The Chaotic Stone Sauna

by Nagaharu Hibihana

  “Wow, pretty extreme!”

  “What part of that is extreme? If we don’t do at least this much, then I don’t think those people have a right to call themselves followers of the Goddess of Light or talk about righteousness.”

  Spar shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, and then Haruno objected to his frivolous attitude.

  “The same goes for the senate, too. Since the raver market is under the jurisdiction of the senate, we’ll have them all take responsibility and compensate everyone. Even if it was just one person who carried out the crime, I bet many of them took bribes to overlook what was happening.”

  Haruno thought that even that wasn’t enough to make up for this incident. This was probably a difference in philosophy between them and Haruno, who had grown up in different worlds.

  “...Yeah, this girl is pretty extreme.” Spar said in exasperation, but for Haruno that was a very unwanted judgment on her character.

  After that, they looked into the prices for all the items stolen from them and returned double the amount in coin. One silver lining they discovered after all this was how all of the goods they carried happened to be common market items.

  They had a destination to reach, so they wanted to be released quickly. Haruno’s party also wanted the record of negotiating successfully with them, so their wishes were right in line. The senate and temple of light would have a harder time now if they ever wanted to complain.

  Word came in that the fifth victim had woken up, which marked the end of the conversation with the group of four. They let pilgrims handle the rest and went to see the fifth victim.

  When Dylan’s group left the room, Haruno heard a voice asking, “Hey hey, what were you guys talking about?” It sounded like Prae hadn’t understood their conversation with Haruno.

  When they left the room, they were greeted by a waving Prae, who was listening to an explanation, still on all fours. Haruno felt warmer looking at her and returned the wave. She felt better now thanks to Prae.

  The group of five walked over to the room the last demi-human had been resting in, but they couldn’t find any sign of her.

  “Huh? She responded when we knocked just now, right?”

  “She did... I wonder where she went?”

  They had knocked and heard a faint, though audible reply, and entered the room after that. Rin cocked her head, since she had definitely heard the reply as well.

  The room was plainly furnished, with two sets of bunk beds. There was a table with something covered in cloth on it and four chairs. Four drawers lined the inner wall.

  They had heard the demi-human’s voice just now, so she should have been in the room, but they saw no one. All of the beds were made, so she wouldn’t have been hiding under the sheets. Haruno looked around the room, thinking that she would check under the beds and inside the drawers first.

  “Um, Lady Haruno...”

  “Did you find her, Lumis?”

  “Not exactly. Or rather, I put her there in the first place. Look, she’s right here.”

  “Huh?”

  Lumis was pointing at the object covered in cloth on the table. Haruno put her ear close to it and could hear a faint voice. She nervously lifted the cloth up to reveal a birdcage underneath, then met eyes with the person inside.

  “Huuh?!” She jumped back in surprise and took the rest of the cloth with her to reveal the entirety of the birdcage. It was large and made of brass.

  “So you’re the fifth...?”

  A young girl not even half a stuto tall was sitting inside. She had ruffled black hair, sharp-looking eyes, and two opal horns growing from her forehead. Looking closely, you could also see that the ears peeking out from behind her hair were slightly tapered. The black tail growing from her behind was hairless and a little wider at the tip. She had a pair of wings on her back, but they weren’t the wings of a bird—rather, the black wings of a bat. Like Melis and Prae, she was only wearing a piece of cloth draped over her body.

  So being a winged demi-human doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bird demi-human, Haruno realized. And of course, if Melis was to be trusted, she wasn’t of the glaupis race either.

  The birdcage had been covered because the curtains in this room were thin and kept the room bright even when they were closed, so Lumis had used the cloth to let her rest well.

  “Ummm... what’s your name? And your race too, if you don’t mind.”

  “...Daisy, I’m an imp,” she replied, but looked sullen and kept her head turned away from them. She was physically small, but seemed more mature than Prae.

