"Assassin, Erase My Past" V5 Chapter 3 - The Melancholy Homecomer
"... Wooowww..."
Cleao, still in her nightgown, groaned in a slightly concerned manner. Leki was sitting on her blonde head, making it look like she was wearing a black hat while she pressed her face to the window of the carriage.
"It's quite a big town, isn't it, Orphen?"
"Yes."
Orphen raised just his head and smiled.
"There are four major cities on the continent. The Royal Capital of Mebrenst, the Commercial Capital of Totokanta, the Ancient Capital of Alenhatam, and the Autonomous Capital of Urban Rama — And if there was a fifth, it'd be Taphrem, the city of the Tower of Fang."
Saying that, he sat up quickly in the rocking carriage and looked through the window along with Cleao — He could see the high walls behind the slightly sand-tinted glass. The white walls, half buried in the forest, stretched from one side to the other.
They were in a horse-drawn carriage owned by the Damsel's Orisons — a rather large six-horse carriage with a roof and an interior not much different from a passenger carriage. It had sofas that wrapped around the perimeter of the carriage, facing inward. The cushions were soft and springy, probably in consideration for all the rocking along the way. There were hooks on the ceiling to hang gas lamps, but nothing was hanging there at the moment. The doorway was on the right, facing the direction of travel, and all the rest of the room was sofas. There was a simple table in the center of the carriage, surrounded by the sofas, but there was no way to have a cup of coffee in a rocking carriage, so it was just useless and in the way.
He glanced at Majic, who was sitting quietly behind him. He seemed to be paying attention to the other passenger. Sitting gracefully away from Majic, Orphen, and the others — was Leticia.
(No, it's Tish.)
Orphen recalled in the back of his mind. She was sitting quietly, not looking at anyone, her gaze slightly downcast to the floor. The black shirt and whitish beige slacks suited her calm eyes quite well, but the fact that she wasn't wearing her Tower robe was a little disturbing to Orphen.
She suddenly lifted her gaze and spoke.
"There are actually some people in the city who really do believe that."
"............?"
After a moment of wondering, Orphen realized that she was about to continue her cue.
"Are you talking about Flip?"
Orphen asked, looking down at Cleao while comparing the two. He couldn't look Leticia in the eyes, but—
He could tell that she was forcing a smile.
"Now that you're back in town, you'll show your face to him again, won't you, Krylancelo? His club sandwiches aren't off the menu yet."
"Tish."
Orphen spoke a quiet warning — as she teased the dark hair around her shoulders with her finger... Somewhat later, she finally realized.
"Oh, sorry, it's Orphen."
"............"
The conversation suddenly stopped, as if it'd been interrupted. An awkward silence then befell the carriage—
"Oh, come on!"
The first person to lose patience with the stiff atmosphere was Cleao — She picked Leki up from her head and cradled him back against her chest, patting him on the head.
"Enough! You're just like that creepy assassin! He blew up our wagon along with our camp, and now all of our stuff is gone, and I can't even change my clothes, and I had to see that weird naked assassin, Orphen got injured, and above all else, I lost my sword—"
It seemed that she'd finally noticed the gazes around her after she'd reached the end of her rant, all without taking a single breath. She lowered her gaze to the floor and sighed to cover it up.
"... I mean, I'm just so depressed."
"............"
In the end, the mood hadn't improved in the slightest—
A few moments later, a thumping sound echoed through the car. When he looked around in surprise, he saw Leticia hitting the wall.
She threw both of her arms up like she was going to throw something.
"Oh, stop it. Just stop it. It's not healthy to breath in a stiff atmosphere like this."
She raised her voice defiantly, closing her eyes.
"Let's be clear, Krylancelo — you came home at the worst possible time."
"The worst time?"
It was Cleao, not Orphen who asked, but Leticia continued as she looked at him.
"If you'd just come one week later, the problem in Taphrem would've been solved by then."
"... Problem... What kind of problem?"
Now it was Majic asking. Leticia only glanced in his direction, didn't answer, then asked Orphen in a stern tone.
"... Krylancelo, come to think of it, you haven't introduced me to them, have you? Of course, I haven't been introduced to them, either."
"All right."
Orphen sighed and put his hand on Cleao's head.
"This is Cleao. She's the daughter of someone who took care of me in Totokanta. And that's Majic. He's my student. I'm thinking of enrolling him in the Tower of Fang."
"... Majic got two explanations, and I only got one!"
