“I hope you’ll give me a smile then, Rafi. That’ll be my reward.”

That memory floated in my mind yet again. As her smile faded from view, another took its place.

‘I’ came upon a great door. In reality it must not have been any larger than usual, but from the perspective of ‘my’ diminutive body it seemed overwhelming.

‘I’ waddled forward, getting closer and closer. No matter how much I wanted to stop, ‘I’ kept going.

‘My’ head barely reached the doorknob. ‘I’ didn’t need to take hold of it, however, for the door was already ajar.

Through the gap I could see various weapons mounted to the walls. Those details quickly disappeared from ‘my’ mind, though, as ‘I’ noticed the people standing inside.

Men stood inside, holding a woman’s body down. They held axes, hatches and saws, their inscrutable gazes firmly directed at the woman.

As ‘I’ poked my head further inside, the woman’s face came into view.

It was her.

She saw ‘me’. She smiled at ‘me’ warmly, blissfully, as if entirely at peace.

Even as her death sentence came down upon her, that smile never faded.

Not once, until her head fell from her body.

Not even as it rolled on the ground, the blood splatter reaching ‘me’, the warm liquid slowly flowing down ‘my’ face.

The second day of our search had arrived.

I woke up in the afternoon. After taking some time to prepare myself, I met up with the pious duo in the parlor. The mayor seemingly wasn’t around. Despite living in the same home, given our schedules it seemed unlikely that we would run across one another very often. He didn’t spend much time at home either; his main role seemed to have been coordinating tasks and helping the other working villagers with miscellaneous errands.

After sharing a light meal, we set off towards the Valpurga residence. While we walked, I stole a glance at Sister Rosalia. She was following along steadily, gazing at the other side of the road. She’d been clearly avoiding my eyesight for a while now. I sighed to myself.

Getting there couldn’t have taken more than five minutes. When it came to getting around, small villages like this sure were convenient. Everyone you’d ever want to meet is just right there in your grasp―makes the whole chaos of urban life feel unnecessary in retrospect.

Clack.

As we got near the house, we could hear a distinctive metallic sound. It seemed to be coming from their backyard. Taking it as our guide, we circled the building, finding the father-daughter pair of the Valpurga family together.

“Oh, if it isn’t Father Rosenkranz! Good mornin’, my good man!” Rhizanthes, seated on a tree stump with his rifle in his lap, gave that enthusiastic greeting. A few feet away, Rafi, leaning against the back of the house, turned in our direction and lightly bowed, her face covered in the shade.

“This village is really calm at this time of day, is it not?” After we exchanged greetings, Iscario made that comment to Rhizantes with a smile.

“Mm? Yeah, I s’ppose so.” He said, combing through the hairs on his chin with his finger. “Everyone’s pretty focused on their work during the day. A hunter like me’d ordinarily be out in the forest at a time like this.”

“My apologies for keeping you from your work,” Iscario bowed sincerely.

“Eh? Nah, don’t get me wrong, Father, it’s an honor to assist you!” He waved his hands around and chuckled awkwardly. Stealing a glance at Rafi again, I found it difficult to believe that she could be related to a man this effervescent.

“Well, let’s go, shall we?” With that suggestion, led by Rhizanthes, the four of us walked out of the Valpurgas’ property and onto the village’s main road, heading south. Our destination: the weapons storehouse.

Iscario had requested Rhizanthes to assist us in examining the village’s sole weapons storehouse. This was not only as an act of courtesy towards the village and their property, but also because he might provide some insight as someone in charge of the place.

“By the by, where were you yesterday morning? When we arrived at your house, you weren’t there.” While on the way, Iscario casually started questioning the hunter.

“Oh, that was an eventful morning, I’ll tell you. At about five I went out to the forest to check on the traps we set.”

T-traps? I hadn’t taken that into account. You mean if I was unlucky, I could’ve run into one of those while fleeing!?

“Five in the morning, huh?” Iscario muttered. That must have been before Rafi got there. “Did you see anyone else heading into the forest at the time?”

“No? Don’t see why anyone else would,” Rhizanthes replied incredulously.

“Why were you going there at night anyway?” I asked. “Seems pretty dangerous.”

“We usually set the traps away from the trail we use during our regular hunting trips. If too many people stomp around those parts the animals’ll get too scared, and then the traps might not work anymore. That’s why one just person gets sent to collect, usually.”

“I see… Still seems like a risk, though. Couldn’t you just send one person away from the hunting party during the day?”

“Splitting up, huh?” He chuckled to himself. “Seems like you’re underestimatin’ the dwellers of that forest.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know how you folks view it, but to us, that place is one you can’t hold back against. We might have weapons, but a wolf can easily dodge a crossbow bolt, a boar will take a couple and still charge at ya, and a bear can wipe out you an’ your weapon in a matter of seconds.” He looked down at me and smiled. “Approachin’ that place is a risk no matter what. It’s just one we gotta take.”

His frank statement left me speechless. Despite my immortality, I was no stranger to fearing a wild animal, especially considering all the strange situations I’d been dragged into by Vince. But that was always as a single individual relative to the wilderness. On some level I had completely forgotten the possibility of humans as a group ever being unable to dominate the rest of the natural world.

I really had yet to understand just what life in a tiny, secluded settlement like this really meant.

