“You must be Will.”
A voice suddenly called my name, prompting me to turn around. I was alert and made sure nobody could sneak up on me, but as if she were completely undetectable, I was unable to notice her approach.
I remained vigilant, placing a hand on the sword at my waist before replying to her question.
“I am Will. What do you want?”
Now that I was turned toward her, I finally noticed that she couldn’t even be identified. She was covered in a dark gray mantle from head to toe, with the corners turning closer to white. The edges fade, though, as if they were made of mist.
Her face was covered, hidden, by the wide-brim hat she wore, deep black as if made of shadows itself. Due to this, only her chin and luscious red lips could be seen, a stark contrast to her almost pale white complexion.
After a closer inspection, however, I realized that she wasn’t a threat. Her energy level was only at the fourth stage at most. Even if she got a headstart, I could easily block any of her attacks. Still, I didn’t lower my guard, as she could have a companion nearby, similarly moving around undetected.
“… You look younger than I thought.”
The mysterious woman muttered with a slightly disappointed tone. I furrowed my brows slightly, trying to read between the lines and guess her intention. However, she just went straight to the point right after.
“You’re looking for the time-travel device, right? I know where it is.”
“…!”
My vigilance quickly increased.
After all, nobody should know that I was looking for the time travel device, not even Threya, who was chatting a lot with us earlier.
I placed my right hand on the hilt, ready to draw the sword at any time, before asking her once more.
“How did you know?”
The mysterious figure didn’t move or speak. She only stood still for a while, as if deliberating what to say. Suddenly, her lips curled into a smile as a purple orb shone on her completely dark face.
“If I told you I could read minds, would you believe me?”
“No,”
I answered immediately. The possibility can’t be denied, but why should I believe a random passerby’s words? After hearing my reply, her smile deepened. It was as if she was just playing around with me, knowing what I’d say beforehand.
From under the mantle, I detected movements. With a flick of my hand, I quickly cut what she threw forward. It was a piece of paper rolled into a tube. I watched as it got sliced into many pieces as I passed the blade right at the center of its cross-section.
“If you believe in my words, even a little, follow that map. Tomorrow, at dawn, I’ll be waiting at that location. After you do my request, then I’ll point you to where the device is.”
Saying this, she quickly turned around and walked away. Her figure wasn’t that far away yet, but I could already barely identify her. As if she were blending into the night itself, she completely vanished from view in just a few steps.
“… What the hell was that?”
Words slipped through my mouth as I pondered the mysterious figure. She was pretty hot—no,? I mean, she was pretty suspicious, given that she didn’t even give her name. However, the temptation to give us the location of the time travel device was strong.
In the end, I picked up the pieces of the “map” and pieced them together. With just a quick glance, I knew that the location was outside of the town’s walls. This further enhanced my suspicions.
“Master…?”
Ember approached me, who was still crouching down. She stared at the map in my hand and tilted her head cutely.
“What’s that?”
“Ah, it’s a map that the mysterious lady earlier left.”
I answered without thinking. However, Ember tilted her head again, to the other side, and asked.
“Mysterious lady? Did someone approach Master without us knowing?”
“What? No, she was just right here earlier…”
I pointed at the spot right before where I was crouching; however, Ember just crunched up her face as if not believing me.
“Nobody was there; I was looking at Master the whole time.”
Her words made me realize something. When the mysterious lady appeared, only I noticed her. Normally, it would be the girls, who were now completely drunk, who would’ve raised a hand before I could even draw my blade. But instead, they were completely unaware that I was even talking to someone.
“…”
It wasn’t a hallucination, though, as the map was right here in my hands. And I’m not too drunk to be seeing or hearing things.
In the end, I just dismissed it as a joke to Ember, seeing that she was drunk anyway. She was suspicious but still believed my words like the loyal retainer she was.
After that, we continued drinking and eating for a few hours. When the time was about to reach midnight, three out of the five of us fainted on the table, completely drunk. I guess the freezing I did end up increasing the alcohol content of the beer by a few degrees. That, or the three just forgot to control their pace.
