I glanced at Kishian.
I looked around his eyes a little... No, he crumpled it up a lot and said it to the brooch.
"If anyone hears it, they will think that my wife really ran away. She just went to the south for a while."
- Oh. I'm sorry. Eloquent escape from the Grand Duke's residence... I heard a rumor that you left for recuperation, right? I was surprised and made a mistake.
It was absurd for me to listen to their conversation from the sidelines.
I ran away, right?
When I went to the south to recuperate, I pushed away the Kishian, who was distorting reality, and said hello to the Duke.
"Anyway, thank you, Duke. Thanks to you, I found a clue to deal with the monsters. The Grand Duke is with us right now, so let's come up with a countermeasure."
- Yes, if you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me...
Finally, the connection with the Duke was severed.
As soon as 8 put down the brooch, I glared at Kishian.
"What if you suddenly interrupt?"
"He said something offensive first."
"..."
I don't know where it bothered him.
The Duke of Hersen didn't say anything wrong.
As if he didn't want to hear the nagging, he changed the subject.
"What is that cube?"
"We've visited Baron Baldek before. It was a personal gift from Baron Valdek at that time."
Afterwards, I explained to Kishian everything I had heard from the Duke.
The cause of the creation of monsters, the role of cubes, and so on.
Kishian was curious as well.
"Does that mean that you can get rid of the monsters at the source?"
"Yes, I want to show you in person, but it's not here right now. It's probably in my quarters vault at Mercenary headquarters."
"Probably?"
"I'm not sure. It had a binding spell on it, so it kept coming back to the safe in my room. I can't check it, but seeing that the Duke of Hersen isn't there, it's in the safe again. If I had been here, I would have looked into it right away..."
After listening to my muttering and thinking about it for a while, Kishian tossed out a word that sounded puzzled.
"Isn't it possible to be here?"
"Huh? No, it's going back to the safe."
"I think it's a magic that makes things return to their owners, so you don't have to go back to the vault. The reason it's returned to the vault so far is because you've been staying in the Mercenaries' quarters."
I heard that it was.
I, the owner of the property, am out of the mercenary quarters and the distant Viscount Gottlief, but have it really returned to the vault this time?
I rummaged through my suitcase with no idea.
As I searched through my clothes and reached the bottom of my bag, I found a familiar object in my hand.
"...Are you sure it's here?"
Cleverly, it knew that its owner was far away and followed me here.
I was a little scared and stared at the cube when Kishian came over and picked it up.
Then, as the Duke had said, he turned the red gem at the top of the cube clockwise.
Weeying-
I heard a strange sound, and the gem floated a little upwards.
After that, a strong ray of light emanated from it. Eastward.
'Can I find it if I follow this light?"
When I moved the cube out of the room, the light pointed in the same direction.
I disabled the cube by turning the gem counterclockwise.
After that, I went back to explain to Kishian.
"I think we need to check if this is really working. It will be difficult right now."
"Are you going to go looking for that contaminated seed or something?"
"That's right. We can't let monsters attack people."
As I replied, a smile spread across his lips.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I think you're a savior."
"...?"
"You are still denying it, are you? You're the savior."
I was the savior of the empire, not Letie, and Kishian seemed to be so sure.
"But L..."
"Why did that cube come into your hands? Simply by chance? There can't be such an exquisite coincidence. It was meant to go back to you from the beginning."
He took the cube from me and rolled it lightly in his hand.
"I took you to Barony Valdek, and you received this from the Baron there, and you decided to use it to destroy the monster-generated causes... It must have been predestined."
"..."
"If Princess Letie were real, it would have fallen into her hands, but now you have it."
Is that why I can be considered a real savior?
Until now, the whole empire had believed in Letie as a savior and followed her, but now it wasn't like that...
Of course, as far as I know, she didn't have the power to purify the pollution.
This cube, which will play a decisive role in removing the source of pollution, was also in my hands.
Based on those two facts, I felt more like a savior than Letie.
