“Uwaaah…!”
A scream rang out from behind. One of the servants had shrieked at the sudden appearance of the blazing blue fireball.
“Lord Ries, step back! I’ll take care of it!”
Melissa had already drawn her sword, its blade humming with tension. It looked like she was about to charge in at any moment.
“Meooow! Myak!!”
Don’t come! Stay back! Ries screamed in response. Melissa seemed to sense the clear note of refusal in his cries and hesitated.
He took a moment to catch his breath, then looked up. The blue fireball burned brightly, reminiscent of the ghostly flames from old folktales. It probably wasn’t visible from afar, but to Ries, who was staring at it up close, it was clear as day.
That wasn’t actual fire. It was a kind of qi emanating from Sefiut, forming a circular barrier around the doll. Because it had a tangible body, it had become visible even to ordinary human eyes. In other words—
…It’s way too conspicuous.
Far too visible. No wonder he’d almost been caught, walking around like that. Ries recalled Sefiut’s flimsy excuse.
—When I clash with those bastards, I end up turning blue without realizing it. You have no idea how annoying it is.
Hmm. Well, at least the fact that there was a doll inside hadn’t been exposed. That was something to celebrate. He’d narrowly avoided becoming a cat carting around a possessed doll.
Even if it’s technically true.
Anyway, the important thing now was putting an end to this ghost story. Calmly, he raised his front paw.
Then, just as he’d coordinated with Sefiut beforehand—
“Waaaooong!!”
He swung his paw. Naturally, his claws weren’t extended—it was just a fluffy little slap. But the sound that followed was far from peaceful.
Thunk!
With a dull thud, the blue fireball was batted away and rolled across the ground. Luckily, it tumbled into a spot hidden from the onlookers, and Sefiut let the energy fade out with a soft puff.
—Uugh.
A faint groan came from within. Given that he could touch and communicate with spirits, it must’ve landed a solid hit… Unfortunately, there was no time to dwell on it.
“Lord Ries!”
Melissa, who had been anxiously hovering nearby, rushed over. She cautiously reached out and began checking him all over, clearly worried he might’ve gotten hurt.
He glanced at her face and flinched. Her green eyes were welling up with tears, shimmering with overwhelming emotion.
“Sniff… I’m so sorry. I failed in my duty to protect you, Lord Ries. I’m a useless, irresponsible knight…”
“…Meow?”
“But still, but still…!”
Thud. Melissa dropped to her knees.
“You were amazing and so brave! To think you vanquished a ghost with that precious little fluff-paw! I should’ve captured this dazzling moment in a painting…! Ah—no, now’s not the time. You hit that fireball, so your paw might be burned! Even a tiny injury could get worse, and then I’d fall into despair, and the Duke would fall into despair, and the entire ducal household would collapse—”
Ries gently placed his paw over her mouth. She was being way too loud and dramatic. Yet the very person being silenced seemed overwhelmed by emotion.
“A reward…”
He immediately withdrew his paw. The way her lips trembled underneath it was extremely unpleasant.
Ketir approached belatedly. The garlic he’d been clutching earlier had vanished—probably stuffed back into his pocket.
He, too, examined Ries’s body. He was especially thorough in inspecting the front paw that had smacked the fireball. Though he had kept his distance earlier, the concern in his eyes was unmistakable, and Ries felt a twinge of warmth.
“Whew. Thank goodness. I almost got dragged off by the Duke.”
…Ah. So he’d been worried about himself. The warmth evaporated in an instant. Annoyed, Ries bit his hand—hard.
He ignored Ketir’s yelp of pain. What bothered him more were the servants behind them, staring with sparkling eyes.
This should quiet the rumors a bit.
The baseless claims blaming Justyn for the strange phenomena would likely die down as well. After all, the spirit beast who vanquished ghosts had chosen him as its master.
Fortunately, the two servants met his expectations. They immediately bowed their heads respectfully.
“Thank you! Thanks to you, Lord Ries, I’ll finally be able to sleep at night!”
“Thank you for saving me…!”
…These two were just as dramatic. But the sincerity in their teary eyes was unmistakable.
