Chapter 10
Hevenia asked the owner of the apothecary.
“Big sister-in-law, this herb is really expensive, right?”
“It’s a legendary herb rumored to have gone extinct. With this, the price is whatever you call it.”
The apothecary owner put on the glasses hanging around his neck and tapped away at his abacus.
“So, this is the price.”
“…Aren’t we the ones selling it? Shouldn’t we be the ones naming the price?”
Hevenia frowned while staring at the abacus.
“Berry, no, little brother, how much does this mean?”
“Two million Livre. That’s too cheap.”
“Big sister-in-law, goodbye forever.”
“W-Wait! Hold on!”
The apothecary owner hurriedly stopped the three of them as they tried to leave.
“Then five hundred! Five hundred for three stems!”
“Why are you acting like you’re generously setting the price?”
“Please! I beg you! Actually, my wife has a chronic illness! I desperately need Dulcevia, so please take pity on this old man…”
“You’re a married man, but you were trying to marry my brother?”
“It’s fine! My wife died twenty years ago.”
“…”
Thanks to the desperate effort of even using his dead wife as an excuse, the apothecary owner bought three stems of Dulcevia for five million Livre.
Ian and Verity carefully counted the five million Livre they received right there on the spot.
It was because Ian absolutely did not trust that old man.
Meanwhile, Hevenia casually looked around the inside of the apothecary.
“Do you store herbs somewhere else?”
For an apothecary, there were no herbs visible at all.
If not for the faint bitter scent lingering in the air, no one would have guessed this was a place that sold medicinal herbs.
“That’s because half of our herbs have been sent to the capital.”
The apothecary owner handed Hevenia a candy made from boiled licorice.
“That thing…”
The old man closed his eyes and muttered.
“The princess.”
Hevenia’s hand, which had been about to unwrap the candy, stopped.
Ian and Verity, who had been counting money, also stopped and turned around.
“She almost died this time, didn’t she? They say Clavis caused some kind of incident, though who would believe that? Anyway, because they’re trying to treat the injured princess, the Imperial Family has been buying up herbs from all over the country…”
The apothecary owner clicked his tongue.
“Good for the Emperor. He finally got rid of the Clavis family that had been his lifelong headache.”
* * *
The five million Livre earned from selling three stems of Dulcevia became the first income of the exile residents.
After leaving the apothecary, we used that money to buy various items before returning to the inn.
Starting with daily necessities, fabric, writing supplies, books, accessories, decorations, and more.
They were all gifts for the people in the exile camp.
“It reminds me of when I bought gifts for my mother and siblings with my first paycheck.”
“Ian, you’re a hardworking young man who’s rare these days. Since you’re admirable, I’ll give you a bottle of holy water as a gift.”
“P-Please just accept my gratitude. Holy water is a bit too much…”
“Verity, what about me?”
“You already bought two magical girl toys, Miss.”
“Seriously. Is it even possible to keep being seven years old when I’m this mistreated?”
“Please decide whether you’re twenty-five or seven.”
All the things we bought were stored inside Verity’s subspace pouch.
Even when he shoved things inside his cloak, the size didn’t increase at all.
‘Can I do something like that too?’
After organizing everything, we summarized the information we had gathered while shopping.
I spoke first.
“The Emperor seems much more consumed by his inferiority complex than I expected.”
The knights we met outside the forest, the old apothecary owner, and the people we encountered in Deste Territory all agreed on one thing.
The Emperor was jealous of Clavis.
The situation was strange.
‘Clavis committed the crime, but the Emperor is the one everyone hates…’
Even so, this alone showed where public opinion was leaning.
‘Only the princess seems pitiful.’
Nobody worried about the princess, who was supposedly the victim.
Not even Ian.
‘Of course, the attempted assassination of the princess might have been a false accusation too. She might not even have been injured. But still… it feels strange that nobody worries about someone involved in such a huge incident.’
Then Ian spoke.
“If the supply of herbs becomes unstable, people will suffer greatly. That apothecary earlier barely had any herbs left.”
“The princess was badly injured, wasn’t she?”
When I showed my dissatisfaction, Ian replied.
“The princess has always had a weak body.”
Apparently, she had been frail since birth and had never even gone outside.
Because of that, there had been many moments when her life was in danger.
“For two months, I once carried a black cloak and white ribbon because we were ordered to prepare in case the princess suddenly died. There were many times when she nearly passed away.”
“…”
“The princess suddenly becoming critical and the Imperial Family buying herbs? It doesn’t make sense. That’s never happened before.”
“R-Right…”
It was definitely strange.
No matter how sick someone was, would one person really need half of all the herbs grown across the entire country?
‘…Could it be related to the ores we mined in the exile camp?’
The mysterious ore.
And the herbs the Imperial Family was collecting.
‘It sounds like materials for an experiment.’
Just as I began forming a theory, Verity brought up another topic.
“Now that I think about it, there were many armed knights in the plaza.”
“It’s probably because of Exilium. After the chaos caused by that monster in the forest, they’re probably on guard. This place is the closest territory to the exile camp.”
