Chapter 5: The Hidden Boss Reunites with the Secret Agent
I returned to my temporary lodging at Gilbert’s house. After wasting my time walking all over town, the sun was just barely starting to set, but it wasn’t quite evening yet.
I tried to open the front door.
Hm...? This door feels weirdly heavy, like it’s not going to open. Maybe that doesn’t matter, since I could probably open it no matter what if I gave it a hard enough tug.
Just to make sure this wasn’t one of those times I was pulling on a door that was actually labeled “Push,” I tried pushing the door inwards as well. I even tried sliding it to the side.
“Stop making so much noise!” Gilbert’s voice rang out from behind the unopenable door. “I’ll be right there to open it, just wait.” Shortly after, I heard the click of tumblers unlocking before the door slowly opened to reveal Gilbert’s annoyed expression. “Haven’t you heard of a door knocker?”
“A door knocker...?” I asked blankly. My eyes traced the outside of the door. “Oh, this thing?”
I didn’t know this metal loop on the door was called a “door knocker.” I’ve always called it “the loop with a high chance of being in a lion’s mouth.”
I hadn’t really had an opportunity to use one before. Whenever we had guests at the estate, the servants usually answered the door first, and when I visited other people’s homes... Well, I hadn’t really visited others that many times, so I didn’t have any recollection about what I did to get in.
A door knocker! I’ll commit it to memory. I’ve become even smarter.
Gilbert continued to stand in the entrance, holding the door open, and he stared at me as he kept turning the key over and over in his hands.
“I should also tell you why the front door didn’t open. This is called a key.”
“I didn’t think the door would be locked,” I sheepishly admitted.
Right, keys. Door locks are a thing that exist. I almost destroyed the lock and broke in.
Perhaps this was another problem only an aristocrat would have. There were servants on duty at all times at the estate, so I didn’t have a habit of locking the front door. As for my own room... I never locked it in case I accidentally forgot or lost the key and ended up destroying the door to get in.
This all, of course, explained why a device that stopped a door from opening and required a specific object to unlock it was outside of my immediate sphere of recognition.
Gilbert stared at me as if he couldn’t process what he was hearing. “Are you being serious?”
“Most people in my home region don’t lock their doors,” I explained.
“I see. I guess some areas are like that,” he said, seemingly satisfied with my answer.
Back in my previous life, the area where I’d lived in Japan wasn’t that rural, but it wasn’t a big city either. I still locked my doors. Even in more rural areas where people didn’t habitually lock their doors, officials encouraged them to lock up anyway, because there was otherwise a risk of becoming a target for burglars who traveled in from other places.
I need to add onto my fake background that I’m from the countryside.
As that thought crossed my mind, Gilbert turned around and headed inside. I followed him, shut the door behind me, and made sure to lock it.
Without thinking too hard about it, I followed behind Gilbert. We continued moving through the first floor and got to a...kitchen? I didn’t see anything that resembled food, but there was a magical-instrument stove against one wall. I looked around, standing slightly behind Gilbert, taking note of just how unlived-in the kitchen appeared to be.
“I can’t believe I have to ask this, but did you leave your bedroom door unlocked last night...?” Gilbert asked, his back still turned to me.
“Yes, that’s right.”
Gilbert let out a deep sigh before turning to me. “You should be a bit more cautious,” he said in a tone tinged with a mixture of exasperation and kindness. “Though it might already be too late for you to hear such advice, given the fact that you’re staying in a stranger’s home...”
“What do you mean by cautious...?” I wondered.
“I mean that if I were a bad man, I could’ve had my way with you, country girl.”
“I see. I am a fragile lady whose strength would be no match for a man’s after all. It’s important to stay aware of such dangers.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
Though our exchange was, on the surface, a proper conversation, there was something that felt off about it, or rather, something seemed to be missing. The awkwardness probably stemmed from the disparity in our common sense. Even though Gilbert had just agreed with my previous statement, he seemed extremely confused.
I feel like things would feel more natural if we had one more person here... I wonder who’s missing. It wouldn’t be helpful to have a stranger here, but it would also be awkward if it was someone known only to one of us. What am I thinking? There’s no way Gilbert and I share any acquaintances.
