“So, what are you guys doing here?”
“Brother, what are *you* doing in a place like this? Weren’t you supposed to be traveling the world freely as an adventurer?”
Some time later, Perona, having regained her composure, along with the other two. Since they had met, ignoring each other wasn’t an option, so Edgar seemed to decide to engage in conversation.
“Don’t be stupid. You three went missing from the academy, so the Adventurer Guild received a search request. Of course, it concerns the pride of the country, so it’s being done in secret. You’re probably being treated as if you’re out on an excursion in Lumiest right now.”
“I see, so that’s how it is…”
“Don’t just accept it by yourself. So, what are you guys doing? Ax, Perrona, you’re supposed to be keeping Edgar in line, aren’t you?”
“Th-that is, um…”
“Ax, it’s fine. I’ll explain.”
Edgar stopped Ax and stepped forward, meeting Paul’s gaze.
“Brother, I’ve learned something.”
“Learned what? And can you stop talking like that? It’s probably for show, but it makes me want to burst out laughing. ‘Brother, I…’ just hearing it makes me itchy.”
“P-Paul-sama, that’s a bit much—”
“—No, it’s fine. Brother, we haven’t seen each other for years, but you’re still the same Brother. I’m a little relieved.”
Edgar’s regal demeanor, tone, and even his facial expression changed completely. Instead, it was Edgar with a friendly smile, as if he were a different person.
“Yeah, you’re finally the Edgar I know. I heard all sorts of strange rumors after you left the country? Like you were hitting on girls and proposing to them. Completely unlike the Edgar I know.”
“Brother, let’s not talk about that. Besides, when my first prince brother decided to run away from home, the expectation of me becoming the next king fell upon me. I started doing it to overcome my shyness, but one rumor led to another, and before I knew it, my character had gone too far to turn back. I couldn’t fix it now, so I kept up the same character at school…”
“Haaaa, so that’s the reason… I guess your naturally introverted personality was the opposite of the rumors… That damn father, couldn’t he have sensed that his son was struggling and pointed it out!”
“Actually, King Reigand was happy about it. He was overjoyed, saying that Edgar-sama had developed a sense of responsibility as royalty and had become more man-like.”
“THAAAAT DAMN FATHERrrr!”
Paul kicked the ground, his anger evident.
“Well, all of that is probably the repercussion of Paul-sama being disowned after a fight with the King.”
“Oh, uh, well, that’s true, but…”
“Ax, saying something so blunt isn’t like you, is it? Isn’t that considered disrespect, as usual?”
“I am merely Edgar-sama’s guard. Besides, Paul-sama is no longer a member of the royal family. Therefore, this is not disrespect at all. I am simply giving my honest opinion.”
“Wow, Ax, you’re surprisingly dry. Dry Ax!”
Paul felt a little uneasy at Ax’s words, but he hadn’t stopped observing the three of them during this time. Although they were wearing thick coats, Edgar and the others were all wearing Lumiest uniforms underneath. Considering they had walked all this way, they didn’t seem particularly tired, nor were their clothes or shoes dirty.
“How did you guys get here? You didn’t walk here out of sheer willpower, did you?”
“…That’s right, let’s get back to the story. Actually, we don’t know why we’re here either. Before we knew it, we were inside a cave at the foot of a snowy mountain.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Where should I start… Brother, you know about my Unique Skill, ‘Discernment,’ right?”
“Yeah, I know. It’s a skill where if someone with ill intentions towards Edgar is nearby, you can get fragments of their hidden secrets, right? Well, only my elder brother and old acquaintances like Ax should know about it.”
“Yes, your understanding is correct. It’s a secret ability that only we have, something I haven’t even told Father. Of course, with the highest-class ‘Concealment’ skill, no one at the academy knows about it. And while this power is always active, regardless of my will… I’ve seen a lot even while living the academy life. Including conspiratorial information.”
With a very tired sigh, Edgar sat down at the base of a nearby tree.
“Well, many of the students at the academy are of high status, so that’s unavoidable— Wait, you mean you knew about the Fallen Angels situation beforehand!?”
“Yes, for quite some time. I was acting quite flirtatious at the academy, so I often encountered hostility, and I ended up finding out unintentionally.”
“Tch, that’s why I said it was dangerous.”
“Paul-sama, please don’t blame Edgar-sama like that. Edgar-sama acting that way is just one of the means to survive in this world. Being met with hostility means it leads to knowing hidden enemies.”
“But… No, it’s no use dwelling on that now. So, what happened next?”
“The first time I learned about the Fallen Angels was from Instructor Horas at the academy. He had the ‘Acting’ and ‘Speech’ skills, so I didn’t show it at the time, but I was incredibly surprised. To me, they were like cultists planning to revive an ancient Evil God. And yet, people like that were hiding their identities and blending in at the academy. Ugh, I couldn’t live a normal life…”
“Ah, that must have been tough.”
“Yes, it was tough and scary. But since I knew, I couldn’t just do nothing. Under the pretense of proposing marriage, I met with various people at the academy. It was to confirm who was an enemy and who was an ally. I even participated in the selection trials for the Versus Match, where influential people from the academy gathered.”
“There were quite a few unreasonable proposals, weren’t there? When Edgar-sama proposed to our classmate, Bel, I honestly thought Edgar-sama was going to die!”
“Hahaha, indeed… However, her hostility wasn’t born of malice. We confirmed she wasn’t an enemy in our eyes, so that was good. It was more dangerous when Dorothy-san, whom I thought was completely harmless, tried to brainwash me. I pretended to be brainwashed and managed to escape the situation…”
“My resistance magic happened to work, you know! I’m capable!”
Perrona proudly displayed her White Magic. It seemed she had imbued Edgar with resistance to various status abnormalities.
“Despite her words and actions, Perrona is one of Reigand’s foremost clerics.”
“Fufu, she’s a truly precious friend, too good for me. So, continuing the story… By the time the Versus Match ended, I was planning to convey the information I had gathered to trustworthy people. After clearly identifying friends and foes. Until then, I acted as usual, and information exchange was kept to a minimum through writing. Of course, I had Ax and Perrona do the same.”
“But before that, you guys went missing… In other words, you were kidnapped by the enemy, right?”
“Probably. At some point, the Fallen Angels must have detected our actions. However, it’s strange that we weren’t killed—”
“—It’s not strange at all. We were kept alive to be bait.”
A voice, different from the four, had somehow joined the conversation.
