Chapter 8: Visitors

Fernand, crown prince of the Kingdom of Brancott, had a glum look on his face. After Fabio and Allan visited the restaurant Kaoru had worked at the day after the prince’s disastrous party, they came saying they hadn’t seen her. The staff there said that she might not be coming back at all since she received a summons from some bigwig, so the two had given up and went home so as to not cause any trouble.

She actually skipped town? Is that really how far into a corner I drove her...?

After looking into where she could have gone, they found several eyewitness accounts of a girl covered in blood heading toward the city gates. The guard by the gate confirmed the story, adding in his own testimony that the girl didn’t have much in the way of baggage when she left.

Did she make it to another town all right? Would she be able to find more work with a wound like that?

The more he thought about it, the heavier his heart became...

“I heard something interesting, Fernand,” Fabio said as he entered the room, a tinge of excitement in his voice. Considering how calm and collected he usually was, it was rare to see him like this.

“What are you talking about?” Fernand asked, his curiosity slightly piqued.

“Try not to be too surprised, alright? This is something I heard from a merchant who just got back to the capital from Grua. Apparently, there’s a girl there who claims to be a friend of the Goddess Celestine; she can create miracles and has been helping people. She also did quite a number on the temple and the king.”

“What the heck is that all about?” Fernand balked. He couldn’t believe that Fabio was actually taken in by that story. It was outrageous enough that even calling it gossip seemed far-fetched.

“So, about that supposed friend of the Goddess...”

He doesn’t know when to quit...

“She looks about eleven or twelve years old, with black hair and black eyes.”

...Wait, what was that?

“And it appears her name is Kaoru.”

“Think up a reason for us to go to Balmore! Government affairs, a courtesy visit, I don’t care what! Just make it so we can get going now!”

“I thought you might say that, so I already took the liberty of making preparations beforehand...”

Way to go, Fabio!

“Alright then, let’s get out there and bring her back! Things are probably pretty dicey for her if she’s managed to pick a fight with both the temple and the king. This is the perfect chance to make our move!”

Though he had more or less reflected on what he had done wrong before, it seemed like Fernand’s habit of jumping into action when things looked good only for him wasn’t going to be fixed anytime soon.

“Man, it sure is peaceful around here...”

Life for me became pretty quiet and uneventful after the dust had settled. I was a little worried that some of the more thick-headed people were going to come after me after such a public event. Like nobles, or... Well, just nobles, really. It looked like my threats worked, though, as I wasn’t really getting any unwanted visitors.

Even if someone had captured me or tried forcing me to do anything, there wasn’t any point. Miracles had to pass through the Goddess, after all, which meant she would figure out what was going on in a heartbeat. There was no one out there who thought the Goddess would let anyone get away with taking me hostage.

I did say that Celes might come down and decimate the capital and everyone in it if they tried pulling anything, so I’m sure the higher-ups must have been pretty clear on drilling the idea into everyone’s heads that no one better lay a finger on me. I figured that, after the royal family and the nobility weighed the pros and cons, and considered the risk versus reward of forcibly getting into contact with me, they must have realized it just wasn’t worth it.

The same went for the temple as well. There wasn’t a single person who didn’t know who they were, which meant they couldn’t just drag me away with them, since I had made it clear I didn’t belong to their religion. The average citizen saw me as a normal girl who just happened to receive the favor of the Goddess. Though they were respectful of me, they didn’t go out of their way to give me any weird special treatment or anything — and that was just what I wanted. I don’t know if you could call me a “normal girl” if I received the favor of the Goddess, though. Those with friends or family suffering from disease or other injuries might not have actually been so composed on the inside, but they couldn’t try any funny business, since they knew trying to extort or pressure me meant calling down the wrath of the Goddess.

There may be some people out there who wanted to see me or come meet me in person when I was working as a salesperson, but unfortunately for them, I had nothing to do with the business side of the workshop. I just stayed in the back, doing stuff like cooking meals and cleaning up, which meant there wasn’t any guarantee they’d see me if they tried paying a visit there. Even when I was out and about, everyone who knew me didn’t seem to mind if the Goddess liked me or not. They saw me as me, and treated me the same as always. The same went with everyone else I met too, since it actually didn’t seem like too many people realized who I was.

