NOVEL NEXT Chapter 142
“…Are you really out of your mind?”
“Ugh… S-sorry…!”
The amplification magic was still active.
So, Adelia… the girl in tattered clothes, was shouting in a fearful voice in the alley.
Dark terror was etched on people’s faces.
Even Pina next to me looked scared of me.
Ophelia had already separated from the group, and Stella was alternating her dumbfounded gaze between me and Adelia.
Still… Yurasia stuck right by my side.
She even took a step forward to shield me.
Of course, it’s just Yurasia…
I gritted my teeth and brushed my face with my hand.
Anyway, they can’t do anything to me here, so should I just smack Adelia a bit?
A couple of hits might relieve my anger.
But… I can’t.
If it were just my reputation on the line, I would have hit her without hesitation, but I… am Eustetia.
This was a matter concerning my mom and dad’s reputation.
Adelia, that crazy woman, knew I would make this choice and caused such a mess.
“…I’ll remember what happened today.”
“Eeeek! I’m sorry!”
Adelia, with her face buried in the ground, let out a terrified voice and quietly whispered. No, it wasn’t a whisper. She spoke directly into my mind.
‘How about I let today slide with a clue? Oh, and please answer by finding the connection to my mana and saying it there.’
‘What if I can’t find the connection? How would you expect me to answer then?’
‘I thought you’d find it quickly, so I suggested that. Hehe. Anyway, what do you think?’
‘What clue are you talking about?’
Adelia raised her head.
Her face was covered in grimy muck, but she was still somewhat cute.
It didn’t seem like a completely different face from her usual one.
Was this her childhood?
But if so… why does she look so familiar?
I stared quietly into Adelia’s red eyes. During that time, I heard her voice.
‘Cartel.’
‘…What?’
‘A clue to get closer to the cartel. It’s at that chicken skewers place.’
“Ha…”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Right. I was looking for a way to approach the cartel. The Holy Kingdom’s movements that Ophelia was investigating were being obstructed by the cartel.
Why do these bastards always interfere with everything I want to know?
Is it a coincidence? Or am I just unlucky?
I don’t know. I just wanted to see the faces of those bastards because I was curious.
But it was exceptionally hard to find them since the cartel was structured as a covert organization.
No, nearly impossible.
Of course, the publicly known owners of the major companies known as the cartel were easy to find. But what I’m looking for isn’t that; I’m after the real owners of the cartel.
I even sent a letter to Sara, but she replied that it wouldn’t be easy to find anything within a short time.
Surprisingly, she implied that given time, she could find something, but I couldn’t ask for her help since I needed to finish the investigation before the break.
And now, Adelia just tossed the clue to me.
‘Aren’t you going to ask how I knew this time?’
‘You’d just say it was because you have sharp eyes, and I wouldn’t know what to ask in the first place. How did you even know I was looking for the cartel?’
‘Curious, huh?’
From an angle that others couldn’t see, Adelia smirked.
I scrunched my face when I saw that expression.
‘Forget it. I’m heading back to the Academy.’
“Hey? Where are you going, Eliaernes?”
I turned right around.
“Back to the Academy.”
“W-what? No… we’re at a chicken skewer place… the club…”
Stella alternated her gaze between Adelia and me, her face pinched with concern. Then she saw the many eyes of the crowd gathering and nodded.
“Right. You’re… feeling uncomfortable. Let’s head back.”
Yurasia walked a step ahead, cautiously keeping an eye on the crowd, while Pina stuck close to me, taking deep breaths.
‘Wait a moment!’
Adelia’s voice echoed in my head, sounding genuinely flustered.
‘Nothing’s wrong.’
‘Got it. I’ll stop teasing you.’
‘Is this some sort of back-and-forth with me?’
‘I know teasing doesn’t work on you.’
‘It’s not that pleasant being figured out like this.’
‘Sorry, it’s just a habit built over a long time. Anyway, can I tell you what I think Eliaernes is curious about when we’re alone?’
‘I’ll choose the date, time, and place.’
‘Whenever you like.’
“Hey, wake up.”
“Y-you mean me?”
I cut off the telepathy and spoke out loud.
The girl in tattered clothes, Adelia, was putting on a performance as she glanced around.
And when she realized it was about her, she tearfully nodded her head furiously.
“Stop just nodding and get up.”
“Yes, yes…! Sorry…!”
“If you say sorry one more time, I’ll rip your tongue out.”
“Th-thank you… I won’t do that again…!”
Adelia rose from her spot.
Stella was flustered, trying to comprehend the situation, while Yurasia remained silently by my side.
Pina was just terrified of what was going on.
From afar, Ophelia was glancing over at us.
And the crowd.
Though their gaze was still fixed on us, everyone looked down the moment I made eye contact.
“Damn it.”
I mixed my overflowing irritation with a curse and strode forward.
The crowd that had slowly begun to close parted once again.
Now that it had come to this, I briefly entertained the mischievous thought of doing this every time I went out with the kids.
But I quickly dismissed it.
Even if I could, Mom and Dad would probably be shocked.
*
“So, this is the problem chicken skewers, huh?”
As Stella shuddered while looking at the pile of chicken skewers on the desk.
“…Are you really okay, Young Lady?”
“What’s wrong with being okay? If I need to discard it, Stella can just incinerate it with magic, so there’s no issue.”
