Chapter 57: The Slave Bracelet – Part 3
“Onii-chan! It’s terrible! It’s really terrible!”
“What’s wrong? Why are you in such a panic?”
My younger sister, who had left for an adventure that morning, had returned home in less than an hour, and she was utterly frantic.
“Shifa-chan! Something’s happened to her!”
“Shifa-san…?”
I had no idea what exactly had happened, but judging by Sena’s frantic tone, it was clearly serious. Could it be that Shifa had been gravely injured during her adventure…?
But she’d only been gone for an hour. Could something so terrible really have happened so quickly? No—there was no use in overthinking it.
“Where is Shifa-san?”
“At home!”
I dashed from our house, sprinting toward Shifa’s. When I arrived, a small crowd had gathered in front of her workshop. The local craftsmen were there, along with Anii and Shifa’s father.
And in the center of them all… was Shifa herself.
Yet, by all appearances, she didn’t seem injured at all.
“Shifa-san! What happened!?”
“Geo…”
Shifa turned to me, a slightly awkward expression on her face. She raised her right arm, revealing a bracelet encircling her wrist.
“Uh… a bracelet?”
I was puzzled, not understanding what she meant, when Anii explained.
“…It’s best if I tell it from the beginning. Apparently, she was attacked while she was sleeping last night.”
“What!? Was she okay!?”
“As you can see, she’s fine. The attackers were repelled, and some of them were even captured and handed over to the city guards.”
The culprits’ identities were currently under investigation by the guards.
“Okay, that’s fine… but then, we found this bracelet, which they must have dropped.”
“Could it be…?”
“This is the bracelet,” Anii confirmed, giving Shifa an exasperated look. Shifa lowered her gaze, cheeks slightly pink.
“Why would you put on a random bracelet you found lying around? Are you stupid?”
“…I just…”
“‘Just’ isn’t good enough! There are cursed items in this world, and any adventurer should know that!”
Anii had rarely been this angry. And seeing Shifa look down, clearly ashamed, was something I had never witnessed before.
I asked hesitantly:
“So… this bracelet is cursed?”
“I checked it, and it doesn’t seem cursed. But it is some kind of magical artifact.”
“A magical artifact?”
“I don’t know the specifics. But yes, it seems to be enchanted.”
“Then couldn’t you just take it off…?”
“That’s the problem—it won’t come off.”
“Ehh…?”
Shifa tugged at the bracelet, but it clung to her wrist as if fused to her skin. No one knew what its powers were, making it all the more terrifying.
“But… you caught some of the attackers, right? Maybe you could get answers from them…”
“Of course, we told the city guards. But we don’t know when—or if—they’ll talk.”
Suddenly, I realized something. Perhaps… if I used that thing…
“Shifa-san, wait here! I’ll be right back!”
“?”
I bolted back to my house.
◇ ◇ ◇
“All of them… annihilated!?”
“Y-Yes… and several were captured and handed over to the city guards…”
“What are you doing!?”
I bellowed at my subordinates in frustration. Not once, but twice, they had failed me. I hadn’t realized they were capable of such incompetence.
“I gave you such a perfect plan, and yet—”
“…”
The repeated failures meant that the enemy would now be on high alert. I could no longer rely on my useless subordinates.
“Looks like I’ll have to handle this myself. Give me that bracelet.”
“…Huh?”
“…? What is it? Hurry up and give it to me… no, don’t tell me…”
“W-Well, during the attack, it seems we lost it…”
“Huh!?”
I couldn’t help but utter a strangled noise of disbelief.
“W-What?! Do you even realize how important that bracelet is?! You lost it? You’ve got to be kidding me!”
At that moment, another subordinate burst into the room.
“Wolka-sama!”
“What now? I’m talking to this man—”
“T-The target… the target has the bracelet on!”
“…What?”
Another strange noise escaped my throat.
“She put it on and went into the appraiser’s shop!”
“Is that true…?”
“Absolutely. I checked multiple times.”
The bracelet I had lost during the attack had been picked up and worn by the target herself. Perhaps she had found it and instinctively slipped it on.
Not impossible—the bracelet looked like a simple, beautiful piece. Anyone could be tempted to wear it.
But once worn, it could never be removed.
A stroke of incredible luck.
“Hahaha… hahahaha… hahahaha! As expected of me! They say luck is part of skill!”
I slipped the bracelet of control onto my own arm and immediately headed to the target.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Shifa-san, please drink this!”
Back at Shifa’s side, I offered her the small vial I had brought.
“What… is this?”
She tilted her head at the tiny bottle filled with a rainbow-hued liquid.
“Geo, don’t try to make Shifa drink anything strange.”
“It’s not strange!”
If I explained too much, she might refuse, so all I could do was plead silently: “Trust me.”
Of course, I couldn’t be certain it would remove the bracelet… but it was the only option.
“I trust you… if you say so, Geo.”
“Thank you, Shifa-san.”
“…It’s not some kind of love potion, is it?”
Ignoring Anii’s suspicious glare, Shifa lifted the vial to her lips and drank it in one gulp.
Then…
CRACK!
It wasn’t a physical sound, but it felt as if something had shattered.
“…It’s gone.”
She tentatively removed the bracelet. Where it had once been stubbornly stuck, it now slipped off effortlessly.
“Ooooooh!”
The surrounding craftsmen cheered in amazement.
“It wouldn’t come off before… What did you make her drink?”
Wide-eyed, Anii demanded to know. I revealed the contents of the vial.
“An elixir.”
“…Excuse me?”