Artist's commentary
Karindou 4 Koma Extra Story Pseudo Short Story [Ghostrick Live] 9
The sillouettes of people coming from the light coming from the windows gently swayed on the terrace, and the night breeze mixed with the heat of summer.
The sillouettes were elegantly enacting a shadow play, and each window had a separate chandelier lighting it, and the elegantly dressed adults, holding a wine glass in one hand, were discussing about "elegant things".
Her own house was much bigger than that, so she couldn't understand what was making that crowd of p, p, people smile so much in this event hall of a 5 star hotel.
Atop the round tables, there were piles of food, probably made of high class ingredients that she never even heard of. They passed the time peacefully as they picked at the food. In one corner, sitting on a sofa against the wall, was Ran, who felt like she was thrown into the world of celebrities and felt totally out of place and couldn't move a muscle. Standing next to her, nervous and stressed about being the first time out of the mansion, was Cuey, who was trying to hunch over as best as she could to hide her height. Both of them were quivering as though they were on the same wavelength. Aiina, who was sitting next to them, and the adults around them, smiled as they watched over them.
It was the day of the social party, that they had been bustling to prepare and waited for. Mifi and Pink-chan had been chosen as attendants, and with a bright sky blue dress and her expensive jewelery, Ran was at the party, being observed. In terms of flashiness, the adults around her were even more gaudy, and Ran didn't particularly stand out. What was making Ran draw attention was the announcement that the head of the Schtlehertz family, who didn't appear too often, had a younger sister, and that the younger sister was even more beautiful than the older sister, and that this party would be her social debut. The maids who were accompanying her, in the eyes of the adults, looked nice, but that was it. There wasn't anyone who doubted Ran's clearly unnatural history and true identity, or were surprised by Cuey's non-human traits.
This party, which was being held at the hotel that also served as the Sweeper's branch office, was not a normal social party. Those who were invited were people who financed the U.N. anti-demon organization, and celebrities whose families had certain supernatural abilities or non-humans, and those whose combat abilities allowed them to rich. To put it simply, this was a social party in name only, and was more like a social gathering where they could find out and exchange information about the supernatural world with others like them and be their true selves.
There were dozens of these humans with supernatural abilities and non-humans here. For those with the "eyes" to distinguish between humans and non-humans, it was obvious that Ran was a non-human at a glance. No one looked Cuey oddly because she was a single-eyed giant. Humans often took orphaned monsters into their family, and in human companies, it was common for monsters to be maids there, so Ran and Cuey weren't seen as anything especially unusual.
"Little mistress, that steak looks delicious~, it's meat! Here, go aaahh."
Cuey, who was attending Ran while still being a trainee, had her normal routine stopped, so Pink-chan brought the food and fed it to Ran, who was still rigid and not moving. Pink-chan was brought along to assist Col, but Col was with security, patroling the hotel. The building had a barrier, since the party was at the Sweepers branch office, and since there were people with more powerful abilities and monsters here, and it was a party full of investors, there was hightened security in case of an attack. However, it was difficult to find enough people powerful enough as suitable defenders, so at VK's request, Col, who was considered mid-rank by the Sweepers, was given command over the defense. And so, Pink-chan took Col's place as Ran's escort, and also attended her in place of Cuey, who was frozen.
Pink-chan brought the food to Ran's mouth. Maybe her mind was blank or she unconsciously hated it, but she did as she was told and ate it. The great flavor of the juices of the meat and the rich steak sauce went very well together with the high quality meat. The flavor of it, along with the tender texture spread throughout her mouth, and the deliciousness made Ran's eyes go lax.
(Whoa, it's just like feeding a baby chick~ The little mistress sure is cute~)
Sometimes, doing it as a feint, she fed her the green peas that Ran hated. When she did this, she made a slightly sad expression, which was also cute. But she would still chew and swallow it, and she couldn't withstand her cuteness.
Watching this with sidelong glances, Elza was walking around the hall with Mifi. It had been such a long time since she had appeared here that her old acquaintances kept on stopping and talking to her.
"And, in the short time that I haven't seen you, you've grown more beautiful. Your mother also never seemed to suffer the effects of age, and looked young and beautiful, and you're the spitting image of her. If she were alive, I'm sure she would be glad to see you now."
"I've heard that my grandmother also passed away right after giving birth to my mother... The Schtlehertz women seem to have short life spans. And I'm sure I also..."
"What's with that weak will! You'll live long enough for Seren-san's portion, since she died when she was young. That's the least you can do as your filial piety. And then there's your younger sister. For her sake, you simply can't die. No, you must not die. Sisters must help each other, and be happy."
"...Yes, I suppose. Mother used to scold me about this pessimism."
"Yes, that's good. Well then, see you later."
"Yeah. Thank you very much, ojisama."
As she gave a polite thanks to the man's back as he left, in her mind, she thought "as if that's possible" and stuck out her tongue. No one knew that Elza's mother was Elza herself. Everyone praised her in how she looked like her mother, but since they're the same person, it's only natural that they would look the same.