“Hehe… Thanks.”
We bought every chicken skewer at the old shop and returned to the club room.
It was due to Yurasia’s worry that it might be a bit unsettling to feed people mysterious meat and Pina’s silent request that we couldn’t eat the chicken skewers in front of people.
“…I ate chicken skewers here yesterday. It wasn’t chicken, huh…”
And at some point, Ophelia, who had been keeping her distance, joined us on the way back.
It might have been because she wanted to avoid being recognized by people due to her occupation, or something like that.
“Was it tasty?”
And the notorious Adelia Baros.
For some reason, she hadn’t returned to her original form and remained in the form of a girl.
It wasn’t entirely the same, though.
From her tattered clothes and disheveled appearance, she’d switched to the academy uniform and a neat look.
Now, I could confidently say this was Adelia’s childhood appearance.
Yet strangely… it looked familiar.
“Why are you staying in that form?”
“Because this form suits being with all of you better.”
“That’s reckless.”
“It makes me look more charming sometimes when I act recklessly, you know?”
Saying that, Adelia smiled brightly and grabbed her hair to create twin tails.
“With this form, I can do cute twin tails that I couldn’t do in my original form, just like you, Eliaernes.”
Suddenly, a mirror appeared in front of Adelia.
Did she enchant it with some effect? Cute little stars sparkled around it.
“But it doesn’t suit you like it does Eliaernes. How disappointing.”
Ignoring Adelia, I picked up a chicken skewer.
Pina, who’d been clinging to my side, slowly backed away.
“Hey… are you going to eat that?”
“How would I know unless I try?”
“What if it’s human flesh?”
“It’s not, I assure you.”
Stella grimaced as she pulled my arm.
“Ugh… Just wait a moment and don’t eat that yet…”
“Why? Should I offer it to our embarrassing upperclassman who turned away from us instead?”
“Uh… Ophelia-senpai…?”
“Young lady…! That’s a misunderstanding…!”
“See? It’s just that I’m going to eat—”
“Miss! I’d rather eat it myself!”
Thud— Yurasia grabbed my arm.
Then whoosh! In a quick motion, she snatched the chicken skewer and bit right into it.
“Aaaah! Sister!”
“Eeep…!”
“Yurasia, you’re really brave…”
“Oh my… Hehe.”
Chewing— Yurasia, under everyone’s watchful eyes, ate the chicken skewer and tilted her head.
“…It’s tastier than I thought?”
“Uh, really…? Tasty?”
“Hehe…”
“Senpai, what does it taste like?”
“There’s no way it could taste bad.”
She took another bite, munching- Yurasia nodded repeatedly.
“It’s definitely not the taste of chicken, but it’s tasty. But this… smells quite familiar.”
Chewing— gulp—
After finishing the chicken skewer, Yurasia looked at Adelia.
“Professor, do you know what kind of meat this is?”
“Yes, I know well. It’s meat I’ve eaten a lot in the past. One thing’s for certain, it’s not human flesh. I can swear on my existence about that.”
Adelia, who had her arms crossed below her chest, uncrossed them and placed one hand over her heart.
Then, dark mana began to seep into Adelia’s chest.
“Now, how about trying it for yourselves? Stella might have already eaten this meat before.”
“M-me?”
“Yes. Didn’t you say you were searching Gebihenum since you were young? Then it’s highly likely you’ve tasted it before. It’s a common food in the Demon Realm.”
Stella stared wide-eyed and nodded.
“Well then… Yes. I’ll try it.”
Then she picked up a chicken skewer with spicy sauce on it and bit into it.
Following that, perhaps unable to resist her curiosity or because she was certain it wasn’t human flesh, Ophelia also took a big bite after hesitating.
I too took a bite of the chicken skewer.
The intense flavor of the sauce hit first. Then came the charcoal flavor. And after that…
“Ah, this is that.”
I tasted something familiar, not only to me but also to my past life.
All eyes were on me.
Even Adelia, in her student form, was enjoying her chicken skewer with a pleased expression.
I casually remarked to them.
“Harpy meat.”
Harpy. A type of mid-tier monster.
It has a glamorous name and should look pretty, but it’s actually horrifying.
After all, the harpy is also known by another name.
A human-faced bird.
A creature with the body of a chicken and a disturbing head mimicking a human face; it’s bound to be horrifying.
However, it tastes fantastic.
Of course, you don’t eat the head, only the body.
That body is several times larger than a human, but I couldn’t eat it because it wasn’t available during my time.
Rumor has it that harpies even went extinct because of us.
“…H-harpy…? Ugh…”
But that’s not how things are today with the kids.
Stella was the first to dash outside.
Following that, Ophelia, who had spit everything out, ran out after her while Yurasia covered her mouth, gagging.
And Adelia looked a bit surprised.
“You know the taste of harpy?”
“…One of the Eustetia Knights bought some for me once.”
“From Gebihenum to Eustetia Duchy?”
Adelia gave me a suspicious look.
Yurasia also looked shocked but quickly dismissed it as she got over my words.
“Nowadays, it’s not hard to find such storage artifacts. But the taste of this, wow.”
Nom nom—
I bit into the chicken skewer once more.
And then I realized why Adelia had fed this to us, no, specifically to me.
“Aha…”
I chuckled and looked at Adelia.
Seeing I understood, Adelia also chuckled softly.