Third Arc: Twenty-Ninth Chapter

"Poisoned?! A-Anje, is that true?"

"How do you know such a thing?"

Just then, as if to hold back the bewildered Lady Remie and me, Elliot shouted.

"...You, how can you say such a thing! Don't tell me you were involved in my brother's assassination!"

Elliot, who had been sitting on the far side of the table, slipped past me where I sat on the near side and grabbed Anje up by the collar.

"N-no...! I, I...!"

"S-stop! Please stop!"

Snapping to my senses at Anje's voice, I wedged myself between the two, pried Elliot off, and stood in front of the frightened, backing-away girl, spreading my arms to shield her. At the same time, Lady Remie grabbed Elliot's arm and pulled.

"Elliot, calm down! Even if Anje were involved, an enemy would never talk about it now! Let's hear her out first!"

Breathing hard, Elliot managed to let go at Lady Remie's words, but his eyes stayed hard and fixed on Anje. When Lady Remie and Anje had made their peace, Elliot had nearly been deceived by Anje, and Lady Remie had been badly hurt, they said. He probably still couldn't fully trust her. Elliot's reaction was pronounced enough to make me think so, and Anje, too, had gone pitifully pale and was trembling.

"Anje, I'm sorry for startling you. Will you calm down and tell us what you know?"

At Lady Remie's words, Anje somehow managed to spin out her words.

"U-um... a merchant I met while I was wandering, I heard him say he had brokered poison to Lumelica's royals! Y-you might not believe me, but..."

Pressing her throat as if in pain, Anje pressed on with a serious face.

"As if I could believe anything you say!"

Keeping Elliot, who spat the words out, at the edge of my vision, I turned to face Anje with a serious look.

"Anje. You're certain of this. And Elliot's cousin..."

"I think he was killed. With poison. The merchant said it was a slow-acting poison, one that can kill while looking like a plague."

"Hmm..."

When I looked at Anje, she gave me a glance, her eyes full of conviction. Could it be that she had knowledge, from a past-life game, that I didn't? Honestly, to link this to Elliot's cousin from the single keyword "Lumelica's royals" was a bit of a stretch. But for her to be this sure, she might be holding information she couldn't say here.

But to say any more in front of the two who didn't know about past-life memories was far too dangerous. Elliot's impression of Anje was terrible to begin with. At worst, Anje herself might be branded the culprit. Where the two couldn't see, I sent Anje a glance back, telling her to stay quiet from here on.

"I can't trust this."

"Wait. A slow-acting poison. If the culprit is the same, there's a danger it's been used on King Michael too. No symptoms of poison have shown so far, but it's perfect for a secret assassination."

Holding back Elliot, who dismissed it out of hand, Lady Remie spoke thoughtfully.

"Elliot. Could you look into the cause and circumstances of the cousin's death in as much detail as possible? And look into the poison used this time, as well."

"Remie! You'd trust this girl's nonsense?!"

"Of course I would. Anje has no reason to lie. And you had her watched, didn't you? Is there any proof she was involved in this sudden incident? This is Anje's first time in Lumelica, too."

"Lady Remie..."

At those words, Anje, as if moved, filled her large eyes with tears and nodded over and over.

"...True, I've heard nothing from the landlady of the inn I left her with. The ones I had watching her said there was no suspicious movement either."

"See? Now, Elliot. Please, be calm. What matters right now is King Michael's safety and uncovering the mastermind behind this. You mustn't lose sight of what's important."

"Lord Elliot, please. Believe me. Or something terrible will happen! If poison has been used on King Michael, then rooting it out requires a special antidote!"

Anje pressed her head to the floor and begged Elliot.

"Anje! You don't have to do that! Elliot, please!"

"...Fine. I'll have it looked into right away. Don't misunderstand, it's not that I believe you. It's for my brother. Is there anything else?"

Anje gave Elliot detailed information about the merchant, his name and appearance and the like. It was hard to believe the name of a merchant who dabbled in the underground trade was his real one. But Elliot declared he would find him no matter what it took, and, with Lady Remie in tow, quickly left my room.

---

"Anje, may I hear the details from you?"

After Elliot went to give orders to his men and Lady Remie went back home for now, Anje and I sat facing each other on the sofa set in my room. I was worried about Michael's condition, but he was surely receiving devoted care at the royal palace, and there was nothing we could do.

Anje wet her throat with the herbal tea I had brewed, let out a deep breath, and began to speak.

"Yes. First, did you know that a sequel to the game had come out?"

"No. I had no idea at all. So this incident really is something that happened in the game?"

"Yes. Meeting the merchant who brokered the poison was pure chance. It was while talking with him that I remembered this sequel. The thing is, the sequel is in a mystery format, and the setting changes to Lumelica. The protagonist is me, Anje, and it's a story where I solve cases together with my friend Lord Elliot."

By Anje's explanation, the sequel began with Anje, the protagonist of the previous game, ending up with no one and coming to Lumelica. Anje starts working as a servant at a noble's mansion in Lumelica, and happens to meet again, in the city, Elliot, who had become her friend in the border town. Through his introduction she also meets the incognito Michael, and before she knows it she gets drawn into a king-assassination case. That was the story.

"If it goes as in the game, the poison that assassinated the cousin is a special slow-acting one that can kill while looking like illness. The same poison used to assassinate King Michael can only be undone with an antidote the culprit has hidden away."

As you chase the truth of the case, you deepen your bonds with characters like Elliot and Michael, and on Michael's route especially, obtaining the antidote is the key to clearing it. If you can't get the antidote, Michael... I was sick of how well-made the story was. But that Anje had played the sequel was good news.

"So the arrow Michael took really was poisoned. Slow-acting, you say, but is there time to find the antidote?"

The poison used on Michael was one that kills while looking like illness. Right now it wasn't clear whether his fever was from taking the arrow or from the poison, but just having it settled that it was poison made me feel things had moved forward a little.

"If it goes as in the game, it should take at least two weeks to reach death. If we can get him the antidote before then, King Michael will be saved."

"He'll be saved! Ahh, thank goodness! We'll get that antidote, without fail!"

If it goes as in the game, Michael can be saved! Even if things don't go exactly as in the game, just let Elliot know the antidote exists, and surely he could find it. But to me, relieved in spite of myself, Anje went on without letting her solemn expression break.

"But, as I said before, this poison is special. In the game, even Lord Elliot could not procure the antidote."

"What did you say... ah, how awful."

Come to think of it, since Elliot is Anje's friend in the game, if he could procure it, he would have. And here I had thought that as long as we knew the type of poison, procuring the antidote would be easy for Elliot!

"The antidote is held by Lord Elliot's mother. To be exact, it's hidden in a secret little room in her mansion. So we have to go and take it."

"Huh?! Can we do that?!"

Sneaking into a noble's mansion, and the mansion of a former king's consort at that, concubine or not, the difficulty was far too high! Would it be a secret passage again?

"We can. Well, in the game, that is. In the game, Anje worked as a servant at the mother's mansion."

"So she had been working there since before the incident. Starting now, that would be hard..."

"Right. And I don't think the mastermind behind the incident would go out of her way to hire maids at a time like this."

This was a hard problem. My face was probably already known, so how to infiltrate? Thanks to Anje we knew where the antidote was kept, so all that was left was sneaking inside, but. The two of us put our heads together and racked our brains.