Though black hair wasn’t a very common trait in this world, you could find quite a few other people with that hair color in a place as densely populated as the royal capital. Besides, the crowd that had gathered for that public Q&A session only represented a fraction of the people living in the capital, and an even smaller number of them had been close enough to see what I looked like. They didn’t have photos here, either, so I didn’t have to worry about my face being plastered all over the news by the media. The only thing people seemed to know about me was that I was a “girl with black hair.” No one had seen my eye color or anything, so they didn’t know what I looked like besides that.

So that’s why I was here, casually strolling about town.

I didn’t always just go to the marketplace or the library, or even to see the kids at the rundown house or anywhere like that. Sometimes I would just take walks by myself, and maybe do some shopping, or grab myself a bite to eat.

As I was busy stuffing my face with the meat skewers I had just bought from a food stall, I spotted a real stunner of a woman walking toward me. She looked young enough that I should probably call her a “girl,” but any foreigner over fifteen looked like an adult in my eyes. You were considered an adult once you hit fifteen in this world, so maybe that wasn’t too far off anyway...

She stood tall, cutting a rather gallant figure. She walked at a brisk pace and wore a sword on her waist. Judging from her garments, she looked to be a knight, or at least a knight-in-training.

As we were just about to walk by each other, the girl stopped dead in her tracks as she stared directly at my face. The expression on her own turned into one of shock before she cried out, “Oh my... Goddess!”

Well that definitely sounds like the title of a certain long-running manga...

“...Who are you again?”

I was a little confused by being called out by a girl I’d never seen before. The people around us seemed to think she’d just heard a distorted version of the rumors floating around, and paid us no mind.

“I-It’s me! Francette, the knight!”

“...Again, who?”

That was the moment Francette realized she’d never even given the girl her name the last time they met. Even if she had, however, Kaoru probably would’ve forgotten it by now.

Things could have gotten complicated if Francette had kept calling Kaoru a goddess, so Kaoru dragged her off to a restaurant, since there weren’t any cafes or coffee shops in this area.

There was still some time before lunch, so the inside of the shop was basically empty. The two sat down in a corner, where they wouldn’t stand out, and each picked something random off the menu.

Kaoru asked again, “So... Who are you?”

Francette frantically began to explain everything.

She reminded Kaoru how they’d met in the forest, and how the potions Kaoru gave them had not only healed Hector and Yunith’s grandmother, but also reminded her what had happened when she used the other two potions at the royal palace. Kaoru could only stare at her in blank amazement.

“So that’s why the palace was so quick to spring into action... But, that aside...” Kaoru leaned over and stroked Francette’s face. “I never would’ve thought it’d turn out this perfect... I guess that’s what you get when you receive weird powers from a higher being who rivals God themself...”

“Uh... What?”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing. Just talking to myself.”

After trying to play that off, Kaoru sank deep into thought.

Well... Now what? Do I pretend like I’m not the “goddess” from before? Nah, that’s probably a no-go... Even if my hair is a different color, my face is still exactly the same. Might be pushing it to say it’s just a coincidence, too... It seems like she totally reveres me, so maybe if I play this off just right... Okay, let’s do this!

“Francette, there’s something I wish to ask of you.”

“Y-Yes, of course! Please make use of me however you’d like!” Francette responded in a whisper, using the same hushed tone Kaoru had used.

There was plenty of distance between them and the other customers, but Kaoru kept her voice low as she explained her request.

“...And that’s why I’m going around saying I’m Celestine’s friend. To be honest, that isn’t very far from the truth. All I’m doing is pretending to be a normal girl who... No, wait, that’s not a lie, either. I’ve come down here in the form of a human, after all. I just happen to be a girl with some healing powers.”

“I-I see...”

After what had happened to her, Francette had returned to the territory under Earl Adan’s control, so as to get her personal affairs in order, and had only just made her way back to the capital a few days ago. She’d been living at an inn while she waited to be called back on duty at the royal palace, which was why she knew next to nothing about what had happened with Kaoru and the others in the central plaza.

“Anyway, I’m enjoying my life as a normal human girl, and I don’t want anything getting in the way of that.”

“O-Of course! I would never do anything to reveal your secret!” Francette swore, her back straight as an arrow.

“Oh, and while I appreciate you doing that, that’s not exactly what I wanted to ask you...” Kaoru answered as she began explaining.

