Chapter 100

"Pons, you stayed back with me last time."

"Rotte didn't go with you that time!"

"Which is why she's going this time."

Rotte was afraid of running into the nobles who'd killed her father.

Nothing had been confirmed, but Iberin suspected the emperor was the one behind it.

The emperor had hypnotists at his disposal — using a person and throwing them away would've been easier for him than swallowing.

Civelli would've been in on it too, but Civelli wasn't in this world anymore.

If it really was the emperor's and Civelli's doing, what had they used the elixir for?

Whatever it was, it hadn't been for good.

"Rotte, you'll be all right?"

"Yes. Of course."

Rotte looked steady about it.

"Th-then what about us?"

Tami and Roz shot their hands up, throwing glances at each other.

The two of them hadn't stayed back in the capital last time.

The capital townhouse had its own staff.

"You two…"

Tami and Roz swallowed dryly.

If it had been anyone but Ether and Kal, Iberin would have left them behind. But it would've been too much for Rotte to look after both children alone.

"Both of you come too."

"Why only me?"

Pons sniffled up at Iberin, looking deeply, genuinely betrayed.

He'd collapsed in the pose of a tragic protagonist, one hand pressed over his mouth.

Iberin quietly ignored him.

---

Once they'd decided on the capital, everything moved quickly. Iberin pushed hard and reached the capital in good time.

In front of the capital checkpoint.

"What's all this lining up for?"

Iberin leaned her head out of the carriage window and asked, puzzled.

The line hadn't been this long the last time she'd come up.

In the end, Tami went up to the front to ask, and came back with the answer.

"It's people trying to get into the capital."

The monster scare had driven crowds of commoners up to the capital.

With everywhere outside the south considered unsafe, people had decided the capital was at least the safest option and flooded toward it.

But letting them all in at once would create its own set of problems, so they were screening people through checkpoints.

"Is that right? Then nothing for it — we'll wait."

The line split in two — one for those, like Iberin, in carriages, and one for people on foot.

Most of the ones in carriages would be nobles.

"There really are a lot of people."

The carriage line was a long one. They'd be waiting a while.

"On a different note — if word goes around that Lecashe has come up, it'll get to the temple in no time."

"Hk. It will. The priests would've assumed something like this much."

"Should we hide it?"

"As commoners?"

Posing as a wealthy merchant family would do the trick.

Iberin had made a few appearances in noble society, but she wasn't famous enough for commoners to recognize.

And it wouldn't do her any good if the emperor caught wind of her being in the capital, either.

This was the man who'd tried to use Duke Cherity to have her killed.

"Right. Let's pick a name."

While waiting her turn, Iberin worked up a plausible name and cover story.

"To really stay under the radar we shouldn't go to the townhouse. We need an inn nearby."

"Yes. That'd be the way. Or we could reach out to the lawyer."

Iberin Sherburn Lecashe became, in a heartbeat, Grace, the daughter of a wealthy merchant.

---

Getting into the capital wasn't a problem.

The party slipped a hefty sum to the guard at the checkpoint. They were waved through without trouble.

The whole point of the long line was to screen people out to some degree.

Unfortunately, not everyone made it inside. Even the imperial capital had a ceiling on how many it could absorb.

With limited slots, nobles bought their way in by throwing money around. The poor, meanwhile, had no way to get inside.

Iberin glanced to the side and asked the guard,

"What about them?"

"Beggars. Those ones can't come in. Too likely to cause trouble."

Beside the line, plenty of people were sobbing and begging to be let in.

Some had given up entirely and set up camp at the gate.

"Don't worry about it, my lady — go on in. Letting that lot in would only spoil the look of the city."

Iberin glanced back at them, pity tugging at her.

"Are you bothered?"

"I am."

"I could slip you a little more, and we can let them in too?"

"That's all right. You could probably get them in with a small bribe, but once they were inside, there'd be nowhere for them to stay, and the guards would just drag them back out. I can't keep watch over a crowd that size."

Iberin clicked her tongue lightly, shot the guard a single look, and swept inside.

Tami took off immediately to find them a place to stay. Iberin decided to swing by the temple.

"There's a crowd."

The temple didn't admit anyone but nobles.

And yet people were clustered around it.

With things as dangerous as they were, had they all come to offer prayers?

But what they were saying didn't sit right.

"They found the Saintess, you hear?"

"That's the word."

"My goodness. The timing of it. Maybe the empire isn't done for after all."

Iberin's brow drew together.

