IKMHITM 31

࣪ ִֶָ☾. Chapter 31 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

For the first time since coming to the Belper Estate, Eve had to leave the mansion.

“Well, it’s only for a few days, though.”

Still, she had to fulfill her duties as the master for at least a few days.

Eve meticulously inspected the carriage she was going to ride in.

She checked the magnificent sculpture mounted on the roof of the carriage once, and then checked the trunk tightly wrapped in the cargo hold so it wouldn’t shake.

“Hmm. Everything’s ready.”

As soon as Eve finished checking, Kamien abruptly handed her something. It was a box containing a long, slender silver needle.

Seeing this, Eve shuddered.

“Ugh! Why is this so big?”

“You just need to give the tip a tiny prick. If you bleed too much, the mansion will get noisy again.”

That was a spine-chilling warning.

Holding her breath, Eve lightly pricked her fingertip with the tip of the silver needle. It was a good thing she was somewhat insensitive to pain at times like this.

She rubbed the blood slowly welling up from her fingertip onto the Arno crest engraved on the front gate. The silver-colored crest soon dyed red.

“This is a ritual to seal the entrance with the master’s blood. Now, nothing can escape the mansion.”

Screeech! A mournful shriek echoed from somewhere.

It sounded like the urban legends trapped helplessly inside the mansion were going wild, which gave her the chills.

“Do I have to lock it down with blood every single time?”

“Yes. I was meaning to explain that last time, but…….”

He didn’t explicitly say, ‘Eve dashed out in such a rush that you didn’t listen.’

“I only did it because the situation was so urgent.”

“You don’t necessarily need to explain things to me.”

Kamien drew a clear line.

“Because the master is someone who already knows what needs to be done.”

Right, right. Off I go to clean up the mess…….

Eve swallowed a sigh.

Because she had dashed out beyond the front gate without knowing the ritual existed, one of the urban legends had escaped.

And that blunder was the reason Eve now had to go on a business trip.

To Libero Village, one of the farming lands of Arno.

“Hey. Would Kamien like to come along too?”

Eve cautiously suggested it.

“It must feel stifling only staying inside the mansion, right? Wouldn’t it be fine if I, the master, give you permission?”

“I cannot go that far out.”

“Didn’t you say Libero is an hour away?“

“The boundary of where I can go ends right here.”

Kamien pointed outside the front gate. Along the outer wall of the Belper Estate, there was a walking path roughly two meters wide.

Eve simply couldn’t believe it.

“You really can’t go past that spot? Even if I give you permission?”

The lonely look that flickered across Kamien’s face served as his answer.

Unable to find words of comfort, Eve climbed into the carriage. Idly, she looked at the horses hitched to the carriage, noticing that all of them were wearing blinders.

Can they even see where they’re going?

As if reading her thoughts, Kamien gave her a word of caution.

“The horses will be fine, but do not look at the coachman’s seat.”

“……Is it a taboo?”

“Not quite, but I thought it might startle you.”

Just hearing that made her dread seeing whatever might be sitting up there.

Surely he didn’t send Siren off riding in this same carriage, did he?

“Speaking of which, what about Father Siren? Did he make it back safely?”

Eve had briefly stepped out to see him off as well. However, Siren’s expression upon leaving had not been good.

Siren had kept Eve detained for a full hour, urging her repeatedly to suspect everything she laid eyes on. In the process, he had glared particularly hard at Kamien.

“Ah……. The guest has, of course, returned safely.”

Kamien wore an ambiguous, chilling smile.

“Lady Eve. Is that guest truly a lower-ranked priest?”

“Huh? Obviously.”

Eve could at least be certain of that much.

“Otherwise, how could he have spent six years in a rural backwater like Romen?”

“If Lady Eve says so.”

……What on earth. Seriously.

Before she had any opportunity to press further, Kamien waved goodbye.

“Have a safe trip.”

The carriage carrying Eve set off. Crossing over the boundary path that Kamien could never cross, he vanished completely from her view.

As he lowered the hand he had been continuously waving, Kamien’s expression twisted into a grimace. He walked silently back into the mansion and took off his jacket.

Foul fluid was heavily soaking through the tight shirt wrapping his forearm.

“Oof. That looks severe.”

Gain popped up in the portrait and clicked his tongue.

“Let me take a look.”

“Didn’t you decide to follow the master, Gain?”

“You know I can come and go as long as there’s a frame, right? I’ll get there on my own, so roll up your sleeve and let me see.”

From Kamien’s wrist all the way up to his elbow, a horrific injury resembling a severe burn was exposed.

“And you managed to wave goodbye to the master looking like this?”

“It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“Not as bad, my foot! You were directly touched by divine power. Normally, me or any ordinary urban legend would have taken a fatal blow! You only ended up with that because it’s you.”

