NOVPUB"You seem to be having a bad day after being deceived by them. This makes me curious about something. How did they deceive a great Duchess like you?" I asked, trying to find out the source of the disaster that had befallen the Duchess's family, causing her husband to die in a tragedy that should have increase their food supplys in their territory.
"Before that, I want to make sure of something. Does Lily know about these people?" the Duchess asked, giving a gentle look after some of her past stories were revealed.
"Hmm?" before I get an answer to my question, it seems I have to be patient by answering her question first.
"Do you want to ask something about these people? Shouldn't the esteemed Duchess know more about them after working together before?" I said with sarcasm that made the Duchess bite her lip.
Gritt...
By biting her lip, I could feel the Duchess's annoyance and emotions after being deceived by those people.
While maintaining the formation of the magic circle as if wanting to take something related to this group of people, I was surprised by a newspaper that suddenly showed several familiar faces.
Plooppp...
The newspaper that fell in front of me showed a nostalgic picture, a face filled with anger and a desire to destroy something in front of her eyes. A woman with her signature cursed rapier had recently repented and returned to the right path until she received a blessing given directly by the Goddess of Destruction.
"Huh, Jeanne?" I said while watching the Duchess's facial expression twitch after hearing the name.
"Do you know this woman, Lily?" asked the Duchess, her face emitting a strong flame of revenge.
This would be a big problem when the Duchess found out that Jeanne and I had been tied in a more intimate relationship after performing the Linked Ritual.
"Yeah, it's quite funny, I've met her before," I said in a calm tone and watched the Duchess's facial expression, which suddenly smiled as if she wanted to do something.
"What a coincidence, did something happen to these people?"
I need to take a more careful move, so that the Duchess doesn't become too hostile towards a woman who has become my personal property in terms of taking care of the cult.
In the calmness of my face that doesn't show any expression, I reached into the pocket of my military uniform and took out a small map that Sebastian had given me.
Ploopp...
By putting down the small map and tapping on a large river topology had multiple branches, I began to tell a sweet lie that would make the Duchess feel happy.
"Before I returned to Earl Timoti's residence, I met them," by saying something like that, I managed to attract the Duchess's attention so that her eyebrows raised upwards.
My hand immediately reached for the cursed Odachi that was beside me and placed it on my lap.
"Want to see some of the blood that's still left on my main weapon?" I continued my words.
"It seems like they had a bad luck... meeting you, Lily."
"Yes, they had a bad luck when they had the same idea as I had in mind. Who would have thought that they wanted to poison the river flow that spread to several noble areas of the Aurora Kingdom? Quite a clever and brazen act, isn't it?" My hand slowly pulled the handle of the cursed Odachi until several of the Duchess's guards were alert to my every action, but were stopped when they saw some human skin left in the blade of my cursed Odachi.
Sliinngg...
By showing part of my cursed Odachi blade, which was reddish black, I could see the Duchess's smile, who was satisfied with this.
"That was truly a brave act, especially after they deceived me. May I confirm their deaths?"
"Please do, Duchess. As long as you can stand the stench of dead humans."
By their large numbers and Sirius's hunt until their bodies reached the main road was often used by traders. It seemed that this would make the Duchess even busier looking for Jeanne's body along with the other corpses that had piled up around the river, some of them also get washed away.
"That's fine with me. I guess... I should thank you, Lily. With this, one of the burdens in my heart has disappeared."
"You're welcome, I feel happy after this coincidence makes me feel closer to the second most powerful figure in the Aurora Kingdom. Make sure to help my little noble family," I replied with a smile that invited laughter from the Duchess.
Realizing that my words were forcing a pact that had been delayed like this, I looked more like a noblewoman who didn't want to beat around the bush anymore.
"Please be patient a little, Lily. I feel happy as if a burden in my life has disappeared like this."
The Duchess leaned back again on the luxurious chair she was currently sitting on.
Snap...
She suddenly snapped her fingers, and a bird made of magical energy immediately flew out of the room.
As if her need to see authentic evidence of what I have said, this would be troublesome if I were bluffing, but this is an undeniable fact because some evidence of the massacre carried out by the stealth slime, Mio, and Evelyn's group is still left in the place of the incident.
From the corner of my eye, I could see the Duchess sharing a vision with the bird created from her magical energy.
