What should I do? By an unexpected chance, my true identity is about to be revealed.
When the black hair slipped through, I thought nobody wouldnt be able to recognize unless I caused trouble. Who would have thought that my identity would be revealed through a magical device used as compensation?
He is probably already convinced that Im Yumiela.
I roll the crystal in my hand, wondering how to deal with this.
Ahyou know.
13?
There was a brief mont where I wondered what the numbers were, but I soon figured it out.
The magic device I was touching had sohow been activated and displayed the last two digits of my level. Thats what he saw. Then there is only one thing to do to avoid being recognized as Yumiela.
Oh? This is how the levels are shown. Is 13 high?
For soone your age, level 13 seems high, but I dont think so.
This is a scene in which I loudly insist that if Im Yumiela, Im beyond level 99. But this is where I have to be patient. I casually said sothing that soone who knows usually would suspect is fake if they heard it.
If he had responded that my level was too low, I would have lost my reason.
The gray-haired man looks uncertain, muttering to himself if its different. I should make sure and further impress him that Im not Yumiela.
I know that you thought I was Count Dolknes. Dont worry, Im used to it. Its the hair, isnt it?
Im sorry. It must have been offensive to be lumped in with sothing like that.
Not to that extent, though. Sorry that I was mistaken for such a great person?
Great person? Are you sure youre not mistaken? From what I hear, Yumiela Dolknes is not a decent person. The more I hear about her being born and raised in a dungeon, thinking only of fighting and taming a vicious dragon, the less sane she sounds.
I worry my face is scrunched up. Huh? Am I that bad? How does it get across in the neighboring kingdom?
There is truth to the part about growing up in a dungeon and thinking about combat a lot. He is wrong about Ryu because he is all about cuteness with zero viciousness.
But overall, the information seems to be sowhat exaggerated.
B-but! She is a Lord. Maybe shes not as bad as rumored.
The people around her were simply outstanding. Those things would have done nothing. And Im not so foolish as to believe in baseless rumors. Rumors have circulated that there were two Yumiela, she ca from another world, and so on.
There were two Yumiela, and its also true she ca from another world. The Lords work is also helped by those around them. Nothing can be said when even the most unbelievable gossip is true. It is so true that unjustified nasty rumors were still better.
Before I could protest, he added.
And stop calling Onii-san. Im not your brother.
Sorry. What should I call you?
Gilbert is fine.
Gilbert is very uptight about older and younger brothers. Huh? Gilbert? Where have I heard that before?
I search the persons na in my brains folder, excluding people close to or within the Balshine Kingdom. He isnt a royal of Remrest, I hardly know the nobles nas, even less about the general public, or maybe I just imagine it.
Since he has given his na, I must provide him with mine. My na was Yumiela, but I couldnt honestly call myself Yumiela, so I had to co up with an alias. The na that ca to mind was soone close to .
Alright, Gilbert-san. Im Eleanora.
I never heard your na.
He is a man whose every word and action is sharp.
Did I do sothing to offend him? Well, I broke his house. It was a wonder he didnt yell at .
Since I doubt I could respond if soone called Eleanora, I was even glad to be calledyou.
I apologize for the ss I made of your house. Lets continue our talk. Please use this crystal to pay for the repairs.
No need to pay for the roof. Just get out and dont co near my house again.
Gilbert is adamant. Sohow I need to accept it. I might force him to take it by leaving the crystal.
Follow .
With that, he turned his back to .
Following him silently, we left the room, walked down the hallway, and stopped in front of the next room.
Its a guest room that isnt usually used. Its been cleaned. Feel free to use it.
Thank you.
Is it possible to arrange a room without preparation, or do guests often co here? The house itself also has an unusual and suspicious atmosphere.
Then he opened the door and urged to enter the room.
When I did as he asked, he imdiately closed the door.
Youll have to leave tomorrow.
His footsteps move away from before I can reply. Either he is kind or strict, Im not sure.
I look around the room I was ushered into. The room was furnished with a bed, a table and a chair, and thick curtains. Apart from that, there arent so many things in the room that it seems unnatural. The room had a little lived-in feel, no more than a business hotel.