“So anyhow, we got a real bounty yesterday.” Unconcerned by my poignant silence, Rhizanthes got right back into his cheerful retelling. “A couple of critters like squirrels and whatnot, but the real lucky catch was a fox. Hadn’t gotten one of those in a looong time. So after I collected the edible parts, I ran back to town to leave the meat off to the butcher, and who d’you think I ran into? Old man Bolo! He handed some fresh veggies to me, and I gave him a cut of that fox meat in return. Hah, of course, gramps mistook me for his son Rupert as usual, but you can only clear it up so many times before you just hafta start blowin’ with the wind, you know?”

It seems he’d taken the question less as a request for testimony and more as an invitation for some lively chatter. Then again, that guileless nature made things easier for us, so I couldn’t complain.

“That mayor mentioned it before, but,” Rosalia spoke up warily, clearly choosing her words, “you really don’t use any currency, huh?”

“I suppose you must deal by bartering instead,” Iscario added.

Small communities not being integrated into the nation’s economic system wasn’t unheard of, but it had certainly become much rarer in the last few decades. It wasn’t surprising that someone as young as Rosalia would find it strange.

“I dunno about all that. We just help each other out when we need it. I’m not too bright, so you don’t gotta take me seriously, but I just don’t see why outside folk have to be so transactional. If you give someone something they need, it just makes sense they’d pay ya back when they can.”

It was a refreshingly optimistic perspective, even if it would never work in any group larger than this.

“Have you ever been outside of this village?” Iscario asked.

“Nope. Closest I got was when we strayed a bit too far into the forest and ran into some travelers crossing through. Happened a couple a’ times, actually. They always seemed a bit too cold and wary by my estimation, though,” he said, and then grunting in realization, added, “Not like you, though, y’all are some fine folks.”

I couldn’t help but smile. The man had a humble and preternaturally positive attitude that was hard to dislike. Even if I still couldn’t for the life of me understand how he could be related to Rafi. If only she was at least half as easy to read.

“Oh, and here we are.” We’d arrived at our destination. The storehouse was a little larger than the one in the forest, additionally serving as an outpost for the returning hunters to drop off their spoils and rest.

Rhizanthes and the clergy members went ahead and entered the storehouse, but as I approached the door I was hit by a wave of vertigo.

“...!” It was an instinctual reaction. My feet wobbled, refusing to take another step. It was like trying to intentionally touch a burning pot or something―even if the mind wanted to do it, the body refused to obey the instructions.

“A-ah!” Sensing a presence next to me, my head immediately shot to my left―Rafi was standing there, nonchalantly staring at the half-open door with an expressionless face. She’d been quietly following along the whole time, never joining in with her dad’s chatter. Noticing my staring at her, she turned to me inquisitively.

“…Sorry, it’s nothing.” Releasing the air from my chest, I waited for a few moments until my heartbeat slowed down. For whatever reason, seeing Rafi’s unwavering expression had helped me calm down as well. “Thank you, Rafi.”

“...?” She just tilted her head in ignorance, before walking on ahead into the storehouse. I tried to follow behind, but before being able to move on, I hesitated one last time, gazing at the door uneasily. I remember it looking a lot bigger than this.

The storehouse looked every bit the part inside. While the right wall had a table and a few chairs laid out next to it, the left wall was entirely covered in all manner of bladed weapons, like hunting knives, axes and even swords with curved blades, as well as other useful tools like ropes, bandages and backpacks. I could also see one corner where a number of crossbows were laid out, alongside a barrel full of arrows. However, notably, there were no other rifles displayed at all.

Back in the Age of Magic, people had apparently used ranged weapons capable of amplifying one’s magical power and shooting it out, but as they held no power in and of themselves, they’d lost all function once magic disappeared, becoming nothing more than museum pieces. Accordingly, people had rushed to invent new kinds of weapons that could fill their place, leading to the firearms of today.

All that to say, rifles and the like weren’t a particularly rare find these days, and they certainly seemed like a must-have for a hunter.

“Are the other rifles perchance being used by the hunters out on duty right now?” Apparently thinking the same thing as me, Iscario directed that question to Rhizanthes.

“Mm? No, look―” The man went to point out the rifle in his hand, but then widened his eyes like a light bulb had turned on in his head, and then started laughing. “Hahaha, I get it, where y’all come from you probably have a bunch of these lying around, eh? But our humble little town only has one, see.”

“Eh?” I exclaimed. “There’s only one rifle?”

“Yup,” he casually said. “I was doin’ some maintenance on it, so the other boys’re probably stuck usin’ the crossbows today.” A crossbow might have been a functional weapon, but no matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem as efficient to use while hunting.

“Right,” the priest murmured as if a piece had fallen into place. Seeing me still befuddled, he added, “According to the mayor, there’s very little trade going on between this village and the outside, remember? They probably can’t afford more than one rifle. Even if they could, then they’d also have the additional expense of purchasing more gunpowder.”

“Father Iscario’s totally right,” Rhizanthes affirmed, unbothered. “That’s why we tend to stick with stuff that our own blacksmith can make.”

“Um, how many hunters are there in this village anyway?” I cautiously asked.

“Ten, includin’ me.”

“And are you their leader or something?”

“Huh? What makes ya think that?”

“Oh, it’s just that, I figured you must have some authority if they let you hold onto the only rifle.”

“Ahh, haha, I see.” Rhizanthes gave a knowing chuckle. “That’s not really how we do things here, y’see. There’s no real chief or leader, we all just work together. I just happened to have it this time, but we all share it when needed.”

Nodding in understanding, I turned my attention back to the storehouse. We sifted through it for a while longer, but didn’t find anything else that seemed relevant to the case.

Well that went nowhere, huh?

As we walked away from the weapons storehouse, I thought about offering that milquetoast icebreaker, but the words got caught in my throat. The awkward tension between us and a lingering sense of anxiety stopped me in my tracks.

