Chapter 59

“The first floor is the designated living space. There are enough rooms for everyone, so don’t worry.”

Following Rose’s lead, we stepped through an iron door into a space that was exactly as I had imagined from the exterior: white and pristine.

The way the private doors lined the hallway immediately brought to mind a hospital from my previous world.

“Now then, this way please. This is the dining room.”

Following behind Rose, we reached the end of the hallway where the doors lined up. There was a staircase to the right and a large wooden door to the left, which looked different from the ones for the private rooms.

When she opened the door, the interior changed completely from the almost pathologically white space we had seen so far. It was a relaxing room with wood-grain walls, floors, and ceilings.

In the center sat a long table, where three men and women were seated.

One was the boy who had been present when I was accused of being a member of the Blue Wolves. That was Unarmed Hauser.

As grumpy as ever, the boy sat with one knee pulled up on his chair, glaring at a corner of the ceiling. He didn’t even bother to look at us as we entered.

Another was a beautiful, long-haired man dressed in the blue-and-white government-issue uniform favored by Pace officers.

His eyes were sharp and cold, and his face was as perfectly formed as a work of art. Even while sitting, it was obvious he was tall. Most likely, he had the blood of the Giants in him. Because his appearance was so surreal, it was difficult to tell his age.

Sitting close to the beautiful man was a woman who was also tall, though not quite as much as he was. She looked to be a bit older than me.

She gave off the impression of a glamorous, mature woman with long red hair.

For some reason, she looked familiar. Her features, and the impression I got from her attire—a black leather jacket, long gloves, boots, and a long skirt.

“Ah.”

But before I could recall anything, the woman spotted us and her face broke into a delighted smile.

“Are you the ones from Shark?”

“Yes, more or less.”

When I nodded, she continued, “Then, which one is Van?”

“I’m Van.”

“You are? Ah, I see.”

Standing up with a smile, the woman closed the distance in an instant and grabbed my hand forcefully. Her leather glove felt chilly and cold.

“Hello, hello. It seems you took care of my little sister.”

“Your sister?”

In that split second, her features and where I had seen similar clothing finally connected in my mind.

“Wait, are you Eni’s…?”

At the mention of that name, Kirio flinched beside me.

“Exactly. So you do recognize it?”

“You look alike. And your clothes, well…”

“Oh, this? All Flame Elementalists dress somewhat similarly.”

Giggling, the woman lifted the hem of her long skirt.

“I’m Neitz. Nice to meet you, Van. And thanks for looking after my sister.”

“I didn’t really ‘look after’ her.”

“Really? Because after that incident, she hasn’t stopped talking about you.”

“By the way, Miss Neitz, what are you doing here?”

Since Kirio was radiating an explicitly ominous aura next to me, I hurriedly tried to move the conversation along.

Before I knew it, Rose had vanished just as suddenly as she had appeared.

“I’m a guard. I’m quite the skilled Flame Elementalist, you know. I’m here for that handsome man over there.”

“Nonsense.”

The beautiful, statue-like man spoke while keeping his long, white fingers interlaced on the table, staring down at them. His voice was hard, cold, sharp, and beautiful.

“Do not refer to me as ‘handsome.’ If you must introduce me, my name and profession will suffice.”

“Yes, yes, as stiff as ever. That man is Ray Colt. He’s a Holy Relic Appraiser for the country of Pace.”

A Holy Relic Appraiser.

I had heard that back when dungeon exploration was a national enterprise, every country had dozens of people in that position.

However, since new Holy Relics are rarely discovered these days, most countries only have two or three.

As the name implied, their role was to determine whether an item was a Holy Relic. While it sounded like a technical job, it actually involved a lot of rough business.

It made sense; they appraised rare items found in dungeons, and if something was judged to be a Holy Relic, it would be seized and kept by the state. While the adventurer who found it would receive a reasonable reward, it couldn’t compare to the actual value of a Holy Relic.

Therefore, adventurers would use words, bribes, and above all, brute force to try and make the Appraiser judge their find as a mere item rather than a Holy Relic.

Conversely, a Holy Relic Appraiser needed the strength to brush all that aside and make an impartial judgment.

They required combat ability, mental fortitude, and intellect.

Indeed, this man named Ray Colt was strong. Strong, hard, sharp, and cold. You could tell just by looking at him.

