CH 97

[The Two Selves]

Having slipped out of Alfine’s mansion – which was packed with Royal Guard Knights, I walk in the noble district while hiding my face with my cloak.

I think even if I meet someone who knew my face when I was Finn, they wouldn’t recognize the current me, but,

It would be better to be careful.

And given the Royal Guard Knights were guarding Alfine’s mansion that strictly, perhaps Alfine was involved in a suspicious matter or something.

As I walk around while taking a look at the surroundings, I make it to the front of the gate that has a design of an eagle holding a book in its beak, the crest of the Henestrosa family.

“This should be the residence of the Henestrosa family…”

I remove the cloak that is concealing my face and talk to the gatekeeper standing in front of the gate.

“Pardon me, I’m Frick, an adventurer from Youg Hannotes. I came to meet the daughter of the Frontier Count, Noelia-sama, so I’d like you to inform——”

The gatekeeper opens the door before I finish talking.

“As per Noelia-sama’s order, we have been expecting you, Frick-sama. There are eyes of the Royal Guard Knight Order around, so please enter the mansion immediately.”

While being prompted by the gatekeeper, I pass through the gate and enter the mansion.

The mansion of the Frontier Count in the royal capital is a little smaller than the one in Youg Hannotes, but it is still a mansion boasting a considerable plot compared to Alfine’s mansion.

That’s the mansion of the Frontier Count who is called a great noble of the kingdom for you.

They seem to be a noble of a scholarly family lineage originally, but perhaps, in line with the rise of their son-in-law Lloyd, their mansion has changed too.

While I’m looking around the grounds, an old maid approaches me and calls out to me.

“Frick-sama, is it? Noelia Ojou-sama is waiting for you. Please follow me.”

“Ah, yes. I understand.”

I let the old maid take the lead and follow after her into the mansion.

After all, this mansion sure is simple too…

It is only furnished with the minimum necessary stuffs.

I feel like even Alfine’s mansion is a little more luxurious than this.

As I expected, the inside of the Frontier Count’s mansion in the royal capital is organized in a very simple atmosphere like his mansion in Youg Hannotes.

“It is embarrassing to admit, but its simplicity is unseemly for a noble’s mansion…”

The old maid who noticed me looking around the interior of the mansion bows with an apologetic voice.

“No, I think the people of the kingdom can live with peace of mind thanks to the Frontier Count-sama who keeps simplicity in mind.”

“It let us who are serving the Frontier Count-sama feel at ease if you say that. Among the bad-mouthed people, there are some who said that he is a ‘war maniac’ as they pleased, so…”

“Such rumors are just the jealousy of the people who don’t know the Frontier Count’s true self. Because I think that person is a man of character who can continue to endure the pressure of being called a hero.”

After I said so, the complexion of the old maid changes.

Then, she holds my hand and nods as if she is convinced of something.

“U-uhm?”

“My apologies. But I guess Frick-sama is as to be expected from the person recognized by the Frontier Count-sama. Although, it seems that you are carrying various problems at the same time as well.”

I’m hit with the feeling as though the clear eyes of the old maid are seeing through my everything.

“Ah, eh, uh…”

The words of the old maid leave me unable to response.

I get the feeling that she is peering through me who is swaying in the gorge of whether the current me is Finn or Frick.

“But I think getting lost too is an important experience in life, you know. An advice from me, what you can do is to take a closer look at your heart. Including the good things and the bad things.”

After saying so, the old maid releases my hand that she is holding.

Including the good things and the bad things…… huh.

Does she meant… my own feelings, I wonder.

Perhaps I have to face my wound that I covered with a lid even if I’m afraid to see it.

Moreover, I have to draw conclusion on my own, right?

“Thank you for your advice…”

It takes me my best effort just to squeeze out those words.

“No, I just feel like you are going to be involved with our family, so I offer you advise of an elderly’s wisdom, though I might just being meddlesome. I beg your forgiveness if you find it unpleasant.”

“No, I don’t find it unpleasant. I feel like I’ve found a path with your advice.”

“I am happy if that is the case. Now then, Noelia-sama is waiting in the inside of that room. I have other tasks, so I will be excusing myself here.”

After pointing at the room where Noelia is, the old maid bows to me and returns to the hallway.

Having been left behind, I knock on the door of the room she pointed.

“Please come in.”

After opening the door and entering the room, I see Noelia standing near a large glass window.

“F-Frick-sama!? H-have you come back!?”

It seems that she didn’t know that the one who knock was me; the hurried Noelia rushes this way with a momentum so great that she is about to fall over.

“Ahh, I thought the gatekeepers or the maids have already informed you though… I had an old maid brought me here after all.”

“N-no, I have not been notified——wait, old maid, you say…”

I can see Noelia’s complexion changing the moment she heard about the old maid.

“Did I maybe do something wrong? I intended to follow the proper polite manner as this is a mansion in the royal capital though.”

“N-no… w-well, I think there is no problem… yes, I think Frick-sama… did nothing wrong.”

Noelia whose complexion turns pale is staggering at her feet, so I wrap my hands around her, hugging her.

For Noelia to be this dismayed…

I must have done a very bad thing.

“E-err Noelia. I apologize if I did something wrong…”

“It is fine. This matter is the problem of my family, so… Rather than that, is that body truly Alfine-sama?”

She is still pale, but Noelia stands up by herself and cuts to the main reason why we came to the royal capital.

