episode_0020

“I’m going to eat well!!”

Alice said, chomping on the pie. For reference, she was eating with her normal upper mouth, not her lower one. Sounds a bit strange now that I say it. Anyway, that was the truth.

“This cherry pie is really, really delicious!! I could eat a hundred, even a thousand!!”

“Of course, of course. Eat lots, my tomboyish young lady.”

The grandmother smiled with satisfaction, watching her.

As Aria, whose eyes were covered with a black bandage, moved as if groping her way forward, I silently cut a piece of pie and gave it to her with a fork. Our hands gently touched.

“Ah… thank you, Oppa.”

Aria smiled shyly and laughed. Seeing this, the grandmother chuckled softly and said.

“Oh, my. To see such affectionate siblings in this day and age!”

“I’m the one who’s unilaterally indebted to you, Oppa.”

Aria said with a bitter smile, feigning the appearance of a sister who couldn’t see and was shy.

“I’m always just a burden to Oppa.”

“—Aria.”

“Ah, I’m sorry! I spoke out of turn again….”

Aria bowed her head like a scared mouse. Was she enjoying her role now? It was impossible to tell how much of her appearance was false and how much was real, or even if it was truly a disguise in the first place.

So, I decided not to think about it. I suddenly wanted to smoke a cigarette. Lately, it felt less like I was smoking for a reason, and more like I was searching for a reason to smoke.

I tried to soothe my empty mouth, turning my head, and the picture frames on the corner dresser caught my eye again. Among them was a commendation from the Duchy Guard, emblazoned with a symbol of several falcons flying over corpses.

And it even bore the personal signature of Gustadolph Whitley, the Duchy’s Generalissimo.

“Oh, my goodness, look at me. So foolish in my old age. I still had that thing sitting there!”

The old woman who rented us the two-story house clicked her tongue in embarrassment.

“To let young people who came all the way from the Empire see such an awful thing, please forgive me.”

“It doesn’t particularly bother me.”

“Hoho, I appreciate you saying that.”

I answered with feigned nonchalance. Of course, I wasn’t unaware of the commendation’s meaning.

Duchy Guard National Security Department Section 4. More famously known as ‘Carrion Vultures,’ this country’s necromancer organization.

“Still, it’s not something to boast about everywhere you go. Especially not in front of guests from the Empire – it’s barely enough to kneel and bow your head!”

“No, please don’t worry about it too much, Grandmother.”

“Hoho, the young lady has a beautiful face and an even more beautiful heart.”

It seemed the old woman had received the commendation herself, but could she have been an active necromancer directly under the Duchy Guard in her youth? It was hard to imagine.

Moreover, it was unlikely that one of the country’s top elites, of such standing, would spend her old age with just a single, shabby-looking house like this.

“Still, for an old person, things from their youth are something they just want to remember, no matter what form they take… Whether good or bad, beautiful or terrible, even if they’re utterly ugly.”

In the old woman’s murmuring voice, there was a deep, dark shadow that ordinary people couldn’t easily imagine.

*

That night.

“Excuse me, Commander-nim.”

I silently opened my eyes at the voice whispering right by my ear, without a trace of its approach.

Apart from my heart, which plummeted and went numb, I remained very calm.

Anyway, even the commander of a villainous organization is human and needs to sleep. And it’s similarly difficult to keep your wits about you when someone wakes you from sleep. I’m dying of sleepiness.

“What is it?”

Despite that, I listened to her words with eyes wide open and sparkling like it was daytime. My eyeballs felt like they were going to pop out. I suddenly wanted a cigarette too.

“Outside, there are some who appear to be uninvited guests.”

With her eyes covered by a black bandage, in exchange for her two eyes being confined to darkness, she could see much farther and much more than I could.

Sure enough. Only a few seconds after Aria spoke did I also notice suspicious movements outside.

Two men in suits crossed the street and approached our house. When they stood outside and lightly knocked, the old woman, as if expecting them, greeted them.

Even the knocking was secret and quiet, like sending a password.

Even at dawn, when the moon wasn’t visible in the middle of the night.

The two men entered the first-floor living room—and began to talk standing right there, without even sitting down.

For reference, we had rented the entire second floor. The three of us were sharing one room at the end of the hallway.