Elza's current position was that of the daughter of the former family head, who departed from this world at a young age. With both of her parents already dead, she had become the current family head. She was young, the same age as Aiina (officially), in her early 20s, and had become a beautiful woman. Maybe they had ulterior motives, but already, middle aged men were unnecessarily meddling into her business. It wasn't pointless. They thought of her as a precious daughter or granddaughter, and she thanked those who accomodated her, so they didn't think it was a bother. And in reality, they had sons or grandsons who were young, so she had to put on an act of being young and answer to them. Trying to suppress her long-lived side so it wouldn't appear caused nothing but pain. Depending on the situation, she would sometimes think she could discard her mask as "mistress" and give one punch. This was the reason she avoided contact with the outside as much as possible.
At the appropriate time, she would switch from acting as the mother to the daughter. As a result, each generation's head of family had a short life, and the next family head would never be seen until she entered high school. The time from the previous generation's death until the next generation's appearance required over 10 years, so it was an odd shift in the acting for the Schtlehertz family. In 10 years, people's memories would become hazy, and by using the time when they become beautiful, the fact that the previous and current generations were the same person would be unclear. Elza had used this trick to fool those around her for a long time. A long time ago, she had also used magic to change her appearance, but at some point, a powerful dispel spell was used, and her magic was cancelled, so she abandoned that quick method. Also it was tiring.
By the way, when Elza was playing the part of the previous head, Elza's mother, she called herself Seren Schtlehertz. Of course, her apprentice and daughter's name is Seren. When she first saw Seren again after centuries, Seren, who thought her master and adoptive mother had been executed and died, was so happy that she was alive. However, when she told her this, she said but this!? and made a face of utter disgust. It was a slight shock, but now it's a nice? memory.
In any case, ever since the party started, she was talked to, one after another, by the wealthy that she had known for generations. And while she was smiling on the surface, in her heart, she was bored. And there was also a feeling of annoying for today.
(Ehh, why are all these neverending youngsters talking to me! I came here because I have to meet Ryuuto Carmine...!)
Ryuuto Carmine, the grandson of the "Lord Inventor" Norris Carmine. She had been investigating his history right up until the party. He was using the research facility that his grandfather left to him, so there were some bad rumors about him, but the Carmine family was financing the U.N. Anti-Demon organization, and he had a background of a strong tendency towards doing good with occult practices, so at the least, he didn't have any signs of evil plans. He had a reputation of being "a weird researcher type", and had good leads on "proactively researching into ways to interact with ghostly bodies aside from special abilities". In reality, about 30% of the anti-spirit equipment and exorcism tools that the Sweepers were currently using developed from his proposals. (The other 70% were exorcism charms or talismans, tools like spirits swords, exorcism drugs, holy water, purification salt, and other ancient things).
The more she investigated his past, the more she thought that his research was all focused one one thing, and that he had absolutely no interest in anything except his research. However, she honestly didn't know him, and the blossom of doubt never withered away. In the end, Elza had no idea whether she should view this man, Ryuuto Carmine, as "good" or "evil". And today she was going to meet him.
Of course, it's not like there weren't other people in the past who were like him. There were those who were stimulated purely by their intellectual curiosity, those who had an ambition fueled by a burning, dark passion, those who aimed for a bright future for humanity, and those who grabbed glory for their own prospects. From cheerful people who loved to be with others, to people who like solitude, from those who were in tune with the times, to those who weren't, from those who went with the fads of the times, to those who stayed rooted in time, from those who wouldn't hurt a fly, to those who reveled from their victims. There were as many different types of people as there were grains of sand. So she wasn't able to determine what he held in his heart, and there was no prescedent or forerunner or anything. Most importantly, one's own public persona can be manufactured. There was no better proof than Elza herself. She had no idea what was hidden beneath that likeable reputation.
(Like I thought, I can't make a judgement unless I directly meet the person himself. However, how many of these obstacles will there be until I meet him... The price of this is having to keep acting like this until then...)
Although she wanted to complain, she didn't actually say it, and without letting anyone stop her, she quickly searched for her target. Her anger at having no escape was already as dangerous as a melted and soft tamago ice cream that was about to explode.
"Mistress, please be patient. If you try to rush it, you will most likely fail. I understand how you feel, but calm down and keep your composure."
"Oh, but I am perfectly calm. You're weird Mifi."
Mifi, who had been with Elza for a long time, could sense a slight change. She gave a strange smile and sighed in her mind. Seeing right through her anger, she wondered what part of that smile was calm.
"Hey, good evening."
And then, a voice called out to her from behind, and with her anger gauge finally breaking, Elza turned around, giving a fake smile full of killing intent. There, she saw a person who made her speechless.
"Yea, yea. Elza-kun, you're in charge of the incident about all the ghosts disappearing, right, are you having any progress? I think you're a mid-level mage, so do you know any anti-spirit magic, if you can't use any, then my inventions might be of some use, so please, I have confidence in them and they're my masterpieces, yea, yea."
Rather than middle aged, he was young, and rather than a boy, he had some years under his belt. The man, although he wasn't smiling, gave off a enjoyable atmosphere, and was talking to her. At first glance, although he was wearing an obviously high quality, well made suit, for some reason, he had a lab coat on over it, and wore black framed glasses with thick lens, and had a thin face that made you worry if he was getting well enough. Although he tried fix it, he couldn't hide his unruly hair, and if he tried to fix himself up, he probably wouldn't look too bad. No matter how you looked at him, his atmosphere and appearance was shoddy.