I pushed aside the strange feeling and turned my attention back to the kitchen area. I peeked into a carelessly placed wooden box and saw hard-looking rolls of bread wrapped up in paper. There were also several other boxes that were similar in appearance, but they all had lids on them, so I couldn’t see inside.
“Are these all preserved foods?” I asked curiously.
“That’s right,” Gilbert affirmed. “Like I said, take whatever you... Wait, have you not eaten since last night?”
“That is indeed the case...”
Although he’d told me to use whatever I wanted, I couldn’t bring myself to do something that was basically like going through someone’s fridge without permission. (Although I was forced to admit that maybe it was too late for that sort of consideration, given that I’d crashed through his roof and even tried to explore around the house when he wasn’t home.)
Still, I wasn’t really hungry. It hadn’t even been a full twenty-four hours since my last meal. I’d heard that a person’s metabolism was supposed to increase with their level, but if anything, my resistance to thirst and hunger had gotten stronger. And so I had no intention of eating any of these rather less-than-delicious preserved foods.
Oh, only if I could cook. Then I’d be able to eat something really yummy.
“You don’t have to hold back on my account,” Gilbert said.
“It’s not that. I’m just not hungry...”
“Okay... Well, I’m going to eat dinner now. What if we eat together?” he offered.
I felt bad—I’d made him go out of his way for me, and now he was acting surprisingly kind.
It would’ve been strange to turn him down, so I decided to join him for the meal. I readied myself to help him prepare the food, but before I could do anything, he pulled out two wooden plates and handed me one.
“Just pile whatever you’d like to eat on this.”
This is the least excited I’ve ever been for a buffet.
I followed Gilbert and began loading my plate up with a variety of the available options. There was some iron-hard bread, jarred pickles that I could tell were too sour just by smelling them, and some dried meat, which also appeared rocklike in its consistency. These represented the entirety of tonight’s culinary options. Both Gilbert and I made sure to get a portion of each of the three colorful foods.
There were four chairs at the table. It looked like the kitchen table you’d see in a typical home, which made it seem out of place in this one. We both sat down, taking chairs across from one another. The table was already set with cups and a water pitcher.
It still wasn’t quite evening, and the last vestiges of the day made the room bright enough to not require the use of artificial lights, but the space was nevertheless slightly dim. This wasn’t exactly the atmosphere for a fun dinner.
“Thank you for the meal,” I said, and then took a bite of the hard bread. “Bread” was perhaps not the right word. It was more an unsweetened biscuit or hardtack...
The flavor of this “bread” made me realize that, by comparison, the hardtack I’d had when I’d lived in Japan was delicious. I felt nostalgic remembering the packaging, with the picture of the man playing a bagpipe on the can, and the pieces of sugar candy mixed in with the crackers.
I took small bites of this wildly inferior hardtack and let them hydrate in my mouth before swallowing them. The more I chewed, the more moisture the bread leached from my mouth. Unable to bear it, I gulped down some water.
I looked over and saw Gilbert silently eating his bread.
“Is it good...?” I asked.
“It’s fine. What do you think?”
It wouldn’t be polite to tell him it’s gross... But I’d never call this delicious, and I don’t know if it’s accurate to call it “fine” either. I feel like I’m being tested on my abilities as a food critic, to see how well I can spin a description of something bad to make it sound good.
“Once as a child, I found a cave, and I went inside,” I began. “It was summer, but the cave was nice and cool. It was so comfortable that I ended up lying down. I started rolling down over the boulders, and I fell into a concave spot that was filled with water. I found myself covered in mud... This bread tastes like how I felt when I washed my muddy clothes in the river...”
Huh, maybe I’m good at reviewing food after all.
I sat there, fearing that I had burdened myself with yet another hidden talent, while Gilbert thought silently for a moment before responding.
“I take it you mean that it tastes bad...?” he asked.
“I was describing the good parts...” I explained. “Was that unclear?”
Gilbert fell silent again. As he continued thinking, we both continued munching laboriously on the bread. After a long pause, Gilbert finally opened his mouth again to speak.