Aria and I shared the king-sized bed for couples, while Alice was tucked away inside the closet.

Because the darkness inside the closet, which children fear the most, was precisely where she felt most at ease.

“Excuse us for intruding in the middle of the night, Madam.”

“Do people who know they’re intruding burst in like this at night and disturb an old person’s sleep?”

“We received a report, you see.”

“What report?”

“That suspicious individuals are staying here.”

Logically, their conversation shouldn’t have been audible, but we weren’t in a position to quibble about logic.

What we needed to pay attention to was their logic, not ours.

Because they would believe their conversation wasn’t audible to us. ─Logically speaking.

“Hmph, did that old man Schultz from next door report again, unable to break his habit? Look at the state of this cursed country! Instead of suspecting innocent young people, just get lost.”

“Well, now, this is quite surprising.”

Upon hearing that, the man in the suit chuckled.

“I never imagined, Madam, that you would allow innocent young people to stay in your home.”

“An old woman is trying to make ends meet by collecting rent, do you have something to say about that?”

“You even served them pie yourself and had a cheerful conversation, didn’t you?”

“…….”

“It seems you rather liked them, didn’t you? I heard that, uncommonly, laughter filled your home.”

“…….”

It was surprising, or perhaps the old woman’s nuance seemed far from wanting to sell us out.

“What do you have to say?”

“Madam, you know better than anyone what ‘answer’ we’re looking for.”

“I’ve told you everything I know. Besides, I have dementia these days, to the point where I forget everything I know. What are you talking about, knowing or not knowing?”

“Since you claim not to know, I’ll tell you.”

One of the men finally raised his voice and spoke.

“Hella, former Senior Leader, we’re talking about the you’re hiding!”

The Necromancer’s Grimoire. At the unexpected name, I quietly swallowed my breath.

“It’s not too late, Madam Hella. Reveal the truth obediently and hand over the hidden Necromancer’s Grimoire.”

“Far from facing charges, Madam, you will become a national hero for discovering the legendary grimoire.”

“Necromancer’s Grimoire, what nonsense. That grimoire is a fiction that doesn’t even exist!”

“We hope it’s not fiction. Colonel Hydra wants it too.”

From persuasion, to coaxing like a child, to proposing a deal, and even resorting to pleading.

Before long, their voices grew louder, without even minding our presence.

“Most importantly.”

One man responded, taking up the conversation.

“Even while you remain silent, Madam, the ‘criminal charges’ against the innocent young people upstairs are increasing one by one.”

“Hey, how about theft?”

“Too trivial. How about murder?”

“While we’re at it, let’s add corpse abandonment. Turns out they’re not just ordinary vicious criminals!”

“Yes, they’re utterly heinous scoundrels!”

“It seems we’ll have to properly show these villains the bitter taste of justice!”

Amidst the men’s slyly exchanged conversation—I silently looked at Aria.

Aria also silently looked my way.

Wow, how did they know?

Silence descended. It was truly an awkward silence beyond compare.

“Don’t make me laugh!”

At the end of the silence, it was the old woman downstairs who raised her voice.

“After being swayed by non-existent delusions, you treated and trampled me like a dog, me who was loyal to my homeland, threw my family into concentration camps, and snatched away my entire life! ─And now, because some innocent young people are renting the upstairs of a dying old woman’s house, you’re going to drag them down and threaten them?!”

“Indeed. A tough old bird who kept her mouth shut even when her whole family was dragged to a concentration camp, would she really care if a few kids renting upstairs died?”

“So it’s best you understand clearly now. You won’t be dying peacefully!”

“Come on, let’s go teach those villains hiding on the second floor the justice of the Duchy’s Secret Police!”

At the same time, I understood.

The reason Rain Grey had chosen this particular city, and this particular house, to rent and stay in.

“Commander-nim, you anticipated this from the beginning—.”

Aria looked at me with a fresh expression of surprise, as if even she hadn’t anticipated this.

After looking, she spoke in a slightly bitter voice.

“Even the kindness you showed me in front of her… that was for this purpose, wasn’t it?”

I feigned nonchalance, maintaining my composure. Without adding any unnecessary words.

Silently, I put my hand into my pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and put it in my mouth.

It wasn’t lit.

However, judging by the heavy footsteps of the men approaching, the time to light it seemed not far off.