Chapter 111

If Uncle Tom from the bar had picked Erabelle up on a rainy night, then what Erabelle had picked up on a rainy night was a count who had drunk himself senseless and collapsed in a back alley.

She should have left him there.

Then the Vermilions would never have had the rotten luck of getting tangled up with her.

“Huh. The liquor here’s pretty good.”

“What would you know!”

“I did work as a waitress for three years.”

“Fuck...” Camillia wailed that there was no talking to her. Erabelle refilled Camillia’s empty glass.

While Camillia drained it in a burst of irritation, Erabelle called a waiter over and ordered a few more bottles.

“...Fuck.”

Every time Camillia tried to leave, Erabelle poured another drink, and eventually she gave up.

“Right. Surely he wouldn’t care about something like this. It’s just a club...”

She wasn’t going to have a one-night stand. Camillia seemed to have settled the matter in her own mind.

“...Hey.”

“Yes?”

“That gay guy you told me about before... That was Master, wasn’t it?”

Where had that come from?

“You know, the gay guy who asked you to get drinks and dinner with him. That was Master, right? Master wanted you, actually wanted you...”

“How long ago was that?”

She really did have a good memory.

“Why... didn’t you tell me?”

“You didn’t tell me, either, Lieutenant.”

Camillia looked puzzled by Erabelle’s reply.

“The retrieval ceremony. You were there that day too, weren’t you?”

“That...”

Camillia bit her lip, apparently at a loss for words. Her expression grew more and more contorted.

“That was because you wouldn’t answer your phone—!!”

She had shouted in frustration, but suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth.

“L-Lieutenant!”

Startled, Erabelle gathered up the wet wipes she had used and tossed around the table and held them out. Blood streamed between Camillia’s fingers, but she recoiled from the wipes in disgust.

“Is there some kind of plague going around the unit that no one told me about?”

“...My decibels got too high.”

Fortunately, the bleeding soon stopped. In its place, tentacles like black snakes or centipedes writhed around Camillia’s mouth.

Camillia stared at her, so Erabelle simply stared back.

“You... don’t think this is strange?”

“What? Why ask me that now...?”

Then a thought occurred to her, and she glanced aside.

“I wouldn’t say there’s nothing strange about it.”

“...Like what?”

“The monsters.”

The room went utterly quiet. Erabelle hesitated, then decided to ask now that she had brought it up. The mood made it hard not to.

“Is it really all right to catch and kill so many of them? I heard the 41st Division has killed the most.”

“...What do you think we are, and what do you think the monsters are?”

“Chocolate bread and chocolate cake.”

“Aren’t those basically the same thing?”

“Exactly.”

Understanding dawned, and Camillia scowled.

“Why, you little...”

Then, looking as though she had given up on everything, she slumped back against the sofa. Fortunately, she had recovered faster than the company commander who had gone off to lie down while bleeding profusely.

That really was fortunate. It would be terribly inconvenient if the person paying for the drinks collapsed.

“I honestly... don’t know.”

Her voice was exhausted, though, and she seemed to be talking to herself.

“Whether it’s okay to like this...”

“Like what, Lieutenant?”

“I really don’t know...”

Camillia’s face crumpled. Her words grew so disjointed that Erabelle thought she might be about to cry.

“I can’t trust it, but I can’t dismiss it either... I really want to believe it... I do want to believe it... But what if I do and it isn’t true? What am I supposed to do then...?”

“Lieutenant...”

Erabelle began to worry about her.

“Did you put something in your drink?”

“...”

“Drugs are dangerous. You shouldn’t take them just because everyone else does.”

Camillia clutched her head.

“I see people with high physical levels swallowing whatever they find, but that stuff builds up in your system. You’ll regret it later.”

“...Is that advice from experience?”

“Yes. Take it to heart.”

Camillia had just raised a fist in silence when the door flew open.

“Lieutenant!!”

It was Majia, flushed bright red.

It looked like Majia had already had several drinks too. The top had gone missing somewhere, leaving both upper arms bare. Camillia fixed Majia with a stare.

“Why does that little brat keep following you around?”

“I’ll get Majia out of here.”

Erabelle rose, her face set.

There were only Dogs in the room.

What was Majia doing barging in here? Every Dog inside had turned to look, sending a chill down Erabelle’s spine.

“Get out. Hurry.”

“What? Why? Huh?”

Majia reeked of alcohol. When Erabelle tried to push Majia out, Majia clung to her and whined.

