The Hero Party Couldn’t Kill Me

Chapter 7: The Madness of the Saint and Iris (4)

“… Then you didn’t cooperate with him, except for helping to lure Marquis Grenouille?”

A saintess who has heard all of Rachel’s story.

“Yes. If he knew he was going to kill Isabel, he would have resisted to the end.”

Rachel said. The orb of truth was still white.

“Then, have you heard where Edmund will go before and after the contract is canceled?”

“I haven’t heard anything. Except for leaving the space before negotiating with Her Highness. I know that Raphael, who was next to him, also went with him. But don’t other prisoners know about this?”

As Rachel said, this was information I already knew. Apparently, Edmund only used Rachel to lure Marquis Grenouille and reveal Calia’s crimes.

‘Is there no harvest here after all?’

In fact, even the saintess knows it well. She said the quickest way to prove that the princess and Edmund are cooperating is to interrogate the princess.

But would she respond to her interrogation saying that the princess is crazy? And who could threaten the princess, the real power of the empire?

As the next best thing, they are tracking down the secret house of the royal family, which is likely to be Edmund’s hiding place, but even that is not easy.

It’s not called the ‘Secret House’ for nothing. It’s top-secret information that only a few know, and rumors say that the house is capable of teleportation on its own. Without being noticed by the Rogue Magic Tower.

So I’m crying and eating mustard to gather information from people who might have information about Edmund, but it’s not easy either.

“… How am I now? Will I be excommunicated too?”

Rachel asked cautiously when her saintess’ expression was not good.

The saintess looked at Rachel with a pitiful expression.

When she was troubled about what to do, she came up with a good idea.

“Wait a minute. Rachel-sama, did you ever communicate with Edmund through her crystal ball?”

“… That said, you won’t be contacting me right now.”

“If Rachel is also being chased, she won’t know either.”

“Are you asking me to become a spy? I don’t want to do anything dangerous like that anymore.”

Rachel stubbornly refuses. She doesn’t really like her just because she’s a saint. Because she had already betrayed them and helped Edmund.

However, there was no other suitable person for her than Rachel.

“Do you want to avenge Isabel?”

“… Besides, Edmund must be suspicious. He’ll force you to sign a contract, preventing you from revealing his location in advance. Are you telling me to complete my mission even at the cost of a penalty?”

“If necessary, do it. Again, Edmund will continue to be a great threat to this empire. So if he cooperates in catching Edmund, Rachel will be remembered as a hero.”

“… No, I don’t want to get that kind of honor by dying or, worse, losing my magic talent.”

So I tried to convince Rachel somehow, but she didn’t come over either.

“Of course, even if there were threats, the sin of cooperating with Edmund is by no means light. It may even excommunicate.”

“What are you doing? Rachel has no choice but to cooperate with Edmund, and with this she excommunicates? Isn’t the story different from before?”

“… She doesn’t mean to ask for guilt. I’m just letting you know the seriousness of Rachel’s crime. And I just wanted to let her know that there is still a chance to make up for it.”

“… ….”

“I can’t help it if I don’t like it. If you refuse, don’t worry, I won’t excommunicate you.”

A saintess who has no choice but to turn around. I just want Rachel to have a change of heart.

If not, her visit today would be in vain.

***

“… Why can’t I contact you like this? Don’t you know how dry my blood is right now?”

On the other hand, as soon as the saintess was contacted, Iris argued.

“Because there was something else. So what did you contact me about?”

“Didn’t I say I’m going to persuade the Duke of Valois? But the damned man forced the meeting to be his mansion. At this rate, my influence will be greatly diminished.”

“… I don’t quite understand. Is a change of location really that important?”

“This is just the beginning. Gradually, he will try to take over the initiative in the meeting instead of me. Eventually, he will try to lead the meeting for me.”

Iris was even more angry at the saintess’s cowardly reaction.

