Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Chapter 81
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Game Opportunity Becomes Reality Chapter 81
23. Why Is That Guy Here (2)
Was my gaze too much to bear?
Gregory, whose presence was like darkness made human, scratched the back of his head before letting out a sigh.
"The leader gave orders."
"Orders?"
"He said Miss Ibril would be in danger, and that I should save her to make amends for what happened before."
So they were already aware of the culprits' intentions beforehand?
No matter how much they belonged to the same underworld, I found it hard to believe such a thing was possible.
Could the culprits possibly have ties to the Blue Moon?
'No, that doesn't make sense. Unless the boss is an idiot, that possibility is unlikely.'
What would they gain by going through all this trouble and drawing my suspicion?
"I know the leader has his own channels for gathering information independently. It's not uncommon for people to be surprised by the value and accuracy of that information."
"So the mysterious head of a mysterious organization? Then what does 'making amends for what happened before' mean?"
"That... it means acting as the Francis Ducal House's dog and attacking Miss Ibril, thereby making an enemy of Lord Marquis Lawrence."
"What do you mean?"
"I've never seen the leader so furious. He said the Francis Ducal House no longer held any value and ordered us to relocate our base."
"In other words, what happened before was your own independent action, without the leader's will behind it?"
"Yes. The Blue Moon doesn't face much interference from the leader. Apart from truly necessary orders, you could say we're practically guaranteed autonomy. But after the assassination attempt on Miss Ibril last time, new orders were delivered to the entire Blue Moon."
When I gestured with my chin for him to continue, he said something unexpected.
"Namely, that we must not harm anyone connected to Lord Marquis Lawrence or Lord Count Klein."
"Hmm..."
The more I heard, the stranger it felt.
It felt as though the head of the legendary Blue Moon was being extremely wary of me.
I could sense that he absolutely did not want me as an enemy.
What could he possibly know about me to act this way?
"Honestly, the leader's reaction surprised even us. That's why we have no desire to oppose the Lord Marquis. I beg you to let this incident wash away the bad blood from before."
Regardless of the reason, the fact that they rescued Ibril remained unchanged.
Even if I had moved to rescue her as fast as I could, there was no guarantee she would have remained safe to the end, so even if unintended, I had indeed received considerable help.
I relaxed my expression and readily bowed my head to the two of them.
"Thank you for saving Miss Ibril. Let's forget the past grievances."
At that, Gregory let out a sigh of relief, and August who had been keeping his distance, leaning against the wall and watching cautiously twitched the corner of his mouth.
I wonder what he'd look like if he wiped off all that makeup covering his face.
"Though honestly, your surprise attack posed no threat whatsoever, so there wasn't much of a grievance to speak of."
When I smiled, August flinched again.
I asked Gregory.
"Judging by how things are going, I take it your leader has accepted my request?"
He readily nodded.
"The leader said he welcomes the Lord Marquis's visit. He asked me to convey that you may come whenever you wish, after resolving this matter."
An invitation from the head of the Blue Moon.
For me to go to him rather than him coming to me is riskier, but it also carries greater meaning.
Because it meant he was willing to reveal their hideout to me.
Of course, an organization like the Blue Moon would certainly have dozens of secret safe houses, but at the very least, their hideout had never been disclosed before.
And even if they had set a trap, I was confident I could escape.
'Well, judging by their reactions, it doesn't seem like a trap.'
I nodded in acknowledgment, and he handed me a bracelet-type terminal.
"This is the encrypted terminal used by the Blue Moon. Mine and August's terminals are linked to it, so feel free to contact us anytime without hesitation."
An encrypted terminal from the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts, an encrypted terminal received from the Prius Republic's revolutionary army last time, an encrypted terminal from Duke Olivia Riverdale after forming an alliance in the Saintess contest, and now the Blue Moon's encrypted terminal, too.
Somehow, it feels like my collection of secret communication devices just keeps piling up.
I obediently accepted the terminal and asked August a question.
"You investigated the culprits through mental domination, right?"
"Yes, yes. There was no clue to identify who was behind them."
At my question, Pierrot August, who had been striking a moody pose in his red suit, scratched the back of his head and groveled.
His image is way too different from the first impression.
