Sylvia's Confession (1)
Sylvia's Confession (1)
On the way to Sylvia's office.
A biting, frigid chill radiated from her.
'Did I end up back in the North or something?'
Ian rubbed his arms.
The cold was convincing enough to briefly trick his senses into thinking he'd returned to the northern territories.
Before long, they arrived at Sylvia's office.
"Have a seat."
The temperature had dropped to the point where he could feel it in his bones now.
Ian swallowed hard as he took his chair.
It felt exactly like sitting in an interrogation room.
Sylvia fixed him with a level stare, her pale golden brows and violet eyes lined up in perfect symmetry, and spoke.
"When did you return to Lichten?"
"Today."
"And you went straight to the library?"
"...I had a few things I wanted to look up."
Click.
Perched on the edge of her desk, Sylvia looked down at him with a sullen air.
"Hm."
The truth was, she was a little hurt.
Every time news of Ian in the North had reached her, she'd been sick with worry and had spent sleepless nights. When word came that the Imperial Princess had rushed north in haste, her mouth had gone bone-dry with dread.
And so, while someone had been pacing restlessly, waiting only for Ian, he had breezed right past and bolted straight for the library.
No matter how rational Sylvia usually was, a pout had crept onto her lips all the same.
"You went to the library, but it seems what you were curious about wasn't a book — it was the librarian. You weren't even reading a book. You were just standing there staring at her."
A murmur, almost too soft to hear.
Meanwhile, Ian was simply staring vacantly at the tips of Sylvia's feet as she crossed her legs in a smooth motion.
They were fluffy fur slippers with a rather cute character printed on them.
'Why is Sylvia wearing something like that?'
Ian's thoughts drifted as he gazed at her feet.
Because his posture looked rather like someone hanging his head in remorse, Sylvia's tone softened somewhat.
"Hmph. So what exactly is your relationship with this librarian?"
"The librarian?"
"Yes."
"There is no relationship."
An immediate answer, without a trace of hesitation.
Sylvia began twisting a strand of hair around her finger.
Her sulking was already starting to ease.
No. If anything, she was entering the stage where she felt embarrassed for having acted this way at all.
"Ahem!"
Though her irritation had mostly subsided, a point still needed to be made. Sylvia collected herself and resumed her interrogation.
"Word of your exploits in the North is beginning to spread everywhere, Ian."
"Already?"
"Yes. The Empire is still keeping it out of the official news for now, but it's spreading quietly by word of mouth. The Northern Grand Duke being a member of the Blood Rock Sect is a profoundly shocking affair. It couldn't help but spread quickly."
"Hmm."
"And on top of that, the one who defeated the Northern Grand Duke is a cadet from Lichten Academy. It's the sort of thing people can only call extraordinary."
"I see."
"You did something truly extraordinary, Ian."
Ian did not answer.
The smile Sylvia wore was, oddly, icy cold.
'That doesn't sound like a compliment.'
Softly.
Sylvia's lips parted.
"So I understand completely."
"...?"
"Now that you're famous, the likes of the Laurent Trading Company's heir simply doesn't catch your eye anymore."
Grin.
Her smile was frosty.
The chilly air closed in around him like a tightening vise.
Ian swallowed.
She had a point.
He owed her a great deal, one way or another. He had even asked a favor of her before leaving for the North.
'I should've at least brought back a gift.'
Right.
This was like dumping work on a teammate and then heading off on an overseas vacation.
The problem was, he'd come back empty-handed, and — worst of all — she'd been the one to reach out to him first.
"......"
Only then did the sense of danger truly sink in.
A cold bead of sweat traced a line down Ian's forehead.
Inside that sense of crisis, Ian's brain began spinning at incredible speed.
And, acting on instinct, he put a sentence into his mouth that might get him out of this situation.
"Thank you for worrying about me, Sylvia."
He deliberately poked at her embarrassment.
At that point, Sylvia was supposed to answer, 'I-I wasn't worried about you!' From there, he would counter with, 'But I thought you would worry about me,' and use that as a cue to bring this whole conversation to a close.
A custom-tailored strategy, devised from knowing Sylvia.
But Ian's cunning plan was shattered to pieces by a direct strike from Sylvia.
She had declared, on the verge of tears.
"I-I was worried about you!"
"...?"
"I was worried! To fight a high-ranking noble... and not just any noble, but the Northern Grand Duke himself... I was so worried I couldn't sleep..."
Ian stood before Sylvia, biting his lip lightly.
Ever since he had been possessed into this body.
This was the first time he had ever felt someone worrying about him from behind the scenes with such genuine sincerity.
Sylvia looked up at him, still sullen, but now the corners of her eyes drooped downward with a sad sort of weariness.
The teardrops clinging to her eyes shimmered beautifully.
Wiping them away, Ian spoke with sincerity.
"Thank you for worrying, Sylvia."
"...!"
But did that sincerity perhaps not land the way he intended?
Sylvia's face suddenly flushed bright red.
She blinked rapidly, then squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
"I-I was only worried because I was afraid of losing a business partner, okay!"
Fwip.
Sylvia got up from the desk, lowered her head, and darted quickly into her swivel chair.
