Chapter 234 - 234. A Grand Spectacle, and the Events That Transpired in Sam Eim
Marmie’s expression rarely changes. She always maintains the prim and proper look of a doll. When she’s happy, the corners of her mouth lift ever so slightly; when she’s angry, her brows furrow just a touch. I don’t know if it’s a personal trait or a result of her upbringing in House Starunion.
I had always hoped that one day I would get to see her face alight with a rich variety of emotions. But I suspected that if I teased her the way I did Fam or Mizuki, she might get genuinely angry. I couldn’t predict how she would act in that situation.
And now, after we had finished breakfast and returned to our room, Marmie was wearing an unusually stern expression.
“...Why must I be subjected to this...?”
A deep wrinkle had formed between her brows. Her shoulders were trembling.
Beside her, Mizuki was crouched down, her face buried in her hands. Through the gaps in her long hair, I could see her ears were flushed bright red.
“I want to die...”
Maira was gently patting her on the back.
“Mizuki, you should have known what kind of person Mash is. You had chances to turn back.”
Her words hovered somewhere between consolation and provocation.
“I had no such chance! He kissed me right after we met, and when I locked my door and went to sleep, he attacked me!”
“Were you really sleeping?”
“I was sleeping!”
She had been wriggling around, but I figured she was just having a restless night.
Amidst the commotion, I put my arm around the shoulder of the one person watching the video on the smartphone with unconcealed disgust: Marmie. The footage playing was, of course, my activities with Mizuki from last night. With each replay, the wrinkle between her brows deepened.
“Watch closely. Witness the power of the anal cleaner as it purifies Mizuki’s rear orifice.”
It was truly a grand spectacle that had me on the edge of my seat.
“...Mash, are you planning to do this sort of thing to me as well?”
“When you’ve grown up a little more. This is your mother’s dream and hope, after all.”
“...Mother, what on earth were you thinking...?”
“You don’t like the idea? You don’t want to do it?”
“...When you ask it like that, I can only say that I don’t dislike it. I think I understand now what Mizuki must have been feeling.”
“If you’re thinking she only offered herself up because she thought I’d be cold to her otherwise, you’re mistaken. Mizuki was curious. Look at the video. Is that the face of someone who’s hating it?”
I replayed the scene of Mizuki crying out as I thrusted into her. Her lovely voice echoed from the speaker.
“You’re not wrong, but you’re still wrong!” Mizuki shouted.
Beside her, Marmie picked up the anal cleaner from the desk with a look of utter revulsion.
“It’s completely purified, so it’s not dirty at all! It doesn’t even smell, see?”
“Gahhh, stop it!”
Mizuki suddenly shot to her feet, snatched the anal cleaner from Marmie’s hand, and tried to throw it out the window. I hurriedly grabbed her arm to stop her.
“I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to stab Mash with this, and then stab myself!”
“Wh-Whoa, stop! You can’t stab someone with that. The only thing you can insert it into is your own anus!”
“Sh-Shut up! The way I feel right now, I know I can do it!”
A red light glinted in Mizuki’s eyes. She was serious. Naturally, I had no desire to be stabbed to death by something like that.
I managed to restrain the flailing Mizuki as she swung the anal cleaner around and finally got it back from her.
“So, I need the three of you—Moos, Petra, and Aidan—to figure out how this thing works and devise a spell to get us to the ‘World of the Sacred Oil Jar.’”
Mizuki was collapsed on the floor, her shoulders shaking. Catching my own ragged breath, I placed the anal cleaner back in Marmie’s hand.
“...Fine. But I don’t want anyone to know that you received this from my mother.”
“Why not? It’s something to be proud of...”
It seemed there was a deep-seated conflict between Marmie and her mother.
Marmie and Maira took the anal cleaner and left for Aidan’s workshop. If things went well, we could be back in Migul by tonight.
Mizuki and I left the inn with Fam and Sam Eim. We had no particular destination in mind.
The purpose was to get information about Yuuki and his group from Fam and Sam Eim. I felt that if we stayed in the room, I’d end up pestering Mizuki all day, so I decided we should just talk while taking a walk through the city.
