Chapter 164
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ED: LonelyMatter
Chapter 164 – Exploring the Uncharted Regions
“Nya… I don’t understand-nya.”
The bas.e.m.e.nt of the castle, in the laboratory built for Katima, Katima was rolling around on the floor.
This was because the investigation into the mysterious creatures that appeared in Euro had not made any progress, and not many findings had been made.
“Oh, this is delicious!”
“――Nyaaaa! Th-That’s my snack-nya!”
“I’ll have some more.”
“Fugyaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Ain sat down on the sofa and put the jerky from the table into his mouth.
Katima couldn’t help but jump on Ain, but as if it were natural, he grabbed her head and made her sit in the chair opposite.
Then Ain grabbed the rest of the jerky and put it in Katima’s mouth.
“――Munch, munch, munch!”
Perhaps she was tired, but Katima bit into her snack with single-minded concentration.
As Ain watched her, he couldn’t help but feel that it was somehow similar to the scene of the twins eating.
“Hah… I understand that you’re stuck. But it’s only been three weeks since it was brought in.”
“It’s pride-nya.”
Katima replied with a grumpy face before taking another bite of jerky.
“So, how are things in Heim these days-nya?”
“Huh? You haven’t heard anything about the situation, Katima-san?”
“I have received the reports-nya. But I’m busy with my own research-nya.”
With that, Katima pointed to a large case that had been placed nearby.
The case, which was tightly sealed, contained the body of the aforementioned rat.
Three weeks had pa.s.sed since it had been brought to Katima as a sample, but no significant research results had been obtained.
You should read the reports carefully.
Ain felt like complaining, but since it was true that Katima’s brain was being used for good, Ain didn’t want to say anything about it.
“Well, I’ll tell you. In the end, Roundheart’s search for the culprit was fruitless. There was also an opinion that we should inform the n.o.bles of Heim about the Red Fox, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect, so we haven’t decided yet. Finally, regarding the disappearance of Prince Tigre and Elena-san, they said that it was the work of the same culprit as the a.s.sa.s.sination incident…”
He briefed Katima about the events of the past three weeks.
On the other hand, when Katima heard this, she opened her mouth wide and tilted her head.
“Huh-nya? What is this boring, cheap drama-nya?”
“…Well, it seems that even King Heim is affected by it, so no matter what happens, it’s bound to end like this, right?”
“Hmm… It looks like Heim is falling apart, too-nya.”
Katima got off the sofa, laughing happily.
“Huh? And what are those two doing now-nya?”
She was referring to Elena and Tigre.
“Eh? You didn’t know that either?”
“Nyahaha. Come on, tell me right now-nya.”
“――Elena-san is with the August Trading Company, or rather with Graff-san. Prince Tigre lives in a small mansion owned by August Trading Company, with guards posted around it.”
He heard that Elena was helping out with Graff’s work.
This was just between us, Ain said, but Graff actually thinks it would be better if Elena just went into exile. …especially from the point of view of work efficiency.
As for Tigre, he’s been keeping a low profile for a while now.
Lately, he’s even calmed down to the point of honestly praising Ishtalika’s food. According to Warren, he’s a harmless personality when he’s alone.
“Hoh… I see-nya.”
“In some cases, there is a possibility of attacking Heim. I explained this to them, but it seems that they both feel that there is a certain “inevitable” aspect to it. However, they said that they don’t want to kill innocent people or civilians for no reason.”
“Mm. That’s fine with us too, so there’s no problem-nya. We just want Red Fox and those troublesome people involved to be the only ones to pay the price-nya.”
Ain agreed without question.
In some cases, it might be necessary to attack the whole group, but at the moment, they had no intention of doing so.
“Even so, if the research doesn’t progress like this, I’ll be fed up, too-nya.”
“You don’t have any reference material, do you?”
“No, I don’t-nya… It’s a good thing I had this book when I was looking up information on the Demon Lord and the Red Fox-nya.”
