The next day.
I had left Tiesel’s house with the assurance that we’d come back the next day at the same time and place, but since Leen didn’t return to the inn until late, I spent another day without managing to talk to her and smooth things over. That made three whole days since the incident. It was getting to the point where if I didn’t fix this soon, it would become much worse. We needed to get on the same page. With this thought in mind, I knocked on her door at around nine o’clock—the time we usually convened.
“I’ll be right there.”
I hadn’t expected a response, but Leen’s voice came from the other side of the door.
“Good morning, Hakura,” she said, opening the door.
Leen was the sort of person who ate as much as she wanted and slept as much as she wanted. She was definitely not a morning type, but to my surprise, she was ready to go, wearing her usual gaudy robe that seemed ill-suited for adventures. In her right hand was her staff, and in her left arm was her slime—like always.
“This is about the quest, right? Erifell told me about it yesterday,” Leen went on.
I couldn’t sense any anger in those green eyes of hers as she stared up at me. I could only stand there stupefied as she cocked her head.
“What’s wrong? We’re going to see our client, aren’t we?”
She was acting as if everything were normal.
“Y-Yeah,” I replied like an idiot before Leen walked past me.
What in the world was happening? Had she had a sudden change of heart? Without me having to do anything? Had time healed her wounds and caused her to no longer be bothered by it? Or perhaps the slime had managed to convince her to put her anger aside for now? No... Leen wasn’t such a reasonable person.
It was a whole new level of terror to see her acting completely normal right now. The most likely explanation was that her rage had reached such heights that she’d just completely forsaken me. I couldn’t say for sure and could only theorize as I followed behind her.
After we left the inn, Leen suddenly stopped. I did too. She turned around and asked, with confusion, “What are you doing?”
I flinched, terrified of what she might do.
“I, um...”
Leen puffed out her cheeks as I flustered. “I don’t know where the client’s house is. You need to lead the way.”
“Oh, y-yeah, right...”
There was nothing to be scared of. Leen was my boss and I was her worker. If she wanted a more businesslike relationship, then that was fine, right?
Leen led the way most of the time and so I followed her too. It felt weird to take the lead for once. My legs were longer than hers, so I needed to keep checking behind me to see if she was falling behind.
“Hm, hm, hmm...”
When I looked over at her, she seemed happy. She was even humming a little tune. There was a skip in her step. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was tremendously excited for something.
I was putting to work parts of my brain that I never used when suddenly Leen’s slime jumped from her arm and landed on my head.
“Whoa...!”
“Lad...”
The slime spoke as it wobbled atop me. It was a strange feeling to have a voice transmitted right into my head. I supposed it was using vibrations to communicate to me without Leen overhearing. This was a private conversation between us.
“Hey... What happened with Leen after you left? I know I’m in no position to be saying this, but she’s acting super weird.”
“Things have escalated, lad,” the slime answered after a long pause.
“What happened?” I asked after an equally long silence.
“After my lady went into the restaurant yesterday, she was in the worst mood I have ever seen. Think a volcano about to erupt, a river about to break its banks.”
After hearing the slime’s metaphors, I didn’t want to hear the rest. I didn’t want to, but I needed to in order to get out of this.
“Miss Sharney smoothed things over. She used every ounce of sincerity in order to do so.”
“Sharney did?”
“She reasoned that my lady was the one with whom you had an altercation with, lad. And so Miss Sharney told her that you were in the midst of preparing a wonderful present.”
“What?” I said after too long a silence.
“She said that it would be a present that my lady was sure to love, guaranteed. That you even asked Miss Sharney for advice. That she should wait until the right time. It was a thoughtful and scrupulous explanation.”
I was dumbstruck. No, no, no, no—hold on! What was Sharney doing, blabbing about all this stuff?! Why was she making my job harder? W-Well, I supposed I did have something, but I wasn’t confident I’d be able to meet her cranked-up expectations!
“After that, we went to see Miss Erifell who told my lady that you were looking for a store to buy said present from. Due to this, my lady grew ever more interested in what you could have prepared for her.”
