CHAPTER 60……………………….
“Y-yes? Wh-what did you just ask me for?”
Sordim’s eyes went wide as he repeated the question. I pressed my lips together firmly and enunciated clearly.
“Your. Blood. And some scales.”
“W-why all of a sudden…?”
To prove that you’re still human.
Instead of answering, I simply smiled faintly. I couldn’t give him false hope based on uncertain information. Sordim was already struggling—dangling empty promises before him would only torture him further.
“It’s for research.”
“O-okay…. I’ll give you some….”
Since I couldn’t collect blood underwater, he would have to extend an arm out of the lake.
“Then, Sordim, just hold one arm out of the water. I’ll warn you now—it’s going to sting a little.”
“Okay….”
I climbed ashore first and rummaged through my bag for a pocketknife. At my gesture, Sordim hesitantly extended one arm out of the water.
A shallow cut made his slender arm flinch. I soothed him by patting his hand while collecting a small sample of blood in a glass vial.
Once I finished drawing blood, I plucked a scale from his forearm.
The water rippled with his movement.
Then, as I pressed the healing stone close to the wound, the bleeding stopped and new scales sprouted.
“Sordim, I’ll come back later.”
He waved before vanishing into the depths of the lake.
With his blood and tissue collected, I now needed a control group….
“Of course, the only one I can ask is Luce.”
“What favor?”
The words had barely left my mouth before Luce appeared. Despite the early dawn, he showed no trace of drowsiness.
“Doesn’t seem all that urgent.”
“No, it’s urgent. My career’s on the line, that’s what.”
I went straight to the point.
“Luce. Bring me a monster.”
My brazen, shameless request—like asking him to hand over money I’d deposited—made him snort.
Then he reached for my face. His fingers lingered briefly near my cheek before tucking back my damp hair. When the cool touch passed by my eye, I involuntarily winced.
A low chuckle.
“You refused when I offered before.”
When his hand withdrew, I realized my clothes were suddenly dry.
“That’s because back then you were trying to use a monster as bait to rope me into being your assistant! This time it’s different.”
“So? What kind of monster do you need?”
“Strictly speaking, I need monster blood. Three different species, if possible…?”
“Wait here.”
Surprisingly, Luce agreed without argument. Strange—but when I thought about it, he’d actually humored my requests more often than not.
“Thanks, Luce….”
Rubbing under my nose, I shyly voiced my gratitude. But then the space before me ripped open, and something dropped out.
“What the—”
Instinctively catching it, I looked down at my hands. The sticky, slimy texture made me grimace—then I realized what it was.
A giant centipede, nearly the length of my arm, split neatly in two, writhing weakly as it died in my palms.
“Aaaaargh!!!”
I flung both halves into the air, shrieking.
“I went through the trouble of finding it—why throw it away?”
Luce appeared just as I was frantically scrubbing my hands in the lake.
“I said I needed blood, not corpses!”
“I just grabbed what I saw.”
This time he presented something else—a monster resembling a rabbit. Its long ears twitched as it trembled in his grip.
“So even monsters can look this cute. I almost feel bad about—”
Screeeech!!
The thing bared its lips to reveal a mouth full of razor teeth. I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Sorry, but… ugh. Can you get me just a few drops of blood?”
“Should I cut it for you?”
“What?! No, that’s not necessary! Just make a small wound so I can get a few drops!”
Once again, Luce accepted the vial I offered. Dangling the rabbit monster, he carried it behind a tree.
Considerate of him, I thought. He’d surprised me more than once today.
Slice! Rip! Squish! Thud! Pop!
SKREEEE!
“Bleeghhh—!”
The grotesque sounds and agonized shrieks from behind the tree made me vomit on an empty stomach.
“Huff… huff….”
After enduring that trial, I finally obtained three vials of monster blood.
“Thanks, Luce….”
“What do you need them for?”
“To check something. Really, thanks!”
Snatching the vials, I dashed to the management office.
Rail was already there before me. He stood hunched, greeting me with hollow eyes.
“Where have you been…! I looked everywhere, but when I couldn’t find you I came here first….”
“Oh, I just went to meet a friend. But Sir Rail, you don’t look well—are you all right?”
