Chapter 40: Bishop

Chapter 40: Bishop

Francette and I left the inn together and wandered around the capital. I wasn’t wearing my maid outfit, but clothes that made me look somewhat wealthy. Francette was in her maid-looking outfit because it was easy to move around in rather than her knight’s equipment, and carried her sword concealed in a tube-shaped container.

I didn’t bother changing my hair color with potions or putting tape under my eyes to alter my appearance. I hadn’t worn any disguises before now; if I suddenly started, the people from House Raphael might have let it slide, but the others would have found it odd. I had been hanging around Mariel for a while, so a lot of people probably recognized my face and hair color by now.

And the number one reason I wasn’t wearing a disguise was because I wanted to settle this whole business already. We had already gotten Mariel’s business out of the way, but Convenience Store Belle was still closed, and we didn’t have access to fresh seafood like we did in that city.

...I mean, I did have a bunch of seafood in my Item Box, but it just wasn’t the same. Besides, I was supposed to be Mariel’s maid, so we couldn’t use the inn’s kitchen and start cooking dishes just for us.

So, that’s why I wanted to get this all over with. Anyway, this was meant to be bait. Bait to bring out those who wanted to make an aggressive move against me, rather than Mariel...

If they were up to something, they’d probably have someone watching the entrance to the inn. That way, if they caught Mariel stepping out, they could make contact with her and act like it was just a coincidence. And if her servants stepped out, they could make contact and try to get information from them via bribes or threats. Of course, whoever was behind it would send one of their thugs in their place, to make sure their own name wasn’t revealed.

That was why I dangled this bait out for whoever was on lookout. They would surely report that Mariel’s maid was dressed in a most un-maidly fashion, and accompanied by a maid of her own. Anyone who knew me...or rather, “the Angel of Balmore,” would definitely take the bait.

I had been thinking just that when someone approached me.

“Pardon me, may I speak to you for a moment?”

The person who spoke to me had to be around fifty or so. He was an overweight man and seemed far from the fighting type. He had a mild-mannered demeanor and looked most like the retired head of a merchant house, probably safely married.

But of course, I didn’t let down my guard based on his appearance. Swindlers tend to seem honest, after all.

Francette was using her right hand to reach into the tube she was carrying... Yes, she was gripping the hilt of the sword concealed inside. I had no doubt that if the man suddenly pulled a blade out of his chest pocket, she would cut off both of his arms before he got it anywhere near me.

Francette knew this, so she wasn’t particularly nervous or anything, but it was possible that he had some trick up his sleeve... He could have had a needle or poison mist concealed in his mouth, or he might try to blow us up along with him with some explosives... There was a possibility that he had set up an ambush, too, so we couldn’t let our guards down.

“You are?”

“My name is Goscal. I have been sent here at Bishop Bruce’s request to act as a mediator with the Angel. I say ‘mediator,’ of course, but my role is simply to bring you Bishop Bruce for your meeting...”

Unexpectedly, I had been approached by the Temple of the Goddess rather than a merchant... But if he was making contact with me instead of Mariel, he either knew who I was or he wanted to gain favor with one of House Raphael’s servants... Wait, what am I, stupid? This guy just called me “the Angel”... I need to get it together...

Well, it made sense that the temple would have more accurate information about the incident at Balmore than a merchant would. They were one of the involved parties, after all. They must have been directly contacted by the Temple of the Goddess in the Kingdom of Balmore. Their intel had to be far more accurate, considering merchants had to piece together vague rumors they got by word of mouth. Likewise, the royal palace seemed to be putting in an effort to gather accurate information, but the “accurate information” they’d been getting mainly consisted of rumors or official announcements that had been released by Balmore’s royal palace, so their info was heavily manipulated...

So, anyway.

“Please lead the way, then.”

Yep, of course I was gonna take the sketchy invitation. That was the whole point of putting out the bait...

“Thank you very much for coming. My name is Bruce, and I am a bishop.”

The fat man Goscal led us to an inn that was pretty fancy, albeit a bit lower in status than the one we were staying at. I figured if a woman screamed in an inn of this level, it was highly unlikely to be ignored, regardless of whether or not that woman was a guest with a room here.

