Chapter 216

The Holy Lehysian Empire was just ahead of Lumiere Village. I suggested we go meet up with Vill and the others first, but Spica said we could snatch the Dark Core in a jiffy, and we should go to Lehysia first. Either way, we couldn’t go straight to Lumiere since we had to feed the Mizuchi. Gong! Gong! I heard church bells as I passed through the city gates. Lehysia in the Netherworld was a small city-state with a population of about two thousand, but they seemed much more devout than the people in the other world. People of all ages and genders in religious garb were kneeling and praying in the vicinity. “All the buildings are purple. I feel like I’ve seen this before…” “Mandala minerals. According to the trade register in Neoplus, Lehysia is the city’s top client in exports. And clergymen love shiny things. Ironically materialistic, eh?!” “Mm-hmm.” The houses were embossed with light arrows and slanted crosses made from Mandala minerals. Purple must have some sort of religious significance. It does seem kinda sacred (not that I would know). We left the Mizuchi at a stable and went for a meal. I started feeling hype. To be honest, I was secretly looking forward to visiting restaurants all over the world. Perhaps an unthinkable thought for a professional shut-in such as myself, I know, but as an aspiring author, I wanted to experience all sorts of things. Come on, Holy Lehysian Empire omelet rice! Show me what you’ve got! But that aside. “Thanks, girl! You can put me down now!” Spica said. “…Why do I even have to carry you?” I said. “Because I’m disabled!” “Don’t say that! Also, why have you been licking my neck the whole time? It stings a little… Don’t tell me you’ve been sucking my blood.” “I have, actually! And it tastes pretty bad, by the way!” “No wonder I’m feeling faint! Get off already!” “Gaaah!” I threw her on the restaurant’s sofa. “Meanie!” She frowned. Spica had regained movement in her arms, but she still couldn’t stand on her own. I could very easily sentence her to death by tickling, but after she recovered, I would be sentenced to actual death. Oh, the vexations. “Ms. Komari, should I get rid of our luggage?” “Huh? We brought luggage?” “I meant if I should kill that living suitcase over there.” “Waaah?! Where did you get that knife?!” “She only causes you trouble… Now she even dared to suck your blood… I can’t just sit back and let it happen anymore… Disposing of her here and now would be a net positive for humanity…” “Stop it, Sakuna! You’ll make them throw us out of the restaurant!” I restrained her in a full nelson. “What am I supposed to do?” Spica sighed. “I ran out of candy. I need a direct supply of blood.” “Candy? You mean those red lollipops?” I asked. “Yes, those are supplements for weak vampires. My body’s awfully inefficient, and I need to suck on blood constantly, or I’ll faint.” “So how come you’re that short if you suck so much blood…?” “…” Wow, is Spica pouting? I felt like I was beginning to understand the nuances of her expressions. “…How impudent. Want me to suck you dry?” “S-sorry. I didn’t mean it as an insult. I was just on the edge of a generational epiphany that maybe blood doesn’t relate to height…” “You won’t grow no matter what, I can tell you that for sure.” I pouted. Spica was just as foolish as Vill. Little did they know I was but a baby bamboo shoot, soon to shoot up into the skies to join my full-grown sistren. Whatever. Don’t give her the time of day, Komari. Just move on and order some food. …Hmm? Wait. Wh-wh-wha…? There’s no omelet rice…?! Why…?! “Ms. Spica, we should decide what to do next,” said Karla. “Karla! Oh no, Karla! There’s no omelet rice in this restaurant!” “O-omelet rice? I guess that is important… But our priority is finding out where in this city the Dark Core is.” I glared holes into the menu. This couldn’t be. A restaurant without omelet rice…? “Yup! Six hundred years ago, I wished on the Netherworld Dark Cores and let my supporters at the time hide them. Couldn’t let them be used for evil, and all that. But Star Citadel found them anyway, since those things ooze mana.” “Is the Dark Core here different?” asked Sakuna. “Lehysia’s Dark Core is inside the Light Orb that is passed down through generations of the Holy Church’s popes. The Orb is a Divine Instrument meant to conceal mana, so that must be why Star Citadel noticed it. I wish I’d done the