Cleao shouted angrily from under his hand. Orphen signed again.
"A shrew-like, selfish, naive, and a bizarre girl who can't go to bed without bringing a sword — There, is that good enough for you?"
"... What kind of person do you think I am..."
Cleao mumbled, sounding unsettled. Orphen involuntarily twitched his mouth.
"... And, finally, the thing Cleao's holding is a domesticated Blood Beast."
"It's — Le — ki. And he's one of us."
"Well, something like that."
"No, not 'something like that'!"
"... And..."
Orphen turned to Leticia, ignoring Cleao tugging at his ears.
"She's Tish — I mean, Leticia. She was my senior during my time at the Tower of Fang. She's a sorceress with outstanding power among her generation. Is that good enough for you?"
"Yes. That'll do fine—"
"Hang on."
It was Cleao who interrupted Leticia's speech and suddenly spoke up. She was still holding his ear and staring at him.
"... What, is there anything else to cover?"
Cleao answered Leticia defiantly.
"You haven't even introduced me, you know — to Krylancelo."
Silence... Dead silence once again fell over the car. He saw Majic uncomfortably slumped on the bench. Cleao remained motionless — and after a considerable length of time, Leticia opened her mouth. She stared at Cleao, her head slightly angled away from her — and Orphen recalled that it was a gesture she made when she was impressed by someone.
"All right."
"Tish!"
Orphen raised his voice at her answer. Leticia continued regardless.
"Krylancelo was a black-magic sorcerer who represented the grade below us..."
"Tish! Stop!"
The volume of his voice startled Cleao more than it did Leticia, but still, Leticia stopped speaking immediately. Orphen turned to her and quietly mumbled.
"I'll tell her — but later."
"I think the sooner the better..."
"For better or for worse, it's up to me to decide that."
When Orphen said that, Leticia shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't care either way. Majic asked timidly from the side.
"Umm... So, what's the problem?"
"Oh, right."
Well, she'd never actually forgotten, but she pretended to — at least, that's what Orphen thought. She stared at him.
"In Taphrem City, there have been regular assassinations carried out against sorcerers."
(Assassinations?)
Orphen asked in the back of his mind. He then continued aloud.
"On sorcerers, huh? That's—"
"I thought it was absurd, too. I mean, who in the Tower would've thought that?"
Leticia folded her hands in front of her face and looked at him with a serious stare.
"But, you know, once there's a dead body, you can't deny it anymore, can you?"
"Who was killed?"
Leticia immediately answered Orphen's question.
"Which one? I mean, there's more than one victim — I said it was happening frequently, didn't I?"
"Then... what kind of people are being targeted?"
"The elders of the Tower. All of them."
"... Huh?"
Orphen answered her immediate response with a dumbfounded sound. Cleao suddenly spoke up next to him.
"Elders?"
Orphen turned around.
"I'm sure you're imagining something like an endowment society... but you're in luck. I'll remind you. Elders are people who hold positions in the Tower's Executive Committee. And well, of course, naturally, there's a lot of old men and women."
"But—"
Majic interrupted from the side.
"Are the people from the Tower being killed in Taphrem? Don't they have, like, escorts or something?"
"I used to live in the Tower."
Orphen glanced at Leticia and answered.
"Most of the people who hold positions in the Tower have the right to reside in Taphrem City. I mean, it's not a right you absolutely have to exercise, but it's more convenient to live in the city. Almost all elders have houses in the city and live there instead."
Leticia added.
"Besides, owning a house in the city is a status symbol. Our Master also owns one. He doesn't seem to come back very often, though..."
"Why don't you have one, Orphen?"
Orphen sighed deeply when she asked him the curious question.
"You know, I was fifteen years old when I left the Tower. I don't know if I was even old enough to own a house?"
"Most of the sorcerers in the Tower yearn to have a house of their own — more than anything else, even more than becoming a teacher or an Elder. Only, the Elders who got them are now being killed."
Leticia spoke smoothly up until she broke off her words. After a pause — while watching their expressions, she then continued.
"Last week there were three of them. This week, two more. The person who killed them was smart about it. At this rate, the number of Elders will be reduced by half in a month. Leave things alone for two months and they'll be wiped out entirely. Some say it's the Teachers of Death from the Kimrak Church finally getting serious, or the work of the Thirteen Apostles. Forte Packingum, however, knows the truth, and he told me. His "Network" succeeded in catching a glimpse of the assassin's face."
