Chapter 42 - Last Proposal (2)

I laughed mockingly at the words "If you retract the engagement annulment, I'll give you the North."

It was clear that Elisia was cornered and unable to properly assess the situation, and it was somewhat amusing that there wasn't a single proper statement in that short sentence.

She can't even solve the problem right in front of her, yet she offers the North as a bargaining chip.

Moreover, it was somewhat ridiculous that she was speaking as if I wanted the North.

As I was trying to hold back my laughter and looking at Elisia as if she was pathetic, Elisia started to explain her reasons to me, "Damian, you're just the youngest son of the Carsaril family. In other words, you're someone whose position in the family will soon disappear."

Generally, this was correct.

Usually, there was fierce competition for the successor position, and the eldest son or his heir often acted to exclude all competitors, but in my case, it was wrong because I had no interest in the family head position, and Damian's brother didn't seem like the type to do that either.

"Therefore, there's a high possibility that you'll be driven out of the territory someday. Rather than that, it would be an ideal choice to act with the backing of the North's influence."

At those words, I laughed mockingly and said, "The North's influence? It doesn't seem like much even if it exists."

"Although the North is barren, if you consider the rate of development when warmth returns, there's endless potential. Moreover, unlike the South, it's rich in magic stone resources. I don't think it's all bad."

She was saying something, but it didn't really resonate, so I nodded with an indifferent expression.

Even if I were driven out, I would receive support from the Carsaril family, so it was a completely meaningless proposal.

Above all, to develop the North, I would have to sacrifice myself to develop it, so I felt it was unnecessary.

So, as I was thinking it was a proposal that didn't interest me at all, suddenly a strange sense of déjà vu spread in my mind.

A subtle feeling that Elisia wasn't really saying this to make a deal?

Feeling this, I decided to throw out a conversation to find out the identity of this déjà vu.

"Okay, let's say that's true. Then how do you plan to hand over the North to me? Last time I saw, the head of the Wintreaven family didn't seem to think of you as the heir."

"That's simple. If you retract the engagement annulment and bring forth warmth, it's possible."

I nodded silently to hear more of the story, and Elisia continued speaking somewhat urgently, "The key figures on the eldest son's side will strongly oppose, but if we negotiate and draw in others with the benefits that warmth will bring, it's possible to suppress that much. If you just bring warmth, I can ascend to the family head position and then it becomes possible to hand over the North to you."

...The strange sense of déjà vu still remained.

As this feeling kept sticking to my head, to resolve this, I brought up the words that Elisia would hate the most.

"Okay, let's say that's true. But the biggest problem is, don't you have to prove that you didn't create the rift first?"

Probably because it was quite unfair from Elisia's perspective, she momentarily stiffened and glared at me, then soon pretended to be calm and said to me, "I didn't do it, so it's fine. Do you perhaps have a reason to be certain that I created the rift?"

The moment I heard those words, I could realize what intention Elisia had in pushing this deal.

She was deliberately throwing out an absurd deal condition to get information about the rift from me.

After throwing out an absurd proposal, I laughed hollowly, thinking it might have been a means to draw out my true feelings by intensifying emotions in any sense.

Reaching this conclusion, I decided to give only outrageous answers to not give Elisia what she wanted, and calmly replied, "It's interesting."

"...Pardon?"

Elisia looked at me in bewilderment, probably not expecting such an answer to come back.

I looked at her and said nonchalantly, "Do you have anything else to say?"

"...Are you certain that I created the rift simply because it's interesting to you?"

"Yes."

As I kept spouting nonsense to deliberately irritate her, she finally closed her mouth tightly and squeezed her eyes shut.

Seeing that expression, I smiled slightly and slowly reached out to tap the documents, saying, "Then shall we sign now?"

"...Please wait a moment. Let me ask one last thing. How did you divert Dale?"

At those words, I acted as if I knew nothing and said, "Me? Isn't Dale on your side, so didn't you divert him?"

"..."

At my brazen answer, Elisia seemed to realize that I had noticed her plan, so she turned her gaze and finished signing.

She seemed to have judged that continuing the conversation would only waste time and there was nothing to gain.

Is this the end of everything?

Thinking the feeling was somewhat strange, as I was carefully putting the hammer I had placed on the table back into my chest, a voice came from the front.

"You'll regret throwing away all the opportunities I gave you."

At those words, I silently took out the hammer again.

Seeing this, Elisia closed her mouth and avoided my gaze.

I smiled slightly to show it was a joke and calmly walked out of the building.

***

As I went outside, I saw an unexpected person waiting for me.

...The Saintess?

It was somewhat strange to see a woman wearing a pure white robe, with body curves suspiciously pronounced, calmly waiting for me, so I hesitated for a moment.

As soon as Saintess Ruen spotted me, she slightly lifted her robe and greeted me.

"Damian, I'm sorry for coming so suddenly. Would it be alright if we talked for a moment?"

