Chapter 2 Part 2
Iris’s story ── her voice became teary towards the end. Eventually, she started crying, and before I knew it, she had buried her face in my lap. It was just like how Alice used to cry two hundred years ago.
“…Don’t cry, Alice. No… you’re Princess Iris now, right?”
“I-It’s annoying. I’m still Alice…”
“Rhodelia will laugh at you, you know?”
“I don’t care. Rhodelia-san is also tearing up…”
That was true.
Since a while ago, Rhodelia had been wiping her tears with a handkerchief. To her, the story was about her ancestors, and it was an old tale she had heard about for a long time. So it was not surprising that she was tearing up.
“From here on out, I’ll tell you the story that my ancestors have told for generations. It’s an old tale, and there may be some vague parts… So please forgive me.”
Rhodelia took a deep breath, then began to speak,
“After Alice Carmine set off on her journey, ‘Feela Village’ split into two groups.”
“Two groups? Did they have a falling out?”
“No. The village was very close-knit. They just had different goals.”
“Different goals?”
“Yes. There was the group that said, ‘Let’s create assets for My Lord and Alice, who will be reincarnated’, and the group that said, ‘Let’s infiltrate the Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple, and destroy it from the inside’.“
“…No way.”
“It’s true. My parents called them the ‘Merchant faction’ and the ‘Infiltration faction’.”
“In that case, this ‘Grail Trading Company’ wasn’t created by Gates alone ──”
“The people in ‘Feela Village’ who were skilled in commerce jointly created it. So they could take care of My Lord and Alice when they were reincarnated.”
Rhodelia smiled kindly and said,
“Lyle, Remilia, and other members of the ‘Infiltration faction’ pretended to follow the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘ and rose to high positions. This ‘Authentication Ancient Artifact’ was also passed down from them to our ancestors.”
“…I have a question, though.”
I raised my hand and interrupted Rhodelia’s story.
“I understand why Gates and the ‘Merchant faction’ established a trading company. Business is subject to luck and can be profitable if you ride the wave of the times.”
“That’s right.”
“But I don’t understand the ‘Infiltration faction’. Can they really rise to high positions in the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘ so easily? The Sanctuary Church should have had talented people, right?”
“…Hehe.”
“Did I say something strange?”
“No, I’m just happy. My Lord is just as it has been described in the story.”
Rhodelia smiled as she looked at Iris.
“That’s right, Your Royal Highness Princess Iris.”
“Yes, My Lord is too humble and doesn’t realize how great he is.”
Iris wiped away her tears as she spoke. She had somehow occupied my lap in the meantime.
“My Lord saved ‘Feela Village’ from the ‘Death Crest Disease’, remember?”
“That’s not all. Since My Lord came to ‘Feela Village’, there hasn’t been a single death from starvation in the village.”
Rhodelia took over Iris’s line.
“My Lord helped the sick children with his ‘Purification’ spell. Thanks to that, there were hardly any child deaths in the village. The monsters around the village were exterminated by My Lord and his familiars, so the villagers were not attacked. In other words, the villagers could live peacefully and reach their natural life spans.”
“Even today, I don’t think there are many villages like that.”
“Is that so?”
Rhodelia and Iris nodded in agreement at my words.
“Besides, My Lord taught the villagers magic research, agricultural, hunting techniques, and how to defeat monsters.”
“Oh, yeah. Because I can’t really understand something until I teach it to someone else.”
“On top of that, at that time, the literacy rate in the royal capital was only 30 percent, while it was 100 percent in ‘Feela Village’. Everyone there had been educated by My Lord, the ‘Immortal Mage, Lord of Nosferatu‘, for 150 years. The geniuses like Lyle and Remilia were born as a result of that education.”
Rhodelia smiled and continued,
“In short, in ‘Feela Village’, there were more talented people than in the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘.”
“What do you think would happen if my father and mother, who were exceptionally talented among them, acquired knowledge of ‘Ancient Artifacts’ and ‘Ancient Magic’?”
Lyle, a genius of effort, and Remilia, a natural genius. According to Iris, the two of them had analyzed the secret of the Holy Sword in less than a year. If those two were to acquire knowledge of ‘Ancient Artifacts’ and ‘Ancient Magic’ ──
“…It’s going to be pretty dangerous.”
“Furthermore, My Lord’s death allowed my father and mother to infiltrate the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘. There’s no way they would waste that chance.”
…That was undoubtedly true.
“Is there no record in the ‘Folklore’ about the results of Lyle and the others infiltrating the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘?”
“Unfortunately not.”
Rhodelia shook her head.
“After the war started, it seems that we lost contact with the ‘Infiltration faction’.”
“It can’t be helped, then. It was two hundred years ago, after all.”
If it were Lyle and Remilia, they might have been able to cause the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘ to collapse from within. Moreover, the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘ was not on guard against Lyle and the others.
To the priests of the church, Lyle was a hero who had killed the evil ‘Immortal Mage, Lord of Nosferatu‘. Therefore, they gave him the Holy Sword and welcomed him into the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘.
If Lyle and the others had tried to crush such an unguarded opponent… Yeah, there would be no chance of victory for the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘.
“That might be one of the reasons why the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘ was destroyed.”
Seriously, Lyle and Remilia were too reckless. I wonder what happened to their daughter, Mia, aside from Alice, who had been reincarnated. They must have properly kept their bloodline up to this day, right? I would not tolerate it if they went too far and let the lineage die out.