"The Childman Network..."
Orphen mumbled, his voice tinged with awe. Forte had inherited a top-secret research network, unique to Master Childman, the reality of which was known only to Childman and Forte.
Leticia nodded blankly.
"Right. He found the name of the assassin who suddenly appeared in Taphrem and started slaughtering the Elders for seemingly no reason. He told me that I was the only one who could destroy him."
"... Why? You've had some combat training, yes, but not enough specialized training to fight an assassin who can kill a sorcerer—"
"I don't need specialized training. After all, no one can defeat that assassin."
Saying that, a small, sarcastic smile appeared on Leticia's otherwise emotionless face.
"From the way he looks, the way he acts, the pattern of his behavior, and the degree of his skill, I'd say it's a fair guess — and its been years since Forte gave any definite answers. He identified the assassin as Krylancelo. Just then I got a call from the ranger station saying that they were holding a black-magic sorcerer from the Tower who called himself Orphen — I knew your name from Hartia's report..."
She shook her head.
"I went to pick you up, thinking I'd take you and run away somewhere, or else kill you with my own hands."
Thump—
The carriage shook like the wheels had run over a large stone.
In the torturous silence, the large carriage from the Damsel's Orisons approached Taphrem city.
As was the case for any city on the continent, carriages weren't permitted to enter city limits unless you were of a high status.
Therefore, they had to go on foot, but some travelers were rather pleased with this. Normally, Cleao would've been one of them...
She was rather grumpy, though, as she wrapped herself up in Orphen's cloak.
"I have a cloak over my nightgown... I feel like I'm being brought back after running away from home..."
She grumbled and kicked at the road. Leki, sitting on top of her head, looked down at her sympathetically.
Beside her, Leticia, who had apparently grown to like her, spoke up.
"It's okay, I'll lend you some of my clothes when we get home."
Cleao looked up at Leticia — giving her a sideways glance. She was quite tall — as tall as Orphen, even without heels on.
"They won't fit me..."
She blurted out resentfully. She heard Leticia sigh, as if she'd lost her patience.
"I understand... I'll buy some for you, then."
" ?~"
Orphen ignored the girl's tricks and walked along, not daring to warn Leticia that she was falling right into her trap. Taphrem City—
He looked around, without saying a word.
In every city, the area around the city gates was constructed to look the best, but these gates were historical.
Taphrem had been rebuilt many times for convenience, and was quite the remarkable city. After passing through the guard checkpoint and then passing through the gate, the streets radiated out from there — the cityscape, which looked like it was viewed through a distorted lens, was built primarily out of brick, with few tall buildings. Most of the private residences were apartment blocks, and there were signs of a sewage system — manholes could be seen along the streets. There were no fountains or squares at the entrance of the city like there were in Alenhatam, for example, but the streets were wide enough to accommodate some crowds. Or rather, it was close to say that the road itself was the city square.
Then, in the center of the city, stood the white tower that soared into the sky. It was a curved tower, tilted slightly to the right — the symbol of the city, the World Map Tower.
There were, as a matter of course, all kinds of people walking around on the streets. From a stall selling roasted vegetables on a comb to a young man performing an 'opera' on a small stage converted from a cart. Of course, there were also students who appeared to be candidates for black-magic sorcerers. There were volunteers cleaning the streets, policemen patrolling, men and women carrying shopping baskets, a flower vendor, a young woman reading books to her baby with a carriage beside her bench — actually, because there were no housewives in Taphrem, where there was no marriage system, she was probably a part-time baby-sitter.
"... Feeling nostalgic?"
Leticia asked from behind Orphen, who'd been speechless up until that point. Orphen didn't bother looking back.
"Of course."
"Hey, hey!"
Cleao ran around in front of Orphen, interrupting Leticia. She held the collar of her cloak as she shouted.
"This is where you used to live, right, Orphen? What area were you from?"
"I told you before. I didn't live here. I lived in the Tower of Fang."
"Whaaat, then, you can't show me around?"
"If you want to see the sights, I can show you around."
Leticia offered from behind them. Cleao seemed to think that this was fine — she looked around in the usual way she did when she discovered a new place.
"This sure is an open town for being in the middle of nowhere. Oh, I'm sorry Tish, did I offend you?"
Before she knew it that name had become a term of endearment. When Leticia shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'no, everything's fine,' , the girl seemed to return to a good mood and patted Leki's back as he hung from her head.