After we finished our business at the weapons storehouse, Rhizanthes stayed behind, intending to return to his regular duties. The four of us turned back towards the city.

Huh? Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a writhing shadow among the field’s greenery. As I squinted at it, its shape slowly became more distinct, until I finally realized its identity: it was the old man from the previous day, Bolo Bolobo.

“Isn’t that old man Bolo over there?” I pointed out. “He’s still working the fields, huh?” As he swung around his hoe, the bandaged man looked like a wilted reed blowing in the wind. No matter how you looked at it, he seemed way too old and weak to still be doing this kind of work.

But when I pointed that out, Rafi slowly shook her head and said, “...There’s no way to convince him not to work.”

Putting a hand to his chin, Father Iscario remarked, “I suppose that’s how it is for some people. Your true calling is one you can never retire from, so long as you live,” he explained. “I know my role in this world is to abide by and spread our teachings, and I know I’ll never truly part with it.”

“So working hard on a job you’re passionate about is a joyous thing then, huh?” I mumbled. The words certainly rang true. But as I watched that ancient shadow writhe, a smile almost certainly plastered across the face I couldn’t see, I wondered if that joy was really something to admire.

I let out a sigh, shaking my head and turning away from the old man. “Well, what do I know? It’s not like I’ve ever really worked a job.”

All of a sudden, the nun and the priest simultaneously stopped in their tracks. Unable to react in time, I bumped into Iscario, who’d been ahead of me. “Ow! Don’t just stop all of a sudden. What is it?”

All of a sudden, the nun and the priest simultaneously stopped in their tracks. Unable to react in time, I bumped into Iscario, who’d been ahead of me. “Ow! Don’t just stop all of a sudden. What is it?”

Ah. At that moment it had just dawned on me that I’d made quite the embarrassing proclamation.

For the first time that day, Rosalia was looking at me, and it was a look of total disgust. Come on, don’t give me those eyes!

“Listen, don’t you see what I look like!? How am I supposed to get a proper job?”

“Betcha could’ve figured something out if you really wanted to, you leech,” the nun spat.

“Believe me, I tried, but given the age I look like, the only stuff available were apprenticeships and the like, you know. And I’ve already had to go through about five different schools in my life. I don’t wanna go through an apprenticeship on top of that, you know? People constantly talking about a future you know will never come to pass really gets on a guy’s nerves!” I didn’t know if the evident desperation in my voice made my argument more or less convincing.

“Oh really,” Rosalia said dismissively, her gaze cold.

“And hey, on the other hand, I’ve gotten pretty great at housework, you know? I don’t mean to boast, but I’d say I got at least twice as much hands-on experience as your mom, Rafi. Impressive, eh?”

“...Very impressive,” she said, giving no sign of actually being impressed. Wait, that wasn’t sarcasm, was it? No, it can’t be.

“...Whatever,” I sighed, sulking. “Let’s just drop this, okay?”

Iscario chuckled as he watched me with one eye, head turned halfway toward me. “Not very priestly behavior, to laugh at someone else’s troubles.”

“You know, Valakia, us priests will never laugh at someone that is troubled. However, laughing together with them at those troubles is the least we could do,” he said with a wink. Your self-serving sophistry doesn’t impress me, preacher.

“Forget it. More importantly, what’s the plan now?”

“We’ve checked out all of the leads that stand out, so now the time has come to engage in some classic grunt work.”

“You mean…?”

“Be happy.” Rosalia interjected. “You can finally learn what it feels like to do some actual work for once.”

And so it was decided: we would be visiting every house in the village to gather testimony.

The exact time at which the crime was committed was actually somewhat difficult to pin down. In order to ask for alibis, it was first necessary to reason out a timeframe within which the culprit had to have acted.

The first issue came down to the fact that, within the village, exact time measurements weren’t given much importance. The people there certainly didn’t own pocket watches. Clocks weren’t entirely absent; there was the clock displayed near the mayor’s house, which he’d gotten his hands on from the outside. However, it wasn’t something that all villagers felt a need to constantly check, and considering there hadn’t been any other clock to cross reference against, there was no telling whether the time it gave was accurate (in fact, upon checking against my own pocket watch, we discovered that it was a few minutes off).

Therefore, there was no way of knowing at what time exactly Rafi had arrived at the shed and when she had been stabbed. However, we did know that it must have been after five in the morning, the usual time she woke up. And we knew that I’d discovered her before the sun had come up. Considering that it was one of the late summer months, that would put sunrise at around six in the morning.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed while she was unconscious and on the verge of death. We had no way of checking the wound anymore, and my memories of it were fuzzy at best considering the shocking situation, but it was unlikely that more than fifteen minutes had passed between her stabbing and my arrival.

Taking all of that into account, and the fact that it takes about ten minutes to walk from Rafi’s house to the shed, the crime must have occurred sometime between 5:30 and 5:40 or so.

Given the village was full of early risers, that was around when people would have been getting to work. In other words, there shouldn’t have been too many people unaccounted for, so ideally we could narrow down the suspects’ list with this investigation.

Unfortunately, that step was a whole lot easier said than done.

There was an abundant amount of people to go through, of course, but that wasn’t something I could complain about―the fact that it was even feasible to interview everyone in the first place was a lucky circumstance for us. No, rather, the issue was of an entirely different nature.

“Ah! Father! Please, don’t just stand out there, come on in. I’ll treat you to something!” A middle aged woman with gaunt cheeks and hair in a bun emphatically said that to us.

