Thanks to Elisha’s efforts, the incident was brought to a swift conclusion.
The moment she apprehended the monster summoner, the monsters that had been swarming into the banquet hall stopped appearing. The mages, seizing the opportunity, dealt with the remaining monsters, tidied up the hall, and attended to the guests.
It was a clean resolution, to say the least.
Of course, not everything had ended well.
“I hope an allied nations’ conference is never held in Cardion again.”
A few days after the banquet ended, Dante Renard, sprawled out in the knights’ lounge, muttered in a voice thick with sincerity. At the same time, the knights sitting in a circle around the table nodded vigorously.
Even Gabriel, who was always bright and cheerful, was slowly bobbing his head in agreement.
“I’m completely drained from dealing with all those people.”
“You guys only had a hard time that day, didn’t you? I’m still suffering even now….”
From questions about how the Imperial Palace’s security could be so lax as to allow such a thing to happen, to somewhat aggressive insinuations that this was actually a plot to target the allied nations.
Unable to confront Erich directly, the envoys had latched onto Dante Renard as he passed by, and Dante, in turn, had latched onto Erich.
To be precise, Dante Renard had burst into Erich’s office while he was passing by to vent his frustrations.
“Still, it’s a relief it ended like this.”
Gabriel sighed deeply and offered a disheveled smile.
To speak coldly, this incident was a grave matter that could have served as a catalyst for Cardion’s downfall. If Erich had possessed no ability, the empire would have lost its footing and collapsed right then and there.
But the current Cardion possessed various practical magic spells that were “known” to have never been invented by anyone else.
If the mages of other nations could reliably achieve the same results as Erich, the story would be different, but they knew better than anyone that such a thing was impossible.
If it were possible, the world would already be filled with such convenient magic.
Of course, even Erich couldn’t make it entirely possible.
Regardless, Cardion still held the initiative, and in the midst of this situation, Erich had appeared at the emergency meeting and said:
‘On behalf of Cardion, we have brought the survivor found there as a gesture of the utmost respect for Dexion. Had we not done so, you would have surely accused us of leaving behind someone who might have been a true survivor.’
‘…….’
‘On the contrary, I would like to ask you this: If a situation like this were to occur in your own countries, do you think you could handle it as well as Cardion has?’
Erich had worn a very gentle smile while saying that, but it was said that everyone in the room felt a chill.
“Whenever I look at His Majesty the Emperor, I’m occasionally reminded of the former emperor.”
At Gabriel’s words, the knights in the lounge nodded quickly. It seemed they were all picturing the same scene.
“The former emperor used to smile like that, too….”
“Even so, whenever he smiled, I thought, ‘He’s truly smiling,’ but with the current His Majesty, it feels like his smile isn’t really a smile.”
“It’s not that it ‘feels’ like it’s not; it really isn’t. I’ve almost never seen him smile because he was actually happy.”
“He seems to smile quite often when he’s tormenting the Captain.”
“Do you really think that looks like a human smiling…?”
Even the Demon King wouldn’t smile like that.
Dante, who had been about to blurt that out, suddenly clamped his mouth shut.
The atmosphere was already tense enough because of the monsters, and now he was talking about the Demon King. Whether the Demon King actually existed or not, he needed to be careful with his words.
Hadn’t he gotten himself into trouble because of his tongue once or twice in the last few months?
“Still, it’s completely over as of today.”
Janet, one of the members of the 1st Magic Knight Division, stretched and said. Her face was filled with deep fatigue, but also a sense of inexplicable relief.
Maybe they would get a reward vacation now that this was over. After all, the 1st Knight Order deserved the most credit for cleaning up that mess.
Though, most of that credit belonged to none other than Dante Renard and ‘that newcomer.’
“By the way, Captain, where is Lucy?”
Now that she mentioned it, she hadn’t been seen all day.
As if reading Janet’s thoughts, Gabriel asked at the perfect moment. Dante shrugged his shoulders and replied.
“She went to be investigated as a witness regarding this incident this morning.”
In truth, she had gone to conduct an investigation. She had probably been focused on interrogating the culprit in the dungeon all morning. When he had stopped by briefly, they looked to be confronting each other with very serious expressions.
“She wasn’t there at lunch, either.”
“She doesn’t really eat much when she’s working.”
“Then where is she now? She must be starving!”
Gabriel exclaimed with concern, looking as if he were about to jump up and run out.
Dante grabbed Gabriel’s arm, pulled him back down, and shook his head.
“I know you value talent, but it’s no use looking for her right now.”
“No, why?”
“Because she went to see off Princess Primavera.”
He didn’t know the exact details, but they were likely together by now.