  Though they might not have looked too threatening, imps were a fully-fledged race of demons. They could use magic to some extent, but nothing especially powerful. They were barely seen in human territory, and the seldom times they did show up, they’d be up to no good. The worst they could do was play some childish prank though, so people never went after them. Since Haruno had learned that demons were just demi-humans, she wanted to get to know this girl without any prejudice.

  “Are you feeling alright? You should already have been released from the Oath Seal,” Sera brought her face closer and asked. Daisy started moving her limbs and checking her body here and there.

  “It’s true!” Realizing that her body was free, Daisy started hopping up and down inside the birdcage in joy. She had been falsely convicted too, so of course she was happy.

  “That fuckin’ geezer! I hadn’t even done anything yet, all I did was sneak in and he locked me in here for no reason! Idiot! Jackass!!”

  ...Presumed falsely convicted, at least.

  When they asked Daisy for more details, they learned a few strange things. She had snuck inside a mansion in Athenapolis out of curiosity, but she’d found a group of men talking in private inside. The only reason she’d snuck inside was because she wanted to make some mischief.

  “So this would be a case of... trespassing?”

  “Tres...? No, I was thinking she’d be charged with burglary.”

  Though she was innocent because she hadn’t done anything yet, Sera noted.

  “Hmm? This is weird.” Rin cocked her head as she looked over Daisy’s documents.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Well, just that it says she was charged with banditry here. Wouldn’t saying she was a burglar have worked here?”

  “...Maybe they didn’t want people to know?”

  “Know what?”

  “That she had been captured within the city.”

  “...Oh, I get it.”

  They didn’t want to make public the fact she snuck into this mansion. Almost all criminal ravers were forced to do incredibly taxing manual labor. The girl wouldn’t have been too useful in that regard, since she just barely reached half a stuto tall with her tail included. The main goal here had been to keep her mouth shut. They learned where the mansion was from Daisy, and Haruno gathered the information to report to the capitol guards.

  “Daisy, did they take anything from you when you were caught?”

  “Hm? Not really. Just my clothes.”

  “Did you have anywhere you needed to go, then? Were you traveling with a destination in mind?”

  “Not reallyyy.” Daisy sat cross-legged inside the birdcage and answered Sera’s questions. She had apparently never had a destination and would travel wherever her whims took her.

  Haruno’s party was a little troubled by this. It’d be easy enough to release her here, but Athenapolis would be especially on guard for a while until this fiasco was taken care of. If she were to go somewhere and cause trouble again, she might get arrested and legitimately become a criminal raver this time. The best decision would be to keep her under Haruno’s care for the time being. Until they left the city, at the very least.

  “Daisy, we’d like to speak with you a bit more. Would you mind coming to the house we’re staying at?”

  “...Is there tasty food involved?”

  “We can buy something on our way back. Would you like some f
ruit?”

  “Okay! I’m all up for that!” Daisy readily agreed to tag along. They opened the door to the birdcage, and then she floated out and perched herself on Haruno’s shoulder. After being with a giant almost twice as tall as her just earlier, she was almost overwhelmed by the sight of a little, doll-like girl sitting on her shoulder.

  “...Oh,” Haruno remembered something while she marveled at Daisy, “...um, Sera? I want to check just in case, but would it be bad for a Hero of the Goddess to be seen with an imp...?”

  “Well, when it comes to outward appearances...” Sera started getting evasive with her answer. There was nothing they could do in this situation, since she was a demon.

  “Daisy, would you mind staying in the birdcage until we leave Athenapolis?”

  “I’m fine with it as long as you carry me, but don’t sway me around, ’kay?”

  “I’ll be careful.” Haruno picked the birdcage up with both hands, being careful to keep it from swaying. She would let Daisy pick out what she wanted to eat when they bought fruit on the way home.

