Leave a comment

The next day, we were about to depart from this Berith where so many things happened. That said, we hadn’t made any grand preparations. Maxwell would be taking us back, so there was no need to prepare food and such things.

In place of it, Temuru proposed we fill the empty space in our carriage with Berith specialties. If we fill the space with merchandise, the profits would skyrocket. But this way, it would be unfair that only Temuru would gain from it, so I requested additional pay.

This was a profitable deal for him, so after some bargaining, he pleasantly agreed to it.

Cortina was taken captive by Maria ahead of us. Maxwell took her place, so our numbers remained unchanged. Though, visually, it was somewhat of a degradation.

“Yeah, Cortina was better.”
“Do not whine. That aside, I see that even little Finia has found out about you.”
“Gh… There was an unavoidable circumstance at play.”

Opening up a big Portal Gate inside the city could get unrelated bystanders rolled up into it, so we were trying to refrain from it as much as we could. We needed to transfer two carriages, so he needed to create a three times bigger gate than usual. Due to that, we would be teleporting after leaving the city.

Thus, we moved to the western gate to leave. On the way, I told Maxwell that Finia had found out about me.

“I was in extreme pain and weakness back then, so I couldn’t even think properly.”
“So you went crazy.”
“Shut up!”

Maxwell and I were currently riding on the coachman’s seats. Finia and Michelle moved inside the cargo carrier, while Cloud was on horseback a little away. I spoke to Maxwell in a low voice so the people around wouldn’t overhear.

“How about you just give up and let Cortina and Lyell know too?”
“That alone I can’t do. I have no intention of letting Lyell and Maria know, in particular.”
“Why?”
“I told Gadius already, but it’s because I know how much they love Nicole.”

Lyell and Maria poured love into their daughter. If they realize that it was me on the inside, I feel like I would be betraying their love. Nicole and I were one and the same, but the Nicole that was me versus the Nicole they thought of were different. I felt like I would be pouring water on their feelings, so I just couldn’t come out with it.

While we were talking about that, we arrived at the western gate. Temuru took the lead and presented his merchant guild’s ID, receiving the inspection. They weren’t giving such thorough checks since we were leaving the city, but apparently, there were people trying to smuggle contraband too.

In this case, contraband would be drugs and such dangerous goods. It was rare in Forneus, but it happened commonly in the verdant Raum.

Following it, the guard checked Maxwell, and then me. But the moment he saw my face, he stiffened as if petrified.

“Um, is there a problem?”
“C-Could you be Miss Nicole? The one who saved the Pope from danger?”
“Well, I did save her from an assassin but…”
“So it was you! I was the one who rushed to the scene at that time.”

There were no knights at the scene then. So he was probably part of the knights that came rushing afterward. Back then I drove a fist into the assassin while straddling him. I don’t get it, just what part of that scene was so moving?

“It seems that I showed you something unsightly.”
“No such thing! I have heard that you put your body at risk and saved the Pope, I was deeply moved!”
“T-That much…?”

Well, thinking calmly, I did save the leader of the world’s largest religion, so this reaction might be natural. This could make it hard to move about freely from now on. Perhaps I should have hidden my face.

Then again, if I didn’t use the charm power of my eyes back then, I wouldn’t have managed to draw attention. And that required me to have my face exposed.

“Yes, Miss Nicole is this city’s—no, the World Tree Religion’s hero!”
“Wait, that’s an exaggeration!”

The gate guard declared while bending himself over, but I shook my hands and denied it while acting modestly. He took my humility at face value.

He clenched his fists with an enthusiastic flushed face, and insisted on my achievement. But with the time being early morning, there was quite a line formed behind us. Their gazes were starting to hurt.

“Um, excuse me but there are people waiting, so…”
“Ah, how untactful of me! I stopped working due to excitement, I feel ashamed.”

He finally resumed the procedures, so Michelle and Cloud also showed their IDs. His expression was a little complex at Cloud’s turn, but him being my comrade, and with Maxwell also riding along, he granted the permission without a word.

The half-demon riot happened just the other day, so as expected he didn’t hold a good impression of them.

“Yes, everything is in order. Please be careful.”
“Thank you.”

I said so and gave a polite smile while waving my hand. Cloud may have to come here alone in the future, so I decided to score some points. The guard didn’t think I would return the goodbye and waved back with stiff, doll-like movements.

Like this, we safely departed from the city, preparing to return to Stollar.