Chapter 128 | The Vampire Princess Later Drew the Holy Sword

The small room Wald had opened up was not particularly large.

Its four walls were made of the Mage Tower's standard light gray stone, and a magic crystal used for illumination hung from the ceiling. The light was dimmed to a level somewhere between twilight and candlelight.

There was a roundtable, three chairs, and a nameless green plant sitting in the corner, likely left behind by some mage.

“Rest assured, I won't be curious about any of your gossip.”

Wald spoke with a serious expression.

Although they knew he was indeed the type of person who had no interest in other people's gossip, hearing him say it himself still felt a bit tiresome...

No matter.

Rafina was the first to walk inside.

She chose a chair and sat down, her tail resting gently over the back of the seat, her posture as dignified as ever.

Then Esper walked in, pulled out the chair opposite her, and sat down.

It was very far from Rafina.

Eladia followed close behind and sat down next to her.

Their two chairs were placed very close together. Rafina's gaze lingered on the distance between those two chairs for a fleeting moment before shifting away.

“...Well then, Your Majesty the Demon King, is there something you wish to say?”

Esper spoke calmly.

Rafina closed her eyes for a brief moment.

Then she spoke.

“Nia, I've missed you.”

Her voice was very soft, completely different from the way she had spoken at the roundtable earlier.

This was not the tone of a Demon King speaking to a Hero, nor was it diplomatic rhetoric; it was simply someone finally speaking words they had kept bottled up for a very long time.

This was not what Esper had expected.

In her assumptions, Rafina would first bring up official business, seriously discuss the conflict between the Hero and the Demon King, and then present a proposal acceptable to both sides.

But she hadn't mentioned any of that.

Did she not care about these conflicts?

No, that wasn't it.

From the very beginning, she believed that those conflicts did not even exist.

Nia would absolutely never hurt her. She believed this with absolute certainty.

You're being far too obvious, Rafina.

Esper looked at the girl in front of her, her brown eyes devoid of anger or sadness, reflecting only a businesslike indifference.

“Who is Nia?”

She asked.

Rafina's shoulders stiffened almost imperceptibly.

She looked at Esper, then at the blue-haired Saintess beside her, before pulling her gaze back to Esper's face.

A helpless smile appeared on her face, just like the expression that used to accompany her indulgence every time Lonia caused trouble or acted foolishly long ago.

“Alright, Nia. Stop messing around. Are you blaming me for not coming to find you sooner, and instead waiting until this meeting brought you right in front of me to speak up? Actually, I always intended to go look for you, but...”

“I am not messing around. Who is Nia?”

Esper's voice remained steady, each word spoken as if she were reading a commission report that had absolutely nothing to do with her.

Eladia's hand remained clasped with hers, never letting go.

Rafina's smile was still hanging on the corners of her lips, but its curve had changed.

She paused for a moment, as if in thought, and then turned toward Eladia.

“Miss Saintess over there, may I ask if you know who Lonia Catori is?”

“Ah...?”

Eladia was taken aback, seemingly not expecting the Demon King to suddenly address her.

But she noticed that the hand she was holding seemed to stiffen slightly.

She was afraid, or perhaps anxious about something.

“N-No... I don't know...”

So, she wrapped her arm even tighter around Esper's, leaning her body slightly closer to her side, as if trying to protect something.

Rafina stared at Eladia's clinging hand, her leaning body, and the spot where their shoulders pressed together.

Her smile twisted slightly.

“...So, even that sort of thing is kept secret? It seems the relationship between you two isn't quite what I imagined...”

“I don't know what you are talking about. I came here to discuss matters regarding my mission. If you continue to speak of such baffling things, then I shall take my leave.”

Esper stood up. Her movements were swift and decisive, without a hint of hesitation.

Eladia stood up with her, their clasped hands swaying gently in the air.

They had already grown accustomed to holding each other's hands.

This habit shone with a blinding glare in Rafina's eyes.

“Wait!”

She stood up abruptly.

Her knees knocked against her chair, pushing it back half an inch with a sharp scrape.

“Ni... Nia, you...”

“My name is not Nia. I am Esper. The Hero of humanity. And the one who will stand as an enemy to the demons. Please understand your position, Demon King of Abyss City.”

Esper looked at Rafina.

Her back was straight, her shoulders level, and her grip on Eladia's hand was light yet as steady as if she were holding a sword.

But the girl she faced was anything but steady.

“There is no way you would ever stand as an enemy to the demons!”

Rafina's angry shout echoed briefly in the room before being swiftly absorbed by the stone walls.

Silence rushed back in, enveloping the three of them once more.

She stared at Esper, a tempest of emotions swirling in her crimson eyes.

Confusion, resentment, grievance, and deep down, an emotion sparked by the blue-haired Saintess that she couldn't even put a name to.

“Ni... Esper, please don't be like this. I've been searching for you all this time. Court Head Eliza has been too. During the year you were gone, I investigated so many leads and asked so many people, but nothing came of it. In the end, it was only when Ellie brought the portrait distributed by the Church to show me that I realized you had gone to Avalon and become the Hero. I...”

She stopped halfway, because Esper's expression hadn't changed at all.

Nothing. She simply stood there quietly, as if the things Rafina spoke of truly belonged to another person named Nia.

“...The person you are looking for must be that girl named Nia. Lonia Catori. I am Esper, just someone from a village who became the Hero by accident. So please, do not project someone else's life onto me.”

Rafina stood frozen in place. A few stray strands of her silver hair, which had been neatly draped over her shoulders, had frayed out.

She stared at Esper's face, looking at her eyebrows.

She's a bit thinner than when she was a child, she thought.

She looked at her eyes; although disguised as brown to cover up their original red, she still recognized the contour of those eyes.

“You won't admit that you are Nia?”

“...I told you, I am not her.”

“Then why are you wearing that hairpin?”

“...”

Esper froze.

“You've always worn it, right? Nia, I know. Even when I saw the portrait before, you were wearing it.”

Rafina spoke softly, but the moment she realized that even after she brought up the hairpin, the other girl didn't immediately deny it, her words began to tumble out faster.

She had found proof—proof that could not be refuted.

A bond established between the two of them ten years ago in that small town.

“Nia, it really is true, isn't it? I knew it. Nia would definitely never abandon me. After all, we're best friends, right...?”

“Stop talking...”

Esper closed her eyes and gently pressed her hand over the hairpin, as if trying to hide it.

Rafina did not stop.

She was afraid that if she stopped, the girl in front of her would walk away without ever looking back.

So she fished the other hairpin out of her skirt pocket.

A hairpin identical to the one on Esper's head.

“Nia, you said it yourself, didn't you? One for each of us. That way, even if we get separated, we can still recognize each other.”

“...”

“I didn't wear it in front of everyone just now. It wasn't because I forgot, but because exposing our relationship directly before everyone might cause unnecessary trouble. Nia, since that day, I've been waiting for you all this time.”