Chapter 165 Operation Execution
The plan to lure out the monster that might have taken over Bozek-san's body was surprisingly simple.
We would pretend that Arnold's condition had worsened and move his "bed" to the temple. Only a select few would be involved in the move, and it would be done in secret at night. Among those few, we would invite Bozek-san and create a situation where Arnold and Bozek-san would be alone together, trying to catch the monster off guard.
As a precaution, the Arnold being moved would be a fake ―― Sieg-san would be disguising himself as Arnold. Although his hair color and style would be similar, his face would be clearly different, so we would come up with a convenient excuse to put him in a coffin and move him. In reality, as long as the coffin lid wasn't opened, no one would be able to see the person inside.
The fake Arnold ―― Sieg-san ―― would be switched with the real Arnold, who would be secretly moved to Village Head Hagen-san's residence by me, Marcedes-san, and Leon-san. After the move, we would simply wait. All we had to do was wait for Sieg-san and the others to catch the monster off guard――
On the night of the operation, I took out a white cardigan from my dresser drawer and put it on. It was a bit chilly that night. Besides, wearing this would be "proof" of something.
I secretly watched from my room window as the fake Arnold was being moved out. Once I confirmed that they were completely out of sight, I headed towards the back door of the house where Arnold was sleeping, our secret meeting spot.
Waiting for me there were Leon-san, carrying a large bundle on his back, and Marcedes-san, looking as usual.
"It seems like it's going well."
Leon-san muttered in a low voice, readjusting the bundle on his back. That's when I noticed he had tied a white cloth around his right arm ―― something he didn't usually wear.
As he readjusted the bundle, the cloth that was wrapped around it came undone with a rustling sound. And there, peeking out, was Arnold's sleeping face.
――So, the real Arnold was being carried by Leon-san all the way to Hagen-san's residence.
"Leon-san, are you okay?"
"I thought it'd be lighter..."
Gugu, Leon-san furrowed his brow, looking troubled. Carrying a man of similar height to himself on his back was a huge burden, but we had no choice but to rely on him.
The 3 of us set off slowly. While worrying about Leon-san, who was struggling to catch his breath, I walked alongside Marcedes-san, who was dressed in his usual attire.
Hagen-san's residence wasn't too far away. To encourage him, I called out to Leon-san, who was walking a few steps ahead.
"Just a little more, let's do this!"
Leon-san repeated his rough breathing, somehow managing to take each step. We watched from behind as he struggled on――
"We're here..."
Before long, we arrived at Hagen-san's residence.
Since we had already communicated beforehand, the front door was unlocked. When I opened the door, Leon-san used his last bit of strength to walk down the long corridor.
"I'll put him in the guest room bed."
I nodded at Leon-san's words, and Marcedes-san and I sat down on the living room sofa.
There was no conversation.――My heart was slowly starting to race.
The sound of the door opening came from behind me. When I turned around, Leon-san was standing there, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his arm.
"Well, Laura-sensei, I'll head to the temple too, so please take care."
"Yes, thank you. Be careful."
I forced a smile, trying not to let my cheeks twitch. Leon-san looked at me with a serious expression, then glanced at Marcedes-san, who was still sitting beside me.
"...Sensei, be careful too."
His low, cautious tone sent a shiver down my spine.
I nodded slowly, and Leon-san turned to leave. A few seconds later, the heavy front door closed with a thud, and the silence fell once more.
The ticking of the clock seemed louder than usual. After checking the time, I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and called out to Marcedes-san.
"I will watch over Arnold, so please take your time to rest."
Marcedes-san nodded with a vague expression.
I smiled and waved goodbye again, then stood up from the sofa. And just before leaving the living room, I called out to her back, still holding onto the doorknob.
"Goodnight. Take your time to rest."
"...Goodnight."
I didn't have a wonderful dream, though.
* * *
I entered the guest room where Arnold was sleeping, and sat down in the chair against the wall. My heart was pounding rapidly, and my hands were shaking from tension.
I gazed at Arnold's sleeping face, feeling a mix of emotions.
(It's okay, it's okay...)
I took deep breaths, and when my hands stopped shaking, I grasped the "thing" hidden under Arnold's pillow with my right hand, and put on the glasses I had hidden in my left pocket.
――Thud, thud, thud, I heard footsteps. I already knew whose footsteps they were.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and then stopped in front of this room's door.
I desperately suppressed my urge to turn around. The door creaked open with a small sound.
