Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter SS1

Bonus Short Stories 

Bad Conclusion 

Lorraine and I sat before a woman on a sofa as she described her tragic situation to us in full. She said that her husband had gonewent missing a while ago. He hadn’t been seen in over a week, so she finally put out a search request through the guild, and we accepted it. We visited her in person so we could ascertain the situation and assess his behavior around the time he disappeared. He actually seemed pretty wealthy, as he owned a large mansion with numerous servants. I could guess why the reward for this job was so high. It was enough for both of us to live in leisure for an entire month. 

And yet nobody else took this job, presumably because of the difficulty. There would be no reward if he wasn’t found, and there was no guarantee he could be located. Unless you had some special skills, the smart thing to do was pass. In our case, however, Lorraine had spells that allowed for a meticulous search, and I had the ability to locate humans by smell. We had a relatively high chance of success, so we took the job. 

The woman immediately provided us with a portrait and a description of him at the time he vanished. Lorraine and I looked at each other and nodded. 

“Can you show us your husband’s room, then?” I asked. “Maybe there are some clues that’ll help us find him.” Even for us, searching for him without anything to go on would be a challenge. Some investigation was required. 

“This way, please,” the woman said and led us through the mansion. 

“Lorraine, I think this might be worse than expected,” I said. 

“So it seems. But all of these books are sketchy. I can’t imagine he could actually accomplish his goal,” Lorraine agreed. She traced the spine of a book we found in the room. 

The room clearly belonged to a man who took on a lot of work, and there didn’t seem to be anything special at first sight. However, after rummaging around for a while, Lorraine discovered some suspicious mana. We found that it came from the bookshelf and the wall. We searched them, and there certainly seemed to be something there. When we took out some books that emitted a faint amount of mana, the bookshelf automatically moved to reveal a hidden door behind it. 

We searched the hidden room and found a number of suspicious tomes, along with magic items and a magic circle on the floor. Most of the books described forbidden magic practices, so there was a good chance the husband was dabbling in those. That was what made this whole situation worse than expected. But this wasn’t something so easy to succeed at, and the husband’s disappearance was likely a result of his failure. If so, it wouldn’t be strange if no trace of his body remained. 

Whatever the case, we reported our findings to his wife. She looked shocked at first, but she accepted the possibility in the end. Then we took out a map and showed it to her. 

“What’s this?” she asked and cocked her head. 

“We found this in your husband’s hidden room,” Lorraine explained. “I think you’ll understand once you look at it, but it shows a location about half a day’s worth of travel outside of Maalt. There’s probably something there.” 

“Could it be my husband?” 

“It’s possible, but it could also be nothing. That’s why we’re telling you about this last. Apologies.” 

“No, I understand. You wanted to prepare me for the worst. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if he might be there, can you search the area for me? I don’t mind raising the reward if necessary.” She was pretty worried about her husband. The woman sounded absolutely desperate. 

“Of course. The reward is already enough as it is, so we plan to head there first thing tomorrow morning. You don’t need to beg us.” 

“Thank you so much. I’m glad you’re the ones who took the job.” 

The next day, we immediately departed from Maalt for the destination in question. We traveled by carriage for a while and then got off and headed through the forest until we saw it. 

“A shack?” I said. 

“Looks like it. Is the husband there?” 

“Maybe. Let’s check it out.” 

When we got to the shack, I knocked on the door. “Is anybody there? Dang, no answer.” 

“Maybe it’s empty,” Lorraine muttered. 

But I shook my head. “No, somebody’s there. I’m sure you wouldn’t know, but this place smells strongly of blood.” 

“What? If you notice it, then does that mean it’s human blood?” 

“I guess it’d have to be. Not only that, but it’s pretty fresh. Seems like it belonged to a young woman. It’s from about three days ago, I think.” 

“Should we force our way in?” 

“I guess we’ll have to!” I shouted and rammed into the door, destroying it. I was sure someone had to be inside, but to my surprise, the shack was unoccupied. “This place is probably like his room. The smell is coming from down below.” 

“Another hidden room, then? You think there may be something underground? Oh, there really is something,” Lorraine said after looking under a carpet. A part of the floor was a different color from the rest. She opened it up and discovered a staircase leading underground. 

“I’ll go first,” I said. 

“Are you sure?” 

“If worse comes to worst and I get taken off guard, I should still be able to make it out somehow. You stay back and prepare to use some magic.” 

“Understood.” 

“Where did you come from?!” a man asked as we reached the bottom of the basement. It was the husband we were looking for. He looked somewhat sickly but otherwise appeared as he did in the portrait. 

