“Ugh.”
Benjamin came down from Joan’s slender shoulders while making a pained sound, as if his whole body was sore.
“As expected, I need to do better at defending myself.”
“Well, I’ll protect you…!”
Sarah’s courageous cry was buried when Wolfgang appeared.
Come to think of it, the outside had been like a battlefield, but it sounded like it had calmed down. He wasn’t hurt anywhere, was he?
As soon as I looked over, our eyes met.
He looked up and down, as if to make sure that Levi and I were safe. He tapped his bloody sword on his shoulder and said.
“I think about four people came in.”
“We caught one for now…”
“Oh, I handled that too.”
After Joan and Betty’s careful answers, their gazes converged on the assassin, who was struggling to open his eyes.
“There’s another one like that on the second floor.”
Levi said, as he pointed to the man. The gesture and his gaze weren’t very pretty.
Somehow, he seemed angry. He grabbed me by the wrist and pushed me forward.
“And this one was injured.”
It wasn’t as if it went all the way through.
Why was he so upset? What was wrong with him? It wasn’t that big of a wound.
I glanced at him, as everyone looked down at the back of my hand and looked worried.
Even Wolfgang.
“Tsk, take her to be treated.”
“Yes.”
Among the maids who bowed their heads, Betty had a particularly uncomfortable expression on her face. She picked me up and gave me a tight hug.
Was it an illusion that the back of the remaining man looked somewhat dire as he was carried away by a group of maids?
I rather hoped that the assassin never woke up.
“I’m sorry, Aisha.”
“…What?”
“I thought it would be better to hide you.”
“Why are you apologizing, Betty?”
She’s so gentle, how was she going to live in this harsh world?
Hugging Betty’s neck tightly, I whispered.
“Thank you for hiding me, and counting numbers with me.”
Betty smiled, and shut her mouth.
I wanted to ask more, but I leaned towards the kindness of not asking.
Anyway, I survived. In the end, I guess I was the only one who was seriously worried.
When I rolled my eyes while half out of my soul, I saw that the lid of Joan’s needle box was open.
Just as I was about to reach out and close it, I was surprised when she stopped me.
“Don’t touch that carelessly, it contains poison needles.”
What…?
Joan closed her needle box herself instead of letting me, then she told Sarah.
“Tell the maids in the laundry room to clean up.”
“Yes, sister.”
Soon after Sarah ran off, laundry maids appeared with washcloths and buckets.
There was also a long-faced Vivi.
“…Who are these girls?”
“The cleanup crew.”
What are you cleaning up? No, I don’t care. I won’t ask. Honestly, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of how every nook and cranny of this crazy house worked.
I’d closed my eyes, then opened my mouth involuntarily at the intense question that immediately came to mind.
“If the sisters in the bedroom do the stabbing, and the sisters from the laundry clean up, then do the sisters from the kitchen clean up the bodies…?”
“What? Aisha, you’re so good.”
Looking at the grinning Joan and Betty, I laughed along with them, thinking that my joke had gone too far.
“You’re so quick-witted.”
I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.
***
Crash!
The man who threw the vase had a blood vessel popping out along his neck.
“You said you were sure this time! That’s why I even gave you the Mirrors of the Holy Spirit!”
There was a risk that they’d leave a trace, and it was a serious loss.
If only they had fulfilled their ‘mission’ properly, he would have laughed it off with glee. Or if they’d at least disposed of a Bastion, who were like a thorn in his side!
The old men kowtowed before the angry man and began to line up their excuses.
“Huh, but it’s really obvious to the watchers that…”
“That’s right. When I heard the report, I thought it was definitely not a normal force.”
“I thought it was an opportunity not to be missed since they’d come out of the compound.”
The end result was that these foolish old men grew impatient.
The young man clenched his teeth.
“I told you to be careful because you could make a mistake! You know better than that…!”
The furious man tousled his auburn hair.
Ah. What to do, what to do. He’d been trying to get rid of this thorn for a long time, but it was like he’d put in another one.
The servants, who were watching the proceedings, immediately lit the incense. It was a special formula for this man, who was sensitive and vulnerable to stress.
Rather than regaining stability, after the man deeply inhaled the incense, he swayed and sat down on the sofa.
“…Whoa, it’s okay. It will be alright. How could the demon’s children, whose shadows have never even darkened a temple doorway, know if it’s a sacred object?”
The old men reacted quickly to the man’s quiet self-talk.
“Oh, of course! Many of the priests on the border have never even touched one in their whole lives.”
“Even if he did find out that it was holy, that would be the end of it.”
“We’ll just say that they were stolen. We’ll just have to demand it back.”
“I have to admit, that monstrous house had more than one or two grudges against it.”
