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Act 2-16: Striges’ Tower １
「You seemed to have had a lot of fun yesterday, huh.」
Was the first thing Kuroki heard after he left his room and entered the Galios couple’s house.
（Eh? What the hell is he talking about?）
In all honesty, Kuroki couldn’t refute him since he had no memory of what happened last night at all.
（In the first place, what really happened last night?）
Kuroki really couldn’t figure out Rena’s aim. If he thought about it, now would be the best situation for him to escape, so he can flee before having to deal with whatever it is she was planning.
… Or so it should be.
And yet… he thought that it was okay to stay.
In the first place, Reiji and the others’ movements weren’t conflicting with his. He didn’t find it necessary to leave since they probably wouldn’t bother him.
Kuroki, who woke up really early in the morning, was confused for a really long time.
His current situation was definitely one that warranted for him to leave immediately and yet, he took his time to tidy his messy room. Only much later did he realize that he should’ve escaped from Rox Kingdom. That idea came to his mind as he looked at his now sparkling clean room.
（It seems I overdid it, my room is squeaky clean right now. I mean, even that cheap bed sheet made from cheap material feels so fluffy. Really now… just what happened here.）
Even after so much time had passed, he didn’t find anything at all, not even a trace of an attack in his room.
（Could it be that Rena really had no other plan and was just strolling around with me? Also, did she simply not tell Reiji about me at all? Or, could it be that she did tell Reiji but he ignored me since I’m such an insignificant existence to him?）
Despite pondering about so many scenarios, he ended up with nothing.
Thus, he concluded that the last possibility was the very reason why Reiji and the others didn’t ambush him yet. Though he was furious at the thought that this was the reason why they didn’t bother him, he still convinced himself this conjecture had yet to be proven.
「Where is she, Kuro?」
Kuroki guessed that Galios might be asking about Rena after seeing a wide grin on his face.
「Sorry, I… was still asleep when she left.」
Kuroki replied honestly to Galios.
（I’m the one who wants to know her whereabout the most though.）
Galios was really surprised upon hearing his reply.
「That’s strange… I should’ve spotted her if she passed by.」
Hearing Galios’s remark, Kuroki wondered if she might have left with flight magic.
–Did she go to Reiji and co’s place?
Even Galios ended up confused but Kuroki couldn’t explain since he didn’t understand the situation either.
「So, Kuro. I think you should take a look in the mirror. Your face is amazing you know.」
Galios said that while laughing.
「？」
Kuroki ran off to the bathroom immediately, the only place where he could find a mirror.
The mirrors of this world were only polished mirrors. Though the reflected image wasn’t as clear as the one from a glass mirror, it was enough to see the reflection of his own face.
He saw a handprint on his cheek. In addition, he saw so many red marks.
「What kind of mark is this?」
But, he thought it would disappear once he washed his face.
He drew water from the water well to wash his face.
""
「It won’t come off at all…」
The red marks were clinging to his skin like a curse, it was so hard to remove.
He thought that washing his face was enough to erase the red marks but, after trying so many times, he knew that it might be better to hide his face today.
「Galios-senpai, is Kuro-dono available?!」
A loud voice suddenly resounded.
（That’s Lord Rember’s voice, did he have some sort of business with me?）
Kuroki went to the living room where Rember was waiting for him.
「Senpai, Kuro-dono! Please assist us!」
Rember bowed to them as he said so.
◆
Shirone was looking up to the sky, the weather was cloudy today.
Definitely not suitable weather for strolling outside of the rampart.
（But well, much better than having to wear those embarassing clothes.）
The Hero’s party, except for Shirone, should’ve already started their search for the pervert.
（It’ll be better if we find the way to go back to our world but… to be honest, no one seems to want to return except for Chiyuki.）
Shirone couldn’t help but ponder about that matter.
（But then, what about me?）
Shirone didn’t understand her own feelings.
She was happy and enjoying her time with everyone. That’s why she was rather reluctant to return to Japan. However, it didn’t mean that she didn’t want to return.
She wanted to return too, there were people who she wanted to meet in Japan.
That’s why she couldn’t forgive the Dark Knight, the main reason why she couldn’t go back to Japan.
Shirone felt really annoyed upon recalling the fact that she lost to that guy. And now, there was a chance that she might have a match against that Dark Knight. Thus, she wanted to blow off some steam before that supposed rematch.
That was the reason why Shirone wanted to visit the tower, she wanted to vent her frustration.
She stretched her body and readjusted her breath.
Then, someone approached her from the side.
The one who came to her was a knight of this kingdom, Rember.
Today, he was supposed to accompany Shirone, escorting her toward the Striges tower.
「It seems everyone has assembled, Shirone-sama.」
Shirone turned around upon hearing Rember’s report.
There, she saw a group of armed men standing outside the rampart. They were the helpers that were provided by Rox Kingdom to help her investigate the tower.
Since Shirone’s presence detection wasn’t that great, Chiyuki asked Rox Kingdom to provide reinforcement to help Shirone investigate.
Naturally, the kingdom agreed to assist Shirone because they had suffered from the Striges attacks for a long time. They wanted to get rid of them once and for all. Thus, they had dispatched twelve of their strongest fighters.
Since Nao wasn’t coming with Shirone, they had to rely on numbers to increase the effectiveness of the investigation.
Shirone bowed her head toward the investigation party.
「Best regard for today, everyone.」
The members of the investigation team bowed back to Shirone.
""
Shirone then started inspecting the members of the investigation team.
The first one was their leader, Rember.
He was a knight, born in a family of knights who served Rox Kingdom for generations. He had quite an important position in Rox Kingdom.
Next was the de-facto leader, Galios.
Galios was a former knight turned Freedom Fighter. Shirone heard that he was the one who gathered this group on short notice.
And then, there was the ranger, Stohl. He seemed to be the best ranger in this kingdom, often forming parties with Galios to exterminate monsters.
As for Nimri, the person who participated in the investigation as Rox Kingdom’s magician, his attire alone was enough to tell anyone that he was a magician.
And then, another eight freedom fighters whose names she had already forgotten.
Shirone thought that it was enough as long as she remembered the names of the four big shots.
Those twelve plus Shirone, totaling thirteen, were the members of the tower’s investigation squad.
「Well, let’s get going, everyone.」
Shirone’s words created a small disturbance amongst the team.
「Uhm… may I ask a question, Shirone-sama?」
One person came out. That person was Stor, the ranger.
「What’s the matter?」
「The distance to the tower is more than a half-day journey from here. Should we make a campsite near the tower? If that’s the case, we’ve yet to make the necessary preparations for camping.」
Stor asked with a worried look on his face.
「Ah, don’t worry about it. I can use movement magic after all.」
Upon saying that, Shirone scanned the investigation team members.
Though not as much as Rino, Shirone could use the spirit magic of the wind. And, amongst the spirit magic of the wind, there was a movement magic which allowed the people who were pulled by the user to run at the same speed as the user.
Shirone predicted that it would take less than thirty minutes for them to arrive at the tower if she used this magic to pull everyone.
All the members of the investigation team looked at each other with confusion upon hearing Shirone’s explanation.
They were puzzled, and anxious.
But, Shirone thought that there was no need to explain further.
That’s why she decided to let them experience that magic first hand.
「Well then, let’s go!!」
Thus, Shirone invoked the spirit magic of the wind.