Chapter 14: Girl, Schemes
CLOUDS drifted over the blue moon, scattering shafts of light over the red fields. Oswald enacted their plan as the tepid winds played with the hem of his jacket. The elusive ball masked their presence extremely well, but it didn’t turn them invisible. Risk of discovery increased with every move, and speaking was a dead giveaway.
So master and apprentice decided on a set of hand signals. Oswald signaled for Nichika to come after he checked around the corner. Her quiet sprint over was ruined by slipping on a pebble. She flapped her arms and narrowly managed to avoid the epic fail of falling flat on her face.
Relieved, she looked up to find her exasperated master rubbing circles in his temples… That wasn’t one of their predetermined signals, but the meaning was clear. She stuck out her tongue and received a flick to the forehead.
Now was seriously not the time for them to start a fight.
They made sure no one was around before slowly opening the front door and slipping inside the mansion. A dim and dark corridor split to the left and right. They snuck up the wide staircase directly in front of them and headed to the deepest section of the west wing. Fortunately, they didn’t pass anyone on their way to the guest room on the second floor. After confirming that no one was there, they quickly slid inside and exhaled.
“We snuck in surprisingly easy,” Nichika whispered. “I thought there’d be more servants.”
“Doesn’t seem like the place is cleaned much… Maybe they don’t have the means to employ servants.”
They chatted as they searched high and low. Nichika didn’t even fuss about them breaking and entering. She would have stoutly refused rummaging through someone else’s house before, but now she moved without even questioning it. Wolfie being taken prisoner—at least, that’s what she thought had happened—was a piece of it, but it was also a fact that her master was slowly rubbing off on her.
Nichika swept her eyes around the room for the second time. It was a typical fancy room with a luxurious canopy bed, sofa, and table set. Did the other door lead to a washroom? She pinched what she found while examining the exotic red rug and held it up for Oswald.
“Oswald! Look at this.”
It was a tuft of stiff, tough brown fur. Oswald frowned at the familiar color and texture.
“Isn’t this Wolfie’s fur?” Nichika asked, almost positive it was.
“…Those guard furs are definitely his.”
Then that settled it: the fake Spirit Priestess had kidnapped Wolfie, after all. Why hadn’t he run away though? Could he not get away? And why wasn’t he in the room?
The questions racing through Nichika were interrupted by the echo of footsteps coming down the corridor. From the sound of it, there were probably two people walking in this direction.
“N-Not good!”
“Hide!”
Obeying Oswald’s quiet instruction, Nichika crawled underneath the bed. The door clicked open when she opened her mouth to complain about him shoving her head down.
“Oh my spirits, you are one persistent nag! You have wholly ruined my perfect after-bath mood.”
The first thing Nichika saw from under the bed was long, slender legs ending in a pair of classy white mule slippers. The feet shuffled across the floor with the same annoyance heard in the girl’s voice, and the mattress springs squeaked. Dust rained on Nichika and Oswald’s heads.
“I understand, my lady, but what will you do if that girl was the real thing?!” Another pair of feet followed that pathetically whiny male voice.
Oswald shoved Nichika’s face into the floor when she opened her mouth to cry out upon spotting the four tawny, furry legs trotting into the room after the man.
“Hm? Did you hear something?” the fake priestess asked on top of the bed.
“Please do not change the topic, my lady!”
“Like I’ve been saying, we don’t have a problem. Even if that girl is the real deal, what can she do from prison? Besides, we have her staff.” There was the whirring sound of the magic orb attaching to the staff, followed by the girl’s entranced voice. “Hehehe. I got my hands on the perfect item right after securing a dog. What power it holds… Perhaps I should stop earning chump change now and become the real deal.”
“Lady Angelica!”
Angelica? Nichika’s eyes went round at that awfully familiar name. Could it be? It couldn’t, right?
“Haah. I should have forcefully dragged you to Elminage instead of letting it come to this… All hell will break loose if His Lordship finds out.”
The butler’s melancholy grousing caused the pair hiding under the bed to bring a hand to their aching heads. Who would have imagined that the two people they had disguised themselves as to enroll in Elminage had stolen their identities outside of school? What an ironic coincidence.
Infuriated, the spoiled young lady stomped her feet. “Shut your trap! Who in their right mind would ever enroll in that boring school?!”
Nichika was trying to figure out the next best move, when Wolfie broke his silence and began snuffling.
