Chapter 165: Disappearance Part 6

After dramatically reconciling with Mephistopheles, I continued to rest, waiting for someone from the Cradle to come pick me up.

Ah, what a sweet, peaceful daily life this is.

When I call Yuna’s name, no one jumps out.

Even if I strain my eyes, Ariel’s surveillance magic is nowhere to be seen.

As for Emily’s mechanical devices… well, I’m not entirely sure, but they’re probably gone too.

After all, Deus hacked them last time to calculate our coordinates.

At last, I had achieved perfect freedom.

So, I stepped outside and began reading under the shade of a tree.

Chris, unable to contain his overflowing strength, was chopping firewood.

Helena and Dietrich were out for a walk.

Who knew just watching kids run around the house could be so healing?

“Doctor.”

Just as I was enjoying this peace, Helena came over.

I glanced over at Dietrich and saw he was chatting happily with Chris, who was chopping wood.

Maybe he was interested in the axe, or maybe he was trying to give advice.

I wasn’t sure, but still—

You really shouldn’t take your eyes off kids.

See? This little rascal had come over to me while no one was looking.

“What’s wrong? Something happened?”

“I heard about your younger brother.”

“Ah…”

“I heard he used to be stuck at home all the time because of illness, like I was.”

“That’s true.”

“And you’re the one who cured him.”

“That’s also true.”

“I didn’t think he’d become that healthy.”

“Neither did I.”

I hadn’t wished for him to become that healthy.

Nor did I expect things to turn out that way.

“Do you think I could become like that too?”

“…What?”

Did she go crazy under the pressure of being called a Prophet?

“No, I mean… the path to get here wasn’t exactly smooth.”

“I can imagine.”

“Big brother Dietrich always protects me, but I started feeling like I couldn’t keep going on like this.”

“So you want to become stronger?”

“No, not exactly… Honestly, I’m not that weak, am I?”

“True.”

At least she has a solid sense of self-awareness.

Helena might even be stronger than me.

I mean, she was a Prophet. She was arguably one of the most broken classes out there.

“But big brother Dietrich still treats me like I’m a helpless little kid.

He won’t even let me take care of the small stuff, never mind the dangerous ones.”

“Well, you are a kid.”

“What about Chris, then?”

“…….”

“Chris is young too, but he chops firewood by himself, and I heard he even goes into the forest to hunt!”

“Chris is… a bit different.”

To defend my younger brother’s honor, it’s not like he was ordered to do any of that.

He just needed a way to release all that excess energy.

Everything Chris is doing right now is entirely of his own volition.

“So I thought.”

“Thought what…?”

“That maybe appearances really do matter!”

“…Hmph.”

She’s got a point.

If Chris still looked like the delicate boy he once was but had the strength he has now, would we have allowed him to do all the things he’s doing?

Probably not.

Appearances matter more than we think.

I know Chris is still the kind, thoughtful kid he’s always been…

But even so, whenever he walked near me, I instinctively felt a chill down my spine. That’s just biological instinct at work.

“So, um, Doctor. Would it be possible for me to, maybe… get some of the medicine that made Chris into such a strong warrior?”

“You think that’s possible?”

“Hing…”

I do have a conscience, you know.

Even if Kult was an enemy, how am I supposed to face him in the afterlife if I start handing out that stuff?

“Besides, even if you took that medicine, you wouldn’t end up like Chris. The drug wasn’t even complete to begin with.”

I didn’t actually cure Chris’s illness.

All I did was reverse his condition. The one where he weakened in sunlight.

I essentially rewrote the symptoms, not the disease itself.

So Helena taking it wouldn’t mean anything.

Not to mention…

“That medicine was insanely expensive.”

The Cradle could make it, sure…but no way could we ever produce a mass-market version.

It used ingredients on par with the ones used in ultra-rare transcendence syndrome.

“And as overprotective as Dietrich seems, just try to be patient with him. He’s probably even less mature than you are.”

“Huh?”

“He had to kill his own friend and his brother, really with his own hands. That guilt might not show on the surface, but it comes through in the little things. That’s why he doesn’t want to burden you with anything unpleasant.”

“Ah…”

Kult was a heinous criminal.

Judging by the severity of his crimes, even the death penalty might’ve been too lenient.

But he was still Dietrich’s friend. His family. His advisor.

So you can’t just expect someone to erase all their happy memories, no matter how things ended.

And it’s those happy memories that are tormenting Dietrich now.

“Time will take care of it. So for now, just stay a kid.”

“What if I end up staying like this forever?”

“Then I’ll give Dietrich a good kick and snap him out of it.”

Wounds always heal best when left to recover naturally.

That’s why they say time heals all things.

Of course, if you wait too long, the wound doesn’t heal. It festers.

Still, Dietrich endured before.

In the original game, he went through much worse and still overcame it.

And besides, the current Dietrich had even received an apology from Kult himself.

That alone puts him far ahead.

“And you little brat… what’s scarier than putting responsibility on a kid who once tried to take her own life looking for answers?”

“Ahko!”

I flicked Helena’s smooth forehead.

She toppled backward from where she was sitting beside me.

“Rest while you can. Go play like a proper kid.”

“Okaaay.”

I shooed Helena off and reopened my book.

It was a rare moment to be outside.

Might as well enjoy it while I could.

No terrorist threats.

No killers lurking in the shadows.

Just peace.

Let’s savor this moment.

“Excuse me?”

…The second I thought that, a visitor arrived.

Anyone visiting House Damus at a time like this could only be from one place.

I let out a sigh.

“Go on and keep playing. I’ll go greet our guest.”