“It’s not only because of that.”
I unfolded the newspaper I bought from a street vendor.
“Look here.”
I pointed at the large headline on the front page.
“The prince is visiting Deste Territory. It says he came here to reinforce the defensive magic formations protecting the territory and nearby villages.”
Come to think of it…
I could read this world’s writing naturally.
That was strange, but it wasn’t important right now, so I ignored it.
“Then there might be Imperial Knights here too…”
“Ian, be careful.”
I was genuinely worried.
“If they find you, I’ll abandon you.”
My happy exile life.
“Can’t you at least say you’ll help me?”
“No. I have adults I need to take responsibility for.”
“You’re a very reliable seven-year-old.”
Since we had brought it up, we continued looking through the newspaper.
Most articles talked about the giant monster that appeared in Exilium and predicted how the Imperial Family would respond.
There was also an editorial mentioning the herb shortage.
It didn’t directly criticize the Imperial Family, but cautiously suggested that the situation could become dangerous if things continued.
There were also articles analyzing how the destruction of Clavis would affect the Empire.
However, Verity muttered,
“What a pointless thing to analyze…”
So we ignored it.
Not a single article worried about the prisoners in the exile camp.
‘Well, that’s obvious.’
We were criminals.
There were even several articles claiming that the prisoners had died as divine punishment.
‘Officially, all of us are dead.’
It was what I wanted, but I still couldn’t help feeling strange about it.
Then…
While looking through the newspaper, we noticed something strange.
“Brother, it’s not there, right?”
“Yeah.”
There was absolutely no information about the ore we mined.
‘Even the knights outside the forest didn’t seem to know about the ore.’
The Imperial Family wasn’t just controlling information.
They seemed to have completely erased the existence of the ore itself.
Maybe the ore we mined was something that didn’t even exist in this world.
‘Should I have kept one or two guards alive?’
There would have been a lot of information we could have extracted.
I clicked my tongue regretfully.
‘Just what exactly is that ore…?’
Without thinking, I looked at Verity.
Our eyes met.
He simply smiled.
It was an annoyingly knowing smile.
‘He probably knows something.’
But he didn’t seem willing to tell me.
‘Hmph. I’ll just ask through a wish later.’
With the information we organized, I roughly understood the current situation.
‘The Emperor is a suspicious pathetic guy, the princess is pitiful, the prince is here, and Clavis is currently an unknown.’
The price of herbs would probably continue rising for a while.
‘Maybe I sold the herbs too cheaply to that old man…’
Still, I had gained important information, so I decided not to regret it.
Now there was only one thing left.
Dallis’s former in-laws.
The Deste Mansion.
“We’re going, right?”
It was a proposal with the subject omitted.
But Ian and Verity nodded without hesitation.
* * *
Although Deste Territory was small, as the birthplace of magical engineering, it was a city that stayed brightly lit even late at night.
However, the Deste Mansion we arrived at had no lights on at all.
It gave off an eerie atmosphere like an abandoned haunted house.
Click.
Thanks to that, we were able to sneak into the mansion without being noticed.
The mansion’s exterior was charming and old-fashioned, like a small castle from a fairy tale.
There was even a pointed tower where a princess captured by a villain might have been imprisoned.
‘There are two things I need to check.’
First.
Whether Dallis’s daughter was safe.
And if she was there, whether she was living well.
Second.
Investigate Dallis’s crime.
‘Dallis is the only one among our group who was actually caught in the act.’
Something about the whole thing felt rushed.
‘If there was a reason they needed to deal with her so quickly, what was it?’
Finding that out would greatly help decide what direction we should move forward.
Inside the mansion, moonlight coming through the windows allowed us to see somewhat clearly.
Overall, it was a clean and tidy place.
But strangely, the air felt cold and ominous.
‘Speaking of which…’
I looked around the mansion.
‘There isn’t a single person here.’
Even an ordinary company had security guards or night workers.
But there wasn’t even the slightest sign of anyone living here.
Then I noticed light leaking from underneath one of the doors.
Ian stared at the door and slowly spoke.
“…One person. Seems like they’re asleep.”
“You know that without looking?”
“I-I don’t know…”
Even Ian looked confused.
His expression seemed to say:
‘How did I know that?’
“It really is only one person. And they really are asleep.”
Thankfully, Verity confirmed it.
I grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it.
The door opened.
The first thing I saw was a bed.
Someone was lying on it.
I approached and saw an ordinary-looking man who appeared to be in his thirties.
His white hair was strangely familiar.
‘Who is he?’
While I wondered, Verity spoke.
“That’s the Deste Viscount.”
Ian and I looked at him in surprise.
“What? Dallis’s ex-husband?”
“How do you know that, Verity?”
“There was a portrait in the hallway earlier. The hair color was different, but the face was identical. And yes… he’s alive. Honestly, even I didn’t expect this.”
But what Verity meant by “unexpected” was not the Deste Viscount being alive.
“This man made a contract with a demon.”
Ian and I opened our eyes wide.
