A brief silence followed. Then a mild, youthful male voice came through the door:
"Please come in, Detective Fal — if you feel it's necessary."
Ais pushed the door open to find a comparatively sparse bedroom. No excess furniture. The corners of the table and chairs had been carefully padded. A young man of about twenty, blond and typically Ruenish in build, sat by the window in a leather armchair facing her direction.
His eyes were closed. Other than that, nothing about him was unusual. He was dressed casually — a white shirt and loose, comfortable trousers rather than any formal wear.
He's quite pale. Clearly doesn't go outside much. Ais pulled the door closed behind her and offered a greeting:
"Sorry to intrude."
"Not at all, Detective Fal. My name is Leel Femi — pleased to meet you." Leel smiled with his introduction.
Ais sat down on the other end of the sofa and looked at him directly:
"Then I'll ask you plainly: as an Extraordinary, Mr. Femi, is there anything you'd like to add about the trouble your family has been facing?"
Leel raised his chin in mild surprise. He was quiet for a moment before asking:
"Detective Fal, how did you determine I was an Extraordinary?"
He really is at university age, isn't he — so guileless. Ais smiled:
"Because choosing not to ask the church for help in a situation like this doesn't quite add up otherwise. But if you genuinely had a reason the church couldn't help with, you'd have left Ruen already. So whatever's keeping you from seeking the church's help must have arisen in the last year or two since you've been settled here.
And what explanation fits better than you becoming an Extraordinary in that period? Given that your family genuinely wants to live quietly."
Leel frowned slightly, clearly not fully convinced. Seeing this, the smile in Ais's voice became more evident:
"Of course, Mr. Femi — the fact that you didn't deny my reasoning is what let me confirm it."
At this, Leel finally caught on:
"So, Detective Fal, what you stated with such confidence was actually a bluff to draw me out?"
Simple children are the most fun to tease. Ais first nodded with a grin. Then, looking at Leel's perpetually closed eyes, she added:
"Correct. And once that was established, your parents' reason for supporting your choice to become an Extraordinary becomes fairly obvious too."
Leel let out a resigned sigh and spoke with a conciliatory air:
"Your deduction is entirely correct, Detective Fal. I apologize — I shouldn't have let your voice make me underestimate you as a detective."
Please don't read too much into this, dear. Ais had noticed the shift in address. She understood what Leel meant.
Though she wouldn't have caught that detail without the Instigator potion's enhancement — she'd never been someone who paid close attention to how people addressed her.
I was just looking for a reason to have this conversation openly. She shook her head and steered back on course:
"You've misread the situation, Mr. Femi. I only want to understand your problem as fully as possible — nothing more. I'm not an official Extraordinary myself. I don't view unaffiliated Extraordinaries differently."
"I see." Leel, realizing he'd overthought things, muttered a slightly embarrassed admission, then said while recalling:
"There isn't much I can add, honestly. I can confirm that what's causing the anomalies is detectable by my Aura Vision and intuition. They have no physical form — they vanish in an instant like ghosts — so there's nothing I can do against them."
"Non-human entities that only recently escalated to injuring servants. The probability of them being controlled is high. So, before the anomalies first appeared — did anything unusual happen in your family?"
"Those days, only my father attended a gathering of Extraordinaries in the West District. But due to the materials involved, that kind of gathering wasn't anything new for him."
"And after the anomalies appeared — did anyone who seemed strange approach you on their own initiative?"
"Only a few people claiming to be detectives. But I confirmed through divination that they all seemed to be ordinary people."
That's not necessarily true. Ais wasn't convinced by Leel's conclusion.
As someone with access to guidance from the church, she knew that divination couldn't directly confirm whether a person was an Extraordinary. Indirect confirmation wasn't reliable either — even if you divined that someone couldn't help you with something clearly involving supernatural power, that might be because they'd be harmful to you rather than because they were ordinary.
But having no desire to reveal that she also understood divination, Ais simply pointed out:
"That's not certain. If divination could reliably identify Extraordinaries, there'd be no such thing as unaffiliated Extraordinaries."
After a pause, Leel clearly grasped the implication:
"I was oversimplifying things. Thank you for the lesson, Detective Fal."
Not actually slow. Ais gave a quietly approving nod — and then stopped speaking, because Mrs. Mia Dalton's footsteps were just outside the bedroom door.
Knock knock knock.
"Leel, same as usual for afternoon tea?" Mrs. Dalton's voice followed.
"Mum — the door's unlocked, just come in." A trace of exasperation in Leel's voice.
Mrs. Dalton pushed the door open, smiled, and extended an invitation to Ais:
"Detective Fal, would you care to join us for afternoon tea?"
Mrs. Dalton's skin is remarkably well-preserved for someone with a son his age. The observation arrived belatedly as Ais looked at her — definitely didn't look forty.
"It would be my pleasure, Mrs. Dalton. Not too sweet, if you don't mind."
"Mum, I'd like to try something lemon-flavored this time."
After noting both requests, Mrs. Dalton didn't linger:
"Then I won't interrupt your conversation with Detective Fal any further, Leel. If you need anything, Detective Fal, just let the servants know. I'll go and prepare the tea."
She left directly. Leel, who had seemed about to say something, let it go with a sigh and said quietly to Ais:
"She's always like this. Rather than talk, she prefers to do something practical — even things she doesn't need to do herself."
"Perhaps Mrs. Dalton is simply more comfortable with machines than with people." Understanding that well enough, Ais shifted the question:
"Though from what you've said, she usually interacts with you the same way?"
"Yes. If I get too clingy, she doesn't quite know how to handle me." Leel paused, then added:
"Actually, until the war ended, the time both my mother and father spent with me combined was less than the time my Aunt Layla spent with me. I think my mother has felt guilty about that ever since she gave up working. But she doesn't seem to believe me when I say I hold no resentment about it."
Fairly consistent with the stereotypes I've heard about Steam Church followers. Ais offered gently:
"It sounds like Mrs. Dalton cares about you very much — she just doesn't always know how to show it."
Leel nodded with genuine feeling:
"I've always felt like I was the one causing inconvenience, but my parents have never once treated me as a burden. I'm grateful that there are wondrous forces in this world that kept me from being entirely dependent on them."
Ais hadn't actually intended to ask about Leel's supernatural abilities — but since he'd brought it up himself, she asked in passing:
"So the potion you drank can compensate for your deficit in eyesight?"
What Ais hadn't expected was that Leel not only answered — but answered in considerable detail:
"Yes. The potion I drank is called 'Seer.' For me, the most useful ability is the 'Eye of Secrets.'"
Author's Note (this chapter):"Yes. The potion I drank is called 'Seer.' For me, the most useful ability is the 'Eye of Secrets.'"