Clang, the spear I was holding slid down my palm and rattled against the stone ground. The sound brought me back to sanity, and I hurriedly gripped the spear properly again.
This man who resembled my father to such a great degree, was rolling Viscount Ogren"s body with his feet quite casually as he approached me slowly.
-The viscount. The sound I heard earlier of something falling into the fountain must have been him. He"s drenched in water, and I can also see a dark red color spreading.
Was Viscount Ogren killed by this man I wonder, and just as I was realizing that my head still wasn"t able to get a grasp on this situation quite yet, Viscount Ogren"s right hand lifted up weakly and grabbed the hem of the blood-red-eyed man"s pants.
"Why, you, Nor…… dstur…… do this…… to me!"
He"s having difficulty speaking clearly, but I was still able to hear him as he sent water droplets flying. I think he probably took a blow to his head. Too much information to process…… rather than processing information that I can"t understand right now, it"s probably better to stop thinking about it entirely for the time being.
Just now, what did Viscount Ogren call this man? Did he refer to him as a Nordsturm?
"Melchior, is that the child? You two really do look alike."
The chuckling sound of a woman I didn"t know cut through the air. The woman who had been standing behind the blood-red-eyed man stepped out in front, all while casually grinding her foot into Viscount Ogren"s head. The viscount groaned once, then fell silent.
She"s a rather tall woman wrapped in a simple traveler"s cloak. I can"t tell the color of her eyes because most of her face is covered by a cloth, but going by her smooth tan brown skin that she exposed so casually on her belly and thighs, she"s definitely not from Arxia.
"……Just who are you guys?"
When I asked who they were, they looked at each other. Then, they suddenly started laughing.
"Listen up closely, little child. This man here is Marquis Melchior Nordsturm. He"s got a much higher rank than you. Don"t you think you should be showing a little more respect?"
With her annoying laughter all throughout introducing her companion, the woman used a high-pitched tone of voice that almost sounded like she was singing.
-Ridiculous. Marquis Nordsturm…… Really? This man who"s obviously some relative of mine is a Nordsturm? Just the fact that his family name is Nordsturm is shocking enough, but he also has the high n.o.ble rank of a Marquis? Confusion and surprise is whirling through my head right now.
In the first place, none of my relatives other than me should have survived. -It can"t possibly be, did I fail to kill one back then?
I looked directly at the man again. I gripped the spear tightly with my right hand. While this man looked exactly the same as my father did, almost as if it were a photograph, there"s clearly a point of difference. It"s his age.
I can tell that this man looks a bit younger than my father from my memories. I think he"s probably about fifteen years older than me. I can"t imagine him being more than twenty years my elder.
"Don"t stare at me like that, Eliza. Isn"t this the first family meeting for us~? Isn"t that right? My sister. Or perhaps you"re my niece?"
I got gooseb.u.mps on my flesh. So he"s acknowledged and knows that we"re related in some way……
A strong feeling of disgust was welling up within my chest, and gathering at my throat. It feels like my insides are tossing and turning, and it was getting difficult for me to keep my balance, so I supported my body by leaning against the spear.
However, I couldn"t bear the disgust and nausea any longer, and I leaned over and vomited right on the spot. It wasn"t just once, either, I vomited several times, to the point where I emptied my entire stomach and my body was cramping up.
"Oh my, it seems I"m so disliked to the extent that you even vomited. Such a pity. I had always looked forward to meeting you though, since you"re the person my father pays the most attention to."
His tone of voice was that of getting excited and having a lot of fun. Just this alone further increased my nausea. Things are swirling in my head right now. My father"s maniacal voice is forcibly coming back to me.
Before I realized it, Rashiok had crawled beside me, and was barking at the two of them as if to intimidate. Suddenly a gust of wind blew, and both of them almost lost their footing.
The cloth covering the woman"s face was blown away, and I could see her face clearly now. She had the distinct look of someone from the eastern countries, sharp features, and for some reason, the left side of her face was strangely distorted.
It"s a chalk tattoo. It"s a complex pattern, while the right half of her face only had a cross of some sort drawn on it, which also spread to and was repeated again on her arms and legs.
"Oh, wow. You have quite the exotic pet, little kid. I"m jealous~."
The woman"s lighthearted tone of voice as if she was merely bantering resounded through my ears. I forced myself to swallow down any feelings of nausea, pursed my lips, and looked directly at the woman. When she noticed my attention, she smiled creepily again.
"I"m so jealous, you should lend him to me. I want to have some fun, too~."
Although she was empty-handed, the woman reached out to Rashiok with both her hands. Then, although I almost doubted my eyes - the toxic purple tattoos on her body began glowing.
"You may want to play, but we need to leave here soon, Diferis."
"I know, Melchior. Just for a little while. Just let me play for a little while, until that little kid"s heart gets completely shattered into pieces."
With signs of madness in her eyes as she looked directly at me, her smile was warping to an incredible extent. Exactly what is she planning to do? I increased my level of vigilance, and readied my spear.
This man just called her Diferis. Meaning, this woman is the foreign church terrorist that"s infiltrated Arxia for so long.
"Alright, let"s have a little fun with your pet, shall we!?"
At the same instant that the woman was crowing with her annoying voice, that"s when it happened. Suddenly, Rashiok who was next to me emitted a scream, and fell down on the spot.