Soon, we passed the spot where the tent where I had bought Fam once stood. It was still just an empty lot. Beyond it, the high castle walls loomed. The sturdy stone ramparts separated the world inside the city from the one outside. It was a stark reminder of the reality that had torn Fam and Sam Eim’s village apart—the saved and those who continued to suffer. Yet, safety for the saved was not guaranteed. They would never be able to forget what happened to their village.
Fam, too, was staring intently at the traces of the tent. A dark shadow fell over her downcast eyes.
“Having traveled with you, Master, I understand now. I believe the slave trader was heading for the Imperial Capital. But the further one travels toward the capital, the stronger the discrimination against other races becomes…”
She was just like me. Through my travels, I had also begun to see this world more clearly.
I didn’t know how many of her villagers remained unsold and were taken to the capital. Those left would be bought as cheap labor and sent to even harsher environments.
“Fam… I say that I’m with you, but I’m not truly standing by your side.”
“There is no need for you to apologize, Master. You have done nothing wrong. I cannot pursue my people right now, either. But I’m sure…”
Fam clenched her fists. Sam Eim’s hand came to rest gently on hers.
“Let’s see if we can get Maira to send out a call from the church.”
It might be hypocrisy. There were surely countless others in similar situations, and I couldn’t save them all. I could only scoop up what landed in the palm of my hand.
“Master, may Sam and I be the ones to ask my sister about that?”
I nodded at her words.
“So, Sam Eim, how did you end up meeting Yuuki-senpai?” Mizuki asked, guiding the conversation back to its original topic. We started walking toward the castle gate.
Fam glanced at Sam Eim, who gave a small nod.
“The first person to buy her as a slave was Clovis Leafclout. It seems two others were bought along with her.”
“Did you know them?”
“Master, the settlement I lived in was a small place. There was no one I didn’t know.”
“R-Right. My apologies.”
“I told you, Master, there is no need for you to apologize!”
Her sharp tone made me flinch. Fam frowned at me and averted her gaze.
It seemed I was liable to say the wrong thing and rub Fam the wrong way. I glanced at Mizuki, who nodded, so I decided to let her handle it.
“After that, Sam Eim and the others had something like a magic circle carved into their bodies. They were then forced to explore a dungeon.”
Fam continued her explanation.
“Something like a magic circle? Is that what the church removed for you?”
Sam Eim nodded in response to Mizuki’s question.
“Then, one of them… in the dungeon… and the other was badly injured and sold to someone else. We believe the buyer was likely someone from House Wanland.”
And that was how Marianne came to know of Sam Eim. She had tried to take Sam Eim in as well, but Clovis had refused.
“Sam was taken in by Yuuki and joined the Messiah party. Clovis provided her with food, clothing, and shelter. She acted on Yuuki’s orders, primarily serving as a scout. Her role was to ambush parties of transported individuals and lure them out for Yuuki and the others.”
In Migul, there was Hyakka’s party, New World; Takemura’s party, Neko no Ko Koneko; Rinko’s party; Ko-kun, also known as Toratsuna; and according to the guild, one other party. The Messiah party had been fighting with New World, Rinko’s group, Toratsuna, and presumably the party we hadn’t yet met.
“What happened to the transported individuals they fought?”
“They apparently wiped out two groups. There are other parties they haven’t settled things with, and when we saw Sam Eim, it seems they were pursuing one of them.”
It seemed that at that time, she had been looking for Rinko’s group.
“Wiped out? You mean, in the year or so since Sam Eim joined them?”
“She joined the party about three months ago.”
Mizuki and I both gasped at her words. Just how many transported groups had they defeated?
They were supposed to have been told to defeat the people summoned by the five goddesses. And yet, so far, the victims had all been people summoned by other gods. What could that possibly mean?
“So, what is Yuuki-senpai trying to do?” Mizuki asked.
“I… do not know. But, while this is not Sam’s answer, I do not like people who attack others, for any reason…”
Sam Eim’s shoulders trembled as she lowered her head. Had she been forced to lay a hand on some of them herself?
“You were angry just because Mash was attacked, weren’t you?”
