Chapter 78 — A Plausible Hypothesis
Chapter 78 — A Plausible Hypothesis
Translation: Godtl
Meanwhile, Kalix returned to the vicinity of his quarters and entered the room as if his soul had left his body.
Inside the room, Romeo had returned at some point. He asked listlessly.
"Where did you go?"
As soon as Kalix discovered Romeo, he marched straight up to him and shouted.
"Hey!! You're the one who went somewhere and only just came back!!! You... do you know what I just saw?!"
"What did you see."
Romeo had a bored expression.
"I just..."
Kalix must have thought he needed to calm down first, for he plopped down in front of Romeo and gulped down the cup Romeo had been drinking from.
"Argh! It's hot!!"
"...What are you doing right now?"
As Romeo looked at him in disbelief, Kalix flustered about trying to cool his burned tongue.
After watching that sight for a while, Kalix finally calmed down, took a deep breath, and continued speaking.
"...It's about Lelia."
"Why?"
Romeo had already been suspecting Lelia. When Kalix brought up Lelia while making such a fuss, he was puzzled.
Kalix, who had started with a serious tone, spoke cautiously.
"That kid... is a man."
"......."
Did something happen to his head in the one day they hadn't seen each other?
Romeo frowned as he looked at Kalix like he was a strange person.
"I said he's a man."
"Say something that makes sense."
Romeo was dumbfounded.
Lelia, just how well had that kid played the role of a flirt that even Kalix was acting like this?
Wait a moment.
'Did he perhaps use some strange medicine?'
Romeo was already suspecting that Lelia might be an alchemist.
He didn't know yet whether he was the culprit who had caused Leo's death, but he was certain he possessed alchemical abilities. And quite outstanding ones at that.
So Romeo asked seriously.
"Did you take some strange medicine or something?"
"What are you talking about!"
Kalix felt a twinge inside but pretended not to know anything.
There was medicine he had taken. The medicine Lelia had given him.
But he couldn't say that.
The fact that he suffered seizures from injuries sustained in the battle with the Mad Dragon was a secret from his friends. He absolutely didn't want them to know.
Come to think of it, he realized he hadn't made Lelia promise to keep quiet.
Kalix thought he would have to firmly warn Lelia when he returned later.
Romeo sighed and asked.
"Then why the nonsense suddenly? Calling a perfectly fine girl a man."
"I saw it."
"Saw what."
"...That."
"So what specifically."
Kalix couldn't bring himself to say it with words and pointed with his index finger at his lower body. Specifically, the center of it.
"...What are you doing right now?"
"Damn it! I'm telling you it's true! It was really there! I was shocked too!"
"......."
Romeo froze with his brow furrowed.
Kalix must have gone crazy. He definitely injured his head during the battle with the Mad Dragon.
As Romeo looked at him like he was looking at a crazy person, Kalix began explaining from the beginning in frustration.
That Cedric and Damian had come looking for him.
That Lelia had seemed so frightened, so he had accompanied him, and the Emperor had told them to wait in the next room.
That out of boredom, he had secretly watched the conversation between the two through an open archway. (At this part, Romeo was appalled at Kalix's audacity.)
That the Emperor had outright suspected Lelia of being a woman. He told him everything.
"And then suddenly that kid...! Said he'd prove he was a man and dropped his pants right in front of the Emperor! His pants!"
"......."
"I thought he was crazy, I tell you! Anyway, I was so surprised I tried to go in to stop him, but would you believe..."
Kalix suddenly stopped talking and thrust his thick forearm forward.
"It was about this size? Similar to mine."
"......."
"Yeah, about this size? No. A bit smaller than mine."
"No..."
Is that important right now?
Romeo dragged his palm down his face in irritation.
He had no idea what kind of situation this was.
As far as he knew, magic that transformed the body had never been successfully performed by any mage.
Moreover, Lelia wasn't a mage.
Romeo possessed far superior magical power than ordinary mages thanks to the Dragon's Heart.
So he could say with certainty.
Lelia was neither a mage nor an alchemist.
He couldn't sense any aura similar to the magical power characteristic of alchemists at all. Nor was it hidden with magic either.
No magical power could be felt from Lelia.
'This is driving me mad.'
There was more than one or two suspicious points.
He was certain Lelia had also detected the tracking spell he had placed.
He had no idea by what method either. It was a spell at a level that even the imperial mages couldn't detect.
He had left the imperial city yesterday to investigate Lelia as well.
To see if perhaps there were techniques passed down among alchemists that he wasn't aware of.
If an alchemist could completely erase their traces, their influence would become far greater than it is now.
They would be able to evade the Temple's surveillance.
That was why Romeo suspected that Lelia might be one of them.
But no matter how much he asked around, he couldn't obtain even a bit of information about such people.
Not because his intelligence network was weak, but because they simply didn't exist.
This was a fact he had confirmed using magical power, so he was certain.
But what? He's a man? He has that thing down there?
Romeo was about to lose his mind.
'Just what is that girl's identity.'
Or should he say boy?
He couldn't be certain whether Lelia was truly the culprit who killed Leo or not.
Of course, he had trusted Lelia at first... but he found it strange that the kid kept using suspicious alchemical medicines.
Romeo bit his lip in confusion.
Kalix was still waving his forearm, going on and on about the shape, the size, this and that.
