357. [INTERMISSION] ORPHANAGE
The white haired Ian, hiding behind the door, was staring at the blue haired Lucia who gazed towards the pond.
Ian was a child of a fallen noble due to the strife between his house and the Principality. Not that he was aware of the politics behind it.
Princess the frog had announced that it would seek refuge elsewhere. Ian wasn’t able to understand why many of his friends cried. It was just a frog.
“What are you doing?” Juliet, the catkin, also Ian’s attendant back when their house was still standing, noticed that he had been staring at Lucia.
“She’s lonely,” Ian tugged at Juliet’s sleeve.
Juliet flattened her lips.
“How about we ask her what’s wrong?”
Ian nodded at Juliet’s suggestion.
“Lucia-chan.”
“Mwu,” the blue haired girl turned to Juliet, annoyed.
“Are you alright? Is there something bothering you, nyan?” it wasn’t that Juliet normally ended her sentences with a nyan. Just that she found it easier to converse with some of them if she acted cute.
“Liliath onee-chan.. hasn’t come.”
“Oh..”
It wasn’t just Liliath. Prune, Nine, Rin and Noel too.
It was as if.. they just disappeared.
It happened during the time rumor was going around that a demon lord had infiltrated the castle.
Juliet wondered if it had anything to do with them. But there was no correlation.. except for how the frog would call Noel a demon every so often.
Which led to Juliet suspecting that perhaps he was involved in it.
Wouldn’t that mean he was sent to the gallows?
If not then they must have gone to some other kingdom to escape.
Though.. that wouldn’t explain Gabriel’s concern.
“The frog is not back hmr..” the person in question came to visit the orphanage today as well.
Since she had already graduated, there was a lot of free time on her hands.
Gabriel was stuck on how she should proceed with her life going forward. With Jennifer’s disappearance, Gabriel couldn’t help but feel concerned. And of course, she shared those concerns with Juliet.
“I want Liliath onee-chan..” Lucia said again. She fummed, kicking the ground.
“I wonder what happened to them.. it’s been so long.”
“Juliet, want to spar?”
“Sure.”
While they were having such a conversation, Nataline was watching from afar. Despite everything, she had returned to becoming an adventurer. The loss of one arm didn’t deter her. In fact, it had become a symbol of sorts.
She was known in her guild as the solearm swordswoman.
Nataline shook her head and went to the kitchen.
Unlike the kids, she knew the whole picture of things.
As an adventurer, deciphering rumors was her forte. It wasn’t too difficult piecing together the information.
Noel and Liliath were demon lords.
They infiltrated the castle.
They got the family they were renting their stay from in trouble.
As for what happened after that– the information was too muddled.
Some say the family was executed and the demons were sent away to a neighboring kingdom.
Others say they just disappeared one day.
Nataline also wondered if their disappearance had anything to do with the Princess Knight Alytia’s disappearance. It was still a pending case.
“Miss Familia, can I help?”
“Ah yes, these, could you pass it to the kids? Make sure they wash their hands first.”
“Will do.”
Nataline took the bowl of fruits and walked out.
“Oh hey, long time no see.”
The bowl dropped along with the Brapple slices– and froze mid air. They gathered themselves together and floated.
“When did you..”
Nine showed Nataline a warm smile. Behind this chap was Liliath who wore a wonderful dress \which.. Nataline was in awe with.
“It’s been a while, Nataline-san. How have you been?”
“I’ve been well.. what happened to you all this time? The rumors..”
“It’s a looooong story. We came here so obviously we’ll be telling some of you about our situation,” Nine took the plate from the air, “We’ll talk outside,”
“Long time no see Nataline-san.”
“Prune-san!”
===
“Ehehehehe..” Lucia rocked back and forth like a pendulum as Liliath continued to spoil her.
“Let me get this straight.. L-Liliath is a princess from Toren Kingdom? The princess?”
“Yep,” Noel looked at Liliath, she just smiled softly.
