The Ashtar Clan (2)
The conversation with Katarina came up unexpectedly over dinner.
“So what I’m saying is…”
She suddenly seemed eager to build some kind of bond with her daughter, talking nonstop. The Duke didn’t show any sign of stopping her. Most of the stories were about what she herself had done when the first-generation head was bewitched by a succubus. In short, it was an excuse. Since she’d already apologized, she apparently felt the need to offer some justification. And honestly, when I listened, it sounded pretty plausible.
Anyway, the first generation was dead, and here I was. That was an unchangeable fact.
Come to think of it, there was something I wanted to ask.
“Mother, is Claire not here?”
“Why are you suddenly looking for Claire?”
I needed a skilled maid to look into Eldacrad’s records. And there was no servant as capable as Claire.
“There’s something I want to have her do.”
“Can you tell me what it is? She’s currently occupied with another task.”
No, even if I told you, you probably wouldn’t understand. If I told Claire, she’d naturally report it anyway. But this was something I wanted to handle alone.
“Hmm. Never mind. I’ll just call Seria or Kise, then.”
“I’ll call them over as quickly as possible.”
She looked strangely urgent. Was that okay? No, it was probably better not to call them at all.
Outside the mansion, Seria and Kise were glaring at each other.
Why were they like this? If Katarina was weird and these two were weird too, then during my stay here I’d have no decent human to assist me.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit childish for someone your age to still play with teddy bears? Shouldn’t you be a puppeteer instead of a mage?”
Whoa, she went straight for the throat.
“My, my. Are you even a real mage? Were there many people among mages who handled dolls before me? To think you don’t even know such basic information. Oh! Is that because you’re the vice-leader of the magic division that merely imitates the Magic Tower?”
Seria wasn’t one to back down either. Of course. Having rolled around the battlefield a few times, Seria was naturally more aggressive. What could Kise, who had poured more effort into Ashtar’s defenses, possibly do?
“Why wouldn’t I know? I simply assumed that someone your age playing with teddy bears would have a body to match. How was I supposed to know you actually moved dolls with magic?”
“What did you just say, you flat-chested bitch?”
That one was too harsh. Calling a woman flat-chested right to her face. It was true, but hitting her that directly felt a little pitiful. If it were me, I wouldn’t have used words like that—I’d have started with my fists. In a power struggle like this, you’re supposed to beat the opponent into submission.
“F-flat… Have you finished speaking?”
“Does the Ashtar Magic Division not know basic etiquette? It seems you’re quite envious that I’ve received Lady Olivia’s favor.”
“Ugh.”
“If you’re jealous, you should have done better.”
Seria approached Kise and patted her shoulder a couple of times. As if she were pathetic. As if she stood far above her. It would’ve been cleaner if she’d just grabbed her by the hair or slapped each other across the face. This verbal back-and-forth was somehow scarier. Women’s fights were truly terrifying.
Yeah. I should just leave those two alone. If I used both, they’d fight each other. If I took only one, the other would throw a fit. And if I considered that Claire’s master was Katarina, she’d report everything. In the end, I had to solve this myself.
“So who should I take? I need to find out somehow.”
The relationship between the Four Heavenly Kings, the Demon King’s army, and Eldacrad—what exactly was it? And what was the reason behind those missing records? It wasn’t mere curiosity. I needed that information to decide whether to deal with the Four Heavenly Kings or not.
“Is there some kind of trouble?”
“You are…”
Suddenly someone spoke to me. It was that suspicious mage.
“I’m Kiriel, the mage of the Hero Party.”
“Kiriel? Why are you here?”
How could even the name be so similar?
“Ah, well, it’s because the servants of Ashtar are quite kind. I was wondering if there was anything I could help with.”
“Is that your real name?”
“I do have a real name, but it’s not the right time to say it yet.”
Was it really Noel? No, there was no way she’d be here. With that personality, she wouldn’t try anything with this Hero. Since she was one of the women clinging to that Hero, she probably wasn’t normal either.
“But why did you call me?”
“You looked like you were having a difficult time.”
Even if I was, so what?
“Are you offering to help me in exchange for assistance to the Hero Party?”
“Uh, that’s not entirely wrong. But it’s not like I’m trying to recruit you or anything.”
“Then?”
Not recruitment? Well, from what I saw on the way here, the Hero Party seemed to be barely held together thanks to this woman.
“It’s just that Ashtar is the Empire’s greatest family, and you, my lady, are the Empire’s Saint, right? You even repelled Pector.”
“Yes.”
“So just help me out later.”
“You’re trying to sell a favor to the continent’s greatest family. That’s what this is.”
Honestly, the way she hid her face with that robe was suspicious. But it was also ambiguous to view her as an enemy. I might know more once I saw her face properly. For now, I needed to hear exactly what this “help” entailed.
“That’s not wrong. As you know, with the Hero in that state, our position in the Kingdom is precarious.”
“Is that so?”
“So if the Ashtar side could simply state that the Hero Party was helpful at the time, the Kingdom side won’t suspect anything. In reality, I can provide the help, can’t I?”
The Hero Party offering help? Well, if I listened to this woman, it sounded like she just wanted me to testify that the Hero Party had actually done their job properly. That much wasn’t difficult. But did she know what I wanted?
“Do you know what I want?”
“What is it? Just tell me.”
She was so confident.
“Records. Information about Eldacrad.”