“Huh. Could this smell be…?”
Nichika stiffened under the bed. Their wolf friend was an acknowledged genius at incorrectly reading the situation. He was extremely capable of barreling toward the bed, wagging his tail. Praying he didn’t, she stayed perfectly still.
“Didn’t I order you not to speak without permission?!” Angelica’s critical voice sliced the air, stopping the wolf from coming any closer. “You must not want to eat again!”
“Noooooo! Anything but that! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please fowgive meeee. I can’t take another day without fooooood!” Wolfie whimpered.
Nichika sympathized with the whimpering wolf. Okay, so he was threatened into not running away. The way Oswald pressed his hand against his forehead conveyed his internal oath to “whack some sense into that dork later.”
“Fine, fine,” Wolfie murmured, his bushy tail falling flat against the floor. “You’re Lady Angelica, he’s your butler Will, and I’m your pet Jon. I’ll fall in line, so feed meeee.”
The door swung open and Wolfie hastily leapt out of the way before it could hit him in the butt.
“Oooh, Holy Maiden!” a voice so loud everyone present went partially deaf thundered into the room. “Your performance was most splendid! Your dance was truly beautiful and graceful like a swan. And your singing sounded like it descended from the heavens!”
Plump, hairy legs swept into the room while a high-pitched voice layered exaggerated praises on the sham priestess. Butler Will quickly stepped in his way before he reached the bed.
“Mayor! You mustn’t! How could you enter a lady’s room without knocking—”
“My! You watched my performance? I’m so happy!” The spoiled princess upped the pitch of her voice to a sweet, girly tone and welcomed the mayor by taking him by the hand and seating him on the sofa. “Also, I’m not a saint, but the Spirit Priestess,” she corrected in an enticing voice.
“Hahaha! There’s no difference between the two. Moreover, Holy Maiden sounds even better.”
“Ufufufu!”
The “Holy Maiden” returned several steps back to the bed and muttered under her breath, “There’s a huge difference, pig.”
Wow, this girl is two-faced… Nichika discerned in just a few minutes of listening to her.
“Holy Maiden?” the mayor suspiciously called to her back.
“Yes, yes. How may I help you?” Angelica whirled toward him and responded in her nice-girl voice. “Oh my!” she proceeded to exclaim, withdrawing another step. “You mustn’t, Mayor! I could never accept such a large sum of money…”
“No, you must. This is a token of my gratitude for putting on such a wonderful show. It would greatly honor us if you accepted these funds for your holy journey to save the world.”
“Ohohoho! In that case, I must accept your kindness so as not to be rude.”
Nichika’s eyes bulged at the wad of cash she glimpsed exchanging hands. She glanced to her right; Oswald had dollar signs in his eyes as he looked her over. Th-This guy isn’t possibly considering making me become an idol, is he?
Unaware of the delicate psychological battle taking place under the bed, the village mayor rubbed his hands together. “And so I hope you will protect this village the same way you did Windy Village,” he hinted with a sticky smile.
“You’ve got it. Leave it to the Spirit Priestess. You can expect an extra serving of protection to be granted to this village the day the goddess is resurrected.”
How can she promise that? A bunch of dust balls kicked up off the unclean floor when Nichika slapped her hand on the ground. Ah, crap. It was too late for her to stop from sneezing louder than a backfiring car.
“AHHCHOOO!”
Silence fell over the room. Nichika thought she heard the sound of her blood draining.
“Wh-Who’s there?!” Angelica’s cry reverberated through the room.
Realizing the direness of the situation first, Oswald grabbed Nichika by the collar and fled from under the bed with her. As she was being dragged away, her eyes collided with a shocked Wolfie’s. An unfamiliar yellow collar had been snapped on his neck. He barked once and jumped up and down.
“Nichika? Master?!” he exclaimed.
“Wolfie!”
The tawny wolf ran toward them but was yanked back by the leash in the butler’s hand. Nichika considered roasting the leash off with a fireball, but her master stopped her.
“How did you escape from prison?! Capture them!” Angelica wailed, causing a purple crystal to swing at her chest. But before Nichika could confirm what it was, she was tossed out the window. Oswald’s simple order stole her whole attention.
“Fly!”
“Eeek!”
Nichika unleashed the broom from her belt out of sheer instinct. They were zooming into the starless night at full speed before anyone really knew what happened.