Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 571

571

“Well… I’ll be living with Trowel for a while.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Sibyl. I made the decision on my own without consulting you beforehand.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s not that… What happened?”

After explaining that we would be having conversations for a while, his hardened expression softened a little. He even looked back at Trowel with a strange expression. He would definitely get angry if he knew the full details. Maybe he would be disappointed in me. The first time was close to coercion, but this time, I brought it on myself.

I know that Sibelius had a hurt expression when I explained this day in the modern world. But I had to choose this method. It was one of the few clues that could lead me to the future I knew. But it still wasn’t a time to be relieved.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

Trowel, who was looking around the room’s decorations with interest, asked me.

“Well, that’s…”

“Even if it’s just for a month, I’ll be asleep most of the time. So you should cherish the time I’m awake, like now. Shouldn’t you be going somewhere? Showing me the pitiful children, showing me the good deeds of good people. You need to stimulate the parts of me that will weaken my resolve.”

In other words, he meant not to dream of trying to win him over with such things. I smiled awkwardly because I had been considering trying it. Sibelius frowned as if he sensed it was a sarcastic remark.

“Why are you talking like that?”

“You stay out of this.”

“What?”

“I only allowed that child to persuade me. So, I’m saying that third parties shouldn’t interfere.”

Sibelius, speechless, gaped with an incredulous look. The expression on his face as he looked back at me flickered. I remembered him making a similar expression when he argued with Lapis once. Was it when he said, ‘I hate that guy’? From the beginning, it was faster to count the people Sibelius liked.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t have any plans?”

“No! I do!”

I quickly shook my head at his dubious question. I didn’t have any grand plans, but I had thought about what I needed to do. Still, I decided to check his intentions first.

“Is it okay to go to a crowded place?”

Trowel made a face that was neither frowning nor smiling at my cautious question. He seemed to think I didn’t understand the meaning of what he had said earlier.

“Do as you please.”

Anyway, I felt relieved at the permission that fell. I quickly took out my notebook and showed him the list of things I had gathered so far. Trowel, who didn’t know what the list was, sent me a questioning look.

“It looks like you’ve listed regions. But there doesn’t seem to be a distinction between countries.”

“That’s right. Which one appeals to you the most? I’ve carefully selected only the famous and well-regarded ones, so you can choose any of them.”

“……I have no idea what you’re asking me.”

“These are the regions where festivals are being held this month.”

“…….”

He turned to look at me, his mouth shut. His golden eyes rippled like waves.

It was Quanzer, where spring was truly beginning. I had forgotten to even count the days in the midst of the hectic days, but it was probably around this time. My birthday, which only two people here knew.

“Let’s go to a festival.”

Trowel stared at my smiling face for a while. He moved his lips as if to say something, then slowly nodded as if receiving a bitter cup.

“……Okay.”

For some reason, he looked like he was regretting agreeing to my suggestion for the first time.

* * *

Slap-!

The man who was hit hard grabbed his reddened cheek with a shocked expression. The woman who slapped the man was still not relieved, so this time she swung her arm towards the other cheek.

“Wa, wait! Lily!”

“Don’t even say my name, you trash!”

Behind the almost naked man, a similarly naked woman was busy hiding her body. Clothes scattered on the floor, disheveled bedding, and the naked man and woman tangled on top of it. It was impossible not to know what the situation was just a moment ago.

“I was completely fooled! How dare you cheat on me?”

“It’s a misunderstanding! It’s a misunderstanding! What happened was…!”

“Misunderstanding, my foot! Are you still saying it’s a misunderstanding after seeing yourself like this? I decided to marry you because you were kind even if you didn’t have any special talents! How could you do this to me!”

The enraged woman picked up a pillow this time. Every time the swung pillow hit the man mercilessly, feathers burst out from inside and scattered everywhere. In front of the wide-open scene of infidelity, there were already crowds of onlookers who had come out after hearing the noise. Some clicked their tongues, some shook their heads saying they didn’t expect him to be like that, some were restless saying they should stop it, and I slowly left the scene, leaving behind the many sounds they were making. I waited in case there was anything I could do to help, but it seemed like there was no need.

“Okay, I’ve saved another person from the swamp safely this time.”

