Even a Scoundrel Gets Tired

135 – A Midnight Shriek

Kagagagagak─

The sound, emanating from right

in front of my hand, filled me with dread.

And my dagger, which had been

plunging forward, froze in place.

“Haa…hey there, gramps,

why’d you have to come all the way here…what a pain.”

It was a girl, so small that even if I

treated her well, she wouldn’t reach past my chest.

“….”

“Hm? Soorry…did I scare you…?”

My dagger was buried in the

center of her tiny palm.

The only problem was, it had

only pierced in, a tiny, tiny bit.

Black droplets of blood

began to trickle

from the tip of the artistically

forged blade, so beautiful,

so keenly honed.

And in the girl’s eyes, for a

fleeting moment, a hint of surprise.

“Whoa…what are youu?”

A pitch-black energy, so familiar.

That same black energy that had

been constantly emanating from the old man

now flickered from the girl’s hair.

Leaving not a trace,

not even a hint of pain.

“Whoa…it’s been so long…and the hurt’s gone?”

“….”

“..Hm? Why that look on your face?”

“..Makes me wanna puke.”

“…?”

“Where in tarnation do you all keep popping up from?”

It wasn’t intentional,

but a curse word escaped me all the same.

And this chance—what a chance this was.

Smoke was still

puffing from my lips,

a searing something

was blazing in my throat,

and my legs were shuddering,

making the sound of a machine

that hadn’t seen a drop of oil.

And even though I’d clenched my teeth,

endured, and endured, and sprinted

to create this very opportunity.

Blocked not by the old man’s heart,

but by the palm of some little girl’s

hand, of all things.

How could I *not* swear in this situation?

“Why now of all times…damn it, damn it…”

“Ehh…? Why are you swearing all of a sud—”

“…Why are you here?”

In that instant, the old man’s arm

swiveled its gaze toward me,

toward the girl.

What do I mean?

Exactly what I said.

On the old man’s gaunt arm,

an eyeball had sprouted,

just like that.

“Grandpa… told me to bring you.”

“Who? Who dares—me?”

As if the peacock strangling his neck

was of no consequence,

the corners of the old man’s mouth

began to slowly curl upwards,

and his voice, once again,

shifted and changed.

“Me?!?”

It was the first time.

That I felt a thrill, a shudder, from a voice alone.

It was the second time.

That chilling voice was

becoming increasingly distorted.

“..Grandpa, maybe dial back the bluster a little..”

Yet, confronting that voice

with unwavering defiance

was the drowsy girl’s own.

“..What?!”

“Th-this… knife, it’s digging into my palm, now.”

Upon hearing those words,

the old man’s crimson and ochre gaze

locked onto me immediately.

Despite his neck being thrown back,

it was as if he would

pluck out his very eyes,

just to etch me

into their depths.

“That kind. of. scum. really. did?”

“Yeah.”

“..Tch, even rotten, he’s the

one chosen by that Person, is he?”

The old man’s voice returned

to its initial state, and at the same moment—

*thwack*—

The shadow clinging to his back,

strangling his neck, was flung away.

With a single gesture, it seemed

as if he were merely swatting a bug.

“So, who dares summon me?”

“..It’s a pain, can’t you just leave?”

“Do you think that makes any—”

“Bell summoned you. A [Revelation] has arrived.”

“….”

“..Shall we go?”

“Tch.”

With a click of his tongue,

as if we didn’t even exist,

the old man retrieved his monocle from his breast pocket.

Even that chilling voice,

had returned to that of a common old man,

though its alien quality remained unchanged.

“…You’ll go, then?”

“Yes, if it is by His word.”

At that very moment, from the girl’s

hand, my blade was released, and

when I closed my eyes, then opened them again,

my body was soaring through the void.

‘…Eh?’

“…Let’s gooo…hee hee.”

That was the final vista

I was able to witness with my own eyes.

*

“─Lord.”

“….”

“My Lord…!!”

“Cough… hack…huuh…”

“My Lord, are you alright?!”

Thud-thud-thud─

From within a massive pile of rubble,

a figure erupted.

No, to be precise, a shadow that bore the likeness of a person.

“Huuuh…huuuh…”

“My Lord, do you hear me?”

“Yes, yes…I hear you.”

A shadow trailed,

coating the entire frame of a grown man.

Suddenly, that shadow

began to split itself apart,

and from within, Duke Charlotte emerged, utterly drained.

His chest excepted,

his body seemed relatively unscathed.

If no one had witnessed that sight,

no one would have believed that

he was, just moments ago, the very person who

had waged that fierce battle.

“Healing, quick, healing…!”

“…Forget that. What became of *him*?”

Even with a long, serpent-like scar

etched into the very heart of his chest,

the Duke flicked his head as if hardly bothered.

Such a nonchalant reaction,

like a finger carelessly chopped off,

briefly unsettled the gazes of the hounds surrounding him.

“…Don’t you recall?”

But only for a moment.

The hounds, ever quick to assess a situation,

offered the answer their master desired.