“Why do I have to leave? Why?”

The Dogs’ mood turned cold at the sight. Camillia’s face went blank, and someone looked ready to stand.

“Just get out.”

Erabelle couldn’t budge Majia at all. Damn physical level.

“Why? Let the kid sit down.”

Camillia said it with a smile directed at Majia.

“Sweetheart.”

“Huh? Who, me?”

“Yes, you. Come sit next to me.”

Wide-eyed at Camillia’s gentle tone, Majia promptly sat beside her. Camillia was a rare beauty. Apart from Erabelle’s attending physician, she was the most beautiful woman around. Erabelle had thought this before, but Majia was a terrible sucker for a pretty face. Almost as bad as she was.

“Lieutenant.”

Erabelle tried addressing Camillia cautiously, but Camillia paid her no attention.

“I’ve been wanting to get to know this one anyway.”

“Really?”

Fuck, that cheerful little idiot...

Thrilled to hear it, Majia started chattering. Majia looked so delighted that even Camillia let out a disbelieving laugh. The Dogs watched quietly, but Majia was far too drunk to notice the mood.

And Majia was honestly too cheerful for the mood to stay that way.

They exchanged one drink, then another, and before long they were all drinking together.

...Fuck.

Erabelle felt miserable.

I really...

She shouldn’t have come out.

Regretting it too late, she diligently mixed drinks beside the people knocking them back. Enough of this would leave even a Dog senseless... No, probably not. But if she got them drinking fast enough, perhaps they would want to do something other than drink.

...

That was what she thought, but no one left. Though they were laughing and drinking with Majia, the Dogs kept watching. In the end, Erabelle was the first to put down what she was doing and stand.

She had wanted to get properly drunk.

“I’m leaving.”

“Huh?”

Majia, who had been caught up in the drinking as °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° if in a trance, snapped upright at the sight of her standing.

“Sweetheart, have some more. Come on. You can really drink, can’t you?”

Camillia put an arm around Majia’s shoulders and pulled Majia back down.

“Lieutenant, you know Majia’s a civilian.”

“...This is a military base.”

“I’m trusting you.”

It was quicker for Erabelle to leave herself.

She shook her head and went outside. The cold air was a relief after the humid heat inside.

“...Nothing’s going my way.”

All she had wanted was a drink.

“Lieutenant!!”

Fuck.

Erabelle swallowed the curse and turned toward Majia, who had somehow gotten out. In the brighter light, she could see bite marks all over Majia’s body.

Someone had certainly had an enjoyable night.

The young person who had said there was no need for a compatible partner had grown up while Erabelle wasn’t looking.

“A-are you leaving?”

“Yeah.”

“C-could you stay?”

Even with a level-four body, Majia seemed cold without a shirt and hunched those bare shoulders, watching her hopefully.

“Just have one more drink with me. Just one. There’s going to be a show soon, too. It’s really fun!”

A show, too? Everyone here was working awfully hard. More to the point, how did Majia know the show schedule?

“I have work tomorrow.”

“...I have work too.”

“Your body’s younger than mine.”

And at a much higher level. If she tried to keep up, she would end up in the emergency room.

“Come on, just a little longer. One drink on the first floor...”

“I’m going.”

“Lieutenant—”

Majia tossed the words at her as she turned away.

“I never had a chance, did I?”

Erabelle slowly looked back. Majia pressed those lips together, then gave her an uncharacteristically cynical look.

“Even if he’s abandoned you, I still don’t have a chance with you.”

“No.”

That was true.

At her answer, Majia began to sneer outright. Yes, the mood was bound to come crashing down sooner or later. The higher it climbed, the harder the fall. This was why she shouldn’t deal with drunks.

“You’re something else, Lieutenant. But that man’s pretty ridiculous too.”

“Watch what you say.”

Why? Because I’m afraid they’ll find your corpse in a sewer tomorrow morning.

“It’s true. He thanked me, said he’d introduce me to his family, said all kinds of things. Then how can he just dump you here?”

“I came here on my own.”

“To a place crawling with man-eating monsters?”

And you just came out of there alive.

Whatever Majia read in her silent expression, Majia went on to advise her that people like them needed to know their place.

“To people that powerful, people like us are nothing but toys. That’s why I told you. I told you I’m the only one who would truly care about you, Lieutenant.”

I have parents. Why would it be you? Now the kid’s made me an orphan out of nowhere. I may not have a nationality, but I do have parents.