NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27
BAM!
Pranecia Cathedral’s private room.
A personal space where only high-ranking nobles can come and go, where healing records and secrets are strictly maintained.
Huff
Seeing Stella, passed out with not a single scar left after healing, makes me sigh.
“Sara.”
“Yes.”
“How did you know I was there?”
“Dark Magic and the Young Lady’s Mana were detected simultaneously, so I came running.”
“What about Yurasia?”
“I explained everything to Yurasia, so it’s fine.”
“Yeah…”
Now there’s no thought of hiding anything.
Huff I let out another sigh and looked at Sara.
I expected her to be strong, but I never thought she could detect Dark Magic from such a distance.
“Still, thanks to you, I was able to come comfortably. Thank you. You worked hard.”
The reason I could sneak Stella, who was bleeding profusely, all the way to the cathedral so quietly was because Sara brought a leather satchel.
I put Stella inside it.
Thank goodness she fainted. Really.
“…I apologize for acting on my own judgment.”
“No, it’s fine.”
I patted Sara’s shoulder as she hung her head and leaned back in the chair.
Earlier.
On my way back to our lodgings with Yurasia, I noticed a shabby navy hooded figure.
Two Dark Mages were tailing her.
So, I sent Yurasia off first and followed Stella, and this is what happened.
I was a bit late in trailing the Dark Mages, keeping my distance so they wouldn’t notice.
By the way.
What the heck was she doing wandering around with two Dark Mages, especially one at 4th circle?
“…Are you okay?”
“Me? Yeah. I’m fine.”
Sara’s cautious gaze turned toward me.
“What the Young Lady did was absolutely not a bad thing. It was a Dark Mage trying to harm a person, especially your friend. So, you shouldn’t feel guilty.”
“Ah.”
From Sara’s perspective, she’s probably worried.
A kid who had been cooped up at home all his life waving around a wooden sword just killed someone.
But I don’t feel guilty.
Bad thing? What I did was a very good thing.
I won’t be mentally shaken just because I killed a Dark Mage.
I’ve killed as many humans as demons.
Dark Mages, normal Mages, adventurers, knights.
Humans who weren’t on the Demon King’s side, too.
And those guys were even more wicked.
If they aligned with the Demon King, I could understand, but behaving like that among fellow humans was…
Even I, who had the most troublesome personality among my comrades, thought it was totally crap.
So I killed them. A lot.
So.
“It’s alright. I’m fine.”
“If you say so… I understand.”
Even with my assertion, Sara’s worried gaze didn’t leave.
What can I do? For a while, it’ll probably stay like this, huh.
Chomp!
I smiled and popped a candy I found on the shelf into my mouth.
It’s grape-flavored.
Swirl, swirl!
I rolled the candy around while watching the fainted Stella.
“Was that back alley your home?”
“Probably not. There’s an underground market there, so no one lives in that alley.”
“Underground market?”
“Yes. Sometimes there are decent goods, but most are cheap fakes or illicit items.”
“So it’s a den of scammers? They sell something illegal like drugs?”
“…Yes. They deal in illegal items such as drugs, slaves, and demon corpses. It’s a shady underground market.”
“Hmmm…”
Drugs.
I don’t think Stella does drugs.
She may be a bit foolish, but she isn’t ruined.
She probably just thought it was nice because it was a tad cheaper.
She probably enjoyed it, not knowing she got scammed.
As for slaves, she wouldn’t have the money for that.
The same goes for demon corpses.
“Then what the heck was she doing all the way there?”
And why couldn’t she respond to the attack from the Dark Mages?
Stella is 3rd circle.
And she doesn’t need to chant.
Shadow Lance.
A talent that exponentially accelerates magic activation.
It’s hard to believe that Stella, with such a talent, couldn’t block that awl just earlier.
Of course, the Dark Mages were 4th circle, but the one I killed was a battle mage. A mage who clad himself in magic and fought in close combat.
In fact, I killed him before he could even rush at Stella.
This means only one 4th circle mage was her opponent. While she might not win, she wouldn’t lose this easily.
Betrayal?
Did she know those Dark Mages beforehand?
Or did she have some sort of trust?
Artifact.
Defense.
An artifact enchanted with defensive magic.
“Sara. Usually, are artifacts with defensive magic jewelry?”
“Yes. Starting from necklaces to bracelets, earrings, rings, and so on. They are predominantly made as jewelry.”
“Hmmm…”
I stood up and lifted Stella’s hair. No earrings.
Next, the fingers. No rings either.
No bracelets.
A necklace?
The moment my hand reached for her chest to pull down the ripped T-shirt collar.
“…You, you… what… what are you doing…?”
Stella opened her eyes.
“Ah, I’m just checking something.”
“Huh? Eek, w-wait…!”
Stella, startled as our eyes met from a close distance, pulled the blanket over herself.
I pushed her hand aside and checked the inside of her clothes.
As expected, there were three necklaces.
Is this an artifact? I can’t tell with my own eyes if it’s an artifact or not.
But it must be an artifact.
A kid who’s starving wouldn’t be flaunting three necklaces like this.
