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Fiiyanamia slowly approached the priest (temp) and stared at him.

「I do have knowledge of why this situation came to be, however. You lot were planning to publicize the Hunter Guild’s errors to strengthen your influential power, correct? And, if possible, perhaps obtain the magic bag Cielmer has as well.」

I’m sure that she would know. After all, Fiiyanamia should be able to overhear any conversation inside this city easily and she should know who and where a person is. If anyone even tries to have a slightly shady meeting, then the details would likely be immediately known.

In my opinion, if hers is the same as mine, then with just how much information there is, grasping all the information that can be obtained would be impossible to do unless you’re a god.

The priest (temp) averts his eyes from Fiiyanamia. While I’ll praise him for saying something like 「H-how did you-…」 and digging his own grave, isn’t that reaction practically him giving an affirmation? However, Fiiyanamia didn’t pressure him any more than that, and just returned to where I am.

「If you ask me, I wouldn’t mind evicting everyone concerned here for causing discomfort for my official guest…」
「W-what are you even saying! The one that will suffer for that will be Central itself!」
「I wouldn’t suffer at all. Rather, Ciemler leaving would bring in greater losses. However, in regards to this situation, a person not present here is the cause, correct? The clear cause. Yes, yes. And so you should know what to do, correct? I’m angry right now.」
「Understood. He will be summoned from Estoque and atone for it.」
「Yes, make it so. It’s unbearable for me to have a shameless organization within my garden, you know?」

With Fiiyanamia’s smile, the conversation ended. Yup, this is the type of smile that you shouldn’t argue with.

With this, the responsibility for these series of issues is now for Estoque’s acting guildmaster to take. In my opinion, this in itself just serves him right. After all, he was the one who started the attack and he did disparage us.

「Now are we done? No objections, alright?」

Fiiyanamia asked for the final confirmation and everyone nodded. After that, Fiiyanamia pointed at all the humans, excluding those related to the Hunter Guild, and 「Will you all leave?」 prompted them to leave.

「Wha-…」 Those who were prompted were in shock but in the end, they left with frustrated expressions. I really hope they’re not the head of their organizations. Still, there’s probably some other people above them.

With everyone ordered to leave the room, only Yunmica, Bajo, Wangwan, the Hunter Guild’s Mr. Skinhead, and the henchman-like person were left. Which means to say that Mr. Henchman is a Hunter Guild personnel?

「Now, now. With this, the discussions will make progress again.」
「Thank you very much.」
「This is for my guest’s sake. I’ll say this but I only permitted this because it seems problematic from an international perspective otherwise. Originally I would have already invited her into my mansion at this point, you know?」

Mr. Skinhead talking politely to the young-looking Fiiyanamia looks really unbalanced and comical. Or rather, why is she going to bring me (or have me go?) to her mansion? At the very least, this should be our first time meeting Fiiyanamia and we’re not really acquainted enough to stay at her house. Naturally, Ciel isn’t particularly in any position and status to be welcomed by the head of a country.

Looking down as I was wondering this, I see that the forest spirit is still on my lap. Seeing a beauty smile amiably really warms the heart.

「Understood? Understood. The topic to be asked of Cielmer today is about the Artificial Divine Messenger, correct?」

Before I knew it, Fiiyanamia was hosting the discussion. Based on her position, there shouldn’t be any issues with her hosting though. As Fiiyanamia asked Mr. Skinhead, he answered with a nod.

「Before that, let me introduce myself. I wasn’t able to earlier after all. My name is Dourthe. I’m part of the Hunter Guild executive staff. Forgive me for what happened earlier. No, for the many inconveniences Estoque’s Hunter Guild has caused you on your way here.」

Mr. Skinhead —Dourthe— lowered his head.

「As long as appropriate reparations and preventive measures are made, then I don’t mind.」
「Yes, of course.」

Hearing his tired tone, I’m convinced that Dourthe has the same position as that of Chasse from the Fool’s Gathering. The type that would be given the troublesome work, the type of person that has been through a lot. I know it’s tough, but please do your best.

「Are you done now? I’m sorry but can we return to the main topic?」

Fiiyanamia steered the conversation back to the original discussion. Yeah, having someone that would force the discussion back to the main thread is really important. If Fiiyanamia was there earlier, then maybe the discussion would have even gone smoothly. Rather, it’s all thanks to Fiiyanamia that it ended where it did.