Suddenly, I noticed that several of the fingers Ray had interlaced had prominent red, welt-like scars that stood out against his pale skin.

“Scars from Django.”

Noticing my gaze, Ray spoke without taking his eyes off his own fingers.

“Luckily, they were able to be reattached.”

“My old man and Mr. Ray have been at it for a long time,” Hauser chimed in. He was still staring at the corner of the ceiling, but his tone was much more amicable than his appearance suggested.

“There have been rumors for a long time. And he refused to cooperate with the investigation. There was conflict.”

Finally, Ray looked up and fixed his gaze on us.

“But now, the truth of those rumors can finally be confirmed. Thanks to you all.”

I finally realized that the “rumors” he mentioned referred to Django’s possession of Holy Relics.

“By the way.”

Suddenly, Ray’s eyes grew sharper, turning cold and piercing.

“Is it true that you are a member of the Blue Wolves?”

His eyes were looking right through me, as if they were about to pierce me.

In that instant, I realized that if I took a half-hearted attitude here, I would be killed on the spot.

Understanding this before I could even think, I reflexively prepared my magic while answering truthfully.

“No, I’m not.”

Even though we were apart, it felt as though he were peering into my eyes from right next to me. Ray was searching me.

“I see.”

After a silence, he gave only that brief reply and returned his gaze to his interlaced fingers as if he had lost interest.

“What, do you have some kind of history with the Blue Wolves?” Bob asked in an excessively arrogant tone.

Perhaps he felt he couldn’t afford to be humble here, so as to ensure Shark wasn’t looked down upon by Pace.

“History? I suppose so.”

Ray’s cold voice dropped another degree, becoming freezing.

“I come from the Knights. Five years ago, as a member of the Pace Royal Knights, I was sometimes in charge of cases involving the Blue Wolves within our borders.”

The moment Ray said those words, the atmosphere in the room plummeted.

Even Bob, who had been arrogant moments ago, looked flustered as his momentum was cut short.

Five years ago. Pace. Blue Wolves.

Those keywords only brought one thing to mind.

Among all the large-scale, heinous crimes committed by the Blue Wolves, this was one of the most famous and tragic incidents. An entire village had been wiped out—the “Wald Incident.”

Five years ago, a frontier village in Pace was overrun by the Blue Wolves. The village was destroyed, and everyone down to the women and children was slaughtered. It wasn’t about stealing valuables, taking ransoms, or human trafficking. It was just killing. An incident where they killed everything just for the sake of killing.

The method of slaughter was horrific; by the time the Knights—who had sensed something was wrong—arrived, the houses were burned, the wells were poisoned, and salt had been mixed into the fields. And there were countless corpses of villagers who had clearly been toyed with and tortured over a long period before being killed.

I had heard that not only the Knights who saw the scene and the detectives who came to investigate later, but even the officers who merely read the detailed reports, suffered from mental breakdowns.

The truth was apparently that it was an incident caused by a faction within the rapidly growing Blue Wolves that consisted only of those who lived for nothing but murder and violence.

“Ah.”

That was when I remembered.

“There were rumors that it was Django who captured the faction responsible for the Wald Incident,” I remarked.

Every member of that faction had been apprehended. Though they were all small-time crooks compared to the scale of the Blue Wolves—and as a result, no information regarding the organization’s higher-ups was ever extracted from them—the capture itself had been a major event.

Whether it was fact or fiction, the rumor that the private detective Django had been the one to catch them had circulated even back then.

“That’s no rumor. It’s the truth.”

Hauser finally turned to face me.

He looked like a boy a year or two younger than myself, but on closer inspection, he seemed to be my age—perhaps even older. It appeared his short stature and baby face simply made him look younger.

Perhaps he had some emotional attachment to the memory, as Hauser spoke of those events with a distant look in his eyes. It was then I realized that his sharp, unfriendly glare was likely a natural trait; even while reminiscing, his expression looked as though he were staring someone down.

“Originally, my old man had been chasing the Blue Wolves since way back then. It was only natural for him to get involved in that case. So, he caught that faction using his usual methods. Rose was the one in charge of the torture and experiments… I mean, the interrogation.”

“His usual methods?”

Bob immediately pounced on those words.

“Ah, no…”

Hauser looked away, seemingly regretting his slip of the tongue.