Is there no room like this in an average persons house? It is designed only for sleeping and waking up, which deepens the mystery of what kind of people usually use this place.
Getting too deep into it seems scary, so I decide to rest.
Sitting on the bed, I take a rest. There are so many things to think aboutthe mystery of this house, tomorrows border crossing routethat I dont think Ill be able to sleep well.
Even if I didnt sleep, I would still need to lie down and rest my body. I laid down
Mhm morning?
It was morning. I had a fantastic sleep. I was sleeping in a strange persons house that I had never t before, in a foreign kingdom where we had no good relationship, and I was having a good ti.
The curtains werent closed. The morning sun hit directly and dazzled . I got up and stretched.
Im going to leave soon. The wedding will be carried out as soon as I return to Dolknes territory and say I couldnt make it to the moon.
I wouldnt say I like it. I dont want to go back. While its fine to have a wedding, it is embarrassing to have declared that you were going to go to the moon and then not be able to go.
The Cold War was lost by those who couldnt get to the moon, and abandoning a trip to the moon was tantamount to admitting defeat.
Nobody would believe if I went out at night, returned at noon the next day, and said I went to the moon. I want to return at least three days later.
The title is Operation Prince Ishitsukuri. Princess Kaguya asks Prince Ishitsukuri in Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter) for the Buddhas begging bowl. He never crossed to India, where the bowl is located, but went into hiding for three years in the countryside and offered up whatever bowl was appropriate.
Eventually, she would find out it was a fake, but I focused on the fact that she waited for three years. Like Prince Ishitsukuri, who went into hiding for three years to make people think he had gone to India, I want to spend three days in hiding to make people think I had gone to the moon.
There is also the danger that Patrick will discover my presence if I return to the Balshine Kingdom. That being said, it is also dangerous to stay at the inn.
Could there be soone kind enough to hide from the outside world and lend a place to sleep for the ti being?
Amid my nefarious plotting, I heard footsteps coming from outside my room. Soone kind enough to offer a hiding place, Im sure.
Answering the knock and opening the door, I found Gilbert-san, just as I had imagined. He looks tired this morning.
Get up. Quick
Good morning.
Youre awake. Now get out.
Could I have another chance to stay here for a few days? I just need a room, and then Ill be on my way.
What are you talking about?
The truth is Im running away from ho, and it wouldnt look good if I returned too soon.
Why do I have to help you run away from ho? I could hand you over to the guards.
The people who maintain security ca to this house which one of us would get in trouble?
The atmosphere I felt was changing.
It would be a huge problem on my part if soone from the Remrest Kingdom were called in. But he seed to have his reason, too.
He declined my offer, told to leave imdiately, and hid from his neighbor.
While I had always thought it was sothing that ca from , it makes sense that Gilbert-san has his reasons for doing so. He has reasons for not wanting to stand out in so way.
He wants to be invisible, acts like a lovely young man in front of his neighbor, and wants to avoid won coming in and out of his house at night.
I imagined the accuracy rate would be 20% at best, but I hit the jackpot.
Gilbert-san sharply glares at . He casually braces himself.
He has no weapon but is ready to use a restraining technique. Despite my lack of familiarity with martial arts, even I recognized the posture imdiately as it was similar to Patricks.
Not letting his guard down, he says in a voice devoid of emotion.
What do you know?
Nothing. I just know that you dont want the attention drawn to you.
Didnt you say you ran away from ho? If it were true, your house wouldnt be normal. You are the one who has to worry about people coming here. Get out.
To be honest, it bothers when people say Im troubleso. But you too, right? And you keep trying to persuade .
I will be honest about the fact Im soone who has a reason to be here.
The point here wasnt to intimidate him but to make it clear that there are circumstances in which both parties dont want to stand out.
It is better if the relationship is mutual, where both parties can get themselves in trouble if they try to exclude the other.
Gilbert-san moves his right hand casually and scratches his left shoulder.
He was in a position to release his back fist as it was. The one that Patrick taught when I asked him about martial arts.
Not wanting to appear to have any combat-related knowledge, I pretend not to notice.
What do you want?
Like I said before. Give three days, nothing else.
I will admit that I have reasons I cant tell anyone about. I want you to shut your mouth and be gone as soon as possible. We can do that if you just do as I say, or Ill make you cant talk.