Though she was living a peaceful life at the moment, it was difficult for her to give her blessings out to the people with the way things were now. She wanted to become allies with someone who held some sway here. They had to be someone she could trust to protect her secret, and had enough power and influence to make sure they’d protect both themselves and Kaoru.

On that point, she was wondering if Francette could quietly put her into contact with the head of the household of the brother and sister she had met before. An earl should hold a pretty significant amount of power, and she’d already brought about a miracle for them with their grandmother—not to mention how the family and a good number of the king’s ministers had borne witness to Francette’s own miraculous transformation. Moreover, there was probably a much smaller chance of them trying to pull anything, compared to other nobles. She also didn’t want to risk the chance of having to cut ties with any of her previously made relationships because it would otherwise put them in danger.

However...

“Oh, I’ve resigned my commission from Earl Adan. I’ve already moved out of his domain and transferred here to the capital...”

“Huh?”

Kaoru found herself dumbstruck once more when she found out the plan she’d just managed to put together was all for naught.

“...That is why, starting tomorrow, I will be in the employ of Roland, the king’s brother, as his personal guard.”

“What?!”

It looked like it was time for a change of plan...

That same time, at the royal palace—

“So our best course of action would be to reconcile with her, Roland?” King Serge asked his older brother.

“Right. We won’t push our luck, and instead just do our best to win her over and gain her trust.”

“Then let’s have the Lyodart family handle this for now. After that, it’s just a matter of using their influence to slowly expand the scope of people she’ll speak with until it includes us. Should we raise Viscount Lyodart to the status of earl and assign him a post so the other nobles won’t try to interfere?”

“Then he’d no longer be an ‘unimportant’ noble, right?” Roland replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Ah...”

Also at that same time, at the royal capital’s main temple—

“So, should we be thinking of a way to bring her to our side, Archbishop?”

“Correct. We will slowly grow closer to her until the day comes where we can finally invite her to the temple,” Archbishop Saulnier declared to Bishop Perrier. “She has already abandoned her home country, and she isn’t in possession of friends or acquaintances who belong to the same religion as her. I should think it only be a matter of time before she joins us in worshiping Celestine with the Temple of the Goddess.”

When he was finished, he turned toward the elderly oracle waiting patiently nearby.

“We shall be counting on you, Oracle Shaela. You are the one Goddess Celestine wished to speak to and deliver her divine revelation to the masses. I’m sure if anyone can earn the trust of a friend of the Goddess, it will be you. I shall have some others join you as well, so I leave it in your capable hands.”

“Yes, you can leave it to me,” Shaela respectfully answered.

Suddenly, a question popped into the archbishop’s head and found itself being asked on his lips just as quickly as it had appeared.

“Incidentally, Shaela...it has already been over fifty years since you last spoke with the Goddess. Do you think you could share what you talked about with her back then? I couldn’t help but wonder just what that could have been for these past fifty-three years, and I was hoping I might be able to know before I pass on, if at all possible...”

But the oracle only smiled and shook her head. “Not every word from the Goddess is a revelation for the masses, I’m afraid...”

“Is that so... Well, I already knew that was the answer I was going to get...” Archbishop Saulnier was smiling as he answered, but still seemed a little disappointed to hear it.

I can’t say it! I can’t just tell the archbishop that the only things we discussed were plans on how to get the attention of some guy she liked! That’s all we did that whole time!

This was definitely a secret Shaela knew she had to take with her to her grave...

Back at the Maillart Workshop—

Everyone there was treating Kaoru just about the same as they usually did. All they asked from her was to help cook and clean. They weren’t trying to use her to get in the Goddess’s good graces, as they were more than happy just having a cute girl there with them. After all, it wasn’t like the Goddess herself would come down to help them cook and clean, or come help with the metalwork in the shop, or anything like that.

Today, another member of the temple had come to pay a visit to the workshop. The oracle Shaela came every day to invite Kaoru to come to the temple so they could chat, and every day Kaoru refused, on the grounds that she didn’t want to go to any temple that was of a different religion than her own. This time, Shaela had come with the suggestion that they meet at a restaurant instead. When Kaoru looked into the restaurant in question, she discovered that it was supposed to have a completely soundproof room way in the back...

A shiver ran through Kaoru’s body, and she immediately shot down that particular idea.

