Episode 211
- Flutter!
As I came out of Isollet's room with cold sweat running down my face, the birds that had been around me began to surround me all at once.
"Meow..."
"Heh heh..."
At the same time, a cat doll and a puppy that had bitten my trouser legs began dragging me backward.
"Ow, ow! That hurts! I said it hurts!"
When I flailed my arms at the sudden situation, the puppy that had been whining while dragging me suddenly opened its eyes wide.
"W-woof!"
Then, the fellow started making awkward puppy sounds and ran off somewhere.
"...W-what?"
As I looked at the puppy in bewilderment, someone approached my side and began poking my ribs, so I flinched and turned my gaze to the side.
"M-master..."
Then, Lulu, wearing an anxious expression, came into my view.
"We need to get out of here. This place is strange."
"Huh? What do you mean..."
"Q-quickly..."
Before I knew it, Lulu had grabbed my arm and was dragging me away along with the animals, so I tilted my head in confusion and asked, and her magic eye began to shine ruby-red.
"...Q-quickly."
Soon, Lulu, who had been looking at Isollet's door with her magic eye, suddenly blushed and then spoke with an anxious expression.
"I think we need to get out as fast as possible..."
".....?"
Is Lulu looking inside Isollet's room with her magic eye? If so, I can roughly understand. She might think that the affection I give her could be stolen...
"You might get eaten if you're not careful..."
Lulu's expression as she looked at Isollet's room changed to outright fear.
"Hmm..."
Thanks to that, I, who had been silently dragged along by her, soon frowned and muttered.
"No, still, I think I need to stay a bit longer..."
Unlike the previous visit, my sister is here, and the 'Youngest Saint' is also present and well.
I haven't seen my sister's face yet, and although I left a request with Serena, I still need to investigate a bit about the Youngest Saint...
"Hmm, ahem. Frey."
While I was thinking such thoughts, Irina, who had suddenly appeared from a corner of the mansion, cleared her throat and began approaching me.
"Irina? Where did you go?"
"I-I was looking for my pet dog. I just found him and tied him up outside."
When I asked her, who had disappeared for some reason, she averted her gaze and answered.
"Hmm..."
Soon, she changed her expression to a cold one and walked toward Isollet's room.
- Twitch, twitch.
Then, Irina, who had stopped in front of her door and closed her eyes gently, began twitching the puppy ears that had sprouted on her head.
"You're the one who did wrong... You seduced him first... You said lewd things first... responsibility..."
She, who had been concentrating with her eyes closed for a while, inadvertently muttered the sounds coming from inside the room, then stopped speaking and blushed.
""......."
After a while, the eyes of Irina, who was listening to the sounds, and Lulu, who was looking inside, crossed, and the two quietly nodded.
"Frey, shall we go now?"
Then, Irina approached my side and asked cautiously.
"Master, let's go home. Please pet me when we get home."
At the same time, Lulu began clinging to my side and pleading.
"........"
In such a confusing situation, I held my throbbing head and soon summoned a system window in the air.
Lulu [Conquest Complete]
Details...
"...Hmm."
After that, looking at Lulu who was clinging to my side, I opened her affection level system and carefully activated her details.
[Latent Potential Awakening Complete: Awakened Magic Eye]
"Ho oh."
And only then could I be certain.
The meaning of the affection system's existence lay in 'Heroine's Latent Potential Awakening'.
'No, is that right? For some reason, the proportion of 19+ events seems too high...'
I, who had deliberately averted my eyes from the 19+ event that was shining particularly brightly in the details, soon fell into thought again.
'Anyway, it's amazing. Latent potential.'
It was a fact I had somewhat expected since Lulu suddenly awakened her magic eye, but seeing it with my own two eyes made me feel strange.
"Then, maybe..."
Thanks to that, I, who had been blankly staring at the system window floating in the air for a while, soon tilted my head and fell into thought.
'Do the main heroines also have latent potential?'
