CH 94

[Meeting]

“It’s a joke, right…”

At the gate leading to the noble district, hang the body of a woman that has decayed a little due to days passed and has her long black hair fluttering in the wind.

From her height and figure, the person who is hanged seems to be a woman of the same age as Alfine.

A young woman with black hair……

Was the one who was executed truly Alfine?

Wondering if the hanged woman is Alfine, I begin to tremble, perhaps because I reject the thought.

It’s just, I couldn’t conclude that she is Alfine just by the fact that she is a young woman with black hair, so in my mind, I don’t think that body is Alfine and I get a strong feeling of rejecting it.

Black hair is rare, but that doesn’t mean that we are the only ones.

There are also other people with black hair besides us.

If I don’t take a closer look, I won’t be able to confirm if that body is Alfine.

As we approach the gate, Noelia grabs a hold of my cloak from behind and clutches it.

“Frick-sama… the Royal Guard Knights are keeping a watchful eye on the gate. There is the affair in Inbahanes, so please refrain from doing things that will get you the attention of the Radcliffe family.”

I suddenly come to myself at the warning from Noelia.

Around the gate, many people wearing the armor of the Royal Guard Knight are watching the surroundings with eyes as though they are looking for suspicious people.

I had been living in the royal capital for five years after I became an adventurer, but I never even once felt such a tense atmosphere.

It’s as Noelia said, huh…

At the inspection to enter the royal capital, I wasn’t stopped even though I gave my name as Frick, so I think that the affair in Inbahanes hasn’t reached Gile yet, but,

If I have a conflict with the Royal Guard Knights here, I might be endangering Noelia.

Once my agitated mind calm down, I decide to think of a way to check it without causing any problems.

Although the gate is tall, I can easily climb up to the top of it if I enhance my body.

However, if the Royal Guard Knights find me climbing the wall, they might conclude that I have come to recover the hanged body.

If my identity is exposed there, it would give trouble to Noelia who is here together with me and also her father the Frontier Count.

As long as they can’t see my figure, it should be okay to get close.

I came up with a way to get close to the hanged body without causing any problems, so I whisper the way into the ear of Noelia who is looking at me with anxiety.

[I want to get a closer look without getting found by the Royal Guards Knights, so I thought of a way. There is a magic to conceal your own figure among support magics, right? I think if I assimilate with the surrounding scenery with it, I can get close without being noticed.]

[Camouflage magic, is it… A swordsman like Frick-sama should be able to erase his presence to some extent; in that state there will probably be no one that can notice you]

[Then, I’ll go with that. For if perchance, I’m found by the Royal Guard Knights, I’d like you to go somewhere safe so that I won’t give trouble to you…]

Noelia tries to tell me something, but she immediately closes her mouth and turns her face down.

[Noelia… please.]

I whisper gently to her who held back what she wanted to say to me.

Eventually, Noelia raises her face as if she has resolved herself and opens her mouth.

“I… understand. I will be going to Henestrosa family’s mansion in the noble district. There are my father’s vassals in that place, and even the Royal Guard Knight Order cannot easily step in there.”

“I’m sorry. After I’m done confirming it, I’ll definitely go there, so please wait for me.”

I gently stroke Noelia’s head.

She hugs me and buries her face in my body.

“That is a promise, you know. Please be sure to come to the mansion of the Henestrosa family’s mansion.”

“Yeah, I promise.”

Eventually Noelia pulls her body away from me and disappears alone into the entrance to the noble district which is strictly guarded by the Royal Guard Knights.

After seeing her off, I go into the shadow of a tree in the square, place a mirror outside of the magic’s area of effect, wear my cloak low over my eyes, and begin to chant the magic.

“Become a large invisible mirror that hides mine body and manifest around me.”

The magic is activated, and my sight is faintly dyed with a blue film.

The Camouflage’s figure-erasing effect’s range is several steps, if I remember correctly.

If someone enters that range, the Camouflage’s effect would disappear, and my blue sight would return to normal.

The mirror I placed at a distance doesn’t show my figure, that means the activation is successful.

After confirming the effect of the magic taught by Noelia and confirming that my figure has disappeared, I use body enhancing magic and approach the castle gate where many Royal Guard Knights are gathering.

The Camouflage magic is very effective against the Royal Guard Knights; I climb the castle gate without being found.

As I climb up little by little, I approach the body of the hanged woman.

When I saw her from afar, I thought her condition wasn’t so bad, but…

But when I look from up close, her body sure is already quite rotten…

I get close to her side and decide to check the tattoo on her neck, which is what I really want to know about.

If she doesn’t have the tattoo, this person shouldn’t be Alfine…

Please, don’t be there!

I, with a feeling as though holding a pray, pull down the hanged woman’s clothes, exposing her neck.

――!?

It’s a joke… right… it’s just a joke.

A small ear of wheat tattoo is carved on the woman’s exposed neck.

Only the children from the orphanage in our village supposed to have this tattoo…

Impossible, this is not true, right? Alfine!

Why did you got yourself hanged in a place like this!

After becoming a noble, you were supposed to be leading a good live, going out with a better man than me, and living happily, right! Why, why!

Seeing the tattoo that undeniably proofing that it is Alfine, I desperately suppress the urge to scream.

Meanwhile, the days I spent with Alfine passes through my mind in an instant.

The fact that Alfine, who I grew up and lived together with, whose existence could be said to be my first love, my family, and my sweetheart, and even the hateful person who oppressed my own being the most, died, disturbs and torn my heart to pieces.

The feelings that I don’t really understand have no place to go, and I suddenly feel nauseated, but I mustn’t throw up, so I endure it.

What on earth happened after I left…

Just what happened exactly…

However, the hanged woman doesn’t answer my question.