“So, who would dare to doubt us? Would they even dare to imagine it?”
Even the Assassin’s Guild didn’t know who they were.
The old men swallow their words.
The matter had been completed through a complex method of transmission, down, sideways, and back again.
It had taken them almost a year. The squandered Mirrors of the Holy Spirit were a waste of money, but there was nothing to worry about.
Evidence? Evidence that no one would believe. It was just the mere testimony of the demon’s feelings. In the end, it would just be the demon’s suspicions. Yes, that’s right.
In addition, the generous subsidies would continue to come in.
The frozen old men finally tried to lighten the mood with some laughter.
The man, who looked at them pitifully, leaned his head against the back of the sofa.
“…I’ll just take care of myself for a while.”
Until we have another chance.
The lotus pattern that bloomed on the forehead of the man with the rumbled auburn hair shone softly.
***
The night in Bastion was quiet, as if to say that a terrible war had just occurred.
I waited meekly while I received treatment and didn’t dare ask them about the cleanup when they showed up after changing their clothes.
Why do I have to stay in bed? There were more important things to be doing right now.
“Amazing. There were four holy objects.”
Benjamin glanced at me, and asked.
“Is it that great?”
“Of course!”
In other words, it was like four winning lottery tickets had just rolled in.
However, unlike me, who came from the temple, the others looked as if they couldn’t really understand it.
Certainly, seeing and touching holy objects up close wasn’t a common opportunity for an ordinary person.
If it hadn’t been for me, they probably would’ve thrown away the mirrors without realizing what they were. My heart ached just imagining it.
“This is called the Mirror of the Holy Spirit. Normally, you can’t see anything, but if you have a bit of holy power, you can do this…”
Sparkle!
As I put my face in front of the mirror, it turned golden.
As William saw whenever he checked the value of his product, it was an exceptionally bright and vivid gold.
‘But why is it shaking so much… Oh, doesn’t it look brighter than when I last saw it?’
Could it be the Bastion Effect? No matter how dangerous it was, it was worth sticking around.
Satisfied, I pointed the mirror at Benjamin, and in a heartbeat the light went out.
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
“The price is even more interesting. If it’s this big, it’s probably…”
This much?
Benjamin’s face brightened at my estimation.
After all, financial therapy was still the best. I’ve never seen him smile so brightly, except for old man jokes.
Benjamin hummed and hugged the four mirrors tightly. He looked so cheerful from the back as he left for the vault.
‘But where did they get those?’
It would be hard to get one, but there were four! Was their backer that big?
Why did they have to hold the Mirror of the Holy Spirit? What were they looking for?
I tried to think seriously about it, but failed because my hand kept drawing my attention.
“…Well, can I get rid of the bandage now?”
I think my shoulder was going to fall off.
Look, it looked like the paw of that cat robot without ears. The hand that looked like it was going to take everything out of the magic pocket for a pushover!
But, I was the only one annoyed by Betty’s over enthusiastic treatment.
Wolfgang, who was sitting on the sofa in the drawing room instead of his ruined office, said seriously.
“Germs could get in.”
“No, what… Even if they come in, it’ll be purified.”
His face seemed to say ‘Is that so?’, but he still didn’t let me take the bandage off until the end.
Darn it, it was so inconvenient.
I looked sadly at Levi, who was sitting next to me, as if looking for another savior…
I was ignored.
I understood that he had some anxiety about other people’s health, but he was such an uptight rich man.
As I clicked my tongue, I suddenly felt truly depressed.
“Why? Does it hurt?”
I shook my head helplessly at Levi, who noticed me sinking down like a ghost.
“No, the spring break is over tomorrow.”
“….”
“I’m sad you have to go.”
I wasn’t done yet.
I was upset. It was like playing a love simulation game to death, then being forced to stop right before seeing the ending.
I gloomily drooped my head, and this somehow rattled Levi.
“Don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying…”
It was different. I moved on without thinking too much about it.
When I buried my face in my regular hand and blunt bandaged hand, I could feel him fidgeting by my side.
I said in a tearful voice.
“I want some snacks.”
“Here.”
“What about some juice?”
“I’ll ask for it.”
“With ice.”
“Alright.”
“Get engaged.”
“Okay.”
“Marriage too.”
“Yes.”
“…oh yeah!”
Don’t push it!
I jumped out of my seat.
It’s done! Thank God! I’m saved!
Wolfgang clapped his hands to congratulate me, who was running around like a wild monkey. With a face that said I knew this would happen.
It looked like I’d tricked Levi, but what could I do?
By the way, the relationship between a man and a woman only ends when one side dies…
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, huh? What?”
“The engagement.”
Levi’s expressionless eyes shone redder and clearer than ever before.
In reality, who was the one that was really caught.
