Conflict

tl: deepl & diced & meepilee

When Ink opened her mouth to say "ahhh," Eterna scooped cooked beans on a spoon and put it in her mouth.

Chewing them, Ink did not hold back and was satisfied.

As long as she was told where the food was and what the menu was, she could basically handle the meal on her own.

But sometimes, if the food was difficult to eat or somehow troublesome, she would urge Eterna to feed her.

This was a common occurrence, and not an unusual sight during meals in this house.

But today, for some reason, Milkit, who was sitting next to Flamm, stopped and looked at those two blankly.

"Milkit, you're staring at them, maybe you're jealous or something?"

"...... Eh?　No, no, it's not like that"

"Then why are you staring so hard?"

"I just thought they seemed to be having a good time."

"They aren't doing it to have fun."

"I know that! I just thought so for some reason."

Milkit resumed eating with a slight blush on her cheeks. Flamm honestly didn't know what "fun" felt like.

But a curiosity that came to her without thinking made her move her hand.

She picked up a small loaf of bread piled on the table and held it close to Milkit without saying a word.

"......?"

She tilted her head and her bandages shook.

Flamm stared into her eyes.

It took her a while to understand the others intention, but when she did, her cheeks turned red again.

Flamm, whether she realized it or not, did not react.

Milkit had no choice but to put her mouth on a piece of bread and take a small bite, like a little bird nibbling on it.

".......Indeed."

Flamm somewhat understood.

Milkit swallowed the bread in his mouth and asked.

"What's so interesting about it?"

"It sure could be fun."

"...... I was a little embarrassed."

Not that she felt bad, but still, it didn't seem like something she would do in the presence of someone else.

Eterna had a mindlessly blank expression on her face.

Flamm, however, did not care about that, and when she brought the bread closer to her to give her another bite, ---

"Flamm, I got your letter."

Ink said something like that.

She had good hearing and seemed to hear the letter being put in the mailbox outside.

"Thanks, Ink. I'll go take a look after lunch."

"Alright, ...... but something might be wrong."

"What? Its just a letter, right?"

"Sure, that's true, but I didn't hear any footsteps. Usually you can hear the mailman running off."

Flamm wondered if it was just drowned out by other sounds, but from the look of anxiety on her face, it didn't seem that way.

Having no choice, she got up from her seat, even though she was still eating, and headed to check the mailbox.

Leaving the house, she peeked inside a wooden box - nothing was written on it, just a white envelope.

"What's this?"

When she looked through the paper bag, which did not even have a sender's name written on it, it seemed to contain a single letter folded in thirds.

She entered the house and returned to the three of them waiting in the living room.

"Welcome back Master. What did you find in the mailbox?"

"This..."

Flamm had a bad feeling about this.

A letter from an unknown sender in this situation seemed like something that could disrupt the current brief moment of peace.

So she told Ink, who was particularly concerned about its contents, gently, "We'll open it after dinner."

And after the meal - when the cleanup was over - Flamm opened the envelope.

She took out a letter from inside and spread it out in the middle of the table.

When Flamm, Milkit, and Eterna saw the contents, they could not help but fall silent.

"What did it say?"

Inks, who could not see, asked anxiously.

It was Eterna who answered.

On a white piece of paper, in large letters with red ink, she uttered a single sentence.

「Four more days.」

Nothing else was written.

That was all that was there, really.

It could have been a child's prank.

But in the current situation of conflict with the church, there was no one here who could dismiss this as just a prank.

The peaceful atmosphere after lunch suddenly faded away, and the air became stagnant. 　 Remembering the incident at Sheol Village, everyone naturally kept their mouths shut.

"......Did the church do something again?"

Milkit's voice broke the silence.

Eterna continued to express her opinion.

"Even if they were, there is no need to tell us about it."

"Eterna is right, it's a strange way to make a threat, isn't it? I wonder why they are counting down."

Eterna and Ink said that. There should've been no need for a declaration to launch an attack.

Rather, this letter was an attempt to tell Flamm and the others that they are in danger.

"But if they are not the enemy, why don't they just tell us what the fourth day is?"

On the other hand, however, Flamm's words are also a good argument.

Why were they withholding details, why was the sender unknown - there was too little information.

As it stands, it was an unintelligible and mysterious letter that only served to make Flamm and her friends more anxious.

"I'm also curious about the fact that you said you didn't hear any footsteps, in the meantime, I'll look into this letter myself."

"Please do, Eterna-san. I was just planning to go to the guild, so I'll talk to Gadio-san about it."

Flamm then got up from her chair and began to get ready.

Milkit helped her, and within five minutes she was ready to go out.

Her task at the guild was to talk to Gadio about the 「Children’s」 new base of operations.

◇◇◇

As they came up to the guild, an unfamiliar blond man was sweeping the street in front of them. 　As he approached Flamm, he said.

