Clair's General Store.

Clair, who traveled around the continent collecting antiques, had created a makeshift store to fund his travels.

Just as unique as the many items he had, the general store itself had a peculiar system of mobility.

In the game, encountering his store after the initial visit was purely based on luck.

This also meant that if your luck was bad, you might not even be able to get more assistance from his general store until you saw the game's ending.

Although he was lively and cheerful, the items he sold often had significant effects, but they demanded a high price or would sometimes require payment in another form other than money.

"You must have bought something at Clair's General Store, right?"

Ophelia remained silent in response to my question.

I watched her lower her groveling posture even further, as if she were pretending to be dead, and sighed in frustration.

"It is better to know your place. My patience for the living is not as great as you might think."

"Ah."

Ophelia seemed to recall what my titles were—the Soul Whisperer and a Dark Mage.

I was the only Dark Mage who could conveniently reveal myself and operate openly in the Griffin Kingdom.

Since many citizens still harbored a deep sense of discomfort and fear towards Dark Mages, it was very effective when I needed to exert intimidation.

"If you want to personally experience that death is not the end, you can keep your mouth shut. I specialize in hearing the voices of the dead rather than the living."

"Ha-Hansen! I said I wanted to live with my lover!"

This kind of threat usually made most people spill out the answer immediately.

For ordinary people, the fear of death and the possibility of greater suffering beyond that could be quite psychologically burdensome.

"You bought cohabitation with your lover?"

"I-I paid with my, my daughter!"

"…!"

"Then! I got this tattoo on my chest! For some reason, it’s making the other sex favor me! That's all it is!"

There were several parts among the things she said that had been bothering me since earlier. But for now, it was clear that the Clair's General Store she had visited and the place I knew from the game were different.

Clair's General Store only sells displayed items; he doesn't accommodate vague requests like those.

Due to my silence, she perhaps thought I was contemplating what I should do with her. Thus, Ophelia continued shouting with her head still bowed.

"I-I did have good feelings towards them at the start, but once I didn’t anymore, they died! However, it's really not my doing!"

"…"

"I didn't use any magic! I didn't swing any knives at them! Is it my fault that I simply liked someone and then gave up on that affection? How can I restrain my emotions?!"

Ophelia argued about the injustice she felt. Knowing that she wasn't good at speaking coherently, I needed to untangle the threads within her story.

Firstly, a year ago, Ophelia managed to buy cohabitation with her lover at Clair's General Store.

Secondly, the price demanded was her daughter.

Thirdly, Ophelia once loved these men, but once she lost her feelings towards them, her deceased daughter would appear and kill them. Ophelia's ex-husband and Hansen were both victims of these incidents.

She traded her daughter for cohabitation with Hansen. But once Ophelia's feelings for Hansen died, her daughter appeared and killed him.

Not only that, I also heard there were quite a few other male victims around Ophelia.

There must be many more hidden victims.

It was unimaginable how many men this woman had loved in the past year, only for them to die under the guise of an accident or illness.

But could we charge this woman with murder?

It will not be an easy case.

Even if we somehow managed to connect her to the murders of her ex-husband or daughter, it was difficult to charge her for the deaths of the other victims.

In the end, what this woman did was merely a very natural occurrence where her love for these people cooled off, and the murderer was her daughter.

Even if this case was connected to Clair’s General Store, would it be possible to properly explain its existence in court, when its whereabouts were also unknown?

Perhaps the woman in front of me had calculated this many times before, so even though she had been caught, she expressed herself with a certain confidence.

Ironically, she sometimes spoke with a tone implying she was a victim herself.

Ultimately, we needed to see Clair's General Store or her daughter at least once to resolve the case.

Since finding Clair's General Store was almost impossible, in the end, what needed to be done was…

"Do you know when your daughter will appear again?"

Ophelia nodded in response to my question, but her expression wasn't pleasant.

"S-she only appears when I realize my affection for the person has disappeared! But... I don't have anyone else to place my feelings on right now.”

"Huff."

Investigating Ophelia this way didn't seem very likely to generate any results.

I had no intention of letting this cunning and villainous woman go unpunished, she would eventually have to pay the price, but for now...

To resolve this, we needed to make her fall in love and then let that affection cool.

