Siblings Reincarnate as Enemies

Chapter 91 — In which they meet (5)

Phlox erased a frown from her face and walking up to the group of priests, she asked:

“Where did the divine siblings of the Sun and Day Gods Temple go?”

“Ah, they said that the time for their daily prayers was approaching, so they left for one of the closed lounges, afraid that their rituals may cause an offense.”

“I see…”

Phlox nodded.

This matched the well-known customs of the Sun and Day Gods Temple.

It was also something that envoys from Purplus were explicitly allowed to do, if they did so in the spaces absent from any other non-Purplus people.

In other words, it was very normal behavior, but Phlox was immediately on alert.

‘… They didn’t inform me… Were they worried that I would insist on going with them?’

Before departing, Amara explicitly told Phlox to keep a close eye on the priests from the Sun and Day Gods Temple.

That was because there was no news about the stolen artifact.

‘Head Priest didn’t know about the artifact and it seems her investigation wielded no result… and what Record Keeper said when I was leaving…’

Something was rotting in that temple.

Phlox’s nose could smell that.

Therefore, she couldn’t let her guard down, especially when considering that the stolen artifact may show up here, if the Saint’s guess was right.

According to the information provided by the priests of the Temple of Dead and Forgotten Gods, the artifact wouldn’t have any dangerous effects unless one was a vampire.

But even then, it wouldn’t be life-threatening.

That was only when considering that the effect wasn’t boosted.

If the artifact was to be used when a sun related ritual was ongoing and the person affected by the artifact knew about the ritual, the effect would double.

That would be enough to threaten a vampire’s life.

‘Considering the Archmage’s personality there is no way that he, or his family, wouldn’t know about the Purplus envoy’s ritual. They may even eavesdrop on it.’

The Archmage’s fondness of his siblings was well-known even in Purplus.

And considering the amount of magic circles around, that made even the head of Phlox, who was a greenhorn when it came to magic, hurt, it was obvious how heavy the security around here was.

‘His Excellency said that the Archmage’s family may be in danger… It’s better to play safe.’

Phlox’s instincts were telling her that she needed to move now.

“I’ll go to quickly check on them. Please don’t move from here until I come back.”

“Shouldn’t we go with you, Sister Phlox?”

“No, thank you. I’ll take those two with me.” She pointed at Alexandrit and Seven. “That should be enough. I'll be back in a moment.”

“As you wish. Please stay safe, Sister.”

“Thank you.”

She immediately followed after the priests, who sneaked out.

*-*-*

“… I thought that the guilds would be the biggest headache, but Purplus and Flavun’s envoys also don’t seem to be able to stay still.”

Sangria grumbled a bit, as he concentrated on an orb in his hand that displayed what was happening in the surveillance room.

Durio and Rambeta just left, while Cuprit remained there alone.

In the other screen, the leader of the Purplus’ envoys, Phlox, left the main hall with two unnamed attendants.

Sangria glanced at the man beside him, who was also observing the situation with his own surveillance spell.

Crimo’s face was paler than usual and his lips were pressed into a thin line.

He seemed terribly anxious.

“… Still, though the appearance of the Flavun’s envoys’ clones is a bit unexpected, the situation is still under control. At least all of the guilds’ ‘pranks’ failed.”

Sangria decided to reassure Crimo.

He himself had a bugging feeling that something wasn’t right, but if the Archmage was to lose the concentration, one of the ‘pranks’ might actually succeed and that would be a problem.

‘They really don’t know when to give up.’

The guests from guilds kept trying to put the main component of the ritual, the tree, on fire.

Everything was completely blocked, but the bastards just kept trying as if something might change if they try again.

Sangria checked the surveillance again.

He noticed that the Young Lady from the Flavun’s envoy also started moving, and then he looked at Crimo, who didn’t reply to him.

“My Lord?”

“… Sorry, I was talking to Scarlen.”

“It’s fine. Please continue to talk to Grandmaster Scarlen. He needs to stay informed about everyone’s movements.”

Crimo nodded and fell silent again.

‘Speaking of everyone’s movements… What is Young Master doing?’

With that thought, Sangria searched for Vern and found him quickly crossing secret corridors.

Considering the direction he was heading, he would soon run into the Flavun’s Young Lady’s group.

*-*-*

[… The twins were sent out to deal with the ‘clones’. Vern is also heading that way to assist them if something happens.]

[I see, thank you, my Dear Lord.]

Scarlen’s gaze followed behind the two attendants, who left with the small wolf from Purplus and then turned to observe members of the seven major guilds, who were giving him spiteful side-glances.

He put on an even wider grin and continued to talk with Crimo through the communication stone.

[Do we know how those ‘clones’ entered?]

[They appear to have simply entered through the backdoor.]

[The one protected with the puppets?]

[Yes. The puppets recognized them as invited guests and didn’t attack.]

[They aren’t smart enough. If there is no disguise magic and the faces match, they will just let anyone enter.]

Scarlen grumbled, thinking he should insist on lending Crimo more of his subordinates to protect all possible entrances.

[… Yes, that was my oversight. I thought with the strong face-recognition spell I designed they would be enough…]

He realized his mistake too late.

[No, my Dearest Lord’s puppet-making skills are most outstanding. Our opponents are using just the most vile methods. If those ‘clones’ could trick my Brilliant Lord’s puppets, then it can only mean they’re high grade homunculuses, created to look exactly like someone else.]

[. . .]

His mouth suddenly turned dry.

Scarlen snatched a glass of some random deep-red liquid and drunk half of it in one go.

Perhaps thanks to the shock of suddenly drinking half of ginger black tea with more salt than anyone would expect from a non-salted drink, he came back to his senses.

Thinking calmly, he didn’t say anything he usually didn’t say, he was embarrassed for nothing.

He quickly switched the topic to save his Lord.

[But my Dearest Lord said they looked like the members of Flavun’s envoy? Flavun doesn’t have facilities to produce homunculuses, nor personnel. And it would be hard for guilds to know who will come as an envoy and create a creature of their likeness.]

[… No, perhaps they knew.]

[My Lord? Care to enlighten me with your thoughts?]

[Lady Mimosa suddenly changed the members of her envoy. And none of the clones look like her members. Perhaps there is a correlation.]

[Indeed…]

Scarlen quickly followed Crimo’s thought process… But there was something that couldn’t be explained with their current hypothesis.

Certain that Crimo also already thought about it, Scarlen spoke without hesitation.

[But why Flavun’s envoys? Are they trying to cause a war? But guilds wouldn’t benefit in any way from a war. No matter how stupid they are, they’re not that stupid.]

[They’re just vile, not stupid, Scarlen… So as much as I wish to struck them with lightning at this moment, we need to see what those clones are trying to do first.]

Scarlen was also going to propose it if Crimo insisted on immediate capture.

But surprisingly, he didn’t.

With short contemplation, Scarlen figure out the reason.

[Young Master Vern said to wait?]

[Yes.]

He could almost hear Crimo’s sighing.

*~*~*