Dante tilted his head, recalling what he had heard that morning.
He had heard that Primavera had personally requested Elisha’s escort. And Elisha had accepted it without a word of complaint.
Something had clearly happened between the two of them on the night of the banquet.
“Ah, I don’t know.”
Dante then ran his fingers through his hair and let out a long breath. He heard a joke from the side about how he managed to be a captain while knowing so little, but that was none of his concern.
Erich and Elisha.
Just thinking about those two gave him a splitting headache.
* * *
“You look like you’ve been up all night.”
Primavera, her black hair braided into a single plait, smiled gently. Elisha stared at Primavera’s deep purple cape, which fluttered in the breeze, and slowly began to speak.
“I heard you requested an escort.”
“I was worried about what might happen if I were attacked on the way.”
Oh, of course, I’m joking.
Primavera tilted her head at an angle and giggled. Whether she did or not, Elisha simply stared at her with an expressionless face.
There was only one reason she had accepted Primavera’s request for an escort.
To properly ask what the conversation they had in the garden that day had been about.
To ask how she could have obtained such information, and what the meaning behind her statement, ‘If I had to choose, I’m on your side,’ was.
“You have the eyes of someone who wants to ask a lot of questions.”
At that moment, Primavera said, fixing her pink eyes on Elisha. Elisha reflexively raised an eyebrow.
“You can’t stand curiosity, can you? Or is it just that you can’t hide what’s in your eyes?”
“Usually, I am the type whose thoughts cannot be read.”
“That would only be true for those who don’t know how to look at you properly.”
Primavera’s gaze shifted toward the main palace for a fleeting moment.
That cute cat doesn’t seem to know what situation she’s in yet, but this is interesting, so I think I’ll watch.
“Ask everything you want to ask here. Once I return, I’ll be too busy to think.”
Soon after, she curved her eyes softly and spoke again.
Elisha lowered her eyelashes once, then looked straight at Primavera and opened her mouth without hesitation.
“This, too, must ultimately be information. What benefit do you intend to gain from me in exchange for providing it?”
“Oh my, I didn’t expect you to ask that first.”
Primavera’s eyes widened for a moment, then she broke into a bright smile.
“It would be easier to think that there is… no price.”
“But Nox is—.”
“No matter how much of a person of Nox I am, I am not without affection.”
Of course, there were other reasons as well.
Having finished speaking, Primavera raised her eyebrows as if telling her to go ahead and speak.
Elisha opened her mouth, her brow still slightly furrowed.
“How were you able to obtain information bordering on classified within the Cardion Imperial Palace?”
“That’s a trade secret, so it’s difficult to say. If I had to choose, I would call it my ability.”
So don’t worry about the palace security being breached. I have no intention of selling the information I gathered here.
Primavera replied softly. Elisha did not miss the opening and continued her questioning.
“Why did you go out of your way to help Cardion?”
“As I said before, I haven’t particularly helped Cardion.”
“…….”
“I helped you.”
She then fluttered her eyelashes a few times and continued.
“Bringing you out to the garden was to lure out the culprit of this incident. If someone with mana like you were standing guard, any attack would be futile.”
“Are you saying you can sense mana?”
“If it’s them, it’s possible.”
Her signature pink eyes glowed strangely. It was a gaze that felt somehow sinister.
Elisha was about to ask about that, but she bit her lip hard.
The fact that Primavera had deliberately referred to them as ‘them’ meant she had no intention of revealing any more information. If she had, she would have already added an explanation.
“I want you to find out for yourself.”
As if to confirm Elisha’s thoughts, Primavera added.
“That is the only way for you to fully understand yourself.”
This time, her eyes were genuinely gentle.
A soft smile, devoid of any calculation.
Elisha frowned for a moment.
“Why are you doing this much for me?”
“I remember answering that several times already.”
She then whispered, her eyes crinkling into a smile.
“Strictly speaking, I have no interest in the Emperor of Cardion.”
“…….”
“Because my only interest has always been you, Elisha.”
I can’t tell you how heartbroken I was when I heard you had disappeared.
Primavera, having pulled away from Elisha’s ear, smiled, her lips curving into a beautiful arc.
At the same time, just as Elisha was about to narrow her brows and open her mouth to speak— “I must be going now. I hope that when we meet again, we can face each other ‘fully.’”
A step ahead of this, Primavera tore open a teleportation scroll for distinguished guests and beamed. It was a creation of Erich’s, capable of transporting one directly to the central plaza where the procession was departing.
There was nothing more she could do even if she chased after her.
Elisha gazed at the empty space where Primavera had vanished in an instant and let out a faint sigh.
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