“No, you really needn’t, all we have to ask are a few―” Iscario tried to politely decline the invitation with a strained smile, but…

“Nonsense, I’d be embarrassed to even step outside at all if I didn’t properly welcome you! Come now, come!”

I couldn’t help but grin. It seemed there was an area where even that suave priest couldn’t smooth-talk his way to victory.

Not that I didn’t sympathize with his frustration. I might have thought it quaint the first or second time, but by the fifth time around I was really starting to dread having to pick at stale food while listening to housewives talk about their day.

I slouched over and sighed as we finally left this particular woman’s residence, and without much useful information to speak of at that.

“This is impossible. We won’t even get through half of these houses today at this rate,” I said, before receiving a slap to the back that straightened me right up. “Ow!”

“Don’t go complaining all the time, you mosquito! You’re the reason we’re out here anyway!” Rosalia, the culprit behind my violent assault, rudely yelled as I tried to rub my stinging back.

“No…” the priest said, soberly. “He might be right. This is inefficient.” Coming to a decision, he turned to us. “We should split up. We’ll cover more ground that way.”

“Split up?” I asked, now having my back rubbed by Rafi. “How exactly?”

“Well, we seem to be the biggest reason why this is taking so long. Therefore, Sister Rosalia and I can go question the farmers out on the fields, the carpenters and fishermen down the mountain path. I can’t imagine they will drop their tasks to accommodate us, so it might be quicker that way. For now, you and Miss Rafflesia can go visit all of the houses on the east of the village. With our remaining time, we’ll endeavor to go through the west side.”

“Well, that works for me, but…”

“Hold on a minute,” the nun intervened with a strong tone. “I can’t agree to this, Father Rosenkranz.”

“What’s the matter, sister?” The priest asked incredulously.

“Obviously, I’m opposed to letting these two vampires go off by themselves! We can’t trust any information they uncover without verifying it.”

“Hey, what’s that about?” I asked, frowning at her. “What reason would we have to lie?”

“What reason? The longer this case goes unresolved, the more time you freaks have to stay kicking. That’s a clear enough reason to deceive us, if you ask me,” she said, her arms crossed.

“Oh…” Well, I couldn’t argue with that. At least not without resorting to emotional arguments, which she’d never buy from me anyway.

“I suppose you have a point there,” the priest said, looking at me idly. And then, as his gaze glided over to Rafi, he suddenly smiled, and said decidedly, “Very well then, we shall do this:

“Sister, you go with Valakia. I shall go with Miss Rafflesia.”

I froze. “Err…” The sister seemed taken aback for a moment as well.

“What,” he said, looking at us, “is there another problem?”

“N-no,” she answered. “That… should work.”

As I did my best to look away, the nun’s reluctant answer told the entire story.

“...” As we briskly traversed the small distance between houses, I stole a glance at the silent companion walking slightly in front of me. Should I try to say something? Sister Rosalia’s opinion on the matter would probably be that there was never any rapport nor any relationship in need of mending between us, and yet the awkward silence that would fall whenever we found ourselves alone kept prodding at me nonetheless.

I sighed. I wonder how it feels to not care what anyone else thinks of you. As I tried to simulate in my mind how that liberation would feel, we promptly arrived at our next destination. Not much room to breathe when going door-to-door. I’m starting to empathize with those salesmen I’d always shoo away.

Focusing on the investigation was, however, a good way to take my mind off things, so I welcomed the distraction, though perhaps not as warmly as the slender thirty-ish looking woman currently welcoming us in. Iscario’s gambit had proven somewhat effective, though―perhaps it was just Sister Rosalia’s intimidating aura, but we managed to keep things moving faster.

That efficiency unfortunately didn’t translate to better results. It might seem somewhat ridiculous for every person we came across to have a convincing alibi for our crime, but no matter who we asked, one specific term kept coming up.

“What’s the deal with this ‘exchange’ anyway?” I asked Sapria Valpurga, who just happened to bump into us as we exited the house while running an errand. We’d already figured out the gist as everyone we interviewed brought it up, but I asked her for further clarification.

“Hm? The deal?” She tilted her head in a manner reminiscent of her daughter. “It’s not much of a deal. We just exchange items between each other. Daily necessities or old clothes and all that.”

“So it’s like a flea market?” I asked, adjusting my glasses.

“Hmm, I’ve never been to a market before, but I feel like the nuance is different?” She looked up to the sky with a frown on her face. “We just go through all our possessions to see if there’s anything we don’t need and can afford to give away to someone else.”

“So it’s more like charity,” Rosalia muttered.

Sapria tilted her head again. “Well, either way, almost everyone was gathered in the square. I think everyone’s going to say the same, no matter who you ask.”

“Is there any possibility of someone sneaking out during the commotion for about half an hour?” I asked.

“Huh? I mean, anyone could walk away at any time, but at least one person would have noticed. We try to be swift so we can finish up before the early morning ends, so it would be strange for someone to just wander away.”

“Hmm.” Rosalia crossed her arms in consternation. I sympathized with her.

It wasn’t anything like a rock solid alibi―if anything, a large gathering made it more likely that someone could have been overlooked in the busy atmosphere. But proving something like that was impossible, when all we had to work with was testimony.

In other words, we were still as lost as ever. All we could do was question everyone in the hopes of uncovering some contradiction. What a mess. Did the culprit aim for this when committing the crime at that very moment?

Isn’t an exciting investigation supposed to be full of new revelations around every corner? I feel like a hamster on a wheel here. As that aimless complaint crossed my mind, something suddenly clicked. I spontaneously asked Sapria about the doubt that had just sprouted within me.

