My Childhood Friend the Demon Knight Hates Me - Episode 29: Elicidation

29 Elucidation

Translator: Lioness

Editor: Arya

　
The thing that was thrown out of the bag which was lying on the floor was a wooden box with a lid, seemingly larger than my palm.
　
Entwined with an ivy, this was a bell-shaped carved chest.

“—- Spirit’s Treasure Chest?”

For a moment, I thought it was something I had gotten from Rinse, but of course it couldn’t be.
　
My box was in my room, and I had a hair ornament on my desk that I bought for Rinse. If you looked at it properly, the chest of mine had a different number of ivies and a different shape of bell. He said that each one was hand-carved, so the design must be slightly different.　

Above all, this was something that came out of Reiss’s bag.
　
To be honest, I was surprised that he had such a thing in his possession…

He was not the kind of person who would buy things for himself. I’m unsure if he got it from a fellow knight like I did, since Rinse explained that it was a fashionable item in King’s Landing. Moreover, it was surprising that he had such a friend.　

Nevertheless, I had to make sure it wasn’t broken and put it back in the bag as soon as possible.
　
I stopped all my thoughts, raised my upper body, and reached out for the wooden box in front of me.

However, the clasp seemed to have come off when I dropped it, thus as soon as I lifted it, the lid snapped open and the contents greeted my vision.
　
Just looking at the contents of the bag was bad enough, however seeing the inside of the box was even worse: …! I tried to avert my gaze in a panic, but before I could do so, I saw a point, and instead of closing the box, I found myself fearfully grabbing the ‘it’ that was lying in the treasure box.

“This is just hallucination, right? Because this is …”

The thing that was folded up in a small size in Reiss’s treasure chest was a white hand towel.
　
What caught my eyes was the embroidery of the red flowers.
　
If you gently place the box on the floor and unfold it with trembling hands, you would clearly see the awful workmanship.

It was not because it looked familiar.

But because this was the handkerchief with Ricolla’s embroidery that I sewed for —- Reiss to give to him one day.

Why …?

Why was the gift I threw at Reiss as hard as I could on his nightmare birthday still here?
　
I gave him a blow to his stomach and ran away as I shouted, “I hate you too!” I thought it was going to be in trash or something, or would not have been picked up in any way in simpler words. But the handkerchief sitting in the box was neatly folded and I could tell that it had been handled with care.

And there was another thing in the box.

From underneath the handkerchief, I found another part of a pendant that resembled a Ricolla flower, much like the red of his eyes. It was cracked and chipped, but it was also the one I had given to Reiss as a good luck charm.
　
There was no way I would mistake it for something else.

Suddenly, Rinsu’s words came to my mind.

She said, “The Spirit’s treasure chest is where you keep your most precious things.” She told me that if I put my most cherished possessions in this box, I would receive the blessings of the spirits and be blessed with good fortune.

Both of the items that came out of Reiss’s spirit treasure chest were things that I had specially prepared for him.
　
…Were those things that I gave to him important?

The next thing that came to my mind was the way Reiss’s acted when he was loading a bag of boxes in a carriage. He was holding the bag very importantly.

—- Were you telling me that Reiss had been keeping this stuff for all these years without telling me?

Why …?

I had a habit of saying that, “I hate you.”

I took off my handkerchief and shook it, messing up my hair.
　
The handkerchief fell on my knees, the moonlight shining through the window, and a red flower bloomed in the moonlight, somewhat gloomily.

I don’t know.

I don’t know anything about Reiss’s thoughts, feelings, or why he was carrying them for.

However, …, “I wanted to understand,” I thought strongly again just now.

“Self, think, think, think.”

I was not going to run away from the information that was already there, but I’m going to face it all, use my thoughts, and figure out how to get closer to the truth.
　
The hidden ‘truth’ of my favourite childhood friend… Reiss.

I must know it properly.

Biting my trembling lip, I quickly put back the contents of the box, while desperately trying to turn my head.

… First of all, there was definitely a demon inside Reiss.
　
He was also a ‘demon possessed’, just like the criminal man called Bell.

