* * *
It was the second day since the investigation teams from the Imperial Court and the Magic Tower had arrived.
The marquis personally demonstrated the process of purifying a kobold corpse with a clove.
Not that there was anything particularly impressive about it.
“Hoho, you are saying that it is finished this easily?”
“Remarkable. We did receive the materials in writing beforehand, but… is this truly all there is to it?”
All they had to do was cut the monster corpse into manageable pieces and place them in water containing clove.
For an astonishing discovery that might turn the entire continent upside down, the process was almost absurdly simple.
“I found it difficult to believe at first as well, but after seeing the results, I had no choice but to accept it.”
“I see.”
The results would become apparent in a week.
Then what would they do in the meantime?
In truth, neither the Imperial Court nor the Magic Tower seriously doubted the experiment’s outcome.
Far too many people had already witnessed it, and Marquis Verdin had no reason to tell a lie that would inevitably be exposed.
What truly mattered was the ‘negotiation’ that would begin now.
‘Now then… how will they respond?’
‘I will not allow them to take advantage of me so easily.’
CRACKLE!
Everyone wore a smile, but sparks already seemed to fly between the representatives of the two sides.
At that moment, a voice abruptly interrupted them―
“Hehe, Daaad~”
A beautiful young girl approached with a bright smile.
Her clear, wide, light green eyes made her look like an angel.
Duke Luke, a hopelessly doting father, immediately softened as though snow were melting from his face―
“Ohh~ What is it, my Sera?”
“I have a favor to ask!”
“H-Hmm? …A favor?”
“Yes!”
The instant he heard the word ‘favor,’ a feeling of unease swept over him.
She was his exceptionally cute, beautiful, and lovable daughter, but there were times when it was impossible to predict what sort of trouble she might cause.
“All right… what is this favor?”
“Well, you see~”
GLANCE.
Wait….
Why is she looking at me?
There was even a meaningful smile on her lips.
At last, she opened her mouth.
“May I go sightseeing outside the castle with Evan?”
“W-What did you say…?!”
Duke Luke sprang to his feet in alarm.
Across from him, even the marquis, who rarely revealed his emotions, could not hide his bewilderment.
His pupils were trembling incessantly―
Is this really shocking enough to warrant that reaction?
“T-The young lady… called my Evan by his first name…….”
Ah.
So that was what had shocked him.
I was reminded once again that the marquis was every bit as hopelessly doting as the duke.
More importantly….
‘Damn it, why does she keep dragging me into everything?’
I had originally planned to worm my way into their meeting somehow.
I had already laid out the likely negotiation scenarios for the marquis and Sebas, the butler, but being present in person would still make it easier for us to steer the negotiations in our favor.
“Ahem! Duke Luke. There is always a chance that something dangerous could happen outside the castle….”
The marquis apparently did not want this either and tried to get ahead of the situation, but the audacious little lady instantly read the room and cut him off.
“Could we not simply go with the escort knights?”
Ainsera whined that she had come all this way because she wanted to see the Verdin Marquisate and would be terribly disappointed if she had to leave without properly exploring it.
“Please, Dad~! All right~?”
“W-Would it not be better to play inside the castle instead…….”
“Even if we leave the castle, it is not as though monsters roam through the village. If the knights are with us, it does not seem particularly dangerous, does it?”
“A-Ahem…!”
Duke Luke no longer had anything to say.
After all, she was not wrong.
“Haa― My apologies, Marquis.”
“…It is all right.”
In the end, the marquis and the duke permitted Ainsera and me to venture outside the castle.
Without taking my opinion into account in the slightest.
Damn it.
“Yay! Thank you, Dad! I will listen carefully to the knights and return safely, so please do not worry too much~!”
“Haha, very well.”
Ainsera looked ready to leap for joy.
She appeared innocent and adorable, just like any other girl her age.
However, the moment our eyes met―
GRIN.
‘Hmm? …What is this?’
Her meaningful smile made my instincts warn me that something was amiss.
However, the die had already been cast.
‘Even so, she is only a ten-year-old girl.’
No matter what she attempted, how serious could it possibly be?
…It cannot be anything serious.
I left the castle with Ainsera.
* * *
No matter how small and poor the Verdin Marquisate was, even for a territory on the empire’s frontier, it was still a place where people lived.
The lord’s castle and defensive walls stood to the west, facing the Behamag Mountains. Behind them, a commercial district had formed around a central plaza, filled with inns, restaurants, general stores, weapon shops, and other businesses.
HUBBUB―
“Wow! Evan, look at this!”
As she toured the market, Ainsera raised an enormous sweet potato the size of her forearm with both hands.
‘Wow, that really is huge….’
Potatoes and radishes that looked twice the size of my head were displayed on the stall.
All of them had dark, mottled coloring.
These enormous vegetables were specialties of the Verdin Marquisate.
It was all because the soil contained an abundance of mana due to the influence of the Behamag Mountains.
MUNCH, MUNCH.
“Hot, hot―!”
“Goodness gracious, my lady! You must be careful not to burn yourself.”
Ainsera had asked the owner of the vegetable stall from earlier to roast the sweet potato, and she was now eating it.
In her other hand, she held a skewer packed with grilled onions, bell peppers, carrots, and other vegetables….
‘A young lady who must have been raised in luxury likes this sort of commoner food?’
It was rather unexpected.
Did noble young ladies not usually dislike food like this because they considered it unhygienic?
While I was lost in thought, Ainsera stopped at yet another stall selling street food elsewhere in the market.
“Lady Sera. Where shall we go next?”
“Hmm~ The Gilbert Workshop on the northern side of the plaza. I heard that it is famous!”
“Wow… No, my lady, how do you know our territory so well?”
“Hehe. I always make a point of thoroughly researching any place before I visit.”