“Hey, Miss Sapria, could I ask you something―how come you don’t raise any animals here?”

“Huh?” She stared blankly at me.

Something about this village had been bugging me―it was hardly the only strange thing about this place, but it felt like there was something missing. Hunters, farmers, butchers, carpenters―but no breeders. No domesticated animals of any kind. It was a stark contrast from any rural village I’d ever been to before, where you couldn’t take a step out into someone’s yard without running into some chicken.

“W-well, from what I can tell, you get all your food either from farming or hunting.” I explained nervously. “We spoke to your husband earlier today. From the sounds of it, hunting is pretty dangerous. So I was just thinking, it would be a lot safer to domesticate animals.”

“Idiot, they said they’re self-sufficient, remember?” spat Rosalia. “If that includes buying cattle, then where are they gonna get any farm animals from? You aren’t gonna see any chickens in that forest, that’s for sure. And if they’re gonna spend half their crops on raising farm animals, they might as well eat the crops directly. It’s a lot more efficient that way.”

“I guess you’re right,” I said, scratching the back of my head. “But you know, I just thought there must be something in the forest they could try to domesticate. Even if it’s less efficient, it beats putting yourself in danger.”

“Hmph, you’re a coward and a glutton, huh?” she scoffed, looking away. “Not everyone is so desperate to gorge themselves on an animal that they’d waste their crops on it.”

What is she, a vegetarian? And you can’t attack me with that when they’re literally risking their lives to eat animals! Even though I’d addressed the question to Sapria, we’d ended up bickering about it on our own without letting her get a word in. It was quite the rude act, looking back on it, but the woman just looked at us with a cheerful, if slightly confused smile.

“Umm...” Finally getting her turn as Rosalia and I looked away from each other in a huff, she said, “I’m not sure about all that, but I remember hearing about this from the father―from Father Ixio. I still can’t quite imagine it.”

“Hm?” I said, turning to her. “Can’t imagine what?”

“Well, it’d be like if we put our neighbor in a cage and fed him as we pleased. Wouldn’t that be strange?” The middle-aged housewife said this earnestly, without any hint of trying to make some kind of moralizing argument.

“What? I mean―you’d be doing it to animals, not people,” I said, baffled.

She tilted her head at me, and then continued in an equally earnest tone. “But they’re the same as us, aren’t they?”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Well, we were all put under the same sky and are just trying to survive in whatever way we can, right?” She smiled like the morning sun.

“I… guess so.” There were a hundred arguments I could have brought up for the ‘superiority of man’, but they all seemed pointless in the moment. It’s not like she couldn’t have thought of them herself―and yet even knowing all that, she still asserted that without hesitation, as if it were a fact known plainly to all.

“Oh well, you’re people of the church, so you must see things differently from us unenlightened commoners. No need to get your head mixed up thinking about my nonsense.”

“No, uh, I’m―”

I tried to correct her misconception, but right as I began her eyes suddenly widened and, interrupting me, she exclaimed, “Ah, shoot. I can’t be chatting out here, I need to deliver this over to Gertie’s. Sorry, it was an honor to speak to you, got to go!”

And the next moment she was off.

Rosalia and I impulsively shared a befuddled gaze before, as if remembering our positions, turned away from one another again.

As we set off, I muttered to myself, “I don’t get that lady.”

“People have all kinds of beliefs,” Rosalia replied offhandedly. “I find hers admirable.”

“Is that so…?” And with that little exchange out of the way, it was time to visit another house.

As we made our way across the east side of the village, any optimism we might have had was slowly whittled down.

Even when we found a ray of hope, someone claiming that they ‘might actually not have seen so-and-so neighbor around’, that light was unceremoniously snuffed out as someone else confirmed their presence. And with no other leads outside that pattern, we’d gotten to the end of the village with net zero clues.

Well, I could at least take solace in the fact that we were almost done. The only house left to visit was a tiny dilapidated shack that looked more like a storeroom for farming implements than a home. Beyond it, we could only see the lonely church some distance away, its spire quietly overlooking the town.

Without much fanfare and just wanting to get things done, Rosalia and I approached the door. I did the honors and knocked, expecting to find some withered old man like that Bolo Bolobo on the other side.

The face that did pop out, however, totally betrayed those expectations.

“You’re…”

“Oh, hello there,” she said. “I’d tell you to make yourselves at home, but I fear that’d be asking too much.” She giggled, putting a hand to her lips―obscuring that thin, thin smile of hers.

It was Olga Eulogia.

“Um, excuse me for the rude question, but―have you always lived here?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

“No need to be discreet.” She chuckled. “I’m perfectly aware of how strange it must seem to you.”

“Er, well…” I looked away, scratching my cheek. In doing so, the shoddy wooden wall filled my vision, and I once again took notice of how small her ‘house’ truly was. All it consisted of was a small bed, a dresser, a chair and a table, upon which sat an unlit candle and nothing more. Were it not for the small window on the right side of the room, I’d have said it was no better than sleeping in that forest shed.

“To answer your question, no, I’ve only been staying here for a short while. My family used to live in a house near the village center,” she said, taking a seat on the chair and inviting us to sit on the bed. I took up her offer, while Rosalia just leaned against the door.

“Well, um, what made you move here?”

“You recall how my father is away from the village, having his illness treated, yes? As for my mother, she has been dead for many years now. I don’t have any other living relatives, so it would have just been me living all by myself in that big house.

“So, well, it was decided that it would be better for the village as a whole if another family with a stronger need for that space was to take the home.”

“Huh?” I gaped. “A-and you were okay with that?”

