“That can’t be true.
The Inquisitor will not refuse an order from above.”
Because my master is such a distinguished person, despite being an Inquisitor, I was curious about the Inquisition.
There are many sinister rumors about them, and how many of those rumors are actually true?
Who wouldn’t be curious?
“Is it really right to assign such a valuable task to me?”
“Didn’t you achieve great merit by discovering the evil god’s altar?
I believe your contributions, Priest Arthur, will not end with this one instance.”
“It was just good luck that I found it.”
“Handling the evil god’s altar was also impressive.
It was likely thanks to your early education that you didn’t neglect.
Very commendable.”
It seemed that Bishop Hamon didn’t see how burdened I was.
It was true that if the Inquisitor joined our group, it would bring immense benefit, so I couldn’t refuse the bishop’s offer just because of the pressure.
“…I will relay this to Her Highness the Princess and ask for her opinion.”
“You needn’t worry about that.
She’s just recently emerged, so she won’t be easily swayed by any temptations.”
I know that well.
Which is why it’s even more burdensome.
It means that such an extraordinary Inquisitor is working solely to protect me.
After parting ways with Bishop Hamon, I stopped by one more place before returning to the temple.
It was the house where Princess Lasiell was staying.
The location was kept secret from most people.
There were unknown forces targeting the princesses, so it was crucial to keep her whereabouts hidden as much as possible.
The fact that the ones who had actively tried to kill the princesses were now silent without a trace made the situation even more unsettling.
“Has the priest arrived?”
A knight, who was guarding Princess Lasiell, greeted me as he confirmed my face.
At first, Princess Lasiell had been scolded by Princess Kanabi for wandering around alone, but now she had inherited the knights who had been guarding Princess Kanabi and was under their protection.
In other words, they were familiar with me.
“I’ve come to see Her Highness.”
“Please, come inside.”
The knight opened the door for me, and I entered.
At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary house, but since it was where the princess stayed, the interior was extraordinary.
‘How much would all this cost?’
Though I am almost blind to luxury furniture, even I could tell these were expensive items.
After waiting a moment, Princess Lasiell appeared in light clothing.
“Priest Arthur!”
Princess Lasiell quickly ran over and immediately began asking questions.
“How is my sister?
Does she seem to be in good health?”
“Yes.
There were no issues.
The effectiveness of the medicine was amazing.
Normally, if you don’t move for a long time, muscle loss would be expected, but there were no signs of that at all.”
“It’s a special medicine passed down through our royal family.
Naturally, it should have that kind of effect.”
Princess Lasiell lifted her chin proudly, showing off her pride in the royal family.
She didn’t seem to realize that, coupled with her appearance, it made her look endlessly cute.
“How is the next dungeon exploration proceeding?”
“Ha… That part is…”
Princess Lasiell sighed deeply, looking troubled.
“It’s more complicated than I expected.”
“Could you tell me in more detail?”
There were more than a couple of reasons why Princess Lasiell was in trouble.
“It’s not easy to save people.
And they have started to move.”
“Are you referring to those who were targeting the lives of the princesses?”
Yes.
My sister suddenly cut off contact and pressured me.
She said I had to take responsibility because I couldn’t properly lead the hunting squad, even though I knew my sister was sick.
I said I would take her place, but I was rejected because I was too young.
And soon, that person will come as the head of the hunting squad.
To replace my sister.
That person is the main culprit behind everything that has happened.
“Who exactly is the person tormenting the princesses?”
You already know, and yet you’re trying to make me confirm it with my own mouth.
He’s my brother, the younger brother of my sister.
A person who is less than others because he was born from a different womb and only shares half of the blood.
If you look at the royal family tree of the Deltrak Empire, you’ll see that above Princess Kanabi, there is another princess.
However, the first daughter is not the Empress’s child, but the child of a palace maid, so her treatment has not been very good, I’ve heard.
“She was apparently a childhood friend of the Empress.”
Also, I hear she’s the daughter of the Empress’s nurse.
She grew up with the Empress as a child and was very kind to her, but I wonder how betrayed she must have felt.
Princess Kanabi is the first daughter of the Empress, and the second princess of the Empire.
And below her, there was the first son born to a concubine, and after the Empress gave birth to a second daughter, she passed away from illness shortly after.
“The first son born to the concubine. That person is hell-bent on killing us.”
Though he was born to a concubine, his family background is quite formidable.
Despite this, the Emperor never made her his Empress.
“Instead of making her Empress, His Majesty chose a new Empress.
And the son born to this new Empress is now six years old.”
