Chapter 69
*I’d Rather Become Human*
“Ugh, my neck…”
The old man woke up soon after being tied up. I squatted in front of him, putting on my most menacing expression, hoping to intimidate him into confessing.
He blinked, then noticed me. Startled by my terrifying appearance, he looked up at the young master pleadingly.
“Lehman! Who is this young lady?!”
“Estella. My maid.”
“She’s beautiful! Surely not your mistress? A mistress, for a devoted husband like you…”
Mistress? Mistress?! Did he not recognize my terrifying expression? He should have been horrified and called me a demon!
I stood up abruptly, offended. I walked over to the young master, stood on tiptoe, and whispered in his ear,
“Let’s leave him. He called me a mistress. He didn’t even recognize my scary face. We won’t get anything from him.”
“You’re saying that after seeing this?”
The young master showed me the gleaming badge, then walked over to the old man, placed his arm on his shoulder, and leaned in casually. The old man flinched. He hadn’t reacted to my scary face, but he was intimidated by the young master’s relaxed demeanor. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
“Yes, that’s right. I’m Count Lehman Zepetto. Your… colleague?”
He was testing the old man, who shook his head violently.
“Yes! We’re colleagues! Release me! The experiment was a success! But it’s not good news! I have to tell everyone! The world will be turned upside down!”
“What magic? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The young master casually examined the badge in the dim light. The old man fidgeted, desperate for a reaction.
But the young master seemed intent on extracting the information he wanted with this relaxed approach. It wasn’t exactly evil, but it was certainly sly and annoying. He was pretending to be the previous Count and deceiving a senile old man into confessing.
That’s… clever.
I glared at them, ready to jump in if anything went wrong. I had imagined various combat scenarios, considering the difference in size between me and the old man… But the young master’s method was definitely better.
“What magic are you talking about? I have no idea. I wouldn’t have conducted any important research with a nobody like you.”
“What are you talking about, Lehman! We conducted the research together! About the phoenix! Using the phoenix’s tears and feathers, we can create an elixir that can awaken even the dying! The elixir, the true elixir!”
The young master and I exchanged incredulous looks. The old man, as if feeling wronged, bobbed up and down and shouted,
“There’s no time for this! I hid the elixir, just like you said! But they came and stole it! It’s not my fault!”
“They? Who are ‘they’?”
According to the old man, someone had stolen a powerful healing potion. Whether such a potion was even possible was questionable, but who would come to this volcanic island and steal it?
“I don’t know! They suddenly appeared…”
“Where is this elixir?”
The young master asked abruptly.
“What?!”
The old man’s voice rose in disbelief. I was just as surprised.
“Young Master, you don’t believe him, do you? That’s ridiculous. There’s no such thing as a cure-all. Those only exist in the boasts of charlatans.”
But he ignored my words. Or rather, my words seemed to have triggered something, as his reaction intensified.
“You’re not lying, are you? You’re saying the elixir you and my father were researching is complete? Where is it? Is there any left?”
He grabbed the old man by the collar and shook him.
“Tell me! Where is it?!”
“Young Master!”
His reaction was suspiciously intense. He wasn’t even sick, so why was he so desperate for this elixir? As if he needed it to save someone.
Don’t tell me…
The secret elixir that could awaken even the dying… it reminded me of something.
“Could that elixir be the cause of the zombie outbreak?”
As expected of the young master! I thought he had completely forgotten about his duties as a zombie investigator. He had been secretly analyzing and trying to solve the zombie problem all along. Well, the previous Count Lehman was capable of creating such an elixir. I had heard that he was an even more powerful mage than the young master in his prime.
Perhaps someone had stolen his elixir and accidentally spilled it in a cemetery, creating the zombies. Wasn’t that a possibility? To eliminate the zombies, we had to uncover the true nature of the elixir.
Well, it was all speculation, but it wouldn’t hurt to try.
The young master was truly amazing. He had come up with such a complex theory and was now shaking the old man by the collar.
“Answer me! Where is your laboratory?!”
“Young Master, he can’t answer if you’re choking him.”
His enthusiasm seemed a bit excessive. His face was red, and he was panting like a steam engine, as if he was about to grab the elixir and rush to the Imperial Palace.
I pulled him away from the old man. He looked like he was about to bite him. He was like a zombie.
“Young Master! You’re the one who looks like a zombie right now! Calm down!”
“How can I calm down?! The elixir exists! The elixir my father developed!”
He grabbed my shoulders, his eyes gleaming with a manic energy. He had rarely shown such intense emotions, except when I was dying as Anna.
“With that elixir, I can…!”
He stopped mid-sentence, his lips trembling slightly.
“Young Master…?”
He slowly backed away from me, his gaze dropping. He had suddenly become cold and distant. He rubbed his face and pushed me away, then took a step back from the old man.
Was he going through a delayed puberty or something? His mood swings were extreme. I was worried, but his unfinished sentence bothered me.
What could he do with that elixir?
“Young Master, what were you about to say?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Why? I’m curious.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Tell me, you don’t have to keep secrets from me.”
“I said it’s nothing!”
He shouted, then immediately apologized. He was definitely on edge. He must have suffered from severe motion sickness during the portal trip.
I was more worried than angry. It wasn’t unusual for him to be curt with me, but it was rare for him to be this emotionally volatile.
I couldn’t do much, despite my concern. I asked him repeatedly what was wrong, but he didn’t want to talk. The old man was rambling nonsense, and the young master’s face was changing colors.
The source of the problem was the “elixir.” Although it was called an elixir, it was probably closer to a magical tool developed by the previous Count, based on the old man’s description.
The young master’s strange reaction, the zombies rampaging through the world… it was all probably because of this “elixir.”
To get more information about it, I made a difficult decision.
“Madam? Can you explain to me what this ‘elixir’ is?”
“Hmph! You’re just a maid. Do you think I’m a fool who would reveal our secrets to a mere servant?”
“If you’re not a fool, then I have no choice.”
I grabbed her beard.
“You have a very luxurious beard. If you don’t tell me about the elixir, I’ll pluck each strand one by one.”
“W-what! Let go of my beard!”
The bound old man struggled, but couldn’t escape my grasp. The young master should have stopped me by now, but he was also curious about the elixir, wasn’t he? He just watched me. When our eyes met, he even gestured for me to continue.
Having received his permission, I had no reason to hesitate. It was a cruel act, but desperate times called for desperate measures. I pulled on a strand of his white beard as a warning.
“Now, tell me. What is this elixir?”
“I-I can’t tell you!”
“Hee hee, you’re quite brave. You don’t even seem to care about your beautiful white beard!”
I mercilessly plucked a strand of his beard! He winced. Before he could recover, I quickly grabbed another strand with my other hand.
“I’ll pluck this one too.”
“No! It hurts! What are you doing! Lehman, aren’t you going to stop her! Your maid is torturing me!”
“It’s Count Lupin, not Lehman.”
I yanked on the beard and plucked another strand.
“Ouch! You wicked maid!”
“Do you want me to pluck another one? Admit it. He’s Count Lupin Zepetto, and I want information about the elixir.”
“You think I’ll tell you just because you’re… ouch!”
My torture wouldn’t stop until he gave up.
“Don’t make me a demon, old man.”
I grabbed another strand of his beard. I could almost hear his pride crumbling.
Rumble. Rumble.
That didn’t sound like crumbling pride.