“You said you ran away from home...right?” He was very obviously changing the subject.
Well, I guess it’s fine. I could probably tell him what’s going on while obfuscating some of the specific details.
And that’s how we began to have a normal conversation.
“It’s true,” I agreed. “I ran away from home. I guess you could say I had a fight with my fiancé. Or rather, we got into an argument over our wedding.”
“I’d assumed you were in some kind of abnormal circumstance, since you were traveling along the rooftops, but...I guess it was just a lovers’ quarrel.” Gilbert followed that up with something mumbled under his breath, something along the lines of how ridiculous it was.
Well, it wasn’t really a lovers’ quarrel, but maybe it seems that way to others?
“I have a relative in a similar situation,” he continued, his voice tinged with anger. “It’s this relative whose wedding was interrupted, and they keep bringing it up over, and over, and over again...”
“What?!” I cried out in excitement. “Their wedding got interrupted?! How wonderful!”
I would love to know how they canceled their wedding. Perhaps I can implement their method in my own life.
My eyes gleamed with curiosity as a beaming smile spread across my face.
Oh, wait. I’m sure that I still look expressionless.
It was easy to forget about it these days, but the muscles in my face still seemed, by and large, unresponsive. I wouldn’t think about it, because I felt like my face was being expressive, and because Patrick and Eleanora had spent enough time with me to be able to notice the minute differences in my countenance, but I had to keep in mind that most people barely noticed my face moving at all.
“Sure...?” Gilbert seemed a little baffled by my enthusiastic response. “Why don’t you tell me why you got into an argument over your wedding?”
“I suggested we either cancel it or have a much smaller-scale celebration, but my fiancé won’t budge about having a grand ceremony...”
“I see. I guess some women are like you. I apologize,” Gilbert said, sounding a bit awkward. “I misjudged you.”
Oh, he probably thought it was the other way around. Most people think women have stronger opinions when it comes to weddings.
“Why did your relative’s wedding get interrupted?” I asked. “I’d like to know for future reference.”
“A large crowd of uninvited guests swarmed the ceremony. It happened before I was born.”
A large crowd of uninvited guests... That would probably be difficult to recreate in another setting. Even if a crowd like that showed up at my wedding, all the servants of the Dolkness estate would do everything they could to shoo them away. What kind of a crowd would require Patrick or me to deal with it...? An army, maybe? Or monsters. Monsters would also do the job.
Perhaps I could use the monster-summoning flute under the guise of celebrating our marriage. Hm... I don’t think that would work unless I had one as big as the one Duke Hillrose used. A regular-size monster-summoning flute won’t summon anything if you use it in town.
Still, an idea was an idea. “Thank you very much,” I said to Gilbert. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“I have to ask: why are you so against having a wedding?”
Obviously because it’s annoying, was what I was about to say, but I stopped myself. It occurred to me that until just a few days ago, the idea of forcefully canceling my wedding hadn’t even crossed my mind. If I recall correctly, what started this all is...
“My fiancé has an older brother, and he is refusing to attend the wedding...”
“Pardon?” Gilbert’s tone became slightly harsh. “What kind of older brother doesn’t want to celebrate such a big milestone for his sibling?”
That’s right, Gilbert did mention that he has a younger brother. Being an older sibling himself, maybe he can’t forgive the way Patrick’s brother is behaving.
“He’s going to become my brother-in-law, but he doesn’t like me very much,” I explained.
“Did you two have some kind of conflict?”
“Not at all,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve never even met him, but apparently he’s heard some nasty rumors about me...”
“He must not be a very good man if he just believes everything he hears. I’m not sure what kind of rumors have been spread about you, but I’m sure he’d recognize they’re untrue if he’d sit down and have an actual conversation with you.”
I could feel a silent anger radiating from him, as if my problems were an issue he was facing in his own life. I had merely alluded to the nasty rumors without explaining what they were, so it made me happy that he trusted me enough to declare they were lies.