The next time she heard from Shaela, it was to ask if she’d like to meet in a place of her choosing. Kaoru figured Shaela wasn’t going to give up until the oracle got a chance to see her again, so she resigned herself to visiting with the older woman—but not in any secret back rooms or anything. She wanted to meet in a place where everyone could see them.

A few days later, at a certain restaurant—

Kaoru had found some free time between cleaning up after making lunch at the workshop and getting ready to make dinner. She set aside some of that time to finally give in and meet up with Shaela.

“My apologies for keeping you waiting.”

The oracle in question had appeared, along with an assortment of boys and girls following after her. There were five of them total, three boys and two girls, spanning anywhere from ten to sixteen years old, each one of them more handsome or beautiful than the last.

A long, drawn-out sigh escaped Kaoru’s lips.

“These are some of the children who are studying at the temple. When they heard I was coming to meet with you, they insisted on coming along as well...” Shaela explained as she took a seat, a smile playing on her lips.

“Right, sure...” Kaoru gave a listless reply. “So, why did you want to see me?”

Shaela panicked slightly after seeing that Kaoru had zero interest in the kids, switching the conversation to something they shared common ground on: Celestine.

“So, Kaoru...did Lady Celestine, erm...say anything about the other God she wanted to get along with?”

Though it was in front of the children, this was the only conversation she could bring up to talk to Kaoru about. She was hoping it would make Kaoru think Celestine was a close friend of hers as well.

“What, Celes talked to you about that, too? Yeah, she seemed pretty happy about having a chance to talk with him.”

“Ah, really? That’s wonderful news!” Even though she was the one to bring it up, Shaela was shocked to learn that things were actually going well for the Goddess.

Did the plans I thought up for her end up working?

“...”

But Kaoru added nothing further to the conversation.

On to the next topic then...

“Regarding the statue of Lady Celestine you asked about before... It was decided when it was commissioned, since she’s the Goddess who brings about abundant crops, it seemed more natural to give her a more abundant figure to match. That’s why they didn’t want her to seem so pitifully flat...”

“...I see,” came Kaoru’s frigid reply.

Shaela’s gaze dropped to Kaoru’s chest, which was the exact moment she realized the horrible, horrible mistake she’d just made.

Pitifully flat... Pitifully flat... Pitifully flat...

Shaela began sweating as the silence stretched out between them.

“W-Well, um, let me introduce you to the children. Starting from the left—”

“No need. I won’t be able to remember them anyway.”

“Oh...” Shaela was at a loss for words.

She shot down my foolproof plan with the kids! I was hoping to switch the conversation to them if I ever got in trouble, but now I don’t have that option anymore... It’s still too soon to bring up going to the temple, since I can’t be too upfront about it. I have to at least try and warm her up a bit more with some normal conversation first...

That’s when the children came to her rescue.

“We wanna hear about what the Goddess is like!”

“Oh, me too!”

“I wanna hear about her as well!”

Well, I can certainly see why the archbishop chose these kids. Their looks aren’t the only good thing about them, it seems, Shaela thought to herself, impressed.

Kaoru turned toward the kids. “All right, listen. Let’s pretend that you guys had a super rich friend.”

“Huh?”

“What would you think about people who came chasing after you just to ask you about your rich friend instead of you? Do you think they’d make good friends? Would you even want to be friends with them? And while we’re on the subject, do you think you would trust someone who’d just blab about their friend to a complete stranger?”

“...”

“Well, since it looks like we don’t have anything to talk about, I’ll be taking my leave now,” Kaoru said as she stood up from her seat. Shaela and the kids stayed silent, not moving a muscle.

It was only after she left the restaurant that Kaoru realized something: “Oh... I didn’t even order anything, huh.”

A few days later, Francette came around to the workshop.

“Kaoru, Earl Adan’s family has arrived in the capital.”

That was exactly the news Kaoru had been waiting for. She made sure to confirm they’d be meeting tomorrow, right after lunch. She’d also made sure to tell Francette and the others not to call her “Goddess,” an “angel,” or even a “friend of the Goddess.”

The next day, Kaoru had elected to wear the hand-me-downs she’d “borrowed” from Baron Renie’s daughter as she stood in front of the residence Earl Adan owned in the royal capital. It gave her that “daughter of a poor, lower-class noble family” look, which was just what she was going for—although no matter how low-ranking she was supposed to be, a noble girl would almost never be out walking around by themselves.

After using the knocker on the door to announce herself, she was shown inside by a steward, who proceeded to guide her to a room deeper in the house.

