85. Good News and Better News
85. Good News and Better News
[A Beastkin going outside at a time like this, lol]
It was mixed in among the chaotic posts, and like the others, it seemed like a pointless post.
But something about it kept nagging at me.
Why? I didn't know.
If I don't know, I can just click on it.
With that thought, I was about to press it.
Snatch!
"Oh..."
Silina took the Device.
"Why are you staring at it like that? It's mine."
Tch, I clicked my tongue in disappointment and pulled the Device from my pocket.
And just as I was about to enter the Community through that message from earlier.
"Eliarnes."
Silina stopped me.
"Ugh, what now."
Silina's face flashed with irritation at my annoyance, but she quickly calmed down and spoke in a measured tone.
"Earlier, you asked what the person I planted in the Cartel does."
"Yeah."
"I'll tell you."
Her eyes were quite serious.
Her voice sounded a little heavy, too.
"For me... it's hard to make a judgment."
"I might not have the right answer either."
"But unlike me, you can think about it without personal feelings. And... you seem to have read information about the Cartel in the Forbidden Archive."
"Fine, then. Tell me."
With no choice, I put the Device back and sat down again, waiting for Silina to speak.
After her lips twitched for a while, Silina took a sip of mint-choco milk and slowly opened her mouth.
"First of all, Eliarnes, you... think the order itself from the Cartel is suspicious, right?"
"Yeah."
The Cartel's order was extremely fishy.
If they wanted to cut off information, they could have leaked different information from the start to cause confusion, or worked behind the scenes without showing any outward signs.
But they just openly gave the order to cut it off.
The Cartel is a global organization.
Information guilds spread across every corner of the world, merchant guilds, adventurer guilds, and so on. It's so massive that there's nowhere their hands haven't reached.
Did those bastards not realize this information would leak out?
No way.
They knew. They deliberately gave that order openly so it would leak.
For what purpose?
For now, the reason visible on the surface is that the Cartel, having joined hands with the Eustetia branch family, is trying to keep me in check.
And by extension, keep the Eustetia main family in check.
The reason hidden behind that... I can't figure it out yet.
I do have suspicions, but this is too simplistic a suspicion.
And... I also have a small hope that they wouldn't pull that kind of shit while carrying the Eustetia name.
Anyway, the first reason they gave such a stupid order seems to be a message telling us to come at them.
It's an incredibly arrogant message, but the Cartel must have a weapon capable of taking on Eustetia, so they're provoking us. Just like the Eustetia branch family.
Next.
The reason they made it easy for the information to leak.
This one's simple.
It's to find the mole hiding in the Cartel.
Of course, there are probably countless moles hiding inside the Cartel. But the Cartel isn't looking for small fry like that.
The Cartel is looking for the imperial family's mole.
I don't know how things work inside, but if they confirm this information leaked and someone responds to it, that mole will likely get caught.
That's why I asked Silina.
What kind of person they are.
Whether they're someone important to Silina.
Or whether they're someone who can be cut off at any time.
I wasn't asking whether they're someone who can be killed.
What matters is whether they're someone who can be cut off.
If we figure out the Cartel's true intent and respond, the person who leaked that information will likely be exposed.
If that happens, they'll naturally come under pressure from the Cartel and get killed before long.
What comes next? Simple.
Either they just die.
Or they surrender to the Cartel in exchange for imperial information and save their own life.
The former would leave a slightly bitter taste, but it's not a problem.
But the latter? That's a problem.
I don't know how much imperial information that person has, but either way, they're someone who knows the inner workings of the imperial family, and by extension the Empire.
If someone like that surrenders to the Cartel and spills the Empire's secrets as their lifeline, it'll obviously cause trouble in many ways.
Of course, the ones most troubled would be the imperial family.
But there's one thing that affects me too.
The secret of Eustetia.
If, by any chance, one in a million... that information got out into the world, it would cause a huge uproar in the Empire.
The fact that Arisa's blood doesn't flow through my body or my family's bodies isn't the problem.
But.
Arisa's name and Eustetia becoming a controversy and gossip fodder for the imperial citizens—that's some fucked-up shit.
Because the Empire's social circles would play the exact same role as the academy Community I just saw.
The rumors would flow in a truly fucked-up direction.
