The Demon Prince goes to the Academy

of information.

*    *    *

I couldn’t let Charlotte enter Eleris’ shop.

“Erm….
It might not necessarily be that place, right?”

“That’s possible.
Maybe they actually kicked him out, but didn’t remember it.”

She didn’t seem to be that suspicious of Eleris at the moment.

“But the fact that we didn’t have any eyewitness accounts from this part of the street means that there were some people among the shop owners that lied.
It’s very likely that one of them did something to the boy.” 

Damn it, I didn’t have any good justification.
Charlotte was having reasonable doubts, so it was impossible for me to keep her away.

Even if it was somehow possible, Charlotte wouldn’t want to leave a single stone unturned.
Even if there was only a small chance that she might find traces of Valier, she would try to investigate no matter what.

“He didn’t necessarily have to visit another scroll store….
Isn’t there a possibility that he left because of another reason?”

“Hmm….
You’re right.
As soon as you walk around openly carrying a scroll book, you’re already a prime target for pickpockets or other criminals.”

Charlotte nodded at my suggestion to not focus too much on the scroll stores.
There was still the possibility that he might have gotten pickpocketed or targeted by some criminals after walking around the shopping street with his scroll book for quite a while.

“It’s not too late to consider this possibility after we’ve secured the testimonies of the next few scroll shops.”

The more information, the better.

So, she was willing to keep that possibility in the back of her mind.
She planned on checking that option after visiting these scroll shops and finding out if someone among the store owners lied.

In the end, there was absolutely no reason for Charlotte to not go into Eleris’ store.

And more importantly.

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At the moment, Eleris went to the Edina islands to take care of Airi and the others.
It was obvious that she hadn’t come back yet.

It was unclear to me whether Eleris’ absence was a good or bad thing, however, this situation was just too unpredictable.

I’m pretty sure Charlotte wouldn’t find out my identity by doing this, but if she were to suspect Eleris in any way, there was a high chance that her identity as a vampire could be brought to light.

I couldn’t let that happen.

So, I tried using the Revise function.

Charlotte thinks it’s not worth examining Eleris’ shop.

[10.000 achievement points are needed to perform this Revision.]

Damn it.

Charlotte’s determination to find just a single clue was so strong that it was almost impossible for her to even consider not investigating every nook and cranny of this place.
So, the probability of her ignoring this place was abysmally low.

-Rattle! Rattle!

“Hmm….
It’s locked.”

Charlotte tilted her head after she found out that the door to Eleris’ store was locked.
Eleris hadn’t returned yet.

“……It could be their day off today.”

“Then why don’t we take a look at other places? They have to return to this place some day, right?”

I talked as calmly as possible, pretending nothing was wrong.
However, Charlotte was still fixated on this locked door.

It seemed like she was starting to get some doubts, realizing a certain possibility.
I could clearly see subtle joy radiating from her face.

Her expression seemed to express that she was finally able to come across a clue she never thought she would ever find.

It was surprising.

Charlotte was able to find out at what place my traces really ceased, with only these insignificant eyewitness testimonies.

Charlotte went straight to the next store, which was a weaponry store, not a scroll store.
I thought we would go to the next scroll shop.
There was no way this person would have any information. 

“…… What business do you little kids have here?”

“Does the scroll store next door have a day off today?”

The middle-aged owner with a shaggy beard shook his head and smiled.

Charlotte asked him about the owner next door, not Valier.

“No? Miss Elena seemed to have gone quite far away.
She doesn’t open her shop these days.”

I now knew that Eleris’ pseudonym was Elena.

It had been a while since Eleris closed up shop.
Of course, it was like that, because she was in a situation in which she couldn’t be here after all.
This was unexpectedly getting worse and worse.

“Since when has the shop been closed?”

“Hmm….
Since last Monday.
So right when the Festival started.
She might have gone somewhere far away to relax.
That’s what young people do.”

Hearing that, Charlotte had a slightly sullen expression on her face.
The owner’s reasoning that she might have left for somewhere further away in time of the Festival was quite plausible.

The Festival was now over, but she may have just extended her vacation.

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“Is that owner young?”

“She’s young and very beautiful.
There are a lot of guys gathering around her… No.
What am I saying?”

He shook his head, wondering why he even said this.
The thing he talked about was obviously something Eleris was greatly troubled by.

“Why are you looking for Elena? If it’s a scroll shop, even if I feel sorry for sending Miss Elena’s potential customers away, there are quite a few of those around here.”

He was talking quite gently, because he thought we were her guests.
Obviously, he seemed a lot kinder than the other shopkeepers around here.

“I have my reasons.
Do you know when that person named Elena will come back?”

“Hmm….
Not really.
I don’t even know where she went.
I mean, she just left without a word.”

“Do you know anyone who knows?”

I want them to stop, but I wasn’t able to just put a hold to this conversation.

“Well….
Miss Elena doesn’t even attend the merchants’ meetings, and although she does get along with everyone, she isn’t particularly close with anyone or anything like that.
She doesn’t even go out with others to eat lunch together.
However, people say she has a very kind heart.
That’s why it’s said that she doesn’t have the right constitution to be a merchant or do business….”

She got along well with everyone, but never got really close to anyone.
Although she makes a living as a merchant, she wasn’t like the other Aligar merchants, who could only survive by scamming others.

Slight doubts turned into suspicion, and that suspicion would soon turn into complete certainty.

She hadn’t yet grasped all the details, but it seemed like she got a feeling that this person was very strange.

“Hmhm….”

As if she had made up her mind, Charlotte started to laugh.

“Reinhardt.”

“Ah….
Huh?”

“Follow me.”

Charlotte, leaving the wide-eyed owner behind, dragged me outside and went back to Eleris’ store.

“We have to force our way in.”

As her suspicions grew closer to certainties, it seemed that Charlotte was ready to make use of any method possible. 

From inside her robe, blue light emanated from the earring Charlotte was wearing.

There was a reason after all why she was able to go around all alone.

Charlotte wore some kind of artifact, similar to my Flame of Tuesday.
I was pretty sure that this wasn’t the only one either.

“Break it.”

-Kruuaaak!

With just a short phrase, an explosion rang out from Eleris’ shop’s door.
An invisible shock wave smashed through it.

-Wha, what!

-What’s going on!

“You! What are you guys doing!”

The street was drowning in a huge commotion caused by this sudden explosion.

“Let’s go in.”

Charlotte, however, didn’t seem to care about anything else going on around her, and walked through the smashed door without hesitation.