Eternally Regressing in Another World

The girl kept crying for a while after that, but she seemed to have settled down eventually.

"You doing okay now?"

"Yeah... I’m okay."

"Good."

Eyes red, sniffling, the girl bowed her head.

"I’m sorry, I’m really sorry!"

"Ah, it’s already fi..."

"This isn’t something that gets resolved that easily."

Selva, having finished putting out the small fire on the tree, cut me off. I’d already been ready to let it go, but Selva’s expression stayed just as sharp. Seemed like Selva was far more strict about this than I’d expected. Maybe the type who’s scariest once actually angered.

"Are you aware that using an attack spell on another person leads to imprisonment?"

"Hold on, Selva!"

"My apologies, but please don’t stop me on this."

I understood Selva’s point. It was basically the equivalent of a kid firing off a handgun in the middle of the street. Getting scolded and letting it go wouldn’t be enough. But doing something like this had to have some kind of reason behind it. Better to hear her out properly first.

"I’ll contact the guards regardless. Let’s leave the rest to the proper authorities."

"Selva, please, hold off on contacting them a bit longer."

"...Are you protecting her? That won’t serve this child well."

"There has to be a reason. Whatever it is, this kid must have her own reason."

I turned back to the girl, meeting her eyes.

"Would you tell us? About the ghost. I want to know why you were so scared of Shiran."

At my words, the girl lifted her downcast face. But she glanced at Shiran with clear reluctance. Fair enough, this probably wasn’t something easy to say in front of Shiran herself.

"...Let’s talk over there a bit."

The girl nodded quietly at my words.

"We’ll stay within your sight, Selva. Mind if the two of us go talk?"

"Understood. Please be careful."

Matching the girl’s pace, I stepped away slowly from Selva. We stopped in front of a larger piece of playground equipment with a slide attached. About fifty meters from Shiran and Selva. This should be far enough for her to talk comfortably.

"Alright, first, can you tell me why you’re scared of Shiran?"

"...Because she’s a ghost."

The girl gave the answer I’d expected. The real question started from here.

"What kind of ghost, though?"

"I don’t know."

...Not knowing meant she hadn’t actually witnessed anything resembling a ghost herself? But it seemed unlikely a mere rumor alone would scare her this badly.

"If you don’t know, why are you scared?"

"...There’s a kid in my class named Jill."

"Right."

The girl seemed hesitant to continue, her body trembling as she struggled with the words.

"It’s okay, I won’t doubt anything you say. I won’t get mad, I won’t tell anyone. I promise."

"...Okay."

The girl took a deep breath and, seeming to steel herself, spoke.

"Jill... got killed by Shiran."

...I hadn’t expected something involving an actual death. This girl didn’t look like she was lying. But I knew. Shiran wasn’t the type to kill anyone. Not a chance. Quiet, likes tomatoes, an entirely ordinary girl. Still, I had no intention of doubting this girl either. There had to be something else going on here.

"Do you know what it looked like, when Jill was killed?"

"...I don’t know."

The girl’s voice was getting more tearful by the second. Maybe I’d made her remember something too frightening.

"Sorry, you okay?"

"Yeah, ...I’m okay. ...Actually, we were all playing tag together before."

Tears streaming steadily, the girl worked hard to explain.

The full story the girl told me went like this.

Shiran and four of her friends had been playing tag one evening on their way home from school. Shiran and this girl, along with two others, were "it," fleeing, while a boy named Jill was the tagger. While running, they all ended up drifting into a dim, narrow street nearby, and Jill chased after them. Shiran, being slower on her feet, had ended up trailing at the back of the group. That’s when Jill suddenly let out a scream from behind, and the others rushed back to check on him. What the girl saw was Jill collapsed in the middle of the road, and Shiran, covered head to toe in blood. Shiran immediately bolted from the scene, leaving only Jill’s fallen body behind. When the girl approached to check on him, Jill’s throat had already been torn open, dead. At that point, the girl had apparently said, "Why would Shiran..." but the other two, trembling in fear, had insisted, "That wasn’t Shiran, that was a ghost, that thing was a ghost!"

An outrageous story, that was my first impression. And from what I’d heard, this connected directly to what Selva had told me earlier. But this was probably everything this girl knew. Before thinking further, I needed to thank her properly.

"...Thanks for telling me. That must’ve been scary."

The girl gave a small nod.

"Sorry to put you through that. Thank you."

Saying that, I gently patted her head. The girl silently wiped her tears.

"That’s... all I know."

"Alright, you can head home now. Thank you."

Hearing that seemed to relieve her a little. Her expression brightened slightly before she immediately took off running. She waved back at me as she ran, and I waved back too.

"So, you let her go after all."

The sudden voice from behind made me jump slightly. Wish he’d just announce himself normally.

"...That girl had her reasons."

Selva looked at me with something like a piercing glare. But after letting out a small breath, his eyes softened somewhat.

"...Shall we head back now? Taking too long might worry my lady."

"Um, that’s fine, but what about Shiran?"

"She’s already gone home. She asked me to pass along a message, ’thanks, mister.’"

Guess I’d taken too long with that conversation. Shiran probably hadn’t felt great about it, but held back out of consideration. Yeah, there’s no way a kid like that could kill anyone.

"Sorry for dragging this out. Should we head back to the carriage?"

"Understood."

The one behind all this might not be limited to Duke Vade alone. Not knowing the true nature of the threat made this, in some ways, even more troublesome than Nest. As if fleeing from the invisible danger and mounting unease, I turned and headed toward the carriage.