How would the Kingdom’s Hero Party know anything about Ashtar? Even without asking, I was planning to speak favorably about the Hero Party. As I said, I didn’t want their reputation to sink any further into the ground. If anyone cursed the Hero Party that fought the Four Heavenly Kings, I was even willing to step forward and defend them. It would be better if the Empire used the Seven Stars to create a proper Hero Party. The Holy Sword was the problem, as always.
“Eldacrad is your grandfather, isn’t he, my lady?”
“Yes.”
“Eldacrad was the one who led the Ashtar family to its golden age.”
So she knew about him too.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Why do you wish to look into him? Or rather, shouldn’t someone like you already know?”
Well, if I really set my mind to it, I could find a way to get the information. But there were too many things that felt off about doing so.
“The records are surprisingly difficult to find.”
“For someone of your stature to say that, it must truly be difficult.”
“Above all, if I suddenly say I want to look into my grandfather, Father or Mother will ask for the reason.”
Besides, it didn’t seem like the first-generation Olivia had only done a half-hearted investigation. From the contents of Olivia’s diary, she seemed to have been quite a meticulous child. It was unlikely she would have stopped at such a shallow level of research just because she was young.
“Are they strict about that sort of thing?”
“No. It’s just that Father would surely know if the records about Grandfather are this poor.”
Should I assume the family head had hidden them? Or maybe it wouldn’t be bad to ask directly. Perhaps Eldacrad’s story was a shameful one for the Ashtar family. So they simply ended it by saying he raised the family up and died fighting the Demon King’s army. Was that all?
“In that case, how about visiting Eldacrad’s Mausoleum?”
“Eldacrad’s Mausoleum?”
There was a mausoleum?
“Huh? You didn’t know, my lady?”
“No, that’s not it.”
It had been mentioned in the diary. But it only referred to it as a grave, never as a mausoleum. If it was a mausoleum, there might be more to it.
“I heard that only blood relatives can enter Eldacrad’s Mausoleum.”
“Only blood relatives?”
Then hadn’t the first generation already gone?
“If it’s truly difficult for you to ask directly…”
“It’s not exactly that it’s difficult, but…”
Setting everything else aside, asking felt a bit awkward. That old man was trying too hard to be good to me, and it was burdensome. To be blunt, when Noah was in the Hero Party, he had stopped several disputes between noble families. Through that, he had learned a lot about how noble families worked. Usually, they only saw their daughters as tools for political marriages. But this family seemed to want to apologize to the first generation or something—they kept trying to do things for me, starting with the Duke himself. Unless someone helped, even asking alone felt uncomfortable.
“How about we do it this way?”
“You have a method?”
She was a woman from the Hero Party after all. I wasn’t sure if she’d have a proper idea.
“I’m a member of the Hero Party, aren’t I? And your grandfather, Eldacrad, marched into the Demon King’s territory and died fighting the Demon King’s army.”
Oh, this woman had a pretty good head on her shoulders? I hadn’t expected someone like her in the Hero Party. In other words—
“If I say that as a member of the Hero Party, I want to learn about my grandfather in order to oppose the Demon King’s army more efficiently…”
“That’s exactly it.”
It was worth a try. And if I chimed in from the side, it seemed like we could explain it appropriately.
“By the way, could you possibly show me your face under the robe?”
“Ah. Um. That’s a bit… I have a scar on my face!”
“Really? That’s a shame.”
Noel didn’t have any scars on her face. Still, I couldn’t take her word at face value. But being too suspicious wouldn’t be good either.
There’s a saying that even an iron horn should be pulled out while it’s hot. Since I didn’t know how long I’d be staying here, I needed to obtain information as quickly as possible. I took Kiriel with me and went to see the Duke.
“I apologize for the late hour.”
“Not at all. There’s a lot I need to do for Karhem’s restoration after this incident, so I wasn’t planning to sleep anyway. So, what is it?”
“This is Kiriel, the mage of the Hero Party.”
I introduced Kiriel first. I wasn’t sure if this woman would do well, though.
“Ah, is that so? What business does the Hero Party’s mage have with me?”
“We would like to ask if you know anything about the previous family head, Lord Eldacrad.”
Kiriel skipped any preface and went straight to the main point.
“The previous head, you say.”
“Yes. I know it may be rude to say this, but one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Clanice, commands far more troops than Pector.”
All the Four Heavenly Kings led armies. Pector of Despair led the army of despair. The Betrayer Clanice led the army of betrayal. The Fallen Saint Berna led the army of corruption. The Demon Grand Duke Seto led the army of hell. Among them, Pector of Despair, who fought on the front lines himself, trusted in his own martial prowess, so the number of troops in his legion was relatively small. In the first place, unless it was Clanice—who invested heavily in her army—the forces led by the Four Heavenly Kings were something the Kingdom’s army could handle.
“Hmm. That’s true.”
“Lord Eldacrad was the only human besides the Hero Party to march all the way to the Demon King’s territory with a human army. He was an unparalleled hero. That is why we wish to know the records from that time.”
She spoke quite well. The question was whether the Duke would tell us. That was the real issue.
“Olivia. Do you think the same?”
“To be honest, wouldn’t it be good to know in order to strike the Four Heavenly Kings with the Hero Party?”
When I subtly added my own spoon to the pot, the Duke of Ashtar seemed to ponder for a moment before speaking heavily.