Chapter 132: Curiosity

Pov: Astan

*****

"...Oh, Shiro, you don’t have to worry too much. It doesn’t look like anything’s going to happen here; all the noise is coming from outside."

Not long after that beautiful green-haired woman left, I felt a slight tremor coming from Shiro, who was still holding onto my arm.

It seems the sounds of explosions and tremors coming from outside had affected her.

She looked a little scared, so I calmed her down and even gave her a little pat on the head.

"(?__?), stop touching my sister." (Momoka)

"Huh? Oh, Momo, now that I think about it, are you here too? How long have you been watching? Were you the one who gave me that murderous glare earlier?"

If I remember correctly, when I took Shiro’s hand, I sensed a murderous intent, but it was brief, and I couldn’t pinpoint its source.

They seemed to be following us. I don’t know since when, but if they saw me take Shiro’s hand, it was likely that that murderous intent came from Momo, who, I think, even without that, already wants to kill me.

"Huh? It wasn’t us. Well, Momo really wanted to pounce on you, but she didn’t give off any murderous intent. Hmm, it’s strange that she was so patient, even though she saw you holding hands with Shiro." (Akane)

"Enough with the nonsense. The only reason I didn’t do anything was that Akane convinced me the situation wasn’t what it seemed. After all, even your wife, who saw you two together, didn’t say or do anything. So, if you know what’s good for you, give me a plausible explanation for why you did that and why, to begin with, you were with Shiro." (Momoka)

So they really were watching. They even saw the moment when Iris spoke to us.

The last thing Iris told me was that Lys was the one stalking us and that she was after a suspicious girl.

So I assumed Lys was the only stalker.

On the other hand, as Akane says, it’s odd that Momo didn’t immediately pounce on me and just limited herself to following us.

"Oh, so you were watching me after all? Well, I don’t have much to explain. Miss Shiro and I ran into each other by chance and decided to hang out. As for holding hands, well, that was to test a little hypothesis, wasn’t it, Miss Shiro?"

"Y-yes (≧﹏ ≦)." (Shiro)

I really didn’t have much to hide, so I told her what happened.

I spoke calmly, and as I did, I looked at everyone present.

I couldn’t help but notice how Lys seemed to be staring at me—in particular, she appeared to be looking at my arm, which Shiro was still holding.

She seemed to have her own questions, but she didn’t seem to want to interrupt either.

She seemed wary of Momo, which is understandable.

On the other hand, I found it curious how Iris was standing with that girl with gray hair and glasses—I’m going to assume that was the "suspicious girl."

Iris seemed to be whispering something in her ear. Although nervous, the girl seemed to be listening to her. I could see her face getting redder and redder.

I don’t know what Iris was doing or saying, but if she was flirting with that cutie, I’m all for it.

"Shiro, seriously? What is it...? More importantly, just get away from him. Do you think standing next to a massage therapist will do you any good in the face of danger? You’re stronger than he is." (Momoka)

"I-I... Hmm, yes." (Shiro)

"Yes? yes what?! Anyway, stay away from him. Come here." (Momoka)

As always, Momo seemed overprotective of her sister and literally yanked Shiro away from me, even though she tried to cling to my arm.

I really thought she’d pick a bigger fight with me for not explaining myself, but other than glaring at me, she didn’t try anything.

It’s curious.

I really didn’t want to provoke her too much, since outside the parlor, I don’t have the confidence I have inside to hold my own against her, but I found it so curious that...

"...Little Momo."

"(?__?), What?!" (Momoka)

"Nothing, just that I see your temper’s better than last time. Has something good happened to you? I thought that, by now, you’d still be wallowing in frustration over my overwhelming victory, given what a bad loser you turned out to be."

"Grr!... Nhmph! I’m not going to waste my time with you. Shiro, Akane, let’s go. And you, just make sure there’s a spot for Akane later." (Momoka)

She didn’t confront me; instead, she just seemed to want to leave, though she didn’t forget to mention that I should make room for Akane’s treatment.

It really does seem like something about her has changed.

Something must have happened while we weren’t seeing each other.

Actually, maybe I’m overthinking it, but I even sense a slight hint of goodwill toward me, even though she doesn’t make it obvious.

______________

Emotional: 22%

Carnal: 8%

Rational: 20%

______________

Interesting—I think from now on I’ll make sure to keep track of her percentages.

Well, that aside, I can’t let us drift apart. Momo, despite her personality, is a very strong person, and if anything happens, having her around is a good thing.

"Okay, but can I ask where you’re going? I think this is a good place to be, just like that green-haired woman said. I know you don’t like me, but are you really going to leave without understanding the situation and potentially put your sisters in danger?"

"(?__?), Tsk, whatever." (Momoka)

Well, it looks like my words worked.

She just stopped and leaned against the wall, without looking at me or saying anything else.

Shiro seemed to want to come back over to me, but Momo’s glare kept her from doing so. Meanwhile, Akane went over to where Iris was.

