I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 46
“Step aside, will you? Honestly, you green recruits. You can’t just charge in headlong like that.”
Aiden pushed past the three standing figures and moved to the front.
Despite his casual tone, Aiden’s movements were deliberate. Each gesture, each expression—all of it moved according to his calculation. Everything precisely as intended.
He approached the man with an amiable smile, his manner utterly at ease.
“Hello. I’m the supervisor for these bumbling recruits here.”
“…Yes?”
“They’re still in their internship, you see. A bit clumsy, aren’t they? All show, no substance… There’s quite a bit I need to teach them. It’ll age me fast, it will.”
He spoke with the casual warmth of a close friend, all charm and easy manner.
There seemed nothing threatening in it, and the man’s wariness visibly softened.
“Ah, well…”
“I heard a puppy went missing. A boy named Leon sent us a letter, tears and all.”
“…Leon? But that boy can’t write yet.”
“Oh? Then what’s this?”
Olivia swiftly placed Leon’s Commission Form into Aiden’s outstretched hand.
Before the man could even speak, the document was already extended with a crisp snap, and Aiden’s pupils flickered with a hint of satisfaction.
“Ah. This is Zeta’s handwriting.”
“A local resident, then?”
“Not exactly. A mercenary, actually. Been staying in the village for a few years now.”
A mercenary? There were mercenaries in this village?
Bennett and Panya exchanged shrugs of equal bewilderment before refocusing on the conversation. The man’s tension continued to ease visibly.
Aiden, studying the man’s expression, calmly and seamlessly lowered the poker he’d been gripping. The man seemed not to notice the gesture at all.
Was that what experience looked like?
Watching Aiden accomplish something so naturally—something the three of them would never have dared attempt alone—stirred something like admiration in them.
“Just to be safe, I brought an Identification Badge as well. Would you like to see it? You’re welcome to inspect it directly. It can’t be forged.”
“No, no, that won’t be necessary! That’s enough.”
“Then you believe we’re from the Rooks Knights?”
“I… I apologize. With a younger brother to look after, I suppose I’ve become overly cautious about these things. My name’s Raven. I’m Leon’s older brother.”
“I’m Aiden. These three here—”
Go introduce yourselves right now. That’s what Aiden’s eyes were saying.
The three hastily bowed to Raven. He accepted their greeting with humble surprise and then called out loudly toward the back of the house.
“Leon, we have visitors!”
“Visitors?”
“You sent a letter to the Rooks Knights, didn’t you? Is it true?”
“Really? The knights actually came? They really did?”
Thud-crash!
The door burst open and a small shadow tumbled out in a rush.
“Where, where are they!”
Leon, their client, was a young boy with honey-colored hair and matching eyes.
If his older brother Raven carried himself with a certain calm composure, Leon was his opposite entirely. The child’s mouth fell open as he looked up at the “knights” who had arrived at his door.
“Um, uh…”
“Hello.”
“Are you really knights?”
“We sure are. You must be Leon?”
Leon’s head bobbed up and down at remarkable speed. His eyes shimmered with unbridled joy. Raven gently stroked his younger brother’s hair.
“We’ve come to find Dorothy.”
Squeak! A cry of pure delight burst from the child, filling the front of the house.
* * *
The case wasn’t overly complex. But that was precisely the problem—it wasn’t straightforward either.
“So what you’re telling us is that the dog simply vanished one day?”
“Yes. Leon believes Dorothy got lost and couldn’t find her way home, but…”
“…Raven has a different theory.”
Dorothy had gone missing a week ago, Raven explained. It was dusk, and a downpour had been falling in sheets.
Dogs rely heavily on their senses, and animals typically become disoriented in such conditions. It was entirely plausible that Dorothy had wandered outside at that very moment and lost her way.
But Raven’s account told a different story.
“The house was properly locked that night. And the fence in the yard was repaired just days before, so there was no way Dorothy could have gotten out on her own.”
