072. Exception (5)
‘I thought this was the right route.’
Marie likes someone she can look up to. This guess seems correct.
So, I wondered if he liked Jika, who was closest to him, but apparently he didn’t.
Indeed. If you think about it, there are many great people besides Jayka among the people involved in Claire.
Like the crown prince.
The current knight commander, Andy Parfum.
The next leader of the knights, Jean Kartix.
‘… Well, it’s fine if it’s not Jayca.’
If you liked Jay Carr, she would be really in trouble.
Because Jayka is, in a sense, the most dangerous character in the Chapter 2 storyline.
“I don’t know who she likes, but if you have any concerns, tell them. They’re from the same party.”
“Eh, Ariel… Doesn’t it matter if I go out with someone else…?”
“I really intend to cheer you on. But the party activities will be difficult, so you’ll need to adjust in many ways.”
“I see…”
Marie puts on an expression of blatant disappointment.
… Why is the grass dying
“Ah, if it’s because of the party activities, you can quit at any time. There’s no need to overdo it.”
“……Does Ariel like anyone?”
“Who does she like? She doesn’t.”
Since her previous life, she has been a single mother, and has never experienced her first love.
Should I say that human relationships were just exhausting for me?
She used to think that having a girlfriend would only make her more troublesome.
In that way, I gave up on a lot of things.
“Well, then…Eh, what about Ariel’s favorite type…?”
“What type do you like? It won’t help her much if she hears about my type, right?”
Perhaps Marie likes women. Because this world is a lily worldview.
Perhaps there is a difference between a woman as a love object that a woman feels and a woman as a love object that a man feels.
If you think about it that way, I don’t think my opinion was helpful.
“Even, it’s helpful…! Tea, just for reference…!”
“Hmm…”
But Marie is desperate for something.
It’s the type I like…. I’ve never really thought about it, but…….
“Are you a woman who doesn’t feel tired?”
“A woman who doesn’t feel tired…?”
“She feels comfortable just being around, and doesn’t feel uncomfortable in human relationships… Or something like that.”
It takes a lot of effort to maintain a human relationship. And each such effort came to me as fatigue in my previous life.
I wonder if there is a reason to continue a relationship with that person while making these efforts.
The process of maintaining a relationship itself feels like an annoyance, not a pleasure.
That’s why, from a certain point on, there was me who organized human relationships.
I think I am a really desolate human being even when I feel myself.
For me, having a girlfriend is a luxury, and dating and marriage are irrelevant to me.
I think so.
“Eh, Ariel, then… I, feel uncomfortable with me too…?”
“No. I’ve never felt it.”
“Huh…?”
At my answer, Marie looked at me with an expression as if asking what she was talking about.
But after answering, I certainly didn’t feel any particular discomfort with Marie.
What should Marie say? I guess I’m the type of person who wants to help without even realizing it.
As a result, I end up helping Marie, but I haven’t felt this uncomfortable yet.
Above all.
“You adjust well to others, don’t you?”
Mari hates hurting others more than anything else. Basically, because he is a coward, he is reluctant to be hated by others.
So, there is a downside that her assertiveness is very weak, but to that extent, she is good at following other people’s opinions.
If you put it badly, you can call it a hukou,
Because of her petulant temperament, she was tricked by Claire and dragged out at such an ambitious time….
“When you were with me, you always followed my words. That’s why I never felt uncomfortable with you.”
“Well, then…! Eh, Ariel’s ideal type is… Ho, is it me…?”
“……Huh?”
Is that so…… ?
I guess that’s how it works…… ?
‘… But wasn’t Marie the most comfortable of all the women I’ve ever met?’
Lucius was annoying enough, Claire was dangerous, Erea was just difficult, and Professor Catherine was out of the question.
If you think about it that way, there was no one she felt as comfortable with as Marie.
And she probably has a hard time meeting another woman who fits her ideal type as much as Marie.
“No, what is that? Don’t get me wrong.”
But if she suddenly hears, ‘Actually, you are my ideal type’, Marie will be in trouble.
She tried to get the spot right away, but Marie took a step further.
“Eh, Ariel… I, I mean, actually…”
“I’m sorry, but can you excuse me?”
