Noblesse
While Hilde was in the middle of speaking with the others, a murmur rose around them. The nobles were casting sidelong glances in their direction.
The reason soon became clear: someone familiar was walking toward them.
"Well, well. Congratulations on a successful mission. I’d heard bits and pieces from the capital. I’m afraid I caused you quite a bit of trouble back then. Haha."
Ian, the captain of the royal knights, said this with an awkward smile. Unlike when he was on duty, he had dressed himself in formal evening wear, which gave him a rather gentlemanly air. Even now, whenever he recalled the conversation he’d had the first time he dueled Hilde, he still felt like kicking his blanket in mortification. The way Wui had treated him like a child was beyond anything he could measure.
'How did I ever dare act so arrogant toward someone that strong...'
It was a past he wished he could erase from memory, but it was also a connection, and so the least he could do was come congratulate her in person. Hilde curved the corners of her eyes faintly, as if it meant nothing at all.
"Not at all. I know it wasn’t a seat offered to you because you truly wanted to come. Please don’t worry yourself over it."
Hilde had already heard everything from the Pope the day before the duel. The Pope, who seemed oddly preoccupied with reading Hilde’s mood, had carefully explained the situation in a subdued voice, clearly worried she might become displeased.
Duke Carius ban Ilate.
He was the one who had interfered and stolen away Ian’s time with her.
Ian bore no ill will toward him; he was just a victim of the kind of workplace where you did what your superior told you to do. Still, the Duke of Carius looked rotten to the core, and Ian had been curious what sort of scheme he was planning. It was strange that he had stayed quiet.
Ian’s eyes widened with visible emotion.
"Ah, as expected! Lady Hilde, your character is just as admirable as your strength. I’m not flattering you when I say this, but I’m going to donate faithfully to the church from now on."
Hilde thought, for a moment, that it was a pity.
'That money isn’t coming to me anyway.'
But she kept smiling and answered, "Thank you. I’m sure the goddess will always watch over Sir Ian."
"To be honest, people used to make a fool of me behind my back, but lately I’ve been walking around with my shoulders back. Hahaha!"
Ian’s subordinates, watching from afar, all dropped their jaws. They couldn’t tell whether they were dreaming or awake.
"So our captain can make that kind of face too."
"He always scowled and worked us like dogs. But in front of Lady Hilde, he’s turned into a puppy."
They whispered so quietly that their captain wouldn’t hear them. He, after all, was a man who had already reached a high realm; if those words reached him, they might be in for a world of hurt that very day.
"Hehe. For Sir Ian’s sake, we’ll have to work even harder."
"Ah. It’s an honor, Your Holiness."
The saintess laughed as she spoke. Perhaps because she’d had a little drink, her mood had drifted pleasantly upward.
Then a man approached Hilde and the others.
"Excuse me. This is a message from Duke Carius ban Ilate."
A servant said this while bowing with all due ceremony. Agatha, her brow slightly furrowed, replied, "What is it the duke wants?"
At Agatha’s sharp tone, the servant lowered his head even further.
"As compensation for the mistake he made toward Lady Hilde the other day, the duke requests a private audience. He says he will present a very expensive item in the reception room near the banquet hall."
"Then why doesn’t he come here and give it himself? Why send someone to summon us like this?"
To the saintess’s question, the servant answered, "Because if such an object were displayed in a place with so many eyes on it, it could lead to all sorts of unnecessary talk. The duke intends to present one of the mythical items to Lady Hilde."
Mythical items were special artifacts created in an age when goddesses and heavenly beings occasionally descended into the mortal realm and lived alongside humans.
No one knew where they had come from, or who had made them, or how; they had simply been passed down through time, each one bearing an astonishing power. Across the entire continent, there were fewer than a hundred such items, and even the least practical among them was worth an entire nation’s budget.
"Still, something about this feels off... Isn’t a mythical item a bit much just to make up for a mistake like that?"
The saintess had a bad feeling. No matter how rich Duke Carius was, a mythical item was on a different level altogether. There had to be some kind of catch.
But to Hilde, it felt like fortune had fallen right into her lap.
'This is a total windfall. Even if the duke’s plotting something, it’ll only be the sort of trap humans can set. If Duke Carius really has a mythical item, that must be genuine.'
If he was truly calling her to apologize, then she could accept it with a smile and be done with it. If not, then she could simply give the duke a lesson he wouldn’t forget.
"All right. Please lead the way. Though I don’t have much time, that should be fine, right?"
The saintess leaned close to Hilde’s ear.
"You’re really going? Even so, your opponent is nobility above the rank of a duke."
Hilde looked at the saintess and gave her a crooked smile. The saintess let the tension slip from her shoulders. Hilde was obedient enough, but when she set her mind on something, no one could stop her.
"I’ll escort you. This way, then...."
"I’ll be right back~"
Waving as she walked away, Hilde left Agatha and Irene with a strange, uneasy feeling they couldn’t quite shake. Still, since Hilde was not an ordinary person by any stretch, they decided to trust her.
By the time Hilde left the banquet hall, dusk had already deepened into night. The plants and flowers that professional gardeners had carefully tended for this very evening swayed softly in the wind.
The servant guided her skillfully through the maze-like garden, leading her deeper and deeper along its winding paths. After a few minutes on foot, they reached a place hemmed in on three sides by dense shrubbery.
The servant stopped and felt around the ground. Soon after, he opened a door set into the floor, and beneath it stretched a long staircase lit by torches, sinking far into the dark.
Turning back, the servant bowed and said, "If you go down this way, there will be a door at the end. Just open it and go in. Then I’ll take my leave...."
