Berserk of Gluttony (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 18

Chapter 18:

Debriefing

MEMIL AND LECHOIX awaited us back at the manor.

“Master, you did it!”

“I can’t thank you enough!” said LeChoix. “Finally, the residents of the estate can rest easy.”

They’d already heard about the battle from Roxy, but their curiosity was clearly piqued by the little girl clinging to me. Unable to hide her perplexity, Memil spoke first.

“Um… Is that girl you-know-what?”

“Yeah,” I said, “but this might not be the best place to talk about it. LeChoix, is there a room we can use for discretion’s sake?” 

“Yes, of course. Right this way.” 

LeChoix took us to a quiet common room of the manor.

“Come on, Snow, let’s go inside!” said Roxy, trying to earn the girl’s trust with a friendly attitude.

“No way! I don’t want to!”

Roxy sighed. “I’m a failure.”

Roxy’s attempts were fruitless; they only seemed to push Snow further away. It was a vicious cycle, but Roxy wasn’t about to give up—I was well aware of that. However, even though Snow rebuffed all her attempts, Roxy’s expression lightened, and she seemed a little happier. LeChoix and Memil were left unsure of how to act around the two of them, let alone how to talk to Snow.

As soon as we entered the common room and before we even sat down, Memil spoke. “This little girl is the holy beast that rampaged through the desert?”

“I’ll tell you everything, but take a seat first, yeah?”

I sat facing LeChoix, with Snow on my lap. Roxy sat next to me, with Memil opposite Roxy. 

“She was so big before, and now she’s so small. And that red hair of hers is just adorable.”

“It seems this is not her usual form,” I said. “To make matters more difficult, she’s suffering from amnesia. When she woke up, she couldn’t even remember her own name.”

“I see. So, she returned because of the Door to Distant Lands?”

“That seems most likely. Greed said she’s one of the holy beastfolk. She’s existed for a long, long time.”

“The holy beastfolk… Hmm… Give her here for a second so I can see her up close.”

“Memil, stop! She doesn’t like people getting pushy with her!”

Memil was walking straight into the same trap as Roxy. It was like watching someone put their hand into a hornet’s nest. Or so I thought. Snow was happy to let Memil do whatever she wanted.

“Oh? I think she likes me?” said Memil. “She does! Who’s a good girl?”

“What?” I stammered in disbelief.

But another voice cried out that was even more aghast than mine. Roxy’s, of course. I couldn’t work it out. Why was Snow so much friendlier with Memil? As if to show off, Memil lifted Snow up and down into the air. They were already having a great time together. Roxy watched as she sank into her chair, the color draining from her face, despondent. I wasn’t sure if she’d make it.

LeChoix had observed the whole interaction quietly but now raised her voice. “Everybody please be quiet for a moment! I have to ask something important! What is that thing poking out of the bottom of Snow’s clothes?”

“Hm?!”

LeChoix pointed at Snow’s lower body. From the bottom of her clothes, we saw something poking out… Something very much like a tail. All of us grew quiet with curiosity as we took a closer look.

“It’s a scorpion’s tail!!” we exclaimed.

Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t human. Humans didn’t grow tails. So Greed hadn’t just been running his mouth; the holy beastfolk were essentially their own species. 

Snow fidgeted under the attention, embarrassed. “Nobody else has one, so I was trying to hide it,” she stammered.

Losing her memories had made her uncertain about the world and people around her. When she’d noticed that I didn’t have a tail, she hadn’t been sure what to do regarding her own.

Memil, with daredevil bravery, put her hand out to touch the tail. “It looks rigid, but it’s surprisingly soft to the touch! And it’s warm!”

“Ooh…” groaned Snow.

“Stop it Memil! Stop now!” I protested.

Snow looked like a little girl, but she was still in the Domain of E. Even a temper tantrum would bring the whole manor crumbling down around her. I instructed Memil to sit down and behave herself.

“How disappointing, I was having so much fun,” Memil complained.

“Your thoughtlessness is the only disappointing thing here. Are you ready for her to destroy this whole estate all because you couldn’t resist touching her tail?”

“Fine, I’ll be good. Nobody wants that.”

I relaxed a little. Snow looked a bit relieved too. She didn’t seem to like Memil paying so much attention to her tail. Just when I thought things were settling down, I felt Roxy staring at us, her eyes hungry for something.

“Wh-what’s wrong, Roxy?”

“What’s wrong? That’s what I want to know! Why is Memil acceptable, but…I’m not?”

It was a good question. Snow wouldn’t even let Roxy touch her. Even as Roxy spoke, Snow ran behind me to hide. It was a completely different story with Memil. She’d even let Memil touch her tail when she was clearly nervous about it. All of which pointed to the fact that… 

“Is it possible that she hates you, my lady?”

LeChoix spoke before I could say a thing. She looked so soft and gentle, but her words were seriously cutting. Roxy hadn’t expected it, not from LeChoix of all people, and her shoulders slumped like she’d taken a punch in the guts.

