Chapter 192
How on earth have you managed to keep up this masked righteous-thief act?
Ugh... I can't argue with that...
At my remark, Vermilion hung her head.
The place was an inn Sebas had arranged.
I had originally intended to finish our conversation in the back alleys, but after the subject of Vermilion's identity came up, we decided to move elsewhere.
It was safer here.
"Sigh... I never expected you to be this hopeless."
Seated in a chair, I told Vermilion this while exasperated by her sheer carelessness.
Behind me, Sebas muttered that he could hardly criticize others, but I ignored him.
He was referring to what happened when Fine found out, but who could have predicted someone would barge into a prince's room without permission? Don't lump that in with Vermilion's blunder. That was unavoidable.
"Let's start with introductions. You probably know this already, but I'm Arnold Lakes Adler, a prince of the Empire. This is my butler, Sebastian."
"Please call me Sebas. I apologize for my rudeness yesterday."
"N-no, the same goes for me..."
Sebas bowed politely, and Vermilion bowed as well.
Looking at her, it was hard to imagine she could be the person behind such a grandiose title as the Vermilion Knight.
Even so, she really was a righteous thief from the vassal state, and she also knew things we did not.
So I decided to tell her everything without holding anything back.
"I told Father about the Grimoire, but the information is still far too uncertain for the Empire to act. So I want to find out whether the Grimoire is really in the Imperial Capital and what it is planning. I'd like to borrow your strength for that. What do you say?"
"Even if people call me a righteous thief, I am still a thief. If it became known that a prince was working with someone like me, relations with the vassal state would collapse, wouldn't they?"
"I understand the risk. That's why I came to meet you under cover of darkness. Well, I came because... I'm a prince who can cut you loose if it comes to that."
"At the festival too, you seemed quite different from the person I'd heard about..."
Vermilion looked perplexed after hearing my explanation.
I answered her with my legs crossed.
"Am I too competent for a Dull Prince?"
"To put it bluntly, yes. Your current self doesn't match the reputation of an incompetent, apathetic prince."
"Well, that's true. I've been motivated in this matter. My younger brother might be involved, after all. If something happens that has nothing to do with me, I don't care, but if my family is involved, that's another matter. I've decided to show no mercy to anyone who tries to harm the people around me."
The instant Vermilion looked into my eyes after I said that, she took a step back.
It seemed to have been entirely involuntary. Vermilion herself looked surprised.
Sebas addressed Vermilion in an exasperated tone.
"It would help if you showed this much motivation all the time. In other words, you're a habitual slacker."
"A slacker is far too kind a description... They say a capable hawk hides its talons, but as expected of the Golden Eagle clan, you're all quite a bunch of characters."
With that, Vermilion slowly removed her mask.
Beneath it was the face of a beautiful young girl.
She had not particularly stood out when she wore glasses, but her features were finely shaped.
Her beauty was different from the kind that immediately drew the eye, like Fine's or Elna's.
If Fine and Elna were flowers like roses and hydrangeas whose beauty was obvious at a glance, the girl before me was more like saxifrage, whose charms only emerged when you looked closely.
"My name is Mia. In the vassal state, I am known as the Vermilion Knight. I came to the Empire after discovering that a branch of the Grimoire had some kind of plan here."
"May I take that to mean you've decided to trust me?"
"That is acceptable. I do not particularly like people of noble or royal birth... but I decided you were different."
"Why?"
"Even when people called you the Dull Prince, you never took things seriously, yet you became serious for your family. Your family must be precious to you, don't you think? I have no family tied to me by blood, but I do have a family bound to me by a different kind of bond. I understand how you feel. That's why I've decided to trust you."
I gave a wry smile at Mia's words.
As expected of someone who acted as a righteous thief, her standards for judging people were unusual.
But if she was willing to trust me, that was convenient.
"Then let's join forces. I won't let anyone lay a hand on you until this matter is over. In return, I want you to cooperate with us."
"Understood. If the Empire sends pursuers after me, I won't get anywhere with my investigation. In return, I want you to share your information with me as well."
With that, Mia made it clear that she wanted our information too.
I had thought she was a musclehead who tried to solve everything with brute force, but apparently she had brains as well.
Since I'd gone to the trouble of sending Sebas out into the streets at night, she must have guessed that we had information too.
"I don't mind, but... there's no turning back now, you know?"
"I cut off my escape route the moment I put on the mask."
"I see... Important figures from every country have come for the ceremony celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Emperor's accession. You know that, right?"
"Of course. Orihime-sama, who was with you, is one of them, isn't she?"
"Yes. The Saint of the Kingdom is among them as well. My younger brother is in charge of attending to her."
"...Do you think something might happen to the Saint-sama?"
"Her words and actions were ominous. She isn't the kind of person who would use a word like 'last' so carelessly. That made me suspect something was going on. If she feels that her life is in danger, there may be some plot unfolding behind the scenes. That's why I had Sebas investigate whether anything suspicious was going on."
"...So the Saint-sama didn't ask you to do this? You decided to act on your own? I'm amazed you were willing to do that..."
"My bad premonitions are usually right."
With that, I let out a small sigh.
Unfortunately, I had been right again this time.
The question now was how far this unpleasant situation would spread, but we could contain it through our own efforts.
"To be honest, if someone is planning something against the Saint, they'll need an accomplice inside the castle. But there are many people in the castle, and the struggle for the throne has divided them into several factions. It would be difficult to search from within. That leaves us with no choice but to trace things through an organization with ties to the people involved. This may be our only clue."
"It wouldn't be surprising if the Grimoire attacked the Saint-sama. That organization controls the vassal state's underworld and is a gathering of abnormal people who keep searching for materials for their research."
"We have no proof that they're targeting her, but their mere existence is harmful. Let's crush them quickly. I'm having Sebas pursue one of the organization's men. Would you mind accompanying him?"
"Of course."
"Right. Follow Sebas's instructions, all right? You are careless, after all."
"C-careless!?"
"You are, aren't you? The way you spoke and that incident gave away your identity."
"I just wasn't used to it!"
"You weren't used to it...? What did you do when you encountered an enemy?"
"I just went boom from a distance. Even if I got close, I rarely talked to them, and I never let them escape."
"..."
Mia said that while miming drawing and firing a bow.
I see. She was so overwhelmingly strong that she had never even needed to worry about concealing her identity.
I had one more source of worry now.
"Keep a close eye on her."
"Understood."
"W-what do you mean by that!? I demand a retraction!"
"Fix that strange way of speaking, then come back."
"Strange way of speaking!? This is the refined speech of a lady, as taught to me by my grandfather-sama!?"
"A true lady doesn't talk like that."
Watching Mia reel from the shock, I began to feel a mild headache coming on.
Would she really be all right?
With that worry in mind, our secret meeting came to an end.