Chapter 22 - Liana

As we go through life, there comes a point when we are forced to choose options that have no correct answer, leaving only retrospective stories.

In the flow of choices that will leave regrets no matter what we choose, the character Liana is like a signpost that presents the protagonist with the most ideal options.

So if possible, I'd like to draw her to my side.

It was partly because I coveted her information-related abilities, but above all, the fact that I could take away the signpost that told the protagonist where to go was an extremely attractive option.

So, not wanting to miss this opportunity, I approached Liana.

"Hello, Young Master Damian of the Carsaril family... How are you?"

She greeted me calmly as if she had known I would come from the beginning and looked at me.

At those words, I realized that my coming here was somewhat predetermined and glanced to the side.

It seems they used snacks to create a path for us to come this way.

They had investigated Loraine's preferred snacks in advance and intentionally placed street vendors, leading us to the flower garden.

It seemed they had subtly implanted the rumor that this flower garden was the most famous tourist spot to Loraine.

— I heard there's a flower that shakes its body or something. Anyway, it's an extremely popular place, so I'm sure both of you will be satisfied.

I recalled what Loraine had said earlier and laughed hollowly.

I could now understand why her explanation had seemed clumsy.

Realizing I had been perfectly led, I silently looked at Liana, and she spoke to me while acting out a kind smile.

"Huhu. I heard you made quite a splendid achievement last night? To be honest, I was very surprised. I never dreamed that Young Master Damian, who is only a lowest-grade Sword Expert, would be able to accomplish such a thing."

"...Really?"

"Yes. Of course, Sir Loraine's role must have been significant, but in my opinion, Young Master Damian's role was no less important... Oh, please don't misunderstand. I meant both of you were amazing."

How on earth does she know this?

Judging that her information gathering was faster than I had expected, I was raising my evaluation of her when…

Liana stroked the swaying flower and continued speaking to me, "With this, the trust in the contract between the Church and the black mages will crumble, and they'll have a hard time moving for a while as they try to clean up the mess they've made. The Carsaril family will gain significant political benefits."

The Church, black mages, and the contract.

Seeing her recite the key parts of this incident, it seemed she had already succeeded in grasping the entire situation.

Thinking she was impressive in many ways, I was staring intently at her face when she smiled awkwardly and said to me, "It's a bit embarrassing when you stare at me so intensely. I'm a bit shy, so this kind of thing is a bit burdensome."

There was no persuasiveness at all when she said such things with an unchanging haughty expression on her face.

The more I looked at her, the more I thought it would be good to draw her to our side, and while I was contemplating this, Loraine, who was beside me, hardened her expression and said to Liana, "Who are you? How do you know all that? Are you perhaps the culprit? Or maybe the mastermind?"

From Loraine's perspective, it was a reasonable suspicion.

In my case, I was taking it calmly because I knew what kind of existence Liana was in the original work.

But for Loraine, it was natural to be suspicious when a woman suddenly appeared knowing the entire situation.

Moreover, she knows even things that only key figures could know.

Her suspicion could only be amplified.

At Loraine's words, Liana laughed, "huhu" and waved her hand.

"That's not possible. I'm not on anyone's side. Well, I'm just a merchant who buys and sells information, not someone who takes the initiative to dominate situations."

An explanation was added, but even for an information merchant, it was virtually impossible to know this level of information, so Loraine still spoke with an expression of disbelief, "An ordinary information merchant knows that much? It would be more convincing if you said you were a secret intelligence agency run by the imperial family."

"...Huhu, that's interesting. But I'm not."

"Then what are you? How on earth do you know those things?"

"It's difficult to tell you because it's confidential, but... to gain your trust, I'll tell you the reason. I have many eyes and ears hidden everywhere, so I can know."

"Eyes? Ears?"

This was literally true.

Liana had the ability to obtain information by placing magical devices that acted as her eyes and ears all over the world.

Of course, there were significant side effects, but even considering this, it could be evaluated as an unparalleled ability in terms of information acquisition.

If I tell them this, it will raise suspicion.

So I pretended not to know.

Loraine seemed to think such an explanation was far from enough, so she continued to try to verbally tear into Liana.

Liana, seeming to think this wouldn't do, waved her hand and said, "Please don't tear into me too much. If you keep trying to tear into me like that, I'll have no choice but to talk about the romance novels in Sir Loraine's room."

At Liana's words, Loraine froze.

