Chapter 0 : 456
There are certainly players who would willingly create troublesome enemies and want to fight them.
But that's thinking that only exists in an environment separated from reality—a game for entertainment where player safety is guaranteed.
For someone like me, who's keenly aware of living in reality, I need to properly erase those flags and cut off future problems before they sprout.
"So, I need to help someone."
The problem every time is explaining how I know about events that haven't happened yet.
Even with the advantage of being an apostle of the Goddess of Wisdom Kefeli, it's hard to keep pushing through with that excuse every time.
So, to act after getting consensus from everyone, I called a meeting and gathered the members except Claudia, who was away on an expedition.
"Understood."
"You say that, but I haven't even explained anything yet, you know?"
"I observed your demeanor while cooking at the station. I also confirmed with Gato-sama. Lord Liberta is concerned about a certain boy."
"Right. My secretary is so capable it's scary."
"I'm honored by your praise."
Gathered in this meeting room were me, Ingrid bowing to me, Nell and Amina watching with wry smiles, and Esmeralda, who didn't understand what was going on.
The Entertainers were operating at full capacity and couldn't be called in. Genjirou and the Garden Guards were also tied up with security for the newly arrived orphans.
The spirits, including Dark-san, were also on high alert and busy.
So I asked those with relatively flexible schedules to come.
That said, Esmeralda is busy with diplomatic matters, so she came at considerable inconvenience.
She probably won't be able to accompany me on this operation.
She came to share information.
"Even if Ingrid-san knows, we don't. What kind of boy has caught your attention, Liberta?"
"Yeah, we were on standby all day yesterday, so we didn't see him."
"What kind of boy... If I had to say, he's a bit too serious?"
How would I describe Barze before he fell to the Heretic Church? A fundamentally serious, kind, good boy.
Pure and innocent.
The word "earnest" suits him.
But even earnestness, when excessive, becomes a flaw of being too naive.
Barze is like a bundle of focus.
He approaches everything seriously, absorbing knowledge and experience like a sponge, learning greedily and making it his own.
"What's dangerous about such a child? I don't think it's like you, Liberta, to consider excellence a threat."
"If he were just excellent, I'd welcome him. It's his father who's the problem."
There's more to Barze's past.
Even after selling his mother back to her family and getting some money, he was still a failed bard.
The money soon ran out. He then borrowed from places he shouldn't have, and the Heretic Church, always short on manpower, exploited that weakness.
"You always know about strange things. Do you know him?"
"He doesn't know me. I just know about him... Ah, I've digressed. If things continue like this, his scoundrel father will sell his mother to the Heretic Church, and using her as bait, they'll drag Barze over to their side. We're protecting him now, but if his parents come, he'll want to live with them. If we forcibly stop that, there'll be resentment."
At first, using the Heretic Church's help, the father goes to his mother's family with sweet talk about coming to rescue her. Her family doesn't trust him, but he's a smooth talker—after all, a failed bard still has a way with words. With no other options, threatened by the Heretic Church due to his dealings with them, he manages to convince his betrayed wife to elope with him again, then goes to pick up their son, Barze. A truly despicable display.
"I'm curious about the source of that information. Where do you really get it?"
"It's not Shalia-san, is it? Could it be one of the spirits?"
From there, Barze would be completely consumed by the darkness of the Heretic Church. Before he knew it, he'd forget the flute he once loved, forget the face of his hated father, even forget the face of his beloved mother, and become the most ruthless fanatic, devoted to the evil god.
"You two, let's wait until he's ready to tell us. Liberta, you understand that it's difficult to explain, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Sorry, you two. And thank you, Esmeralda."
"Yes, I'll wait until you're ready to talk."
When it comes to preventing that worst future, I'll take this opportunity to actively prevent it and eliminate future obstacles.
As for the source of my information, I can only say it's from game knowledge, which is really hard to explain.
Someday, after I've maxed out my level and done everything, I might be able to laugh about it over drinks, but now's not that time.
So, I'll ask them to bear with me.
"I promise I'll tell you someday. Anyway, if I leave this job to Judeus and the others, they'd definitely be furious, so we'll handle it ourselves. Fortunately, Gato and the others are teaching the children, so I have time to intervene."
I steer the conversation toward what I want to do.
"Who's going? Unfortunately, I can't. I have meetings with Iris later, and other matters to report to Father."
"Esmeralda, I'm really grateful for all your help."
"Then please allocate more people to foreign affairs."
"We need people for intelligence and diplomacy. It's really tough recruiting for those areas. Ingrid, is it really impossible to recruit from your family?"
Rescuing Barze's mother.
