Chapter 62
The girl clutched her wound-covered body and looked up at me. Her face was also smeared with blood.
“I wasn’t bitten by the monsters.”
Seeing Eden draw his sword, the girl spoke quickly. However, Eden did not lower his weapon easily and remained wary of her.
“Identify yourself.”
“I’m a herb gatherer.”
A herb gatherer? I looked at the girl with a puzzled expression.
Her black hair, swaying near her neck, was cut in a straight, sharp line as if sliced by a blade. With her cat-like sharp eyes and porcelain skin, the freckles on her cheekbones stood out prominently.
She was a girl with a very unique charm.
“Actually, I make a living more as a pickpocket than a herb gatherer.”
The girl, her face covered in scratches, gave a sly grin and raised the hand she had been hiding behind her back. In her hand was a rectangular box.
It was the box of Elphinus herbs.
Startled, I looked down at the belt bag strapped to my waist. The bag was open.
It seemed the girl had opened the belt bag and snatched the box. When on earth did she do that?
She was incredibly skilled. Though, of course, I couldn’t exactly praise her for her light-fingered habits.
“It’s because of this, not because of me. I mean the fact that those monster bastards are running wild outside the gate right now.”
The girl pulled something out of her pocket and held it out before us. Amidst a clump of dirt was a blue herb.
A herb that looked exactly like an insect. It resembled the Elphinus herb.
Looking closely, the same illustration was indeed drawn on the Elphinus herb box she had stolen from me.
“I saw it on my way up here; those things were all swarming over this and sniffing it. It was dropped right in front of the gate.”
Hearing the girl’s words, I recalled a conversation I had with Knox not long ago.
“There were Elphinus herbs at Notium Street No. 61 as well. Both mansions are connected to the monsters. Therefore, we cannot say the monsters and the Elphinus herbs are unrelated.”
I had an intuition that there were more secrets hidden within the Elphinus herb that I didn’t yet know.
If you brew and drink the Elphinus herb, you can experience a temporary vaccine effect, even if it isn’t perfect.
If so, it could be seen that the herb itself exerts a special influence on the monsters.
“I must have dropped it while I was bringing Knox inside.”
Only then did I realize why the monsters hadn’t left the front gate.
The number of monsters around the mansion had decreased significantly, yet the ones in front of the Stone Gate hadn’t budged the entire time. This was why.
“Such precious herbs…”
I noticed that the box in the girl’s hand was half empty of herbs. The seeds were the same.
“In times like these, why are you worrying about herbs being precious? Those monster bastards seem to love them, so just throw them all away—”
“No! Absolutely not!”
As the girl made a move to toss the box she was holding onto the ground, I cried out like a scream. Eden and the girl both turned to look at me in surprise.
With a flustered face, the girl glanced at me and then surreptitiously adjusted her grip on the box, holding it carefully again.
“I’m sorry, is this something you treasure, Big Sister? I won’t throw it away, so please don’t kick me out.”
I didn’t know when she’d decided I was her ‘Big Sister,’ but the girl looked at me piteously with wide, round eyes like Puss in Boots.
“Don’t fall for that; it’s better to interrogate her first. We need to double-check that she really hasn’t been bitten.”
And Eden, without so much as blinking, rested his hand on his waist and scanned the girl from head to toe. He was every bit the police officer.
“Is the owner of this mansion this pretty Big Sister here?”
The girl asked, pointing at me.
“You have a good eye, don’t you?”
At that, Eden quickly looked back at me. His face looked as if my reaction was utterly absurd.
Then, perhaps thinking she had gained the upper hand, the girl spoke while looking at Eden.
“Hey, sexy Mister over there? Your face is totally my type, but unfortunately, I have a fatal allergy to the police. So, could you move out of the way?”
“I knew it the moment you boldly announced you were a pickpocket in front of me. You cheeky brat.”
“Ah. I’m also allergic to old-fashioned fogies.”
Eden and the girl glared at each other with murderous eyes.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I think we should treat her wounds first.”