“Awesome, El. It was a really perfect operation.”

“It’s all thanks to Trowel telling me about that man’s impure behavior. Thank you, Trowel.”

“……”

Trowel, who received the thanks, had a rather reluctant expression. He looked at us with a face that had a lot to say, then sighed lightly.

Starting with a moderately chosen regional festival, we wandered aimlessly around the world. We took trains without a destination and got off anywhere, and we also looked around famous tourist attractions. We always had plenty of time, but we rarely had a relaxed mind. It felt like it was the first time I was spending a daily life just enjoying myself without a plan of what to do. In the midst of that, a funny idea suddenly came to mind.

“Shall we create a daily mission?”

So-called playing a game of making villains suffer once a day. The plan was that if Trowel looked around the crowd and randomly picked out one person with impure intentions, we would follow that person’s actions and interfere.

Since the impurity that people harbor is different, the content of the mission also changed every day. Returning the money stolen by a pickpocket to the victim, or inducing adultery to be exposed like today, was the most common thing. On a larger scale, we found out the drug transaction date of a criminal organization and reported it to the security forces, or we crushed a human trafficking gang and released the captured people.

“Ah, today was a really rewarding day too. Right?”

“Yeah, it was really refreshing.”

Sibelius, nodding excitedly, looked very relieved.

“To have an affair with someone else while having someone to marry. That kind of guy shouldn’t even be able to lift his head and live.”

Perhaps because he was a unicorn who only had one partner in his life, he hated people who had affairs the most. So, when the daily mission was decided in that direction, he took the initiative more than anyone else. Usually, he would show the evidence of the affair and leave it to them to handle, but if the victim was weak-hearted or unable to escape easily, he would pretend it was a coincidence and punish them instead.

“El, shall we go to the next town tomorrow? I heard that it’s the most crime-ridden area in this territory. I think there will be a lot of things we can do.”

“Oh, really? I’m fine with it. What does Trowel think?”

“……”

Trowel, who was listening to the conversation with a reluctant expression, frowned even more at my question.

“Whatever.”

“Okay, then let’s play in the next town tomorrow!”

As I waved my hand with a smile, his expression became more complicated. Then, after swallowing a short sigh, he disappeared as he was.

“That guy is always prickly.”

Sibelius muttered dissatisfiedly. He must be forced to get along with something he doesn’t want to do, so it can’t be helped. I smiled bitterly and looked around. The sky, which had been bright until just now, was already fading into dusk.

Trowel only came to me during his waking hours. At first, it was only a few hours a day, and the time was irregular, but the time he stayed was getting longer and longer. It was proof that his condition was improving. But apart from that, his expression was always bad. Especially right after finishing the daily mission.

“Master! I found the necklace!”

“Oh, where was it?”

“It was in the servants’ quarters! Inside Douglas’s pillow!”

The moment I heard the loud shout, the gazes of the people who had been searching the whole house for several hours turned to one man. The man, who had been smiling in anticipation of the situation that would follow, hesitated in surprise at the mention of his name.

“Me? Me?”

“Douglas! How dare you!”

“No, no! That can’t be happening? I clearly……”

Today’s winning mission was to interfere with a man who was trying to frame his colleague. He stole valuables and put them in his colleague’s pocket, but we stole them back and hid them in the man’s pillow. The man, who had been looking forward to the moment when his colleague was framed, turned pale in surprise at the unexpected situation.

“Drag that guy out right now!”

“No, it’s not me, Master! I didn’t do that! It wasn’t me!”

The man, who belatedly came to his senses, shouted urgently, but no one listened to him. The man had an incomprehensible expression even as he was being dragged away. He must be dying to know where and how things went wrong, but he will never know the truth in the end. Today was a perfect finish too.

“What do you want to do with me?”

Trowel suddenly asked as I was expressing the joy of success by slapping hands with Sibelius.

“Huh? What?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

His already sharp eyes became even more fierce as he raised them.

“There are only ten days left. But you keep spending meaningless time. Do you even have any intention of persuading me?”

“Well, this is persuading you.”

“These pathetic pranks? Isn’t it rather showing me the bad parts of humans even more?”

