MTMD 10

Chapter 10

Though there was clearly not a single trace of training.

—Clang!

She had faced a family’s knights and escaped, half-shattering their swords.

Also, the way she rode the horse resembled a knight who had galloped countless times at full force on battlefields more than a noble young lady who had learned horsemanship.

As if she had become a different person.

How could that be?

Also.

—Clang!

Even the protective magic that the Eden Marquessate had clearly prepared was torn apart by an ordinary iron rod.

Yet her body itself had neither vital energy nor magical power.

If that was the power of ghosts.

And if that power did not end simply with the ability to see ghosts.

Everything made sense.

“I came here intending to stake everything on this place.”

Yes, she had said she would stake everything.

His lips curved into a smile.

Her appearance that day had certainly been just as she said.

People who vow to offer everything they have to obtain what they want right now are everywhere.

But among them, it was rare to find one whose words were sincere.

Everyone struggles to live a better life than they do now.

But that desperate figure risking her life to escape the carriage, and.

“First, I have to survive.”

That single sentence revealed a sincerity clearer than anything else.

From the covenant to the future she would gain through marriage, she had truly staked everything.

She was offering him more interest than he had felt when he first saw her.

Enough that he wanted to keep watching.

That was why he rose from his seat.

“Investigate further in connection with the power she used when escaping the Eden Marquessate’s carriage. And.”

He recalled her, who had lain unable to move after using that power, and spoke with narrowed eyes.

“Do not lose sight of the movements of the Eden Marquessate and the Viscount Flodel. They will certainly move to gain something.”

In particular, the Eden Marquessate would think they had paid the price yet failed to obtain a concubine, so they would pressure Flodel.

There was no telling in what manner that would become a threat to his bride-to-be—no, to his hard-won “ally.”

So he needed to move first. Because he did not want to lose this interesting existence that had come to him after so long.

“Understood.”

Khandela bowed courteously.

The first thing Eloise felt upon coming to Edgart was strangeness.

The Flodel family had a comparatively large number of ghosts for its size.

But Edgart, however little it interacted with the outside, must have had many people pass through given the family’s scale, yet almost no ghosts were visible.

Even the ghosts that were there were mostly quiet.

According to the original work, ghosts who had died recently usually became ghosts with their emotions from just before death intensified, making proper communication impossible.

Yet there were few such beings among Edgart’s ghosts.

Could it be that almost no one had died in recent years?

Most of the ghosts currently hovering around her were those who had followed her from Flodel.

Eloise looked around at the ghosts.

“There is something I want to ask you all.”

She had already sent the maids outside, citing her unfamiliarity with being attended by servants.

She whispered in a small voice from a little distance away from the mirror.

A voice that would not be heard outside, but would be clear to the beings within the room.

Since the room contained no one but her, the ghosts visible only in the mirror turned to look at her with puzzled faces.

Among them were Edgart’s ghosts as well. Unlike those who had followed from Flodel, they were beings who had never imagined that the living could speak to them.

“I’m not talking to the living.”

At those words, some ghosts’ eyes flew wide open, and one even turned to look at her mid-passing.

Some ghosts who had been outside the window suddenly passed through the door and poked their heads in.

「What, you can see us?」

A stir spread among the ghosts.

Eloise looked directly at the ghost in the mirror who had spoken and said.

“Yes, I can see you.”

At those words, the stir among the ghosts grew larger.

Several ghosts even swooped close to her.

Of course, in reality they were not visible to Eloise’s eyes either, but within the mirror they were perfectly clear.

The ghosts crowding together before her.

「How can you see us?」

「I noticed new ghosts appearing lately—so they followed this child, it seems.」

「Ah, I saw her when this child arrived.」

The ghosts began chattering among themselves.

Flodel had had someone who could see ghosts several generations ago, but it was clear there had been no such person here.

Perhaps because their interest was greatly piqued, some ghosts even settled down and sat within the room.

“I am Eloise Flodel, who will soon become Eloise von Edgart.”

At those words, the ghosts’ eyes flew wide open.

「The next mistress of Edgart?」

There was a reason she had bothered to introduce herself to the ghosts.

The ghosts whose eyes changed at those words.

These were probably—

「Aren’t you a ghost from Edgart?」

Yes, among those who had served Edgart or been of the Edgart main family, there must have been some who became ghosts.

「I did work for Edgart.」

A woman suddenly thrust her face forward. Then she spoke as if humming.

「About 300 years ago. Don’t expect loyalty from me.」

“Of course.”

It would be good if there was, but there was nothing to be done if there wasn’t.

Just knowing that there were ghosts from Edgart was a harvest.

As Eloise thought this, a ghost spoke.

「Are you perhaps looking for a ghost of the Edgart main family?」

From the one who asked, a heavy aura flowed.

Eloise recognized it instinctively.

This was the aura possessed by ghosts of great power, even among those who had been ghosts for a long time.

“If one exists.”

At her words, the aged ghost slowly shook his head.

「Anyone of the Edgart main family would be someone born with vital energy.」

She knew at least that in this world, vital energy and magical power were opposing forces.

But was that also related to becoming a ghost?

「Those who possessed vital energy in life do not become ghosts.」

Eloise’s eyes flew wide open at those words.

「You look like you want to ask why, but I don’t know either.」

「Perhaps it’s because vital energy gnaws at the soul?」

The ghosts muttered thus, but none seemed to know the answer.

Whatever the reason, she could look into it later; it was certainly disappointing news.

If there had been someone of the Edgart main family, there would have been no need to explain the Key of the Covenant, and even in death they would have concerned themselves with its whereabouts.

Nothing ever resolves easily.

Nodding, Eloise said to them.

“It’s a shame, but that’s all right. What I want to ask you all about is the whereabouts of the ‘Key of the Covenant.'”

It seemed there were no ghosts of the Edgart main family, and most of those close enough to the Head of the Family or trusted enough to know of the Key of the Covenant would have formed covenants and possessed vital energy.

Then naturally, few ghosts would know of the Key of the Covenant.

「A covenant? Isn’t that the power the heads of Edgart use?」

「That power had a key too?」

As expected, most ghosts said such things.

It might be harder to obtain information than she had thought—just as she thought that.

「Ah, are you perhaps talking about that strange object?」

There was one who reacted.