"Grandma Hilda, good afternoon!"
"Ah, if it isn't Lucy! Some of the new seeds just arrived today, I left them in the back garden. Though what brings you here? You don't have a shift today if I remember correctly." An elderly woman's voice answers after Lucy energetically bursts into a small flower shop.
"Hm, I just came to visit today. I'm here with a good friend of mine."
"It's a pleasure to meet you madam. My name is Ser-"
"She's Hina, we're in the same class."
"..."
Introductions are a very large part of etiquette so I reflexively try to introduce myself as usual to the old woman, but Lucy quickly interrupts to use my cover name.
But seriously, is this really necessary in front of your boss?
"Oh! Lucy has talked a lot about you. It's nice to meet you, you can just call me Grandma Hilda as well. Wait a moment, I'll bring you some tea."
"Thank you…wait, talked a lot about me?"
If Grandma Hilda recognised me by the cover name Hina, wouldn't that mean-
"Ah! I don't need any tea, I'll go quickly check out the seeds!"
Lucy quickly makes her escape just as I put all the pieces together.
That scoundrel… just came up with that cover name on the spot, my foot.
"Here you go, it might not be as good as you're used to, but I hope it's still passable."
Grandma Hilda soon comes back with two cups of tea and places one in front of me.
"No, it's okay. Thank you."
Hm, it's true that it doesn't live up to the usual brews I drink, but it still has a very warm and soothing taste, kind of matching the atmosphere of this small, quaint flower shop.
"Did you already finish school for today? Are you finding student life difficult?"
"Hm. It's been okay, though it did turn out to be a little different from what I expected."
"That's good to hear, but you shouldn't overwork yourself. Haah, that reminds me of when Lucy first started here. That girl… I told her the same thing back then, but she insisted on working as much as possible, even when she looked utterly exhausted. She seemed like a bright girl, so I offered her more paid vacation days or just a higher base rate in case it was a money issue, but she stubbornly refused all of my ideas. That's why I'm so grateful to you."
"Huh? Me? Why?"
"Even though I might be her employer, I was really worried about Lucy's condition, so when she said a friend of hers forced her to reduce her working hours I was really relieved. And afterwards she also began to look much happier and her complexion improved a lot too. She also started to talk a lot about that friend of hers, clearly enjoying school much more thanks to her. So I would like to sincerely thank you again on her behalf."
"Ah, n-no it's okay. I didn't do anything special…"
Hearing such honest praise from an elderly woman combined with learning how Lucy saw my past actions makes me feel really embarrassed.
"Hehe, just take it as the ramblings of an old woman." She says to ease the atmosphere.
"..."
"Ah, right. Lucy mentioned before that both of you joined the student council, do I remember correctly?"
"Yes, that's right. Is there something wrong?"
"Do you know something about a vampire?"
"...a vampire?"
"Hm, earlier today a student showed up, who introduced himself as part of the student council and he said he was investigating sightings of a vampire in the city and asked if I had seen anything strange lately."
"I haven't heard anything about that at all. It must be some misunderstanding, vampires don't exist after all."
"So it was just a joke? That young man seemed really serious though."
"Do you remember his name? I'll look into it when we return to the school."
"His name… I'm sorry I can't recall. My memory and eyesight aren't what they used to be. He had a very large build, almost looking like an adult. Ah, and I think he was wearing your school uniform."
This is really strange. That person is probably the source of the public disturbance case. Was it just some student impersonating the student council? But why? To spread fear maybe? I don't get it, but I'll put an end to it.
"Grandma Hilda, don't worry. Actually, Lucy and I came to the city today to investigate this rumor. We'll get to the bottom of it, you've already helped us a lot by telling me about this."
"Oh, okay. But just make sure to be careful."
"Heh, you can rest assured, I'm not the top of my grade for nothing… or at least the second from top… Anyway, thank you for having us, but we should get back to doing our job soon."
"Of course, you're welcome to visit anytime. If you want to get Lucy, she's in the garden through the back door."
"Okay, thank you."
After thanking Grandma Hilda I leave the house and enter the back garden. The first sight that greets me makes me pause for a moment. Being surrounded like this by all sorts of rare and beautiful flowers everywhere in this small courtyard feels like entering another realm.
To the side Lucy is gently tending to a patch of dirt with a smile on her face, probably having just finished planting some seeds. Her plain clothes that we bought for our disguises are now covered by a few traces of dirt and dust, giving her a youthful vibe, kind of like a kid who just got done playing in the fields.
"Ahem. I thought you'd use your light magic as usual for these plants as well."
I quickly dismiss my wandering thoughts and approach Lucy.
"Hm? Ah, well at the academy it's part of the light magic curriculum. But I feel like if I also used my magic here it wouldn't be fair to all the other flower shops. At least for speeding up the growth, if a plant is sick I still end up healing it though..."