If this were FBO, it would surely be labeled an "emergency quest."
Freihait is perpetually understaffed.
Training personnel capable of handling diplomacy has also become a challenge. Feeling that our problems are growing, I might seriously need to reach out to that organization.
"I'm sorry. I contacted them recently, but my parents and siblings have already been assigned to other positions. They refused."
"Yeah, I thought so."
Securing trustworthy personnel from House Gryure would have helped, but that hope is dashed.
"Ah, I've digressed again. I'll go to rescue Barze's mother, along with Nell and Amina."
"?????"
"Liberta, Ingrid-san is tilting her head, wondering, 'What about me?'"
"I have another job for you, Ingrid."
Thinking I should seriously look for Named characters, when I declared who would go to rescue Barze's mother, Ingrid, the only one whose name wasn't called, looked confused.
I chose the original members from a while ago. You might worry about children doing covert ops, but since we're heading to a noble's house, Ingrid, as a noble from a different house, can't come.
"Another job?"
"Yes. In fact, if you don't do this, things could get quite messy."
"What is it?"
"I want you to support my body double, Ingrid, and create an alibi with all your might, making it seem like I'm in Freihait."
Instead, I'm asking for an alibi to fix my location in this city.
To be honest, I have to acknowledge that I've become quite famous.
When I move, it attracts a lot of attention.
If I go to another city, it's noticeable, and people try to make contact.
"I see, a diversion. For a single rescue, your fame is actually an obstacle, Liberta."
"If I go openly, I'd have to go through a lot of tedious negotiations. I'd risk showing weakness and having rumors spread."
"Like what?"
"If you want to know, wouldn't Esmeralda or Ingrid know better? They're nobles, after all."
That would obviously take time, and stealth would be impossible.
Moreover, unnecessary contact would definitely lead to more麻烦.
On top of that, if word gets out that I, rumored to be an apostle of the gods, am going to rescue a captive mother, her value would instantly skyrocket.
Unnecessary suspicions would arise, making things even more complicated.
Regarding the details, I look away and stay silent, passing the ball to Ingrid and Esmeralda.
Amina, who asked purely out of curiosity, tilts her head and looks at Esmeralda and Ingrid.
"I've just remembered an urgent matter, so I'll return to my work. As for the details, perhaps you could ask Ingrid-san?"
"I also need to attend to the task Lord Liberta assigned me, so I'll be away for some time. Regarding the details, it might be best to ask Esmeralda-sama once the work is done."
Both of them skillfully avoided receiving the pass.
They know how much nobles love gossip, how they'll add fins, feet, hands, and anything else to a story without hesitation.
Even Ingrid doesn't defend it, desperately trying to change the subject.
I see them off as they rush to leave.
"Amina, there are things it's better not to ask."
"Okay."
Amina understood that this was one of those things and dropped the subject.
I want this conversation to end too.
If mishandled, this operation could create rumors about my preferences—my taste in women.
If it were good rumors, it would be a beautiful story: an apostle of the gods coming to rescue an orphan's mother.
But if I thought things ended so conveniently, I wouldn't have experienced half the troubles in this world.
The gossip-loving nobles, hearing that I'm rescuing this woman, would probably think:
"The Apostle of the Goddess of Wisdom likes older married women."
That's why he doesn't pursue women his own age. That's why he shows no interest in the unmarried Claudia.
No matter how much you state the truth, they take their own selfish imaginings as truth and spread it as reality.
It's not hard to imagine such rumors spreading.
"So, from here, we'll prepare for covert action."
"Okay."
I want to avoid that future at all costs.
So I need to act without being discovered, no matter what.
Given our destination, I need to be doubly careful.
"Come to think of it, we never asked where we're going. Where are we headed?"
"The eastern part of the continent, the northwestern area of Duke Marchias's territory. Our destination is a city southeast of there, a bit inside the border with the former Duke Bordrinde's territory."
That land is constantly under surveillance.
We'll need to be careful both entering and leaving.
"How are we getting there?"
"Through a Spirit Passage. Amina, could you contact the Lightning Triplets?"
"Those sisters? Okay, but why not Dark-san?"
"For that land, the Lightning Triplets are more convenient. I heard they've been active there before."
That makes travel via Spirit Passage convenient.
If we were going openly, we'd use the main roads, but for covert actions, a Spirit Passage is definitely better.
The secrecy is on a whole different level.
"Okay."
"We also need to disguise ourselves. I'll need to arrange costumes."
"We can't get caught either."
"It's been a while since the three of us went out together. I'm a little excited."
And so, we stayed up late making infiltration plans.