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#092. Crying Woman (2)
─Oh my, a cute guest has arrived. Where did you come from?
Someone hugged Nero from behind.
The voice was not clear because the senses were not perfectly shared.
A voice that sounds like it’s drowning in water.
Also, because of the hugging position, I couldn’t turn my head to see the other person’s face.
─I’m sorry, but this is a place you shouldn’t enter. I’ll have to find a way out.
Crackle─ Crackle─
My vision moved forward, accompanied by the sound of footsteps echoing through the hallway.
Meanwhile, Nero remained quiet and showed no sign of resistance.
‘… First of all, he’s not a bad person.’
It was said that animals have a supernatural sixth sense that allows them to distinguish between good and evil people.
I’m not sure if that’s the feeling I’m getting through Nero right now, but I have a strong feeling that the other person isn’t a bad person.
Squeak──
The front door of the mansion opened and the view changed into the garden.
The distant gate drew closer as I walked.
Ray opened his eyes and said as his senses desynchronized.
“I think it would be okay to meet the owner of the mansion.”
There was a person who caught my eye.
Red. Wizard. Female.
A voice with a familiar tone.
The odds of such a coincidence occurring were slim, but all the clues pointed to one possibility.
*
“oh.”
The woman stood up with a gentle smile, her back straight and her shoulders bent.
He said this as he watched Nero climb over the bars and throw himself at Ray’s feet.
“I didn’t know that the little gentleman I saw at the bookstore was a wizard.”
A polite and gentle smile.
He didn’t show any sign of surprise.
As expected, this woman realized that Nero was a servant.
“What brings you here? This is a remote place, not a place where gentlemen and ladies would be likely to visit.”
The woman’s smiling eyes scanned the group.
Philip seemed quite shocked to learn that the owner of the mansion was the woman he had met at the bookstore.
Veronica also couldn’t completely hide her wariness, having heard that her opponent was a wizard.
Ray stood up and asked.
“I have something to ask you.”
“What are you curious about?”
“My friends disappeared. I was wondering if you knew anything.”
A direct question.
The woman and the boy’s eyes met.
Although Ray was the one with the expressionless face, it was the woman’s smiling face that gave off a cold feeling.
As time passed in a strange tension, the woman spoke with the corners of her lips raised.
“Has everyone eaten? We were just about to have lunch.”
*
Four pairs of footsteps broke the silence of the hallway, spreading out like waves.
Crackle─ Crackle─
A pair at the very front.
Hit— Hit—
A pair in the middle.
Knock─ Knock─ Knock─ Knock─
And the two pairs at the very back.
“The lights are all out.”
“Well… I guess you can maintain a mansion like this without having to worry about money.”
At the very back, Veronica and Philip looked around and whispered cautiously.
As the two said, all the lights in the mansion were turned off.
Sunlight poured in through the windows along the wall, so it didn’t seem to interfere with activities much, but there was no reason to turn off the lights.
Moreover, the further we walked into the mansion, the fewer windows there were.
This also means that the amount of light illuminating the interior is reduced.
The vision became increasingly blurry, giving the feeling of being sucked into a dense forest.
“It wouldn’t be strange if something like a ghost appeared.”
“I told you there’s no such thing as ghosts?”
At that time, Philip and Veronica were bickering in small voices.
Ahahaha─! So… Haha─!
Hehehe─! Yesterday… I… Hehehe─!
A dozen or so laughter could be heard from across the hallway.
The voices that Ray heard when he shared his senses with Nero.
——————
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Philip and Veronica, who had not yet been informed of the fact, were shocked and fell silent.
And then, with a slightly timid look, he followed Ray diligently.
The place we arrived at was in front of a restaurant.
The woman opened the restaurant door with a powerful gesture.
“Welcome, ma’am!”
“I’ve been waiting for you! Come on, let’s start eating together!”
My vision brightened with the sound of a bright and cheerful welcoming voice.
I narrowed my eyes and looked at the place where a large table was sitting.
A rectangular banquet table.
Around the prepared banquet were 18 children, including Petro, who had disappeared yesterday.
Behind the empty space at the end, a huge arched window poured in a lot of sunlight.
“Madam, please sit down!”
“I put the fork and knife back in their proper places! Just like the table manners we learned last time!”
The children spoke to the woman eagerly.
He didn’t even glance at Ray and his group, but it seemed like he was focusing all his attention on the woman rather than intentionally ignoring them.
“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. I’m sure you’re all hungry.”
The woman who walked forward with a smile made eye contact with each child and spoke.
“We’ll start eating right away. But before that, I have some friends I’d like to introduce to you.”
The woman looked back at the group.
Along with him, 18 pairs of eyes looked at the group at the same time.
“This kind of attention… especially from men, is burdensome.”
“… I, I’m a little scared.”
Philip and Veronica gulped at the piercing gazes.
“These are the friends who will be joining us for dinner today. Maybe you know some of them. Please welcome us.”
Clap clap clap clap clap──!
“Nice to meet you! It’s my first time seeing you. What street are you from?”
“Come in! You’re so handsome!”
Amidst the outpouring of welcome, the group followed the woman inside.
“Joseph and Hormel, can you move over to the side for a moment? I’d like to talk to some new friends today.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Okay, ma’am!”
An empty seat at the end of the window, presumably the seat of a woman.