The conversation was flowing a bit too well. It would be bad if I talked too freely and let something slip, so I returned my focus to eating. I’d only taken a few bites of the bread so far, but it was too painful to keep forcing myself to eat that bland ball of flour, so I reached for the dried meat instead.
It was similar to jerky, and it was much tougher than I’d expected it to be. I needed to use every bit of my jaw strength to tear off even the smallest bite. And it was salty... So much so that it was basically a salt bomb. I couldn’t taste any of the savory meat flavors that I was sure must be there somewhere. It just felt like I had a piece of rock salt sitting in my mouth.
Not only was the jerky incredibly salty, but it was far too tough. I had to let it sit in my mouth for a little while in order to soften it enough to swallow. The sudden spike to my sodium intake left me horribly parched, and I downed my second glass of water.
“Your jaw strength is incredible,” Gilbert remarked.
I scrambled to invent an explanation. “We don’t have the luxury of always eating soft foods like city folk...”
That was close. I never thought my jaw strength could be the reason I might get outed as Yumiella. I’m glad I was able to come up with a good response that makes sense in the context of my countryside backstory.
I realized that since Gilbert was graciously sharing this meal with me, it would be polite to share my thoughts on the food in return. It was time for another food blog review.
“This, um, tastes like the top of a tree.”
“What?”
“While my current circumstances might make me seem somewhat unrefined, I do come from a decent background. Nevertheless, I’ve climbed a tree before. I believe that tree was a...maple. As I pulled myself up through the branches, a certain symbol popped into my mind...”
“I get it,” Gilbert said quickly. “You don’t have to tell me your thoughts on the food anymore.”
Yeah, I figured. Preserved foods aren’t very good, so no matter how appetizing my descriptions are, I’m sure he doesn’t want to hear them.
I returned to my meal, and silence descended upon the table. We continued to wordlessly masticate our portions of hard foods. The first person to break the silence was Gilbert.
“I’m also here for reasons that aren’t dissimilar to your choice to run away from home. It’s because of my relative’s betrothal.” Gilbert was an obviously suspicious person, so I was surprised that he would volunteer any information about himself at all.
Considering the unusualness of this house, he probably wasn’t just trying to avoid whatever family drama he’d left behind at home, but he had no reason to lie right now. His lips had probably loosened because he found that he related to my situation.
Gilbert continued, speaking slowly. “I have a younger brother. He’s an incredibly skilled young man, and he’s going to get married soon.”
“I would say congratulations, but it doesn’t seem like you think it’s good news...”
“Yes, you’re right. You see, my brother’s fiancée is the issue. She’s an incredibly violent person, and her thought processes are abnormal.”
A violent person with strange thought processes... Saying that you’d rather this person not be a part of your family would be putting it lightly.
It seemed like Gilbert had kept his grievances bottled up until now, and his words rushed out as if a dam had burst. “She’s the kind of woman to settle everything with her fists. She even summons monsters and leaves people in dungeons without a second thought.”
“Wouldn’t your entire family be against him marrying someone like that?” I wondered.
Both of those situations sound like attempted murder. As a pacifist who tries to talk everything out, I can’t believe how horrible this woman sounds.
I would expect the entire family to try and stop his younger brother from marrying this person, but judging from the fact that Gilbert had run away from home, that probably wasn’t what was happening.
“My father and mother both agreed to the marriage. My mother is especially excited for them...”
“Um, if everyone else seems okay with it, then is your brother’s fiancée really such a strange person?”
“I’ve wondered that too.” Gilbert sighed. “My brother and our parents are all on board for this, and I’m the only one who’s against it. I thought maybe I was the strange one, but objectively speaking, that woman is crazy. Even my brother agrees that she isn’t normal, but he says he loves her despite that and still wants to marry her... I can’t believe it.”
Hm. I obviously don’t have any direct experience with how abnormal this woman is, so I can’t say for sure, but I’ve heard of cases like this before. It wasn’t too uncommon for someone, regardless of gender, to be incredibly good-looking and a great person, but then they marry someone that makes you think, “Wait, why is that perfect superhuman with that person?”
“Um, this might not be the most delicate question, but...is your brother’s taste in women...?”
