Chapter 63
After finishing her brief conversation with Vieta, Siran returned to Arba. Not long after she left, countless elves made their way along the avenue that ran through the three rings.
With that, Elrod had managed to hold on to her position.
All that remained was to dig into the dealings between the Kingdom of Madak and Laisen.
Her mind was a mess and she did not want to move a muscle, but Vieta stopped by the subspace from time to time, calmly sorting through the situation as it developed.
Fortunately, Blanc appeared to be busy too, since he did not so much as show the tip of his nose in the goddess's subspace.
That allowed Vieta to set aside her troubled feelings and focus on investigating the truth.
It took another full two days before Vieta's companions emerged from the goddess's subspace.
“Ugh. I thought I was going to die in there.”
Laurent gave himself such a long stretch that it was refreshing just to watch him.
You would never have guessed he'd gone days without eating; vitality practically poured off him.
By contrast, Fulcare looked even sharper and gaunter, with dark circles under his eyes.
It was a stark demonstration of the difference between a mage and a knight.
“Fulcare, let's go get something to eat.”
“Ah, I don't feel like it.”
When Laurent put an arm around him and acted friendly, Fulcare openly scowled. Having honed his mind to a razor's edge by casting magic nonstop for days, he had no mental room to indulge Laurent's antics.
“If you don't eat, I'll tell the captain.”
“What are you going to tell her?”
Vieta emerged from the subspace behind them and tilted her head.
Seeing his opening, Laurent immediately tattled on Fulcare to Vieta.
“Captain, Fulcare says he isn't going to eat.”
What a petty bastard. Fulcare shot Laurent a sidelong glare.
“You've been through a lot, so shouldn't you eat properly?”
“I never thought I'd hear that from you.”
Fulcare shook his head, while Laurent laughed heartily and all but dragged him toward the dining hall.
Vieta quietly followed behind them. Her heart pounded at the thought that she might run into Blanc on the way to the dining hall.
“By the way, why are you looking around so warily, like a cat that ran away from home?”
Since Vieta was hunched over and glancing all around, Laurent turned around and asked her.
“Did you cause some trouble while we were gone?”
“I did not.”
Laurent's voice was unusually loud today, and it bothered her.
Vieta answered quietly but firmly, if only to avoid drawing attention to herself.
“Are you sick?”
“I doubt it. You could toss the captain into a desert and she'd be fine. And if you ask me, you look more sick.”
“That reckless bastard….”
At Laurent's needling, Fulcare finally started swearing.
Yet Vieta had no interest in their argument. They had stopped in the entrance hall leading from the courtyard, a busy place that connected to the vestibule, the stairs, and the dining hall.
In other words, if they lingered here, there was a high chance she would run into Blanc.
“Let's just eat. I'm hungry.”
She wanted to bolt, but she knew Fulcare would make himself scarce too if she wasn't there, so Vieta pushed them both forward from behind.
But a familiar voice halted all three of them just a few steps before the dining hall.
“Are you all on your way to eat?”
It was Blanc, the golden-haired man coming down the stairs from the second floor in a casual shirt.
Vieta's eyes grew as big as saucers when she recognized Blanc, and her face flushed bright red.
She subtly slipped behind Fulcare to hide herself.
“Oh, Prince. Have you eaten?”
“I had a light meal with Lady Elrod.”
“That's right, that's right. People need to eat well.”
While Laurent and Blanc chatted casually, Vieta clutched Fulcare's shirt and hung on, praying that Blanc would not speak to her. At that moment, ten seconds felt like ten years.
“Blanc, I'll send over the materials I've organized later. You're free this evening, right? I think I need to rest a little first.”
As if he had noticed Vieta's flustered state, Fulcare brought his conversation with Blanc to an appropriate end.
“Whenever you like. Then enjoy your meal.”
Fortunately, Blanc did not object or press the matter.
Tap, tap.
As Blanc's footsteps receded, Vieta unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
“Then let's really go eat. At this rate, my belly and back might shake hands and say hello.”
Listening to Laurent's banter, the three of them headed for the dining hall.
***
“No matter how I look at it, something's suspicious.”
After the meal, Laurent had gone out to the edge of the courtyard to smoke a cigarette, and he tilted his head.
Fulcare stood there exhaling a long plume of smoke and stared at Laurent without a word.
“Ah, seriously, the smoke those mage bastards puff out is awful. What do you even get out of smoking this stuff?”
“It's still much better than that useless stuff you smoke.”
The cigarette Fulcare was smoking was a type of nerve stabilizer favored by every mage on the continent.
Laurent clicked his tongue and waved a hand dismissively through the air.
“So what's suspicious?”
“The captain today. Something happen between her and the prince?”