The children sitting diagonally next to him suddenly got up, picked up their utensils and trays, and moved to another place.
The group followed the woman and sat down.
“I think you have a lot of questions, but should we talk about it while we eat?”
“… … .”
Ray looked at the emotions contained in the woman’s bowl.
Anger, hatred, regret, sadness.
The types and distribution of emotions that filled the bowl were no different from what I saw in the bookstore.
Ray’s doubts still remained.
‘Why doesn’t it explode?’
If it was that much emotion, it should have exploded and erupted a long time ago.
Because emotions are something that builds up and eventually explodes.
Of course, there were cases where emotions did not explode but filled the entire bowl.
‘Like when I injected artificial emotions into Skye.’
But that was a special case, one that followed the emotions carefully and meticulously over time.
There was also some emotional release, such as lightly touching objects on the table.
‘Besides, the accumulated material desires gave off a very static feeling.’
It’s like cheese that’s hardened and packed tightly together.
But the woman’s feelings were different.
All kinds of emotions were swirling around inside the bowl like heated air.
A state in which it is not strange for emotions to explode at any time.
‘But how on earth…?’
How do you maintain that calm appearance?
Dalgrak.
While Ray was lost in thought, the woman picked up the dishes first.
Dalgrak. Dalgrak.
Then the children also started eating.
Not the sloppy way that one gets used to from living on the streets, but the neat way using a fork and knife.
Just as table manners were observed, conversation was also conducted in a calm tone.
‘Come to think of it, everyone’s clothes are also neat.’
‘I guess my wife changed everything for me.’
Philip and Veronica, who had been exchanging glances, looked at Ray.
Everyone has started eating so I guess I should follow along, but is that okay?
Ray nodded.
The woman’s bowl was full of negative emotions, but they were not directed at me.
It meant that there was no reason to mess with food.
With Ray’s permission, Philip and Veronica also began to eat slowly.
Dalgrak- Dalgrak-
“We followed the red light.”
Ray took the initiative in starting the conversation.
“I see. I was careful not to surprise people.”
His expression didn’t seem like that of someone who had been caught like that.
The woman parted her lips with a soft smile.
“I have been living here for the past 10 years. For recuperation.”
The story that followed didn’t contain much information.
Her name is Lenia, she is a 2nd circle wizard, and she has been rescuing street children recently because she feels sorry for them.
“I had a bad accident before. I felt like my world was falling apart, and I didn’t leave the mansion for a long time. But I’ve recently gotten over that sadness. Now I’m spending happy days with these kids.”
The woman looked at the children with a loving smile.
Meanwhile, a certain kind of emotion was actually swelling up greatly in her bowl.
Mana with a pale vermilion hue like warm sunlight.
That was the feeling people called maternal love.
Ray listened to the story and observed Philip and Veronica’s reactions.
“… … .”
Philip had a somewhat blank look on his face, and it wasn’t hard for Ray to guess why.
‘I think it’s because you said it was 10 years ago. Philip said it was 10 years ago that he separated from his mother.’
Philip already knew that Madame Lenia was not his mother.
But at the mention of 10 years ago, the possibility of ‘maybe’ seemed to come back to mind.
And Veronica.
“You said it was a rescue. Did you ask the children’s doctors─”
I swallowed my words quickly as I asked a question.
It was because the children who were eating right now had such happy faces.
A happy face like that, something I would never have made while living on the streets.
“… … .”
Veronica was silent.
After that, questions about each other were asked calmly around the table.
“The necklace is very pretty.”
Ray asked about the necklace to get a clue about Murkred.
“May I ask where you stayed before?”
Philip asked a question that was full of foolishness.
“How exactly did the idea of rescuing children come about?”
Veronica asked about the children.
But none of these questions received a satisfactory answer.
Because whenever a specific question was asked, the woman skillfully avoided answering it.
“Then what kind of life do the children have here…?”
“The little girl is really pretty. She looks like a doll. When she grows up a little, she’ll make a lot of guys cry. Hehe.”
“Oh, no. I, I’m pretty… hehe.”
“But my hair is really damaged. I guess that’s inevitable when you travel a lot. Do you have any good tips? Would you like to hear them?”
“Yes! Okay! Just a moment… Something to write down… Hot?!”
Veronica, who had been working hard to become a squeaker and taking out her notebook, suddenly came to her senses.
It was like this.
When you come to your senses while having a conversation, the previous question has already been forgotten.
‘Wow, is this the speaking skills of an adult?’
Veronica felt a huge wall between her and the woman that she could not overcome.
I looked at the Rainbow Expedition negotiator who could help me overcome this difficult situation.
“… … .”
Philip stares at the woman with a blank expression.
Unfortunately, Philip, who was supposed to be the one roasting the opponent, was temporarily out of order.
“That’s amazing. A wizard at such a young age. I started using magic around the same time, but I didn’t know how to use ministry magic.”
The woman was very interested in the fact that Ray and Veronica were wizards.
Ray in particular was asked more questions than Veronica.
Meanwhile.
“Oh, come on, I forgot to bring you some tea after dinner. Could you wait a minute?”
The woman left the room for a moment.
The door closes.
The moment the sound of footsteps faded away.
All the dishes that had been moving calmly stopped, and the small laughter that had been spreading ceased.
Eighteen pairs of eyes were staring straight at the three people in the group.