“I suppose so.”

Kamien accepted it with a blank expression.

“Half of my body is human, after all.”

“Oh, goodness! Welcome, welcome.”

The farmers who had visited earlier greeted Eve with broad, beaming smiles.

“Was your journey here peaceful?”

“To think the exalted Arno would come all the way out here.”

Conversely, Eve’s expression upon arriving “here” was a complete wreck. She had never even caught a stray dog running away from home, so how on earth was she supposed to catch an urban legend?

“Wow! Being outside is definitely the best. Even the air feels completely different!”

Blissfully unaware of her stress, Gain was endlessly cheerful. The more he acted like that, the more pouty Eve became.

“Are you having that much fun?”

“Of course I am! Urban legends always want to go outside, you know!”

“Why? Did someone bury gold out here?”

“They have to go out and wander around to bulk themselves up! The more widely an urban legend spreads, its power grows stronger. People’s fear is basically nourishment for us.”

Good grief. That was a fact she hadn’t known.

I need to capture this urban legend as soon as possible.

The farmers were already scared out of their wits. Eve held a brief question-and-answer session with them.

Since she had already narrowed down the suspect to a certain extent, the inquiry went smoothly.

“Did we hear any licking sounds? Come to think of it, I suppose I might have heard something at night…….”

“Everyone raises livestock or animals around here, so we just brushed it off, figuring it was nothing.”

It really did seem to be Shiro. An urban legend that appeared at night wherever a bowl of water was left, while everyone was asleep.

Thinking the offerings placed there were meant for him, Shiro must have eaten them all up.

Eve and Gain reviewed the situation together.

“Pickled herring, a duck, a cat…… and even that farmer’s aunt who was waiting over there.”

“He’s eaten quite a lot over the past few days. Poor Shiro.”

“He’s been eating like a king, so why are you calling him poor?”

“You’ll understand once you see him yourself, Master.”

If she saw him, her eyeballs would get gouged out! Yet, to write his true name in the Book of Urban Legends, she had to look at him.

What on earth am I about to see?

Eve’s face turned utterly gloomy.

“Oh? Are you scared right now, Master? It’s scary, isn’t it? Aren’t you terrified? Oh, Shiro’s a lucky guy! Ahahaha…….”

“Sometimes I really don’t know whose side you’re on.”

Eve snapped the locket’s socket shut.

Anyway, Gain couldn’t exercise any physical force outside the mansion. He was just good for a bit of annoying conversation.

“Oh, exalted Arno!”

The elder of Libero, who had heard the news belatedly, came running over.

He was startled to see that Eve was a young woman, and even more startled when he laid eyes on her carriage.

“That…… is a remarkably magnificent carriage?”

“I have quite a bit of luggage.“

☁️ “Especially the decorations on the roof…… that thing, I mean.”

At the elder’s words, the people who looked at the carriage along with him were struck with terror.

“Eep!”

“Did that thing ju-just move……?”

“Don’t pretend you saw it! And don’t even look!”

It was a coping mechanism truly fitting for the residents of the Arno territory.

They occasionally suffered hardships due to urban legends escaping the Belper Estate. However, they had no intention of packing up and moving away.

To the living, taxes were far scarier than ghosts. Arno’s tax collection was uncommonly lenient, and the villagers endured their fear and stubbornly clung to life here.

If anything ever happened, they could simply go to Arno and appeal for help.

After all, the Belper Estate was a place that grew stronger the more urban legends it collected.

Which is precisely why I’m going through all this misery.

Noticing the gloomy Eve, the elder asked cautiously,

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

Please make me disappear to a place where no one knows me…… along with a hefty money pouch.

Eve couldn’t possibly say that out loud.

“Could you spare a room for me to stay in? Preferably a large one.”

The elder gladly offered his entire house. Just seeing his polite, deferential attitude made it clear what “Arno” meant to these people.

Eve took a warm bath and sat beside the fireplace. The herbal tea she sipped with her feet propped up on an old footstool tasted exceptionally good.

“Thanks for the delicious tea, Andy.”

Sparkle. The silver kettle she had brought from the carriage emitted a proud glow.

Eve mustered up her courage and kept talking.

“I happened to hear from Gain that your dream was to be…… a pirate king, right?”

The kettle gave no response.

“I was thinking about it. Andy, your kettle has a sleek outline, so it looks just like a ship, doesn’t it?”

…….

“So I prepared a little gift. I thought it would suit you well.”

Eve pulled out a small flag bearing a skull motif, a leather strap, and a ship-hulled kettle stand. Adorned with those, the kettle genuinely looked like a tiny pirate ship.

“How is it? Do you like it?”

Twinkle-twinkle!

The important part started right now. Eve swallowed hard.

“If you wouldn’t mind, could you do me a little favor?”

°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･