She had her pepper spray handy, just in case anything happened, but she had a backup plan as well: In the event that she didn’t emerge of the earl’s mansion by sundown, she’d already given instructions to the children of the Eyes of the Goddess to send word to the temple, Viscount Lyodart, and the workshop, that she’d been captured by a noble, and to cause a commotion by shouting that loudly in the central plaza. That was the only time they could go out of their way to call her “the Goddess’s friend.” Just using the name “Kaoru” wouldn’t have much of an impact, since people weren’t all that familiar with her under that name. She wasn’t all that worried about any of that coming to pass though.

By the time Kaoru arrived in the room, all the other members of this meeting were already gathered there: Earl Adan; his son, Hector; his daughter, Yunith; the captain of his envoy of knights, Robert; Francette; and the king’s brother, Roland.

All right, time to get plotting...

There was nothing Kaoru enjoyed more than putting a good plot together.

There was a chance that some people in this room would realize she was the same person as the silver-haired goddess they’d met in the forest, while others had been healed or had their family members healed by her blessings. Basically, it was a gathering of people she was worried about being left alone too long, as well as people she knew would have an almost zero percent chance of betraying her.

Kaoru explained everything to the group as follows:

She was a friend of Celes, who had come here from another world because Celes suggested that she do so herself, and had taken on the form of a human to make that request. That was all a secret, so she wanted them to keep that on the down-low. Right now, she was just pretending to be a normal human who had some healing powers, thanks to being friends with the Goddess, making sure to put aside how any of that made her even a remotely normal human being.

She made clear she had no intention of backing someone in power, either. However, though she only wanted to grace the people with some of her blessings, it had become much harder to do so after all the commotion from earlier. So, for that reason, it wasn’t like she wouldn’t consider doing so...to a certain degree, that is.

After much deliberation among the group, they decided upon a number of things: the only official point of contact she would allow the royal family, the various aristocrats, or the people from the temple to speak with her through would be the Lyodart household. The viscount and his family only knew of the public image she’d established, so there wouldn’t be any changes with them. The unofficial channels, on the other hand, would be through the Adan household, or Roland, with communications between him and Kaoru delivered via Francette.

At Roland’s request, no one else was to know the truth besides the king. It would be harder for them to move around freely if they didn’t at least tell him, since it might otherwise spark suspicions of them plotting a rebellion or something of the sort. Roland had already turned down the throne once, so there wasn’t any need to worry about that, but it was better to play it safe here. You could still find people with rocks for brains among the nobility and royal family, after all.

At Francette’s rather insistent urging, a name was given to the group of people gathered here: The Light of the Goddess. Kaoru protested vehemently, but since Francette, Roland, and even Hector and Yunith agreed on the name, it passed according to majority rule.

And so, they officially began their operations.

The first order of business regarded the sale of healing potions. They would be sold at affordable prices, but would only have limited effects, which would expire if they weren’t used within five days. How they were produced and circulated would be a national secret, and the royal palace would act as the distributor.

The five-day expiration date was to prevent people from buying them all up or stockpiling them for use in times of war. The most beneficial thing they could be used for was to heal injured hunters or soldiers, and cure anyone else who fell ill. Since they wouldn’t be that strong, they wouldn’t be able to heal old wounds or scars that had already healed, but they should still be plenty useful enough for the common citizen.

Any true miracle would call for the “tears of the goddess,” which, as the name suggested, had to be created with the power of a goddess. The healing potions were Kaoru’s way of saying that, while someone may not be worthy of receiving the blessing of the Goddess, they could at least receive a drop of her mercy in the form of a potion.

Kaoru then remembered a couple other things she wanted to bring up with everyone.

First off, the Light of the Goddess had an outside group working alongside them: the Eyes of the Goddess. Though they were working for free at the moment, she announced that she had plans to bring them on as formal members and provide them with proper salaries. As for item number two, they would be using the Abili Trade Company to handle the trade routes for the potions.

And with that, Kaoru had finally managed to find a way to begin selling her potions.

“Excuse me! Is Kaoru here?”

Francette had shown up again at the workshop, but this time a bit flustered.

“What’s wrong? The potions shouldn’t be going on sale for a while, right?”

“N-No, this is about something else. A diplomat from a neighboring country arrived here yesterday...”

