“……?”
Contrary to Sarah’s expectations, Leniss did not react with horror. If anything, his response was unexpectedly favorable. For the first time, Sarah found herself genuinely curious about what he was thinking—and not merely because it might shorten her sentence.
“…I thought everyone here hated immunes.”
“They do. Of course, I don’t like them either… They’re troublesome, you know.”
Even with an immune standing right in front of him, Leniss openly admitted that he disliked them.
“But I dislike the Captain even more….”
The next moment, his shoulders sagged as though he were the most miserable man alive. Although there was no one else in the hallway, he glanced around as if afraid someone might overhear, then shuffled closer and lowered his voice.
“He’s unlucky, you know.”
“……!”
Sarah sucked in a sharp breath at the confidential admission.
“…I see.”
Suppressing a laugh, she tucked her hair behind both ears. Her amethyst eyes gleamed with sudden understanding.
“…Heh.”
Leniss chuckled along with her, delighted.
“You too? Me too.”
The discovery that they shared the same opinion drew them even closer. Their eyes met with newfound camaraderie.
“How fortunate. I finally found someone I can talk to.”
“I feel the same.”
Standing together in the second-floor hallway, the two turned slightly toward each other and giggled for a while. Anyone who saw them might have mistaken them for a couple on a date. Their shared secret—that they both sincerely considered the man everyone else practically worshipped a profoundly unlucky fellow—had brought them closer.
“Please wait here for a moment. I’ll quickly drag—no, escort him out.”
You have a meeting to attend, right?
Now even more determined to grant Leniss’s request, Sarah turned to look for Enoch, who was probably somewhere on the second floor.
Crack.
Star's Fragment seemed to split with a faint sensation, drawing her attention toward the small room she had been given.
It was almost as though it were telling her, Go there. What you’re looking for is inside.
Half doubtful and half curious, Sarah flung open the door.
To her surprise, Enoch was indeed there.
Why on earth is my master resting in a servant’s room when there are plenty of better rooms in this house?
“You’re later than I expected.”
Stretched out like a cat settling down for a nap, he greeted her as though he had been waiting all along.
The faint, conspiratorial smile she had shared with Leniss vanished at once.
“What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you, of course.”
She had no idea why he had been waiting, but it was bound to be for some trivial reason. Deciding she had no desire to find out, Sarah ignored the remark and went straight to the point.
“You have a guest.”
“Are they pretty?”
The question came before she had even finished speaking, almost reflexively.
“Of course.”
Sarah answered just as reflexively.
And since this particular guest might help shorten her sentence, Leniss genuinely did look more attractive to her than anyone else in the world at that moment. Technically, it was not even a lie.
“Really? Who is it?”
His interest immediately piqued, Enoch approached the doorway with bright eyes.
“Captain. It’s me.”
“Oh, come on.”
The moment the dark-haired man emerged from behind Sarah, Enoch’s enthusiasm died.
You said they were pretty.
His reproachful gaze swung back to Sarah.
“Oh, my mistake. His hair is so long that I mistook him for a woman.”
Unconvinced by the half-hearted excuse, Enoch let out a deep sigh. He leaned against the doorway, looking thoroughly uninterested.
“Why are you here?”
“The guild’s funds are leaking. Someone’s been making suspicious withdrawals.”
Leniss wasted no time getting to the point.
So this was what had driven him to race all the way here.
Money.
Of course.
“And?”
Sarah thought it sounded fairly serious, but Enoch could hardly have looked less interested.
Frustrated, Leniss hurried to explain.
“Maybe you’d understand if you’d actually read the report, Captain, but the missing amount is considerable. It looks as though someone has been systematically siphoning off the money….”
“Probably not.”
Enoch dismissed the theory before Leniss could even finish. Still looking bored, he offered his opinion in the tone of someone who had only been half listening.
“One person took all of it. That’s all.”
“…How do you know?”
Leniss stared at him suspiciously.
Sarah did the same.
As though he had been expecting the question, Enoch answered without hesitation.
“I read the report.”
“Liar!”
Leniss shouted the accusation without a moment’s doubt.
“I left that report here last night! You were gone all day, then you came back and slept straight through!”
Barely acknowledging the tirade, Enoch opened his mouth with an expression that seemed to say, Do I really have to explain this?
“Pages 16, 18, 31, 66, 102, and 283.”
“……?!”
The apparently random series of numbers was enough to stop Leniss cold.
The irritation in his dark eyes gave way, for an instant, to understanding.
“The intervals between the missing funds are completely irregular. Have you ever seen an organization operate like that?”
Only then did Sarah realize that the page numbers Enoch had recited corresponded to Leniss’s report.
Did he actually read it?
She glanced at him with faint admiration.
“So there’s only one culprit. For whatever reason, they’ve been targeting the guild’s money and taking whatever they want whenever they feel like it.”
Pleased with himself, Enoch tilted his head back slightly, as though awaiting praise.
“Quite bold, really.”
Far too impressed with his own deduction, he shamelessly described the thief raiding the guild treasury as “bold.” Worse, he looked almost as if he had discovered a worthy rival.
