Chapter 76
An Appropriate Clue (3)
Winter quietly packed her bag and left the chapel.
“Where are you going?”
“To the library and the cathedral. I will definitely find a way.”
“……Yeah. Be careful.”
No one could stop her. I could see just how firm her resolve was.
“Our Winter~ looks like she really doesn’t want to go~”
“Yeah. That just makes more anxious.”
Canis comnted calmly, as if this were sothing new. I felt about the sa.
If soone like Winter hated it that much, then even without knowing the details, it had to be quite a nasty position. Was choosing to go really the right decision?
But I still wanted to participate in the auction.
“Aren’t you going back to the dorm?”
“Hm? Of course not. The spot here is way too good~”
I clicked my tongue at Canis’ sly remark. I agreed that the chapel grounds were nice, but I had no intention of sharing them.
“The breeze is nice~ the sunlight is nice~ the air is nice~ It’d be perfect if Davide wasn’t here~”
“Y-you crazy bastard.”
I approached him with my fist clenched, but my flicks to his forehead sliced through empty air every ti. We ended up scuffling like that for quite a while.
I couldn’t understand what kind of principle he was using to avoid my attacks, but I kept trying to land a proper forehead flick anyway.
“I’m back.”
Suddenly, Winter’s voice rang out. About thirty minutes had passed between my scuffle with Canis and the idle chatter that followed after I gave up.
When I turned my head, I saw Winter standing there solemnly.
“……You. Are you okay?”
I had no idea what she had gone through in that short ti, but she looked terribly haggard.
“Yes. Of course.”
When I asked out of concern, she answered calmly. The small blood vessels in her eyes had burst, as if she had strained them to the limit.
“I found a way.”
“Oh. Really? What is it?”
“We can put up an item for auction.”
“?”
For such a solemn declaration, it was a bit anticlimactic. The idea wasn’t bad, but there was one major problem.
“What would we even sell? We don’t have anything worthy of being put up at an auction.”
“The bracelet Canis received from the desert tribe.”
“……You weren’t originally this kind of character.”
I didn’t even think, We should at least show so courtesy since we received it. In the first place, it had been a transaction where we received an item they themselves considered fair.
What we did with the traded item was entirely up to us. The problem, however, was whether it was valuable enough to be auctioned.
“Here.”
“?”
As I hesitated, Winter handed a sheet of paper. I took it without thinking and let out a hollow laugh at the drawing on it.
“That bracelet is sothing that has been passed down through generations in the desert tribe. It’s a bracelet that honors the god they believe in, and I heard its ability is to receive starlight and find the way.”
“You figured all that out and organized it in just 40 minutes?”
What was with that persistence? I couldn’t help but click my tongue at the absurd result. At this point, her determination was starting to feel frightening.
Judging from the report and what Winter said, the bracelet was a decent item. On top of that, it was sothing related to divinity.
“Since it’s not an ability we really need anyway, why don’t we just sell it?”
“Winter~ this is mine, so shouldn’t my opinion—”
“Sunbae, you’re knowledgeable and can handle most situations anyway. And it says that those who submit an auction item get up to a 5% reduction on the successful bid commission.”
Winter didn’t even pretend to listen to Canis. It was such a rare, forceful side of her that both of us were left staring with our mouths open.
“Yeah. Let’s sell it.”
“Yap! Haah. Finally. Finally!”
At my decisive words, Winter practically jumped with joy. anwhile, Canis—the one who actually owned the auction item—looked utterly bewildered.
“This~ is mine, you know?”
“I’ll give you money, so hand it over.”
As for the cost, I could just make a big score at the auction. And if that didn’t work out, I still had the generous compensation I’d received from Kargula.
Rolling his eyes back and forth, Canis handed over the bracelet.
“It says participation through item submission allows one accompanying person.”
“Well, it’s just the two of us anyway.”
“……That’s true.”
Then shall we go submit the bracelet?
***
“This is truly the truth?”
The Imperial Princess could not hide her shock as she read the report Sheila had brought. Even Sheila, who always wore a gentle smile, had a sowhat serious expression.
At her deep bow in response, the Imperial Princess let out a low groan.
“Good grief.”
The report was filled with details stating that the precariously maintained front line had stabilized and, furthermore, that they had dealt devastating blows to the enemy.
“So it was that capable. How ironic.”
I roughly knew the power of the glass bead bomb Davide referred to as ‘Candela.’
However, practical application was a different matter from sheer power. In this case, it was fair to say that the troops supplied with it had used it well on the front lines.
“It must have been unfamiliar to both sides.”
“Even so, is there not soone in our camp who uses sothing similar?”
It was a weapon about which no information was known. That was precisely why the enemy’s response had been delayed, making it even more effective. We had been lucky.
It would have been nice if the war ended in a sweeping victory like this, but that would not be so easy.
“Those three. No, excluding the Princess, that makes two. Just two people inflicted this much damage?”
“That simply ans they are that talented.”
Still, it was enough that they had restored a once-collapsing front line and bought ti to maintain it.
In the end, Davide had inadvertently beco soone who sold exactly what was needed, precisely when it was needed.
“You may rest a little easier now.”
“That’s true. But it is still not enough. I suppose I must consider sending him.”
As she muttered in a low voice, Sheila smiled softly.
Seeing Sheila suddenly exuding such a warm atmosphere, the Imperial Princess made a face as if she had bitten into sothing foul. It was the face of soone hopelessly doting.
“What are you imagining again? Please, stop with those delusions. Please.”
“Fufu. Doesn’t he inspire more trust than you think?”
“What? You don’t an Davide, that brat?”