’Huh? Where’s Ly...?’

"Can I ask you something?" (Lys)

"Ah!... Uh, when did you get behind me?"

Just as I was wondering where she was, Lys suddenly spoke from behind me.

That startled me, and for some reason, I even felt a chill run down my spine.

Maybe because I was so focused on my conversation with Momo, I hadn’t noticed her approaching me from behind.

Or rather, I wonder why she chose to stand there in the first place. She really scared me.

"That’s not important... A-Astan. Ahem! I don’t know if I’m being nosy, but I’m curious about something and I was wondering if I could ask you." (Lys)

’Hey, you can act really close to her—even affectionate.’ (Iris)

Just then, as I was about to answer Lys, I received a mental message from Iris.

’Why?’

’Just do it. I’ll tell you later what happened before you got here.’ (Iris)

’Okay.’

’By the way, I’m really curious about what’s going on outside, so I talked to the Doppelganger to test a few things.’ (Iris)

’Hmm, I see. I’m curious too—as long as it doesn’t affect Amy’s side, it’s fine.’

I didn’t know exactly what she was up to, but I was sure it was something well thought out.

*****

POV: Doppelganger

*****

’Hey, hey, wake up.’(Iris)

’Huh? What’s going on now?... Hmm? Am I fused? No, or rather, synchronized.’

Spurred on by Iris’s voice, I had no choice but to wake up.

Everything around me was dark. I think it was late at night, and there were only a few hours left until dawn.

Even I, as a Doppelganger, can’t escape sleep, but it seems my other parts don’t place much importance on my rights... Or so I thought, when I quickly caught up on what was happening on the other side.

’Oh! What an interesting situation you two are in! I see you managed to meet up with everyone...! Oh, I wonder what’s going on out there. Ah! Now I understand what they want from me.’

No explanation was necessary; after all, I could sense what both of them had gone through.

I don’t know why, but when they sync up, instead of being able to see only Astan’s perspective, I can see both of theirs—something that, during the sync, Iris and Astan can’t do directly with each other.

Come to think of it, I can act as the intermediary—since I now know what Iris went through, if Astan connects with me, he’ll know what happened from her perspective, and vice versa.

It’s curious; it seems that when multiple abilities work at the same time, peculiar things happen.

But that’s not what matters. What matters is taking action and seeing if I can do what Iris had in mind.

Well, first of all, I got out of bed. I was in a small room; usually, I shared it with another maid, but since I was a "special" maid, so to speak, I was assigned one all to myself.

Since there was no one else there, I didn’t hesitate and took the traveler’s watch out of the shared storage.

It’s really convenient that we can pass things back and forth between us almost instantly.

Iris’s purchase of this storage as truly a great move.

This whole plan depended on whether this traveler’s clock would actually work through the barriers of this castle.

I quickly entered the coordinates that Iris and Astan had provided for one of the corners of the city of Delphia.

According to the system’s explanation, this watch consumed a fixed amount of mana per trip, and that wouldn’t change, regardless of the distance or the strength of the person using it.

If I wanted to teleport one meter, it would consume the same amount of mana as teleporting to the other side of the world.

Whether I was rank one or rank seven, or whether I was a warrior or a mage, it didn’t matter; it still consumed the same percentage of my mana.

It seems to be an artifact that operates under rules different from the logic I’m beginning to form about the rules of this world, but for that very reason, I hope it works.

I quickly changed my appearance, took the stealth robe from my inventory, saved the coordinates of my room, and pressed the button.

Fwwww

"Okay, it worked. Ugh, I hope it works on the way back, or I’ll have to get in using the other method."

Now it was time for the ultimate test. It was one thing to go out, but another to come back in.

Luckily, even if it doesn’t work, I know Amy’s method and can get back into the castle, but it’ll take longer.

Anyway, even without this situation, it was something I was going to try sooner or later, so I’m not doing this just out of curiosity.

Well, I am curious, but it would also help me understand the limits of this artifact.

I pressed the button again.

Fwwww

"Alright, it worked again."

Well, that used up twenty percent of my current mana, but it was worth it to confirm that the traveler’s clock could be used even though the castle’s barrier is supposed to block spatial magic.

As I thought, artifacts—and especially the system’s unique ones—work differently.

This helps me come up with more contingency plans for the future.

Now, even though it would cost me another ten percent, I pressed the button again.

"Haha! Alright, let’s see what interesting things are going on here..."

I started moving and stepped out of the alley to see what all this was about; I didn’t have any specific plan—I’d just look around and, hopefully, clear up a small question I had.

But one of the first things I saw when I came out of the alley was a strange creature, resembling a humanoid reptile; black saliva was dripping from its mouth, and its face looked deranged.

So I did the sensible thing.

"...Good morning, sir. I can see you’re not in the mood to talk, so I’ll be on my way."

I gave him a brief, polite greeting and continued on my way.