“It’s a perfectly reasonable request. I didn’t know what to do with all the empty space, myself. And,” she said, gazing through the window, from which you could see the church in the distance, “this place isn’t so bad either, once you get used to it.”

“...Your father―He was the one who built that shed out in the forest, right?”

“Indeed. He was a builder. He also helped build the house we’d lived in ever since I was born―as well as the one that collapsed in the rain. Among many others you see here in the village.”

“...What will you do once he comes back from his treatment?”

“Hm.” She looked into my eyes. “If he comes back, I suppose the village will once again come together to make the best decision. I’m sure we’ll find a way.”

“If?” I asked.

“I’ve heard they say that the effectiveness of any treatment also depends on the patient’s will to overcome their affliction, no?” She asked casually. “Even if he survives, my father’s illness is one that is sure to leave him unable to work for the rest of his life. Even in spite of Father Ixio’s immense graciousness, I can’t see that man wishing to live on without his work. He has nothing else beyond that.” Her composed smile never wavered.

Nothing else. I swallowed down the obvious question, fearing what the answer might have been.

“That’s not what we’re here to talk about,” grumbled Rosalia, her arms crossed.

“Ah yes, my apologies for wasting your time with chatter.” She put her palms together. “You’re here to ask about what I was up to yesterday morning, correct?”

“Huh?” Rosalia looked up at her. “How’d you…?”

“Word travels fast around here, you know? I’d wager by the time you crossed half the village, the other half was already waiting for you.”

“Wow.” Everyone had been so hospitable to us from the very beginning that I hadn’t really noticed the difference.

“I regret to disappoint you, but I probably don’t have whatever you’re looking for. I’m no different, I was also at the morning exchange, albeit without much of anything to exchange. If you want, I can direct you to a few people who can confirm that.”

“...You sure are prepared.” The nun muttered.

“I just wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.” And then, as if she’d just remembered something, Olga spoke up again to the nun facing away from her. “Ah yes, speaking of rumors―I heard you scolded the mayor quite harshly when you learned of our treatment of Father Ixio after his death.”

“Wh―Now how the hell did you hear about that?” Rosalia yelled, astonished.

“Well, when you were yelling at him, the window seemed to have been open. The next-door neighbor seemed to have heard it. And then when you angrily stormed out of the house, another neighbor saw you. That’s where the story started,” Olga calmly explained, looking somewhat amused.

“Damn…” The nun fiddled with the Luminary hanging from her neck, her cheeks slightly reddened. “You weren’t lying, shit really does spread like wildfire ‘round here.”

Olga chuckled. “I understand your feelings, but don’t be too harsh on the mayor, please. I heard he was considering resigning from his post and submitting to whatever punishment you’d have in store for him.”

“W-wait, I never said he should do anything like that! I was just venting!” Seeing the nun flustered for a change was an impressive sight. It seemed that Olga was a formidable young woman indeed.

“You should tell him that the next time you see him, then.” She paused for a moment, before looking into Rosalia’s eyes. “―But… I’m happy to have met someone that would get angry like that on his behalf. Someone who would yell over nothing more than sincere compassion for someone they’d never even met. I’m sure the father would have been happy as well. Thank you.”

Sister Rosalia stared back with her mouth agape, unsure of how to reply. Finally, she just looked away, quietly muttering “S-sure.”

Olga and I shared a knowing smile as we watched the bashful sister. Then, Olga spoke up once again, addressing both of us. “If you would not mind, I have a proposal. Once you have wrapped up your business, let us all meet at the church. I have something to show to you.”

“Hmm?” Neither Rosalia nor I could guess at her intentions, but we agreed nonetheless. Whatever it was, it couldn’t have been any less fruitful than our investigation thus far. And so, agreeing to reunite in about an hour, we left Olga’s home.

As I left the house and took note of the Sun, now low enough to almost graze the tops of the houses in front of us, I sighed audibly. A day almost over and no results to show for it. Not that I’d worked a full day’s amount of work, but the sentiment was still there.

I looked out to the north. All that there was beyond here was the church, more fields and, further in the distance, a wooden fence and gate that signaled the edge of the village. No more houses.

“Should we start on the other side t―” And then as I turned my head around to voice the question, I suddenly noticed a lanky middle aged woman standing in front of me.

Well, to be more accurate, she was standing below the frame of her open front door, looking directly at us with a wide, expectant smile.

They sure are waiting for us at this point. Can’t believe I didn’t notice it. I sent a questioning gaze to Sister Rosalia.

She just shrugged. “Might as well.”

And so with that half-hearted determination we walked up to the woman.

“Phew, I’m so glad I caught you. I heard you were out visiting everyone’s homes to bless them. It just would not do if I missed something like that,” the talkative woman went on, once we finished our routine questioning. Is that how these people see what we’re doing? I’m not sure what part of this is blessing anyone.

“I saw you went by Olga’s earlier too. Oh, I’m so glad. The poor girl really deserves it. No mother, father’s not around.”

“Yeah…” I couldn’t help but find it somewhat distasteful, talking about her like that.

“Other girls her age are already getting married, yet she’s all alone. Poor thing, wasting her youth like that.” The woman spoke, putting a hand to her cheek.

“W-what?” Her statement startled me into focus. “What are you talking about?”

“Mm?” The woman seemed confused. “Without her parents around, who’s going to pick a husband for her? Her father has to approve, but he’s in no shape to come back. She’ll spoil at this rate, the poor girl.”

I looked over to Rosalia, but her hardened expression didn’t give way to any emotion. The woman seemed liable to keep going, but we soon cut the conversation off and went on our way.

