Kyoko seemed clueless but understood that she was on house duty, so there was no problem there.
Falsetto followed as my guard, unprompted, which was to be expected.
A girl was dying because of me; I didn’t have a second to waste!
“Reiko, I’m counting on you!”
“Got it! Body enhancement magic, coming right up! Brace for muscle aches tomorrow!”
“That’s nothing... If it means saving a cute little girl, not even muscle aches or the principal’s office will scare us off! Because we are...”
“KKR!” we said in unison.
It was no surprise that the unicorn horn was ineffective. Its supposed cure-all effect was nothing but a legend—pure placebo. Reiko had just delivered the item as requested, offering up a genuine unicorn horn. So, we bore no responsibility for that... But the Tears of the Goddess: Limited Effect Edition? That was a disaster! Severe diarrhea for a patient weakened by disease could’ve been fatal. And it was an innocent girl who drank it... Even the unbridled power of the super potent Tears of the Goddess couldn’t bring back the dead.
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!!!
I’d assumed some rich noble wanted the potion for clout—claiming they were favored by the Goddess, offering it to the king, or probing into my identity through the deliverer. And sure enough, the scammers had sent people to follow me. Apparently, that wasn’t part of the request, but their own scheme.
Why didn’t they just spread rumors about being gravely ill?!
A rich noble could’ve done that easily! Even those scammers had spread fake info well enough to catch the Eyes of the Goddess’s attention... Come to think of it, maybe it would’ve been bad if word got out that a noble’s daughter was bedridden with a serious illness. If people thought she was dying, rumors of relapse or not healing fully could ruin her “market value” as a noble bride, which would be a fatal blow to her marriage prospects...unless she was cured by a divine miracle. That’d explain why they’d want to hide her illness, but also why they desperately needed Tears for her.
Guess nobles have their own problems...
With Reiko’s body enhancement magic, even I was able to sprint at full speed without tiring. I was scared of the soreness coming tomorrow, though...
Falsetto’s stamina was to be expected, but I was impressed that the Eyes of the Goddess leader was keeping up without magic. He kept glancing back to make sure we were keeping up, but looked shocked when he realized we were unfazed. Still, we were the Goddess’s entourage. He seemed to accept it and ran at full speed without checking again. Hopefully, that didn’t make his faith even stronger... I was already kinda fed up by his excessive devotion.
Then, realization hit me. I could’ve used a stamina potion instead of Reiko’s potion. Or so I thought, but potions didn’t prevent muscle aches either. I could make one that eliminated soreness, but resetting the body would negate the benefits of exercise, which would be a waste after putting in so much effort. A permanent muscle-growth potion? No way, that was off-limits. Temporary potions to alter looks and ability were fine, but permanent buffs were cheating. Beauty potions, breast-enhancing potions, potions that let you eat whatever you want without getting fat... If I made such things, it’d be like giving up.
I’ll never do it! Huff, huff...
Of course, I could make a potion that got rid of pain, but I didn’t plan to get around the muscle aches that were coming. A day of pain was my self-imposed punishment for hurting an innocent girl and making her condition worse. It was an unforgivable sin.
“We’re almost there!” the leader called out.
I nodded. Apparently, we’d made it to the mansion while I was lost in trivial thoughts. Not like he could see me, though, since he didn’t look back as he’d said it.
“No time to explain to gatekeepers or servants! They’ll be suspicious of strangers after they got duped, and the earl’s probably not leaving his daughter’s side. We might’ve gotten a meeting before this mess, but now’s a bad time. So...” I said, then...
“We barge in!” Reiko and I finished in sync. We hadn’t spent all those years together for nothing.
I thought of sending the leader back as soon as we reached the mansion, since they might lower their guard if it was just us women visiting.
“I know the mansion’s layout. I’ll guide you to the daughter’s room,” the leader said, beating me to the punch.
I guess a devout follower wouldn’t wanna miss seeing the Goddess’s miracle in person...
“There it is,” he said, pointing.
Up ahead, we saw...well, a normal noble’s mansion. Well, it was “normal” by noble standards—and a giant, super luxury estate by modern Japan standards. No gatekeepers stood at the entrance, obviously. It wasn’t a royal castle, so they wouldn’t waste wages on that. No doubt the guards were inside, resting in case they were needed.
The first hurdle was the front door. There must’ve been servants inside, who’d be alerted if we opened the door even if we were invisible. So...
“Reiko, invisibility magic!” I called out.
“Roger that!” she replied.
I instructed everyone to stay quiet, then prepared a handkerchief laced with a potion that caused ten minutes of unconsciousness without side effects.
I knocked on the door the old-fashioned way. A servant opened it, startled to find no one there, and peered around. I crept behind them, pressing the handkerchief to their mouth and nose. Falsetto caught the collapsing servant, easing them to the ground away from the door.
That was kind of her... Oh, wait, she’s just making sure we don’t make any noise.
She was prioritizing efficiency now that we were carrying out a mission... That was Falsetto for you.
Reiko held the door open, then quietly closed it after we all slipped inside. Someone was bound to notice soon, but we just had to be done before then.
Following the leader, we headed to the girl’s room on the second floor. We were able to sneak all the way there without incident thanks to our invisibility.
“Someone must be in there, right?” I whispered.
“Yeah...” Reiko whispered back.
No parent would leave a critically ill girl all alone.
So, we just opened the door without knocking and filed in.