Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 490

490.

“Why didn’t you send him back to Umbra? It would solve the situation much faster than Rakein Chris moving himself.”

“Are you testing me, or are you really asking because you don’t know? Since you’re asking with the Dragon Lamias’s authority anyway, please be honest with me.”

“I’m really asking because I’m curious.”

“Then I’ll tell you. It’s because I can’t trust him.”

“Huh?”

Lamias, looking bewildered, seemed genuinely unaware. Feeling relieved, I began to explain what had happened – how I had coincidentally run into Davian in the Epen Kingdom before this incident, the information he had asked me to relay, how Chris had attempted to contact Umbra because of it, and even the attack by unknown individuals at that meeting. Lamias, who had been listening with interest as if it were someone else’s story, frowned when I mentioned that the attackers knew the contact code.

“It seems there’s a problem within Umbra. And it seems the Cult of the Evil God is involved too….”

“Now that I think about it, maybe the manipulated Davian gave them the code.”

“No, I don’t think so. You know how fiercely these guys are trained. They even have prohibitions so that even if they’re manipulated, they never reveal classified information. Besides, each agent has a different contact code. Even if Davian had revealed *a* code, Rakein Chris would have noticed immediately if they used it as is.”

“Then that means….”

“That Rakein Chris contacted the real Umbra.”

It seemed protecting Davian was the right decision after all. Unlike me, who felt relieved, Lamias seemed quite troubled. He stroked his chin thoughtfully before turning to me.

“I need to look into this further. Davian, was it? His code name was probably Black Panther. Keep him with you for now. I’ll send a useful alchemist to you soon.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“Thank you? I should be thanking you for protecting him. He’s the only survivor among the spies I sent on this joint operation. Thanks to you, I can finally understand the situation over there.”

Lamias’s face, smiling brightly, looked genuinely pleased, which made me feel a bit bewildered.

“It’s just a game, but you’re taking it seriously.”

“Of course. I consider this life another version of myself. Just because the play’s content is fictional doesn’t mean the actor on stage shouldn’t take their role seriously, right?”

“Um, I think I understand.”

“I’m glad you understand. Actually, this game started a bit more special, so I’m more attached to it.”

The story that followed was a bit surprising. Originally, Tayron Isse Sepion was someone else. One day, Lamias had accidentally found a dead child at the bottom of a valley, and that was the child’s name. Lamias, bored and with nothing to do, had disguised himself as the child and taken over his identity. There was no particular reason; it was just that the dead child’s hair was a similar navy blue to his.

“But it turned out the kid had a very tragic life. His half-siblings, trying to monopolize the inheritance, had him murdered! So I decided to live well under this name. As I grew up, I gradually changed my face to my own. How about it? Isn’t it like a historical drama?”

“It’s better than the story of a dragon turning into a child and getting kidnapped by a criminal organization.”

“Haha, what dragon would do something so foolish.”

Did you hear that, Lapis? He called you foolish.

If Lapis had been in that soul gem, I could have teased him, but it was a shame he wasn’t. Of course, he couldn’t communicate in his stone state.

“The conversation went off on a tangent for a moment. I meant that I’m that serious about this life. In that sense, shall we get back to the main point? Is that all you haven’t told me? Is there anything else I should know?”

“How much do you know?”

“I know that you guys are on very bad terms with Jin-Heon. I also know that Jin-Heon pressured the association to make you take on the request in the West. Circumstantially, I’m guessing that Jin-Heon already knew about the slave traders and was trying to sell you off to them?”

“You know almost everything then. It’s not a guess, it’s a fact. The traders already had our information when we were attacked.”

“But you don’t have solid evidence, do you?”

That was true. That’s why we couldn’t openly accuse them. All we had was Lily’s testimony, and we couldn’t put Ifrit on the stand as a suspect. Regardless of the fact that he could escape at any time, it was obvious that even if he did testify, it wouldn’t hold much weight since no one properly remembered Lily’s appearance. I frowned, at a loss for words, and Lamias chuckled.

“You should have left one or two of the relevant people alive. All that survived were small fries who knew nothing, so you couldn’t secure any significant testimony. You’re still young, so your work is sloppy.”

“I didn’t do it. Elquines did.”

“Wow, that’s my Elquines! His work is so cool and efficient! What good is testimony? Criminals should just die, yes, that’s right! Ugh, I should have seen that wonderful sight myself!”

