The woman wished that no one would come.
She did not want to show her appearance to anyone.
She sat gasping in some unknown back alley.
She could hardly utter a word properly.
If someone approached, she would hurt them.
More than anything, she did not want to see that person.
The one who took her in after she had fled, unable to stay at home.
That’s why, even though she couldn’t meet them.
“…Ah, I finally found you.”
“Ugh.”
She let out an involuntary groan. Why?
In the stone-paved back alley, he was there before her gaze.
Perhaps he was slightly out of breath from running.
Searching for her in this state.
“Looks like you’re having a hard time…well, we’ll figure something out. Come on, let’s go home.”
“–“
Why would he say such a thing? She had no place to return to now.
“–“
‘Let’s go home.’
Even if she went back, she had nowhere to stay.
“…Yeah, I understand how you feel. At least a little bit.”
With a wry smile, he took a step closer.
So reflexively she barked out. An unbelievable roar coming from her own voice. A howl threatening violence, instinct, life itself. As if that’s the sound cannon fire would make on a battlefield.
“You’ve got quite a voice.”
Yet he casually approached and stroked her head.
Even if she trembled her hand a bit, he would die.
He was smiling.
“I can’t say I’ll restore your former life. But at the very least, I’ll make you a place where you don’t have to hide who you are.”
●
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
Elteel-Sirius Flame.
Red eyes, lush long golden hair. A patched-together trench coat covering her whole body, even when it’s not raining.
A nearly two-meter tall, seemingly soft and alluring body you’d want to reach out and touch anywhere.
How many times had she drawn Norman Hamish’s gaze?
That her,
“Good morning, Norman sama.”
When he awoke and turned to the side, her face was there a short distance away.
“…Morning, El.”
She was kneeling on the floor beside Norman’s bedding.
“…How long have you been there?”
“How long, I wonder?”
El tilted her head innocently.
Her gentle, mellow atmosphere was like a domesticated pet.
“I see. The key was…from the master?”
“Yes, he let me in!”
Norman was renting a room on the second floor of a billiards bar. The master was someone who had helped him out when he first visited Balldlum, and that led to him being provided lodging.
“Well, whatever. Good morning again.”
“Yes, good morning!”
After leaving the bedroom, washing his face, brushing his teeth, and going to the living room,
“I’ve prepared breakfast. I also cleaned the living room and kitchen. I put out the laundry too, and replaced the small bar of soap in the shower with a new one.”
He was greeted by her doting hospitality.
Norman’s rented room was divided into a kitchen, living room and bedroom, relatively spacious.
Go up the stairs from the first floor, through the door to the living room connected to the kitchen. From the living room, a short hallway led to the shower room and toilet separately, with a storage room in between, and further back were two bedrooms.
Not only was it spacious, but the rooms themselves weren’t old, and the location was good too. Originally intended for two people room-sharing, the master was kind enough to lower the price for Norman.
Before coming to Balldlum, he had been in the military, so his survival skills were high. But in the city they weren’t put to much use, and his former austere, regimented life was a thing of the past. He wasn’t particularly slovenly nor did he leave his room a mess, but his life skills weren’t high either. If someone noticed the current Norman was once a soldier, it would only be a former comrade or a truly skilled detective.
“Hehe.”
Of course, while Norman was sleeping, Elteel had taken care of everything.
“Thanks as always, El.”
“No, I do it because I want to!”
Whenever she came to Norman’s room, it was always like this, so he was used to it.
Sitting at the kitchen table, after a short wait ham and eggs, salad, and scones were arranged.
Taking a bite of the scone, it was crisp with a faint sweetness.
“Mm, delicious.”
“I’m glad. Let me brew some tea too.”
Pouring the tea with elegant movements.
Taking a sip, enjoying the aroma of the tea leaves wafting through his nose.
Even when he brewed his own tea with the same utensils and leaves, there was such a difference, strangely.
Before him was delicious breakfast and tea. The graceful beauty beside him was just like an elegant maid.
“What a nice morning….”
“Fufu, I’m glad you think so, Norman sama.”
If possible, he’d like to greet every morning like this, but that wasn’t feasible.
When she came to Norman’s home in the morning, it was always a sign of work.
What was placed on the desk was a single file. After she took a seat, he opened it to find:
“Oh, this is crazy.”
Photos of five corpses.
The first four had major lacerations, but the fifth was a dismembered, scattered body.
