Chapter 31: Obsession

“Ah, that’s right.”

Aoi’s gaze was still wandering restlessly because she wasn’t used to Rain-san, but she was right.

We had been thinking that his Unique Skill was something like ‘Precognitive Dreams’ or ‘Farsight’—something for seeing distant things. Otherwise, there was no explanation for how he could have learned about my Unique Skill.

“I suppose you thought you were found through my Unique Skill. Unfortunately, that’s a mistake. …Um, it’s a bit hard to say, but the reason I was able to find Kakeru-kun was thanks to Yuuka-san and Aoi-chan.”

“…Huh!?”

The two of them exclaimed.

I had assumed there was another Blessed One, and that it was that person’s Unique Skill, but apparently that wasn’t the case. What on earth did he mean by thanks to the two of them?

“I had been investigating other Blessed Ones all along. For my purposes, I had been searching for a Blessed One with a Unique Skill that could connect to Japan. My Unique Skill isn’t suited for information gathering, but I had the status of royalty, and since I had been able to contribute to my family with this Unique Skill, I was allowed to use the country’s intelligence agency.”

…So Rain-san had also been searching for a way back to Japan all this time.

Since he said he had revealed himself as a Blessed One eight years ago, perhaps he had been searching for even longer than Yuuka and Aoi.

“Of course, I was investigating Yuuka-san and Aoi-chan, and I was particularly keeping an eye on Blessed Ones who still had attachments to Japan like the two of you. Yuuka-san’s purpose was very easy to understand. You became an adventurer to earn money and purchased a very expensive Elixir—because you wanted to save someone precious suffering from an accident or illness back in Japan, right?”

“!?”

I was surprised… He had investigated Yuuka and Aoi to that extent.

Certainly, both of them were apparently famous Blessed Ones, and since they had deliberately acted conspicuously, information about them must have been easy to gather.

“Then, a man unknown to her suddenly approached Yuuka-san. Moreover, he apparently showed her a black-and-white paper with characters and photographs not found in this country. Upon seeing it, Yuuka-san’s expression changed dramatically and she left the Adventurers’ Guild with that man. After that, you who had been diligently working as an adventurer suddenly informed the guild that you would be taking a break, and reports stated that your demeanor in the market wasn’t your usual expressionless self but rather very lively.”

“Ah…”

I had been as careful as possible when contacting Yuuka at the Adventurers’ Guild, but they had grasped even that much. Certainly, any Japanese person would understand that what I showed her was a newspaper.

And to think they had even observed the change in Yuuka’s expression…

“And Aoi-chan, who had always been holed up in her research laboratory studying magic, suddenly flew—literally flew using flight magic—to the town of Berlia. Since I had already grasped that she was in regular contact and a cooperative relationship with Yuuka-san, at this point I was able to identify Kakeru-kun’s existence and Unique Skill.”

“…!”

Yuuka and Aoi had turned pale. They were probably thinking that my existence was exposed because of them.

I see. If he knew that much, he could deduce that the mysterious man who contacted Yuuka had delivered an Elixir to Japan and granted her wish. Once Yuuka summoned Aoi, who had also been searching for a way back to Japan, that theory would become almost certain. That was why he had guessed earlier that my Unique Skill either allowed travel to Japan or the transportation of objects there.

I had thought I had been moving carefully to avoid being discovered, but I never imagined there was someone who had been investigating to that extent.

…To think he had investigated Blessed Ones so meticulously—it was practically an obsession. The fact that neither of them had noticed meant this country’s intelligence agency must be remarkably capable.

“Well, I don’t think there’s any other Blessed One who was watching the two of you more closely than I was, so I don’t think you need to worry so much. If anything, I’ll also cooperate to prevent information about Kakeru-kun from spreading.”

“That would be a great help. Anyway, I understand your situation well now. …Excuse me.”

“Oops.”

As I said that, I tried throwing a coin at Rain-san’s right arm from close range, but he dodged it as if he knew the coin would be thrown there.

“The malice was small, and you wanted to confirm whether my Unique Skill really is ‘Malice Detection,’ didn’t you?”

“Ah, sorry about that. I see, being able to tell the degree of malice is convenient.”

“Well, yes. It would be perfect if I could react to things I can’t see too. …Um, could you rein in those two over there? They’re directing quite a lot of malice at me right now—nothing compared to Kakeru-kun just now…”

“……”

When I looked to the side, Yuuka and Aoi were glaring at Rain-san.

…Perhaps they felt responsible for my Unique Skill being exposed because of them. But they absolutely mustn’t try to silence Rain-san.

And even though my cover was blown, in a sense I was saved by having a cooperative Blessed One like Rain-san.

“Both of you, it’s fine, so calm down. Our conditions are that you won’t tell anyone about us and that you’ll cooperate with us in times of need. I may also ask to use the intelligence agency or your authority as a prince.”

“Yes, that’s no problem at all. …Actually, is that really all? I think you could have all sorts of wishes granted.”

“For now, that’s fine.”

Rain-san’s Unique Skill didn’t seem suited to direct combat, but both the intelligence agency that had investigated me and his authority as the Fourth Prince were extremely powerful.

I don’t intend to be picky about means to protect myself, so I’ll gladly accept his cooperation.

“If you want, how about girls? There are many races besides humans in this world, so having about 10 attend to you for one night of paradise—no, forget what I just said! I-I was joking, so calm down!”

“…I knew it, we should silence him right here and now!”

“…Extremely harmful to Kakeru-sama. He should be eliminated immediately!”

When Yuuka and Aoi stood up, hands on their sword and staff, Rain-san’s smile froze in an instant.

Yeah, even as a joke, he should have been careful about making remarks like that in front of women. Perhaps the line for what constituted sexual harassment had been lower sixteen years ago.

I thought the two of them were only joking in response, but apparently his Malice Detection skill reacted even to jokes like theirs.