Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Finding What I Need (4)

George found the Baron's summons, which called for him, to be puzzling.

The reason was simple.

There had been no instance of calling him unless it was for education until now, but decisively, it was due to the fact that it was currently the middle of the night.

Especially since the Baron had recently been considerate of time for George, who had started an investigation under the First Prince's command, this situation made George even more doubtful.

What is it? The atmosphere is.......

And the moment he arrived in front of the First Prince's office after getting dressed.

That puzzlement was further amplified.

"Did you call for me, Baron?"

"......Ah. George, are you here?"

"Is something wrong?"

The Baron's expression was stiff with seriousness to an unprecedented degree. It was to the point that he mistakenly thought something had truly happened.

But the Baron gave a small shake of his head and gestured with his eyes toward the door of the office.

"The First Prince is waiting for you."

"Yes?"

"It would be better to hear the detailed story from His Highness, not me."

"......."

......I understand.

For now, that was the only way he could answer.

Because the emotion revealed in that expression perhaps looked so complicated it was painful.

"I am entering."

CREAK.

Soon, when he opened the door and entered, he saw the First Prince turning a page of a book beneath the moonlight.

His silver hair shone brilliantly, catching the moonlight, and the following blood-colored gaze was merely subsided in the shadows as if it were wistful.

At that moment, as George was seized by such an unknown sensation and was about to open his mouth.

From the mouth of the First Prince, who set the book down on the desk of the office, his characteristic indifferent voice flowed out.

"George Hegmes."

"Yes."

"Quite a bit of time has passed since you came here. Does the work of an aide suit your personality?"

"......."

That gaze was not looking at him.

Did he call him for just such a story? And in the middle of the night like this?

George's eyebrows trembled, but it was only for a fleeting moment.

"Yes, it does."

Just as he had heard from someone once. He was a swindler.

He always spoke lies to hide his flaws, and there was nothing truthful about his own actions.

Telling lies to escape a situation was not something that went against his conscience.

Therefore, he was merely acting for his purpose once again.

For the sake of his determination to grasp the true intention behind the nonsensical promises the Prince had made.

To reach that blind destination of finding out the truth about the treatment.

However,

Conversely, the eyes of the man he faced were seeing the truth even in the moonlight that reflected illusions.

"......I see."

The First Prince stood up from his seat.

It was the first moment that his gaze turned toward him.

"If so, it seems the time to give what I promised has slowly come."

"If it is what you promised."

"It is the treatment that will heal your mother's illness."

"......!"

At that indifferent voice, a commotion like never before appeared on George's face.

"A-A treatment......."

It was a bewilderment seen even more clearly than when he was caught in his embezzlement.

But soon, an uncontrollable rage flickered on George's face.

"What does that mean? With what intention are you saying such a thing to me?"

"Just as I said. It means I will fulfill my obligation specified in the contract."

"......Yes, you certainly said that. My mother suffers from an incurable disease."

Suddenly, George's eyes flashed and he began to glare at the First Prince.

"But you seem to think too lightly of my mother's illness."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know anything about my mother's condition...... no, furthermore, the illness she is suffering from?"

For someone who was a prince of a nation before being his superior, it was a very sharp tone of speech.

But it was a natural thing.

"To you, it would be someone else's business. But that illness is not something like a cold. It means it is not such a simple illness that one can speak of a treatment so easily."

Right.

Was it not the First Prince who promised a treatment, saying he needed his ability?

But that First Prince was treating his mother's matter as if it were light, as if he were giving cold medicine.

A treatment that even treatment priests and doctors of big cities do not know.......

Absurdly, he had said he obtained it in less than a month.

His own appearance, trying to trust such a person and endure, was to the point that it was so obtuse and pathetic.

"Next time, please show at least a minimum effort. So that I can expect something from you."

"......"

"......If that is all, I will leave now."

George spoke coldly and turned his body.

It was at that moment.

"George Hegmes."

The First Prince, who had been listening quietly to the story, approached him.

Then, with an expression that had not changed from the beginning.

As if there were no abnormalities. And.

"From now on, take this and go to the place I tell you and recover the treatment."

......He confirmed it that way.

"And heal your mother and return."

"......."

"This is a command."

Treatment.

Is he really saying that such a thing exists?

George's eyes began to shake to an unbelievable degree.

***

The commoner district of the capital where darkness had fallen.

George's mind, moving toward the place the First Prince instructed, was full of confusion.

At first, he thought he was just a person who found him after hearing strange rumors.

To be precise, he was certain he was close to a thoughtless blockhead.

That was to be expected, for who in their right mind would take in a criminal working at a countryside merchant group?

He thought at best he was using him for a cheap image that even commoners were recruited without discrimination.

So he thought he could run away at any time.

......Yes. He thought that.

But the appearance of the First Prince giving the command was different from what he guessed.

Even when he said he would entrust information collection, the certainty had not changed much, but the expression and gaze just now were more upright than anything.

I could not read his inner thoughts.

And when the situation arrived, as if waiting, he bound him.

As if saying even the rebellion was part of the plan.

Perhaps he had been expecting such a thing.

GRIP.

George bit his parched lips and nodded his head.

Let us watch just a bit more.

The reason for that nonsensical confidence would be before my eyes. Leaving after being disappointed would not be too late even after that.

It was at the moment when George, who thought so, arrived at his destination.

"......That is."

George was able to find something placed in a corner of the alleyway. It was a black bundle from which an ominous and dangerous smell flowed.

But George approached it as if possessed and examined it. Surprisingly, what was wrapped in the bundle was something he knew.

"This is."

