Chapter 117 – Microwave Oven (7)

Morning of the 6th day.
There was a carriage standing at the front door of the Hotel Marriott.
No, it might be a bit awkward to call it a horse car.
Because it was a driverless vehicle led by a steel beast in the shape of a giant wolf.

“Then I’ll come back, Louis.”

Erzsebet, who was looking down from the window at the car body, which was almost like a black iron box, dressed in her usual dress and greeted me.
Even under the blanket, I beep. He asked, patting the ice duck to calm her down as she cried and showed off her hostility towards him.

“Is the escort okay?”
“Yes I’m okay. In the first place, nobles invited to Marquis Elvin’s party are not allowed to bring an escort. There is also the problem of having too many people, and although there are more troops in the mansion guarded by iron soldiers and iron dogs, there is only mana.”
“… All right. Ah, princess.”
“Yes?”

I made one request to her as she was leaving.

“If today’s schedule is over, can I finish the escort service you asked me to do at this point?”
“Umm…”

She seemed to think for a moment and then nodded her head.

“Yes, you probably want to rest for the last day or so. “I will allow it.”
“All right.”

The dull conversation was over.
As promised to Liv, on the 7th, she was able to enter the library’s top secret archive.
As Hergé Bett left, her carriage kicking up her dust, I sat on her bed, lost in her thoughts.
The story about Marquis Elvin that I heard from Ansen yesterday lingered in my mind.

— Elvin Heignets may have seemed like a gentleman on the outside, but she was actually a very violent person. She went so far as to kill family servants, her slaves captured in war, and even her own wives.
— At the time, her relationship with the saint was so bad that her church condemned him as a heretic, but there was no way to bring down her iron-blooded chancellor.
—Why? It’s simple. Other than that, she didn’t know how to properly control the iron nut and iron bottle. In an empire, the authority of the emperor is strong, right? The production technique was forcibly removed and placed in the Uzet Library, but it was not complete.
She said — I heard there’s a serious problem with Goliath’s iron dog, too. Although nothing is known to the public.

Marquis Elvin was an excellent wizard, but he also seemed to be a man with some kind of mania.
With an army of steel, he became increasingly drunk on blood, and eventually committed frequent murders in the empire, which was revealed to the public.
In the end, it was a happy ending as the iron soldiers and iron dogs were usefully used by the imperial family after his death.

‘I can’t believe there was such a heartbreaking story among those who were just taking a nap in the cafeteria with nothing to do.’

Next time, I decided to give him at least a bent iron sword from the blacksmith as a snack.

Anyway, in the end, there was only one thing I was worried about.
Could something happen to Erzsebet?
She also wondered if there was a way for her to convince the Marquis of Elvin to find out the crafting technique for her armored soldiers.

I could hear the clock ticking.
I eventually got up from my seat.
Since I didn’t know what would happen, I decided to at least go to the party.
At least until today I was her escort.

The problem was that I had no tracking technology, so it was difficult to know the exact location of the Marquis Elwin’s mansion and Erzsebet.

“Oh right.”

At that moment, a brilliant idea occurred to me.
I took out Adela’s ice duck that was sleeping under the blanket and looked at it.
And I quietly spoke to this person who, for some reason, was showing hostility to the women around me.

“I’m going on a date with Baron Liv this evening.”
“Beepee———!”

Then, the ice duck suddenly got up from its seat and rushed towards the Uzet Library.
Lev said it looked like a bomb, but I thought it might actually be closer to a heat-seeking missile.
This time, I tried to praise Adela.

“I want to go back to Parencia quickly and see Adela. “You too?”
“Yangyang~ Yangyangyang~.”

They even added strange sound effects.
Seeing how she makes things like this so casually, I wonder if Adela will eventually pull out something like an iron dog.
Anyway, I think it will be easy to track down Erzsebet with this.