As she approached the bookshelf, she picked up the book written by the old elf, which was Katima’s best purchase of her life.
As the saying goes, “It’s darkest under the lamp post,” and this was a special reference book that Katima rewrote from Chris’s translation.
“Well, that really helped, didn’t it?”
“Fufufu. How about that-nya? It’s all thanks to me, isn’t it-nya?”
“Ah, yes. That’s amazing.”
“You should praise me more-nya!”
In response to his superficial att.i.tude, Katima stomped her foot on the floor…
…Then, after a few seconds, Katima went dead silent.
“…What’s wrong? Did you break your leg?”
“No, I didn’t-nya. Or rather, if you thought I had broken my leg, I would have liked you to be a little more worried-nya.”
When she complained slightly, Ain nodded his head several times in agreement.
“Ain. I found some information that might be useful-nya.”
“――Eh?”
That’s quite a sudden story.
Ain can’t help but wonder what it is that has fluttered down from the sky.
“As I said! I found someone who seems to have information about the mysterious rat-nya!”
“…That’s good, but why did you suddenly get the idea?”
“It’s this book-nya! If you think about it, elves seem to be good with old information-nya!”
I see. Ain nodded, too.
He didn’t react to the smug look but to the words.
“You’re right. So which elf shall we ask?”
“That’s obvious-nya. Just ask the village of the clumsy elf who guards Ain-nya.”
“…Chris-san?”
“That’s right-nya!”
That would be the best thing to do.
Thinking back, when they went to investigate the magic city of Ist, Ain talked to Chris. She said she would show him the Elven village sometime.
Maybe this was a good opportunity. Considering the situation in Heim and the influence of the Red Fox, it’s a difficult time to act, but it’s also important to investigate the creature in question.
…But of course, it was also necessary to ask Warren and Sylvird for their opinion.
“Yes. Speaking of which, I’ve also been wondering about something, so I think I’d like to go to the Elven Village.”
If he went to the village, there would probably have been elves there who had lived longer than Chris.
Then, he thought, he could investigate the information he got at the Demon Lord’s castle.
He also had a question about the family name “Wernstein.”
If he could ask Cain or Silvia, it would be the quickest way, but now that they were not answering, there was no other way to investigate like this.
“Nya? What are you investigating-nya?”
“…It’s a secret.”
＊＊＊
So Ain went to Sylvird’s room with Katima.
On the way, they stopped by Krone’s office and asked her to come to Sylvird’s room with Warren.
Had it been possible, they would have asked Chris to come as well, but since Chris seemed to be busy with training, they decided to talk to him later.
“――I’m so scared right now.”
Even though he was tired because of Heim, the unexpected duo of Ain and Katima had arrived.
It was a sudden event without any notice. Sylvird was nervous, wondering what they would say this time.
“Why am I so afraid? You two should understand, right?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about-nya.”
“Grandfather, I want to talk to you about something.”
Ain spoke to Sylvird with a carefree air.
He’s the king. He should be able to do that, but why does he have to go through all this trouble?
As always, Sylvird was troubled.
“Don’t worry, father. We didn’t come here to ask for anything strange-nya. I was just thinking of another way to investigate the creature because there are too few clues-nya.”
“This other method is what bothers me. For G.o.d’s sake, please don’t say anything too strange.
――Yes. I’m starting to feel a little bad, Ain said.
Maybe it’s because of his past actions, but he’s starting to feel a little sorry for him.
…The fact that Ain felt sorry for Sylvird showed the rough side of Ain, who thought of other people’s problems as his own.
“Come on, Ain. Explain-nya!”
“Eh, I thought it would be you, Katima-san?”
“I’m more like I just followed along-nya.”
It really was just that.
Ain also makes a face at the fact that they’ve unnecessarily confused Sylvird’s feelings.
“――I was thinking of visiting the elven village.”
“…Elves?”
Compared to what he had expected, Sylvird’s surprise was not as big as he had thought.
At least he didn’t seem to panic, so maybe he had calmed down a bit.
