Episode 109
"...This is driving me crazy."
After Perluce crawled into my embrace and the cabinet door closed, darkness enveloped us.
"I, I'm scared!"
I was sighing and waiting for the people who had entered the restroom to leave quickly, but Perluce started trembling violently in my arms.
"Scared... scared... scared..."
"Calm down."
"Hua, huaah..."
At first I thought she was being dramatic as usual, but when I carefully looked down at her face, that didn't seem to be the case.
Her face was pale and she was breaking out in cold sweat—exactly the state right before panic sets in. I've experienced it many times in the previous iteration, so I can tell at a glance.
'...Right. Perluce was afraid of the dark, wasn't she?'
Perluce absolutely detests dark and enclosed spaces.
Of course, I also really dislike dark and enclosed spaces, but if I have to endure it, I can force myself to... but even though Perluce has quite high mental fortitude, she's on the verge of panicking.
"First, calm..."
I was reaching out my arm with a worried expression toward her, but then I stopped my movement and quietly bit my lip.
Perluce still doesn't know my truth.
Therefore, I shouldn't treat her well.
"Stop whining and get a hold of your—" "Uhek."
So I deliberately changed my voice to be cold and whispered low, but Perluce buried herself in my arms.
"Please hold me..."
"What?"
"I said hold me because I'm scared..."
Perluce buried her head in my chest and pulled me tight.
A dark cabinet inside a men's restroom. A man and woman entangled in that small space embracing each other—any third party would think it was quite a compromising situation.
"...Uggeuk."
Of course, that's assuming Perluce isn't trying to crush me with her tremendous monstrous strength.
"Ah, s-sorry..."
"Keep your voice down."
Only after hearing my groan did Perluce release the embrace, and when I put my finger to my lips, she looked at me with her characteristic blank expression.
"Ah..."
".....?"
Then Perluce's eyes suddenly went dazed.
Of course, Perluce making blank expressions or having dazed eyes is something that happens often, but that's limited to during class or when getting lectured by Clana.
But why is she suddenly like this?
"Hmm, aah."
"...What's wrong."
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
When I tilted my head and asked, Perluce answered with a smile.
"Frey! But!"
"...I said keep your voice down."
"Frey, but..."
When Perluce suddenly started speaking in a raised voice, I put my finger to my lips to caution her, and she leaned her face toward me and started whispering.
"Something keeps touching below my stomach since earlier."
"...What?"
"Did you put something in your pocket?"
As she said that and reached her hand downward, I urgently grabbed her hand.
"Why are you doing that?"
"...Just wait a moment."
I was sweating profusely and trying to pull my body back, but the cabinet was so narrow that I only ended up more entangled with Perluce.
As I was stuck not knowing what to do, Perluce whispered with a pure smile.
"Wow, it's moving!"
"...Shh."
"It's amazing, what on earth is this?"
Feeling guilty as I watched Perluce tilt her head in confusion, I suddenly noticed something strange.
'...The air has changed from earlier?'
Not the restroom's smelly and humid air, but a cool air mixed with the scent of blood was seeping into the cabinet.
Frowning at this strange phenomenon, I reached my hand toward the handle with an uncertain expression, but.
"Huh? What is that?"
"Hmm? What..." Ugh.
Perluce, who had been staring blankly upward, put her hand on my shoulder and started wobbling, so I froze.
- Swish, swish.
"Stop tickling my stomach area, Frey! That's bad!"
"N-no..."
- Shaaa...
Thanks to that, I was at a loss, when Perluce started emitting holy power from her hand.
"What, what are you doing!"
"Look at this! There's graffiti here!"
"...Graffiti?"
Worried that light might leak outside the cabinet, I urgently blocked the entrance with my body, and when Perluce pointed at the ceiling and whispered, I raised my head as well.
- Fifteen watchers, two black mages, three swordsmen.
- The key is in the crack below the cabinet.
- I will definitely come to rescue you.
"That's right! This is a code!"
"...Right."
I gave a half-hearted response to Perluce's words as she looked at the graffiti with a foolish expression, but when I saw the end of the graffiti, my eyes went wide.
- Aici left this.
"...The princess of Cloud Kingdom."
Only then could I properly grasp the situation.
This space was probably an escape route prepared by Aici, the princess of Cloud Kingdom.
Because Aici's family, who would enter Sunrise Academy in their second year along with Rosewin and the Order's youngest holy knight, are imprisoned here.
'Right, this is exactly why this quest is important.'
The fact that 'royalty' of all people are captured in the slave market is a very serious matter.
It could easily escalate into a major diplomatic issue.
Therefore, it would be natural for the Imperial Family to handle this directly, but frustratingly enough, the Imperial Family is turning a blind eye to them.
Because the profits generated from the slave market bring benefits that far outweigh the economic cost.
Also, the Cloud Kingdom has its own reasons for not being able to reveal that the royalty in the slave market are actually royalty.
Therefore, the Imperial Family and the Royal Family secretly agreed to extract only these royal family members, but on the day before the operation, a problem erupted.
And judging by the graffiti here, that incident is about to happen soon.
- Creaak...
"Huh, huh?"
"...Go out."
Thinking that, I opened the cabinet door and sent Perluce outside.
Sending her out first weighed on my conscience a bit, but since I'm on a time limit and can't use my abilities freely, Perluce would be more useful, so there shouldn't be a problem.
Also, she had been making things difficult for me by constantly grabbing my shoulder and fidgeting while trying to read the graffiti.
"...Where is this."
After confirming safety, I passed by Perluce and looked around the basement filled with darkness with sharp eyes.
'Scent of blood.'
As I looked around for a while, the smell of blood started wafting from all directions.
