After hearing Pascal's story, I left the classroom and walked down the hallway.
I didn't have a specific destination. I just needed time to think.
'I don't believe in fate. If something like that is happening, there must be an intention behind it.'
If there's a force pulling me in a certain direction, there must be an entity behind it.
Whether it's a God, a devil, or the system of this game, I don't know.
But now that I've noticed it, I can't just leave it alone.
'The keywords are recognizing me as a devil, and leaving Roach. Those two, huh.'
I don't like either keyword.
But looking back now, it's true that going against that flow isn't easy.
But if I were to predict the picture that someone is trying to complete...
I walked down the hallway and out the building exit.
After confirming that there was no one around, I looked up at the sky.
Following my voice, one of the crows flying in the sky flew towards me.
"Find out about the Barnier family."
The crow didn't answer my question. It didn't become a real crow either. Gregory just stared at me through the crow's eyes.
[I can only control small animals. It's not the right ability for such an investigation.]
I tilted my head at that.
Gregory's ability is the most suitable for investigation. He excels at eavesdropping on people's conversations and gathering information.
The night words are heard by the birds, and the day words are heard by the mice. Those birds and mice can all be Gregory.
"You've been doing well so far."
[That's why, those two are different investigations.]
Different investigations?
The crow shook its head at that.
[You don't know, Frondier. Yes, if you knew, you wouldn't have given me this order in the first place.]
[Frondier, I can't investigate by opening a book and searching. I can't rummage through data either. Birds and mice can't do that. So most of the information I give you has to be spoken by someone, or at least shown in a picture. If no one talks about it or remembers it, I can't investigate.] ʀáŊỔ𝐁Ę𝙎
"...You, so that means..."
Only then did I understand.
Why Gregory couldn't investigate.
And that, in a way, means that the investigation is already 'complete'.
[Frondier, ever since I met Selena, I've been looking into the Barnier family on my own. Out of interest.]
"...I see. So you knew first."
[The Barnier family doesn't exist. They may have existed in the past, but now they don't exist anywhere on the continent.]
At that moment, I felt like a puzzle piece had fallen into place.
But it wasn't the puzzle I wanted, and I didn't want it to be solved.
─Not all families were brave at the time. Especially the nobles who had a duty to protect their territory often ran away. After the war, the names of such families became infamous, so…….
The names of the families who fled during the war became infamous, so it's better not to have them.
If 'Barnier' is the name of such a family.
'I guess I took in the child of a family that fled from the war.'
This is just a hunch.
With the uneasy feeling I'm currently experiencing, like Murphy's Law, I'm imagining bad possibilities for Selena.
As Gregory said, there are probably very few people who know about the Barnier family now. Finding records won't be easy either.
Investigation is needed. Something other than Gregory's method.
'...It's a very dangerous thing to do, but.'
I have no choice but to trust it.
Philly sat up in bed.
Her neck felt heavy. It was damp with sweat and her shoulders were stiff.
She couldn't remember it, but Philly had been having nightmares for the past few days.
In fact, Philly rarely dreams. For her, dreams were a clear signal, different from ordinary people, and she carefully analyzed the content of her dreams.
However, it was the first time she couldn't remember a dream even though she was sure she had a nightmare, like now.
And it had been happening for the past few days.
Philly got up and put her feet on the floor to get out of bed.
"Your Majesty, are you awake?"
Just that movement was enough for a servant to notice and ask politely from beyond the door.
"Don't come in today. I'll take care of it myself."
The servant beyond the door, already knowing that persuasion wouldn't work, answered quietly.
Philly, her body still drowsy from sleep, moved towards the window and opened the curtains.
The sky beyond the window was blue.
In the Empire, where there were no days of peace due to the threat of monsters, this clear sky and weather were one of the few comforts.
The Empire was a place where the temperature changed drastically depending on the location. The further north you went, the colder it got, and the further south, the hotter.
The Imperial Palace was located in the most comfortable temperature for humans, so this clear sky had always been there, was there today, and would surely be there tomorrow.
It wasn't that there were no rainy days, but whenever a major event occurred in the Empire, the sky was always blue.
When war broke out, when monsters attacked people, when power and schemes ran rampant, in other words, whenever a bloodbath occurred on the ground, the sky was always too clear.