He threatens . It seems his situation is more severe than I imagined.
But you know what? If he wanted to kill , he would have done it before he said it. I have the impression that he is serious about such things.
The fact that Gilbert-san threatened verbally indicates that he has no intention of acting on it.
Since it would be strange not to be scared of him, I acted out my fear very convincingly.
Kyaa, how scary.
Are you making fun of ?
He gave a big tongue-lashing. But he was annoyed when I didnt give any response, wasnt he?
With one more push, I think I can secure a place to stay. If only there were a few more advantages to him, but Im sure he thinks the best thing to do was for to leave. Let list the disadvantages of my leaving.
If I leave the house, I might leak Gilbert-sans presence to soone else. The best way to prevent information from leaking out is to keep here.
You will leave sooner or later, and the outco will be the sa.
I will change your mind. Let stay here for three days, and I will leave this house with a clear conscience.
Is that a threat?
No, Im just expressing the natural human psychology of feeling offended when people are kicked out.
Are you saying youre offended that the hoowner kicked you out after you destroyed their roof?
Ah, no, thats Im willing to pay the compensation, but I dont think money is the answer sorry.
I admit my full culpability for the property destruction. When you add that I fell from the sky, I was like a burglar who broke in.
Not satisfied with destroying the house, I threatened the hoowner and forced them to let stay overnight. This is the very definition of villainy.
From the beginning, there was no way I could negotiate a deal that would be beneficial to both sides. It is embarrassing to pretend as I could.
After rembering that I was the aggressor, I decided to leave.
We should get away from this capital first. Then we can think about whether to go straight ho or spend our ti elsewhere.
I greatly apologize. I will leave imdiately. Please be assured that I will not speak to anyone about your presence in this house. In the future, it would be better to stay away from . I would appreciate it if you could hide my presence as well. But I will be leaving the capital soon, so if anyone asks about , you dont have to worry about answering.
Its enough. There is no other way than apologize and do as he says.
The suns position will give a general direction, which I can use as a guide to get back to the Balshine Kingdom. After crossing the border, there will be fewer problems if my true identity is discovered.
I bowed deeply, then walked past Gilbert and left the room. The doorway was just down the stairs, and I put my hand on the door
Wait, Elanora.
Eh? Is Miss Eleanora here?
A voice from behind makes look around involuntarily.
How could Eleanora be here ah, thats the fake na Ive been using.
There seems to be no more room for deception from here. When soone called , my response was, Did you call for ? but I didnt give him any answer.
It has already been exposed that I have my reasons, and there will be a little problem if they find out my na is fake. Ive already left.
Gilbert seems to have realized that my na is not Elanora and says with a look of dismay.
You may be quick-witted and have good instincts, but you arent good at underhanded tricks.
It seems so.
You should have just gone ahead and fixed the roof, never mind that youre the one who destroyed it.
It cant be that bad.
I wish that thing had as much conscience and brains.
Gilbert exhaled deeply.
That thinghe said seems to be a person. He is thinking of soone with no conscience and not very bright. Since he describes it as athing, it is clear that he hates it a lot.
You have sowhere to go, dont you?
Etto Im leaving the capital. To the east.
When you say east, are you talking near Tetania?
An unfamiliar place na ca up. Probably soplace in Remrest.
But my destination is further east in the Balshine Kingdom. The more lies I tell, the more suspicious I will look. It would be better to be truthful about the parts that arent important.
Its further east. Its sowhere around the Ashbaton territory border.
You dont want to go near that area.
He reacted when I told him I planned to go to the border area. Its not like theres a war about to start.
Ashbaton is peaceful, but is the Remrest side of the border unsafe?
Its hard to answer when asked to provide more details about my plan to cross the border. I put my hand on the door again, trying to leave.
Wait.
He stopped again. He walks up to and tries to walk past .
When I give him the way, he holds the door open and says, with his back to .
I will allow you to stay. You can use the room where you stayed last night, and you are free to use whatever else is in the house. Eat whatever you like.
Why the sudden change of heart?
Before I could ask, he said, Im going out. and left.
Looking at the closed door, I stayed still for a while.
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