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199. Beggar Siblings – Master

The boundary between dreams and reality is blurred.

As Reyna arrived in front of a theater, following her brother and “Sister Ksenia,” she tilted her head in confusion. It was a place she had never been before, yet it felt oddly familiar. “Boyfriend?” The fat uncle’s name was on the tip of her tongue, making her feel even more perplexed.

Reyna exclaimed, “Huh?,” and “Eh?” in silly surprise, busily looking around the bustling theater.

“Where have you been? It’s about to start. Hurry up and get ready.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I’ll go to the dressing room right away. Leo, I’m sorry, but I’ll be working for a bit. The shower room is over there.”

I’m starving to death.

As Ksenia disappeared, Reyna felt a desperate hunger. Washing up was nice, but the dizziness made it unbearable.

“Brother, I’m hungry…”

“Reyna, let’s just wash our faces and go eat first.”

Leo led Reyna to a chair in front of a wooden bathtub in the shower room. He struggled a bit to draw fresh water from the well, but being hungry, he lacked strength.

Blaming the well that didn’t even have a pulley, Leo grabbed a bucket with a little water remaining. After tying his sister’s hair, he said, “Let’s wash up, lower your head.” And he started washing her face…

– Glug.

Reyna hastily drank the water from the bucket. Leo shouted, “Don’t drink that!”

After a series of ups and downs, they finally finished washing their faces.

It was disappointing for Reyna to lick the water off her face, but Leo quickly wiped her face with a towel. He hastily cleaned his own face and headed outside.

The Orange Theater had a dining area for the troupe members. It was a small makeshift structure attached next to the theater, and with the siblings looking like beggars, they couldn’t expect to get a meal.

Leo pleaded with Oberg, who was guarding the theater entrance, to get permission from the dining lady. The lady exclaimed,

“I told you not to bring in beggars!”

She got angry, but Oberg chimed in,

“He’s Ksenia’s boyfriend.”

That caught her interest.

“Hmmm~ Now that I see, he’s handsome. Ksenia must have high standards. She acted like she wasn’t interested in boys… Oh my, how pretty is he? Sister?”

Amidst the lady’s excitement, the beggar siblings managed to finish their meal safely.

Reyna and Leo returned to the shower room. After washing up with the hardly drawn fresh water, Oberg brought them clothes.

It was the outfit they wore in the last episode. Changing into a white priest’s robe and gaudy costume for the play, the siblings avoided looking like beggars and decided to wait for Ksenia by watching the play.

There were plenty of seats available in the theater.

Today was the day the Rauno family was supposed to watch the play together. However, due to rain in the morning, or maybe because not everyone knew about the play, only about half had shown up. They would probably arrive around the start of the second act.

The curtain rose, and the lights lit up the stage. Reyna and Leo watched the play again from their seats near the stage.

As they watched, Reyna couldn’t help but think about what to do next. While Leo was deep in thought, Reyna absentmindedly stared at the boy next to her.

He seemed vaguely familiar.

Old memories filled with laughter. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, feeling like she had met an old friend, but as the boring play commenced, she caught eyes with the curly-haired boy who squirmed in his seat.

In the dark audience, the boy and girl stared at each other intently. Just as they were both too shy to speak, the boy summoned his courage and said, “Uh, hi?”

“Ah, hi?”

“Who are you? I’m Santian Rauno.”

“I’m Reyna. But… have we met somewhere before?”

Santian shook his head. Although his heart raced at having a stunning girl talk to him, he honestly replied, “No. This is our first meeting.”

“Is that so… Hmm… Nice to meet you. Can I call you Tian?”

“Uh? Sure. My friends all call me that. But how old are you? I’m…”

“Shh! Santian, you need to be quiet.”

Carefully trying to engage in conversation, Santian got scolded by his parents nearby. However, the brief quiet didn’t last long, and the boy and girl started whispering to each other while Leo looked at his sister with a complex expression.

– “She’s not a child!”

Why did I say that? In the last childhood friend episode, I told Reb, “Remember this clearly. This isn’t about you. Let your sister do as she pleases. She’s way better than us.” — giving a warning for the next ‘to me.’

Reb was incredulous.

After traveling to rally barbarians, he couldn’t understand how his friend had become so dull-witted, and I felt the same way. Even if I were to yield a hundred times, Reyna was still just a kid…

‘She wouldn’t have forgotten the promise not to use her sister, would she?’

It was puzzling. I had no clue what Leo was thinking when he said that. Just a few hours after the episode began, Reyna, who was heavily influenced by Minseo, had stored Leo de Yeriel’s warning deep in her heart.

First, I had to regain {bloodline}. It was also the clearest path to making Reyna a princess, and if we didn’t seize the Conrad Kingdom this time, it would severely disrupt the next childhood friend scenario.

There was a high likelihood that I would have to clear all three scenarios: childhood friends, engagements, and beggar siblings. That’s why I led a rebellion in the last childhood friend episode, but the Conrad Kingdom was involved. Perhaps Prince Eric reacted too sensitively due to Leo de Yeriel’s presence, but there was no guarantee the same thing wouldn’t happen again.

Moreover, the next rebellion wouldn’t just be tied to clearing the childhood friend scenario; it would also involve the engagement scenario, so I had to prepare thoroughly. 18/22. There weren’t many opportunities left.

