"Lady Pride, we would never...!"
"Shut up."
One of Mason's companions tried to deny the accusation but Cranberry made him back off by straightening her hand and pointing the baseball bat at his chest.
"I knew that if I stir some trouble you smartasses would bring Mace here and try to get him in trouble!"
The red-haired girl scoffed at them and shook her head.
...even though the only real trouble was her own behavior...
"Those are the adventurers that were in the center of the whole mess, question them if you want - but do that by yourselves!"
She pointed at the shocked Dandelions in the back and grabbed Mason's wrist.
"Mace, we're going to your house! You've been letting others lead you by the nose way too much!"
She complained and pushed past the shocked Envys like an icebreaker, leading Mason away.
"Big sister Cranberry, they are not bad people...!"
The young man tried to explain but the red-haired girl only shook her head and busted through the door, unhinging and sending it flying into the opposite building.
*WHAM*
"...?"
Zombie, waiting by the carts, raised his brow and looked at her in confusion.
"Go with the plan I told you before and join me at the Envy's mansion! No discussion!"
Cranberry shouted at the blue undead, changing her original plan of action on the fly.
"Big sister Cranberry, is that the corpse puppet that wrote me ab..."
"Big sister?!"
Mason looked at the large undead with sparkling eyes of a curious child, while Zombie shook his head, shouting out in bewilderment mixed with anger.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Yeah. You don't have to bother about him for now. He will finish some stuff for me and join us soon enough."
Cranberry explained and nodded at Zombie, making a serious face.
"Now's not the time to chit-chat - we're leaving!"
"A-ah, okay, big sister!"
The red-haired girl commanded and rushed up the street basically dragging the handsome young man with her.
"..."
Zombie was staring after them even after they disappeared from his sight.
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist so hard that the bulging muscles of his left arm ripped the sleeve of his shirt.
"Big sister Cranberry, I'm really happy that you came all this way to visit, but truth to be told it's not a good time... Ah, go right behind the fountain - you're still bad with directions, huh."
Mason shy voice would grow louder only momentarily - when he was giving Cranberry directions.
"Really? What's going on?"
The red-haired girl asked offhandedly turning right as she was told while trying to ignore an annoying trait that the system tried to push on her.
She wasn't lost - she never truly went to the Envys' mansion.
"Some people from the branch family were killed during an important mission for my aunt, and father got really angry at her..."
Manson explained.
"Haa...? Mission for your aunt you say?"
Cranberry smirked, confidently pushing past other passersby with no remorse whatsoever.
"Sorry for that, mister! Sorry, aunty! Y-yes, big sister Cranberry, but, could you be a little more careful? You made that man fall onto a crate of tomatoes..."
Manson was hurriedly apologizing to the victims of the Cranberry's on-foot-road-rage and trying to keep up with the conversation at the same time.
"Whatever, those looked half-rotten already."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})The girl just shrugged her shoulders and didn't even bother to look back.
"Tell me, Mace. That aunt of yours doesn't happen to have a daughter around ten years old, does she?"
She asked innocently.
"Ah! She does! Do you remember her? A few years ago I wrote you about it!"
Mason face lit up when he started talking about his family.
"I have a little cousin, her name is Plum! But until recently I've never seen her in person before, I've been told she has been very sick since she was born. Those people from the branch family who died, did so while securing the cure for her."
The tips of Mason's ears seemed to drop a bit when he made a sad face talking about the deceased again.
"But on the bright side, the mission ended up a success! The cure was delivered and little Plum is all good now! She looks very different than her mother... She's super cute though and has amazing long black hair! I'm so jealous about her looks~!"
Even though jealousy should be a negative thing, both his tone and happy face were sending a completely different message.
"Ah~ I see! That's amazing news!"
Cranberry nodded and looked both ways on the crossroad while making a mental note that the girl looked different than her mother...
...The guy she interrogated had said that they were told to kidnap the elf that was the daughter of the one who already got her beauty stolen, to make sure that the familiar resemblance was kept - but it clearly looked like, the low-level grunts from the branch family were lied to...
"Right?! Keep going straight, big sister."
"Alright."
Mason instructed and the red-haired girl nodded in acknowledgment.
"Both the sickness and the medicine sound like a big deal. Did they had to take that cousin of yours to some special place to administer it?"
Cranberry slowed her peace and was now walking arm to arm with Mason, giving him way more attention than the young man ever received from his family...
"They sure did! Plum arrived at our house wearing some special robe that was blocking off sunlight and was brought to the basement by my father! The medicine was already placed there before. Everything must have gone smoothly because only about half an hour later father and Plum got out of there and she was all good!"
...so of course, Mason couldn't stop himself from spilling every little detail that he thought was interesting.
"That's amazing! But isn't it too dangerous? Using the basement of your own family home as a medicinal facility?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Cranberry asked furrowing her brows.
"That's what I said too! And let me tell you something even weirder! It seems like the sickness that Plum had isn't all that rare! I've overheard her mother and my other aunt worrying about how Plum is handling everything, and how hard it was for them when they were in her position!"
Mason leaned in and whispered conspicuously.
"It seems like this sickness might be hereditary or something! That would explain why I'm banned from even getting close to the basement. Maybe others are worried that I will contract it too or something?"
He wondered.
Cranberry raised her brow and tilted her head.
"You're telling me that you weren't sick and never been in that basement?"
"Yes."
She confirmed with him and begun studying his face carefully.
Mason was handsome, but not otherworldly beautiful like the other members of his family, even those from the branch families.
At the same time, those people were definitely the ones stealing the beauty of the elves...
If the brown-haired young man was really telling the truth...
Cranberry's suspicion from before was confirmed while another one rose in her mind as her eyes ended up at Mason's pointy ears.
Every other member of the Envy family that she met up until then, no matter how beautiful, always had round ears...
"...hee... is that a part of the secret~?"
Cranberry muttered to herself with a mischievous smile.
"Big sister...?"
Mason looked at her with his big, innocent eyes.
"I want to see that secret book collection you've written me about~!"
Cranberry answered smoothly and hastened her peace again.
"Let's hurry!"
She cheered leading Mason towards the roof of the impressive mansion peeking out from above all the other buildings.
