I Got Possessed, But the Monster Beast Is Adorable - Chapter 39

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#39

 

“Welcome… Huh? You from yesterday!”

 

As we opened the arched guild hall entrance and entered, Julie, who had been Ruan’s follower, was holding a broom and cleaning inside the guild. She seemed to recognize us immediately.

 

Well, yeah. There’s no way she’d forget the unusual combination of a handsome man and a foal. Even a puppy and cat have been added now.

 

“Where is Sophia?”

 

“Sophia? She hasn’t come to work yet…”

 

Julie answered with a puzzled expression. It seemed we had guessed wrong.

 

She’s not at home and not at the guild either. Where on earth did she go?

 

“…I see. Ah, I’d like to pick up the merchant registration I applied for yesterday.”

 

“Oh, yes! Just a moment… Um… Zoe Blanc… Found it! Here you go. By the way, what’s your relationship with Sophia that you’re here so early in the morning…?”

 

Seeing Ruan come looking for Sophia early in the morning, Julie probed as if trying to figure out their relationship.

 

“I happened to meet Sophia yesterday and was invited to her house, but I left something important there. I have to leave the village soon, so I went to her house this morning but she wasn’t there.”

 

It was at that moment when Ruan answered nonchalantly.

 

“She’s not at home? Sophia?”

 

“What, Fiona. You’re off duty today, aren’t you?”

 

My gaze turned toward where the voice came from.

 

There stood a woman with the same orange hair as Sophia, her eyes wide with surprise.

 

She was similar in height and hair color, with a face so similar to Sophia’s that at first glance, you’d believe they were twins. The only difference was the presence or absence of freckles.

 

“…Who are you?”

 

“I, I’m called Fiona. Sophia and I are… old friends. More importantly, was Sophia really not at home?”

 

“That’s right. No matter how much I knocked on the door, there wasn’t a single sign of life.”

 

“Oh my god… That can’t be… Could it be, at that place…?”

 

Fiona’s pupils shook violently with anxiety as she hung her head and muttered to herself.

 

I jumped down from Ruby’s back and approached Ruan closely.

 

Then Ruan, as if he had been waiting, scooped me up into his arms.

 

“Ruan. Doesn’t that woman Fiona seem suspicious? We should question her.”

 

“Yes. I felt it too.”

 

When I whispered quietly in his ear, Ruan nodded.

 

“You seem to know Sophia’s whereabouts, don’t you? Answer me. Where is Sophia right now?”

 

“Huh? I… well…”

 

Fiona chewed on her half-bitten thumbnail nervously, stammering. Blood dripped from the nail where scabs had already formed.

 

“You’d better answer now. Unless you want to be interrogated at the police station.”

 

“Wait, wait, sir! Please calm down. Hey, Fiona! What’s wrong with you? Hurry up and tell him!”

 

When he naturally threatened her, Julie, who was beside her, seemed flustered and scolded Fiona loudly.

 

“…Well. Last night, Lord Gerald came to our house… and asked me to tell him where Sophia is living now. So I told him… and…”

 

“What? That troublemaker young master again?! Ugh, knowing his damn personality, how could you just tell him everything!”

 

“B-but. Sister Julie, you know too. My mother is also a merchant… We’re refugees who barely managed to establish ourselves here, and if we get on the guild master’s bad side, we won’t be able to make a living in this village…”

 

“Even so, that’s not right. Sigh… How do you always end up like this with Young Master Gerald…? Last time you almost died to a monster because of the young master’s errand! Are you going to do everything the young master tells you to do? Huh?”

 

When Julie said this while grabbing her throbbing head, Fiona finally collapsed to the floor with her orange hair scattered, shedding tears.

 

Judging by that fed-up attitude, Gerald had probably been using Fiona’s weakness as leverage to boss her around like his subordinate.

 

This smells fishy. The smell of a very rotten incident.

 

While Ruan was away looking for me, Gerald barged into Sophia’s house.

 

If Gerald, who was already desperate to get his hands on Sophia, found her…

 

“So. Where is Sophia now?”

