[Part 4/4]
"...She's sound asleep, as always."
I directed my gaze at Loli Gorilla-sama, who was already sleeping, seemingly without a care in the world. If I looked at her, I'd think she was sleeping like a log. She appeared completely defenseless.
"Well, considering everything that's happened... she's been poisoned, and she's tired."
Despite her overly arrogant attitude and her monstrous appearance, she was still a child who hadn't even reached ten. It would be cruel to bla her appearance too much. It's just not very adult-like.
"Maybe I should wash my face..."
Carefully and slowly, I untangled her small fingers from mine, trying not to wake her, and exerted so strength in my legs to stand up. As I got up, I felt a slight dizziness, but... I managed to support myself sohow. And then I started walking.
The destination my feet took to was a corner of the safe zone of this boundary, a spring with fresh water.
"This is it, right..."
I reached there imdiately. The place was small to begin with, and I didn't want to move away from the water source. I could probably tell that most of the grasses and plants around were, upon closer inspection, various types of low-grade spiritual herbs. Among them, there were even so that filtered toxins from the water and neutralized them.
"Those who set this place up must have planted them..."
Water supply is a matter of life and death during a journey. It seed that to ensure the safety of the water source, the mbers of the court and the exorcists who had set up this boundary had planted these spiritual herbs for the benefit of their future generations who would co after them. Of course, even with that, they would still need to boil the water to make it safe for drinking.
"Well, it should be enough for washing my face and rinsing my mouth."
So, I washed my face, rinsed my mouth, and finally used a wet cloth to wipe my body. Along the way, I applied so additional ointnt to my scars.
"Haha... I wonder if these scars on my back will ever heal..."
I sighed as I observed and touched the scars on my back reflected on the water's surface. I had plenty of scars all over my body, but that didn't an I was happy to acquire more. I didn't believe in the notion that scars were a man's dal of honor.
"I should go around later to look for Hisa. Maybe even explore a bit beyond the boundary."
I adjusted my clothes and grumbled, trying to maintain my composure. Even though I tried to keep a calm facade, my voice still sounded heavy and burdened.
(D*mn it, this doesn't make sense, morally or ethically...)
Not only had I been entrusted with a task by my forr superior, but I had also developed a personal bond with Hisa. Although it hadn't been for a very long ti, I had interacted with her as a junior, and we had been working together.
I also felt guilty for involving her in this troubleso situation. Above all, she was younger than . If soone were to die, it should be in the right order. There was no reason for her to die before .
"Well, I don't intend to die in a place like this either."
Life was precious, after all. Even as I said that, my own life was important. I wasn't prepared to sacrifice my life in exchange for... what? To further the twisted plot of a yandere psycho-father? There was no value in that.
Such a thing should never happen...
"..."
For a while, I stood by the small stream with flowing spring water. Only the soothing sound of the pure stream echoed in the area, calming my restless emotions.
"...?"
Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of a shadow on the surface of the water, and I turned around. Standing right above the moss-covered rocky surface where the spring water trickled from was that figure.
"Wh...!? Who are you!?"
I instinctively braced myself but quickly realized who it was a mont later.
"Hisa...? Is that you, Hisa!"
I called out to her with a genuine smile, addressing her as she looked down from the top of the cliff. I called out and rushed toward her. The lingering pain in my body didn't matter now.
"Thank goodness! Are you okay? Do you have any injuries? Are you all right?"
"..."
Even though it was pointless to bombard her with questions like that, I couldn't contain my joy. The safety of my junior, that alone had lightened half of the burden on my heart.
"Aren't you hungry? If you've been wandering through the forest all night, you probably haven't had a chance to eat. How about having sothing to eat and then resting? This place is safe..."
"Aaaaaaah!"
I hurriedly turned towards the scream. I tensed up, wondering if Loli Gorilla-sama had been attacked. But the reality was different.
"Where!? Where did you go!? Servant... Tomobe!!? Where, where are you!?"
In the midst of her screaming, I, in a sense, felt relieved. She must have thought I had disappeared and panicked. From her perspective, it might have been a desperate situation, but for , it was a bit exhausting.
"Princess!! Please calm down!! I'm right here! Right now, over here!!"
I shouted loudly to reassure Loli Gorilla-sama. I tried to reassure her, but it might have backfired.
"!? There!? Over there, right!? I'm going now!! Right now...!!!"
That almost-scream of a response made frown.
"Calm down, Princess!! I'm coming over there right now! Please don't move, it's not good for your condition!!"
"No, I'm, I'm coming there now!! I'll be right there...!!!!"
No matter how much I told her to stay and wait for , it was useless. Loli Gorilla-sama, who seed to act solely on her own desires, kept screaming relentlessly. She wasn't just screaming; she was probably heading in my direction. That much was clear from her confusion and fear.
...Of course, given her position, it was understandable.
"Troubleso. I seems to have forgotten about her. Hisa, sorry for making you wait, but please accompany . It seems a bit challenging to calm down Princess right now... huh?"
I turned to face Hisa and made a request, and finally, I noticed sothing was seriously wrong. She hadn't spoken a word since a while ago. Her attire had transford into sothing that seed like it was mimicking the Hidden Group. And the atmosphere around her had turned ice-cold.
"..."
"Ah..."
Hisa moved forward without saying a word. As she descended from the cliff, she disappeared before I could recognize what was happening or move to help. She vanished without a trace, as if she had simply disappeared from my field of vision.
"Hisa..."
"..."
...By the ti I realized it, Hisa was right in front of . It was as if she had teleported, as if she had slipped into my very being. She stood there in silence. Strangely, I couldn't catch a single movent from her.
"Hisa?"
I blurted out her na, confused and perplexed. Then, I recognized it a mont later—the taste of iron overflowing at my lips, the sensation of wetness around my mouth, and the feeling of a sticky liquid dripping from the corner of my mouth.
"...?"
Without thinking, I reached out, witnessed it—the red, dark-red, almost black fresh blood that clung heavily to my fingertips. In disbelief, in shock, I looked down again at my junior, who had slipped into my embrace.
A dagger was deeply embedded in my chest.
"Ah, eh...?"
Pain and heat ca late, followed by nausea. Ignoring all of that, I stared at the girl before , our cold gazes locking.
"Tomobe!? Tomobe...!!?"
"Hi... sa...? Why...!!?"
Loli Gorilla-sama's frantic screams, which had been so noisy, sounded annoyingly distant. My inquiries about my junior's actions couldn't reach the conclusion. The dagger was forcibly pulled out, and my head was struck with an elbow, sending flying to the ground.
"Tomobe!? Tomobe...!!?"
The sounds of dragging across the ground from behind, repeated thuds, and screams filled the air, but I had no way to react. I pressed on my chest wound, coughing up almost bloody phlegm. Then, I looked up weakly. At her figure, looking down at .
The figure of the newcor servant, Hisa. No... the figure of the Hidden Group's Main House Direct Control Owl Inspector (officer responsible for conducting investigations).
A mber of the Onitsuki family's branch family, an off-book blood relative. Onitsuki Hisa. (T/N: Hisa here uses 婢簔眼, not 氷雨 like before)
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