“To say of the result, it’s not. The one who is hanged is a completely different person with a similar figure as her. And that person is most likely a woman named Ilina.”

“That means that the Sword Master Alfine-sama has not been executed?”

“Ahh, probably… I went to her mansion, but the Royal Guard Knight Order were tightly guarding the inhabited mansion. So, I sneaked in and borrowed these.”

I take out the two swords and Alfine’s diary from my cloak and put them on the table.

Noelia looks at them with a serious look.

“These are…?”

I see the expression of wanting to ask about ‘my identity’ floating on Noelia’s beautiful face.

I’ve been deceiving her the whole time up to now, but I have to properly tell my true identity to her…

It’ll open my closed wound again, but if I don’t do that, it’ll be rude to her who is seriously trying to face me.

I’m determined to expose all the past I abandoned and my closed wound to Noelia.

In my mind, the memories of Alfine cursing me, despising me, and oppressing me is circulating about.

Along with those memories, I feel my heart beating faster and breathing becomes difficult.

“Frick-sama… you don’t have to force yourself if it is painful…”

Worried about me who shows an anguished expression, Noelia gently holds my hands in her hands.

She might feel that she herself shouldn’t have wished to know my true identity.

I regret making her worry because of my own weakness.

“I’m okay. Just, it would be a great help if you could give me some time.”

After saying that, I take a deep breath and shake off the unpleasant memories that is circulating in my mind.

When I finally regain my composure, I decide to tell Noelia my identity.

“Sorry I kept you waiting. First of all, about myself… Before I called myself with the name Frick, I called myself with the name Finn.”

“Finn-sama, is it…? Then the story of being caravan escort…?”

“That’s also a lie. I was Finn, a comrade of the Sword Master Alfine. The youngest to be promoted to platinum-rank along with Alfine in the Adventurer’s Guild, and as you might expected, also subjugated the demonic dragon Gae Briggs together with her.”

A convinced expression spreads on the face of Noelia who learnt about my true identity.

She must have thought that my excellent sword skill, wisdom, and knowledge as an adventurer were not like those of a beginner adventurer’s.

“The swordsman Finn, is it… the youngest platinum-rank and the subjugator of the demonic dragon, that means you are an outrageously amazing person, no?”

“Ahh, but that was just because Alfine who I team up with was amazing. That was also why I was called the caretaker of the Sword Saint Alfine – Finn, or the extra Finn, and the likes.”

At that time, Alfine’s sword skills really was so great that I thought it couldn’t be helped that I was called an extra.

Because I also had a lot of respect for Alfine, I told myself that it was a natural evaluation.

“C-caretaker… that means…. uhm, err Frick-sama——no, Finn-sama and Alfine-sama are——”

Having noticed the relationship between me and Alfine, Noelia asks a question in a hurried manner.

I’ve expected that she would definitely ask that, so I decide to answer her truthfully.

“We were childhood friends who grew up in the same orphanage together, we were like siblings, like a family, and we were lovers.”

Just by saying that Alfine was my ‘lover’ causes me a heart-wrenching pain over and over again.

I can’t tell whether that pain was from the fact that I was sorry for hiding it from Noelia, or from remembering about Alfine.

“L-lovers, is it… that is to be expected, right. It would rather be strange if a person like Frick-sama… no, Finn-sama didn’t have someone like that.”

Noelia suddenly turns her head down, and begins to clutch the hem of her clothes, and eventually the stains of her tears on her clothes increase.

Just by seeing her like that makes me feel like my heart is being squeezed.

“You got it wrong. Alfine and I are already over. I said we ‘were’ lovers, right? We had various differences, and because I couldn’t take her selfishness anymore, I broke up with her and ran away to the frontier. Then, I changed my name to Frick and met Noelia in Youg Hannotes.”

“You broke… up?”

“Ahh, I abandoned all my past with Alfine, changed my name with the intention of starting over in the frontier, and met Noelia there.”

After that, a time of silence flows between us.

I’m hesitating whether I should say more details, and also whether Noelia would want to hear it.

As the heavy atmosphere grows, Noelia opens her mouth.

“Frick-sama… now, are you Frick-sama…? Or Finn-sama…?”

Noelia asks as though she squeezes out the question.

It was a question that came to the mind of her who became desperate at me who was swaying between the two names.

“I’m… I’m… Frick. An adventurer of Youg Hannotes, the Crimson Magic Swordsman Frick. No one else.”

“Are you sure to really think so?”

“Ahh.”

When I said that, Noelia covers her face and begins to cry loudly.

The only thing I can do is to rub her back gently.

When Noelia who cried like a child regains her composure, she raises her face, looks straight into my eyes, and clasps my hands.

There is something in her gaze that makes me feel her strong will.

“Frick-sama… I believe in you. That is why I think you should look closely into the matter of Alfine-sama and find out what happened… how about it?”

“Ahh, you’re right.”

“Is it okay for you to have me help you too?”

“Are you really okay with that? Uhm… when you investigate about me and Alfine, you might find what you don’t want to know too though…”

I could see Noelia’s ice blue eyes swimming a little.

But it was only a little; she once again looks straight into my eyes and nods powerfully.

“I see… It would be a great help to have Noelia helping me.”

“Well then, first——”

After that, I decide to tell Noelia the information I have gathered so far and have her read the contents of the diary that Alfine kept.

Is the ship finally going to sail, like for real?

And that granny must be an important person, right?