Because the Truth Will Always Come Out

Rotten was pacing anxiously around the house when the knock he’d been waiting for reached his ears.

Ttokttok-

He opened the door right away. It was Taranta, the Green Magic Tower Lord, Rotten’s long-time friend whom he had been waiting for so eagerly, and his only remaining friend. Taranta greeted him with a bright smile.

,I’m surprised you contacted me first.”

Taranta sat on the sofa, and Rotten, flustered, knocked things off the table onto the floor as he brought over a squirrel statue.

Rotten placed the squirrel statue on the table, and Taranta looked at Rotten with a puzzled expression.

,I found it…! I’ve finally found the cure for the Stone Thorns Disease!”

At Rotten’s shout, Taranta asked back with surprised eyes.

,What…?”

,Look.”

Rotten sprinkled the cure he took out of his pocket onto the squirrel statue on the table. The statue cracked, and the squirrel, which had turned to stone, slumped onto the table in its clean, original form.

,Re, really? Is it alive?”

Taranta asked, looking at the squirrel that seemed like it would move at any moment.

,No, sadly. If the petrification has completely progressed, it’s already dead, so that’s impossible.”

Having said that, Rotten cleared away the squirrel’s corpse and this time brought a live squirrel bound by vines.

,I’ll tell you why this cure is so amazing.”

Rotten, wearing protective gloves, pricked the living squirrel with a thorn taken from the Platinang flower.

As the small arm pricked by the thorn turned into a stone statue, Rotten once again sprinkled the cure on the small arm that was turning to stone.

Then, the arm where the petrification phenomenon had been occurring returned to its clean state as if nothing had happened.

,Like this, if you sprinkle the cure while the petrification phenomenon is in progress, not only does the petrification phenomenon stop, but it also gains immunity.”

Rotten pricked the squirrel with the thorn again, but the squirrel only felt pain and no petrification occurred.

,You really made a cure… Amazing, Rotten. You did a really good job.”

At Taranta’s words, Rotten’s legs gave way and he slumped onto the sofa.

,…53 years, 4 months, and 11 days.”

,What is…?”

At Taranta’s cautious question, Rotten answered with a bitter smile.

,I’m talking about the time I started researching after losing Rael.”

Rotten couldn’t hold back tears of joy.

Every day, he made promises to Rael that he couldn’t keep, saying that he would be able to find a cure tomorrow.

He failed countless times, became frustrated, and promised himself tomorrow.

And finally, after 53 years, 4 months, and 11 days of effort, he was finally able to keep his promise.

,Finally… I kept my promise.”

Taranta got up from the sofa and hugged Rotten, who was shedding tears.

,You’ve worked hard. You’ve devoted your whole life to research to keep your promise with Rael… I believed you would find a cure.”

At Taranta’s words, Rotten sobbed like a child, even though he had lived for decades.

The expectation that he would find a cure while he was alive had disappeared a long time ago.

It was just research that had become a goal in life, so he had no choice but to keep challenging himself out of obligation.

The humiliation, frustration, sense of inferiority, loneliness, etc. All the emotions that had hardened in Rotten’s heart for decades, leaving deep scars like thorns, flowed out in tears and disappeared with the happiness of keeping his promise with Rael.

Because of that, what kind of expression Taranta was making as he looked down at himself crying.

Rotten didn’t know.

***

It was the weekend, and I went straight to Modist.

,Is the report ready?”

I was expecting it to be information that would surprise Rotten, given the promise that it was amazing information.

The woman wearing the cat mask placed a report on the table.

As I reached out to pick it up, the woman held out her hand to stop me.

,Just a moment.”

The woman, taking out another report, added.

,This is an additional report that I investigated. It was a very difficult investigation.”

,Is that so?”

,If you want to see this report, you have to sell one more piece of information to match the price.”

I was a little surprised at the woman’s words. Investigating Rotten’s acquaintances was this expensive.

,You’re not ripping me off, are you?”

,Of course not. We, Modist, would never do such a thing to a customer, especially ‘Lily’.”

As I spoke suspiciously, the woman handed over a paper comparing the value of the investigation details and information about Fenrir, as if she had been waiting for me to say that.

Thinking that she was indeed a useful information merchant, I slowly read the paper.

