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Volume 6 Chapter 2 Part 8

Translation: Kurehashi Aiko
Editing: Team Foxsunes

「Another point to consider: why is Her Highness only participating in this ritual now? Why was she not invited to do so in previous years? Growing up in the royal capital ever since I was a small child, I have heard many things about Her Highness attending various public events and taking her of her publicity, even if those were just backstreet rumors at the time. However, I have never heard about Her Highness taking part in an event quite like that, not even once. And that is taking into account the fact that the Azure Desert is one of Valgentoum’s precious lands. So even if Her Highness was to participate in the ritual here every single year, I do not think that anyone would see anything wrong in doing just that.」

If the Princess was really so important to this ritual and held so much power, it is quite impossible to comprehend why she would only be invited here right about now, if she was not invited ever before in the past, especially since she was showing at other public events like that. Or could it be that the Princess was participating in the ritual, but in secret, because someone did not want for that knowledge to be made public?

 Hearing me say all those words, the left eye of Heinrich blinked rapidly a couple of times. It was really hard for me to guess the true meaning and emotions behind that gesture since there was still a gentle smile plastered to his face, but I could guess that most probably he was surprised. Could it be that I have said something weird? I sure hope not. I mean, what I said was basically a common knowledge, not something that only the elite members of high society would know, and only if they got explicitly let in on the secret. It was something you would find people gossip about on the streets.

Just when I thought that the cold glare of that green eye of Heinrich would turn my heart into a block of ice, it suddenly got much warmer as he smiled at me.

「Filmina-dono, I see that you are surprisingly flexible thinker who has an eye for details.」

「Ah, no. Thank you very much, I guess?」

…… Hmm? I thanked Heinrich for the compliment purely out of reflex, but was that really a praise that he has given me right there? Because if you were to ask me, rather than being praised right there, his words felt more like a ridicule to me.

Oh my, oh my? Heinrich cock his head while looking at me in apparent puzzlement, but before I could think about his sudden remark further, he opened his mouth to speak once more.

「It appears that you do understand the true worth of the Princess, even if it is just for a little bit, Filmina-dono. Judging from the history that you have with Her Highness, I was wondering if perhaps some sort of a terrible misunderstanding was not taking place here.」

「Eh?」

「Hm?」

「…… No, it’s nothing. Please forget about it.」

Even if you tell me something like that, there is no way for me to understand what it was all about. It would help if I at least got some sort of explanation. But since I know that I won’t get no such thing, now I end up feeling even more ridiculous as a result. The tone of his voice was always gentle and kind beyond belief, and there was always a smile on his face, but I could not get myself rid of the feeling that ever since we first met, whenever Heinrich would speak to me, there would always be thorns and venom in his words.

Then again, it might just be me overthinking things yet again, because when I look in Heinrich’s eye, he responds to me with the most earnest and gentle smile that I can possibly think of. And I know that this smile of his was genuine. I could feel it. There was no way that there would be any kind of poison behind a smile like that. It was that kind of smile that you would show to people that you truly like, and the one that get other people to like you even more in return. So does that mean that the fault here was laying somewhere on my end?

Next, Heinrich pointed his fingers at my nose, as if he wanted to show me something or point something out.

「The thing that is the most important is right here, Filmina-dono.」

「Excuse me?」

This ‘right there’ means where, exactly? As I was pondering that, Heinrich directed yet another smile at me while cocking his head slightly at the same time.

「The fact that the people of the Azure Desert were able to perform their rituals without the need of Her Highness’s assistance. And it is all but possible thanks to that young medium  we have met earlier.」

「The Medium-sama, you say?」

What does the Medium-sama have to do with everything? And especially the Princess? It was hard for me to believe that this cute little boy with long lustrous hair and brown eyes would have any sort of connection with anyone from the capital city. But it was true that on our way here the people we were passing by would address him as Medium-sama’. Either be it children, adults or the elderly, everyone was addressing the boy with the utmost respect.

Surely there must have been a reason for the people of the Azure Desert to treat such a young boy with such degree of respect, but what could that be? I had no idea, and that fact alone was enough for the strange kind of unrest and anxiety to take residence inside of my chest, pricking at my heart and not letting me rest. Something was clearly fishy in here.

I am pretty sure that my puzzlement must have been showing on my face as clear as day right about now. And seeing me just like that, Heinrich could not contain himself and ended up laughing in a funny way.

「I can assure you that when people heard about Her Highness and her being bestowed with the protection of the goddess for the very first time, everyone’s reaction was pretty much the same: laughter. After all, it was a quite bold statement to assume that a mere mortal would be the Goddess’s favorite, which would certainly elevate someone to the ranks of the divine.」

I wanted to laugh at those ridiculous words, but I chose not to do so. I had a feeling that if I did just that, it would have brought more trouble upon me than it was actually worth. So instead I chose to stay silent and take another sip of the liquor.

But after a short while, the meaning of Heinrich’s words finally managed to reach me. I see, so does that mean that ‘Medium’-sama is also someone who is beloved by the Goddess? A Goddess’s child? At the very least I think it would be safe to assume that ‘Medium’-sama is the same kind of existence that the Princess is. And I am also fairly sure that if some of the Princess’s most fanatical and devoted fans would learn about that, it would make quite a bit of a fuss.

I don’t really want to think about it, but somewhere deep down inside of my heart I knew that a possibility like that existed. I then quietly nod my head at Heinrich, and he pulls out a single sheet of paper from the pile of documents and hands it to me.

The document happened to be a picture. It looked like it was taken out of the picture book meant for young children. The picture was describing anthropomorphized versions of four Greater Spirits, centering around a figure of a small boy. The designs were surely cute and heartwarming, but that is not what was important right about now.

This picture surely must have illustrated the Medium. –– But just how exactly does it connect with the ‘Medium’-sama that we encountered not so long ago? There could only be one kind of answer here. When I looked away from the picture and looked at Heinrich again, he smiled in a calm manner.

「We do believe that the boy we have met only recently and the Medium are one and the same person.」

Ahh, oh yeah, that’s right. I thought it might just be a coincidence or my imagination, but the boy in this picture was also called the Medium. I do not exactly remember what this picture was about, but something was telling me that it had something to do with fortune-telling or divination. I also think that the boy in the picture must have been older than the illustration was indicating. Right about now, I must have had so many question marks floating over my head that Heinrich let out a deep sigh and continued speaking.

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