「Even if you ask me about the Artificial Divine Messenger, there isn’t really much that I know of them. All I know is that, since it’s artificial, then Duke Rispelgia could be the one that made it.」
「That’s the point. Why is it that you suspect Duke Rispelgia here?」
「Being a Duke, he must have a considerable amount of assets, so shouldn’t he be a strong suspect instead?」

I avoided the question, but it is true that creating a monster would require appropriate facilities and a significant amount of money. This is why it would not be surprising for the name of a duke, who undoubtedly possessed wealth, to come up in this context. If it were a cheap endeavor, then artificial monsters would have already been a widespread issue.

Dourthe scratched his head before breathing a heavy sigh.

「Duke Rispelgia of Estoque is famous for his good reputation among hunters. Even from a national standpoint, he should be a highly acknowledged noble. He’s by no means someone that could be just investigated at random.」
「Which means that a clear reason for an investigation is necessary then. But haven’t I given the location to the hidden mansion Duke Rispelgia has for that exact reason?」
「We’ve been busy due to the ongoing stampede at Estoque, you see. We can’t do a proper investigation. We did send a hunter to be sure, but nothing was there.」
「That’s because it’s concealed by a barrier.」
「A barrier… Then a sorcerer with considerate skill will be necessary.」

Dourthe began thinking with a serious expression. Seeing that, they appear to consider this case with high importance. If a monster that overpowered not only low-ranked hunters but even C-ranked hunters was made with human hands, I guess any sparing effort isn’t an option.

「To begin with, why do you know about this barrier, Miss Cielmer?」

I suppose the reason that he referred to us with honorific is because we’re Fiiyanamia’s guests. I’m not used to being called that way, so it feels weird.

『How much should I say?』
『Shouldn’t it be fine to talk about most of it? This place is out of Rispelgia’s reach, right? Then in that case, wouldn’t it be better to inform them in advance? After all, the larger the damage becomes, the more trouble there might be.』
『The way of conveying and my existence?』
『I’ll leave that to you, Ain.』

Not wanting to decide by myself, I asked Ciel’s opinion and I was answered with an unexpectedly lax reply. What Ciel said was true and, regarding Fiiyanamia in particular, it might be best to explain to earn her trust.

「The evidence that suggests Rispelgia’s involvement is right in front of you.」
「… Are you suggesting that it is you, Miss Cielmer?」
「Yes. I was raised at the mansion inside that forest, a failed work of Rispelgia.」
「How can you verify that?」
「I can’t tell it here. As a hunter, I can’t just expose my own abilities after all. While I am a failure, it’s still enough to give me an advantage.」

The simultaneous use of Song Princess and Dance Princess is an advantage only we can utilize. The combined strength of two picky princess Jobs is enough to bring down A-rank monsters with rain. While there are cases where the superiority of a Job can be overturned by hard work, this does make me realize just how amazing the power of Jobs really is.

That aside, since just saying I’m the proof is understandably hard to believe, I’ll give additional information.

「I will provide conclusive evidence to Fiiyanamia, and I urge you to make your judgment based on that. However, I understand that the discussion may not move forward without additional information. Therefore, I would like to present some facts for your consideration. I resided in the mansion from my birth until I turned ten years old. On my tenth birthday, I was sold to another noble because my Job was deemed useless and I was considered a failure. However, during the carriage ride to my new home, we were attacked by a cyclops. The noble and his escorts perished in the attack, but I managed to defeat the cyclops and later became a hunter in a nearby town.」
「That is your proof?」
「Do you know of anyone that can defeat a cyclops at 10 years old? If not a cyclops, then is there anyone of my age range who can handle a stampede, regardless of how small, on their own? What about ten wyverns? If there is none, then you should be able to understand that there’s something to me, right?」

While it absolutely doesn’t answer the question, our track record, which is honestly insane in hindsight, should be enough to convince them that there’s something different about us.

