CH 96

No, it’s not a mistake, the author skipped chapter number 95 and jump right to chapter 96~~~

[Confusion]

Alfine …….

Seeing the ear of wheat tattoo on the neck, I feel strongly that the body before me is Alfine, but on the other hand, it feels like there is also a part of me that want to deny it.

I just have to do one last check… if it has that… I would have no choice but to admit that this body is Alfine.

If it has that…

I haven’t been able to check the characteristic – that resulted her becoming the Sword Saint Alfine – that was engraved in her hand.

I have to check it… if it also has it——

I take the hanged woman’s right hand with a feeling similar to imploring.

――!?

It doesn’t have it! It doesn’t have sword calluses! The body in front of me doesn’t have the crystallization of Alfine’s piled up great efforts in training!

Although it has begun to decay, the sword calluses she got from training the sword shouldn’t disappear.

Just to be sure, I carefully touch the right hand of the body again.

However, the skin on the right hand of the body is soft; it is not bearing the slightest resemblance with the feel of Alfine’s hand.

It has no sword calluses… it is not Alfine.

In that case, just who is this body!?

Having learned that the woman executed as the Sword Master Alfine is not Alfine herself, doubt and relief jumble together in my head.

If the body before me is not Alfine, then where on earth is she…

And why was this person executed as Alfine?

I don’t get it…

I take a deep breath once to calm my confused mind.

Having calmed down my heart, I decide to carefully check the hanged body again.

It has black hair, and its age and physique are close to Alfine.

It also has the tattoo.

However, it has no sword calluses that the real Alfine should have.

While carefully checking the body, I see something shining from its belly that was torn by crows.

I timidly take the shining object.

A pendant? Looks like something is carved on it.

Iluna Mills, it seems that is what is carved on it.

Is that the name of the person who became this corpse?

Anyway, I will keep it for now to investigate it.

I will investigate who you – who are not Alfine – are, and why you died.

And, I will also investigate Alfine’s whereabouts.

I touch the head of the body with my hand, close my eyes and offer a prayer. Afterward, I decide to head toward the mansion where Alfine and I lived.

After arriving at the mansion that Alfine bought in the noble district soon after she became a noble, I see Royal Guard Knights guarding the entrance as though blocking it.

What is the reason they are guarding the mansion of Alfine who has already been announced dead that vigilantly…?

She must be still alive after all, right?

My feeling that the body from before is her double is getting stronger.

As expected, I need to find out what happened to Alfine after I left.

After erasing my figure with magic once again, I cross the fence and enter Alfine’s mansion.

There is no sign of people living in the mansion, I can’t see the butler Vigo too.

Looking around the rooms, I feel nostalgia fill my heart as this was place where I lived until a few months ago.

When I arrive in front of Alfine’s room, I feel my heart beat faster.

At the time when I was Finn, I always wondered what would Alfine say every time I stood in front of this room.

But the current me is Frick… not Finn.

I tell myself so and open the door of her room.

The inside of the room is a mess. It appears that Alfine didn’t let anyone clean her room after I left.

Even though I’ve told her to at least take out the clothes she had worn to be washed.

Even the bed is a mess.

Seeing the room that is messier than I expected, the habit I had when I was Finn comes out.

Having started cleaning up the room, two swords placed by the bed comes into my sight.

Aren’t those… the swords I gave to Alfine and the sword Alfine gave to me…?

I pick up the swords that entered my sight and pull them out of their scabbards.

It seems that they haven’t been maintained for a while…

Even if she were to undergo medical treatment, Alfine wouldn’t neglect to maintain these swords though…

Why are they left here?

For the time being, I put the swords into their scabbards and get back to cleaning.

After cleaning up the room for a while, I find a diary under the bed.

Looking at the strong characters written on the cover, it seems to be a diary Alfine wrote.

Alfine, I’m sorry. But I have to read the contents.

Hoping it will give me a clue, even if just a bit, I apologize to Alfine in my mind and begin reading the contents of her diary.

Things about me are written in detail inside, and the feelings of Alfine of that time are also written.

What the heck… that Alfine… she never said these kinds of things out loud.

As I read through the contents, I feel my vision become blurred by tears.

And when I arrive at the part after I left, her writing become disordered; making me infer that her mental state was the worst at that time.

As I read on, it turns out that after I left, Alfine gave an instruction to the butler Vigo to search for me.

My badge as Finn that I had thrown away was found in Algren!?

What on earth is going on…

Moreover, for me to be found dead… what’s going on?

I couldn’t understand the contents of Alfine’s diary that was written after she went Algren.

After returning from Algren, the writing in the diary become even more disordered than before, and apologies to me are written out on and on.

Did Alfine think I was dead in Algren the whole time…?

At the end of the diary, words hinting at suiciding for atonement are written.

However, the date is quite a long time ago…

The day when Alfine was executed should be at a later date…

I have to gather more information to find out about what happened to Alfine, and why the hanged body was that of her double.

After taking the diary and the two swords that we gave to each other as a gift, I decide to head to the mansion of the Henestrosa family where Noelia went to.