—-Before dawn. Inside Alice’s bedroom, the small dog Kou, came out from under the sheets, jumped off the bed after pulling the sheets over Alice. After dinner last night he had slept here, instead of inside the rearing room.

[Well then, first things first, let’s gather some information.]

The first thing Kou did, while thinking about the adventurer teachings Elmel and the others taught him, was to gather information, in order to prepare for the next important step. From all the people working inside this mansion, everyone until the head maid, he would meet all the servants and try to understand their thought processes, to finally select who Alice’s allies are.

Kou, who was moving through the room while limping with his front paw, peeked into the servants’ preparation room. This place has a small kitchen and is used for preparing tea, it’s the place where the servants eat their food. It’s also connected to the waiting room where the special servants are.
Inside the preparation room a single servant was preparing tea, I had a feeling I have seen that teacup before.

[Alice’s cup of tea she drinks in the morning maybe?]

Suddenly, feeling the stare the servant turned around, then her eyes met with the small dog´s Fausta´s who looked as if he were peeking through the door with his head. Seeing that lovely gesture the servant smiles and lightly bows her head.

Kou answered by waving her tail back and forth. Thinking that this person doesn’t have any ill will towards the young lady Alice’s pet, he continued observing, then, when the preparations for the tea had been finished, the servant kneeled down on the floor picked up some dust, and threw it into the teacup.

[Oh my……]

Kou, who had checked that person in the suspicious category, went away from the preparation room, he returned to Alice’s bed the same way he left, by walking with his limping front paw. Even though his front paw was in a crippled state Fausta’s body had high specs, so he could just jump on the bed with a pyo~n. Maybe, because of the shaking when Fausta jumped on the bed, the sleeping Alice began to open her eyes.

“N….. Faus…..ta?”
“Woof,” [Good morning.]

Alice, who was stroking the cuticles of her beloved dog with hazy eyes, remembered what happened. Together with waking up, her conscious hardened. When she was talking about the worries she had piled up inside her chest to her beloved dog Fausta, the one who answered was another existence. Tthinking that it might have been a dream, she cautiously spoke out that name.

“…… Kou?”
“Woof.” [Yup.]

Last night, with the help of words and pictures, Kou was able to tell her that he was an existence that had borrowed Fausta’s body and that he wanted to help Alice by finding allies for her.

At first, she was wary of the existence called Kou. When she saw her beloved dog pick up a pen and paper from the table and began to draw pictures and write words, she remembered the rumors of the ‘Demon dog Kou’. She was an intelligent girl so with a little interaction she was able to understand Kou’s situation, and determined that he wasn’t a dangerous existence. At least, that he wasn’t an existence that had any ill will toward her. It seems she was relieved to hear that Fausta’s conscious still existed.

At the time Alice was half smiling because she had confirmed it really wasn’t a dream a servant came in with the morning tea to wake her up.

“Good morning, young lady Alice.”

[Ah, so she already came.]

It’s not as if it’s been poisoned, however, it’s not as if I can let her drink it, knowing that there’s dust from the floor in it. Kou stopped Alice’s hand that was going to pick up the teacup by placing his paw on her arm.

“Fausta?”

When he put his front paw, as if to say don’t drink it Fausta, Kou silently kept staring at the servant. The servant that made a surprised face then had an uncomfortable look on her face. After looking at Fausta, Alice looked at the servant and put down her tea.

“It is alright for today, stand down.”
“Y, Yes…… Young lady.”

The servant backed off awkwardly while her face had become blue from Alice’s glare. Seeing her off, Alice, who looked at Kou wanting an explanation, suddenly had a single sheet of memo paper appear in her hand. On the memo were the words ‘there is floor dust in the teacup’, there was a drawing of a servant-like person picking up something from the ground and putting it inside the teacup.

“…… I see, so that is how it’s like.”

