CH 125

[Heidi Pov]

"I am thinking of becoming head of the family."

Adolfo takes her sister's question straight on.

In contrast, Pasquale narrowed her eyes.

"Can I take that as you being motivated?"

"You could take it as yes and no."

Her sister silently urges her onwards.

"I want to be the head of the family, to rule the family and change the house so that this stupid conflict never happens again. But if you feel the same way, I wouldn't mind if you were the head of the family."

"I see. But is that possible for you?"

Pasquale crosses her arms lightly.

"It's not like I haven't done anything before either. I have researched the past selection of the head of the family. At least, this event has been held more times than I can count on both fingers, and those who have become head of the family have carried out this selection process without exception. Do you know what this means?"

"Does it mean that even if you are the head of the family, you are still forced to open the selection in some way?"

"Yes. I am concerned that there are no exceptions at all. I'm thinking that if you become head of the family, you might be forced to do it. I don't know what that would be, though."

...What will happen if you become head of the family?

Why should I continue... or be forced to continue this conflict?

I couldn't think of any reason.

"I don't know what's going to happen. I know that you are serious about becoming the head of the family, and the fact that you drank the tea I offered you without hesitation shows your sincerity and determination. I won't actively help you, but I will at least assist you if you become the head of the family."

She gives a small smile as she says this.

"It's late today, so I'm going home--"

When they all relaxed, it struck unexpectedly.

A roar. It happened in rapid succession, followed by the ground shaking vertically.　

It was really sudden.

Me and the Temple Knights immediately rushed to the window to look out.

It was quite a distance from here, but we could see that a huge explosion had occurred at a distance.

"Could you please find out what happened?"

Pasquale, who had recovered belatedly, flashes an order and hears hurried footsteps from outside the room.

"I'm pretty sure that area is supposed to be the favelas..."

I heard him mutter that, but I'm quite distraught too.

What the hell was that?

Pasquale shakes her head lightly and turns to us.

"Stay here tonight. It's not safe to go out in these circumstances."

I look at Adolfo and she gives a small nod.

"I understand. Thank you for your hospitality."

It's not a good idea to go outside in this situation.

It is safer to bypass them, at least until it is clear what has happened.

"Good for you. Your sister, she understands."

"Yes, I am. I am very happy that I did not have to fight with Sister Pask."

The location has changed.

The room we were taken to was simple, but fully furnished and well cleaned.

There are no guards outside the room, and it seems that they are really treating us as their guests.

Looking out of the window, we see people scurrying about.

When I looked up, I saw a tremendous size of smoke rising into the sky.

The fact that I can see it clearly even from here, even though it is a considerable distance away, tells me that something that huge has happened.

It is unusual for an impact to occur that shakes the ground.

It's something I can't help but think about, but the devastation is enough to make me uneasy, even from here.

"Heidi-sama?"

Adolfo is looking at me with concern.

I shouldn't. Was it on my face?

"It's nothing. We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, so you should rest when you can."

"Oh, um... Before you go to sleep, could you tell me a story about Miss Heidi?"

She added in a fading voice: "If you like...".

I was a little surprised.

At the same time, I was troubled.

Do I really have enough to tell her?

Could I tell her something she would enjoy?

How much can I tell her?

After a little deliberation, I decided to tell her a harmless story.

My situation is too complicated to be honest.

"Well... What kind of story do you want to hear?"

"Why did you decide to become an adventurer, Heidi-sama?"

It was a question I had in mind and I have the answer ready.

I probably would have asked the same question in the opposite situation.

"Well... yes. I didn't have such deep thoughts or motives. It was a long time ago, but I was tricked. I almost died."

I chuckle inwardly, saying that in fact, I did sort of die.

Looking at Adolfo's slightly surprised face, I continue.

"At first I didn't even realise I'd been tricked. That's where he - you see, you met him earlier, right? He helped me out, he told me a lot of things and I thought about it and realised that ...... I needed to at least broaden my insight."

"So you became an adventurer?"

"Yeah. That's the main thing now, but at first I was kind of curious about him, so I followed him."

"Could it be that Heidi-sama is interested in him?"

....Hm?

For a moment, I did not understand what Adolfo was saying.

I thought for a moment and my understanding widened and ----- tilted my head.

"Maybe I don't feel the way you think I do?"

"Do you?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'd like to get along with him, but I don't think it's quite like that."

I was the wrong gender for him.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear it pointed out to me is that it was so.

"But if I take Heidi-sama's words at face value, I feel like you're kind of making a long-winded assumption."