Reading the paper, I found one strange thing in the investigation details.

,Why did it cost so much to investigate Rotten’s lover?”

,Because she’s someone from about 50 years ago, there are few records, and she’s the most important person in this report. I had to pay a high price to other information guilds.”

I felt a strange sense of unease at the woman’s words.

,Okay, you’re saying it that way, so I can’t not sell the information.”

Just as I was about to tell her about the nobles who followed the Order that I had prepared in advance, the woman suddenly asked.

,Can we say what we want this time too? Ah, of course, we’ll give you a generous price.”

I didn’t expect Modist to ask for something, so I nodded with a curious mind.

If I heard it and it was disadvantageous to me, I could just refuse.

I decided to accept this opportunity to see what Modist thought of me.

,Okay, tell me.”

,How much do you know about Rosaline, the top student in the Alchemy Department of Transcendence Academy, 2nd year?”

I was so flustered by the woman’s out-of-context question that I staggered greatly.

Could it be that someone had requested information about Rosaline? Rosaline was an important help to Roel in the future. If someone was targeting Rosaline, I had to stop them.

,Why, why are you asking that?”

As I asked with a wary voice, the woman hurriedly answered as if making an excuse.

,Ah, don’t misunderstand. It’s just that a family among Rosaline’s friends asked us to investigate whether it’s okay to befriend her.”

Fortunately, it was different from what I had expected, so I was able to let out a sigh of relief.

,If it’s Rosaline, the top student in the Alchemy Department, I know her well.”

She was a character I had set up and an important character. The setting book was filled with detailed settings such as Rosaline’s likes and dislikes in food and her habits, so I couldn’t forget even the smallest things.

,Really…?”

I scoffed and answered at the woman’s actions of asking with a seemingly suspicious voice.

,Yes, I know everything about what Rosaline likes, what she dislikes, and even her minor habits, so don’t worry.”

I had a setting book, so my voice was full of confidence.

,Then do you know what her favorite food is?”

,Spicy things. In particular, she likes spicy lobster.”

Whether it was a test or not, the woman nodded and immediately asked.

,What else?”

,She also likes fruit. She likes sour things, so she often eats lemon or orange-flavored candy.”

After that, the woman asked me about minor things about Rosaline.

Whether she was really investigating to see if Rosaline was someone worth befriending, she didn’t ask about Rosaline’s genius alchemy.

At that point, I was able to cleanly erase even the last bit of doubt.

,…I think this is enough.”

,Really?”

I was rather surprised by the fewer questions than I had expected. It didn’t seem like this was more valuable than Fenrir. It must have been true that they were giving me a generous price.

,Yes. I think I know enough with this.”

She seemed to have said something with a meaningful meaning, but I didn’t understand what it meant. Fortunately, I was wearing a mask, so my stupid expression wasn’t revealed.

,Here is the report you purchased.”

I had great expectations as I checked the two reports that the woman handed over on the table.

After checking the reports several times for a long time, I asked with a trembling voice.

,I, is this report true…?”

,…Yes. We cross-validated it several times, and we found and confirmed it with a person who is still alive.”

At the woman’s actions of kindly finding the statement written in the report and pointing at it with her finger, I forgot that I was wearing a mask and inadvertently swept my face, almost dropping the mask.

,I see…”

Bewilderment, confusion. Such emotions filled my head without rest. It felt like someone had hit me in the back of the head with a hammer from a completely unexpected place.

,…Good work.”

Leaving those words behind, I took the report and left Modist.

After checking that no one was following me, I went into an alley where there were no people and put the report, mask, and cloak into the space warehouse.

Looking at the sky covered with dark clouds that seemed like it would rain at any moment, just like my head filled with confusion, I leaned my back against the wall.

Should I tell Rotten this ugly truth? There’s an old saying that what you don’t know won’t hurt you.

I couldn’t easily take a step because I was worried about whether it was right to be nosy.

If I were Rotten, would I have been grateful for being told this fact?

I looked up at the quickly flowing dark clouds and pondered for a long time, but I couldn’t find an answer.

In the end, I decided to meet Rotten and decide what to do.

Even if I decided to tell the truth now, I might not be able to open my mouth when I actually saw Rotten’s face.

I borrowed a horse and headed to Turning Village with a heavy heart.