Chapter 19: Secrets and Suspicions

Weiner Alphares offered the hero’s party lodging in his mansion.

“As those fighting for us, you deserve to stay in a comfortable place.”

He assigned four butlers and maids to each of them.

“Hero, your armor…”

“We’ve prepared some grape snacks for Aria.”

“We’ve prepared attire according to Serin’s preferences, based on information from the Imperial Knights.”

He even assigned an elf maid to Raphilia, the elf princess.

“Princess, I’ll be attending to your needs. Please call me whenever you need anything.”

“Uh… huh?”

She never expected to see one of her kin serving in a human’s mansion. Raphilia’s eyes widened.

“She was dispatched from the Elven Kingdom at our request, specifically to attend to you.”

Weiner Alphares emphasized that the elf wasn’t a s*ave. Raphilia, who was already speechless, became even more so at the elf maid’s confirmation.

“Um… may I ask for your name?”

Finally, the old butler turned to Rui, seemingly at a loss for how to address her.

“I’m Rui.”

She readily told him her name.

“Rui, I’ll show you to your room.”

As she followed the butler, she made eye contact with Count Alphares. She felt a strange sensation but continued towards her room.

“Then everyone! Let’s meet up after we’ve settled in!”

“Okay!”

“Yes!”

“Alright.”

“Okay.”

The hero’s party scattered like leaves in a whirlwind, swept away by the tide of servants. She hoped this wasn’t the scattering mentioned in the novel.

“This way.”

It couldn’t be. That scattering happened inside the Twilight Fortress. A maid led her to a room. It looked like a stereotypical noble’s room from a romance fantasy novel. A sky-blue room filled with ornate decorations.

Similar to her eye color.

“…So soft.”

Perhaps because it was a room prepared especially for guests, the blanket was incredibly soft. It was so comfortable that she couldn’t help but flop onto the bed and wriggle around.

It was practically a monster of comfort.

“…Rui?”

Oops.

Fortunately, it was Raphilia, not the hero, who was standing there. Raphilia’s bewildered expression indicated she had witnessed Rui’s antics on the bed.

“…Did something happen?”

“Huh?”

“Did. Something. Happen?”

She glared at Raphilia, and Raphilia finally nodded.

“Yes, something happened. Rui flopped onto the bed and started wriggling around.”

“Ugh.”

“You’re slow.”

She lunged at Raphilia, but the archer was too quick for her. To gain the upper hand, she issued an ultimatum.

“I guess I’ll have to exclude your equipment next time.”

“…Huh?”

“You’re so fast, you probably don’t need my equipment anyway.”

“N-no.”

“And the hero’s too… I guess he can manage on his own.”

“No! I’m sorry!”

Hmph.

That’s what she thought. Seeing the elf princess clinging to her robe and pleading was quite satisfying. It made her feel superior… like she outranked the princess.

“…What are you two doing?”

Serin, sensing the commotion, approached with a bewildered expression, and the situation momentarily calmed down.

“Let’s split up and act independently.”

The hero’s party decided to act independently, using the major city of Alphares as their base. It was a logical decision.

They hadn’t encountered an enemy that required the entire party yet, and the monster appearances were widespread, so dividing their forces was the right move.

“So, I was thinking Serin, Lia, and I could take the north, south, and east gates.”

“Based on the monster appearance statistics from the Adventurer’s Guild, there have been almost no appearances in the west.”

That was to be expected.

The Twilight Fortress would emerge from the west gate. Until then, the demons would send monsters to the other three directions as a diversion, gradually weakening their forces.

‘It’s a good thing they excluded me.’

This would give her time to prepare some magic in the west.

“I’ll take the east gate, where the monster appearances are most frequent.”

“If Aswell’s taking the east, I’ll take the south.”

“Hmm, then I’ll take the north.”

Aswell, Raphilia, and Serin’s targets were decided. Next was Aria.

“Then I’ll patrol all the gates and tend to the injured.”

Finally, only Rui remained. Everyone’s gaze turned to her.

“I’ll check the defenses in the west, just in case.”

It wasn’t a lie. Some might call it slacking off, but the hero’s party didn’t think so.

“Minimizing variables is a good idea.”

“With Rui’s abilities, she could probably even redirect some of the forces stationed in the west.”

They trusted both her skills and her character. She was now a proper member of the hero’s party.

‘Not bad.’

Actually, it was quite good.

‘Let’s make a plan.’

Not just a rough sketch, but something more concrete. A plan that would benefit the hero’s party without disrupting the story’s progression.

“The hero and his companions have left the mansion.”

“Working hard from the moment they arrived. That’s what makes them heroes.”

Weiner Alphares’ gaze followed the hero. The black-haired hero. The young man the emperor brought along with the saintess one day.

There was initial confusion, but it quickly subsided. Everyone present, and those who later heard about the hero’s arrival, felt it was inevitable.

‘But I didn’t expect our family to be part of the prophecy.’

He thought it would happen later.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter much.’

The Alphares family just had to continue their usual course of action. And for that, the hero’s party’s current stay in the city was crucial.

He didn’t know what the future held. The monsters could disappear without a trace, or a horde of demons could attack the city.

So Weiner Alphares made as many plans as possible. Dozens of plans based on the ‘four’ members of the hero’s party. But now, he might have to discard all of them.

‘Rui, was it?’

The white-haired girl. The girl with a white robe adorned with red patterns matching her hair color and striking blue eyes.

She was the hero’s party’s mage.

There was no mage in the hero’s party reports until two months ago. Initially, the Star of Magic was expected to join the party, but they refused, and for the past year, there had been no mage. And now, one had finally joined. A girl with exceptional beauty, unusual for a mage.

“Count.”

“What did they say?”

“…Unidentifiable.”

“Our Alphares’ informants couldn’t identify a single mage…?”

“The mana repulsion from her robe disrupted all of our informants’ detection tools.”

“Well, she has to be that capable to be the hero’s party’s mage.”

It would be strange if the mage, the core of the party’s firepower and support, couldn’t even withstand a simple detection tool. But on the other hand, it was hard to believe, considering the informants’ track record.

‘The Star of Magic mentioned by His Majesty would probably be this capable as well.’

The enigmatic mage, known as the Star of the Empire. No one knew the Star of Magic’s face, except for the emperor. No, it wasn’t even known if the Star of Magic was male or female.

But two things were certain:

The Star of Magic was under the emperor’s protection.
And the Star of Magic possessed magical abilities worthy of such protection.

‘The only comparable figure would be the Master Whitesmith.’

The mage who produced transcendental magic tools that even archmages couldn’t easily replicate. Like the Star of Magic, their identity was unknown, but more was known about them. Occasionally, the Master Whitesmith’s creations would appear in auctions.

‘Wasn’t the Knight Commander’s sword a magic sword made by the Master Whitesmith?’

He had heard there hadn’t been a new Knight Commander since.

‘This is getting complicated.’

The white-haired girl riding a black horse, slowly leaving the mansion. How would she compare to the Star of Magic and the Master Whitesmith?

“That’s a bit unfair, isn’t it?”

It was unfair to compare her to figures like the Star of the Empire and the pinnacle of magic tool creation. Weiner Alphares felt a pang of guilt towards the hero’s party’s mage and stroked his mustache.

“Tell them to use the traditional approach.”

“Understood.”

After the butler left, Weiner drained his teacup. His duties as a host were over. It was time to get back to work.