“I… may have drunk too much yesterday. Urgh! Forgive me. Shameful to show such lack of discipline. Urgh!”
He explained that his fellow knights had dragged him into drinking at the festival. One cup led to another, and before he knew it, morning had come.
Unable to sleep, he’d come straight to the palace, only to find my room empty, so he’d wandered aimlessly.
“I’m sorry, Sir Rail…. I didn’t mean to be gone so long….”
Truthfully, I’d been so caught up in the idea I’d had by the lake that I’d forgotten all about him.
“Sir Rail, here—sit down.”
“I couldn’t possibly… urgh!”
“What do you mean, you can’t! I’ll be in the office anyway, so just sit and rest. Here’s a bucket too—use it if you need to, you know?”
“Y-yes….”
At last, Rail slumped into a chair, his body collapsing like a puppet with cut strings.
“If anything happens… call me….”
Giving me a feeble thumbs-up, he promptly passed out. After a brief moment of silence for his valiant effort, I went into the office.
The first thing I sought was a microscope. My plan was to compare the blood from Sordim and the monsters.
Pulling up a chair, I placed a drop of each sample on glass slides and examined them in turn.
“My god….”
The results astonished me.
All three monster samples shared a common trait:
Their composition was nothing like human blood.
No blood cells. No platelets. No plasma. Nothing.
But Sordim’s blood clearly contained platelets and plasma. Proof that Sordim wasn’t a monster at all!
Yet I couldn’t celebrate just yet.
“…Why is this happening?”
I drew my pocketknife and nicked my finger, dropping my own blood on a slide for comparison. Under the microscope, the difference was obvious.
Sordim’s white blood cells were trapped inside small blue droplets.
“This is… the mermaid’s poison?”
White blood cells are crucial—they filter out foreign substances in the body. Without them, humans fall prey to everything from allergies to bacterial infections.
But Sordim’s white blood cells were enveloped by the poison, unable to function.
“If that’s the case….”
Could fixing this restore him to human form?
I held the healing stone over Sordim’s blood.
But the poison didn’t vanish.
The Luduel clan’s healing power didn’t affect toxins. Their gift was limited to healing external wounds.
What about Lunaris’s purification stone?
I ran to the divine-stone custodian and borrowed one. With pounding heart, I brought it near the sample—but the result crushed my hopes.
The purification destroyed Sordim’s white blood cells as well. It must have mistaken the poisoned cells themselves as impurities.
If his white blood cells were wiped out, even if he returned to human form, he wouldn’t live long.
“Damn it. What am I supposed to do….”
My head throbbed.
Proving Sordim wasn’t a monster was good, but if I couldn’t return him to human form, nothing would change.
“When Sordim first transformed… how did it happen again?”
Seran had found him stabbed, dying. Then, at the brink of death, Sordim had awakened as a monster.
“…Could it be…?”
A hypothesis flashed—but I shook my head. Too dangerous. I couldn’t put it into practice.
“For now, let’s try herbs. Maybe some can separate the mermaid’s poison.”
Fel, the herbal keeper, gladly handed over the entire stock of medicinal plants, even helping me carry them in place of the ailing Rail.
“Oh, right. Sir Rail, about that promise—”
“Yes…?”
His hollow eyes lifted to me.
“Never mind….”
He barely had the strength to sit upright. No way he could follow what I’d explain.
I set to work grinding herbs and adding them to the blood samples.
But….
“…None of them work.”
Every trial ended in failure.
I stared blankly at the heap of herbs, then shook my head.
“I’ve only tried a hundred or so. There are plenty left. Let’s try again, again….”
As I tidied up to start anew, music drifted in—the festival resuming, yet again.
When I’d entered, the sun was high. Now night had fallen.
My eyes ached from hours at the microscope.
I stretched back in the chair, but no deep breath eased my tension.
Just as I closed my eyes—
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A sound at the office door.
“…Sir Rail?”
But it wasn’t him. If it were, he would’ve called first.
I gripped a vial from the desk, ready to use it if necessary.
Then the tension drained from my shoulders.
“Linne~!”
It was Kinya’s voice.
“…Ahh….”
Relief made my knees buckle. Sliding back into the chair, I looked up to see Kinya and Leti entering the office.
Behind them, Rail grinned mischievously.