“But I keep getting flashes of the princess I saw yesterday wearing the dress… There are few opportunities to see clothes like that even at the Academy. Like a bride having a ceremony…”
“Beepeeeee———!!”

As long as it doesn’t explode.

***

Erzsebet grew up experiencing two wars up close.
Every day, he glimpsed the people of the capital who were trembling when the devil’s army invaded Thessalon, and his father, who was unable to sleep at night due to the information warfare and assassinations taking place behind the scenes.
Sadly, Goliath and the military’s inspector general’s office did not inform him of anything, but that did not mean they were without eyes and ears.
At this time, a saint from the Monarch came to visit, and preparations for convening the Grand Council were in full swing.
She instinctively sensed that another storm would sweep across the continent.

“Please take care of me today as well, Lady Erzsebet.”
“Do not worry.”

I needed strength.
And I needed someone.
After joining Farenzia Academy, she interacted with the Temple of Light and worked to recruit promising talents.
She reached out her hand to something she couldn’t reach yet. She even got a small burn.

“The Iron-Blooded Prime Minister, Marquis Elvin is entering!!!”

I have come here to get the one thing I want in Skandal, a world of the past that opens only once a year.
As she sat in front of the harmonium, her eyes met the Marquis Elvin, who appeared with four large iron dogs and dozens of armored soldiers.

“Lady Erzsebet from Penheim will present a performance to celebrate the birth of the Marquis.”

While the performance started, she didn’t make any effort to attract his attention.
She already knew there was no need for that.

Fenheim has already managed Skandal for decades, and she is not new to this position.
The daughter of a small family whose name has never been known within the empire.
I’m embarrassed to say it myself, but I also realize that it’s beautiful.

When she finished playing, as she expected, one of the guests handed her her small key and pointed to the third floor of her party venue.

“Marquis Elvin is waiting.”

It was a good sign.

***

About two hours after the party started, Erzébet, who had been complimenting her on her performance, quietly slipped through the crowd and headed to the room her attendant had told her about.
Iron soldiers making clanking noises were guarding the door.
When I carefully knocked, I heard a voice telling me to come in.
When I opened the door, the Marquis Elvin, who had just taken off his navy blue coat, was holding a bottle of champagne.

“It was a wonderful performance, Lady Erzsebet.”
“I’m honored to hear that your Excellency the Marquis liked it.”

In the room, there were several iron soldiers motionless like furniture and iron dogs curled up in the carpet.
Marquis Elvin herself is a great wizard, but if she were to engage in hand-to-hand combat with troops like that in such a narrow space, she would be instantly defeated.

“I heard she is from Fenheim. May I ask what territory she is from?”
“It’s just a small countryside. “It is a place that is sometimes considered dangerous, with hordes of fierce monsters lurking on both sides.”
“Right. I can’t believe such a beautiful girl grew up in such a rough place. But…”

Sigh.

His hands wrapped around the white shoulders exposed by the dress.

“If help is needed, I can personally send soldiers here to eliminate the danger.”

What I was hoping for was a fairly blatant move.
Erzsebet gently removed his hand and revealed her purpose.

“Soldiers are not enough, sir.”
“What?”
“I want iron soldiers. “They also want to own it completely.”

His already fierce eyes became even fiercer.
All the iron soldiers and iron dogs in the room raised their teeth and swords at once, and the mana in the air fluctuated.
A life so overwhelming that you can’t even move a finger.

“You’re joking, young lady.”
“… Sigh!”
“Steel dogs are surprisingly good at chewing soft meat. Do you know?”

The way his hands caressed my white neck and collarbone was unpleasant.
Erzsebet finally caught her breath and spoke to him.

“His Excellency the Marquis, ugh! “I will give you a price that will please you.”
“Wrong. Isn’t the approach completely different? If you wanted everything from me, you should have taken it from me instead of giving it to me! “Like His Majesty, the great emperor!!”

Wow!!

The room trembled as the soldiers stamped their feet all at once.
But she did not panic and continued her words calmly.