Therefore, what I had to do this time was… defeat Prince Eric de Yeriel, who serves that terrifying evil god, Oriax.

Leo trembled.

The dark night sky reminded him of the eyes peering through the gaping hole. Each time the rotten blood surged with curiosity, my body swayed along, melting under the debuff of [Oriax’s Footprint] marked on my forehead.

Even though I had become a Swordmaster, he was definitely not an easy opponent. I could at best break through the shield that protected Prince Eric. Even that was not certain.

So, I needed insurance.

Seizing power by controlling the Knights Order based on the legitimacy of the wrongfully deposed Prince Leo de Yeriel would suffice. Therefore, what I needed was a card that would help in capturing Prince Eric, ‘Cardinal Berg.’

Cardinal Berg had defeated Prince Eric in the ending where I died to Oriax, and he demonstrated immense power in the childhood friend scenario, where he was the Apostle of Barbatos.

Well… even though I was killed without putting up decent resistance against Reb, honestly, I wasn’t in a good state back then.

In any case, if I could persuade Cardinal Berg, the rest would just be a matter of time. If worse came to worst, I could kidnap the cardinal and throw him in front of the cornered Prince Eric to reveal his strength. However, that didn’t feel like the right approach, so Leo’s thoughts deepened.

There was a normal (?) route involving Cardinal Berg’s hidden son, Count Gustave Peter, so it would be best to explore that first. Last time, the failure occurred because I ended up kissing Princess Chloe de Tatalia…

‘Oh, wait a minute.’

I also needed to deal with Gilbert Forte. If I left that brat alone, Leah would get expelled from the Monastery Church.

But that little rascal… no, that boy is the son of Count Hermann Forte, so if I touched him the wrong way, it would create chaos.

Now that I was a Swordmaster, I could probably handle it, but if time dragged on, Prince Eric de Yeriel might end up on the throne.

Then it would be hard to corner him. The danger of the Apostles serving the evil god lay more in the fact that there’s no way to prove whether they are Apostles or not than in the power they wield.

‘Is there a way to make Gilbert Forte neither get killed nor kiss Princess Chloe? Should I reveal that I’m a Swordmaster? No, if I did that, I would be stuck here.’

Leo wanted to leave Orville as soon as possible. Back when he gathered knights to drive out Prince Eric, he was short on time, but he also hoped to somehow prevent Sir Bart from killing Palace Tertan.

Because of Hirie Gaidan.

As Barbatos’s Apostle, I had harshly killed her, and it was heartbreaking to see her return with hollow eyes after losing her beloved. In the last childhood friend episode, Hirie had been enchanted by the {Barbatos’s Bracelet}, yet she never fully regained her consciousness.

I was in no position to help anyone, but there would be benefits to assisting her. Hirie’s lover, Palace Tertan, is the grandson of Duke Rupert Tertan.

If Hirie and Palace were to marry, it might help in the next childhood friend episode when I staged a rebellion.

However, Sir Bart attacking Palace Tertan would happen late autumn. Moreover, it would occur far away at the Irotashi River of the Conrad Kingdom. To prevent this, I really had to hurry. That’s why I quickly proposed to Ksenia.

Leo thought, ‘I need to handle Katrina as well…’ While pondering what to do while staying in Orville, the play finally ended.

So the first act has just finished, Reyna thought as she stretched.

But Ksenia, who came over after removing her makeup, informed him that the second act had already ended. Since she wouldn’t appear in the third act, she led Leo to her room. Reyna and Santian, who had grown quite close, said, “See you again!” and “Yes!”

The third floor of the theater looked the same as before. The rooms were huddled together in poor condition, with laundry hanging everywhere. Through the open doorway, former prostitutes sat smoking cigarettes on unmade beds.

Reyna and Leo passed by rooms piled high with fabric for contract sewing and another room with messy skins from shrub branches. Finally, they sat in Ksenia’s room.

Unlike other rooms, it was quite spacious and well-furnished, and they exchanged friendly chatter.

There weren’t many noteworthy stories.

Ksenia asked, “You said you’d like to go to the Conrad Kingdom together, but may I ask why and when?” but Leo didn’t have a ready answer.

He still needed to prepare. But he asked her to get ready as they would depart within a week. He would explain the reason when they leave…

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Ksenia smiled brightly.

“But I wouldn’t want to walk if that’s the case. If you ever need help, just let me know. I have quite a bit of savings.”

“That won’t be necessary. Please just look after my sister for a few days. I have things to do and will be busy for a while. But I’ll definitely stop by at least once a day. Reyna, so you…”

Hearing that he would leave, he worried his sister would start crying and throwing a tantrum again, but Reyna didn’t do that. She was too absorbed in looking around the familiar room, smelling the Liatris flower on the table, and she sneezed.

“E-excuse me!”

Reyna looked strangely at Ksenia, who took out a handkerchief and wiped her nose.

While it was impressive that her sister didn’t appear troubled, Leo felt a tinge of sadness inside. He promised Reyna, “I’ll definitely come tomorrow,” and left the theater.

Who should he seek out first?

Leo pondered between Count Gustave Peter and Katrina, finally deciding on a direction. He found her using {Tracking Skill}, only to face a bewildering situation.

A fallen sword. Kneeling, Katrina shouted.

“Master!”