I Thought Your Friend's Sibling Wasn't a Girl? - Chapter 47

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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 47
* * *
The stories Raven had shared were quite astonishing.
Taking advantage of a lull in the long narrative, Olivia quickly scanned through the notes she’d organized.
1. Frequent disappearances of livestock – followed by similar marks found on the dead animals
2. Possibility of curse or plague (seems unlikely)
3. Suddenly appeared Mercenary Group……?
– Suggested the possibility that these incidents are harbingers of a Calamity—the reappearance of an entity rivaling the Demon King. Also presented methods to resolve the matter.
Olivia circled the third item heavily and asked again.
“So, you’re saying these mercenaries offered to solve the problem by introducing a ‘priest’? Did it work?”
Raven nodded in affirmation.
“Yes. That’s when people began to trust them even more.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t believe this is a Calamity. Those people are definitely plotting something. Otherwise, how could all these events occur with such perfect timing?”
Raven’s words weren’t wrong. Yet something felt off. Olivia nibbled her lip slightly.
A Calamity? Another one emerging.
She’d wanted to believe that battles with the Demon Realm wouldn’t happen again, but she couldn’t simply think that way.
Didn’t Olivia already know? That the Demonic Beasts thought to have vanished were appearing in the world again.
Aiden, who had been listening to Raven’s account with a serious expression, nodded and spoke.
“That’s why you were wary the moment you saw us. In such circumstances, one has no choice but to be cautious of outsiders.”
“The village people are gradually becoming strange. Some speak of offering stones, and others have begun searching for sacrifices…….”
“But Leon had someone from the Mercenary Group help him send us a letter, didn’t he? Isn’t that soldier in on this too?”
“Zeta is not part of that Mercenary Group. She was originally a retired soldier who had been staying here, but her position became ambiguous when they settled in the village.”
Raven’s decision to lower her guard the moment she saw Leon’s commission was all part of the same thread of events.
A tension flickered in the three pairs of eyes. They had just learned that beneath what they’d thought was a simple mission—finding a small dog—lay darker and deeper circumstances than expected.
“What sacrifices are they demanding? What did they ask for?”
“Blood of the young, bodies of monsters, and…….”
“Mana Stones?”
“H-how did you know?”
Aiden had answered correctly before Raven could say more. Whether he’d sensed something, his expression had already drained of all feeling. A hollow laugh escaped between Aiden’s teeth.
“……Ha.”
“And they told people to pray.”
“To whom?”
“To a god…….”
Even at a glance, it was abundantly clear this was not the priest of the Religion of the True God.
The True God did not accept blood flowing as sacrifice. Flowing blood, blood that had flowed—all the same. This was rather—
“A Dark Deity, not a god.”
“Y-yes?”
Crack.
A sinister sound came from his clenched jaw.
It was an expression of Aiden she’d never seen before. He seemed consumed by anger, yet also shocked.
What was certain was that his composure was hanging by a thread. His knuckles, gripping the edge of the table, had gone white.
She couldn’t leave it alone. Olivia clenched both fists firmly and hastened to speak.
“R-Raven.”
“Yes, Knight.”
“So you believe Dorothy’s disappearance is connected to the livestock disappearances?”
“……I wish it weren’t. But I keep thinking the possibility is high.”
The disappearance of a small white dog. It had never happened before, but the circumstances were disturbingly similar.
“It’s been a week since Dorothy disappeared?”
“Yes.”
“And the animals appeared dead before a month had passed, you said?”
“……Yes, that’s correct.”
Was this truly a harbinger of the Demon King’s revival? If that were true, the situation was genuinely dangerous.
But strangely, her first instinct said otherwise.
The suspicious appearance of the Mercenary Group and the even more suspicious appearance of the priest.
Since it was a small village’s affair, people wouldn’t have paid much attention, and because of that, those behind it could easily achieve their goals.
Demonic Beasts had begun appearing in the world again. That was an undeniable fact.
But this felt like something else—like human machination, not divine calamity.
Olivia’s intuition was working hard.
“We’ll investigate.”
“You… really will?”
“Yes. That’s what we came here for.”
Olivia said so and then looked at her companions seated beside her. Bennett and Panya, and even Aiden, who seemed full of anger.
Bennett and Panya, as always, gave a light nod to show they trusted Olivia. Olivia returned the gesture and then turned to Raven, speaking slowly.
“But we’ll need payment for the commission.”
“P-payment? We don’t have much to offer.”
“Just a moment.”
Olivia turned to Aiden and asked.
“Senior. Does commission payment have to be in coin?”
“……No, it doesn’t.”
“Then would it be all right if I set the terms myself?”
Aiden stared blankly at Olivia with a vacant expression.
“You’re…”
“It’s a commission we received.”
“You’re going to?”
Even after coming this far, Aiden made an inarticulate sound again.
Had he thought that once he learned there was more to entangle them, they would give up?
Was that what he’d been hoping for, which is why he had openly gathered so much information from Raven before our eyes?
‘But that won’t change anything.’
Olivia stared at Aiden for a moment, then turned her head and spoke.
“Of course we will. It’s the task we received.”
She couldn’t abandon it without even trying. Olivia looked into Raven’s dark eyes, which had been watching them quietly, and spoke.
“I’ll take payment in Mana Stones.”
“What? I don’t have any Mana Stones, I don’t have—”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find them ourselves and take them with us.”
Once they resolved this incident, they would sweep up all the Mana Stones and leave with them. Olivia’s eyes shone with determination.
* * *
A visitor came to Olivia just as she returned to the Knights’ Order and was preparing to leave for the day.
“We need to talk.”
“Senior?”
“Not as senior and junior, but on a more personal level.”
Hadn’t she decided not to return to a personal relationship for a while?
Though slightly puzzled, Olivia consented to the conversation. It was their first time alone together since the day they’d had that exchange about the bet and other things.
“This way.”
Aiden led Olivia to a very small garden within the Knights’ Order.
“The Knights’ Order has a place like this?”
“I come here sometimes. It’s a good place to stay away from the noise.”
True to his word, though unmaintained and wild with trees and grass growing as they pleased, it had a certain quiet and composed charm. Stars fell like a cascade through the dense canopy above.
When perfect silence had settled between the two, Aiden broached the subject.
“Olivia.”
“Yes?”
“Do you really have to do this?”
It was an expected question. One Aiden had always asked, even back at the Academy.
And Olivia’s answer to him had always been the same.
“Yes. I will see it through.”
“Olivia.”
“I don’t understand why you’re like this. You proposed the bet, after all.”
Aiden had proposed a bet to Olivia. Their engagement had been staked on that bet, and Olivia had accepted it, willing to lose what mattered most.
If Olivia had wagered something so precious on this bet, then at the very least, Aiden too had to cooperate sincerely.
“I still think the bet you proposed is deeply cowardly.”
“…….”
“But if that’s what it takes for you to be at peace, then fine. I’ll do this silly bet and be done with it. That’s what I was thinking. It wasn’t like I chose this bet because I wanted it.”
As she spoke, resentment welled up. Fearing even a hint of tears might color her voice, Olivia took a deep breath to compose herself. The frustration remained nonetheless.
Aiden stared at Olivia without answering, his blue eyes twisted with confusion.
“So don’t interfere.”

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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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