The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#225 Leaflet - The Case of Priestess G A certain inn near the Brown Trading Company headquarters. "We felt completely cut off from the outside world. The walls were thick enough that none of London's outside noise could penetrate. All that filled our ears was the quiet crackling of the fireplace and our own breathing." The spell Eris cast had severed the room's interior from the outside. "It's just to prevent eavesdropping, so there's no need to be too frightened." She said that, but Diana couldn't take it at face value. Where in the world would you find a suspect who purely accepts a detective saying "no need to be nervous" in an interrogation room? Especially when it's not even a false accusation but real suspicion. Perhaps it should be considered fortunate, but Diana hadn't noticed what the identity of the "magic tome" Eris used actually was. If she had known that her former workplace colleague had transformed into a magic tome, she might have fainted on the spot from fear. "You said you had something to ask, so could we hear what it's about? Since you're benefactors who helped us, we'll answer everything we can." As if to shield the extremely tense Diana, Kail leaned his body slightly forward and spoke. At that appearance mixing politeness, wariness, and an attitude of trying to protect his woman, Fina and Eris felt slightly troubled. Although it couldn't be helped given the situation, it had somehow taken on the appearance of intimidating weak lovers with force. Of course, there are people in the world who don't care about such things. "Hey, there's no need to be so tense. Anyone watching would think we're trying to devour you. This face is too precious to play the role of a bad wolf in a fairy tale. Here, have some hydration first." Along with an unfunny joke delivered with a gentle smile, Grace extended drinks she had somehow procured to Diana and Kail. When the two accepted the drinks despite being bewildered, Grace grinned and gestured "Come on, come on, quickly!" as if urging them to drink soon. After drinking the beverage rich with honey and lemon fragrance, both of their bodies relaxed just slightly. "When I first tried this drink in Ravelocia, I thought it was really good, you know? So I tried eating the yellow fruit that's the raw ingredient, and oh my, the sourness was so strong it nearly brought me to tears." "Ah... yes. That's right, it is a bit burdensome to eat whole." "Brown Trading Company was selling those kinds of fruits too, is there some special way to eat them?" "If you add sweetness with sugar or honey like this drink, it becomes quite easy to eat. Or you can use it as dessert to cleanse your palate after greasy food, or grind the peel for use when making bread." "Ooh, have you made it before?" "I've never actually done it myself. I don't have occasion to go to the kitchen." "What about the beautiful clerk there?" "I'm also... not really." "Ah, are you perhaps clumsy at things like cooking? I suddenly feel a sense of kinship!" Making the room that had been filled with silence instantly lively, Grace skillfully led the conversation. The two seemed quite perplexed wondering what was suddenly happening, but at the same time their tension was visibly relaxing to anyone watching. Eris clicked her tongue inwardly watching that scene. 'Come to think of it, when we first met she also reduced the distance like that and before we knew it she had joined the party.' Fina isn't the type who's skilled at rhetoric or negotiation even in jest. She's very shy and doesn't speak well unless it's with close companions. Eris had enough sociability to put on a social mask, but she did it out of necessity rather than being the type to enjoy conversation itself. But Grace is different. Not just a village but a social butterfly who easily covers the entire city range. A human capybara who can casually become friends even with first-time encounters. Given that she never lost her brightness even when immersed in the position of priestess and its accompanying tragedy, Grace's communication abilities now that she had gained freedom had reached an unparalleled level. How impressive must it be that Eris tried once to analyze and copy Grace's interpersonal negotiation skills but gave up. At first glance it seems like she's just chattering about trivial small talk, but probably if others tried to chatter like Grace, it wouldn't have much effect. No, there's actually a greater risk of it backfiring. It's not that uncommon to find chatterboxes burdensome. Expressions, gestures, vocalization, topic selection, inducing remarks, the silence between conversations. Appropriately utilizing all of those things to make the other person feel comfort and familiarity was the essence of that affinity. Even while Eris thought inwardly that it was more frightening that she did it unconsciously rather than knowingly, the conversation gradually ripened. "So, as long as you two haven't committed some major incident, we won't do anything bad either. Even if you have some guilt, if you confess honestly we'll take that into consideration." Diana and Kail's eyes wavered. 