CH 109

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「 Miss Cielo, are you okay? 」

「 Ugh… Thank God Uncle Quad was here. I couldn’t live as a priestess anymore if people saw me like that… 」

As Cielo fell from the sky, she leaked out some things, but they were immediately cleaned by Quad’s fairy magic.

She was deeply relieved to be able to wear her pure white underwear without any stains.

Although Cielo wasn’t the only one who had the courage to meet her father in the same state she had leaked in, most people wouldn’t have the courage to do so.

「 Now, Miss Cielo, where is your father being held? 」

「 Yes, yes. Well… 」

I looked around and saw the building of the cathedral some distance away. Thank God, it’s not that far away.

「 I’ve figured out where it is. There are probably guards there, so let’s head there while taking cover. 」

「 I understand. Then I’ll follow your lead, Miss Cielo. 」

When the dandy uncle turned into a fairy, he stepped inside my hood. It tickled a little, but I could feel his body heat and that made me feel less nervous.

「 Shall we go then? 」

「 Ahiyah! 」

「 Oops, pardon me. 」

But feeling his breath in my ears was tantalizing…

We walked down the corridor, using Uncle Quad’s fairy magic to get past the guards in the cathedral, and came to the room where Father was probably being held. I tried to communicate with Aidle earlier, but I was so startled when he grabbed me by the ear that I made a strange noise…

As to what I’m going through, without hesitation, Uncle asks me a question.

「 How do you know where your father is, Miss Cielo? It seems that he is not being held in a prison. 」

「 There’s a good reason for that. There is a room that is reserved for the Pope, but only the rightful heir, namely my father, can enter the room, and nothing in the room can be taken out. His work as Pope is also basically done there, so if father is being held captive, he should be under house arrest there so that no one can enter the room at any time. 」

「 In other words, your father himself is the key to the room, isn’t he? 」

「 That’s right… And here we are. 」

Patting my chest softly at having arrived safely at the far end of the corridor, in front of the Pope’s room, I turned to Uncle.

「 Uncle, I don’t know what kind of trick is inside. Do you think your fairy magic could do something about it? 」

「 Leave it to me. 」

With a reverent and beautiful bow, Uncle walked to the door and gave a small wave of his finger. Then, a glowing green horizontal line appeared on the wall above the door, and it went down… And then it disappeared. What did it do?

The uncle looks back at me with a smile and tells me in a reassuring voice.

「 I’ve just checked, and I didn’t find any suspicious traps, skills, and so on. 」

「 So you figured it out now? 」

「 Yes, I gave that green wire an ‘enemy spotting’ skill, and I used it to check. 」

I could barely keep my voice down from how shocked I was at how easily he said that.

「 … is Fairy magic capable of doing such things? Isn’t it like the power of God, granting skills and so on… 」

「 God… I see, I hadn’t thought about it, but… Hmm. But this is not a magic that is that versatile. If you use it, you will be burdened, and if you try to do a significant amount of things, you will reach your limit after just one use. It is certainly a great power from the perspective of other species, but it is not that easy to use. It only resembles the work of god, in that it can freely do anything and everything, Miss Cielo. 」

That reminded me of the time when Aidle felt the burden of removing my 『 curse 』, and I had heard that the attempt to remove Mika’s title had been bloody difficult.

I realized that Uncle was not using it without repercussions, and I had to reflect on the fact that I should not have let him use ‘fairy magic’ so easily.

「 … I’m sorry, I’ll try to avoid asking you carelessly in the future. 」

「 No, it’s fine. I’m used to it, and I can do most things without any burden. Besides, Miss Aidle said that fairies love people so much that they are willing to do anything for them, and I agree with her. I’m glad that you can genuinely rely on me… 」

「 … Ye, yes! Shall we go then? 」

「 Yes, let’s. 」

I don’t know why my face turned red, but I pulled myself together and opened the door where my father would be. Then I peeked inside.

「 Whoa, who is it? 」

My eyes met with a woman’s. At the same time, I see my father sitting on a chair. I looked at his back, which I hadn’t seen for a long time, and called out to him. Uncle jumps out at that moment and stands in front of the woman.

「 Father!!! 」

「 … What, Cielo? You idiot, why did you come back?

「 Well, well. Are we back in business? 」

「 Yes, if you could give me a moment, please? 」

「 Don’t be so foolish, well, there’s still time. 」

My father yelled at me and hugged me tightly. I couldn’t help but burst into tears at the warmth and smell of my father, something I hadn’t felt in a long time. However, the woman seemed to give me that reprieve, and I decided to take advantage of it for a while…

「 Now, who are you guys… Ah, that girl over there is the Pope’s daughter, right? However I’d like to hear about you, dandy old gentleman? Only if you’ll tell me. 」

「 No, I’ll answer that. My name is Quad Cerberica. I am from the dungeon city of Amone. May I have your name, please? The 『 Black Haired 』 Lady? 」

Quad answered without pause, causing the woman to look dumbfounded. But he wasn’t lying, because this was the first time Quad had ever been able to introduce himself, and he was elated.

What was the name of the woman with black hair, black eyes, and with one eye covered by her hair?

「 You answered me so easily… Well, now that you’ve introduced yourself, I’ll answer too… My name is Hinomoto Setsuna. I’m from another world, and I’m the third-ranked hero. 」

「 You’re a hero!? Hii!! 」

Cielo, who had used her skill upon hearing the word 「 Hero 」, caught a glimpse of her status and let out a scream.

