༺ No One Knows What This Is! (3) ༻
“That Iris. She seemed a bit clumsy so I was only half-trusting, but I guess she’s the Priestess for a reason.”
The beginning of summer, when the warm sun starts to become hot.
I was sitting in the garden watching the newly planted trees and flowers sway in the wind when Brigitte came up next to me and said this.
A week had already passed since Priestess Iris came to this city.
She spent most of her time with her and Cariote who were around her age, and Brigitte seems to have gotten a grasp on what kind of person ‘Iris’ was.
I asked.
“Did you sense anything?”
“Rather than sensing, I just came to know. She’s a good person. Regular routines are difficult for her due to physical limitations, but everyone likes her. She’s good with the kids, too.”
That was true.
Naru, Cecily, and Hina all listened well to Priestess Iris.
She was like a young aunt.
“She’s also skilled. Since she joined, we’ve been making daily progress in the experiment. Yesterday, Alpha responded to our words!”
Alpha was the name of the artificial Demon King that was being made.
It was supposed to be temporary but it seemed now that that was going to be the final name.
“Of course, we’re still facing some challenges. It has such a strong mind that the body can’t develop. And without the body, the mind remains only partial.”
Honestly, I’m from liberal arts so telling me about the experiment doesn’t really help.
Brigitte knew that too which was why she explained it as simply as possible so I could understand.
So in summary, if I got this right, there were good things and bad things.
“I can’t remember what I used when I was younger. They’re memories that I had wanted to keep buried but now here I am trying to recall everything….”
Brigitte tapped at her head with a finger.
She then asked me.
“You burned all of the diary, right? There wouldn’t be any scraps left?”
“None. I burned everything. And I don’t regret doing it.”
Even now I think I did well burning it.
Despite that being the reason for the stall in the experiment.
“Look at this! Naru caught a bumblebee!”
━Buzz— Buzz—
Just then, Naru lifted her hand high.
On her fingers sat a thumbnail-sized bumblebee, and it was rather cute in its chubbiness.
It was already the season for bees to be busily buzzing around.
Summer.
The season of hot sun rays.
In a world without air-conditioning, it was a difficult season to endure.
Especially during the war, which had been permeated by the smell of those sick and rotting.
Of course, it was different now.
Sploosh—!
Shwaaaa—
I turned my head at the water drops falling on my face and saw Sifnoi in the garden’s pool, splashing her hand around.
“Nymph Style, Ruthless Splashing!”
Splash— Splash— Splooosh—!
“Hey, watch where you’re plashing. Achoo!”
I ended up sneezing.
At that, Brigitte started.
“Judas, you, sneezing? When you’ve never caught a cold?”
“Seriously. Maybe because of the water. No, even when I got wet before, I was fine. So what is it? Hey, Sifnoi, what the hell are you doing?”
“Mwehehe, this is a water purification process…! A ditch water nymph such as I, Sifnoi…. Has the ability to purify water…!”
Splash— Splash—
It just looks like playing around to me.
“Naru’s going to splash water, too!”
Soon, Naru followed Sifnoi and jumped into the water.
Sploosh—
1 meter deep.
Considering the children’s heights, it was a deep pool but Naru swam skillfully like a mermaid.
“Naru, your swimming is good.”
Brigitte expressed her awe.
At that, Naru surfaced from the water and replied.
“I learned from Sifnoi!”
I see.
Sifnoi seemed to be playing the part of nanny rather well.
“Sifnoi, I’ll give you a raise.”
“…Mwehehe, this Sifnoi is saving up all the money until I obtain the 「Skeleton Key」 and become the King of Thieves…!”
Sifnoi’s dream was to be the King of Thieves.
Will it be possible?
No, besides, why did she even want that to begin with?
“This Sifnoi, will become the King of Thieves and acquire…. the 「Thieves’ Codex」…! The Codex…. Will enforce an assignment system…. that all thief groups must include at least one nymph thief…!”
