Chapter 64: Clouds of Doom (1)
I was in the kitchen when a presence appeared behind me. Standing in the doorway, disheveled yet peaceful, was the lady we had just rescued.
Arlene Desmond il Reinvelt was at the kitchen door.
"What did you guys do?" she asked. "It’s all gone... all of it."
Yeah. I didn’t think it would happen, either.
She stepped closer and stopped right in front of me.
"Tell me," she said. "How is it possible? A cure for the corruption... I don’t believe it."
"I still don’t believe it, either," I said. "But we have to. Are you hungry? Want something to eat?"
Dinner was being made anyway. For her, too.
"Answer me first," Arlene said. "Is it really possible? Or did you do something else?"
I raised a brow at those words. Was there a reason to act this way? Sure, disbelief, but if we had done anything to her, she would have felt it herself. As if realizing my very obvious thoughts regarding her allegation, Arlene sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter.
Her eyes welled up.
A tear fell.
"Thank you..." she said. "Really... I still can’t believe anything that has happened in these last two days."
"Two days? You’ve only been corrupted for a single night?"
The corruption had spread that much overnight? My mind wandered back to the state Delka was in when we first saw him. He was far less corrupted despite having been that way longer.
The lady nodded.
"Anyway, let’s talk properly over dinner."
She kept crying while standing there, and I continued cooking. Arlene Desmond il Reinvelt did her best to hold her tears in, but I guess she, too, was just a girl in the face of death. Anyone would be.
I didn’t say anything, giving her the grace of being treated normally.
Only when her sobs also converted into an outpouring of snot did I give her a cloth to wipe her nose.
Dinner was ready.
By the time we went to the dinner table, I had already given her some hot chocolate in milk and a few sweets to calm down, as well. I laid out the entire table, and as we nowadays did, the whole of the Grim Palace gathered to eat.
That meant both the armors, the two beastkin kids, now Arlene, Weiss, and me.
The other two golems continued monitoring the place, just in case. Not like any of them could eat.
It was a grand spread since we had just run into a lot of money. Arlene looked around. Weiss was sitting at the head of the table.
A gaze from the Witch Queen made the duke’s daughter tighten up.
"Let’s dig in," Weiss said.
She was being curt and rude. Her gaze was cold.
Now, allow me to explain what was happening. Having witnessed this lady over the many, many situations we have been through together, it was pretty clear to me.
She was feeling shy and didn’t know how to talk to this woman. That was really it.
"Um... thank you, Miss Witch Queen."
"Hm? Yeah."
"..."
Cold!!
Cold as fuck!
"Um..." Arlene mumbled again. "This is really delicious."
Weiss nodded, biting into the meat on her plate. She looked graceful even while eating, not at all like the chocolate-demanding snob who would always lie around and have me brush her teeth.
The cat was here again and was seated on Weiss’s lap. There were times when I would lay out food for it, too, but I rarely ever saw it when not around Weiss.
"Did you kill the demon?" Weiss asked.
Woah!! She was conversing now.
"Yes. It died the moment we saw it."
Weiss turned to me next, as if asking me to continue. Was it time then?
"It’s simple, Miss Arlene. Do you remember us saying we want something from you?"
Arlene nodded at me this time. The timidness reflecting in her started to fade around me. What the hell? Be just as scared! Sure, I am no Witch Queen, but still!
"Recently, an incident happened with some invaders entering the Grim Palace. Miss Witch is not pleased."
"It had nothing to do with us. I assure you," Arlene said. "The CEF was acting on its own. It was a misunderstanding. They were following an escaping mafia group and thought they were sent by you. That’s what happened, right?"
"That must be precisely what happened," I said.
"The Grim Palace is not concerned with matters outside," Weiss said. "But if you guys try to involve me, it won’t end well. Curing you is a part of that."
Arlene’s eyes widened.
"Lady Arlene, again, it’s pretty simple. If you, the empire, or the North ever decides that you want to make enemies out of the Grim Palace," I leaned in, looking straight into her eyes, "we will start with you. The fact that we have cured you of corruption is just the beginning—it will spread. We will get your family next, then the people in your city, those around it, and eventually your entire territory. War be damned, the Grim Palace will crush you from within. Don’t put it past us."
Arlene shook and reeled back.
It took a few seconds.
She nodded.
—Clang.
I looked to my side and saw Delka drop his spoon, then immediately cover his mouth. Treska was frozen, as well. On the other side, Weiss also looked at me incredulously.
Arlene saw it all, placed a hand on her chest, and then sighed.
"You are... really good people."
Hey. That’s what you take away from that?
"That scared me."
"Sir Phantom is scary sometimes."
The two kids were whispering to each other while Weiss chuckled.
The heck?
Did I look like a softie goody-two-shoes to these people? Were they forgetting I was the greatest thief in the world? Oh yeah, well, it was forgettable at this point.
Hah...
Fucking hell.
"I promise you this," Arlene said. "In fact, we have already stopped a problem from happening. Two CEF members had escaped alive from the Grim Palace."
"What??" Treska yelled.
This, of course, I knew. The Obscurer that I was looking for on the ground had disappeared.
"But now they’re all dead. All of them."