Gilbert nodded sadly. “I believe so. I thought he’d grown up to be a good man, but his taste in women is the absolute worst.”
“I’m sorry for your loss...” I said sympathetically.
It seemed like his brother’s terrible taste was at fault here—that, and the horrible woman who had seduced his supposedly incredible brother.
As the only person in the family with a different opinion, it was probably difficult for Gilbert to stay at home.
“My brother is a really skilled man,” my inadvertent housemate said wistfully. “Unlike me with my twisted personality, he’s a really honest person... When he was younger, he’d run after me saying, ‘Big brother, big brother!’ Now he just calls me ‘Gilbert’... Oh, how I long to be called ‘big brother’ again.”
Gilbert seemed to have been holding all of this in for a really long time. He was being incredibly open and frank with some very personal feelings, and it was...a bit creepy.
He seems pretty obsessed with his brother. I feel like he wouldn’t have blessed his brother’s marriage in any case, no matter what kind of woman his fiancée was.
“Your brother must be important to you...” I observed.
“Of course. He’s my only brother; we share the same blood...” He paused to consider. “No, I think I would’ve been fond of him even if we weren’t siblings. I’m sure you’ll understand how great he is if you ever meet him.”
“Sure...” I half-heartedly agreed out of exasperation.
This man was a bit too fond of his brother, and he was wasting his proselytization efforts on me; I had no interest in converting to the Church of Gilbert’s Brother.
I’ve only got eyes for Patrick, so I don’t need to meet him, whoever he is.
Gilbert continued to go on about how wonderful his younger brother was for the remainder of our meal. Several stories made me feel déjà vu—I’d heard similar stories from Patrick before. It seemed that brothers all over the world were quite similar.
Right as we were finishing the last of the food on our plates—or rather, the nutrients that we were generously classifying as “food”—I heard the distant sound of metal hitting wood. It was the sound of the object whose name I’d just learned earlier that day: the door knocker.
Even though we clearly had a guest, Gilbert didn’t seem to be concerned with getting up. Just then, I heard the sound of the door unlocking as well.
If they have a key, do they live here? Why would they knock if they did? It seems like Gilbert knows who’s here, though...
As these various thoughts ran through my mind, I could hear that the guest had entered the house and was heading our way.
“It seems as if I have a visitor,” Gilbert said at last. “We’re going to be talking. I apologize, but do you mind giving us some space?”
“Of course. Not a problem,” I said.
This unknown person and I can’t help but see one another, but he didn’t tell me to hide, so I’m guessing it’s okay for me to meet this person. They’re assuredly a stranger anyway.
The visitor appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. He was exactly what I’d been certain did not exist right before we sat down to eat this meal—an acquaintance shared between Gilbert and me.
“Hello, is Sir Gilbert her—” The moment the visitor and I recognized each other, we both froze. He gaped at me. “Why are you here?!”
“It’s Linus, right...?” I asked.
It was Linus, a secret agent of the Kingdom of Lemlaesta.
◆◆◆
This was my third time meeting Linus.
When I was a student at the Academy, he had come to me and asked me to turn on Valschein. He offered to reward me with anything I wanted, but I wasn’t someone who was so easily swayed with sweet promises like that. It turned out that Linus had expected as much, and he’d only been reaching out to me because his bosses had forced him to.
The second time we met was at the Ashbatten Mark. He was apparently part of the Lemlaestan royal army, and he had been forced to serve as the de facto commander at the time. Ryuu and I had landed right between Lemlaesta’s and Valschein’s armies, and the Lemlaestan army had crumbled in seconds. The original commander, the second prince of Lemlaesta, and the officers all ended up fleeing from Ryuu’s unbearable adorableness, so Linus had been the one to participate in the ceasefire negotiations with the margrave.
And now, this marked our third meeting. Linus was likely the only Lemlaestan who could recognize my face, let alone had ever had a conversation with me. I couldn’t believe that out of everyone in the Royal Capital of Lemlaesta, I had somehow run into him.
To be fair, of the two of us, I was the one who shouldn’t have been here. Out of shock, he almost said my name.
