Chapter 154

Exam

There was something about the definition of a close friend being someone you could meet again after not seeing them for a long time, yet feel no awkwardness whatsoever.

If I followed that definition, then I could say that Aiden and Ganesha were very close friends.

After all, the moment we saw each other’s faces, I put my entire strength into swinging a kick at her jaw. By any standard, that situation was clearly far removed from anything that could be called awkward.

“…….”

“…….”

As the silence stretching from Ganesha—who lay sprawled on the floor, blinking her eyes—grew longer, I decided to speak first.

“You knew, didn’t you.”

“……Pardon?”

“From the moment I said I was going to the Holy Crown Kingdom. That I’d end up running into someone strange.”

“……Ah, that matter.”

Ganesha tried to smile shamelessly, but before she could, another centrifugal-force-laden kick from me flew toward her. This time, however, she seemed to have no intention of taking it, and swiftly rolled her body away.

“May I first ask how you came to know that I was related to that person?”

…Seeing how she had the composure to ask something like that before any follow-up attack could even come, it was obvious that she had knowingly taken the first hit.

In other words, she was fully aware that she had done something worth getting hit for.

“At a glance, that guy was clearly acquainted with Morrigan.”

“……Now that you mention it, that’s true.”

Since the incident in the Holy Crown Kingdom, I hadn’t had the chance to speak deeply with Morrigan, but it was at least clear that she had some point of contact with Elisha.

Every time she looked in that direction, there had definitely been a different air about her than usual.

If I traced back who had sent Morrigan to me in the first place, it was only natural that the connection would lead here as well.

“And yet you shamelessly showed up first. How could I not throw a punch?”

At the very least, she could have given me a hint about what kind of mess I would end up facing after meeting someone like that in the Holy Crown Kingdom.

When I muttered that with such thoughts in mind, Ganesha shrugged as if she couldn’t exactly refute the point.

“……Well, I do apologize for that. Our boss has quite a hot temper. Before I even had a proper chance to introduce you, he went ahead and made contact with you, Mr. Aiden.”

“…….”

Hearing that, I let out a quiet sigh and sat down on the sofa in the reception room.

“So, what did you come here for?”

“…….”

“What.”

“No, it’s just surprising. You beat someone up out of nowhere, and yet calm down with a single apology.”

“I can tell at a glance that you’re also the one suffering because of that side.”

“……Why are you speaking as though we share some bond of mutual suffering?”

Well, I supposed.

When it came to being tormented by women, wasn’t I more than qualified to claim an overflowing sense of shared understanding?

There was no doubt that compared to when I was first kidnapped by Noel and had my every move monitored, my life now was far tighter.

…Back then, at least she hadn’t investigated every single person around me one by one, had she?

She had even let me go out occasionally and hadn’t gone so far as to infringe on my personal freedom.

Even now, it wasn’t as if I were being imprisoned like some convict, but it was obvious that she reacted far more sensitively to my movements than before.

“Isn’t this harder than you expected……?”

“…….”

That said, being seriously worried over by this side was irritating in its own way.

So instead of continuing that topic, I let out a sigh and changed the subject.

“Who was that.”

“Pardon?”

“That person who called herself Elisha. The one who caused such a huge uproar this time.”

I knew Varga, the high-ranking demon, ‘Storyteller.’

To begin with, she hadn’t seemed particularly interested in hiding her name.

What I was curious about from this woman was the being she ‘served,’ one whose standing was high enough to be on par with Varga.

…I had never heard of such a figure.

And as far as I remembered,

there had been no mention anywhere in the original work of such an existence being involved.

Even if I wanted to trace back their identity, there wasn’t a single clue.

Then at the very least, I had to uncover some kind of lead from this side. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

But instead of answering, Ganesha gave a bitter smile and placed something down on the reception room table with a light thud.

“…Forget the gift and just answer the question, will you?”

“It’s a gift for Princess Katya. I heard she had been suffering recently because of her heightened senses.”

“…….”

“It’s an item crafted with great care at the workshop. I guarantee its effectiveness.”

…Again.

Unpleasantly enough, she was making it clear that they knew in detail what kind of situation we were in.

As I crossed my arms and stared at her flatly, she continued speaking without even attempting to wipe the smile from her face.

“As for explaining about that person, there’s no need for me to do so. She will come to see you herself soon enough.”

“…….”

“In fact, the reason I came this time, unlike last time, was to let you know that.”

“…Ah, is that so.”

I replied crookedly and glared at her, but Ganesha merely shrugged again.

“You don’t need to worry too much. It seems the Boss has taken quite a liking to you.”

“…….”

“It won’t be anything bad for you. I guarantee it.”

