Chap 45-I Knew She Would Do That Someday

 

“Come to think of it, the Princess went to Schperen for a tour.”

“We need to go too, though.”

Talon sighed deeply.

He didn’t know how things had turned out this way, but they had to go and meet the students of Schperen.

“But do we even have a reason to go to Schperen?”

“Schperen has a lot of foreigners, so it’s about making our presence known to some extent.”

With the Princess going, the hero party couldn’t be left out.

More than anything, this trip to Schperen was also about managing public sentiment towards the hero party, especially since the next generation of nobles from the Empire would be there. It was good to win them over now.

The war’s end was uncertain, but as long as the Hero was from the Kingdom, the relationship with the Empire was important.

“Well, our situation isn’t very good right now.”

“What do you mean not good? We’re still doing fine. We advanced to the Demon King faster than any Hero in history.”

Kayla said, proudly puffing out her chest.

Talon looked at Kayla and sighed deeply.

Who was it that made that advance possible?

Talon had decided to kick out the thief Sien himself, but he didn’t underestimate his achievements.

It was Sien who paved the way to the Demon King.

“Who was that thanks to?”

“That damn thief. Yeah.”

It was all thanks to Sien.

The hero party wasn’t weak. But the Demon King decapitation operation, which aimed to capture only the Demon King, owed a great deal to Sien’s power.

Sien killed countless members of the Demon King’s Army with his galaxy-like threads.

The Four Heavenly Kings were tied up in the Empire or elsewhere, so breaking through the front lines wasn’t difficult.

Now that he thought about it, he had some memories with that thief.

Yes. Memories.

-You fucking bastards, I’m selling all the remaining tents from now on. One tent for you to screw in is enough, right?

-The Holy Woman is useless, and the three of you combined couldn’t last 3 seconds against me.

He was always confident and didn’t hesitate to criticize the hero party, whom others didn’t dare to treat carelessly.

Of course, the thief Sien was a member of the hero party, but only unofficially.

He was like a porter who joined them a few times in between.

That was so annoying.

He didn’t know his place and made all sorts of harsh remarks.

Looking back now, it was quite plausible.

-Uh, Hero, your accommodation fee is overdue to Sien.

-Helia, we’ve been providing potion support to the hero party at every Magic Tower branch.

-What did you do with all the Holy Water we sent?

After he left, the hero party was hit with inconveniences they hadn’t known about, besides the Holy Sword being stolen.

It was hard to stay in town right away, so they had to pitch a tent outside the town until they received more support funds.

Thanks to that, the hero party gained an image of not being extravagant, but Helia, who was almost a mage, had received hundreds of potions at once from the Magic Tower.

But Helia didn’t actually use many potions.

Thanks to that, the Magic Tower mistakenly believed that Helia was fighting hard.

The Holy Woman had never received Holy Water but claimed she had.

Yes. The thief Sien had taken care of it all in the middle.

If there was a rich person among the party members, it would be that thief.

Looking back now, they weren’t just being taken advantage of.

The reason why the hero party’s image was good, at least in the Kingdom, though not in the Empire, was also thanks to that thief Sien.

That was that, and he was still infuriating.

They couldn’t openly look for him because the Empire’s nobles didn’t directly protect him, but they tried to change the subject whenever the story of the thief Sien came up.

“Anyway, he probably exchanged the Sacred Tome and Grimoire for money.”

“Let’s just say we gave them as farewell gifts.”

Then suddenly, Hero Talon thought.

Could Sien be in Schperen?

That Princess might have found him.

First of all, when I returned to Schperen, quite an interesting thing was happening.

Sera, Ailia’s maid, was being dragged away by Shukat, the Imperial Police, in the center of the students’ commotion.

-The Emperor ordered me to stay in the imperial palace due to the attack. I’m going to try to talk about the transfer issue first.

After the practical training, I saw a letter from Luciella, and I thought there would be measures taken in Schperen soon. This must be it.

Leaving it in Sera’s handwriting was effective.

Of course, if Shukat investigated, she might be released due to insufficient evidence. But if Sera actually did something under Ailia’s orders, then Ailia would lose an arm.

Even if not, the sight was quite a spectacle.

After all, this place called Schperen was inevitably in a position where it had to be aware of its surroundings.

Even if she was acquitted, if there was a letter in Sera’s handwriting, it would look suspicious no matter how you looked at it.

The students would be talking about it.

“No. I’m innocent! I’m not an anti-imperialist! P. Princess! Princess! Save me!”

“Let’s go to Shukat and talk about it step by step.”

“Have you ever seen a thief say they stole something?”

Sera resisted once but was subdued by Shukat.

Princess Ailia didn’t come out to protect her maid.

She was probably grinding her teeth in the lecture room, but the fact that she didn’t come out meant that Ailia was not unrelated to this. It was believed so.

She would have to cut her losses here.

Then, would Sera abandon her loyalty and tell everything that Ailia had ordered her to do?

If that happened, Ailia would fall immediately.

At that time, a woman who seemed to be one of Shukat’s members approached me.

Unlike the corrupt security forces armed with all sorts of expensive things, her simple navy blue uniform was quite neat and I liked it.