"By open, I mean, there are a lot of people here, I bet — I wonder what the deal is with that guy walking around wearing a bucket? Oh, fish and chips! They sell chips. I like those. We should buy some later. And look, there's a sign for a theater. I'll scout it out for you—"
She was quick to say, then ran out across the street. Orphen looked at her as she ran, sighing in amazement.
"She must be overheated."
"Maybe so."
Leticia agreed. Then she heard a strange sound behind her.
"Uuuuuuuuugghhhh~..."
A groan, accompanied by a dragging sound — and as he dared not to turn around, the sound turned into another groan.
"Maaaa ~ sssssss ~ ttteeeee ~ rrrrrrr~..."
"You're late."
Orphen grumbled, still not looking back. Leticia listened with some surprise, however.
She held her fist gently against the tip of her chin.
"Um, Krylancelo, I thought you said it was impossible to carry the luggage of four different people..."
"What are you talking about? Cleao's luggage was destroyed, and you barely had any to begin with, Tish, so it's only two people's worth."
"Master's bag was super heavy, and there was a huge rock in it, too! When I got checked by the city guard they said 'What's this?' I thought I was going to die!"
Orphen finally turned to Majic, who was holding his luggage while sweating and screaming profusely. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"Oh enough. You're fine."
He pointed to the large stone the size of a human head which Majic had pulled out of his bag and was now holding in his arms.
"Besides, that stone isn't something you should be making fun of. It's a very important stone, you know."
"Important...?"
Majic looked skeptical. After all, to him, it just looked like an ordinary stone.
Orphen pointed to the edge of the stone.
"Here, look at this pattern. Depending on the angle, it looks like the face of my pet cat who died a long time ago."
"Don't carry around something creepy like that!"
Majic roared and with a loud thud, dropped the stone onto the asphalt. He stared at him, pressing closer.
"Are you just bullying me? You're just bullying me, aren't you? You're totally bullying me!"
"Don't be rude. You're a real shallow guy, you know."
"And who are you to be saying that!?"
"Hey, Tish, this guy nearly got himself killed for peeping on Cleao in the bath."
"Oh, well then."
"Don't go spreading that around!"
Majic cried out halfheartedly, but Orphen held him back.
"Okay, okay. Calm down. Never mind that, look over there."
He pointed to Cleao — She was across the street, engaged in a heated argument with some rough-looking guys. Majic screamed, but Orphen didn't panic.
"I don't think she's going to get in much trouble with that bunch, but if nobody goes to her aid, she's going to be in a pretty bad mood."
"Heeeeeeehhhh!?"
Majic let out a fearful scream and ran towards Cleao — not out of concern for her safety, of course, but more out of fear that she'd get upset later and take it out on him.
Orphen waved, smiling at his apprentice as he ran around holding his head.
"By the way, there's no fighting allowed in this town. If someone hits you and you hit them back, you'll be punished as well."
"Master you iddiiiiiooooot!"
As he watched Majic run off while screaming frantically, which felt somewhat heartwarming, Leticia muttered beside him. She scratched her temple with her thumb, with a wry smile on her face.
"You're a horrible Master, aren't you?"
"I'm not like Childman. I know that much."
"I don't think that's the problem..."
"It is for me. When you have to train under a Master that's so much better, students develop a complex. It would be nice if that could turn out in a good way... but most of the time, it makes them vulnerable to adversity."
"............"
Leticia was silent for a moment.
"So, you're doing this on purpose? Behaving this way."
"No. I mostly do it for fun."
"... Right."
Orphen turned to look at her as she mumbled. Their gazes met, and they stared at each other for what seemed like eternity.
Orphen was the first to look away, but Leticia was the first to speak. She let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm relieved. I haven't seen you act like yourself in a long time."
"Like myself how?"
"Honestly, I don't know either. But, you looked depressed earlier."
Hearing that, Orphen snorted. He watched as, across the road, Majic got snatched up by his collar by one of the leather-clad men with studs on his chest.
"What else did you expect — for me to laugh it off? You almost killed me."
"I'll tell you more about the assassin, Krylancelo, later. So for now, put it out of your mind. Please don't have any preconceived notions until I've explained it to you fully."
"Why?"
"Maybe... Maybe because you're the only one who can make the right decision about him.
"............"
Orphen looked over at Leticia's serious face — then let out a small groan.
"How's my cat?"
"... What?"
She asked back, clearly caught off guard. Orphen continued.
