Chapter 24.2: Night Banquet

◆ Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

Naturally, there will always be an exception. Take Kyouka for example, it seems she is also not really good with liquor even in our original world. These pair of siblings are the exact opposites of each other. In short, the difference is in their body metabolisms.

Our physiques also have slight differences based on our individual abilities.

But it seems that Kyouka is worried about something.

There, I noticed a slight change in her when Kaya isn't with her.

Kaya never eats her meal with us. Could it have something to do with their master and servant relationship? It seems she has her meal alone after everyone has finished their food.

In other words, she's not beside Kyouka side only during her meal. But now, she has left her seat. Where are you?

「Hey, Kyouka-san. Where's Kaya-san? 」

So, I ask Kyouka about Kaya's abnormal behavior.

「Kaya is at the place where they treated the temple knights who were carried here」

「Ah, at that place....」

The temple knights Lucullus was worried about the discovered unconscious today's evening.

It seems they were defeated by someone. The defeated temple knights carried to this mansion were neither able to move their body nor speak.

It seems Kaya heard from those temple knights that they were defeated by someone.

After returning, Kaya explained the situation.

「How's the result, Kaya-san? Did you find something?」

Kaya fixes her gaze at me.

Kaya is wearing her usual noh mask-like expression which makes it hard to read her emotions.

「It seems the person that caused the previous incident is currently in this country」

Everyone focusses at Kaya after her words.

「What are you talking about, Kaya?」

I want to hear the details from her.

「From the condition of the wounds, the person who defeated the temple knights seems to be a skilled martial artist. Maybe even I am no match for that person」

Then, Kaya narrated the state of the temple knights.

The temple knights were defeated to the point that they won't die; in addition, it seems that person in question can skillfully adjust his power - a difficult task even for Kaya. There are traces of being beaten but no noticeable wounds. It seems one of the temple knights was able to move right after receiving recovery magic.

And then, it seems Kaya came to a conclusion that someone who can do that much should only be the person of that incident.

「U~hm, the person that Kaya-san mentioned about is the one who groped Kyouka-san's breasts, right...?」

Kaya nods to Rino's question.

「It's highly possible」

Everyone is showing a surprised face.

「It's normal to think that he is following after us, right....」

Shirone is asking that question with a troubled face. To be honest, I'm in the same predicament as her.

「It seems that cosplay strategy has proven to be a success....」

「Yeah, it seems so.... To think that such a strategy actually proved to be effective....」

I am visibly surprised.

It seems a pervert was summoned to this world. Moreover, that person's skill is equal to Kaya's.

「What shall we do about this? 」

Kaya asks everyone for the next action.

「Naturally.... Looking for him, tomorrow....」

Everyone voices their displeasure when I answer so. I don't want to meet that pervert too, you know.

But, we must find a way to return to our original world.

「Uhm.... Can I not participate in this search? I have to go to the tower tomorrow」

Shirone's saying so with a timid voice.

To be honest, it looks like she's trying to run away from this, but the search for the pervert is taking highest priority and the severity is low.

In this case, I don't think that Shirone who's bad at searching will make that much difference anyway.

「Well, it can't be helped then....」

I agree to her.

「Ah, so cunning!!」

「Shirone-san is too cunning!! Then I'll go to the tower, too!!」

Rino and Nao are voicing their complaints.

「Don't run away. It's not like we are going to find him tomorrow immediately. Nothing will change since Shirone will be participating in our search from the day after tomorrow」

We couldn't find him even after looking for him throughout Holy Republic Lenaria. You might say that this will be a drawn-out battle.

Moreover, we have confirmed that the pervert is actually near us. Quite a harvest we got there.

「Don't worry, Rino, Nao. Since I'll beat that guy if he appears before you」

Reiji is showing a daring smile.

「Reiji-kun....」

「Reiji-senpai....」

Rino and Nao are moved upon hearing his words.

Honestly, did he know that our goal is not to beat that pervert?