That's what's fucked up.
That's why I'm doing this thinking and worrying that doesn't even suit me.
"I think so too. There's no need to give an order like this—they could just hand over false information. But... if they gave an order to cut it off head-on like this..."
"It means come at us."
"...Right. That's what it means. So... how should we respond to this?"
I looked at Silina, whose face was dark.
"But why are you coming to me for advice on this? There's someone way more capable than me right next to you."
"Fabiana would definitely tell me to cut them off."
"Why?"
"...I can't say."
"What do you mean you can't say. She'd probably tell you to cut them off because your life could be in danger."
Silina's nose twitched.
"...On what basis?"
"Because Fabiana seems to care about you a lot."
Grind— Silina gritted her teeth.
"That... is caring about me? Making me unable to do anything, turning me into a greenhouse flower... if that's caring about me, then I should cut off the heads of all the teachers who taught me up to now. Since they're rude people who injected me with wrong common sense."
Fabiana and Silina both.
I don't know why they like cutting people's heads off so much.
Hehehe— Silina got annoyed at my laughter, which came from sheer disbelief.
"What's so funny?"
"Fabiana and you both. It's funny how you cut people's heads off at the drop of a hat. You're right, I should cut off the teachers' heads. Since it seems like the teachers are the ones who taught you to cut heads off at the slightest mistake."
"I'm not in the mood for jokes right now."
"It's not a joke, I'm serious."
Tsk, Silina clicked her tongue, then hesitated over whether to drink the leftover mint-choco milk since her throat seemed dry.
In the end, she gave up on drinking it and opened her mouth.
"Whatever, so... what would you do?"
I pulled the mint-choco milk Silina had left over toward me and asked.
"Is that person important to you?"
Then I gulped it down.
"Important... wait, hey, you! Why are you drinking what I was...!"
"Pwah... what, are you going to say it's an indirect kiss or something like a little kid?"
"Wh-what?! That's not it... don't you have any sense of noble dignity?"
"No need to bother with that in front of you."
Silina's face twisted into a bizarre expression.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You already know roughly what kind of person I am. Why would I put on an act in front of someone like that?"
"...Ha. Seriously... sometimes you don't seem like a ducal daughter, but like some thug who lived in a back alley."
"That's a very rude remark."
"You're being plenty rude yourself, right now."
I shrugged and brought the conversation back to the original topic.
"Anyway, is that person important to you?"
Silina fell into thought.
The answer was already clear from that single action of falling into thought like that.
So I asked again.
"Can you cut them off?"
"...If the Empire is in danger, I'll have to."
"It's not just cutting them off—later, that person might even kill you."
Silina flinched.
I'd heard she grew up receiving countless death threats, but if she trembled like that, that person must be more important to her than I thought.
"Well, that's a matter for the distant future, so let's set it aside. First, have you thought about how much damage cutting that person off would do to the Empire right now?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
"I'm not trying to lecture you—I'm asking because I don't know. How much imperial information does that person have?"
Silina made a blank face for a moment, then fell back into thought. She touched her lips for a long while, twitched them, let out a sigh.
Then she opened her mouth with difficulty.
"That person is... like a mother to me."
At her deeply wistful voice, I was startled.
"Huh? You grew up without a mother?"
And then I was startled again at the words that came out of my own mouth.
"Hic."
"...Are you a fucking lunatic?"
"S-sorry. That... came out by habit."
But... honestly, it was surprising enough.
Silina has a mother.
She didn't grow up in some unfortunate home environment—she has a perfectly normal mother who looks very gentle and beautiful on the outside.
But she called some random person a mother-like existence while leaving that mother aside.
So I was a little, no, very surprised.
"What kind of habit is that... haa... forget it. Anyway, that person is a somewhat important existence to me. So... honestly, it's hard to cut them off that easily."
"Hmm... yeah, that makes sense."
For now, I pretended to side with Silina, whose face was twisted like a demon, and offered sympathy I didn't actually feel.
Then I organized my thoughts in my head.
Someone planted an existence that important to Silina as a mole inside the Cartel.
Who? One of the imperial family members keeping Silina in check.
If that's the case.
The Cartel's executives might already know who the mole in their organization is.
Because the imperial family likely leaked that information.