I said, inspecting the girl’s condition. First of all, she needed a wash. Her clothes were a filthy mess, covered in dirt and the green blood of monsters.
“What’s your name?”
“Emmy. Amy Wharton. Just call me Emmy.”
“Alright, Emmy. First, I’m going to tie you up. If you don’t turn after a certain amount of time, I’ll untie you immediately. Please understand.”
I nodded toward Eden. At that, Eden grabbed Emmy’s arms and slapped on handcuffs.
Emmy grumbled as she watched the cuffs being locked onto her wrists.
“Ah! Hey, is it enough just to be sexy in a uniform? Go easy on me.”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
When Eden muttered dangerously, Emmy finally shut her mouth and watched our reactions.
Emmy did look like she was in the midst of a rebellious adolescence.
Looking at her now, I wondered if she was expressing her fear in that way. Her arms were trembling uncontrollably.
However, I didn’t stop Eden. It was only natural to be wary of someone whose identity wasn’t certain.
After confirming that Eden had secured Emmy properly, I spoke to her.
“Our doctor will take a proper look at your wounds once he’s feeling better. Until then, I’ll give you some first aid.”
“So Dr. Rudfercher is safe too. I didn’t see him earlier, so I wondered.”
“You know Mr. Rudfercher?”
“The village was buzzing about a famous doctor coming from the capital. Wow, a policeman and a doctor are both here. I definitely made the right choice risking my life to run this way.”
Risking her life to run this way.
Emmy already knew that Knox was here. It seemed she had witnessed Eden and me rescuing Knox from the village about a week ago.
“But the one I like best is the Candy Lady. I saw you blowing monsters away with an axe.”
Emmy said to me with a bright smile. She seemed to think I was the one she needed to win over, rather than Eden.
“Candy Lady?”
“That’s what the villagers were calling you. The Haunted House Lady, or the Candy Lady.”
Good heavens. I could only stand there with my mouth agape, unable to respond. Even here, it was ‘Candy Lady.’ Candy Lady…! It seemed they were determined to make me die of embarrassment.
Pfft.
I heard the sound of Eden stifling a laugh beside me.
When I turned my head, he spoke to me with a composed face as if nothing had happened.
“Ahem. But shouldn’t we retrieve that Elphinus herb outside the gate right now?”
He pointed toward the firmly shut gate. It seemed the monsters were still swarming outside.
Emmy chimed in with Eden’s words.
“It’s stuck in the gate and just giving off a scent. That’s why those things can’t even eat it and just keep gathering in front of it.”
If that was true, it would be a problem to leave it as it was.
I knew that there were exceptionally many monsters moving back and forth specifically in front of the Stone Gate.
That meant if we left it like that, an even greater number might swarm there in the future.
“But the moment we open the gate, the safety of this mansion will be over.”
At my words, Eden and Emmy nodded as if in agreement.
“The remaining Elphinus herbs. How about throwing them far away to distract them?”
Said Eden, who was still holding onto the hem of Emmy’s clothes.
To do that, we couldn’t use the catapult. If we launched them too far, there was a chance the monsters wouldn’t be able to smell them.
Dropping them in the nearby forest would be appropriate, and to do that, we’d need to fire them with something like a bow…
Only then did I remember the weapons I had bought in bulk from the Brunel weapon shop before the fall.
“Ah. Maybe we can tie them to arrows and fire them with a crossbow?”
At my murmur, Eden nodded as if that was exactly it.
“If we can just reduce the number of them stuck to the gate, I think we can handle the rest.”
“But, it’ll be a problem if we use up all the herbs.”
It was a problem, a very big problem. It was the same as saying we should throw away the vaccine!
Then Emmy, who had been watching us, spoke to me as if to reassure me.
“I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with this herb, Big Sister, but just leave a few stalks. You have seeds, so you can just grow them. Elphinus herbs are tricky to manage, but they grow fast once they start.”
“You… do you know a lot about this herb?”