…That feels unnecessarily considerate. Though I guess with people who are born with light magic affinity being a case of one in a hundred thousand, using such rare talents just for growing and selling flowers would be quite inefficient and a waste.
So what should I call a light magic user who doesn't even use her magic and just grows flowers in the regular way…?
"Anyway, we should really get back to our investigation. Thanks to Grandma Hilda I learned that we're looking for a tall male student who pretended to be a student council member. We should make one last round just in case we find him and then report back to Arthur."
"Huh, how? Ah, from Grandma Hilda…"
"...Why do you seem surprised by the wrong thing?"
Lucy has been acting a bit strange ever since she brought this case to me. Like she doesn't even care about the investigation or even actively disrupting it. Compared to her usually diligent attitude, it's a very unlikely explanation, so I've had the suspicion that she might have already known all the answers from the start. Now that she seems more concerned that I actually found a lead and combined with that guilty look in her eyes after my question, all but confirms my thoughts.
"Um, Hina? Would it be okay if I take you to one more place? I promise I'll tell you everything once we get there." Lucy says with an earnest, almost pleading look in her eyes.
"...Fine. But you better explain yourself properly."
Seriously… I think I go too easy on her. But even though I haven't known her for long, I already feel like I could just leave my life in her hands and everything would be fine. So I don't really have any doubts in her intentions, but it still feels like I've been deceived…
***
Haah, of course the great villainess Seraphina would see through the plan of a random nobody like me… No, it still doesn't feel right to call Hina some 'great villainess' no matter how I look at it.
Anyway, with the cat mostly out of the bag, I should be thankful that Hina didn't immediately walk off when she learned that I was hiding something. That means she must trust me at least a little bit right?
Originally I wanted to let Hina relax and enjoy herself during this outing some more and then in the end just gently nudge her towards the answer so she felt like she solved this case herself and never realized there was anything off.
But now that outcome is now off the table. I doubt Hina would accept some half baked excuses and well, it's not like I enjoyed keeping even more secrets from her…
I try to sort through my thoughts as I guide Hina through the city, when suddenly a commotion nearby catches our attention.
"I'm telling you I'm not joking! They should have pale skin and fangs and um, maybe red eyes? I'm not sure on the details, but have you seen anyone like that?"
"Hahaha, big brother vampires don't exist! Even we know that much, if you're not joking then you must be very silly to believe that."
"Wha… No, they are real! That's why I'm here to deal with them! If none of you have seen one, then maybe your friends or… Ah! Miss Fi- No, it's Lady Seraphina!"
The source of the voice turned out to be Bernard, who is surrounded by some little kids from the city. None of whom appear to believe his words about a dangerous vampire and instead just make fun of him.
Then he tried to look around for any potential believers to strengthen his case, but all the nearby townsfolk seemed equally doubtful of his story. And that's when his eyes landed on Hina and instantly lit up with hope.
"Ahem. This is Seraphina Lazarius, she is also part of the student council at Golden Vow Academy so even if you can't take my word for it, then you can put your trust in her."
He addresses the crowd with an appeal to authority, which momentarily silences everyone around and then he turns back to Hina with a lower voice, saying:
"Ah, you probably don't know this, but there's a vampire loose in the city. I'll explain later."
"Huh? Vampire? Wait so it you-"
Hina seems confused by this situation, but before she could piece things together, I quickly step forward to cut into their conversation:
"Lord Bernard!"
"Hm? You are…"
"That's not important, ah but I'm also part of the student council. Lord Bernard, have you seen the President's storybook? He said he left it on his table but now he can't find it anywhere. Do you have any ideas?"
I attempt to gently diffuse the situation. I know Bernard's character wasn't made out to be the smartest, so I try to be as direct as I can be without completely exposing him.
"What? Storybook? Why would I… Huh? Wait, if not a report…could it have been a storybook? U-um sorry. Was it about some monster perhaps?"
Thankfully it seems like he managed to make the connection as he looks at me with a nervous expression.
"Hm, he planned to give it as a present to someone."
"Ah. Ahahaha… I'm sorry everyone, that was a joke just now so don't take it seriously! I just remembered I have to do something so I'm leaving first, bye!"
Bernard quickly addresses the crowd, shoots us an apologetic look and then disappears as fast as he can. His sudden shift leaving both the crowd and Hina speechless for a few moments, before the silence gets disturbed by the nearby group of kids breaking out in laughter.
With the situation resolved, the townspeople quickly dispersed as well, leaving me and Hina behind.
I didn't think we'd run into Bernard here, but I guess we don't need to find him later this way and now we technically also solved the case we set off to do.
"Lucy? That just now…"
Hina approaches me with a frown.
"Well, it's probably more or less what you think. Ah, but we shouldn't talk about it here. Let's keep going."
"...okay." Hina reluctantly says.