  A team of inspectors arrived soon after that, and the pilgrims handed the investigation over to them and pulled themselves out. The inspectors were a group that monitored senators and capitol guards to make sure they were doing their job correctly, then conducted investigations whenever something went wrong.

  Haruno’s group pulled themselves out of the investigation like they were supposed to, but not before making copies of all of the documents to bring home. They made sure the copies contained no errors, with Sera the light cleric and an inspector serving as witnesses. Now they were assured that the inspectors wouldn’t try to cover anything up, either.

  Next, they calculated the losses for Daisy and paid her back double. Haruno used her title as a Hero of the Goddess to request proper remuneration for all the people already working on the case. The inspector she spoke to pursed his lips, but he didn’t want the investigation to stay in Haruno’s hands, either.

  “What’s that birdcage for?”

  “This is the imp who was falsely convicted of banditry. We’re making sure she doesn’t cause any more trouble, so we’re keeping her for now until we leave the city.”

  “Uh-huh...” The inspector seemed like he wanted to say something more, but kept his mouth shut.

  They didn’t want to be subject to more questions, so Haruno’s party quickly departed from the raver market.

  “Oh, Harunooo~”

  “Prae?!”

  For some reason, Prae greeted them as soon as they stepped outside. She slowly waved at them as she sat, hugging her knees, surrounded by the pilgrims who had left just earlier.

  “Did something happen, Prae?” Haruno ran over to her and asked in as gentle of a voice as she could muster. She couldn’t help but talk in that tone of voice around her.

  The three others in her party were nowhere to be seen. Where had they gone off to?

  “Ummm, y’know, I’m gonna be going with you, Haruno~”

  “...What?” Haruno was taken aback. Prae noticed Daisy in the birdcage in the meantime, then drew her face close.

  “What’s thiiis? So cuuute~♪”

  “Whoa, you’re huge! Hold on, don’t come any closer!”

  Daisy was startled by the giant face. The size difference between them couldn’t just be described as adult versus child.

  Haruno, still stunned, looked over at Sera, who had been waiting with Prae outside. She reluctantly handed a letter to Haruno. It was from Melis. She dubiously opened the letter. The letter said, “Prae said she’s going to stay with you, so we’ll be leaving her here. Please get along,” in neat handwriting.

  “...What?” The letter didn’t help Haruno understand the situation one bit. They’d said she popped up out of nowhere one day and they took her along because she had no companions, but that didn’t mean they would also leave her at the drop of a hat. Especially since they all seemed to adore her. But in reality, all three of them were already gone.

  “So um, why did you want to stay with me?”

  “Because I want tooo~”

  “Uh, I see...”

  She was happy that Prae had gotten so attached to her, but that response didn’t make for a good reason. But since the rest of her party had left, and they couldn’t just leave her be, they had no choice but to take her in just as they had with Daisy.

  “U-ummm, let’s be friends.”

  “Friieennds... Sera, was it?”

  “Yes, that’s me. It’s nice to see you again, Prae.” Sera greeted her with a smile. She had been caught off guard, but didn’t seem to object to letting Prae stay. She also couldn’t abandon someone who acted like such a young child.

  In Haruno’s case, she didn’t mind demi-humans and had no objections to bringing such a nice girl into her party. In fact, she was overjoyed about it. She still didn’t know why Prae wanted to come along with them, but they’d all be heading back to Nartha’s residence for now.

  “Hey hey, Harunooo~”

  “What is it, Prae?”

  “Um, ummm, I wanna go somewhere with you~”

  “With me? Where would you like to go?”

  Somewhere Prae wanted to go, huh? The first possibility Haruno thought of was the fruit shop they were taking Daisy to. Next was a pretty place like a flower garden. However, her answer came completely out of left field.

  “She’s calling for you, Haruno.”

  “Calling for me...? Who is?”

  “The Goddess of Wind~”

  “......What?” Haruno said softly, blinking her eyes several times.

