Chapter 191: A Treacherous Friend

TL:Meteoremp

Editor:Lisyche

Nina looked around the room as soon as she entered.

It was one of the many habits that came along as second nature to the people in the scouting line of job.

She was searching for any hidden traps or unnatural points within the room.

「You don't need to look so carefully. I have not set up anything.」

Francois pulled a chair over and said 「Please」, urging Nina to sit.

「Eeee~ I know that but it was more like a habit?」

When Nina sat down, she removed the twin Daggers Black Dragon Claw and Black Dragon Fang that was on her waist and placed it on the table.

Even so, Nina's Item Pouch that she still has on her had multiple other daggers and throwing knives, but it was a sign that she had no intention to attack Francois.

Francois also knew that she had other weapons. But he was able to understand her intention for the time being.

「I'm sorry for having called you to such a poor room.

Originally I had wanted to see you inside Comer, but the eyes possessed by Count Mussu are quite strict on the guests that stay there.

Did you know? The evaluation of Mussu is that of lazy, sloppy, and has the behaviour of doing whatever he wants which does not quite suit the nobility, but in reality it is actually quite the opposite.

It would be fine to even say that he is talented enough to enter the top ten figures of Nobility in the Udon Kingdom.

Otherwise, he would not have rejected Baryuu-sama's repeated harassment and offers so far, and Comer would not have developed so much.」

「I know~」

Nina does not seem particularly interested and therefore returns a half-hearted reply.

「But, this is indeed the best location to have a secret meeting.

Because it is quite hard to have a secret meeting in the slum these days.」

「Many of my subordinates have been killed by Count Mussu.」

「Subordinates? Aaa, those weak people.」

「My subordinates are not disposable ones like that of Root, they are Core Stems.」

「Origin Root, Ninja Grass, Core Stem, Flower Petal like Francois-san and whatever it’s called. I would really wish for all of you to not hang around the vicinity of Yuu's house though~~

It's quite useless.」

「Nina-san, please be careful with your words. No matter how big of collaborator you might be, you will definitely regret it if you don't keep the words that you speak in check.」

Francois had a gentle smile on his face when he said that while Nina was sitting in front of him, the words that he spoke showed his presence without really using any of his power.

「Well, it's fine. Rather than that, I would like to hear more about the 『Seed of Disaster』desune~ And also thanks for the previous information that you had provided about the Item Pouch, Baryuu-sama was certainly quite interested about it as expected. The capture of the 『 Seed of Disaster 』and『Function of Leaf』was quite the catastrophe.

However, the information that I had obtained from Nina and the direction that it progressed was quite different, is there a relation?」

「That's Impossible~ As I said before, there are certain restrictions on what I can talk to Francois about.」

The motion of Francois’ feather pen on the parchment of paper immediately halts.

「It's that again huh...... If you’re fine with it, I can cancel the restrictions immediately and we can continue. Fortunately, among my men, there are those who are quite good at Spiritual magic and the likes.」

「Didn't I say that it would be impossible already~ ?

Francois-san and others can see it right? Even now, it's quite a coincidence that some of the restrictions are relaxed which allowed me to speak with Francois-san.」

As if jesting, Nina twirls her fingers round and round.

Francois continues to run his feather pen on the parchment of paper without showing any reaction to the attitude and actions of Nina.

「Nevertheless, I still ask for Nina-san to cooperate.

The 「Seed of Disaster」is quite dangerous, it is unknown just how many innocent lives would have to be given as sacrifice in the event that the seed becomes the Demon King.」

「Nina-san must already know quite well that the five major powers: The Udon Kingdom, The Free State of Hamerun, The Set Republic, Derimu Empire, and Saint Country Jade Rock are only thinking about their own interests; Peace of the whole human race and everything else comes secondary.

Saint Country Jade Rock is the only nation that thinks about the peace of mankind, and who are guiding people properly.」

TL: Yes, so he said that Saint country thinks about its own preferences and then said they look after peace of mankind. Possible author error or something.

