Ch.290Chapter 290 – Rest and Subtle Checks

It didn’t take long to drive away the holy knights of the Emiris Order.

None of the order’s holy knights who had attacked the resistance were strong enough to face me or Gigas, so while the two of us stood at the front line and dealt with them one by one, the enemy retreated first.

However, considering the possibility that our companions might have been attacked as well, Gigas and I quickly returned to where they were as soon as the enemy withdrew.

Our companions welcomed us as we hurriedly returned.

“Talk about bad timing. Of all things, the Emiris Order.”

“They didn’t come this way?”

“No. And we’re not being watched either.”

Concerned that we might have been followed by the Emiris Order, I asked Sia, who firmly denied it.

With her sharp intuition, I could trust her word.

While I was feeling relieved by her assertion, Domestica, who had followed us, stepped forward and spoke.

Though she was drenched in sweat from using all her strength to keep up with Gigas and me, she stood there calmly as if nothing was wrong.

“In any case, I’m glad everyone is safe.”

“I suppose so.”

Eve quietly responded to Domestica.

“Still, it’s a problem. Beatrice has left her post.”

“Judging by the letter she left, she must have anticipated our arrival to some extent.”

Eve quietly replied, suggesting we had been outmaneuvered.

“It will be difficult to track her like this.”

“Especially since tracking her magical energy itself has failed.”

“Is there another way?”

At my question, Eve and Sera seemed to be pondering.

Then Sera quietly spoke up.

“For now, I don’t have another method… If I could have made a tool for it, I would have done so already.”

“And asking for a new method to be found…”

Eve’s gaze shifted slightly backward.

It was a place that both Sera and I had been deliberately avoiding looking at.

Finally, I slowly turned to look in that direction.

“Why, why, why…”

A dark elf disguised as an elf was crouching and muttering rapidly.

She seemed greatly frustrated by the fact that tracking using her magic had failed.

“What went wrong? It was a perfect plan… perfect magic…”

“Please calm down…”

Chris was trying hard to comfort Vanilla.

A strange scene was unfolding—a goddess comforting a demon.

“Shouldn’t we help her snap out of it?”

“I’m a bit reluctant to…”

Seeing her continue to crouch and mutter rapidly made me hesitant to intervene.

Still, we couldn’t just leave her like that, so I looked at Gigas and asked.

“What should we do in this situation?”

“Leave her be.”

Gigas said firmly.

“Whether it’s research or whatever, when things don’t go according to plan, she gets like that for a while. And this is mild.”

“Mild?”

“When she’s stressed because things don’t go her way and she still has energy to spare, she goes on a rampage.”

“Just like when she’s drunk,” Gigas added.

“So we need to leave her alone until she recovers on her own.”

“So she’s unusable right now.”

At least it was clear that Vanilla couldn’t be relied upon at the moment.

Soon, Sera sighed quietly and said.

“With her in that state, it will be difficult to find another method right away.”

Though Chris was still comforting her, I had a feeling Vanilla’s dejected state would last much longer.

‘What should we do now?’

Even with Vanilla in that state, we still needed to resolve our objective.

As I was quietly thinking about our next move,

Eve and Sera exchanged glances, and then Eve spoke first.

“Kei.”

“What is it?”

As I looked directly at Eve, she glanced at me cautiously and spoke carefully.

“…I’m a bit hesitant to say this, but… if Miss Beatrice is determined not to meet us, I question whether we can meet her at all.”

“She’s already anticipated our moves and acted first. I’m worried she’ll predict our other moves too.”

Eve and Sera expressed their negative opinions.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable with their views, I quietly sank into thought.

‘It does seem difficult to go any further.’

I reassessed the situation.

The tracking method Vanilla had attempted was already anticipated by Beatrice, who had prepared countermeasures, so we couldn’t use it again.

As for other methods, not only would it take time to find them, but Beatrice might have already prepared countermeasures against those as well.

Creating tools wasn’t an option either, since Sera had already indicated it would be difficult.

‘Are we stuck?’

After thinking for a moment, I looked at Chris.

Since divine power was outside Beatrice’s area of expertise, I thought there might be a chance.

“Chris.”

“Ah, yes!”

Chris, who had been comforting Vanilla, responded with a slightly startled voice and came over.

I turned away from Eve and Sera to face Chris.

“Yes, do you have a question?”

“Could you possibly use divine power to find Beatrice?”

At my question, Chris’s expression became somewhat ambiguous.

She glanced behind me for a moment before speaking.

“Honestly, I don’t have any good methods either. There are ways to find people using divine power, but…”

“So there are methods?”

At my eager response, Chris nodded with an uncertain face and said.

“There are, but… if my memory serves me right, they involve either tracking someone with an object imbued with divine power beforehand, or hunting down heretics…”

“…Are there any other methods?”

Chris quietly shook her head.

“In other words, there’s no way.”

“…Yes.”

Chris spoke without meeting my gaze, seemingly feeling guilty.

As I was becoming dejected at the lack of options, Chris seemed to glance behind her again before approaching me.

“Um, Kei.”

“Yes?”

“This might not be worth mentioning, but…”

Chris looked around slightly as she spoke.

“…It’s just a feeling, but I think we’ll meet Miss Beatrice soon… without having to chase after her… as if trying to prevent it would be pointless…”

“Soon?”

“I mean, maybe we don’t need to chase her… maybe blocking it is useless…”

“Hmm?”