…Jeez. They were really something else. Even though I died peacefully in my previous life. Just what is this mess?
“That’s all for my story.”
said Rhodelia, concluding her speech.
“I would like to talk about the formation of the company as well, but I can’t keep Princess Iris any longer.”
“I’ll send my familiar to Rhodelia later.”
“Familiar? Is it a bat?”
“Yeah. If the company’s crest is a bat and an old castle, having a bat by your side wouldn’t be strange. I’ll explain the situation to my familiar, so use it as a liaison between us.”
“Understood.”
Rhodelia kneeled in front of me once again.
“The ‘Grail Trading Company’ and Rhodelia Koofy will fully support your life in this era, My Lord. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you need any money or tools.”
“I’ll count on you. Oh, and… Princess Iris.”
“Y-Yes!?”
“Can I entrust my familiar to Your Royal Highness as well?”
“I’ll take care of it! I definitely will!!”
“All right. I’ll send it later as a liaison. Please tell me the location of Your Royal Highness’s room.”
“U-Um, Yuuki-sama!!”
Suddenly, Princess Iris took my hand.
“…What about… your promise with Alice?”
“Promise…?”
“Yes, that promise.”
“Is it the one Alice was talking about when I was treating the ‘Death Crest Disease’?”
“That’s right.”
“The one Alice murmured like a delirium, and I just let it pass?”
“Aren’t you deliberately avoiding the specific wording?”
“I know. When you grow up, Alice will be my wife, right?”
As I said that, Iris’s face turned bright red.
“Y-Yes… that’s right.”
“But you haven’t grown up yet, aren’t you?”
“It’s been two hundred years. Isn’t that okay?”
“What about Princess Iris’s feelings, even if Alice is okay with it?”
Undoubtedly, Iris is Alice’s reincarnated body, but she also has her own will as Princess Iris, who has lived up until now. It’s important to ask about that.
“Princess Iris is already in love with Yuuki-sama, who saved her life twice.”
Iris pinched the hem of her robe and bowed like a lady.
“I ask that My Lord take both Iris and Alice as wives.”
“Right. Anyway, I planned to protect Alice’s descendants forever. It’s even more so for the reincarnated Alice. If I’m going to protect you by your side, getting married is the quickest way, isn’t it?”
“That’s too casual, Yuuki-sama! I’m happy to hear that you’ll protect me for life, but if you could say something more romantic…”
“Well, you see. In my previous life, I was a guardian deity of the village for 150 years, remember? I took care of almost all the children in the village and even changed the diapers of Alice’s ancestors. Even if I’m told to feel that way towards their descendants right away, it’s difficult for me.”
“That’s a phrase that only an immortal lord can say…”
Princess Iris and I tilted our heads. Then we looked at each other and burst out laughing.
There was no need to rush. I just reunited with Alice, and Princess Iris has just regained the memories of her previous life. I, Yuuki Grossalia, am only thirteen years old right now, so there is no telling whether or not I will develop those feelings in the future.
But for now, we have time. So let’s take it slow.
“According to the customs of the royal family, Princess Iris can get married from the age of fifteen.”
Rhodelia, who had been watching our exchange, muttered suddenly.
“Furthermore, even if they are children of concubines, members of the royal family are said to only marry into other royal families or families of higher rank, such as a Marquis or above, either domestically or abroad. Of course, if that is your wish, our company will do everything possible to support your elopement, but…”
“That’s a last resort.”
I said.
“After all, we’ll attend the ‘Magic Guild’ from now on. If we go to the ‘Capital of the Ancient Magic Civilization, Elysium‘ and find an ‘Ancient Artifact’, my peerage will go up, right?”
“Could it be that My Lord is planning to marry me legally!?”
“I can’t cause trouble for my family.”
If Princess Iris and I were to elope, the Baron Grossalia family would not get away unscathed. I do not know what would happen to Father, Xellos nii-sama, or even Rumia.
“So, first, let’s try to raise my family’s peerage. If unsealing the Holy Sword is considered an achievement, the Baron Grossalia family has already earned the right to become a Viscount. I just need to find two more ‘Ancient Artifacts’. They’re probably lying around somewhere.”
Besides, ‘Ancient Artifacts’ are something like relics of Lyle and Remilia. If they had destroyed the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple‘ and scattered them, that is.
I will find them. Lyle, Remilia. I will also find the descendants of Alice’s little sister, Mia.
“If that doesn’t work, we can just make it look like an accident and disappear. Princess Iris and the ‘Knight Escort’ might have the chance to travel together. We can come up with plenty of excuses, such as being attacked by monsters or being caught in a landslide. My family won’t be inconvenienced if we claim it’s due to circumstances beyond our control.”
“Understood, My Lord!”
“In that case, please let me assist you.”
Iris had a smile on her face, and Rhodelia had a sly grin as she clapped her hands.
Well, we have talked for quite a while. It was about time to go back.
“We have kept Odette waiting for quite some time. I hope she’s not angry.”
“It’s okay. Our company is doing everything we can to entertain her.”
“Odette has a weakness for sweets, after all.”
“As expected of the ‘Grail Trading Company’…”
With that said, I was reunited with Alice and a descendant of the village.
Now, all I have to do is gather the ‘Ancient Artifacts’ and follow in Lyle’s footsteps to find out what kind of recklessness the crybaby Lyle got up to. After all, I am the guardian deity of ‘Feela Village’, Dean Nosferatu.
