Pawahara Seijo no Osananajimi to Zetsuen Shitara, Nanimokamo ga Umaku Iku Yō ni Natte Saikyō no Bōke

[Nonhuman]

――His appearance hadn’t changed since the first time she’d met him at the royal palace.

Hearing that, the first thing we suspected was that he had a rare skill.

I’d once heard that there was a skill called 《Long Life》 which doubled one’s lifespan.

If King Vale had that skill, then his unchanging appearance could be explained.

Who’s to say there were other skills or sub-skills that had the effect of keeping one’s appearance young, we ourselves had stopped ageing thanks to the power of Igniver-sama. As I brought up that point, Zana slowly calmed down.

The man who had killed her mother had become a king, and not only that, he had even appeared in front of her with the same appearance as he had in the past. With those consecutive shocks, it was no wonder she was slightly shaken.

Thankfully, she was strong mentally, hence after I carefully explained that it was not completely impossible, she managed to regain her calm in no time.

“I’m fine now, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. But let me rub your back some more, okay?”

Currently, Zana was sipping a hot drink while having her back rubbed by Magmell.

“Still, the problem is that the one who killed Lifia-sama was King Vale. Just when did he become king anyway?” I asked.

Arca answered, “I’ve asked the innkeeper about that earlier. He said that he ascended the throne a few years ago.”

“Which means, he was still a prince when he assassinated Lifia-sama, huh.” I said.

Zana then spoke up, “But something’s weird. I surely met him when I was little, but I never knew he was a prince, and to begin with, why would a prince go out of his way to do something like an assassination by himself?”

Arca responded, “But the innkeeper clearly said he was a prince, you know? And even if, for argument’s sake, the perpetrator was actually someone else, I don’t think there’s any merit in them assassinating Lifia-sama under the disguise of a prince, though…”

Good point.

If there was any, then—

“—What if, it was to make Zana, who knew nothing, believed that it was the work of Lastall?” I remarked.

““““!?”””” The girls opened their eyes wide, surprised.

“But there are holes in that theory. And it only worked under the premise that Zana remembered that she had met the prince. In the first place, if their goal was to make Berqua antagonize Lastall, there are more effective and simpler ways to do it,” said Arca.

Magmell nodded, “I concur. One way is to assassinate other high-standing person and leave some kind of evidence that can be traced back to Lastall. King Vale’s direct involvement was unnecessary.”

That’s true.

And even in case King Vale was the mastermind, he had no need to put himself at risk that way, no matter how I thought about it.

““““Mm,””””We groaned and wracked our brains.

Ophir then roughly scratched her head and said, “Why don’t we just think about it in simpler way, instead? Whether Zana remember or not, the fact that a prince killed a queen of another country would normally lead to war between two countries, no? That was why a high-profile guy like the prince purposefully did the assassination by himself. And the reason why he let Zana off was so that Berqua make a weapon out of her, a saintess—that’s to say, so that homunculus could be invented. Make sense, don’t cha think?”

“Now you’re just making things up…” Magmell sighed, dumbfounded.

But then,

“No,” Arca said with an enigmatic look on her face, “she might’ve hit the nail on the head. In fact, as Ophir said, the moment Berqua moved, Lastall also moved, starting an arms race. The only thing out of Lastall’s calculation was the fact we appeared before the two countries warring for real. In which case, would settle this affair peacefully if nothing comes up.”

I nodded, “Yeah. Though it is just a conjecture and we don’t know the truth of the matter, I think it’s quite likely that King Vale will take some kind of actions against us.”

“True. Looks like we won’t be able to sleep peacefully tonight,” said Zana.

Ophir shrugged, “Well, can’t be helped. Let’s take turns between standin’ guard and takin’ rest.”

“Yeah, let’s,” I nodded.

And so, we decided to go to bed early in preparation for tomorrow’s audience.

◇ ◇

The next morning.

Setting aside the fact that the girls used me as a pillow alternatingly.

An escort came over to pick us up after breakfast, and we went to Lastall Castle again.

We were on alert just in case, though I wondered if it was unnecessary given that we hadn’t been attacked last night.

As we entered the throne room, King Vale greeted us with the same gentle smile as yesterday, “—Good morning, everyone. Did you sleep well yesterday?”

“Yes, it’s all thanks to you, Your Highness. We’re grateful for your consideration.” Zana bowed.

King Vale smiled, “No, it was a matter of course. After all, you are a dear princess of a country that will be our close ally.”

“……—.”

I sensed Zana’s shoulders trembled for a moment, but she was also a strong woman.

“Fwoo…” she took a light breath and said as calmly as she could, “Your Majesty, if I may, there’s one question I would like to ask.”

“And that is?”

“I beg your pardon, but it’s been quite a long time since I last saw you, Your Majesty. Nevertheless, Your Majesty’s appearance remains the same it was back then. Yesterday, I was slightly surprised by that and have since been wondering if I have offended you.”

“I see. You need not worry, no offense taken. It is as you say, my body has conquered the concept of ‘ageing’ for quite some time now. You can say it’s natural. After all, I am—no longer a ‘human’.”

“““““!?””””” we were startled, unable to understand the meaning behind his words.

King Vale, without removing his smile, stood up from the throne and said while slowly approaching us, “Berqua’s homunculus. It’s a pretty good research. For it to be able to create duplicates by incorporating the cells of a human that is the base into a specially-made body—it’s really an amazing technology.”

“““““!?”””””

Could it be, he already obtained it!?

“You, you know about homunculus…?” Zana asked, stammering.

“But of course. And I also know for a fact that, the homunculi that were created based on you are the only successful specimens.”

“Kh…”

At that moment, we all moved away from King Vale, taking battle stance.

Then, King Vale laughed happily, “Fufu,” and said, “well then, this is a rare opportunity, so let me give you a taste. —of the power I’ve gotten after I became a ‘nonhuman’.”

――Bang!

““Guah!?””

“““Wha—!?”””

In an instant, Arca and Ophir were blown away at the same time, slamming against a wall.