29 Allegiance (4)

"Duke Alfonso?" Estelle recalled the name Sierra mentioned and fell into deep thought as she contemplated the reason why he would oppose her father like that.

"Sierra's going to be dangerous for us in the future. Although eradicating her would make us lose Derrick as well.. Won't it be better if we disposed of her now?"

Minerva's words were not wrong, the perfect example was the recent incident.

If Heine was not observant, would she have been fooled for longer?

Not to mention, she was prepared to betray whichever side she was in order to avoid damages to herself, like how she sold out Duke Alfonso because of a threat that would cost her her life.

"...No, both of them are potential allies. It's just that they need to be tamed.. Do you believe that I can't do it?" Estelle spoke in a challenging tone.

Minerva laughed. The way she spoke seemed to imply that the siblings were akin to exotic pets that could be tamed.

However, she wasn't exactly wrong either. The siblings acted highly on their emotions. It was part of their characteristic. The excessive immaturity affected their decisions.

Perhaps Sierra would mature, but Derrick was already an adult, yet still had his bad decision making side.

"Oh, how can that be? Our trust is wholly placed on the almighty Saint Estelle," Minerva sneered, rolling her eyes to the side.

"Bet. I'll force you to believe it, there is nothing I can't do when I try hard enough," Estelle burnt the tips of Minerva's hair with a finger flick, which earned her a glare of malice from the elder as she restored the damage.

"Crafty, 'eh?" Estelle tilted her head as her lips arched into a wide grin.

"Fix your attitude, little girl," Minerva scowled, brushing her hair repeatedly.

"Sure, the only thing you win against me is your age, old lady," She retorted.

"You're starting to sound like Heine," Minerva tidied up her hair, going as far as to cast magic to enhance its features. Soon, the strands went back to its previous lustrous condition.

"Oh, that's not good! I don't want to be as busy as him!" Estelle faked a distressed tone, covering up her mouth as part of her act.

The two laughed and further mocked the absent former Spirit King for the perils he had to face. Part of it was sympathy, as the King was being pitted against by his own race who he had protected for years without end.

Once the small talks ended, they finally got to the main point.

"Okay, so, let's start from... factions, shall we?" Estelle created a futuristic window that displayed what she currently knew of Alynthi's aristocratic groups.

"The Royal faction, 5 Dukes, 8 Marquises, 11 Earls, and 21 Barons.

The Liberal faction, 2 Dukes, 11 Marquises, 7 Earls, and only a single baron.

The Neutral faction, 3 Dukes, 6 Marquises, 4 Earls, and not even one baron." Estelle read out the information, analyzing the possibilities inside her mind.

Just from the statistics, it can be seen that lower ranked aristocrats tended to mingle with the main power, which were the Royals. Joining another faction could risk their pedigree or even rank being taken away, so their action could be justified to a certain point.

To say that every noble in the Royal faction is a villain would be too much of a stretch. Just like how even the Neutral faction had evil - minded individuals, the Royal faction also contained powers that did not want to act according to the higher ups, but stood with the faction's ideology and goals.

There were also secluded nobles that only joined factions for fun, not giving any commitment whatsoever.

Alynthi's political matters weren't tidy in the slightest.

"Duke Alfonso is in the Liberal faction. My father is in the Neutral. If Duke Alfonso was in the Royal faction, it'll make perfect sense since they have been trying to suppress father for a long time, but why would a Liberal plot against us?"

From the previous summons, she observed the King's expressions. Judging from there, she guessed that the culprit was part of the Royals faction, since the King showed great changes when they were on the verge of losing the case.

[Was it truly just regret from failing to see a potential threat fall..?] Estelle doubted it.

If the culprit was from the Liberals, the King would be on a win - win situation where he'd rejoice no matter what.

"I don't keep up with the humans' disputes, so I won't be able to answer that question. However, I have a piece of meat for you guys," A familiar voice invaded the discussion, and the owner of that said voice revealed themselves right before them.

"Heine?!"

The fae's visits had decreased ever since the Spirit Kingdom's turbulence arose. For him to make a visit, it meant that he brought something important.

"Un. About the monsters, the only thing confirmed is that it is indeed, not a natural occasion,"

"Well- obviously. But.. if the monsters are appearing all over the world, can you really say that it's the work of the Humans? How brave do they have to be?" Estelle mused.

"That's true, but it's likely that your kin attained a way to control them. Although the perpetrator hasn't been confirmed, going by how they specifically aimed for Duke Clareste, we might as well search ourselves first,"

"By that, you mean.."

"Someone.. or something. Whatever it is, there's gotta be something they're aiming for in this Dukedom. If not, they wouldn't launch such a large scale attack publicly. They're set to ruin you guys first, even though there's other enemies," Heine proposed.

"How do you look for it?" If Estelle couldn't find it, who could? She didn't sense anything amiss in the manor.

"Dunno, maybe ask somebody?"

"Who to ask, though...?" Estelle thought about it, but judging by how the secret managed to stay covered for years, especially when she has been living here all the time is arguably quite impossible.

Not to be haughty, but Estelle was confident in her powers. Heine and Minerva also made frequent visits to her home, but nobody noticed.

