Episode 135: I’m Bored, Got Anything?
I stepped out into the hallway, and Roan-san gestured for me to follow him, starting to walk. I hurried after him, walking alongside him.
“Sorry for disturbing you, Hugh.”
“No, not at all. More importantly, what are you doing here, Roan-san? Are you in the middle of Knights Order training?”
“Nah, I’m on an errand for His Highness. I’d usually send Alissa, but she said she was too busy.”
“I see…”
Alissa-san had been looking busy these past few days, preparing for the Off-Campus Training Exercise. Besides, she should be at the House Puridi mansion now, guarding Lucretia. There’s no way she’d have time to show her face here.
By the way, the reason Lucretia is at the House Puridi mansion is thanks to Lily’s thoughtfulness towards me. When I consulted her about wanting to buy Lucretia a birthday present, she took it upon herself, saying, “Then leave Tia to me.”
Right now, she’s probably having the merchants employed by House Puridi show her various goods under the guise of preparing for the Off-Campus Training Exercise. She said she’d make time for me until around evening, so I plan to go present hunting with Lecty later.
“Is this a good spot?”
Roan-san stopped in a lounge area on the same floor. There was no sign of anyone around, and it was eerily quiet. The only sound was the faint shouting of the Royal Knights Order from the adjacent training grounds.
“His Highness told me to relay the results of Malicious’s interrogation to you.”
“Did you find out anything…?”
“Yeah. The information we got is scarce, but even that is a clue. First, Malicious’s abnormal obsession with the Holy Maiden. This was probably amplified by someone.”
“…I thought so.”
“Malicious apparently had doubts about the teachings of the Divine Blessing Church for a long time. God only gives people Skills, and the rest is just trials and disasters. Only the Holy Maiden tried to truly save people with the Sacred Scripture. He felt that the Holy Maiden was the only one worthy of worship.”
“Well, I can understand what he’s trying to say, but that’s a pretty heretical idea.”
“Yeah. So, he thought about it, but he never actually took any action or told anyone about it.”
“…And that changed at some point?”
“The trigger was when a man visited the Grand Cathedral. The man was wearing a jet-black hooded robe, and his face was almost completely hidden. However, he clearly remembered the man’s red eyes.”
“…The same as the merchant who frequented Duke Lecherie’s Mansion?”
“It’s questionable whether he was even a merchant now, but His Highness also believes it’s the same person. Malicious apparently received the Monsterization Drug from that man. Malicious was led to believe that it was a drug to awaken Skills.”
“Led to believe…”
Indeed, until the moment Rosalie Monsterized, Malicious believed without a doubt that the Monsterization Drug would awaken Skills. If he was led to believe that by some kind of Skill, what kind of Skill would that be…?
Among the Skills that Lily and Idiot helped me test, and the Skills that Rouge and the others helped me research in the library, there wasn’t one that seemed capable of doing that. A completely unknown Skill that manipulates people…?
“The Knights Order is still tracking the man’s whereabouts, but we haven’t obtained much information so far. We can’t conduct a full-blown search because of the nature of the matter, so we don’t expect to find him.”
“Am I still on standby?”
“We don’t know what your Skill is, but there’s no need to create more work for yourself. The Succession War is about to enter its main phase. Even if you found the man with your Skill, His Highness wouldn’t have the余裕 to deal with it in earnest. …Besides.”
“Besides?”
Roan-san paused for a moment, then sighed as if he were in trouble. Roan-san’s bitter expression was reflected in the window glass.
“It just feels weird. I can’t understand it, or rather, I don’t understand the purpose. What did he want to accomplish by manipulating Malicious…?”
“…It doesn’t seem like the goal was to Monsterize Rosalie…”
If that were the case, it’s far too roundabout. He has a Skill that can manipulate people. He could have manipulated Rosalie himself without going through Malicious and made her drink the drug.
Is there a restriction on the Skill that prevents him from doing that…? No, even then, there seem to be easier ways to do it. The weirdness that Roan-san feels must be here.
There’s nothing more terrifying than a dangerous person whose thinking you can’t comprehend…
“Well, in any case, it’s best if we can avoid getting involved. It doesn’t seem like his main goal is to obstruct His Highness.”
“I suppose so…”
So far, both the Lecherie case and the Malicious case have been moving in a positive direction for Prince Lucas. It’s true that they haven’t been an obstacle to Prince Lucas in the Succession War.
However, if the person who kidnapped Lecty in the Malicious case is the same man or an accomplice, I have no intention of forgiving him. …I won’t go out of my way to look for him, but if he appears before me. At that time, I intend to capture him, even if I have to use the Brainwashing Skill.
“Oh, right, I had a message from His Highness. I completely forgot.”
“A message?”
Did he really dispatch Roan-san just to convey that? This hospital is close to the Royal Castle and the Knights Order training grounds, but that’s a bit much…
“He said, ‘Please take care of things from tomorrow.'”
“Huh? Ah, yes, of course. You can leave Rouge during the Off-Campus Training Exercise to me.”
I was taken aback by the belated message. Roan-san shook his shoulders and laughed at my expression, then raised his hand lightly and left, saying, “I’m going back. See ya.”
Did he really come just to convey this…?
The vice-commander of the Royal Knights Order might actually be bored.