From time to time the inside of my mouth had been a little crunchy, but to think that there was such an hara.s.sment, is what Alice said while being in a depressed mood in the morning. With a poof the memo paper that was on the bed, disappeared and in its place a piece of memo paper with ‘do your best Alice’ written on it appeared.

“Fufufu, I won’t lose. from today onward let us both do our best.”

Alice, who had regained her spirit, smiled at Fausta. Kou went out of her bed thinking it was about time for the maid to come.

By the way, about the transferring method of this memo pad, Kou, who was trying to open the ink bottle, temporarily transports it to the dimension where he resides and then opens the lid of the ink bottle. Then after he takes off the lid, he returns it to its previous position and every time he does, the ink bottle on the desk gets spirited away, it was the method which was noticed by Alice, while retorting on it.

“I do not know what kind of trick you are using, but if you can take the ink bottle with you, why do you not also bring pen and paper?”
[Ah, I see.]

—— Is what happened.

Alice’s father, count Bamisto, has been busy with work and has been out since yesterday for the administrative meeting, her mother has locked herself up in her room, today, yet again, Alice finishes her breakfast without even having seen her parents. It seems it has been years since the family of three had eaten together, without showing it on her face she yearned for the old days. Shaking off such a feeling, Alice, who came out of the dining room, called the butler that was at the door.

“Sebas.”
“Yes, young lady.”

“I want a list of the servants that work for the mansion.”
“That is…… there is a separate book where I can copy it upon, which can immediately be prepared.”

Then do that, and give it to me. After telling him to bring it to her room when it’s done, Alice returns to her own room. The lady Alice has a different air around her than usual. The butler Sebas who had heard of what had happened yesterday in the rearing room, was wondering just what the young lady was trying to start.

Meanwhile, Kou, who was letting Fausta eat inside Alice’s room, was writing on the memo pad on the course of action he was going to take in the future. At the current stage there were only three of which he knew that were in the suspicious category. The caretaker Landon, the gardener a.s.sistant Seldo, and the servant from a while ago. In other words, it’s to wait and see which servants have ill will at the time of the tea party. Anyway, I will go and observe all the people inside this mansion while checking what kind of people they are, but in order for that to happen, I will need to be able to move freely. I will also need Alice’s cooperation.

[The first thing will be to secure a safe zone right.]

First of all, I will have to start with a familiar place, I will have to look into the conscious of Alice’s personal maid to see who is an ally. I will have Alice stay out of her room for the day, then I will go outside of Fausta and float somewhere inside the room, I will ascertain what the servants will do in a room with n.o.body inside it and sort out the ones that can be trusted. Anyhow, because of the wounded front paw, I can’t walk around the mansion in this bandaged body.

It will take about three days to flush out all the people with ill will around Alice, with small changes I will replace the personal maids and servants of Alice with allies. The list of personnel that Alice got from the butler proved to be quite useful. And——

“It looks alright doesn’t it.”
“Woof.” [It does, right.]

“In my absence, please look after Fausta too.”
“Woof.” [Okay.]

Since the pain in the front paw had subsided, the bandage on Fausta was removed, so Kou decided to start the serious investigation. Alice, who had obtained an environment where she could spend her time in peace, seems to have an easier time showing her feelings. Today seems to be the day for the weekly school where the aristocrats go.

Alice visited the raising room for the first time in four days. While going to school, or outside, she will have to leave Fausta at this place. Landon, without having been fired, has been observed since that day. Landon nervously greets the young lady. Inside the small dog, Fausta’s conscious has been put far into the back, so right now Kou is controlling the body.

“Always keep the door of the room open, do not interfere with Fausta leaving and entering.”
“Y, Yes……. I understand.”

“Well then, I will be going Fausta. ”
“Woof.”[Have a safe trip.]

Alice ,who patted Fausta’s head once while smiling made a small wink that only Kou understood, headed to the school for aristocrats.

[Now, Let’s get started.]

