A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 312

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Camilla handed over an object she had never seen before, speaking as she did. It was certainly something that could never be explained by current civilization’s understanding.
‘Where on earth did she obtain something like this? Ancient artifacts, no less—and that gaming device Daive was carrying. Where did all of these come from?’
‘That’s a trade secret.’
‘What? A trade secret?’
‘A merchant doesn’t simply reveal such things to just anyone.’
‘Am I just anyone?’
‘Well, when money is involved, even a father and daughter become strangers. Don’t you know that family is the most dangerous when profit is at stake?’
‘…Father and daughter, you say.’
‘…It’s just an example, you know! Just something I said! Why do you have to dwell on it like that!’
Duke Escra ceased his questioning about the ancient artifacts.
It seemed Camilla was reluctant to discuss the matter further.
What exactly had she been doing during this journey? Everything was shrouded in mystery.
‘Still…’
Duke Escra’s gaze turned in one direction.
There sat Armis on the living room sofa today as well, enjoying a game alongside Daive.
Armis had not accompanied Camilla when she departed for the Faebler Empire. Why was that?
“Ah, you can’t go that way.”
“This way?”
“No, the opposite direction!”
…It seemed to be for the sake of playing games with Daive.
Camilla had left Armis here and offered a parting request.
‘Please take good care of Armis.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Absolutely, absolutely! You mustn’t upset him! Don’t treat him the way you treat others, and never be careless with him! Never!’
‘Why should I?’
‘…If you want to see the Empire fall, then do as you please.’
‘What?’
…Who exactly was this man?
It was the first time Duke Escra had seen Camilla, who spoke her mind freely even before the Emperor and rarely showed deference to anyone, treat someone with such caution.
‘His name is strange too.’
‘Armis? Is that his real name?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘It’s odd though…’
‘W-what’s odd about it? You shouldn’t speak of someone’s name that way.’
…You’re the one who seems most suspicious, stammering like that.
‘A name like Armis, of all things.’
After traveling through Armis Mountain and returning, Camilla now had someone beside her with that very same name. Could it merely be coincidence? It felt deeply unsettling.
‘There must be some reason behind this.’
‘Absolutely! You must never upset him!’
For now, he was following her wishes, but…
“Ah! Don’t eat that!”
“It’s there to be eaten.”
“You already had some earlier. This time I need to eat it so our strength combines and we can defeat the boss! Oh no! It’s dead!”
“….”
“Armis, you’re terrible at this!”
Was this really acceptable?
‘Camilla warned me to be careful….’
Duke Escra watched Daive unleash fierce glares and angry words at Armis without hesitation, feeling slightly flustered.
“No, I’m not doing this! I don’t want to play games with Armis anymore.”
Daive set down the controller and stood up from his seat. Duke Escra briefly considered whether he should stop him.
Camilla had told him not to upset Armis, but didn’t that apply to Daive as well?
“…I’ll do better from now on.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll listen to what I say when we play games from now on?”
A nod.
‘…Daive must be the exception.’
Or perhaps Camilla had misunderstood something?
Was he really supposed to be careful not to upset someone who grew melancholy merely because Daive wouldn’t play with him?
Duke Escra watched the two of them sit across from each other again, absorbed in their game, and clicked his tongue lightly.
* * *
“You said you were just going to see the concert and come back, yet you stayed there for two more weeks?”
“There was a lot to do.”
“Exactly! What was there to do? And you didn’t contact us even once! Do you know how worried Father was?”
…Ugh, so noisy.
The first thing Camilla had to face upon returning home was Ravi’s barrage of nagging.
He was making such a fuss just because she was a bit late from her original return date.
“Brother, did you miss me that much? I’ll admit my face is one worth seeing repeatedly, but is this really how you express your joy—by complaining?”
“…Are you insane?”
Ravi recoiled several steps, looking disgusted. What had she eaten in that foreign land? Why was she acting like this?
“Here, take this.”
“What is it?”
“A gift.”
Take it and stop nagging me!
“…?”
What Camilla handed to Ravi was a tablet.