I grabbed one of the necklaces and yanked it.
Rip!
Snap! The gold thread fell apart without resistance. It looked like it was gold-plated.
A sigh escaped me.
“What’s this?”
“Um… huh?”
Only then did Stella, who had been hugging herself and blushing, regain her senses.
“Ah… Artifact.”
“Aren’t these artifacts enchanted with defensive magic?”
Stella slowly nodded, her eyes darting around as she tried to understand the situation.
She looked around nervously. When she noticed Sara, she flinched slightly and pulled the blanket tighter but relaxed again after seeing Sara bow her head.
“…Hello. But, wh-where is this?”
“Pranecia Cathedral. Sara. This isn’t an artifact.”
I gave a vague answer and handed the necklace to Sara. Without needing to observe it closely, Sara nodded.
“Yes. It’s cleverly disguised with magic. It’s a low-end trick commonly used by novice adventurers.”
“Apparently so. How much did you buy this for?”
Stella’s face, confused at first, then twisted.
“…Two million Sel for one. Four million Sel for three.”
“What? Why’s the math off? Did you steal one?”
“W-what?! No, I didn’t! They said if you buy two, they give you one for free, so I…”
“Damn it. Why would they give you a two million Sel item for free? Are you an idiot? You once called yourself a genius magician, but that’s definitely not true.”
“Stuff like that!… Ugh… it’s not like that. They were trustworthy. There must’ve been… a mistake. Perhaps that person was scammed too.”
I thought she would get mad and argue, but she just deflated.
“Who did you buy it from?”
“…It’s a secret.”
“I need to know who it was to get the money back.”
“W-what…? Get the money back?”
“You got scammed.”
“Scammed? No, it’s not like that. It can’t be! If I go talk to them, they’ll definitely swap it for something else!”
What is she saying right now?
Is this pure innocence or just plain stupidity?
“…Are you an idiot?”
I intended to say naive, but the words slipped out wrong.
Who cares.
“Y-you… don’t say that!”
“…Young Lady.”
“No, I just don’t get it. Was the person who sold this your parent or something?”
At the mention of parents, Stella’s face twisted again.
That was enough of an answer.
She may not be her real parents, but it seems like a scammer played parental roles.
Did they approach her seeing the name Behrhaigen?
Or was it just that she looked easy to fool?
Both.
Even if I were a scammer, I would have approached a kid like this.
“Alright. You handle this yourself. Now, why did you crawl into the back alley?”
Stella, who had been twisting her face and on the verge of crying, suddenly remembered her purpose.
“Oh? Ah, right!”
Then, after rummaging through her hood, she seemed to find something and relaxed.
“F-first of all… thank you.”
“Sure.”
I’ve been thinking since last time.
She expresses gratitude really well.
Almost like it’s mandatory.
Even in the labyrinth, every time I handed her macarons, she would thank me.
“So why did you go there?”
“…Can’t you just not ask?”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll tell everyone you went to buy drugs.”
“D-drugs?! What are you talking about! That can’t be!”
“I know. But I’ll just say it like that.”
“Who would believe something like that?!”
“There’s no reason not to. Hey, listen. You went into a back alley where underground markets thrive, wearing a hood. And then you learned that Dark Magic was used there. I, the Duke’s Young Lady, of Eustetia am here! But there’s also another witness?”
I glanced at Sara.
Sara, looking troubled, reluctantly nodded.
“So then I asked the persons involved why you were there, but you can’t answer. So what could that mean? You’re afraid of being caught by Eustetia, standing on the front lines against demons, monsters, dark magic, and demon realms?”
GLARE!
In the end, having listened to my words, Stella, unable to refute, clutched the blanket tightly, her eyes welling up.
After a while of mumbling her lips.
She said.
“…Lottery.”
“What?”
“Lottery. Lottery! I won the lottery!! This is… I… w- I couldn’t collect the money because I’m a minor, hick… so I was going to ask the person there for help! Why!!!”
“…How much?”
“Five million Sel!!! Hic…”
“Then, while looking for that, you were attacked by Dark Mages and got a hole in your thigh?”
“Waaaaah!”
Oh my.
Is there really such a pitiful kid?
In my troubled heart, I patted Stella’s back.
“C-can you get the prize for me, Sara?”
“Yes. I will get it right now.”
“Thanks.”
I reached out toward Stella, who was crying.
“Give it to me.”
“Uh… hick…”
Tears falling with a plop, Stella rummaged in her clothes and handed me a crumpled, sweat-soaked piece of paper.
“Is this five million Sel?”
“Yes. 3… 3rd prize. S-Sara, this… I’ll give you a 10%… no, 15% commission. Thank you… hic…”
“What’s with the commission… sigh, just keep it all.”
“W-well…”
“You have to pay for the treatment you received here at the cathedral, right?”
Stella, with her eyes wide and red, tilted her head.
“Uh…? Oh, right… how much is it…?”
“How much did you say it was, Sara?”
“Seven million Sel.”
“Yup.”
“Hic…”
With a hiccup, Stella’s lottery ticket dropped helplessly.