“Because this is the Light Aura, not Miss Leah’s scent.”
Last time at the Chapel, she’d already been asked once, so Ella answered smoothly:
“Miss Leah personally presided over my Initiation Ceremony, so the Light Aura on me is a bit stronger than on other believers. That’s perfectly normal.”
“I see… I’ll head back, then. Get some good rest.”
Click—the sound of the door opening and closing.
Ella relaxed and lay back down.
Thankfully, that fool is still so easy to fool.
But before long, a faint set of footsteps made her tense up again.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me~”
Crap, here’s someone who’s not so easy to fool.
Ella turned over in advance, facing the little witch climbing onto her bed.
“Vina, it’s so late—why aren’t you sleeping? What do you want with me?”
“It’s nothing important. I just went to the little restroom and suddenly thought of you, so I came to check on you.”
You thought of me while going to the restroom?
What am I to you?
Ella was fuming inside. Her chest puffed up in anger, but just as she was about to explode, a small, flat hand smacked her back down.
“Little Ella~”
Vina snuggled close and whispered, “Tonight, besides me, did anyone else come looking for you?”
“Of course not. Everyone’s asleep, right?”
Ella subtly implied—who else would be as weird as you, coming over in the middle of the night for no reason?
Unexpectedly, Vina just grinned slyly, looking like her scheme had worked: “Caught you lying! I saw Zero just left your room.”
“?!”
Wait, then why did you even ask?
“You can lie to my face, so who knows how much of what you say is true any other time.”
“No, she just came to talk about something serious, about today’s murder case,” Ella whispered defensively.
“I thought you’d be going back to rest soon, so I didn’t say anything, just so you wouldn’t have trouble sleeping.”
“And what about the rest of the time? No lies?”
“No…”
“Good!”
Vina’s peach blossom eyes turned, another plot succeeding.
“Then it’s settled. If I catch you lying again, there’ll be a terrible punishment~”
Ella instinctively gulped before realizing what had happened.
Fine, fine, you want to play the ‘don’t say I didn’t warn you’ game with me?
Little brat, you dare to scheme against the Demon King herself?
Even if the Demon King hasn’t grown… that’s not important.
What’s important is I can’t swallow this indignation.
Laying groundwork, huh?
Two can play at that game.
“Speaking of which, what happened at the Workshop today was so sudden,” Ella said, pretending to be casual.
“And then it was actually the Market Administration Office that came to handle it.”
“So what?”
“I’m just saying, remember back in the Royal City? Any little disturbance, the whole city’s Guards would mobilize, and even the fully armored Palace Guards would show up. But the Market Administration Office? They’re supposed to manage the Market—can they even handle murder cases?”
Vina nudged Ella’s chest with her little hill.
“So what? Harbor City is like this, there aren’t many Guards. Someone taking charge is already pretty good.”
Ella gasped softly from the bump.
“Nn… I know, it’s just that I’m a bit worried. If we really end up fighting the Sea Demon Tribe, and there’s no army to help, things will get tricky.”
Sea Demons of the same race all look pretty much alike to humans, and they can escape into the sea.
Even the Hero Squad, experts at beheading operations, can’t even identify their target.
Sure, they’d win the fight, but they’d never catch them.
“Then you’ll have to figure something out. War was your idea anyway,” Vina said offhandedly.
Ella quietly curled her lips into a smile.
Fine, fine, you said it yourself, little brat.
You finally took the bait.
A few minutes later, Vina went back to sleep as well.
At last, no one else came to bother her, and Ella slept soundly through the night.
Zzzz
The next day, same time, same place—the girls gathered outside the Market, observing in secret.
This time, one person was missing.
Zero wasn’t there—it seemed she’d already talked things through with Celes, who had agreed to her request.
As the team’s weak-side free agent, she had to act solo.
“Yesterday’s little Fishman only cared about money, but at least he was telling the truth,” Vina stuck out her tongue.
“Too bad someone slashed him.”
Would they be able to find someone similar today?
They didn’t know, but today’s fish market was a little quiet.
There were still plenty of Sirens going in, but hardly any coming out, and those who did left in a hurry, with no chance to approach them.
They waited who knows how long, when a faint clatter came from the side, like something had fallen.
Ella turned her head and saw a young man dressed like an errand boy, carrying a woven sack. The noise just now had come from something falling out of his bag.
Celes crouched down and helped him pick up some of the items.
“Thank you, thank you,” the young man, who looked only thirteen or fourteen, thanked them profusely, “Thank you, Misses.”
“Don’t call us ‘Miss,’ just call us ‘Miss Sister,'” Ella said.
Normally, being called ‘Miss’ was a respectful title, a matter of etiquette.
But this kid was so young, and dressed like a servant—being addressed that way made her feel like a feudal overlord.
She looked him over again.
“You look kind of familiar.”
“Yes, Miss Sister.”
The young man smiled shyly.
“I was one of the apprentices at the Workshop yesterday. I saw you all there.”
He remembered the girls because they were all very pretty, and with talents like Ella and Leah, it was hard for outsiders to forget them after just one glance.
Ella remembered him because, after the Market Administration Office took away the body yesterday, this kid was the one left to clean up—a pure, unlucky soul.
The young man said his name was Ami.
He was an apprentice at the Workshop, usually doing all sorts of odd jobs in the shop—cleaning, running errands, whatever was needed.
Today he was out on a delivery run.
Celes recalled the items she had just picked up and asked, “Are you delivering yesterday’s Order?”
A strange carved wooden plaque, with an image that seemed to be the Sea Demons’ deity.
“No, not that fast. This one’s for someone else, but they’re similar—Divine Plaques, Shrines, and some Ritual Supplies,” Ami replied.
Ella was a bit surprised.
“You guys even offer home delivery?”
“Normally we don’t, but after what happened yesterday…”
Ami lowered his voice, “Today the Fishmen are too scared to come out and run errands, so they paid extra for us to deliver.”
Someone died yesterday, and now no one dares run errands?
That doesn’t make sense, at least in theory.
Celes thought of this too.
After a moment’s thought, she asked, “Is there something special about these days?”
“Yeah, their Ritual Day is coming up. Every year around this time, murder cases spike,” Ami looked around, making sure there were no Sirens nearby before continuing, “Usually it’s just assassinations, but in the days leading up to the Ritual, people being killed in broad daylight is just everyday stuff.”
Ella interjected, “When is the Ritual?”
“Seven days from now.”
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