There was a bed behind him with a young woman lying upon it. Beside her was yet another person, and I could see that they were eating her. The smell of blood wafted from the bed, meaning she must have been the young woman I smelled. I doubted she was still alive. 

“We’re here at the request of your wife, of course,” I said. “She wanted someone to find you after you disappeared.” It was extremely hard to say that he should return to her after what I saw here, so I left it at that. 

To my surprise, the husband sneered. “She’s looking for me? Ridiculous. Only because she thought it was convenient for her, I’m sure.” 

“What?” 

“You don’t know? She cheated on me behind my back. This is who she cheated on me with,” he said and pointed to the man eating the woman. He looked young judging from his face alone, but his skin and flesh were rotting, so he was clearly not well. 

“She didn’t seem demented enough to sleep with a ghoul,” Lorraine said. The young man was undoubtedly a ghoul. 

“I turned him into this. He’s eating his own wife. The goddamned bastard insulted me!” 

“You? Well, now I see what those forbidden books were for. But controlling a ghoul isn’t something any ordinary human can do.” 

“I’m impressed you know that. Yes, that’s why I turned myself into a thrall. I was lucky enough to get ahold of some vampire blood.” 

Lorraine frowned. “You drank it? I don’t know if I’d consider that lucky.” 

It was said that by drinking the blood of a vampire, a human could turn themselves into a vampire. But just about all attempts at this failed, and the humans lost their minds. The same had presumably happened to this man. 

“Rentt, there’s only one thing to do.” 

“Right.” 

Lorraine and I slayed the monsters. They were so weak it was an easy job, but it felt unpleasant. After that, we buried them and the young woman near the shack. Then we brought their belongings back to Maalt. 

We explained everything that transpired to the wife and then handed her husband’s belongings over. 

“Yes, this belonged to my husband,” she said, her hands quivering. “Here’s your reward. Thank you for everything; now I can finally calm down.” She smiled faintly, but something about that smile seemed different from before. 

Lorraine must have noticed it as well. After we accepted the reward and were about to leave, she asked the wife a question. “Your husband said that you cheated on him. Is that true?” 

She would no doubt deny that it was, I thought, so her answer was unexpected. 

“I tricked him into thinking I did, actually.” Lorraine looked at her with confusion. The woman’s eyes looked ominous as she explained further. “It was dreadful. When he said he planned to retire soon, I didn’t especially mind, but then he started saying he was going to give half of his wealth to the child of his previous wife. I thought he’d gone mad. That’s why I set it up so he would settle all of this himself. I made him think that I cheated on him and that I was going to take his entire fortune for myself and my new partner. He actually did exactly what I hoped he would do. When he investigated this partner and found he was married, my husband went after his wife too. Even though his wife was actually the daughter of my husband’s previous wife. They hadn’t seen each other in over a decade, so he probably didn’t recognize her. Not that he was entirely sane by that point anyway. Now his fortune is all mine. Good work, you two. Goodbye now.” 

The door creaked closed, shutting us outside. Only now did we learn that this was all a plot devised by her. 

“Rentt,” Lorraine started. 

“No, Lorraine, there was nothing else we could do. From the moment we accepted the job, it was all over.” 

“Should we tell the authorities?” 

“It’s pointless; we have no proof. And even if we can demonstrate that it’s true, she didn’t personally commit any crime. The law can’t touch her.” 

We trudged back home. We didn’t speak much for the rest of the day, and in my dreams, I saw that terrifying woman’s face, cackling in the dark. 

A few days later, I headed to the mansion and found it completely burned down. 

“How did this happen?” I asked one of the people standing around. 

“It just suddenly caught fire last night. Probably arson, I guess. Is that all you needed?” 

“Oh, yeah.” 

He walked away. Still in shock, I stared at the remains of the mansion for a while. Then I noticed something. Near the edge, around where the fire most likely started, I saw something familiar. It was the necklace belonging to the young woman we buried in the forest. It was charred black but still recognizable. Nearby, I found some human bones as well. They also belonged to the young woman. 

I wondered how this was possible, but maybe she had become undead by the time we buried her. She seemed entirely dead at the time, but if she was only just becoming undead, it could have escaped my notice. Then she must have dug out of her grave and burned this mansion down. That would explain everything, but I had no proof of this either. Both the mansion and the woman were incinerated. According to others in the area, the wife who lived here had died as well. 

Maybe I should have thought of this as an appropriate punishment for her crimes, or maybe I should have been outraged about how horrific the whole incident was. But in the end, I didn’t know what to make of it.