「By the way, Kaya-san. Did those temple knights take a look at that pervert face?」

I noticed a slight change in Kaya's eternally impassive face after that question.

「Well, it seems someone has fiddled with their minds」

I'm slightly surprised in hearing Kaya's words.

Speaking of magic to fiddling with the mind, there's ruling magic, memory manipulating magic, and memory loss magic.

With the easier one being memory loss magic and the hardest one being ruling magic.

「Does that mean their memories have been erased?」

Kaya is nodding at her words.

Could it be that the pervert erased those temple knight's memories about himself after beating them?

「That's the most likely. Though those temple knights can move their body, it seems they lost memories of an entire day」

Kaya is saying so as if troubled by it.

「Uhm, it's probably memory loss magic, but....」

I can't be sure about it since memory manipulation magic and ruling magic have similar symptoms.

Ruling magic and memory manipulation magic are far more difficult than the fairly simple memory loss magic. It's a magic that will distort the memory of the other party but won't work very well unless the user has higher magical power than the target.

That's why I can't determine the magic used to erase their memories.

But in case it's memory loss magic, there's a high possibility that the temple knights saw the face of their opponent.

Could we do something about that information?

「Maybe we have no choice but to rely on Rino-san....」

I direct my gaze toward Rino.

Rino can infiltrate the mind of the other party using her mind dive magic.

And then, she can extract even forgotten information as long as she dives deep enough.

「E~h, don't wanna....」

However, Rino isn't agreeing to that idea.

It seems she's not that fond of those temple knights. Then, we have no other choice.

Mind dive magic tends to strongly influence the magic caster. Especially in Rino's case who has that strong tendency, she vehemently refuses to enter deep into the mind of someone she hates.

Though I hear that mind dive is more toward emotional aspect.... It seems that it's closer to sexual intercourse. It seems she doesn't want to do that unless it's someone she loves.

Thus, we won't be able to scour for memories containing that pervert.

「Well, it can't be helped if Rino-san doesn't want to do it. Let's search for him manually, then」

Mind dive is the most effective method, but I guess we have no choice since the person in question doesn't want to do it.

Nevertheless, I wonder what kind of person that pervert is? For what reason is he hiding?

And then, where and what are you doing right now?

The night keeps flowing on as I am unable to comprehend the situation.

◆Dark Knight, Kuroki

The night ended and the morning dawned.

When I open my eyes, I realized that I can't move my body.

The reason is that someone's body is lying on top of me.

The one lying on top of me is a goddess with a beautiful face and brilliant hair.

And then, my face turns red on recalling last night's events.

This goddess then opens her eyes.

「Fuu, Kurok-.... EH, WHY?」

To be honest, I don't even dare to look at her face.

Because I recall the abnormal state between Rena and me last night.

「U~hm.... AAAAAAAAAAAAH! ! ! ! 」

It seems she finally sobered up. She is groaning with a flushed red face.

「Uhm, Re— BUGYAA!?」

She suddenly landed a hit on me when I try to speak to her.

I can't deal with this sudden turn of events.

I sneak a glance at the bewildered Rena while stroking my face that was just punched by her. She's glaring at me.

She suddenly draws herself closer to me.

「L-LOOK INTO MY EYES, KUROKI!!」

「E-EH!!!」

With my head still in a chaotic state, I look into her eyes as she told me.

My eyes met with her beautiful and ebullient eyes.

Her eyes are shining. That light then enters into my bodies through my eyes.

Though I knew that she tried to use some sort of magic, I simply couldn't resist her.

「PPPPPLe~~~ase For~~Get~~~EVERYTHING! ! ! ! ! 」

Rena's screaming.

Memory loss.... Magic?

I finally know what sort of magic she's trying to use on me.

My consciousness dimmed.

「FUEEEEEEEEEE! ! ! ! 」

Though I heard Rena doing something while weeping, I'm already unable to do anything.

◆Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

We welcomed a rare visitor the first thing in the morning.

