Audrey was quiet for a long moment, just staring out the window with this far-off look in her eyes, before she finally turned her gaze back to me.
"Hey, if you don’t feel like talking, you really don’t have to—"
"You’re right," she said, cutting me off gently. "My father left behind beautiful achievements, ones that were totally worthy of the title ’Hero’. He was kind to everyone, never hesitated to lend a hand to people who were suffering. Just like everyone else respected him, I did too."
Talking about her dad, Audrey seemed to light up from the inside, like the first green shoot pushing through hard winter snow. It was a warm, genuine look—anyone could see the deep respect she had for him.
"’Love the world, and it will become beautiful,’" she said, her voice soft. "That’s what my father always used to say. But in the end, my father was betrayed. By the very world he loved more than anyone."
"You mean... Bandit?"
"Yeah. Bandit."
Just like that, the light in her face faded, smoothing back out into that calm, placid expression she usually wore.
"It happened after we moved to Han, my mother’s homeland. Her health wasn’t good. There was an incident—a gate everyone thought was B-rank turned out to be an A-rank, all disguised. Irregulars happen, right?"
"...They do," I agreed.
"Right. So a rescue team was put together to save the first party that went in, and my father joined up. He didn’t even take payment for it. And that’s where he was ambushed by Bandit and died."
She went quiet again, so long I was starting to wonder if I should say something to keep her going. Then she picked up the story.
"There wasn’t any physical proof that Bandit did it. But the accounts from the survivors, the ones who described how he died... they were all the same, and they all said it through tears. But I knew. There was just no way my father would die in some A-rank gate."
"...So what did you do?"
"So I started digging up everything I could find on Bandit. I just kept digging. Eventually, I found out about the black market, raided the place, and got my hands on their ledgers. And just like I thought, there it was—records of my father’s gear being sold there. Gear that was supposed to have been destroyed inside the gate. I wasn’t wrong."
A faint, almost ghost of a smile touched the corners of Audrey’s lips.
"Honestly, I wished I had been wrong. I really wanted to be. I wanted to believe that the world my father loved... wasn’t that kind of place. But..."
She trailed off.
"...And now you think he was wrong?"
"There’s no way he was wrong. My father wasn’t wrong about anything. It’s just..."
Her pale blue eyes were clear, sharp with a conviction that left no room for doubt.
"...For this world to actually become beautiful, it just needed a little ’pruning’."
And the result of that pruning was the massacre of Bandit.
"Manager, all I want is to create a world that’s actually filled with beauty. One that’s worthy of the love my father had for it. Because if it’s not... then his love didn’t mean anything at all."
It was a heavy story. Seriously heavy. So heavy I didn’t really have any words to add to it.
Even so, I could tell you one thing for sure: she was insane.
She really seemed to believe she was carrying on the will of her father, this hero she looked up to more than anything. But what she was actually chasing was some blind idea of ’beauty’ just to memorialize him, and what she was really doing was taking revenge on the whole world for betraying him.
I shouldn’t go thinking her crimes were less serious just because she only killed Bandit. I shouldn’t have assumed she’d be easier to handle than Ruby just because she seemed quieter.
What the hell had I actually taken out of that prison?
"So, how about it, Manager?" Audrey asked, offering me that faint smile again. "Do you feel like you understand me a bit better now?"
◆ ◆ ◆
"You don’t need to change how you act around me."
"...What?"
"I mean, you don’t have to feel like you need to be more careful or considerate now that you’ve heard about my past. And you don’t need to be more wary of me, either. For the time being, I don’t plan on acting much different from the person you saw yesterday, or today."
For the time being, she said.
Was that her way of telling me she’d put up with as much as she could, but if she ever saw something that crossed her line—her idea of what was ugly—she wouldn’t hold back?
Thinking about when that ’someday’ might be, and how I was supposed to stop her when it happened, was already giving me a headache.
"...Anyway, there’s one more thing I wanted to ask. Why did you tell me all that? About your past, I mean."
"Well, you asked, Manager. So I answered."
When I threw the question out there, Audrey just tilted her head, like she didn’t see what was so strange about it.
"No, hold on. Just a minute ago you were talking about how to receive someone’s heart, you have to give yours first."
"I received something from you first, Manager. I was just returning the favor. That’s all."
...Something I gave her first?
Was she talking about me trusting her a little more than Ruby? I couldn’t really figure it out. But anyway, hearing her story straight from her was enough for now.
"Ruby, we’re here. ...Ruby?"
"Khhhrrrrrrr—"
"...What a sleeping habit. Completely lacking in any aesthetic sense."
When we walked into the consultation room, we found Ruby completely knocked out, sprawled across a chair and snoring like a chainsaw.
One of her long legs was flung up on the desk, the other dangling off toward the floor. Her arms were crossed, which had the unfortunate effect of squishing her chest up and making it even more obvious. Her lips were parted in a loose, sloppy grin, and she was making all these unflattering noises that really didn’t match her face. And to top it all off, a clear string of drool was trailing messily from the corner of her mouth.