Other than her, Heine, and Minerva, who would be there?

Heine did not answer. Instead, he turned to Minerva, who blinked in confusion upon being stared at.

"Don't tell me..." Minerva bit her lips in hesitance. Just by relying on her instincts, she knew the person in question. Instinctively, she backed away.

Estelle, too, realized who Heine meant the moment Minerva reacted that way.

[Right.. There was that one..]

Minerva received the shock of her life right after. Without flinching, Heine stunned her temporarily and dragged her over to a communicator, in which the message's receiver was set to Yulia Eire, the redhead's elder sister.

Yulia Eire, the lunatic researcher. If it was that woman, she might have a way to unravel any undiscovered seals.

Neither of the three was adept in the arts of seals and barriers. Not to mention breaking the seal, even finding one would be near impossible.

"E-elder sister! Come.. fast- ugh," Minerva glared at Heine for his reckless and brute ways. He knew that Minerva's regeneration powers were lacking. Since she couldn't shield herself in time, she had to take the damage and wasn't able to relieve it in mere seconds.

Heine was one step ahead, he used an audio communicator instead of a visual one. Even if Yulia was a maniac for her research, she wouldn't want her one and only sister to be placed in danger, after everything they've gone through together.

If only Yulia saw the real scenario, she wouldn't have arrived in minutes.

Alas, due to Heine's clever plans, the blonde woman showed up.

Her hands held a crushed diamond - shaped stone, which they recognized as a teleport stone.

It was a stone meant to designate themselves to a certain target. In this case, the target was Minerva.

It was valuable because of how hard it was to make. In the face of her little sister, Yulia had destroyed it without a thought.

Whatever danger it might've been, to capture Minerva meant that they had absurd power.

If Yulia thought about it closer, maybe she might've been able to sense something weird and doubted it a little.

However, the action was done swiftly, giving Yulia no chance to digest what happened.

With a side wink from Heine, Estelle was able to tell that he also placed a blockage in their location. They were currently in the Duke's mansion, Yulia would become lax and think that it was only a simple matter.

It must be said that Heine knew his surroundings too well, far too well.

Although Yulia's seal - breaking abilities were higher than Heine, time was not kind to anybody and directly crushing a teleport stone that instantly brought them to whoever the stone was meant for was better than wasting said time.

In hectic times, every second mattered.

Little did she know, she had just wasted what counted as a valuable item, just a level below national treasures, in order to arrive at the Dukedom's training grounds that she was familiar with.

Minerva had also been healed by Estelle, so no one looked out of place.

The fiery woman cursed Heine for being that cruel.

"It had to be done. You suck at acting, so you would've ruined everything,"

Yulia sighed and massaged the space between her eyebrows as she realized that she was just tricked.

Tilting her head, she gave in into her fate. After all, she was not in a rush since she had just finished her latest research.

"Minerva, you owe me a service for this. A special one," Yulia's eyes darted over to an empty chair and sat down. "And? Explain yourselves, I might go on a rage if your reason isn't good enough,"

"Simple. Help us search for an item,"

"...Tell me more. I'll decide after I hear it," Yulia remembered the work she left behind. She glared at the man, warning him that she'd rage if it wasn't as important as they made it out to be.

After the explanation was done, Yulia banged her fists on the table as she trembled in anger.

"Bastard, you know that I don't participate in politics!" As a Witch with both human and elven blood running through her, it could be said that Yulia was a misfit.

The humans alienated her for being a Witch, while the elves despised her for the human blood she had.

Instead of mingling with them like Minerva, Yulia chose to completely cut off contact with both races.

"I'm not telling you to involve yourself in this. You can do the deeds behind the stage.. You won't be an actor," Heine negotiated.

"Yeah, then? This girl, why should I use my powers for her? Say, she doesn't like me, and I share the same sentiment,"

Yulia still hasn't forgotten the incident that happened back then. Although she wasn't sure about the cause, she was certain that it was connected to this young child in front of her in one way or another. Her gut feeling had jumped out and told her to avoid associating with her, and she was more than ready to follow the message.

Still, her researcher origins made her unable to distance herself from this rare subject.

[Reincarnated One].

That was the title Yulia saw when she exerted her efforts to break through Estelle's status seals.

The seals that covered her weren't that many in numbers, but each and every one of them was near impossible to crack. It was foreign, as if the encryption came from a different plane altogether.

However, she noticed that the seal that covered the 'Reincarnated' title was vastly different from the rest. It was much easier and was a simplified version of the others. Although it also caused her some problems to solve, it was doable with her skills.

Perhaps it was just her overcautious side jumping out, but it was as if someone, or something desired for her to unravel the title.

As if it was purposefully made to be uncovered by her, that was how much the seal stood out.

The fact that it contained traces of her recent research subject, and happens to perfectly match with it...

That certainly did not strike her in the right way, nor did it increase her goodwill towards the suspicious child.

Estelle's origins were being scrutinized by the blonde Witch, and because she was also quite petty, she wasn't willing to offer her help.

Not after she was subjected to a painful experience she had never seen anything alike before.