I peered behind the tree, scanning the surroundings.

Today, it was not Yan but Chrisy who came as my escort. Yan had been somewhere since dawn.

At first, Chrisy vehemently opposed my suggestion of playing hideandseek.

‘I cannot. I must keep an eye on you wherever you are. Instead, I’ll call someone else to play with you.’

‘I want to play with Chrisy… I don’t need anyone else…’

‘Even so, I can’t… No, maybe just a little…’

Even before hideandseek, Chrisy earnestly reminded me.

‘Don’t go too far.’

‘Yeah, don’t worry!’

To make it more thorough, I let myself be easily caught in the first two rounds.

Then, in the third round, when he was completely at ease, I hid thoroughly.

‘He won’t last long anyway.’

Even if the garden was vast, it wouldn’t be that difficult to find my hiding spot.

As I anxiously waited for the deity to return, I heard rustling in the nearby bushes.

Soon, a silver snake emerged from the bushes.

[Little one, I’m here!]

“You’re here!”

I greeted him happily, unlike usual, and the snake wagged its tail.

“What happened? Did you find out who it was?”

[Of course!]

As expected! I looked at the deity with eyes full of expectation.

“Who is it? Who was the culprit?”

[The culprit was a man in black clothes!]

“Black clothes? Who’s the man in black clothes?”

[His hair was brown!]

“Brown? How many people have brown hair?”

[He was incredibly tall!]

“How tall? How tall was he?”

[This much?]

The deity raised its body upright. An uneasy feeling crept over me.

‘Is it just my imagination?’

“And then?”

[Ah, right! The face was incredibly hideous!]

Dressed in black, with brown hair, and a face that looked quite hideous.

“……So who is that?”

[That’s all there is! And those people have a place to stay? Not above ground, but underground.]

The snake answered confidently. I smacked my forehead.

‘I shouldn’t have believed this.’

What I asked of the snake was to follow the fleeing assassin.

To follow and find out who had ordered the assassin to do it.

It had done as I asked. The problem was that it had merely followed and observed.

‘Should I have asked it to find out where they live?’

Though I felt I should have explained in that much detail, seeing its confident demeanor now, I thought it wouldn’t have made a difference.

A sigh escaped me naturally.

I had entrusted the task to a divine beast, thinking it would naturally do well.

‘I made a promise to the earl.’

Fortunately, when I went to see the earl last night, it seemed that I hadn’t been tortured, but at this rate, it was impossible to catch the criminal.

This frustrating silver snake, not grasping my feelings at all, spoke insensitively.

[I did as you asked, so give me that shiny thing quickly!]

I slowly shook my head. The divine beast became furious.

[Why!]

“You didn’t find out who it is, you should find out the name. How can I know who the criminal is with such vague information?”

[I don’t know the name, ah! But it was more than one or two! About 10 people?]

“Even several, not just one person? And all of them had brown hair and were dressed in black?”

[Yes!]

“……”

It became more complicated. I heaved a deep sigh.

The divine beast finally seemed to realize the uneasy atmosphere. It carefully approached and asked again.

[…So you’re not giving it?]

I firmly shook my head. The divine beast’s mouth fell open.

[You, you liar, you’re like something cheap and cowardly!]

The angry divine beast was yelping and shaking its head next to me.

‘So noisy.’

I habitually covered my ears, then realized anew. Ah, there’s no use in covering my ears.

The yelling voice quieted down a little while later.

[That’s why I said you shouldn’t listen to a human who doesn’t make a contract.]

The grumbling divine beast habitually placed its head on my knee.

I followed suit, resting my chin and letting out a deep sigh.

Only after the divine beast closed its mouth did my mind quiet down. I thought quietly.

‘What do I do now?’

I couldn’t find the real culprit and had accidentally set the poor assassin free.

‘He won’t come back to take revenge on me, will he?’

Since his right hand was ruined trying to kill the duke, he probably wouldn’t target the duke again.

But the possibility of him coming back to take revenge on me was quite likely.

The thought of facing that assassin again sent shivers down my spine.

[Do you want to see for yourself?]

Suddenly, the snake asked again. I tilted my head.

“What do you mean?”

[A tall man with brown hair, wearing black clothes, are you okay with seeing him yourself?]

“How?”

[Wait and see.]

The divine beast wriggled and crawled over, resting its head on my hand.

Suddenly, the sight full of blue grass reversed and was covered in dark shadows.

“What, what is this?”

[The memory I brought back.]

The view was flat, like crawling along the ground.

Ahead, a wobbly shadow dressed in black was nervously looking around and walking.

‘It’s that assassin from before!’

The assassin who had been wandering the alleyway for quite some time eventually stopped abruptly in front of a secluded wall.

Soon, he fumbled the ground and then suddenly went down.

In sync, the view also rapidly plunged downward.

[He had dug a tunnel, so I followed him, thinking that it must be his hideout.] the divine beast explained with a triumphant tone.