Magic Gems Gourmet Chapter 182

Chapter 182

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ED: LonelyMatter

Chapter 182 – Trying to Cool My Head… I Couldn’t

For Ain, putting his current feelings into words was probably more difficult than anything else since his reincarnation.

Seeing Beria respond affirmatively to his earlier words, Ain felt a sense of accomplishment at having solved the puzzle but also a sense of uneasiness, almost like confusion, at not knowing where to direct his anger.

“…I see.”

It was a simple answer, but it was all Ain could manage at the moment.

Beria understood the meaning of Ain’s words and shook her head.

This meant that she knew that Mark and the others were buried in the graveyard of the former Demon King’s territory.

To find out, Ain would have to investigate in the same way as when he used Marco’s sword.

He would also have to go through the cursed room, which would not be easy.

“I’ll ask you one last time. Beria-san, you worked for the person who owned this magic stone, right?”

It was a roundabout way of asking.

It might have been better to just ask if they were the Red Fox, but Ain didn’t have the courage to say it.

He could feel the sweat forming on his temples, and his hand, which held the magic stone, was also sweating from nervousness.

He wanted to pretend that he hadn’t heard anything and go to sleep. With a feeling that was almost like running away, Ain took several deep breaths.

“…Yes. I served Raviola-sama.”

Prime Minister Warren. And Head Maid Beria.

At this moment, it was confirmed that these two were the red foxes the chief was talking about.

Then Ain sat down in a chair and hung his head after hearing Beria’s answer.

“Why…?”

…If that’s the case, why didn’t they tell him until now?

About the demon lord Arche.

And the fact that the Red Fox was secretly working behind the scenes.

…There are so many other things he can think about.

“Why, Warren-san must have known about Chris too…! Then why did he send Chris to fight the Sea Dragon?”

If the two Red Foxes had been serving Raviola since the time she was alive, then they must have known about Chris’ family name, Wernstein.

Then why didn’t Warren stop Chris from going to defeat the Sea Dragon?

For Ain, who knew the circ.u.mstances of the Wernsteins, it was no wonder that he felt this was a betrayal.

If Ain hadn’t gone, Chris would certainly have lost her life. Then, the current royal family would have lost Chris, who belonged to a bloodline even purer than their own.

Since it was a hidden family lineage, there might be no need to attach importance to it.

However, if he knew the circ.u.mstances, there might have been another way… Ain was confused.

“Y-Your Highness… Um, Warren and I…”

“――What is it?!”

Just one word, an emotion that could not be described as anger.

Perhaps there was also a hint of murderous intent, but it was certainly a loss of composure.

When Ain looked at Beria with cold, powerful eyes, Beria answered Ain without flinching.

“Wa-Warren and I… have never betrayed Ishtalika, not even once!”

“What are you talking about? How can you say that there is no betrayal in what you’ve kept secret until now!

Suddenly, Ain felt a sense of irritation that seemed to be an extension of his hunger.

The fact that the room was warm also irritated him. The fact that his body was slightly tired also irritated him. The fact that Beria made excuses also irritated him.

In the end, everything irritated him.

Should I draw my sword? When he could not control himself and was about to reach for it,

Something warm flowed into him from Raviola’s magic stone, just like when he received the magic stone in the village.

“…Did she try to stop me?”

It was as if he was in the womb and could hear his mother’s heartbeat.

All his senses were focused on Raviola’s magic stone, and he felt the hunger and irritation he had been feeling disappear.

It was a feeling he had never experienced before, but if he had to compare it to anything, it was similar to the feeling he had when he hugged Krone.

――Knock, knock.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

The tension that had been building up disappeared like a fog, and Ain suddenly felt all the power drain out of his body.

“…Yes.”

As soon as Ain answered the knock, the door opened.

The air in the room changed completely, just like stepping outside in the cold winter.

“Oh, Ain, you came already.”

“G-Grandfather…”

The one who had come was Sylvird, who had just parted ways with him.

He had been checking the letter he was writing to Oz, but he had come to visit Warren’s room, where Ain was.