Or they might have twisted it one step further—without revealing the mole's identity, they only leaked the existence of someone inside.
To cause division within the Cartel.
In the short term, it's a dirty succession fight among the imperial family.
But looking a little further out, it feels like there's an even bigger scheme hidden behind the succession fight.
And the existence hiding at the very back of it all.
Probably, if my guess is right.
Demons.
It was similar to the filthy schemes of the Demons who had infiltrated the continent 400 years ago.
The Demons’ scheme was to collapse human society by scraping away at it from within.
Whether the Cartel's leader is a Demon, whether the leader joined hands with Demons, whether Demons have infiltrated the imperial family—I can't know yet.
But one thing is certain.
"We shouldn't respond for now."
We must not move rashly right now.
Stopping might be exactly what they want, but we have no choice but to stop for now.
"...Why do you think that?"
"We don't have enough information yet."
"Information? If it's information on the Cartel, I can—"
"No, not information on the Cartel—I mean information on the existence behind them. So for now, don't move, and I think it's better to watch their next move."
If I could just smash through with force, I'd move without worrying about any of that, but not right now.
Even if I could smash through with force, if the information they're holding spreads through the Empire, I can't predict what would happen.
Communication Artifacts have developed too much these days. If I move thoughtlessly like I did 400 years ago, it'll obviously become a headache.
And.
I can roughly guess what kind of weapon the Eustetia branch family is swinging around to act so cocky.
Of course, I hope I'm wrong.
"Anyway, don't do anything stupid either—just leave it alone for now. Especially, absolutely don't bring this kind of worry to anyone related to the imperial family, and don't ask for help."
After finishing my warning to Silina in a somewhat heavy voice, I stood up and took out a new mint-choco milk.
"There's no one in the Empire... no, on the entire continent who would casually order around an Imperial Princess like that except you."
Silina snapped at me as she stood up.
Whether she did or not, I pulled the Device from my pocket and entered the Community.
The one that had been nagging at me since earlier.
I found the post titled [A Beastkin going outside at a time like this, lol].
Ever since I ended up in this body, my intuition has strangely sharpened.
It's, how should I put it. Not intuition for combat, but intuition needed for daily life? A sixth sense?
That kind of thing feels a bit more developed.
And that intuition is telling me that post with that title is extremely suspicious.
...But I can't find it.
Where did it go?
"Hey, Silina."
"What?"
"Can I search for a post with a specific title in this Community?"
"You can."
I immediately handed the Device to Silina.
"Find it for me."
"Why don't you do it?"
"...I don't know how."
Silina's brow twitched.
"Why don't you learn? You'd pick it up quickly anyway."
I did learn. I learned plenty.
I learned from Eurasia for almost over two hours.
But for some reason, I can't get used to the Device.
"Just find it for me."
"...Fine."
Silina reluctantly nodded and took my Device.
"Tell me the title."
"A Beastkin going outside at a time like this, lol."
Tap-tap-tap— Silina searched the title with practiced hands and held the Device out to me.
"Oh..."
I took it right away and checked the contents.
[A Beastkin going outside at a time like this, lol] -Anon
They went out with a professor next to them
And they came back hella fast. Like 10 minutes?
But if you bring a professor, can you still go outside now? Didn't the professors get hit with the no-going-out order too??
↳ The professors got the no-going-out order too though?
↳ How tho?
↳ I'm a professor
↳ Oh ok I'm a student
↳ What? How did they get out?
↳ I heard this year's first-years got a bunch of special privileges, guess it's true
↳ Isn't it just professor privilege? I heard Special Professors have a lot of authority like that
↳ Pretty?
↳ Dunno, only saw their tail
↳ What kind of Beastkin?
↳ Looking at how fluffy it was, I think it was a squirrel
↳ Ohhh fur lololololol
Squirrel...? Is it Pina?
"Silina. Do you know who the professor for [Mana Control B] is?"
Silina tilted her head and thought for a moment before answering.
"I think it was Professor Phaid Haveron."
"...Phaid Haveron?"
"I heard he's a newly appointed professor this time."
"What's that guy's specialty?"
Silina made a face as if asking why I was asking about something like that, then answered in a slightly sharp voice.
"I think it was mind manipulation."
"...Hm."
This motherfucker is hella suspicious.