Episode 018.
“I merely handled matters based on decisive evidence and testimony.”
The living legend of the Kingdom of Ersha, Helena Ronain, cut them off in a cold, firm voice.
Seria, candidate for the next Saintess; Arsche, the Agent of the Tyr Order;
and Lurain, the second daughter of the great noble House Argento.
No matter where they went in the kingdom, they were treated as honored guests, but in the Sword Master’s mansion, they were nothing more than bothersome visitors.
Seria said,
“Rain, don’t you have anything? Like, the next head of the Assassin Guild or….”
“Something like the Guildmaster’s prized disciple.”
“…….”
Rain, her face flushed with shame, lowered her head and made her way out of the mansion.
And as she did, she thought,
‘I hate these girls.’
With Tanas gone, it felt as though she had become the target of their torment instead.
She needed to find Tanas as soon as possible…
No,
come to think of it, there was no reason she had to keep going around with girls like this.
If she met him, she would have to pester him to form a party with just the two of them.
If it was Tanas, he would surely understand her feelings.
It wasn’t as if I did anything that bad, was it?
Thinking such absurd thoughts, Rain let out a small sigh.
‘But where on earth did he go?’
A little while later,
even for a Sword Master, openly driving away people with titles like theirs would surely have been a troublesome matter,
but Helena did not hesitate.
Because in her eyes, the girls had begun to look not like heroes, but like accomplices trying to cover up an ugly truth.
“She didn’t seem to know much.”
Lurain whispered softly after they were chased out through the main gate.
Then that meant Seria had been wrong.
They had thought the Sword Master was hiding Tanas’s whereabouts, but her attitude had been consistently along the lines of, “I couldn’t care less.”
“He may be pathetic, but it’s certain he was framed by the demons, so his innocence will be announced soon enough.”
“Of all things….”
Seria swallowed the rest of her words and nervously bit at her nails.
The moment Tanas’s innocence was announced,
what would become of their position, after they had betrayed him?
She didn’t know for sure,
but nine times out of ten, a dreadful future awaited them.
‘I have to find him before that!’
He might be angry,
but wasn’t he the sort of man who would even pretend to die if she told him to?
Though she was worried, she also had something to rely on, and Seria soon recovered her smile.
After all, she was far better than the girls before her.
Even if things went wrong by some chance, Seria firmly believed that she, his childhood friend, would be different.
But then, where had Tanas gone?
He had been a man who contacted her in secret even after she entered the convent. Could something have happened to him?
It made no sense to worry after stabbing him in the back, but Seria’s thoughts did not reach that far.
“…….”
“…….”
The four of them, driven out of the mansion without any particular gain, glanced at one another before heading to a high-end dessert shop near the capital.
It was a place lined with cakes priced at sums commoners would never even see in their lifetimes, but to them, it was everyday fare.
“I’m sorry, but not just anyone can enter— Ah, my apologies! Thank you very much for visiting our main branch!”
In an instant, the clerks rushed out and bowed to them from both sides.
“I’d like some quiet today, so go about your work. Bring us a few of the most expensive items.”
Lurain waved her hand dismissively.
Once they took seats at the most lavish table, Arsche asked in a sharp voice,
“What is going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“I am asking whether an oracle truly came down.”
“Are you doubting me right now? You’re the Agent, yet you’re saying you can’t trust my word?”
Seria replied shamelessly.
Of course there had been no oracle, but no one here had any way to prove it.
“That’s not what I mean. I believed you, which is why I went with you to Ronain’s mansion!”
Arsche looked at the Saintess candidate before her with suspicion.
Everything she had done to treat Tanas harshly until now had been for his sake.
Hitting him,
driving him into deadly situations,
making him carry the luggage,
taking his money and managing it—all of it had been unavoidable.
The more trials a Hero faced, the stronger he became.
With that one belief, she had steeled her aching heart and done those things to Tanas, but…
‘What if there was no oracle?’
That possibility had crossed her mind from some time ago, and so she looked at Seria with cold eyes.
‘It was all for your sake.’
Surely he would understand.
They were comrades who had crossed the line between life and death together for a long time.
She had done it with tears in her eyes, feeling as though she were carving away her own bones…
But what about the other girls?
‘Especially Lurain.’
She had seen Lurain vent her violent tastes on Tanas time and again, so she disliked Lurain just as much as Seria.
If they found Tanas, she would have to consider forming a party with just the two of them.
After all, priests, mages, and rangers were everywhere.
The girls bickered and argued for quite some time before irritably stuffing the desserts the clerk brought into their mouths.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Lurain asked, glaring at Arsche.
“It is nothing.”
At that moment,
they suddenly realized.
The fact that the four of them had never been all that close to begin with.
Now that Tanas, their focal point, had disappeared, they were nothing more than strangers who could split apart at any time without it being strange.
“For now, we should keep it a secret, right?”
“Why ask something so obvious? If we’re found out, we’re all finished.”
The sweet benefits that came with the title of Hero’s Party—especially for Rain, who had no particularly impressive backing—were essential.
“We won’t be found out, right?”
“If nothing unexpected happens, three months at best… We have to find Tanas no matter what within that time. Even if we drag it out as long as possible, it’ll be about half a year.”
They could not suspend the activities of the Hero’s Party for years by making excuses about illness or personal matters.
But the girls were already feeling it.
The power within their bodies was weakening with each passing day.
If that happened, the girls would be no different from ordinary adventurers and mercenaries scattered everywhere. At best, perhaps slightly better.
“Half a year? This is no time to say something so carefree!”
Arsche slammed the table and stood up.
Crack! The wooden table shattered into pieces.
