Chapter 10: Trustworthy?

“Miss Peleti, do you have some time right now?”

Hearing the voice, Peleti shifted her attention to Elaine.
She hadn’t understood anything the train conductor had been babbling — but the general idea was clear enough:

Compensation.

Simple and crude, yet very effective for the commoners in this train car.

After all, they were all ordinary people.
Who would ever reject money?

“I have some time. Is something wrong?”

“That beastman targeted you specifically, so I need to take a statement from you.”

“Does it… have to be done?”

Peleti instinctively resisted the idea.
Taking a statement reminded her of the night Josuna drugged her — and besides, statements were usually stored permanently in records.

She didn’t know why the beastman targeted her, but that didn’t mean the Tuning Class wouldn’t know.
They dealt with abnormal incidents across the empire — Elaine’s understanding of beastmen definitely surpassed her superficial textbook knowledge.

If Elaine interpreted anything suspicious from her statement — for example, anything hinting she was a witch — she’d be in massive trouble.

She had sacrificed so much to escape that underground basement.
She’d barely enjoyed a few days of freedom — no way she was getting locked up again.

“A statement is a required procedure. It’ll take a bit of time. It would be better if you could sit down… but it seems you don’t really have a place to rest right now.
However, you can come to my compartment and sit.”

Elaine pointed at the collapsed car not far away and smiled faintly.
The beastman’s violent attempt to seize Peleti had, ironically, become a convenient excuse for Elaine to lure her into her compartment.

“Don’t worry. My compartment is spacious. It won’t cause any trouble.”

…Why did that sentence sound a little weird?

It had the same vibe as someone saying “My bed is really big.”

Something felt off.
Very off.
Twenty-out-of-ten off.

She hadn’t shown any weakness, right?
So why was Elaine inviting her into her private compartment?

But refusing would be even more suspicious — avoiding a statement entirely would be the biggest sign of guilt.

So right now, her only option was—

To just go for it!

“Ugh—! So soft~”

The moment her butt touched the bed, Peleti knew one thing:

She was absolutely going to buy a compartment ticket someday.

Why?

Because it was soft~.

Completely different from those hard, inferior seats.
Here, the bed was covered with a snow-white mattress, the fabric was high-grade wool velvet, and simply sitting on it made her entire soul melt.

The compartment was huge.
Peleti estimated that four people could move around inside without feeling cramped.
There were two separate beds, each large enough for her to stand on comfortably.
The sliding door and wall had space built for luggage.
There was a wooden coat rack, bedside tables, a kettle…
It even had a private washing room.

Compared to this, the seat she had earlier was basically a sheet of steel.
Its only function had been: “allows sitting.”

A witch deserves to ride trains like THIS!

Elaine watched Peleti’s satisfied expression from across the table, then took out paper and pen from her suitcase and placed them between them.

Because the incident had happened so quickly, the statement didn’t take long.

She described only what she knew — but omitted the crucial detail that the beastman had been after her specifically.

In Peleti’s eyes, Elaine’s behavior and motives were full of things that didn’t feel right — as if she had some hidden purpose.
Combined with the fact that the Tuning Class was formerly the organization that hunted witches, Peleti could never fully trust her.

“Looks like just a simple attack case.”

All the evidence pointed toward this being a very ordinary beastman assault.
The train’s destination was Faritha, and many prominent nobles traveled on this route — so attacks weren’t unusual.

Even so, Elaine had doubts.

If it was an attack, why wasn’t the train’s engine targeted?
Why go to the rear cars?

They couldn’t have mistaken their target, so…

Had beastman training gotten worse, sending an idiot to die?

It didn’t make sense.

No way it was aimed at Peleti—

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Peleti’s clothing, mannerisms — she was clearly just an ordinary commoner.
Why would beastmen target someone so normal for assassination?

Elaine was definitely overthinking.

“All right, thank you for cooperating. This is my calling card. If you run into any trouble from now on, you can use this to find me. Don’t worry — I’ll definitely help you.”

Elaine set down her pen and pulled out a card stamped with her name and insignia, handing it to Peleti.

It was less like a business card and more like a pass — its main purpose was letting her reach Elaine without obstruction.

A handy thing like this?
Of course she would accept it.
Who knew when it might come in handy.

Seeing that they were done, Peleti stood up to leave.

The seat was incredibly comfortable, yes…
But she also knew she was basically prey on a butcher’s board.
If she could run, she would run.
Staying here only gave Elaine more opportunities to rack up achievements — maybe even to become the first human in eight hundred years to kill a witch.

“Wait a moment, Miss Peleti.”

“What is it?”

Seeing Elaine still had something to say, Peleti sat back down reluctantly.

“I’d like to ask—when you arrive in Faritha, are you planning to find work there?”

“I guess so. Everyone knows the welfare there is great and the pay is high. Most commoners traveling to Faritha are aiming for that, right?”

“Then allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Elaine Shierlin, leader of the Fourth Squad of Tuning Class.
And now, I am inviting you to join my squad as administrative staff. Don’t worry—the salary will absolutely be higher than anything you can find in Faritha.”

Peleti: ???

Girl, have we even known each other for half an hour?

No, right?!

They were complete strangers.
This level of friendliness was way too suspicious.

She wasn’t ignorant about the Church either.
After Josuna became a candidate saint, Peleti had once considered joining the Church too, so she researched its internal career tracks.

Every position had strict requirements — even the lowest-level clerics required light-element affinity, which instantly barred her.

The Tuning Class had even stricter requirements.
Even if they cut those requirements in half, Peleti would still never qualify.

For Elaine to directly invite her…
This wasn’t just bending Church rules.
It was trampling them into the dirt.

Unless…

Elaine already knew she was a witch?
Worried she was dangerous?
So she wanted to lure her to the Church headquarters where they could surround and eliminate her?

Yes.
No matter how she looked at it — too suspicious.

“I know what you’re worried about. Don’t worry — nothing bad will happen.”
Elaine spoke slowly, as though reading her mind.

“All those Church restrictions are for commoners. For nobles above the rank of count, they’re just words on paper — decorative.”

Even so, inviting someone who might not have any clerical experience into the Tuning Class was absurd.
But when Elaine looked at Peleti’s face, all hesitation evaporated instantly.

Yes.
No matter how she looked—

Miss Peleti is absolutely trustworthy.