“Ugh.”
Benjamin came down from Joan’s slender shoulders while making a pained sound, as if his whole body was sore.
“As expected, I need to do better at defending myself.”
“Well, I’ll protect you…!”
Sarah’s courageous cry was buried when Wolfgang appeared.
Come to think of it, the outside had been like a battlefield, but it sounded like it had calmed down. He wasn’t hurt anywhere, was he?
As soon as I looked over, our eyes met.
He looked up and down, as if to make sure that Levi and I were safe. He tapped his bloody sword on his shoulder and said.
“I think about four people came in.”
“We caught one for now…”
“Oh, I handled that too.”
After Joan and Betty’s careful answers, their gazes converged on the assassin, who was struggling to open his eyes.
“There’s another one like that on the second floor.”
Levi said, as he pointed to the man. The gesture and his gaze weren’t very pretty.
Somehow, he seemed angry. He grabbed me by the wrist and pushed me forward.
“And this one was injured.”
It wasn’t as if it went all the way through.
Why was he so upset? What was wrong with him? It wasn’t that big of a wound.
I glanced at him, as everyone looked down at the back of my hand and looked worried.
Even Wolfgang.
“Tsk, take her to be treated.”
“Yes.”
Among the maids who bowed their heads, Betty had a particularly uncomfortable expression on her face. She picked me up and gave me a tight hug.
Was it an illusion that the back of the remaining man looked somewhat dire as he was carried away by a group of maids?
I rather hoped that the assassin never woke up.
“I’m sorry, Aisha.”
“…What?”
“I thought it would be better to hide you.”
“Why are you apologizing, Betty?”
She’s so gentle, how was she going to live in this harsh world?
Hugging Betty’s neck tightly, I whispered.
“Thank you for hiding me, and counting numbers with me.”
Betty smiled, and shut her mouth.
I wanted to ask more, but I leaned towards the kindness of not asking.
Anyway, I survived. In the end, I guess I was the only one who was seriously worried.
When I rolled my eyes while half out of my soul, I saw that the lid of Joan’s needle box was open.
Just as I was about to reach out and close it, I was surprised when she stopped me.
“Don’t touch that carelessly, it contains poison needles.”
What…?
Joan closed her needle box herself instead of letting me, then she told Sarah.
“Tell the maids in the laundry room to clean up.”
“Yes, sister.”
Soon after Sarah ran off, laundry maids appeared with washcloths and buckets.
There was also a long-faced Vivi.
“…Who are these girls?”
“The cleanup crew.”
What are you cleaning up? No, I don’t care. I won’t ask. Honestly, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of how every nook and cranny of this crazy house worked.
I’d closed my eyes, then opened my mouth involuntarily at the intense question that immediately came to mind.
“If the sisters in the bedroom do the stabbing, and the sisters from the laundry clean up, then do the sisters from the kitchen clean up the bodies…?”
“What? Aisha, you’re so good.”
Looking at the grinning Joan and Betty, I laughed along with them, thinking that my joke had gone too far.
“You’re so quick-witted.”
I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.
***
Crash!
The man who threw the vase had a blood vessel popping out along his neck.
“You said you were sure this time! That’s why I even gave you the Mirrors of the Holy Spirit!”
There was a risk that they’d leave a trace, and it was a serious loss.
If only they had fulfilled their ‘mission’ properly, he would have laughed it off with glee. Or if they’d at least disposed of a Bastion, who were like a thorn in his side!
The old men kowtowed before the angry man and began to line up their excuses.
“Huh, but it’s really obvious to the watchers that…”
“That’s right. When I heard the report, I thought it was definitely not a normal force.”
“I thought it was an opportunity not to be missed since they’d come out of the compound.”
The end result was that these foolish old men grew impatient.
The young man clenched his teeth.
“I told you to be careful because you could make a mistake! You know better than that…!”
The furious man tousled his auburn hair.
Ah. What to do, what to do. He’d been trying to get rid of this thorn for a long time, but it was like he’d put in another one.
The servants, who were watching the proceedings, immediately lit the incense. It was a special formula for this man, who was sensitive and vulnerable to stress.
Rather than regaining stability, after the man deeply inhaled the incense, he swayed and sat down on the sofa.
“…Whoa, it’s okay. It will be alright. How could the demon’s children, whose shadows have never even darkened a temple doorway, know if it’s a sacred object?”
The old men reacted quickly to the man’s quiet self-talk.
“Oh, of course! Many of the priests on the border have never even touched one in their whole lives.”
“Even if he did find out that it was holy, that would be the end of it.”
“We’ll just say that they were stolen. We’ll just have to demand it back.”
“I have to admit, that monstrous house had more than one or two grudges against it.”