“Why are you here, Cou—”
“It’s Eleanora,” I said, interrupting him.
“Huh?”
“It’s been a while. My name is Eleanora,” I repeated, trying to imply that he would be sorry if he called me “Countess Dolkness.”
Linus silently nodded, and then nodded again. Gilbert already knew that Eleanora wasn’t my real name, but as long as Linus didn’t say the name “Yumiella Dolkness,” I didn’t think it mattered.
Linus then turned to Gilbert and cautiously asked, “What should I call you...?”
“You can call me Gilbert as usual. I’m surprised you know Eleanora.”
“Of course, Sir Gilbert... Why is it that just one of you is using a pseudonym?”
Shoot, he outed me. It’s fine since Gilbert already knows, but Linus doesn’t know that he’s aware... I thought he was a more careful agent than that.
Gilbert seemed to arrive at the same conclusion.
“I know that her name isn’t actually Eleanora, but...I don’t think it’s your place to expose that,” he admonished.
“What...? Oh yes, I’m sorry...?” Linus seemed confused by the whole situation, but he still apologized. Though he didn’t seem satisfied, he continued the conversation, turning his attention back to me. “Lady Eleanora...is it? What brings you here?”
“I ran away from home,” I said.
“I see... Why did you come all the way here?”
“It was a coincidence. I didn’t mean to come here specifically.”
Linus was somewhat aware of my attitudes towards the political climate between our two kingdoms, so he was probably baffled to find Yumiella Dolkness in Lemlaesta.
It’s not my fault. I came crashing down from outside the atmosphere.
The agent’s confusion was evident in the tone of his voice. “I didn’t believe you were familiar with this place, Lady Eleanora.”
By “this place,” he must mean this house, and not the Royal Capital of Lemlaesta. Well, yeah, I had no prior information of this mysterious residence in the neighboring kingdom.
Gilbert was the one to respond to his implied question.
“She arrived here by true coincidence. She crashed through the roof,” he explained.
“Oh, so she fell from the sky,” Linus said, as if this explained everything.
“The sky?” Gilbert blinked in confusion. “She was walking across the rooftops of the houses here, and she fell through my roof.”
Usually, if one were to hear that someone crashed through a roof, they would expect that the person’s foot must have punched through the roof while they were standing on top of it. I could tell what Linus thought had happened when he suggested that I’d just fallen straight from the sky, and what that meant about his impression of me.
If a black-haired girl who looked to be roughly twenty fell from the sky, then she would undoubtedly be Yumiella. I have to refute this theory at once.
“How would a person ever fall from the sky?” I asked, looking significantly at Linus. “If that did somehow happen, they’d surely be badly injured.”
Linus probably knew that falling from a great height wasn’t enough to injure me, but he swallowed whatever he had been planning to say and gave a faint nod. He seemed uncomfortable with the entire situation, and he darted his eyes around the room before turning his focus back to Gilbert.
“So how is it actually meeting her?” the agent asked, seeming genuinely curious. “You seemed to really dislike her, but she’s pretty normal once you actually talk to her, right? I certainly never expected that she would run away from home and end up in the same place as you.”
It was Gilbert’s turn to look confused. I was also unsure of what Linus was hinting at.
“What do you mean?” Gilbert asked.
“This is the first time you’re actually meeting, um, Lady Eleanora, correct?”
“Of course I haven’t met her before... How do you two know one another?”
“What? I believe I’ve told you in the past when you asked me about her, Sir Gilbert,” Linus responded.
The two men stared at each other. They seemed to be having two completely different conversations. Gilbert fell silent and thought for a moment before clearing his throat and getting the topic back on track.
“You can forget about her. You’ve arrived a bit earlier than we agreed on. Is there some burning issue I need to deal with?”
“Oh, I apologize, I got distracted due to my surprise. It seems—”
“Hold on.” Gilbert cut him off quietly but sharply. “Don’t forget that there’s an outsider here.”
He wants me to leave. I’ll leave them alone before he tells me to do so.
Just as I was about to get up, Linus’s listless voice said, “What are you talking about? She should be here for this.”
