Chapter 68: Chapter 69: Finding A Place Is Hard! (9)

༺ Finding A Place Is Hard! (9) ༻

The treasure of the Walpurgis family.

The painting,「A Midsummer’s Landscape」.

Looking at the artifact that was said to measure the magical talent of the viewer, Naru squinted her eyes.

A flower garden in full bloom with sunflowers.

A brilliant sun.

It was a very lovely painting, down to the butterflies fluttering here and there.

Especially beautiful was the woman standing in the center.

The woman in the painting that Naru was looking at was brightly smiling under the brilliant sunlight.

But upon a closer look, her eyes were wet and there were tears streaming down her cheeks.

A face that looks like it’s smiling brightly but is very sad.

That’s how it appeared to Naru.

“She’s crying. It’s a painting of a crying woman.”

She’s crying.

Morgan couldn’t believe this story.

“You! Are you going to keep lying!? I think you need to be punished!”

Morgan clenched her fist.

But the reason she couldn’t swing it was because a strong man had appeared behind Naru’s back.

He was a man with a large and robust build with a white beard.

His eyes were deeply sunken, but his ash-gray eyes shone like a wolf’s gaze in the darkness.

“Ah, Grandfather…”

Morgan trembled.

Morgan’s grandfather.

The head of the Walpurgis family, Faust Von Walpurgis.

Morgan thought that she would be severely scolded for invading the exhibition hall on her own and she tightly closed her eyes.

But Faust, the former White Mage, passed by Morgan and approached the black-haired girl.

He then squatted down to match her eye level and asked.

“Little girl, what did you say about the woman in the picture?”

“……”

For some reason, Naru, who was always chattering, kept her mouth tightly shut.

As if she did not want to say anything.

Soon, a black furball popped out of Naru’s shadow and stood between Naru and the old wizard.

━Grrr…!

It was obviously a hostile reaction.

“A familiar, huh? You’re a clever one. So, little girl, what’s your name? An orphan? If you’re an orphan, you can live with our Walpurgis family.”

“…I’m Naru Barjudas! I’m Judas’ daughter! Not an orphan!”

“Judas’ daughter. That man, huh? I see. Then what about your mother?”

“……”

Naru shut her mouth again.

And then she turned around and ran with all her might.

“Naru is going to meet Dad now!”

Step— Step—

Thus, Naru left the exhibition hall.

Morgan, who had been watching her for a while, shouted.

“Grandfather, you don’t need to care about that kid. She’s a thief who also stole strawberries! And a liar! She says the woman in the painting looks like she’s crying! Isn’t it funny?”

“…Crying?”

Headmaster Faust squinted his eyes.

He then turned his gaze to the painting.

The woman in the painting that came into his view was just brightly smiling.

But the emotion he always felt when looking at the painting was a vague sense of melancholy somewhere.

“You all, get out of here.”

Faust chased the children away first.

Suddenly, the exhibition hall became quiet.

The only ones left were the lady in the painting and Faust, the head of the Walpurgis family.

Faust spoke while looking at the painting.

“Mother.”

The woman in the painting was the head of the Faust family’s mother.

After all, this was an item painted by the once-renowned White Wizard, Merlin von Walpurgis, of his lover and wife.

She was also Faust’s mother.

Whenever Faust looked at his mother’s painting, he always felt a subtle sense of déjà vu.

As if something was missing.

‘Tears… Was this painting crying?’

Though he couldn’t see the tears, Faust could catch the sadness in the painting through the wisdom accumulated with age.

Yes.

This was a painting of a grieving woman.

‘Why was mother so sad?’

Faust couldn’t understand.

But, that’s not what’s important right now.

‘Sadness.’

Faust recalled the emotion of sadness, which he had long forgotten.

In magic, emotion is important.

‘Perhaps in the research on homunculus, “sadness” could be a crucial key. Yes, that feeling of déjà vu in Brigitte’s diary was also sadness upon reflection. That’s the answer!’

The parts of Brigitte’s diary were written in magical code, unreadable.

Thinking that he could read it through the magic of sadness, Faust couldn’t just stand still.

“Friede, are you nearby?”

Faust called for his eldest daughter, who had inherited his traits.

Then, with a whoosh, a dimensional door opened nearby, and a woman who closely resembled him appeared and bowed her head.

“Did you call for me, Patriarch?”

“Yes.”

“Also, we’ll be taking your sister, Brigitte, back to the West. Where is she now?”

At the question of the Head of the Family, the White Wizard Friede frowned.

Then, placing her hand respectfully on her chest, she asked.

“Patriarch, you were the one who said Brigitte was useless. I wonder if there’s any point in bringing her now.”

