༺ Alibi ༻
“…Whoa.”
After what felt like an eternity, a wide-eyed Frey opened the restroom door and stepped out.
“”…….””
Those around him were discreetly watching, feigning indifference but keenly observing Frey’s actions.
The nobles had always admired and envied those in high places, and watching someone fall from the top was more entertaining than anything else.
– Step, step…
Perhaps sensing the stares of the nobles, Frey lowered his gaze and trudged down.
“Ugh…”
Suddenly, Frey covered his mouth with his hand. The shock from earlier still evident, he gasped for air with a pale face.
“…Pff.”
“Puha.”
The nobles and maids stared in disgust at the sight.
Rumors of Frey’s attack on Ruby had already spread like wildfire, so his behavior was simply ridiculous to them.
– Kiririk… Kirik…
“…Ah.”
And with that, Frey found himself shivering alone amid the penetrating gazes and mocking sneers.
“Hey…”
A maid passed by, pushing a cart of liquor, and he called out to her.
“May I help you?”
“I’d like a drink…”
As Frey said this and extended his hand to her, the maid responded with a cold expression.
“I apologize. I have orders not to serve alcohol to Mr. Frey.”
“…Really?”
“Yes, so please excuse me.”
Upon hearing this, Frey, who had been covering the corners of his mouth, frowned.
“Well, then, even if it’s weak alcohol…”
He began to say, but with a nervous glance, he followed her as she hastily pulled the cart away.
“I’m sorry, I’m a little busy at the moment.”
“No, it’s not that, the drink…”
“I, I’m sorry, I don’t want to be punished.”
With those words, she spoke, her voice trembling, as she pushed the cart along.
True to her word, quite a few nobles were watching the scene, so there was nothing a mere maid could do about it.
“…….”
But Frey’s heart ached unusually.
It was due to the coldness in the maid’s eyes as she glanced back at him while leading the cart and the realization that she had once served at his mansion.
“…Huh.”
He lingered for a while, a gloomy expression on his face. Eventually, his shoulders slumped, and he turned towards a nearby drain.
“Excuse me.”
“…..?”
A girl had been watching Frey’s misery and unfair treatment until then.
“Give me a drink.”
She stopped the maid who was pulling the cart and spoke in an imposing voice.
“…I think you’re too young to drink.”
It was none other than Glare who stopped the cart.
“Oh, no, I’m not! I like to drink!”
“…….”
“I, I’ve picked it up on the street a few times… I’ve even sneaked some from my mentor… Anyway, I drink well!”
With crossed arms and confident speech, she might have seemed brave to herself, but to others, she appeared undeniably cute.
“I’m troubled…”
However, this perspective was solely from the onlookers. From the point of view of the maid who had to take responsibility for it, it was troublesome.
“Um… Why don’t you bring your guardian?”
The maid rolled her eyes slightly.
She planned to leverage the presence of Glare’s guardian to intimidate this seemingly inexperienced young noble.
“Mentor… should be checking on the Hero by now…”
“What?”
But there was something she wasn’t expecting.
“Oh, my mentor is the Magic Tower Master.”
Glare’s guardian was indeed the Tower Master.
“Oh, uh…”
She whispered in such a low voice that the others didn’t hear her, but the maid looked confused and began to stammer.
For a maid who wasn’t even a maidservant, the Tower Master, known to be even more eccentric than the Frey she once served, was too high of a barrier.
“Well, then… What would you like to drink?”
Chewing her lip, she asked, her voice trembling.
“Hmmm…”
With her hand on her chin, Glare peered intently into the ice basket.
“This, and this, and this. And this one!”
“Okay.”
“Ugh, and a soda, too!”
“………”
She eventually picked out the most fancy-looking bottles and a soda.
“…Are these really the right ones?”
The maid looked at her suspiciously.
“Yes, yes, I’m sure, they’re my favorites!”
“I see…”
“…Thank you!”
Despite her assurance, the maid had no choice but to swiftly retrieve the strongest liquor from the cart and hand it to Glare.
“Thank you~!”
“…The total is 30,000 gold.”
“Ack.”
Upon hearing the price, she was startled and nearly dropped the bottles in her arms.
“Ehhh…”
However, with superhuman quickness, she managed to grab the bottles just before they slipped out of her grasp.
“Thirty, thirty thousand… gold…”
Then she broke out in a cold sweat and muttered.
“That’s… A full meal… Ugh…”
The money she got from Frey had been well spent, though with the help of her mentor, she had managed to build up her savings to the level of most merchants.
Memories of struggling in the back alleys were still fresh in her mind, and she rarely spent more than a thousand gold.
“…Here you go.”
However, as Glare glanced at Frey, who was gulping down water from a drain in the distance and drawing attention, she quickly handed over the money with a trembling hand.
“Here~!”
And just like that, Glare rushed out of the bar with alcohol in her hands.
“I have an announcement for you.”
“Huh?”
Reaching Frey, just as all eyes were on her, someone entered the hall and began to convey the message.
“They say the Unveiling Ceremony for the Hero’s Party is about to begin. I’d suggest you go ahead and get ready.”
Isolet glared at her surroundings for a moment, then watched as people slipped away from the pressure of her momentum.
“You, there.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Give me the strongest liquor.”
“Okay…”
She intercepted the maid attempting to slip out of the hall, ordering the strongest liquor available.
