(Tyler: If fear begets you, feel free to faint once again.)
Tyler’s jest struck a chord in the simple-minded loli, for indeed, she had succumbed to terror and passed out briefly at the cemetery in Ira Forest today.
Regrettably, such entities as ghosts and ghouls were not the loli’s forte.
(Silly Nissen: Humph! I simply intended-o to caution you! Should-o a situation arise, don’t expect my intervention!)
This time, mere threats were insufficient to mollify the disgruntled loli. Ever since their arrival in the “Parallel World No. 77: Prison Star,” it had always been her at the receiving end of Tyler’s torments, never the other way round.
Priscilla Nissen had to retaliate!
(Silly Nissen: Tyler, aren’t you always an advocat-o of efficiency? Surely, Elle’s ghostly situation bears little relevance to winning Avril over? If you just-o exert-o a bit more effort-o, won’t Avril confess her feelings to you shortly?)
(Tyler: Until I gain the confession points, Avril must not die.)
While scrutinizing Avril’s house, Tyler responded to the simple-minded loli. Tyler noticed that the locked room inside Avril’s house lacked windows, and the only entryway was the locked door itself.
(Silly Nissen: Oh-oh, so you’re trying to prevent-o Avril from being devoured-o by ghost Elle? It sounds plausible, but that’s just an excuse, isn’t it-o? If ghost Elle wanted to devour Avril, wouldn’t she have done it-o already? Besides, haven’t-o you deduced-o that ghost Elle isn’t in the village?)
The loli’s intellect reached an unprecedented height only when arguing with Tyler.
(Tyler: Deductions are but deductions, only objective facts can be trusted.)
(Silly Nissen: Alright then, you keep-o up-o this cold and unfeeling facade~ From my perspective, you’re simply W·O·R·R·I·E·D about Avril~)
The loli’s final sentence, intentionally emphasizing the key points, left Tyler speechless for several seconds. At this moment, the loli set a new record for rendering Tyler speechless!
(Tyler: As you wish, you’re free to think what you want.)
Having said that, Tyler no longer paid heed to the loli’s taunts. By now, he had pried open a window in Avril’s living room with a tree branch and slipped inside without leaving a trace. He needed to concentrate fully in the coming time.
The clues to the truth were hidden within this house.
·
In the orchard, Avril and Rhode were still bustling about for the “Rain Praise Festival.” At that moment, the village children, with a toddler barely out of infancy in tow, located Avril.
“Miss Avril! Miss Avril!”
The children chirped and clustered like a brood of chicks under the tree where Avril was.
“Little John is turning three today! He’s come to request a ball!”
“Want a ball! Want a ball!”
Occupied with picking fruits from the tree, Avril couldn’t immediately descend to the ground. Consequently, she bestowed her wishes upon Little John from atop the tree.
“Happy birthday, Little John!”
It had become a tradition, every time a child in the village turned three, Avril would present them with an expertly crafted leather ball. The three boys who had climbed the trees in the orchard the day before had also received leather balls from Avril, which they treasured dearly.
At this moment, Little John had come to the orchard to solicit a ball from Avril. However, Avril was already at her wit’s end due to the “Rain Praise Festival.”
“Rhode! Could you please fetch a ball for Little John from my house? The key is on the orchard worktable. The ball is in my living room!”
The children’s clamor left Avril with no choice but to enlist Rhode’s help.
“I could, but… wouldn’t it be inappropriate for me to enter your house?”
Rhode hadn’t fully recovered from his heartbreak and didn’t know how to face Avril.
“It’s perfectly fine. It’s just full of sewing materials and such. Everyone in the village can come and go freely.”
Rhode, out of awkwardness, didn’t want to further involve himself with Avril. However, he couldn’t resist the children’s clamor, so he reluctantly took the key and made his way to Avril’s house.
Upon arriving at Avril’s house, Rhode inadvertently noticed a shadow flit across the room through the window.
Although the figure moved quickly, Rhode was able to ascertain its identity.
— (Banning!?)
Rhode instantly realized that even though Avril had locked her door, Banning had appeared inside her house. He must be up to no good! Without a second thought, Rhode immediately barged into the house and began a room-to-room search following the direction Banning had taken. However, he was unable to locate Banning.
— (Did he escape through the window?)
Rhode checked and found an unlocked window. He instantly dashed out of the house and sprinted back to the orchard. 𝗈𝒱𝑙xt.𝗰𝑶𝓶
“Avril! I saw Banning sneaking around your house, doing who knows what!”
Rhode was thrilled, thinking he had caught Banning red-handed. If Banning’s image were to be tarnished, he might still have a chance.
“Oh my, you scared me with your loud voice.”
However, Avril’s reaction was quite different from what Rhode had anticipated.
“Don’t worry about Banning. He just came over and told me that I had forgotten to lock my window. He said he saw it while passing by, so he climbed in and locked it for me. But everyone in our village is trustworthy, whether the windows are locked or not doesn’t make much difference.”
Avril brushed off this suspicious incident with a few lighthearted remarks, leaving Rhode feeling as powerless as if he had punched into water.
Rhode was left speechless. In such a juncture, even if Rhode were to proclaim, “Banning is deceiving you!” or “Banning has ulterior motives for entering your home!” it would be futile. For Rhode had already witnessed the unconditional faith Avril held for Banning.
Such trust was impervious to disruption without irrefutable evidence.
·
(Silly Nissen: Huff… Huff… That was terrifying… I thought I would be exposed by that lad, Rhode…)
The fearful loli gasped for air, and Tyler too was aware that he had been spotted by Rhode. At the moment of the incident, Tyler had instantly deduced that Rhode might rush back to inform Avril, hence, he swiftly left the scene and confessed to Avril about entering her room before Rhode could.
Of course, Tyler had spun a “benevolent” fabrication to prettify his intrusion into her residence. An incident like “Accidentally discovered by Rhode and reported” was barely enough to wrinkle Tyler’s brow.
What truly posed a problem for Tyler was the outcome of his search in Avril’s house.
Within Avril’s home, Tyler hadn’t found any traces of another individual apart from Avril. On the other hand, he hadn’t yet discovered the key to unlock the sealed room.
(Silly Nissen: Tyler, are we going back-o to Avril’s house to search for the key today?)
(Tyler: No, we can’t use the clumsy excuse of helping to lock the windows a second time.)
(Silly Nissen: Then… should we assist Avril in the orchard? I know there’s an age-old saying from your Earth World, “When a man and woman labor together, labor is not exhausting!”)
(Tyler: …)
(Silly Nissen: What’s wrong, did-o I say something incorrect?)