I nodded and said to the two of them.
"You two may take your leave now. The unprecedented incident of a Saintess candidate being kidnapped mid-contest must have been broadcast live and thrown the world into chaos, so it'd be best to call the church's investigation team here."
"Understood. Then we'll take our leave. We'll be waiting for your contact."
And so the two of them walked off somewhere as if taking a stroll.
The shirt I wore under my robe felt stuffy today, so I tugged at my collar and contacted the church's Saintess Department.
* * *
[Marquis Adrian Lawrence successfully rescues candidate Ibril Barnet, who was kidnapped mid-contest!]
[The culprits are revealed to be the same figures who assassinated Grand Mage Marquis Tarnil of the Chase Kingdom, shocking the public.]
[However, the mastermind who hired the culprits remains unidentified.]
[How did candidate Ibril Barnet survive unharmed against those who even took down a Grand Mage?]
[They wanted to kill her but couldn't. The linked defense system of the 8th Circle rare shield that protected candidate Ibril Barnet.]
[Is Marquis Lawrence, who equipped the girl with gear rivaling the price of a sky fortress as sponsorship, meticulous or just eccentric?]
I watched it live and was stunned. I'm glad our Ibril is safe.
└Are the party members of Lady Ibril safe? Their injuries looked severe.
└I heard a cardinal from the Saintess Department personally stepped in to heal them.
└Phew, what a relief.
Marquis Lawrence is impressive. Did he predict something like this?
└I heard there was an assassination attempt even before the contest started.
└Whoa? Really?
└There was even media manipulation targeting Lady Ibril recently, so Adrian had no choice but to prepare.
└Who on earth is targeting her?
└Probably those who'd benefit if Lady Ibril disappeared.
As always, our perfect oppa! With an oppa like that having her back, Lady Ibril must be so fortunate.
└That oppa of yours is currently being dragged to the holy land for interrogation.
└?????
└Huh? Why?
└Because he equipped Lady Ibril with gear not approved by the church. In the mercenary activity contest, you can't use anything except designated equipment.
└Come on, it was just equipment for emergencies! Looking at his online diary (SNS), he even added lots of restrictions so it wouldn't activate during the daily contests.
└Either way, rules are rules.
Since a Saintess candidate had been kidnapped during a live broadcast, media and public attention was intense.
Saintess Sharon Sylvester, who had been checking online reactions through her terminal, closed the news window and glared at me.
I sat across the table from her and offered an awkward smile, waiting for the conversation to continue.
"You must be pleased, having so many people on your side."
"Ah, haha. I suppose I'm just blessed with good fortune."
"Blessed with fortune, my foot. It's just that your gimmick as a noble works well on commoners."
"Gimmick? I've been putting in a lot of effort to elevate the status of commoners who suffer disadvantages in a class-based society."
"Yes, by hiring salaried substitute lords, right?"
"I haven't taken direct charge of estate management yet because there's still much to do, but I've been setting the overall framework for administration and legislation."
"But I heard you spend most of your time wasting it on games."
She truly has a talent for leaving people speechless.
If she weren't a Saintess, and if the person inside weren't an old woman, I'd give her a knuckle to the head.
"Th-that is my training method."
"Well, I'll choose to believe that."
"It's true though..."
It looks like I'm just having a comedic chat with the Saintess, but this was actually an interrogation.
As seen in the knight's comments, the subject was the use of unauthorized equipment.
Even if I had requested approval for that equipment in advance, it wouldn't have been accepted anyway.
The church would never have accepted conditions that violated fairness.
This was completely different from the previous case where I reinterpreted the rules to bring Magic Swordsmen on as party members.
"Do you know what the upper echelons of our church call Marquis Lawrence?"
"A young, handsome, capable man?"
I tried making a joke to lighten the mood, but she spoke with a serious expression.
"A rule breaker."
"Pardon?"
"A rule breaker! A rules destroyer!"
Ah, as expected?
Since this was the reaction I'd anticipated, I let out an inward sigh and asked back seriously.
"If it weren't for my actions, Miss Ibril would have been found as a cold corpse."
"That's nothing more than hindsight reasoning."
"But that result is everything. In the first place, that artifact didn't activate during the competition, and if it had activated during the competition, I was prepared to accept any form of sanction."
