HPL 04

chapter 04

I crouched behind the bushes, curiosity making me peer ahead.

The woman with brown hair swept up into an elegant twist was smiling gracefully at the Baroness Tail and Ariel. When the Baroness and Ariel swallowed hard, the woman traced the rim of her teacup with a finger and spoke.

“I heard there was quite an incident recently. Your niece nearly died, didn’t she?”

“How does Countess McCallin know about that? The temple must have stopped those rumors.” Baroness Tail jumped in surprise, and the woman called Countess McCallin lowered her voice as she answered.

“News from this city tends to find its way to me. Don’t worry — I’ll keep it secret. Her name was Dayna, right? A child of the gods — fascinating.”

When Countess McCallin showed curiosity about me, the Baroness and Ariel put on awkward faces. But the Countess either didn’t notice or pretended not to, and gave a little eye-smile.

“I should meet her sometime.”

“She’s not the sort that usually attracts a countess’s interest. Besides, Ariel—” The Baroness, perhaps trying to redirect the Countess’s attention to her own daughter, started talking about Ariel. Ariel, with a prim expression, chimed in now and then.

Listening quietly, the Countess smiled and said, “Both Miss Ariel and Miss Dayna… the Tail house seems to have many talented women. I’d like to invite the Tail ladies to a tea party I’m having. Will you be free?”

When my name still hadn’t been left out, the Baroness — who’d been looking displeased — changed her tune at the mention of a tea. Ariel’s eyes sparkled like stars in the night sky.

“If Countess McCallin invites us, we’ll make the time.” “A tea party hosted by the Countess — I can’t wait.”

The Baroness and Ariel were fluttering, doing their best to please the Countess.

“Get a grip,” I muttered under my breath and moved away. Their sugary voices grew more distant until I couldn’t hear them at all.

After pushing through the bushes for a while, I came to a wall entwined with ivy.

“Hm, this should be about the right spot…” I fumbled along the wall, recalling the notes from the diary.

I ran my hands along the wall for a while, then paused. One spot felt softer than the rest. This must be it.

I quickly brushed the ivy aside and found a bundle of hay. Because it matched the color of the wall, anyone who hadn’t felt it would never have guessed it was hay.

When I pulled the hay bundle away, a hole in the center of the wall appeared.

I bent my body into the gap to squeeze through to the other side. But I didn’t come out as easily as I’d expected.

Only after struggling my limbs for a long moment did I finally emerge from the hole.

I looked around. I’d come out into a narrow gap between two walls.

This wasn’t a place people used to pass through. Well, that explains how Dayna could slip out through the hole.

I blocked the hole with the hay bundle and carefully covered the wall with the ivy again.

Pulling my hood up, I slipped between the walls and threaded through several small alleys before I reached a place where people actually passed by.

Hm, this city’s pretty big. Lots of people, lots of shops.

As I turned my head and took in the city, Tommy appeared in midair.

{This is the city called Jeil in the Kingdom of Ailand. What would you like to do next?}

“I need to find out if anyone suspicious was wandering around the day Dayna was attacked. And I’ll look for rumors about someone who might be a possessed person,” I answered, looking up where Tommy hovered.

{A possessed person doesn’t exactly go around saying, “I’m possessed.” How will you find them?}

Tommy tilted his head in a way that made him look rather adorable. His personality wasn’t cute, though.

“Beginner possessed people tend to behave differently from their original owners. If the body’s owner is a well-known person, their sudden change might become the talk of the town.”

{What if they aren’t famous enough for rumors? Or even if they are famous, what if no one notices?}

Do you have to stomp on everyone’s hopes like that?

I pouted, but Tommy was probably right — there was a good chance of finding a rumor if the change was obvious. Without leads, I’d be in trouble.

I clutched my head with both hands; some passersby gave me odd looks. I faked a headache and quickly left that spot.

The Creator didn’t fail to try other means to prevent the world from ending. The god Himself once scoured the world with divine power; gods were sent to manifest in the human realm.

Those efforts brought no real success. So, to see if something looked different through human eyes, the Creator placed me into an ownerless body.

Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth — possession for possession!

“I get the idea, but it’s a crude and miserable plan,” I clicked my tongue and set about looking for information in earnest. But even after searching all day, I heard no talk of anyone suspicious or of someone who’d suddenly changed.

Instead, I collected plenty of information about Countess McCallin.

If I didn’t ask, seven out of ten people talked about her anyway, so I naturally learned something about her.

“If it weren’t for the Countess, both the McCallin trading house and the Count’s family would’ve gone under. She’s remarkable.” “They say the Countess developed all the medicines the McCallin trading house sells.” “She gives medicine and food free to the poor and sick… she does a lot of charity work.” “A woman so wonderful — how did she end up married to a count who only frequents brothels?”

I heard comments like that from all around.

Clearly in Jeil, Countess McCallin had more influence than the local lord.

{But why have you been frowning this whole time?} Tommy asked. I shook my head as if nothing was wrong.

But actually, something was wrong.

Something inside the body twisted. If I didn’t make a big effort to steady myself, my awareness kept scattering.

Dayna’s body wasn’t suffering a grave illness, but she was constitutionally weak with low energy and poor immunity. Is that why? Still, I hadn’t expected to feel this drained after only a few hours.

I should head back for today. If I keep wandering around like this, something bad will happen.

Dragging my sluggish body along, a sharp voice cut through the air.

“Where did that slave bastard run off to?”

