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While Nicole was staying in her home, Maxwell had returned back to Raum on his own. Even if he knew that she was his old comrade on the inside, taking a young child apart from her parents would still add to psychological stress.

It was not bad to let her reunite with her family like this whenever an opportunity arose, Maxwell thought.

He was aware that this was all self-satisfaction, but he still felt good about it, thinking that he had done a good deed. He opened the door to his house while being in a good mood.

As he did… He was met with Cortina standing in a daunting pose.

“Waaah! Oh, it is just you, Cortina. Do not scare me like that.”
“Don’t ‘It’s just you’ me. You received a report. I left it in your office.”
“A report?”

Maxwell looked puzzled for a moment, but he soon realized it was about the Devil Summoning from the other day, and hurriedly rushed to his office.

It was the report that Haumea requested to be delivered to Maxwell. It would be quite bad if Cortina were to see it.

After rushing inside the office and locking the door, he opened the sealed letter. On it was a list of the slave traders that were doing transactions with the summoner men.

“Hmm… So they were receiving sacrifices from several slave traders. It seems some of them have already been caught…”
“Maxwell, we have to talk.”
“Whaah!?”

Hearing Cortina’s sudden voice made him literally jump up.

The door should have been locked, so he could not process what happened. However, Cortina could use magic to an extent. Unlocking a door should have been a child’s play for her if she used Unlock. That spell belonged in-between elementary and mid-grade spells, so she knew how to use it.

“What is it all of a sudden? Stop scaring me so much, you are going to shorten my lifespan.”
“There’s hardly any left of it anyway. That aside, I had the messenger spill out the info.”
“Ugh.”

The Guild’s messenger should not have known the details. However, they should still have been aware of where the message was coming from.

It was information that reached Maxwell through Haumea. The same person that Cortina was suspecting to be Reid.

“So you were still in touch with that Haumea, huh?”
“Umm, that is…”
“Just tell me one thing. Is she Reid’s reincarnation?”
“Mghh…”

Maxwell was at a loss. If he were to take Cortina’s feelings into account, denying it here would have been too pitiful. Besides, Haumea was Nicole’s fake identity, so her guess that she was Reid’s reincarnation was indeed correct.

However, if he were to affirm it, it would aggravate her feelings even more. As Reid could not show himself now, this too would only lead her to more sorrow.

“Umm… You could say that she is, and you could say that she is not…”
“I am not an idiot here. I realize that he has some kind of circumstances. In the first places, not meeting us just because he was reborn into a girl seems too weak of a reason.”
“Really?”
“Do you know? He once looked at my chest and said “Whether you have that meat or not, it would not obstruct your movements”, can you believe it?”
“Ah, he must have been saying that from the perspective of an Adventurer…”
“I get that. But the point is, he has not a fragment of delicacy in him. Would someone like that shy away just because he got turned into a girl?”
“W-Who knows?”

If that was all, even Maxwell would have agreed with her. However, the reality was that he ended up reborn Lyell and Maria’s daughter on top of that.

He understood very well why Reid was not able to announce himself.

“Perhaps he has his own ways of thinking about it.”
“I don’t care about any of that!”

Cortina slammed her fist to the wall on the side. Her sudden outburst made Maxwell shrink away.

“What about my feelings, then! I’ve been waiting for him for so long…!”

Glittering drops fell from her eyes as she looked down. Seeing that, Maxwell made up his mind to an extent, and answered.

“… I cannot tell you the details. Please understand that part. However, as for the rest… I shall only say that it is as you have guessed.”
“Then, Reid…”
“Yes, he has been reborn, and he is close to us as you have already witnessed yourself. He has certain circumstances that force him to stay hidden from us.”
“So he is still in touch with you, huh?”
“As if I would leave someone as talented as him alone. He has a low self-assessment, but have you any idea how valuable a person who has mastered the art of spying and assassination is?”
“Yes, I know that all too well.”

Before they teamed up as the Six Heroes, they belonged to the kingdoms antagonistic to each other.

Especially Cortina, who used to lead the army, was viewed as the thorn in the eyes by the Sword Kingdom of Alecmarle. There had been cases where Reid took on the bounty and attempted to assassinate her.

Cortina had sensed the danger and somehow avoided it by using substitutes and body doubles.

“Still… Sorry. I lost my composure there.”
“Do not be. I cannot say I understand your feelings, but, well. What I am saying is, don’t lose hope.”
“I know that. It’s just, even though I know he’s alive out there somewhere, I just can’t calm down. Earlier I just lost my patience due to this standstill.”
“Let us leave it at that then. Now, I have new information to share.”

With those words, Maxwell showed her the letter. Since the matter of Haumea had already been found out, there was nothing else to hide in it.

“Slave traders? And… Devil Summoning!?”
“This should be important for you too.”
“Yes, still, looks like Half-Demons are involved again. Same as that time.”
“Half-Demons themselves are not evil or anything, but this is intolerable.”
“Be it Humans, Beastmen, or Half-Demons… Using children as sacrifices isn’t something that can be forgiven.”
“Right. I shall follow up on investigating this.”
“Also… What about the inquiry from Elliot about Haumea’s whereabouts? I’d like to know that too, though.”
“Unfortunately, I do not know either. Haumea is considered expelled on paper.”
“So he’s just wearing the mantle of your authority and does as he pleases wherever he goes?”
“Y-Yes. Something like that… I suppose.”
“That carefree idiot.”

In Cortina’s imagination, Reid had been reborn as a girl and was carefreely traveling in the Northern Alliance. The person in question was actually in the remote village, enjoying the face of his newborn sister, but alas, she had no way of knowing that.

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