“I think there was a book written by an elf that Katima-san bought. It seems that Katima-san had an inspiration after looking at it, and we talked about whether it would be a good idea to ask about Chris’ hometown.”
Upon hearing this, Sylvird immediately looked relieved.
What, is that all there was to it? He put his hand on his chest and let out a big sigh.
“I see, I understand. Since Ain is of dryad blood, it will be easier for the elven tribe, who have a strong belief in the World Tree, to accept you, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
It seemed that Sylvird also knew this, but Ain had heard this fact from Chris.
When they talked about the perfume made in the Elf Village on the train back from Ist, Ain received information about the World Tree Faith.
In other words, it means that Ain was more likely to get information than other knights or officials.
“Hmm… It’s a difficult time, but it’s indeed an important conversation. It seems difficult for Ain to leave the royal capital, but I guess there’s no choice.”
“That’s why I invited Warren-san and Krone to talk about it.”
“Really? You’re quite quick to act. What is it? Are you looking forward to going to the Elven Village?”
Ain laughed and looked away.
He didn’t deny or confirm it because it wasn’t completely wrong.
“Well, that’s fine. In other words, the purpose is to gather information about that creature, right?”
“――That’s right.”
Actually, there was also a question about Chris’s last name, but if there was a clue, it would be okay to report it.
Now that Katima was there, Ain didn’t mention it.
By the way, speaking of Katima, who was quiet, she had reached for the sweets on the table, so he decided to leave her alone.
“If you go to Chris’s hometown, it’s a distance that would take three days to get there by water train, and then you’d have to walk half a day to get there. To put it bluntly, it’s a tough trip, but are you okay with it?”
“…Eh?”
In other words, it will take three and a half days.
He didn’t expect it to take this long, so he blamed himself for not planning properly.
No, it’s probably Katima’s fault since she’s the one who came up with this plan.
“What? Ain, you didn’t know about the trip, did you?”
“…I did, you know?”
“Huh… I’m counting on you. You’ll be the future king of Ishtalika.”
He let out a voice of annoyance and gave Ain a stern look.
Sylvird had also occasionally pointed out that Ain sometimes did not do enough research beforehand.
Ain’s bravado was easy to see through.
“If you want to go this way, I won’t mind if you do it thoroughly. That is, after hearing Warren and Krone’s opinions as well.”
“――I won’t give up just because of that!”
That’s right, he won’t give up just like that.
It’s just that the thought of the journey ahead is a little depressing.
“But as you know, the knights can only take you as far as the village. From there, you’ll probably have to go on alone with Chris”.
Won’t you feel a bit lonely?
Sylvird spoke to Ain.
It proved that they cannot create a perfect guard system.
“I think if Chris took my letter and went to the village, the elves would not treat the letter so harshly.”
“Hmm, I agree with that-nya. It’s not like we’re going to a dangerous place, so wouldn’t that mean Ain wouldn’t have to leave the royal capital-nya?”
“…I agreed with Katima, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Ain to go out. At least we know that Ain will be welcomed, and the elves will be more receptive. With that in mind, I have no objections.”
“I guess it’s a little sad that I’m only welcome because I have dryad blood.”
In fact, there was no doubt that Ain would be welcomed because the number of dryads themselves were decreasing.
For that, they should thank Olivia unconditionally.
No matter how he was born, it was all thanks to Olivia that Ain had dryad blood.
――Knock, knock.
“You may enter.”
“Excuse me. Hmm, it seems pretty lively in here.”
As Warren entered, Krone follows him into the room.
“Your Majesty, excuse me. ――Ain? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”
When Warren comes over to Sylvird’s side, Krone goes over to Ain’s side.
“Grandfather, shall I explain?”
“Yes. Explain to them what you said earlier as well.”
Hearing this, he explained to them from the beginning what he had talked about with Katima.
Warren seemed to enjoy it, while Krone seemed to have something else in mind… and although she seemed to want to complain, she listened to the story with a faint smile on her face.
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