It's a smell I've encountered so many times in the previous iteration that now even a whiff makes me sick.
"...Hae, remember remember..."
".....?"
"F-Frey! Where is this?"
Thanks to that, I frowned and covered my nose as I turned around, and Perluce, who had been muttering something, urgently asked with a question mark on her face.
"Please be quiet."
"Yes? What do you..."
"We need to get out of here as quietly as possible."
We've essentially trespassed into this massive slave market.
Of course, if it were just me with my notorious reputation, I could somehow persuade them and leisurely browse the slaves, but the problem is that Perluce, whose face is just as well-known as mine, is accompanying me.
Is there... some way?
"...Aha, the cabinet."
"What?"
"Perluce, get back in the cabinet. Hurry."
After thinking for a moment, I started pushing her, who was standing with a blank expression, into the cabinet.
"I, I'm scared!"
"Shut up and hurry."
I quickly stuffed her into the cabinet before anyone could hear and come, then sighed.
"Go back to that cafe. I'll come find you soon."
"Wait! Where is this place, and you are..."
- Bang!!
Ignoring Perluce who was about to say something in an urgent voice, I closed the cabinet door and muttered with a relieved expression.
"I don't know what this is, but this is unexpectedly going well..."
"Frey! What are you doing..."
- Bang!!
But for some reason, Perluce was still inside.
Extremely flustered by this, I closed the door again without even listening to all of her words, then carefully opened it again.
"I cannot tolerate this behavior! You and I are partners for the second semester..."
Still, Perluce didn't disappear.
"...Close the door yourself."
"What?"
So this time I instructed her to close the door herself.
"I did close it..."
But from inside the cabinet she had closed, only Perluce's blank voice continued to be heard.
"Who's there!"
"Damn it."
I was sighing and wondering what to do about Perluce, when to make matters worse, someone started approaching from afar.
This is... what should I really do?
.
"Hands up! Right now, identify your..."
"Who are you to give me orders."
The guard captain, who had aimed his spear at an unidentified person, started frowning when the man before him instead acted shamelessly bold.
"Don't you know who I am?"
"Who are you?"
"The Empire's greatest scoundrel."
But when the guard captain heard the words that came out of the man's mouth, he made an uncertain expression and started examining him.
"What do you mean..."
"Call the person in charge."
"What?"
"I said call the person in charge."
When Frey spoke again in an arrogant voice to the guard, he opened his mouth with a troubled expression.
"I can't just leave a suspicious person and..."
"Good grief, this is ridiculous."
"...What?"
To him, Frey started speaking with an annoyed expression.
"Top-tier customers like me can examine the slaves before the market opens. You seem to be in quite a high position, but didn't even know that?"
"I do know that, but you haven't received entry permission..."
"Isn't that right?"
As he said that and subtly handed gold coins to the guard captain, he stared at them blankly for a moment, then cleared his throat and spoke.
"Ahem, well... I think I heard that... or maybe I didn't..."
"Surely you would have received word at the entrance?"
"Oh, come to think of it, I vaguely remember. What was it again? That is..."
"Give Frey Laon Starlight a tour of the slaves' condition?"
"Yes, that's correct!"
Whenever he trailed off and Frey handed over money, the guard captain, pretending to reluctantly accept the coins, answered with a smile.
"However, the timing might be a bit short. It's time to go train the newly arrived ones."
"Then introduce me to a guide. I'll give more money when I visit later."
"Understood! I'll speak separately about the permission matters!"
The guard captain who said that and even saluted was about to turn with an excited expression, but then frowned and asked.
"By the way, who is the person next to you?"
"...My companion."
"I see. But their identity..."
When the guard captain reached out toward the person next to Frey, Frey urgently blocked the guard captain and started whispering.
"That person doesn't want to reveal their identity, that's why they're like that. So you don't need to touch them."
"Hmm, I understand that well. But even with Mr. Frey's guarantee whose identity is certain..."
"Understand?"
"Yes, I'll tell the guide that too!"
Frey placed more gold coins in the guard captain's hand, and when he tried to leave with a wide grin, Frey quietly asked.
"What will you use those gold coins for?"
"Naturally, savings! I'll be busy training slaves for a while!"
"Right, saving is a good habit. Store them well."
After hearing Frey's well-wishes too, the guard captain left with a smile so wide it reached his ears.
"...So you can receive your karma."
Watching him, Frey smiled with satisfaction.
The money given to the guard captain was counterfeit gold coins cursed to bring misfortune.
It was Frey's scheme, knowing through obsessive investigation in the previous iteration that the guard captain was a serious miser to a pathological degree.
"Huu..."
After the guard captain disappeared from his sight, Frey sighed and looked at Perluce.
'It actually worked.'
Frey was moved that draping his Robe of Deception over Perluce, who had a blank expression, had worked, and seeing a guide approaching from afar, he spoke to Perluce beside him.
"Don't say a single word from now on and stay quiet. Don't complicate things unnecessarily. Got it?"
"Yes, I understand."
"Good, then... huh?"
When Perluce answered calmly, Frey, who was about to turn away with a sigh,
"What..."
Frowned and asked Perluce.
"...Why are you suddenly crying?"
"What?"
Perluce, hearing those words, answered with a bright smile.
"What are you talking about? I'm smiling?"
"........."
It was an answer with her usual vacant smile, but Frey couldn't bring himself to nod.
"What on earth."
Because her eyes shining in the deep darkness were not smiling at all.
"...What are you hiding, you."
In Perluce's embrace, a torn letter was tucked.
- You know something about the DLC, don't you?
Serena's letter contained in the letter brought by her messenger bird, who had definitely said she came from the Order.
"I don't know anything!"
Perluce Astelléid knows nothing.