“We have to act more seriously! Strange rumors have already begun to spread!”
Ever since she had been sent flying by the monster’s attack that day,
rumors about Arsche had slowly begun to circulate, so she was more anxious than anyone else here.
The reason she had been able to act so arrogantly until now was thanks to her title as the Agent of Tyr, as well as the reputation that had earned her the name “Arsche the Iron Wall.”
The absence of skill meant Arsche’s ruin.
“I’ve already sent people out to look into it, so don’t be like that.”
Lurain tried to smooth things over, but she looked at Arsche with an unkind gaze.
There was no trust between them anymore.
Perhaps there had never been any from the start.
The gazes they turned on one another were as dry as those cast at strangers.
‘Why did I ever spend time as comrades with girls like this?’
They were people she never would have met if not for Tanas…
Furthermore, even their reason for looking for him seemed to be because of their own interests.
Unlike Lurain, who was looking because she wanted to see him, their motives were far too impure.
‘No matter what happens, I have to find him before they do.’
Lurain smacked her lips inwardly and shook her head.
“Excuse me, heroes, but as for the damage to the shop…”
“Haa, how much could that possibly cost…?”
As expected, there was no dealing with the beggar mentality of commoners, Rain thought as she rose from her seat and tossed a pouch of gold coins onto the floor.
The cost did not matter.
No matter how much it came to, she still had plenty of money. Of course, it was Tanas’s money.
As they left the shop, Seria muttered,
“If you find anything out, let me know. I have matters at the Order, so I’ll be going now.”
“Then I’ll…”
“I’ll take my leave as well.”
As they scattered in different directions, each of them thought,
that she had to find him first.
*******************
In front of the Springfield family’s underground treasury.
In the middle of the night, a group of men appeared before the massive iron door.
At their center, a man draped in a splendid cloak walked with the bearing of a big shot.
“Kuhuhu… The information was accurate. His father is in critical condition, yet he ran away first. As expected, blood will tell, won’t it?”
The reason the Viscount had personally come to House Springfield was clear.
It was because of House Springfield’s heirloom, the [Orb of Earth].
It had many abilities, but this orb was the sole key to controlling the magic stone veins within the territory.
The Viscount, who trusted no one, would only be at ease if he recovered the Orb of Earth personally.
Most importantly, he had spent a long time close to the head of House Springfield and had often observed the treasury’s complex locking mechanism over his shoulder.
“The second key must be used by you, who have almost no mana.”
“Understood!”
“Hurry and open it. Once I have this orb in my hands, dominance over the east will assuredly be mine.”
If he did so, his long-held dream would be as good as half accomplished.
Just as the Viscount was forming a sinister smile,
“It truly happened just as you said it would!”
Torches flared brightly.
Dozens of elite soldiers and adventurers surrounded the area around the treasury.
And at their center, Pricia, wearing a cold expression, looked down at Viscount Gondor with composure.
“……!!”
Viscount Gondor looked around in panic, but his escape routes had already been cut off.
And beside him, the spy who had been guiding them turned deathly pale and trembled.
“As expected, it was you, Beshinem.”
As I stepped out of the darkness and pointed at him, the knights guarding Pricia’s side cried out in shock.
“Sir Beshinem! Why on earth did you betray the family?”
“H-how could this be? Have you forgotten how much kindness the family head bestowed upon you?”
“A disgrace to knighthood!”
The spy, that is, Sir Beshinem, shouted in horror.
“H-how are you here?!”
“I told you, didn’t I? I said he was suspicious.”
I had only given an example, but he had seemed suspicious from the moment he took it personally and flared up on his own.
As Beshinem hung his head in despair, Viscount Gondor brazenly changed his expression and opened his mouth.
“D-do not misunderstand, Lady Pricia! I heard your father was in critical condition, so I was just about to move the treasure to my castle for safekeeping! All of this stemmed from friendship…!”
“Shut that mouth of yours! My knight has told me all about your plan! You truly are a loathsome man…!”
“K-knight? He knew my plan…?”
Pricia glanced back at me.
In her eyes, something beyond awe flickered for an instant and vanished.
“I am innocent, innocent, I say! I came here out of goodwill! Th-that’s right! And even if what you say is true, Lady Pricia, you have no authority to arrest me!”
It was quite funny to see him make excuses after being caught in the act.
“Is that so?”
“Kuhuhu… I don’t know what sort of fellow you are, but you clearly know nothing of the kingdom’s laws. Release me at once, or else…”
When I clapped my hands twice, a middle-aged man carrying a golden seal stepped out from among the crowd.
“Viscount Gondor, stop sullying the honor of the nobility any further.”
He was an official inspector, as well as an acting judge who had arrived in the shortest possible time through a teleport gate.
“Wh-what…! How could someone like you be in a remote place like this…?”
“Viscount, if you feel wronged, speak of it in court.”
“Wh-what is the meaning of this! To think you would dare trap me, a Viscount!”
“It is not a trap, but the lawful execution of justice. A formal trial will be held tomorrow morning.”
The inspector laughed heartily as he had Viscount Gondor and all his party bound.
++
[Scenario: ‘Guardian of Springfield’ - Stage 2 Complete!]
[You have perfectly surrounded Viscount Gondor and secured evidence.]
++
As I watched the scene, Pricia leapt down and ran over to me, taking both my hands.
“Thank you so very much. My knight… If you had not been here, I—no, our family—would by now….”
She looked at me with incredibly heated eyes.
[Pricia Springfield’s Trait has been added!]
Negative Trait: Obsession (Minor)
“…….”
No, this woman’s eyes have gone mad, haven’t they?
##