  Haruno’s party bought their fruit and returned to Nartha’s mansion soon after that. Daisy was let out of the birdcage as soon as they stepped outside Athenapolis, but either because she was scared of Prae or because she was wary of any followers of the Goddess of Light, she stayed perched on Haruno’s shoulder the entire way. Since they had captured her to keep her mouth shut, there was a chance people were still targeting her. Haruno felt that they’d be safest by keeping Daisy under their care for now.

  Prae couldn’t enter the house, so they went to the garden to hear her out. Sera went inside the house by herself to fill Nartha in on everything, as well as get in touch with Touya.

  Almost everyone kept their distance from Prae, who was larger than the ordinary monsters in the area. None of them knew how to interact with her. Lumis was the only one who would act naturally around her. Apparently her hometown was one where humans and demi-humans lived in harmony, and many of her friends were demi-humans. She had volunteered to look after the captured demi-humans back in the raver market because she personally couldn’t leave the victims be.

  Lumis gallantly proclaimed that she would go hunt for Prae’s dinner and took Sandra and Rin along. Haruno was the only one left now. She first decided to ask what Prae had meant by the Goddess of Wind calling for her.

  “Ummm... I dunnooo~”

  Her goal was to bring Haruno to the Goddess of Wind. Prae had been instructed to follow along with a party of three camping in the forest, but knew nothing about why the Goddess would be calling for her. It all sounded rather frivolous, but she had actually managed to meet Haruno that way.

  “S-so where should I go to meet the Goddess of Wind?”

  “Ummm, Thebai!”

  “Thebai?”

  “Isn’t that the name of a forest? I don’t remember where it is, though.”

  Haruno had never heard the name before, but Daisy supplied her with the information while perched over Haruno’s shoulder.

  “So the Goddess of Wind is in this forest called Thebai?”

  “That’s right~”

  “Which means... the glaupis are there, too?”

  “They are~”

  So it seemed like the winged demi-humans, glaupis, fled to the forest called Thebai after they left Athenapolis, and were now living with the cyclops. They asked Nartha for the exact location of the forest later.

  The current map of the
continent was laid out as such:

  In the middle of the continent was Jupiteropolis, where Haruno was first summoned. A straight road leading west took you to Athenapolis. South of Jupiteropolis was the void region, which Hadesopolis lay in the center of. Going west from Hadesopolis would take you to the country of agriculture, Ceresopolis. The four city-states formed a slightly jagged quadrilateral between them. Hephaestusopolis, where Touya was currently located, was on the eastern side of the void.

  Thebai forest was located right in between Athena and Ceres. The forest sprawled westward off the road connecting the two cities.

  “Are you going?” Daisy peered at Haruno from her shoulder and asked. Haruno responded with a warm smile and a nod. That was the original plan, after all. Now that she knew where the glaupis were, she had to go.

  “Will you come with me, Daisy?”

  “I wonder...” She sat cross-legged hovering in the air, but didn’t seem too keen on the idea.

  “We’re going to gather everyone together and talk about it tonight, so you can think about it after that. We’ll need time to prepare, too.”

  “Prepare?”

  “You can’t go traveling in that outfit, right?”

  “Ah...”

  Daisy was still wearing her single piece of cloth, looking as if she had just stepped out of the bath.

  “Please use my handkerchiefs for the time being. The cloth you’re wearing is dirty now.”

  “Thanks, I’ll take you up on that.” Daisy picked out a big handkerchief to wrap around her body, then hopped around in joy. She had folded the handkerchief in half so that one edge lined up right over the other to create two rows of lace. Imps typically paid no mind to fashion, so this was the first time she had worn something so stylish. As Haruno watched Daisy dance around in the air, her wings flapping, Sera returned, having finished her duties. They decided to talk about what to do from here on.

  “I exchanged messages with Sir Touya, and he said he didn’t mind if we revealed everything besides the fact that she’s staying with them right now.”

  “...Wouldn’t that cause a lot of trouble for Touya?”