I see.
Sifnoi’s dream seemed to be including nymph thieves in all thief gatherings and parties.
If something like that actually happens….
It’ll be the end times for those in the thieving industry.
Phoooo—
Naru sprayed the water she was holding in her mouth.
“Naru Style, Hydro Pump!”
A shooting water canon.
It was an amazing skill.
Seeing this, Sifnoi was in awe.
“Even amongst the ditch water nymphs, a skill that can only be used by those who enjoy water like this Sifnoi, Hydro Pump…! To be able to use it, indeed little Kore Narunoi is amazing…!”
Naru’s water canon shot out and headed towards Hina who was working on questions in the shade.
Drip— Drip—
“…….”
Hina was drenched.
And with that, all the questions in Hina’s book became blotchy due to the ink getting wet from Naru’s Hydro Pump water canon, preventing her from doing any more work.
“Hina should play, too!”
“…Uuuu….”
Compared to the merry Naru, Hina was shaking rather hard.
Finally, as if she couldn’t take it, she jumped into the water.
Sploosh—
Soon, Naru and Hina got tangled up with one another in the water and splashed around.
Is this what it would look like if two penguins were fighting in the water?
“Hey, Naru interrupted Hina’s studying again!”
Salome, who was enjoying sunbathing, called to Brigitte.
To which Brigitte calmly replied.
“But it seems that Hina is enjoying herself. And studying can’t be forced. Don’t you know kids take after their mother’s brain?”
“What? It sounds like you’re implying that you’re smarter than me. Do you want to bet which of the two will get higher marks for the finals?”
Crackle— Crackle—
Salome and Brigitte stared at each other.
Sending the rather prickly clash of wills between them, I turned away.
“Come to think of it, I don’t see Cecily and Cariote around.”
Today.
It was the celebratory opening day of the Junk Mansion’s pool but neither Cariote nor Cecily were to be seen.
Regarding that, Sifnoi, the Junk Mansion’s servant-cum-butler, replied.
“Kore Ceciliol and hunter Cariote have headed to the facility to discuss what to do with the evil demon in the basement…!”
I see.
* * *
“…….”
Cecily was a little upset.
This afternoon on a weekend, the mansion’s swimming pool had opened but Cecily had to come to this boring testing lab.
“If my sister can be convinced, it’ll help with the revival of the artificial Demon King….”
“Before that, through an experiment, we can demonify….”
“… The importance of her own will and the repentance of sins….”
Cariote, the Priestess, and Elle Cladeco sat in the meeting room and talked about things that were hard to understand.
This situation bored Cecily.
“Excuse me, if you don’t need the sugar for your coffee, may I have it?”
5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes…30 minutes….
“…….”
Cecily was a dignified noble.
She could certainly sit and wait until the adults finished talking, but when it went longer than an hour, she ran out of patience.
Swoosh—
‘─Cecily Style Catwalk!’
Cecily quietly left the meeting room without disrupting their conversation.
When she did, she heard the beeping of many machines.
Devices with lots of buttons.
Tanks.
Blueish lighting.
“Many of these I’ve seen in the textbooks during science class. That’s a flask, and that’s a beaker?”
It was a busy and complicated-looking space…, but a lab filled with mysterious machines was far more interesting than a room where adults were having boring conversations.
Cecily explored the lab for a while.
Then, at last, she stopped due to seeing a familiar face.
“Tywin? What are you doing here?”
Tywin Cladeco.
It was surprising to see a classmate inside the lab but at the same time, Cecily was glad.
It had been boring, going around by herself.
“I’m helping with the experiment.”
Tywin answered patiently.
In front of her was a large tank which contained a strange energy.
It was the tank that Cecily had seen while with Naru and Hina early on.
“What is it?”
Cecily asked.
So Tywin responded.
“The most important thing to my mom. But it just won’t react. Some ingredients seem to be missing in creating the body, but we don’t know what they are.”
