined, and he never wanted to lay eyes on him again.
A friend, huh...
But a debt to the Saintess still remained.
Though she herself had lost her memories, Sailor intended to see that duty through to the end.
He could simply come calling under the pretext of keeping his promise to Tia.
"Marquis Dragonia."
"Hm?"
"One day, you may well pay the price for your actions. Be prepared."
"..."
A rather chilling warning.
On its face, it was a warning for concealing the Saintess and her child despite knowing the Divine Oracle—yet somehow, a personal grudge bled through it.
He'd let his emotions slip by mistake.
Wrinkling his face in distaste, Sailor turned and walked away without another word.
A debt... I will repay it in full, Ariel.
He swore silently that he would rescue the Saintess from that greedy dragon-beast, no matter what.
The Saintess who had saved him long ago no longer existed—but she still lived on in Sailor's memory.
For as long as he remembered her, that debt would never disappear.
"So he thinks I'm the one who got her pregnant..."
Meanwhile, left alone after Sailor's departure, the Marquis burst into hollow laughter.
It seemed he'd been thoroughly misunderstood.
For I was most certainly not that child's father.
The Marquis sighed and shook his head.