Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 461: Heroics at the Fire Scenes
Territorial soldiers had already reached the next fire before Tauro and his companions. They were evacuating endangered residents and pushing back onlookers, but the flames were spreading faster than they could contain them.
To the soldiers, Tauro’s group were merely unknown outsiders trying to approach a dangerous scene.
Several soldiers lowered their spears and moved to stop them.
“We aren’t suspicious!”
Tauro reached into [Magic Storage] and produced an expensive pen bearing Duke Barriera’s family crest.
The pen had been given to him by the Prime Minister to celebrate his formal unveiling as Count Graunewald’s adopted son. The crest was proof that Tauro had the duke’s trust and permission to invoke his name when necessary.
“Th-That’s His Grace’s crest!”
The man who appeared to command the territorial soldiers stared at it in shock.
“Forgive me, but what connection do you have to our lord?”
“I’ll explain after the fire is under control. Aeris, please!”
“Understood!”
Aeris immediately raised her staff and began chanting. As before, she summoned a localized downpour over the burning buildings.
Tauro, Ankh, and Ragune tore apart walls, pillars, and beams to keep the fire from reaching the neighboring houses.
The soldiers could only watch in amazement as the group worked with practiced efficiency.
What had been close to becoming a major conflagration was soon contained and extinguished.
The soldiers and residents broke into cheers.
“It’s the Saint!”
“The Saint saved us from the fire!”
“Thank you, Saint, and thank you to her companions!”
The same misunderstanding that had begun at the previous scene spread here as well.
Even the soldiers’ commander seemed to believe that Aeris was the Saint. He knelt and bowed his head.
“You have our deepest gratitude!”
“No, that isn’t quite-“
Tauro tried to correct him, but another fire still demanded their attention.
Without taking the time to explain, the members of Black-Gold Wings hurried onward.
The third and fourth fires had also been close to spreading out of control. The territorial soldiers had evacuated the surrounding residents and slowed the flames as much as possible, while Tauro’s group arrived in time to extinguish them and create firebreaks.
By the time the fourth fire was out, rumors had already spread across the surrounding districts. People were saying that the Saint and her attendants had used miraculous magic to save the city.
Aeris was soaked by the rain she had summoned, yet the water only made her striking appearance more memorable. To the witnesses, she looked exactly like the Saint of their imaginations.
Meanwhile, the real Saint and her official entourage were arriving at Duke Barriera’s residence and receiving their formal welcome.
The result was a peculiar situation: Matilda’s reputation continued to rise because of deeds she hadn’t performed.
“These were definitely deliberate acts of arson,” Tauro said as he examined the final scene.
“Four fires starting at the same time leaves little room for another explanation,” Aeris replied. “I can also detect traces of magic.”
“And there’s a good chance that someone involved was watching from the crowd.”
Using [Presence Detection], Tauro had sensed malice directed toward them from among the onlookers. There were too many people for him to identify the source, and the hostile presence soon disappeared.
The person responsible had likely withdrawn.
“It could be someone with a grudge against the Prime Minister trying to cause trouble in his territory,” Tauro said. “It might also be a plot involving the Saint, or both at once. Since no one attacked the Saint’s procession during the confusion, the first possibility seems slightly more likely.”
“If the target was Duke Barriera’s reputation, they chose districts where security would be weakest during the welcoming parade,” Ankh reasoned.
“But a plan like this may have included a second stage,” Ragune warned. “We shouldn’t assume the fires were the whole scheme.”
“Maybe there was no need for a second stage because none of the fires became large enough,” Zion suggested.
“That’s possible,” Aeris said. “Our intervention may have prevented the situation the culprits intended to create.”
“Then this city owes its safety to Aeris,” Tauro said, glancing toward the residents still calling out to her. “As everyone can see, they’ve already promoted her to Saint.”
“Please stop teasing me!”
Aeris looked genuinely miserable, so Tauro obediently stopped.
Soon afterward, the commander of the territorial troops arrived to escort them to Duke Barriera’s residence.
On the way, Tauro repeatedly explained that Aeris wasn’t the Saint, but merely one of Matilda’s attendants.
“Of course. I understand completely,” the commander replied with an exaggeratedly knowing expression.
His reaction reminded Tauro of people in his former life who politely agreed that a celebrity sighting had merely been a look-alike, so as not to draw more attention.
“It isn’t an unpleasant rumor, but we can explain it properly later,” Tauro said at last.
Further attempts didn’t seem likely to succeed.
And so, by the time they reached the duke’s residence, Tauro and his companions had become unexpectedly famous throughout Barriera’s capital as the Saint and her heroic attendants.