The Caretaker of Tenants From Another World - Chapter 114 (Patreon)

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Chapter 114

Professor Markel had called in the cavalry.

I cracked open the front door to find four special task force operatives and two netherfolk spellcasters on guard. There were more behind the backyard. My ears twitched to the sound of beating helicopter wings. One had been up there since two nights ago, keeping me awake.

The severity of the situation demanded extra precautions to be taken, or so Professor Markel had told me.

This came in the wake of me refusing to go under lockdown and stay at the military base until the three former Royal Black Guards were found. It would stress out some of my tenants too much. They weren't after anyone else other than Ange, but there was also no telling how desperate they might become in trying to get to her. It also looked like the stress was already getting to some.

"I'll be alright, dear. If anything, it would be safer for you to keep your distance from me," Ange said to Tamara, who was clinging to her from behind as they came downstairs.

"No! Rakka and I are going to protect you, and that's that." Tamara wrapped her arms tighter from Ange's neck.

"Baa!" Rakka bleated the same sentiments.

The succubus gave me a troubled look at the foot of the stairs, then turned a sharp corner into the kitchen.

I shut the door and sighed. When I thought to head in with them, Irapesha made herself known on the second floor.

"Do you have a moment?" Irapesha asked.

"Sure," I said.

Irapesha didn't lead me into her scalding room. It was Remmy's room that we went into. Cresta and Remmy were at the computer, staring hard at the screen as we came in. As I got closer, it turned out that they were facetiming a female elven netherfolk, whose piercing blue eyes flicked to me as soon as I came close enough.

"You must be the caretaker, Akira. It is a pleasure to meet you. Even all the way in Malaysia, your name is spoken highly of by others who hailed from Weyera," the elven woman said.

"Uhh…" I searched the room's occupants for answers.

"Allow me," Irapesha began. "This is Duchess Clarissa Raynard. You may also recognize her name as Captain of the Royal Black Guards."

How could I not recognize the name? Tarcosa had revealed the names to us days ago. The netherfolk before me was the very one who tortured demons as easily as she breathed. Clarissa was the one who led that organization.

She had a light complexion, with skin that was almost glowing. The tip of her right ear had been cut off. Whether by accident or in a fight, I couldn't be sure. Long, brown curls were brushed to one side of her head and cascaded down her chest.

It was Clarissa's unnerving smile that I couldn't shake off.

"Thank you for the introduction, Irapesha, but duchess implies I own territory. My dukedom is now a barren wasteland with a river of lava flowing through it. You may call me simply Clarissa."

"How did you guys even find her?" I asked.

"Four Remmys pouring over three computers can be pretty resourceful," Cresta said, patting her friend on the back.

Dormitories weren't exactly private information, but where each individual netherfolks lived on Earth were. Professor Markel declined to provide that information to us. What good would it do anyway? Yet Remmy managed to dig it up.

Regardless, this was a chance to gain some insight from the mastermind herself.

"By now you probably learned what happened to Jeriah and the others?" I asked.

"Of course. I keep tabs on all of the former Royal Black Guards. It is a shame what Jeriah did to you and your tenants. Hopefully, the other three will be captured with no incident or find a change of heart," Clarissa said.

"Hope? You mean you don't agree with them?" Irapesha chimed in dubiously with a question of her own.

She shook her head. "I have renounced that hatred and dark history of my past. Here in Malaysia, the temples and kind communities here have given me a chance to reflect. At the time, I was vengeful at losing everything. Now, I wonder what it was all for."

If Clarissa had changed, then maybe there was a chance of her helping us. She knew her peers better than anyone else.

"Clarissa, your former subordinates are on their way here. Probably to try and kill Ange like Jeriah did. This isn't going to turn out well for anyone. Can you plead to them to stand down?" I asked.

"If there was any way for me to reach them, don't you think your handler would have found them first?" Clarissa countered in return.

"How about who they are as a person? Anything you can tell us?"

Clarissa opened her mouth but hesitated.

"Please, Du— Clarissa. The demon they seek to harm has found a place here. There are people who love her. A child who sees her as a mother," Irapesha implored the captain.

"And what of all the motherless children in Weyera?" Clarissa asked, then uttered a quiet sigh. "To think, the Bloodtalon makes a plea for a demon's life. Very well. Thane Boldyne is a lupine beast, whose druidic powers allow him to take the form of even dragons. Within the Royal Black Guards, he helped strike fear by—"

"No, I don't mean the kind of magic or strength they had. I want to know about their passions, pet peeves, favorite foods, and random stuff. Surely you kept tabs enough to know simple things like that?" I asked.

