Chapter 70

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Two Shadows
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“War isn’t far off.”

His voice rang out over the sound of rough hoofbeats.

To sort out the supply route and hasten our return, we had chosen to ride horses instead of taking a carriage.

That much was my idea, but Diello naturally led me to the horse he was riding.

‘It’s for your safety.’

I think Diello bowed his head slightly as he said that.

“Pero hasn’t arrived yet, has she?”

At my words, Diello slowly turned to look at me.

His probing eyes were on me. Perhaps because we were so close, they seemed to waver slightly.

“Are you waiting for Pero?”

he asked.

I found myself hesitating at his question. Well… I was waiting for her.

“Aren't you, Diello?”

I knew Diello didn't want me to leave, but he still had to marry Pero.

He had no choice. To survive. It was an obvious fact, not even worth debating.

But the pace of the horse Diello was riding slowed somewhat.

Diello pressed his lips into a firm line before nodding.

“I am.”

*I have to wait*, he muttered quietly, as if reluctant.

I placed my hand over his on the reins.

“For your safety, Diello, I hope Pero arrives before the battle with Alloje, but…”

Where on earth could she have gone? I sighed briefly and said.

“Just because Pero comes and you marry her doesn't mean we can't see each other.”

If Pero sees it as a business relationship… she might understand.

I opened my hand.

“Once I'm settled in the Daisy Forest, I'll try to start a business related to Argenta.”

Then we'll be able to see each other. Just as I said that and nodded slightly.

—*Thud! Thud-thud!*

The sound of hoofbeats came from the distance.

“?”

Rick, who was with our party, looked ahead and made a strange sound with his mouth.

—*Fweee!*

A strange sound, higher than a whistle but lower than a flute, rang out, and an identical sound answered from afar.

“It's Argenta. But it's not time for the regular report from the main territory yet…”

Rick's voice was laced with confusion. A strange tension instantly filled the air.

At Rick's words, Diello gestured with his hand.

“Find out what's going on.”

Rick then sent a few intelligence agents ahead.

Since Diello and I were here, our group began to form ranks in preparation for an emergency.

Fortunately, it seemed the arrivals were indeed our agents, as the chaotic noise was soon replaced by the sound of synchronized hoofbeats drawing closer.

Every one of them had a look of dismay on their faces.

“What is it?”

I couldn't wait and asked.

An Argenta agent who had quickly approached us bowed his head.

“Your Grace, my lady. My apologies.”

“……?”

Diello and I exchanged a look.

“As you commanded, we increased the security forces for the sea supply route, but there was an attack.”

“The field commander.”

Diello's voice turned icy in an instant.

Was it because his voice came from behind me?

While feeling his familiar warmth, the back of my neck tingled with an unfamiliar sensation.

“He managed to rally the troops and retreat as best he could.”

“Casualties?”

“Fortunately, there were no fatalities, but there are several injured. They said the attackers destroyed our ships and repeatedly chased and then stopped.”

Tormenting an already weakened opponent, letting them go, and then tormenting them again.

As if toying with a mouse.

They were toying with Argenta on the sea, is what he meant.

The agent bowed his head, his face troubled.

“Furthermore, all the supplies were plundered.”

“Plundered?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. They claimed to be pirates, but—”

It was a familiar story, and I found myself finishing his sentence.

“Since it was at sea, they must have used water abilities, right?”

“Yes? Yes.”

The agent looked surprised by my words, as if asking how I knew.

I turned to Diello.

“It seems Alloje took advantage of our focus here to make a move at sea.”

“……”

Diello narrowed his eyes.

I thought of how he had asked about the field commander.

And suddenly, I thought of Loa, who had died.

The commander who had been protecting the Third District and went berserk there.

Do it, or don't.

I was bothered by the fact that he hadn't been properly mourned because of that creed.

Loa had probably never even seen me when he was alive.

Was it because the people of Argenta were the first I'd ever grown to care for so much, both before and after my possession?

I opened my mouth.

“On the sea, it would have been unavoidable. Because of Alloje's water manipulation ability.”

Diello narrowed his eyes.

“Even so—”

Was he about to say that responsibility must be taken?

His face, which had turned cold in an instant, looked as if he was about to say something cruel.

A merciless choice, not just for the field commander, but also for Diello himself, who cherished Argenta.

“You were the one who melted the swamp, Diello.”

So I cut him off.

Diello turned to me.

His eyes, which usually sparkled like a shallow lake, seemed a little shadowed and dark today.

“This time, it's my turn to stop them.”

I took his hand, which was gripping the reins tightly.

“You don't want to give a cruel order either, do you?”

Right? I made myself smile lightly, and only then did his hardened expression crumble.

“……Croire.”

And our eyes met as he regained his gentle smile.

The field commander had already done his duty by protecting his troops.

Supplies could be bought again, but people, once lost, could not be brought back.

By now, the Alloje plunderers who had driven Argenta from the sea would be high on morale.

Thinking no one could stand against them on the sea, on the water.

I couldn't just let them be.

I thought of the knights who had been dispatched to guard the sea supply route.

Among them were faces I knew and faces I didn't.

But they were all Argenta.

“When you send the ships out again, I'll go with them.”

“Croire.”

At my words, Diello called my name cautiously.

“Are you planning to reveal your ability yourself, at sea?”

His voice was laced with worry.

I looked back toward the swamp.

In front of the swamp, by the river, and before that, when I saved Redius and the people of Argenta in the Fourth District.

I was grateful to have the power to save people.

I was certain I wouldn't lose on the sea.

The problem was.

“If you're gone for a long time, Croire, they might guess that you, a water wielder, participated in the sea battle.”

Diello pointed out exactly what I was thinking.

“At the meeting, we explained it away by saying you used the Source, but I don't think the same excuse will work again.”

“You're right.”

I agreed with him.

In that case, there was only one way.

“Then, let's use a decoy.”

A fake Croire will be active in Argenta.

Diello's eyes widened at my words.

* * *

Nirua's special effects makeup wasn't just for concealing magic.

Just as he had turned Rick and his enforcers into mercenaries, he could also disguise someone to look like a completely different person.

Of course, making someone look exactly identical to another person was probably impossible.

‘No, if he does it well, it might just be possible…?’

I watched Pielle, who was wearing a dark purple wig and putting on my clothes.

“Pielle will become Croire Argenta and go to personally inspect the northwestern supply route.”

Disguised under Nirua's direction, she looked similar even to my own eyes.

From a distance, anyone would surely be fooled.

After finishing our preparations at a nearby safe house set up by the intelligence division, Pielle and I stood before a mirror.

“……It's truly seamless.”

Pielle said in admiration. I agreed.

Pielle was a little taller than me, but since I wore heeled shoes, I could make up for the difference.

Even her face, which had been the biggest concern, was not a problem.

Nirua had taken Pielle's somewhat cold-looking image and, with a delicate brush, transformed it into the face of a glamorous villainess.

“Incredible…”

Just as we were looking in the mirror.

“Are you ready?”

Diello's voice, who had been waiting outside while we changed, came through.

Hearing Diello's voice, I suddenly felt mischievous.

“Pielle, draw the curtain.”

“Yes?”

Pielle, who was putting on my gloves, widened her eyes, then drew the curtain around us as I commanded.

The curtain wasn't as fine as the one in the Argenta estate bedroom, but it was enough to hide our figures and reveal only our silhouettes.

“Yes, come in.”

At my words, Diello opened the door.

I glanced at Pielle.

I mouthed a short *shhh* to her.

Diello, opening the door, would only see two shadows with similar silhouettes.

A mischievous smile spread across my face.