「Alright. Can we leave the final judgment to you, Fiiyanamia?」
「Yes, yes. It’s alright.」
「In that case, assuming that your words are true, what does Duke Rispelgia want to do?」
「Honestly, what indeed?」

Regarding this, I honestly don’t know. After all, even turning Ciel into a god was just a checkpoint for his goal. Specifically, a god’s virgin blood. As for what it could be used for, I guess for making medicine or some sort of philosopher’s stone? Well, I have no idea.

I provided an honest answer, but Mr. Henchman standing next to Dourthe clicked his tongue as if to say, “You couldn’t even figure that out?”

Currently, he’s the only other human here but if those that left earlier were present right now, then someone probably would have interrupted at this point.

「It’s not as if I was there to investigate. I was only there as an imprisoned test subject.」
「To begin with, to begin with! Aren’t you expecting too much from a child that hasn’t even reached adulthood? Altro, was it? If I’m not mistaken, you have a 13-year-old daughter in your family, no? Immediately sell that child to the empire at south and have her investigate from the inside, alright?」
「H-how can you say that! That sort of thing, it’s obviously impossible, isn’t it!」

The henchman —Altro— responded to Fiiyanamia’s statement in a fluster. Fiiyanamia is currently smiling, but given her demeanor, it is unclear whether her smile indicates enjoyment or anger.

「Right now, you clicked your tongue because Cielmer didn’t have much information, didn’t you? In other words, you think it’s natural for a girl not even 10 years of age to investigate the goals of an organization imprisoning her, yes? Your daughter is 13 year old. She’s much older compared to Cielmer at her time. In that case, she can then investigate perfectly, don’t you agree?」
「T-that’s…」
「You are freeloaders, Cielmer is a guest. You wouldn’t tell me that you don’t realize the difference, would you? Well if you don’t, then I’ll simply have you leave.」

With Fiiyanamia’s words, Altro fell silent. Somehow, I feel left behind despite being the concerned party here, but since Fiiyanamia said what I wanted to say, I honestly felt refreshed.

「Can I ask something?」

Yunmica who was only listening up until now spoke up.

「It’s fine if you only answer with what you can say and know, but this duke’s goal isn’t the Spirits, is it?」

I see, since I, a human Song Princess, am strangely fawned on by a spirit, she was worried about that. True. If one can have spirits do their bidding, then they could practically do anything with the world.

「While I don’t know what Duke Rispelgia’s end goal is, he seems to be fixated on gods and not spirits. I was originally a failure that resulted from an attempt to create a god, you see. However, I have no idea what he plans to do after creating a god.」
「…I see, understood. Thank you.」

Despite informing her that spirits aren’t involved, for some reason Yunmica showed a negative reaction. In my opinion, she should be overjoyed that spirits aren’t involved here. Actually, no, being overjoyed probably would be an exaggeration.

Hearing this exchange, this time it was Dourthe who reacted.

「Create a god, you say?」
「That’s why I suspect that the Artificial Divine Messenger was created by Duke Rispelgia.」
「… In that case, we’ll have to wait for Fiiyanamia’s judgment, huh.」
「Alright, alright. So this is the end of this discussion, yes? If so, I’ll be guiding Cielmer to my mansion then.」

With that, we were abducted by Fiiyanamia.

Hiya~! With Fiiyanamia’s entrance, the discussion ended swiftly and without much interjections! Also, it appears that we’ll be seeing Fiiyanamia’s mansion next chapter, lol.

First of all, whew, all the annoying people were immediately kicked out, lol. The fact that Fiiyanamia can potentially sense anything and hear everything within her own territory is really unfair, lol. However, it doesn’t seem like the people know about that, so they probably can’t detect her magic power all over the place too. Also, as revealed before, our princesses are treated as “guests” for some reason and even treated better than the “freeloaders”, which is natural, but it begs the question, why? Which is also something that Ain wonders regarding how they’re to be invited to Fiiyanamia’s mansion.

After that, continuing the trend of Ain savagely rebuking hypocrisy from last chapter, geez Fiiyanamia is absolutely savage, lol. The part with Altro’s daughter is my personal favourite. “Oh, you expect a child to do perfect spywork? Good thing you also have a child, now have her do spywork.” Also, the Hunter Guild is now confirmed to be a potential force against the duke. Also, Ain’s self reflection on how crazy their track record has been so far, lol.

Now then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please feel free to comment. Stay clean, stay safe, and have a nice day~!