'What should we do?' Since the situation had come to this anyway, trying to pass it off as if nothing happened would be unreasonable. It would be easy to tell lies, but without a reasonable explanation for the demonic presence emanating from the two of them, those people wouldn't be convinced. Perhaps instead of speaking gently with smiles like now, they might try to crack open their heads with magic. But if they spilled everything, then they didn't know how Lucidra, who could be said to be the two's master now, would react. It was when Diana was falling into serious contemplation. ─It's fun to watch, but I guess I can't just leave this be. I'll help you, so just play along. Telepathy. No, the moment the two flinched at the voice that seemed to echo from inside their heads. The accessories they carried—the brooches given to headquarters employees—suddenly began emitting intense mana. "Ugh!?" Terrifyingly dark, murky, and profound mana stretched out like shadows, trying to wrap around Diana and Kail like bandages. But before the two could be harmed, the hero party acted. Fina's aura blade sliced through the shadows, Eris's spell caught the shadows, and Grace's divine power enveloped and protected the people around. The brooches emitting mana roughly resisted by wielding black shadows, then soon pierced through the wooden window and fled outside. The party hurriedly tried to pursue them, but the shadows had already hidden themselves. When Eris frowned and used magic to track the demonic presence, the result showed that the opponent had already departed to a far distance. After confirming that the magic tome showed no reaction at all toward Diana and Kail, who were frozen in a dumbfounded state, Eris soon let out a sigh. "It seems like a demon with mimicry abilities was attached to their bodies while pretending to be accessories." "Then these people are simply victims?" "Well. We'll need to investigate further for details. You two, are you alright?" At Eris's question, Diana and Kail realized this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. They displayed as much as possible the appearance of being frightened and not knowing what to do in this situation as they spoke. "Wh-what happened? That brooch was a demon?" "It's not like we bought it from some strange place, it was an item issued by the trading company..." "Please calm down for now. We'll calmly investigate to see if there's anything wrong with your bodies." After that, the two received various 'examinations,' but fortunately their true identities were not revealed. Neither that they were demons, nor that they had changed their appearances. How that was possible was unknowable even to the parties involved, but one thing was certain. 'As expected, you should count on a hundred first!!' It couldn't help but be a moment when the grace of their patron, whose identity they barely knew, struck them deeply. *** "In the end, those two were neither demons nor contractors." "And we couldn't obtain any information about other demons either." After the series of commotion ended. The three people who continued investigating for several days sat around a table at a quiet cafe and let out sighs. Even after the first day, they continued to suspect and monitor Diana and Kail, but fortunately or unfortunately, no particular suspicious elements were found. There were circumstances worth suspecting if they wanted to be suspicious, but there was no physical evidence. "Looking at the situation, it seems like the demon was lurking while transformed into the accessories those people had, then fled when it seemed like we would catch it... what was its purpose in the first place?" To Grace's question, Eris answered. "About that, could this place called Brown Trading Company be like the empire's vanguard against demons?" "The empire's vanguard? Why?" "A certain man I know was infiltrating with the disguised identity of a librarian to catch a demon that approached my master. The patron of the library where he was stationed was Brown Trading Company. And Fina's magic sword was also an item sent from Brown Trading Company." Beings connected to the same Brown Trading Company had each thwarted demonic plots. Eris argued that it would be more difficult to view this as mere coincidence. Fina opened her eyes wide and said. "Then the demon approached to interfere with such a trading company?" "Right. Perhaps it tried to take over those people's bodies and then cause internal division. Even if not that, it's true that just serving as an eavesdropping device to steal internal information would be dangerous." "So it's a confrontation between a righteous intelligence organization and villains trying to sabotage it?" Saying it was like a play, Grace laughed as if it were amusing. "Then what should we do now?" To Fina's question, Eris pondered for a moment before answering. "Even if we suddenly approach the trading company owner and ask them to reveal the truth, it won't have much effect. If this place is one of the Eizern Empire's intelligence agencies as I predict, they won't readily spill information about their homeland." Of course, since this was Ravelocia Kingdom, it would be possible to apply pressure using the power of Eris's master, Delfinaris. But Brown Trading Company merely had its base in Ravelocia; currently it was a massive trading company with roots spread throughout central continent and still expanding into new areas. Since they could potentially flee from Ravelocia entirely, coercion through force wasn't a particularly good method. Then Grace suggested. "Then how about becoming allies instead?" "Allies?" "We need to gather travel funds anyway, right? If we ask them to hire us here and work, wouldn't information about demons or anything else come into our hands?" "That's... not bad." Though they appeared to be just a trio of young, delicate women on the surface, in reality they were a swordswoman who had reached the realm of mental image manifestation, a mage who used unique magic, and a high-ranking priest (priestess) whose kind had dried up outside the Holy Kingdom. From the trading company's perspective, which had many tasks requiring strength, they would be extremely coveted talents. Moreover, since they had formed a connection by driving out the demon that possessed two ordinary(?) clerks, if they utilized this well, getting hired shouldn't be too difficult. "Fina, what do you think?" "I think it's fine. We can earn money, help people, and maybe even get information about the magic sword." "Then it's decided!" The newly formed three-member hero party went straight to the headquarters, and after a direct interview with company owner Travers Brown, they successfully secured employment. When the day would come for their misunderstanding to be corrected was still unknown. (E/N: What misunderstanding! That company is clearly a puppet company of the empire fighting against demons!)