Volume 4 - CH 7

What should I do? By an unexpected chance, my true identity is about to be revealed.

When the black hair slipped through, I thought nobody wouldn’t be able to recognize me unless I caused trouble. Who would have thought that my identity would be revealed through a magical device used as compensation?

He is probably already convinced that I’m Yumiela.

I roll the crystal in my hand, wondering how to deal with this.

“Ah—you know….”

“…13?”

There was a brief moment where I wondered what the numbers were, but I soon figured it out.

The magic device I was touching had somehow been activated and displayed the last two digits of my level. That’s what he saw. Then there is only one thing to do to avoid being recognized as Yumiela.

“Oh? This is how the levels are shown. Is 13 high?”

“For someone your age, level 13 seems high, but I don’t think so.”

This is a scene in which I loudly insist that if I’m Yumiela, I’m beyond level 99. But this is where I have to be patient. I casually said something that someone who knows me usually would suspect is fake if they heard it.

If he had responded that my level was too low, I would have lost my reason.

The gray-haired man looks uncertain, muttering to himself if it’s different. I should make sure and further impress him that I’m not Yumiela.

“I know that you thought I was Count Dolknes. Don’t worry, I’m used to it. It’s the hair, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry. It must have been offensive to be lumped in with something like that.”

“Not to that extent, though. Sorry that I was mistaken for such a great person?”

“Great person? Are you sure you’re not mistaken? From what I hear, Yumiela Dolknes is not a decent person. The more I hear about her being born and raised in a dungeon, thinking only of fighting and taming a vicious dragon, the less sane she sounds.”

I worry my face is scrunched up. Huh? Am I that bad? How does it get across in the neighboring kingdom?

There is truth to the part about growing up in a dungeon and thinking about combat a lot. He is wrong about Ryu because he is all about cuteness with zero viciousness.

But overall, the information seems to be somewhat exaggerated.

“B-but! She is a Lord. Maybe she’s not as bad as rumored.”

“The people around her were simply outstanding. Those things would have done nothing. And I’m not so foolish as to believe in baseless rumors. Rumors have circulated that there were two Yumiela, she came from another world, and so on.”

There were two Yumiela, and it’s also true she came from another world. The Lord’s work is also helped by those around them. Nothing can be said when even the most unbelievable gossip is true. It is so true that unjustified nasty rumors were still better.

Before I could protest, he added.

“And stop calling me Onii-san. I’m not your brother.”

“Sorry. What should I call you?”

“…Gilbert is fine.”

Gilbert is very uptight about older and younger brothers. Huh? Gilbert? Where have I heard that before?

I search the person’s name in my brain’s folder, excluding people close to me or within the Balshine Kingdom. He isn’t a royal of Remrest, I hardly know the nobles’ names, even less about the general public, or maybe I just imagine it.

Since he has given me his name, I must provide him with mine. My name was Yumiela, but I couldn’t honestly call myself Yumiela, so I had to come up with an alias. The name that came to mind was someone close to me.

“Alright, Gilbert-san. I’m… Eleanora.”

“I never heard your name.”

He is a man whose every word and action is sharp.

Did I do something to offend him? Well, I broke his house. It was a wonder he didn’t yell at me.

Since I doubt I could respond if someone called me Eleanora, I was even glad to be called you.

“I apologize for the mess I made of your house. Let’s continue our talk. Please use this crystal to pay for the repairs.”

“No need to pay for the roof. Just get out and don’t come near my house again.”

Gilbert is adamant. Somehow I need to accept it. I might force him to take it by leaving the crystal.

“Follow me.”

With that, he turned his back to me.

Following him silently, we left the room, walked down the hallway, and stopped in front of the next room.

“It’s a guest room that isn’t usually used. It’s been cleaned. Feel free to use it.”

“Thank you.”

Is it possible to arrange a room without preparation, or do guests often come here? The house itself also has an unusual and suspicious atmosphere.

Then he opened the door and urged me to enter the room.

When I did as he asked, he immediately closed the door.

“You’ll have to leave tomorrow.”

His footsteps move away from me before I can reply. Either he is kind or strict, I’m not sure.

I look around the room I was ushered into. The room was furnished with a bed, a table and a chair, and thick curtains. Apart from that, there aren’t so many things in the room that it seems unnatural. The room had a little lived-in feel, no more than a business hotel.

