"– That's what happened. Darkness then shut herself in her father's home and refused to come out. I need to plan a one-man infiltration again."
This was an elegant cafe in the downtown area of Axel.
It was a secluded shop, and apart from us, there weren't any other customers.
"You're mean as usual. Don't bully Darkness too much, okay? She might look strong, but is actually very delicate, you know?"
"I know, I know. Speaking of which, what've you been doing, Chris? You sure took a long time to return from the capital.
I was recounting the commotion that transpired to Chris who had returned from the capital.
Chris scratched the scar on her cheek troublingly.
"Ara– I was busy with some other things. I was in the vicinity of Axel recently, but was called to go to some other place. I finally came back after settling my backlogs."
She then lay on the table and stretched her back lazily.
"Called? By who? The thieves' guild or something?"
"Eh, well, there are all sorts of things to settle after people die, right?"
"… You're part timing in a funeral house?"
Chris didn't answer and simply sighed deeply.
"To think that the divine relic was in the landlord's mansion… When I infiltrated the landlord's villa the other time, I was confused by the divine relic Aqua-san was holding–"
The effect of the relic was to summon a random monster and control it.
What was the landlord planning to do with it?
After listening to my explanation, Chris drank the coffee that had cooled in one go.
"Anyway, it ended well this time. Thank you for saving Darkness, Assistant-kun."
"It was my pleasure, Big Boss."
We smiled at each other.
"Sigh… I still need to retrieve the other divine relics… Hey Assistant-kun, you…"
"Just to be clear, I'm a busy man."
After my preemptive rejection, Chris puffed her cheeks and glared at me.
"The remuneration…"
"I don't need money."
Chris scratched the scar on her cheek, a little troubled.
"It can't be helped then. I'll look you up for help when the time comes, okay?"
She then stood up with a gentle smile… Hmm?
Her smile just now and the way she scratched her cheek felt a little off.
Or rather, I saw that somewhere recently…
I've been bothered by this for a while now.
Chris will call Darkness and Megumin by name, but will add a '-san' when addressing Aqua.
More importantly, her name resembles that other person.
So does her hair and the color of her eyes.
On the other hand, that person addresses Aqua as sempai and adds a '-san' to Megumin.
But she addressed Darkness directly by name.
Maybe to her, Darkness was a close friend.
– Driven by the urge of doing mischief.
I stood up and said to Chris who was waving goodbye to me:
"By the way, Eris-sama. Where'd you take the divine relic you retrieved from the landlord?"
"Oh, that one? I cast a seal onto it and dumped it into the lake where the Hydra's resting eternally…"
Chris…
– No, the goddess Eris.
With her usual gentle smile on her face, she suddenly stiffened up.