Tywin’s expression was quite serious.
Of course, Cecily didn’t care all that much, far more occupied with the big red button before her eyes.
‘What a pressable-looking button.’
It was shiny and round.
About 15 cm in diameter, and seemed like it would beep when pressed.
Vooom— Voooom—
The way it was lit red looked attractive, causing Cecily to lift her hand towards it and then put it down a few times.
“What is it lacking…., Cecily, are you listening?”
“…….”
“Cecily?”
“Ah, what did you say?”
“Everything here, you shouldn’t touch it carelessly. It can put the world in danger.”
“Of course. Do you think I’m stupid?”
“…….”
Tywin narrowed her eyes.
Soon, she let out a sigh and spoke.
“I’ll be right back so please stay put.”
“Hmph, don’t treat me like a kid when we’re the same age. I’m a noble, I know how to be composed.”
“Alright.”
Step— Step—
Finally, Tywin disappeared into the distance.
And Cecily was left alone in front of the tank when her body started to glow like a firefly.
“Ah… What is this…?”
Cecily didn’t know why her body was glowing.
She was frightened by her hand fading, becoming transparent like a clear plastic bag.
“Wh-What’s happening.”
She had seen Naru glow before.
This seemed to be something like that.
“I’ve become glow-in-the-dark Cecily…!”
She was like the chandelier at a banquet hall.
As she appreciated this wonderful, noble-like effect, something jumped out of her shadow and attached to Cecily’s shoulder.
━Meoooow.
It was Molumolu.
The black-furred Molumolu.
“Molumolu? Why are you here?”
Cecily was surprised that Molumolu who should be with Naru was hiding in her shadow. Perhaps because of that, Cecily’s glowing body was able to calm down.
Of course, Cecily wasn’t paying attention to that.
She only thought of catching Molumolu.
“Molumolu, you can’t touch anything!”
━Meooooow.
Fwoosh—
Molumolu leaped from Cecily’s shoulder and sat on the red button she had been occupied with since earlier.
Beep— it went, activating the tank.
Soon, there was a clunk— kind of sound, and a drawer in front of the tank opened up.
Inside was a pile of white powder, and as soon as it was exposed to the air, it evaporated and disappeared.
Beep— Beep— Beep—
Because of that, a siren started wailing.
Cecily panicked.
“…Molumolu! Look what you did! You stupid furball!”
━Grrrrr…!
Cecily understood that if something happened to this experiment, the world could be in danger.
And that she needed to quickly fix this.
“Is it because the powder is gone? I have to somehow get powder….”
Powder!
Right then, Cecily remembered that she had sticks of sugar in her pocket.
White sugar that was put in coffee.
It’s a similar powder, so shouldn’t it work?
“…Fuck…!”
Thinking that she couldn’t hesitate, Cecily dumped all the sugar inside the machine’s drawer.
Then when she closed it, the noise stopped and everything seemed to settle.
Shwaaa—
As Cecily’s sugar shot into the tank and melted—
“What is it? What’s this noise?”
Clack— Clack—
At that moment, Elle Cladeco left the meeting room and entered the lab.
She had heard the alarm that sounded until just now.
“Miss Cecily, have you done something?”
Twitch—
Cecily started.
What should she say?
As she was contemplating, Elle Cladeco turned her eyes to the clearly lit tank.
“…….”
There was no change.
“A false alarm? It does happen occasionally.”
Elle Cladeco tilted her head, then went back to the meeting room.
Cecily was thinking that things were okay now and let out a sigh when—
“Whew….”
━Whew….
Cecily jumped at whatever had just copied her voice.
When she turned her head, the energy within the tank disappeared and instead, there was a bubbling blob.
It was a round water bubble about the size of a baseball.
But that thing seemed to be following in the direction Cecily was moving.
Like a dog or a cat!
Cecily looked around carefully and then spoke to the round water bubble.
“…Did you copy me just now?”
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