"I left her with you, didn't I? When I left the Tower. She was just a kitten then, but I guess she's all grown up now."
"She's fine, but... I won't give her back. She loves me."
"Then we're even."
"......?"
"I have something that I can't give back, either. Please don't call me Krylancelo."
When Orphen silently stared at her, she stared back with a troubled look — a look accompanied with a sound, that he remembered well, as a look that meant that, even if he'd said something selfish, that selfish wish would be granted.
She let out a sigh, squeezing it from her not-so-inflated lungs. Then she closed one eye and spoke up.
"... I understand."
Over on the other side of the street, Majic, who'd apparently reached the limits of his frustration, was fighting a brawl that he knew he could never win against a bunch of thugs. Cleao was cheering him on and encouraging him.
Orphen wondered idly if he should stop the city guards when they showed up, all while looking up from his old city at the sky, the same sky of every other land.
[McCready Classroom]
The mansion looked just like a private house, perhaps because there wasn't an official sign in front of it. Its appearance was similar to a remodeled mansion with a large garden. The inside of the house couldn't be seen from the road because of the high walls — even from the gate where they now stood, they couldn't see into the grounds. The area just inside the gate was surrounded by planted trees.
The site was located far from the bustling downtown area of Taphrem. There was a hill nearby, lined with trees that looked like a windbreak. On the other side of the hill was a small terraced field, which was said to be a hobby vegetable garden. The owner was said to be a sorcerer of the Tower, but Leticia didn't know his name.
"Speaking of which..."
Orphen mumbled, suddenly remembering something.
"Tish, you always said it was your dream to own a house, didn't you? Way back when."
Leticia was pulling Cleao along by the hand, as she'd gotten tired of walking. Even so, it seemed she was still listening to him. She smiled and answered.
"That's right, but it wasn't about owning a house, it was about having a family."
"... Well, it might be rude to ask, but..."
Majic raised the question as he walked behind Cleao.
"What is it?"
"Leticia, don't you have a family?"
Leticia shrugged her shoulders and answered the boy's question.
"I don't have any blood relatives, but that is the fate of sorcerers from the Tower."
"Fate?"
"Most of the sorcerers at the Tower of Fang are orphans. I don't have any family either."
Majic, who was still looking a little ragged from the previous scuffle, returned a suspicious look back at Orphen.
"Master is unconventional in a lot of ways..."
"What do you mean?"
"No, nothing, it's just..."
"Now, now."
Leticia interrupted.
"Anyway, training at the Tower is very special, and the mortality rate is incredibly high. No sane parent would send their child to a place like that, right? That's why."
Hearing this, he could see a hint of uneasiness on Majic's face.
"... Master, didn't you say something about registering me at the Tower?"
"I'm sure you'll be fine if you just want to register. It's not like you're going to be cursed."
"I can't help but feel like there's already some sort of curse on me with my current state..."
And just as Majic held his hand to his dead—
Gah!
Orphen suddenly felt his vision vibrate. For a moment it blurred and he couldn't even see anything — then he realized a moment later that it wasn't his vision vibrating, but his head. He'd been hit in the back of the head with a rock.
"What...!?"
His voice was closer to shock than a scream as he looked over his shoulder. Leticia and Majic were also staring in shock. Orphen frowned as he held his head, which was feeling foggy from the pain of the impact—
Staring at him from behind him was a small child, holding a stone in one hand. She was about ten years old. A girl with thin, dry braided hair. She looked at him, not with hatred, but rather, with burning purpose in her eyes, as if she was on a mission. Then she shouted.
"Second attack on the target, hya!"
At the same time that she said it, she threw the stone in her hand. He easily dodged it, of course, but it wasn't like he could fight back, so Orphen only stood there and stared back at the girl.
The girl let out a panicked scream in response, though he didn't know if there was a real reason for it.
"The target evaded the attack! What should I do?"
Next to her, Leticia screamed.
"Pat!"
"... Acquaintance of yours?"
Orphen asked with a sideways glance. She nodded.
"She's one of my students. She's still just an apprentice."
"Student? A little girl like that?"
Cleao asked. Considering the age that sorcerers typically began studying, it wasn't necessarily unusual, but it still seemed to be a surprise to Cleao.
The girl — Pat, apparently her name was, began to slowly back away.
"The target data suggests that a counterattack is imminent! This is Pat, retreating. Goodbye."
"Wait just a minute!"
Leticia shouted at Pat, who'd completely turned her back and was about to take off running.