Clarissa's eyes narrowed into dagger-thin slits.

"Thane spent much of his time among wildlife such as natural reserves and parks on his caretaker's permission. The fauna was his solace. Saralash is a living slime, much like the one by your side. She was also another alchemical experiment during the war. There's something about milk that she cannot get enough of."

Remmy sat up at the mention of another slime having gone through the same traumatic experience.

What set them apart though was how they dealt with that trauma. Remmy became reclusive and created clones to keep herself company. Saralash became a Royal Black Guard to inflict pain back to her tormentors.

"What about Mercutia?" I asked of the third and last one.

"Mercutia is an elven magister much like myself and Jeriah. Youngest of us all. Poor girl lost her father at the start of the war, then her mother when they were relocated to a refugee camp. She grew up knowing only of loss. I've gifted her puzzle sets for years now. They seem to be the only thing that keeps her calm," Clarissa explained.

Why puzzles?

Before I could ask another question, Cresta started sniffing rapidly.

"What is it?" I asked Cresta.

"I smell magic. Usually I just pass it off as just Rakka, but the scent is different this time," Cresta said.

"Don't let me keep you." Clarissa's ominous smile was the last we saw as the facetime call ended.

We all felt the collective chill run up our spine and raced downstairs, grinding to a halt in the kitchen. Ange closely protected Tamara with wings and arms around her, both of them pressed up against the wall, gazing at the intruder inside our dormitory. Another elven woman, much younger in appearance than Clarissa, with two Chinese-style hair buns on her head, sat on the couch and was in the process of emptying a puzzle of a beach onto the coffee table.

"Mercutia," I muttered under my breath.

"Early cat gets the rat!" Cresta dashed forth before anyone could stop her, but she smashed face-first into an invisible barrier and fell flat on the ground. "Ugu… That's a Tarcosa-level shield you got there…"

Irapesha picked Cresta back onto her feet, then placed a hand on the barrier that encompassed Mercutia.

"You are the magical barrier prodigy. I know the others, but I have only heard of you," the dragonewt said.

"What prodigy? I only manifested my magic after my mom died." Mercutia furrowed her brows and began to put the puzzle pieces together, beginning with the edge frame while grouping up similar colors together.

Habits of a seasoned puzzle-piecer if I'd ever met one.

"How did you get in with all the guards outside?" I asked.

"The fun thing about barriers is that I can keep someone trapped for as long as I want. With how strong my barriers are, enough to rival High-King Tarcosa, the only way you're getting out is if I let you. I can seal you all in completely and watch you slowly suffocate." Mercutia twisted her hand like turning a dial, putting each of us in a barrier.

All of us bashed our fists against the barrier to no success. Even Cresta shredding into it with her claws did little to crack it, Rakka blasted fire and ice magic to no avail, and Remmy couldn't find any opening at all to escape from.

Mercutia even got Ivory, who was fast asleep in the corner as a chair.

"1,200 pieces," she continued. "I'll put the succubus' life to an end once I finish."

"Stop! Take my life, fine. But leave Tamara out. Let her go free!" Ange cried.

I got to think of something before one of us suffocated. But what?

"Okay, Mercutia. You made your point. As a human, there's jack shit I can do to you. That puzzle is mine though. You're really going to take that satisfaction away from me? The least you can do is let me work on it with you," I said.

Mercutia stopped piecing them and thought for a moment, then vanished my barrier. She returned to working on the puzzle, and I gave my tenants a nod to leave it to me.

I took a seat next to Mercutia and was surprised that she dropped the barrier to let me. The rectangular frame had already been completed and most of the colors separated into groups. She worked fast, that was for sure.

"Haven't done a puzzle with anyone since Captain Clarissa gave me my first one. It was a windmill. 300 pieces. We worked all night on it," Mercutia said.

Picking up a random piece left me conflicted. On one hand, I expedited Ange's doom by helping. On the other…

"You have a caretaker, right? Have you tried getting them to help?" I asked.

"She doesn't like puzzles. Calls it a waste of time."

I found where the piece went and quickly pressed it into place. Mercutia fixated on it for a few seconds as if discerning it was the correct spot, then expressed surprise that I actually took it seriously.

As I retracted my hand from the table, I accidentally knocked several pieces to the ground.

"Sorry," I said.

Mercutia went to pick up the fallen pieces, but I seized the chance to stuff one into my pocket, then went down to help her.