"Hmph!"
She let out a little huff and spun around, turning her back to him.
After fidgeting like that for several minutes, she turned back around, and her face had returned to its usual calm and rational self.
"Ahem. More to the point, the main issue."
"...Wasn't that the main issue a moment ago? That you were worried about me."
"It was not!"
The flustered Sylvia cleared her throat and regained her composure.
"The Church will likely bestow a reward upon you soon. A rather substantial one, at that. I suspect they'll send someone at least of cardinal rank to present it to you personally."
"The Church? But I'm not even a believer."
Sylvia nodded.
"That is precisely the point. They wish to make you appear as though you are a follower of the Deus Order."
Seeing Ian's questioning expression, Sylvia elaborated.
"While you were in the North, several unfavorable rumors about the Saintess Candidate circulated widely. The Order shielded her, and their process of handling those rumors was somewhat coercive. As a result, the Order's image was considerably damaged. Their use of the Inquisition also caused friction with both the Empire and the Lichten autonomous government."
In other words, the relationship between the continent's dominant religion, the Deus Order, and the Empire had gradually developed cracks.
"It was in that context that you, Ian, dispatched Richard, who was both a Blood Rock cultist and the Northern Grand Duke. If the Order can bring you into their fold, they can use the fact that Richard was the Northern Grand Duke to wage a public opinion war against the Empire. Conversely, the Empire can defend against that narrative and fire back by criticizing the Order for failing to properly track down a single Blood Rock Sect."
It was complicated, but the summary was simple.
"In short, it's a contest between the Empire and the Church. A contest over how firmly they can win your favor, Ian."
Sylvia took a breath and emphasized her next point.
"What I'm telling you is that a substantial amount of compensation will be waiting for you."
Gulp.
Ian swallowed.
It wasn't out of greed.
It was from tension.
A bigger reward?
Naturally, more compensation was a good thing.
But he couldn't just smile carefreely about it.
The fact that the board surrounding him had grown larger meant the risk of exposure to correspondingly powerful enemies had grown as well.
"You don't seem as pleased as one might expect."
"Well, it also means that under normal circumstances, neither the Order nor the Empire would have brought such enormous rewards."
"Indeed. If anything, their usual behavior would have been to do everything in their power to quietly bury the Richard incident."
"Which means each side probably has factions internally who oppose this excessive reward."
"...You're sharp."
The conflict between the two sides had inflated the reward Ian could receive. But at the same time, the risk had inflated as well.
He was now in a situation where, when accepting a reward from one power, he had to be mindful of the other. And even within each power, he had to stay wary of the opposing factions.
He'd been swept straight into the middle of a political dogfight.
'...No. Isn't this actually not bad?'
Thinking it over, it occurred to him that while the risk was greater, he might also be able to obtain much greater compensation.
This wasn't about ordinary rewards.
Hidden pieces that could only be acquired by getting entangled with the Order or the Imperial Family.
He might be able to seize an opportunity to access those.
'...That might actually be better.'
Anyway.
Ian was beginning to feel a creeping chill.
"Isn't it a little cold in here?"
At first he'd thought the chill was because of Sylvia's mood, but no.
This office was genuinely cold.
Sylvia's attire was definitely strange, too.
She, who always wore sophisticated clothes, was now bundled up in something fluffy.
"Sylvia, your look is a bit different from usual."
When he stared at her plainly, she wrapped her arms around her upper body as if he'd caught her undressed.
"Don't stare so much."
"Huh?"
"I didn't want you to see me like this."
And with that, she desperately tried to hide her appearance below the surface of her work desk.
...Hmm.
"Hngh. Embarrassing."
She was adorable.
The gap from her usual self was ridiculous.
It felt like taking a sophisticated noble young lady and dressing her up in animal pajamas or something.
Come to think of it, animal pajamas might actually suit her well.
Something with cat ears matching her image, or maybe even leaning into the gap and going with a cute type like a rabbit — that would look good, too.
'Maybe I should give her a gift like that sometime.'
For now, he'd just file that under wishful thinking.
Ian shook his head to clear the idle fantasy.
Sylvia's cuteness aside, the fact that this noble daughter was wearing those kinds of clothes meant she was in a fairly serious situation.
Sylvia's obsession with fashion was part of her branding strategy, after all. It meant she'd been driven into a corner to the point of abandoning that.
"What's going on?"
"I-It's because of the Raymond Trading Company. The Lichten autonomous government is trying to expand their influence here, taking advantage of the chaos."
Worry settled into Sylvia's eyes.
"...I'm broke from fighting them. Every last scrap of liquid capital is critical, so I've been cutting costs like this. It's effectively turned into a war of capital."
That made sense.
In terms of pure capital, Emilia's Raymond Trading Company would overwhelm Sylvia's Laurent Trading Company.
Speaking of money.
A fact Ian had completely blacked out resurfaced in his mind.
"Oh, right. Stocks."
This was definitely the timing where Eco Mana should have spiked due to the mana runaway incident on the Northern Mountain Railway.
But.
Sylvia's face drained of color.
"What is it? What happened?"
"W-Well... about that."