I must have been frowning, because Rosalia took a glance at me and said, “What, too much of a romanticist?”

“No, it’s not like that, it’s just…” I looked away.

“That’s how these things go in places like this, y’know. No point being surprised.” She chuckled to herself for a moment. “When I was a brat, I got determined to become a nun partly ‘cause I found the idea of getting hitched gross.”

I smiled. “Really now?” That was somehow easy to picture.

I cast my head downward again. I was well aware that marriages weren’t solely a matter of love, even among common people and especially in rural villages like this. But even so… “―I don’t know, it was just hard to listen to. She talked about her like livestock.”

“How ironic,” she said, looking ahead. “You’d think a bloodsucker wouldn’t have any issue thinking of people as livestock.”

“Come on,” I said, turning to her. “You know I’m―”

“Yeah, I know.” She sighed. “You’re not that kind of guy.”

I looked at her, wide-eyed. It was a simple acknowledgement and nothing more, and that in itself was enough to make it stick out.

We continued on in silence for a while, not looking at one another. The road was oddly empty, that same emptiness we’d felt when we first entered St. Purgatorio―it was not deserted, and yet the indications of life only drove home how lonely it was. It was a sight I hadn’t been able to register as we busied ourselves with knocking on every door.

“I…” Sister Rosalia spoke up, only to trail off. I didn’t try to prompt her. After a few moments of silent hesitation, she began once more. “You’ve lived with those humans for your entire life, right? Tell me about them.”

“Huh?” I stared wide-eyed at her.

“I’m just curious about what kind of idiot would keep a vampire for so long. Indulge me.”

As I watched her stiff back, still unwilling to face me, a wry grin crossed my face. “Fine, I don’t mind telling you. Though just so you know, this might devolve into nothing more than rambling.”

“That’s fine by me,” she said.

“Both of them must have been a little crazy from the start. If they weren’t, there’s no way they’d have agreed to a life of constantly moving and never being able to maintain long-term relationships just so they could cover for me. But that kind of life seemed to suit Vincent just fine. Even as a kid, he was the type that couldn’t sit still. It always felt like he was looking for something. Whether or not he ever found it, I can’t say.

“As for Valentina, she was basically his opposite, but in exactly the right way for them to get along. She had her sights set on exactly one thing, and her focus never wavered. If Vince was the type to always look for somewhere new, then Tina had only one place where she belonged, a place that she refused to budge away from. That place just happened to be by his side.

“And then there’s me. Somehow always stuck between them. When the other kids at the orphanage bullied me for being so pale, it was them who’d stood up for me. And I guess it must have been like a puzzle piece clicking into place. Or maybe a knot getting tangled up. We just never managed to come undone. And none of us ever tried to, either. I don’t know how it was that we became so irreplaceable to one another. By the time I realized what we’d become, I didn’t have any kind of desire to change anything. Looking back on it now, even though we’ve lived in so many places and done so many things, my life seems like a static picture. The background may shift around, but the foreground is the same. That’s how it was for years.

“When Vince died, it felt like I’d been living all those decades pointlessly―I was no more prepared to come to terms with his death than a child. Compared to me, Tina was amazing. She never once wept―not in front of me anyway. But it felt like the year she lived after that was for my sake alone. She seemed see-through, ethereal somehow, like she’d just float away if I wasn’t there to drag her down.

“And then the day came when I was no longer heavy enough.” My gaze had drifted upward as I spoke. And then, my string of words coming undone, I once again returned my eyes downward. “―I’m sorry. You asked about them, but I ended up talking about myself more than anything. I really must be a real self-centered guy.”

“...I get the picture,” Rosalia calmly replied. “Bunch of idiots”, I heard her muttering under her breath. I gave a bitter smile.

“Since Tina died, I’ve been in a daze. I have no idea how I should live without them by my side. So in that sense, maybe I should be grateful for you guys chasing me like this. It’s a way to distract myself, if nothing else.”

“I have no need for your stinkin’ gratitude.” With that typical rudeness I’d grown used to, Rosalia rebuked me. She then stopped in her tracks. Turning her head back to me at last, she uttered, “Vio Valakia, you really are a vampire through and through.”

“Hmm?” My mind still somewhat lost in memories, it was her clear declaration that brought me back to the present.

“Once you sunk your teeth into them, you never let go. Just a taste of their kindness was all it took. Like a parasite, you kept devouring that love. Greedily, greedily, until they forgot what happiness was like without you biting into it. And even now that they’ve expired, you still aren’t satisfied.” Rosalia delivered this speech without any of her typical signs of aggression or anger, simply looking into my eyes. I found myself unable to look away.

And then, a few moments later, I let out a slight chuckle, my mouth once again forming a bitter smile. Looking up to the sky once more, with those two’s faces on my mind, I said, “In that case, they must really have been amazing. No matter how much I took, it never ran dry.”

“You’re someone I have to exterminate, there’s no doubt about that.” And then, turning around again, she added, “so thanks.”

“―Huh?” I almost failed to register it.

“Talking about my sister, thinking about her, for the first time in a long time… I think it was a good thing. And it was because of you. So I’ll thank you for that, and nothing more.”

She refused to look me in the eye, but her earnestness was plainly conveyed. I could feel a smile creeping up on my face.

Treating people nicely gets you somewhere after all, see? I knew that saying so would earn me a glare and a punch to the head, so I kept my self-satisfaction to myself.

Still, I wanted to see what kind of expression she had on her face right now. With those impure motives in my heart, I started circling around her.