It was a story with sufficient possibility, but it seemed I couldn't confirm it right now.
Unlike the sub-heroines' details, the main heroines' details were locked.
"...Hmm."
Like that, I was smacking my lips in regret while blankly staring at Irina who was trying to separate me from Isollet's room.
"Um..."
"Hm?"
Before I knew it, a young girl holding a large teddy bear was standing in front of me.
"U-uh..."
A child who had been walking down the hallway with sleepy eyes and immediately stepped back with a frightened expression upon discovering me.
"...Cardia?"
She was Cardia, Cania's younger sister who possessed the 'Ability of Healing'.
Since I left home with my sister Aria, I hadn't heard news of her, but it seems she moved to Isollet's mansion together with her sister.
"Hmm..."
She was cute, looking like a smaller and rounder version of Cania.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've talked to her much in this cycle.
Well, with just the 'Power of Healing' that she had just awakened, there's no problem with restoring Cania's life force... and since almost all types of life-enhancing effects don't work on me, there wasn't much interaction.
Still, since we're meeting after a long time, should I try talking to this cute girl?
"Um..."
"A-Aria told me not to play with Frey-nim."
However, a firm statement returned from her, who was quite frightened.
"G-go away."
"........"
It seems Aria has perfectly taught her to be wary of men.
"Meow....."
Thanks to that, I was making a slightly embarrassed expression when the cat doll in my coat pocket poked its head out and began looking at Cardia with longing eyes.
'Come to think of it, this cat doll was made by Cardia, right?'
"Meow?"
Thinking that, I picked up the cat doll and said while gently shaking it.
"This is cute."
"Yes?"
"You made this, right? This?"
Upon hearing those words, Cardia began to wear a bewildered expression.
"I've never made something like..."
- Beep! Beep-beep!
Soon after Cardia opened her mouth, a signal sound came from her bosom.
"...Sister?"
"......."
"Hm? Lower the voice? Okay..."
Cardia, who was receiving the call, suddenly ran to the end of the hallway, then stuck only her head out and looked at me with a wary expression while taking the call.
"What? Why would I... uh, um... I understand."
And after a while.
"Y-yes. I did make that doll myself."
She answered while sweating profusely.
"A-and... don't bully my sister!"
Then, she suddenly closed her eyes tightly and screamed.
"Because Frey-nim bullies my sister so much, she holds her stomach whenever she sees Frey-nim!"
"What?"
"Her stomach gets all tingly! When my sister hurts, I get sad!"
"Uh, um..."
"And, my sister said... not to let anyone get on top of her. Not to let bare skin touch. She said it's really hard to hold back every time... no, I wasn't supposed to say this."
Then, she scratched her head for a moment.
"Anyway, please stop bullying my sister!"
She hastily finished speaking and scurried out of the hallway.
""........"
And then, silence flowed for a while.
"I-I didn't say anything Frey. By the way, it doesn't matter if skin keeps touching..."
In that atmosphere, Irina's expression froze as she spoke in a low voice.
"......."
Because Isollet, who had opened the door that had been tightly closed until just now, was approaching with a fierce expression.
"Huh? Ugh?"
Moreover, for some reason, she was dressed hastily.
"Frey."
After a while, she stood in front of Frey, who was unconsciously wearing a frozen expression.
With a cold expression, she showed him the already crumpled newspaper that a carrier pigeon had left at the window while she was calming her excitement.
- The True Nature of Frey Raon Starlight.
[The Empire's Shining Star, Tainted by Darkness.]
A powerful headline adorning the front page of the 'Imperial Newspaper', which all imperial citizens enjoy reading.
[It was recently discovered that Frey Raon Starlight was closely involved in the 'Slave Market'.
According to the imperial family and the church, this evidence provided by an anonymous informant is quite credible...]
"Is this true?"
Reading through the newspaper that had just begun to be distributed throughout the empire once more, Isollet asked Frey.
