Chapter 39 : Misunderstanding

Thud.

That was the sound of Cellos collapsing to the floor.

As soon as something clad in clothes like rags entered the room, Cellos had fainted with a gasp.

If there was one silver lining, it was that thanks to him having already been pressed tightly against the bed's headboard, he fell onto the bed in a fairly stable position.

He didn't seem injured with a concussion, and he wouldn't be raising hell tomorrow asking why he was left to sleep on the floor.

Besides, it didn't seem like seeing Igo Crisa's current state would have been any better for Cellos's mental health.

Thump thump.

Scrape, scrape.

If he had seen him scratching the floor and pounding it with his fists in that bizarre state, Cellos would certainly have shown an even uglier reaction than fainting.

Without giving a single glance to Cellos, who was unconscious and unable to resist, he rummaged throughout the room, seeming to sweep the floor with his body.

Now one thing has become certain.

Igo Crisa's objective was not Cellos.

No, it must be the objective of the one controlling Igo Crisa.

Mentil Abalan was looking for something.

If there was a problem, it was that this, too, was a step ahead of the original work.

***

In the original work, Cellos's and Mentil's relationship is quite dry.

This is because, aside from having the same mother, the two live very different lives.

All the characters in the book move for what they desire.

The two cannot give each other what they want, nor do they understand what the other desires.

Meaning, Mentil coming to Cellos's Prince's Palace first, unlike the original, was by no means a welcome thing for me.

The target she was controlling wasn't so great either.

There was nothing good about Igo Crisa being under Mentil right now.

Scrape, scrape.

Igo Crisa, who couldn't possibly care about my worries, rummaged through the room without hesitation, despite being unable to distinguish what was in front of him, and repeatedly bumped into furniture, fell, and got back up.

Mentil must have been quite desperate.

Igo Crisa's ego might have been too strong to properly execute the hasty and powerful suggestion and command.

His bizarre behavior, crashing into everything like a newly unwrapped robot vacuum cleaner in human form, no longer seemed worth watching.

I climbed onto his back.

Last time, he definitely stopped all movement and turned back as soon as his face was revealed.

I wondered if perhaps a suggestion had been placed on him, to flee if his identity seemed even slightly revealed to others.

It didn't take much strength to peel back the cloth covering his face, which was only creaking like a robot.

His face revealed, he stopped all movement like a machine whose power button was pressed, and soon turned his body.

And he left the room and started running down the hallway.

As I hung onto his back with my small body, I felt the increased air resistance, magnified by the high speed, all over my body.

Against the wind, so strong it made my eyes sting, I could see the approaching dead-end wall of the hallway through my narrowly opened eyes.

This time, I couldn't stop, afraid of the collision, so I just put more strength into my hands, gripping Igo Crisa's shoulders instead.

I won't lose you this time.

***

Igo Crisa disappeared with the small spy hanging from his shoulder.

Tonight, too, Cellos's castle was greeting the quiet dawn as if nothing had happened.

***

Mentil Abalan walked through the damp, dark underground.

It was a place filled with a slimy darkness, unbelievable for a location just a few feet away from the Imperial Family's spaces, which were filled with all the glittering things of the world.

“Hm hm hm.......”

Mentil Abalan, her bright, wheaten hair trailing, just as unsuited to this place, walked while humming a small tune.

It was a night one week after she had sent Igo Crisa.

The eldest son of the Crisa Family, perhaps an individual far removed from the loyalty spoken of by the world, had still not properly carried out the command she had given.

“There are just too many lies in this world.”

Murmuring as if singing, she spun around once in the wide underground space.

“You think so too, don't you?”

Suddenly, the number of people standing in the underground had increased to two.

Mentil Abalan smiled brightly and looked at Igo Crisa, whose body was wrapped in rags.

She waved her hand a few times in front of Igo Crisa's line of sight, as he stared blankly into the air with unfocused eyes, and after confirming he was in a state incapable of thought, she met his eyes again.

“You returned a little early today, didn't you? Did someone see your face? You don't need to worry about the 8th Prince.”

Igo slowly shook his head.

At his reaction, Mentil's face brightened.

“Then did you find it today?”

Igo Crisa, left with only dullness, opened his mouth as if to answer something, but no words came from his vacant mouth.

Mentil, too, as if she hadn't really asked the question expecting an answer, chose to issue another command instead of waiting for his slow words.

“Take out everything you have on you.”

Igo Crisa could not produce anything.

“You still haven't found it? You're too slow, slower than I thought.”

A slight crack appeared on Mentil's beautiful face, and her voice became one layer colder.

“We'll need something a little stronger.”

Murmuring, she soon raised her white hand.

And she gently placed her fine, slender fingers on Igo Crisa's forehead.

Is there anything else that makes a human as desperate as the survival instinct?

Murmuring, she gave the next command.

“One week.. one week. If you cannot find the book within that time, the price is your life.”

Mentil smiled, her eyes curving beautifully, and continued.

“After that, I'm not sure which member of the Crisa Family will take your place.”