I was thinking that Loraine unexpectedly had quite girlish taste and was about to say something when Liana came right up to my face, stared at me, and said, "Anyway, the important thing is you, Young Master Damian. Usually, when I see something, I get a rough feeling about it, but... I don't get any feeling from you."

"Really?"

"Yes. I don't know how to describe your behavior, or should I say I don't understand you as a person... anyway, I really don't know."

Somewhat curious at those words, I asked for the reason.

Liana spread out her long, thin fingers, then folded them one by one as she explained the reason, "Let's say it's possible that the delinquent of the Carsaril family experienced harsh things in the North and turned over a new leaf.

"But the problem is that in addition to finding warmth in the North, you also bloomed sword skills that you couldn't originally see...

"As soon as you returned home, you went looking for black mages and discovered key incidents, preventing the downfall of the Carsaril family."

I didn't know she even knew about the existence of the spirit.

Realizing she knew more and deeper things than I had expected, I was on guard when Liana snapped her fingers, met my eyes, and said to me with an expression full of interest, "What exactly are you, who suddenly started doing these things?"

I deliberately avoided answering.

Whether it was a lie or the truth, the moment I said anything, her sharp senses would extract information from my words.

So I just stared at her, ignoring her, and she smiled slightly and said to me, "I really like interesting things. That's why I've become interested in you."

It wasn’t a bad conclusion.

Having decided to draw Liana in as an ally, if she approached me with interest, the possibility of me drawing her in as an ally increased

Just as I was about to gradually progress the relationship starting from this,

Suddenly, Liana kissed my cheek and whispered softly to me, "Then shall we see each other again?"

Then she winked and turned around without hesitation, leaving.

As I was rubbing my cheek with my finger, feeling the strange warmth on it, the people who had been looking at flowers nearby simultaneously stood up and started following Liana.

...It seemed the people who looked like tourists were actually all informants employed by Liana.

Thinking it was quite interesting, I was about to return home when I felt someone pulling on my clothes for a long time from the side.

Wondering what it was, I looked to the side and saw Siren staring at me with her mouth open, looking extremely shocked.

"..."

Feeling the situation had become somewhat awkward, I deliberately pretended not to know and turned my head away, repeatedly coughing awkwardly.

Although things were somewhat wrapped up by reporting the assassination plan that the black mages and the Church were planning to the family head, it wasn't completely over, just somewhat concluded, so I had to keep an eye on the progress.

So I was doing photosynthesis with Siren in the park, deciding to check if Sister Lilia was okay as usual.

"What are you two really doing... Sheesh."

Loraine shook her head as if she couldn't understand us, but for me, who knew how important warmth given by others was, the act of receiving sunlight was quite joyful, so I ignored Loraine's complaints and sat blankly.

It's too early to relax, but I guess we can say we've put out the urgent fire.

However, what worried me was that the black mages who failed in their plan were likely to make rash moves to cover up their mistakes.

And while those rash moves would likely result in great damage to the black mage side, they were also likely to cause some damage to our side, so it seemed good to prepare for this.

Incidentally, the preparation I was talking about here meant me getting stronger, so it concluded with the judgment that it would be good to proceed with the missions Loraine recommended after the engagement annulment ceremony was over.

Deciding to do so, I was about to start training again when I felt something wriggling and moving inside my chest.

Feeling puzzled by the sensation as if I had put a puppy in there, I took out what was inside.

"Myamya."

I saw that the spirit I had kept in my chest had changed into a small human form.

Or should I say fairy?

Seeing that Fenrir had changed into human form, I was guessing that selective transformation might be possible when the spirit wriggled its body, climbed onto my shoulder, grinned, and said, "Hello!"

Can it communicate unlike before?

Wondering if that might be the case, I greeted it, and it grinned broadly and nodded its head from side to side.

"Good."

Its pronunciation was still dull, probably because it hadn't been long since it became human-shaped.

Thinking this would gradually improve, I was stroking its head with my finger when it returned to its cotton-like form as it had done in the past and started to wriggle its body.

It seems that form is more comfortable.

Thinking it was cute no matter what it became, I was tickling its head when a curiosity arose.

By the way, I wonder how much stronger it's become compared to before.

In the original work, it was described that it became incomparably stronger every time it evolved, but I couldn't gauge how powerful it was.

I decided to test it later and tickled the spirit's chin before looking up at the sky.

I guess it's about time to prepare for the engagement annulment ceremony.

Since I would be able to avoid being entangled any further after the engagement annulment ceremony, I decided to wrap things up well.