Chapter 41: The greedy witch.
"If you came back, then you must have found something, correct?" Natalia asked the witch June.
"Yes~," June laughed, she looked very pleased.
"Did you hire her?" Ruby asked Natalia.
Natalia nodded in agreement.
"Oh, I vaguely remember she said that... But I was really busy at the time," Sasha said.
June rolled her eyes when she heard Sasha's words, she thought; 'of course, you were busy; you were sucking your husband's blood.'
"Lady Ruby, what are you doing here?" June asked.
"Can't I be at my Darling's house?" Ruby asked in a cold tone.
"Yes, you-...Huh?" June opened her mouth in shock as she looked at Ruby:
"W-What you said...? I think I heard wrong." June wiped her ear a little.
Ruby raised an eyebrow, "What? Is it so amazing, me being in a relationship?"
"I don't think she's talking about that," Sasha commented.
"Huh?" Ruby didn't understand, she looked at Sasha and only saw her friend's neutral face.
"..." June looked at Ruby, and then she looked at Sasha, she repeated this process a few times and thought; 'As expected! My intuition was correct! That man has a great future!'
Her eyes changed to the money symbol.
Seeing June's reaction, Natalia knew what the greedy witch was thinking, "June... What did you find out?"
"Huh…? Oh…Give me a sec," she made some gestures with her hand, and soon a big magic circle appeared in the middle of the room.
The magic circle began to grow, and slowly images began to be created.
"Oh?" Natalia looked at the magic circle with interest.
Soon the image of Lucy and Karen appeared in the magic circle.
June points to Lucy and starts giving her report:
"Lucy, a noble vampire sought out by The Inquisition, personality: Liar, cautious, cunning, proud and hardworking. He has a love affair with his partner Karen, a vampire who pretends to be Lucy's subordinate, but the woman's true identity is a noble talent scout."
The image shifted and focused only on Karen.
"Oh?" Ruby is interested, she looks at Karen, "Which clan does she serve?"
June looked at Ruby, "She serves Clan Horseman."
"Who? I've never heard of it," Ruby said.
"Neither have I," Sasha added.
"...Excuse my rude words, but... Are you living in a cave?" June commented in disbelief.
"… Well, we've been busy these days." Sasha didn't mind and replied.
"Yes. A lot happened in a short time," Ruby added.
June sighed. "This information will be free; consider it a kind gesture." She looked at Sasha:
"The Horseman Clan is the family that took the title vampire count from Lady Sasha's family."
"....!" Sasha opened her eyes wide.
Ruby's eyes cooled further, and she looked at June.
"How do you know that? That was supposed to be confidential information." Natalia asked curiously.
"Hah! There's no such thing as a 'confidential' subject when it comes to witches." June snorted.
"In the witch world, anything can be bought with money, even that kind of information." She smiled and continued, "It cost me a lot of money, but I managed to get in touch with the witch the Horseman Clan hired, and she sold all the details."
"..." Natalia just continued with the same gentle smile on her face and didn't answer anything.
"Witch... I have a question for you."
June felt her body shiver as she heard Ruby's words, "W-What?"
"Did you sell the information on my Darling?" The air around Ruby began to grow colder, and slowly her eyes began to change to blood-red:
"Answer me."
"… N-No! I didn't sell any information about Victor! I am not a fool! I don't want to provoke that crazy woman!" June quickly spoke.
"..." Ruby continued to stare at June, she was looking for some lie in the witch's face, but all she saw was genuine fear.
Sasha has woken up from her stupor and looks at June with neutral eyes. "...You also know about Scathach kidnapping my husband."
"Yes, I know. A few hours ago, I received a contact from an informant who spotted Countess Scathach carrying a man like a sack of potatoes to her residence, and, from the characteristics of the man the informant gave me, I could deduce that it was Victor... Although after that, I lost contact with this informant."
"..."
"Give up on this informant; he's probably buried seven feet under the earth now," Ruby spoke in the same tone of voice, she controlled her emotions, and soon the air around her started to return to normal.
"…." June nodded in agreement, she knew Scathach's personality, the crazy woman was just too famous; he probably died… Sigh, I need to find another informant in the vampire world…
"June is a talented witch~; few witches can do what she did now..." Natalia complimented her smiling gently.
"Thank you." June flashed a satisfied smile.
"..." Ruby and Sasha just rolled their eyes when they saw June's smile.
"So? What did you find out about Lucy?" Natalia asked.
June makes a few gestures with her hand, and slowly the image of Lucy and Karen changes, and soon a huge coffin appears. The coffin was pure white, with a black crucifix symbol in the middle of the coffin.
"What is that...?" Sasha asked.