I leaned against the wall, pretending to be asleep, and peeked through the gap in the door. The "thing" seemed to have relaxed, and the door opened completely.
Then, one step, two steps, and the person entered the room――and in an instant, the magic circle on the floor activated.
"――What!?"
The light emitted from the floor was extremely dazzling. However, I had known beforehand that the magic circle would emit light, so I wore special glasses that could block the light――similar to sunglasses――to avoid being blinded.
The person, who was likely surprised and blinded by the light, had their eyes wide open. I threw the magic stone I had hidden in my right hand at them. The moment it hit their body, the magic stone transformed into a rope-like shape and automatically bound the person.
"I got you!"
I exclaimed. The person, bound by the magic stone, looked up at me――it was Marcedes-san.
No way, that's not it. To be precise, it's a monster that's taken over her body.
"Y-you've go the wrong person, let me go!"
Marcedes-san――the monster is trying to escape with a weak smile. But I was certain that the person in front of me wasn't the real Marcedes-san.
The reason was that she wasn't wearing the "Promise Item".
"Then, why aren't you wearing the white shawl?"
"Huh?"
The woman's face contorted, as if she didn't understand the meaning.
I decided to expose the pitiful monster's trap, just to stall for time until Leon-san arrived from the waiting area.
"If the real Marcedes-san were here, she would be wearing the white shawl today and would give me a goodnight greeting, saying 'have a nice dream'."
――That's right, the person who wasn't taken over by the monster had promised to wear something white tonight, different from their usual clothes, as proof.
Not only that, but there was another promise between me and Marcedes-san. Our secret code for goodnight greetings was "have a nice dream" instead of "take your time to rest".
"The white item is proof that I'm not taken over by the monster."
I was wearing a white cardigan, and Marcedes-san was supposed to wear a white shawl. We had agreed on that beforehand in a letter, as proof that we were who we said we were. ――I had burned the letter after reading it, though.
"You were eavesdropping on our conversation, weren't you? You used the fake Arnold to move the monster and tried to catch me off guard with your first plan."
The monster that took over Bozek-san's body might be listening in on our conversation from who-knows-where. If they temporarily abandoned his body, it's possible that the monster could escape into the darkness. We suspected as much, so we set up a double-layered trap, assuming that our plan had been leaked to the monster.
We had 2 plans: the first, which we discussed verbally, and the second, which we discussed through written notes. If we could confirm that the plan hadn't been leaked to the monster, we intended to carry out the first plan as is.
To verify whether the plan had been leaked, we decided to wear a white mark on the day of the operation. If anyone among the members, excluding Bozek-san, didn't wear the mark and showed up, we would switch to the second plan.
"You and Marcedes-san will wait with the real Arnold and steal the monster's move. You, who have taken over Marcedes-san body, will ask for help with Arnold's movement."
Up until that point, everything went according to the monster's plan. Marcedes-san's body was taken over, and the monster aimed to attack the lightly guarded real Arnold.
――However, that was also according to our plan. We thought that if the monster had leaked our plan, it would definitely "take over" Marcedes-san, so we intentionally made her the messenger to Bozek-san.
We chose her because her magic power could somewhat suppress the monster's movements. In reality, even though the monster is currently bound by magic stones, it's not putting up a fierce resistance like it used to, like the old Arnold. Marcedes-san must be resisting it.
We used written notes to discuss the second plan. We exchanged casual conversation while passing the notes, and after reading them, we immediately burned them.
We thought that the possibility of the second plan being leaked was extremely low if we used notes. And in reality, the monster didn't know about it.
The second plan is very simple. We'll set up a magic trap in the bedroom where Arnold is sleeping, and I'll throw a magic stone to capture it. That's all.
By the way, the chair I moved when I entered the room had a mechanism installed to suppress the room's trap. It was set up so that when the chair was moved outside the magic circle, the stopper would be released, and the trap would be triggered the moment the door was opened next.
"Elves are a powerful magical race. Among them, Marcedes-san's magic is even stronger. ...I couldn't help but wonder how she could be possessed so easily, it was mysterious."
Finally, the monster seemed to understand the situation it was in, and Marcedes-san's beautiful face, looking up at me, twisted in an ugly way. That face was not something the real Marcedes-san would ever make.
"It's because Marcedes-san didn't resist. That was our strategy."
So, Marcedes-san had intentionally let the monster take over her body. It was all to grab the monster's tail that was hiding inside Bozek-san-san.
