Chapter 90 - House of the Lost (3)

The coffee shop Ellie had led me into.

I took a small sip of coffee and set it down.

Getting called out by phone after dinnertime and having her buy me a meal? ...Well, she had originally said she'd treat me, so I could understand it as her just wanting to get it over with.

But insisting on holding me back when I was about to leave, and buying me coffee on top of that, I couldn't quite figure out. It wasn't easy to read.

I looked at Ellie sitting across from me.

'...What's her angle?'

My gaze sharpened and my eyes narrowed.

".........."

Did she have a favor to ask? An exorcism? If so, I wished she'd just come out and say it already.

That would be easier and better for both of us.

But Ellie said nothing in particular.

It would have made more sense if the coffee I'd just drunk suddenly made my body sway and my mind go hazy...

And Ellie went, "Huhu~ How careless of you to fall for it! I actually rented out the entire cafe to lure you here!"

...If she'd been after my grimoire like that, I would've gone "Aha!" and understood, but seeing as I wasn't collapsing, that wasn't the case either.

Ellie didn't ask me how my house had burned down, why I had no money, or what had happened today.

She simply sat still across from me, carefully blew on her hot coffee, and drank.

"Whew...."

There was no conversation between us.

Yet it wasn't an uncomfortable atmosphere.

We just quietly drank coffee under the cafe lights, leaning back comfortably into the plush chairs.

We listened to the music flowing from the cafe speakers, neither too loud nor too soft.

I turned my head slightly and gazed at the dark, snow-falling scenery outside the cafe window.

".........."

And then.

"Ahahaha~."

A relaxed laugh came from inside the shop.

My eyes followed the sound in that direction.

Other customers were happily chatting and eating cake. It seemed this place was famous for its sliced cake as dessert.

As I stared blankly at the scene,

Ellie tilted her head slightly at where I was looking, then spoke as if she'd realized something.

"Ah, would you like some cake?"

Such genuinely kind consideration made one of my eyes and my mouth scrunch up on their own.

I relaxed my face and said quietly.

"...No."

I wasn't looking at the cake. I was looking at the peaceful, happy everyday life.

"To me, cake is happiness."

"Huh? You mean you like cake that much?"

"No, I mean it's something other people can eat easily, but I can't."

For some people it's a snack; for others, it's a luxury.

It wasn't like I was going "Oh, poor me!" or anything. I didn't think of it that way.

My current situation wasn't even that terrible.

The most important thing was that I was alive, and I still had my grimoire, so I could just save up money again.

I'd make plans to turn things around, work my brain, and put in the effort, killing the wizards coming at me from all sides along the way.

...Still, I must have been a bit worn out today.

Maybe because of the out-of-nowhere remark, silence settled between us.

Ellie suddenly stood up from her seat without a word.

I let out a small breath.

'...Nice going.'

I got free coffee; all I had to do was finish it and say thanks.

I'd gone and said something pointless.

Then Ellie came back with a plate topped with a slice of chocolate cake.

"I thought maybe you did want some cake after all...."

Ellie smiled brightly and cheerfully, speaking in an innocent voice.

"I bought you cake!"

".........?"

I stared blankly at Ellie.

What? I couldn't quite process the situation.

Regardless of whether I could or not,

"I may not know exactly what kind of situation you're in right now, Yo-han-ssi, but still...."

Ellie held out the plate with the cake toward me and set it in the middle of the table.

"Just like how you helped people no matter the situation, whether it was when an evil spirit possessed Emily, or when zombies appeared at the campground, I want to help you too, Yo-han-ssi."

A warm, gentle voice reached my ears.

"If you don't have cake, Yo-han-ssi, I'll share mine with you."

In the spacious cafe, I looked into Ellie's blue eyes.

"So let's eat together."

".........."

For a brief moment, my pupils wavered, and I stared blankly at Ellie.

'...What is this?'

Honestly, I didn't understand why Ellie was being so kind to me.

Well, she wasn't an official nun, but Ellie was still a nun.

Maybe she just felt sorry for me right now and was buying me dinner, coffee, and cake out of pity.

I glanced down at the slice of chocolate cake Ellie had brought over.

I'd only used cake as a metaphor; I hadn't actually wanted to eat cake, but...

...She'd gone to the trouble of buying it, so there was no reason to refuse.

It was sustenance, after all. Eat up and power through.

".........."

I picked up a fork and broke off a small piece of the cake to eat.

"...It's good. Thanks."

"I'm glad. Actually, I wanted some cake too."

Ellie also smiled brightly, picked up her fork, and ate the slice of cake together with me.

And a little while later.

Before I knew it, I had naturally been led by Ellie to stand in front of a cathedral that looked like some kind of mansion.

