Episode 230
"...Hoo."
After quite a long time had passed, Frey emerged from the bathroom with hollow eyes, pushing open the door and stepping outside.
"......."
The people around glanced furtively at Frey. Though they pretended otherwise, they had been watching Frey's actions closely from earlier.
Nobles were always those who admired and envied those who stood in high places, and because of that, watching someone who had fallen from the highest place was a more entertaining spectacle than anything else.
- Thud, thud...
Whether he noticed the gazes of such nobles or not, Frey lowered his eyes slightly and shuffled forward.
"Ugh..."
Then suddenly, Frey covered his mouth with his hand.
Perhaps the shock from earlier hadn't completely faded, as he panted with a pale expression, his mouth covered.
"...Pft."
"Pff."
The nobles and maids looked at such a sight as if it were pathetic.
Since the rumor that Frey had assaulted Ruby had already spread throughout the world, his behavior merely seemed laughable to them.
- Creak... creak...
"...Ah."
Like that, Frey stood alone trembling amidst the pressure and sneers, whether noticed or not.
"Excuse me..."
When a maid passed by pulling a cart displaying various alcoholic beverages, he stopped her.
"What is it?"
"I'd like to have a drink..."
As Frey reached out his hand and spoke, the maid opened her mouth with a cold expression.
"I apologize. An order has been issued not to provide alcohol to Lord Frey."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes, so please excuse me, but could you step aside?"
At those words, Frey, who had been covering his mouth, made a tearful face.
"Um, then even something with low alcohol content..."
Frey, making an anxious expression for some reason, began to speak as he hurriedly followed her who was pulling the cart away.
"I apologize, I'm a bit busy right now."
"No, that's not it, I mean a beverage..."
"I, I'm sorry. I don't want to get caught up in this."
She spoke in a trembling voice as she pulled the cart forward.
As she said, quite a few nobles were watching that scene. As a mere maid, there was nothing she could do.
"......."
But Frey's heart ached especially.
It was because the gaze of the maid who briefly looked back at him while pulling the cart was cold, and also because he realized that maid had once worked at his mansion.
"...Hoo."
After standing in place for a while with a depressed expression, he slumped his shoulders and headed toward a nearby water fountain.
"Excuse me."
".....?"
And then, a girl who had been watching Frey's miserable appearance and unfair treatment until that moment...
"Please give me some alcohol."
She blocked the path of the maid pulling the cart and spoke in a confident voice.
"...The young miss seems a bit too young to be drinking alcohol."
The one blocking the cart was none other than Glare.
"Ah, no! I like alcohol!"
"......."
"I, I've picked some up from the streets a few times... and stole some from my master secretly... A, anyway I drink it well!"
With her arms crossed and speaking confidently, she might have thought she looked quite brave to herself, but to others, she looked extremely cute.
"This is difficult..."
But that was only from the perspective of onlookers, and for the maid who had to take responsibility, it could only be troublesome.
"Hmm... How about bringing your guardian?"
Therefore, the maid thought slightly.
She decided to use as a shield a guardian that this little girl, who appeared to be a naive noble lady who had just debuted, would be afraid of.
"My master is... probably checking on the hero right now..."
"Yes?"
But there was something she hadn't expected.
"Ah, my master is the Magic Tower Lord."
Glare's guardian was none other than the Magic Tower Lord.
"Ah, um..."
Since she whispered in such a small voice, the surrounding people didn't hear it, but the maid made a flustered expression and began to stammer.
For her, who was not even a lady-in-waiting but a mere servant, the Magic Tower Lord. And the Magic Tower Lord, known to be even more eccentric than Frey whom she had once served, was an insurmountable wall.
"Th, then... what would you like to take?"
Therefore, chewing her lips nervously, she asked in a trembling voice.
"Hm..."
Then, propping her chin with her hand, she looked intently into the ice basket.
"This, this one! And this. And please give me that too!"
"Yes."
"Um, a beverage too!"
"........."
After that, she finally chose the most flashy-looking alcohol bottles and one beverage.
"...Are these really what you want?"
The maid looked at her with suspicion.
"Yes, yes! They're certain! They're my favorites!"
"I see..."
"...Thank you!"
But since there was nothing she could do, she took out the strongest alcohols from the cart and handed them to her.
"Thank you~!"
"...The total is 30,000 gold."
"Gasp."
But hearing the price, she was so surprised she almost dropped the alcohol bottles she was hugging.
"Oh my..."
However, displaying superhuman agility, she succeeded in firmly grabbing them just before they slipped from her embrace.
"Th, thirty thousand... gold..."
Soon, she muttered while breaking out in a cold sweat.
"That's... one meal's worth... ugh..."
Although she had steadily increased the money received from Frey with her master's help, reaching the financial level of ordinary merchants.
Since the memories of struggling in the back alleys remained vivid, she had almost never spent more than a thousand gold.
"...Here."
But after glancing at Frey who was quenching his thirst with plain water at the distant fountain and becoming a spectacle for people, she handed over the money with trembling hands.
"Excuse me~!"
Like that, Glare ran off with the alcohol hugged to her chest.
"Everyone, I have an announcement to make."
"Hm?"
Just as Glare reached Frey and all eyes focused on her, someone entered the hall and began making an announcement.
"The hero party public ceremony will begin soon. Please go and prepare in advance."
After saying that, Isollet, who had been glaring at the surroundings for a while, watched with her own eyes as the people around were intimidated by her force and slipped away one by one.
"You there."
"Yes, yes?"
"The strongest alcohol."
"Yes..."
