“We just wasted time for nothing.”
[Exactly.]
Don’t tell me the reason they called me was to find some cats.
“It would’ve been easier on my mind to follow that kid from the start.”
Then I would not have had to pretend my wallet had been stolen for no reason either.
[But whose divine power was that I felt from that child? I felt it for the first time.]
“I don’t know. How would I know?”
At most, I could say it had given off a somewhat foul, fishy stench.
‘And there are plenty of bastards like that.’
Even among the ones that immediately came to mind, among the Twelve Evil Gods, there was War, and among the Seven Sin Gods......
‘All of them apply, don’t they?’
Stinking bastards, all of them.
[Why do you not know?!]
“How am I supposed to know from a fragment? There are over twenty evil gods in total.”
[......? Over twenty? Why are there so many gods? Are they mass-produced gods?]
Mass-produced? If you thought about it, perhaps they were.
“To answer that question, I’d have to start explaining from after you all were sealed, and that would take too long, so pass.”
What mattered right now was not a story about gods.
“Hoo......”
I exhaled. My divine power rode that breath and scattered throughout the entire city.
‘Now I just have to find where my divine power is being drawn......’
......What is this?
[What? You found it already?]
The bastard who had been roaming the sky sat on my head and lowered her head.
Her upside-down face was right next to mine.
[Did you find it already?]
“Move that chicken head.”
[What?]
The sight of her sitting on someone else’s head was absurd.
“......Now that I think about it, you’re in spirit form, so why are you sitting?”
[To make you feel annoyed.]
“Right.”
I was the fool for thinking there might be some other reason.
[By the way, did you find it?]
“Yeah. That way.”
In the direction I pointed, there was a shop.
[......A toy shop?]
“He looked about twelve at most, so that can happen.”
He was at an age when one would like toys quite a lot.
[In my time, stones were toys.]
“Isn’t it far too shameless to apply the standards of the ancient era?”
It was the same as a dead ancestor, not a grandfather, shouting “back in my day.”
[Are you going in right now?]
“I’ll wait outside.”
Even if I went in now and interrogated the child, the shop owner inside would probably treat me like a madman.
Still, this was unexpected.
“I thought he would obviously buy a ton of food, but a toy shop?”
[That is true. I thought the same.]
If someone was pickpocketing, that usually meant they were poor, so I had naturally assumed it would be food.
“Let’s wait a bit.”
There had to be a reason he went to the toy shop.
‘Is that their hideout?’
It was worth checking once.
“What is that man doing?”
“He looks normal on the outside, but......”
I pressed myself close to the wall of the toy shop and peeked through the window.
As a bonus, I erased my presence in preparation for any possible situation.
“I can see him.”
The sight of me peeking through the window might have seemed ridiculous to others.
But at least I was serious.
[Pfft......!]
Though perhaps she was not.
“......It really is just a shop.”
It did not look like a hideout of evil god worshipers. Toys were displayed all throughout the shop, and above all.
“Please give me everything from here to here!”
If this were a hideout of believers, that child would not have said a line like that.
“......So what he did after pickpocketing was throw money around?”
But was it right to do that with someone else’s money?
[Is it not because it is someone else’s money that he can throw it around?]
Hmm.
She was not wrong.
“Pardon?”
“I said I want everything! From there to here!”
Inside the shop, the spending spree proceeded smoothly.
“It won’t take long. Once he buys everything, he’ll come out.”
I could just wait a little.
“......”
[......]
What is this?
“Why is it taking so long?”
I had waited quite a while.
......
“Apple.”
[Fruit.]
“Carbon monoxide.”
[What is that supposed to be?]
Just how long had I been waiting, for me to be playing word chain with her?
[Aluminum.]
“That’s cheating.”
[You said zirconium last round!]
JINGLE—
“Oh!”
At last, the door to the toy shop opened.
How long-awaited a moment this was!
“Thank you, please come again!”
The shop owner answered in an excited voice.
And the child who came out from inside had shopping bags hanging all over both arms, while he held a piece of bread in one hand and ate it.
“Hmm?”
Why did it look like he had not bought that many toys? The number of shopping bags seemed about the same as what I had seen through the window.
......Well, perhaps that was none of my concern.
I stopped thinking and moved close to the child who had come out of the shop.
“Kid.”
“Hmm?”
When I called him, the boy turned around and looked at me.
“......!”
His face filled with shock as he met my eyes, and he suddenly pulled his hat down low.
‘......Does he think I won’t know if he does that?’
No matter what, was a child still a child?
“Why......?”
The boy was on the verge of tears.
‘Look at this kid?’
Even his voice was fairly loud, so other people had no choice but to look at me.
“What’s going on?”
“What is he trying to do to a child?”
I took back what I had just said about “a child still being a child.”
‘So that’s how you’re going to play it?’
I flowed divine power from my fingertip in advance.
“I lost my wallet around here, you see. By any chance, have you seen—”
“Kyaaa!”
The boy screamed without blinking an eye.
It was a fairly loud scream, so the people on the street and the people inside the shop would “normally” have come running out.
In other words, the brat was quite crafty.
The problem was.
“Kyaaaaaaa!”
I was craftier.
[My apostle is wicked too. Look at you, just smiling slyly until the brat notices.]
I was thoroughly prepared.
“Kyaaaa...... ah?”
No matter how much he screamed, nothing changed. The boy noticed something was strange and looked around.
“Kid. Even if you scream like that, other people can’t hear you.”
“Why......?”
Why else? Because I had wrapped the area in divine power so no sound could leak out.
“Kid.”
“Yes?”
“Will you take off your hat?”
“......My hat......?”
At a glance, the boy looked flustered.
“Yeah. I can’t see your face well because of that hat.”