“…Where’s Frey?”
She began to look around.
“Uh, over there… Um…”
Instinctively sensing danger, Glare took a step toward Frey, who noticed her standing in front of him.
“Would you like to have a drink with me?”
She asked with a nervous tone.
.
.
.
.
.
“………”
A long moment passed after Frey and Glare entered the waiting room.
“Everyone, a big round of applause!”
“…Ha.”
Isolet, who had been looking for Frey for some time, watched as the Hero Party was introduced on a holographic projection in the now-empty main hall.
“A party of four heroes… that’s something to behold.”
Without the position of the Hero Party’s Commander yet granted to her, she observed the introductions from the audience.
Four figures stood on stage –the Hero Ruby, the pure white Saintess Ferloche, the Intelligence Officer Roswyn, and Isolet’s new apprentice, the Youngest Paladin.
There should have been more of them, but for some reason, those who had been summoned had not responded to the invitation.
They declined, cited personal reasons, or were entirely unreachable.
“Hmm…”
Quietly pondering, Isolet watched as the dumbfounded nobles clapped enthusiastically, their hope blinding them.
‘There’s something fishy about that Hero.’
She had intended to investigate the earlier incident, but an order from above interfered.
She knew full well that if it was ‘from above’, and if it was ‘high’ enough to stop her, then the Third Duke of the Empire, the Imperial Family, or the Church itself would be involved.
‘This is definitely suspicious…’
So why were they blocking her investigation? Were they hiding something?
There had to be some sort of intervention she couldn’t recognize, otherwise, there was no other way to explain this ominous energy.
– Pit-a-pat!
At the thought, her heart suddenly felt as hot as if it were on fire.
“Not again.”
Lately, just thinking about Frey, especially considering the need to ‘protect’ him, had been making her heart race.
It was always accompanied by the sensation that something was trying to force its way through a tight spot.
“…Ugh.”
As she stroked her heart, she thought of Frey, sprawled out on the floor, with swollen cheeks, eyes wide.
“Vener… that bastard…”
She recalled Frey, who until a few days ago, had been smiling wickedly, calling her a wimp, telling her lewd jokes, and cheekily flirting with her.
And when he was subdued, she recalled him looking horrified and even hiccuping, as if he hadn’t even considered it.
“Even if I get scolded… I’m going to punish her…”
He was punched in the stomach by Vener, causing him to fall flat on his back and drool into his hand.
She grabbed his arm, slapped him, and even strangled him.
In the end, he lay on the ground with his hair disheveled, scorned by those around him.
This was how badly he was treated, a boy who blushed at the slightest hint of fear.
“……..”
His cocky little devilish demeanor was gone.
When he entered the room, he didn’t display his usual cockiness. Instead, he bowed his head with a blank expression, as if he had become a different person.
It was quite an adversity to witness the once cocky child reduced to such a state.
“…Anyway, I need to do some research on the Hero.”
Isolet, who had remained silent until then, clenched her fists and muttered.
There were too many questions in this case.
Apparently, the girl who had summoned everyone earlier had said that the Hero was attacking Frey.
She hadn’t been able to elaborate, but she mentioned pressing him on the floor.
But why did the Hero say he was on top of her and why were her clothes so loose and tattered?
This so-called hero fought a battle and couldn’t even defeat Frey, whom she could have easily subdued in a matter of seconds?
Moreover, there were clear signs of Frey being restrained all over his body.
Crucially, there were witness accounts that Frey had tears in his eyes and was gagging.
‘It seems very unlikely, but… But maybe…’
As Islolet organized this information, a possibility flashed through her mind, and she clenched her hands together.
It was a far-fetched theory, even for her, but perhaps there was some truth to it.
Frey, who had been acting strange lately, and Ruby, who had suddenly appeared in the world.
The truth about both of them.
– Step, step…
Isolet chewed on her lip for a while, her heart racing, her head pounding, and her lips bleeding.
“Sigh…”
She grabbed the strong liquor she had purchased earlier to cool her head and headed to the empty waiting room.
“This is the strongest liquor I’ve ever had… It’s not for girls…”
She entered the waiting room and was about to take a seat when she saw the weak alcohol.
“Who, who…?”
“……?”
At the sound of the familiar voice, she began to look dazed.
“Oh, it’s Noona…”
“Uh, uhm.”
In front of her, Glare was sweating profusely as she stuck a straw in her drink and sucked it.
“Lousy Noona…♡”
“…….”
“We should make this together…”
Frey, who had torn up a strange scroll and placed it in front of him, sipped on a strong drink as he entered the room.
“…What do you mean?”
Smiling wryly at himself, Frey recoiled in horror as she took a step forward.
“Oh…”
But then he looked up, silently, with the same glazed look he gave everyone when he was being scorned.
“An alibi…?”
He whispered in a timid voice, watching her closely.
“………”
She didn’t know exactly what he meant, but Isolet’s eyes were shaking wildly as she observed Frey.
.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at that time.
“……….”
Ruby, who was waving to people from the center of the stage, was silently breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Goo, good to see you all~”
Amongst the people who had gathered to welcome the Hero Party, there were some very familiar faces.
“…Hoo-hoo.”
It was the Combat Executives of the Demon Army, led by the second in command, Dmir Khan.
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