I still couldn’t speak. The chill that ran through my body felt like I’d been assaulted by a blizzard, fell into an icy river, had scrambled out, and was being whipped by the wind while my body was still sopping wet. I finally understood what situation I was in. Leen’s anger wasn’t gone—no, it had merely been put on hold with the excitement that came from the knowledge that I had gotten something for her. If she didn’t like what I’d picked...would I die?
“Do not worry yourself, lad. I also did what best I could too.”
“Meaning...?”
“I told her how you had rushed around the marketplace and had really worked awfully hard. With a bit of embellishment, of course. I successfully raised my lady’s excitement to its absolute zenith!”
“You absolute asshole...!”
This coward had left me all alone in the lurch! The whiplash from Leen’s “good mood” if I upset her would be fatal for me!
“It was a wise move to not jump right into handing over the present first thing in the morning. My lady is looking forward to what sort of situation you will create to heighten the gift-giving process. Don’t miss your chance now, lad.”
“Why did you have to add so much unnecessary crap to this?!”
As if to indicate it was finished saying what it needed to, it leaped from my head back into Leen’s arms. She caught it with ease and increased her pace to walk next to me.
“What are the details of the quest? Erifell told me to ask you,” she said.
“Oh, right...”
Before I could fully process the bombshell that slime had just dropped, the conversation had already moved on. I kicked my brain into gear and explained the details of our quest.
“From what I could see, the carbuncle looked pretty exhausted,” I said.
“I see, I see, so that’s how it is, huh...”
I didn’t bother telling Leen about Tiesel and Sharney being former nobles or about their private lives and only mentioned the stuff that was relevant to the carbuncle’s poor health. It seemed like what I’d said had been enough for her to get the picture.
“Do you know what’s wrong with it?” I asked.
“I do. I need to see him before reaching any definitive conclusions, but I believe I’m correct.”
I’d feared Leen might snap and ask what sort of idiot would take care of a carbuncle, but she didn’t seem mad or even bothered by this—she spoke in a perfectly flat tone. If we could solve this without issue, then that would be great.
After some walking, Tiesel’s house came into view.
“Is this the client’s house? It’s rather nice,” Leen said, appraising the building as she approached the entrance.
I was happy to leave things to her if she was willing to engage with the quest.
“Hm?”
However, the next second I sensed something amiss—a sharp pain shot through the obsidian Sphere on the back of my hand. I stopped and looked around. Tiesel’s house was on the outskirts of Esma, so there was no one around. All I could see was the empty road we had just come down. Even so, I felt like we were being watched.
Ever since that strange sensation when I’d viewed Cormeca’s paintings, my Sphere had become particularly sensitive. I hoped it was just my imagination. Unfortunately, this sense seemed to function on instinct so I couldn’t really describe it with words. It was a bit annoying.
“Hakura? What is it?” Leen called out.
“Nothing. I’m coming,” I replied.
As I joined up with her, Leen lightly rapped on the door with her staff. Lazy so-and-so...
“Hellooo!”
The volume of her voice had been high enough to bring out the person inside, as Tiesel poked his head out before too long.
“Hey! Been a whole day!” Tiesel said as I raised a hand. He bowed at us, giving an awkward smile, and then looked at Leen. “I was waiting for you. My name’s Tiesel Kreyon. You’re the monster expert, are you?”
“I am. My name’s Leen Stonabel,” Leen replied with a curtsy.
Tiesel glanced over at me for a moment. It was clear what that look said: Did you two make up? I could only shrug and shake my head.
“Come inside. I’d like to treat you, but I want you to look at him as soon as possible.”
“Agreed. There will be ample time for tea later.”
I suppressed my thoughts of how shameless Leen was and followed Tiesel inside. In the living room, the carbuncle from yesterday was on the desk. It seemed like Tiesel had brought it down for today.
“Mi...foo... Mifoo... Mii...”
I’d thought it was looking better yesterday, thanks to the mana snack, but it seemed even weaker than before. Its breathing was shallow, and it appeared to be having trouble moving.
“He’s been like this since yesterday. I gave him some mana, but it’s not working,” Tiesel said.