Don’t get me involved. Considering Linus’s job and how suspicious this house is, Gilbert’s probably a spy for Lemlaesta or something... Wait, if that were true, why would he be hiding out in his own kingdom?
I was confusing myself with these thoughts, but it was clear that I wasn’t involved in any of this. It was better to leave before I heard something I wasn’t meant to hear.
See, Linus? Even Gilbert seems dubious. He doesn’t want me to be here.
“She’s an outsider,” Gilbert reiterated.
“This is related to Lady Eleanora as well,” Linus insisted.
“If you say so...” Gilbert didn’t seem convinced, but he clearly wanted to prioritize getting the information quickly. I’d lost my chance to leave, and I was now somehow involved in their secret meeting.
“I’ll make it short. The army has started making its move,” Linus reported.
“Are you sure?” Gilbert asked. “It’s possible that the soldiers here are just getting transferred to a staging base.”
“The entire army has definitely started moving forwards. I’ve received word from my subordinates in Tytenia, where the main forces were last stationed.”
I was starting to get an idea of what was going on. It appeared that Lemlaesta was deploying their army, likely to the Kingdom of Valschein. If that was the case, it would explain why Linus wanted me here, so my hunch was probably correct. I didn’t know enough to participate in their conversation, so I continued my sleuthing as a silent observer.
“That’s so soon,” Gilbert muttered. “I’d heard that they could move out right away, but...I’m sure they’re not fully prepared.”
“That’s correct. We’re currently investigating the reason for them moving up their timeline.”
Linus was here to communicate what his own kingdom’s army was up to, and Gilbert was doing...something while hiding out in the Royal Capital of Lemlaesta. Those two facts together meant that Gilbert was a secret agent from Valschein who was sent to Lemlaesta, while Linus was a double agent betraying his kingdom. In other words, Linus was leaking his own nation’s state secrets to an agent from the neighboring kingdom.
Wow...my brain is super sharp today. I feel like I could realize anything now that I’ve figured out Gilbert is from Valschein so quickly... Wait. Gilbert, Gilbert...if Gilbert is a citizen of Valschein... That sounds familiar...?
I was starting to get worried. If what I had so proudly deduced was completely off, then I would be totally embarrassed.
I can’t take any actions based only on my own assumptions. I need to make sure I’m correct.
As Gilbert sat there thinking, resting his head contemplatively in his hands, I turned and asked Linus, “Um, is it correct to say that you’ve betrayed your kingdom?” Right as the words left my mouth, I realized I’d messed up. “Betrayed” hadn’t been the most sensitive word choice... Perhaps “converted from” or “transferred loyalties” would have been a better way to put it.
My poor selection of vocabulary seemed to have gone over just as badly as I expected, and Linus let out an uncomfortable, nervous chuckle before responding.
“I guess you could say that... In my defense, I am only doing what I believe is best for the entire kingdom... I apologize for getting you involved in our succession struggles.”
“You were on the side of the first prince, correct?” I asked.
“Yes, but that was just because my family and faction were on that side.”
I see, so he didn’t just completely transfer his loyalties to Valschein. Since he’s a supporter of the first prince, it must be the second prince’s faction that’s deployed the army... So he’s leaking information from his political opponent to get in their way. Still, I’m worried about Linus. If this comes to light, the second prince’s faction won’t forgive him for this perceived betrayal, and he might even be abandoned by his own people.
“Is there really a need for you to put yourself into such danger...?”
“I’m not interested in this succession squabble, or rather, the political battle dressed up as one, but the second prince’s faction is saying they’ll shut down the First Armory. I want to avoid that, no matter what, for the sake of Lemlaesta.”
The First Armory was the place at which the woman from the magical-instrument shop used to work. That was the place where they didn’t make anything that was immediately useful, but they were researching certain items that might develop into something amazing one day. For instance, even though it wasn’t useful for large-scale deployment, they were skilled enough to invent something similar to a gun.
“Do you feel that way because you think the First Armory is necessary to invest in the kingdom’s future?” I asked curiously.
“You’re aware of it? I’m surprised.”
“It’s just what I heard from the owner of a magical-instrument shop,” I admitted.