“She was acting strange.”
Vieta had clearly been avoiding Blanc.
Laurent had tried to sound her out during the meal, but Vieta had only kept her head bowed and silently shoveled soup into her mouth.
“Could that prince bastard have confessed his feelings to our captain?”
Pfft. At Laurent's unexpected remark, Fulcare choked.
“Ugh, what an idiot.”
After Fulcare had been coughing and hacking for quite some time, Laurent patted him lightly on the back, apparently feeling sorry for him.
“No, what exactly makes you think Blanc confessed to the captain?”
“If the relationship between a man and a woman suddenly turns sour, what else could it be?”
“…What specious logic.”
Despite Fulcare's biting words, Laurent's eyes curved playfully.
“Don't regret it later. Treat her well while you can.”
Fulcare simply shook his head without a word.
He knew that saying anything more would only put him in a difficult position.
“By the way, where are you headed now?”
Laurent's mission at the World Tree was over.
The pilgrimage would be setting out again as early as tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the latest.
“Me? I'm not sure. I was thinking I might follow Siran around.”
“Going to Madak?”
“Yeah. I think I should see with my own eyes what she's planning to do with that magical artifact.”
Fulcare nodded.
While they were in the goddess's subspace, Vieta had told them that Madak was mass-producing magical artifacts.
She had also mentioned that the Kingdom of Madak might declare war on the Empire the moment those weapons were completed.
“A lethal magical artifact that even ordinary people with almost no mana can use with ease.”
If thousands of soldiers armed with those things invaded the Empire, being outnumbered would clearly be no problem at all.
The Empire would never lose with Vieta and the other companions there, but war itself was another disaster.
“And we need to find out why the elves are needed to make that strange tool. If it's dangerous for the elves, wouldn't it affect our precious prince too?”
Laurent seemed worried about the elven aura within Blanc.
“…It's one problem after another.”
The pale smoke Fulcare exhaled scattered into the air on the wind.
***
Ah. Damn it.
Vieta was waiting outside Blanc's office and sighed inwardly.
To make matters worse, Marlene was walking straight toward her from the end of the hallway.
“What are you doing here?”
Unlike before, her tone was noticeably sharper.
As a noble young lady, Marlene had been unable to enter the World Tree and had struggled outside for days, while a mere maid had entered the World Tree and attended to Blanc. The thought seemed to have made her furious.
“I'm waiting for Head Mage Fulcare to come out.”
Vieta did not mention Blanc's name. If she said it here, she felt she would have to bear all of Marlene's displaced anger. And in truth, she was waiting for Fulcare, too.
“You seem to know your place, at least.”
Marlene settled beside Vieta. She, too, seemed prepared to wait until the meeting ended.
“By the way, I asked around, and they say you have something unusual.”
“…What are you referring to?”
“I hear you have a leaf from the World Tree?”
Vieta nodded without a word.
“If I'd known a thing like that was needed, our maids would have obtained one beforehand as well.”
Ah, so she thinks I secretly obtained a leaf from the World Tree by myself.
Vieta's eyes darted.
In fact, Elrod had allowed only some Imperial personnel to enter because the situation in the Elven Kingdom was unfavorable.
They could not exactly gather every Imperial noble in a place where a rebellion might break out.
There had been plenty of controversy over Vieta's entry as well.
She had tried claiming that Ugo clung to her side and refused to leave, but it was the leaf Silmaril had given her that made her entry possible. When Vieta presented it as proof that she had come to the World Tree at the request of an elf living in the Empire, Elrod's side had accepted her.
“As His Highness's maid, it is truly infuriating and unfair that I was unable to do anything when he was in danger.”
Although the situation had passed without any major incident, many people had in fact been injured in the fire in Arba.
There was no use in having a pampered noble lady around.
Marlene knew that better than anyone, so coming here to make such an unreasonable demand meant she was simply throwing her weight around.
There was no point in talking to a jealous woman; it would only make Vieta suffer.
“From now on, our maids will handle all of His Highness's needs, so I'd like you to stop serving him.”
When Vieta remained silent, Marlene apparently thought she had gained the upper hand and unilaterally informed her.
“However, when it comes to things like laundry and cleaning, our maids….”
“You needn't concern yourself with that. I've already informed the other maids, so consider it settled.”
As if intent on making it clear once and for all, Marlene's expression as she glared at Vieta was twisted like that of an enraged magical beast.
So a woman in love can make such a frightening face.
Vieta secretly envied Marlene for being so honest about her feelings.
“Who said they would be attending to me from now on?”
At the sudden voice, Vieta shifted her gaze.
Blanc and Fulcare had emerged through the door and were looking at the two women with knowing expressions.