For someone like this, I think the best strategy is to stop beating around the bush and just push through with a frontal approach.
I spoke calmly toward the Saintess, who narrowed her eyes.
"But this case is different. In the first place, if the church had done proper on-site management, this wouldn't have happened at all. Using an unauthorized artifact is clearly a mistake. However, having already experienced an assassination attempt on her, it was an unavoidable choice for me. And because of my actions, Miss Ibril is alive."
"So you're saying that Marquis Lawrence breaking the rules is the church's fault?"
"Isn't that actually the case? Miss Ibril was kidnapped by people who barged in during the competition, and until I found her, the church couldn't even discover a single clue."
It seems the good image I'd built up with the Saintess is over now.
From her perspective, she probably hasn't seen many people push back with both eyes wide open like this.
"Setting everything else aside, please evaluate Miss Ibril's potential. She is a victim, and she is someone who shouldn't fail because of this. The price for breaking the rules belongs to me, so I believe the discipline should be directed at me alone."
Is it because I'm acting boldly even when I should be appealing to emotion?
The Saintess wore a dumbfounded expression.
"Hoo."
But that only lasted a moment.
"You are a truly fascinating person."
"Pardon?"
Her reaction that followed was strange somehow.
[Relationship: Favor / Neutral]
[Status: Admiration / Interest]
Even the emotions displayed by the Myriad Mirror were favorable.
So I tilted my head, unable to understand which part of my words had caught the Saintess's interest, and she gave me a bewitching smile before leaning her face close to mine.
"A man as hot as he is young. Ah, if I were only ten years younger, I'd be trying to seduce you."
What's this, grandma.
No matter how much she looks like she's in her early twenties on the outside, the fact that she's a sixty-seven-year-old grandmother doesn't change.
But then she brought up something unexpected.
"Actually, there was suspicion from within that this incident might have been a staged production by Marquis Lawrence."
Only then did I realize that this meeting wasn't arranged for a simple interrogation, and I furrowed my brow.
"Are you saying you were testing my reaction?"
"I'm sorry, but yes. Clearly, equipping Miss Ibril with unauthorized equipment is a problem. But that equipment wasn't meant to gain an advantage in the competition, and as a result, it saved Miss Ibril's life. Furthermore, thanks to Marquis Lawrence's keen insight, our church was able to prevent a tragedy. Given how things stand, we're not so rigid an organization as to talk about punishment while only adhering to principles."
"But if I had manipulated this situation, the story would be different?"
"That's right."
"So what was the final conclusion?"
She placed something palm-sized onto the table.
It looked like an old bronze mirror, and judging by the blue energy flickering at its center, it appeared to be a holy relic.
"We have confirmed that there is no falsehood in Marquis Adrian Lawrence's account."
"Ha, don't tell me that's the Mirror of Truth?"
"That's right."
The Mirror of Truth.
One of the Sepia Church's major holy relics; it's an object that allows you to discern whether a person is lying during a conversation.
When disputes over truth arise on important matters in various nations, they often request the Sepia Church's Mirror of Truth.
Since this was my first time seeing it in person, I couldn't help but be impressed.
'Well, I didn't say anything I shouldn't have.'
The moment I noticed it, my mouth felt heavy.
I might accidentally let slip something that shouldn't be revealed through a careless remark.
"I hope you don't take offense. After all, this matter has proven your innocence. Our church has no intention of holding you or Miss Ibril responsible for this incident."
No, no, I can't just leave it at that.
If I use this, wouldn't catching the culprit be easy too?
"Now that we know you're innocent, we plan to interrogate the other Saintess candidates as well. Unless it's personal grudges, the culprit must be among the other candidates' camps."
"Ohh."
I was impressed.
I never expected things to wrap up this easily.
As my expression brightened, she cast a fond gaze at me as if looking at an adorable grandchild.
"But it's true that you play games for the sake of training, isn't it? Honestly, I was surprised the mirror didn't react."
"...."
However, at her question one I shouldn't delve too deep into I scratched the back of my head and brushed the question aside.
Just where is the force behind the attempt to harm Ibril?
If possible, I hope it's the Francis Ducal House.
So they can utterly collapse.