 

“Sob… If my guess is right, she’s probably at that place… There’s a small cabin that Lord Gerald secretly bought without the guild master knowing, a little away from the village. It has a basement attached…”

 

In crime movies, there’s something that automatically comes to mind when you hear basement.

 

Kidnapping. Gerald finally kidnapped Sophia.

 

Lunatice, who had been listening to all of this silently, rushed out toward the exit with a fiercely contorted face.

 

“Hey. That cat. Isn’t that the customer’s companion cat?!”

 

“Ruan.”

 

“Let’s follow too.”

 

Just as we were about to run after Lunatice, Fiona asked cautiously.

 

“Excuse me…! That cat. It’s the cat Sophia was raising, right?”

 

“How did you know?”

 

“I knew it. Um, if you meet Sophia, could you tell her I’m sorry about back then?”

 

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“Sophia, Lord Gerald, and I. We three have known each other since childhood. So I knew about that cat’s existence too. But that day. The day before Sophia moved away. …Lord Gerald suddenly gave me an errand.”

 

“…What kind?”

 

“He told me to cover my face and pretend to be Sophia, then tell that cat to meet in the evening instead of morning.”

 

Seeing Fiona’s face consumed with guilt, I could finally guess the full story of all the incidents.

 

“I knew well what that cat meant to Sophia… but at that time, our family was even more unstable, so I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t know the cat would be fooled…”

 

“Then you could have confessed the truth when Sophia returned to this village?”

 

When Ruan pointed this out sharply, Fiona hesitated before answering.

 

“I was afraid Sophia would resent me. I kept thinking I should tell her today, I must tell her tomorrow, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say it… So, instead of me…”

 

“No, you must confess the truth yourself. And sincerely ask for forgiveness. Sophia isn’t the type to hold deadly grudges against anyone in the first place. You know that well, don’t you?”

 

At those words, Fiona bit her lips as if holding back tears that were about to burst out.

 

Right. Of course, Lunatice is more intelligent than ordinary animals, but back then he was less mature, and seeing Fiona, who looked exactly like Sophia, at the place where only the two of them always met, he could have been mistaken.

 

“Yes. Then, though it’s shameless of me, please save Sophia.”

 

“Yes. I will definitely rescue her.”

 

Sophia, Lunatice, and Fiona too. In the end, they’re all just Gerald’s scapegoats and victims.

 

So what should we do?

 

Beat up the perpetrator Gerald.

 

“Ruby, can you track Lunatice’s scent?”

 

“Leave it to me, Zoe! Sniff sniff, it’s that way!”

 

* * *

 

“Hello! Is anyone there?”

 

Sophia shouted from inside the iron bars in the basement.

 

But not even the slightest sound of human presence came from outside.

 

“Please… Is no one there?”

 

Sophia’s voice, who had fought the cold all night in the chilly basement, gradually grew fainter.

 

Since it was an enclosed space with walls on all sides and not a single window, it was difficult to tell whether it was morning or night.

 

Sophia leaned her body diagonally against the iron bars that reeked of metal and recalled last night.

 

‘Sophia, please open the door. I want to sincerely apologize for everything up until now.’

 

‘…Sigh, come in for now.’

 

Though Gerald’s uninvited visit to her house, which she hadn’t even told him about, wasn’t welcome, Sophia opened the door because she didn’t want to cause a disturbance in the middle of the night.

 

‘Sit here and wait, I’ll bring some tea.’

 

In the blink of an eye, Gerald attacked Sophia from behind while she was making tea. Then he covered her mouth with cloth to prevent her from screaming.

 

The acrid scent numbed her nose and Sophia lost consciousness immediately.

 

After regaining consciousness, she found herself collapsed alone in this underground prison. Sophia ended her recollection and rubbed her temples.

 

“…Ugh, my head hurts so much.”

 

Her head was throbbing, and it seemed she had a fever from last night’s aftermath. Sophia barely held onto her increasingly hazy consciousness and looked around.

 

As expected, there was nothing here.

 

‘How much longer can I endure…’

 

In the desperate situation, Sophia raised her knees, wrapped them with both hands, and hung her head low.

 

That’s when it happened.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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