"Hello!" (tn note: he uses a super informal word for hello in japanese)

He greeted her in a very familiar manner.

When Flamm gave him a puzzled greeting, he gave a friendly smile.

Then he resumed cleaning with a broom in his hand.

Flamm entered the guild, looking in his direction.

She quickly approached the counter and spoke to Era, who was unusually diligent in her work there.

She asked him, "Hey, Era, who was that guy who was cleaning at the entrance? "You mean Slough-kun?"

Flamm inwardly thought, "Wow," at the fact that Ela was referring to him with -kun. (tn note: very familiar honorific)

She was a woman who flirted rather blatantly in front of the man of her choice.

He had a good-looking face and was the type of guy that Era would bite on.

"He's the new guy, Slough Uradness, eighteen years old. The master hired him because many of the clerks had quit after Dane's incident."

"Wow, I didn't know Gadio-san was good at that kind of work."

Gadio must have interviewed him directly, since he hired him.

The way he looked, the way he was built, the way he sat in his chair, made him look very intimidating.

"Isn't it natural? He's certainly gone a lot, but he's doing what he's supposed to do. Thanks to that person, it's so much easier than before."

Before, the guild here in the Western District was without a master.

That is why Era and Dane were able to do whatever they wanted, but on the other hand, they had a lot of work to do without a master.

At first, Era was not fond of Gadio's strict discipline, but now she respected him to a certain extent.

"Ah, that's right. Come to think of it, this morning, a man named Linus came here."

"Linus-san?"

"Yeah, he's really cool in person up close. I thought it was going to be a nice meeting, but it's too bad he left so early."

Era was entranced as she recalled Linus' face.

The image in her brain was somewhat glorified, but it didn't matter because there would never be a connection between him and her anyway.

"I don't care about this trip! Why did Linus-san come to the guild?"

"That's all right. He came to see the master, but when he heard about you, he turned around and left. He seemed to have a strong reaction to the word 「slave mark」."

"Ah -- ..... I guess they got the message."

She knew it would happen eventually, but she didn't expect it to happen in a place that had nothing to do with Flamm herself.

And she didn't expect Linus to be so upset that his face would change color.

Since he had not talked to her much during their travels, she had assumed that she was considered unimportant.

To be honest, she was very happy.

However, the fact that Linus had found out about it naturally meant that Cyrille and Maria had found out about it as well.

"I see, so they got the message. I wonder what Cyrille will think about it......."

Flamm put her hand on her chest and murmured.

She hoped they would be sad, she thought so from the bottom of her heart.

She knew it was convenient and wishful thinking, but she still couldn't help but wish for it.

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"You haven't mentioned it much, but you really are that Flamm Apricot that is a hero, aren't you?"

"That's the way it's supposed to be."

"Why did you receive the slave stamp? Did the other members not like you?"

"...... Yeah, that's right. One of them hated me so much that he sold me for money."

"Uwaa, I feel like I've seen the dark side of a hero."

"That's just how humans are. By the way --"

Flamm forcefully changed the subject.

Even though she'd already made her peace with it, the memory of that time when she was sold to the merchant was not a good one.

The first time she met Milkit, but the time he branded her in the plaza, she still felt a tingling sensation just by recalling it.

"Is Gadio-san around?"

"Master is out, I think he will be back soon. Why don't you wait for him at the reception desk?

It was still a little early for the appointment.

Flamm sat down at the reception desk, ordered a glass of fruit juice, and waited for him.

Ten minutes later, Gadio, wearing a black coat, entered the guild.

When he spotted Flamm, he walked up to her and said.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting. We must leave immediately."

"I thought we were going to talk."

"Later, there's something we need to do first."

"Is it an errand?"

Flamm was having a hard time keeping up with the suddenness of the situation.

Gadio explained his purpose simply and clearly so that even she can understand.

"We are going to explore the 「Children's」 base."

◇◇◇

Flamm accompanied Gadio into the underground tunnels that stretched under the royal city.

It was still light outside, but it would have been pitch black underground without the fire from the lantern.

"I wonder if we'll be alright with just the two of us."

Flamm asked Gadio, who was leading the way, anxiously.

"It won't be a problem, since there's a good chance it's already been abandoned."

He replied as he stared at the end of the corridor, which was a jet black that seemed to be swallowing him up.

According to Dafiz's documents, the entrance to the 「Children's」 base was at the far end of it.

The document entrusted to them contained various information about the church in addition to what Welcy had published in the newspaper.

On the day he returned to the capital from Sheol Village, Gadio asked an adventurer he knew to watch this entrance on the east side of the central district.

However, four days had passed since then, and no one had entered this underpass.

"But as far as Mr. Dafiz knew, this was the newest base of operations."

"I suppose that would be the case."

