Volume 4 Chapter 10 Part 2 (2/2)
「Good evening, Filmina-san.」
「Oh my, if it isn’t Widnichol-sama?」
It was indeed him, Widnichol Aide. An apprentice of the Hero who helped to save the world, wearing clothes of mixed white and black colors. His face was full of kindness and his blue eyes were filled with much warmth.
Once we exchange polite greetings, the Princess came back into the view and continued speaking from where she left off.
「I called him because I thought that this whole mess might be too much for only one person to handle. I know that the situation is urgent, but he has yet to decide on the replacement for you, and since it is impossible for us to leak the state of Agedilus to anyone, Widnichol here is the one who possesses the most knowledge about this case. Also…… Ah!」
The figure of the Princess disappeared suddenly with a cute shriek, replaced by yet another person. This time around my eyes opened even wider seeing who it was, as I completely didn’t expect I would see that person here.
「It’s not just him. I’m here as well, don’t forget that.」
「Your Highness Klanven!?」
Seeing Klanven in person, my voice rose up a little bit more than it was necessary, I think. His thin, long platinum hair was now trimmed short, and there was a gentle light in his dark blue eyes.
Seeing him smiling like that actually reminded me that he may look innocent and harmless on the outside, but in reality he is anything but.
–––– Klanven is the Princess’s uncle and the current High Priest at the Temple in the capital city.
We haven’t seen one another since the Festival, and honestly speaking I would prefer for us to not get involved with one another in the future, but there he was, standing in the light of the communication crystal.
「It’s been a while since I last saw you. How are you holding up?」
「Y-yes. I’m managing somehow……」
Seeing me reflexively answering the question with a smile, Klanven closed his eyes and shook his head in disappointment.
「Stop lying. Are you trying to make not getting enough sleep a habit, or something? You do know that you have dark bags under your eyes, right?」
「Eh!?」
「That one was a lie just now, just so you know.」
「…………」
As always, he was toying with people with such an ease that it was actually terrifying. Seeing him smile in satisfaction I glared at him in the nastiest way I possibly could, regretting that you couldn’t actually kill people with looks like that. Of course, he didn’t seem to care about that in the slightest.
But as always, he was correct. Worrying about that man, but also wanting to speak to him again, I was cutting my sleeping hours dangerously low, and it was starting to have an effect on my skin. I was also yawning a lot more. I was sure if this was to continue, it would finally start to take a toll on both my mental and physical health. But it was not a laughing matter, no matter how one might look at it.
As I keep silently staring at Klanven, the magic stones were shifted again and I could once more see the Princess and Widnichol.
「Uncle, please stop teasing Filmina so much. Now is neither the time nor the place for that.」
「Oh please, don’t say that! We haven’t seen one another in such a long time! I was just messing with her a little bit.」
The two of them started to argue quite feverishly after that, readjusting the magic stones there and back again. Luckily for me, Widnichol must have noticed that I was getting quite a bit annoyed with this, as he somehow managed to make both of them settle down after a moment.
He then let out a small sigh and turned back to me and smiled reassuringly at me. Regaining her composure, the Princess opened her mouth to speak again.
「Since the magic that managed to affect Agedilus was strong enough to overcome even someone like him, I do believe we can safely assume it was some kind of extremely powerful dark magic, maybe even a curse. We still know too little about the ruins, but I think it is possible that some kind of evil entity – maybe a demon – lurks inside of them and powers the magic around that place. But both Uncle and Widnichol thinks that this is actually not the case here, right?」
To the Princess’s words Klanven’s smile deepens and Widnichol looks as though he was about to have a huge headache.
There was something in the Princess’s words that resonated with my memories of my last conversation with that man. The word “curse”. The man once told me that curses are strong magic spells rooted in dark arts, further fueled by the negative feelings and emotions. It was also possible to cast a curse thanks to a contract with demons, but on his first day of investigating that mana he managed to establish that fortunately no such thing took place in here. Yet.
However, I was still wondering whether or not I should disclose that information. I know that the Princess would probably like to keep the possibility of the curse a secret, just in case, but I also understood that it was hard for the people of the Temple to acknowledge something so vile and against the wishes of the Goddess.