The Black Magician (3)
“……Yeah. That’s right. The identity of the vigilante the public knows about is actually me.”
After roughly thirty minutes of relentless interrogation, Chartia finally spilled the truth. I had already figured it out the moment I saw her reaction when I first brought up the vigilante, of course.
Still, guessing and actually wringing a confession out of her were two very different things.
“I see.”
I said it flatly and pressed hard against my temples. The headache was bad enough that I didn’t think I could keep going otherwise.
“M-Maria? Are you okay?”
“I’m currently busy berating my past self.”
“Mmm…… I kind of expected that reaction, but still. Classic you.”
Ahh, why in the world had I been such a perfect human being that Chartia actually wanted to get closer to me?
If I’d been even a little less perfect, she never would have decided she wanted an equal relationship with me. And if she hadn’t wanted that, she never would have started craving power so badly that she turned into a vigilante.
No—more than that, why had I suggested something as ridiculous as “pray to the Goddess” the first time I met her?
If I hadn’t said that, Chartia never would have gained holy power. Without holy power she couldn’t reinforce her body, and without that she never could have gone around playing vigilante.
……Come to think of it, wasn’t this entirely the Goddess’s fault for giving Chartia holy power in the first place?
Who the hell would have expected her to actually hand out holy power like that?!
Fine. This whole mess was one hundred percent the Goddess’s fault.
Once I reached the conclusion that none of it was my responsibility, I felt a little better. Right. Somehow keep the smile on, reassure Chartia, and keep the conversation going.
I needed to know something—anything—if I was going to deal with this.
“…So why did you suddenly decide to start acting as a vigilante?”
“You’re the one who told me, Maria. When you pray to the Goddess, don’t just ask for what you want—offer something you’ll give in return.”
“…I did say that.”
“Back then I promised, in my own way, that I would help other people.”
“And that ‘way’ turned out to be vigilante work?”
“Yep!”
…This girl quietly had a completely nonstandard way of thinking. When a normal person wanted to help others, didn’t they usually think of volunteer work or something? How did her brain jump straight to “become a vigilante”?
In my case, sure—the blessing the Goddess gave me was the Grace of Bombardment, and I couldn’t use a single priest skill, so I had no choice but to go out on the battlefield and call that “devotion.”
But Chartia, even if she was still clumsy at it, could heal with holy power. Unlike me, she had plenty of other options.
And between vigilante work and volunteer work, which one was less of a threat to personal safety? Volunteer work, obviously.
The fact that she still chose the vigilante path made me suspect Chartia and “normal” might be farther apart than I thought.
“Do other people know?”
“Father knows, at least.”
“…I see.”
The Emperor knew, and yet no one had put the brakes on Chartia’s activities? That basically meant the imperial family was turning a blind eye.
In other words, the imperial family was allowing their princess to run around playing vigilante. No matter how many guards you attached, there was a world of difference between staying inside the imperial palace and wandering around outside it.
That was the same as saying they had partially given up on the princess’s safety.
It wasn’t as if the imperial family didn’t understand how important a child carrying the Emperor’s blood was. Was there some circumstance I didn’t know about?
Out of respect for Chartia’s wishes? Or had the founding Emperor’s own vigilante activities left some kind of influence?
……I still had no idea what the imperial family was thinking.
Whether she could sense my mood or not, Chartia’s expression was bright. Well, of course it was. Someone who took pride in her vigilante work was talking about said vigilante work—why wouldn’t she look happy?
Fine. As long as you’re happy, that’s what matters.
I tried to cool the insides that were burning to a crisp with some fruit juice. The lingering chill seemed to help settle my stomach a little.
“Then the reason you came outside today… don’t tell me that was also for vigilante work?”
“Yeah. I was checking the infiltration route for my next target. I’ve started getting famous enough that they’ve begun tightening security. But I’m still going to work hard—for the people of the capital and for the Goddess.”
No matter how I looked at it, I seriously doubted the Goddess wanted anything of the sort.
Anyway, there didn’t seem to be anything left to dig into.
Thinking about it, the fact that no major incidents had blown up so far meant the imperial family was handling things competently.
