"Well, that's pretty much the whole thing."
Inside the top-floor luxurious office, Riezel explained everything about Euryale in front of the dumbfounded Yuri and Marilyn—the master and attendant pair—wrapping it up with that single sentence.
Yet after hearing Riezel's explanation, the bewilderment on Yuri's and Marilyn's faces did not fade—instead, it deepened into outright confusion.
It couldn't be helped.
"S-So, what you're saying is that this person is actually Her Highness Lizbeth's ancestor, and also the final queen of the ancient magic civilization?"
"And she had already been dead for over ten thousand years, sleeping within the ancient ruin near Sinielle, until you entered her tomb chamber and awakened her with some special magic, indirectly granting her resurrection... is that right?"
After finally reacting, Yuri repeated the story in brief, though her tone carried doubt upon doubt, as if she still could not believe it—and perhaps even hinted at 'Are you kidding me right now?'
Not just Yuri—even the usually calm and composed Marilyn cast an odd look at Riezel, as though she were staring at someone lost in a daydream.
Euryale, however, seemed unbothered by their reactions as she wandered about the office on her own, touching this and that, apparently fascinated by everything around her.
Riezel easily guessed what the two were thinking and let out a bitter smile.
"I know it's hard for you to believe something like this happened, but it's the truth. Even if you don't believe me, you can always ask Lizbeth yourself."
A pure girl like Lizbeth wouldn't lie, would she?
It was the message Riezel tried to convey.
Even so, Yuri could not bring herself to accept it.
"It's not that I don't want to believe you, but this really sounds way too far-fetched."
Yuri spoke while rubbing her temples.
"For the discovery of the final queen's tomb from the end of the ancient magic civilization, I can accept that much. After all, that ancient ruin already had deep connections to the ancient magic civilization—the signs were obvious enough."
"As for the fact that the final queen is actually Her Highness's ancestor, I can also accept. Given Moslow chose no one else and instead chose Her Highness, then her being a descendant of the ancient civilization's royal family isn't too far-fetched if you think about it."
"But for you to actually resurrect the queen herself… I've seriously never heard of such a thing."
Yuri truly looked thoroughly troubled.
"Sure, I may just be a rookie in the world of magic, but I'm still a Strategic-Class Magician, y'know?"
"Even as a Strategic-Class Magician, I've never once heard of any magic in existence that could bring someone from an ancient era back to life in the present day."
"And now you're telling me you know that kind of magic, and that you casually used it to resurrect the final queen? I'll be honest, that's even more ridiculous than when you opened that teleportation portal and popped straight from Mavros Territory into my office, don't you think?"
Yuri had thought Riezel's space magic—capable of such extreme distances—was already shocking enough, but now?
He was outright pulling out magic that could resurrect the dead.
Could that even be called magic anymore?
Wasn't that basically a miracle?
Yuri, who had received a modern magical education and had a decent grasp of ancient magic as well, could not accept it.
Yet Euryale's appearance—uncannily similar to Lizbeth, at least seventy to eighty percent alike—kept telling Yuri that Riezel's story might really be true.
It truly shook Yuri's entire worldview—she even wondered if, from reading so many ancient texts about the ancient magic civilization lately, she was starting to hallucinate.
Unfortunately for her, Riezel left her no room for such self-doubt.
"Believe it or not, it's still the truth." Riezel shrugged casually. "If you really want, I can find you a corpse right now and demonstrate it directly."
"No... No need..." Yuri fell silent for a while before letting out a long sigh. "I'm afraid you'll just end up shattering everything I know about magic, so let's not, okay?"
"You said it yourself. Don't say I never proved it." Riezel chuckled lightly. "What I wanted to discuss with you is whether there's some way to arrange an identity for Euryale, so she won't draw suspicion."
"You really love dumping impossible problems on me, don't you?" Yuri snapped with exasperation. "If it were anyone else, I might be able to arrange something, but the queen here looks almost exactly like what Her Highness Lizbeth will look like when she grows up. Even if I forge her an identity, once the royal family lays eyes on her, it'll definitely cause chaos."
A woman bearing such a striking resemblance to the Ninth Princess of Jinas wandering about freely—anyone who knew of Lizbeth's existence would be ninety percent certain to suspect blood ties.
And if she was related by blood to the ninth princess, then wouldn't that also make her the king's illegitimate daughter?
