The scent of sweat wafted from the absent-minded fox’s fur, likely from having been hugged by the ugly man for so long.
Clearly feeling uncomfortable, the fox gagged repeatedly, and I too couldn’t bring myself to keep holding her.
So, I told Erin to clean the fox up and headed back into the academy.
Sigh. I hadn’t expected dealing with the followers of the Void to be such a bothersome task.
If this were a situation straight out of a game’s story, I wouldn’t be too worried.
I’d just apply the knowledge I already have.
But the current situation is different from the game. The followers in this world, twisted by the variable that is me, are moving in a direction entirely different from what I know.
And it’s only going to get worse with time.
So relying on game knowledge would probably have a negative effect.
Is my jewelry the only real solution?
Isn’t there another way to solve this?
Furrowing my brow as I rifled through my thoughts, I saw Joy approaching from afar.
She, who usually took careful steps and wouldn’t dare act in ways unbecoming of a noble, was now running.
Did something urgent happen?
"Lu...cy... I’ve been looking for you..."
"What? Did you do something stupid again?"
"...Yes."
Huh?
Really?!
What did you get yourself into this time!?
Surprised, I widened my eyes as Joy took a deep breath and slowly continued speaking.
"I just encountered a follower of the evil god."
Joy’s eyes were serious. It must be a clear fact.
Thinking this, I infused magic into my ring to block out the surrounding sounds and waited for Joy to speak again.
"I was just at a tea party with the young ladies. And at that gathering..."
A tea party with noble ladies.
A few first-year noble ladies from the academy had been invited.
Among them, a follower of the evil god had slipped in.
"There was a strange sense of discomfort around her."
Having just faced the powers of the evil god, Joy didn’t miss the subtle unease.
She recognized the fake using the specific vocabulary of noble ladies, and attempted to separate the fake from the group to bring them to me or Faye, but...
"...I didn’t expect her to give up her own arm."
As expected, someone with such a foolish demeanor made a mistake at the last moment.
If she had aimed for the head, she would have known that to subdue them, the mind needs to be the first target.
The Arlen knights surely taught her that.
Though I had plenty to say, I kept my mouth shut. It seemed Joy still had more to say.
"We really need to find the real Lady Cleve. She’s probably in need of help."
The thought of searching for someone who had been replaced by a fake immediately triggered a negative response from me.
How could someone pretending to be another person leave that person alive?
But I didn’t voice my doubt.
Joy, of course, wasn’t unaware of this. She was probably sure in her mind that the fake was dead.
Still, Joy didn’t give up hope.
So, I shouldn’t give up hope either, as her friend.
"So?" I asked.
"...What?"
"Are you asking me without any help? I thought the noble Lady Patran was used to calling the shots?"
"Uh. W-well, what should I give you?"
"Do I look like a materialistic fool wanting something from you? You were looking at me like that? I’m disappointed."
"Uh... uh-oh."
"Sigh. I can’t help it. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve been foolish, Joy."
As Joy stood there, flustered, I approached her and looked up with a smile.
"Now, repeat after me. Please. Help. Me."
Joy raised an eyebrow but then sighed, letting her shoulders droop as she moved her lips.
"Please help me, Lady Arlen."
"Eh? Lady Arlen, huh?"
"...Lucy."
"Heh. Fine. It’s my fault for having such a clumsy fool as a friend. You’ll have to suffer a bit."
I straightened my shoulders and began thinking.
To be honest, finding someone who’s missing isn’t my specialty. What would a noble lady with an intelligence of 58 be able to find by playing detective?
But I do have someone much smarter than me to help!
"Help me, Grandpa!"
<...You act so cool in front of your friends, but then talk like this internally.>
"So what? No one else knows except Grandpa!"
<...Sigh.>
"Anyway, you knew it was going to end up like this!"
<Well, I can’t argue with that. But you seem to be getting more and more shameless.>
"Right?"
<That’s not a compliment.>
Grandpa grumbled, wishing I’d think for myself and then ask for help, but he didn’t refuse when I asked for it.
<For now, it’s best to start by figuring out when the young lady of Cleve changed. Many things will have shifted depending on that period.>
‘Then we just need to find where she is.’
<Hmm. Let’s start by checking her room. If she changed, it’s likely where it started.>
‘I agree with that.’
"Hey! You! Why on earth are you writing down when I tripped?!"
"Fool. Writing it down doesn’t make your stupid actions disappear."
"Lucy! Wait! After you burn the notebook, pleaseee!"
I half dragged the struggling Joy away from Chester and back to the dormitory.
"...I’ll make sure to erase everything later."
"Does it even matter? You’re going to do something foolish again anyway."
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"Ughhh."
Joy grumbled, still looking upset, but she led me to the Cleve family’s young lady’s room.
"I came by before meeting you. There are no signs of the young lady here."
As she said, there were no major oddities in the Cleve young lady’s room. It looked like everything was in its proper place, as if it was ready to receive its owner at any time.
<...Hmm. This is getting annoying.>
‘No problem. I’ve got a way.’
I confidently answered and silently muttered a word to myself.
I will open the history.
Then, in front of me, a translucent book appeared.
[The Kidnapping of the Cleve Young Lady]
The book contained a record of the events that had happened in this room.