Leaving Landon aside, who was wondering what to do, Kou started to take action to investigate by walking through the mansion. Seeing Fausta that immediately left the room, Landon saw him off with a face full of complex emotions.

The maids were cleaning the first hall floor and the butler wasn’t inside the waiting room.

[Yeah, I wonder where he went.]

While Kou was walking through the hall where the servants’ rooms were, a maid, who was cleaning, saw him peeking into the butler’s waiting room and said ‘if it’s the butler-san then he went to the garden’. Of course n.o.body thought that a pet would come to look for the butler. But since it looked like that, it was still tried to call out to him. The maid only said it with a smile because it seemed interesting, but then they saw Fausta go ‘woof’ and headed toward the garden

“Just now, did it understand what I said?”
“Dunno……. but it seemed as if he was answering didn’t it.”
“But, a doggy needing something from the butler-san?”

The maids were nodding yeah.

While moving towards the garden, I met Seldo who had just finished maintenancing the garden. He is an individual that I had checked as suspicious.

“Hey, Fausta. Looks like your paw’s already healed.”
“Woof.”

The att.i.tude he has toward Fausta is always the opposite of how he acts which seemed a little weird, but while I was injured I was always at the young lady’s side. It felt as if a lot of time had pa.s.sed and this was our first time meeting each other again after a while.

“Here have some treats.”
“Woof.”

Fausta waves his tail like always. While Kou was controlling him, he could feels Fausta’s intent of wanting to eat it, so Kou told him ‘it’s bad if you eat this you know’. Is Seldo who gives candy bad? He hesitated. Rather, it might be because the young lady was persistently telling him not to eat things others give him. While he was thinking something like that—–

“Woof woo woof.”[Hey Seldo.]
“Eh?”

“Woof woo woof woof woof woof woo woof.” [You better stop doing things like this.]
“Fausta…..?”

Looking back towards the hallway, Fausta was barking as if he was trying to say something. Even though it was just a small dog’s barking, he somehow felt as if he was being admonished and lowered his head. Fausta’s voice that had Kou’s will infused in them gets unconsciously absorbed by people that hear it. Because he had always looked at the small dog Fausta as a tool for revenge, he became buried with guilt and groaned when he was forced to acknowledge Fausta as a single living being. Actually, he was originally exactly as how he acted and wasn’t the type to do such things. Once he remembers the guilt inside his consciousness, he became an old man who was tormented by endless guilt and became severely depressed.

“……. Lima…… What am I supposed to do….”

Leaving Seldo, who seemed to be thinking about something, Kou exited the garden.

Unlike the large garden in front of the mansion, the back garden was a big place with a calming feeling to it.

[Now where is butler-san?]

While walking amidst the numerous well tended trees flowers and flower beds, Kou felt a human presence in the gap between the fence and the mansion so he went that way.

“FUMO, young lady Alice you say.”
“It somehow got me interested.”

“Impossible, I don’t believe that the young lady would start investigating.”

—Hearing such a conversation, I peaked over the wall and then, I was met with the butler Sebas and the gardener gramps who was putting on a complex face.

[They are talking about Alice?]

Sebas had an understanding of the current situation of the Diretoss house and his heart was hurting by seeing the young lady and the mistress’ situations. The gardener Halbad, who is good friends with Sebas, also moved around a lot because of that, from time to time, the two of them ask each other for advice.

The head of the Diretoss house and the ruler of the land of Kurakaru, count Bamist has a good personality, is a hard worker and is a caring person. And yet why does a certain part of the servant personnel hate him. It’s understood that it is because of misunderstandings and accusations and bad publicity. The two of them were trying to get a hold of the main culprit, however, they weren’t able to find anyone specific.

“I think it is one of the n.o.bles of the executive meeting, but I can’t get a hold of his tail.”
“Because it is a gathering of greedy foxes. If it was poorly handled it wouldn’t end too well for them.”

Because it seemed like a conversation with a lot of important things being said, Kou decided to get closer and made a single step. When he did, without having even made a sound ‘who is it’ the two of them said that, sensing his presence and turned around. They don’t seem to be just a gardener and butler.

“Oh, it is Fausta isn’t it.”
“The young lady had school today didn’t she. Now that I think about it, Fausta was also making strange moves right?”

Halbad told Sebas about the rumors that were going around among the servants about Fausta. Things like; ‘suddenly something appears and it seems to be Fausta observing the servants doing their work’, or ‘if you do anything weird, he reports it to the young lady’. It’s not as if he’s a high level magician’s familiar or something, he said, while shrugging his shoulders.

Kou picks up the butler Sebas and the gardener Halbad’s thoughts and tried to see their true intentions.

—–Fausta needs to grow up quickly, then he will be able to protect the young lady Alice both mentally and physically—–
——It looks as if he has become smart because of something, well as long as he can become the young lady’s strength then everything’s alright—–

[It seems like these guys are allies.]

Without doubt I am able to pick up that these two are the young lady’s allies from their thoughts. While Kou was thinking about gaining their cooperation, Sebas and Halbad felt discomfort from Fausta who just kept staring at them as if he was observing them.

“Hey, is this small dog really the young lady’s pet Fausta?”
“That is how it is supposed to be however….”

Making sure that there weren’t any other people around, Kou moved near the two of them. The action of looking around his surroundings and the way he moved looked humane, their faces had a more and more dubious look on them.

“Alice I want to save, help I want.”

Sebas and Halbad who looked at each other.

“You, just what…….”

“My name Kou, Alice, friend.”

According to Alice’s explanation, he had to find out the abilities and circ.u.mstances of the servants, so Kou had requested the two of them for their cooperation and to provide information.

TLnote: I don’t have a single clue about why he’s suddenly able to talk ._. -Tensz

——- Meanwhile, the school for n.o.bles Alice goes to.

Alice is enjoying her conversations with her good friends. To Alice, who was brighter than usual, her friends thought something good had happened and became interested.

“Hey young ladies. Is everything going well?”
“If all of you are okay with it, how about having dinner with us? Next times too, if it’s possible.”

“Well to say something like that, in a place like this.”
“What disrespectful gentleman.”

The young ladies were going ‘KYAAA KYAAA’. This is a normal occurrence that happens near the n.o.bles’ school building. For the young ladies, who were normally bound by etiquette rules, the freedom of interaction the school allows becomes a good breather for them.

“Alice you will come too won’t you?”
“Ah, Sorry. I have something to take care of today so I need to go back home quickly.”

Alice says that and apologizes, then after she had refused the invitation to the dinner she made preparations to return home. Even though she usually seemed as if she didn’t want to go back home, her good friends began to whisper to each other that as expected something good did happen.

Arriving at the carriage, Alice had put her impatient feelings in order. I want to quickly return and talk with Fausta Kou about the problems inside the mansion. Because she was able to make a clear ally and get a clear target, the dark clouds that were over Alice’s heart had been swept away. Overflowing with the will to live, it made her mood good and excited.

“…….UFUFU. To think I would experience such feelings, even if I thank him it won’t be enough.”

Alice felt elation to the things she hasn’t felt the past few years.

——-

TLNOTE:
Naaawhhh, isn’t that cute?!
Happy birthday for Re:Translations (21st of June)~
As a present, another Spirit chapter will be upped tomorrow~! (Giving presents is always better than receiving eh?!)

P.S
It was actually our plan to release 2 chapters today because of the anniversary and stuff….
But well, I received this picture:

along with the text; “I’m sorry, I’m too lazy! I’ll send it tomorrow!”
The sender so happens to be the most important guy of this group…
Now who might’ve sent it?
Also, in his defence, if the roles were reversed, the same would’ve probably happened :v

Woops, it seems the wall of text is now at the bottom of the chapter instead of the top ._.

-Tensaiz