"This is the finger of Saint Mary," June replied, then she continued:
"A sacred church artifact, that's all I know; I couldn't find anything else. For me to know the contents inside that coffin, I would need to take more risks…"
"I would also need more money and connections that I don't have right now; this job is way above what I'm able to offer."
'I don't want to risk my neck and provoke the Horseman Clan; the money offered is just too low for me to take that risk,' she thought.
"As Lady Natalia paid a high price, I compensated these services with all of Lucy's information and what he's planning to do." She took a flash drive from her pocket and threw it in Natalia's direction, "This is all I can do with my current abilities." She was surprisingly honest.
"... You did more than enough, June," Natalia spoke with a gentle smile on her face, she takes a cell phone from her pocket, types something on the cell phone, and says, "Done."
June feels her cell phone vibrating in her pocket, she quickly takes her cell phone, when she sees that the money has fallen into her account, she starts drooling while staring at the number on her cell phone screen.
"10 digits!! Holy fuck!" She cried out in emotion.
"June, you're drooling..." Natalia commented.
"Oh…" She quickly wipes her face and looks at Natalia suspiciously, "Why did you pay me more than agreed? I will not refund the money!"
With the same gentle smile on her face, Natalia said, "This money is for another job."
"Oh? What's the job!?" June was looking at Natalia as if she were a golden hen.
"I want you to investigate the Horseman Clan for Lady Sasha."
"Huh...?" June's face darkened in horror, suddenly the gentle smile on Natalia's face seemed to become an evil smile; 'That was a trap!! I will die! From the rumors I've heard from that clan, I'm 100% sure I'm going to die! They are crazy!'
"Natalia...?" Sasha didn't understand why she did it.
Natalia looked at Sasha, "I know Lady Sasha is curious about the matter, and with your family's current situation, you can't hire a witch for that kind of service."
"...Thank you, Natalia. I'll remember that," Sasha thanked.
"Hmm..." Ruby crosses her legs and looks at Natalia with curious eyes, she was thinking of doing this for Sasha; after all, Ruby doesn't lack money, but as Natalia took the initiative, she was silent... This maid seemed to have a plan too.
Natalia kept smiling, she looked at June, who had a face that looked like she made the biggest mistake of her life.
"You already received the money, right? And a witch who accepted the payment can't go back, right? Tell me... Are you going to break the rules?"
"...Ugh," June seemed to fade when she saw Natalia's 'gentle' smile.
"B-But, there's another witch in that place! Because of that, I can't do this job; after all, it would break rule number one about being a witch!"
With the same smile on her face, Natalia said, "Rule number 1: a witch must not come in conflict with another witch. If the witch's employer is an enemy of an individual who is hiring another witch, both witches must abandon their duty immediately."
"..." June's face just darkened, and it darkened more every time she heard Natalia's words.
"Strange..." She put on a confused face, "Did I ever tell you to come into conflict with Clan Horseman?"
She looked at June and smiled kindly, "I remember what I said; 'I want you to investigate the Horseman Clan for Lady Sasha.'"
"At no time did I tell you to attack them or something, did I?"
"N-No... You didn't say..."
"See? I expect good news from you~."
"Ugh," Seeing Natalia's gentle smile, June seemed to have received several damages to her body; not wanting to stay in this place anymore, she makes some gestures with her hands, and soon a magic circle appears at her feet.
"..." When June left, silence fell in the room.
"You're amazingly 'evil' for someone who always has a kind smile on their face," Maria, who was silent, said.
"Oh...?" Natalia looked at Maria.
"…I have to agree with Maria on this," Ruby said, "By asking her to investigate the Horseman Clan, conflict will eventually ensue… However, as I am not your master, I cannot order you; I hope that you know what you're doing."
Understanding the warning contained in Ruby's words, she spoke, "I know. Don't worry, Lady Ruby." Soon, she looks at Maria:
"What happened? I thought you were going to be silent forever?"
"Nothing happened," Maria said in a cold tone, then she continued, "I was just curious about the sacred artifact."
"I see," Natalia said and then walked towards a table and, when she got close to the table, saw a laptop she used when she was bored; she sits on the chair, "Let's see what's inside this flash drive."
Sasha looked at Maria. "I don't know what that artifact is, and I don't care either, but one thing I'm sure of..." Her smile widened in a distorted way, "Carlos is looking for this artifact."
Maria reacted a little when she heard Carlos' name, she looks at Sasha and seeing the look on her face, she sighed:
"... I don't regret setting a trap and killing that maid; after all, that was just work."
"..." Sasha looked at Maria neutrally, but pure hatred could be seen in her eyes.
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