“…….”
“…….”
I can understand why they’re speechless. That’s probably because what Alice and I just said was complete nonsense.
After staring blankly at me for a while, Charlotte placed her hand on her forehead.
“So you’re asking me, the princess of Velbur, to help you destroy one of Velbur’s proud cultural heritage?”
“To be a bit more precise, I’m not asking to destroy it but to help sneak inside.”
“…….”
When I said that, Alice next to me buried her face in her hands.
What.
Why.
What.
If I don’t say it clearly, they’ll just end up asking later if it was a lie, right?
It’s better to lay everything bare from the start.
“Let’s go back to what Sylvia just said a moment ago…”
Charlotte began to methodically unravel everything I had said.
“The Papal State is doing something suspicious.”
“Yes.”
“So I want to meet someone important from the Papal State and have a conversation.”
“Exactly.”
“……So, you’ve prepared all sorts of weapons to infiltrate the Saint Latina Cathedral, where that important person is likely to be?”
“Correct.”
“But then I thought again and realized that this might not be a good idea, so you came to me for help, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.”
“Sylvia, do you want to meet them?”
At Charlotte’s last question, I stared at her intensely, and Charlotte seemed a bit embarrassed, covering her mouth with her fist and clearing her throat gently.
“Though the cathedral had a bad relationship with the Kingdom of Velbur when it was built, now it is something that truly represents Lutetia. Moreover, the ‘important people’ inside are usually not just the citizens of Velbur but also have Papal State nationalities.”
Charlotte looked at me seriously and said.
“But asking me, the only princess of Velbur, to do such a thing? It’s likely to create a conflict between Velbur and the Papal State.”
Hmm…….
“If that’s the case, should I just take care of this myself?”
Charlotte’s words do have a point. In fact, that’s precisely why I was about to act unilaterally.
I have thought about asking Charlotte, but… Charlotte is somewhat in a similar situation to Alice.
However, unlike Alice, who had only a few friends before going to the academy, Charlotte has a certain level of noble support.
Of course, if she went off and did something like this alone, she could face significant political repercussions.
“Is that even something you’re saying?”
Well, I do have a personality that wouldn’t leave things like this without acting, but still.
Alice, sitting next to me, was clutching her head with both hands, but I tried my best not to look her way.
“…….”
Charlotte fell into thought for a while.
She could have stood up and paced around the room, but instead, she sat cross-legged with her arms crossed and her eyes closed, clearly embodying the royal decorum of not acting rashly.
“First… let’s avoid any violent methods.”
After some time, Charlotte opened her eyes and said, though her glare was still fixed on me as before.
“If this turns into a real incident involving an ancient cultural asset, it could lead to war. Even if the royal family does not want war, if the nobles and people do, it could become unavoidable.”
“So rather, if I take the blame alone—”
“Sylvia.”
I heard Alice’s voice from beside me. Although Alice was still covering her head, making it impossible to see her expression, from the tone of her voice, it seemed like pressing the issue further would really put us in danger.
Even if the two of them charged at me, I might manage to slip away in time, but the process would surely be incredibly exhausting, so I decided to just keep my mouth shut.
“Is there a way?”
Alice finally removed her hands from her head and raised her body to ask.
“Before that, I’d like to say we should just abandon the whole plan…”
Charlotte glanced at me and let out a deep sigh.
“Even if I tell you not to, if it’s Sylvia, you would likely go ahead with the plan without a care.”
No way, that’s not true.
It’s more like I was convinced by Charlotte’s words and ended up here when I was about to execute the plan silently. I mean, originally, Charlotte didn’t even know that I was planning to destroy the Saint Latina Cathedral until she called me a friend.
But now that I’ve come here and am trying to convince Charlotte, I should say that I am being considerate of the other side.
That said, I do intend to go ahead with it, even if they tell me not to.
“…Actually, we’ve been pondering about the Papal State too.”
Charlotte said while stroking her chin thoughtfully.
“Until last year… we were genuinely considering various ‘treaties,’ but after the Empire intervened, those discussions collapsed, and during our reevaluation, we discovered some suspicious circumstances.”
Though Charlotte didn’t describe it directly, these treaties refer to a full-fledged military alliance between the two sides. In the original story, Sophia was seen moving alongside the Velbur soldiers.
“What do you mean by suspicious circumstances?”
“…I can’t give specifics as it’s confidential.”
Charlotte responded in a cautious tone to Alice’s words.
In fact, even Charlotte herself probably doesn’t know the complete details. Just from the fact that she thinks Sophia is a citizen of Velbur.
The Papal State had been steadily planting people in Velbur long before that. Not as ‘people of the Papal State’ but rather completely disguising their identity as ‘people of Velbur.’
……My actions in last year’s talks were just me trying to provoke the other side, but it seems Velbur picked up on the Papal State’s suspicious behavior because of that.
“So, if we manage to persuade the King… Your Majesty the King, it might not be impossible if we deal with that side well.”
As Charlotte said this, she cast a side glance at me.
She seemed to be looking for some information.
“…….”
Hmm.
If needed, I could betray Sophia. After all, her identity is definitely a disguise.
However… while I can’t say we’re super close, Sophia is still a friend. Plus, to be honest, I find it a bit amusing to see Sophia getting involved with Leo. In the original story, she was a heroine that could be captured, but the personality of Sophia that I knew in the original and the one I’m aware of now are quite different.
Right. I can sell her out, but I don’t want to do that.
And frankly, there’s something much juicier than that.
“In the basement of the Saint Latina Cathedral, there is a massive base.”
“…….”
Yeah, well.
In the original story, Sophia was a pretty significant figure in the church, but she seems to be just a commoner in this timeline.
Rather than leaking the position of a commoner, providing much bigger information would be more beneficial.
Looking at the expression of Charlotte, who was staring at me with her mouth slightly open, it seems that this might actually work.
“The Saint Latina Cathedral is like a bridgehead for the Papal State’s westward expansion. Back when the cathedral was being built, the Kingdom of Velbur still didn’t completely recognize the Goddess faith. And even before that, the Goddess faith had been opposing the Kingdom of Velbur. There’s a deep and complex underground cemetery of the Goddess faith beneath Lutetia. The idea of the Goddess faith establishing the Saint Latina Cathedral as a holy site and building the structure was to hide the entrance to the underground.”
And that complex underground cemetery—this hidden base—was, in fact, a dungeon with many important events in the original story.
The inspiration for Lutetia is, of course, based on Paris, the capital of France.
While the historical reasons might differ between the game and reality, it’s unthinkable that the developers wouldn’t take advantage of the awesome catacombs in the basement of Paris.
Moreover, the vastness and depth of history meant that there would be lots of information out there, and it was also a dungeon for many important figures.
I wasn’t just trying to mess around for no reason.
“So…”
Charlotte said, glancing around with her eyes.
“The Goddess faith has been scheming something in Lutetia for hundreds of years, then?”
“More than that, they probably think the grudges from back then still haven’t ended. The mission of the Papal State is to ensure that everything in this world functions according to the will of the Goddess. The reason they have been persistently trying to manipulate Velbur is to ultimately convert Velbur’s national religion to the Goddess faith.”
And when I mentioned the national religion of the Empire, I knew very well, even though it was empty words, that it would provoke a reaction.
“Would this be enough information to persuade His Majesty the King?”
When I asked this, Charlotte brushed her face with her hand.
She didn’t say it outright, but I’m sure she wouldn’t be able to ignore it.
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