Well, I don’t see anyone other than us outsiders walking around outside right now, considering the situation. I feel a lot lonelier than before.
There are usually a lot of residents walking around outside at night. It would be inconvenient to players to lose access to shops and facilities if the residents had to go to bed at a certain time.
“Hm, it looks like some residents are patrolling too.”
So not everyone is locked away inside their homes. I’m sure gatekeepers are out too. The last thing anyone wants is for monsters to penetrate the town.
“Whoa!” three residents cry at once.
“Good day,” I greet them. “I see you’re hard at work.”
“A-ah, Princess Nemeseia and her party, yes. You startled us.”
Oh, that’s right. We all have night vision. We’re not carrying torches either in case they interfere with the event. We must have appeared out of thin air to these residents.
I don’t think I look scary, but Mr. Alf could be cause for alarm, and Mr. Skelly would give anyone a fright. It’s hard to deny that, in a horror setting, we’d normally be the ones going around scaring people.
“I see. We’ll start using Light so that we don’t startle anyone else. I’d feel terrible if combat started up. Terrible for the person who attacks me, of course.”
“Thank you for the consideration.”
Mr. Alf and Mr. Skelly don’t have Light Magic, so it’s up to me to use the Light art, suspending a ball of light above our heads.
We go our separate ways from the three residents.
We wouldn’t have any issues if we were attacked. Any resident who lays hands on a Nemeseia will be in big trouble. They might die from shock. I wouldn’t have it that way, of course. I’m sure they’d be mortified, but I wouldn’t want it to be to such a dramatic extent.
It doesn’t matter if the attack hits or misses. It’s the very action of attacking in the first place that’s the problem. No one can ever attack royalty, no matter their justification, or else it amounts to high treason.
The only option at that point would be to silence all witnesses by telling them they saw nothing, and that this never happened. It would’ve been feasible with three residents against three players like us. Still, whoever attacks me would probably feel crushed by their own guilt. That’s possible too.
Taking their own life wouldn’t even be of any help in that situation either, as Nemeseias are royalty of the afterlife. Death is no escape. They’d truly be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
That’s why we’re using Light to make ourselves known—not for our sakes but for everyone else’s. I suppose we’d be fair game for normal royalty, but it’s not as if we plan to leave town in the present state of affairs.
We turn our attention back to the search. I only hope we come across something helpful.
We spend a few hours circling through town.
“Good thing the restaurants are open. They know now’s the time to make a profit off all of us,” says Mr. Alf.
“There’s no need to leave their buildings at night so long as they stock up during daytime. The restaurants won’t run into any trouble when the customers are coming in.”
Thanks to these restaurants, players with cooking skills haven’t had their hands full. That said, there’s not enough restaurant space for everyone to enter, so everyone has to go in at different time slots.
Tomo’s map has actually been rather useful. He placed stamps to mark different varieties of shops. They just blend in on the normal map, where you have to zoom in to find specific locations.
Information has been shared with you.
“Oh!” the men cry.
“Let’s see,” I say with anticipation as I check the info.
“Someone spotted the back of a black cat walking through the streets. They chased after the cat but eventually lost sight of it.”
“A kitty? Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen cats in this world yet,” says Mr. Skelly.
“A black cat. Black cats on Halloween are usually depicted as witches’ familiars,” Mr. Alf speculates.
“But aren’t witches doctors in this world? Do they even have familiars?” Mr. Skelly asks.
“I’m not sure. Familiar spells do exist, at least.”
I feel like familiars and spirit companions are the same concept, just with different names. Summoning Spell’s servants have a different name too. Perhaps there’s some sort of ritual we can do to create a familiar.
I, on the other hand, have seen a black cat in this world. It was in the old castle in the Medium. His name is Nyarlathotep. If this is his incarnation with the three glowing eyes, then he’s definitely here for mischief.
He can gaze into our world, but can he really come here? I’m curious. Considering the power his kind holds, I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up here without any fanfare.
“Did they only see the back of the cat?” I wonder.
“They probably chased it from behind, and that’s when it disappeared,” Mr. Alf replies.
“I sure hope it didn’t have three eyes,” I reply.
“Three eyes?”
“Three burning eyes. It’s an incarnation of Nyar. If you ignore the three burning red eyes and the identity of who they belong to, he’s nothing more than a cute kitty.”
“Uh, I feel like he’d totally disavow that.”
“Nyar can’t be cute, even if he looks like a cat?”
“Meeeoow!” Mr. Skelly, um, imitates Nyar.
“Would he allow such a thing? A collaboration where he appears in that form?”
“I wouldn’t have too much of an issue if he showed up on his own,” Mr. Skelly replies.
“We’d definitely need a protagonist,” Mr. Alf suggests. “Ku and Has would show up at that point too.”
“But then Nyar might suddenly turn into a robot,” I reply.
“That’d be fine. Living machinery already exists in this world.”
I haven’t seen a robot that big yet, though…
We chat as we walk along, but there’s nothing particularly noteworthy. The grid is still wavering, though it doesn’t seem to link to the event in any way. Some outsider is just going to have to get lucky.
“They’re forming a search party on the BBS to track down that kitty,” Mr. Skelly informs us.
“I suppose it’s something to go off of,” says Mr. Alf.
“I just pray it doesn’t have three eyes,” I reply.
It feels like the event is going to end with us still strolling through the streets and chatting.
It’s time for me to go to bed. Mr. Skelly is reading the event thread, but he tells me they haven’t caught the cat yet.
I’ll head to the church to sleep now. Mr. Skelly and Mr. Alf are continuing their patrol, so we’ll be apart for a while.
The church’s chapel is open to all visitors. It’s quiet inside, but it never feels lonely due to the other residents around. However, tonight the chapel is vacant. The sanctity of the space is emphasized by the utter silence in the building.
I say a good-night prayer while I’m here, then I ask the nun to show me to my room.
“Please don’t hesitate to use this room as you please.”
“Thank you.”
To visitors, the heart of a church is its chapel, but to the clergy, the heart is more like the living quarters. There’s a building for members to live in, of course, and another for church operations. Making space for all that means there’s few rooms for guests, but I imagine the room I’ve been given is the nicest of them all—thanks to my position, of course.
I sink into the large bed that’s been cleaned with the Laundry art. It’s slightly smaller than the one in my villa.
Oh?
Information has been shared with you.
“Did you see that right? That Jack-o’-lantern just moved!”
Pumpkins, huh?
Good night.