「 Right, you’re a priestess. You must have seen my status with your 『 Divine Eye 』. I’m sorry, I must have startled you. 」

Hinomoto’s eyes twitched slightly looking at Cielo, and then she bowed. Realizing that she was probably being cautious since her body was still facing Quad, Quad continued to speak happily, though.

「 Thank you for introducing yourself. I see, I have heard that there are 40 heroes, but if you are ranked third, you must be very strong. If you don’t mind, may I take a look at your status as well? 」

「 You’re a really interesting person. I can’t see your status at all. Well, if you can see it, why not? 」

「 So… Well, well, well. 」

Hinomoto smiled in disgust at Quad’s frankness, and motioned with her hand for him to proceed. Quad, pleased to have his offer accepted, activated his 『 Fairy Eyes 』 and marveled.

Setsuna Hinomoto (21) Lv.4680

Race: Human (Awakened+)

HP 608,402,755/608,402,755

MP 13,104,006,812/13,104,006,812

ATK 325,776,630

DEF 353,681,110

MATK 639,974,577

MDEF 522,000,054

INT 5500

SPD 704,010,870

【 Inherent Skills 】 Automatic Recovery, Holy Sword, Automatic Translation, Item Box, Holy Armor

Skills: Swordsmanship (EX), Concealment (EX), Tampering (EX), Appraisal (-), Throwing (EX) Four Attribute Magic (EX)

Title: Brave, Otherworler, Blessed by the Goddess

「 Well, that’s quite a status you got there. 」

「 Hey, did you get to see that? I’m surprised. The 『 Concealment 』 doesn’t work on you, does it? That’s a new discovery. 」

Cielo was horrified at the sight of Hinomoto’s status, which had intrigued Quad so much that he hadn’t lost his smile. Even if it wasn’t as strong as Aidle’s, it was still incomparable to Mika’s.

「 Well, I’m fascinated by that old gentleman over there, but let’s talk business for now.

Are you ready to resume the talks?

If I don’t finish my work, Goutani is going to come over here and bother me. You wouldn’t like that, would you? 」

「 … Yeah, I guess. 」

「 Well, I’m sure you’re here to rescue the Pope, that goes without saying. But I have to stop you from doing that. However I don’t have a taste for torturing the weak. I don’t want to see that lowlife happy, so if possible I’d just walk away from here as if nothing happened and let him go if he never shows his face in this country again. What do you think? 」

「 … 」

Cielo was unsure. If she fought, she would lose without being able to do anything about it, and if she called Aidle, she could probably counter her, but they would risk their own deaths in the aftermath of the battle.

Quad will probably prevent that, but I don’t know if that will be enough to block it if I get hit by someone with that status.

「 … Hmm. By the way, Hinomoto-dono… May I address you as that? 」

「 Of course. 」

「 Now, if you’ll excuse me… Are you familiar with the existence of fairies? 」

「 …Fairies? Fairies? Yes, I’ve heard of them. I’ve never seen them here, and on the other side they were mythical, fictional beings. Do they exist? 」

「 No, I’ve been searching for fairies for some time now. I thought that maybe if you were a hero, you would have been able to confirm their existence… I wondered. I’ve always wanted to meet them. 」

「 That’s… Unfortunate? I’m sorry. But why are you telling me all this? If you’re trying to buy time, I’d have to say it’s a waste of time. 」

「 It is simple curiosity, Miss. I’m no match for you. I just asked you what I wanted to know. 」

Smiling playfully, Quad turned to Cielo, wagging a finger.

「 … Now, I don’t want Miss Cielo to get caught, you know. But at the same time, I have a goal to save Miss Cielo’s father. 」

「 Sounds like it. So, what do we do? 」

「 Let’s do this. 」

「 Ah! 」

With a final wave of Quad’s finger, the room began to ripple and move like a wave. Then, from where the ripples ran, the wall thrust out a pile of thorns and headed towards Hinomoto all at once.

Hinomoto was startled for a moment, but it was only an attack made of material from the walls, so slashing with her holy sword was enough, but it was getting in the way and she could not get close to Cielo and the others.

「 Uncle! 」

「 Miss Cielo, please run away. I’ll hold her back as long as I can. 」

「 Oh no, you’re coming with me! 」

The next moment, without any context, Cielo and the Pope were tied up with rope.

「 … Eh? 」

「 Miss Cielo… Oops? 」

And Quad, who was about to rush over, was suddenly knocked down on his face. On his back.

「 Too bad, we can’t let you go now. 」

Hinomoto was standing on his side, the flat of her holy sword touching his neck. She looked at Cielo alone, not even glancing at Quad with pity in her eyes.

「 … 」

Quietly, Quad looked towards the direction she attacked, where there should have been traces of what must have been an attack just a moment ago.

(I’m pretty sure she was there. Did she move at a speed I can’t perceive? In that case there should be some traces left behind. But there’s no such a thing…)

「 Are you curious? How could I have done this? 」

「 Yes, I’d be happy to know for reference. 」

「 Hmm… It’s a secret. 」

「 Oh, that sounds fascinating. 」

Even though they were on opposite sides of the table, they felt a sense of closeness. However, the two who were being rolled around had only a look of despair on their faces. There…

「 Oh~, it’s over, Hinomoto. 」

「 … Yeah, it’s over. 」

Goutani, the man Cielo wanted to not see the most, showed up, and when he saw Cielo, he twisted his mouth and called out her name.

「 I’ve missed you, my dear. My little Cielo? 」

And that night, the 『 Four 』 were captured by the heroes.

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「 Oh, Quad, how unfortunate for both of us. 」

「 No, not really, we had a good encounter. 」

「 Well, let’s hear the details, shall we? 」

(…Why, do you look like you’re having fun… Gulp.)