Then a voice interrupted.
At some point, ‘she’ was in her place.
Her dark blue hair swayed slightly in the night breeze.
She is neatly dressed in a maid outfit, and her dark, rugged eyes are looking at her.
Inorganic, yet somewhat contemptuous eyes.
Nina was there.
“Sorry to startle you. There’s a rat in there.”
A rat?
When in doubt, Nina was already reaching out her hand,
At some point, her arm was swinging.
Somewhere along the way, a dagger was thrown.
At some point, it was stuck in her neck.
“Chehehe…”
Her dagger pierces her throat, and a voice close to the sound of the wind leaks out.
Black seal.
It was there, as if a shadow stood tall with texture.
The creature with a bizarre appearance was greatly shaken by Nina’s attack.
Soon after, her body collapsed and disappeared from the spot as if melting.
“It’s a monster called ‘Diving Bat’.”
Nina says that before asking anything of her.
Marie opened her eyes wide in surprise at those words.
“A bat…? Bar, I think the one who just fell down is a person…”
“The diving bat is not a bat. It’s more like a slime, if you’re serious about it.”
Nina said so.
As Nina said, diving bats were slime-type monsters.
This monster has three main characteristics.
It is a nocturnal creature that is active mainly at night.
Moving through the ground like a mole.
And having the ability to transform into something else.
Because it moves through the ground, it is called ‘diving’.
It is a nocturnal creature, and it is called a ‘bat’, meaning it is a diving bat.
“Ariel Beheritt, you seem to have been busy lately.”
Nina looked at me as if glaring at me.
Looking at it with a gaze that doesn’t understand what that means, Nina slightly turns her gaze to Marie.
“My fellow party member, Claire Entirus, also had a lot of night activities. I didn’t know that even Marie Ruhelif would do night activities.”
‘…… Do you know that Claire has been in and out of my room?’
That was something I expected to some extent, although I didn’t deliberately tell Claire about it.
In order to protect her own master, her Benit, Nina underwent rigorous training from her boss, and as a result, she acquired various thief skills.
Her ability to hide is so strong that even the professors at the academy won’t be able to find her if she puts her mind to it.
Mobility enough to instantly close a distance of several hundred meters.
Possibly better throwing ability than me,
Even a wide range of search abilities.
Perhaps Nina was keeping track of the movements of people in her mansion.
Real time, daily.
“It’s none of my concern what the guests do, but I’d like you to refrain from activities at night. Nights are so dangerous.”
“…Okay. Be careful.”
“Then I’ll leave, but please go inside the mansion at night if possible.”
With those words, Nina’s figure disappeared.
As if she never existed in that place in the first place.
Or, as if the meeting just now had been a dream.
Nina has completely disappeared.
I say to Marie, who is dumbfounded by the sudden disappearance of Nina.
“Shall we go in, Marie?”
“Huh? Uh, uh, yeah…!”
“But I think I was just about to say something. What was it?”
“Huh? Uh uh… That, ah, it’s nothing…”
“Is that so?”
It didn’t seem like anything, but Marie didn’t seem to want to say much.
Since I didn’t feel like I needed to be questioned, we went back to the mansion.
“Yes. That’s what happened.”
The top floor of Findelnerca’s mansion. There is a meeting room there.
Of course, there are several other conference rooms besides this one, but the conference room on the top floor is used only for special purposes.
A meeting room where only the lord, his clan, and those permitted by the lord can enter.
Benit and some retainers were having a conversation there.
“Did the second son of the Duke of Beherit like the daughter of Count Ruhelif? Why was he having a tryst in a place like that?”
“From what I’ve heard, Claire Entirus seems to have led the way.”
“The writer’s youngest daughter after Entity Russ. She’s a very strange child, too.”
Benit exchanges words with Nina with a stern face.
He doesn’t usually have a lively appearance. Here, she is not just a student, but the next lord of Count Findelnerca.
I am here as a small master who rules the county.
“I heard Claire Entirus visited Ariel Beheritt’s bedroom?”
“Yes. I’ve only visited once in the middle of the night, but there’s a movement that looks like an opportunity.”