"The surveillance began the day we returned from Sheol. If they abandoned their base before that--"

"I know exactly what you mean. They're moving too fast, right?"

Flamm nodded.

Nect, must have thought he had destroyed the facility, including the documents.

It is possible that he was afraid of information leakage from Dafiz and abandoned the base just in case, but as he said.

"It was hard to move."

The two of them walked further into the city.

The basement was slightly damp and smelled musty.

If they had not been so particular about the location, they could have continued their research in a better environment.

Why 「Mother」 insisted on staying in the Royal Capital so long was a mystery in and of itself.

"It's a dead end."

A brick wall stood in front of them.

Flamm stopped and observed the dimly lit surrounding walls.

"It doesn't look like a turn."

"Stay back, we'll destroy it."

Gadio drew the great sword from his back - he couldn't swing it in the narrow underground passageway - and threw a sharp thrust at the wall.

Of course, he put a large amount of prana into the sword to increase its destructive power.

Dogoooooong!

A roar echoed through the long, narrow passageway.

Flamm was not surprised by that.

But the hole was so large that she let out an exclamation of admiration.

"So it was leading to the back after all"

"The ...... atmosphere has changed, hasn't it? It looks similar to the laboratory we saw in Sheol."

Originally, it must have been a sturdy entrance that could have been opened by some kind of mechanism or key. 　 　Inside the 「Children's」 laboratory, it was as dark as the underground passage.

The light from the lantern alone was not enough to explore the interior.

"Should we turn on the lights?"

He closed his eyes and sensed the presence of people in the facility, but there seemed to be no other creatures within his range of vision, except for himself and Flamm.

"Oh, please do."

Hearing the short reply, Flamm rushed to the switch on the wall.

She put her hand on the crystal ball embedded in the wall and poured magic power into it.

But ...... it didn't do anything.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Gadio, it doesn't seem to turn on."

“No ...... way, it shouldn’t be broken. The ball should be working fine."

Gadio looked up at the ceiling.

As he brought the lantern in his hand closer, the situation became even clearer.

The ceiling was covered with deep scratches from one end to the other, as if scratched by giant nails.

The lamps that had been installed were in the middle of the ceiling, so they seemed to have been destroyed along the way.

"What is this ......?"

"Did the 「Spiral Children」 destroy it as a joke, or ......"

"Signs of a battle, huh?"

Gadio was silent in response to Flamm's words, which should be taken as an affirmation.

Few people knew of the existence of this facility.

The only people who know of the existence of this facility, aside from Flamm and others, are those involved in church research.

In such a place, there were clearly scars that could not have been made by ordinary human hands, and what this meant was...

"What in the world happened here?"

"Maybe we'll find out as we go on."

There were not many rooms in the institute.

After passing through the entrance, where the ceiling was scratched, there was a corridor with two rooms on either side of it.

There was also another room at the end of it.

In other words, including the hall itself, there were a total of six rooms in this laboratory.

Flamm and Gadio explored them one by one, starting from the front.

"This looks terrible."

"It looks like someone has been out of control."

Bookshelves were empty, research equipment had been physically demolished.

The floor was littered with sharp debris, making it dangerous to even walk around.

The four rooms at either end of the corridor were all in this condition, and nothing resembling a clue had fallen out.

Finally, they stepped into the room at the far end of the corridor.

The double doors are opened by Gadio, walking in front of Flamm.

It was a little heavy, perhaps because of the debris in the way, but he pushed it open forcefully with the strength of his arms.

The air in the room overflowed into the corridor where the two stood, and the smell of blood was so thick it was almost intoxicating.

"This is ......."

A large room with several glass cases connected to the equipment.

On the wall at the end of the entrance, there it was.

The body of a green-haired woman had been slammed into the wall with such force that it had left the dented and distorted wall in a state of crucifixion.

The red bodily fluids splattered on the gray wall looked like flowers.

There is a large hole in her chest, and her 「core」 had been extracted.

Her torso was completely crumpled, but her head was less damaged, and she was staring limply at the ground with empty eyes.

The head was less damaged than the body, but the empty eyes stared blankly at the ground, making the oddness of the scene all the more striking.

"Why is this girl......!"

"Do you know her?"

Flamm nodded repeatedly.

She had only met her once, but the scene with Ink was firmly etched into her memory.

“I believe her name was Fouwis, one of the ...... 「Spiral Children」!”

An uninhabited base razed to the ground.

The signs of battle.

And the body of a dead girl who used to be an enemy.

The laboratory had already moved completely to a place unknown to Flamm and her friends.

diced: no way more yuri!!! also no way more mystery!!! felt shorter than the previous ones. message me if the new tl notes are too distracting, I suck at translating nuance, but Deepl sucks more than me.

Meep: hallo diced told me to write something here even though I only did like a third of this chap

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