The Banished Sage Who Escaped his Childhood Friend

“So … what do you want with me?”

After successfully finding Leticia.

I took her out of the guild for us talk in solitude.

Surprisingly, Leticia followed without a word.

I don’t know but…

Somehow she has a fearless smile.

Also, I don’t know why, but I’m full of confidence too.

It was not too long in the past where her very presence was enough to shrivel me up. But now I don’t feel as scared I used to be.

“Maybe Haru wants to come back to me?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“ugu!”

When I answered immediately, Leticia face restored to her pinched expression.

Was I listening things?

I almost heard her muttering words like… “that woman has to be defamed more”.

This kind of attitude.

Her current dialogue.

With all of this, I was almost convinced.

Anju’s imposter is definitely Leticia.

What’s her motive?

Was her motive exactly what Sana says, or was it not?

There was something I don’t understand well …

First of all, there was no doubt about Leticia being the culprit.

“I’ll ask you without beating around the bush. Is it you who is faking to be the saint and doing scummy acts?”

“Fake? Scam? What?”

Leticia pierced me with her sharp gaze.

Despite her bullish attitude, she wasn’t giving away anything concrete here.

“Don’t you pretend not to know. There’s a bad guy who’s imposting one of my friends. Isn’t that you?”

“Stupid, I don’t know about who this saint’s imposter is! Is there evidence in the first place? Evidence. If you were to point at me, show me the evidence first.”

“Ugu … that’s …”

“Isn’t it wrong? If not, don’t blame me out of nowhere. Can you even say something like that to the hero without any evidence? I will sue you for defaming me, and I wonder if you can get away from it.”

Leticia had a pretty obnoxious face.

She seemed to have a proper understanding of her overwhelming advantage. How was it that only Alice was able to trick her everytime? Was there something in her voice that did the trick?

I was almost certain that Anju’s imposter was Leticia.

But there was no evidence.

Leticia was on the right track, so I think she’ll probably keep repeating these crimes again.

It would probably be perfect to develop a strategy to catch her, but it might not necessarily work.

Considering the possibility of failure, I want to settle things here as much as possible.

And the way to do that was …

“… There is certainly no evidence. And, I can’t afford to blame Leticia for it.”

“Isn’t it?” she shrugged appearing as calm as ever.

“But I think Leticia is infinitely suspicious, or rather, I don’t think there can be anyone else guilty of this crime other than Leticia.”

“Huh? How can you say such a silly thing? Didn’t you just admit that there was no evidence? So, can you tell me that?”

“You might be right, but I’m pretty sure in my stance.”

“Stupid! if you say that, show me the proof, show me the proof! But if you don’t, please don’t say anything so silly.”

Leticia seemed to be irate, which was also reflected in her facial expression as her lips turned into a white sash.

She folded her arms and tapped against her elbows with her fingertips.

…… What?! Is that all? I thought Leticia would be a little more reactive? Where are the cussing words that come out of her mouth like rain from the sky?

“I don’t need any proof, because I clearly know that Leticia is the culprit.”

“How can you that !?”

“As far as the evidence is concerned the circumstances that we share are enough of a proof for me to believe it.”

“Huh? Just because of our circumstances? Is that enough for you to treat me like a criminal? Haru, you, are you messing with me?”

“No, I am not playing around. Leticia is the culprit. There can be no other answer.”

“Hey …! Even if you are mine, but if you say anything silly again… Then I will make it really painful for you!”

I couldn’t help but smile to her outburst.

“That had always been the case.”

“That …!”

Leticia bit her lips at the last minute holding herself.

I was glaring at her at all times with a piercing gaze not letting her any leeway at escaoe.

Was it about time?

“Logically speaking, it can be no one other than Leticia.”

“Why!?”

“The criminal is someone who despises Anju and seeks benefit from harming her. The only one with such a motive could be Leticia. You were jealous and wanted to get rid of the girl near me.”

“Huh Haru’s stupid !? It doesn’t matter who is near Haru! It’s not like I care about it or anything.”

She cired strongly denying it. But I chose to ignore her for now.

“Therefore… Leticia decided to use Anju’s name as an alias and commit a scam to dwindle her name in mud. She looked for a store that didn’t know Anju well, and then… without paying she laughed out loud like Ha Ha Ha, while leaving the store, isn’t that right? “

“The culprit was not laughing like that stupid! It was just… completely normal. Normal! Haru is stupid!”

Alice and Sana who were following the conversation till now looked at eahc other.

”!?”.

However, Leticia seems to be unaware of her remark and continued to throw a tantrum.

“So … why can Leticia assert something like that. It’s as if she had already seen that scene in person?”

“……Ah”

Leticia’s face turns blue as she finally realizes her mistake.

Sweat poured down her forehead.

“Well, now … that’s no biggie! I just happened to over hear it from the others… it’s just a coincidence.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

I nodded.

“Huh?”

For her ridiculous claim to be so easily accepted…Leticia couldn’t help but be suspicious.

“But … the conversion has already reached its conclusion.”

“What, what does that … mean?”

“I said this before too right? A bad guy is imposting one of my friends. Do you remember now, what you had replied? I never said that a saint was being impostered. So? How do you know that the victime is a saint? “

“Uh …”

“The case is a pretty touchy in itself. So, the case is stil hidden from the public so as not to upset the people of this land. It’s a top secret investigation carried out by the guild. And yet, why does Leticia know that the victim is a saint? THere can be only one answer for that. It is because Leticia herself is the cirminal … “

“You! You put me in a trap from the beginning …”

“Well … I don’t think you can escape anymore?”

“Ugugugu …!”

Leticia bit her lips unable to do anything to help it.

She was aware that the tables had already been flipped.

Still, was the reversal permanent?

I had put some thought into this and for that …

“By the way … Alice.”

“Yes, it’s perfect.”

Alice took out a palm-sized magic tool.

It was a magic tool that can record one’s voice.

“I’ve recorded the conversation everything that happened till now. That’s a good enough proof.”

“Ugh !?”

“Well … would you accept your crime now?”

I turned towards Leticia with a sober expression on my face.

“…”

Leticia gritted her teeth with regret as she looked always…

“… Ahhh! Why is this happening! My plan was to eliminate that woman!”

She made the big statement admitting her crime.

“Do you admit it now?”

“… Yes, I admit it.”

“Why did you do this?”

I couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment.

Well even if I did say that she did it out of jealousy just a moment ago.

But that was just something absurd Sana had came up with.

I am having a hard time buying that. If possible I want to have a heart to heart conversation with Leticia herself.

“… It’s not what you think it is! It was just on a whim. I didn’t like her somehow, so I thought I’d cause trouble for her.”

Apparently, she is not going to talk about her motivation.

Well, should I leave the investigation around that to the Adventurer’s Guild?

“You’ve been scamming at multiple stores and caused trouble. First of all, you need apologize to the store owners.”

Leticia turned to me wide eyed.

“What? I didn’t do that.”

“Are you still going to lie after all of this?”

“I’ve scammed in one store … well, I admit, but that’s it. I’m not fooling around in multiple places.”

Leticia, herself seemed to be totally confused … Probably because I have known her for so many years but…she didn’t look like she was lying.

How can that be……?