“I finished preparing the letter for Oz. I came to see how Warren is… Hmm…”

Sylvird was very sensitive to people’s feelings.

Especially when it came to his grandson Ain, he could say that he was very observant.

“I’ve never seen Beria look like that before. …And I might not have seen Ain look like that before either.”

“Yo-Your Majesty…”

Beria bowed hastily. But the atmosphere in the room remained tense.

“It would be unwise to judge without first hearing the circ.u.mstances. But at least you shouldn’t make things worse in front of the patient.”

As Sylvird said this, he glanced at Beria, who was still bowing and then walked over to stand next to Ain.

“I have the right to ask. Ain… can you tell me what happened?”

From outside the open door, Lloyd looked in with a worried expression.

It looked like he was considering whether to go in, but in the end, he quietly closed the door.

“Hah… but that was before I got an explanation.”

“Mm? Ain asked for an explanation…? From Beria?”

“Yes, but I was a bit tired, or rather, I felt depleted. I’m sorry, but I think I’d like to cool off for a while.”

If he were honest, he would have wanted to question everything right away.

But Ain, understanding that he was not in a calm state of mind at the moment, decided to take a break.

“What in the world is going on with you, Ain? Unlike when we met at Varra’s, you look like you’re going to collapse any moment…”

“…I only regret that I almost reached for my sword…”

Fortunately, the words he murmured did not reach Sylvird’s ears.

After saying them, Ain moved towards the door to go outside.

“Beria-san.”

“Y-yes… Your Highness.”

Ain, who was standing in front of the door, called to Beria without turning around.

“Please explain to my grandfather. I’ll ask him later.”

How should he be on his guard, and what should he do about the guards?

He didn’t know what was the right thing to do about Warren and Beria.

At the very least, he wanted to tell Lloyd to go inside when he left the room.

――If Raviola-sama had stopped me, I probably shouldn’t have drawn my sword.

Ain’s decision to leave the room was influenced by Raviolla’s magic stone’s reaction earlier.

Ain felt that he had been gently stopped and thought that he should not interfere.

Although there was an unrealistic element to believing in the will of the magic stone, Ain could not completely deny it in light of the Dullahan and Elder Lich incidents.

As a result, he decided to keep his cool and involve Sylvird.

Considering the content of the conversation, there might be parts where he goes against his promise to the elf chief, but there seems to be nothing he can do about it.

“Ain.”

Then Sylvird called to Ain, who had his hand on the door.

“I will wait for you in the small room in the audience chamber tonight. Is that okay? ――Beria will be there with me.”

“Yes. Then, after dinner… I’ll come after I’ve rested.”

Although he asked if it was okay, in reality, it was the same as being told to come.

To hear Beria’s story, Ain nodded obediently.

“Also, if you want to cool off, you could go to Katima’s lab. According to Martha, Katima is in a panic because her room is a mess.”

Sylvird casually sold her eldest daughter’s information.

However, it’s not a bad choice to ask Katima’s permission. Surprisingly, she is reliable in such times.

Thinking that he had received good information, Ain thanked Sylvird.

“Thank you. Then I’ll go to Katima-san’s room.”

And so, this time, Ain opened the door.

Without looking into the room, he quietly left.

“Lloyd-san.”

“Y-yes, what is it?”

Lloyd also felt Ain’s unusual presence.

He was surprised by Ain’s voice, but he answered his words.

“You can come in. If anything happens, you can use your sword―― Hah. Just to be on the safe side, I’ll call the guards as well.”

“Ain-sama? What is this――”

After saying that matter-of-factly, Ain mumbled to himself as he continued down the corridor.

Without answering Lloyd’s question, he simply headed straight for Katima’s laboratory.

“…I don’t know. But I suppose it means you must never leave His Majesty’s side, no matter what.”

The reason Warren was injured was because he had taken Sylvird’s words lightly.

Lloyd thought this and then gave himself a hard slap on the cheek before entering Warren’s room.

＊＊＊

Ain left Warren’s room with the intention of cooling off.

As soon as he did, he made his way to Katima’s laboratory, just as Sylvird had suggested.

