The Daughter of Evil - Volume 3 - Chapter 2.11

Chapter 2, Section 1-Footprints of the Evil Food Eater; Scene 1
Praeludium of Red, page 72-76

♣ Yukina ~In the Beelzenian Empire, “Grabia/Crescent Moon Sea Coast”~

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Grabia was a town set up in the eastern region of the Beelzenian Empire. From its coast I could see the sea. It was a clear blue, like it had been painted. That blue stood out even more with the white walls of the various houses along its shore.

This and the Hark sea that you could see from Marlon were part of the same body of water, but there were clear differences between them. I thought to myself that the sapphire blue of this Crescent Moon Sea quite unnatural looking.

When I told my frank impressions to Duke Oruhari, who had been showing me around up until that point, he quickly blinked and then replied, “The scholars say that the Crescent Moon Sea is unhealthy.”

It seemed the Crescent Moon Sea wasn’t good for fishing. According to what Duke Oruhari told me, while they didn’t know the cause of that just yet, it was the reasoning of scholars who studied the sea that it might be because there was so little nutrition in it. It’s also conceivable that might be the reason for it being so blue.

“If it hadn’t been for the achievements of Banica Conchita, the Beelzenian Empire might have declined much earlier,” the young duke murmured, gazing at the sea with me.

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Two weeks had passed since I arrived in Rucolebeni, and I’d gotten quite accustomed to my life in this country.

With regard to my staying with the Langley Unit, in the end I’d been able to receive permission for it with a signed certificate direct from the emperor. The emperor was a frightening man, but also a reasonable one, and he promised not to tell my father my location.

Nevertheless, I knew that I would be a bother if I hung around the unit too much, me not having received any proper training, plus Germaine still looked very unsatisfied with the whole thing, so for the time being I decided to look into Banica Conchita while touring the famous places of Beelzenia.

When I told that to the emperor, he introduced me to Duke Oruhari as someone who was well versed on the history of the Conchita family.

There were several texts with descriptions related to Banica Conchita left over in the mansion of the Oruhari family, a distinguished line since Beelzenia’s foundation.

For those two weeks I spent my time either scanning those books, or, under Duke Oruhari’s guidance, visiting places that had a connection to Banica Conchita. As a result I began to get a clearer picture of her as a person, little by little.

She was born two hundred years ago as the only daughter to the Beelzenian Empire’s feudal lord, Muzuri Conchita. When she was twenty years old she went out on a journey, and researched the food culture of several foreign countries. Accumulating her knowledge, she devised new recipes and cultivation techniques for farming in Beelzenia, which had a problem in its food situation at the time. She’d massively changed Beelzenia’s cuisine since then.

There were various opinions on what she looked like, depending on the text. There are books where it’s written that she was extremely obese, and others that claim she was thin and beautiful.

I couldn’t find any books about her and the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”, but there was one book that had an account that interested me. According to that, Banica went missing when she was twenty nine, and immediately afterwards the emperor of the time dispatched a certain sorceress to investigate into her.

It didn’t record the contents of the inquiry or the sorceress’ name. But…

What if this sorceress had some connection to Elluka…?

Maybe meeting with Elluka was the fastest route to solving this mystery after all.

At any rate. I hadn’t been able to obtain any great yield that got to the heart of the matter. But I was enjoying myself even just by seeing the places mentioned in the books, and I was glad I came here after all.

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I had gone around most of the places that were chiefly related to Banica Conchita.

“What do you plan to do after this?” Duke Oruhari asked me.

“I think I will take a break in my research into Banica Conchita for now, and resume my other investigation.”

“Oh? What is that?”

“To interview people who have a connection to Princess Riliane, and Lucifenia during her reign.”

Right now in this country there was Gumillia and the former revolutionaries–the Langley Unit. I wouldn’t have any trouble with this research subject.

“I see. I guess I’ll have to postpone my date with you, Miss Yukina. That’s truly a pity.”

Duke Oruhari looked as though he really was regretful to see me go.

“Thank you very much for showing me around all of these places, Your Grace.”

“If you have some time to spare, you should drop by my mansion again. If it means spending time with you, my schedule’s always open.”

Duke Oruhari smiled at me and winked.

“Don’t you say that to the women in town?”

“With those other women I’m just being diplomatic. You’re the only one I mean it to.”

He probably gave that line to all the girls. Hitting on women was like a kind of greeting for him.

“Oh? Then I’m glad. Well then, until another time,” I replied, smiling. Of course, I was just being diplomatic.