“T-Then all this time I.. please pardon my rudeness!”
“Not this again.”
“Royalty is such trouble,” Liliath sighed.
“Liliath-neechan is a princess?” Lucia asked cutely.
“Yes, your Liliath-neechan is a princess.”
Lucia opened her mouth, then closed it back. She didn’t know what to say.
On the other side was Ian and Juliet with Prune. Prune let Ian sleep in her arms while talking to Juliet about the happenings of recent.
Gabriel and Jennifer were smearing remnant juices from Brapple slices on each other’s face. One initiated the attack saying how unfair it was to get to experience an Irrgeular’s life, the other retaliated in defense.
Nine went around with Rin to play with the kids.
“Would our orphanage be targeted if they found out?” Nataline asked with a gulp.
“It could be possible, but we’ve set up measures to prevent that.”
“We only came here to see how things are doing. We’re glad all is fine here.”
“I-Is that so..” Nataline was having trouble dissecting Noel and Liliath’s true identities. They hadn’t spoken anything about the fact that they were demon lords– of course they were. Look at how close the two are. Take Lucia with them and they’re the picture of a husband and wife.
“By the way, you’re aware that we’re demon lords right?”
Nataline nodded with a smile.. a very forced one.
“Okay, that makes things easier..”
“Wouldn’t that imply that rumors have spread?”
“That’s inevitable, isn’t it?”
“To be clear, we actually didn’t infiltrate the castle or anything like that. We were invited, that’s all. Just some other Irregular had to expose us.”
Nataline nodded.
“Demon lords aren’t all threats,” Liliath explained, “We, like the rest of the people, only wish to seek peace. Please don’t look at us in that way.”
“I-I’m not really?! I’m just.. surprised. That’s all.”
“Anyways, we’re currently living in Toren Kingdom and the Southern Axis of the Elven Territory. We’ll be meeting the demon lord over there soon to get his input on making peace without war so.. yeah.”
“That would be for the best. Then the heroes wouldn’t need to fight..”
“I know right.”
Liliath also nodded in agreement.
The topic ended there.
As things were becoming awkward, Liliath took out a bag of gold and was about to talk about donations when..
“Liliath-neechan, will buy me?”
Lucia misunderstood her intentions.
Which kid taught her that? Ian, was it?
===
“I can’t believe you look like this.” Gabriel looked envious.
“It’s a disguise skill, cool right?” Jennifer spread her arms apart and twirled. Instead of her typical lavender hair and emerald eyes, Jennifer had blonde hair and blue eyes.
“You look like Her Highness Siesta,” Rin who tagged along said.
“Really?”
“A splitting image, have you met her?” Nine asked.
“No, I don’t think so.”
Nine and Rin could only wonder mysteriously, how Jennifer was able to take up her form. Typically, it’s difficult to make yourself look like another person. The features are usually random– it’s like trying to put on makeup, there are just certain features you can’t acquire depending on your own body.
Prune and Nine were also in disguise.
“First we’ll head over to the sandwich shop and then we’ll see what happened to the florist.”
“Sure.”
They made a large order of sandwiches. These were nostalgic food items.
Tossing it all into the inventory, they proceeded to the street which led to the florist.
Nine and Prune saw the familiar guy with the stall selling soup.
But an unfamiliar barber shop which now stood where the florist once was.
“They sure do act fast.”
“I wanted to say that it’s unfair, but thinking how I got to go to the Elven Kingdom because of it just doesn’t make sense..” Jennifer said, feeling a pang of sentiment in her heart.
This was her home which she had spent her childhood in.
It was sad to just see it.. taken away.
“We have to move on, that’s all there is,” Nine patted her head.
“I know. Thank you.”
“It’s so different now..” Rin muttered.
“It gives really good hair cuts you know? I got mine cut here,” Gabriel bugged Jennifer, showing off her nice bob hair.
“Shut up!”
“Hahaha–”
