Chapter 139

Become the mistress of the Rubel Ducal House.

If this wasn’t simply some bizarre anomaly, I figured there had to be an intentional design hidden behind this incomprehensible quest.

And I thought that maybe, just maybe, it was the long-cherished desire of the wrongfully slain Belita.

If that deduction was correct, then I…

‘I was wrong.’

Belita had feelings for Jeffrey.

Not just as a normal spy and her master, but genuinely.

If so, that meant the true target of the quest was Jeffrey.

Of course, there was a chance this deduction could be wrong.

‘No, no it isn’t.’

Actually, I’m almost certain.

If this weren’t the case, the system wouldn’t have bothered granting me a trait that allows direct communication with Belita.

‘Shit. I’m screwed.’

I shouldn’t have saved Robert?

Let me be honest.

I kinda wanted to slip into a bit of denial.

I didn’t want to admit that my choice to save Robert was a mistake.

‘Why am I getting bad karma for doing a good deed?’

If things are like this, the tedious chore of chasing Robert out and seating Jeffrey on the ducal throne has to be done all over again…

‘No, wait. It might not be difficult.’

Isn’t what Jeffrey scheming right now precisely finding a weakness on Robert?

‘Then let’s just go with that.’

Originally, I’d planned to protect Robert from Jeffrey after a razor-thin tightrope walk, but I could just drop that.

From now on, I’ll thoroughly play the role of the villain’s minion!

And since Robert conveniently self-sabotaged by running off, it’s not like Jeffrey becoming the Duke is an impossible scenario.

In fact, it’s a blessing in disguise!

[ “Belita.” ]

-Yes?

[ “You really like Jeffrey a lot, don’t you? Is that why you’re doing a grueling job like being a spy?” ]

-Ah, no. I’m just working…

[ “You secretly want to get married and stuff, right?” ]

-Pardon?

[ “You want to marry Jeffrey, don’t you?” ]

-Oh come on, marriage?! How could a dreamy thing like that… Ah.

I, who have to turn that dreamy thing into reality, felt my future grow bleak.

[ “I’ll make it happen for you.” ]

Then it’s good for you, and good for me.

Two birds with one stone.

After pondering without a word for a moment, Belita asked me in a rather serious tone.

-…How on earth is that even possible?

Okay, she’s taking the bait.

It’s basically equivalent to establishing a joint front with Belita.

-W-Wait. Why on earth are you trying to make something like that happen, Mister? We should be thinking about getting our bodies back first!

That’s true. But I can’t explain that unless I start talking about the quest.

Click!

“Belita.”

…!!

Because I poured all my concentration into the voice of Belita echoing inside my head, I hadn’t even noticed who was approaching from behind.

Noah spoke to me while keeping the door open just wide enough for a hand to slip through.

“It looks like everyone’s had a pretty good rest. Everyone’s awake now.”

“Really? Got it. I’ll head inside and talk.”

-Are we going to abandon this fortress and move somewhere else?

Well, who knows. Until just a moment ago, I was planning to do that, but my mind’s changed.

I squeezed myself down and sat among the three people huddled tightly inside the small room.

“Hey, Belita.”

Drott, perked up on a relatively clean cargo box, initiated the conversation first.

“You do know we’re completely cut off, right?”

Drott was right.

Even if supplies might be adequate now that the head count had dropped, considering the entire fortress was surrounded by magical beasts, we were essentially in a state where we couldn’t take a single step forward or backward.

“But Lord Drott. When I looked outside earlier, there weren’t any magical beasts. Maybe they’ve all left already.”

“Really?”

Drott looked at me with a peculiar gaze.

It was as if he was asking, Did you handle them?

“They haven’t all vanished. But it does seem like their numbers have decreased.”

“Then what are we going to do, Big Sis?”

“Hey. Why is she ‘Big Sis’ and I’m ‘Mister’? I’m younger than her, you know?”

“Oh, is that so? I didn’t know, Mister.”

“Since you baby her just because she’s young…!”

What a chaotic mess.

When I let out an open sigh, the two people who were about to raise their voices checked my expression and abruptly stopped talking.

It’s convenient when both of them understand all too well who holds the leash on their lives.

“I think holding out here isn’t a bad idea. It’s better than running out there and getting killed in some freak scream.”

“Hey, are you out of your mind? We should be thinking about getting home fast! Why hold out here?!”

Drott clutched his head and wailed.

“Hey, let’s go back, please~! I honestly can’t stay here a second longer!”

“Mister. Didn’t you volunteer to come here to wipe out the wicked horde of magical beasts ravaging our ducal territory? Why are you such a coward!”

Seriously, though.

How can a fully grown adult male be whining more than a middle schooler, of all things?

My ears were on the verge of bleeding.

“Belita. Is it because you’re worried the Duke might come back here…?”

A pair of eyes filled with anxiety reflected me.

Ah, well, I did say something like that earlier.

That the reason Robert dragged the knight order out was to deal with the magical beasts.

“Wait, the magical beasts thinning out—could it be because of the Duke, too?”

“As if? Ha! Ridiculous. Did you actually believe that? Duke Robert just ran away! Sacrificing us as offerings!”

Drott scoffed and spilled the uncomfortable truth.

Noah and Luca’s wavering gazes turned toward me.

It looked like they were asking if it was true.

There was no reason to cover for Robert anymore. I gave a slow nod.