“Brigitte was a useless one. I’ve even doubted whether she was my daughter at all. At that time, your mother was committing adultery with some clown while I was struggling on the battlefields.”

“……”

“Of course, I killed that clown with my own hands. I didn’t reveal your mother’s infidelity to protect my honor, but it’s an unchanging fact.”

“I see. So that’s why you sent Brigitte somewhere out of your sight?”

“Yes. But Brigitte has grown up splendidly on her own. She even defeated the Demon King and was awarded the ‘Black’ color. Looking back, this was possible because she has inherited my talent. She is indeed my daughter.”

“……”

“You could tell from the fact that she was studying Homunculus at the age of six. The genius written in this diary is clearly like me. It’s a pity that this diary was only first discovered in the year the Demon King died. I didn’t expect her to make a secret lab behind her room’s wall.”

“But, Patriarch, do you think Brigitte will listen to us now? It seems like it would be a waste of time to force her to come with us.”

“My daughter, Friede, you have a long way to go to become a Lord. We will do as before and just lock her behind bars for a year. The memories of thoroughly educating her to not rebel against us won’t fade.”

“I understand. Then I’ll prepare the portal to return to the West. Since the agreement with Graham Academy has been safely concluded, there’s no need to stay here anymore.”

Friede bowed her head and left the place.

The patriarch, left alone again, looked at his mother in the painting.

“As expected, I still can’t see them.”

Swoosh—

Faust also left the place.

And as the room was slowly engulfed by silence, someone fell from the ceiling with a thud. It was a very soft step.

“Mage guys. As tasteless as I said they were.”

It was Salome.

She had sneaked into the treasure hall to steal a ‘book’ that the patriarch had and unintentionally overheard the conversation.

‘Brigitte will be taken to the West?’

Salome chuckled.

If the annoying mage disappears to the West with her family, then Salome would be spared from a lot of future troubles.

Salome did not like the mage.

She thought that the sharp man, Judas, had become a slouch due to the influence of the mage and his companions.

‘It’s good for me if the most annoying person disappears like this.’

With that thought, she chuckled for a moment.

Then that smile slowly disappeared from the corners of Salome’s mouth.

“……”

Soon Salome fell silent for a moment.

Past her initial happiness, a kind of dissatisfaction was filling her over what she had just witnessed.

It was a strange feeling.

* * *

“So, the old man is going to take Brigitte and escape to the West through the portal?”

Salome’s explanation was quite simple and concise.

Salome nodded her head at my words that summed up the story just now.

“That’s what they said.”

“Really? So, why are you telling me this?”

I wondered why Salome was telling me this.

Didn’t this girl dislike Brigitte the most?

As I curiously asked, Salome stared into the empty space.

And then she said in a low voice.

“I won’t be able to steal the book if that damned old man opens a portal to the West. So, I’m trying to collaborate with you.”

“Really?”

That makes sense.

But it didn’t seem like that was the only reason to me.

“And. Watching that old geezer do as he wished to his own daughter like it was a matter of course made my blood boil.”

“I see.”

She had a good reason to act.

But even for me, Brigitte getting kidnapped would be quite significant.

How am I supposed to look after Naru alone, without Brigitte?

How am I to help with Naru’s math and science homework?

I’m a humanities student, not good with math and science.

“So where is everyone now?”

I asked.

Then Salome said,

“They went through a portal an hour ago.”

“What? Why are you only telling me this now?”

I was contemplating whether or not to enter the ladies’ room because Brigitte, who said she’d “go touch up her makeup,” hadn’t come out of the bathroom for over an hour.

I thought she was taking a while, but had she been kidnapped by her own family?

I never knew there were people who got kidnapped by their own families.

As I frowned, Salome made an excuse,

“I had a lot to think about, too.”

“Yeah, I guess. At least you’re telling me now. I know better than anyone that you hate mages. But this is quite the predicament.”

Fleeing to the West through a dimensional gate.

Even with my agility reaching 20, it would certainly take more than two days to run to the West.

“I wish I could use a dimensional gate, too.”

I’m not well-versed in magic, but I heard that opening a dimensional gate requires an extremely advanced spell.

It’s said to be the specialty of those who wield the white creation magic.

The Walpurgis folks aren’t likely to help me either.

As I was feeling troubled, Salome interrupted.

“How about seeking help from Elle Cladeco? That woman might be able to create a dimensional gate.”

“Cladeco, huh…”

I didn’t want to approach that woman rashly if possible.

But the thought of Brigitte suffering at the hands of people she didn’t even want to call family made me feel somewhat uneasy.

“Can’t be helped then.”

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