Having finished his guidance, the servant bowed once more and withdrew. Left alone all at once, Hilde scratched her head.
Huh....
Something smelled distinctly fishy.
'Well, whatever. Let’s see what they’re trying.'
For now, she went down. She was confident she could escape anything that happened. Even if this entire basement were to collapse, she could probably break through and rise to the surface. If they were thinking of harming her somehow, they were in for a rude awakening.
Tap. Tap.
The stone steps knocked against her heels, making a sharp sound. Fortunately, just as the rustling of her dress was beginning to get on her nerves, she reached her destination. Light was leaking through the crack beneath the door, as though someone were inside.
When Hilde turned the knob and opened it, the door swung smoothly inward.
In the center of the room stood a round table laid out with tea and dessert, and against one wall, three precious objects were displayed on a glass shelf.
Hilde’s eyes sparkled as she admired the familiar-looking items.
'Oh. The mythical items are real after all. Amazing. They even have this one? If I hadn’t come, this could’ve been a disaster.'
From left to right were items known as Archi’s Mask, the Heavenly Ladder, and Velosi’s Hideout. Among them, the Heavenly Ladder was especially valuable; if one knew how to use it, it could grant access to the land of the heavenly race.
Later on, if she ever met heavenly beings who might help in the conquest of the demon realm, the difficulty could drop dramatically.
While Hilde was still gawking at them, a lean man entered through a door connected to the inner room. He was a middle-aged noble of the highest rank, dressed in fine, immaculate clothing, with his hair neatly slicked back. His face was already sly-looking enough, but the bristling moustache only made it more pronounced.
"Hoho. You seem to like them. They are my treasures, you know."
Looking more closely, Hilde saw that what she had taken for a glass barrier was actually a specially treated mineral. It would not budge under an ordinary attack.
"Are you really giving me a mythical item?"
At Hilde’s words, Duke Carius burst into a hearty laugh. He gestured toward the table and took a seat.
"Of course. It seems my message wasn’t delivered properly. Come, sit here first."
Hilde sat down opposite the duke. Carius picked up an inverted teacup, set it on the table, and poured her pure tea.
The duke, slowly savoring the aroma, took a sip without a sound. Hilde, staring at the tea before her, found herself swallowing unconsciously.
'What’s with this? It suddenly looks delicious. I didn’t even like tea that much.'
Lost in thought, she snapped back to attention at the duke’s voice.
"I truly am sorry for the trouble I caused you before."
"Well, I suppose things like that can happen. If you’re an ordinary person, it’s hard not to doubt it."
"I’m delighted to hear you say that. I still regret what happened back then. Let me bow again and apologize."
Hilde was a little startled. She hadn’t expected Carius, one of the highest authorities in Marinella’s nobility, to actually bow his head.
Her guard was beginning to lower a little. Maybe she’d been too cautious. Was he just some harmless, friendly old fool after all?
"It’s fine. That’s all in the past now. You don’t need to worry so much."
Suddenly, the tea gave off a very sweet fragrance. Since the duke was drinking it too, she didn’t think he’d done anything especially suspicious.
Holding her cup in one hand, she heard the duke speak again.
"Still, words alone would hardly uphold the honor of the Ilate family. Though I can only offer you one, choose whichever you desire most. I do hope you’ll find my gift useful."
Hilde, who had been secretly greedy for all three, shook her head inwardly. To come away from an incident like this with even one mythical item was practically the same as getting it for free.
Hilde took a slurp of tea to soothe her dry throat.
"All right. Will you give it to me now?"
"Hoho. You’re more impatient than I expected, young lady. You’ve already decided, I see. Say the word, and I’ll bring it out at once."
"The one that seems most useful to me right now. Please give me the Heavenly Ladder."
At that, the duke looked puzzled. He rose and walked over to the shelf where the mythical items were kept, removing the barrier with a dedicated artifact as he said, "The Heavenly Ladder? That’s a name I’ve never heard, but... which one do you mean?"
Hilde mentally scolded herself for the mistake. The mythical items had been passed down for generations, but in many cases neither their names nor their methods of use had been properly recorded. The Heavenly Ladder, especially, was the sort of thing only a handful of people had ever used.
"Ah... the one that looks like a winged brooch. I happened to learn about it while studying ancient myths."
"Haha. Whether or not I understand your choice, you’re taking the finest thing among them."
Understanding her request, the duke reached out and took the Heavenly Ladder from its place. At that very moment, Hilde began to feel her head spin and her breathing grow shallow, and she was startled by the way the duke’s voice seemed to warp, as though it were sinking underwater.
'What’s happening all of a sudden? Ngh!'
Gradually, strength drained from her body, and her upper half pitched forward. The teacup she had brushed aside slipped from the table, crashed to the floor, and shattered with a sharp ring.
Struggling to hold on to her fading consciousness, Hilde looked up at the duke. Through her wavering vision, she saw the corners of his mouth lift into a broad smile.
"It’s supposed to take effect immediately, but how long this has dragged on."
'Damn it. So this was the duke’s trick. But what the hell is this?'
Hilde tried to activate her divine power, her body trembling uncontrollably. There was nothing in the world that could resist holy power, not even poison.
But the drug’s effects pressed in harder and harder, and Hilde’s mind slipped further away as her eyelids grew heavy. In the faint, fading corners of her awareness, she heard the duke’s low, satisfied voice.
"Kekeke. Did you really think I’d hand a mythical item over to a little bitch like you? Naive little fool. By the time you wake up, it’ll all be over."