“A system utilizing Holy Relics.”

The one who answered in his stead was a voice as cold and sharp as a blade. Ray spoke while maintaining his previous posture and downward gaze.

“Am I right?”

“Mr. Ray, there’s no way I’m going to agree to that.”

Hauser shrugged his shoulders with an air of annoyance.

I see. To someone like Ray—or rather, to a representative of a nation—one could hardly admit to possessing Holy Relics.

As I processed this, the questions I had been harboring grew until I couldn’t hold them back any longer.

“What kind of system uses Holy Relics? Is that the reason a Holy Relic Appraiser is here?”

Indeed, while I had heard the rumors about Django possessing such items, I didn’t think that alone would bring an Appraiser here—specifically one from the country of Pace.

“Mmm, that is…”

Ray hesitated for a moment before looking toward us.

“Do you think this is something that should be discussed here?”

“Eh?”

With that question, I realized Ray’s eyes weren’t fixed on us, but on someone standing behind us. I turned around.

“Whoa!”

Bob instinctively recoiled in surprise.

Behind us, at the entrance to the dining room, Rose was standing there. She was accompanied by a cute maid with a blonde bob cut and a young butler whose blonde hair was slicked back.

The maid and butler held tea cups, a pot, milk, and sugar cubes.

“It’s better to wait until everyone is gathered; it’s less of a hassle. More importantly, would you like some tea?”

“Yes, yes! Everyone, please take a seat. I’ll brew some delicious tea right away!”

While urging the standing trio—myself, Kirio, and Bob—to sit, the maid set about preparing the tea, her frilled apron fluttering.

The butler followed silently behind her, setting down the milk and sugar.

Swept along by the maid as she circled the table with a fairy-like smile, we took our seats.

Rose also sat down gracefully, still wearing that unsettling, blood-stained white coat.

“That’s right, it’s the Shark group’s first time here. Let me introduce them: Lirina the maid, and Rick the butler.”

“I am not a butler. I am an assistant.”

Rick grimaced as if truly displeased, but his voice held a certain familiarity toward Rose.

“I am only wearing these clothes because it is Master Rose’s hobby. I am strictly an assistant, so please do not misunderstand.”

Despite his words, Rick’s elegant bow and polite tone made him the image of a perfect butler.

Seeing this, Lirina let out a bright, peal of laughter.

“Brother, why don’t you just give up already?”

“Be quiet and leave me alone,” Rick groaned irritably.

Ah, so these two were siblings. They certainly shared similar features and a slender build. However, while the younger sister was bright and cheerful, the older brother seemed quite stiff.

“I’ll have some tea.”

To my surprise, Ray began to drink his tea with apparent relish after adding a massive amount of milk and sugar.

“Ugh, geez! I keep telling you, if you put that much in, you won’t be able to appreciate the aroma of the tea!”

Lirina pouted.

“Mr. Ray has the palate of a child,” Hauser teased, enjoying the scent of his own tea without any additives.

“Say what you will. It is a matter of personal preference.”

“Mmm, this is delicious, Van!”

Kirio chirped happily after tasting her tea, which she had sweetened with a reasonable amount of sugar.

“Hmph. It’s… acceptable.”

Even Bob conceded.

“Let’s see… Oh, wow.”

The moment I tasted the tea, the scent of flowers drifted up through my nose. Then, the flavor expanded softly across my palate and down my throat.

I wasn’t an expert on tea, but I could tell this was exceptionally high-quality.

“This is really good.”

When I let my honest impression slip, Lirina smiled brightly and peered into my face.

“You like it? Um…”

“Van. Van Holmes.”

“Van, isn’t it great? Rose makes a hobby out of tea, so she keeps a great selection. Add to that my top-tier brewing skills, and there’s no way it wouldn’t be delicious!”

“How arrogant. I was the one who taught you how to brew it in the first place.”

Rose, holding her teacup with an elegant, wry smile, made for quite a picture.

In this way, although a certain amount of awkwardness remained, the atmosphere in the dining room became warm and bright, largely thanks to Lirina’s cheerfulness.

I didn’t need to look at Bob’s sour face—as he tried his best not to be swallowed by the pleasantry—to understand that this atmosphere was a bit of a farce.

However, regardless of the circumstances, the tea was undeniably good, so I decided to enjoy the moment for the time being.