These insane bastards — kidnapping someone's family and then having the gall to do this.

"Excuse me, can I ask you something? What's this about a Saintess?"

"Did you just get in today?"

"Yes. Just came in, thought I'd stop by the temple to pray."

"They haven't made the official announcement yet, but the rumor is everywhere — the Saintess has appeared! And she was found at Lecashe!"

"Hk. Really?"

"Yes! Right now His Highness the Grand Duke is the talk of everyone for the work he's doing against the monsters."

"That's right."

"Sounds like something good is finally coming to Lecashe. At this rate the curse might lift, too. The Saintess will see to it — bound to!"

The man smiled to himself as he said it, brimming with personal satisfaction.

---

She'd expected the temple to start smearing Lyssel right away — instead, they were lifting him up.

Iberin felt the situation tipping in a strange direction.

Lyssel's popularity was climbing higher than the sky right now.

She hadn't really felt it back in the territory. The trip up to the capital had made it impossible to miss — every single person they ran into was singing his praises.

There wasn't an imperial subject who didn't know Lyssel's name.

The rumor was that even toddlers just starting to talk knew who he was.

If he succeeded against the monsters, his popularity would climb higher still.

"Could it be that—"

Was the temple waiting for the exact peak of his popularity? If something happened at that moment, the kind of thing that drove him face-first into the mud, the blow to Lecashe would be enormous.

"They say even the temple's praising Lecashe."

The man kept going, as if reading her mind.

"That much?"

"Yes. The word going around is that once he's finished things in the west and comes back to the capital, the temple will lift the curse."

"The curse? They'd lift it?"

"Huge deal, right?"

Who do they think they are, claiming they can lift a curse?

Stunned by the gall of it, Iberin let out a dry laugh.

Like they could.

But the man didn't pick up on her tone and kept talking.

Under the current circumstances, the temple was being excessively friendly toward Lyssel.

"Thanks for the chat."

Iberin made a quick goodbye and turned to leave at once.

Rotte, who'd been right at her side, started to call out, her face serious.

"Iber—"

"It's Grace, Rotte."

"Oh — yes. Lady Grace."

Rotte corrected herself hastily, looking uneasy.

"Something's off."

"It is."

"What is the temple thinking?"

She couldn't figure out why the temple was building up public sentiment like this.

No matter how she turned it over, it didn't all serve the temple.

"Rozelia lifting Lecashe's curse — that doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't. I've never even heard of a curse being lifted by holy power."

"Above all, that child isn't going to do anything that benefits the temple."

"True. She isn't the kind to play along just because the temple told her to lie."

Once they were outside, Iberin looked back at the temple.

More than anything, she was worried about Rozelia.

---

There were no inns with rooms open.

Every one of them was filled to capacity with long-term guests.

She'd expected as much. Iberin went straight to find Nais.

He was the only person she knew in the capital.

"Lady Iberin!"

When they reached the office she'd helped him open before leaving, Nais bustled forward in a flurry, welcoming the party.

"It's been a while."

"Indeed! Lately His Highness the Grand Duke is wildly popular! Hah…?"

Nais was beaming, then suddenly checked himself and asked,

"What brings you here, though?"

He was glad to see Iberin, but there was no reason for her to come up to the chaos of the capital from the safety of the south.

"I'm planning to stay in the capital for a while. Right now I'm not Grand Duchess — I'm Grace, a merchant's daughter."

"Sorry? You came in under a false identity?"

"That's right."

"Because of the emperor? Has something happened?"

"I'll tell you now. First, though — Nais. Are you a devout follower of the temple, by any chance?"

"Ah. I'm a citizen of the Holy Empire, but I wouldn't call myself devout. When you actually need help, the god isn't much of an answer. The people who'd haul you in for saying even that much being a kind of blasphemy… W-wait, why are you suddenly asking me that?"

His look went slightly wary, and Iberin smiled.

She walked him through everything that had been happening.

He was the same person he'd been the last time she'd met him, and she decided he wasn't someone to doubt.

"What?!"

After hearing it all, Nais was incensed.

"That child is at the temple right now?"

"Most likely. But I can't get in to confirm it."

"Hh. How could anyone do this."

"You believe me?"

"You told me to believe it, didn't you? You'd have no reason to lie to me. Not after coming all the way to the capital."

Nais didn't say more — he sank straight into working out what to do.

"What do you think we should do?"

"Commoners can't get into the temple. There's no way around that."

"True."

"In that case, we answer in kind."

"In kind?"