“So… Let’s go back?”
“Hmmm~? Suuure… Hik… Hommeee…”
“…”
Let me correct myself: I was the only survivor, as everyone else was down for the count. I thought Fina was at least able to hold her liquor, but it looks like she’s too drunk to even stand by herself.
Fortunately, Yorm and Judy were spared from the drinking spree. I carried Fang and Ember, Judy controlled Fina like a puppet, and Yorm dragged Igni to the ground. Although I felt bad for Igni, I can’t hold more than two people at the same time.
The inn was pretty close, fortunately, and there were few to no pedestrians around. Igni was spared the disgrace of being watched by passersby getting dragged around by a little snake.
After reaching the inn, I quickly dropped Fang and Ember in our room before returning for Fina and Igni. After setting them all up on the beds, which were both double-sized, I found that we were actually one bed short.
“…”
Well, they wouldn’t mind me sleeping with them, right? Choosing between the Igni and Fina pair or the Ember and Fang pair, I chose the latter. After all, their bed had more space left since Igni’s tail and wings were taking up more or less another person’s worth of space. 𝗻𝐨𝐯𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
After I lay down between the two girls, of course, due to personal preference, I felt the effect of the alcohol hitting me. A wave of dizziness struck, making me fall into the dream world almost instantly.
When I woke up, I could feel a slight headache from the hangover. It wasn’t too bad, though, so I could still function properly.
“Em—!”
When I was about to call the girls to wake them up, I realized the state they were in.
“…”
To protect their honor, I was forced to become a janitor early in the morning. Let’s just say that the room had a sour smell for a while, and it took a great deal of effort to completely eliminate it.
Of course, I was concerned about the girls, so I bought some anti-hangover potions outside. When I returned, three zombies were releasing groans as they rolled over on the beds, completely immobile. Fina was slightly better off, looking as if she didn’t have any hangover at all since she was just drinking water normally when I came in.
With her help, we made everyone drink the potion before laying them back down on the bed. Although the potion could fix their hangover, headaches aren’t part of what it fixes. After a while, three blue-faced girls stood up groggily, heading for the glasses of water prepared for each of them beforehand.
It wasn’t able to completely fix their conditions, but at least they’re able to move around now, unlike their zombie state earlier. After a while, I finally went ahead and explained to them about the mysterious woman last night.
As expected, nobody was able to see her during the short time she was interacting with me. As they learned of this, everyone turned vigilant, their eyes narrowing and their feelings completely in turmoil.
“… To think we let such a shady figure approach Master without notice…”
Ember’s words were laced with a mix of anger and blame. She must be thinking that it was their fault that I was exposed to such unnecessary danger.
“No, I think she can isolate her presence from those around her. In fact, even I wasn’t able to detect her presence until she called my name.”
It was a mysterious skill, as it wasn’t some sort of presence concealment barrier. I guess it’s from her clothes? That robe, which looked like it was weaved from the mist itself, and the smell of rain that it exuded remained vividly in my memory.
“So, My Lord, what do you plan to do?”
Igni asked, her face serious with a hint of impatience. Fang was about the same, as her ears were lowered but her tail was standing up, still, and bristling.
“Of course I’m, no, I mean, we’re checking the place out. We can’t let a clue about the time-travel device go without even checking.”
The possibility of it being a trap to lure us was higher, though, so we must be extremely careful.
After a few more minutes of rest, about half an hour before sunrise, we headed for the location marked on the map. After leaving the gates, we turned right, heading east.
The path on the map was pretty simple, as it was just a straight line. As we were walking, we soon encountered a thin animal path within the forest. As it was going in the same direction as on the map, we followed it without hesitation.
A few minutes later, after about half a kilometer of walking, the forest started to open up into a wide clearing. In the middle of it, hidden deep into the forest, was a large, old, dilapidated villa.
“A building outside the wall?”
I can’t help but feel it was illogical. However, the door was already opening as we approached, as if inviting us in.