“Master is special. I believe both you and Master share my way of thinking,” Fam said, turning her face away from Mizuki. Mizuki fell silent as well.
“I want to hear about the other transported individuals. First off, what’s Yuuki’s partner like?” I asked in Mizuki’s place. It was the small one who put up the barrier that blocked Racshell’s arrows and charm effect.
“Her?”
“Her?”
Fam and Sam Eim nodded in unison at my question.
“It’s a girl. I think she’s even younger than Moos. She seems to be alone most of the time.”
“Does she not get along with Yuuki?”
“I rarely see her speaking with Yuuki. I’ve heard that other members sometimes kick or punch her, but he never stops them.”
Could that be right? Or was she perhaps the partner of a different transported individual? Besides, Yuuki had said he’d been in this world for six years. If she was younger than Marmie, that would mean she was under six years old when she arrived. I shook my head, thinking it impossible. What kind of relationship did Yuuki and this girl have?
“What’s her name?”
“It’s ‘Oi.’”
“‘Oi’? As in nephew? Then wouldn’t it be a boy? I’ve never heard of anyone with that name back in our world…”
“Is that so? But it seems that everyone calls her Oi.”
Fam glanced at Sam Eim, who nodded in confirmation. A nickname, perhaps?
“Well, I get it. So, when we fought, our attacks were stopped by a barrier. Is that Oi’s power?”
“Yes,” Fam replied to my words.
“It’s the effect of her special skill, [Pretty Body]. It’s an ability that eliminates anything that interferes with her prettiness.”
“Hold on. I feel like I’ve heard that name before… And how do you know so much detail?”
I pressed my thumb to my forehead. Was it on the list of special skills Racshell showed us? That didn’t make sense either. Special skills couldn’t be acquired by more than one person. Since Mizuki and I were latecomers, any skills that were already taken shouldn’t have even appeared as options for us.
“Master, it was on the list of special skills Lady Racshell gave us, but it was blacked out. You made a strange noise when you read it, which piqued my curiosity, so I looked into the details of the ability myself.”
“That’s right. I remember now…”
“[Pretty Body], [Pretty Smile], and [Pretty Medical].”
Hearing Fam’s words made me want to clutch my head. We were struggling against someone who chose these special skills?
“[Pretty Smile] is an ability that charms people with a pretty smile, and [Pretty Medical] is an ability to heal in a pretty way. Incidentally, Sam says her wounds from Lady Racshell’s arrows were healed by [Pretty Medical].”
Sam Eim made an L-shape with her index finger and thumb, then flipped it in front of her face with a gesture suggesting a sparkle. Her expression, however, remained unchanged, devoid of any sparkle whatsoever.
“Damn it… just hearing about this makes me feel like an idiot for fighting so seriously.”
She sounded like a back-line support who would never be on the front lines. But unless we found a way to overcome her [Pretty Body], Marmie’s magic wouldn’t get through. And that would mean we’d have to rely on Racshell’s unrestrained attacks.
“You mentioned there were other transported individuals in their group.”
Fam shook her head at that.
“I don’t know who among them are transported. Aside from dungeon exploration, Sam was confined to the Leafclout estate and seems to have had almost no contact with anyone who might have been an ally outside of her party members.”
Sam Eim stopped walking. I turned to look at her, and she looked up with a start before beginning to walk again.
“Any information on Isaac?”
Fam shook her head.
Before I knew it, we had passed through the gate and were outside the city walls.
In the end, we hadn’t obtained much useful information. Sam Eim had been treated as Yuuki’s slave and clearly hadn’t been involved in the party’s decision-making. Still, the pained look on her face when Fam spoke about the other transported individuals bothered me. Was she hiding something? But I couldn’t see any reason for her to do so.
“However, it seems Sam knew about Mizuki.”
“What do you mean?”
Startled, Mizuki looked at Sam Eim.
“Sam says Yuuki had a picture… well, what she calls a photograph. Apparently, both Yuuki and Mizuki were in it.”
Before they were transported, he had asked her on a date. They must have been attracted to each other.
A sense of unease washed over me.
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