Chapter 174
Nearly a month after Bridget approached Monica about working together, Nero finally awoke from hibernation.
It was at precisely that moment that Lin, Louis Miller's contracted spirit, happened to visit the attic.
Lin had not visited in quite some time, but apparently Louis had already told her how the magic battle incident had turned out.
While Nero rubbed his bleary eyes with his forepaws, Lin fluently regaled him with the story of the magic battle incident.
"...And thus, the four men's passionate battle for the 〈Silent Witch〉-dono has begun here and now. As the masses watched, the men fell to the evil Demon King Huybard Dee's vile schemes... Then 〈Silent Witch〉-dono rushed to the scene, unleashed her sealed forbidden power, and beat Huybard Dee black and blue..."
"What was that? How could something so fun have happened while I was asleep...!?"
"Um, um, um..."
Naturally, when Monica finally managed to interject, Lin asked with her doll-like, expressionless face, "What is it?" As if there were any question what Monica meant.
"It's just that... it seems a little different from what actually happened..."
"Yes. I took the liberty of embellishing it somewhat."
At Lin's entirely unapologetic attitude, Monica covered her face with both hands.
Nero was now wide awake, his golden eyes sparkling.
"Damn, I regret hibernating. If I'd been there, I'd have barged right in!"
"Indeed. I, too, deeply regret not being present at the scene."
Had these two been there, surely things would have become utterly impossible to control.
For one thing, Lin was a high-ranking wind spirit, while Nero, though hiding his true identity, was a black dragon. If the two of them had barged into the magic battle... it was terrifying just to imagine.
(Thank goodness Nero was hibernating... and Lin wasn't there either... Huh?)
Monica suddenly remembered.
She had heard through the grapevine that Louis Miller had assisted with the barrier during the magic battle incident. In other words, Louis had been there.
Louis usually used Lin's flight magic when traveling long distances. He could use flight magic himself, but humans did not possess enough magical power to withstand long-distance flight.
(Louis was there on the day of the magic battle, but Lin wasn't? Come to think of it, I feel like Lin hasn't been visiting much lately...)
That bothered Monica just a little, so she asked Lin about it.
"Um, Lin-san, have you been busy lately?"
Lin nodded once and answered matter-of-factly.
"Yes. I've been busy helping Louis-dono with his underhanded schemes."
"...S-so, is it okay for you to say that?"
"I have not been instructed to keep it secret."
Presumably, she had not been told to keep quiet, but that did not mean she should go around blabbing about it.
This beautiful maid was somewhat lacking in the ability to read the room or pick up on what others were feeling.
Still, what exactly was Louis plotting? It would have been a lie to say she wasn't curious, but Monica had a feeling that the moment she asked, she would be dragged into it too, so she stopped pressing the matter.
Lin accepted Monica's report on recent events, tucked it into her apron pocket, and placed one foot on the windowsill.
"In that case, I shall take my leave."
With that, the beautiful maid flew out the window as if riding the spring night breeze.
Once the jet-black maid uniform and vivid golden hair had melted into the darkness and disappeared, Monica quietly closed the window.
"...Nero."
At Monica's unusually serious tone, Nero's whiskers twitched.
"I'll tell you what happened while you were hibernating."
"So this is something you don't want the maid chick or that Lui-Lui-Lun-Pappa behind her to hear, huh?"
Monica nodded and gave him an abbreviated account of what had happened while he slept.
That Duke Clockford's shadow seemed to be lurking behind the cursed dragon incident.
That the 〈Abyssal Warlock〉 and the 〈Thorn Witch〉, her fellow Seven Sages, were helping investigate Duke Clockford.
And that she would be infiltrating Duke Clockford's mansion together with Bridget.
After hearing the whole story, Nero stroked his chin with a forepaw, as humans did, and grunted thoughtfully.
"Speaking of Bridget... Oh, I remember. She's the prickly woman who ignored my sexy pose."
"...A sexy pose? Wait, what are you talking about?"
Ignoring Monica's questioning voice, Nero muttered thoughtfully.
"So Prickly Woman suspects Sparkly Prince is a fake... What do you think, Monica?"
"To be honest, I'm half convinced and half skeptical, I suppose. It's true that something about His Highness feels strange, but... still... I don't think it would be possible to conveniently find someone who looks exactly like him..."
Felix's face had proportions close enough to the golden ratio to impress even Monica. There were very few people with beauty that rare.
As Monica groaned, Nero widened his eyes curiously.
"Can't magic whip up something like that in a jiffy? You know, there was that guy at the school festival. The creepy, squishy clay bastard."
Nero was almost certainly referring to Yuan's body-manipulation magic. That man had warped his face like clay and disguised himself as an exact copy of someone else. With that technique, he certainly could impersonate the real Felix.
But that wasn't possible.
"...Body-manipulation magic is considered forbidden magic in the Kingdom of Ridill. I hear it was legalized in the Empire a few years ago, but... according to Bridget-sama, His Highness's personality changed ten years ago, so the timeline doesn't work."
As far as Monica knew, until only a few years ago, research into body-manipulation magic had been limited to strengthening parts of the body, stopping bleeding, and erasing scars.
"Besides, Duke Clockford is part of the faction pushing for war with the Empire, so I don't think he could have brought in Imperial technology..."
At Monica's words, Nero hummed thoughtfully.
Then, as if he had thought of something, he patted Monica's knee with his paw pads.
"I've got it! That Sparkly Prince must be the real prince's twin brother. I read about a trick like that in a novel."
"Still, if a member of the royal family had been a twin, it would be in the records."
"Aw, come on. I guess you're right."
Nero readily backed down, swaying his tail sadly.
Monica slowly exhaled and took a letter from her pocket.
The letter was from 〈Thorn Witch〉 Raul Roseberg. It stated the meeting place for the infiltration investigation scheduled for three days from now.
It also said that Monica's request to bring one companion had been approved.
Nero jumped onto Monica's shoulder and peered at the letter, grinning smugly.
"So I'm the companion you're bringing, right? After playing a retainer, I get to play a gardener this time? I'm itching to show off my skills."
"No, Nero. You're staying home this time."
"M-meow, what!?"
The "one other person" Monica had written about in the letter was none other than Bridget.
"I'll be away almost the entire three-day weekend... I want you to guard His Highness while I'm gone."
"Aw, if that's how it is, I guess it can't be helped... But hey, get me plenty of books to kill time. Better yet, borrow every Dustin Gunter book in the library."
"Sure, sure."
As she answered him, Monica felt a faint stir of impatience over the nagging sense of unease clinging to the back of her mind.
(...What is it? I feel like I'm overlooking something.)
Monica traced through her memories from the past several weeks, one by one.
The magic battle incident, the New Year's ceremony, her trip home, the cursed dragon incident, the school festival, her night out in the entertainment district...
...Oh.
She had just brushed against a memory from immediately before she met Ike in the entertainment district.
The conversation at Mary Harvey's mansion.
'I focus especially on 〈seeing〉 the nation's future and matters concerning the royal family, but... for about ten years now, His Highness Felix's fate is the only one I haven't been able to read.'
The ten-year figure coincided with the period when Felix fell ill and Bridget could no longer meet him.
Bridget had said that the real Felix might be confined in Duke Clockford's mansion.
But an even worse possibility crossed Monica's mind.
(...Could it be that the real His Highness is...?)