Prepping the Conquest (4)
If someone shows you goodwill, that should be a thing to rejoice over.
But if it comes right after you ran wild through the place they call home, then it deserves a healthy dose of suspicion.
Was there something else lurking beneath that seemingly friendly emotion? Was she wearing a mask while thinking something entirely different behind it?
And if the person had a prior record of pulling something similar — with an even more violent reaction last time, no less — then all the more reason to be wary.
A person who slaps you across the face and then extends a helping hand cannot possibly be sane. Right?
"Now then. Let's start with a sip of tea. These are rare leaves I had brought in from the East."
For all the reasons I'd mentioned earlier, I couldn't bring myself to look kindly on Isabelle, who was holding out a teacup with a simpering smile.
No matter how hard I racked my brain, there was no reason for her to treat me well — unless it had something to do with the Chief God's divinity inside me.
Ugh. This is all Grandpa's fault. If he hadn't blurted out that pointless comment, I wouldn't be forced to interpret every one of Isabelle's condescending gestures as something sinister!
Just look at this tea! The soft, delicate fragrance filling the room said it was clearly something expensive, and yet here I was, paranoid that something other than tea might have been slipped into it!
Ordinary poisons and drugs wouldn't work on me anymore, but if anyone could get her hands on something extraordinary, it would be Isabelle.
'Count Artea. I'm afraid I don't have much time...'
"I'm not the kind of woman who has the leisure to laugh and chat over tea with a fanatic."
"Is that so? My, what a shame. I went to such trouble to prepare it."
I shoved the teacup aside with a sharpened glare, but Isabelle showed not the slightest hint of displeasure. She simply wore the expression of someone genuinely regretful.
Something is definitely wrong with her. Something is off.
'The reason I came here is...'
"There's exactly one reason I set foot in this creepy mansion. There's something here that's wasted on a fanatic like you."
"Ah, so it is that business. I anticipated as much."
The words had barely left my mouth before Isabelle began rummaging through her clothes.
...She predicted I'd be after the stone tablet?
How?!
I'd been in disguise when I went to the auction house. Nobody could possibly have recognized me!
Don't tell me she found out I was there looking absolutely humiliating?
She knows about my cringe-worthy past?!
"Here is the necklace you were searching for long ago."
My eyes were trembling at that dreadful possibility — but what Isabelle held out was not the tablet.
It was a necklace. Moderately ornate, moderately refined. A worn piece that looked like it had been passed down for generations in some impoverished noble house.
The only unusual thing about it was the faint trace of potent divinity I could sense from it.
A necklace that once held a miracle.
Having lost all of its power, it is now no different from an ordinary necklace.
The results of my Appraisal skill told much the same story.
I had no idea what it might have been in the past, but right now, that necklace was neither more nor less than a perfectly ordinary trinket.
Noticing something strange in my reaction, Isabelle tilted her head in question.
"Was this not the item you sought?"
'Yes, what I want is...'
"What I want is the stone tablet. Not some necklace that's way too good for a plump old auntie like you."
"Ah, the tablet. My apologies, my lady. You searched for this necklace once before, so I mistook your intent."
The Lucy of the past wanted this?
No way. Impossible.
I'd stayed in Lucy's room and gone through the things she used. I had a rough idea of what she liked.
That girl loved eye-catching things, as if she actually believed she were a princess.
The moment I thought, something that gaudy and cheap-looking, a brake slammed down in my head.
As if I weren't supposed to think such a thing.
And before long, a single emotion welled up inside my mind. The name of that emotion was longing.
A longing grown hazy from being too distant — yet still lingering, unmoving, in its place.
...This isn't my emotion.
I know nothing about that necklace.
Then whose was this vivid feeling taking up residence in my heart?
It wasn't even a question worth deliberating. There was only one person capable of leaving emotions behind in my mind.
Lucy.
The Lucy Aln of the past, from before I possessed her body.
"What troubles thee, lass?"
Grandpa's voice snapped me back to my senses.
Apparently, I'd been briefly swept under by that sudden wave of emotion.
'...Nothing. It's nothing.'
It was hardly a small matter, but I had no confidence I could explain the situation, so I answered that it was nothing.
"Hmm. Is that so? Very well, then."
It was obvious he found something dubious about it, but Grandpa didn't press any further. Thank goodness the old man knew how to act like an adult.
Letting out a long sigh inside, I turned my mind to the necklace Isabelle had set down on the table.
I had no idea what could have made the past Lucy's emotions flicker through me like that.
But one thing was certain. A new item had just been added to the terms of the deal I was about to make.
I had to get my hands on that necklace.
It wasn't something I actually needed — but my heart was ordering me to have it, and my heart was not taking no for an answer.
"In that case, I shall put this necklace away."