Watching Sheila nod, the Imperial Princess let out a hollow sigh. What part of him was trustworthy?
He was too sharp to entrust one’s back to. He only helped because it benefited him.
“You truly are fond of Davide.”
“It’s only because Your Highness has yet to see his true value. The sword of lightning he uses is truly magnificent, you know?”
“……That does sound sowhat intriguing.”
Whenever she asked Sheila about Davide, the conversation almost always ended up circling back to the Lightning Spike. It always concluded with a description of the sword of lightning imbued with divinity.
As a result, even the Imperial Princess found herself anticipating it. A blade over 10 ters long. It barely retained the shape of a sword, yet what composed it was lightning that radiated resplendent divinity.
With a single swing, it swiftly brought about destruction—a finishing move. And on top of that, the trendous secondary storm of lightning it summoned.
Just hearing about it stirred her interest. A sword of lightning. Wasn’t there sothing rather romantic about that?
“And he’s kinder than you’d think.”
“……Him? You’ve already gone senile. It must be because I’ve overworked you.”
“Fufu. By human standards, perhaps. But by fairy standards, I’m still in my pri, wouldn’t you say? I’m quite popular, you know.”
“I truly envy you. I do.”
Sheila rely laughed softly at the Imperial Princess’s words. She looked at her niece’s sulking expression as if it were adorable.
“Co to think of it, what are your thoughts on marriage?”
“…….”
The Imperial Princess stared at Sheila with a sullen face. Mischief filled her expression. It was obvious she intended to tease her thoroughly.
“I have no such thoughts. The great cause cos first.”
To toy with the Imperial Princess like this—what a wicked person. She shook her head with a deep sigh.
She had been born into and raised in those hands from the very beginning. They were precious to each other, and such reactions stemd from that closeness.
“If it would help the great cause?”
“Then it would be worth considering. Of course, he would need to be of suitable standing.”
Right after saying that, the Imperial Princess sensed a significant shift in her aunt’s deanor. And it was by no ans a good sign.
The only person who treated her—the one holding supre authority as Imperial Princess—with ease. Not even her father, the current Emperor, treated her so casually.
But this fairy before her was different. An exasperating figure who treated her, the Imperial Princess, like an ordinary niece. And then she asked:
“What do you think of Student Davide?”
“So you intend to turn into a scoundrel who curses even at her own aunt.”
And that was what she chose to say. The reason she did not get angry was because she knew it was a joke—and because the suggestion itself was amusing.
“Isn’t his appearance quite pleasing as well?”
Of course, Davide’s appearance fell into the category of being quite pleasant to look at. As expected of the Duhein bloodline, his face—so strikingly similar to his father’s—was of the highest caliber.
The problem was that he seed to have inherited his father’s damned personality as well.
“Co to think of it, you were classmates with the head of the Duhein Family, weren’t you? Seeing how much you dote on Davide, it must bring back mories of those days.”
The Imperial Princess looked at Sheila anew. A smile hung on her face—the kind born from fond mories of the past.
“That is correct. Nerva and I were classmates. He was in the Combat Departnt, and I was in the Magic Departnt, but back then there was frequent exchange between departnts, so we were very close.”
Sheila quietly steeped the tea. As the Imperial Princess received the richly brewed black tea, she smiled mischievously. If one received sothing, one should return sothing in kind.
“Judging by how much you cherish him, you must have good mories. Tell , were you and the head of the Duhein Family once in love?”
“Oh my? How did you know?”
“What!?”
It had been ant as a tease. But the casually delivered reply, accompanied by a sly smile, curved sharply and struck the Imperial Princess square in the head.
If she admitted it so coolly and without hesitation, it only made things awkward for the other side. And more importantly—they had been in a relationship? With that head of the Duhein Family?
“H-how! Such a thing! So that’s why you’ve been giving Davide special treatnt! Tsk! One must distinguish between public and private matters! And do you even realize the age difference?! Just because it didn’t work out, how could you covet his child instead!”
“It’s rely that old mories resurfaced and caught my attention. I do distinguish clearly between public and private matters. I have enough conscience to know propriety as well. Have I not shown results like this?”
Sheila gave an awkward smile at the Imperial Princess’s unexpectedly fierce outburst and pointed to the report. The reaction was intense—almost burdenso.
“Over my dead body! I refuse to hand over the position of uncle to a scoundrel like him!”
“Oh my. Then what kind of uncle would Your Highness like to have?”
“Soone of a standing similar to mine, with composure and magical skill like yours, and bravery and overwhelming martial power like Ethan’s! A man with the decisiveness to embrace the world without hesitation, and grand ambitions of conquest!”
“……You intend to keep single forever. Such a person does not exist in this world, Your Highness.”
“Then live with forever!”
No matter how one looked at it, that sounded like an ideal type. Sheila chuckled softly as she refilled the Imperial Princess’s cup, which had already beco empty.
“More importantly, the Lofty Order has contacted us again.”
“Ah. You an the ‘Banquet of Benevolence.’”
“Yes. It seems quite an interesting item has appeared in this auction?”
“An interesting item?”
“It appears to be sothing related to Master.”
At the ntion of Master, the bright and lighthearted atmosphere rapidly cooled. Sheila cautiously glanced at the Imperial Princess.
“If they go that far, I cannot very well refuse to attend. I will have to find an item to submit for the auction.”
“Fufu. Will not the Anaye Order be participating this ti as well?”
“That’s enough. How is it that every conversation inevitably circles back to that brat? I have said it ti and again—he is absolutely not acceptable.”
Firmly misunderstanding, the Imperial Princess made a deliberately intimidating threat. Sheila rely responded with a soft and benevolent smile as she watched her.
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