“… I found a way. She met Archduke Charles and she talked. I thought he was fit to be the next emperor. So she’ll just have to grab her strands by pushing him.”

“But… Archduke Charles has only lived in Frostville, so he doesn’t know much about politics! You have too many weaknesses!”

“If it is not him, it is the prince. So, is the prince politically capable? Regardless of who you choose, it’s the same as having weaknesses. We need to highlight our strengths as much as possible.”

“… It’s easy to say.”

Iris let out her long sigh. She had no alternative, of course, but the thought of the Duke of Valois somehow slashing Archduke Charles made her head ache.

“He has the power to fight Edmund. If Edmund shows up later in Roswell, he and Noir Magic Tower will fight Edmund together.”

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Even after hearing the saintess’ plan, nothing changed. Of course, Archduke Charles would be able to become emperor, but the process to get there was too difficult.

Iris caught her pounding head, lost in her thoughts.

“For now, I understand. Then I have one more question for you. I still have nightmares, how are you going to explain this? No matter how much I pray to the goddess, it doesn’t get better!”

“… That’s enough to make me think that someone else might have cast a spell.”

“Are there wizards who can manipulate dreams with magic?”

“I don’t know much about magic either, so ask the wizard. However, they are saying that there is a high possibility that it was the work of a magician collaborating with Edmund.”

“Mark! Are you out now?”

At this, Iris immediately called for Mark.

“What’s going on?”

“Do you know of a magician who manipulates dreams?”

“… There was a mage who did related research in the past.”

“Is that wizard Raphaella by any chance?”

“Ah, that sounds right.”

“Why are you saying that now?”

At this, Iris was furious. Then, couldn’t she have been able to find the culprit through Mark?

“That’s because you didn’t ask.”

“You obviously knew I was having nightmares, but you kept pretending you didn’t know.”

“But why does Rafaela hold a grudge against the duke?”

Mark seemed completely unaware. In response, Iris hit her forehead and held back her anger.

“So, do you know how to stop it?”

“Since research on dreams hasn’t progressed properly yet, I don’t know how to stop them.”

“So you’re saying I have to keep having nightmares like this every day?”

“… Instead, even Raphaella won’t make you have nightmares remotely without any gadgets. There must be artifacts in this mansion. It might be possible if we find it and get rid of it.”

“Find it now!”

Marc frowned slightly and started searching Iris’s room.

“I can’t locate the artifact right now. I think I need to find more information about the artifact while reading the dissertation.”

“Then do I have to have nightmares again today?”

“If you’re really worried, why don’t you change your sleeping place? Because that artifact won’t follow the duke.”

“… ….”

Iris was furious with Marc’s reaction, but somehow she suppressed it and left her room. She and she instructed the maids to clean her guest room as far away as she could from her room.

She thought that if this method didn’t work, she wouldn’t leave Mark alone.

***

“Edmund, I couldn’t connect to Iris’ dream yesterday.”

The next morning, Rafaela reported.

“Did the artifact disappear?”

“No, I could feel her marbles as they were. Instead, she had no iris around her.”

“Then it looks like they switched bedrooms. Then, wouldn’t it be enough to put the marbles again in the changed bedroom?”

“Wait a minute, now that the surveillance is so intense, it’s hard to let go of her marbles undetected.”

Mina expresses disapproval at this. But I shook my head.

“You don’t have to let go. Now you have Arthur. She delivers her marbles to Arthur and she tells him to leave them in her bedroom. The escort driver’s room is still under surveillance.”

Of course, this is not a fundamental solution. It’s not like there’s an infinite number of marbles, and Iris is going to take other ways to get her a good night’s sleep somehow.

But just making people pay attention to this side is already doing its job.

“I’ll be back.”

Mina went to see Arthur with a new marble. And I took out the crystal ball to see if there was any other contact.

There was a new message. The person who sent the message… Surprisingly, Rachel.

– Please help me.

– I think the saintess will excommunicate me.