He walked along the corridors, trying to avoid as many people as possible and to avoid meeting people from the castle.

On the way, he spoke to a knight of the Royal Guard and told him to watch Warren’s room. Then, Ain arrived at Katima’s lab with mixed feelings.

“Wow… wow…”

Martha had said.

He expected it to be a big mess.

But Ain’s expectations were completely overturned.

“Hmm? Who’s there-nya? At a time like this… it’s Ain, isn’t it-nya?”

It’s like a battlefield.

The state of the laboratory could not be summed up as just being messy.

The huge bookshelf on the wall had fallen forward without exception, scattering the books.

Some of the research magic tools were emitting reddish smoke.

Anyone who saw this will surely wonder:

What happened?

“…Eh, wait, what is this? Who did you fight?”

When he asked her this question, Katima, who had been hiding in the chaos, answered him.

The only problem was that her confident expression was a bit irritating.

“Hmm… The secrets that spread throughout the world… I see-nya.”

“Huh?”

“…..Ain is a bit sharp today-nya.”

Ain still felt the effects of his conversation with Beria. That’s probably inevitable.

“So why did you come here-nya?”

“N-no. I heard that your room was in a terrible state, so I came to stir things up.”

“…Honestly, what a nephew you are-nya.”

With an att.i.tude that said, “Good grief,” she appeared from among the broken objects and wiped the dust from her waist with a handkerchief.

Then Katima walked around the obstacles on the floor to the desk, where her figure was just barely visible.

“Well, just in time. Here you go-nya.”

When she reached the desk, Katima picked up an envelope.

She waved her arm and threw it at Ain.

It landed in Ain’s hand with a crumpling sound.

“Uh… what is this all of a sudden?”

“It’s the research that the genius Cait Sith-sama, who has no equal in the history of Ishtalika, has completed-nya. Or rather, it’s because I found out about it that the room was trashed-nya. It was just a moment ago-nya.”

“Eh? If you knew someone like that, you should have told me first…”

“…Of course it was me-nyaaaaa!”

Ain asked her and was satisfied with the answer.

“So, what kind of data is it?”

“Hmph! Just look at it-nya!”

“Hmm… Well, okay.”

If it was the usual Katima, she would have made an even more annoyed face and told him.

But this time, she didn’t, and she lazily urged him to look at the contents.

“The results of the examination of Specimen A. The results of the examination of Specimen B… What is this?”

Since Katima didn’t answer, Ain had no choice but to investigate for himself.

The words were ones that even Ain didn’t understand… in other words, they’re full of words that researchers used, and he couldn’t keep up with the content.

Nevertheless, Ain read as much as he can understand.

“…As a result, Specimen A was determined to be a type of bloodsucker. As for Specimen B, it is expected to be of reptilian races.”

When you put it like that, it’s full of technical terms, and he didn’t understand it.

It was probably the results of the examination, but even if there were a number of figures lined up, there was no way Ain could understand them.

Therefore, Ain skimmed the contents and looked at the final conclusion.

“Hey, Katima-san. What are these specimens A and B?”

“They are organisms brought from Euro. These are the magic stones that were placed inside them.”

“…Huh? Wait a minute. Are you saying that they’re…”

As Ain began to understand, Katima approached him with a deep sigh.

Then she told him the reason why she had not spoken and explained.

“…I was wondering how they collected the magic stones-nya. At the very least, if you’re going to implant them into animals that don’t normally have magic stones, you have to get them from somewhere-nya. If it’s a large number of enemies that need a main cannon… then you’d need a considerable amount of magic stones-nya. I thought about various things… like whether they used adventurers or bought sc.r.a.p magic stones, but-nya…”

She spoke with a voice that seemed to come from the bottom of her heart and with a tone of hatred.

“But if it’s something from a different race, that’s another story. …There’s only been one time in our history when a different race has lost a large number of lives.”

Katima looked at Ain with eyes that seemed to say, “You understand, right?”

Then Ain nodded quietly.

“What a low-life b.a.s.t.a.r.d-nya. …That d.a.m.n fox used the magic stones of the Demon King’s disturbance victims-nya.”

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