Chapter 404
Epilogue: Indomitable Fetch
“Hello, Delta! It’s been a while!”
As if to emphasize the rarity of our meeting, Fetch looked quite different from the last time I saw her nearly 40 years ago.
Her vivid hot pink twin-tails and matching pink eyes, the dangerously short hot pink tights accentuating her underboob, were still there, but the biggest change was her aura.
The once pitifully timid energy was gone, replaced by a confident presence that suggested she had been living quite well.
Just looking at the mansion we were in showed that. It had originally been mine before I handed it over to her when I had no need for it anymore, and she had completely renovated it to her taste.
The place was bustling with servants, and I couldn’t help but wonder just how much money she had earned.
“So, what brings you here— Kyaaaaaa?!”
Of course, she wasn’t here for a casual visit or to catch up. I grabbed her twin-tails and yanked her up.
“What on earth are you?”
“My hair! It’s gonna fall out! Save me, Delta! I haven’t done anything yet!”
“Yet?”
“Kyaaaaa! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It was a mistake! I won’t do it again!”
Fetch wiggled like a fish caught on a line. At least she had enough sense not to grab my arm or flail her limbs towards me.
Otherwise, I would’ve tied her up and gotten started.
“I still can’t believe it. Are you really just a regular human?”
“Aiyaiyaiyaiyai! My hair is really gonna fall out!”
“I’m making you lose it because you’re not answering. Depending on your answer, I’ll either bring it back or leave it as is.”
“Waaah! That’s too much— it hurts?!”
I shook her hot pink twin-tails back and forth. I’d felt this way in the past, but she was far from an ordinary human.
She might have been an Easter egg in the now-classic Brightest Darkness series, but she had evidence of being active for a very long time even in the original world.
She even made her mark as a merchant NPC in the final installment of the series. I was really curious about her true identity and why she had been a regular throughout the BD series.
“I even thought the same when I went looking for the golden key.”
She might have lived for over a thousand years. She wasn’t blessed by a goddess like my wives. Even Eclipse had avoided mentioning Fetch’s true identity.
She was certainly a strange woman. The rising curiosity led me to lift her twin-tails higher. Her feet almost left the ground.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! I don’t know what I did wrong, but it’s all my fault! So please forgive me, Delta!”
No matter how much I shook her twin-tails, the only thing Fetch did was scream, cleverly avoiding my questions about her identity. It seemed she had no intention of answering.
If I applied a bit more ‘force’ or made her hair fall out completely, I might get an answer; but I didn’t want to go that far. I was still mildly fond of her.
At least, my curiosity wasn’t strong enough to overcome my mild fondness.
“Whoa… ugh… my hair…”
I finally let go. Fetch, with her hot pink twin-tails all in disarray, looked like she was about to cry.
“Not a single strand fell out, so stop with the dramatics, okay?”
“Sniff… yes.”
She swallowed her fake tears but kept sneaking glances at me. Those tears were proof they were fake. Even after a century, nothing about her had changed.
“So, um… why did you suddenly come to see me…? I have to visit the alchemist soon… I have an appointment…”
The alchemist she mentioned wasn’t Linne but her successor. Linne had lived her life, and the knowledge and memories had been passed down to another apprentice.
I had met a few of them recently, but luckily they didn’t care much about me, unlike Linne, who was a special case. They were too busy focusing on alchemy, having unlimited supply of materials.
I was even a bit startled when one presented me with a perfume bottle said to retain Linne’s scent indefinitely, claiming it was her last invention.
“Still haven’t been cut from your job?”
Seeing Fetch still in charge of supply means she was working quite diligently.
“Despite my appearance, it’s all run on trust and integrity—”
“What’s that?”
“I-I’m sorry! Nothing at all!”
Reflecting on how she attempted to pull a fast one on me from the moment we first met, she knew she couldn’t say that in front of me.
“Anyway, remember why I asked why you came? It’s nothing serious. Actually, it might not be nothing.”
From my pocket dimension, I started pulling out various potion bottles, floating them in the air. As the number of bottles increased, Fetch’s face grew paler.