“If you press this button here… you can take notes like this and draw pictures too. This button saves it. Now you don’t need to write everything down on paper one by one. When you want to retrieve it again, just press this.”
The moment I saw the tablet in that other world, the first person who came to mind was Ravi.
It seemed like it would be incredibly useful for him, who spent all his time holed up in the Research Laboratory, buried in papers and pens.
“…What is this? A magical artifact?”
“And if you press this, you can do calculations too. No need to write down each number and work through formulas every single time.”
“What is this?”
“An ancient artifact.”
“…An ancient artifact?”
Ravi’s mouth fell open in astonishment. An ancient artifact? It was certainly a curious device unlike anything I’d seen before, but was it really an ancient artifact?
“And there are some entertaining videos here too, so watch them when you need to clear your head.”
“You… where did you get this?”
“Found it lying around.”
“Come on! Don’t talk nonsense.”
“It’s not stolen, so feel free to use it.”
“Where on earth did you get something like this?”
“Why? Don’t you want it?”
Why did this person always use the same routine whenever giving something away? He’d done the same thing when he gave me the dragon’s grimoire before.
He was so curious about where it came from, but did that really matter? What mattered was that my precious older brother had thoughtfully provided me with something precious, you fool!
“If you don’t want it, hand it over.”
“Who said I don’t want it!”
Whoosh!
As expected, Ravi showed the greatest interest in modern items among anyone else.
When he tried to snatch the tablet back, Camilla watched him clutch it protectively to his entire body with an amused smile playing at her lips.
“So, older brother.”
“…What now?”
At Camilla’s affectionate tone, Ravi’s eyes instinctively narrowed with caution. Of course, he still held the tablet firmly in his embrace.
“Could you possibly create a storage room for me?”
“A storage room? Talk to Rube about that.”
“What I need isn’t an ordinary storage room.”
“Not an ordinary storage room?”
“A storage room enchanted with preservation magic.”
“Preservation magic? What would you even use that for?”
“Well, I need to empty things out before I can fill them with something new.”
“What?”
I couldn’t keep borrowing Arsian’s subspace forever, could I? I needed a separate place to gather and store the items kept there.
Naturally, a storage room enchanted with magic that preserved things in their original state, just like Arsian’s subspace.
‘And there’s someone right here who can make that.’
My older brother was quite skilled at making things like that.
“If you make that for me, I’ll give you another new artifact.”
“…!”
Ravi’s eyes, which had been narrowing with suspicion about what scheme she was plotting, widened in surprise. There were more artifacts like this?
“You’ll do it, right?”
“…How soon?”
“The sooner the better.”
“Understood.”
Ravi finally nodded and turned the tablet back on, cradling it carefully in his arms as he began meticulously examining its functions.
“What does this function do?”
“That’s the camera function.”
“You can take photos with it?”
“You can record videos too.”
“Huh.”
After that, Camilla had to continue explaining the tablet’s features for quite some time.
* * *
“You’re really going in?”
“How many times are you going to ask?”
In the underground space beneath Duke Sephra’s Residence.
A door inscribed with a magical circle stood before Arsian and Duke Sefra.
Duke Sefra asked once more, despite Arsian’s exasperated response.
This was unlike his usual demeanor—the man who never objected to others’ decisions and showed little interest in what anyone else did.
“Once you enter, you won’t be able to leave for a long time. You understand that, don’t you?”
“Have you lost your memory? Do you really think I wouldn’t know that? Have you forgotten who forced me into that place when I was a child?”
“….”
Duke Sefra exhaled silently. Arsian was right—it had been he himself who had thrust the boy into that place as a child.
It was a space designed to deepen the dark power that House Sephrag had inherited, and to strengthen black magic even further.
Upon entering that space, one’s dark and painful memories would be endlessly drawn forth.
When one made that darkness their own, only then could greater power be obtained.
The bloodline of House Sephrag found their black magic strengthened as the power of darkness grew stronger.
Yet it came with proportional suffering, a space that was mentally exhausting beyond measure.
Arsian, who knew this better than anyone, was now choosing to enter that place of his own volition.
‘There’s something going on.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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