Is there no room like this in an average person’s house? It is designed only for sleeping and waking up, which deepens the mystery of what kind of people usually use this place.

Getting too deep into it seems scary, so I decide to rest.

Sitting on the bed, I take a rest. There are so many things to think about—the mystery of this house, tomorrow’s border crossing route—that I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well.

Even if I didn’t sleep, I would still need to lie down and rest my body. I laid down—

“Mhm… morning?”

It was morning. I had a fantastic sleep. I was sleeping in a strange person’s house that I had never met before, in a foreign kingdom where we had no good relationship, and I was having a good time.

The curtains weren’t closed. The morning sun hit me directly and dazzled me. I got up and stretched.

I’m going to leave soon. The wedding will be carried out as soon as I return to Dolknes territory and say I couldn’t make it to the moon.

I wouldn’t say I like it. I don’t want to go back. While it’s fine to have a wedding, it is embarrassing to have declared that you were going to go to the moon and then not be able to go.

The Cold War was lost by those who couldn’t get to the moon, and abandoning a trip to the moon was tantamount to admitting defeat.

Nobody would believe me if I went out at night, returned at noon the next day, and said I went to the moon. I want to return at least three days later.

The title is Operation Prince Ishitsukuri. Princess Kaguya asks Prince Ishitsukuri in Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo-Cutter) for the Buddha’s begging bowl. He never crossed to India, where the bowl is located, but went into hiding for three years in the countryside and offered up whatever bowl was appropriate.

Eventually, she would find out it was a fake, but I focused on the fact that she waited for three years. Like Prince Ishitsukuri, who went into hiding for three years to make people think he had gone to India, I want to spend three days in hiding to make people think I had gone to the moon.

There is also the danger that Patrick will discover my presence if I return to the Balshine Kingdom. That being said, it is also dangerous to stay at the inn.

Could there be someone kind enough to hide me from the outside world and lend me a place to sleep for the time being?

Amid my nefarious plotting, I heard footsteps coming from outside my room. Someone kind enough to offer me a hiding place, I’m sure.

Answering the knock and opening the door, I found Gilbert-san, just as I had imagined. He looks tired this morning.

“Get up. Quick—”

“Good morning.”

“You’re awake. Now get out.”

“Could I have another chance to stay here for a few days? I just need a room, and then I’ll be on my way.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The truth is I’m running away from home, and it wouldn’t look good if I returned too soon.”

“Why do I have to help you run away from home? I could hand you over to the guards.”

“The people who maintain security came to this house… which one of us would get in trouble?”

The atmosphere I felt was changing.

It would be a huge problem on my part if someone from the Remrest Kingdom were called in. But he seemed to have his reason, too.

He declined my offer, told me to leave immediately, and hid me from his neighbor.

While I had always thought it was something that came from me, it makes sense that Gilbert-san has his reasons for doing so. He has reasons for not wanting to stand out in some way.

He wants me to be invisible, acts like a lovely young man in front of his neighbor, and wants to avoid women coming in and out of his house at night.

I imagined the accuracy rate would be 20% at best, but I hit the jackpot.

Gilbert-san sharply glares at me. He casually braces himself.

He has no weapon but is ready to use a restraining technique. Despite my lack of familiarity with martial arts, even I recognized the posture immediately as it was similar to Patrick’s.

Not letting his guard down, he says in a voice devoid of emotion.

“What do you know?”

“Nothing. I just know that you don’t want the attention drawn to you.”

“Didn’t you say you ran away from home? If it were true, your house wouldn’t be normal. You are the one who has to worry about people coming here. Get out.”

“To be honest, it bothers me when people say I’m troublesome. But you too, right? And you keep trying to persuade me.”

I will be honest about the fact I’m someone who has a reason to be here.

The point here wasn’t to intimidate him but to make it clear that there are circumstances in which both parties don’t want to stand out.

It is better if the relationship is mutual, where both parties can get themselves in trouble if they try to exclude the other.

Gilbert-san moves his right hand casually and scratches his left shoulder.

He was in a position to release his back fist as it was. The one that Patrick taught me when I asked him about martial arts.

Not wanting to appear to have any combat-related knowledge, I pretend not to notice.

“What do you want?”

“Like I said before. Give me three days, nothing else.”

“I will admit that I have reasons I can’t tell anyone about. I want you to shut your mouth and be gone as soon as possible. We can do that if you just do as I say, or I’ll make you can’t talk.”