"Ah, yes."

At those words, Ruen smiled modestly and led me, saying, "Just follow me. Oh, by the way, Liana couldn't come because she's calming Dale down right now."

"...Calming?"

"Ahaha. There's something like that."

Ruen smiled playfully and moved towards a quiet street.

As I was wondering why Ruen, who must be busy because of Dale, had come in person, Ruen pointed to a small house that looked nothing special and said, "You can come in here."

I nodded and went inside, and what I saw was a place that was more lived-in than I expected.

As I was looking around, finding this scene somewhat interesting, I noticed a romance novel that Loraine liked placed on the dining table.

Is this trendy these days?

I saw Siren reading that last time too, so it seemed this was essential among women.

As I was thinking it was somewhat interesting, Liana's voice came from behind.

"Aren't you looking around too blatantly? This is the Saintess' room, after all."

"...?"

"To be precise, it's her hobby room. But that's the same thing, right?"

So that’s why it’s a bit messy?

As I was thinking this was a bit different from the image of Saintess Ruen shown in the original novel, Ruen, who had followed me, hesitantly said to Liana, "L-Liana... You don't have to say such things."

"Hmph."

Scenes different from the original work continued to unfold.

In the original work, there was never any description of the Saintess and Liana being close, or the Saintess reading romance novels.

There was also no description of Elisia being a character who acted to fulfill the North's interests and her own desire for recognition.

As I was lost in thought for a moment, thinking that what I actually saw and what was behind it were quite different, Ruen looked at me and hurriedly cleaned up while saying to me, "P-please sit here."

Then after quickly tidying up, she smiled awkwardly and said to me, "I've been too busy lately..."

"You don't need to worry about it. My room is like this too."

"Oh, really?"

It was a lie. My room was constantly cleaned by the servants, and when the servants were busy, Siren would come and clean the room spotlessly, so there was no chance for it to get dirty.

But there was no need to say this, so I just brushed it off with a lie, and Ruen took a deep breath and got to the main point.

"Ahem, anyway, getting back to the main point... As a result of our investigation, we found out that black mages are much more prevalent throughout society than we thought."

"For example?"

At my question, Ruen's expression hardened slightly as she said to me, "The most representative would be the church's volunteer organizations."

Black mages and the church's volunteer organizations.

As I was bewildered by these two combinations that didn't seem to match at all,

Ruen looked at me and continued speaking in a serious voice, "The church's volunteer organizations pretend to help vagrants under the pretext of volunteering, then capture them. And they play the role of selling them to black mages."

At Ruen's words, Siren, who was nearby, nodded in agreement.

"That's right. I was captured in a similar way."

"...Pardon?"

Ruen was flustered by Siren's words, and just as she was about to ask something as if she had remembered something, suddenly, a loud sobbing sound came from the side.

"Waaah. Damn it. I'm a man... Why am I like this?"

Wondering what it was, I looked to the side and saw Dasoon lying face down on the table, drinking alcohol.

It seemed she—or rather, he had been drinking heavily for quite some time, as his face was bright red and he started scratching the table while whining.

"That bastard... Damian, you trash. You extra bastard."

"Oh dear. Here we go again. Please calm down."

"You're a woman too! Huh? How can I calm down!"

"I'm a woman, so I don't really know?"

"...That's! True."

What on earth are they doing? 

I was about to sigh and turn my attention away when something interesting occurred to me, and I said to Liana,

"Record that. Show it to him when he sobers up."

"Oh. That would be fun."

Liana seemed quite satisfied with the suggestion and smiled as she took out a crystal ball.

I shook my head at the sight and turned my gaze to focus on Ruen's story again.

***

As soon as Elisia left the engagement annulment ceremony venue, she frowned and quickly began to assess the situation.

What should I do now?

Originally, there were two options left.

The first was to catch Dale and either reveal the truth or frame him to clear her name.

The second was to find out information from Damian and then make it so that the key figures couldn't abandon her.

Of these, the first had failed, and the second had partially failed, so it was fair to say that there was essentially nothing left to choose.

Therefore, she needed to find a new option or something that could shake up the situation, but no matter how much she thought about it, nothing came to mind, making her head complicated.

...For now, it would be better to hide until something comes to mind.

Since they failed to find Dale, investigators would soon move to find her.

It would be better to walk along alleys where people wouldn't notice her as much as possible.

So, as she was walking forward along places where investigators couldn't reach, suddenly a letter in her chest came to mind.

...Artificial sun.

It was an absurd proposal, but if by any chance what he proposed was true, it could be a card that could “overturn all situations”.

The moment this was created, it would become very difficult for the key figures of the North to abandon her.

If she could extract benefits using warmth as a weakness, she might even be able to obtain the family head position.

Reaching this conclusion, she took out the letter from her chest and made a decision.

To accept the proposal to create an artificial sun.