[V11C9] A Woman Who Smiles Brighter When Angry

“And that is how both Gluttonous Zoe and Theodore Maxwell ended up being lost at sea. The Noble Council was left with no choice but to place a replica of Gluttonous Zoe in the treasure vault.”

“Hold it,” Melissa interjected, leaning on her left hand as she tapped the table with her right. “You’re saying this guy sunk to the bottom of the sea with the ancient artifact. How and why did they suddenly come back eight years later?”

“We don’t know either, and that’s what’s troubling us,” Louis answered, spreading a map across the table.

This was a map of western Ridill. The left third of the map was covered in water, and there was a mark on the location where the Evangeline had sunk.

“Carla felt responsible for her brother’s actions, and has been investigating reports of anyone resembling Theodore for the past eight years.”

Perhaps Theodore and Gluttonous Zoe had washed ashore and survived. As long as there was a non-zero chance of that possibility, then Carla would feel the urge to take action.

“Around the end of last autumn, Carla heard about one such report and headed to the port town of Talia, where she conducted an investigation until we lost contact with her. I learned about this right after the visit from Princess Cecilia.”

“So last spring then,” Melissa muttered, placing a finger on her red lips. “Right around the time when my grandmothers got strangely active.”

“Indeed. After the bustle surrounding Cecilia’s visit settled down, Carla was found on a highway in western Ridill… covered in some sort of black shadows, in a state of apparent death.”

A state of apparent death. Those words sent a chill down Monica’s spine, as she had witnessed Cyril in a similar state.

That unnaturally cold body, devoid of the warmth of life. Aside from the faintest of pulses, they could be easily mistaken for a corpse.

And now, it wasn’t just Carla. Mary and Frieda had been placed in a similar state.

As Monica clenched her fists atop her lap, Louis turned his gaze to Hugo, the Artillery Mage’s disciple.

“That was when we assigned Hugo Galletti-dono to investigate Theodore Maxwell’s recent whereabouts. Could you please give us your report again?”

“Y-Yes sir.”

Hugo gave an anxious nod, took a deep breath, then picked up the staff that had been leaning against his chair. Using the tip of his staff, he pointed toward the city of Talia on the map.

“Uh, ahem. Theodore appeared in the port town of Talia around last autumn, working as a day laborer at the Anderson Company. You know, the ruler of the transportation industry that transports fresh meat and fish with their refrigerated carriages.”

Apparently, Theodore had worked there for a while, loading cargo onto carriages.

Monica had witnessed the Anderson Company’s refrigerated carriages before. They had branches all over Ridill, and the bustling port town of Sazandol was no exception.

“However, it seems that Theodore suddenly disappeared one day. After that, we lost track of him for a while… until about three months later, around the time of Ashelpikeh’s Festival. Theodore was sighted in Sazandol, a town to the north of Talia.”

“…Eh?”

Monica involuntarily gasped at Hugo’s explanation.

Meanwhile, Melissa paused her tapping of the table and glared at Hugo.

“Hey, do you have a sketch of Theodore Maxwell? Or a list of distinctive features?”

Under Melissa’s intimidating gaze, Hugo fumbled through the pockets of his robes.

“Uh, um… Ah, it’s actually there. I guess I forgot to take it out of my pocket… Here.”

Hugo revealed a folded piece of paper.

Once unfolded, it contained the sketch of a timid-looking man with messy hair. His hair color, height, physique, and other details were noted on the margins.

Everything about him matched the man in Monica’s memories.

“Wait, how old is Theodore Maxwell!?” Melissa shouted, rising from her chair.

“He was thirty during the Gluttonous Zoe theft incident, making him currently thirty-eight,” Louis answered.

“Thirty-eight? Doesn’t look that old to me…” Melissa muttered.

Melissa glanced over at Monica and Silas. A girl who looked younger than her actual age, and a man who appeared ten years older than his actual age.

“Well, I guess that’s within the margin of error.”

Melissa gave a small nod, making eye contact with Monica. The two were thinking the exact same thing.

“Onee-san, this is… C-Could he really be…?” Monica stuttered.

“It’s exactly what you’re thinking. You old folks are about to regret hiding this from us!”

Melissa was glaring at Louis and Bradford, but the term “old folks” likely included the Noble Council as well as the witches of House Roseberg.

Melissa twisted her vividly red lips into a smile. She was the type of woman whose smile grew brighter the angrier she got, and her current smile was exactly that——meaning she was absolutely furious.

“Oh, what a joke. It’s so ridiculous that I can’t help but laugh! If you had just told me and the Little One what was going on, we could have avoided all of this trouble!”

“…What do you mean by that?” Louis asked with a frown.

“I mean that Moni-Moni and I have met Theodore in Sazandol!” Melissa answered in a resounding voice.

This immediately grabbed the attention of everyone in the room.

“…Excuse me?” Louis asked with a stern tone.

“There was a Theodore among the lackeys of some idiot mage called Throth, and he matches this wanted poster perfectly! …I can’t believe that wimp pulled off something so audacious.”