“…….”

His sudden change in attitude was no longer surprising. Besides, I seemed to have touched a nerve. Instead of answering, I quietly sipped my cold tea, and Lamias’s lamenting voice continued at length.

“When I think about it, I had a bad feeling when I heard that a high-level spirit master had frozen hundreds of people to death at once. Even for a high-level spirit master, that’s not an easy task, right? I should have realized it then! No, actually, if you had been a spirit master of a different attribute, I would have noticed! But I never imagined that a human would summon Elquines… Hey, are you listening to me?”

“Yes, yes. I’m listening.”

“Yes, you! You! How did you, a human, summon Elquines! Why is Elquines protecting you and even using his powers for you! Do you think this discriminatory contractor welfare is justified? Of course, you’re on the receiving end, so you probably do!”

……Why does this dragon lose his mind whenever Elquines is involved? He seems quite normal in other matters. Watching him play both sides, I could only sigh deeply. I needed to change the subject somehow before he started picking a fight.

“About the joint operation of the secret organizations you mentioned earlier, is it related to the Epen Kingdom?”

Fortunately, he quickly returned to being Duke Sepion. He cleared his throat a few times, seemingly embarrassed, before calmly nodding.

“Yes, their movements have been suspicious for a few years now. But they’re so quick to notice that they catch every spy we send. The losses are enormous.”

“Is it true that the Jin-Heon Guild is sponsored by the Epen Kingdom?”

“Probably? Ah, do you think they’re involved too? Of course, we’re keeping an eye on them. But large guilds like Jin-Heon usually have contracts with multiple countries. Sponsorship itself isn’t that special. Jin-Heon isn’t the only guild sponsored by the Epen Kingdom.”

“Um, what if someone saw the crown prince at the slave traders’?”

At that moment, a crack appeared on Lamias’s smiling face. He froze for a moment before smiling gently.

“Who did you see?”

“The crown prince of the Epen Kingdom. His name was Luciel or something.”

“Are you sure the person you saw was the crown prince?”

“If a young man with silver-gray hair and golden eyes is really the crown prince, then yes. He introduced himself as the crown prince in front of me, anyway.”

Since I saw him right in front of me, I didn’t even consider the possibility of mistaking his appearance. The smile on Lamias’s face deepened.

“……Do you need anything besides the soul gem?”

“Pardon?”

“It seems like you’re not getting a fair deal compared to the benefits I’m getting. I’ve also assigned people to that crown prince, but I haven’t received any reports that he’s left the country recently.”

“……Ah.”

The meaning of those words was clear. Either the informants were all missing the mark, or someone was deliberately feeding false information. There was a problem even within Aegis.

“Wow, I’m pissed off for the first time in a while? Where do I start and end with this mess?”

Unlike his bright smile, Lamias’s eyes were burning fiercely. It took him quite a while to calm down, his blood pressure clearly high. I handed him a cake to cheer him up, which he accepted without hesitation, and he finally grumbled with a much better expression.

“Damn it, this makes it certain that Jin-Heon is involved too. Damn it, this shouldn’t be happening. I shouldn’t have assigned Ain Idris to them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I told you I had marked him as my successor. I arranged for him to enter Jin-Heon to keep an eye on him and use him as a card to check and monitor Jin-Heon later.”

So there was such a backstory to his sudden career change to a hunter. Feeling complicated, I groaned, and Lamias, looking just as complicated, scratched his head vigorously.

“I paired the kid who’s going to destroy humanity with a traitor. This is the ultimate combination. How do I get him back? I’m going crazy. No wonder the crown prince started moving suddenly.”

“Moving?”

“Ah, he’s coming to our empire soon.”

“……Pardon?”

“It’s an official visit. His younger sister, the princess, is coming to the Imperial Academy as an exchange student. He’s coming to escort her, worried about her, and to attend the Crown Prince’s birthday banquet in a few days. He plans to stay here day and night until the semester starts in three months.”

Even though he knows I, a witness, am in the capital.

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t help but laugh. The illegal slave trade case hasn’t been closed yet. I heard they’re frantically trying to identify the fleeing high-ranking officials based on the survivors’ testimonies. An official visit at a time like this. Whether he’s relieved that he wasn’t mentioned or trying to prevent problems from arising, it’s clear that he’s underestimating me. He’s confident that he can turn the tables no matter what I do. But he probably didn’t think I’d recognize black magic.

