POTC - Chapter 26

"Lady Presepe"

The voice coming from beyond the door was clearly not Fenrir's.

"If you happen to be awake, may I come in?"

"...Yes."

Presepe answered politely out of hesitation, and soon the door opened very cautiously.

And a very small maid entered.

She looked no more than fourteen. She was a girl with red hair and a face full of freckles.

"Hello, Lady Presepe! My name is Hannah."

Hannah smiled brightly and offered her greetings.

"Yes."

"From now on, I will serve you, Lady Presepe! If you need anything or have any inconveniences, please let me know anytime! Whatever it may be!"

Hannah's brown eyes, as she gazed at Presepe, were sparkling and shining.

She was completely different from the palace maids, who always seemed indifferent, subtly ignoring, and clearly looked down on her.

But there was something similar about her.

Ah. So...

Puppy.

That's very young too

"How was your day yesterday? It was your first day at the mansion. Did you get a good night's sleep?"

"Yeah, Grand Duke Fenrir was so considerate, so I slept really well."

"Oh, that's a relief. I was really worried that you might have had trouble sleeping!"

Hannah smiled brightly.

"You didn't eat anything yesterday, did you? Then how about having a meal? The Grand Duke left after strongly emphasizing that we must take great care of things, so everyone has been putting a lot of effort into preparing this since dawn."

"Ah, I see... The meal is nice, but I'd like to wash up first. Do you happen to know if that would be possible?"

"Of course! You can do whatever you want in this mansion, Lady Presepe! The Grand Duke made a very firm instruction on this as well."

"The Grand Duke? I am indebted to him, yet I slept until midday. And on the very first day."

"It's alright! The Grand Duke left a while ago. Besides, even if Lady Presepe sleeps until evening rather than in broad daylight, there is no one here to say anything. The Grand Duke also specifically instructed me to convey that message!"

Hannah chattered incessantly. She was just like a parrot. She even went on at length. But Presepe didn't dislike that. If anything, it was cute.

Moreover, seeing a child like this after living on thin ice in the imperial palace even made her feel like her heart was melting. She found the innocence unique to young children to be adorable.

"Thank you so much, but you don't need to go overboard for me, Hannah. I'll let you know right away if I need anything, so you don't have to worry too much."

"No! Taking care of Lady Presepe is my job."

Presepe had said that because she was inexplicably worried, but Hannah was incredibly firm, completely out of character.

"Besides, how much I've wanted to see Lady Presepe all this time."

"...Yes?"

"...What?"

"You mean you wanted to see me?"

Had we perhaps met before? But no matter how hard she retrace the past, no such memory comes to mind.

There is no way she wouldn't remember such a talkative child...

"No, it's nothing. I must have said the wrong thing! I just... I just meant that I am so happy to meet Lady Presepe."

"I'm not that great of a person, so there is no reason for you to be... happy, is there?"

Although puzzled, Hannah busily moved her lips again before Presepe could finish speaking.

"How about you go take a bath first? I will attend to you. And then, have a meal."

“Ah. Yes.”

Yesterday, too, she fell asleep without even being able to wash properly. It was only after she had recovered from her fatigue that she felt uneasy and wanted to wash, so Presepe decided to follow Hannah's advice for now.

Walking down the hallway, they reached a very large and incredibly luxurious bathroom. Hannah spoke incessantly to Presepe until she had fully immersed herself in the equally large bathtub, but Presepe answered her questions faithfully without showing any annoyance.

***

Ateloia's Magic Tower was located in the innermost, northern part of the Imperial Palace.

Not only Ateloia, but also the magic towers of other empires were usually located north of the imperial palace.

The reasons varied, but generally, it was due to the study of magic. Since wizards often worked day and night shifts while conducting research, they sometimes preferred the north over sunny directions; additionally, because the nature of magic makes one easily visible to others, they also desired secluded locations.

However, the case of Ateloia was a little different.

The reason the Magic Tower of Ateloia was located in the north was purely that Ivan, the tower's master and Archmage, detested interacting with people.

He did not welcome visits from others. This was especially true for people associated with the church.

However, today was an exception.

Ivan summoned Siegfried, who stood in place of the Church and the Archbishop, and Fenrir, who stood in place of Dietrich, to the Magic Tower.

It wasn't for any particular reason. It certainly wasn't because he liked it.