“Whoaaa! That is truly impressive! Do you not know the area better than even a local like me?”
“Hohoho! Oh, I am sure that is not the case.”
Haver made an enormous fuss, his huge frame making his reaction look even more exaggerated.
Ainsera responded modestly, but her ability to gather information truly was impressive.
Even for House Luke, one of the most influential noble families in the central region, it could not have been easy to acquire such detailed information about our remote territory.
‘No, more importantly, who would ever come sightseeing in this backwater for this kind of tourist information to even exist?’
I could not understand it at all.
In any case, we visited a place called the Gilbert Workshop and spent more than two hours browsing various clothes and accessories before finally leaving.
By then, the sky was already being dyed red by the sunset.
“The sun will be setting soon. How about we head back now?”
I wanted to return home and rest.
It had been my first time outside the castle, so the morning had been fairly interesting and enjoyable….
‘Good grief, but that only lasts for an hour or two….’
In particular, I had been exhausted by Ainsera squealing over how pretty everything in the workshop was despite having no intention of buying any of it.
However, she still seemed reluctant to leave.
“What~ You already want to go back?”
“It is not ‘already.’ We have been out of the castle for seven hours.”
“Aww… really?”
Ainsera appeared to think about something for a moment.
Then she said there was one last place she wanted to visit.
“Where do you want to go?”
“That… you will know when we get there.”
The faint smile on her lips looked strangely ominous.
What is this audacious little lady planning now…?
Still, she insisted that there was somewhere she absolutely wanted to visit, and it would have been awkward to coldly refuse her.
“Then this is truly the last place, understood?”
“Fine.”
The place we headed to was in the northwestern section of the territory.
It was the most impoverished region in the Verdin Marquisate.
The so-called slums.
Although it was the closest district to the defensive wall, relatively few troops were stationed there, making it the area most vulnerable to monster attacks.
‘What in the world could possibly be in a place like this…?’
I had been following her in silence, but I eventually lost my patience and asked.
“Hey, Ainsera.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Where exactly are we going? Are you even certain that we are heading in the right direction?”
Instead of answering, Ainsera asked me a question of her own.
“You… truly do not know where this is or where I am taking you?”
“What?”
How absurd.
She had not even told me our destination and was dragging me toward some place she wanted to visit, so what was that supposed to mean?
At that moment.
Ainsera, who had been walking a considerable distance ahead of us, abruptly stopped and turned toward our escorts, Haver and Jess.
“Sirs.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“There is something I would like to discuss privately with Young Master Evan. Would you please give us some space?”
“…Huh?”
Ah… so that was what this was about?
At first, I was confused, wondering what she was doing now, but realization soon struck me.
No wonder she had led me into a deserted alley.
‘Good grief… this is troublesome.’
Still, it felt rather nice.
Heh. Such is the burden of being popular….
More importantly, how am I supposed to reject her?
They said that a woman’s resentment could summon frost even in midsummer. One poorly chosen word might cause House Luke to become our enemy.
However, I could not accept her feelings here either. I did not have the leisure to concern myself with romance right now.
“Ainsera. I….”
“W-Wait just a moment!”
Just as I was about to speak, Jess hurriedly interrupted despite the impropriety.
His face had gone deathly pale as he tried to dissuade Ainsera.
“M-My lady! You must not do this! Please give it a little more thought…!”
“Hmm? What are you talking about?”
“No, well, what I mean is….”
If something happened between them here, how furious would Duke Luke, that hopelessly doting father, become…?
The very thought was terrifying to Jess.
Yet Ainsera, the person at the center of the entire situation, merely looked bewildered.
‘Urgh! At this rate, a territorial war might break out….’
Jess felt somewhat embarrassed, but he desperately tried to persuade her in order to prevent the worst possible outcome.
“Ahem! No matter how handsome Young Master Evan might be, one cannot judge a man by appearances alone….”
This time, however, Haver suddenly became furious and shouted at him.
“What is that supposed to mean, Sir Flip?! Are you saying there is some flaw in our Young Master Evan?!”
Right.
Now that I thought about it, this man was also hopelessly doting.
Thoroughly agitated, he huffed and roared.
“It is obvious that the young lady recognized our young master’s true worth and mustered the courage to act! As her retainer, how can you disparage him instead of offering your support?!”
“No, Sir Randolph! That is not what I meant… The two of them are still too young to understand relations between men and women, and they only met each other yesterday…!”
“Silence! Even in the imperial classic romance 「Romi and Juliette」, the protagonists fell in love at first sight and, behind their parents’ backs…!”
“W-Wait!”
With the atmosphere growing so hostile that the two knights looked ready to fight, the flustered Ainsera hurriedly stepped between them.
“I think the two of you have misunderstood something!”
“What?”
“…What do you mean?”
This time, both knights looked bewildered.
The girl’s expression turned stern as she spoke firmly.
“This is not a confession, so stop getting ahead of yourselves.”
“…What? Was that not why you chose such a secluded place?”
“Ah! M-My apologies….”
Only then did they realize their mistake.
I was no different.
‘What? It is not that?’
Then what in the world did she want to tell me?
…No matter how much I thought about it, I could not guess.
“I ask for your understanding. Please give us some space for a moment and, needless to say… I would appreciate it if you did not attempt to eavesdrop.”
Ainsera repeated her request with a serious expression.
Jess, however, still appeared uneasy.
“Ahem… it truly is not a confession, is it?”
“Oh, damn it― I told you it is not?!”
Only after receiving her assurance one more time did he finally withdraw.
The instant the two knights moved away, Ainsera went straight to the point.
Her gaze suddenly turned cold.
The words that fell casually from her lips were shocking enough to make my heart lurch.
“You’re a fake, aren’t you?”