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Chapter 161.2: Changeling
Chapter 161.2: Changeling
「But, I'm really glad they went back immediately. Thinking about a menu for their meal is really troublesome.」
Everyone nodded in agreement when Kaya said so.
Since the elves' diet consisted of vegan food, thinking about their menu was quite a challenge.
Meaning that we couldn't use our home made fish sauce, and the seasoning would be limited to peanut oil and salt.
That's why I felt relieved that they returned immediately since the menu for their meal consisted of vegetables.
「Why is everyone gathered in this place?」
Reiji and Sahoko entered the room while we were having such a conversation.
Reiji had left with Sahoko before since he had some errands to do.
It seems they were done with the errand and had just returned.
And then, just when they were about to sit in their seats.「SAHOKO-SAMA! SAHOKO-SAMA HAS RETURNED!」
The door suddenly knocked a few times.
Then someone entered the room.
The one who entered was the maid working in the palace.
If I'm not wrong, her name was Neria.
And she was the attendant of Sanako, Reiji and Sahoko's daughter.
She seems to be really flustered. What happened I wonder?
「Calm down, what's the matter?」
Sahoko tried to make the maid calm down.
「It's Sana-sama! She won't stop crying!」
Neria spoke in a hurry.
Sanako often gets called Sana according to the naming style of this world, just like how Arlena got called Rena.
That was the reason why we ended up calling her Sana too.
「Eh? Why is Sana crying? What happened to Kouki-kun who was taking care of her?」
Sahoko asked Neria.
The one called Kouki-kun was the boy who was put under custody of the Rena Temple near the palace.
I wasn't privy to the details of how he ended up under the custody of the temple.
Though I've never met him before, I heard that he was a beautiful boy.
Since Reiji wasn't particularly interested in this matter, maybe Kouki-kun was nothing more than a baby-sitter for him, thus he never met the boy too.
And for some strange reason, Sana got really attached to that Kouki.
Whenever he was around, Sana would stop crying immediately.
Thus Sahoko often entrusted Sana to Kouki whenever she had business to attend to.
「He's right by her side. Yet Sana won't stop crying for some reason. And her cries sound different from the usual cries.」
So Neria called Sahoko, Sana's mother since she had no idea what to do.
Something like this seems to have never happened before.
Hearing that, we exchanged looks between us.
We nodded together and went to Rena Temple to see the situation.
Rena Temple was a small building located in the premises of the palace.
I didn't want to get influenced by religion but, we couldn't entirely exclude them either.
In the first place, we didn't want to make an enemy of them.
Maybe because Rena Temple didn't particularly care about this matter either, they just dispatched a priest.
The priest then hired a few employees with one of them being Kouki.
A woman came to greet us as we arrived in the temple. She was priest Haurena.
It seems she was quite flustered too.
「Aah, I've been waiting for you, Saint-sama! Kouki-san! Please- please save Kouki-san!」
Haurena clung to Sahoko the moment she saw the latter.
We were looking at each other again in confusion.
The one in trouble here should be Sana, right?
Haurena then guided us into the temple.
Once we entered a room, we saw a boy and a baby sleeping next to each other in the bed. The maids were looking at the pair with confused faces.
The baby, Sana, was crying with a really loud voice.
「What's the matter, Sana? Why are you crying?」
Reiji went to Sana and lifted her up.
Thus, Sana stopped crying after a while.
It seems to be just the usual cries.
「Uhm?」
Reiji suddenly made a doubtful voice.
He looked at the boy sleeping beside Sana.
We came closer.
The boy sleeping in the bed was really beautiful.
This boy was probably Kouki.
Kouki kept sleeping even though Sana was crying so loud. He seems to be quite exhausted.
I took a closer look at the boy.
「Eh? This child…」
At that moment, I noticed that something was off.
「Chiyuki-sama. Kouki-sana isn’t waking up… Normally, he would wake up once he hears Sana-sama's cries… This has never happened before and yet…」
Haurena spoke with a bewildered voice.
It seems that for Haurena, Kouki wasn't a simple subordinate.
It was clear from seeing how panicked she was when Kouki didn't wake up.
Moreover, since the maids around them were our employees, they were only worrying about Sana.
Even Neria who came along was only worrying about Sana.
But, the one that we should be worried about isn't Sana, rather it was Kouki, the boy beside her.
「It seems the one we have to worry the most about isn't Sana-chan, it's the the boy beside her.」
Everyone nodded together, agreeing with Rino.
「Indeed, Sana is crying.」
Sahoko muttered as she received Sana from Reiji.
「He’s not waking up…」
It was just as Nao said, Kouki didn't wake up at all.
「Who did this to him?」
「Milady. those girls are the only ones who can do this.」
Hearing Kyouka and Kaya's conversation, Haurena had a doubtful look on her face.
「What do you mean? What's happening to Kouki-san?」
It seems Haurena couldn't see it.
「Take a look, priest Haurena.」
I extended my hand to Kouki's forehead.
Thereupon, Kouki's body turned into a piece of lumber.
「EH?!? WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS!? HOW DID KOUKI-SAN TURN INTO A PIECE OF LUMBER?!?」
Haurena and the maids couldn't hide their shock.
「You're wrong, it's this piece of lumber that turned into Kouki-kun. Kouki-kun had never been in this place to begin with.」
I explained to them.
Yes, Kouki was not in this palace anymore.
So that's why Sana wouldn't stop crying.
「Chiyuki-san. Could it be that this is… THAT?」
「That's right, Shirone-san, this is…」
I nodded to Shirone, and paused for a while before opening my mouth again.
「It's changeling.」
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