The black butterfly pattern imprinted upside-down that I saw on his chest just a moment ago was a proof of this.
　
The fact that Mr. Roa was unaware of this condition, suggesting that the devil-master was also involved.

I had to assume that this was the absolute supposition and began pondering about it.

Since when did he become a person that was possessed by a demon?
　
Should we assume that there was already a demon inside Reiss at least on the day we parted ways?
　
Did he become demon possessed because of his own volition? … No. As I recalled right, Bell asked Reiss, “Are you being forced to sign a contract that is more complicated than mine?” I didn’t have time to think about its meaning at that moment, but now I know. Reiss was possessed by the devil against his will.
　
Then what was his price to pay to the demon?
　
Bell had also said that there were two patterns of payment to demons: first and second. I wonder if Reiss had already paid something, or if he were to lose something in the future.
　
Like Bell, he sacrificed something big, comparable to sight or soul.

Had his consciousness been taken over by a demon?
　
Looking back at Reiss’s past from a different perspective, it looked like he had been resisting the … demon. It seemed that he had not yet handed over the control of his consciousness to the demon.
　
I’m sure you would all agree that the spirit crystal and Ricolla’s sleeping potion were meant to keep the demon at bay. I forgot to mention that the Ricolla flower had other effects on demons aside from headaches and rough skin. It might be a good idea to think of it as a sleeping potion to put the inner demon to sleep.

“Spirit Crystals: …”

I finished putting the box away in my bag and sat down on the ground which was still cold, while I was muttering on my own in the dim night.

“It’s not only a great way to store the spiritual power, but it can also contain the power of demons,” Roa told me.

Who gave that crystal to the Reiss?

Who dared give it to Reiss, knowing that it was effective against demons and not just for making spirits visible to those people without spiritual power?

If that person had chosen Reiss as a guard knight for the Spirit Princess in the first place, he would have sent Reiss to the Spirit Queen, knowing that he was a demon possessed.

What was his true intention?

When that happened, it seemed that there were more reason not only because I was a commoner and was chosen as a spirit princess, but also because he had the spiritual power of purification.

“… Oh my god! I can’t keep my thoughts together!”

I was frustrated and cursed myself. All of them were speculations, and I was still connecting the information at hand. There was still not enough clear answer. And yes.

It was not just a matter of speculation, it was also a matter of putting together those puzzled pieces of information at hand. I’m still lacking the clear answer.

… Reiss wanted to hide the truth from me that he was possessed by the devil.

In fact, if it weren’t for the missing incident, I wouldn’t have been able to get into Reiss’s situation as much as I did. I think I would have successfully completed my role as a spirit princess without knowing about the existence of demons. It was a big miscalculation for Reiss to be involved in that incident.
　
It gave me something to think about, like something to work with.

If possible, I would like to ask Reiss. I was going to talk to him from the beginning, and it would be best if he could listen and answer.

But … But if I were to ask Reiss at this stage, would he really answer? I just needed a little more information and conviction on my own.

To do that, my next step was to go to —-

“Lady Suria?”

Suddenly, the corridor was lit up by something other than moonlight.
　
When I looked up from my seat of thoughts, I could see Roa-kun’s figure, holding a lamp in his hand, hovering vaguely in the darkness. He seemed to be the one making the rounds today.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick”, Worried about me sitting on the floor, Roa-kun shook his robe and ran up to me.

“I’m fine. I’m fine. I just fell down a little.’

“You fell. …Oh, are you hurt?”

“I don’t have a scratch on me. … Anyway, Mr. Roa. I have something important to tell you.”

I smiled at him as he stood up, dusted off his skirt and gave me a concerned look.

I’m sure there was another one who knew the information except Reiss. That person who handed the spirit crystal to Reiss.

I squeezed the bag containing the treasure chest of Reiss’s spirit in one hand and opened my mouth.

“Tomorrow, at the earliest possible time, I would like you to meet with your grandfather …, Apostle-General Gaudi Fins. When the case is over, can you ask him to meet me? Tell him I have some —- questions I really need to ask him.”