Involvement (6)

"The assassin is dead right?" I asked. Nine had recovered to an extent.

"Yeah. I'm very sure he's dead. His health was zero."

"Where did he die again?"

"Let's see.."

"We're literally leaving corpses everywhere. What exactly happens to a random dead body found in the middle of town anyways?"

"Normal protocol is that the nearby guard would be notified. Then they would call the mortuary team in the church to examine the cause of death. Sometimes, there's a risk the person who died could possibly become an undead, so it's important the corpse is cleansed or turned into ash before being buried," the knowledgeable Jennifer-chan explained.

"Okay.. So do we just leave him there?"

"He killed himself with some weird poison though," Nine rubbed his eyes with the sleeve of his coat, "He's like demonizing himself or something."

"Wait.. so he could come back to life?"

I typed 'demon' into the search bar. There were 3 markers in the earldom's mansion and a few others out in the town.. and a lot out in the forest.

I wonder what it's searching for anyways? The ones in town are most probably for monster fighting? When I used [God's Eyes] on a random person nearby, I saw creatures in cages.

I typed 'Vincent' in the search bar.

"Hey.. the fuck is this.."

"He's alive huh.."

"Don't tell me it's just like that Infected Trent last time."

"He's still down. You take the SPD stat, I'll take the HP stat."

"Gotcha."

"I have no idea what you two are doing but it must be something amazing," Jennifer-chan said.

I mean.. it ain't really all that amazing. It's a cheat.

Nine and I was expecting 'Vincent' to revive as a demon. There was a crowd surrounding the corpse and knights making an encirclement. Do they not realize the corpse is twitching? That's not normal, you know?

"Wait for it.."

The vitality percentage was rising slowly. Now it's at 5%.. 6%

It's creepy-- like some slow zombie transformation or something.

Nine and I were about to do something about this guy from a remote distance when an arrow flew in and stabbed the thing right in the heart.

Vitality: 0%

The status screen disappeared, replaced by one word:

[Corpse]

Oh what..

"Who the hell.."

"An elf?" green-feathered arrows.

"I think so too. This type of arrow is symbolic of the elves."

"Oh, I learnt something new today."

By the way, we pulled up a shared display for Jennifer-chan.

"Mission accomplished then," Nine stood up and stretched his back.

"Nine, you're alright.. right?"

"I'm good now. I was just being emotional. Things turned out alright in the end just as Bleu said. I beat myself up too much."

That's a relief.. but I guess it's best if I still keep a lookout on him for a little while longer..

"Who is Bleu?" Jennifer-chan asked.

Oh.

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Let's summarize the happenings.

Vincent had become a corpse-- there's no way he'll suddenly revive into a demon for the second time. I'm not believing that crap, this isn't Shounen.

Now that Vincent is dead, that meaning-- Rin is no longer bound to any threats-- or not.

From what July said, the assassin, Vincent, was one of his father's, the Margrave's, closest aides. In a way, he was the one pulling the strings behind this incident.

April woke up a few hours later in the early afternoon.

I don't know what exactly happened but I heard she got really crossed with July and Rin.. they were supposed to depart back to their territory during the afternoon but because of the incident that had happened.. yeah.

The earliest they could prepare for was an evening trip.

Miss Margrett was kind enough to notify those working in the mansion about the issue at hand. She's currently dealing with the explanations together with April. No joke, Miss Margrett knows her stuff when it comes to building connections with the people around her.

Now onto the more serious question: What should we do about Rin?

The assassin wasn't the only problem, it was her own father who wanted her gone.

"I'll persuade father, definitely. That's why, Rin-nessan, don't go," July begged.

This was when we, together with Rin, were about to return to the apartment to rest.

"July-sama. It isn't that simple.. I can't. For your sake and my own," Rin said.

"I know that but.."

"July-sama. We'll make sure we'll come visit you every now and then.. Is that possible?" Rin looked at me hesitantly.

With points and the teleportation widget, that should be no problem.. we barely have 200 points left though..

"Rin-san. Maybe you can stay with July-sama a little longer? We're leaving for Erudite Kingdom tomorrow so you still have some time left."

I would actually love it if July could persuade Rin to just return to their territory. I don't know what the implications would be if she joined us..

I get how she's a demon lord and Javiel's possible future wife-- hey. Yeah, ain't that great? If he has a single demon lord wife, then that reduces the need for him to have a second-- I mean Liliath here.

"Wait a second.."

Now that I think about it, doesn't the first pair of true demon lords become the alpha of the pack or something? Nay.. you know. That doesn't matter, I don't think that's the case. If it was, there should be some special signal being transmitted or something..

