—–
“E-Ehh?” Elisabeth looked at the two guards as they praised her beauty, despite only being 7 years old, which was honestly quite strange and bizarre. What sort of beauty standards do people of this world have to praise the beauty of such a little girl? Ah, well, whatever is the case, I don’t care.
“S-Sorry but I am engaged with the Holy Spirits, I cannot really marry anybody if I become a priestess…” Said Elisabeth. “I-I am so sorry!”
“Oh, d-don’t worry about it! I said it on a whim…”
“Please, go on, missy.”
And like that, we were allowed to enter the property with ease. I quickly began to realize that Elisabeth had another “ability” within her that made her very likable, her appearance. She was way too good looking to be a serf, despite that, she was found inside an orphanage, despite looking like a noble girl by how pretty she was. Ellergest probably uses her as a “card” for him and his group to be allowed more easily across places. She probably has some Charm Skill as well within her Talent. However, it probably is an inborn Skill, she seems weak, probably not higher than Level 2.
“Wow, they let us on easily.” Said Jack.
“Elisabeth’s appearance made her look like a noble girl, so they were easily softened.” Said Seth.
“But why wouldn’t they let us in even without her?” I wondered.
“Guards are always overly dramatic and sometimes act as if they don’t know anything because they want some sort of money to let us in. It is nonsensical but it is allowed as long as the master doesn’t find out…” Sighed Ellergest. “This is why sometimes we were stopped by them, and they wouldn’t let us pass even when we were called by the lord unless we somehow gave them some bribery.”
It seems that even the guards were corrupt. I couldn’t really believe that those that were already paid and served the lords were asking for even more money even if that made his lord go through risks. Or perhaps I could believe it. Now that I think about it, greed is a strong emotion that drives people to do insane things in exchange for valuable things… And this society seems corrupt enough.
“So that’s how it is… Is Elisabeth okay with this?” I wondered.
“I-I don’t know, I don’t really do anything…” Said Elisabeth. “But do you think I’m pretty, Blank?”
“Huh? Me? Yeah, you’re pretty, that’s why they let us pass without asking for money…” I said.
“I-Is that so…? Heheh…” Elisabeth began to giggle while covering her cheeks, which grew redder. Have I made her blush? She reminded me a bit of Erika.
“Oi, don’t start flirting in front of us, you kids.” Said Jack.
“How interesting, so Blank is interested in Elisabeth? Maybe we can use this to tie him to the church.” Said Seth.
“Oho…” Said Ellergest while caressing his beard.
“What? Stop messing around with me, I only stated a fact, it was not driven by personal emotions.” I said.
“A-A fact?” Asked Elisabeth while blushing even more. “B-Blank, you’re so nice with me…”
“Hm… I believe this is getting a bit out of control, don’t think anything unnecessary. Our relationship is merely professional.” I said, trying to cut down any corny thoughts this girl I just met could hold, but she didn’t seem to be obeying me.
“Sure, sure~” She giggled.
Kids these days are quite irritating, and this girl in specific seems way more than just an innocent girl. I could clearly notice a strange look she gave to me, was she teasing me? Only Eleanora has ever teased me I believe, and not that far. This growing frustration… Could her teasing be working? Impossible, it must be my imagination. Yes, that must be it. I decided to simply ignore her for now.
We reached the interior of the house, which was decorated with all sorts of beautiful decorations. Paintings of the family were everywhere, beautiful, and regal-looking furniture adorned the place, and there were three maids and three butlers that greeted us in the entrance.
“Welcome, Lord Ellergest.” Said the head butler.
“Thank you, we came to take care of the second concubine, Lady Treebark, where might she be?” Wondered Ellergest.
“Upstairs, please, follow me.” The Butler quickly began walking forward and then upstairs, leading us to the room where the concubine was, through our entire trip we saw two children, a red haired girl and a green haired boy hiding beneath some walls looking at us suspiciously. Could these be the noble’s children?
And as we reached the room of the concubine, we were greeted with a sickly woman sitting in her bed. She seemed weak and barely alive, her breath was slow, her heartbeat was also very slow, and her entire face was as pale as a corpse, yet there was still some life left before she were to pass away.
At the side of the bed there was a little blonde boy, the same color of hair as apparently his mother, and the son of the concubine and the noble, he was at the side of his mother looking at her sorrowfully while holding her hand. She seemed unconscious. The moment the boy noticed us, he looked at us with eyes wide open.
“Lord Carl, the priests that your father has called are here.” Said the butler.
“Uwah! F-Finally! P-Please heal my mother! She has been feeling sickly for weeks now, but two days ago she fell very ill and has barely drank water or eaten anything… I-Is something happening to her? Can you heal her?” He asked. The boy was in his early years still, probably between 10 and 11, he noticed Elisabeth and me, but locked his eyes onto her for a few seconds before looking at the oldest looking of us and the leader of our group, Ellergest.
“Calm down, boy. We are going to do things methodically.” Said Ellergest. “First of all, we to know how she began her sickness and what her symptoms were. Do you know the exact date in which her sickness began?” Wondered Ellergest, sitting near the woman and using magic to cover her body with a bright white light that seemed to scan her body, although he didn’t seem to find anything out of it.
—–