The two immediately put the plan into action. Philomel decided to go directly to Ellensiaâs hometown. She said to Le Guin that it was okay for her to go alone, but he said she was his job and he felt sorry for leaving her to someone else.
âI want to see the house where Ellencia and Catherine lived once againâŠâ
Jeremiah stayed at the State Guest House to meet them as they left.
âSheesh, it still hurts just to stay here.â
He complained, but one had to stay. Philomel looked at him and said.
âSorry. If someone comes, deal with it appropriately and send it back. Dolls canât speak, so Jeremiah has to convey my thoughts instead.â
Next to Jeremiah stood a doll that looked just like Philomel. It was a doll made with magic by Le Guin. It was indistinguishable from a real human only by appearance, and even simple movements could be followed. The only downside was that it couldnât speak, so she really needed someone to assist me.
Jeremiah grumbled.
âOkay. Go quickly. Le Guin doesnât have to come back.â
âA spoiled child.â
âWhy are you fighting again? Come on, letâs go. Jeremiah, Iâll buy you a sweet dessert!â
âWhoaaaaaa!â
A bright light soon spread.
When she opened her eyes, the two of them were in the mountains. Le Guin looked around the wooded area and frowned at her.
âWas it wrong? I canât see the seal.â
This was a place he had never been to, so he had no choice but to use movement magic by relying on the coordinates marked on the map. However, there were often cases where the location on the map and the actual location of a rural village like Ellenciaâs hometown were different. Philomel unfolded the map of Utina that she had brought with her.
âIt wouldnât have gone too far. Walk a little.â
âShall I just hug you and fly? We will look for it in the sky.â
âCan I go?â
âOf course.â
It was time for Philodel and Le Guin to have such a conversation. A muffled sound could be heard not far away. The two of them walked towards it quietly as if they had promised. Miscellaneous items were placed on the ground, and five or six young men surrounded them. Judging from the awkward atmosphere, it didnât seem like an ordinary gathering. The two hid themselves in the bushes and watched what they were doing.
A man with a teddy bear in his hand said sullenly.
âAh, thereâs nothing worth the money.â
The man who opened the lid of the pot answered.
âHoney, youâre the only one with one ring left in the jewelry box. Give it to me if you donât like it.â
âAnd what I meant was that there was nothing better than the house the princess lived in.â
âŠThe house where the princess lived?
Another took the teddy bear manâs words. He was examining cosmetic bottles.
âMan, this is all treasure.â
The teddy bear man made a puzzled face.
âHow is this a treasure?â
âYou idiot. Isnât Ellencia, the new princess, the most famous person in the empire these days?â
âWhy is that?â
âAdvertise it as something that the princess used when she was a commoner. It will sell like crazy.â
âSelling that well? Itâs just junk.â
âOriginally, if itâs a celebrity thing, itâs sold even if itâs garbage.â
The pot man didnât say a word.
âI still canât believe that Ellensia is the princess. It seems like only yesterday that she was walking around her neighborhood blushing.â
The cosmetics man smiled sinisterly. Besides, Ellencia was really pretty. There were perverts who wanted to get more fancy when it came to things belonging to pretty girls.
The teddy bear man cheered.
âWow, then this is all treasure! Letâs go back to the house and get some more!â
The pot man giggled.
âWhatâs left? We went all the way to the trash and cleaned it up.â
At that time, the man who had been silently rummaging through the pile of books so far shouted.
âOh! This is great!â
âWhy, what is it?â
The man held up the pink notebook.
âLooks like a diary!â
âWhoâs?â
âLook at this childish picture on the cover. Did Aunt Catherine wear this? Of course itâs Ellenciaâs.â
The faces of the other men suddenly brightened.
âReally?â
âOf these, it must be the most collectible.â
âHow much would I earn if I sold it?â
âYou know that all the money you get from selling this is divided equally, right?â
âAre you crazy! I found it!â
Philomel thought as she looked at the group of men whose atmosphere had become bloody as if a fight would break out at any moment.
âIt didnât take too much time, since Iâve been able to find the diaryâŠâ
A faint light spread from Le Guinâs hand.
âShould I handle it?â
âTheyâre bad guysâŠbut donât kill them.â
Le Guin made his way through the grass in front of them.
âWho, who!â shouted the men caught at the crime scene.
âAre you aiming for this too!â
âWe steamed this one first!â
âIf youâre not part of this, act as an outsider and get out of here!â
Whoaaaaa!
The men who rushed at him fell to the ground in the blink of an eye. Le Guin flinched, exposing only the whites of his eyes, pulling the diary from the manâs arms.
He said after handing the diary to Philomel.
âBut one guy ran away. He ran away from the beginning without attacking me. Shall I bring him?â
Philomel answered as she dusted off the diary.
âLeave him alone. Iâm not here specifically for vigilante activity.â
The current priority was to check the inside of this diary. A pink diary with a cute teddy bear on the cover. Would Ellenciaâs secret be written in it?
Philomel perched on a nearby rock and opened the diary, feeling her heartbeat.
âFirst of all, from the first pageâŠâ
Ellenciaâs first note in the diary was written about three years ago.
[Month X, 2th, weather clear. My mom bought me a cute diary. I will write a diary every day from now on!]
The next note in the diary was the date a week after that.
[Month X, 9th, clear weather. I forgot to write in my diary. From tomorrow, I will use it every day!]
And after a month,
[Month Y, 9th, the weather is cloudy. I just decided to write a diary when I feel like it. My mother made beef stew for dinner. It was delicious.]
[Month Z, 1st, the weather is fine. Todayâs breakfast menu was tasteless cabbage soup. Lunch was hard bread, and dinner was boiled potatoes.]
[Month W, 1st, weather rain. Downstairs Jacquelineâs older sister went out to a big town and boasted that she ate a snack called cream puff. The cream puffs were delicious and smooth, she said. I want to eat it too.]
All notesâŠ
[Month T, 2th, the weather is fine. My mom cooked peas and carrots. I ate the peas and secretly threw away the carrots.]
[Month S, 4th, cloudy weather. Bread for breakfast, potatoes for lunch, roast pork for dinner.]
Philomel opened her eyes mischievously.
âItâs almost nothing but eating..
Did Elencia eat that much?
âAlthough she liked spicy food, she didnât really have that impression in the diaryâŠâ
Anyway, the important thing was not the front of the diary, but the part written at the time when the potato person changed.
Philodel quickly turned the pages of the diary.
âUh?â
Then her hand stopped. The diary, which had been short from a certain point, suddenly felt longer. Strangely, that wasnât the only thing.
An endless sequence of characters. On her white paper stood letters she did not know.
âI donât know. I have no idea.â
It didnât mean that she simply couldnât interpret the meaning. It was an unfamiliar text that she had never seen before. Philomel was confused. While she was being educated as her heir to the throne, she came across almost all kinds of texts. In most of the cases she was familiar with the letters themselves, even if she did not know the meaning. However, this letter was different. It was the first time she had ever seen it, and it bore no resemblance to any text she knew.
A character written by only a few tribes? Or ancient letters?? However, if it was such a character, it was strange that Elencia used it.
As Philomel looked at the diary with a serious expression, Le Guin approached.
âWhatâs the matter?â
âLe Guin, do you know this letter?â
Seeing the page she held out, he narrowed his forehead.
âI donât know. First time I see it.â
âIsnât it an ancient letter?â
âWell. Iâve been to many ancient ruins, but Iâve never seen a letter like this.â
âMaybe a codeâŠâ
âSomehow I donât think so.â
The two of them put their heads together for a long time, but they couldnât come up with a hypothesis.