Then, suddenly, one hypothesis occurred to him.
Lelia, what if that girl was a man from the very beginning?
'If that's the case...'
Romeo's eyes narrowed. Soon, one corner of his lip lifted slightly.
Lelia trudged back to her quarters.
Lute heard the whole story and apologized for doubting her, saying there was no such benefactor in the world.
It was a reaction she had already expected, but Lelia was still dumbfounded.
Lute comforted her, saying she must have been heartbroken.
"But how could His Majesty suspect such a noble person of character like you of being some strange pervert who hides their gender! I feel wronged on your behalf!"
Suddenly branded as a 'strange pervert who hides their gender,' Lelia entered the room with weary steps.
She wanted to check if Romeo had returned and if Kalix was alright, but all the energy drained from her body.
Lelia collapsed face-down onto the bed.
Anyway, it was a blessing that the medicine had worked properly.
Everything could have fallen apart.
Actually, when the Emperor suspected her, she thought her heart was plunging to the floor.
She was trembling and anxious.
She missed her family in the Superion territory.
Being with friends was good, of course, but... they didn't know her true identity.
Perhaps because of that, it felt like there was a layer of wall between them, making them feel distant.
Lelia obsessively recited plans for the future in her head until she fell asleep.
Without even imagining what stories those friends were sharing in her absence.
When Romeo came up with a hypothesis, Kalix did the same.
Of course, the nature of it was slightly different from what Romeo was thinking.
"Come to think of it, I heard something when I was in the mercenary group. They said there was someone who was living fine and then suddenly one day their body changed to become like a woman's."
"...Is that so?"
"Yeah! Isn't that the case with that guy too? Originally a woman living as a princess... and then it suddenly appeared!"
"......"
Then Kalix suddenly snapped his thumb and index finger together with a 'tak!' sound and said:
"I got it! That's why he ran away!"
"......"
"If the Emperor found out, he'd treat him strangely, so he ran away! They said he went missing when he was young, right? That thing suddenly appeared, so he ran away!"
"Well, that could be possible too."
Romeo didn't think that at all, but he gave a vague response.
Anyway, Kalix was eccentric and simple-minded, so it was better to let him think whatever he wanted.
Also, the hypothesis Romeo was thinking of wasn't certain yet, so it was dangerous to voice it.
However, when Romeo went along with him, Kalix's thinking became even more firm.
"Poor guy. Then since he has this, it's right to consider him a man, isn't it? But I made him call me 'brother'... how upset he must have been."
"......"
"He's deep-hearted. You can tell by the size there. I'm deep-hearted too, aren't I?"
Romeo let Kalix's words go in one ear and out the other, lost in his own thoughts.
"Amazing and pitiful guy. I've decided, from now on I'll think of him as my younger brother. Well, he's Leo's younger brother anyway, so he's my brother too. Right?"
"...Sure, do as you please."
"That guy, how did he grow up so well even with that kind of emotional wound? An excellent guy. I'm even respectful toward him."
"...You...are truly amazing."
"At what?"
"Nothing, I just mean you're simple in a good way."
Kalix chuckled as if unimpressed. Romeo clicked his tongue inwardly as he watched Kalix.
Meanwhile, at the border region of the Auraria Empire.
A single man wearing a black robe and riding a white horse crossed the border.
The soldiers who had let him through whispered among themselves with excited expressions.
Their excitement came from having witnessed one of the heroes who had distinguished himself in the battle against the Mad Dragon.
A man with beautiful features who bore the name' Griffith'.
He crossed the border and quickly headed toward the capital of the Auraria Empire.
That night.
Kalix lay down on his bed but could not sleep all night.
It was because of his thoughts about Lelia.
From what he had observed during this time, that fellow was a truly good person.
He had felt it earlier when he went to ask her to keep a secret.
"You. That... about what happened last night when I was a bit... like that, you mustn't tell anyone."
"...Of course. Don't worry. By the way, are you alright?"
"Uh... well, I'm fine."
He had gone to sternly warn her in case she might tell Romeo about his episode.
But Lelia nodded as if it were only natural and instead worried about him.
At that sight, his trust in her grew even deeper.
Truly a loyal and reliable fellow.
'Though I didn't know she had such pain in her past...'
Anyway, seeing her reminded him of Leo, so Kalix had taken a liking to Lelia.
'No wonder, even though she's a woman, she didn't feel so uncomfortable to be around.'
Kalix had found it difficult to talk with women since he was young.
To put it nicely, he was simple; to put it poorly, his behavior was rough and uncouth.
In front of women, he felt unnecessarily obliged to be more polite and well-mannered, making it difficult for him to deal with them.
Yet Lelia had felt comfortable to be around from the very beginning.
Perhaps because she resembled Leo.
Thinking about Lelia through the night, Kalix came up with another hypothesis.
'Or maybe she was originally a man but was raised as a princess?'
Back in his mercenary days, he had heard a similar story somewhere.
It was something that had happened long ago in a certain kingdom where only men could inherit the throne. Out of fear that they would pose a threat to the succession, there was someone who was raised as a woman despite being a man.
It was a quite plausible hypothesis.
If Romeo had been right beside him, he would have said, "Stop writing novels and just go to sleep," but Kalix was genuinely serious and earnest about this.
Thus Kalix spent the night burning with various imaginings.
"What is all this?"