"Rin, please don't take too long," Liliath said.

She nodded.

"Once again, thank you for saving my life," Shyna lowered her head to Nine.

"It's alright.." Nine looked apprehensive about this. I wonder why. Was it because of that dangerous glint in the maid's eyes? I seriously can't just assume everyone that Nine saves will fall for him because of this phenomenon called: love at first sight, can it?

The three of us first returned to the apartment.

Oh.

Really?

Another development?

"Excuse me. Are you the guest occupying this room?" A maid from the Earl's house asked. She was a neutral colour-- not anyone suspicious from the map's info.

"Yes, is there anything?"

"I received a letter. I was told that this should be passed to you. Please receive it," She folded out a white letter from her pocket and passed it to me.

I took it and turned it over. You know those wax seals? I don't mean the wax statues of seals Bleu created in her domain. I mean the actual letter seal. Yeah, this one has just that.

"I'll be going," the maid bowed once and left.

"Queer," Liliath said.

"I wonder.."

I opened the letter then and there.

Inside was a piece of paper and it said to meet up at location XXX if you want to find Milady April Bougainvillea and Young Lord July Bougainvillea.

I know it's not location XXX but the address is too long so I just gave up. I checked the map, and saw a bunch of orange dots grouped together in that one spot. And to add the finisher, April and July were still in the mansion.

"Is it just me or was this sent a little late?"

"I believe so?" Liliath stifled a laugh.

"What does it say?" Rin asked.

"Nah, it's over. It's a failed plan. Here. Just so you know."

I guess Vincent planned to abduct April and have us follow the address in the letter to have ourselves killed? What a brute. Too bad luck wasn't on his side.

Honestly, what was he thinking? He lost his skills and still dared to create a plan this absurd? Maybe [Bleu's Blessing] played a part in this. I can't imagine going down the plot-intended path.

"A-April-sama and July-sama are safe aren't they?"

"Yes. Their safety is assured."

Passing the proxy guest room, we entered the apartment.

There, the smell of food poured tickled our noses.

"How did it go?" Prune asked, frying an egg.

"It turned out alright."

"Thank you. And sorry for spending so many points, everyone," Nine said.

"At least we now know there's no need to deliberately spare 10000 points to revive someone," I'm starting to think that Unknown is trying to scam us. First asking us to pay Wi-fi fees, now a revival method 5 times more expensive than the generic.

Gabriel sat the chair on the table, watching Prune flip the perfect egg onto a plate. Jennifer-chan was breathing softly on the couch-- she was sleeping.

"Can I say something? I think it's best if Rin can return home rather than to follow us on our journey, or whatever," I said.

I feel like it's going to cause a lot of trouble.

"Why? Isn't the situation in her house dangerous?" Nine asked.

"But it's not like we can continue to afford something like keeping people right?" I said, "If there was another person that needed saving because of some incident.. it's not like we can just keep adding people to our group."

"Or that you just don't want to see Rin-san," Prune said.

"Yeah. That too."

"Don't want to see Rin-san? Why?" Nine asked.

"I'm not building a harem."

"Oh."

"You don't need to," Liliath said.

"So that's why it's best that I stay away from her.."

I find her attractive. Yes, I'm talking about Rin. Different from Liliath, she has a puerile yet mature air around her-- and of course, she's an airhead like the old Liliath.

"How does this flat board work? Is it some special heating magic? Normally we'd use fire," Gabriel, who couldn't read the mood, pointed at the electric stove.

"Should be?" All I know is that the electric cooker thing involves a heating element.

"And the refrigerator too…"

Again with the refrigerator..

"So we're leaving Rin here or taking her along?" Prune wanted confirmation.

"I think we leave her," I said.

"I don't know," was Nine's opinion.

"It has nothing to do with me right?" Gabriel said lazily.

"She's following."

We all turned to Liliath.

"Why?"

"She's mine."

"Hah? I know she's still in a dangerous position but it's not like we can keep helping people like this. They have to face their problems head on."

"Then would you have picked me up to begin with?" Liliath stared at me.

Seriously? Okay, let's not cause things to escalate.

"I loved you, that's why."

Liliath turned her reddened face away. I'm not wrong.. it was love at first sight..

"And she has a brother obsessed with her.. you know?" I said.

July kept saying: don't take her away, she's mine. Phrases like that. They're siblings right? I feel like it's going beyond that already.

Maybe incest is normal in the mediaval era? Like royalty marrying their cousins to keep royal blood flowing through the next generation?

"If you won't make her yours I'll just do it myself," Liliath muttered.

"I don't get it," I sighed.

We had lunch.