Vol 3 Chapter 71 – The Lord Who Hasn’t Returned【Empire War Arc】

The next day, Sophia woke up.

The doctor had said that once she woke the first time, she would probably regain full consciousness in about three days. For her to be up the very next day meant she was that strong, in both body and mind.

Roy was just about to raise his hand to knock on her door when a sudden scream came from inside.

“Kyahhhhhh!! I–it’s moving!? Who touched it…!?”

She must mean the Threefold Marriage Rite ring…

Maybe it had been careless to leave a mechanism on it that reacted if anyone touched it. He had only handled it because Sophia had wanted it at the time, but her mind had been so foggy then… She probably does not remember at all.

For now, he would play dumb and talk it through properly later. Shifting gears, Roy knocked on the door.

—Knock, knock.

“Hyau! W–who is it?”

“It is me. I heard you woke up, so I came to see you. Is it okay if I come in?”

After a bit of thumping and shuffling from inside, he heard a “Come in,” inviting him into the room. Sophia was sitting up in bed, facing his way.

You were just over by that desk a second ago, were you not…

Seeing Roy, Sophia gave him a stiff, awkward smile.

“Good morning, Roy.”

“Yeah. Morning. How’s your body holding up?”

“Yes, the results from Precision Diagnostic Spell: Medimage were favorable. It seems all the strange tampering has been properly dispelled, so I can fight again starting tomorrow!”

“Sophia, I get how you feel, but for now all you can do is rest. We have been running small, simple quests with just a few people, but if you want to join those, at least give it two more days of taking it easy, okay?”

At Roy’s words, Sophia drooped, eyes brimming with tears.

“So the injured me is nothing but dead weight now. Is that what you are saying?”

Normally Sophia would never say something like that. Her mental state was still a little fragile, it seemed. Ideally, Roy would have wanted her to rest for a full week, but knowing her personality, that was probably impossible…

“You are not dead weight, Sophia. This time, I was the one who rushed things a bit. If we had lured him out somewhere and dogpiled him with everyone, no one would have gotten hurt. In that sense, this is on me, not you. You did nothing wrong. If you really want to get back out there, then… Let’s see… Okay, if you behave and rest properly, I will cut down Manabu’s outings and hand all of his slot over to you. How does that sound?”

“Roy… All right. In that case, we shall go around doing quests together.”

Somehow, he managed to get Sophia to accept it…

To get to the main topic, Roy took out the Dark Matter and showed it to Sophia. Seeing it, she read the gravity of what he was about to say and her face grew serious.

“This morning, the shopkeeper from the general store came all the way to the manor to hand this over. According to him, the one who brought it in to sell was a guild investigator with her hood pulled low.”

“Why would a guild investigator do that?”

“Right, guess I never told you. Actually—”

Roy explained what had happened while he and Sophia had been acting separately.

The note that Fred, the assistant, had passed him at their parting. The fact that Lydia had gone missing and had a capture quest put out on her for some kind of wrongdoing. Hearing each part of the explanation, Sophia came to grasp how serious things had gotten.

“I know about Lydia. Even though she was treated poorly by Ganalkin, she worked hard to pass the guild examinations. Everyone called her ‘the connection-builder girl,’ but she clearly denied doing anything like that, and I liked her for it. For her to commit treason against the guild…”

The unbelievable news made Sophia clutch her head.

“Still, the people in this domain have a lot of pride. Normally no one would question something brought in by a guild investigator. Yet they brought it all the way here instead; Eiden must really be trusted.”

“Yes, they are subjects I am proud of. Oh—has Eiden come back?”

“No. Not yet…”

“So all we can do is wait. That is what it comes down to…”

Roy felt a growing frustration at how hard it was to move right now. Investigating Lydia alone with so little information would be terribly inefficient, but if he left the manor, there was always the risk that Sophia would be targeted in his absence.

At the moment, the only things he could do were to ask the Stark members who specialized in scouting to gather information, and to pray that, thanks to the good sense of the people in the territory, any Dark Matter they found would be brought straight to them.

☆☆☆

About three days passed after Sophia fully regained her senses.

On Ange’s suggestion, the automobile was christened the iron horse, Testeed. According to Ange, the name was a coined word combining “protection” and “steed.”

The former Royal Guard, the so-called “fans,” were officially renamed the Union Knights.

With unease spreading, it looked like Ange had turned the naming into a kind of mood-lifting event. Well, having the whole thing kicked off with “Your naming sense sucks!” had been pretty irritating, though.

Sophia and Sarina, both spear users, seemed to get along well and were training together. Because there was a bit of a lag between her mind and body, Sophia herself said it was good that she was practicing. She was just about ready to start joining quests again.

☆☆☆

—When Roy woke up in the morning, Yukino’s face was right in front of him.

Lately, this pattern repeated every day. It was not like she was doing anything to him, but the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Yukino’s face. It had become a daily routine…

“Roy-san, the general store has some new accessories out on display. Want to go take a look?”

“Yeah, staying cooped up is not doing me any favors. Let’s go for a bit.”

Prompted by Yukino’s words, Roy headed to the village’s general store.

“Roy-sama! Thank you so much for coming all this way. What can I do for you today?”

“Drop the ‘-sama,’ I am not a noble. I am just here to look at accessories and clear my head a little.”

“I see. In that case, please have a look at the new showcase we set up over here.”

Yukino stared through the glass at the necklaces and rings inside, her eyes sparkling.

“If it is not too expensive, I will buy you one, Yukino.”

“Really!? Hmm, which one should I pick~♪”

While Yukino browsed, Roy decided to ask the shopkeeper about the Dark Matter.

“Thanks again for the Dark Matter. So, that guild investigator—Lydia—who came to sell it, was she alone?”

“The one with Lydia-san was… Dart-sama. I still cannot believe he would plot a rebellion…”

That confirmed that Dart and Lydia were working together. If they had been separate problems, capturing and purifying them might have been enough. But with Lydia involved, there was no longer any way to clean this up quietly.

“Did those two say anything?”

“They mentioned something about the Tower of Ars.”

“Got it. That helps.”

The Tower of Ars… One of the Four Elemental Towers, the one that governs earth, if I remember right. Better gather everyone and talk this through when we get back.

“Roy-saaan, how about this one?”

The accessory Yukino brought over was a pendant with a red gem that granted resistance to fire element.

“Looks good to me. Shopkeep, we will take this one.”

Roy paid the shopkeeper and handed the pendant to Yukino. But Yukino pushed it right back at him.

“Roy-san! In times like this, it is proper etiquette for the man to put it on for her!”

“I have never heard of that. That is a thing from your world, is it not?”

Yukino did not argue back, just looked down in silence. Seeing that, Roy sighed lightly and stepped in front of her.

“Come on. I will put it on, so do not look like you are about to cry.”

He reached behind her neck and clicked the clasp into place. When Roy stepped away, Yukino spun around and pinched the hem of her skirt, giving him a graceful curtsey like a noble lady.

“Ehehe. How does it look?”

“That is the thing you do when you get a new dress, right?”

“—Ah!”

“But, well… It really does suit you.”

“N–no way… You mean it suits me better than anyone in the world…”

He had not said that, but as long as Yukino was happy, bringing her here had been worth it.

After finishing his shopping trip with Yukino, Roy gathered the party members in the dining hall.