CH 55

. . . . Hmm? Something is wrong. I closely observe Paul-san in front of me. He disguised himself as a beautiful woman with blue hair. . . Paul-san. . . disguised himself. . .

Who is this? I activate [King of Greed].

. . . . Hey. Why are you here?

“. . . Um~. . . . . . What are you doing? Lucy-neesama. . .”

“What are you talking about, Isabella-chan?”

“”. . . .””

There is a strange silence between the two of us.

As a result of the appraisal, I know that the ‘woman disguised as Paul-san disguised as a beautiful woman with blue hair’ in front of me is my sister-in-law Lucy. She is the daughter of the chief of the Magic Division in the Kingdom of Roserial, and the older sister of Geese.

And my eldest brother’s fiancée, the future Duchess of Rottenstein.

By the way, she originally has dark brown hair and amber eyes. Why do you siblings have such different hair colors?

“Lucy-neesama!! What on earth are you doing when you’re preparing for marriage?”

In response to my cry, Lucy-neesama put her index finger on her lips in a panic.

“Isabella-chan!! Shh!! Shh!!”

“It’s not shh!! Every year, every year, you say you have plans, and you dodged the wedding. My second brother, Daimon, can’t get married until my eldest brother does, so he’s still at my parents’ house!! I want to get that demon out as soon as possible!! Don’t run around behind the scenes in a place like this!! Please give priority to preparing for marriage!! I beg you!!”

My sister-in-law desperately tried to sooth me when I grabbed her with tearful eyes and shook her.

“Calm down!! Calm down!! Let’s talk about that later! For now, I’m not here!! Don’t keep calling my name!! Anyway, I want you to follow me!! The rest is not important right now!!”

That’s right. The church was attacked. The information was blown out of my head with the double surprise of the fake Paul-san and her true identity being my sister-in-law Lucy.

But it’s the first time I’ve heard of Lucy-neesama and Ursch-kun cooperating. I wonder how far Ursch-kun has connections. His network is so wide that I don’t think I could grasp all of the related parties and connections.

Lucy-neesama said that her friends would collect the military police, so I decided to follow her.

Ursch’s POV*

“Chris-sama, It’s been a long time. Amaryllis-jousama is here today too. How have you been?”

After I separated from Paul, Chris-sama called me, so I went to the royal palace. When I was guided by a squire of the royal palace to the library, Amaryllis-jousama was having tea with Chris-sama. I wonder if it is usually prohibited to eat and drink in the library. . .

“. . . . That’s right. Ursch, It’s been a long time. . . I’m sorry for calling you. . . ”

“Wow~! That’s great! Ursch-kun, it’s been a long time!! I’m doing well!! Oh, come to think of it, you call Chris-sama casually. That’s not fair. . . Please call me Alice, just like Bella-chan does!!”

When I greet Chris-sama in the same weak way as usual, Amaryllis-jousama, who was listening, demands I call her casually. For me, I’d rather call Isabella in a closer way than Amaryllis-jousama. I’m a little irritated that Amaryllis-jousama is allowed to call Isabella a nickname before me. I won’t show it on my face though.

“Um~. . . then, Alice-sama. Even so, you two get along well.”

When I say this, Alice-sama laughs shyly. Surprisingly, there was a faint smile on Chris-sama’s mouth. It seems that a lot of things are going well. Isabella will be happy when she sees it.

When Chris-sama’s [Ear of Pride] evolved into [King of Pride] in that cabin, he learned how to deactivate it so it isn’t always on, and it became possible for him to have a conversation during the day without skill sealing items, and his mental state and physical condition recovered day by day. And after returning to the royal palace, it seems that the proposal for engagement with Alice-sama has been raised.

It doesn’t matter to me as long as the other party is not Isabella, but Isabella was expecting Alice-sama and Chris-sama to get engaged, so I think she’ll be happy.

“Come to think of it, Bella-chan isn’t here today? I wanted to see her for the first time in a long time. . .”

“Isabella ran after a carriage that looked like a kidnapper, so she didn’t come with me. I asked my collaborators to look around so that she can join us when she comes back, so I think she will be here soon.”

Maybe Isabella can’t get to the hideout, and she’ll roll over the carriage on the way to capture the kidnappers, and she’ll be able to join early, right?

