Chapter 209
The remaining members blankly watched the fake couple enter through the gate.
No one had expected this method to work.
Everyone there had lived comfortable lives in well-maintained domains, so they had no way of understanding the workings of the lower world.
And when Damian, who looked like he would have been raised most preciously, skillfully carried out the task, everyone wore dumbfounded expressions.
Sierra, a second-year Art Department student, said,
"That guy can get into anywhere, like the Magic Academy too."
Cecil also added a comment,
"He looks like he'd be really slippery, though."
"Hey, that's rude to Damian. He's so diligent."
"By meeting this woman and that woman?"
"Do you want to be expelled from here too?"
"I'm just saying because the rumors and reputation are different."
"He doesn't like getting attention despite his looks, and he's not talkative, so there are only speculations and rumors."
"...Really?"
Cecil lit a cigarette with a magic stone and continued speaking.
"Where is Damian from?"
"He says Wiesel, but he hasn't revealed anything about his past. There's no explanation about his relationship with Professor Silveryn, we don't know his surname, he doesn't seem to be from a noble family, and no one knows his family."
Cecil exhaled smoke and muttered with a suspicious expression.
"...The more I look, the stranger he is."
"What's strange about him? Looking at what he does, he's reliable."
"He doesn't seem so reliable after getting beaten by the northern barbarian Gale. Actually, if we want to fight on equal terms, we need a barbaric leader like Gale."
"Hey, Hubert. As someone from the same Combat Department, what do you think?"
"...What are you asking?"
"Do you think Damian has a fatal weakness that can't handle Gale?"
"Everyone has weaknesses."
"Hmm, is that so?"
"He's not close to his family and he's closed off, right? He's not from a wealthy family, and he doesn't rely on others. Even though he seems solid, guys like that easily crumble to maternal love."
All the girls except Cecil reacted with wide eyes to this unexpected statement.
"...?"
"...?"
Hubert puckered his lips with a playful expression and shrugged his shoulders while trembling.
Only Cecil looked at Hubert with eyes full of disgust.
"This is why I don't like you. That dwarf bastard is still only digging into mating dynamics even in this situation."
"You got rejected by a man because you can't do this...!"
The conversation was cut off there as Cecil threw the magic stone she was holding at Hubert.
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As it grew dark, a chilly wind blew from beyond the ravine. It was cold enough to sting the nose, just like early winter. Although this area was within the influence of Eternia's seasonal magic, it was said that beyond the ravine was not. So it seemed that frosty winds were blowing over the mountain range.
Fabella was still clutching her belly and walking with difficulty.
"Damian, not yet..."
Fabella reached out towards me and waved her hand in the air. It was a signal that there were still gazes directed at us.
We came here as a married couple. We couldn't stop acting just because we had passed through the gate.
Having no choice, I reached out my arm again and held hands with Fabella.
"Let's find lodging first."
"Okay."
Perhaps because it was evening, people were not very visible. Drab gray stone buildings were densely packed along the steep slope of the ravine.
The sound of hammering echoed from a workshop somewhere.
The pungent smell of iron filings tickled my nose on the wind. As befitting a blacksmith village, the air was murky and the interior of the village was as drab as iron.
I was suddenly lost in thought. If I had really been a head of household wandering with a heavily pregnant wife, I might have been daunted by this bleak scenery.
What if I hadn't gone to Eternia and had started a family together in a place like this?
Before I could think deeply, I shook my head.
I was an immature being who couldn't even properly take care of my own life. Even if we had fled in that state, the end was predictable.
Even if Lisa's family didn't find us, we would have slowly been crushed by the weight of life and suffocated before long.
We headed towards a shabby inn with a soft light coming from it. In front of the door, I said to Fabella,
"I think you can take off that fake belly now."
We were about to start our investigation in earnest. Since the gatekeeper wasn't constantly following and watching us, there was no need to continue acting as a married couple.
But Fabella stroked her belly and shook her head.
"No, this can still be useful."
"...Do you really have to?"
"Yes."
"You're going one step further than me."
She chuckled.
"I have my own plan too."
As we opened the door and entered the inn, five or six travelers staying inside glanced at us. But it was only for a moment before they focused back on their meals.
A hunchbacked old woman greeted us.
"How many nights will you be staying?"
"One night is enough."
The old woman stared at Fabella's belly with a serious expression for a moment, then gestured for us to follow.
She led us up the stairs and gave us a triangular attic room under the roof.
There was one bed. I hadn't calculated this far. Of course, when pretending to be a married couple, it's natural to stay in one room.
"Have you eaten?"
"Could you bring it to this room?"
"I can't come up twice with this body, so come down to get it yourself in ten minutes."
After the old woman left, Fabella just looked around awkwardly.
"So what's your plan, senior?"
"Nothing special. Just asking people staying here various questions in this state. People let their guard down with pregnant women. They have to be gentle. What's your plan?"
"I'm thinking of investigating the houses where the missing people stayed."
"Good idea. Well then..."
Fabella unconsciously glanced at the bed and then turned her eyes away as if embarrassed.
"What would your fiancé think if he knew?"
"...My fiancé would be greatly distressed if he knew."
"..."
"Anyway, no one among the people we meet here will remember us. Let's start before it gets too late."
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Fabella quietly looked down from the attic window. She could see Damian's back as he set out into the dark street, wearing a robe.
Damian had immediately gone out to investigate after our discussion. Fabella also planned to investigate the incident while pretending to be pregnant.
However, there was something she had to do before that.
She shifted her gaze to the roof of the building opposite.
There sat a silver crow, looking in Damian's direction.
No one entering or leaving the inn noticed that suspicious spirit. The same was true for Damian. He hadn't noticed the white crow that had been following him since Rigved.
