The First Queen, as I know her, starts every thought with the kingdom's interests.
To put it another way, she can’t stand things that harm the kingdom.
Of course, she knows what the greater good is, so when there’s no choice, she’ll accept losses. But until that point, she’ll use everything at her disposal to minimize those losses.
Knowing this, I decided to review the information about the Fairy Forest once again before eting the First Queen.
It’s true that the enemy’s mories remain faint behind the monitor, but this is a bit ambiguous.
The Fairy Forest was a place that only existed as a backdrop in the ga.
There were various settings spread across the ga, but none of them really impacted the ga itself, so over ti, it was naturally forgotten.
The only reason I even rember it is because, during the ti when we expected the release of DLC, I used to speculate about it.
If I hadn’t been making a fuss on the forums back then, I wouldn’t even have these blurry mories.
In this state, if I went to et the First Queen, despite having a valid reason, I might end up getting ripped apart.
So, I decided to organize the information one more ti.
I combined the data left in the academy and the mories still lingering in my mind, then finally asked my grandfather for advice to prepare for the negotiation.
With this in mind, I told the perverted apostle to contact once he woke up and then went back to the academy.
But I never expected that I’d have the chance to speak to soone who actually investigated the Fairy Forest directly.
I really didn’t see this coming.
The thing is, while I’d check books in the ga, I rarely checked who wrote them.
Especially when those things were part of the setting and had nothing to do with the main story.
“I never thought I’d have a conversation with Lord Arlen while I’m still alive!”
Following Joy’s lead, the professor I t imdiately ran up to Benedict, his eyes shining with excitent.
He spoke about how he had admired him for so long, how his spine had tingled when he saw him strike down a dragon, and how he’d love to write a book about him if given the chance.
In front of this professor, who was showing his admiration in every way possible, Benedict remained calm and collected.
“That was all in the past. Right now, I’m just an ordinary man.”
“That can’t be! There are still so many who call you the strongest man on the continent!”
“If it was back in my pri, maybe. But now, I can’t say I’m the best. There are so many formidable people around.”
Benedict’s casual acceptance of the professor’s admiration ca across as skillful. He must have gone through this kind of thing countless tis before.
“Let’s go inside! Oh, I should offer you so refreshnts.”
“Should we prepare so tea, professor?”
“Of course! No, I’ll go myself! I’ll bring out sothing I’ve been saving for a special occasion…”
Watching the professor act like this made glad I brought Benedict along. At this rate, it seed like the professor would spill everything he knew.
To be honest, I didn’t bring him along because I wanted to. It was because he had those eyes, like a stray dog, so I couldn’t leave him behind.
But anyway, the results were good, so it was fine.
“Ahem. Ahem.”
As the professor left with his assistant, Benedict cleared his throat and stretched his shoulders. Although he didn’t speak, it was clear he wanted to say sothing.
He probably wanted to show how amazing he was, asking for complints.
“Back in the day, you must’ve been pretty amazing. Now, though, you're just a fool of a papa?”
“It’s nothing. Just remnants of a youthful exuberance.”
Benedict tried to act humble, but he couldn’t hide the lting smile on his face. He really was an honest person.
A short while later, the professor returned, bringing expensive snacks and tea for us.
When Benedict ate and complinted the food, the professor couldn’t hold back a genuine smile, just like Benedict had earlier.
“Now that I think about it, I haven’t asked the most important question. What brings you here today?”
“My daughter had sothing to ask you, professor.”
“To your daughter?”
The mont the professor’s eyes shifted to , he started to tremble.
Had I done sothing to this person before? I don’t think so.
Why was he so scared of ? Did he hear rumors about and get scared?
It wasn’t really my concern.
“You know, I really don’t like sharing air with a coward like you. So, answer my question quickly. If I see you sweating and trembling, I’ll crush you.”
“Y-Yes! Of course!”
“Ha, look at you, all stiff. Is it okay for an adult to be this pathetic?”
