That evening—
“Elaina. I haven’t seen you since yesterday.”
Clarice greeted me with a wave of her hand as she came back to the house.
Her mother had already gone back to her room, and I was alone at the dining table.
“Since yesterday? But we saw each other this afternoon.”
“That was me on my best public behavior, so it wasn’t the real me.”
“That’s not how it looked to me.”
“I’m a good actor.”
I see. So by her criteria, seeing her this afternoon doesn’t count. Well, leaving aside her strange hang-ups about that—
“It seems like the citizens here really rely on you, huh?”
“It’s less like reliance and closer to faith at this point.” She shrugged, looking exasperated. “Have you already heard about me from someone?”
“Heard about you?”
Now then, whatever could you mean? By any chance—
“You mean the fact that even though you look my age, you’re actually just making yourself look young?”
“Right.” She nodded. “Sounds like you already know.”
Clarice must have had no particular intention of hiding it. Indeed, it was something I would have discovered by staying in the city for a day and talking to anyone there.
Well, I do understand why she would be feeling a little uneasy.
“I’ll just go ahead and say that, in the course of my travels, I have encountered many people who have lived for a long, long time and have also spoken to some of them. So it doesn’t really bother me at all,” I said.
Clarice let out a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness.”
My, my, how touching.
“You know,” I said, “I didn’t expect you to be so concerned about what I think.”
I did not hide my surprise.
Clarice shook her head.
“No, it’s just that, if you were the type of person to make a big fuss about it, the kids in town probably would have gone after you, so I was just asking.”
“……”
So that’s it, huh?
✦ ✦ ✦
As soon as night arrived, we set out into the streets.
The area that had been designated under my control was the district where the wandering dead had appeared the night before. Clarice was to be in charge of an adjacent district.
It sounded like it was a complete mystery when and where a wandering dead might appear, but once one had shown up, it was easier for others to appear nearby, or something.
“There’s likely to be a mass outbreak of the dead tonight, okay? So let’s you and I take charge of the most demanding areas, Elaina. If a wandering dead shows up, let me know. I’ll deal with it myself right away.”
Faint lights began to glow around the silent city. All signs of human life had vanished.
“Oh my goodness, I think you’re overestimating me. But seriously, you’ve got a really good sense for it, huh? Whether the dead will be many or few?”
“I’m a three-hundred-year veteran of these streets, after all.”
According to Clarice, she was able to intuit, to a certain degree, which nights would see a large outbreak of the dead.
There were almost always large outbreaks on the nights when the wandering dead showed up. The wandering dead appeared only rarely, and in the majority of cases, it was on nights when the moon was waning, or the sky was cloudy, or it was raining—basically, on nights when the moonlight was weak, it was apparently easier for them to come out.
And tonight, there will be a crescent moon.
Plus, last night, they failed to bring down the wandering dead.
A wandering dead is likely to come out again tonight.
“Speaking from my experience, tonight’s probably going to be a tough battle.”
“That’s an unpleasant prediction.”
“But it’s the truth anyway. Can’t help it.”
As she spoke, she pulled out an enormous sickle. Every time she swung it around, it caught the feeble moonlight, and the blade glittered.
“Let’s do our best to make sure no one dies tonight.”
With her eyes full of determination, she said that to me.
Without giving her any response, I pulled out my wand and prepared myself.
And then the dead began to appear in the completely silent Twilight Helbe.