The woman cautiously asked me.

“Are you Bathory, who fought against the Latin Commune in the recent attack?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Could you cooperate for a moment? Ah, it’s nothing much. I just have a few questions.”

A few questions?

Considering they were dragging Sera away, they probably weren’t suspecting me.

There was no reason to back down here.

Rather, I could portray Sera as a fool as much as possible.

“Sure.”

“There was a demon among the corpses. Was he also from the Latin Commune?”

This was information that would eventually reach the Hero.

After all, the hero party had to realize justice, so they couldn’t be free from this incident.

“Yes. He took out a demonization drug and drank it because he thought he was going to lose. He said the leader of the Commune gave him the drug through an executive, convinced that he would win against us.”

Shukat.

This was the first time I was seeing them like this, but there probably weren’t any people as clean as Shukat in the Empire right now.

They even cracked down on crimes committed by the imperial family and nobles.

Considering how sensitive they were to anti-imperialists recently, Sera probably wouldn’t be in good shape even if she was released.

“Is that so? I understand. Is there anything else distinctive about them?”

“Ah, there was a monster summoner.”

“A monster summoner?”

Monster summoner. When those words came out of my mouth, she widened her eyes.

“Yes. He controlled goblins to attack us.”

“So that’s why there were so many goblins. I understand. Do you know anything about that woman, Sera? We plan to investigate her as a suspect.”

Of course, I knew her well.

You should always exaggerate small things and downplay big things.

So I was going to enhance Sera’s reputation quite a bit.

“I know her well. I knew that woman would do something like this someday.”

“Yes?”

“I’m with Arietta.”

“Ah, I know you’re in Princess Arietta’s faction.”

“She rudely came to our dormitory room and drank the drink that Arietta had prepared for herself. She didn’t even frown. She acted recklessly, believing in Princess Ailia’s power. Anyway, that woman had a terrible personality. I knew she would do something like this someday. But who would have thought she was with the Commune?”

“Y. You!”

From afar, Sera was trying to say something with an indescribable distorted expression, but Shukat restrained her mouth and arms and dragged her away.

“So you think she’s with the Commune?”

“Isn’t being disrespectful and rootless their characteristic? Well, honestly, if I were the Commune, I’d rather hire a mercenary than have a woman like her as a spy.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

This was the end.

No matter what state I would meet Sera in later, Ailia’s faction would probably not be the same as before.

If you try to kill someone, you should know that you yourself will die.

People these days don’t know that.

“Why are you coming now? Were you with the Princess?”

“Ah, no. The Princess is said to be directly protected by the imperial palace because of the Commune attack. I had something to see the head of the family separately. Is something wrong? I know Sera was arrested.”

The Princess’s face was blank, like a pigeon that had been hit somewhere.

She had a bandage wrapped tightly around her right hand, as if she wanted to hide something.

I thought she had been hit somewhere at first, but the Princess carefully unwrapped the bandage.

What was revealed on her bandaged right hand was something like a tattoo.

It was a creepy pattern that looked like a snake embracing a cross.

It was so conspicuous because it was revealed on her very white skin.

“I. Is this also a star sign?”

Yes. This was a star sign.

However, with normal star signs, the symbol of the corresponding star sign shines on the body part when the ability is activated. This was just there as a tattoo.

“This is.”

This was a demonic star sign.

The star sign of the demons. What the demons call their stars is the demonic star sign.

It never appears in humans. No, humans themselves rarely receive the blessing of a star sign in the first place.

Was there anyone in Paleob who received this demonic star sign?

Could this even appear in humans?

It didn’t make sense to see our Princess Arietta as a monster.

Look at her. She looks so innocent.

Seeing her trembling now, wondering if this was dangerous.

First, when I rolled up the Princess’s sleeve further, it continued up to her forearm.

“Princess, who has seen this?”

“Only you.”

Only me. That was fortunate.

It wouldn’t be good to show this to anyone.

Arietta would basically be removed from the line of succession.

Of course, Arietta would welcome that, but what this meant was that she might be exiled from the country.

It depended on how Paleob would deal with this, but there were no precedents.

If she was lucky, she would just become an outcast.

I was already about to be associated with the Commune if I stepped on the wrong foot.

I never dreamed that such a star sign would appear on Arietta in the midst of all this.

Then, who was the witness? It was okay up to Luciella, but it couldn’t be anyone else.

“Riel didn’t see it, did she? If she did, we have to take care of her.”

“Why are you so serious? Is this dangerous?”

Arietta’s face turned cold.

Arietta must have sensed it instinctively.

At least what this meant.

“It’s nothing. It’s just a star sign that only demons have.”

“Demons. Wha. What?”

The reason why Paleob didn’t have a star sign was this.

She never dreamed that such a star sign would appear.

“No, I’ve never actually seen a human with a demonic star sign. Isn’t that right in the records of the Paleob imperial family?”

“That’s.”

Of course, Paleob might have embellished the records.

There might have been a precedent for a demonic star sign.

It was a demonic star sign, so some condition must have been required.

The reason was probably when we faced the Commune, when we came into contact with that demon.

That could have been the key that unlocked some seal.