“I hope this doesn’t sound weird coming from me,” said Memil, “but kids don’t like me. They really don’t. So if Snow has taken a liking to me, I think it has something to do with Fate. For example, perhaps she caught his scent on me?”

“What does that mean? I don’t understand.” Roxy’s eyebrows knotted as she frowned.

Memil put her hands on her waist and pushed her chest out proudly. “It’s because we sleep together and spend so much time in the same bed. I must have picked up his scent.”

“Huh?!” Roxy’s eyes brimmed with tears as she tapped me on the shoulder, demanding an explanation.

Wait, wait, wait, perhaps she’s not technically wrong, but she’s certainly giving you the wrong idea about things!

“Roxy, calm down!” I protested. “Don’t forget she only spends any time in my bed because she literally sucks my blood, gets tired, and falls asleep on the spot. That’s what she’s talking about! She doesn’t mean anything else! I swear!”

“Fine…”

The conversation was getting heated, but despite that, Snow had curled up for a nap on my lap. Her breathing was gentle and relaxed, and she occasionally moved just a fraction to get more comfortable. It seemed that her body still needed time to heal after the battle we’d put her through, so it was all I could do just to make her feel comfortable. I ran a hand through her hair and addressed Roxy and the others.

“It’s not my scent—it’s my blood, I think. I don’t know for sure, but perhaps she’s drawn to Memil because Memil takes my blood regularly.”

“Your blood? Interesting… That makes sense,” said Roxy. “After all, I touch you enough that surely some of your scent is on me too.”

“Well, I’m glad we settled that, then,” I said.

I was relieved too. As much as Roxy wanted Snow to like her, I didn’t think she’d go so far as to suggest that she should drink my blood too. At least, that’s what I told myself as I watched her eyeing my carotid artery.

Anyway, now that we’d taken care of the rampaging Zodiac Scorpion, the Lanchester estate was safe once more. We wanted to be absolutely certain, so we decided to check the desert soon to make sure the darkness had truly gone. I needed to satisfy the ravening of my Gluttony for one, but the monsters had stats and skills I wanted too. It was true that I had trouble controlling my stats, but I also knew that the more I had, the better. Skills, on the other hand, were the opposite—the more I had, the more I had to keep track of and learn to master.

I did have to make sure to keep myself from getting too comfortable with my Gluttony, but as long as I did that, the Skill of Mortal Sin only made me stronger. And now that my father had shown me the vast difference in our power levels, I needed more power.

Seeing that we’d just finished one battle and were about to jump into another, LeChoix suggested we take a bath at the manor before heading out to hunt for any remaining darkness. 

“Your bodies must be exhausted from the battle with the scorpion, so why not let them relax a little? Then we’ll head out and look for the darkness. I’ll come along too, of course. They seem like monsters I can handle.”

“Great idea! Count me in!” said Memil. “Actually, I already got permission from Her Majesty!”

“Somebody came prepared…”

“Expect nothing less from a maid of the Barbatos family! We work day and night to support our masters! I’m sure you must be exhausted, my lady, so feel free to relax and heal up here at the manor.”

Memil was gung-ho and full of vim, and I realized she hadn’t at all liked being left behind for the previous battle. Sure, she’d seen us off with a smile, but she had desperately wanted to join us. I didn’t like how pushy she was about it, but she was really trying her best as a maid, so I thought she’d earned the right to blow off some steam. But Roxy didn’t love her attitude either.

“No, no, I can still fight,” she said. “And besides, I’ve fought the darkness myself, which means I can give rookies like you pointers on how to best defeat them. I’ll be very detailed.”

“Why thank you, my lady. I can’t wait.”

Roxy laughed nefariously. “Neither can I.”

A black aura seemed to surround the two of them as LeChoix and I watched, unsure of how to defuse the situation. I felt LeChoix’s troubled gaze wander in my direction, but if she expected me to stick my hands in the fire by trying to stop this, she had to be kidding herself. Rather, there was no better time than now for me to run off and get cleaned up.

“I, uh…I think I’ll go take that bath now,” I said. “Would you mind showing me the way, LeChoix?”

“Oh, of course. Follow me.”

As I stood up, I noticed Snow’s eyes open the moment I said the word “bath.”

“Bath! A bath! I’m taking one too!”

“Okay, okay,” I said.

“Hurry! Faster!”

LeChoix and I bolted out of the room. We didn’t want the manor destroyed because Snow got over excited about her bath! As we hurriedly left, Roxy and Memil chased after us.

“Fay!”

“Master!”

There was no time to turn around for them—because Snow’s power grew with her excitement. Moreover, as she was in the Domain of E, I was the only one who could manage her. We dashed past flustered servants and maids, who had probably never seen anyone hurry for the baths so fast before. But thanks to the new lord of the estate, we reached the bathing halls intact.

“Here we are,” said LeChoix. “Actually, since arriving here, the baths are the only place I’ve had fixed and renovated. Lanchester had some…unique tastes…”

Roxy and Memil nodded in agreement. I got the sense that Lanchester had been less than popular among the female holy knights, and that the bedrooms and dining room would soon get full renovations too.

But whatever—it was time to take a bath!