I Became the Porter of a Somewhat Strange Hero Party

39 – Auction (4)

Before the jade auction began, the jade disappeared. Erin was not smiling as usual, but was laughing a little awkwardly.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to tell you to do well or anything, you.”

“Oops, Sorry~♡”

“So I should’ve stayed by your side!”

It was a grateful thing for her to help, but she lost something that shouldn’t have happened. Erin smiled awkwardly, avoiding my gaze.

Letitia spoke as I sighed. “But we can’t just blame Erin entirely. Anyway, Erin wouldn’t have been able to get into the warehouse anyway.”

“Well, that’s true~.”

Didn’t Yong-ok say he disappeared in the warehouse? Didn’t he have access permission from the duke?

“How did they intrude?”

“Well, wasn’t the butler acting as the deputy with access rights?”

“But it doesn’t seem like it was the butler.”

“Why are you so sure?”

Erin said when I asked.

“There were no signs of the front gate being opened. And there’s a hole in the corner of the warehouse floor.”

“…So, are you saying they came in through the floor?”

“Yeah.”

Does that make sense?

“How long has it been since the discovery of the sapphire? Did they dig a tunnel in such a short time? Does that make sense?”

“It was a story that claimed that they disappeared with what they had. Making something like that happen wouldn’t be easy.”

“There are two possibilities.”

“What?”

Two possibilities?

Leticia answered my question.

“They either used the tunnel they had already dug to steal something or it was the power of an elemental spirit. If it was the power of the Earth Elemental, it would have been possible to dig the tunnel in no time.”

Upon hearing Leticia’s answer, the latter option seemed more plausible to me. If it was a pre-dug tunnel, they would have been caught earlier. However…

“Even if they used the power of an elemental spirit to dig the tunnel, the sound would have been heard.”

“It’s simple to soundproof with magic.”

Letisia seemed to be considered as one of the people involved in the theft. After all, how could she have stolen it alone?

“Where does the tunnel lead?”

“Outside the auction house. The culprits are already gone~♡”

Proud of herself, that woman.

“Anyway, let’s investigate the scene. Since Aria and Clara went after them outside, we have no choice but to interrogate the people who stayed in the auction house. There must be collaborators inside.”

“I see~.”

I don’t like keeping the tone of voice wrong from earlier. I furrowed my eyebrows a little and spoke to Erin.

“Before that.”

“Yeah~?”

“If I didn’t fulfill my duty, I should take responsibility.”

“…Huh~?”

There had always been something Masutaki wanted to do for a long time.

“Speak.”

“…What, what is it~?”

“I said ‘speak.'”

Erin seemed slightly taken aback. And Letitia, who was next to her, also exclaimed in surprise.

“Oh, Allen? Doing something like this here…”

“What?”

Why is everyone reacting like this? Looking at Caius, she could tell that he was also unsure.

Erin said, stepping back as if she was avoiding me. “Weirdo, perverted, creep… trash♡ You’re finally showing your true colors, huh?”

“What the hell are you thinking?”

I thought about what I said wrong and reconsidered some things I said earlier.

“Ah.”

“Stupid, that can be interpreted in a different way too…”

“Hey, that’s not it… What’s going on in your head?”

“Then what, you pervert…!”

“You’re the pervert for thinking like that! What I was trying to say was…”

I reached out my hand and tapped Erin’s forehead with my thumb.

“Um~?”

Smack!

“Ow!?”

“I told you to tap my forehead. If I can’t do it, I always get scolded, so you should be punished for doing it wrong.”

What I wanted to do was a flick on the forehead. I saw it on the internet before, that flick on the forehead is the best for arrogant girls like her.

Hearing the cheerful sound of the smack made me feel so relieved. Those people were not saying it for no reason.

Erin, who had received a sudden blow, asked curiously as she gently touched her forehead.

“…A beetle?”

“Yeah, a beetle.”

“This is a beetle?”

Well, I can’t even hold you. I don’t have the strength to do that.

“Why, should I hit you some more?”

“…Pff♡”

Erin laughed lightly and lifted her forehead as she said.

“Or maybe not? It doesn’t seem enough to call it punishment~♡”

“What?”

“With the pathetic Allen’s power, even if you hit me with all your might, it won’t hurt a bit~♡ It only counts as punishment if it hurts, doesn’t it?”

“…Oh, really?”

After all, strength wasn’t the most important thing when it came to hitting someone with a direct blow. If you knew the right form and technique, you could still hit a very strong punch even without much strength.

“Then can I hit you one more time?”

“You’re making a fool of yourself trying to boost your ego like this~♡”

Ha ha, what a woman.

“Okay.”

I held out my finger again, but this time, I didn’t just lightly grab her middle finger with my thumbnail like before. I held onto the middle knuckle tightly.

“Just try it.”

“Go ahead~♡”

Mitsuki, the arrogant girl.

I will show you the power of my full swing.

Swish!!!

A pretty loud sound was heard. Of course, unlike earlier, when I grabbed the middle section, the power that flowed through multiplied several times. Erin’s snowy forehead turned bright red in the middle, and I looked at her with satisfaction.

“Huh?”

Erin’s eyes widened roundly, like someone startled. She seemed quite flustered, gently touching her forehead and looking at me.

“It hurts.”

“…Huh?”

“I said it hurts.”

This time, I became flustered and couldn’t speak. I must have hit her too hard; Erin’s voice was a bit subdued. Was she angry, perhaps…?

“I, I hit you too hard…”

“Pff, such a silly expression~♡”

“Huh?”

“Since it hurt, isn’t an apology enough~? Let’s go see the scene now~♡”

Was she not angry after all…?

I looked at Erin with a slightly perplexed expression. However, she didn’t pay any attention to me and went into the warehouse.

