Kaze arrived at the manor early.
As someone who had followed Gro for nearly twenty years, no one in the mercenary group had more seniority than him. When Gro wasn’t around, it could be said he was in charge.
He and the female mage in the mercenary group—Alyssa—had been busy all night without sleep: first settling the burned-out camp’s mercenaries’ lodging, then assessing the fire’s losses, confirming the dead’s identities, and finally following the church people to investigate the fire’s cause.
…
The information was roughly sorted. Near dawn, Kaze set out for the manor where Gro was temporarily staying at the duke’s.
He asked the servants where Gro was sleeping; after clarifying the location, he headed there. Given Gro’s current schedule, when tired, he usually slept until naturally waking—possibly until noon, or even evening. But Kaze had no intention of letting this leader rest; the current situation didn’t allow continued repose.
“Sorry to disturb, Gro.”
Kaze didn’t knock; after confirming this was Gro’s room, he directly opened the door.
The room was empty.
“Huh…?”
He carefully observed the neat, flat bed again. The casual Gro almost never made his bed after getting up. So it seemed… only one possibility—
Gro hadn’t spent the night in the servants’ assigned room at all.
“Sigh……”
Kaze sighed helplessly.
Perhaps Gro had other arrangements; suddenly vanishing was normal for him.
After all, Gro’s dealings with the duke, Kaze currently didn’t know. Even after briefly exchanging a few words with Gro yesterday, Kaze still had many things he hadn’t learned from Gro.
……
“Good morning, Kaze.”
Kaze had planned to come another time; just as he prepared to leave, a familiar voice called him.
“Sneaking around to find me—what bad deed are you up to?”
He turned back, seeing Gro in casual clothes, smiling as he greeted him.
“I thought you weren’t here…”
Kaze subconsciously wanted to directly report the important discoveries to Gro; as he was about to speak, he suddenly noticed several manor maids following behind Gro, and… a strangely dressed, outstanding-tempered girl.
Eh?
Silver hair… golden pupils; she should be Ileil. Kaze was stunned for a few seconds before recognizing the girl’s identity; this perhaps due to her unusual attire—a blue long dress with shortened hem revealing thighs, and lewd thigh garters.
If Kaze remembered correctly… thigh garters were something women in that line of service used, evolving for convenient money storage.
But why… were short swords clipped on Ileil’s garters on both sides?
Kaze shifted his gaze to the two maids beside Ileil; their faces bore professional smiles, but he could tell—they smiled unnaturally, even with some fear hidden behind.
…
Immediately, the gaze Kaze cast at Gro gradually became meaningful.
“Hey… don’t think that way!” Gro leaned close to Kaze, whispering: “Explain later; follow us first.”
Kaze nodded blankly. He looked at the nonchalant Ileil, seemingly very adapted to this outfit; his expression became complex. But in the end, he asked nothing more.
……
Manor, changing room.
After Gro briefly exchanged a few words with the leading maid ahead, the two maids bowed to him and took Ileil into the changing room. Leaving Gro and Kaze waiting outside.
“Alright, we can pause for now and talk business.”
Gro exhaled, leaning against the wall, gazing at Kaze who was a bit taller than him:
“I know what you want to ask—first off, Ileil’s weird clothes weren’t made by me!”
“Oh, okay.”
Kaze mumbled.
“What did you discover? Time is short; please cut to the chase.”
Gro looked at the somewhat dim Kaze; after brewing a moment, he said:
“Uh… Alyssa has some clues about those unkillable zombies from yesterday.”
“Go on.” Gro’s expression grew serious.
“Related to the foreign god we’ve been investigating in Renn Town—the one controlling slaughter and death, Mor. Probably cursed by Him.”
“…” Gro lowered his head in thought; Kaze’s words felt off to him.
Gro knew gods’ powers could interfere with this land. But gods’ interference usually limited to bestowing power on their believers—for example, devout and highly sensitive saints like Dorias; a god like the Dawn Goddess worshiped by almost all Aressto could grant believers stronger power.
For another, like the northern valkyries, they also bestowed blessings on northern believers. Like adapting to the harsh northern environment, possessing physique beyond ordinary. Though Gro scoffed at Valhalla, he dared not question a proper god’s divine power.
—But no matter how strong a god’s power, directly creating fire people like yesterday’s black-gold burning zombies was extremely unreasonable.
Not to mention… Mor, controlling death and slaughter, was a niche pervert foreign god. His believers mainly concentrated in some mentally abnormal small groups; compared to the Dawn Goddess with tens of millions believers, Mor was roadside trash.
Clearly this is a witch’s flame, yet Alyssa says this fire is related to Mor…
The only possibility Gro could think of—was the witch in cahoots with the death god Mor. The fire set by the witch dispatched by Mor.
But this guess was full of holes; innately arrogant, wicked, magic-controlling, inhumane witches had their own worshiped mother goddess; how would they lower themselves to heed Mor?
Not to mention Mor’s believers… in Gro’s impression, were all mumbling incompetents. Gro had clashed with Mor’s believers; dealing with them was effortless; their combat power couldn’t compare to a regular army.
Witches usually wouldn’t easily expose themselves; otherwise, showing up meant being wanted by various major nations’ churches.
The more he thought, the more complex; even Gro, always confident in his brain, was nearly overloaded.
……
“Ahem—Are you seriously listening, Gro?”
Gro was immersed in his thoughts; seeing the obviously distracted Gro, Kaze cleared his throat to remind.
“Huh? Sorry.”
Gro’s face looked slightly haggard; he pointed to his heavy eye bags: “Didn’t sleep well. Can’t fully listen word for word while sorting clues in my head anymore.”
“Do you have ideas?” It was rare for Gro to be so focused he lacked energy to listen; Kaze asked.
“Yeah… sort of. Tell it from the beginning again; this time I’ll listen seriously.”
Just as Gro said this, the changing room door opened. What followed was a maid’s voice:
“Mr. Gro, your daughter Miss Ileil is dressed; please check if satisfied…”
The two maids who selected outfits for Ileil appeared behind, saying so.
Faced with the maids’ unexpected statement, Gro’s heart sank. Only staying up ruins the mind; Kaze was one of the few in the group knowing his and Ileil’s actual relationship, yet he forgot to explain to Kaze the identities he and Ileil were playing now…
“Daughter?”
Kaze’s eyes widened, as if experiencing a brain storm, stunned in place.
Surprise, confusion, incomprehension… these emotions flashed across Kaze’s face one by one, but he ultimately just opened his mouth, saying nothing.
In front of these maids, Gro couldn’t explain to Kaze. To avoid unnecessary trouble—
“Ileil is my adopted daughter, no problem at all.”