Chris said only that before backing away slightly.

Then she hurried past me to where Sera and Eve were standing.

I faintly heard her muttering something like “…even if it’s for Kei’s sake, my conscience still…”

I pondered Chris’s strange words for a moment.

‘She thinks we’ll meet soon?’

More importantly, she said we don’t need to chase after her.

It was as if she knew what was going to happen.

Meanwhile, Domestica approached me.

“If I may suggest, how about changing locations?”

“Locations?”

“You want to meet Beatrice, right?”

Domestica said quietly.

“If so, instead of chasing after her, couldn’t you wait at the resistance base and contact her from there?”

“At the resistance base?”

“Yes. You must be tired by now, so why not rest at our place while you wait?”

Domestica carefully addressed us.

Then Eve immediately stepped forward from behind me.

“That’s absurd.”

Before I could say anything, Eve cut off Domestica’s suggestion.

“The princess has been eyeing our strength since before. I’d rather avoid being used by joining forces with the resistance.”

“She might make unreasonable demands using contact with Beatrice as leverage.”

Sera also stepped forward to support Eve.

As Domestica’s expression darkened slightly, Eve pressed on, determined not to let go.

“Kei already visited your base once and was attacked, and then helped fend off the Order’s attack on your side. Wouldn’t it be more courteous for your side to contact us and bring Beatrice to us, rather than us going to your base?”

Domestica hesitated at Eve’s words.

Then Sera quietly added.

“It’s not that we don’t trust you, Domestica… but we’d prefer to avoid getting too entangled with the resistance.”

“…And we don’t have much time either.”

Chris mumbled, though somewhat hesitantly.

Domestica looked troubled, and just as Eve was about to say something more—

“Now, don’t be too harsh.”

“Sia.”

As Sia joined the conversation, Sera quietly called her name.

“You know well enough that Domestica isn’t a bad person from our time together. I understand nerves are frayed, but there’s no need to corner her right now.”

“…You’re right, I went too far. I apologize, Domestica.”

“It’s nothing.”

At Sia’s words, Eve nodded slightly and apologized.

Domestica quietly smiled and accepted Eve’s apology.

Then Sia smiled at Domestica.

“However, as you know, what they’re saying isn’t wrong either. We have no reason to deeply involve ourselves in your affairs.”

“…That’s true.”

“Well, I understand that being caught between the princess and us must have given you a lot to think about. The person in the middle always suffers the most.”

As Sia spoke with a light wink, Domestica bowed her head.

Her slumped shoulders suggested that Sia’s words had struck a chord with her.

“So to ease your mind as well, I have a proposal. First, have your side contact Beatrice. And I’d like to stay at your camp for today.”

“At our camp?”

“Yes. While we don’t want to get entangled with the resistance, we don’t want to completely sever ties either. Accepting a small favor from your side means the connection isn’t broken. Is that acceptable?”

Domestica, who seemed a bit deflated after hearing our negative opinions, nodded slightly.

Then she quickly asked Sia a question.

“Is that okay?”

“You and Gigas helped them out. They won’t turn us away from staying safely for one night.”

Sia nodded in response to my question and said.

Then she spoke in a secretive voice.

“Actually, I’d rather avoid resting on the road or in the mountains today.”

“May I ask why?”

With our magic carriage equipped with sufficient living space, there wasn’t much inconvenience in resting there.

In fact, staying at the resistance camp might be more uncomfortable.

So I thought there must be a reason for her wanting to avoid it.

And I was right, as Sia looked at me and began to explain.

“The Emiris Order attacked the resistance today, right? But there’s no guarantee they were all there. Some remaining holy knights might be searching for you.”

As Sia said, there was no guarantee that the holy knights Gigas and I had faced at the resistance camp were all of them.

Without knowing their exact numbers, we couldn’t rule out the possibility that some were searching for us as a separate detachment.

“Of course, if they come, we can just repel them…”

Sia added lightly, then smiled and said.

“But being constantly on alert is tiring, so if there’s a safe place where we don’t need to exert ourselves, I think it’s better to stay there for a day.”

“I see…”

As I trailed off, thinking about what Sia had said, she seemed to think I understood and continued.

“Besides, we’ve been traveling day and night to track Beatrice. It would be good to let everyone rest properly in a safer place for at least one day.”

“I understand.”

Sia’s opinion was that we should rest a bit since we had been driving the carriage day and night to track Beatrice.

This also seemed like a valid point.

In fact, Eve did seem a bit on edge, suggesting she might be fatigued.

I nodded slightly, and Sia lowered her voice and said.

“Finally, my real aim is to mislead our enemies.”

“…You want to make it look like we’ve joined forces with the resistance?”

When I quietly asked about Sia’s words, I saw her wink.

Indeed, if we stayed at the resistance base, it might give the Emiris Order the impression that we were allied with the resistance.

Then they would have to factor in the possibility that we were working with the resistance, which might slow down their movements against us.

‘So there are some advantages after all.’

We could rest while contacting Beatrice, and also put some minor pressure on the Emiris Order.

Of course, we would need to be careful that Gabriella and other resistance members didn’t try to use this small connection to draw us in as allies.

We would need to secure guarantees on that front.

“Have you decided?”

“Yes.”

I nodded at Sia’s question and looked at Domestica.

“This is my part now.”

Steeling myself to negotiate carefully, I began my discussion with Domestica.