Immortals (3)

A long silence filled the place. Alice, Hannah, and Aaron's eyes were shaking. For a moment, they did not know if my words were true or not.

I chuckled at that. Well, that is the normal reaction.

"Amazing, right?"

Alice nodded in a daze. She then took a deep breath and calmed down.

"… Why are you telling me this?" Alice said, but her voice was noticeable hoarser than before.

"What do you think?" I asked instead of replying to her.

Alice fell silent. She thought for a moment before widening her eyes in fear.

"The murders, could it be…"

"Bingo, that is the answer."

Alice's face paled. If my words were true, then what was happening was much graver than she thought.

I looked into her eyes and sighed. "To be honest, I thought I was the only immortal in this world. As I told you, Immortals are not cabbage. Every Immortal is someone incredibly talented or incredibly lucky, most of the time, it's both. A person like that can take ten thousand years to appear in a world, and maybe they will die before attaining immortality. So, for two immortals to appear in a world at the same time is very uncommon.

"But, after I investigated the killings in the academy, I came to the conclusion that the person behind them is most likely an immortal, or someone at that level. In other words, that person is probably someone strong enough to destroy this world."

Alice's expression turned grave. "… Could you be mistaken?" She asked.

"Perhaps." I chuckled. "But most likely not."

"Don't think I'm joking." I continued with a serious expression. "Alice, Immortals are not a good bunch. Most of them treat people as grass, not caring in the slightest if they die or not. Believe me, if an Immortal is planning to do something in this world, he probably will not care if he destroys half of the world in the attempt."

Alice nodded and fell silent again. I did not mind it and continued sipping my tea calmly while waiting for her next question.

Not even five seconds later, Alice looked at me with a sharp look.

"No, something is not right." She said. "If becoming an immortal is as hard as you say, how did you manage to become one at such a young age? Moreover, how did you learn all that information? Prince, are you messing with me!?"

"Calm down, Alice. I told you, becoming immortal has nothing to do with strength or age. Although you are right that I needed more than eighteen years to attain immortal… Mm, was it thirty or forty years? I don't remember. In fact, I became immortal purely for an accident."

"Huh?" Alice was completely confused.

"… My way to immortality is pretty unique. Mmm, you only need to know that this is not my first life."

"Huh? That is…"

"Reincarnation." I completed her words. "Well, a bit different, but yeah, that is the gist of the things. As for the information, I learned about that in my past lives after interacting with some other immortals."

Alice opened her mouth, but she did not manage to say anything.

Another person spoke instead of her.

"Young miss, don't believe his lies!" Hannah, Alice's knight, spoke in a furious tone. "How can you believe something so outrageous like that! Do you think we are crazy!?"

I curved my lips up in amusement. "Then tell me, what do I need to do so you can believe me?"

"That is…" Hannah was stupefied.

I shook my head and chuckled. "In truth, I don't care if you believe me or not. The only reason I'm telling you this is that Alice's abilities can be useful against the person behind the murders."

"My abilities? Do you mean [Fate]?"

"Yes, [Fate]." I nodded with a smile. "I told you before, don't I? You remind me of a friend of mine. Just like you, she can wield fate. Of course, she is much stronger than you."

"… Is she an immortal too?"

"She is." I looked at Alice and replied. "A very powerful one, by the way. I killed her twenty-seven times, but she is still alive."

Alice stiffened.

"Coming back to the topic, [Fate] is a very strong power. Seers like you, when strong enough, can use it to manipulate gods and even immortals. That is the reason immortals like us protect ourselves against its powers. Nobody likes to have their actions controlled by others. Many immortals even kill every seer they find. I have also killed a few of them. In fact, during a period of my life, I hated seers more than anything."

All the blood drained from Alice's face. She could feel the killing intent I was exuding. For an instant, she thought I was going to kill her.

But the next instant, my killing intent disappeared.

"Well, that was long ago, so you don't need to be afraid. Plus, I already took countermeasures against you, so even if you become as strong as that friend of mine, I will not fear you."

Alice nodded. She recalled that when we last met, I took something out of her soul.

She thought about asking me about it, but in the end, she didn't. She had the feeling I was not going to answer anyway.

"So, what I need to do?" Alice asked.

"Nothing much." I replied. "The person behind the murders will definitively hide his actions from your fate, so you just need to use your [Fate] as much as you can. You don't need to learn about his plans, but just to find any abnormality in the city. Something your fate can't see through, even if it's a dog that looks taller than its fate shows. When you find something like that, tell me. I will do the rest."

Alice looked into my eyes and nodded after a few seconds. "… I understand. I'll believe you for now."

I chuckled and stood up. "That is enough. By the way, Alice, I have a small advice for you. Stop now that you can curb your ambitions. Because if you reach the point where you feel the need to kill me, I'll kill you first."

Once I said it, I vanished from the spot.

…

Once Claus left, Alice and the others stayed silent.

Finally, Alice opened her mouth.

"Uncle Aaron, what do you think?"

"… I don't know, young miss. This has gone beyond my scope of understanding."

Alice nodded.

"Young miss, you are not going to believe him, right?" Hannah stood up with a flustered expression. "It's obvious he was lying!"

"Do you think so?" Alice stared at Hannah and sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm leaning towards believing him."

"Why!?"

"Because he knows too much, and how can you explain that an eighteen-years-old prince can injure a god?"

"But–"

"Stop, Hannah." Alice shook her head. "I know you dislike the prince, but that is not reason enough blind your judgment. Besides, if his words are right, we can't afford to ignore it. It will be meaningless to get the entire empire if the empire is destroyed."

... Sigh, I don't know what to think. Alice grabbed her forehead in confusion.

"By the way, Uncle Aaron, how is Hannah's registration to the academy going?" Alice suddenly asked.

"Everything is ready. She starts next week."

"Young miss!" Hannah cried out, but Alice ignored her.

"Perfect. Hannah, you know what your task is, right?"

"Young miss!!"

"You only need to seduce the prince. Learn about his likes and dislikes, and talk to him about me."

"Young miss!!!"

Aaron sighed at that moment. "Young miss, if prince Claus is truly an immortal as he said, do you think this will work? He will probably see through your plans easily."

"And what about it? There are so many girls with him, do you think I'm worse than them? I don't think he is the kind that rejects a meal that is served to him."

Aaron shook his head speechless after hearing it. He could only hope that his young miss was not biting more than she could chew.

To be honest, he simply desired to get away and retire in a place far away from this terrifying prince that almost killed him once. He was already too old for this.