Night had fallen over the mansion and the moon was shining brightly in the sky.
“I made a terrible mistake...” Frieze said.
“I wish I could go back in time and hit myself...” Oltea said.
After their bath, everyone had gathered in Kaito’s room to chat. At some point during their conversation, the veil of drunkenness seemed to have lifted from Oltea and Frieze. Remembering the way they had gotten completely naked and barged into the bath, they were holding their heads in shame and groaning.
Tigaro sighed, evidently tired of it all.
“That’s why I tried to stop you. I told you that you’d regret it later. You’ll keep ending up in these embarrassing situations if you don’t listen to the advice of people older than you!” she said.
“I know. I didn’t listen to you, Tiga...”
“I wish you’d slapped me or something to really make me stop...” said Oltea.
“I’d never be able to hit one of my friends... I just hope this experience teaches you to be a little more moderate with your drinking,” Tigaro said.
“I really didn’t plan to overdo it like that today. I mean, we’re supposed to go on our investigation of the Deep Woods tomorrow! But...that wine was just too delicious,” Oltea said.
“It tasted so different from how it smelled too. The moment you bring the glass to your nose, you get this delightful grape smell, but even though there’s that strong sweetness, the aftertaste is so crisp and—”
“I kept saying, ‘This is the last one, this is the last one,’ but I accidentally just kept drinking more and more...”
“You have poor self-control...” Tigaro said, trailing off.
“And your self-control is amazing, Tiga,” Frieze said.
“You stopped yourself after just one glass,” Oltea said, amazed. “I guess that maturity is only natural—you are eighteen, after all!”
“I don’t really think age has much to do with it...”
Tigaro couldn’t speak for Oltea, but the Frieze she had known hadn’t been so weak-willed. Frieze had become independent the day she turned fourteen, announcing even at that young age that she was going to go and become an adventurer. Originally, she and Tigaro were supposed to become adventurers together. In the end, Tigaro had become a maid—a position she’d now decided to leave behind—but Frieze had really done it. She’d gone and debuted as a real adventurer. Eventually, failing to earn a stable living that way, she had resorted to making wagers, but even then, she had always believed that she would emerge victorious. If she hadn’t been a strong-willed person, she would not have been able to persevere.
Still, here she was dealing with the fallout of drunkenly rushing naked into an occupied bath...
Surely this is due to Kaito’s influence on her.
Kaito was a truly reliable man. Having a dependable person like him by her side must have softened Frieze and weakened her resolve.
That’s not such a bad thing, Tigaro thought to herself. Of course, seeing Frieze overdrink had made her worry, but being around someone whose benevolence you could presume upon was good for you. It was a happy thing that she was comfortable with her guard down.
Although...
“Even if I was drunk, barging into the bathroom naked like that was terrible of me... Kaito, do you have a beam that erases memories?” Frieze asked with a dejected look on her face.
“I don’t think so,” Kaito said with an awkward, strained smile. He continued, trying to ease their worries, “But I didn’t even see anything to begin with. The beam hid everything right away.”
“Hmm? Is that true?” Frieze asked.
“But I feel like there was a moment before my body started to glow... Am I just imagining that?” Oltea said.
“You must be. I mean, just think about it: if I had seen you two naked, would I be able to talk to you so calmly right now?”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Frieze said.
“You two are both cute,” Kaito said to the girls, who had been looking at him with blank, confused expressions. “If I had seen a couple of cute girls like you naked, then surely my face would be turning red talking to you right about now.”
Both of them began to blush at suddenly being called cute.
“R-Really? You think...that I’m cute?” asked Oltea.
“Not just my ears, but me? You think I’m cute?” asked Frieze.
“You’re both cute. In fact, if I were about ten years younger, I’d probably be trying my best to get your attention,” Kaito said.
“But you are young, Kaito! You look like you’re sixteen!” Oltea said.
“Yeah, what Oltea said! Kaito, you look the same age as me!” Frieze shouted.
“Thank you, I’m happy to know you think I look young,” Kaito said. His quick-witted charm had earned a bright smile from each of them. Tigaro felt confident that the girls would use what they had learned today as an incentive to practice restraint when drinking in the future, so in the end, the crisis had turned out all right.
“Finally feeling relieved has honestly made me kinda sleepy...” Oltea said.
“We woke up pretty early today. Tomorrow is an early start as well. We should probably get to bed,” said Kaito.
“Agreed. I hope nothing happens in the Great Forest tomorrow...” said Oltea.