I had a bad feeling as soon as I heard that. I mean, with four countries next to this one, it couldn’t possibly be...

“From which country, exactly?”

“The Kingdom of Brancott.”

Aghhh, I knew it! My head drooped as far as I could let it.

“So that diplomat you were talking about...”

“Believe it or not, I heard it’s the crown prince himself, of all people!”

Ahhhhhh...

There was no way the prince and whoever else had come with him were going to do much in the way of being “diplomats.” It seemed more likely that they’d barged in, declaring that they’d heard a girl named Kaoru had arrived here from their country, and asked to meet with her, probably causing serious headaches for the king and his ministers in the process. They most likely couldn’t just flat out refuse the crown prince of one of their neighboring countries, but they also couldn’t let him meet with me without knowing why he wanted to do so.

But there were still plenty of people who knew where to find me. There was a chance that someone was either trying to get closer to the prince, or was hoping to start something with the prince of another country, and would tell him where I was. That was why Francette had come here to warn me, on Roland’s orders.

“...Right. Dealing with them is gonna be a pain, so let’s get them to go back as soon as humanly possible. We’ll tell them to meet us at the Lyodart household since I don’t want to trouble everyone at the workshop. I’ll leave it to them to decide when we meet, but make sure it’s after lunch, please.”

I couldn’t just skip out on making lunch for the workshop; it was my job, after all.

“Understood. I will pass that along to Sir Roland.”

After hearing what I had to say, Francette took her leave.

It was that evening when I heard from the Lyodart household that my audience with the prince would be held just two days later.

Prince Fernand was in high spirits. Not only was he finally going to see Kaoru, but she had apparently declared that she’d never come to the royal palace. Instead, they’d be meeting at the residence of some unimportant-sounding viscount. It seemed like the temple wasn’t even going to be involved at all.

“If the only ally she’s found here is a mere viscount, I’m sure they’ll hand her over if we pressure them hard enough.”

“That all depends on what Kaoru wants, not the viscount. Don’t forget what happened last time, Fernand,” Fabio warned him.

“Ngh... I suppose you’re right...”

Though he was the one who had given the warning, even Fabio didn’t think what Fernand suggested was totally out of the question. From what they’d had their subordinates dig up, it sounded like Kaoru had become quite infamous throughout this country. It must be difficult for her to live any semblance of a normal life here. The only story of her that had spread in Brancott was that she was a girl devoted to the prince, but the details of what had actually happened were known only among the nobility...mostly because the verbal thrashing Kaoru had given him would be considered disrespectful.

Since her name and appearance were being kept secret there, no one would connect the girl named Kaoru, who had been working at the restaurant, with the same girl covered in blood from the night of the party. That’s why everyone would think she was an entirely different person, meaning she’d be able to live a normal life back in their capital. The only problem was if this country would allow them to take her back.

According to the other diplomatic envoys they’d sent out before coming here, no one from the country had even attempted to make a move to get her. It wasn’t that they didn’t have an interest in Kaoru, but that they just couldn’t do anything to her. Just having Kaoru in their country would be a boon, especially since she’d received the favor of the Goddess. Having the blessing of the Goddess was one thing, but with her knowledge, it couldn’t be overstated how much of an asset she’d be if the royal family could just get on her good side.

How much of that did the royalty and upper echelons of this country already realize? Just what sort of importance did they place on Kaoru, when compared to the crown prince of Brancott?

Fabio couldn’t quite get a read on that.

“At any rate, we should avoid being too overbearing or saying anything rude. We’ll take things slow, being as amiable as possible, to try and win her over. First, we’ll ask her what her situation is like here, then we apologize for what happened before and offer her our assistance. In the end, she has to be the one to say she’ll return to Brancott.”

“All right.” Fernand nodded in response. “We’ll go with that.”

Two days later—

Fernand, Fabio, and Allan were accompanied to the residence of Viscount Lyodart by Roland and Prime Minister Corneau, protected by an entourage of guards. There was no need to use the knocker when they arrived, of course, since their welcome committee was already lined up outside the viscount’s residence to meet them.

Usually, it would only be natural for the viscount to come and greet him in person, considering the prince’s status. However, it was the prince who was coming to visit the viscount, so the viscount was waiting to receive him inside his manor instead.

Leaving several guards posted in front of the mansion and in the entranceway, the group was led further inside. Once they arrived in the reception room, they found Viscount Lyodart and his third-oldest son, Achille, waiting for them there.

