The Eminence in the Shadow 71 Beta's Job

I open my mouth wide in a yawn while gazing at the blue sky spread out beyond my window.

I roll around in my bed, not doing anything in particular, just dazedly passing the time.

There isn't much of the summer holidays left.

The tournament proper of the Festival of the God of War begins next week too, so I've got to do image training.

However, spending time like this, letting time pass by without doing anything in particular, is necessary for humans.

Nah, sorry, that's a lie.

At the very least, it's necessary for me.

"Oi Sid! I've got a really interesting story, so open up!"

Suddenly Hyoro is pounding my door while shouting.

As long as humans live with humans, troublesome things are bound to occur. Why do humans continue to seek other humans even while feeling this troublesomeness? This is what I'm ruminating upon in the morning of my now scarce summer holidays.

Isn't this great, this feeling? It's like the 'yare yare' kind of master who keeps a certain distance from humankind.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming."

I unlock the door and allow Hyoro in.

"This is the wanted poster of Student Council President Rose. 10 million Zeny for capturing her alive! And at least 500k Zeny for useful information!"

"Fu~n."

I accept the wanted poster from Hyoro and take a look at it.

"Let's go catch her!"

"What, why?"

"I'm broke."

So says Hyoro with desperation.

"Didn't you say that there's a match with guaranteed victory?"

"Don't mention that to me ever again."

"Didn't you earn a lot from betting?"

"Shut up. Shut up. Ok, listen to me. I won't say the reason, but anyways I'm broke. Thus, I need money."

(T/N: Urusai damare.)

"Is that so."

"So, help me."

"Eh, so troublesome. Do it by yourself."

"Don't be so hasty, think about it deeply. Two people searching is a lot more effective than one person searching. Why? Because then the probability of finding her would be doubled!"

"Heeeh~"

Even while my shoulder is being shaken by Hyoro, I'm just thinking 'what a pain.'

In the first place, I quite appreciate Rose's rebellious spirit that enabled her to stab her fiancé. Isn't it great that she has all that energy and spunk?

So in other words, I'm leaning more towards the side that hopes for Rose's successful escape.

"Please, I'm begging you!"

Hyoro actually lowers his head.

"U~n..."

At that moment.

"Sid-kun, your Onee-san has come."

The dorm manager peeks into my room while saying so.

"Onee-san?"

"Sid-kun's older sister. She's waiting for you in front of the dorm, so don't keep her waiting too long, alright?"

Leaving those words behind, the dorm manager leaves.

"Claire nee-san... so she's back."

I have a really bad feeling.

In s split second, I weigh which option would be more troublesome.

"Alright, let's begin Operation Capture Rose."

"Sid, I had believed in you! As expected of my good friend!"

I grab Hyoro by the back of his neck, and open the window.

"Oi Sid, what are you doing?"

"There's no time. We're going by the window."

"Hah? What are you saying? Eh, wait a, EHHHHH?!"

"Tou!"

(T/N: Again, 'tou' is like what sentai rangers say when they jump, the idea being that it somehow makes the jump cooler.)

And thus we fly down.

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"Iris-nee-sama said thanks for the information. She wants to continue the cooperation, apparently."

"What an honor."

So replies Beta while looking at the back of Alexia, who is walking in front of her.

The spiral staircase is illuminated by Alexia's magical lamp.

They've already gone quite the distance down. The cold, humid air tells them that they are underground.

"It seems that Doem Ketsuhat is indeed connected to the Order."

"Indeed."

"Problem is, we have no evidence."

"This is a problem between the Church and the country, so normal evidence would not be sufficient."

"I am well aware. My father did stress this to me. He said that if we are to expose the connection between the Order of Diabolos and the Church, we would need justification that can convince our citizens and the surrounding countries."

"Because if our country is branded heretical, everything would be over."

"I don't think that all members of the Church are tied to the Order of Diabolos. It's probably only a handful of the upper echelons."

"And that's what makes this so troublesome."

"Indeed."

The two's footsteps continue reverberating throughout the staircase.

"My father is solely insisting on not causing a dispute with the Church. But then what of the Order, right?"

"He probably intends to leave them alone, same as he's done so far."

"Same as so far..."

Alexia's footstep is late by a beat.

"Merely my arbitrary conjecture. Please forget it."

"... Well, that's fine for now. Nee-sama said something that caught my attention. That the king of Oriana Kingdom seemed a bit vacant."

"Vacant, you say..."

"It was my first time meeting him, so I couldn't tell. But there was some sort of sweet smell around him."

Sweet smell.

A certain drug comes to Beta's mind.

"Perhaps it's already too late then..."

"The Order has begun to move. With my father's way of doing things, eventually our country would also..."

The two continue down the staircase, now in silence.

"We've arrived."

Alexia has stopped before a deep vertical hole with a ladder.

"One of the entrances to the royal capital's underground tunnel system. You know of it, do you not?"

"To some degree, yes. The tunnels that stretch underneath the entire city, built long ago as escape routes for the royalty, right?"

"Correct. But what with the gradual loss of maps and keys and secret passwords and whatnot, now it's just a labyrinth."

"So then, why are we here?"

"To erase you."

Then Alexia puts a hand on the sword at her waist... and laughs.

"That was a joke. And you're not even scared the slightest bit."

"Hiii, don't kill me...!"

"There's a possibility that Rose-senpai is hiding inside these tunnels."

Beta pouts slightly at the way Alexia completely ignored her wholehearted acting.

"Let's begin searching in here."

So saying, Alexia reaches for the ladder without delay.

"Um, please wait a moment."

"What?"

"Did you tell anyone else about this?"

"How could I? Anyone I can trust to tell would stop me."

"If this is a labyrinth, how can we be sure that we ourselves won't get lost?"

"Easy. We just have to return the way we came."

"Um, this is kind of hard for me to say, but can you stop involving me in your whimsical fancies?"
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"No."

The two glare at each other for a while.

"If you have a problem,  then you can go back by yourself."

Alexia goes ahead and starts climbing down the ladder by herself.

Beta considers just leaving Alexia to her own devices and going home, but at this current point in time, it would indeed be problematic if Alexia dies.

"Protecting her is also your job, Beta."

So convincing herself, Beta also reaches for the ladder.

Chapter end