The faint magical power emanating from the tips of its feathers. It was a spirit entity.
Caw- Caw-
Fabella opened the attic window wide.
She had been sensing the presence of this spirit for a long time.
Fabella stretched her arm forward.
"...This is as far as I'll tolerate."
As she clenched her fist, the air began to churn. Soon after, the crow spirit's form distorted at once and then vanished.
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At a temporary campsite set up in the forest, the Drama Club members huddled around a campfire.
Rilke, the leader of the Drama Club investigation team, continued her explanation.
"The Art Department will be pressed for time when moving to the next destination from Ruden Village. They'll realize it's too much to finish in 4 days like that and change their plan."
The Drama Club, like other rival groups, had skipped Ruden Village. There was a reason for this.
Rilke pointed to a spot on the map.
"For the Art Department kids to complete their investigation peacefully without looting, they'll have to split into two and move. Right at this point where the mountain range splits."
The Drama Club's plan was to ambush and seize the Ruden Village investigation data when the Art Department's forces split and moved.
"Do you have any predictions on how the Art Department will split?"
Rilke, the top student in the second-year Magic Department, was also quite a good strategist.
"They have to split between a rocky path that's gloomy all year round with fog even in broad daylight, and a comfortable paved road... According to Luna, Damian is the type to handle difficult tasks himself. He won't send three delicate ladies on the hard path. There's a high possibility Damian will move alone along this rocky pass."
Icarus nodded and said,
"Then the problem is how we should divide our forces."
Louis, who had been listening quietly, spoke as if he had been waiting.
"Let's handle it with Magic Department against Magic Department, Combat Department against Combat Department."
Icarus, a first-year Magic Department member, said,
"I want to face Damian."
"Right, I can handle Fabella and Lilith on my own. Actually... there's no need for Luna to join. Luna, where do you want to go?"
Luna wasn't focusing on the conversation and was looking up at the empty sky, as if sensing something on her own.
Her face had suddenly become serious.
Everyone's gaze turned to her.
"Luna?"
Louis, a second-year Drama Club senior, asked kindly.
"Luna, is something wrong?"
Only then did Luna turn her head back and pretend as if nothing had happened.
"...It's nothing."
"What's bothering you so much?"
Luna cut her words short.
"No. Nothing."
Then Louis jumped to conclusions as if he understood everything.
"I guess you're worried about being at odds with your friend Damian, but it's common to split from friends during Eternia group activities."
"..."
"You grow distant like that, and sometimes better people fill the empty space."
She completely ignored Louis's burdensome gaze.
Rilke asked again.
"Luna, who do you want to face?"
"I..."
"Since you're both first-years, how about facing Lilith..."
"No, I'll take on Senior Fabella."
There was no hesitation at all. Moreover, Luna's voice was unusually forceful.
As if she had been holding it in for a long time.
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Damian opened the door to the inn room, covered in wood chips.
Fabella welcomed him, sitting at the table.
On the table were a whole roasted duck, potato stew, and thickly sliced rye bread. It was a fine meal for being prepared at a shabby inn.
"Welcome back."
"What are these foods?"
"I got a bit hungry and ordered some food. The grandmother just gave me this duck."
"...She doesn't seem well-off enough to just give away something like this."
"That's why I tried to pay her, but she adamantly refused."
"Doesn't she want something in return?"
"She looked enviously at the other tables downstairs, and said the regret of not eating well during pregnancy lasts a lifetime, so she prepared this for me too."
"..."
"She also scolded my husband for wandering around leaving a baby behind."
"I learned something. I'll have to be careful if I get a wife in the future."
Fabella chuckled.
"But why weren't you eating?"
"How could I eat alone without you?"
Damian said as he sat across from Fabella.
"You don't need to worry about that."
"Hurry and eat. Did you find any materials?"
"Yes, I found a note left by the missing person's family."
"Where did you find it?"
"I snuck into the house. I almost got caught by the patrol, but... Did you find out anything?"
Fabella nodded.
"Yes. When I asked as if I were an innocent woman who knew nothing, everyone talked without any guard."
Then she cut a duck leg and placed it on Damian's plate.
"...It's late, so let's compile the collected information when we meet up with the other members."
"...Good idea."
Then Damian hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Thank you... for waiting to eat."
Fabella responded with a faint smile.
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The noise of the guests downstairs had now subsided.
The creaking of the floorboards as people went up and down the stairs had also quieted.
As the night deepened, silence fell on the attic room.
Damian laid a blanket on the floor far from the bed and tried to sleep.
"I can sleep on the floor."
Damian cut her off firmly.
"Wouldn't it remain a lifelong sorrow if an expectant mother slept on the floor?"
Fabella lay on the bed and chuckled, saying,
"...I guess you're right."
She closed her eyes like that. Damian also didn't respond further, as if trying to sleep.
Silence enveloped the room.
After a long while, the moon tilted and blue moonlight entered through the attic window.
Fabella slowly opened her eyes in the moonlight. She raised her upper body and looked at Damian lying on the floor.
Regular breathing sounds.
She knew the sound of Damian's breathing when he was deeply asleep.
So there was no hesitation.
Even when she got up and the bed creaked.
Even when the floor creaked as she approached Damian.
Even when she knelt beside him and stared at his sleeping face for a long time.
Damian didn't wake up. Just as she remembered.
Fabella carefully picked up one of his wrists.
And slowly brought his palm to her cheek.
Her blue hair, reaching down to her shoulders, was tinged silver in the moonlight and gradually grew to reach the floor.
She closed her eyes as if deeply asleep.
Like that, feeling the warmth, she reminisced about the past.