"Are you not going to ask me why I house a demon?"

"It doesn't matter why. It only matters that demons have to die," Mercutia promptly answered, causing Ange to flinch.

Harsh.

"You don't even think they deserve a chance at redeeming themselves?" I continued to ask.

"No."

This wasn't getting anywhere, and with each second that passes, the puzzle comes closer to being completed. We were a fourth of the way done when Mercutia paused at a piece in her hand.

"Ange I can understand, and it's clear we can't break through your barriers. I'm the caretaker of this dorm, so you should be able to see how worried I am about everyone. You got me begging here, can I convince you to at least let the others leave?" I pleaded.

Mercutia was for sure about to say no until her stomach growled. Without waiting for a response, I got up to head into the kitchen.

"Do you have… any dim sum?"

"Dim sum?" I repeated, turning around with an eagerness to serve.

"My dormitory is in Shanghai. My caretaker often cooked Chinese food for me. I really like dim sum like phoenix claws and shrimp dumplings," Mercutia said.

I had neither of those, but I did have something similar…

The freezer had a bag of gyoza which I boiled, then pan-fried with soy sauce and chopped garlic to a crispy finish. I could feel her and my tenants' hungry eyes burning into my back.

"Is this jiaozhi?" Mercutia asked as I gave her the plate and a sauce bowl.

"Close. It's gyoza. They're made with a thinner wrap than Chinese jiaozhi dumplings," I explained.

Mercutia's first bite was met with delight. The satisfying crunch was music to my ears. It didn't look like she had made any progress while I was cooking. Likely too hungry or entranced by the smell to do anything.

"What do you say? Worth releasing some of my tenants for?"

The elven woman did the same dial-turn to release all of my tenants with the exception of Ange, whose barrier opening was only large enough for Tamara to escape from.

"Be a good girl and go with them. I'll be alright," Ange assured Tamara.

They hugged each other tightly before letting Cresta pull her out.

"Are you sure you want us to leave?" Irapesha asked me.

"I do. Have everyone pick up a plate of gyoza, too. Tell the officers outside and Professor Markel if he's here to not do anything rash. I don't want another Jeriah incident if I can help it," I said.

The dragonewt nodded. She went to pick up Ivory and exited the dorm with everyone else.

I rested a hand on Ange's barrier, who flashed me a soft smile. She mouthed out the words 'thank you'. Likely because I got Tamara out of here.

"Akira… I got done with my essay. Spoil me with love and food please!" Ines entered the kitchen, yawning into her hand.

A barrier was immediately raised around her and she walked into it.

"Ow— what the fuck?"

"Damn it." I put a hand to my face. "I forgot you were here."

"What the hell do you mean, you forgot?! Treat me as a precious tenant, too! What's going on and who's that?" Ines asked about Mercutia.

"Well… We're sort of in a hostage situation…"

I gave Ines the quick-short of it, and after explaining to Mercutia that Ines was innocent and harmless, she willingly released her.

"Puzzles, huh? I used to love doing these with my abuelita. Don't have the time to put them together anymore." Ines sighed, picking up a piece with a nostalgic gaze.

Mercutia was getting really close to finishing. However, she scratched her head over a missing piece on a wave. The blue color groups were completed, so it must be confusing her that one was gone. Her composure was shaken, and It began to distress her the closer she got to finishing.

"Ines here is in school to become a licensed therapist with a focus on treating netherfolks. You can open up to her," I insisted to Mercutia.

"I don't… I don't need to talk to anyone, okay? Please, just shut up," Mercutia growled.

"Say, how many have you done? Puzzles, I mean," Ines asked.

"Since I immigrated to Earth two years ago, I've completed 5,432 puzzles. This will be 5,433. My last one," she said.

That many?! All Mercutia's waking moments were engrossed in putting puzzles together.

"W-Why last?" I inquired, tossing Ines a look.

"I violated so many rules to get here. They're going to deport me back to Weyera for sure. That's fine. At least I'll leave with the comfort that Earth won't have to deal with a demon threat, and I can continue hunting demons down back home."

"Puzzles aren't fun for her," Ines leaned in to whisper to me. "This is obviously a coping mechanism. It's not healthy, and I can't imagine what might happen if she runs out of new puzzles to do."

What a life. To dedicate so much to fighting demons. It was no way to live at all. That life almost nearly ruined Cresta and Irapesha until they moved on.