“Allen.”

“Huh?”

“By any chance… No, that couldn’t be.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s go too.”

“…Okay.”

Letitia followed behind Erin.

What was she trying to say? I shook my head and followed behind Letitia.

“Kaisius, come along.”

“I got it.”

Unbeknownst to Allen, Erin’s face was slightly flushed. It was because she felt good after receiving a tap.

No matter who asks, why would anyone feel good after receiving a tap, even if it’s not from a masochist… It wasn’t that she felt good because of the tap, but because Allen was the one tapping.

It was a behavior that reminded her of old memories. Erin, who always enjoyed teasing Allen, would often playfully tap him like this. There were times when she would even tap him hard when teasing him a little too much.

Above all, the best part was…

“Somewhat….”

I had a thought that perhaps it was because I was gradually recovering the past.

#

After examining the scene, we confirmed only one thing that we had speculated before: that they used spirits to dig the tunnel. It was thanks to Leticia’s discovery of traces of lingering spirit power.

“The possibility is high that an internal spirit user dug the tunnel and external personnel used it to extract the gemstone.”

“Why do you think it’s internal? Couldn’t it be that a spirit user from outside broke through?”

“If that were the case, the traces of the spirit’s power passing through should be in the opposite direction. But these traces indicate that they were made from the inside.”

“Ah…”

Through those traces, Leticia deduced that there was someone inside who controlled spirits and that person was the culprit who dug the tunnel.

“…So, that means the culprit was among the people who frequented the warehouse?”

“That’s right.”

“Who would do such a thing…”

“We’ll have to find out now. They probably are hiding something, like being a spirit master…”

Leticia said.

“Still, it shouldn’t be difficult to filter out the people who frequented the warehouse.”

“So we just have to find them among those.”

We left the scene and returned to the auction house. Sera and Clara, who were tracing outside the auction house, were not there, and instead Frey was monitoring the inside.

Frey looked at us as we returned and asked.

“Ah, did you find something?”

“Yes. First…”

Letitia said to the butler of the Bastian Grand Duke’s mansion, Philip.

“Butler, could you gather all the personnel who had access to the warehouse during the auction? Including the workers who just moved the luggage.”

“I understand.”

Butler Philip soon called and gathered the people.

“Including me, these are all of them. We can also include His Grace, the Grand Duke, and Her Grace, the Grand Duchess…”

It seemed unlikely.

Even sitting still, enormous wealth flowed into the Grand Duke’s palace, so there was no reason for the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess to take the risk of stealing the gem.

“That Duke’s most trusted butler being the culprit seems unlikely. It’s not impossible, but it’s highly unlikely.”

“Was there anyone who entered or exited without permission?”

“No, there wasn’t. Except for those present at the time Erin the warrior briefly vacated his post and someone accessed the warehouse.”

So, there seems to be someone among those present here.

‘A collaborator here…’

But how do we find the person who controls the spirits?

Can Letitia’s spirit recognize them?

That person can probably identify if someone has the potential for a contract, but it would be difficult to determine if they have directly contracted with a spirit unless they are actively using its power.

Then how do you distinguish it?

That question was soon answered by Leticia herself.

“Oh, you who made the eternal contract.”

Leticia raises magic with Youngchang. It was different from summoning the usual four primordial elements and the Youngchang Gate.

Then what we are summoning now is…

“Reveal your appearance in this world as your sole contractor wishes.”

-Leticia, the spirit mage, activates [Summoning of the Spirit King].

“Master of the spirits.”

A huge summoning circle appeared at the feet of Leticia as she recited the three-sentence incantation. It emitted a brilliant light of magic, and soon gathered to form the shape of a person.

And indeed, as the light disappeared, a woman appeared.

“Very….”

A slightly fragile voice can be heard.

“You’re calling me after a long time, contractor.”

Very light pink hair fluttered.

The magic surrounding her somehow turned into a round droplet, then turned into pure white eyes, small and colorful flames, solid rocks, and then scattered like the wind.

That appearance immediately revealed who this woman was.

The ruler of the spirits.

She was the Spirit Queen contracted by Letitia. She was the sole being who ruled over all spirits.

When she appeared, even the potential candidates for the dragon’s suspect who had gathered here unconsciously gazed at her in admiration. It seemed as if a god had appeared.

“A god… In a way, it feels like that.”

Although she wasn’t a true god, she could be considered the deity of the spirits.

“It’s a bit regrettable. It would be nice if you summon me more often.”

Letitia responded to her words as if saying it was only natural.

“You’re consuming too much magic power.”

“If you want to control this body, isn’t that price inevitable?”

“That’s why I can’t summon it.”

So that’s the spirit king. It was fascinating that, unlike other spirits that mostly take the form of animals, it had taken the appearance of a human, possibly because it was a king.

Her platinum-colored eyes, reminiscent of pale pink hair so light that it gave a feeling of being somewhere pure white, revealed that she was a very special being.

Especially, what should I call it, dignity? Nobility? Such feelings naturally arose. It was different from the overwhelming aura I felt when I saw Queen Estelle… It was more like a sense of mystery.

“Your comrades are still well.”

“Long time no see.”

Freya greeted, and Erin nodded lightly in response. The spirit king, who exchanged greetings with the two of them, looked at me and spoke.

“Hmm?… Something has changed.”

It seemed like they were talking about me.

Just like Caius, did they recognize that I am the possessed one? I hope they don’t say something like that out loud right now.

However, the Spirit King threw words at me that were completely different from what I expected, something I couldn’t have anticipated.

“In the past, it felt like you were throwing curses at me as soon as you saw me. But this time, you’re acting as if you don’t know me at all.”

“……Me?”

Did they mean me?