From Francois’ zealous words, the Saint Country Jade Rock was always right. She could see the figure of a fanatic who did not have even a speck of doubt in believing that there would never be anything wrong with what the Saint Country Jade Rock does.

「Awawa. Don't make me laugh~」

Nina made Francois sound like a fool who was drunk with his words.

「Nina-san, whatever do you mean?」

「You summon them yourselves and then call it peace, it just cracks me up.

Aaa, and the last time, how was the experience? A considerable amount of believers seems to have been gained, right? Demons summoned by yourself---」

A line of vermillion blossoms appeared on the neck of Nina.

Blood starts to ooze from the red line and slowly drips towards her chest.

「Make sure to pay close attention to the words that you speak. If I feel like it, killing Nina-san is quite easy you know?」

Francois' right hand was still using the feather pen.

However, the left arm which held nothing had grown horizontally.

Francois cut only a single piece of skin, using just his single hand as a bladed knife.

The speed of Francois' hand was so fast that regular people would not even have noticed before the person was already cut, it was a feat that even skilled people would have trouble following.

「Even though what I said was completely true~」

Without even paying attention to the blood flowing out from her neck, Nina still directs her gaze which seemed to be blaming Francois.

「I know that『Seed of destruction』 is equipped with the 『Evil Eyes』.

Other than that, do you think he possess any other skills that are abnormal?」

「I do~n't know.」

「You can just answer with a Yes or a No? Or maybe a simple shaking of the head is also fine.」

「Ye~s.....It seems I cannot do it.」

「 I heard that tens of thousands of Demi-humans and Sinners seemed to have disappeared when the 『Seed of Disaster』emerged. And it’s usage consumes a large amount of Mana and one particular unique skill. It has a weaker effect on demons that possess the 『Analyze』and the 『Appraisal』skill, this is what I think.」

「Disappearance? Were you not the ones who sacrificed them? Isn't that what happens when majority of them are sinners and are not ready to accept the teachings of Irigamit and refuse to convert, right?」

Francois refuses to comment on it, Nina talks about the dealings that the Saint Country Jade Rock hides from other people as if she was talking with friends.

「Let’s change the question, did Stella 『Transfer』it to the『Seed of Destruction』?」

「『Transfer』?」

「Ee. Stella was also called as 『Witch of the Evil Eyes』.

It was the suitable name for a person that had become corrupted.

One of her ability was to copy knowledge from one to another.

Can the 『Seed of Disaster』use any of the 『Saint Skill』?」

「Hmm, by 『Saint skill』, you mean the skills that were possessed by the 『Twin Saints』 right? Could it be that one? Yuu has a 『Saint Skill』that I might not have seen, but there is one where he changes Mana into a string-like thread, which he can use to search for enemies and rope them with.」

Francois’ hand which held the feather pen running on the parchments stopped.

「Changing Mana to string-like huh.....there is no doubt that it is a 『Saint Skill』.」

「So it was like that. Come to think of it, the body of Stella seems to have disappeared, was this the work of Francois-san?」

「The body of Stella is it.... My boss had also requested to report if there was any information available, but honestly I really can't understand it. Why do you need to find the body of Stella that badly anyway?」

「Stella-san has the bloodline of the 『Twin Saints』right? Do you really not need to look for it even though it is the body of such an amazing person?」

「It is true. But she has the blood of the 『Twin Saints』that is from Dole Ford-sama, who serves as the Goddess Irigamit of Light. It is a body that opposes the doctrine of Irigamit and it even has the power of Evil Eyes.

The presence of Stella is exactly like that of Dole Ford-sama’s private parts.

Trying to find such a rubbish thing is just garbage. Now do you think that it is useful?」

「So Stella-san is just rubbish. So it's like that. Even if you say that God exists but it does not mean that it exists for everyone. Doing something that was just a little different from the teachings can turn your treatment to that of a rubbish.」

Another vermillion line runs on the neck of Nina.

