Chapter 78: Invitation (5)

Saintess Adrianna.

The Saintess of the Sun Church and the only one qualified to hear the voice of God.

Despite her fame, very little was known about her.

She was born in the temple and raised by the hands of priests.

It is said that she was chosen by God when she had only just begun to walk and grew up alone, her vast divine power capable of performing even “miracles” with ease.

That was all.

She rarely descended the mountain to display miracles, and even those occasions were so tightly controlled that no one truly knew anything.

“…Have you ever met the Saintess?”

The extreme scarcity and control of information also meant she had almost never stepped outside.

Yet she claimed to have met the Saintess?

Even royalty rarely managed to meet her.

“Yes! Heehee, of course.”

Charlotte readjusted her hat with a confident gesture.

“I may not look it, but I’m actually quite capable, you know?”

“The location of the mountain itself isn’t even properly known.”

“I found it with my ‘deduction.’”

“That’s not deduction, that’s tracking.”

“But I still found it, didn’t I?”

She’s insane. No, a madwoman.

Evan stared at Charlotte with an expressionless face.

Charlotte stuck out her tongue playfully, “Bleh.”

They had only met minutes ago, yet anyone watching would think they were friends of many years.

“…Hoo. Fine. You always were a little smart, even back then.”

“…Did the Saintess speak about me?”

Evan asked with the same blank face.

She shook her head vigorously.

“No! That wasn’t it; I just deduced it myself!”

“…Deduced?”

“The rumors about you and the Drug Manufacturer King keep circulating together! But the Saintess herself said she is definitely not the Drug Manufacturer King and even praised the person as a wonderful individual!”

The Saintess… praised someone?

She probably hadn’t said it openly.

The fact that Evan had given her a healing potion was still unknown to the public.

The Saintess herself would not want it known that she was ill.

She must have hidden it appropriately.

Though it felt like a tiny bit of information had leaked to that woman.

Why did the rumors about the Drug Manufacturer King spread in the first place?

But asking more here would be awkward.

To begin with, the rumor that he was “hunting” the Drug Manufacturer King was false, and even if it became true, it would be a problem.

Where in the world is there someone who hunts himself?

“…Thank you for the kind words. However, the rumor that I am chasing the Drug Manufacturer King appears to be false.”

“Eh, really?”

Charlotte accepted it surprisingly easily.

“That’s a shame… I thought it would be thrilling to hunt together with someone as cool as you!”

Evan glanced sideways at Aegis.

A tiny bead of cold sweat had formed on Aegis’s forehead.

She discreetly wiped it away and scolded Charlotte.

“You mixed in your delusions again, didn’t you?”

“No I didn’t! Hmph… Do you know how hard I worked my brain?”

“I told you to fix that habit long ago.”

The two bickering.

It felt less unfamiliar and more like sisters who were used to each other.

They had known each other’s names earlier, and they had spoken of escaping together.

What exactly was their relationship?

“Hoo.”

Aegis swept her hair back and approached Charlotte.

Now that he looked closely, the two really did resemble each other.

Both were young and beautiful, so their ages looked similar, but it was the atmosphere—the features.

Ah, right. Their art style is the same.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly where, but at a glance they looked like sisters.

“Introductions.”

Aegis swept her hair back again.

She snatched Charlotte’s hat as if confiscating it and pressed the back of her head to make her bow.

“My half-sister, Charlotte. Like me, a princess who threw away her surname.”

Her voice was somehow flat yet carried a strange emotion.

“A little peculiar, but a good kid.”

“I have a question.”

Lapis raised one hand.

Frey was looking wary for some reason, while Royan was still sprawled on the floor.

Receiving everyone’s gazes, Lapis asked boldly.

“Aegis, you were a princess?”

Was it just his imagination that it sounded like “That thing was a princess?”

***

“Tch.”

“Be glad it ended with one hit.”

Lapis pouted while rubbing her head, from which steam was practically rising.

Aegis lay down in the carriage, openly showing her exhaustion.

Charlotte looked around the inside of the carriage with curiosity, then hop! climbed onto Aegis’s lap.

“You’ve gotten really comfortable, sis. How long have you been together?”

“Me? With Evan… about two months? Not long.”

“Yes. She has only been visiting as a guest for a short while.”

“But isn’t this a bit too relaxed?”

Charlotte pointed at Aegis’s outfit as she spoke.

To put it bluntly, Aegis’s clothing could not be called wholesome.

Who in the world has wholesome clothes with the sides completely open?

If not for the age difference, she would easily be praised as a beauty.

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Why? The young master is still a man.”

“…Crude words.”

Frey frowned deeply.

She looked extremely displeased.

Why does she hate it so much?

She had been relatively calm until just now.

Hmm. I don’t really get it.

The only reason that came to mind was… jealousy?

Pride was originally about setting the board and manipulating it as one wished.

From Frey’s perspective, she had set a board she quite liked, but now it might be disrupted.

Because of this sudden intruder named Charlotte.

Or perhaps…

Maybe their concept images overlap a little?

Not the atmosphere.

Literally the concept.

