Nikolai furrowed his brow. Since he hadn’t been briefed on recent events, he couldn’t follow the conversation.
“What is this ‘spring’ you’re talking about?” he asked.
Vanilla glanced beyond the collapsed dirt.
Route 3 had originally been a dead end blocked by piles of dirt, but upon closer inspection, a hole had been dug near the top, revealing the path beyond.
It meant the dirt blocking the way wasn’t too thick, making it easier to dig through compared to Route 8.
“We don’t know yet. Everyone’s been curious about what the spring is. I should hurry back and report this to Miss Sinclair.”
“And the path to the capital is...?” Nikolai hesitated, glancing at Route 8 with a troubled expression.
“You should focus on clearing the way to the capital. I’ll handle delivering the news,” Vanilla replied.
Nikolai seemed to deliberate for a moment before falling silent.
He cast a dissatisfied look at Vanilla’s injured leg, then shook his head.
“In that case, I’ll return to Happy House. It’s not good for you to overexert yourself with your leg in that condition.”
Vanilla had been about to protest, but the words didn’t leave her lips. Her leg was injured, after all.
Having Nikolai go back would indeed save time.
As Vanilla stared at the shovel Nikolai had set down, a thought occurred to her.
“...You’re not avoiding digging, are you?”
“...No, of course not.”
“It was a joke, but you hesitated. Suspicious.”
“It’s not true,” Nikolai insisted.
“Go on, then.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Vanilla’s indifferent reply, coupled with her calm demeanor, gave her an even cooler air. Nikolai broke into a nervous sweat.
Victor, who had been watching the interaction with amusement, suddenly chimed in.
“Should I leave? I feel like I’ve been intruding on a lover’s quarrel.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Vanilla snapped back immediately.
“Wash your eyes and look again,” Nikolai added with a grimace.
Both denied Victor’s teasing in unison, causing him to flinch and awkwardly cover his eyes with his hands.
Nikolai and Vanilla sighed in tandem at Victor’s theatrics, only to glare at each other in surprise.
“...I’ll be on my way,” Nikolai muttered, breaking the silence.
Vanilla dismissed him with a lazy wave, clearly uninterested in continuing the banter.
Shaking his head, Nikolai set off toward Happy House.
“Why is it empty?”
After exiting the underground passage, Nikolai found the mansion eerily quiet. For some reason, no one was inside.
Hearing commotion outside, he went to investigate and was met with a shocking sight.
“What the...?”
Cherry and her team had returned.
Cherry was ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) walking carefully around the vegetable garden, dragging a massive mutant monster by its tail.
The creature’s limbs were tightly bound with ropes fashioned from twisted branches.
The most unbelievable part, though, was that the monster, even as it was dragged along, was throwing a tantrum like a child denied a toy.
“Too bad! No matter how much you cry, I’m not giving you any Elpinos!”
Cherry yelled, her frustration evident. But the monster only cried louder, completely ignoring her.
***
Theodore’s aide, Elderson, couldn’t help but wonder if he was dreaming.
From the moment they had discovered the suspicious underground passage at 61 Notium Street, everything had felt surreal.
Happy House, with its peculiar atmosphere, was already beyond his understanding.
But the sight of the mutant monster barking like a dog in the garden was what truly defied belief.
Cherry Sinclair had tied the mutant monster to a post in front of the garden shed.
The creature didn’t resist. Whenever Cherry tossed it a piece of Elpinos herb, it snatched it up in a frenzy.
After nibbling on the herb, it wagged its tail like an overexcited dog, its eyes sparkling.
“What in the world is that?” Ethan muttered, utterly baffled.
Most of the people in the garden shared his reaction.
The grotesque mutant monster would immediately panic and throw a fit whenever Ethan so much as took a step toward it.
Whimper—! Whimper whimper!
The monster acted pitiful, as if terrified of Ethan.
“That thing...? After it bit me to shreds, now it’s pretending to be the victim?” Ethan let out a hollow laugh.
Elderson glanced at the bandages wrapped around Ethan’s body, visible between the gaps in his police uniform, and felt a twinge of discomfort.
Just looking at him made Elderson’s own body ache. Ethan’s injuries were severe, his body practically covered in bandages.
“Where did you pick up that creature?” Elderson asked, directing the question at Theodore and Hamel, who were watching with interest.
“We encountered it on our way to collect Elpinos herbs,” Hamel explained.
“A mutant?” Elderson’s face paled. It was hard enough dealing with regular virus monsters, but now there were mutants?
“They’re intelligent. It knew how to hunt,” Theodore added, his tone grim. “And here’s something else we learned. Elderson, did you know monsters go crazy over the scent of Elpinos herbs?”
Elderson’s puzzled expression prompted Theodore to nod knowingly.
“Of course you wouldn’t know. Anyway, this mutant seemed as obsessed with Elpinos as the regular virus monsters. Lady Sinclair and Sir Ethan handled it brilliantly and secured the herbs.”
“So the mutant was lured here using Elpinos?”
“Essentially. Lady Sinclair’s quite bold.”
As Theodore finished speaking, Cherry’s voice rang out.
“Wait, Sir Ethan. I think I can train this thing with Elpinos!”
She pulled out another herb, and the mutant monster began salivating, its eyes gleaming with anticipation.
“Sit.”