I knew what he meant. In order to carry out the mission, we had to find a human who was planning a crime every day. Instead of emphasizing only the good parts, we were going in the opposite direction.

“But it might be necessary for Trowel.”

“……What?”

“In my opinion, Trowel is too heavy right now. He only faces and accumulates the negative parts, but he doesn’t let them flow away. So I thought it would be good to empty it in a slightly lighter way.”

Until now, his method was to handle it alone. Moreover, since it became an extreme form like murder, the reaction was not good. But he probably didn’t care, but it was a different feeling to be on the side of helping someone instead of just venting his anger, and to realize that directly. Watching the spectacle of many ordinary humans being angry and punishing the villains would also help to relieve the unpleasantness.

“……”

Trowel didn’t say anything. Still, his face was a little softer, as if it wasn’t completely ineffective.

“But actually, this is an excuse, and to be honest, I just want to have fun with Trowel. We’ve hardly spent time like this.”

“Do you feel like playing with me?”

“Of course?”

“Do you perhaps like being harassed?”

“You’re aware that you’re harassing me.”

“……It’s the first time I’ve wanted to know someone else’s thoughts like this.”

I smiled at him as he sighed lightly.

“When you don’t know, isn’t it a good idea to just believe? Doubt erodes relationships, but trust makes them richer.”

“That’s a very comfortable thing to say.”

“But Trowel, humans lie even in their hearts.”

“……”

“You probably know that too. Whether it’s good or bad. To be okay, you have to deceive yourself first.”

“Is that your story?”

Ah, I didn’t expect you to interpret it that way again. I just shrugged my shoulders in embarrassment. Trowel narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything more.

In the modern world, Sibelius said that Trowel couldn’t kill me in the end. Until then, the atmosphere wasn’t that bad, so I think I was somewhat optimistic about the situation. That I’m doing well right now. But it seems that the matter of the survival of mankind could not go so smoothly.

“Excuse me.”

It was a time when Trowel hadn’t come yet. I came out to go grocery shopping and was looking around the shopping street when someone called me. When I turned around, a girl I had never seen before was looking up at me. She was probably about seven or eight years old. Just looking at her shabby clothes and emaciated body, I could guess that she came from a poor family.

“What’s wrong?”

“I lost my dad. Have you seen my dad?”

Oh no, it seems like she’s a lost child. First, I looked around, but there was no one nearby who seemed to be looking for a child.

“Do you remember where you got separated from your dad?”

“I don’t know.”

Tears were already welling up in the child’s face as she answered listlessly. She seemed to have been wandering around since she realized that her dad had disappeared at some point. There’s no police station here, so there’s no place to take her separately. I was at a loss as to what to do. At that time, Sibelius, who was picking potatoes at the grocery store stand, approached.

“El, what’s wrong?”

“Ah, Sibyl. It seems like she’s lost.”

“A lost child?”

“Yeah, she’s looking for her dad, but she doesn’t know where she got separated.”

The child, startled by the approach of the large man, hid behind me. Sibelius, with an embarrassed expression, handed out a piece of paper with scribbled letters from his arms.

“Do you want to try writing this?”

“Ah, is this perhaps that thing from back then?”

I remembered Sibelius helping me when I went to Davian’s house before, so I asked him, and he said that was the case. He said he had made it in advance in preparation for an emergency. After thanking him, I handed the received paper to the child.

“Hold this in your hand and think of your dad’s face. Then it will guide you to where you need to go.”

Then the child had a very embarrassed expression. She seemed to think we were strange and tried to look around with an even more uneasy face. I reassured her by saying it was magic and that it was okay, and she finally seemed to believe me.

The child, hesitating, clutched the paper tightly and closed her eyes. Fortunately, she drew her dad’s face clearly, and soon the letters emitted a blue light. When I told her to throw it into the sky, it fluttered and flew like a bird. Now all I had to do was follow it. But the child couldn’t move easily and just looked up at me.

“Shall I go with you?”

Only then did the child’s hardened expression soften. Well, it’s uneasy to send a young child alone, so I thought it would be good to check until I saw her meet her dad. Even now, I could feel eyes watching us from nearby. They were peeking at the child and whispering, and they seemed like a bit of a bad crowd, so I didn’t have a good feeling.