If you had to say, both were intelligence-type characters who used their brains.

But neither really felt like a proper intelligence character.

Charlotte seemed less intelligent and more like someone with a flower garden blooming in her head.

“Yeah? Sis, even so, the young master is a man; shouldn’t you be careful?”

“…He says he doesn’t see me as a woman. Because I’m old. It’s really upsetting.”

“Ehehe. I’m still in my twenties~”

“I’m still in my twenties too?”

“But next year you’ll… Kyaa!”

“I’m still twenty, I said!”

The two bickering.

They didn’t quite grab each other’s hair like true sisters, but they were one step away from it.

“Hoo. Hoo.”

“Sis, your body has gotten really sluggish?”

“…I was cooped up in my room doing nothing but research.”

“Still, you’re better! No news about the other sister, right?”

Other sister?

She called her “sister” too, so it must be another princess.

Is there another princess?

Just how many had run away?

“I heard that sister got a job in the red-light district this time. They say she’s being called princess again there?”

“…I kind of expected that from her.”

The two whispering in a code only they understood.

Though Evan could hear everything anyway.

I hope we arrive soon…

He had let her ride because she was Aegis’s acquaintance, but honestly he felt uneasy.

Charlotte.

Just looking at her, she was clearly obsessed with detective novels; even the design of that hat gave it away.

She was probably a detective.

Aspiring or real, he didn’t know, but it would be better to part ways quickly rather than get tangled up.

“Uungh. Evan, my head hurts.”

“Go rest over there.”

“Uuuungh. I want Evan to pet me.”

Lapis stretched like a cat and placed her head on Evan’s lap.

Evan almost flinched involuntarily but held it in and gently patted Lapis’s head.

Lapis seemed to like the touch and even purred, “Purr—”

Evan inwardly wondered whether he should now see her as a cat or as a Sin.

“Ah! Young master, may I ask one thing?”

Charlotte, her hair now messy from talking with Aegis, suddenly stuck her face forward.

Evan nodded.

“…Yes, go ahead.”

“What do you think about dual identities?”

Dual identities?

What did that mean?

Evan rolled the thought around in his head.

Nothing in particular came to mind.

Hmm.

Dual identities…

Well, it’s not bad, is it?

He could answer honestly.

“Is there a law that says a person must have only one face?”

“…Meaning?”

“Every human has two sides, so having two identities is not strange at all.”

…Did I say that well?

While Evan was inwardly unsure,

Clap clap clap!

Charlotte began clapping with tears in her eyes.

“That’s… that’s too wonderful…!”

“?”

“As expected of Evan…!”

“As expected of Evan. Really so cool…”

Everyone was now looking at him with admiration.

No.

It really wasn’t that big a deal…

***

Crackle, crackle.

The time when everyone was asleep.

The carriage had stopped in a secluded forest for a short rest.

Charlotte, who had volunteered to stand guard and keep watch, sat with her knees together, staring into the campfire.

Having thrown away her princess title, the concept of sleep had long faded from her.

She had kept her mind clear for a long time, but she didn’t know how much longer it would last.

That was why she collected information and reset her brain with new pleasures, digging up all sorts of secrets.

…Running into her sister had been completely unexpected.

“Sis looked really comfortable.”

Aegis.

Even back when she was a princess, she had been famous for her peculiar personality.

Just the fact that she was obsessed with alchemy—where one had to see both the filthy and the beautiful—proved it.

Evan Alkart. Almost nothing is known about him.

At best there were images of him as a wastrel or incompetent, but what she saw now was the complete opposite.

Rather, he was extraordinarily capable and a born ruler.

It made no sense for someone with that appearance to be timid.

And seeing how close he is with sis… he must be an alchemist too.

There is always a reason people become close in a short time.

Is Aegis an airhead?

That’s true, but there still has to be a minimum condition.

A minimum level of favorability.

That was probably alchemy.

“Umm…”

Charlotte pressed her cheek with her index finger and tilted her head.

“Why is it…”

Something, something.

It felt like looking at misaligned gears.

Especially Evan.

Every time she looked at him, she felt it.

It wasn’t for nothing that she had asked about dual identities.

There was only one case that gave her this feeling.

A criminal hiding his identity.

Someone of at least the caliber to be called a big shot.

“Are you a ‘criminal’ hiding something from me?”

Or.

“A big shot even I don’t know about?”

It was an absurd suspicion—Evan would be dumbfounded if he heard it.

Yet Charlotte continued the thought.

She gazed toward their destination with slightly sunken eyes.

“…Yeah. Something must be right. That sinister old man wouldn’t have called us for no reason.”

Professor Moriarty.

Charlotte had been tracking his footsteps for quite a long time.

More precisely, the plan he was secretly executing.

Because what lay hidden behind his noble, serene, aristocratic face was utterly horrific.

Resurrection of the dead.

A taboo in both alchemy and everywhere else.

She didn’t know exactly which evil being he was trying to revive.

But she had to stop the dead-resurrection plan he was surely carrying out.

She firmly believed that both Evan and Aegis knew the purpose and were heading there for that reason.