More and more of her profile revealed itself. Her fair cheeks, ever so slightly reddened, and her ashen bangs, and the corners of her amber eyes, and her full lips, tightly pressed together in consternation, and her neck―

Ah.

I stopped in my tracks. I looked at my hands, belatedly noticing that I’d balled them tightly into fists. I clenched my jaw, trying and failing to keep saliva from flowing out.

I was almost to her side now. She hadn’t turned to look at me yet, but she could have done so at any moment. She could have seen this.

No! A moment later, I’d dashed past her, running deeper towards the village.

“Huh!?” I could hear her startled voice behind me. “Where the hell are you going?”

“Gonna go find Father Iscario!” I yelled back. “I’ll be back in a moment!”

Probably leaving her in awe, though I didn’t have the courage to turn back and look, I ran ahead as fast as I could.

A minute or two of sprinting and Rosalia’s figure had fully faded from view. Panting like a dog, I stopped to catch my breath.

Hands on my knees, I looked at the ground. It would be tough to explain all that later, but in that moment, more than anything, I didn’t want to be seen in a state like that.

I slowly breathed in and out, trying to keep a firm grip on my rationality.

Grin and bear it. I’m above giving in to something like this. I have to be.

Having calmed down as much as I could, I finally began paying attention to my surroundings again. A few villagers gave me incredulous looks from their window sills. And then…

Hm?

I could hear the hint of a familiar voice filling my ear.

Is that Father Iscario? I could hear his voice coming from a small gap between two houses.

Reconfirming that I felt ready to face someone else, I began casually walking in his direction, but when his voice passed the threshold of coherence, it immediately froze me on the spot.

“I’m not wrong to trust you, am I, Miss Rafflesia?” He said, his voice clear as a bell.

He seemed to have been facing Rafi in the narrow space, his height dwarfing hers as she looked down at her feet, her back to the wall.

I instinctively hid behind a wall as I listened in.

“If you’ll allow me to be vulnerable with you for a moment, this case has truly stumped me. It’s like there’s no direction, no destination to it. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever worked on before.

“When I step foot into a town, I know what it is that I should look for, and I know how to spot it. Here, though, it’s different. No matter which thread I pull on, nothing gives way. That’s no wonder, I suppose. Nobody has even realized that there’s any problem, any incident here to begin with. And it feels like no one is looking for any kind of resolution either.”

“...” Rafi listened in silence, not even her breath being audible.

“So then that made a certain itch stick out to me, it made me wonder once more―you, Miss Rafflesia, who should be the first to know what transpired, claim to know nothing, to remember nothing. Is that really true?”

“...” Rafi said nothing.

“Are you hiding anything from us? From myself, Sister Rosalia―or from Vio Valakia?”

“...” Under the priest’s gaze, Rafi stood frozen in silence. A part of me desperately wanted to jump in there, to chide the man from doubting a victim like her. Another, however, stood in its way, afraid of the priest’s scorn and perfectly aware that I couldn’t be the one to assuage his doubts. And both looked away from the unwanted, uncontainable desire within me to hear her answer to that question.

And as those doubts swirling in my head kept me from moving, Rafi instead spoke up for herself.

“...No.” A clear answer. “I’m not hiding anything.”

“...I see.” The priest nodded in satisfaction. “Very well. Thank you, Miss Rafflesia, and my apologies for doubting you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief to myself.

“I’m sure the fellow hiding over there is equally pleased to hear that,” the priest then added, turning in my direction.

“Ah.” I should have realized it sooner. There was no shot I could hide from him―that was what had brought me here to begin with. I left my half-hearted hiding spot with a wry smile on my face.

“...” Upon seeing me, Rafi wordlessly trotted over in my direction and settled next to me, slightly behind me.

I frowned at the priest. “Do you get your kicks from scaring young girls? What kind of priest are you?”

“Perish the thought,” Iscario laughed. “If you find yourself afraid of a priest, I fear that it’s your own sins haunting you instead.” You’re the one haunting me, you murderous preacher. I swallowed my comments as I glared at his cool smile.

As we walked out onto the main path, a wave of vertigo hit me, perhaps from the sudden relief of tension.

“There you are. What the hell was that about?” Seeing Sister Rosalia come into view as she jogged towards us, I shook the sensation off and faced her.

“Oh, you know, I just thought we should regroup, since we were done with our side and all.”

“So you just ran off alone?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Haha, not my brightest move, huh?” I fully exerted whatever acting abilities I had in trying to play that off casually.

“...What’s even going on in that empty skull of yours,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, did you tell them about Olga’s proposal?”

“Ah, right.” We quickly explained our agreement with Olga to the others.

“Intriguing.” Iscario brought his hand to his chin in contemplation. “I have a feeling that whatever Miss Olga has in store for us is worth paying an ear to.”

“What about the rest of the houses?” I asked. “You haven’t visited them all, have you?”

“No, about a fourth of the village is left.”

“If we split up and hurry we might get through it all in an hour,” Rosalia suggested.

“I worry that rushing might make for sloppy questioning, but―well, it is better than nothing,” the priest acquiesced.

“What are we waiting for, then?” Rosalia hurriedly stepped forward. Iscario followed suit, and Rafi quietly trailed along, keeping a slight distance from the two. Like that, three heavy sets of footsteps resounded against the ground―and a few moments later, the missing pair caught the sister’s attention.

She turned back towards me, clicking her tongue and impatiently urging me to hurry. “Hey, move it already―huh?”

Her widening eyes were the last thing I saw. My wobbling feet stepped forward―and I unceremoniously tumbled to the ground.