Tarcosa, you have no idea how badly you hurt your loyal subjects by sending them here like this. Without the help they desperately needed first. Even if Ange wasn't here, they could never have fully adjusted properly.

"Have you ever considered doing something other than puzzles? Playing video games? Sports?" I asked.

"Finding a boyfriend?" Ines stole glances my way.

"Don't want to," Mercutia said.

Behind us, Ange dropped to her knees and broke out into sweat. She steadied her breathing to a slower rhythm. She was running out of air, and I was getting desperate.

"Mercutia. Ange isn't just a demon. She's my girlfriend. That sheep girl, Tamara, sees Ange as her mother. That's the kind of person you're about to take away from us," I said.

"And what about my mom and dad?! I don't ever get to see them again because of demons like her! God… just… where the hell is that last piece?" Mercutia screamed, growing more and more unhinged.

Taken back by how hurt she looked, I almost wanted to just give it back to her.

Ines grabbed Mercutia by the shoulders.

"Listen to yourself. You put so many puzzles together because it's the only control in your life you have. You don't do anything else because you're afraid of screwing up. It must have been really hard to lose your parents, but you can't let their memory stop you from moving on."

"What do you know? I bet you still have parents to go back to!" Mercutia slapped Ines' hands away and put her in a barrier, then got up to flip the couches over in search of the missing piece. When she couldn't find it, she curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth in tears. "It's not fair… I just want my mom and dad back…"

Mercutia couldn't see it, but Ange mouthed out the words 'I'm sorry' to her before passing out.

"Ange!" I smashed my fists against the barrier that still contained her.

What do I have to do to get through to Mercutia? At this rate, Ines was going to suffocate, too.

Mercutia cradled herself where she sat, sobbing quietly. Her barrier was done. If I wanted to… My eyes turned towards the kitchen where a knife could easily end this.

No. I have a choice here.

"Mercutia, you don't have to let your past control you anymore. You're the one in control. I'm giving this back to you," I said, placing the final puzzle piece back onto the table in front of her.

"You… had it this entire time?" Mercutia wiped the tears from her eyes as though in disbelief that it was there.

"You can finish that puzzle, kill us, then go and probably succeed in killing Ange. Or you can take my hand instead. There's more out there in this world than just piecing puzzles together. Tarcosa, your parents… they wanted more for you. Tamara is an orphan. Her parents died as a result of demons that Ange led to their home, but she forgave the demon that made her an orphan. I'm not asking you to forgive Ange or any demon. I'm asking you, for your sake, to take a chance in leaving your past behind."

"You want me to leave… my parents behind?"

"That's not what he means!" Ines shouted. "But right now, whenever you think about your parents, all you can think about is how you can torture the next demon, or how much you need to finish the puzzle. Remember them, but without all the other shit in the way!"

Mercutia clenched her fists, then unclenched one pick up the puzzle piece in my hand.

At that moment, I thought I had lost. Thought that I had lost Ange and Ines, until Ines fell forward. The barriers were gone.

I rushed to Ange to check on her, but she wasn't breathing.

"You know CPR?" Ines asked.

"Don't you dare fucking die on me, Ange." I laid her flat and breathed into her mouth, then proceeded to perform chest compressions.

It didn't register in my head that a flood of people poured into the living room. Their screams went unheard. Someone touched my shoulder, and I shoved them out of the way to continue performing CPR.

"Get up, Ange. Come on!" I shouted in her face.

Ange's eyes snapped open. She sucked in a deep breath, followed by a coughing fit. I was too relieved to say anything, but Tamara tackled her with a hug. Ange intertwined her fingers with mine, and with the other hand, rested it on Tamara's back.

"Thank fuck…" I tugged on Ange's hand and planted a kiss on the knuckles.

Two netherfolk operatives pushed past us to apprehend the despondent Mercutia.

"Stop. Let her go. I made Mercutia a promise," I said.

Confused, neither of them listened to a single word.

Cresta and Irapesha caught on first, and apprehended them instead, pushing them away along with the task force that were just now trying to come in.

"Akira!" Professor Markel hollered from the back of the crowd. "What is the meaning of this? That netherfolk tried to kill you and your tenants!"

"But Mercutia didn't. She let them go because she's willing to change, and if we're going to punish her, then what example are you setting for netherfolks?" I asked, then turned to face the mourning elf.

Mercutia hadn't put the final puzzle piece. It remained on her palm.

I extended a hand to Mercutia.

"Instead of distracting yourself with puzzles, how about I introduce you to my tenants instead?" I extended a hand to her.