* * *
“If you have something to say, say it to me.” I looked at the old man, the tower master, who was looking at me. “Tower Master, no, Grandfather, you’re here too.”
At being called ‘Grandfather,’ his eyebrows rose in discomfort.
“First, explain yourself.”
“Explain myself? Did you happen to see something on the terrace?”
“Hahaha… I never brought that up, yet it seems you have an idea of what I mean.” My anger had reached its peak, but that only made me think more rationally. I gave a slight smile as I finally said what I’d been holding back, thinking it wasn’t important. “Enough. I’m here today to talk to the ‘Tower Master.’ Grandfather, please step aside.”
“What do you mean by that…”
Staring at the tower master, or rather, grandfather, who wore a rare look of confusion, I smiled brightly. Then I looked directly at the secretary who had introduced himself as ‘Jerome.’ “Why did you pretend you weren’t the tower master?”
“What are you talking about?”
The old man wasn’t the tower master. The real tower master was that exhausted-looking man in his forties pretending to be the secretary.
“It’s been bothering me for a while now. How would an ordinary secretary know about the conversations my parents had with the tower master?”
“Ah.”
“You’re not very good at lying.”
“I see. You caught me.”
Watching him admit it so easily, I just shrugged. “Now, I suppose it’s my turn to ask why you lied to me. I’m threatening you right now, by the way.”
“Threatening? How dare you, to the tower master.”
I glared at the old man who’d been pretending to be the tower master. “Why? It’s fine for you to test me, but I’m not allowed to do the same?”
At that moment, the corners of Jerome’s mouth, the real tower master who had pretended to be a secretary, drooped heavily downward. “Alright. My apologies. There’s not much to it. I was just curious about what kind of person you were. If I revealed myself as the tower master, I thought you wouldn’t speak honestly.”
“I see. But no matter the situation, I wouldn’t have revealed my true thoughts anyway.” With half-lidded, slightly crazed eyes, I gave a nod to the tower master and smiled. “If you got your answers, I should get mine too, don’t you think? Now that your curiosity’s satisfied, could you satisfy mine?”
“…Go ahead. Ask what you want.”
“Tell me everything about Duke Reshaniel and his family, from beginning to end.”
* * *
“…Giselle?”
After hearing the full story at the Magic Tower, I returned to the Kalinos Mansion and stood before the bedroom door with an anxious expression.
“What is it? You look like a little chick.”
“The blinders on you are impressive. To describe a murderous expression like a little chick.”
“Yes. It seems to be at least 2 millimeters thick.”
…When he answered a joke so seriously, I had no way to retort. Rubbing my face dryly, I asked him. “Are you alright? Nothing happened, right?”
“Yes, nothing happened to me.”
No matter how much I thought about it, the conversation I’d had earlier with the tower master still seemed suspicious.
“I really don’t know the details. As you know, mages are creatures who each fend for themselves.”
“So?”
“It is true that I am the master of the Magic Tower, and it is true that Duke Reshaniel displayed exceptional capabilities here. But that doesn’t mean I thought of Duke Reshaniel as especially important. To begin with, I myself had little interest in worldly affairs.”
“I’m not interested in whether it’s true or not. Just tell me everything you know.”
“…But there is one thing I should mention. Duke Reshaniel had an unusual obsession with monsters. It was almost compulsive. I always suspected that obsession stemmed from an inferiority complex toward Duke Kalinos. He tried to hide it, but he was always watching Duke Kalinos closely.”
An obsession with monsters and an inferiority complex toward Duke Kalinos.
By now, he must be furious. Could he be plotting to use monsters against us somehow?
But looking at Duke Kalinos right in front of me, he seemed perfectly at ease. Thinking there might be a clue I’d naturally overlooked, I looked at him and asked, “Has anything strange happened lately involving monsters?”
Duke Kalinos looked thoughtful.
Is there really nothing particular? I have heard about the <Demon Seed> before though.
Just then, he spoke up in a slow, deliberate voice. “Come to think of it, I did get a report from the city guard yesterday. Apparently, something strange happened.”