They might even be turning her vigilante activities to their advantage. The rumors spreading through the capital might very well be ones the imperial family itself was deliberately seeding.
“Devoting yourself to others is fine, but your own safety is just as important. Be careful.”
As I said it, I shifted my gaze toward Chartia’s escort.
“Please take good care of our Char.”
“…You need not worry. I will protect Her Highness the Princess even if it costs me my life.”
“Maria, you’re such a worrywart! And the one who needs to be careful is you, not me! No matter how dangerous vigilante work is, is it really more dangerous than going out onto the battlefield?”
“…When you put it like that, I’ve got nothing left to say.”
Thinking about it, maybe I had overreacted. Compared to going out onto the battlefield and fighting life-or-death battles against demonkin, vigilante work really was child’s play.
…Don’t tell me the imperial family also decided it was nothing special compared to me? And so they allowed the vigilante activities with the attitude of “just don’t go out onto the battlefield”?
Huh. That guess actually sounded uncomfortably plausible.
While I was thinking that, Chartia looked at Andreus and said:
“Please take good care of our Maria, okay?”
She threw my own words right back at me. She was actually going to counter like that?
Andreus answered without missing a beat.
“You need not worry. I will do everything in my power so that she may possess the strength to overcome any hardship that comes her way.”
“…That sounds an awful lot like ‘I will do everything in my power to work her to the bone.’”
“Is not the best escort of all a method that can guarantee safety even without any guards nearby?”
The Bombardment Fairy remarks that that might actually be correct.
Yeah. If you just ignored the part where I was going to suffer until I died, sure.
Still, for all my grumbling, I still remembered. I remembered Andreus’s back as he risked his life to block the Four Heavenly Kings’ attacks.
If I had to pick the single most trustworthy person at this point in time, I would choose Andreus without a second of hesitation. That moment had left that deep an impression.
Of course, if non-living things were allowed, it was bombardment. Bombardment-nim, who even drove back the Four Heavenly Kings—when it came to pure firepower, I trusted you completely!
Just as I was about to continue with more of that nonsense, Chartia’s escort carefully approached her and whispered something.
After listening to everything the escort said, Chartia carefully rose from her seat.
“…Apparently it’s time to head back. Meeting after so long made the time fly by. Yeah… I’m really going to miss this.”
“We’ll see each other again.”
“That’s true. Oh—how about you come to the imperial palace this time, Maria?”
“If the imperial palace has a training ground that can still keep its shape after I fire bombardment into it, I’ll go anytime.”
Having something like that would actually be nice. It would mean I could fire until my limit at the palace and then come back to the Holy See and still fire another thirty shots.
Not that anything like that existed.
When I said that, Chartia let out a disbelieving little snort of laughter.
“Then I guess I’ll just have to come to the Holy See instead. Anyway, see you next time!”
She waved lightly in my direction. I waved back in answer.
I watched Chartia leave for a moment, then stood up myself.
“Shall we continue our sightseeing—no, our terrain and geography survey?”
There was still a long time left before the day ended. Andreus nodded and answered.
“As you command.”
…I really needed to pick a day and buy Andreus a gift or something. I owed him far too much; I had to repay him somehow.
With that thought, I started considering where we should go next.
And so, using “terrain and geography survey” as our excuse, we thoroughly enjoyed a pleasant capital tour. The next day arrived.
Starting today, it was time to begin the real search for the black magician.
Of course, there was nothing I myself could do. Still, if I stuck close to Andreus, maybe I’d learn something.
“…Hmm.”
And as we walked through the capital and received reports from the holy knights we met, Andreus’s expression grew steadily darker.
Dark enough that I couldn’t stand not asking.
I carefully chose and re-chose my words so as not to poke at his mood.
“Um… are you running into difficulties with the search?”
“Ah. It seems I’ve caused you concern. It’s nothing major. The rat hiding in the capital appears to have learned a few tricks of its own.”
In other words, the black magician was very good at covering their tracks. …This was starting to feel off. Was this a bigger incident than I’d expected?
“We will have the black magician by the scruff of the neck within three days, so please do not worry.”
And three days later.
The Holy Knights had not found the black magician—nor even a single trace of them.