“There’s nothing for it but to pray that we don’t get attacked by devil flies,” Frieze said. Both of them wore anxious expressions. In truth, Kaito had already told Tigaro that he planned to carry out the investigation himself, but she intended to keep that secret safe. They were terrified of the mission, but they wouldn’t want Kaito to brave the danger alone. It was his worry that if they knew he intended to go solo, Oltea and Frieze would surely insist on tagging along.
The two of them weren’t children, though. Tigaro had said as much to Kaito, arguing that they would understand his intentions if he just communicated, but he had replied that he didn’t want them to be worried while he was gone. That was why he planned on leaving early in the morning and returning before Oltea and Frieze woke up.
The pieces were in place: it was already the small hours of the morning, and what’s more, Oltea and Frieze had both had enough to drink that, provided no one roused them, they would be soundly asleep until noon.
“Good night, everyone,” Kaito said.
“Good night,” the others replied in unison.
Tigaro, Oltea, and Frieze stepped out into the dimly lit hallway. Tigaro parted ways with the other girls and walked the corridor until she came to her assigned chambers. She was about to enter when something stopped her.
“Hmm?” Feeling someone’s gaze on her, she turned around. The passageway was long, and its many recesses swallowed up what little light there was. If anyone was there, they were too shrouded in darkness to be seen.
Maybe I’m just imagining things, she told herself and turned her eyes away. She entered her room. It’s so dark in here, she thought. Moonlight was streaming in through the window, but compared to Kaito’s room, it felt downright gloomy.
It had been a long time since she had been in a room quite so dark. At Kaito’s house, the light in her room stayed on until he came to turn it off for her just before she slept, something Monstro hadn’t once done for her.
The kitchen and bath remained well lit late into the evening, but not the maid’s rooms. Those were pitch-black once darkness set in. Still, she’d had a room to herself, a clean bed to sleep in, delicious food every day, a wonderful bath to enjoy, and two gold coins to look forward to at the end of each month.
There was no doubt that Kaito was the kinder of the two, but...
Monstro...might not be such a terrible guy after all, she thought to herself. Of course, she could never forgive him for raising a hand against her friend, but Chestnut herself seemed not to hold a grudge, and Monstro had apologized to them both.
True, the man had a quick temper, but that kind of short fuse often came from sleep deprivation. His lack of sleep, of course, was the result of being so busy in the kitchen. The man worked so hard on the food that it was a detriment to his health, and yet still he treated his maids to the leftovers. There were women who had been dangerously thin upon their hiring who, after a few months in Monstro’s employ, had begun to look healthy again.
He sent someone all the way to the royal capital just to apologize to me and then treated us all with such hospitality when I came back. It was thanks to him that I was able to send money back to my parents too... I shouldn’t be so harsh. I need to stop holding such enmity toward him.
With her feelings sorted, Tigaro crawled into bed. It had been a momentous day, full of excitement. With everything having only recently come to an end, she hadn’t had time to get all that tired. Still, after only a short time lying there, a feeling of fatigue began to slowly settle over her. Bit by bit, her drowsiness mounted until she finally fell asleep.
Almost.
In an instant, Tigaro’s consciousness was revived. She gasped wordlessly. Something heavy weighed on her stomach, and pressure was being applied over her mouth. Her eyes jolted open and panic set in as the source of her sleep’s disturbance came suddenly into view: Monstro, a knife clutched tightly in his right hand as he stood over her.
“Huh?!”
The moment she laid eyes on the blade, glinting in the moonlight, the blood drained from her face. She desperately tried to escape, wriggling her body in his grasp, but Monstro didn’t yield an inch to her efforts. He pressed down on her mouth with incredible force as he restrained her. Pain mingled with dread and terror, all of it coming out as tears.
“I’m so sorry, Tigaro. I’m sorry, but you have to die.”
“Mmm! Ngghm!”
“I’m so sorry... I’m sorry...” said Monstro, raising the tightly gripped knife.
Tigaro squeezed her eyes shut. One second passed, then two, then three...
The pain never came. Fearfully, Tigaro willed her eyes to open.
Monstro’s face was contorted into a chaotic, terrible expression. He looked like he could burst into tears at any moment. The knife, still held high above his head, was repeatedly trembling back and forth in his increasingly shaky hands. And then—
“I-I... I can’t do it. I can’t kill you,” Monstro said, his thin and feeble voice trailing off as his right hand became limp and fell to his side. The strength holding his left hand forcefully over her mouth likewise began to drain away.
Tigaro seized the moment and immediately shoved Monstro away. Once free, she bolted for the door and, almost falling over, threw herself through it and out into the hallway.
She screamed the name of the one man she could count on: “Kaito! Kaito!” She made for the room two doors down from her own, calling for him all the while, and burst into it.