He threatens me. It seems his situation is more severe than I imagined.

But you know what? If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it before he said it. I have the impression that he is serious about such things.

The fact that Gilbert-san threatened me verbally indicates that he has no intention of acting on it.

Since it would be strange not to be scared of him, I acted out my fear very convincingly.

“Kyaa—, how scary.”

“…Are you making fun of me?”

He gave me a big tongue-lashing. But he was annoyed when I didn’t give any response, wasn’t he?

With one more push, I think I can secure a place to stay. If only there were a few more advantages to him, but I’m sure he thinks the best thing to do was for me to leave. Let me list the disadvantages of my leaving.

“If I leave the house, I might leak Gilbert-san’s presence to someone else. The best way to prevent information from leaking out is to keep me here.”

“You will leave sooner or later, and the outcome will be the same.”

“I will change your mind. Let me stay here for three days, and I will leave this house with a clear conscience.”

“Is that a threat?”

“No, I’m just expressing the natural human psychology of feeling offended when people are kicked out.”

“Are you saying you’re offended that the homeowner kicked you out after you destroyed their roof?”

“Ah, no, that’s… I’m willing to pay the compensation, but I don’t think money is the answer… sorry.”

I admit my full culpability for the property destruction. When you add that I fell from the sky, I was like a burglar who broke in.

Not satisfied with destroying the house, I threatened the homeowner and forced them to let me stay overnight. This is the very definition of villainy.

From the beginning, there was no way I could negotiate a deal that would be beneficial to both sides. It is embarrassing to pretend as I could.

After remembering that I was the aggressor, I decided to leave.

We should get away from this capital first. Then we can think about whether to go straight home or spend our time elsewhere.

“I greatly apologize. I will leave immediately. Please be assured that I will not speak to anyone about your presence in this house. In the future, it would be better to stay away from me. I would appreciate it if you could hide my presence as well. But I will be leaving the capital soon, so if anyone asks about me, you don’t have to worry about answering.

It’s enough. There is no other way than apologize and do as he says.

The sun’s position will give me a general direction, which I can use as a guide to get back to the Balshine Kingdom. After crossing the border, there will be fewer problems if my true identity is discovered.

I bowed deeply, then walked past Gilbert and left the room. The doorway was just down the stairs, and I put my hand on the door—

“Wait, Elanora.”

“Eh? Is Miss Eleanora here?”

A voice from behind me makes me look around involuntarily.

How could Eleanora be here… ah, that’s the fake name I’ve been using.

There seems to be no more room for deception from here. When someone called me, my response was, “Did you call for me?” but I didn’t give him any answer.

It has already been exposed that I have my reasons, and there will be a little problem if they find out my name is fake. I’ve already left.

Gilbert seems to have realized that my name is not Elanora and says with a look of dismay.

“You may be quick-witted and have good instincts, but you aren’t good at underhanded tricks.”

“It seems so.”

“You should have just gone ahead and fixed the roof, never mind that you’re the one who destroyed it.”

“It can’t be that bad.”

“…I wish that thing had as much conscience and brains.”

Gilbert exhaled deeply.

That thing he said seems to be a person. He is thinking of someone with no conscience and not very bright. Since he describes it as a thing, it is clear that he hates it a lot.

“You have somewhere to go, don’t you?”

“Etto… I’m leaving the capital. To the east.”

“When you say east, are you talking near Tetania?”

An unfamiliar place name came up. Probably someplace in Remrest.

But my destination is further east in the Balshine Kingdom. The more lies I tell, the more suspicious I will look. It would be better to be truthful about the parts that aren’t important.

“It’s further east. It’s somewhere around the Ashbaton territory border.”

“…You don’t want to go near that area.”

He reacted when I told him I planned to go to the border area. It’s not like there’s a war about to start….

Ashbaton is peaceful, but is the Remrest side of the border unsafe?

It’s hard to answer when asked to provide more details about my plan to cross the border. I put my hand on the door again, trying to leave.

“Wait.”

He stopped me again. He walks up to me and tries to walk past me.

When I give him the way, he holds the door open and says, with his back to me.

“I will allow you to stay. You can use the room where you stayed last night, and you are free to use whatever else is in the house. Eat whatever you like.”

Why the sudden change of heart?

Before I could ask, he said, “I’m going out.” and left.

Looking at the closed door, I stayed still for a while.