Though, if something was to happen, it would probably be them crying for help, not me. Francette could deal with any ambush with her superior reflexes, and I could use my Item Box and potion-creating abilities as long as I was given the time to act, so there was nothing we couldn’t handle... Probably.

“I’m Kaoru. She’s a maid... So, what business do you have with me?”

The fact that Francette and Roland were traveling with me had never been made public. Well, I guess the fact that I had left on a journey had never been made public, either. In any case, I couldn’t mention Fearsome Fran here, considering her name was the second most well-known in Balmore, next to the name of the kingdom itself.

Me? I was known as the Angel, and the name “Kaoru” was far less known than Francette’s. It wasn’t like that bothered me or anything... No, really!

Anyway, I decided to introduce Francette as a normal maid who happened to be holding a dubious, tube-shaped object, and I only gave him my own name. This Bishop Bruce guy was after me, with no interest in some random maid, so this was no problem.

Just who was this bishop, and what was he after...?

“Pardon me for getting straight to the main topic. To tell you the truth, I am not from this country. I’ve come from the Kingdom of Brancott, and I am here on behalf of the royal palace there.”

Wha...

Brancott, the kingdom where that stalker crown prince was from... The temple there was always clashing with their royal palace for power, just like this country and the Kingdom of Balmore, so there shouldn’t have been such a thing as a priest working for the royal palace...

But I heard that the state of the Temple of the Goddess in each country had changed since the peace conference with Celes, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the system wasn’t how it used to be... I wanted nothing to do with this if it was related to that crown prince, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

But I was surprised this guy had followed me this far. That stalker prince had long since given up, after all... So, what did he want?

“Well, regarding the king’s heir, many have voiced their opinion that the wise Prince Ghislain is more deserving of the throne than your enemy, Prince Fernand. However, there are fools who support the useless and impudent Prince Fernand, spurring on dissidents, and we worry for the future of the kingdom...”

Oh, it was just some internal trouble... It might have been a big deal to those involved, but it didn’t mean anything to anyone else. No matter who became king, it didn’t really change things for farmers or foreigners... That is, unless that king was an absolute fool.

This had nothing to do with me, sure but there was one thing that was annoying me. It seemed that I was being used as one of the reasons for this internal struggle.

True, that stalker prince had caused a lot of trouble for me. But it had been years since then, and according to the rumors, he was relatively respectable when it came to other matters, and it seemed like he wasn’t that bad of a choice to be the next king. Comparatively, the second prince left something to be desired in terms of intelligence and personality. You could say he was the ideal target for disloyal retainers to take advantage of.

So, it seemed like they didn’t want the prince using my name to take the throne... And yet, it looked like they assumed I’d side with the second prince, and wanted to use me because of what happened at the party at the royal palace and the way I had avoided the stalker since...

When I was in Balmore’s royal capital, the second prince’s people had kept trying to approach me, but I had turned them all down. In fact, I had told them the “Kaoru” who caused that incident at the party at Brancott’s royal palace and the “Kaoru” known as the Angel of Balmore were two different people, Alfa and Mifa, so I didn’t like how they just ignored that and tried to take advantage of me, assuming the two Kaorus were one and the same.

“And so, we would love for you to announce your official support for Prince Ghislain, Lady Angel...”

I had been staying silent, so the Bishop Bruce guy kept blabbing on. Did he even realize that he had presumed to mix up Alfa and Mifa? Lying to other people was one thing, but why was he spewing this nonsense to the very person it concerned?

Maybe he thought my explanation was a lie, or he didn’t have accurate information? Hmm...

Either way, there was only one answer.

“I am not interested in the affairs of the human masses.”

“Wha...”

Yeah, I’ve always had a policy not to discuss politics, religion, favorite baseball teams, or ramen. Those conversations never turned out well.

“Y-You...servant of the devil!!!”

Huh? Why had he flip-flopped so quickly? He snapped way too easily, don’t you think? I was supposedly the messenger of the Goddess, right? Sure, he hadn’t gotten the reply he was hoping for, but he went directly from asking nicely to calling me a servant of the devil? That was a bit extreme. Something was fishy. It was far too unnatural. It was like that’s what he thought of me the entire time, and he’d accidentally let his thoughts slip out...

Come to think of it, that reminded me... There were some people who called me that long ago... Yes, they were priests of the religious nation now lost, Rueda.