"Please make yourself comfortable here while you find a new place to live."

I looked up at the cathedral.

'...House of the lost, huh.'

A faint, incredulous smile formed at the corner of my mouth.

It did suit my current situation, at least.

...But didn't the cathedral where Ellie lived also run an orphanage?

The door to the living quarters opened, and along with the bright indoor lights, young orphan girls being raised by the convent came out.

"Ellie unnie!"

"Sister unnie!"

And then Namgung Soo-ah, the half-orphan with no mother and a father who paid her no attention, came out in a comfortable t-shirt and dolphin pants, only to freeze when she saw me.

"Unnie, where did you go... Mister?"

"Haah...."

I breathed out a white puff of air.

Back to the orphanage, going round and round in circles?

I liked circular narratives in weeb fiction, but... this kind of circular narrative, not so much.

In any case, I headed inside to escape the cold.

***

The omakase restaurant, stained with blood.

The blond vampire Yoannis entered the restaurant with several of his vampire subordinates in tow.

In Yoannis's hand was the <Cultes des Goules>, which had fled from <De Vermis Mysteriis>.

".........."

He had noticed the moment the grimoire suddenly appeared in his hand, but seeing the inside of the restaurant confirmed it beyond doubt.

Chairman Kim was dead.

Mia spoke cautiously, watching Yoannis's expression.

"...Master."

Yoannis replied in his usual relaxed voice.

"Chairman Kim's body didn't have much lifespan left. He probably made a desperate gamble."

His eyes were not smiling.

He knelt on one knee before the bloodstain Chairman Kim had left and brought his fingertips to it.

The general picture became clear.

Chairman Kim's body had been growing increasingly unable to handle magic, and so when he failed to kill Yo-han and obtain <De Vermis Mysteriis>, he had rushed to make a deal.

The result, of course, was a miserable failure.

Yoannis's eyes sank low.

A sunset in the past.

A Berlin plaza where streetlights twinkled.

A young colonial orphan bounced around excitedly at the unfamiliar sights.

"Kyeeeet!"

"Hahaha~."

Yoannis, wearing a Nazi uniform, watched the sight and laughed.

Two subordinates from the Nazi Vampire unit who served under Yoannis tilted their heads and asked.

"Is that child one you brought from Japan?"

"No, a Korean orphan."

The subordinates tilted their heads at that.

"Korea? Where's that?"

"Ah, it's a Japanese colony. Then wouldn't that make him Japanese? They're all the same Asian beasts anyway."

Yoannis gave a light shrug of his shoulders.

"Even if a country disappears, its history remains."

His blue eyes flashed and the corner of his mouth twisted into a grin.

"Just because the Ottoman bastards seized some land in Constantinople doesn't mean Constantinople's name became something ridiculous like Konstantiniye~ or Istanbul~."

The two vampire subordinates exchanged glances and shrugged at each other.

Their leader saying strange things was nothing new.

Yoannis approached the Korean orphan he had picked up on a whim and brought all the way to Germany.

"Hmm~ Come to think of it, I can't just keep calling you 'Korean orphan' forever~ Got a name you want to go by?"

"...A name?"

"It's not every day you get the chance to name yourself. If you're not sure, I'll just pick something decent for you."

As the orphan deliberated, a middle-aged man in fine clothes stepped out of a splendid car, attended by secretaries.

The orphan's eyes lit up at the sight, so different from everyone else, and he asked.

"That, that person over there, what is he?"

"Ah, some company, I think? Anyway, he's a company chairman."

"...Chairman. Chairman! I wanna be a chairman! Chairman Kim! I'm gonna be Chairman Kim!"

At the way he bounced around throwing a fuss, Yoannis laughed and ruffled young Chairman Kim's hair.

"Haha! A chairman at this age, how impressive. Do whatever you want."

Yoannis suddenly snapped out of the memory that had surfaced.

"Disgusting hobbies, endless greed, and a body so unable to handle magic that he shriveled into a wrinkled old man, but...."

His fingertips traced the bloodstain.

"Maybe because I met him when he was little, but to me, you were always my young disciple."

Yoannis rose from his spot.

Mia, speaking carefully as an officer of Clan Madas, asked.

"...Will you seek revenge?"

"No. He was my disciple, but this was his own doing. It'd be laughable to even talk about revenge."

Yoannis spoke in a calm voice. He recalled Yo-han, whom he'd faced off against on top of the bus.

"We're already in a kill-or-be-killed relationship. There's no need to shove revenge into that on top of everything."

Still, a slight tinge of melancholy crept into his voice.

Whether a disciple was a good person or a bad one, a bitter end always left a bitter taste.