“Are you saying… she disappeared from inside the house?”
“I’m not certain about the house itself. But I’m sure Dorothy was inside until I left.”
The house had a yard. Most homes in the area did.
Many residents kept livestock, and animal pens for cattle, horses, and pigs dotted the landscape.
To prevent Dorothy from accidentally approaching larger animals and getting hurt, Raven and Leon had taken careful measures to keep her from wandering outside unsupervised, he explained.
“We didn’t tie her up, but except during walks, Dorothy never went out alone.”
“Even when the door was open?”
“Yes. We usually kept the door closed, but…”
The lock wasn’t particularly sophisticated. But neither was it loose enough for an animal to open on her own. Raven said he found this detail somewhat unsettling, and he’d mentioned it out of honesty.
His gaze drifted to Leon, sleeping peacefully in the distance. The boy had sniffled through the story of Dorothy before nestling into his brother’s arms and drifting off.
“There’s one more thing I didn’t mention while Leon was awake.”
“Yes, please tell us.”
Olivia lifted her head from the notes she’d been taking, meeting Raven’s eyes.
“Recently, there’ve been frequent disappearances of livestock in the village.”
“What?”
“They vanished in much the same way Dorothy did.”
He lowered his voice as he spoke.
Scrape.
A chair made a soft sound against the floor. The three, who had been holding their breath to catch Raven’s words, started in surprise and turned toward the noise.
Of course, there was only one person who would have made it.
“What are you staring at?”
“Senior.”
“So the livestock disappeared too? In the same way Dorothy vanished?”
Aiden, who had been standing at the back listening with a detached air, suddenly straightened with renewed focus.
He leaned forward, urging Raven to continue with more detail.
“…Yes. And, well.”
“And?”
“All the missing livestock were found dead.”
What?
The three’s eyes widened in shock. Only Aiden maintained his composure.
“Dead, you say? Could you elaborate on that for us?”
Raven’s throat bobbed as he swallowed.
* * *
Rochen Village was small and peaceful.
More than half its residents worked in livestock farming, so the market offered an abundance of fresh provisions in the mornings.
Fresh eggs and milk, cheese and meat.
“Before the War Against Demons, we couldn’t have imagined such abundance.”
“Don’t even speak of it. Back then, I seriously considered abandoning the place.”
“Who would have thought this village would become so peaceful again?”
During the war with the demon clans, this area had been the fiercest battleground, they’d heard. Even after, the remnants—the Demon Beasts left behind—had made life difficult for those who stayed.
But all of that had seemed to vanish with the War Against Demons’ end.
Reclaimed peace and abundance. As though compensating for past suffering, the small village had become prosperous and full.
The villagers believed without question that this peace would continue forever.
Until that incident began.
“Say, Jensen! Is something the matter?”
“There seem to be wolves in the area.”
“What? Wolves?”
“A cow disappeared last night.”
Jensen’s cow had vanished.
Occasionally wild animals did venture down from the hills to raid the livestock pens, so everyone assumed this was simply another such incident.
Grieving his lost cow, Jensen had gotten drunk that night and staggered home. But even he didn’t think it was anything serious—just a stroke of misfortune, that was all.
…At least, not until the missing cow returned.
“Ahhhhh!”
“What, what is it? What happened!”
“The cow, the cow… it…”
“Ahhh! What, what is this?”
The cow, drenched in blood.
The cow had returned. Dead and soaked in crimson.
Its hide was covered in bite marks—yet they bore no resemblance to those of a wolf.
“These look almost like… herbivore bite marks.”
The village’s only veterinarian spoke through beads of sweat. These were not the marks of predators like wolves or bears.
“Based on the direction and pattern of the wounds, well, in other words…”
“Just say it straight! Don’t be so evasive!”
Pressed by the crowd’s impatience, the veterinarian squeezed his eyes shut and spoke as though pronouncing a curse.
“The cow… it tore into its own flesh.”
And from that day forward, incidents like it continued to occur.

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