"Sigh."

I sighed deeply.

Who should take on that role?

This situation had already given me a splitting headache.

Since it wasn't clear how her daughter was going around and killing men, it was difficult to involve a third party for help.

Therefore, for now...

To understand the abnormality of Clair's General Store, which differed from what I knew, and to prevent more innocent victims from appearing in the future, this woman needed to harbor some feelings of affection towards someone, even if shallow tricks were used to invoke it.

"It would have been nice if Deus were here."

"Pardon?"

"I am just thinking aloud."

***"When do women get fluttery over men?"

Ultimately, the part of this case that concerned me most was whether I should tell the truth about Ophelia to the women around me.

Because it meant that I was asking the women who had affectionate feelings towards me about how to court another woman, even if it was for official business.

Even though it wasn't certain that I would be the target of Ophelia's feelings, I knew that merely mentioning this was already an insensible act.

However, I didn't have any skills to steal women's hearts, so I needed some advice.

As I previously said, it would have been really nice if Deus were here.

Or, it would have been nice to have Illuania’s support here. I regretted not bringing her now.

In the end, I could only compromise by using this question to receive some advice while handling things discreetly—not letting these women know about this case.

Suddenly, I realized it had been a long time since I acted cautious around someone else like this.

Anyway, Findenai, Erica, Professor Fel, the Dark Spiritualist, and Stella's eyes all turned to me.

The first to respond was naturally Findenai.

"Did you get shot in the head? "

"..."

"Are you hurt anywhere? Did your head get hit hard during the fight with the Demon Lords?"

It was quite an exaggerated response, but the important thing was that everyone agreed with Findenai’s words.

"What's wrong with you today? If you're feeling unwell, I can go to the infirmary and get you some medicine. Or do you want to rest instead?"

"I-Is it because there’s something wrong with your prosthetic hand?"

Erica urgently approached me and inspected my condition, while Professor Fel speculated that it might be because of her prosthetic hand.

[It turns out even ghosts can shudder. I just got chills.]

[If you are feeling exhausted, shall I give you a massage?]

Even Dark Spiritualist and Stella, who were chatting on either side, looked at me and showed their reactions.

My head started to ache again; the situation had already become complicated before I could do anything significant.

"It is nothing."

I waved my hand, thinking I shouldn't have bothered asking for their advice, but Findenai chuckled.

"When does a man make a woman's heart flutter? Hah! That’s ridiculous. Master Bastard, even you could ask such a question?"

"I never expected an answer from you."

I didn't think I could get an ordinary woman's perspective from Findenai, who was more like a beast than a woman.

She just happened to be nearby and overheard me asking the question.

Then, the short-tempered Findenai raised her middle finger and retorted back.

"You need to chop off at least four Demon Lords' heads to get my heart to flutter!"

"Sigh."

"After all, I’m a very capable woman, you know?"

Watching her pound her chest with her fist made me think of a barbarian or a viking.

Despite having just gone through such chaos, seeing Findenai unchanged made me feel like she was truly formidable.

“When you gave me… the annulment letter?"

"..."

However, when I heard Erica's answer, which she murmured from the side, I realized I had been mistaken.

I should have asked ordinary people if I wanted to know about their views on ordinary relationships. To put it nicely, the people around me were far from ordinary in their sense and taste.

"I've never had that experience."

Professor Fel shyly scratched the back of her head. Considering she spent all day in the lab handling prosthetic limbs, there was no way she had time to meet anyone.

[It was when you saved my soul from the Holy Grail’s flames.]

Stella chuckled slyly and whispered to me.

Their answers slowly delved into memories of what we had experienced together.

I truly made a mistake in expecting good answers from them.

Just when I thought I should have figured this out on my own, the Dark Spiritualist hesitated and responded from the opposite side of Stella.

[I-isn't it when you spend time together that you naturally start to feel fluttery around them?]

"Huh?"

I had just lowered my head onto the desk, but now I slowly raised it to stare at the Dark Spiritualist. She seemed somehow embarrassed about something. She placed her hands on top of her face, which had been covered by a black veil, as if to cover her expression.

"Finally."

From the somewhat normal answer, I managed to gain some insight.