“Okay.”
Unexpectedly, the boy obediently made a show of taking off his hat.
WHAP—!
“......”
A moment later, the hat he flung off covered my vision as it struck me.
[Puhahaha!]
The hat stuck to my face soon slid down.
“He ran away.”
[Ah...... Puhahaha!]
Why was she laughing?
[Ah... I laughed to my heart’s content. But do you not have to catch him?]
“If he runs away and returns to their house, that works in my favor.”
The boy was not an evil god worshiper, but he had the lingering trace of divine power on him.
That meant someone at the hideout was connected to an evil god.
[Why are you certain he is not one?]
“The lingering trace.”
The remnants of divine power I had left on him told me where he had gone so far. Even where he was right now.
And among those places, there was no shelter.
‘He was only shopping in the commercial district.’
In other words, during the long time I had gone to the church, spoken with Garon, and returned, he had only bought things in the commercial district.
................
..........
......
?
[What are you doing? You suddenly started counting on your fingers.]
“Wait.”
During that long time, in the commercial district...... he only...... bought things? For that entire time?
“......Then how much would be left in my wallet?”
[......]
Only then did I understand why he had taken so long in the toy shop.
“He took so long...... because he was spending all that money?”
......All the money I had saved until now...... was gone that emptily?
I was...... penniless?
“I’m going to kill that bastard!”
***
“Hoo......! He won’t be able to chase me this far, right?”
The child, breathing roughly, returned to the place where he was supposed to be.
“Brother! Look what I brought!”
The child entered a narrow place that looked like an abandoned house.
“Hmm? Kai?”
Inside was a boy slightly bigger than Kai.
“What is it?”
“Look at this! Look!”
Kai proudly spread out the things he had brought.
“Don’t tell me you stole something again.”
“Yeah! Lina said before that she wanted toys......”
“Haa......”
The boy let out a deep sigh and approached Kai.
“Kai.”
“Why?”
The moment Kai answered, the boy flicked his forehead.
“Ah! What was that for?! Why did you hit me?!”
“I told you not to steal anymore.”
“......Still. We’re almost out of money now. I bought food too......”
The other shopping bags certainly contained bread, meat, and other things.
“We only have to endure a little longer. Just a little, so let’s bear with food for a bit too.”
“But...... Lina is still growing.”
“You are still growing too, you know?”
“Then that’s even more reason we should eat......”
The boy flicked the forehead of the one who kept arguing once more.
“Ah!”
After two fairly large bumps had formed on Kai’s head, Kai finally began watching his mood.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Yes.”
“Still......”
“Let’s endure just a little longer, all right? Those people said they would take us in. They told us to wait just a little.”
“Okay......”
The boy smiled broadly at Kai, who was watching his mood, then roughly ruffled his hair.
“Honestly, you’re good at stealing, at least. I think you’re better than me now?”
“Hehe......”
One might wonder whether that was really praise, but Kai merely grinned.
“Ah, right! Where’s Lina? Lina wanted toys so much!”
Then he pulled a toy from the bag.
It was a toy with a string tied to the end of a rod and a ball attached to the end of that string.
“Puhaha! Right. She’s in the room, so go play with her using that.”
“Okay!”
Kai happily entered the room just like that.
“Lina......?”
In the small room, a very tiny Lina was sleeping curled up on the bed.
“You must be tired today?”
The child stroked Lina.
At that gentle touch, Lina’s eyes slowly opened.
“Mmm...... Big brother?”
“Ah, sorry. I think I woke you up.”
Lina, who had awakened, yawned. The child looked at her and spoke.
“Mm...... Just go back to sleep.”
“......I was going to.”
Lina smiled softly and closed her eyes again.
“Purr......”
“She sleeps well.”
Leaving those words behind, Kai came outside and closed the door.
“Brother.”
At the child’s call, the young man washing dishes turned around.
“Did you play well with her?”
“Lina seems tired. I think it’s better to just let her sleep.”
“I see.”
The one called Brother smiled and continued washing the dishes.
“By the way, why did those people try to take us?”
“I don’t know. They weren’t bad people, were they?”
“Right. We trust those people!”
Kai smiled brightly. At that sight, the boy grinned and roughly ruffled Kai’s hair.
“Ack! What are you doing?! You messed up my hair!”
“Because you’re cute, you rascal.”
“At least don’t do it while washing dishes......”
Kai muttered with his hair completely damp, and the boy spoke.
“Do you want to go wash up?”
“I think I have to......”
After saying that much, Kai returned to his room.
“Ah, Kai. And do not forget to take your medicine.”
At the young man’s words, Kai’s voice came faintly from inside the room.
“Okay.”
On one corner of the desk in the room he had entered was a pill bottle.
“What? I’ve almost finished this too.”
Kai tossed the single remaining pill into his mouth.
“Urgh......”
With the sensation that the world was spinning, he retched.
“Ugh, it tastes awful.”
......
“Fuck! Have those evil god worshiper bastards lost their minds?!”
And I had been watching all of it through the window.
[Huh? Calm down. If you act like this, you will not be able to round them all up at once.]
“Those damn......!”
Ah, let go. I said let go.
“I can put up with everything else, but not that!”
[No, what is that medicine?!]
What was it?
“That’s a drug used for brainwashing!”
Those damned believers of the Evil God of War! So those rat bastards were hiding here?
“Those bastards deserve worse than being chewed to pieces! This time, I’m cracking their skulls open!”
They used brainwashing on a child? On a child that small?
[Aaack! Do not drag me! Just go by yourself!]
“I just have to beat down the bastard they call Brother first, right?”
Let’s go, mace.
That bastard will be the first one whose skull you crack!
[No, I am not ready, you lunatic!]