Before my eyes is a person with wings on her back.

An angel.

The angel race rarely comes down to the ground. That's why this person is a rare visitor.

I was woken up by this visitor.

「Sorry for bothering you in the morning, Chiyuki」

This angel doesn't seem to be feeling sorry judging by her tone.

The angel race's a beautiful race with wings on their back, but I couldn't bring myself to like them since they are haughty creatures that look down on humans.

「Well, it doesn't matter.... So, what's the matter, Nier?」

To be honest, I have no choice but to accompany her since it seems like an urgent matter despite my sleepiness.

Nier is a female angel who's the captain of war maidens that serve under Rena. I met her once in the past.

The matter of meeting Nier started from that point. I wonder what matter it is.

I can hear the fuss in the vicinity of the mansion. It seems the one making such sounds are the angels who descended to the ground.

I really want to have the ability to hide even if it's just a little. This kind of fuss is so unbearable.

「It seems Rena-sama isn't visiting this place?」

Nier is asking in an interrogative tone.

「Eh, Rena what?」

I never met Rena ever since I arrived at this country.

「The truth is, we lost contact with Rena-sama since last night. We assumed that she came here, but....」

Nier's saying so as if she's troubled by the situation.

「That Rena? She never came to this place, you know」

When I reply so, Nier's face becomes pale.

「Don't tell me, something happened to Rena-sama....」

Nier is trembling. It seems she is imagining quite a worrisome situation.

She's just worrying too much, it's only one night. Moreover, it's not like Rena is a kid.

「Why did I not search for her immediately!!!」

「Uhm.... Nier....」

I'm trying to calm down the panicky Nier.

That time, I felt a powerful magical power coming from the outside.

When I look through the windows, I saw a light object flying in the sky.

「Eh, Rena-sama!!」

Nier shouts aloud.

The light object keeps flying toward the direction of Elios.

「WAH!! We have to chase after Rena-sama!! Chiyuki!! I'll leave the aftermath to you!!!」

After dumping the tasks, Nier left my room through the window to chase after the light object.

I was left alone in my room.

「What on earth just happened? 」

◆Dark Knight, Kuroki

When I woke up in the morning, my face is stinging with pain.

Moreover, why did I sleep in this place?

I was lying on my bed.

When I tried to recall what happened last night.

「Eh!! What happened last night?」

I can't remember what happened last night.

「That's right. I was suddenly kissed by Rena.... E~h, then.... I can't remember anything....」

I remember the beautiful face of Rena approaching mine.

I writhe in pain remembering that event.

Could it be that she drugged me with a sleeping drug when she kissed me?

And then, did she try to do something while I was asleep?

Rena had already left this room.

I feel that something important was lost when I did not see Rena's face.

Though I don't know the reason, Rena's face simply won't disappear from my head.

Someone, please tell me what just happened?

「I HAVE NO IDEA~A!!! WHAT IN THE WORLD JUST HAPPENE~~D!!!」

I roll around on my bed while holding my head.

When I rolled around like that, my body stumbled upon something.

「Eh?」

On a closer look, a small bottle is present on my bed.

「What is this?」

The content of that small bottle seems to have been already emptied. It seems that the entire content was spilt on my bed.

Maybe Rena dropped it by mistake.

Though it seems like it's a magic potion, I don't know what kind of potion it is since it's already empty.

Maybe it has something to do with what Rena wanted to do.

I search around for more evidence.

I'm looking around inside the room. My room became slightly disordered.

「Crap.... I don't know what happened but.... If I don't tidy the room....」

When I'm about to clean the bedsheet with magic, two things fall when I raise the sheet.

First is some kind of cloth.

When I look at that cloth, I realize that the surface area is scarce.

That cloth is related to a certain something.

「Let's keep this for now.... And carry it with me」

For some reason, my instinct's telling me to do so.

The other one is some unusual metal.

I'm trying to pick it up.

It's a necklace with a black gem laid in the center.

「What the heck is this necklace?」