“I know of your death. “I’ll help you avoid that.”
“What… ?”
“Three years ago, you murdered Count Tetram’s daughter and buried her in Lake Senrir after breaking up her marriage with His Excellency’s son.”

The end of the Marquis Elvin recorded in later history.
Since this was a world that would disappear tomorrow anyway, Erzsebet was willing to take advantage of it without hesitation.

“An adventurer explores near a lake and discovers a small cave. “You may have thought that it was swept away by the current flowing into the North Sea and sank to the bottom, but unfortunately, there was no rain that year, so it went somewhere else.”
“That would be a lie.”
“You will find out if you send someone to Sandalphonia, right? Of course, the imperial army may come here before then.”

It was at least 10 years later that the adventurer discovered the body, but that would not be important now.
As everyone in this era knows, there is no telling how long it will take to receive a prophecy from the three Moirai sisters at the Sandalphonia Observatory.
Seeing the Marquis’s expression become serious, Erzébet breathed an inward sigh of relief.
However, his next words made him flinch without realizing it.

“Still, this isn’t a profitable deal.”
“I am giving you information that can save your whole life.”
“What do you not know, young lady? Do you really need to reveal to me that your magic skills are poor?”

It was because I caught a glimpse of the madness in his blue eyes.

“These are more precious than my life. “You don’t know that.”
“…”
“It won’t be taken away a second time. Now, have I said everything I want to say? “Then let’s have another conversation.”

After confirming that her woman’s will had been broken, Elvin regained her composure.
From the beginning, I had no intention of letting her go like this.
Doesn’t she even know her own secret that no one else knows?
After she had had her fun, of course she was going to kill him.
However–

“Isn’t that possible too…?” …”

Erzsebet sighed, not showing any fear.
With numerous blades pointed at him, he slowly relaxed his grip on the blue ribbon on his chest and the pus on his clothes and spoke.

“I knew. If you can get invited to a party just by eating some strange food and playing a song, you’ve probably tried it many times already. “It was the royal family that compiled the imperial history in the first place.”
“What do you mean… ?”

His moist, moist eyes looked quite sad as he said there must have been a lot of sacrifices.
But a little later, Erzébet raised his head again and looked directly at his marquis.
Once again, he put into his mouth the words that had been said to him.

“I want iron soldiers, Marquis. “They also want to own it completely.”
“That was a little while ago…”
“I only want someone who is loyal to me, protects me, and can be trusted at any moment. “I want someone who is strong and noble enough to not be defeated by anyone, and who is just and good even if he is a little secretive and a little frivolous.”

— Louis, you promised to help me last time.
— If I pass, can I hire you as an escort for a while?

“It’s great if you’re good at cooking.”

Tuk.
She smiled brightly, slapping the Marquis’s hand away rather forcefully.
Her heart was pounding, but she feigned composure.

Because if you collapse like this, you won’t be worthy of making him your own.
Strangely enough, when I thought of Louise, my heart began to beat little by little.
More heavy and calm.
Just like steel.

When she first heard her father’s advice, she was wary of him.
She was afraid after her director called her into her own office.
When she saw the empty, desolate house, she pitied him.
He was embarrassed when he got into the bed, saying he had to be escorted.

Yesterday, when someone suddenly said that I looked pretty in a dress——

‘Let’s not think about that first…’

In any case, the iron soldiers that Erzebet Brunhart wanted to obtain were not in Skandal.
From the moment she said she would give Louis her title, she had only one purpose.

“I’m sorry, Marquis. “I have a fiancé, so I don’t think I can have a conversation beyond this, physically or mentally.”
“You bitch wants to die right now.”
“By the way, you didn’t cast a soundproofing spell? What a relief. I know you’ll be worried if you send me here alone, but you might not be able to find me. Therefore…”

I’m not good at this kind of thing…
She muttered as she slightly untied her clothes.

“Are you going to scream?”