In my view, the concubine’s son would normally be focused on trying to kill the six-year-old son of the new Empress, not trying to kill the princesses.
“Why is that person threatening the princesses?”
“It’s because my sister is remarkable.
His Majesty favors those with great abilities.
And my sister has always been excellent, which is why His Majesty has favored her.”
The meaning is that, even though the Empress has passed, Princess Kanabi, who holds legitimate succession rights, has a higher claim to the throne than the six-year-old son of the new Empress.
On top of that, it would be dangerous to target the new Empress right now.
The new Empress still has His Majesty’s love.
Of course, if they eliminate us, the next step would be to target the new Empress.
By then, His Majesty’s affection will have faded from the new Empress.
It seems Princess Lasiell already knew that love is not eternal.
“So, does that mean the prince will lead the hunting squad in place of Princess Kanabi?”
“Yes.”
“…This will certainly become troublesome.”
I’m also very disappointed that the hunting squad’s funding, which I was receiving in my sister’s place, has been cut off.
It was quite useful, you know.
Until now, Princess Lasiell had used both her own money and the imperial palace’s funding that Princess Kanabi had been receiving to support the hunting squad.
However, now that the prince has taken that money, it’s understandable that Princess Lasiell would feel regretful.
“Don’t worry about not receiving the funding.It’s not like I’m out of money.”
Of course.
‘How could anyone think that a royal family member would be short of money?’
Right now, the biggest problem is that it’s obvious the prince will interfere with our work.
How do we stop that?
He’s been consistently sending his subordinates to interfere, and if he comes here personally, how much more troublesome will it be?
“What kind of person is the prince?”
“A brutish pig, foolish, greedy, and pathetic.”
“…Princess?”
As soon as the question about the prince came up, Princess Lasiell’s mouth exploded with harsh curses.
It’s natural for her to curse when her life is threatened.
But knowing that, I still couldn’t help but feel flustered because it wasn’t usual for Princess Lasiell to curse.
“Greedy, selfish, petty, mean, lazy, unlucky, sleazy!!”
Grrr-!
Princess Lasiell growled as if she were some kind of animal.
“A person like that should just disappear from this world.”
It’s the same for him, but I can’t deny how deeply her resentment runs.
Even though they share only half of the blood, seeing them trying to kill each other is truly pitiful.
What is power, really…?
Even priests, who follow the will of the gods and study, fight and watch their backs because of power.
How much more so for ordinary people?
I briefly closed my eyes and prayed, realizing the harsh truths of the world.
What’s even worse is that before that guy comes, an order has come down telling us not to enter the labyrinth!
I’m sure he’s the one pulling the strings.
It has become difficult to save people now.
Everyone wants to enter the labyrinth, so the more capable people have already joined other teams.
And to make things worse, we are now in a situation where we can’t even enter the labyrinth.
“It’s only been a month since my sister fell asleep…”
When the prince arrives, there will be many attempts to find out where Princess Kanabi is hiding.
If the prince leads the hunting squad and gains merit while Princess Kanabi is asleep, he might gain the Emperor’s favor.
Since she disappeared without revealing the details due to her illness, it’s inevitable that people will think poorly of her.
‘Since the medicine was smuggled out, will the Emperor find out?’
But from what I see, the Emperor isn’t a very affectionate father, as he’s pretending not to notice that his own son is trying to kill the princesses in the power struggle.
“He’ll probably approach you as well.
It will be hard, but I hope you’ll do your best to protect my sister.”
Looking at her youthful face filled with exhaustion, a surge of sympathy rose within me.
“Of course. I will do my best.”
I had come to tell Princess Lasiell that the Inquisitor might join our group, but instead, I ended up listening to a lot of complaints.
“By the way, why did you come here today? I’ve ended up talking about myself so much.”
“Ah! The Church has decided to send someone for escort duty.”
“Escort? Are you worried we might neglect to protect you?”
No, absolutely not. It’s because we found the evil god’s altar, right? They want to assign someone to me because of that.
I know you dislike outsiders, but considering that, they’re sending an Inquisitor.
Apparently, this person just finished their training and has come out for their mission.
“They’re sending an Inquisitor??”
Fortunately, it seemed like I didn’t need to explain who the Inquisitor was.
Princess Lasiell’s eyes widened in surprise at my words.
“Yes.”
We need to explore the labyrinth.
The Inquisitor needs to find the evil god’s altar.
Even though our goals are different, if the path we take is the same, isn’t it fine to work together?
It’s highly likely that Princess Lasiell is having the same thoughts as I am.