episode_0446
by fnovelpiaPrincess Mezlen appeared before my eyes again with the excuse of oversleeping. … And the ‘Whispering Leaf’ that was pointing in a completely different direction from the one in front of me and was not moving.
There was no way an artifact the size of a whispering leaf could be broken, so there was only one answer.
… The Princess Mezlen who is talking to Antonio and Seraphine right in front of me is not the Princess Mezlen I know.
‘Doppelganger… I thought I wouldn’t see anything like it at this festival… .’
In the original, it was that doppelganger who stayed behind at the academy to kill time while taking Seraphine to the Auguste estate during the kidnapping incident.
A high-ranking demon named who can transform into anyone he touches for up to 24 hours.
It was quite a tricky enemy, as it could even handle the combat abilities of its clones just like those of its clones.
‘The combat power may be poor because it’s a clone of Mezlen, but the problem is that we can’t tell that it’s a doppelganger…’
The fact that a doppelganger had appeared meant that they had planned to kidnap Mezlen, so I had to move quickly, but I was having a hard time making a decision.
There was no clear evidence that the demon in front of him was a doppelganger, and since it was clear that the Dark Cult and the demon were intertwined, it was too dangerous to move alone to rescue Princess Mezlen.
As I was desperately racking my brain, unable to do anything, Seraphine, who had finished talking to the fake Princess Mezlen, quietly approached me.
“I’m sorry, Miss Lilith. My little sister caused trouble for some stupid reason this morning.”
“… No, Princess Seraphine.”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but could you please follow me to the kitchen for a moment? I need to talk to you for a moment.”
“Yes?”
“… … Regarding my sister, I have something to tell you.”
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
“… Is that true, Seraphine?”
“Yes. I don’t want to believe it either… .”
“… … .”
As soon as Seraphine opened her mouth to drag me from the hall to the kitchen, the first thing she brought up was, of course, the story about Princess Mezlen.
At first, I thought she didn’t notice because she was talking to her so calmly, but Seraphine was Seraphine after all. She realized that the person in front of her was not her sister just by exchanging a few words.
First of all, it seemed that Seraphine and I were the only people in the hall who knew that Princess Mezlen had been switched.
“My head is in a mess. Where on earth was that kid and what was he doing yesterday that led to this situation… .”
◦I’m asking just in case, but you’re not some kind of royal double, are you?”
“Of course not. That kid has a body double, but I can recognize that body double. Which means that at least that person didn’t show up because they were running an errand for the Valtoria royal family.”
“… … .”
“I guess you recognized Miss Lilith from the beginning because you are close with my younger sister.”
“… … Yes.”
Actually, I was fooled too, and I noticed it thanks to the whispering leaves, but I didn’t bother to add anything.
Perhaps in the future vision Seraphine saw, it seemed that I recognized Mezlen regardless of the circumstances.
“I don’t have much time, so I’ll tell you what I saw in the future. First, I’ll ask you, Warrior and Miss Lilith, to search for my younger sister, Mezlen.”
“… … Yes?”
“… Just me and Miss Rosewood?”
When Seraphine, who couldn’t understand English, spoke, both Geumjeongjossegi and I tilted our heads at the same time, she cautiously added.
“… When you go out to search, Miss Lilith and the warrior must take Saint Cerista and Prince Ethan with you as helpers. It has to be those two people, and you cannot take anyone else.”
“Why is that? If Princess Mezlen had gone missing in the first place, we should have started a full-scale search, not when she was working at a cafe or something… .”
“… No. If we do that, those who kidnapped my sister will escape.”
“… Running away?”
“My sister and the people who kidnapped her are still inside the academy. I couldn’t tell exactly where, but I could see in the ‘future’ that it was inside the academy.”
“… … .”
“… … .”
He even created a fake Mezlen using a doppelganger, but he was unable to run away with Mezlen.
It was a bit puzzling, but after thinking about it for a bit, it was completely understandable. Right now, the only passageway leading from the outside to the Academy, the ‘Bridge of Knowledge’, was so clogged that it could almost be said to be saturated.