Suddenly, I got a whisper from Sirius, she trying to tease me.
[ Supreme Commander, can I cut off this magic flow? ]
[ Calm yourself down for a while, Sirius. I don't want this peace opportunity suddenly disappear. heWe are dealing with a woman with a great mindset, se is very difficult to guess after experiencing a deception that caused her husband to die on the battlefield. ]
[ Ah, an enemy who rises after experiencing pain and misery. I will wait for your orders calmly, my Supreme Commander. ]
By warding off Sirius' tease that almost happened, I began to wait for the Duchess to speak first and put back my cursed Odachi, next to the chair I was sitting on.
"..."
"..."
"..."
A few minutes passed until the flow of magic connected to the Duchess's eyes was cut off, and her mouth moved as if she wanted to say something to me.
"Truly interesting, I knew you weren't someone who would lie easily like a Saintess who was forced to lie to maintain the stability of her holy power."
"Now I understand... the reason why Victoria recommended you to help me solve my complicated and protracted problem like this."
"Thank you very much for the help you have given me this time, Lily."
With a respectful greeting and an elegant nod of her head, I felt like I had gained an ally who helped each other when in trouble.
Seeing the Duchess give such an elegant nod and salute, I could see some of her guards starting to act friendly towards me.
Even though the friendliness was only their hands starting to move away from the hilt of their swords, it was already a good thing for me.
"Before we talk any further, what did my pet do that? Made her recommend me to help you, O esteemed Duchess?" I asked after seeing the atmosphere that had become more friendly like this.
"Pet? Oh, you mean Victoria... I'm really surprised that you have Queen's as pet, Lily," replied the Duchess with her attitude that was much different than before.
Compared to her attitude and behavior before, who was forced to be friendly with me. This was more like her calm attitude to talk without caring about each other's noble titles. This was like me talking familiarly with Princess Anastasia, who didn't care about her title as one of the Princesses of the Aurora Kingdom.
"First of all, I want to ask about someone who could solve the problems that occurred in the Duke's territory, other than an S-rank adventurer who has recently been hard to find because the money they got from hunting the Golden King Bear herd is still left. Some high-class adventurers also retired early after getting abundant wealth from the Golden King Bear hunting incident," replied the Duchess with a sarcastic smile towards me.
"Don't blame me, it's their own decision whether to retire early or not to take a job from the Adventurer's Guild," I replied to ward off her sarcastic smile that was directed at me.
"Yes, I know about that. How can I blame Lily for their decision to retire earlier than they should have? Sooner or later they will return to being adventurers after losing in gambling and became poor again, hahaha!"
I think I heard some things I shouldn't have heard.
I don't know what the Duchess is doing, but she seems to have done something shady about this.
"How about I take you to work in the Duke's military to eradicate some plant mutations that turn into monsters, Lily?" the Duchess asked as if giving me a job.
"I can, but I have tight schedule for the time being, you must to be able to survive against those plant mutations that turn into monsters, Duchess."
"Don't worry, when it comes to surviving and living, I've been doing it for a long time, and I don't even worry about my territory at this point. I've gathered some people who are professionals in this field to survive while I'm away running business like this."
Snap...
While saying that, the Duchess suddenly snapped her fingers until a magic catalyst in the form of a rapier-type sword appeared in front of me.
I could feel something bad after seeing the shape of this rapier and the Duchess's gaze that was directed at me.
"Lily, can you help me? If you help me solve the problem of plant mutations that turn into monsters like this, I will give you the highest command that can move all the military and assets owned by the Duke. A rapier that shows the legitimacy of the highest absolute power in the Duke's territory. Something that makes you much more honorable than a Duchess like me," said the Duchess, by giving something very risky to be issued in a situation like this.
I was like someone who was trying to stick to my stance or was tempted by the great power offered by the Duchess at times like this.
As if a sweet sword that could give a sour taste behind its sweetness, I was not too interested in getting great power like this.
"I think you should be patient in waiting for my answer, Duchess."
"At this time, I am preparing to survive the invasion of the opposition noble families and the heretical sect that caused the Golden King Bear herd hunting incident."
"I hope you can be patient after the war season between the nobles is over, that is, if we don't come into conflict with each other," I said with a gentle smile at her.