“What do you mean by something strange?”
“They said they kept finding the corpses of dead monsters near Mimonde Street. I think the same thing happened again this morning.
Mimonde Street was near Count Florette’s mansion.
Dead monsters huh… That b*stard must be getting desperate. But honestly, if he’s stirring up trouble like this, it works out perfectly for me. My eyes gleamed.
“The truth is, I didn’t have any solid evidence to lock that piece of trash.”
All I had was a hunch that he was involved in my parents’ deaths. There was no concrete proof. But if he had committed some fresh incident like this…
“He’s practically giving me time to gather evidence and crush him. How considerate.” I sprang to my feet and grabbed Duke Kalinos’s hand.
“…To suddenly grab my hand. It gives me hope, you know.”
Now that he’s said it, holding his hand is making me weirdly self-conscious… Don’t let your feelings get the better of you, Giselle! This is a time of crisis! But perhaps bodily reactions were unavoidable. As our hands clasped, both our ears turned helplessly red.
I quickly spoke up. “Let’s go to Count Florette’s mansion, right now!”
* * *
“Am I really seeing this right?”
Count Florette was getting ready for bed, wearing pajamas and a nightcap that matched those of his old friend, Count Sehera. But then—
“C-Count! What in the world is happening…? Why has a monster suddenly appeared in our estate?”
“Calm down. Are you telling me that a giant octopus, which seems to have just appeared out of nowhere, blew the roof off my mansion?”
“I-It seems so!”
“I heard young monsters had been appearing in the capital lately.”
A giant monster in the form of an octopus, as large as a house, called the Octopus. Wham! It had invaded his mansion and was smashing all sorts of priceless treasures with its slimy tentacles.
“Grrrrr—”
“Uh, uaack!”
And now it was spewing some kind of inky poison everywhere. There was no doubt his mansion was on the verge of total destruction.
Count Florette’s brow furrowed. He immediately drew his sword. “You piece of trash, just like the scoundrel who stole my daughter!”
“Seriously, are you really calling a monster that?”
Monsters usually only showed up in the north. For one to appear in the capital was almost unheard of. But since it had appeared, he might as well deal with it properly.
Count Florette raised his sword, held his breath. “If my old friend were alive, he would probably say, ‘That lunatic b*stard monster has gone insane.’”
“You’re really just borrowing the mouth of Count Sehera now to say whatever you want.”
“In any case, that’s not important. What matters is proving that my swordsmanship has not rusted.”
The giant monster, Octopus, slowly approached. Household servants struck by its black venom were collapsing to the floor one after another. They didn’t seem dead, but they looked gravely injured.
Count Florette raised his sword, aiming it at the Octopus that was barreling toward him, smashing up the furnishings of his mansion along the way. “Listen up, my aide. If I die here—”
“W-Why would you die, Count! If anyone’s dying, it should be this insane monster that suddenly showed up out of nowhere and trashed our mansion for no reason!”
Count Florette’s lips twisted at his aide’s words. Seeing the tentacle-shaped monster guarding the Octopus rush toward him, he looked annoyed. “There are too many nuisances.” He said this as he drove his sword into one of the smaller tentacle monsters. “In any case, if I do die, tell my Giselle I loved her… Sob!”
“To pretend to cry with such an indifferent expression.” His aide also raised his sword and joined in to kill the monsters.
“I am not indifferent. I am actually greatly regretful right now.”
Crash! The sound of a precious vase he had brought back from a voyage, which had decorated the hallway, shattered loudly.
“Five hundred million gold just disappeared.”
Even as Count Florette methodically cut down the monsters with a blank expression, he couldn’t help but whine. But just then—
“Hu, gasp!”
From the severed end of the monster’s tentacle, several completely identical monsters were born again.
This… He hadn’t encountered monsters all that often. But Count Florette was certain that this wasn’t normal. As he briefly lowered his sword to inspect the cut end of the tentacle…
Sssss—
“C-Count! Behind you!”
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