-- Previous Chapter

    “Why are you suffering, Dacascos!?” said the lead monk as he closed the green book.  Perhaps because his face is so hairless, it’s practically emotionless.

    “I’ll confiscate this as well until the last day.  However…”

    However?

    Both Günter, who’s almost in tears, and Dacascos, who’s covered in tears, freeze while waiting for the next words.

    “To record the days between you and His Majesty the Demon King as a love story…  I feel this is something that a humble servant and body of one who serves the noble soul of the True King shouldn’t say but…”

    ‘Then don’t say it!’ Dacascos says in his mind.  There wasn’t really a pause for it though and the mental thought overlaps with the lead monk explaining with a pitying face that all life under the True King is equal, but…

    *.*.*.*.*

    As there are all sorts of types who like animals, if there’s someone who deserted Conrad’s troupe after falling into a sand bear hole, then there’s someone similar who’ll be calmed down by being in this room.

    “This is great huh, Greta, it’s a whole bunch of freaky animals.”

    From the walls of the room, there are a bunch of beast heads sticking out.  The large ones are deer, bear, hippo.  The small ones are rabbit, ferret, weasel, mink.  They even have them here?

    “… This is… a, a mini stegosaurus, right?”

    “It’s a zomosagori dragon!”

    That’s one of the animals in my limited imitation repertoire.  Dinosaurs are popular with children in any world.

    Dragged from the tent circus true to its name by the scruffs of our necks, the place we’ve been thrown into is a stuffed animal hell.  The cold glass eyes are creepy.  It’s like they’re not thinking anything.

    The door won’t open even if we ram into it or kick it.

    “Who’s there?” A forlorn voice called from farther in the room.

    I turn around in the weak light.  Huddled together against the curly grained wooden wall are two figures.  One is lying down on the floor, obviously not feeling well.

    “Izura?”

    Red-brown eyes turn to me.  The girl lying next to her also opens her eyes slightly to look in my direction.  Thinking she looks familiar, I remember she’s the girl I met this afternoon.  Instead of a blanket, what’s draped over her is the down jacket I’d lent her.  The warmth in my hand leaves me and Greta runs forth and places a hand on Izura’s cheek.

    “Why are you here?  What happened to your face?  Who hit you!?”

    “I should be asking about you, mister-”

    “It’s Yuuri!”

    Surprised, I stare at the back of her instant ramen head.  After lowering her voice from a shout, the child repeats my name.

    “It’s Yuuri and Greta.  Right?”

    “Ah, yeah.”

    She was so uncharacteristically emotional, my response was a little late.  The girl lying down gives a low moan.  Coming closer and looking into her face, I see she looked really bad.

    “Nina’s cold has gotten worse.  I’m fine.  I just got hit because I couldn’t find any customers.  But, I’ll just be in the way until I can appear in the store again.”

    In other words, this is the stuffed animal storeroom for Izura’s store, and the counterfeit money I found is deeply related to these people.  As a violent brothel making minors work in the sex trade and creating counterfeit money, they’re like a den of evil.

    “Do you have any medicine?  Her fever hasn’t gone down since this evening.”

    “In a cold place like this, you wouldn’t get any better.”

    I end up stripping off another piece of clothing for Izura in her slip dress and placing a hand on Nina’s cheek.  Just as I thought with her pale face and dry lips, her skin is hot.

    “Yuuri can heal her.”

    “Huh?”

    Hey hey, I thought you were done speaking.  What are you saying now?

    “You can heal her right?  You healed my fever.  You healed it just by holding my hand.”

    “Hey now, there’s no way I can perform that kind of spirit healing-type technique.  That was due to the anti-fever medicine. You took some medicine, kept yourself warm and got lots of sleep…”

    It’s too late.  The three girls are staring at me with hope.  Well, I might be able to at least give them some peace of mind.  If I believe Gisela, it’s not impossible for me.  Remembering what she did, I softly grasp Nina’s pale and dry wrist.  Was it talk to them and draw out their vitality?

    “Um… you have to want to get better.  What do you want to do when your fever goes down?  It’s winter so, that’s right, how about baseball?”

    ‘Is that all you think about?’ I berate myself.

    “… When I get better… I’ll work and get money.”

    Maybe it’s because she hasn’t spoken in a while, but her voice sounds hoarse and stuck in the back of her throat.  Her light colored eyes are cloudy with fever.

    “I’ll get lots more customers and I’ll even be able to send money back home.”

    “No, aren’t there any better jobs?  You’re still a middle school student so you should go back home and look for work there.  Like at a convenience store or a family restaurant, you’ve gotta find a part-time job suited for girls.”

    “There’s nothing in Svelera,” Izura interjects, hugging her knees.  It was an empty and cold voice.