I caught Isabelle's wrist as she moved to retrieve it, and met her eyes steadily.
'No, wait...'
"Actually, now that I think about it, this necklace is way too good for you after all. Guess I'll take both."
"Both the tablet and the necklace? Either one alone is an item of considerable value, my lady."
'I can handle it.'
"Pfft. Are you worried about me? Thaaanks, but I'll pass. That earnest look in your eyes is creeping me out."
I pulled out the item I had prepared in my Inventory.
Last night's reward, granted by the Heojeop Chief God for clearing a quest.
An item that practically screamed, use this in your negotiation with Isabelle. A diamond infused with the Chief God's divinity.
"...This is—"
Unlike ordinary gems, it radiated a warm, gentle, enveloping glow — a breathtakingly beautiful thing.
Anyone who loved finery would covet it on sight alone, but for the woman sitting before me, it held an even greater value.
For Isabelle, obsessed with all things connected to the Chief God, could never possibly refuse the Chief God's divinity in its raw, unrefined state.
My prediction was spot on. The moment Isabelle's eyes fell upon the gem, she froze solid — like someone utterly overwhelmed by a masterpiece of art far too beautiful to comprehend.
When she finally came back to herself, she asked me in a trembling voice, her hands fluttering about with nowhere to go.
"Where on earth — where did you obtain such a thing?! If an item like this had ever surfaced, there is no way it would have escaped my ears?!"
She hurled the question in a shrill shriek, her eyes glued to the gem, never once meeting mine.
The gem must have been so bewitching that even remembering her manners was beyond her.
Watching the scene unfold, I was certain of one thing: Isabelle would never, ever be able to refuse this deal.
'This should be more than enough, right?'
"Well, merchant-fanatic? Still worried about me? Hm~?"
Only after I spoke did she lift her head. She wet her lips, glancing back and forth between me and the gem — then ran both hands down her face.
"I shall have it prepared at once."
On the road back to the Academy after slipping out of the Artea Family estate.
"Truly a repulsive creature. I have no wish ever to lay eyes upon her again."
The Face-Con Fox, silent until now, grumbled out her complaint. Her words, for once, were perfectly fair. I thought Isabelle was pretty gross myself.
Would I care to stay for a meal? Might I be interested in receiving the Artea family's patronage? Perhaps I'd like to discuss trade between House Aln and House Artea?
Every last one of Isabelle's transparent attempts to keep some kind of connection with me was so slimy that the word disgusting practically leapt off my tongue on its own.
"'Tis precisely such creatures who stray but a single step and commit true crimes. Guard thyself well, lass."
'Says the pervert who's exactly as twisted as she is?!'
"Hey, Face-Con Fox. The more I think about it, the more you and her are basically the same. Oh wait — are you jealous? Can't afford to lose to a fellow pervert, huh? Ugh. Actually repulsive."
But seriously, since when do you get to say that?
You stalked me like a crazed fan just because you wanted to stay by my side, and you've committed every variety of perverted act imaginable right next to me. YOU don't get to talk!
At my rebuke, the Face-Con Fox furrowed her brow, as though being lumped in with that woman offended her deeply.
"While I am ever grateful for those icy eyes of thine, I must correct thy words. I, who cherish thee in thy entirety, and that revolting woman, who covets only what thou dost possess, are breeds entirely apart."
Different? Different how? You fell for my face, and she fell for my divinity. Isn't the root of it exactly the same pervert?
Wow, so even the world of perverts runs deep. Not that I ever wanted to know.
Listening to any more of this was only going to sour my mood, so I tuned the Face-Con Fox out and took out the necklace I'd received from Isabelle.
What was this necklace, that simply looking at it kept carving longing and sorrow into my chest?
That itching feeling — that it was my emotion and yet not my emotion — left me with the strangest aftertaste.
I wondered if Karl, a knight of House Aln, might know something about it, so I asked — but he only shook his head.
"My apologies, my lady. I have served House Aln for only a few short years."
Hmm. Guess I'll have to ask Benedict if I want to learn anything about this necklace.
...For now, I'll just keep it stored in my Inventory. There are more important things to deal with than digging into this right now.
The last thing I took out was the stone tablet.
The same tablet that looked so utterly worthless on the outside that I felt like hurling it into the trash on sight.
"What manner of thing is this, that thou wouldst trade away such a precious gem for it?"
Grandpa let out a weary sigh the moment he laid eyes on the tablet.
From his perspective — not knowing the tablet's true worth — trading away a jewel straight from a god's hand for a hunk of rock must have been incomprehensible.
But not to me.
To me, that gem — which at best could only be used to top off my divinity mid-battle — was worth far less than this tablet.
Because...
'This thing is a key, you see.'
"A key?"
'Yep. A key to get the shield I want.'
After all, this was the trigger for obtaining a near-endgame shield.