Then, after catching the maid who was trying to slip out of the hall and ordering the strongest alcohol...
"...Where is Frey?"
She began looking around.
"Um, over there... um..."
Glare, who instinctively sensed danger from her, discovered her approaching and took one step toward Frey who was staring blankly downward.
"Would you... like to drink s-some alcohol with me?"
With a very nervous voice, she asked that.
.
"........."
After Frey headed to the waiting room with Glare, quite a long time passed.
"Everyone, please give a big round of applause!"
"...Ha."
Isollet, who had been searching for Frey for a while, was watching the hero party being introduced on a holographic projection magic device floating in the now empty main hall.
"Four members in the hero party... that's quite a sight."
Since she hadn't yet received the position of hero party commander, she watched the introduction from the audience seats and let out a dry laugh.
On stage were the hero Ruby, the Saintess of Pure White Perlotche, intelligence officer Rosewin, and her new disciple the youngest paladin, totaling four members.
Originally, more than twice that number should have gathered, but for some reason, those who received the summons did not accept the invitation.
Some outright refused, some said they couldn't participate today due to personal circumstances, some couldn't be contacted at all, various reasons.
"Hmm..."
Even in such a situation, Isollet quietly thought as she took in the foolish nobles who were only enthusiastically clapping, blinded by the hope visible before them.
'That hero brat, something's suspicious.'
She tried to investigate what happened earlier, but for some reason, a gag order was issued from above.
When they say "from above," she knew well that for a "higher authority" capable of blocking her, it would have to be one of the Empire's three ducal families, the Imperial family, or the Church directly intervening.
'It's definitely suspicious...'
Then why did they block her investigation? Perhaps they were hiding something?
There must be something she didn't know that had intervened. Otherwise, there was no way to explain this ominous feeling.
- Thump!
Thinking such thoughts, her heart suddenly grew hot as if it were burning.
"It's doing this again."
Lately, whenever she thought of Frey, especially when thinking that she "must protect Frey," her heart kept growing hot like this.
And whenever that happened, a sensation as if something was trying to forcefully break through a blocked area always accompanied it.
"...Tsk."
Because of that, she caressed her heart and thought of Frey who was sitting huddled on the floor with puffy cheeks and hollow eyes.
"That Vener... that bastard..."
She recalled Frey from just a few days ago, who would make mischievous smiles and call her a loser, or throw lewd jokes and provocatively try to seduce her.
And she recalled Frey who, when subdued by her, was so terrified as if he had never anticipated such a thing, even hiccuping with fear.
"I'll be the one... to discipline him..."
That Frey had his stomach struck directly by Vener, his back bent, drooling in her hand.
In that situation, she grabbed Vener's arm and was slapped, even strangled to the point of struggling.
In the end, with disheveled hair, he sat on the ground being slandered by people.
A guy who would get scared and blush at just a little intimidation had suffered such severe treatment.
"........"
The insolent devilish attitude he used to show her was completely gone.
When she entered the room, far from showing his usual insolent attitude, his heart ached so much at seeing him with his head bowed and a defeated expression like a different person.
It was quite an ordeal to watch the child who used to be insolent to her end up in such a state.
"...Anyway, I need to investigate the hero."
Therefore, Isollet, who had been maintaining silence, clenched her fist and muttered.
There were too many suspicious points in this incident.
Certainly, the girl who called everyone earlier said the hero was attacking Frey.
Though she couldn't talk in detail in the confusion, she said he was being crushed.
Yet, why did the hero claim that he had assaulted her? And why were her clothes so disheveled?
Does it make sense that the hero, who couldn't even subdue Frey whom she could easily subdue in a few seconds, was engaged in combat?
And traces of restraint remained all over Frey's body.
Finally, there was testimony that Frey was dry heaving with tears in his eyes.
'It seems highly unlikely, but... perhaps...'
Organizing the information like that, Isollet clenched her hand as a possibility flashed through her mind.
Of course, it was an absurd assumption that even she couldn't believe. But perhaps the truth was something else entirely.
Frey who seemed somehow strange lately. And Ruby who suddenly appeared in the world.
The truth about these two.
- Thud, thud...
Feeling her heart boiling for some reason and her head growing hot, Isollet chewed her lips until they bled for a while.
"Hoo..."
Finally, to cool her head, she took the strong alcohol she purchased and headed to the empty waiting room.
"To think this is the strongest alcohol... not some girls' drink..."
Like that, she entered the waiting room and was about to sit down while grumbling at the low alcohol content.
"Who, who is it...?"
"......?"
Hearing a familiar voice, her expression went blank.
"Ah, it's big sister..."
"Mm."
Before her eyes were Glare sweating cold sweat while sucking on a beverage through a straw.
And...
"Loser sister...♡"
"......."
"Let's make it together..."
Frey had come in, holding strong alcohol with a strange scroll torn and placed before him.
"...What are you saying."
Frey, who had been smiling foolishly at her, shrank back with a terrified expression as she took one step closer.
"Ah..."
He quietly raised his head with the same hollow eyes he had when being slandered by everyone.
"Alibi...?"
He whispered in a timid voice while watching her reaction.
"........."
She didn't know exactly what that meant, but Isollet's eyes, who had been watching Frey, were shaking wildly.
.
Meanwhile at that time.
".........."
Ruby, who had been waving her hand to people from the center of the stage, was quietly sweating cold sweat.
"E-everyone, nice to meet you~"
Among the people gathered to welcome the hero party, faces that were all too familiar were visible.
"...Hehe."
The demon king's battle executives, led by the second-in-command Demirkan.