As her clear voice echoed through the dark underground, Igo Crisa's body, which had been standing blankly until then, flinched and trembled greatly.

And the tiny someone hiding within the folds of the rags had to unintentionally feel his breath stop for a moment.

***

“So, you're saying the children were gone?”

Tollin, who had summoned Jack again as soon as morning came, asked him sharply.

“Yes, just as you said, the young children weren't seen. Even when I asked the merchants nearby, they all said they don't pay much attention to vagrant children, so they didn't even know their numbers had decreased.”

Indeed, who would care about the useless vermin of the streets.

Even Tollin himself would have never cared about such lives if not for the deceased (supposedly) Duke Piteos.

“Even if the construction was halted, they should have distributed goods to the laborers regularly.”

“Yes, that's what's strange. The ledgers and documents clearly record that food and supplies were properly distributed.”

Pale, standing beside him, took out a bundle of papers.

“The nearby merchants said it was just that many children died because it became harder to make a living, so it was nothing to make a fuss about.”

“Hmm.......”

At Jack's added report, Tollin's eyebrows furrowed.

If the supplies had simply been siphoned off midway, it would be a simple problem.

But an ominous premonition that this might be related to the children's disappearance brushed past Tollin's mind.

The Little Duke also said the children he saw were on the verge of starving to death, unable to eat.

Those children still haven't been found.

Since they were children with no distinguishing features other than wearing filthy clothes, the only clue they had to find them was the high-quality coat the Little Duke said he gave them.

Unlike his expectation that they would immediately sell it to get money, the Little Duke's coat was not found in any shop or market.

They were either smarter than he thought, or they had already suffered the same fate as the other children.

Tollin forcibly pushed away the negative thoughts trying to rush in and focused.

“They can't all have disappeared. The Little Duke mentioned he'd overheard them say during their conversation that there were other children remaining with them.”

“Yes, there was a place suspected to be where children were still living. I lost them because some ruffian-like kid interfered, though.”

Jack scowled, recalling the fast-footed child who had kept calling him an old man.

Tollin nodded his head.

“Right, he said that child was there too. Jack, look for the children remaining in the vicinity, as you were originally investigating. Along with the children the Little Duke is looking for.”

Tollin, unaware that the ruffian Jack mentioned and the child the Little Duke was looking for were the same person, gave Jack one command that sounded like two.

“And Pale, quietly investigate the situation where the goods are being delivered. They'll notice if I visit too often.”

“Yes.”

Pale and Jack left, and Tollin, left alone in the office, shuffled through the documents Pale had left behind.

The Little Duke had said they were children who barely survived by begging for their lives from passing nobles.

It seemed they begged from the lower-ranking nobles who visited for training.

It meant they were near the building where construction had stopped, and they couldn't possibly be unaware that they could get bread or milk without having to risk their lives.

The fact that they didn't go to receive relief supplies, even to the point of starvation, must mean that they too had sensed something was going on.

They must be smart kids, so they probably hadn't died either.

Tollin hoped the children hadn't died.

It wasn't that he had developed an infinite affection for humanity.

It was just that pretending not to know seemed to make the departed Duke Piteos's life too insignificant.

Besides, this time it was a request from the Little Duke.

It had been a long time since the Little Duke had actively requested something after Duke Piteos passed away.

He didn't want to see the child disappointed.

***

“This is bad.”

Jack muttered dejectedly in front of the blue-roofed house in the shantytown, which he had found after two days.

The house, which had already been collapsing, now had its door completely broken off.

Still, Jack comforted himself that at least this time he wouldn't need to coax the children, and awkwardly stepped inside.

The inside was even more decayed than the door or roof visible from outside.

Inside the house, smaller than the smallest storage room in the ducal family's residence, there was a smell of mold, a faint scent of medicine, and the wretched smell of poverty.

Could children live in a place like this?

He couldn't be sure just from the sign of presence, but the child inside had been quite young.

A little kid like a small lump, who looked to be about 4 years old at most.

Clatter.

Jack turned his head at the sound of small footsteps coming from behind.

“Hic.”

It was a filthy child.

A small child with shaggy, dark brown hair.

Looking to be exactly about 4 years old.

He looked even smaller, perhaps because he was curled up in fear, but in any case, he certainly looked much younger than the Little Duke.

“Don't be scared. I came to help.”

Jack spoke carefully and approached the child.

To say it again, Jack had far too imposing a physique to approach children.

The child began to tremble, and this awkward standoff continued for a short while.

“Jin! What are you doing here!”

A familiar voice struck Jack's eardrums.

“Damn it, come here!”

The small doll that snatched the child away in an instant quickly moved farther away.

“Wait! You're that kid from last time, aren't you?! I came to help you guys!”

Jack, coming to his senses, hurriedly followed over the old threshold.

He could see the back of the figure rapidly moving away, even while carrying the small child slung over their shoulder.

“I said stop right there!”

Despite Jack's shout, the child just raised their middle finger.