After sitting down and exchanging the briefest of greetings, Fernand was quick in asking to meet with Kaoru. Acknowledging his request, the viscount gave an order to one of his servants. The doors to the room opened, and in walked a single girl.

“Kaoru!!!” the three shouted as they jumped up from their seats.

“Wh-What happened to the injury on your face?”

“Thank goodness you’re all right...”

The girl stared back at them blankly before a sudden look of realization crossed her face.

“Oh, you all know my little sister!”

“Huh?”

“My name is Alfa Kaoru Nagase. It sounds like you’ve already met my little sister, Mifa Kaoru Nagase.”

“WHAAAAAAT?!”

“Oh dear, did she not mention me? They sent people after us right as we fled our home country, which is why we split up and went our separate ways. I was hoping we’d meet again someday, but who would have thought she’d settled down in the country right next to me... Is she doing all right?” Kaoru asked back, glossing over entirely what they had said about injuries and her being all right.

“W-Well, um...”

The three didn’t know how to respond. They couldn’t just say how she’d injured herself and then suddenly went missing.

“Would one of those two over there be her special man?”

Shock was the only word to describe the look on Allan and Fabio’s faces as she said that.

“Wait, why them?!” Fernand balked, seemingly unable to comprehend what she just said.

“They’re both her type: strong, bold men who look like they have some integrity to them. They also seem kind, with good heads on their shoulders. They’re the type of people she’d enjoy talking with. They also seem like guys who’ll become even more ruggedly handsome with age.”

“B-But, I’m—”

“She’s always hated self-centered, flashy guys who only care about themselves, especially ones who look like age will get the better of them.”

Fernand fell into shocked silence at her words, while Allan and Fabio could only send looks of pity his way.

“Then, if you don’t mind me asking, can Mifa also use the Goddess’s healing power?”

‘Alfa’ Kaoru shook her head in response.

“No, I’m the only one who has befriended Celes. Do you think she picks her friends by how they look, perhaps? Even if we look alike, my sister and I are completely different. We ran away from our country because we were both being targeted: me for my healing powers, and she for her vast knowledge and talent. But this is quite the predicament...” Kaoru mused aloud. “I came here in the hopes of making this country more prosperous, but it looks like she’s going to beat me to the punch if she’s been in the country right next to me this whole time...”

The three men grimaced in unison at her words.

“Then how about you come to the Kingdom of Brancott as well, Alfa? You could live together with your little sister!” Fabio insisted.

“I’m afraid that won’t work,” Kaoru replied, shaking her head at his invitation. “We’d only upset the balance of both countries if we stayed in the same one together. Doing so would lead to all sorts of quarrels and disputes, and I don’t want to have to flee for my life again because of it. Besides, I’m sure I’ll have another chance to see her again someday.”

“...”

If this girl claimed to be someone different from Kaoru, then they didn’t have any reason to take her back to Brancott with them. Neither the viscount nor Balmore would be thrilled to hear that they wanted to steal away a girl they’d only just met—a highly valuable girl at that.

There was nothing more for them to talk about. In low spirits, Fernand and the others put the Lyodart residence behind them...

“...Do you really think they’re sisters?” Allan asked.

“It doesn’t matter if that was her big sister, or just Kaoru herself...” Fabio responded, a sober expression on his face. “The only thing that is certain is that she has not even the slightest interest in Fernand or in coming back to Brancott.”

Despair clouded Fernand’s face at those words.

Allan and Fabio couldn’t help but wonder what could have been if they hadn’t brought Fernand to the restaurant that day. If it had just been the two of them, and if they’d managed to get closer to her little by little, then... Alas, it was far too late to think about such trivialities now.

“Whew, thank goodness that’s over with! They shouldn’t come around bothering me anymore after all that!” Kaoru remarked, looking refreshed as she took a big stretch. Everyone else, on the other hand, didn’t look quite as renewed as her.

“So...would that person you mentioned actually happen to be your sister...?” Everyone already knew the answer, but Francette still thought she should ask, just in case.

“Of course not! C’mon, this is me we’re talking about! You already know me well enough, so you shouldn’t even need to ask that!”

Yeah, that figures... everyone thought.

Even if it were in jest, all those present had been cringing at Kaoru’s behavior toward the prince.