same to all six cores, but I only had a single Orb,” said Spica. “I see. Then we should seek an audience with the pope. But… if it’s been passed down through generations, wouldn’t it be an important item to the Church?” “I looked into it after coming to the Netherworld, and yeah, they made it a regalia that symbolizes the pope’s status! Now it’s valuable in an entirely different way!” “We’ll have to ask for it with full sincerity…” “Ms. Komari, did you find the omelet rice?” “No! Help me look, Sakuna!” “What about a hamburg steak? Want to share one?” “I guess that works, too, but…………………………… Hmm??” At the end of the menu was a little ad. No, a wanted poster. Dine and dashers? Oof, those faces sure are evil-looking. They’re like five times scarier than the Lapelico Chimpanzee. Probably worse than any of the killers I’ve encountered up to now. Who could it possibly be? So, I checked the names and… World’s biggest terrorists! Spica La Gemini & Terakomari Gandesblood Wanted DEAD or ALIVE! ………? …?? I must be hallucinating. I closed the menu, then opened it back up. Yup, that’s still Spica’s and my names on there. “…Why am I wanted again?!?!” “M-Ms. Komari? You should lower your voice, or they’ll kick us out…” “Kick us out of life! Look at this!” I spread the menu on top of the table. Karla’s expression darkened. “What did you do? Dine and dash…?” “I haven’t eaten anything! For crying out loud! How many times must I be a fugitive?! Sakuna, I’ll have to live on the run! Bounty hunters are gonna be after my head!” “Y-yes! Let’s go, it’ll be like eloping… Hee-hee…” “No, there’s no need,” Karla said calmly. “Look at this portrait. It’s so bad, you can’t tell who it’s supposed to be.” “Huh? Oh, now that you mention it…” I would never look this scary. Spica might, though. This wanted poster must be all over Lehysia if it’s even here on this restaurant menu. But we haven’t been attacked. The people don’t realize we’re here. “Who drew this? Calling them a crappy artist would be an insult to crappy artists.” “Whether it’s a lack of skill or lack of knowledge of your faces… The problem is, the enemy knows we’re in Lehysia, and they’re looking for us. Recovering the Dark Core just got a lot trickier.” “The Fool must be to blame,” Spica said in a serious tone. “Observatory will do anything to put me down. They’d have no qualms getting Lehysia on their side…” She always got so serious when talking about the Fools. The trauma had to be huge. “Cheer up, Spica. We’ll get through this together.” “…I’ll drain you dry. I don’t need your reassurance. I’m very cheery, thank you.” “Okay.” “All right, let me suck you dry!” “I didn’t say okay to that!” Karla got between us. “Stop fighting, you two. And Ms. Sakuna, please put that knife away…” “No. I can’t still my right hand. It moves on its own when I see Spica try to suck Ms. Komari’s blood…” “L-let’s just have our meal, first, okay?! Waiter!” A cheery voice came from the inside of the restaurant, “Yes, ma’am!” Huh? We’re ordering already? No time to lose fooling around with Spica. I gotta find a suitable replacement for omelet rice… I surveyed the menu in a haste, when… Crack!! …I heard something break. “C-C-C-Co…Commanderrr?!” A familiar voice followed. I turned around. Standing there was a redheaded girl in a ponytail wearing the restaurant’s uniform. She dropped the plates just now. But that didn’t matter. “Esther?! What are you doing here?!” “W-we heard you might be here…!” Esther Claire. She shivered with tears in her eyes and wiped her face with her sleeves before doing a military salute and yelling: “Thank goodness you’re okay! We’ve been looking for you!” “R-really? So where’s everyone else…?” C-crack!! Again, the sound of something breaking. “L-L-Lady Komari…?!?!?!” “Huh?” Pieces of the broken glass were scattered all over the floor. The manager was yelling, “Are you gonna break everything in here or what?!” The maid charged full speed at me without a care. Blue hair and jade eyes. Her face a mess of tears. “LADY KOMARIIIIIII!!” “Vill! You’re here, too—Gweh?!” The maid tackled me in a hug, then buried her face in my belly while eerily repeating, “Lady Komari, Lady Komari, Lady Komari.” I froze like a statue out of ticklishness and embarrassment. “Ahh, Lady Komari…! I finally found you…! This isn’t the fake Lady Komari I hallucinate every night—this is the warmth of the real-deal Lady Komari…”