The monster tilted its head, its intimidating appearance suddenly softened by its surprisingly cute gesture. Even Elderson felt momentarily stunned.
The creature’s attention was wholly fixed on the herb in Cherry’s hand.
So, the intelligent monster was pretending to be cute to get Elpinos.
Seeing this, Ethan finally lost his composure and stepped forward in frustration.
“That damn thing... acting cute in front of me?”
“Calm down,” Cherry said, waving dismissively as everyone rushed to block Ethan’s path, even though he hadn’t done anything yet.
Cherry glanced back at Ethan, unfazed.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
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“Miss Cherry, is it a dog or a devil?”
“Don’t be childish. Of course, it’s about the Elpinos.”
“That wasn’t one of the options.”
Ignoring Ethan’s retort, Cherry continued commanding the mutant, repeating “sit” over and over.
The sheer size of the monster made Cherry look impossibly small in comparison.
The monster opened its massive jaws wide, looking as though it could swallow someone whole in a single gulp. Elderson trembled nervously, carefully observing the situation.
“Isn’t this dangerous?”
Theodore, who had been silently watching, stroked his chin and spoke.
“Why? Judging by what she’s doing, it seems like it’s possible to tame it. A woman who can tame monsters... fascinating.”
“How is that taming, exactly?”
Nox scoffed, clearly unconvinced by Theodore’s remark.
At that moment, the mutated monster lifted Cherry by her tail, hanging her upside down in the air and shaking her vigorously.
“Ahh!”
Click-click—
The startled guards raised their guns in unison, loading them, but Cherry frantically waved her hands to stop them.
“It’s fine!”
Looking closely, the mutated monster wasn’t trying to harm Cherry; it was desperately shaking her to make her drop the Elpinos herb in her hand.
Remarkably, it wasn’t hurting her.
The same had been true when it had kidnapped Nox—it hadn’t harmed anyone.
‘But didn’t I hear that when it first turned into a monster in Hondorf, it devoured people?’
Nox shook his head, recalling Michelle’s eyewitness account. Clearly, the creature was still a dangerous being.
At that moment, Cherry grabbed the monster’s tail tightly and yanked it with such force that the monster was flung far away by the recoil.
As Cherry fell, Ethan effortlessly caught her midair and set her gently on the ground.
After carefully inspecting Cherry’s face, Ethan knelt on one knee without hesitation and dusted off her clothes.
Watching this, Theodore turned to Nox and said with amusement, “Look. Isn’t Lady Cherry taming it?”
“You mean Sir Ethan?”
“No, the mutated monster.”
“That’s not taming—it’s violence,” Nox replied dryly.
Elderson, listening to the bizarre conversation between the two men, decided to give up trying to make sense of the situation entirely.
“When did you get here, Sir Nikolai?”
Nox noticed Nikolai and greeted him. All eyes turned toward him.
Nikolai, who had been quietly standing nearby, observing the scene, gave a slight nod of thanks to Nox and then addressed Theodore.
“Your Highness, I have a report.”
Theodore, who had been resting his chin on his hand and watching Cherry, finally turned his attention to Nikolai.
“It seems Route 3 will be cleared first. Lady Ruskin insisted that this information be relayed to Lady Sinclair as quickly as possible.”
Hearing this, Cherry, who was fastening a leash around the mutant monster to tie it back near the shed, approached Nikolai. Ethan followed closely behind her.
With a serious expression, Nikolai repeated the report to Cherry, explaining that the path marked as Route 3 had been cleared.
“Route 3? Wait... could it be...?”
Before Cherry could finish her sentence, Ethan pulled out something from his pocket—a cross-sectional map of Happy House—and unfolded it.
“Route 3, the spring.”
Reading the words written on the map, Ethan’s remark made everyone simultaneously turn their attention to Nikolai.
***
While Nikolai went to deliver his report, Vanilla and Victor decided to dig further into Route 3.
Vanilla worked silently, focused on her shoveling, while Victor kept stealing glances at her, observing her mood.
Victor had known Vanilla before the world ended.
Before the catastrophe, Vanilla had worked as a waitress at the inn restaurant in Brunel Village, where Victor had been the head chef.
She had always been quiet, but Victor thought she had grown even more reserved after the world fell apart.
“Sir,” Vanilla suddenly spoke.
Victor, surprised by her rare initiation of conversation, looked at her with curiosity.
“I think my father was involved in this somehow,” she said.
Victor furrowed his brow, unable to understand.
“What do you mean?”
Still deep in thought, Vanilla muttered under her breath, “The spring, the spring...” while tapping her chin. Finally, she answered.
“It’s vague, but I remember... I once told you about that man with pink hair who visited Ruskin Manor, right? The one who scammed my father with real estate?”
She stared blankly at Victor, as though trying to recall more details.
“That man... I think it was Sinclair. And that day, the Duke of Lancaster was also there.”
“You’re saying the Duke of Lancaster and Chairman Sinclair visited Ruskin Manor? That’s odd. No news article ever mentioned such prominent figures meeting,” Victor replied, nodding in agreement.
“Thinking about the spring reminded me of something I overheard back then. They said something about...”
Vanilla pointed straight ahead, where the collapsed dirt revealed a path beyond. The wall still bore the number 3.
The spring connected to Route 3, just as the map’s annotations indicated.
“That day, the Duke of Lancaster told my father: ‘We need to steal the spring from Segrave.’”