The professor, staring at his thighs and unsure of what to do, looked like an excellent plaything. If he were like this, it would be easy to extract information from him.
“What I’m asking about is the Fairy Queen’s forest.”
“…I’ve never heard of the Fairy Queen.”
“I’m talking about the Fairy Forest, professor.”
As soon as I ntioned the Fairy Forest, the professor nodded in recognition.
“If it’s the Fairy Forest, I can confidently say it’s my area of expertise. What would you like to know?”
“Everything.”
“Is it okay for to tell you everything I know!?”
The professor, excited, jumped up and then sat back down, looking around to check if anyone was watching.
“I-I’m sorry. I realize I have so limits on what I can share.”
“It’s fine. I didn’t expect a coward like you to be able to say anything important anyway.”
I hadn’t expected to hear all the research on the Fairy Forest.
If I could have gotten all of that information, I wouldn’t even be asking the First Queen about the forest.
“…Well! I’ll answer everything I can!”
Maybe my tone was off, but the professor, trembling, quickly stood up again, bringing out various papers along with him.
“First, let’s talk about the history of the Fairy Forest…”
“Oh, that’s fine. It’ll probably be as boring as your appearance, which looks like sothing out of a tragedy.”
For things that were from the past, I could just ask my grandfather.
“…Then what exactly are you looking for?”
“Obviously, if it’s not about the past, it has to be about now.”
The professor, surprised by my words, mumbled sothing under his breath.
“I’m sorry, but seeing my face, could you indulge my daughter’s whims?”
“If you wish, of course!”
As soon as Benedict spoke, the professor’s face lted into a smile.
“Currently, the Fairy Forest is off-limits by the church. The reason is clear. About twenty years ago, the energy of the evil god began leaking beyond the barrier.”
The professor, pulling out a more simplified map than the one Karia gave , began explaining how much of the Fairy Forest had beco barren, continuing to speak.
“When the kingdom confird this, they contacted the church and sought personnel to check the barrier. If the barrier were compromised, it would have been a huge issue.”
The professor, who had been part of the team that investigated, concluded that there was no problem with the barrier itself.
“Really? But the barrier, like our academy’s, has been around for hundreds of years, right? How could there be no problem?”
When Joy raised the question, the professor nodded as if he understood.
“Just as you said, Lady Partlan, if it were a normal barrier, it should have weakened and collapsed by now. But this barrier was created by a wizard considered the greatest genius in history, enhanced by the blessing of a holy knight who reached a semi-divine level.”
The magic circle that Erginus had created with everything he had remained intact for centuries.
“Then why is the energy of the evil god leaking out?”
That’s right. As the professor said, if the barrier were intact, there shouldn’t be any evil god’s energy leaking. Erginus would never have allowed that.
“…I’m sorry, but I can’t answer this part.”
The professor lowered his head, asking for understanding, as this was classified information.
Seeing this, I used my sugaki skill to provoke him, but he still didn’t speak. It seed there was so kind of agreent in place.
Though he didn’t reveal the most crucial information, in his frustration, the professor began to ramble on about various minor details to prove his knowledge.
Thanks to this, I was able to confirm that my mories were quite accurate, but there was no real breakthrough.
What the professor ntioned next were all useless details about the harmful effects of the evil god’s energy and the asures taken to deal with it. Nothing useful.
Getting increasingly tired of listening, I left the professor’s office, feeling like I had wasted my ti expecting sothing.
“My daughter may have said that, but I’ve learned a lot from you. Thank you!”
Grabbing Benedict’s hand and tearing up, the professor’s sincere gratitude made roll my eyes with a hollow laugh as I walked down the hallway with Joy, who seed to be deep in thought.
‘Grandfather. Do you have any guesses about this?’
‘Yes.’
Hmm. It looks like I have to et that skeleton again.
‘...What do you an by that?’
Reviews
All reviews (0)