"T-that's right. Everything is what I did. Why? Are you disappointed? You are disappointed, right? I'm not even human-like, right?"
Then Frey, who had been keeping his mouth shut with a pale face, blinked his eyes and quietly nodded while answering.
[...Accordingly, the imperial family has ordered a full investigation of Frey for violation of slave laws, child exploitation charges, and possession of a large number of illegal sex slaves.]
Hearing that and reading through the entire newspaper, Isollet quietly crumpled it and threw it away.
"See, Frey. I was right."
Then, she took one more step toward Frey.
"Soon, investigators might burst into your mansion. Perhaps you might be arrested as early as tomorrow."
Isollet, soaked in sweat as usual, carefully extended her trembling hand to Frey.
"S-so... live with me."
After a while, she grabbed Frey's shoulders and pressed her stomach against his, mumbling with her eyes rolled back.
"I'll hide you, Frey. There's a basement, a basement in the mansion. No one will be able to find you there."
"N-noona..."
"I won't let anyone... anyone touch you."
Saying that, she began breathing roughly with her eyes gently closed as Frey, who was pressed against her, started trembling.
"I-it might feel a bit oppressive... but this is all to protect you. I won't do anything strange. R-really. Really."
"Uh, um..."
"I'll treat you well. I'll take good care of you. It might be a bit dark, but I'll give you water and meals regularly... and..."
In Isollet's arms, he was blushing and fidgeting.
"I-I'll be going now!!"
"...F-Frey?"
Taking advantage of the moment she let her guard down, Irina and Lulu pulled Frey back hard, and she ended up letting go of him.
"N-no. I need to lock him up... no, I need to hide him..."
In that moment of Isollet's hesitation, Frey headed to the entrance with the two girls.
"......."
Then, as he was about to leave her house, he ended up facing his sister Aria.
"...Die."
Her one-line review after reading the newspaper distributed in the empire was simple.
"...I wish oppa would just die."
"........"
Frey, who had been dragged out by the animals and girls and stopped for a moment, stared at her blankly.
"...Alright."
Soon, he smiled faintly.
"W-what... is that smile..."
Aria, who flinched for a moment at that smile, tried to say something to him.
"...Take care, Aria."
But without even time to speak, leaving only those words, Frey left Isollet's mansion.
""........"
Like that, a long silence settled over the mansion.
"Coo coo!"
".....?"
In that silence, a pigeon with a dumbfounded expression flew to the mansion's window, and Aria tilted her head.
For some reason, the pigeon that had not followed into Frey's room and disappeared somewhere had finally come to fulfill its role as 'the church's carrier pigeon' after a long time.
"W-with this... I need to devise a plan. I need to secure Frey somehow. I need to pro-protect him..."
"Huh?"
Like that, leaving Isollet behind, who was crouching upstairs and blankly muttering, Aria, who received the letter the pigeon held out.
".......Ah."
Soon, began to wear a pale expression.
.
- Shock! Frey Raon Starlight, Terminal Diagnosis?
Not long after the empire distributed a newspaper about Frey nationwide, the church also released a newspaper.
- Saintess Perloche's Shocking Revelation. Frey Raon Starlight has less than 2 years left to live?
For some reason, the news adorning the newspaper's headline instead of Frey's wrongdoings.
- Frey's side dismissed this fact as groundless, but according to various information passed down...
Although it didn't cause as much of a stir as the 'Imperial Newspaper', it succeeded in giving a huge shock to some people.
"........What?"
Rosewin, who was sitting at the entrance of the Starlight mansion with a sullen expression, holding the letters and flowers that Frey had returned in her arms.
"Princess, you're not playing pranks lately, right? That's a good posture. Keep it up..."
"U-uh... uhh..."
"Princess?"
"T-this isn't right... I really didn't intend this..."
Aishi, who had been making calls to the kingdom's wizards all day with a pale expression, and a few others like her.
"Ter... terminal?"
"What should I do... what should I do..."
That day, despite being early winter, was an unusually warm day.