“Come to think of it, I heard Chris-sama is going to be trained by the queen. What do you think? Adventurers’ way of training is. . . ”

“. . . . . Yes. . . . I might die in training sooner or later, so I write a will every other week. . . ”

“. . . . . . . .”

Apparently, it’s worse than at the mountain hut.

“Hmm. . . . I’m writing them too. . . ”

“Oh, come to think of it, Alice-sama was also being trained by the queen between lessons at her parents’ house.”

“That’s right. I’ve been forced to practice a small explosion thousands of times, and I feel like I’m going to die. But if I don’t practice, I can’t use the explosion when I am put in the dungeon next year. . . . Because I will be buried alive.”

It’s already been decided that you’ll be thrown into the dungeon next year. Good luck, Alice-sama. And the queen, please do your best at training Alice-sama. For the safety of the royal capital and the dungeon.

“By the way, Chris-sama. I know it was sudden, but were you able to find a collaborator of the kidnapper in the royal palace?”

Actually, I asked Chris-sama to secretly check if there were any magician organizations or collaborators of the viscount in the royal palace. Geese was almost kidnapped in the royal greenhouse. And the kidnapper was a woman wearing a royal maid uniform. In that case, there must be collaborators and people in the royal palace who helped.

Chris-sama nods to my question.

“. . . . I’m not good at chatting, and I couldn’t talk to people. So, I decided to sense only the bad emotions in the royal palace. . .”

Chris-sama seems to have used the evolved [Pride King] skills. By the way, the [Pride King] skill had a variety of abilities, such as telephoto, hell ears, reading minds, sensing emotions, and the ability to grasp remnants of emotions that remained in a place. Because he has this ability, you can’t play card games with Chris-sama. Your hand and cheats will be exposed.

Hmm~. I can’t look into it now, but considering Chris-sama’s ability, there may be another ability in the [Greed King] skills besides precision appraisal, absolute appraisal, and detection. . . . Putting aside whether Isabella can master it or not.

While I was thinking about that, Chris-sama continued to talk slowly.

“. . . . . So, when I followed such bad feelings and repeated reading minds. . . I learned that there was a plan to attack the church where the people who were kidnapped are protected and take them back. . .”

“You got great information. . . Did you tell other people about the plan?”

“. . . . . The Knights Commander only had strong feelings that looked beautiful and straight so I trusted him and talked to him about it, so he’s working to prevent the attack. . .”

Chris-sama couldn’t even read the leader of the knights because of the level difference. However, if it’s just emotions, it seems that he can read them regardless of level. By the way, when I curiously asked him how he could read emotions, he said that he could grasp emotions like signs and auras.

“But only the Knights Commander? What about the Commander of the Magic Division? You felt like you couldn’t trust him?”

“. . . . . . No. . . the chief of the magic division is. . . he’s weird, but I can trust him. . . but. . .”

Chris-sama only speaks that far and his eyes wander around. Alice-sama didn’t seem to hear the details either, and while tilting her head strangely, she waited for Chris-sama to continue.

After thinking about it for a while, Chris-sama slowly opens his mouth. Perhaps because he has decided to speak to us about it.

“. . . . I found out that there was a collaborator of the kidnapper. . . in the magic division. . . so I couldn’t tell the chief of the magic division. . .”

“Ah~. Then it can’t be helped. If the chief of the magic division gives instructions and orders to the magic division, the information may be leaked.”

“Waaaah~. That’s right. The Magic Division has a laboratory and training ground in the royal palace. If there is a bad collaborator there, it’s easy for them to break into the royal palace. . . . Huh. . . Well, if you think about it carefully, it’s really scary.”

While stroking Alice-sama’s pale head, Chris-sama continued to talk with a painful expression.

“. . . There is that too, but. . . that collaborator is the daughter of the chief of the magic division. . . . so. . . I can’t say anything. . .”

“Eh? The daughter of the chief of the magic division? . . . I’m sure he only has one daughter, right?”

“. . . . . Yes. . . . It’s Lucy, the older sister of Geese . . . I’m sure the chief of the magic division will be sad if he finds out that his daughter tried to sell her younger brother to the magicians. . . I can’t tell him. . .”

Well, it looks like Isabella’s eldest brother won’t be getting married anytime soon, because his fiancée is one of the bad guys. I wonder what Isabella will do next.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!