It was simply because he found it bothersome to go meet them himself.

In any case, the two came to the Magic Tower, and Ivan presented the results of his investigation into Noah Devern's mansion.

"The culprit left almost no traces, but there was one suspicious mark where the body was found."

Intrigue dripped from Ivan's voice as he continued speaking.

"It was obscured by bloodstains and heavily sooted, which even dimmed the magical energy, so I almost overlooked it. Anyway, I did find it. It is probably just because I have good abilities."

"..."

"I suspect it is an incense stick created using black magic by condensing special medicinal herbs and energy. Of course, I was able to figure this out because of my abilities. Isn't that quite interesting?"

"It seems the Archmage cannot explain things without boasting about himself."

Siegfried, who had been listening to Ivan, asked with a deeply furrowed brow.

"And even so, someone died; isn't it a bit inappropriate to call it interesting?"

"Why?"

Ivan looked at Siegfried as if he were genuinely curious.

"It is exactly as it sounds. Regardless of what kind of human Noah DeVern was, he was the Lamb of God and a noble life. But what the..."

"But the same would have been true for the stuffed animals Noah DeVern kept."

"..."

"Anyway, it's really funny. Animals and humans are just living beings, so what's so different about them?"

Ivan sneered.

"Well, of course, God would be more sad about a person dying. After all, serving oneself is something only foolish humans do."

"Archmage, you seem to be speaking too briefly."

"If you are offended, why don't you speak informally to me, Commander? Grand Duke, are you perhaps uncomfortable?"

"It’s not that I’m uncomfortable, but it’s a hassle to respond to every single one of them, so I’d prefer if you two handled it yourselves."

Fenrir answered with a blank expression.

"But before that, this gathering wasn't arranged for the two of you. Let's settle any old grudges when I return."

Everyone in Ateloia knew it. That Siegfried, the Knight Commander, and Ivan, the Archmage, had been on bitter terms like sworn enemies for a very long time.

But that was none of Fenrir's business.

"Anyway, Commander, perhaps because you are so overflowing with love from God, you must be overflowing with energy too. Seeing how you charge at me like your life depends on such trivial remarks."

Ivan let out a sneer as he looked at Siegfried, then continued speaking.

"In any case, that wouldn't have been a simple incense stick. There was something unusual in its ingredients."

"Unusual ingredients?"

"It is a plant imbued with very strong magical power, called the Moonflower. It is not easy to find, and to utilize its unique properties, it must be harvested only on the night of a full moon."

"..."

"Again. It grows only in the Forbidden Forest."

"...The Forbidden Forest?"

At that name suddenly popping up, Siegfried's face contorted subtly.

"A Commander who is loved by God to such an extreme degree must know it well. Right, that place where monsters run rampant."

The Forbidden Forest.

It was a forest located to the west of Adeloia.

A forest where monsters endlessly spring up no matter how many are killed, and where all manner of ominous things exist—a place where entry has been forbidden for a very long time.

In a way, it was only natural that Siegfried, the Knight Commander, knew that forest well. After all, Siegfried had spent a great deal of time in the vicinity eradicating monsters.

The Great Moonflower is useful in many ways, but its most distinctive feature is this: it exerts different effects on humans and monsters, respectively.

"..."

"If you feed a person the moonflower or expose them to its smoke, they immediately fall into a deep sleep. Without an antidote, there is a high probability they will never wake up."

"...What if you can't wake up?"

Siegfried asked.

"Since it is not that the body’s functions have ceased, but that they have merely fallen asleep, they will starve to death due to a lack of proper nutrition. There is a saying that this is not a peaceful sleep, but one that is ceaselessly tormented by all manner of terrible nightmares. Well, I don't know for sure, since not a single person has woken up."

"..."

"I've seen it a few times, and seeing how they died with such pained expressions, that's likely true, but I have no intention of trying it in the future."

Ivan shrugged his shoulders.

"Conversely, it has the exact opposite effect on monsters; not only does it wake up sleeping monsters, but..."

Then he continued speaking.

"It can bring back to life even what is already dead, though only temporarily."

Fenrir's red eyes gleamed ominously as he stared at Ivan.

"To put it another way, it's like this. It was not a beast that killed Noah DeVern, but a monster."

"..."

"And, someone... is using monsters and moonflowers to cunningly cause Noah DeVern's death."

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