But maybe it's because I've believed in her as the savior for so long.
It was hard to realize.
'If I really am real...'
I felt like I was going to be so frustrated.
I've been living as a fake for so many years, but now it's not like that.
All the sad things I had been through were caused by misunderstandings.
A corner of my heart seemed to ache heavily with sadness.
***
I felt a little sad when I heard that I was real, but I couldn't stay in that feeling all the time.
Now that the members' contamination had been cured, they had to prepare to subjugate the monsters again.
We decided to help Kishian subjugate... So I called Baron Wolfstein and we talked together and explained the situation.
The monster was said to be hiding somewhere in the forest east of the Viscount of Gottlief.
As I heard, it is a monster that causes quite powerful mental pollution, and it has a hard shell.
Normally, it is humanoid monsters that cause mental pollution, but this time it didn't seem to be the case.
Moreover, it may not be one.
Since there was nothing certain, the explanation of the situation ended quickly.
In other words, I didn't know how many monsters there were or where they were hiding in the forest, so we just searched for them.
Kishian was worried and told me to stay and not follow him, but I didn't change my mind.
If it were a moderately weak monster, I wouldn't have followed it.
However, this monster is so powerful that even if it approaches it slightly, it will be immediately contaminated and incapacitated.
If so, it would be necessary to treat the contaminated animals on the spot immediately so that the mercenaries could deal with the monsters without losing troops.
When he heard my reply that I would follow him no matter what, he didn't stop me anymore by telling me not to leave his side.
Eleven members of the mercenary gang and the two of us moved to the forest together.
It was a small number, but each of them was a veteran who had a hard time defeating monsters.
Perhaps because of this, everyone seemed calm.
As they entered the forest, Haynes turned to the group and shouted.
"Everyone should be careful from here. It's so wide that you don't know when or where it will pop out. Don't let your guard down, and if you feel anything suspicious, you should report it immediately."
Hearing the answers of the mercenaries, I began to look for a way ahead.
No one opened their mouths to see if everyone was concentrating.
In silence, we slowly headed toward the center of the forest, wary in all directions.
"The air is cloudy.'
It was my first time at the subjugation site, so I might have been nervous, but the air felt strangely heavy and muddy.
Even though it was daytime, the visibility was also poor, as if it were foggy.
I could feel my physical strength being depleted in real time.
However, we couldn't say anything because we were all moving in silence.
After traveling for several more hours, Haynes spoke.
"I can't see any monsters. Let's take a break here."
It was a welcome sound.
The mercenaries let out a deep sigh and slumped into their seats.
I said quietly to Hertha in the meantime.
"Didn't you run out of water? I saw it all before, so let's go out together. You went to the stream on the way."
"I drank it all. Then let's go back for a while."
Kishian was talking to Haynes, as if he had something to ask about the monster.
So I took Hertha and headed for a while.
After all, it wasn't too far away, so I would have to go there quickly.
After chatting with Hertha, I soon arrived at a stream, where I filled a leather water bag with water.
It's not as bad as I thought; I can't even see the monsters.
It was a moment that came to my mind.
Rustling.
Hertha, who was floating in the water, and I turned our heads to the place where the sound came from at the same time.
"Just..."
"I think it's a rabbit; if it were a monster, it would have made a heavier sound."
Listening to Hertha's words, it was too quiet to be a monster.
It must be an animal like a rabbit or a deer passing by.
Just as I was soothing, I heard a sound again.
It was then that Hertha's face became tense.
"Sister, stay back for a moment. This thing... When I listened to it, it sounded like human footsteps, right?"
None of the mercenaries followed us.
If this were really a human condition, as Hertha had heard, it would be a stranger we didn't know.
Hertha drew the sword from her waistband, and I, as a noncombatant, stepped back cautiously
"Who is it? Come out."
Hertha gave the order in a sharp voice, and finally, the stranger appeared.
No, she was not a stranger.
A very familiar blonde looked up from the darkness of the forest.
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