“Earlier, I lied on purpose to keep everyone calm so they wouldn’t panic. The Duke never told me anything like that. Seeing as he’s nowhere to be seen, it looks like he ran away. Taking the main combat power of the knight order with him.”

At my answer, Luca plunged into despair, and Noah wore a complicated expression.
To lighten the mood, I decided to deliver some good news.

“The reason I suggested we hold out here is to wait for reinforcements. I heard that other vassal families, including Lord Jeffrey, are coming to support us.”

“They say Hiter Castle has to be passed through before reaching the barrier, but who knows when that’ll be? Can we even survive here until then?”

Does Drott trust his own superior, Jeffrey, that little?

I shook my head and replied.

“No. They’ll come.”

“On what grounds are you even—!”

-That’s right, Mister. That’s just too reckless.

I’m not just saying this.

Because in the event that just popped up…

Jeffrey is actually coming.

And…

The protagonist and the saintess are also following closely behind.

In other words, it’s locked in that two reliable reinforcement groups are coming.

“The Duke said the reinforcements would take about ten days. We have enough food for the four of us to last ten days, and the demonic energy contamination isn’t too severe yet…”

“Food isn’t the problem. Drinking water is.”

Drott cut in flatly.

Didn’t I hear Robert receiving a report that drinking water had been set aside in advance to prepare for demonic energy contamination the moment they arrived at Hiter Castle? If nothing else, shouldn’t there be drinking water?

“An emergency alarm went off right when we first arrived, so I’m sure of it. The drinking water is contaminated due to poor maintenance. Are these people out of their minds? Other things aside, they should have properly managed the drinking water, which is vulnerable to demonic energy!”

“Th-Then what we drank until yesterday was…”

“There was a little bit of uncontaminated drinking water left! Ha! If the bastard playing Duke ran away without even looking back, doesn’t that mean that was the end of it? Ah, would it just be that? He probably took whatever little was left to drink on his escape, too.”

-…

Noah looked at Drott, who was cursing Robert, while dry-swallowing with a bitter expression.

Seeing that he didn’t even attempt to defend him, it seemed Noah’s feelings toward Robert had settled down a lot by now.

And if the drinking water was contaminated, there was a way.

-What way? There’s no such thing as a way to purify contaminated drinking water!

“Wh-What do we do~, Big Sis!”

“My point exactly~! How long can a person go without drinking water again? Five days?”

With everyone kicking up a fuss all around, it’s intensely noisy in surround-sound.

-What are you going to do?

With the system, a supernatural phenomenon, navigating this situation isn’t impossible.
Though it has the drawback of being hard to explain. Let’s just fumble our way through it diligently like always.

“Everyone, calm down. I’ll do something about the drinking water. And if we’re short on water, it’ll be a problem even if we leave this place. Everything around here is thoroughly contaminated because of the magical beasts, so how are we supposed to get to the next fortress without clean water?”

…Everyone swallowed their groans and expressed agreement.

After that persuasion, the four of us all decided to wait for reinforcements.

And to secure ten days’ worth of food, we headed back to the storage room from earlier.
There were some magical beasts on the way, but only about five or six of them, and they didn’t even attack.

“Let’s never come back here, please.”

At Drott’s words, Noah and Luca also gave small nods.

I agree. Confronting the corpses lined up near the food storage isn’t a very pleasant activity.

And even though the weather is cold, the corpses will start decomposing soon.

Even if they’re separated by rooms, there’s no guarantee the food in the storage will be safe from the decaying gases.

Above all, it feels creepy.

I also hope this is our last visit.

-A week? Don’t be ridiculous. We’ve packed two weeks’ worth, so it’ll be fine.

That is true. We did shove in as much food as possible earlier, after all.

Carrying the bulging backpack over my shoulder, I urged the group to get moving.

This time, we also headed down to the basement where the drinking water was stored.

The underground water storage looked just like a wine cellar.

Instead of oak casks, there were giant glass bottles, and even faucets attached so water could be poured.

“It’s faint, but there’s a purple tint mixed in. We can’t drink this.”

Drott said, tapping the glass bottle with the back of his hand as if knocking.

Just as he said.

It wasn’t a lie that the drinking water was contaminated; purple mist was floating like shimmering heat waves inside the giant glass liquid container.

-It’s not heavily contaminated, but it’s enough to poison an ordinary person if they drink it consistently. Looks like around Level 3.

…Thanks for the guidance.

Having Belita makes things like this really convenient.

-Got to do at least this much.

And thank you again for thinking that way.

“Tougher knights like me might endure a bit. But you and the kid…”

Drott pointed straight at Luca and Noah with his thumb as he continued.

“Even if it’s not a direct ‘blech, I’m dead!’ the moment you drink it, symptoms will definitely show up.”

He even mimicked choking his own neck, making the guy look all the more frivolous.
However, that over-the-reaction seemed to work quite well on the kid, as a pale Luca asked with trembling hands.

“Wh-What kind of symptoms?”

“First, your face slowly dyes purple. And if you keep drinking…”

“If I do?”

Drot’s eyes curved playfully.

“At some point, your head goes pop! and explodes!”

“E-Explodes??”

“Of course! Demonic energy piles up inside your body and then kaboom~ like a bomb!”

Is it fun to toy with this kid…?

Noah’s expression wasn’t great either, but he looked like he didn’t believe the exploding part.

-I understand that the skin losing its vitality and turning blackish-brown is one of the symptoms, but no matter what, heads don’t explode.

I clicked my tongue in pity and spoke.

“Shall we try pouring some first?”