“Who is this Throth?” Louis asked, squinting his eyes in disbelief.

“Some thug from Randall who was running an illegal drug salon in Sazandol. No clue where he is right now, but hopefully the Randall Knights are giving him a good spanking.”

“And what happened to Theodore…?”

“Don’t ask me. I used Theodore as a human shield when I took down Throth. Then I threw him to the side and never saw him again.”

Meanwhile, Raul muttered, “Oh right, that guy…” having finally remembered.

Raul was present when Melissa confronted Throth, but ‘that guy collapsed on the ground’ probably didn’t leave much of an impression in his memories.

Louis tapped his temple with his finger a few times, organizing the information in his brain, before turning his eyes toward Monica.

“…So there really is something going on in Sazandol?” Louis mumbled in soliloquy-like tone,

“Eh?”

Louis opened his mouth to respond to Monica’s doubts, before shaking his head and closing his mouth again.

“I still have questions about your encounter with Theodore Maxwell in Sazandol. But for now, we must proceed to the next subject. Astronomy Mage, Clarence Hall-dono, if you would please.”

Handed the floor by Louis, Clarence nodded and began speaking.

“Understood. I speak on behalf of my esteemed master, Mary Harvey the Starseer Witch, who is currently incapacitated. However, she left a prophecy just before the attack two days ago.”

Clarence was an intellectual-looking man in his forties. He seemed to be expressing deep respect for his master Mary, even though she was absent.

“In the near future, the Kingdom of Ridill will be struck by the worst dragon disaster in history.”

The worst dragon disaster in history.

If this prophecy was referring to the large-scale dragon disaster from two days ago, then the prophesied events had already occurred.

However, this was only the beginning of the prophecy. Clarence continued his words in a calm tone.

“There are three terms deeply connected to this future: Sazandol, Silent Witch, and… Black Dragon.”

Monica’s heart jumped at the mention of each. Especially the last one, which had a greater impact than even her own name.

(…Nero!)

The prophecy said nothing about how the three were related, but most people would reach the same conclusion.

Glenn, still seated on the floor, served as the spokesperson for everyone in the room.

“So a black dragon will appear in Sazandol, and Monica will defeat it? Is that the idea?”

“A bit simplistic, but that’s a reasonable interpretation,” Louis said, nodding in agreement.

Monica pressed her hands against her chest, desperately trying to calm her loudly thumping heart.

(What do I do, what do I do, what do I do…)

“Well, it should be a piece of cake for the Silent Witch. After all, you drove away the Black Dragon of Worgan,” Bradford followed.

“Yeah, even a black dragon will fall in one shot to Nee-san’s chantless magic,” Silas added.

Bradford and Silas were probably trying to dispel the heavy atmosphere with exaggerated optimism, but Monica was not in any state to listen.

(Nero, please tell me you’re staying at home properly… You haven’t gone on a journey or transformed back into a dragon without telling me, right?)

“Excuse me?” Melissa interjected. “The nerve of you men, feeling relieved at shoving all the responsibility onto a little girl. What’s wrong with you? Can’t even consider the possibility of taking down a black dragon by yourself?”

This prompted Silas to tighten his lips into a frown.

“…Of course, I’ll slay any dragon that threatens humans. That’s why I called myself the Dragon Slayer Mage,” Silas replied, as if trying to convince himself.

Meanwhile, Bradford let out a casual laugh.

“Hah, I’m itching for some action too. Black dragon or whatever, I’ll blow everything to smithereens with my spells. Right, Hugo!”

Bradford slapped Hugo’s shoulders with his large hands, causing Hugo to hold his stomach.

“Uh, Master, I think I’m starting to get a stomachache,” Hugo replied.

“I’ll be counting on you for the defense barrier during my incantation,” Bradford continued.

“But Master, I think Barrier Mage-sama would be more reliable and safe…”

“That won’t be possible for a while,” Bradford said, shaking his head.

“Fweh?”

Hugo let out a silly voice, and for some reason, Louis’s face contorted into a grimace.

Bradford twisted his muscled neck to face Louis.

“His mana hasn’t recovered at all. Right, Barrier Mage?”

“…It’s as you say.”

Louis stroked the edge of his shortened hair as he explained in a bitter voice.

“As you can see, I was hit by an enemy attack in the incident two days ago, and they ate a good chunk of my mana. Even when suffering mana depletion, a person would normally recover a decent amount after a full day of rest, but…”

“You’re hardly recovering at all, yeah?” Bradford took over, crossing his arms and nodding. “The Barrier Mage without his spells is just a grumpy old man with a nasty tongue…”

“Old…?”

Louis grimaced at the sudden insult from Bradford.

“Don’t forget his nasty personality,” Melissa followed.

“And his nasty temper too,” Glenn added, jumping onto the bandwagon.

And so, the man with a nasty tongue, nasty personality, and nasty temper smiled as he delivered a kick to his disciple’s backside.

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