“One of Rueda’s, huh...?”

“H-How did you know?!”

Wow, what an idiot...

This guy was probably always on the deceiving side and had never experienced things the other way around. Not many would try to fool a priest in a world where the goddess actually existed, after all.

“You fled from Rueda, and now you’re plotting to manipulate the idiot second son of Brancott. You never learn, do you...?”

“Wh-Why, you...”

The priest’s anger reached a boiling point as I scoffed at him. It seemed he never had an ounce of reverence for me in the first place. Either he only intended to use me in the first place, or maybe he was planning on tricking me somehow, or he was actually plotting to find some opening to kill me so he wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore...

“Whatever the case, diiiiiieeeeee!!!”

Fwsh!

Oh, so he was planning to kill me after all...

Maybe he had just decided to go on a whim right now, but considering he had a knife hidden in his chest pocket, it was probably pre-planned.

“Gyaaaaaa!!!”

The priest screamed, eyes bulging, as he stared at the severed wrists where his hands used to be. The hands in question could be found on the floor, one of which was still gripping the knife.

He was a total amateur; he had slowly pulled out a knife, pointed it at me, and charged. There was no way Francette would have let that pass without doing anything.

“Wh-What’s the... Aaahhhhhh!!!”

By the time the inn’s staff members came rushing in, Francette had already sheathed her sword and returned to being an ordinary maid holding a dubious-looking tube.

“It appears this thug has been struck with divine judgment. A priest who threatened a servant of the child of the Goddess and attacked when the servant refused to obey has been captured. Report as such to the royal palace, Temple of the Goddess, and the child of the Goddess. Quickly!”

“A-A-As you wish!”

Good, it seemed the situation was under control with my preemptive move to make sure they wouldn’t cause a scene or try to have me arrested me. The priest was in no state to explain his side with all that pain, fear, despair, and confusion anyway. The best he could hope to do was scream and roll around until someone came to pick him up. Now, I was curious to see just how good the police in this country were at interrogation (torture).

Oh, and the fat person who had led us here was in the corner of the room, trembling on the floor. He was too scared of the look in Francette’s eyes to even think of running away.

Good, Fran, you’ve mastered the Nagase-style Art of Glaring!

“...And that’s what happened.”

I had just finished explaining what happened to Mariel, Roland, the rest of our party, the royal guards from the palace, and the priests and paladins from the Temple of the Goddess. Then the royal guards and the priests started arguing about who was going to take the culprit into custody...

I mean, I didn’t care who took him in as long as they told me the result of their interrogation. I’d instruct them through Mariel to make him blab about what he was plotting against the Angel, not just the child of the Goddess, so that should be covered, too.

If I didn’t specifically tell them to do so, I probably wouldn’t find out about his plans to use the servant (me) to harm the child of the Goddess. After all, it was likely that their plot had targeted me rather than Mariel...

It seemed their plan was to deceive and use me, and if that didn’t work, eliminate me. But I didn’t care about any of that. The question was whether or not they were the ones responsible for the attack on Layette. That was all I cared about right now.

In the end, the royal palace’s people took the culprit into custody. I guess that was to be expected. The Temple of the Goddess had no legal authority in this case, and this could have ended up becoming a huge deal, so it wasn’t something that could be left for the temple to handle. It wouldn’t have surprised me if the king himself had said he wanted his people to handle this investigation.

I put the severed hands into my Item Box before the people from the temple and royal palace came by, and I used a potion to stop the hands from bleeding any further.

I also told the culprit, “Don’t mention anything about me being the Angel. You will strictly refer to me as Mariel’s maid when you testify. If you are remorseful and confess everything, I may consider reattaching your hands,” so I figured things would probably work out.

It wouldn’t be a big deal if he did end up blabbing about me, because I’d just move on to a new country. Just like that time I created a potion-dispensing mini Goddess statue and fled...

Honestly, I wanted to question him myself, but with the inn’s staff and other patrons starting to gather around us and the fact that people from the royal palace and the Temple of the Goddess were likely to be here soon, it wasn’t really possible at the moment. What a shame...

