Chapter 293 (1/2)

Thanks to the Intelligence Group’s efforts, Ichika’s report from when she arrived in the Canal Kingdom reached Vermudol in no time.

It was because of this report that Vermudol had Sancreed and Rokuna come to his office.

「…A fragment of the God of Water Akila? What is that? Sounds like a big deal if it has something to do with a god.」

「Philia also sent something of a shadow of herself as well. It was similar, but that shadow didn’t seem to share any consciousness or memories with its creator. The most that could be said was that it just held some kind of connection…」

Sancreed nodded to Vermudol’s words.

「I sort of understand what you’re getting at, but I don’t think I’d be able to send out a fragment of myself that easily.」

「Don’t worry, I wouldn’t be able to do that either. Only people who have the power and free time to play around with could manage something like that.」

「I know I said I wouldn’t be able to, but I think I can guess how exactly something like that would be managed」, Vermudol thought to himself.

While Philia’s 「shadow」 and Reina resemble each other, they’re most likely different things.

Philia’s 「shadow」 didn’t have a physical body. That was the biggest difference. It meant that Reina had the proper 「soul」 to manipulate such a body.

Since she had a soul, she was an existence that was similar to the God of Water Aklia but still her own person.

Considering that Philia is the one managing the flow of life, it was possible that Philia did have a hand in Reina’s birth, but… at the very least, it’d be difficult to think that Reina would just unconditionally side with Philia.

「Well, we can think about that some more later. For now, what should we do? It seems like they want us to meet them.」

「I suppose we must meet them, then.」

Vermudol responded with a heavy sigh in response to Rokuna.

Reina definitely knows where the Aqua Sword is, and they’d be able to strengthen Sancreed’s sword with that.

No, it wasn’t just the matter of strengthening his sword. It was very likely that the 「collection of the gods’ powers」 that was referenced in the Hero Legend was talking about how the gods would grant their swords to be absorbed into the base form of the Holy Sword.

What’s more, Reina is currently in the Canal Kingdom. Seeing that the Canal Kingdom worships the God of Light Raidolg, they’d have to go there eventually anyway.

They originally avoided any interactions with them due to fear of causing any unfortunate misunderstandings during their civil war, but since they actually received a request for their audience, there shouldn’t be any problems.

If there were to be a problem, it’d be how much they could trust Reina.

「According to Ichika, it’s supposedly unlikely that it’s a trap set up by Reina.」

「I don’t know about that. She’s an acquaintance of Ichika’s, right? Her judgment might be a littleskewed because of that… More importantly, what about the so-called top dog of that country?」

「As of right now, the tentative leader of the country would be Princess Celis. While she does have the right qualifications, she isn’t very confident about herself, which would affect her judgment. She seems to be seeking emotional security from Reina, and because of that, she appears to be unconsciously attempting to figure out Reina’s intentions.」

Rokuna made an uncomfortable face as Vermudol read from Ichika’s report.

She was both impressed at seeing how Ichika was still calmly observing the situation despite meeting an acquaintance of hers again after so long, and upset at herself for thinking that she’d be excited and slacking in her duties.

Understanding that there would be no issues with Ichika’s report, Rokuna expressed her next concern.

「That Reina girl won’t necessarily be in the Canal Kingdom forever, right? Once she leaves, is that weak-willed princess still going to hold a friendly relationship with us?」

「Well, while that certainly is a concern, we could think of that as an opportunity as well.」

「What do you mean by that?」