When I finally arrived at my parents’ house, the house had a weird ambiance. The house was littered with dirty mud that looked like a coal tar, giving off a heavy rotting stench in every direction. Every vegetation that was touched by the black sludge, withered…. No, to be precise, rotted. Not only that, the surrounding grounds and stone also looked like they were melting and occasionally, I could see white smoke puffing from the black sludge.
“N-No… I’ve only been gone for a few days and things have gone this far….?!”
Judging from how surprised Hyatoi-san was, the change that had happened must be very drastic.
“E-Ermm…. Please wait a moment. There!”
I sprinkled the black substance with the limestone powder I had made in the duke’s place and then, there was some weird sizzling sound and smoke fuming as the black sludge shrinked in the blink of an eye.
“Oooh!!!”
In a place where the vegetation had withered, suddenly a new sprout began to grow. Little by little, the spout grew. It was amazing I could see with my own eyes how the sprout grew rapidly.
As expected, the shellfish imbued with Maricle-sama’s magic power was truly incredible!
“Miltia-sama, I don’t think the powder you bring will be enough to clean all of the filth in this place… That… I mean… Sistana-sama’s room is in a worse condition so… I’m sorry for being so selfish but… Please… Save my daughter… Save Kiddie… Please… I…..”
Hyatoi-san mumbled, he looked very apologetic. But he was right. The limestone powder I had was limited and I should prioritize a human’s life first.
“Ah, yes. I’m sorry. I understand….. Ummm… Do you think my step-father, step-mother and Sistana are resting in their own room?”
“Pr-Probably…”
Me and Hyatoi-san nodded at each other as we continued forward. Since apparently her daughter, Kiddie, was taken as a hostage by my sister, I entered through the servant’s entrance, which was located in the backdoor of this mansion. This backdoor directly led to the kitchen, so I was basically used to using this door.
“H-Hey! What are you guys doing here?!”
“You! Hyatoi!! Where the hell have you been these last few days?!”
“What the… That woman is….?”
“Huh?! I thought she was a man judging from her short hair but it turned out she’s a pretty fine woman, huh!”
The moment I entered the kitchen, the servants, all whom I didn’t really know well, looked surprised at the sight of us. They all started to shout in unison. To be honest, rather than an employee of a count’s house, they looked more like a hoodlum. At first I thought they were holding a pestle but upon closer look, it seemed they were holding a stick club instead?
Huh? These people… Are they really an employee of this house?
“SHUT UP!!!”
But then Hyatoi-san yelled with all his might. His shout was far louder than their voice.
“I’ve brought this girl here by the order of Sistana-sama herself!!! If you guys even so much as lay a finger on her…. !! Do you even know what Sistana-sama will do??? Do you??? Huh????”
Hyatoi-san’s eyes were bloodshot, he was even foaming in the corner of his mouth and his expression was aghast as he shouted on the top of his lungs. The servants, who looked like hoodlums, averted their gaze from us. Especially when Hyatoi-san mentioned my sister’s name…. They visibly flinched and some even broke out in cold sweat.
“S-S-So…. I-It was… S-Sistana-sama’s….”
“O-Of course… It must be… I-Important… G-Go on… You have an order to fulfill, right….”
“Who said we’re going to get in your way?! W-We’re not going to get in your way!!!”
All of the servants suddenly stepped aside, making a clear pathway for us as they kept on flickering their gaze to a mysterious pot in the kitchen. Their strange gaze made me unconsciously shift my eyes to that pot and in there, I saw the same black sludge stuck in the pot and in the center of it, there was a gleaming bright orange eye staring back at me.
“Ummmm… Excuse me for a second….”
Turning away from Hyatoi-san, I crouched down in front of that pot and tossed a small handful of the limestone powder into the pot.
GYASSSSSHHHHAAAAA!!!
Another scream so shrill that it looked like it could cut into space and time broke forth and not long after that, the creepy eyeball melted and disappeared along with the other black sludge in the pot.
Okay! Nice! Somehow… I feel like I mustn’t ignore that thing and go on my way….
“?!”
“Okay, let’s go.”
I stood up and was about to go with Hyatoi-san when….
“OOOOOHHHHH!!! THE SURVEILLANCE IS GONE!!!!”
“LET’S BOLT!!”
“Sssshh! We must be quiet!!! Don’t make a ruckus!!”
The servants who looked like hoodlums, cheered before they suddenly lowered their voice again and ran toward the backdoor in frenzy.
Hyatoi-san and I stared at each other, confused at the sudden turn of events.