......The fruit of the Elleira flower?

But because its toxicity and function as a drug were strong, it was at best.......

"!?"

Suddenly, something brushed through George's mind.

......The pouch the Prince gave him before he left.

George hurried to open it. And he checked the note that was inside.

"......!"

At that moment, the puzzle slowly began to fit together in his head.

The fragmentary information of the old books and records he had read for years to treat his mother's illness, and the various medical knowledge he had been investigating from time to time.

Unbelievably, the moment he saw this, they began to find their places as if they had found the correct answer.

Is this truly....?

The first thought that occurred was possibility.

The method he wrote was so clear that he wondered why he had not thought of it until now.

The next thing that occurred was concern.

This fruit is a raw material for a narcotic hallucinogen, so is it really okay to use such a thing on his mother? Even though it has not been verified in the academic world?

And the last thing that occurred was a question.

Just where did the Prince find out such information?

And how did he obtain this, which even production is strictly forbidden, and give it to him so casually.

......Just what is this urgent feeling currently encroaching upon his heart.

George's body was already running through the streets of the dark slum.

The fact that he had placed the revealed fruit carefully in his chest was something even he himself had not noticed.

Was this also his arrangement? Fortunately, the destination was not far away.

CLICK!

A time when everyone was asleep.

George entered the inside of a humble but familiar shack.

It was a residence he had prepared himself, refusing even the place offered as support in order to leave the Prince at any time.

CREAK.

Next, as he carefully entered the room, his mother, with a pale complexion, was lying down.

George hurriedly took out the fruit he had placed in his chest.

Then, he clutched the fruit with a trembling hand and brought it to her mouth.

Soon, in his other hand, a pure white leaf that was with the note in the pouch was held.

A word written on the note.

-If you feed her the juice of the fruit through the Caltus leaf, which has a purifying effect, the symptoms will be alleviated.

His hand trembled.

If this fruit is not the treatment.......

The many things that happened in the meantime brush through his mind.

The swindlers who whispered that they could treat his mother's illness and demanded astronomical amounts of money.

The thugs who tried to exploit him while he was searching for spiritual medicine.

Even the irresponsible doctors who only took the money and ran away.

If the certainty that strongly pierced his mind were a mere illusion.

What on earth would happen then?

What if the First Prince was someone no different from those bastards?

......No.

Thinking such things was of no use.

Please.......

George began to desperately put strength into the hand that held the fruit.

***

"......Your Highness."

I felt the Baron's gaze and turned my head.

The Baron had been in a state of a stiff expression as if he had been continuously distressed since George left.

"What is it?"

"Do you think George will return?"

"Whether he will return?"

"......Yes."

The Baron spoke while giving a small sigh.

"The reason that child said he would act as an aide, as you said, is solely because of his family. Although it was a short time, I could also feel the fact that he has not been sincere until now."

"That is true."

"But you personally handed him the medicine."

It was not that he could not trust the person named George, but it meant there surely would have been a better way.

For example, performing the treatment in advance, but speaking of it after the relationship was established.

"......I am afraid that George, who has lost even his immediate purpose, will just leave."

The Baron lamented that way.

But my thoughts were different.

"That is why I handed him the medicine."

"Yes?"

"Because a relationship once established would be difficult to move any longer."

Applying color to a white cloth was a very simple thing.

However, if color had already been applied, the task of creating the desired color had to go through a very difficult process.

Also, the color created that way would be far from purity.

I do not want that.

Therefore, if there were a moment when only the desired color could be applied. It would only be this moment, right now.

The red eyes reflected in the window flashed brightly.

"I want a person who can devote their loyalty to me."

Unlike in my previous life, I needed a person who could jump into flames for me.

I needed a person who could walk through the battlefield with me and be dedicated to me.

Emotions besides that were merely unnecessary things.

Therefore, I was certain.

"The fellow will return."

The one who had volunteered to become a criminal himself despite his young age in order to obtain holy water.

The one who had mastered numerous books and records even in the midst of that to find the cause of the incurable disease.

The one who eventually had to scatter the treatment he found over decades over his mother's grave.

"Because to the human named George, family would be such an existence."

From the beginning. From the moment I brought the fellow, all design had already been finished.

At that time.

CREAK.

The door to the office opened, and the shadow of a small man entered inside.

Despite the cool spring weather of the north, the man must have run to this place to the point that his entire body was soaked in sweat.

It was George Hegmes.

"Y-You......."

"......."

The Baron's surprised voice echoed through the office.

But George and I, who faced each other's gaze, did not say anything.

No expression that he would give his full loyalty. Furthermore, there was not even a greeting containing gratitude.

Merely, his eyes, which flickered with the reflection of the moonlight, were concentrated on me.

......That was enough.

"The time is late."

I set down the book I had been holding all along and stood up from my seat.

Soon, I walked past George, who was blocking the front of the door.

"I will give you a day of rest."

"......."

"After that, you must be faithful to your assigned duties again."

At the moment when I moved my steps again that way.

Behind my back, the fellow's voice was heard.

"Do not expect a polite attitude from me. Do not even expect pretense."

......It meant he would no longer face me with falsehood.

Yes, that was enough.

The fellow obtained the life of his mother as he had desperately desired, and I obtained a person who could be loyal to me.

That much was enough for the start to change the future.

Therefore, I gave a smirk and spoke.

"Do as you wish."

Even if the attitude with which he faces me does not change.

The sincerity of the swindler, who will be of more help to me than anyone in the future, will also not change.

"Welcome to being my person."

Leaving George, who was shedding a single tear, behind, I left the office.