“Even though we spoke so recklessly, slandering the Duke, you still embraced us with such mercy. Lord Ries, you truly are a spirit beast.”
“That’s right! And if anyone dares deny it, we’ll make sure they regret it!”
Suddenly, they were even eloquent. Seeing Melissa nodding emphatically beside them, it was clear she’d had a hand in all this.
Ries gave a begrudging nod. He hadn’t expected such enthusiasm, but judging by the look of things, these two would handle public opinion just fine on their own.
He paused to gauge the situation. His plan was to retrieve the hidden Sefiut once the timing was right.
And the opportunity came quickly.
“Sir Ketir, you smell like garlic.”
“This is my personal protection charm. Kindly respect that.”
“Hmm, fair enough. But what exactly were you planning to do with it? Throw it at something?”
“…I hadn’t really considered that, to be honest.”
“Well, you never know what life will throw at you. Might as well think it over. If throwing doesn’t work for you, how about crushing it and flinging it into someone’s eyes? That might be effective.”
“You’re more devious than I thought. I’ll take it under advisement.”
It was during this absurd back-and-forth that Ries seized his chance. Sefiut, though clearly drained, was retrieved without issue. As a bonus, Ries gave him a once-over—he had smacked him earlier, after all.
Hmm.
He swallowed a sigh. Sefiut’s tail was suspiciously sooty—probably from rolling around in the wrong place. Ries tried brushing it off with a paw, but the grime wouldn’t budge.
His eyes wavered briefly in indecision before settling on the obvious solution: avoidance.
Good luck out there.
Something told him Sefiut would soon find himself hauled off to the laundry room again.
The situation wrapped up quickly. Though he’d prodded a few things with his paw, he hadn’t caused much of a mess, and—
“Let’s tidy up and head back. The Duke is surely waiting.”
With Ketir’s one remark, everyone snapped into motion.
Leaving the humans behind to clean the kitchen so it wouldn’t look like anyone had ever been there, Ries peeked his head out into the hallway.
The corridor, with no lights on, was swallowed in pitch darkness. The atmosphere was eerie enough that a ghost popping out wouldn’t have felt out of place.
No, stop that.
He consciously cut off the thought. Words had power, after all. And besides, with Sefiut around, nothing alarming should happen…
“……”
Shouldn’t.
Yet far off at the end of the hallway, a bluish figure was wandering aimlessly. Ries instinctively reached up to rub his eyes like a human—only to accidentally let go of Sefiut.
—Argh! I’m gonna get filthy again! Pay attention, damn it!
Sefiut grumbled after tumbling to the floor, but Ries didn’t have the mental bandwidth to properly respond to his irritation.
A ghost? That was entirely possible.
Ever since hearing what Sefiut had said, Ries had kept in mind that he might one day be forced to face a ghost. He just hadn’t expected that day to be today.
So no, he wasn’t shocked at the fact that he was seeing a ghost. Scared, sure—but he’d already resolved to get used to it.
No, the real reason Ries was stunned lay elsewhere.
The specter at the end of the corridor had already vanished like a mirage, but the pale silhouette was still vivid in his mind.
It had unmistakably…
looked like Justyn.
***
“Haaah.”
Diana swept her hair back in irritation as she returned to the temple after completing her duties. It felt like the foul stench of the slums had seeped into her hair.
And her hands—! The recent dry spell had taken a toll on her once pale and silky skin. The backs of her hands were now chapped and rough. As she hurried along, mentally going over ways to soothe her skin, something caught her eye in the distance.
A familiar face.
It was High Priest Hailey, someone she often exchanged pleasantries with.
Not today. I’m too tired.
She quickly veered off to the side, pretending not to see her. Though Hailey was always polite and occasionally brought interesting gossip, she also talked far too much. And today, that was exactly the kind of thing Diana didn’t have the patience for.
“…Did you hear?”
But the moment she caught a snippet of the quiet conversation, Diana found herself turning around without even thinking.
She approached Hailey and her companion, instantly arranging a sweet, friendly smile across her face.