In the original, Seraphine was kidnapped on the last day of the festival, so she could have naturally escaped from the island with the other carriages, but at this point, when the festival had not yet ended, kidnapping someone and taking them out was nearly impossible.
“We can easily find them without everyone searching, since they have nowhere to run. However, if we close the shop and do something conspicuous like searching for Princess Mezlen… .”
“… … .”
“… … .”
“The criminals will destroy the evidence that they kidnapped the child and disappear. … After eliminating Mezlen, the witness who saw them.”
Among the contents seen in the future, there seems to have been a future where they started a full-scale search for Princess Mezlen, but ended up being noticed instead and were unable to rescue her.
Even though it was just a dream, I could completely understand why he would have such an anxious expression on his face, seeing his sister die.
“I can’t move around because I’m a royal, so it’s too noticeable. Not as much as I am, but Antonio is also a royal, so it’s the same. Luke is my bodyguard, so if he moves alone, he’ll be noticed, and I can’t completely empty the kitchen, so Agnes needs to stay behind, too.
And other than that… I decided that they weren’t really necessary for the search for my sister. ”
In short, it meant that they were useless in searching for missing persons. Well, there was nothing that could be done about the other three, since they were mere combatants within the party.
Serista, who was surprisingly insignificant despite being a saint, Gyeomjossegi, who had been in the kitchen all week and didn’t really stand out to anyone, and Ethan and I, who weren’t part of the warrior party.
This meant that the power that could be used for searching was relatively unnoticeable, so I had no choice but to accept it. In the first place, I didn’t want to see Mezlen die without even having a proper happy ending.
… Even though her usual behavior is a bit arrogant, she was one of the main heroines of 『Luminor Academy』 that I absolutely wanted to save.
“Okay, I got it. I’ll find it somehow.”
“As for how to search for my sister… I will leave it entirely to Miss Lilith. I think Miss Lilith has a way to find my sister.”
“… I understand, Princess Seraphine.”
Judging from the meaningful remarks you made, I guess you’ve probably seen me use ‘whispering leaves’ in the future poem.
… I had already decided which was more important, the Whispering Leaf or Princess Mezlen’s life, so I had no choice but to not use it. After all, the warrior knew that I had this artifact.
“… I feel ashamed to ask you all this. I would like to go find that child somehow, but… .”
“Don’t worry too much, it can’t be helped. I’ll somehow get Mezlen and bring her back.”
“We will find Princess Mezlen somehow. So please calm down and wait, Princess Seraphine.”
“… Thank you both for saying so… .”
Any further unnecessary conversation would only make Princess Mezlen wait longer, so the warrior and I immediately went into search for the missing princess.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
“… Is that true, what you just said?”
“Yes, Lord Ethan. I can only speak briefly because the situation is urgent, but the person who came to work today is not Princess Mezlen, but someone else.”
“Uh, how is it…? Well, on the outside, it looks like you’re the exact same person… .”
“They probably found a real lookalike somewhere, or they’re using dark magic. If they’re strong enough to kidnap the princess, they might have prepared even more.”
I know that the guy I’m talking to is a doppelganger, but I can’t tell Ethan and Serista that out loud.
I explained to the two of them what they needed to do, avoiding revealing any in-game settings that could be revealed openly as much as possible.
“First of all, Princess Mezlen is somewhere in the Academy. Princess Seraphine said so, so it must be true.”
“… Even if it’s somewhere inside the academy, I don’t know if I’ll be able to find it because the academy itself is so big.”
“Don’t worry about that. There is an item that can tell you where Princess Mezlen is.”
With those words, I took out the whispering leaf from my pocket and held it out in front of the three people.
I had previously specified the location of Princess Mezlen, but it had not been reset, so I quickly walked in the direction the leaf was pointing, still showing a leaf that was stiffly bent to one side.
“If you go in the direction this leaf is pointing, you will find Princess Mezlen.”
“… What the heck is this thing? How does it work?”
“I’m sorry, but I will explain it to you after we rescue Princess Mezlen, Lord Ethan.”
“… Yeah. Right now, the princess is more important.”
Ethan and the other two followed me, keeping their mouths shut as they said those words.
… please, it’s not too late.
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