Such rumors and suspicions would immediately invite investigation from every quarter.
And once that happened, no matter how powerful the Frenzel family's influence might be, could they really keep it hidden from the kingdom—or the royal family—that Euryale's identity was fabricated?
Needless to say, the matter seemed simple on the surface, but it was anything but.
If the kingdom itself began to suspect and investigate, Euryale's true identity could very well be exposed, leading to trouble far greater than anyone could contain.
If they learned she was the final queen of the ancient magic civilization—and that Riezel possessed the means to resurrect the dead—there was no telling what extreme measures they might take to keep both of them.
"You're unbelievable. Every so often, you bring me one shock after another, along with impossible headaches. What am I supposed to say about you?"
Feeling cornered, Yuri finally could not help but vent at Riezel, her tone filled with heartfelt complaint.
"...Sorry."
Hearing her words, Riezel felt sheepish and awkward.
On reflection, he truly had given Yuri no small number of troubles, as each time he faced trouble, she was the one forced to clean up after him.
It made him feel rather guilty.
Yuri had looked after him so much already, and now he had brought her this massive headache on top of it.
Riezel thought it was only right to find some way to make it up to her.
Fortunately, he had acquired many ancient treasures in Euryale's tomb chamber—each mystical artifact was priceless, some even holding astonishing power and effects.
He could perhaps select one or two and gift them to Yuri, so at least it would be a small gesture of compensation.
With this thought, Riezel offered a suggestion.
"In that case, how about I find a way to change Euryale's appearance?"
At this, Yuri fell into thought before nodding.
"If you can do that, then things will indeed become much easier."
As long as Euryale's appearance no longer drew such obvious suspicion, Yuri had plenty of ways to arrange an identity for her.
Riezel had, after all, just returned from Sinielle—a place already far removed from the eyes of the continent's countries, full of people who had failed to survive elsewhere.
With a little setup, they could disguise Euryale as a talented wanderer, driven out of a distant land by persecution, who ended up in Sinielle, where Riezel recognized her talent and brought her back to the royal capital, Yeluvia, as his attendant.
In such a case, suspicion would dwindle almost to nothing.
Understanding this, Yuri shared her view with Riezel, who readily agreed.
"Let's do that, then." Riezel decided on the spot. "Once we're back, I'll use special magic to change Euryale's appearance."
Among the many methods at his disposal, the simplest one would have been to cloak her with an illusion.
However, illusions were too easily flawed—once exposed, they would only invite greater suspicion.
Considering this, Riezel planned to use summoning magic to call forth a monster known as the Faceless Shadow, which could conceal Euryale's face thanks to its special ability—it could attach itself to someone's face, covering their features and reshaping them into another's.
Its true form was a formless, liquid-like shadow creature of small size, belonging to the same category as heteromorphic races like the Doppelgänger, which could also mimic others—but in terms of disguise ability, the Faceless Shadow was the most superior among all such beings.
Even a Level 100 player without the proper special skill couldn't see through it.
Maybe the only flaw was that it could alter only the face, not the body or race, unlike higher-tier beings such as Doppelgängers.
But for Euryale, there was no need to change her body—just her face would suffice.
For this reason, Riezel chose this monster and prepared to make it Euryale's pet to help her mask her appearance.
'If I remember right, a permanent summoning of a Faceless Shadow only requires a high-grade jewel as the medium.'
Conveniently, Riezel had obtained many such jewels filled with magical energy from Euryale's tomb, so using one to summon the Faceless Shadow permanently would be no problem.
Unaware of Riezel's thoughts, Yuri only felt conflicted as she listened.
"Another special magic, huh?"
Seriously, just how did this guy keep learning all these unusual magic spells?
If she had known he was capable of so much, she never would have let him leave the Frenzel residence to go traveling.
Yuri began to feel a faint regret.
Nonetheless, she made sure to deliver her warning.
"No matter what, your resurrection magic must never be exposed. Otherwise, many won't just treat you like some prize to recruit—you might end up in a far worse situation."
Yuri's face was deadly serious as she issued this warning.
"I understand." Riezel nodded, naturally having no objection.
"Good—that's what I needed to hear." Yuri nodded back, her expression easing. "So, what are you planning to do next?"
Riezel fell silent, sinking deep into thought.
===
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