Compared to the earlier ones, this one runs deeper and the blood overflows from the cut wound.

「This is the third time. There will be no next time.」

「Has Francois-san seen God?」

Francois' second warning seems to have no effect on Nina.

「God would never showing up irrationally.」

「I believe that God exists even though I have not seen it. 」

Francois who was never enraged while giving his last two warnings by just using his hands, for the first time was leaking bloodlust.

It was only for a moment, but Francois had tried to kill Nina.

But, Nina did not react to Francois’ bloodlust. Nina nodded several times to convince Francois that she understood.

After that, when the talk with Francois was finished and he could understand a little more on the tough constraints imposed on her, only then did Nina finally stood up.

「Francois-san, it's time I return. Do not forget the promise that you made to me, alright?」

「Ee. I shall investigate concerning your memory.

You are quite close to knowing your true name soon enough.

Therefore please make sure to remember the promise that you have made to me」

And so Nina left saying 「I k~now」.

It was previously thought that there was only Francois in the room, but two people came down from the ceiling beam, three people came out from the corners of the room, a total of five men appeared.

Amazingly, these men were present in the room before Nina even entered.

It was thanks to the skills which were superior to the ones possessed by the Scout class such as 『Conceal』or 『Spy』, and it was also thanks to the 『One with Nature 』skill which could eliminate all signs of presence.

If this technique is used, then one would not even recognize even if the skill user was directly in front of unsuspecting person. It would be really easy to kill someone without being noticed by your opponent.

「That woman was shamelessly using restrictions as an excuse. Is that really fine?」

「She seems to be planning a trap.」

「Francois-sama, if you could give us permission then we would be really grateful. I cannot forgive someone who insults Irigamit so brazenly.」

As intelligence officers, these men received severe psychosomatic training since childhood and did not reveal their emotions, but implicitly appealed to Nina's remarks since they degraded their worshipping God which was a fate worthy of death.

「Now is not the time. That woman could be the clue to locate the identity of the Archbishop of that country. We, Flower Blossoms, tried to do a background check but we could still not find any clues regarding Oliver Durarand.

You all should bring this parchment to Tamos.

Please make sure that my relationship is kept secret from the other countries.」

「We understand.」

Receiving the parchment from Francois, the men disappeared without a sound.

Francois was left in the room while reminiscing the words of Nina.

Francois-san and the others cannot see it, can you?

「Impossible… was she really able to notice the existence of my subordinates that were in the room?」

Thinking that such a thing was impossible, Francois laughed to himself.

The five people who were in the room were skilled people even among the Core Stem.

Furthermore, they were also using the 『One with Nature』skill.

Even though Francois could understand about this in advance, that she was one of Oliver Durarand’s dolls.

Francois remembers the words of Nina, while having a cup of tea.

He has skills to infer the other person's emotions and thoughts from the voice, gestures, and it was possible to write the results of the findings on the parchment.

With regards to Nina, he could not even read the emotions on her face.

The girl who had come into contact with the 『 Seed of Diaster』was one of the puppets of Oliver Durarand, the Archbishop of Saint Country Jade Rock.

A girl who was filled with restrictions, to the point that she would be torn apart if she were to have her emotions returned.

Her memory and emotions have been erased by Oliver Durarand. Although she has become a cooperator, it was only on the basis that she would get the information regarding her lost memory.

「This is more troublesome than I thought it was.」

The sun's light shined above Nina’s head.

It was somewhat a slight footpath to walk down from the mountain road where the dense plants and trees grew to the City of Comer.

「Flower Blossoms also does not know the location of Stella's body.

Then, who else can it be? Even so, Francois-san is an interesting person.

I have never seen God so I don't know.

It is certainly not easy to find out if God exists.」

Nina caresses the traces of blood spreading at her chest as if remembering.

The bleeding has stopped, but two red lines remain on her neck.

「Yes(Un), this is fine. Because Yuu will be worried if I return like this.」