Hearing that, I smiled bitterly.

I tried to imagine it for a moment, but ...... hmmm.

I can't picture the scene well.

"......It's a bit wrong, after all. ...... Me and him aren't like that."

"I see. Well, why don't you tell me about your adventures so far!"

Adolfo changed the subject immediately, perhaps sensing that I was having difficulty saying what I wanted to say.

She is a very intelligent girl for her age.

I was a little relieved by her consideration and started digging up my memory to see if there was anything I could talk about that would make her happy.

But...

For some reason, I couldn't get her words out of my ears.

"...... huh."

I - Pasquale - let out a sigh as I lean my back against the chair I was sitting in.

After I finished talking to Adolfo, I was in my room looking over the report in my hand.

It was a report about the eldest son, Ben.

The body was found in his room in the mansion, and although his head was half-crushed, it was confirmed that it was him.

All guards and servants were unconscious and there were no witnesses. The murderer is unknown.

...Ben's death is confirmed ......?

But there's something that's bugging me.

The M.O. is different.

The Hunter's modus operandi is basic assassination.

In fact, when this selection process began, the first candidates to drop out were killed by poison without fail.

Candidates who fled the danger were abducted and killed.

Afterwards, the bodies were found for all of them, and it seems that none of them escaped.

The only exception was Adolfo.

I thought that girl would be the first to die.

Even more so because I didn't actively try to save her, I thought her survival was hopeless, but to my surprise, she was able to procure an escort and repel the attack...

I thought she was just going to follow behind me, but to be honest, I'm really starting to look at her again.

Seriously, if that girl is going to be the head of the family, I should really try to assist her.

Thinking about this, I returned my attention to the report.

...Well, where was I?

Ah, the part about Ben's cause of death.

Reviewing it, it is quite bizarre compared to the others.

There was a crushed door near the body, and it seems that he was beaten to death through the door from the wound with a hammer rod mace of some kind.

And that too with a single blow.

This is more and more incomprehensible.

Hunters rarely use heavy weapons such as mace.

Those with adventurer status might use them when necessary, but it is hard to imagine them bringing them on an assassination mission.

...So is that a different matter from the hunter?

Ben has a nose for money, but he doesn't care about people's feelings and is prone to grudges.

Perhaps he was killed because of a business-related grudge?

If you think so, the cause of death makes sense... but it's too good to be true at this time of year.

As long as we don't know who the culprit is, it's hard to say at the moment.

It's possible that other than hunters, it's possible that Grimm's subordinates, that his sister hired someone to harass him, or that it was Adolfo's work.

...Maybe it was the mothers' spearhead.

There is no end to the possibilities.

I'll hold off on this until I have more information.

"Well..."

I mutter quietly and look over the other report that has just arrived.

The content is about the explosion and shock earlier.

When I look through it, my eyes widen in astonishment.

A great magic by 100 people.

The use of it in their own country, even within their own city.

My impression was one word: insane.

Is it feasible to build magic on a scale of 100 people in the first place?

I use magic myself, but I understand the high degree of difficulty of jointly constructed magic.

With two people, a little practice is not a problem.

With three people, a certain period of training is essential.

If it's four or more people, you need to build up more than that.

With the knowledge I have learned, it's at most five people no matter how hard you try.

Any more than that and it's hard to use it in real life.

I have experience in building with three people, but I have accumulated quite a few failures.

Even so, the success rate was just over 60%...

...What kind of tricks did they use?

The questions are endless, but for now let's look through the rest of the report.

Subsequent content included a brief summary of the extent of damage, the total amount of damage, the number of deaths and the subsequent national response.

As expected, the damage was in the favelas, where almost the entire area has been cleared and the survival of the inhabitants is hopeless.

The report states that the favelas are the stronghold of Darzain, but to me it sounds like just an excuse to use that joke of magic.

I shudder a little at this glimpse into the madness of the country.　

...Either way, it looks like it's a completely different deal from the selection process, so there's no need to worry about it at the moment.

I conclude this and put the bundle of reports on my desk.

I look out of the window and see that the sun has begun to rise slightly.

It seems I've been looking at the reports for quite a long time, and before I know it, it's already morning.

...A day and a bit more to go.

If Grimm is going to make a move, it will be today.

The house is as alert and defensible as possible.

Whatever happens, we should be able to deal with it.

If we can get through one day, we can say goodbye to this stifling life.

As I thought about this, I squinted at the sunrise that was beginning to appear.