The girl stopped dead in her tracks, her limbs jolting like an insect specimen being jabbed by a pin.
While Orphen was still standing there, stunned, Leticia folded her arms and spoke, clearly suppressing her anger — but also not trying to hide it entirely.
"Pat — is it proper manners to throw rocks at my guests?"
"No... umm... Master. I mean, Pat's..."
The girl turned around with trepidation, her face drawn in blatant horror.
"Pat is being used."
"Used?"
Leticia raised her eyebrow with a twitch. Then Majic approached Orphen, who was still rubbing the back of his head. He picked up something at his feet and showed it to him.
"This must've been what hit you."
Majic held out a round stone about the size of his palm. There were no riverbeds in the city, so it must've been one of the curbstones from a flower bed. Orphen accepted it with a bitter smile.
"It wasn't enough to kill me, though."
He said as the nearby conversation continued.
"What do you mean by used?"
Leticia asked curiously as she walked briskly over to Pat. Pat lowered her voice as she approached.
"Um... well, Nora was taken hostage, so..."
"Nora? What happened to the cat?"
"I told you, some weird guy showed up with his brother while you were away, Master!"
The girl's voice grew louder as she answered, and just as she did, a familiar voice rang out—
"Who are you calling 'weird'!? If you keep talking like that and disregard my hostage, then I'll kill you by wrapping you up in a dirty blanket!"
"............"
Orphen no longer looked toward the voice, but instead held his head in his hands.
"Master..."
"They're over there, by the way."
Majic and Cleao reluctantly pointed toward the voice — it was coming from up on the roof, just outside the attic window of Leticia's two-story mansion. Standing upon the roof were two stout figures.
Or, to be more precise, one of them was standing while the other was clinging to the window frame of the attic, trembling from the unexpected height. The one standing was a dwarf wearing a fur cloak and a sword on his belt — the other, also a dwarf, didn't have a sword. Instead he wore thick glasses. Both had similar dark shaggy hair, and nevertheless, they were both familiar faces to Orphen.
(These — bastards — again~...)
As he stood there groaning with a rather pathetic look on his face, the gate suddenly opened.
Tmp, tmp, a slender boy came running out through the gate.
"Ahh! I thought they were gone, but there they are!"
The boy exclaimed, looking up at the roof as soon as he was outside. He was about fourteen or fifteen years old with long black hair. Almost at the same time, Pat loudly called out to him.
"Big brother!"
"Tifis!"
It was Leticia who'd called him by his name. The boy, evidently named Tifis, turned to both of them.
"Ah, Master, welcome back!"
"What the hell is going on!?"
Leticia asked angrily, seeming increasingly frustrated. Tifis shrugged, also seeming rather annoyed.
"Oh, uhh, these dwarves were making a ruckus at Flip's place.
"So why are they making a ruckus at my house!"
"W—Well, even if I told you..."
"You're going to have to explain—"
Orphen stopped Leticia as she was closing in on the stuttering Tifis.
"No, it's okay, Tish."
"... What?"
"It doesn't matter if it's your place or Flip's, those two just cant avoid making a scene wherever they go..."
Majic and Cleao spoke up from behind him.
"To be fair, Master's presence does add to the commotion."
"Or rather, these guys are the oil, and Orphen's the spark."
"You guys are implying that we're of the same ilk..."
Orphen grumbled back, and Tifis suddenly asked.
"H—Hey, wait a minute, do you know these guys?"
"I hate to admit it, because it's not my fault that we got to know each other..."
Orphen waved his hand in disgust, and the one with the sword — Vulcan — shouted from the roof.
"If it bothers you so much, we don't have to know each other!"
"I, uhh, also agree."
Dortin, the one clinging to the window frame, added. Orphen took a deep breath and immediately shouted back.
"You really go all out, you wandering tanuki brothers! Climbing up to the highest places any time you get the chance, you're such morons!"
"Heh! A king always looks down."
"That's just a mountain-dwelling tanuki custom!"
"It has long since been decided that those with great ambitions will always climb to the highest place and look down on the world below before they truly bloom!"
"What was that — You're the one that's gonna bloom, you lucky tanuki! Why don't you bastards just slip and fall from that perch of yours and leave a nice big bloody bloom on the ground!"
"H—Hang on, Orphen!"
Leticia shouted, and Orphen looked over his shoulder.
"Really, you guys. I'm so close to beating them. Check in with me later."