It was twice as irritating.
“That settles it. Problem solved. Now get lost.”
With that, Enoch waved Leniss away like an annoying fly.
Leniss stared at him in disbelief.
“W-Wait!”
When Enoch tried to retreat into the room, Leniss grabbed him.
“Please send someone to help me. I need to organize the data before I can find evidence, and I can’t do all of it alone. Absolutely not….”
As though he had anticipated this response, Leniss delivered his request with remarkable calm.
“Why not? Sleep less and finish it yourself.”
For a subordinate this desperate to work, the captain was astonishingly uncooperative. Enoch tilted his head and delivered the advice with all the smug indifference of a truly dreadful employer.
“I already haven’t slept at all! The money is gone. Money! Do you want the guild to go bankrupt? If you don’t want us all ending up on the street, send someone to help me!”
Ignoring the cruel suggestion that he simply sacrifice what little sleep he had left, Leniss stood his ground.
When it came to work, he was entirely different from the gloomy, anxious man Sarah had first taken him for. He met Enoch’s gaze directly and refused to yield.
Seeing that determination, even Sarah felt she could trust Leniss with the guild’s finances.
“Can’t you just grab someone and threaten them into helping?”
Apparently, his enthusiasm had overwhelmed his common sense.
Oddly enough, that too seemed perfectly in character.
“What a ridiculous man.”
Enoch laughed in disbelief at the suggestion that he simply threaten whoever happened to be nearby.
“What century do you think this is? Do you think my guild is some barbaric organization that solves everything with brute force?”
A lie.
That was exactly what his guild was.
Only a short while ago, he had silenced Gideon and brought the entire meeting crashing down through sheer force.
“Then at least lend me your slave.”
“…!”
At that moment, a miracle occurred.
Having been denied every other request, Leniss pointed to Sarah as his last resort.
Could it be? Are the heavens finally on my side?
Presented with this unexpected gift, Sarah nearly trembled with excitement.
“Leniss. Leniss. You poor, clueless fool.”
At the request to hand Sarah over, Enoch laughed with supreme confidence, as if the very idea were absurd.
“With me standing right here, why would she ever want to go with you?”
It was the sort of remark only a man with an absurdly high opinion of himself could make.
Leniss did not even frown.
“…I think she’d be quite happy to come with me.”
He merely stated the obvious.
“She’s already waiting by the entrance.”
“……?!”
Following Leniss’s gesture, Enoch stepped out to the second-floor railing and stared down in disbelief.
Sure enough, Sarah was already waiting by the front door, wearing a demure expression that made her look as though she were about to leave for a date.
“Oh, Master!”
The moment she caught Enoch’s eye, Sarah clasped her hands politely before her.
“It seemed he needed help. Since I have nothing else to do, I’ll go with him and come straight back.”
Anyone could see how delighted she was.
Enoch’s expression immediately soured as he strode toward her.
“You’re going? When I’m right here?”
Even a child could have guessed the answer he wanted.
It would be better if you stayed.
Sarah knew perfectly well that this was the moment to declare that she would remain obediently at her master’s side.
Instead, she pretended not to understand.
“I truly regret it, but….”
There was not the slightest trace of regret in her voice. She even drew out the words and furrowed her brow in an elaborate imitation of sorrow.
“This entire guild is your land and your foundation, Master. As your slave, I must devote myself to protecting it.”
Since when had she become such a devoted slave?
Nevertheless, Sarah shamelessly invoked her master’s territory as justification for helping Leniss.
After all, if she stayed here, she would probably end up cleaning the wreckage downstairs.
Helping Leniss—and perhaps shortening her sentence in the process—was clearly the better choice.
Besides, leaving Enoch alone for a while would spare them both considerable frustration.
Satisfied by the flawless logic of her own argument, Sarah smiled.
Then she stepped closer and lowered her voice, taking care not to let her disdain show.
“While I’m gone, you can finish ‘that thing’ from yesterday.”
Should I make some sort of gesture so he understands what I mean?
She considered it for a moment, then decided against it.
Instead, Sarah gave him a sly wink.
“Otherwise, you’ll throw another tantrum, won’t you?”
Perhaps she should not have added that last part.
Still, neither of them stood to lose anything.
Sarah could attend to her own business, and Enoch could attend to his. If that kept him from bothering her for a while, so much the better.
Being Enoch’s human pillow two days in a row was more than enough.
“What? What exactly do you take me for?”
Apparently her heartfelt display of loyalty had not moved him.
Enoch’s face contorted as though she had just said something deeply offensive.
Was that the wrong approach?
Well, even if it was, there was no turning back now.
Sarah seized Leniss firmly by the wrist and hurried out of the house.
Once outside, she turned and cheerfully threw back a phrase she had once heard before.
“Well then, have a good time, Master!”
Before Enoch could answer, she slammed the door in his face.
“Hah—.”
His pale green eyes narrowed sharply at the firmly closed door.
Left alone in the empty house, Enoch gave a hollow laugh.
“…So that’s her type?”