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It seemed like we had the same target enemy.
I told Cortina to ask Mr. Heiz to leave this case to us.
Of course, that included the warning to not act rash for the sake of his daughter.

“The culprits seem to be the same people that we are looking for. Would you mind leaving this to us?”
“If Lady Cortina will be handling this case… My only wish is my daughter’s safety.”
“That is something we understand. I also personally value the importance of children.”

That’s what she replies while patting my head.
She apparently didn’t like how my wig felt, so she yeeted it off in one go. My sleek silver hair that I’ve inherited from Maria appeared from underneath.

“That hair, is that Miss Maria’s…?”
“Right, she’s Maria and Lyell’s daughter. In other words, she’s like a daughter to me too. Matisse is her classmate so I’ll also do my best to help her.”
“That is really encouraging!”
“If possible, please continue on while having a gag order in place. Also, would you mind if I leave a familiar with you?”
“Yes, please do.”

Familiars were a kind of Golems that were created through the magic called Familiar Creation. Though unlike simple golems, it could share senses with the user, so the user could grasp the situation even from afar.

It was the magic of the Puppetry System, but it was easy to master and had many uses, so it had quite a lot of practitioners.

With Mr. Heiz’s permission, a little hamster-like talisman was created through a sufficient degree of ritual. The plan was to keep track of his situation by hiding the familiar in his jacket pocket.

“Well then, if we stay here for too long, then our enemies might think that something suspicious is happening. Let’s contact each other through that familiar from now on.”
“This familiar, it can talk…?”

Normal familiars didn’t have vocal cords so they normally couldn’t speak. However, if it’s a high grade familiar that was created with great precision then it was possible for it to speak.

However, Cortina wasn’t so versed in Puppetry Magic to create something like that.

“I can’t make a talking familiar with my own power. Instead, I’ll be sending Maria or Maxwell’s familiar to you at a later time so replace it at that time”.
“I understand. I’ll leave that to you.”

Mr. Heiz bowed with a relieved expression.

Probably, he spent the entire day since Matisse disappeared in worry, and it affected his mental state.

They abducted his daughter and quickly let him know, but then waited before pressing their demands. By doing that, the target’s spirit would wear down, and after he had weakened, they would make their demands known.

Showing him the weakened victim after a day would be quite effective. Having salvation before their eyes, their weakened minds would easily take the bait. This was a tactic that criminals often used.

This time though, their trick had definitely backfired. It was because they were waiting for him to weaken that we managed to make it in time.

After parting with Mr. Heiz, we went out of the shop and secretly explored the surroundings. However, we didn’t find any suspicious people around.

The problem was that Cortina wasn’t used to this kind of situation. She was carelessly looking around while we were inspecting the surroundings.

“Cortina, don’t look all over the place.”
“Uh, sorry. Although I’m good at combat tactics concerning moving armies, I’m not familiar with the strategy of moving around the city.”

Cortina who was more familiar fighting in special combat environments had little experience in doing urban warfare.

Moreover, when she was traveling with us, most of the battles that we’ve faced were done outdoors, and rarely did we end up fighting inside towns.

If they accepted us who were gathered to subdue the evil dragon, there was a chance that they’d incur the Dragon’s wrath. Therefore, we limited getting close to the towns as much as we could, so her experience as an adventurer was quite distorted.

“Even so, Nicole seems to be really calm about this. You look more reliable than me.”
“… You won’t get anything out of me even if you compliment me though.”

I was an assassin who judged the evildoers. And to achieve that, my power was specialized for urban fights.

Cortina is my direct opposite.

“Where did you learn these things? Is it from Maria?”
“Eh!?”

Oh crud. I got a little carried away since I was in the spotlight after so long.
If I showed off too much it was natural that she would suspect me. Not to mention, I was less than ten-year-old child.

“EH, umm… I can’t remember clearly if it was mama or papa who taught me… ”

I answered with a lack of self-confidence in my tone, then hung my head and pretended to think. It’s blatantly the acting cute technique, but it was needed to dodge the topic.

As proof, Cortina was squirming with her hands together while looking at me. Now, I feel like there are more reasons for me not to reveal myself.

“Well, never mind that! Nicole is so cute!”
“Fugyaaー!?”

I chose not to avoid Cortina’s hug, and I was squeezed like a hugging doll.
She rubbed her cheeks on the top of my head. This much was fine, considering that I managed to fool them.
Not just Cortina, but also the individual that observed us from the shadows.