“Are you a little angry?”

“A little? I’m very angry.”

“Aren’t you curious about the classified information Davian brought?”

“Of course, I’m curious. But you said you lost it. The key is how much he remembers in detail after the manipulation is lifted.”

Lamias, who couldn’t suppress his anger, sighed and lamented. Although manipulation can be cured, it often causes memory confusion as a side effect since it involves tampering with the brain. It’s a silver lining, but you could call this foresight. I smiled brightly at the worried Lamias.

“Did I mention that I have a good memory?”

* * *

When I returned to the accommodation, no one was there. Ifrit couldn’t be by my side all the time, so he seemed to have gone to take care of other business. I stared at the dark, unheated room for a while before turning on the lights and lightly washing with Naias’s help. As soon as I lay down on the bed, the fatigue I had forgotten seemed to rush in all at once. I felt like I could fall asleep right away, but even when I closed my eyes, I couldn’t sleep.

“I need to get Ain Idris out of Jin-Heon first.”

Lamias’s words before I returned home came to mind. Whatever happens in the future, the current Ain Idris was a solid contractor of Minerva. He was a troublesome existence if he went to another kingdom. So it was understandable that he was prioritizing dealing with him. Understandable, but….

“I’m going to roll him around so he can’t think of anything else for a while. You’ll have to put in some effort too.”

……It would have been nice if I could have been excluded from that.

Of course, I knew that I was already in a situation where I couldn’t back out, just from what I was involved in so far. I also had to help Lamias with his work to find the soul gems more easily. Still, I honestly wanted to turn a blind eye if possible.

‘You said you were going to change the prophecy, right? It will help you too.’

“……It will help.”

The retort I couldn’t bring myself to say in that place finally came out now. If I really intended to change that guy’s prophecy, then of course it would. I would have rolled up my sleeves and stepped forward before anyone even encouraged me. If you stay still, you’ll at least break even; it was really unnecessary kindness.

‘What are you thinking?’

I haven’t heard the exact plan yet, but I was sure that whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good for me. I was scared of tomorrow coming. I wish I could close my eyes and wake up three years later. Then it would all be over. Whatever the ending may be.

‘Don’t regret it.’

I barely calmed my breathing, which was becoming a little rough. Strength naturally entered the eyes staring at the ceiling.

‘You can’t regret it. Even if no one else does.’

I already know a good way to deal with this. Don’t think about anything else and focus entirely on what you need to do right now. Yes, the most important thing right now is to find Lapis. Come to think of it, I saw the soul gem today. I thought that even if I couldn’t find it, something would change if I saw the real thing. I thought I would be able to see hope. But how did I feel when I actually saw it?

‘……It wasn’t very good.’

To be honest, I think I was shocked. Would it have been okay if the gem had been prettier? He was free enough to be willful, and that’s why he was more dazzling. He was as intense and flamboyant as a burning flame, so he couldn’t help but stand out no matter where he was thrown. I couldn’t believe that such a guy had become such an unsightly piece of stone. Lapis wandering around this land in such an unrecognizable form. Just imagining it made my heart clench.

Why was it Lapis? He said he wouldn’t live long anyway, but I don’t completely believe that. Even if it were true, it wouldn’t have been that short of a life. The reason he gave up his life back then wasn’t because he had no attachment to a life he wouldn’t live long anyway. It was to save everyone.

So I can’t regret it. Even if I were given the chance to turn back time and choose again, I would make the same decision again. Even if all those things really happened because of me. I’m the only one who can save that pathetic guy who pretends to be great but doesn’t actually get anything. Because it’s something I have to do, something only I can do.

“So…… I’m sorry, Father.”

I’m sorry, Troel. I’m sorry, Minerva.

Please don’t hate me too much. I’m used to being hated by my family, but this time it feels like it will hurt too much. Even if everyone lets go of me, I can’t let go. I’ll beg for forgiveness as much as you want, so please forgive me just a little? I’m really sorry for being selfish.

I must have been tired. I thought I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, but as the warmth of the bed seeped in, my vision gradually blurred. At some point, I fell asleep. Was it a dream? It felt like someone was stroking my hair. It was a warm and affectionate touch. Even though I knew it was a dream, I felt like crying.