Volume 3 - CH 4

–And then, another week later.

Alice returns to the Royal Capital and immediately goes to her guildmaster, who is also her adoptive father.

“Father-in-law. It may be a hassle this time too, but please take care of the money transfer.”

Alice then goes to the guildmaster’s office and places a sack of gold coins on his desk, filled with half of the money she has earned.

The only reason why she is handing it over to the guildmaster is because he persuaded her to do so.

According to the guildmaster, the usual remittance would incur a large amount of gift tax, but by going through the guildmaster, the amount would be reduced, and as a result, more money could be remitted.

In fact, Alice herself understood from her own research that such a procedure was not impossible, so she left all the money transfers to the guildmaster.

However, on this day, the guildmaster reacted differently than before.

“Alice. You don’t have to do this anymore.”

“…… Huh? What do you mean?”

“Actually–at last, I should say. I’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about your brother. Apparently, he was sentenced to prison as a serial rapist..”

“–Eh?”

Alice is stunned, unable to understand what the guildmaster is saying.

“And he is no longer in the Royal Capital. He should be in the custody of the Adventurers’ Guild as a criminal slave in the frontier region of North Folia.”

“No! You’re lying! My brother would never do such a thing!”

“Alice. I understand your desire to protect him. But from what I’ve heard about him, all I can think is …… I knew it.”

When the guildmaster said this, Alice’s eyes went dark.

She doesn’t trust her brother one bit, at least not from the guild. In other words, they won’t take sides.

To Alice, Cyclo is not the kind of person who would rape someone. So this must be a false accusation, and he should be cleared of suspicion.

But, if no one but Alice thinks so. No matter how hard she tries, it seemed difficult to prove Cyclo’s false accusation.

“Anyway. Now, Alice doesn’t have to suffer anymore. From now on, you can live for yourself.”

The guildmaster smiles. But the expression on his face, the manner in which he thought he was showing kindness, was more disturbing to Alice than anything else.

She wanted him to be kind to her brother, not herself – to Cyclo, the victim of a false accusation.

“Besides– there’s one more thing. I have something else I want to show Alice.”

“…… Something you want to show?”

“Here it is.”

The guildmaster says and takes out one key.

“This is ……?”

“You see that big safe over there? It’s the key to that. –Come on, open it.”

Although suspicious of her father-in-law’s strangely kind attitude, Alice does as she is told and heads for the safe.

She inserts the key, turns it, and opens the heavy door of the safe.

Inside were numerous bags of gold coins.

“Are you surprised? Alice. As a matter of fact, this is all your hard-earned money.”

“–Eh?”

Alice’s voice leaks out, not understanding what the guildmaster means. Then, the guildmaster said something desperate.

“Actually, the money you thought I was sending to your brother. I’ve been keeping it on my side …… I thought it would be better for you when you grow up someday than to have it go to a man who will become a criminal.”

I guess it was a decision made out of good intentions.

If he had any kind of parental love, he would have thought that it would be better for her adopted daughter to keep quiet and save the money, even if he had to lie about it, than to give it to a man who was rumored to be a bad influence on her.

With this in mind, the guildmaster probably stopped Alice’s money transfers on his own accord and continued to store it in his safe without her permission.

Alice could understand such logic.

But she could not forgive him.

She had become this man’s adopted daughter for Cyclo, she became an adventurer for Cyclo, and had fought desperately against monsters for Cyclo.

This act seems to trample on Alice’s efforts, her wishes, and everything else.

Even if it was done out of the goodness of her heart – or rather, because it was done out of the goodness of his heart, it was unforgivable to Alice.

“[Prominence Nova]!”

Impulsively, the words for the highest-level magic of the flame attribute leaked from Alice’s mouth.

On this day–the Adventurers’ Guild in the Royal Capital was suddenly engulfed in flames.

It was bombed, burned to the ground, and numerous staff members were injured.

The guild master was in particularly bad shape, not only injured by magic, but also as if he had been hit repeatedly in the face with bare hands.

And then – the girl genius, who was even called a sage, disappeared without a trace.

(T/N: Woah! That’s nice.)