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Looking at his retreating figure, I bowed my head once more. And then turned around and headed back to the branch without seeing him off.

The vice-branch master, his aptitude aside, was not suitable for espionage this time around.

Even Parsha recommended him to change his occupation, and I also wanted him to move to some other post.

When I arrived in front of the branch, I saw Bard standing there. As I wondered what happened, he noticed and approached me.

“Illya. That vice-branch master b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ had a secret meeting with some guy earlier.”
“Eh?”

I wondered whether he meant me for a moment there but it seemed like he didn’t.

“He seemed to be looking into your real identity. The guild union also seems fishy lately because of Raihand… The reason he came here was apparently to investigate who you were since you became famous during the previous incident. Something about whether you were an enemy or an ally.”
“…Is that so?”

I certainly stood out a bit too much lately, starting with the Tyrant Spider.

People who know about my cheats naturally hold their tongue, so those that don’t must see me as a mysterious human… I suppose?

“That said, it seems he didn’t find out s̲h̲i̲t̲. He said you were just a b-beauty with many acquaintances. And he also said… you are protective toward your friends based on the information they have on you, and it’s undeniable that you hate harm coming to them more than anything, so using force would be too premature.”

Looks like he was being considerate.

Bard… You’re talking about it with a gallant expression, but you don’t realize you were used as a messenger, huh?

“What will we do? Catch and let him spit everything out?”
“Can you stop thinking about such disturbing things all the time? Didn’t I say it already? I told you to see it through calmly.”
“If they look down on us, let them do it.”
“…If that’s what you want, okay.”

Bard listened to my words surprisingly obediently. He would’ve probably tried to catch him on his own, so he has grown up.

I thought that as I watched his back as he headed inside, but then I felt a presence behind me.

“Lady Illya.”

Turning around, I saw a beautiful blue-haired woman there. My Eyes of God told me her occupation was a mermaid.

She seemed to have noticed the slight change in me and smiled widely with a bow.

“Lady Seiren has entrusted me with a message to you. I ask that you receive it.”

We changed the location and were in my room.

Her name was Helly.

As soon as I urged her to sit, she turned her legs into a fin, perhaps to prove that she was a mermaid. She didn’t have to. Seiren was the name of a winged mermaid that governed one of the islands floating in Acradist and its surroundings.

To put it simply, she was the queen of the mermaid island.

Helly apparently slipped into the evacuees and came to Luneville to deliver the message to me.

Mermaid fluids had a magic power recovery effect, so they used to make drugs out of it and sold it at a high price as it could restore magic power that could normally only be restored by taking in the Magicules.

Seiren and I crushed the general manager of the organization making the said drug, so they quietened down, but many humans still went mad at the sight of a mermaid even now, so I can see why she decided to stay hidden in a human crowd.

“I wanted to come to you right away, but it seemed that someone was watching you so I waited…”

Watching me… She must mean the vice-branch master.

“My apologies. You even risked coming all this way.”
“P-Please don’t be! You appear to be as lovely as always, Lady Illya…!!”

Incidentally, mermaids loved beautiful beings regardless of their gender. They were similar to Jean in this aspect, but they were entirely different when it came to their strong sense of virtue.

“This duty ended up causing a big competition among the shrine maidens. After all, everyone wished to take a glance at Lady Illya’s—”

Let’s abbreviate it.

“I’m also happy to see you. If she sent her precious brethren, it would appear that the situation is quite pressing. Could I ask you to relay the message now?”
“Oh, o-of course!!”

She answered and took out a harp made of transparent, crystal-like material.

Using the derived ability Replay: Voice of the Performance skill which allowed you to produce even other people’s voices through magic power, the harp started to produce Seiren’s voice.

“It’s been a while, Illya. Are you well? I’m doing great too~! But being a queen is such a pain!”

Let’s abbreviate this too. I’m not cutting corners here, okay? Mermaids just love to talk on and on. The only time they stay quiet is when they listen to someone singing.

“And so, you might already know, but the monster in Acradist’s territorial waters… isn’t actually a monster. She’s actually a Divine Beast. It’s Mut, which you also know very well.”

Mut. That was the nickname that I gave to Bahamut, the child born to the scaled ruler of the sea, Leviathan.

It looks like my dark history was dug up again… Actually, that’s not important now.

Don’t tell me, is it an evil god again?

As I started assuming that, Seiren’s next words denied it.

“You see, that child was nibbling at the World Tree’s roots and a divine item got stuck in her mouth. It’s like, how you get annoyed when a small bone gets stuck in your throat, you know?”

I felt bad for Helly who was playing the instrument with a serious expression, but I lost all sense of urgency now. Not only because of the situation, but also because of the way Seiren described it.

But she didn’t mean anything bad by it, so I didn’t know how to even deal with it.

“Were soothing her by ourselves somehow, but getting closer gets her pissed so it’s not working at all. Plus some outsiders keep coming in swarms lately, and it just serves to irritate her even further.”

By outsiders, she must mean the subjugation units.

Acradist thinks she’s just a monster, so they might dispatch a big force to subjugate her eventually.

Just as I thought so…

“So please, Illya. Help that child. Not… Please lend your power to us.”

The harp started to play her sincere voice, completely different from her previous tone.

She’s doing it naturally so I really don’t know how to handle it.

I offered water to Helly who looked fatigued. She accepted it, but her eyes looking up at me were filled with entreaty. It seemed like she was so anxious she wouldn’t drink the water until I answered, so I did just that.

“I understand now. I will offer my utmost support.”