Well, I could just join the interrogation, what with my connection to the beloved child of the Goddess. I was a victim and directly involved in the incident, so if Mariel wished it, no one was going to stop me from attending the questioning of the one who meant her harm. If it came down to it, I could definitely get through by talking to the king directly.

Yeah, this “beloved child of the Goddess” thing was pretty convenient. I mean, I could do the same by using the Angel’s name, but that would complicate things later on. The child of the Goddess could just feign ignorance and get away with anything, but the Angel would be swarmed with all sorts of requests.

Telling people that I wasn’t the Angel was no use, so I had partially given up on that already. Maybe it wasn’t catchy or clear enough, but Friend of the Goddess never did catch on... Damn it!

It turned out I didn’t have to talk to the king after all. As a direct witness of the incident and the maidservant of Mariel, who was the target of the attack (or so we claimed), I was invited to the investigation along with Francette. This was strictly an investigation, and the real interrogation was to take place later in a room that was specifically for that purpose. I guess that wasn’t the type of thing you should show a lady... In my mind, I had decided it was an interrogation. It could have actually been torture, but for my own mental well-being...

Anyway, I was surprised to find that the king himself was there. He probably wasn’t getting directly involved with the investigation, but he couldn’t just ignore the fact that the beloved child of the Goddess had been dragged into intrigue in his own country’s capital. If something went wrong, it could have incurred the wrath of the Goddess. Yes, from the infamous Celes.

Of course he’d show up...

As the investigator asked various questions, I chimed in and asked some questions of my own. The investigator probably didn’t like that, but he couldn’t ask the right questions without all of the context. I was the only one who could ask about the attack on Layette that happened in Count Maslias’s domain, or in other words, the city where Mariel’s villa and my shop were located, as well as the situation in Brancott and details about the Rueda survivors. Besides, he answered with a sense of urgency whenever I asked a question, so it made the investigation go rather smoothly.

And so, the king let out a sigh of relief to find out his kingdom wasn’t at fault, the investigator wondered what he was gonna do with the culprit, and we were deep in thought trying to figure out how to deal with this next...

“Guess it’s about time for us to leave...” I said to everyone at the inn.

There may have been things I had to do, but I didn’t need to be here at the capital for them. For now, the priority was to escort Mariel to her villa in Count Maslias’s domain or to her residence in her own domain. The villa was probably safer. Afterward, I would deal with the remnants of Rueda to make sure they wouldn’t try anything funny again. That was the only option I had.

“What? Are we fleeing without doing anything?” Francette asked, as if shocked by how weak-spirited I was being.

“...Think about it. This isn’t the enemy’s home base. It’s just their grunts here. Not to mention, we’ve already captured him to be dealt with. As such, we’re not running away. We’re pushing toward the enemy to attack!”

“Ah...” Francette’s face broke into a smile.

How badly do you want to fight?!

According to the information that the priest had given us, after Rueda’s corrupt priests had fallen apart, some of them had gathered their funds and converted them into gold, jewelry, and expensive art pieces, then left the country through Balmore and moved into the Kingdom of Brancott. After that, they moved farther to the east and split between those who fled to another country on the main continent and those who put down roots in Brancott as a means of plotting their return. Some of them turned their assets into cash to make their way in the financial world, some of them gave up their ambitions to live a life of leisure in hiding...and some of them planned to make a glorious return into the world of religion as a priest once again.

The ones who had left to go east or gone into hiding were fine. Whatever they had done in the past, I wasn’t interested in doing anything to them. It wasn’t as if I was a citizen of Rueda or the police. But those who were striving for glory in Brancott in the world of religion or finance... They were gonna be an issue.

If they had been honest and announced themselves as survivors of Rueda who had taken their money with them and escaped here, the marquis of the Rueda territories now within the kingdom of Balmore would have sent out a team to arrest them and seize their funds. Brancott wouldn’t want any trouble with the Kingdom of Balmore, or rather, the Goddess Celestine, so they would probably have handed them over without resistance.

So naturally, these guys kept their origins a secret and made up some lies about being high-ranking priests from a far-away country or sages that had been living in isolation until that point. Normally, no one would take them seriously...

Like I said, “normally.” The massive fortune they had taken out of Rueda was enough to overturn any sense of normalcy.

One of the only two friends I had once told me the day after reading a manga that was purchased at a used book store...

“The world is all about money, zura!”