――And, the door behind the bound monster burst open with force.
"It was Laura-sensei who came up with this double trap."
"Leon-san!"
The light emitted from the magic circle was quite strong, and since the curtain was intentionally left open, it could be seen from outside. Seeing that light, Leon-san, who was convinced that the monster had fallen into the trap, rushed over from his waiting spot.
There was no better chance to get the monster to move. That's why I had left only myself, powerless, by Arnold's side, and kept the others at a distance. ――Good, it went well.
"Our aim was perfect, as expected of Sensei."
Leon-san carefully restrained Marcedes-san's body with clumsy hands. He couldn't afford to hurt her.
"Here, drink."
Leon-san gently opened Marcedes-san's mouth and poured the prototype he had synthesized earlier into it. There was no sign of resistance, and her throat moved with a gulp.
The next moment,
'Aaaaah――!'
Marcedes-san's voice was different, and a low, sorrowful cry shook my eardrums, making me think she had collapsed onto the floor. I rushed over to her, placing my hand on her shoulder.
"Marcedes-san, are you okay?!"
She slowly got up, releasing the magical restraints, and gave me a peaceful smile. Her usual self had returned, and I felt a huge relief.
"Whoa! Laura-chan's prototype is really amazing!"
It was hard to believe that just a moment ago, her body was taken over by a monster. Marcedes-san brushed off her clothes and stood up on her own, without any help from anyone. She didn't seem to be injured at all.
I was feeling relieved and proud of our second plan, which I had come up with, when the door opened.
Reinhardt-san walked in.
"I found the thing, Marcedes-dono."
"Really? That's great, it hadn't been taken out yet."
――What thing?
I tilted my head, and Marcedes-san smiled brightly, saying "I'll explain later."
I didn't understand, but it seemed like Reinhardt-san had brought good news.
"Then, shall we head to the temple?"
We decided to move to the temple, leaving Leon-san and several Rustu people behind to guard Arnold, with Marcedes-san's proposal.
* * *
Waiting for us at the temple were Sieg-san, who had removed Arnold's disguise, the Rustu people cleaning up, and the unconscious Bozek-san.
"It seems that even after 'switching' with Marcedes-sama, Bozek-sama wasn't completely freed. He was like a puppet with almost no consciousness..."
According to Sieg-san's report, at the same time that the monster possessing Marcedes-san's body drank the prototype at Hagen-san's residence, Bozek-san also lost consciousness and fell. It seems that the monster was successfully defeated.
After confirming each other's safety, Sieg-san thanked me profusely, and then:
"Laura-kun, I'm sorry to have caused you trouble again. Thank you so much."
I was suddenly called out from behind. When I turned around, there was――
"Ingrid-san!"
Ingrid-san, holding a large staff that reached her chest, was smiling.
"Ah! So Ingrid-san recovered that thing, didn't she!"
Marcedes-san, standing beside me, ran to Ingrid-san with a smile, and mentioned "that thing" again.
"Uh, what's 'that thing'..."
As I approached her, I asked. Since she said she would tell me earlier, it shouldn't be a taboo topic.
As expected, Marcedes-san answered with a smile.
"'That thing' refers to this staff. I think the monsters attacked the village because they wanted this."
――Ah, yes. Sieg-san also said that the monsters that attacked the elf village and possessed Bozek-san's body had a separate purpose aside from the power of the demon king sealed by Arnold. And that original purpose seems to be this large staff in front of us.
"So, did you think the monster took control of someone in the village because the staff disappeared?"
"That's right. Since it suddenly vanished after the monsters left, I thought they probably manipulated one of the villagers and took it."
Ingrid-san stroked the staff. It seems their prediction was correct. I didn't ask where she found the staff, but it was probably hidden in Bozek-san's luggage.
"So, the village head asked the people of Rustu for protection... surveillance in an environment where they can't escape."
"I see, that's what happened."
The staff that disappeared was probably something precious to the Elf village. That's why they wanted to keep all the villagers in an environment surrounded by a barrier, where it's hard to hide one's presence. They didn't want to protect them, but rather keep them under surveillance.
But what exactly is this staff that they want to protect so badly? The large red stone embedded at the tip is impressive, but it looks like it's been dyed pitch black.
"Well, let's go deliver it to the village head."
Ingrid-san exchanged a glance with Marcedes-san and nodded. Then, she turned her green eyes towards me.
――It seems I'll be taken to the village head's place as well.
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