When I visited the beastman researcher’s house again, I could hear sounds of life coming from inside.
"Thank goodness, it seems they're home," I said.
"Yes, I was worried that they might be out again, but I'm relieved," replied Sofia.
Would we be able to get any new information about Aisha? With expectations in mind, I knocked on the door.
"Excuse me…"
"Waahhh!!!?"
Crash! Bang!
Right after I knocked, I heard a scream, followed by the sound of something collapsing.
"Huh?"
"What just happened…?"
Sofia and I couldn’t help but stare in confusion. Aisha looked a little frightened.
"Making me wait like this? That's not acceptable!"
Licorice said, sounding a bit haughty.
"What's going on…?"
"I’m sure something happened, but... could it be an accident?"
If that's the case, it could be serious. We should probably check the situation right away.
But if that’s the case, we’d have to force our way in… What should we do?
"Alright, alright, I'm coming out now!"
As I hesitated, a carefree voice came from inside.
Good. Something definitely happened, but it seems like no one is hurt.
"Hello," she said as the door opened, revealing a woman wearing glasses.
She looked very young, about twelve years old. She was short and slim.
Despite her small appearance, she wore an enormous white lab coat, which dragged on the ground. She didn’t seem bothered by it, though.
"Who are you?"
"Ah… I’m the adventurer Fate Steart."
"I’m also an adventurer, Sofia Ascaldo. This is Aisha-chan, and this is Licorice the fairy."
"Hello."
"Ah, thank you for being polite. I’m… oh… oh my!!?"
Suddenly, the woman shouted loudly.
She rushed up to Aisha, staring at her intensely. Her gaze was focused on Aisha's twitching ears and the wagging tail.
"Are you a beastman!? You’re a beastman, right!?"
"Y-yes…"
"Wahhh!!! I can't believe a beastman is coming to my house! This is amazing, this is too amazing! What kind of day is this? Thank the goddesses!"
"Ahh…"
The woman’s energy shot through the roof as she seemed overjoyed, her excitement matching the words "ecstatic" or "wildly ecstatic."
Honestly, it felt kind of strange. Aisha looked a little frightened.
"Um..."
"Ha!?"
I couldn’t help but give her a look of disbelief.
The woman noticed and immediately froze in place.
Then, with a nervous smile, she scratched her head.
"Ah, sorry, sorry. I’m a beastman researcher, but I’ve only seen real beastmen a few times. I just got a little too excited."
"Huh? So, you’re…?"
"I should’ve introduced myself earlier. I’m Lyra Egret, a beastman researcher."
――――――――――
Lyra Egret.
A beastman researcher.
She looks very young, but...
Surprisingly, she’s turning thirty this year.
She’s even more of a mystery than the beastmen.
Anyway...
After introducing herself, we entered her house.
"Wow..."
Lyra’s house was stacked with books here and there.
There were also a lot of unfamiliar tools scattered around.
There wasn’t even enough space to step, and it was so messy that we really had to clean up a bit.
"Ah, sorry about that. I haven’t had any visitors in a while, so it got a bit messy."
"A bit...?"
Sofia's face twitched a little.
"Ah, but I do have some tea. I don’t have cups, so we’ll have to use these beakers instead. Here you go."
"Ah, thank you."
Tea in a beaker... It’s kind of surreal.
However, Aisha and Licorice didn’t seem to mind and immediately took a sip.
They both had content, happy expressions.
Apparently, the taste was quite good.
"So, do you have something you want from me?"
"I wanted to know more about Aisha-chan... or rather, about beastmen in general."
"Hmm? If you want to learn about beastmen, I can tell you all kinds of things. I don’t mind giving a lecture. But first, could you tell me why you want to know?"
"That is..."
Sofia looked at me with a troubled expression.
The reason we wanted to learn more about beastmen was because of the incident with Lena and the Demon Sword.
Should we really talk about that?
"...Sofia, let’s tell her."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I have a feeling that Lyra-san is trustworthy."
"Alright. If you say so, Fate."
And so, we began explaining the series of events.
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