Chapter 186
Chapter 186
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 186
Chapter Title: Shadow of Corin (2)
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Unfortunately, I had to skip breakfast. El, still half-asleep, went downstairs in my place and ate my meal, while I sandwiched a pat of butter between a piece of freshly baked bread and headed back to my room.
Louis seemed to have shed the haughty aristocratic attitude from the night before. He no longer called me "hey" or "Druid," treating me with considerable courtesy instead.
"Didn't you say my help wasn't needed?"
"......"
"You said Lloyd alone would suffice. Clearly."
"After hearing Lloyd's honest advice, I changed my mind."
"Hmm."
"I want to apologize for my rude behavior last night. Theodore, I..."
"......"
"I need your help. Please forgive me."
Nobles typically didn't offer apologies. In this pseudo-medieval land where birth and status equated to power, they had no need for such things. They weren't even taught how to apologize in the first place. For someone raised that way to apologize to a commoner—no, a Druid whose origins were unknown...
"I accept."
Refusing would be foolish. Especially when it came with a title like "The One Who Received an Apology from the Second Son of the Corin Family." I gave Louis a gentle smile.
"Then, shall we hear the details now?"
Louis, still anxious but grasping at a thread of hope, began to spill his story.
* * *
Louis's tale was astonishing.
For such a thing to happen in "Corin," a place so influential it could plausibly oversee the eastern reaches of the Barak Empire.
"So, the one gathering mercenaries now isn't your father, but..."
"My brother, Dawood."
"......"
A name absent from my memories. As far as I knew, the lord of Corin was Louis Corin, not Dawood Corin. I'd never even heard the "D" in Dawood...
'That means something's changed here too.'
It would be nice if it were all coincidence, but...
'...It's no coincidence.'
Because I took El in, Lloyd learned the Reinhardt family hadn't been wiped out and chose to stay with her instead of returning to the Imperial Knights. Without Lloyd, Louis Corin left the Imperial Knights and returned to Corin territory. Feeling his position threatened by Louis's return, Dawood Corin betrayed his father to seize the lordship...
"Butterfly effect..."
Like the theory where a butterfly's wing flap on one side of the Earth stirs a typhoon on the other—my rescue of El from the cursed land had snowballed into an event shaking the entire Corin territory.
Entirely plausible. But one thing nagged at me...
'Dawood Corin moving so hastily to eliminate his father.'
Currently, the one most staunchly supporting Dawood—who had no notable achievements compared to Louis Corin—as heir was none other than the Lord of Corin himself. The lord's backing was what solidified Dawood's position most firmly. Yet Dawood was trying to remove that very father?
That part felt off. I sensed some "intervention." The same dark "conspiracy" I'd felt in Lyset and Dihid...
"Who's the person Dawood keeps closest these days?"
Louis pondered for a moment before answering uncertainly.
"...Fabio."
"Good. From here, let me guess. This Fabio..."
"......"
"He's not from around here. No, not from the Empire at all. He probably claims to be from the Ekaitz Confederacy."
If he were Empire-born, his past could be easily investigated, so he wouldn't lie that way. Barak Empire folk tended to look down on westerners, making Roshan origins unlikely. That left three options: Lyset, Solen, or the Ekaitz Confederacy. Unless he was an elf, he couldn't pass as Lyset-born; unless a mage, Solen wouldn't fly. So, inevitably, "Ekaitz Confederacy." Louis's shocked expression confirmed my guesses hit the mark.
"The two of you meet only at night. Never with attendants, just the two of you. You grew suspicious and tailed him, but..."
"......!"
"You never saw him meeting anyone besides Dawood."
"H-How do you know all this...?"
Louis gaped, looking back and forth between Lloyd and me. Lloyd just shrugged, and I smirked in response. It was predictable enough by now.
"The Crows."
"Cr...Crows?"
"They've chosen Dawood this time."
"Th-them?"
"Brace yourself, Louis."
"......!"
"What you're up against now isn't ordinary folk."
* * *
I put on quite the show in front of Louis, but if the Crows had truly reached into Corin, it was grave. From Dihid to the Dawson estate, and now Corin... They were stirring chaos across nearly the entire Barak Empire.
"......"
Could I resolve all this?
I couldn't save everyone. That was the hard lesson from my adventures so far. Unlike reality, where a joystick could bend the world's fate, here...
There were things I simply couldn't save.
Even as I worried about Corin's fate, tragedies claiming lives were unfolding somewhere right now.
What did the one who brought me here want?
'I can't save everyone...'
I'd downplayed it in front of Louis, but the crushing pressure bore down on my body—no, my soul.
-Piiing.
Then, Ppippi—who'd been tussling playfully with Legion on the bed—fluttered over as if sensing my turmoil and perched on my fingertip. Tilting its head, it peered up at me with its big, black round eyes.
-Pip!
The two feathers on Ppippi's tail sparkled: one purple, one white. Born from repelling the Crows and reclaiming the "fragment." I fiddled with the shimmering feathers and murmured.
"If all goes well, I can reclaim the fragment this time too."
-Piiit!
It flapped its wings eagerly in agreement.
"But if I fail to get the fragment..."
-Pip?
"What happens to me?"
In reality, I'd just quit the game and retry. But here... "retry" wasn't an option. No one knew what failure meant.
Corin was a major city. Far grander than anywhere I'd passed through. Luck had carried me through past incidents, but this was different. In a pillar of the Empire like Corin, politics, military, money—all had to be considered.
For my personal safety alone, staying out of Corin affairs made sense. But...
-Pippii.
"......"
Considering how many had died wherever the Crows reached, I couldn't just walk away.
Right.
At some point, this had stopped being just a "game."
So...
"...I'll have to keep going, even if it's tough?"
-Pip!
Ppippi gently nuzzled my fingertip. Warmth spread through me.
No save button, uncertain future—still, I had to press on.
'I can do it. My real life never had a save button anyway.'
I couldn't always get perfect results, but giving my all held meaning.
Failing to save everyone didn't justify ignoring the people right in front of me.
So...
"For now, let's save Corin."
* * *
-Cawww.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Just hold on a bit."
I neatly trimmed the leaves sprouting from the branches acting as Blackie's legs, then released it. Just in case Blackie got caught, to avoid suspicion.
This dawn patrol over Corin had found no Crows. But night would be different. Louis's words had solidified my certainty.
They'd send Crows every night. The "Crow path" for messages. If Blackie found it, then...
'Pretend to be one of their Crows and steal the missives.'
If it went to plan. I used [Gift of the Forest] on a berry branch, feeding Blackie the fresh fruits infused with shamanic power. It wouldn't tire even flying all night.
"Be careful out there, Blackie."
-Caw!
After devouring the berries, it pecked curiously at its odd-feeling legs, then settled by the window. I opened it, and after a glance back, it soared into the cold night sky.
"Alright, time for us to prepare too. El, the carriage?"
"It's ready outside!"
We slipped quietly from the inn. And...
"Wooow... It works on more than just people!"
I draped the shadow cloak over Storm. As Storm vanished transparently, El gasped in awe. I tightened the knots to keep it secure and replied.
"It's all about thinking differently. I played a ton of *Mon when I was a kid, so I've got good creativity."
"Huh?"
"It's a thing. Knowing too much hurts."
The shadow cloak reshaped to fit the wearer. I'd noticed it adjusting length for my height difference with El and Lloyd. On Storm, it was bigger than a decent blanket.
Rumors of a "ghost carriage" would spread too—Storm's invisible pull would make it look like a horse-less specter. Even if spotted, folks would dismiss it as a trick of the eye. Perfect for stealth.
"Let's move out."