…Even so, the simple fact that some being was orchestrating various matters from afar was, without question, far from pleasant.

But before I could dwell further on that fact, Ganesha shrugged and continued speaking.

“More than that, I figured you might need things like this right away.”

“What?”

It didn’t seem necessary to press Ganesha any further about that matter.

At that very moment, I heard someone knocking at the entrance.

When I opened the door, a servant wearing a troubled expression hurriedly bowed.

“There’s a guest from the Tribal Alliance. They specifically requested Mr. Aiden.”

Specifically requested me, that was one thing.

But the fact that they interrupted while I was already meeting someone and made a point of informing me meant the visitor was clearly a distinguished guest.

Just as Ganesha had said.

…It seemed something had come crashing in again.

▣

“I’m Elena Ba Del. Nice to meet you.”

A woman with striking curly blonde hair said that as she grasped my hand and shook it.

The tattoo symbolizing her status as a member of the Tribal Alliance was impressive, but she was a peculiar person in that she lacked even a trace of the aggressive aura that people from that region usually exuded.

As I stared at her with somewhat unfocused eyes while thinking that, Elena, who met my gaze, tilted her head.

“What’s wrong? Is there something strange on my face?”

“…No.”

I had been smiling faintly as I looked straight at her, but I soon shook my head and returned the handshake.

“It’s just that it’s rare for someone to approach me with such a straightforward greeting.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Instead of explaining that after constantly dealing with lunatics lately, a normal greeting felt stranger than anything else, I silently observed her.

…A guest from the Great Plains.

Timing-wise, it wasn’t all that strange.

To begin with, the setting of Act III was the Great Plains, where the Tribal Alliance was located. From a logical standpoint, it wasn’t unreasonable for someone from that side to roll in here after Act II had concluded.

The timing was a bit early, but then again, the scenario had never once unfolded exactly as expected, so I could chalk it up to that.

The problem was—

…Why did she specifically single me out?

Elena Ba Del was one of the tribal chiefs who oversaw a faction of the Tribal Alliance, much like Dunadan Uzal whom I had met before.

True to the name Tribal Alliance, it was an organization composed of multiple chiefs. Being one of those chiefs undoubtedly carried weight equivalent to being a member of the Imperial Family in the Empire.

It went without saying that she wasn’t someone who could casually make appearances here and there.

And yet, a person of such high standing, with no prior connection to me, suddenly requested to meet me specifically…

…Why?

No, seriously, I had no idea what the reason could be.

While I stood there blankly observing my counterpart,

Elena Ba Del, for her part, had her own hidden agenda.

…So this was the guy who was supposed to be Noel’s husband.

As a comrade who had stood alongside her during the Allied War, Elena considered herself a close friend of Noel.

And from that friend’s perspective, Noel’s recent state was undeniably strange.

No, beyond strange—one could say she was almost on the verge of going out of control.

…Because of you, she was practically on the brink of paranoia, you bastard.

Though Noel herself tried not to show it, it was obvious that lately, countless prestigious families from the Empire had been sending love calls, all targeting this man.

As his fiancée, she was cutting them all off, but even so, perhaps she feared that his heart might change at any moment—she seemed to be growing more anxious by the day.

…Shouldn’t that not be the case?

For all she knew, the problem surely lay partly in this man’s own conduct.

Wasn’t it because he left every possible opening wide, wide open that such love calls kept pouring in?

From Elena’s perspective, a man who made his future spouse that insecure was already disqualified…!

I needed to test for myself whether you were truly worthy of Noel.

If he turned out to be the irredeemable womanizer and scoundrel she suspected, then no matter what it took, she would tear him away from Noel.

As she examined me from head to toe with sharp eyes, Elena mentally reviewed the reason she had come here in the first place.

…Had I known, I would undoubtedly have cried out, just who the hell are you, at such an intention.

▣

“…Hmm. So it seemed she approached him with that intention.”

“From a woman’s point of view, yes.”

Inside the Mental World, Meyer scratched his head after hearing Abigail III’s words.

It was something I myself was unaware of, but even when I was asleep and did not enter this place, they were always awake.

Recently, they had even become somewhat capable of perceiving the outside environment.

From that standpoint, evaluating the woman named Elena who had approached me was, for them, quite a decent pastime.

From the way she scrutinized me from head to toe with eyes that tested me from beginning to end, it was clear she intended to examine this man in some way…

The problem was—

“That girl. Isn’t she a fool who thinks she’s clever?”

“Hm?”

“Why doesn’t she consider the possibility that she might end up getting charmed herself?”

“…….”

“If that many people kept clinging to that brat, shouldn’t she at least consider that there might be a reason for it?”

…Oh.

Abigail III nodded as if that were indeed a reasonable point.