"What difference does it make if you beat them... More over, what's with those dwarves?"
"I'm not sure what you're asking, but those are clients of mine from my days as a small-time moneylender in Totokanta, and they still refuse to pay me back the money I loaned them."
Hearing this, Leticia muttered in disgust.
"Money lending... Have you really been doing that?"
"I thought it'd be a lucrative business when I started."
"Haaaaaaahahahahaha!"
Vulcan burst into laughter. His hands were on his hips as he shouted loudly, as if he had some kind of secret plan.
"I'm not going to let you get away with this, loan shark! I've got a hostage, and I know a huge secret of yours!"
Beside him, Dortin was mumbling.
"It seems like this happens every time."
"What's with that lack of ambition! Dortin, bring out the hostage!"
"Okay."
Dortin handed Vulcan a black cat, which was held by the scruff with the rest of its body dangling there.
Vulcan laughed loudly as he showed it to them.
"Haaahahaha! You're the one who wanted to pick a fight with a demon! If you go against me now, I can't say what'll happen to this cat!"
The cat yawned in boredom.
"... She's looking pretty good, isn't she? Nora."
Leticia mumbled. Orphen nodded silently.
Pat was the only one who started to fuss when she saw the cat.
"Oh, the enemy hasn't just taken a prisoner of war to make Pat their puppet, but now they're even using her as a human sacrifice on the front lines! They're merciless!"
"Yeah... When you say merciless, you mean merciless."
Tifis mumbled, patting her on the head to sooth her.
"More importantly, Master, they even ransacked your study. They pried the lock. I don't know what they found."
"They vandalized my study? — Why those little~"
She bitterly brushed her hair back. Orphen suddenly thought of her room, thinking that if it was in such a state of disarray to begin with, it wouldn't make much of a difference if the dwarves made a mess of it now. He didn't say that out loud, though.
"Hey, Orphen..."
Cleao approached him with Leki on her head.
"What is it?"
"They say they have a hostage, but I wonder, what are they honestly going to do with a cat? I don't think they could kill it."
Orphen looked unconcerned.
"Yeah... Maybe they haven't thought that far ahead yet?"
"It's just the same old thing, isn't it?"
Majic blurted out.
Maybe he'd heard that — with a jerk, Vulcan stopped laughing. He looked at the cat frozen in his hands and seemed to be lost on what to do next.
"W-well uhh, for the cat — I could... I could teach this indoor cat to play outside, then it'll never come home again... Or, I could give the cat love and attention right here, and make you guys so jealous... or—"
After saying that much, he returned to the cat to Dortin. Vulcan spun around and turned toward them, letting his voice boom.
"And now for Operation Two!"
"... So far, yeah, it's the same as every other time..."
Orphen mumbled, fiddling with the stone in his hand. Then, back over there—
"Ah! For the time being, the rights of the prisoners of war have been secured! Thank goodness!"
Pat yelled at the sky.
"... So I guess that means only the kids can be fooled by my brother."
Dortin muttered as he patted the cat on the back.
Vulcan knocked him down with the sword, then raised his voice.
"Operation Two! Don't just stand there like that, bring me the thing!"
"But you're the one who hit me, brother..."
Dortin mumbled as he went and grabbed something else. What he handed to Vulcan looked like a book.
(An album?)
Orphen realized as he stared into his eyes. He'd said something about ransacking Leticia's study, so he must've found one of hers, but—
Vulcan chuckled as he held it above his head.
"You money lending sorcerer! I've discovered an important secret that will put an end to your future!"
"A secret... huh..."
Orphen mumbled with narrowed eyes, gripping the stone in his hand once more.
Vulcan continued proudly. He quickly opened the album and pointed to one of the pictures in it.
"You had no front teeth when you were a child!"
Orphen threw the stone at him without a word. It hit Vulcan smack dab in the middle of his triumphant face.
— He could definitely see Dortin sighing and shrugging his shoulders as he held the cat in his arms.
"Uuukyyyaaaahhhh!"
Vulcan fell off the roof easy as that—
After watching all this, Leticia mumbled under her breath. She held her hair with her left hand and looked up at him with a pitying look on her face.
"Is that... another one of those things that can't be given back?"
"Possibly."
Orphen sighed and nodded.
Table of Contents
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| (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) |
The Usual Victim The Sudden Assassin The Melancholy Homecomer The Persistent Visitor The Night Walker The Seeker Confronted The Successor of Steel |