The Cradle had sent its envoy.

I never imagined they’d arrive this early, no matter what.

The Headmistress really is something else.

I trudged over to the main gate to greet them. As I approached, I could see a group of people through the gaps in the fence.

Five of them, maybe?

No way… did they really think I’d run off and send a pursuit squad after me?

No, don’t be so pessimistic. I’m a student who got caught up in a terrorist attack…they probably just sent a security escort to reassure me.

Besides, Headmistress Olga Hermod wasn’t exactly heartless.

“Yes, I’m coming out. You’re from the Cradle, right? Are you here to see me?”

“Johan Damus?”

“Hmm?”

Just then, a familiar voice rose from within the group.

The crowd naturally parted.

And through the opening, I saw someone smaller than the rest.

Scarlet red hair like a rose and sharp yellow eyes that gave off the intensity of a wild beast.

“Your Highness?”

Lobelia Vicious von Miltonia.

No way… Did she really come all this way out of concern for me? Her, of all people?

Ah, well… if it’s out of guilt, I guess I can understand. She did say she’d explain everything to Ariel, and then things turned out like this.

“Welcome—”

Wham!

Stars exploded in front of my eyes.

What was that? Did the other half of my split consciousness just signal the next stage of the spell?

No… if I’m having this much nonsense pop into my head, I probably just got smacked hard enough to lose my mind.

I got hit. Out of nowhere.

That damned imperial bich!

“Guhk!”

The pain hit me a moment later, and my body went tumbling backward.

I twisted just in time to keep the back of my head from smashing into the ground, then immediately shot a glare at Lobelia, the one who’d struck me.

“What kind of nonsense did you spout to let… that kind… that kind of ridiculous rumor spread throughout the Empire?!”

Then she dropped her gaze.

Ah, right. I did say something stupid in front of the Imperial Knights back then, didn’t I?

With everything that happened, I completely forgot. I left a mess behind without doing a single thing to clean it up. The rumors she had to deal with on her own… must’ve been pretty serious.

Still, this isn’t my fault. It’s not like I knew things would spiral out of control like this. If I had known… No, even if I had known, I wouldn’t have had much choice at the time.

I mean, I had to survive, didn’t I?

“Let’s calm down first.”

“Calm down? Did you just say calm down? You let things get this far, and you’re telling me to calm down?!”

“You need to think clearly.”

“I am thinking clearly. I’ve decided to personally kill you and bury these rumors with your corpse!”

…Yeah, she’s really pissed.

***

Anyway, I survived. For now.

Thanks to the Cradle’s envoys who came with Lobelia and managed to hold her back.

“So, um… what kind of rumors are we talking about?”

“You want me to say them out loud?”

“Ah, sorry.”

Lobelia’s face turned beet red, and she couldn’t even get the words out.

With her fiery red hair and flushed cheeks, she looked like a walking tomato.

Anyway, sounds like the rumors were filthy enough that she couldn’t even bring herself to say them.

“At first, I thought you’d launched some political attack against me and gone into hiding.”

“……”

“So I was ready to search every corner of the Empire to find you and kill you myself… but then I heard late that you’d gotten caught up in a terrorist attack.”

“I… I see.”

I survived!

Asking Cattleya to pass on the message saved my life!

If I hadn’t done that, I would’ve been murdered by Lobelia right here, right now!

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m in the clear yet.

She’s holding herself back for now, but if no one had stepped in earlier, I’d probably be a corpse already.

Ugh, just thinking about it sends chills down my spine. Should I call Dietrich? Sure, he’s a wanted criminal, but right now that’s the least of my concerns.

“S-So… Yu, c-cough! Did Ariel happen to come with you?”

I almost said Yuna like I usually do but quickly pivoted to Ariel.

I’m used to calling her Yuna, but saying that name in front of Lobelia instead of Ariel right now would’ve been a terrible idea.

She might’ve let it slide on a normal day, but in her current mood, only Ariel’s name could work as a proper shield.

Lobelia’s friends with Ariel. If I bring her up, it’ll make keeping my head attached to my shoulders a lot easier.

“Do you think she could’ve? After that stunt, she’s been locked up for a week.”

“Ah… right.”

It hasn’t even been a full week yet, so she’s still under confinement.

Now that I think about it, Lobelia got here really fast too.

Which also meant…

“So, neither of them have heard the rumors yet?”

“That’s right.”

“How do you plan to deal with the consequences?”

“And you’re the one asking me that?”

I took a sip of the herbal tea in response to Lobelia’s irritated reply.

It was rosemary tea. A specialty of our territory.

We’d tried to clear it out last time she visited, but I guess there was so much of it, we’ve just been steadily working through it in tea form ever since.

Hmm… Herbal tea really does help calm the nerves and sharpen the mind.

Alright, I’m good now. I’ve figured out a way to navigate this mess.

“Your Highness, may I ask you something real quick?”

“Spit it out.”

Still, in order to pull this off, I absolutely needed Lobelia’s cooperation.

That said, even bringing it up felt a bit tricky.

“This is just something that, uh… really just popped into my head. Not that I have any hidden agenda or anything. Just a random thought, so please don’t read too much into it.”

“Your tongue’s flapping. Whatever it is, get to the point already.”

“Ah, yes. Right. I’ll just say it. Totally random thought, really.”

At Lobelia’s exasperated tone, I cautiously asked,

Honestly, it’s nothing serious.

“By any chance… did you bring the gold bars you promised last time?”

“You’re planning to run, aren’t you?!”

Ah, crap. I tried to sound as natural as possible! How did she see right through me?