“So, who would dare to doubt us? Would they even dare to imagine it?”
Even the Assassin’s Guild didn’t know who they were.
The old men swallow their words.
The matter had been completed through a complex method of transmission, down, sideways, and back again.
It had taken them almost a year. The squandered Mirrors of the Holy Spirit were a waste of money, but there was nothing to worry about.
Evidence? Evidence that no one would believe. It was just the mere testimony of the demon’s feelings. In the end, it would just be the demon’s suspicions. Yes, that’s right.
In addition, the generous subsidies would continue to come in.
The frozen old men finally tried to lighten the mood with some laughter.
The man, who looked at them pitifully, leaned his head against the back of the sofa.
“…I’ll just take care of myself for a while.”
Until we have another chance.
The lotus pattern that bloomed on the forehead of the man with the rumbled auburn hair shone softly.
***
The night in Bastion was quiet, as if to say that a terrible war had just occurred.
I waited meekly while I received treatment and didn’t dare ask them about the cleanup when they showed up after changing their clothes.
Why do I have to stay in bed? There were more important things to be doing right now.
“Amazing. There were four holy objects.”
Benjamin glanced at me, and asked.
“Is it that great?”
“Of course!”
In other words, it was like four winning lottery tickets had just rolled in.
However, unlike me, who came from the temple, the others looked as if they couldn’t really understand it.
Certainly, seeing and touching holy objects up close wasn’t a common opportunity for an ordinary person.
If it hadn’t been for me, they probably would’ve thrown away the mirrors without realizing what they were. My heart ached just imagining it.
“This is called the Mirror of the Holy Spirit. Normally, you can’t see anything, but if you have a bit of holy power, you can do this…”
Sparkle!
As I put my face in front of the mirror, it turned golden.
As William saw whenever he checked the value of his product, it was an exceptionally bright and vivid gold.
‘But why is it shaking so much… Oh, doesn’t it look brighter than when I last saw it?’
Could it be the Bastion Effect? No matter how dangerous it was, it was worth sticking around.
Satisfied, I pointed the mirror at Benjamin, and in a heartbeat the light went out.
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
“The price is even more interesting. If it’s this big, it’s probably…”
This much?
Benjamin’s face brightened at my estimation.
After all, financial therapy was still the best. I’ve never seen him smile so brightly, except for old man jokes.
Benjamin hummed and hugged the four mirrors tightly. He looked so cheerful from the back as he left for the vault.
‘But where did they get those?’
It would be hard to get one, but there were four! Was their backer that big?
Why did they have to hold the Mirror of the Holy Spirit? What were they looking for?
I tried to think seriously about it, but failed because my hand kept drawing my attention.
“…Well, can I get rid of the bandage now?”
I think my shoulder was going to fall off.
Look, it looked like the paw of that cat robot without ears. The hand that looked like it was going to take everything out of the magic pocket for a pushover!
But, I was the only one annoyed by Betty’s over enthusiastic treatment.
Wolfgang, who was sitting on the sofa in the drawing room instead of his ruined office, said seriously.
“Germs could get in.”
“No, what… Even if they come in, it’ll be purified.”
His face seemed to say ‘Is that so?’, but he still didn’t let me take the bandage off until the end.
Darn it, it was so inconvenient.
I looked sadly at Levi, who was sitting next to me, as if looking for another savior…
I was ignored.
I understood that he had some anxiety about other people’s health, but he was such an uptight rich man.
As I clicked my tongue, I suddenly felt truly depressed.
“Why? Does it hurt?”
I shook my head helplessly at Levi, who noticed me sinking down like a ghost.
“No, the spring break is over tomorrow.”
“….”
“I’m sad you have to go.”
I wasn’t done yet.
I was upset. It was like playing a love simulation game to death, then being forced to stop right before seeing the ending.
I gloomily drooped my head, and this somehow rattled Levi.
“Don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying…”
It was different. I moved on without thinking too much about it.
When I buried my face in my regular hand and blunt bandaged hand, I could feel him fidgeting by my side.
I said in a tearful voice.
“I want some snacks.”
“Here.”
“What about some juice?”
“I’ll ask for it.”
“With ice.”
“Alright.”
“Get engaged.”
“Okay.”
“Marriage too.”
“Yes.”
“…oh yeah!”
Don’t push it!
I jumped out of my seat.
It’s done! Thank God! I’m saved!
Wolfgang clapped his hands to congratulate me, who was running around like a wild monkey. With a face that said I knew this would happen.
It looked like I’d tricked Levi, but what could I do?
By the way, the relationship between a man and a woman only ends when one side dies…
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, huh? What?”
“The engagement.”
Levi’s expressionless eyes shone redder and clearer than ever before.
In reality, who was the one that was really caught.