Not exactly fitting for an elegant breakfast, but Norman’s nerves weren’t so delicate as to be bothered by it.
“An incident on Hellcate Street, apparently.”
“Ah…that place.”
“Yes. Does it mean something?”
“Hmm…no, nothing. So the southern part of Balldlum then. What’s the official story?”
“It’s being reported as a serial killer case up to the fourth victim, but the causes of death are undisclosed, and the newspapers only gave it brief mentions.”
“Figures, that’s how big sis would handle it.”
Information control was his sister the boss’s job. Skimming the case details below the photos with a casual air.
“Hmm. I guess even for her the fifth one warranted actually doing something.”
Taking another bite of the chocolate-filled scone,
“Ah, this one’s chocolate.”
“Yes! How is it?”
“Really delicious. You’d make a great wife.”
“You can’t say that…!”
Reddening cheeks covered by her hand, El shrank her large frame while demurely swaying.
Like an affectionate large breed dog. Her chest was also swaying tremendously, which he inwardly appreciated.
Of course, he didn’t show it on his face.
“A brutal serial killer case, huh. Pretty scary stuff.”
“Yes. That’s why I’ll be accompanying you!”
Elteel-Sirius Flame. Her plain dress and trench coat hung at the entrance even when it wasn’t raining were efforts to blend into human society. Not to blend in – even if she wanted to, she couldn’t blend in. Her distinct appearance was proof of her inability to mesh with her surroundings.
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Yes!”
But her nod was light and flippant, and Elteel was just smiling.
Like a pet fawning over its owner.
Like a naive girl tricked by a bad man.
●
The windless city of Balldlum was surrounded by towering walls.
Outside the city to the north lay a great lake, from which a river flowed, bisecting the town from north to south. In the central district stood the administrative buildings that served the city’s functions – government offices, post offices, banks, police stations – as well as major commercial establishments, or theaters, museums and libraries. The north was an upscale residential area favored by the nobility and wealthy. East and west hosted neighborhoods for the middle class, while the south was roughly divided into poorer districts.
This was, of course, an oversimplification – the shops and people, rich and poor alike, buyers and sellers, all intermingled throughout.
Norman’s boarding house was situated in the western side, not far from the center.
“Here we are, the crime scene.”
Norman and Elteel had arrived at Hellcatee Street.
It was a crossroads.
Aside from the police blockade leaving it deserted, there was nothing remarkable about the plain stretch of road. Just a typical street of two-story buildings interspersed with evenly-spaced lamps – utterly forgettable.
“Still…a serial killer striking on Hellcatee Street, of all places.”
“Come to think of it, you seemed preoccupied earlier. Is there something about this location?”
“…You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Ah. Well, there were some strange rumors around here a long time ago. Weird moaning sounds echoing through the night, sightings of bizarre creatures, people even claimed to have seen apparitions…”
Norman shrugged.
“That Hellcatee Street is haunted by monsters.”
“I’ve never heard that before.”
“Well, it’s probably unrelated to the case, so don’t worry about it.”
He pulled a file from his coat pocket with his free hand.
From the file he extracted a single photograph.
The fifth dismembered victim.
“No traces left at all…dear sister’s doing, I’d wager. Elteel?”
When called, she took a few sniffs of the air.
“…Yes, I can still pick up the faint scent of the disinfectant used two days ago.”
“Thorough as always. Typical of my sister. Anyway…”
Lightly touching the cobblestones where the now-vanished body had lain, he recounted the case details.
“Victims one through four had varying scratches and gashes, like they were mauled by some beast. There were theories about a pack of wild dogs or something…”
He studied the photograph.
A corpse torn apart, dismembered…
“But with tremendous force, the body was forcibly pulled apart, ripped to shreds. No normal animal could do this, much less a human. Hence the local rumors of monsters. But in reality…”
“An Unlaws.”
“Exactly.”
Which is why the case fell to Norman and his team.
Of course, the possibility couldn’t be ruled out that the first four victims really were attacked by animals.
But the fifth body being so gruesomely dismembered was an anomaly.
“What kind of abnormality could cause this, I wonder?”
“Simple brute strength? The ability to generate blades or projectiles? If it’s the same perpetrator, we can speculate a few possibilities.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“It seems you’ve reached ‘Hierarchy Category II’ in the middle.”
The first one might have been a coincidence, but by the fourth, their abnormality had stabilized.
Their hierarchy category had evolved.
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