After lining up the 93 potion bottles, I looked straight into her wide eyes, which were sweating furiously.
“Do you know what these are?”
“Uh, I’m not sure… Ho, hohoho, you aren’t planning to use these on me, are you…?”
“Do you really think I’d mention using these on you?”
“……”
Fetch seemed to realize she misspoke and fell silent. I hadn’t even mentioned anything yet; she was just feeling the pressure.
“Ah, hahahaha! Hahaha! They certainly look like potion bottles! So I thought maybe you would use them on me!”
Somehow, she managed to think of a loophole with that excuse. Despite how ridiculous it sounded, I pretended to be convinced.
“Yeah, they do look like potions. Except that the person who made them is an alchemist.”
“Is… that so?”
“Who do you think I got these from?”
Tok, tok. I tapped the hovering potion bottles with my fingers. Crisp sounds echoed through the room.
“Ha, haha… well, I’m not sure…”
“My princesses.”
“……”
“I got all excited thinking about tea, only to find these inside! I told them I didn’t know what they were, and now I don’t know what potion this might be?”
“Y-yeah…”
“It turned out to be a kind of aphrodisiac. A pretty potent one, too. I almost got into a sticky situation since I didn’t feel any mana and got too relaxed.”
“……”
Everything I pulled out from my pocket dimension was aimed at sexually arousing someone— in other words, an aphrodisiac. It seemed odd that they called me over for tea while dressing a bit skimpily.
“The cheeky plan that those princesses devised has landed them in trouble with their moms, and I came looking for you, Fetch, to ponder who gave these to our adorable princesses.”
Fetch didn’t respond. She just continued sweating profusely.
“Right, Fetch? Aren’t you curious about who gave these to them?”
“Yes! Very curious—”
“Why did you do that?”
“…Hiccup.”
‘D-Did I almost die…?’
Only after Delta had completely left did Fetch let out a long-suppressed sigh. It was an interrogation that drained her mentally, but somehow, she managed to endure with minimal harm.
This was why an image mattered. Delta and Fetch weren’t exactly good buddies, but they weren’t enemies either; they walked a fine line in their relationship.
And Fetch was a woman who knew how to fully utilize that image.
If only the way Delta looked at her had either been more negative or slightly more positive, she wouldn’t have gotten off so easily.
‘Getting too friendly is not good either. If my lie gets exposed, the backlash will be enormous.’
Even if I got caught lying, a few apologies here and there could make him just sigh and move on. That was the ideal level of image to maintain. If it was too good, then that wouldn’t work.
On the opposite end, if her image was too poor, the moment her lie was exposed would be catastrophic. Fetch was balancing precariously on that “good yet bad” line.
“I’m so relieved you let me off easy. For real….”
She definitely knew 100% what was going on. She came knowing exactly who the culprit was, but only gave me a warning and moved on. Fetch wasn’t dumb enough not to realize that.
‘It’s fine. I still have connections. There’s no way I can give up this lucrative business easily.’
To be honest, I had refused at first. I declined the second request too, and even the third time. Knowing how much Delta cherished his daughters, I wouldn’t be crazy enough to get involved.
But despite being refused three times, she relentlessly begged and presented me with an enormous sum of money that I couldn’t possibly decline, leading me to get swept away in this mess a long time ago.
Even a single ‘secret’ deal brought in enough money for me to live lavishly for at least a century. That’s how I came to enjoy this extravagant lifestyle, making it impossible to let go.
‘Besides, they promised to protect me as long as I followed orders.’
Most importantly, there were promises of protection in return for what I gained. No matter how powerful Delta was, he couldn’t do anything to Fetch if his daughters were involved.
“Now, about our next meeting……”
Fetching slightly parted her legs and slowly ran her fingers between her thighs. Then, as if by alchemy, she produced a perfectly unwrinkled piece of paper.
Only Fetch knew where it came from.
“You’re quite impressive. You didn’t think I wouldn’t find out, did you?”
“Ah, n-no… it’s just, um… heh heh…”
“So, who was it this time—wait. Let’s ask something else first. What was it this time?”
“…Cat lingerie.”
“What?”