Investing in the kingdom’s future... The shopkeeper said she couldn’t care less about that, but that’s probably how those outside of the First feel about its place in Lemlaestan society. The researchers there seem to want nothing more than to be allowed to develop magical instruments to their heart’s content. Either way, I understand the situation now. Seems like my assumptions weren’t too far off.
I still had one more thing to confirm.
“So, it’s the second prince’s faction that’s deploying an army, correct?”
“No, it’s the first prince’s faction.”
Huh? Linus is in the first prince’s faction, and he wants the first prince to succeed to the throne for the sake of the kingdom’s magi-technology, but he’s leaking information about the first prince to an enemy kingdom...
Once I followed the thread of facts, I was left even more confused. Perhaps my assumption that Gilbert was from Valschein was incorrect.
“Gilbert is from Valschein, right?”
“Of course he is,” Linus said, affirming my thought. Though I’d gained a lot of information thus far, that just added another mystery.
Linus seemed happy to answer all of my questions, so I wanted to figure out what he was thinking, but Gilbert finally opened his mouth after being silent all this time.
“This doesn’t change the plan,” he said firmly.
“But—” Linus protested.
“They’ve probably already heard of our plan,” Gilbert said, interrupting him. “If that doesn’t make it in time, I won’t ever accept that. That’s all there is to it.”
“What?! Make it in time? But...” Linus trailed off as Gilbert glared daggers at him.
It appeared that because of the unexpectedly fast-tracked deployment of the Lemlaestan army, led by the first prince for some reason, their plan had become especially precarious. However, none of this had anything to do with me, so I didn’t really care.
Gilbert launched into a rapid-fire set of instructions. “You’re the supervisor of the main forces. We’ll send out a contact person, but I need you to let us know as soon as you’re able to confirm the reason they moved up the timeline of their plans. You can send word to my home.”
“Understood. What will you do, Sir Gilbert?”
“I’ll go on ahead to the designated battlegrounds.”
“Then will Coun—” Linus caught himself. “I mean, will Lady Eleanora also be going with you?”
Can you get used to my alias already, Linus? Well, I guess I can’t judge him too harshly, because every time I’m referred to as Eleanora, I think, “What? Lady Eleanora is here?”
Now that I knew that Gilbert was from Valschein, there wasn’t really a compelling reason for me to hide who I was.
Actually, does any of this even have anything to do with me? Can’t we just end things here? I’d like to use what I’ve learned to support the Ashbatten army.
“Her? Coming with me...?” Gilbert asked, clearly baffled.
“No, no. Nothing good will come of me being there,” I said. Both of us were on the same page about my complete noninvolvement.
Linus was clearly surprised at our instant rejection of the idea that I would go with Gilbert. He thought for a moment before seemingly coming to a realization.
“I didn’t think it was possible, but could it be that you haven’t been told about the plan?!” Linus asked incredulously, indicating me.
Yeah, of course not. I’m just an unrelated outsider.
Linus looked back to Gilbert and asked, “You haven’t told her about the plan?”
“I haven’t... Is that necessary?” Gilbert responded.
Hearing his answer, Linus appeared to panic. It felt like he’d surpassed some kind of deeply felt irritation, and it was clearly making him upset. Linus had thus far spoken humbly, maintaining a lower position to those around him, but now his tone became harsh. “Sir Gilbert, you must thoroughly brief her on the plan! Otherwise, we’ll never get anywhere!”
“But—” Gilbert began, but this time it was Linus who interrupted.
“After that, you two can discuss what she’ll be doing. Is that clear?” Gilbert seemed overwhelmed by the agent’s outburst. Linus continued speaking as he got up from the table. “Do you understand? Tell her everything about the plan. I’ll be returning to my position! We don’t have much time, so goodbye!” Despite his anger, Linus still gave us a stiff bow before turning around and quickly departing the kitchen.
We sat there completely stunned, only snapping back to reality once we heard the front door slam shut.
“He’s gone...” I remarked.
“What was that about?” Gilbert wondered, shaking his head in amazement. “I’ve never seen Linus get that worked up before...”
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