Well, it’s not like every street of Lutetia belongs to us.
Lutetia itself was the territory of Velbur, and of course, it wasn’t a space where the Empire could just waltz in claiming it as their own.
That said, it doesn’t belong to Charlotte, who’s with us either. Even if the royal capital is directly governed by the king, the Kingdom of Velbur couldn’t avoid the winds of capitalism either.
Someone had bought land in that direct jurisdiction and built a home to live in. The streets themselves were public spaces, not belonging to anyone specific, and naturally, it wasn’t just us posing for a picture that could stroll around there.
If this were modern South Korea, people would know what a camera is, so they could deliberately take a detour or wait until they could take a picture. But Velbur was still unfamiliar with the very concept of a camera. It wouldn’t be strange at all if one or two passersby were accidentally caught in the photo, not caring about what it was.
Yet, it was completely bizarre that the face of the person caught in the corner of that photo was familiar to me.
“……”
Moreover, it wasn’t just me who recognized it. Alice, who shares a room with me, also knew that face.
“Isn’t that Damien?”
Alice immediately pulled out the name I had been thinking.
“It has been two years since we last saw him… but that definitely seems like Damien, right? What do you think?”
Alice waved the photo that Claire had given us.
“I think it looks like him too.”
Damien Fanggriffon.
He was one of the emperor’s children, deployed to places where he absolutely couldn’t be exposed. In the original story, he didn’t reveal himself until much later.
Though, to be honest, he didn’t play a huge role, just acting as a gatekeeper on the way to fight the emperor.
However, despite being among the typical pretty boy and handsome young man characters of the protagonist’s party, he was quite popular for being one of the few characters with an androgynous design.
Because of the early 20th-century setting, most male characters appearing here had designs with broad, masculine shoulders.
Even Leo and Jake didn’t have hair as long as female characters, but Damien had hair that reached down to his back.
Plus, during battles, he wore a black T-shirt and pants that clung to his body, and when he appeared in disguise, he even tied his long hair back, which made some people wonder if he was made to attract female players directly.
“But why is he here?”
Good question.
Damien was supposed to be in the Papal State in the original story.
Neither Alice nor I knew where Damien had been sent, I only knew it from the original story.
The Papal State wasn’t that far from Lutetia, but it wasn’t exactly close either. In fact, in terms of distance, it was farther from Lutetia than the Imperial Capital was.
So, it seems he wasn’t crossing borders from the Papal State to get to Lutetia but was instead here from the very beginning?
“Was he waiting for us?”
Alice asked, and I nodded.
That would make sense. It seems like Charlotte had been preparing for the academy’s visit to Lutetia since the summer break. If she could extract information, she might have known when we were coming.
But then again, there was no need for him to reveal his identity by being caught in the corner of a photo. Sure, he looked a bit blurred as he passed by, but he had features that clearly said “Damien” that both Alice and I could recognize. Despite wearing a coat collar up to cover his face, the area around his eyes peeking out between his hat and collar was undeniably Damien.
“If he wanted to meet us, wouldn’t it just be easier for him to come find us? We’re not enemies with Damien or anything. If necessary, we could have talked at least.”
Alice couldn’t say her relationship with Damien was good, but it wasn’t bad either. They barely crossed paths to begin with.
“Could it be a mistake? He might have been looking at us and accidentally wandered into the camera’s field of view…”
“That’s highly unlikely.”
I cut her off.
Our connection was almost nonexistent, but I wasn’t ignorant of Damien’s personality. If it were Damien, he would have easily noticed the existence of the camera, and he would likely know at what distance he would need to stand to be captured in a photo based on the lens.
So this means…
“Perhaps, he was trying to tell us to come find him.”
“In a photo? Really?”
Good question.
“…To hear that answer, I suppose we have no choice but to go find him ourselves.”
I said as I stood up with the photo in hand.
*
Just from the image of Damien captured on camera, how were we supposed to find him?
First, Alice and I made our way back to the spot where we had taken the photo. With the photo in hand, we moved around to align ourselves exactly with the angle we had taken the picture from.
Then we glanced at the photo again.
Since it was already getting late, we had to rely on the streetlight to see the photo, which made our poses a little awkward, but we did notice one thing.
The direction Damien was facing.
In the photo, Damien was walking in a way that seemed completely uninterested in us, heading in some direction. Naturally, the other friends caught in the photo wouldn’t have any doubts about his identity. They probably didn’t even know him to begin with.
And the direction he was heading towards was the only clue we had in the photo.
Turning towards the direction Damien was looking, we spotted a store.
It looked shabby. It seemed more like it wasn’t even open for business, with the glass windows boarded up. While it didn’t have a feeling of being a ruin, there was an atmosphere suggesting no one had stepped inside for a while. The nearby streetlight was broken, making that store appear particularly dim.
And with that alone, we had a solid conviction that someone inside was waiting for us.
Alice and I exchanged glances and nodded.
No one had followed us. During the day, Charlotte had kept the knights busy, so there was no one around, and it was the same now since we had sneaked out. Mostly, I had been leading Alice along.
Turning back a few times as we carefully moved, I was confident that no one had followed us.
Since there were very few people on the street, we quickly made our way to the shuttered store and turned the doorknob.
Surprisingly, the doorknob turned very easily.
“Let’s lock the door.”
As soon as we entered the dim store, a low voice came from the darkest corner inside.
“Uh?”
All of a sudden, Alice let out a confused voice.
“……”
I closed the door without saying anything.
Then a small light turned on from the lamp inside.
Because it was so dark, the faint light revealed the figure of a well-built man sitting in a chair at the corner of the store.
“…Father?”
Alice again exclaimed in surprise.
“It’s quite a poignant feeling to meet my daughters so far from home. It’s almost appropriate to say it’s nice to see you.”
“No, why are you here, Father?”
Alice asked, her voice slightly raised, unable to maintain her usual courtesy in front of the emperor.
“It’s not good to speak too loudly. Even if they look like that, the windows and wooden boards are quite thin. If you shout inside, it will surely reach outside.”
At that, Alice seemed to momentarily lose her ability to speak, her mouth moving but no words coming out.
“You seem to have a look that suggests you were expecting something.”
The emperor’s gaze shifted towards me as he spoke.
“I wasn’t expecting anything.”
To be honest, if Alice hadn’t been surprised first or if I had just come here alone, I might have ended up asking, “Why are you here?” without thinking.
Thank goodness Alice was surprised first. Otherwise, I might have reversed time a few times out of shock.
I turned my gaze away.
Far from the light, there was a man standing quietly, with a pale face and long hair. While he had a rather androgynous handsome appearance, his pale skin and calm atmosphere gave him a somewhat gloomy vibe. I doubt it would have looked that different even in daylight.
When I had read the novel about Damien before, I’d thought it had a slightly gloomy atmosphere, and it seemed like the developers had taken the name from there.
“Why would you come all the way overseas?”
I asked in a quiet voice, noticing Alice nodding at her father.
“I have my own preparations to make, just as you have things you do without telling me.”
Now, what kind of petty response is that after all this time?
You may also like Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy
