Chapter 313: Scream

The summer evening cool-down party had ended, and the various overlapping summer events were all finished. From here on, it was a period of focusing solely on farm work and preparing for autumn.

There would be several events in autumn too, and the inn should be completed by then. I wanted to take a breather, but I couldn’t afford to rest since I had to steadily accumulate NP.

As I was working diligently, a scream came from the villa. It was practically a scream, and the only one currently at the villa was Helena, who was on cleaning duty.

There shouldn’t be any danger inside the villa, and besides, Helena was a capable person. I figured she had probably just seen a bug or something, but I was worried, so I decided to go check.

I didn’t think it was anything serious, but when I entered the living room, what caught my eye was Helena lying on her back. Given that she had let out a scream-like cry, she might have slipped and fallen.

If she had hit her head, it would be serious, so I immediately called for Sheila-san and checked on Helena’s condition. She seemed conscious, but she looked to be in considerable pain.

“Helena, are you alright!? What happened?”

“Ugh, Master… Actually, when I tried to clean Elec and Trick’s house, they fired an electric shock at me. I managed to avoid a direct hit, but I fell in the process…”

Elec and Trick were the names of the two Electric Mice I had received from Chris-san. Until today, Sheila-san and I had been taking turns caring for them, but starting today, the person on cleaning duty was supposed to do light caretaking.

Whether it was because the caretaker had changed, or because Helena had unconsciously done something, I couldn’t hide my surprise since they had never discharged electricity at Sheila-san or me even once.

“They discharged electricity? You didn’t tease them or do anything they disliked?”

“Yes. When I tried to let them out of their hut, they suddenly discharged electricity at me.”

“I see… Well, let’s think about Elec and Trick later. Helena, did you hit your head?”

“No. My head is fine, but I hit my lower back hard.”

It was fortunate she hadn’t hit her head. I was worried about her lower back, but with treatment it should be manageable, and if the pain was severe, we had 【Heal】 and 【High Heal】 magic gems.

Together with Sheila-san, who had rushed over, we treated Helena, and the pain seemed to ease after cooling her lower back. She had developed a light bruise, but Sheila-san judged that it would heal in a few days at this level.

“I’m relieved Helena’s injuries are minor. However, what concerns me is why Elec and Trick discharged electricity at Helena.”

“I don’t understand that either. They’re usually so docile…”

I tried taking Elec and Trick out of their cage, placing them in my palm and petting them. However, they showed no signs of discharging electricity.

It was possible they had emptied themselves from discharging earlier, but even so, they were relaxed enough to lie down.

“We might need to investigate this—it could be dangerous. Besides, if we understand the principles of their electricity, we might be able to make effective use of it.”

“You’re right. Shall we try tomorrow?”

We decided to investigate the following day when their electricity would likely have recharged, and switched to farm work for the rest of the day. We had Helena rest since she had hit her lower back hard. I took over the cleaning, and the day ended.

The next morning. We immediately checked on Elec and Trick.

“Hmm. No change from yesterday. Their electricity should have recharged by now.”

“Toward Sheila-san and me, they’re always like this. They might be on guard and discharge electricity at anyone other than us.”

“It’s worth testing. I’ll go call some people.”

With that, Sheila-san brought Joel-kun, Lua-san, and Brittany-san. Considering the danger of electric shocks, it was safest to have the three active adventurers try.

“So I just need to touch these little ones! The electric shocks are a bit scary, but they’re so cute…!”

“I’m petting them, but nothing’s happening. Do they really discharge electricity?”

“W-wait. They started sleeping in my palm… Sato, switch with me!”

For a moment, Brittany-san seemed a bit flustered, but Elec and Trick showed no signs of discharging electricity whatsoever.

At this rate, the possibility that they discharged electricity because they were surprised by unfamiliar people seemed low, and it was more likely that Helena had unintentionally done something while cleaning.

Or… I couldn’t rule out the possibility that they only discharge electricity at Helena. Helena only looks human, but she’s technically classified as a monster, after all.

I had heard that Electric Mice discharge electricity when they sense danger to themselves. The possibility that they were on guard against Helena as a monster and discharged electricity remained.

For now, it seemed I had no choice but to call Helena and actually verify it.