“Looks like you’ve fallen in love. I’ve heard that they’re childhood friends, but I haven’t heard that they’re engaged yet.”
Benit glanced at the old butler.
The butler, who received his gaze, inadvertently stroked his beard.
“Yes, Princess. I haven’t heard of an engagement either.”
“Really? Are you still going to the bedroom? It’s promiscuous.”
“How do I do it? Do you want to catch the weak point?”
“Leave it. Even if it’s her youngest daughter who is inferior in rank to her toothless tiger, it’s a powerful family. In particular, it is rumored that the Marquis of Entirus cares for her youngest daughter very much.”
Even if we clumsily grasp the weakness, it will surely be the Countess Findelnerca who will be weeded out because they will lose their strength.
I’d rather take a different approach.
“Rather, we should do it in a way that shows grace. If Claire Entirus is promoting something, should we cooperate?”
“But anyway, she’s the youngest daughter. At most, she’ll be the second wife of another noble family.”
“But as of now, the most likely one is Ariel Beheritt’s first wife, isn’t it? She is said to be the child Ariel Beheritt gave her away, but if the two of them get engaged, it seems she will return to the Duchess of Beheritt.”
If you help Claire get the two engaged, maybe the Findel Nerka family will be able to connect with the Beherit duchy.
But how much merit would that really have?
Ariel, who is rumored to be the duke’s madman, how much power will she have if she returns to the dukedom, and will she be of any help to Count Findel Nerka?
‘I don’t think it’ll be of much help to her, but putting her feet on it seems fine.’
Even after that, Benit had many conversations with her vassals. It was mainly about the guests staying at the residence of Count Findelnerca.
Nina had such a political purpose in attracting Philea students to the point where she provided her room and board for free.
What kind of people will be helpful to the Count family if you become close with them, and what kind of people should you avoid and how to respond to them?
Such discussions took place over a not short period of time.
“Are you done with the simple stories? Then, Nina, I’d like to hear the report about the monster yesterday.”
“Yes, Mr. Benit.”
Nina took a posture at attention.
“Many diving bats have been found. Two monsters have invaded the mansion, even though they weren’t diving bats.”
“Which of the guests knows that?”
“It’s just Ariel Beheritt and Marie Ruhelif.”
“Listen, Nina. This is about the prestige of our Countess Findelnerca. What do other people think of our county’s ability to defend itself?”
From noble mtl dot com
“I’m sorry, master.”
Nina looks down her head.
Benit doesn’t like Nina very much. She basically said that she couldn’t like a human named Nina.
I didn’t mean to ask for an apology in the first place. If you point out a little bit, he apologizes as quickly as he does now, and everything he says is hard.
It’s like a broken machine that just spits out the words it’s been injected with.
It is difficult to attach affection.
“Investigate the monsters. Did they creep in accidentally or ‘intentionally’?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“You said there were no witnesses other than Ariel Beheritt and Marie Ruhelif. I’ll cover them.”
Fortunately, both of them have a narrow relationship. It shouldn’t be that difficult to keep quiet about being attacked by monsters.
“After dinner, call the two of you.”
“Yes, I understand. I will call you to the reception room on the first floor.”
“The first floor reception room…”
Does that mean you have to go down from the top floor to the bottom floor? It was a far-fetched story.
Thinking that being an aristocrat is very difficult, Benit left the meeting room.
“Benit, you seem to be doing a good job.”
As soon as I left the door, a middle-aged man approached me.
Benit hurriedly made a bow.
“Lord, are you awake?”
“No need to be too polite, Benit. I just said good morning.”
“No. The vassals are watching, my lord.”
At that, the retainers who followed Benit also bowed to the man in front of them.
Gauss Findelnerka.
He is the current lord of Count Findelnerca and Benit’s father.
“It’s nice to see a dignified figure. Our Count family will never nod.”
“No. Every day I realize that I am lacking.”
“I heard you made no big mistakes. You’re doing well enough, so there’s nothing to be too humble about.”
Saying that, Gauss stroked Bennett’s head.
“Work hard.”
With those words, Gauss left the place.
Feeling a little excited about being praised by his father, Bennett immediately moved on.
Everything for the family.
For the future of Count Findelnerca.