“Aye, ’tis a shame, but the moment

I slung the noose ’round the b*stard’s neck

was the last I saw of my reason, you see.”

“….”

“What is it? Could that wretch still be living?”

How to answer?

If he asked if the man lived at all,

they could say, with certainty, yes.

But if he asked if the man lived within

the borders of this Empire, the story was… different.

For regardless, they had vanished

to somewhere.

Whether that place lay within the Empire’s embrace, none could say.

“…Aye, it would seem so.”

In the end, this was the best answer

they could conjure.

Daring not speak a falsehood to their lord.

“…I had not foreseen this.”

Even the Duke,

in his own way, was taken aback.

The attack that child had unleashed

at the end, it was thought, would surely slay the beast.

The possibility existed, of course,

that the attack had failed to land true from the start,

but he staunchly refused to believe it so.

‘With eyes like that,

to fail for want of bodily or

“Surely… he wouldn’t fall?”

It made a certain sense, really.

After all…

A mere child, barely

the same age as his own daughter.

Eyes brimming with a quiet,

simmering resentment.

How could such an attack possibly miss?

As if his rage had been compressed,

pushed right to the very edge.

A boy with eyes like those wouldn’t

simply stop mid-attack because

he was hurting himself.

That child, he would wager,

was ready to sacrifice his own life

if it meant landing a hit

on that monster.

Unbelievably so, for a mere

seventeen years of age.

Which left only two possibilities.

Either the old man had weathered

the boy’s attack and stood firm.

‘…Or a third party had intervened,

saving the old man.’

“H-head of the household…”

“Hm?”

Lost deep in thought,

he was suddenly faced with two

of his hounds, heads bowed low.

The thud was sharp as

they slammed their foreheads

against the ground hard enough

to crack the earth.

“We are so sorry…”

“…Hm?”

Blood streamed down

their foreheads, yet

from their mouths came

apologies, not screams.

“What wrongdoing have you committed?”

“…As per your orders, we evacuated

the surrounding civilians and made haste

to rejoin you here, but…”

“But did you?”

“We were undone… by a single girl, who appeared from nowhere.”

A single girl, hm?

Likely, she was involved.

And she must have bested them, then sauntered away from this place.

If she is aligned with the old man, then that girl too is likely some kind of monster.

“Hmph… tell me, how did this girl appear?”

“She had violet, bobbed hair, and wasn’t even half our size.”

So… around 140 centimeters, then.

Frankly…

The Duke doubted their words.

A girl of such stature,

subduing all of his hounds – men who boasted considerable skill even within the Empire.

“…Difficult to believe.”

“Forgive us, Master. This failure is worthy of death─”

“No, no need for that.”

The hound’s blade was already nearing his neck, for having failed their lord’s expectations.

But the Duke did not desire that.

After all, assuming this girl is some kind of monster, then it’s not that strange that they would be defeated.

Besides, he had lost nothing in this fight.

“…Pardon?”

“Did we not rescue my daughter and her companions?”

“Yes… that is true, but…”

This battered manor, after all,

belonged to the Reinhardt family, and

the well-being of his daughter and her companions

was assured, no matter what.

So, at the very least,

he suffered no loss in all this.

If one of his hounds

had perished, that would have been

a regrettable blow, perhaps,

but in the end, they all survived.

“Then that will do. The manor is not my concern.”

“..Yes.”

“Let us be going, then.”

The Duke straightened

his slumped back as he rose.

Blood still dripped

from the wound in his chest,

but he tore a strip

from his clothing, bound the wound, and then

walked away as though

nothing had happened.

“Ah, yes…almost forgot…you there.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Have you perhaps seen

a young boy about, wandering about these parts?”

“…?”

“Perhaps collapsed somewhere…or perhaps─”

“Are you speaking of this one, sir?”

From within the black cloak

carried by one of the hounds, a small dark-haired

boy emerged.

Completely unconscious.

“Oh, indeed! He seems…not

entirely sound.”

“We have applied basic first aid, considering

he is a friend of the young lady.”

“Is he indeed? My daughter is friends with this urchin?”

“..It is presumed to be so, sir.”

The hound would not otherwise

have involved himself in such a matter.

I thought myself untouched by it all,

So the words slipped out without much thought.

“Ho… is that so.”

Seeing that his master’s face

Was different from usual,

He knew, in that instant, he’d

Misspeak.

Until he realized that expression

Was one of utter fascination.

“Is something the matter?”

“No, no… I simply find I’ve acquired a rather amusing acquaintance.”

“…?”

“First, have the child brought back to our

Manor and laid down to rest.”

“Yes.”

“The moment we return to the manor,

Begin gathering information on those b*stards.”

“Yes, sir!!”

And so, the moment Jenison’s

Consciousness finally returned, finding himself forced to impose,

Was roughly a full day after the incident.

“aaargh!!”

“..Who in blazes is hollering in the dead of night…!!”

Followed by a shout of considerable, furious volume.