I turned reflexively toward the voice and saw a bald man snorting, blood trickling from his nose.

Unbidden, the image of a boiled octopus popped into my head.

Next to him, a man with a jaw beard looked around anxiously.

“We have to find him fast! He hates when plans go wrong.”

While those two prowled, a heavily tattooed man came running from the opposite side.

“He’s not here either! I told you not to touch that bastard — he’s trouble!” the tattooed man shouted, exasperated. He glared at the bald man.

The bald man flinched but quickly grew furious.

“He called me a eunuch-octopus bastard when he saw me! How could I tolerate that? I hit him and he pretended to fall and rammed me with his shoulder!”

“Stop! How can we fight among ourselves? That bastard’s right knee is smashed — he can’t have gotten far.”

When the bearded man tried to calm them, the two grudgingly let the argument drop.

While the three men ran this way and that searching for the runaway slave, Tommy spoke up.

{The eastern continent where the Kingdom of Ailand lies has slavery. The western continent across the sea does not.}

Oh — so this world had slavery. I hoped the slave would get away safely and ducked into an alley where I’d crawled through earlier.

The alley was bathed in a crimson glow from the setting sun. As I walked deeper, the alley’s hue darkened to a blood-red.

In the alley where sunset light and shadow cut across, only the sound of my footsteps echoed.

Suddenly everything felt strange. The sound of my steps, the sensation of my legs moving, even the twisting feeling transmitted from the belly — everything felt unfamiliar.

At some point my head started processing things more slowly. Even the odd sensation I’d been feeling began to fade. I thought my body wasn’t right.

Had Dayna’s body failed to withstand my soul? Would it collapse before the attacker could strike again?

As all my senses dulled and my consciousness grew heavy, I made a mistake I wouldn’t normally make.

Just as I rounded the corner into the little space with the hole, someone reached out and grabbed me.

I couldn’t dodge in time and was pulled. Someone wrapped an arm around my neck from behind, gripping hard.

“Shut up.” A low, sharp voice whispered in my ear.

I couldn’t see the man’s face, but I felt how icy his gaze must be.

I shouldn’t fight recklessly and risk further damaging Dayna’s body.

I kept quiet as instructed and darted my eyes around.

The man held me so tightly from behind that I still couldn’t make out his full looks. But I saw dark purple hair and a sharp jawline.

“Take off the hood.”

His voice had no warmth in it at all; he tightened his arm.

Dayna’s slender neck was crushed by the force.

He doesn’t hesitate. If I resist, he’ll strangle me to death. I didn’t know if he was the one who attacked Dayna, but I had to do as he said. Then I could exploit any moment of vigilance to strike back with divine power.

Deciding that, I reached up and pulled off the hood. The man looked at me for a long beat.

I couldn’t see his eyes directly, but his stare was intense enough that I felt it was fixed on me.

I had tensed to retaliate the moment he’d grabbed my neck, but suddenly he loosened his grip.

Why did he let go so abruptly?

I spun quickly to assess the situation. Only then did I see the attacker’s face in full.

Gods are generally beautiful. Having lived among such gods, I rarely felt impressed by mortal looks.

But this man would not be out of place among gods.

His dark purple hair and burning red eyes were striking enough to be engraved in the mind after a single glance. His pale skin made the purple and red even more vivid.

Though his hair and eyes were the most noticeable features, his nose and lips were sculpted like a work of art. Not merely handsome — his face was beautiful.

When I stared openly at his face, he hastily covered it with one hand and turned to leave.

A person who chokes a passerby and walks away without a word.

What an age we live in. If I let him go, will the world end in five years? He didn’t seem to be the one who assaulted Dayna, but I couldn’t let him go.

I stepped in front of him and knitted my brows.

“You — you’re a god? Or a man — choking someone and then just walking off — what do you think you’re doing?”

“……”

A hollow, razor-sharp edge filled his ruby-like eyes. The gaze was so cold that it would make most mortals shrink back.

But having seen countless fiends and corrupted souls, that look didn’t faze me. Oh ho, he’s glaring. Big deal.

As I shot him a “what are you going to do about it?” look, he seemed to intend to ignore me and move to the right. But his right leg wasn’t right.

He limped on his right leg. So he must be the one who was chasing the runaway slave — he’d thought I was a pursuer and had choked me.

Just as the limping man walked on, voices came from the alley entrance.

“That one-looking human went this way.” “What if he’s not here either? Should we take some replacement goods with us?” “Don’t be unlucky — out of the customers we’ve faced so far, he’s the scariest.”

It sounded like the slave traders I’d seen before had come this way.

The purple-haired man frantically scanned his surroundings. He couldn’t hide or flee — the walls boxed him in.

He ground his lips, then glared fiercely in the direction the slave traders’ voices came from.

Dangerous resolve poured from his red eyes.

Is he going to resist to the death?

Although my neck had been squeezed, I couldn’t stand by and watch him be captured or killed.

If someone isn’t an evil person, you help them when they need it. And he’s a god, after all — I should at least follow that baseline professional ethic.

I quickly reached out and grabbed the man’s arm. He reflexively tried to shake my hand off.

Judging by his temperament and the situation, I expected that reaction. Prepared in advance, I swiftly let go with my right hand and took hold of his other arm with my left.

“Come with me if you don’t want those men to catch you.”

“What…?” Before he could finish speaking, I strode forward.

Because his right leg was injured, his body was dragged along more weakly than I’d expected.