A- am I gonna get murdered?

After receiving the letter from the princess, I rushed back to the Alchemists’ Guild to force my way inside and finally reunite with Ririna. The pompous asshole from before was shocked when he saw Bea’s signature on the letter. He had no choice but to let me in now. Serves him right.

But instead of taking me directly to Ririna, he made me wait in some kind of room, saying he needed to prepare. From the looks of it, this must be a room to receive guests. There are two couches facing each other with a low table between them in the center of the room. The curtains, the carpets, and everything else looked really luxurious. The way it’s set up is probably to impress guests, hence why I thought it was room to receive them. I’m impressed, at least. The room had plenty of windows, with the biggest one having a really intricate design and a perfect view into the street down below.

Still, where the hell is Ririna? That guy told me to wait here, but it’s been almost half an hour and Ririna’s still not here. He is fetching her, right? I don’t get it. To make matters worse, I’ve been hearing footsteps outside like crazy the whole time. I’m getting nervous. I’m not gonna get killed, am I?

“I should have had Carol come with me…” She asked if she was supposed to come along on the way here. I said I was only coming here to talk with Ririna. There was no need for her to come, but she could tag along if she wanted. But she didn’t. She went back to the hotel. And now I’m regretting it… “*Sigh…*”

At that moment, the door finally opened. The man was back with a woman behind him. It’s… not Ririna. What the hell?

The two of them calmly entered the room and sat down on the couch in front of me. Is that his wife or something? They sat right next to each other, and the man laid back comfortably. One of his arms on the armrest, and the other wrapped around the woman’s shoulder. Why? What’s he trying to do here? Show off? Is the jewelry not enough for you? Ugh… Rich men sure love showing off their women, don’t they?

Although… That’s kinda nice… I’m jealous now! I want a cute girl to wrap my arm around too! Not that the woman he’s with is particularly cute. Carol’s infinitely cuter. Sigh… I really should have brought her with me… Then again, she’d probably try to bite me if I tried to do that to her…

“Ahem! Greetings, visitor. Welcome to the Alchemists’ Guild.” Once he had settled into his seat, the man finally spoke up. Strange, though. Here’s now, but the commotion outside still hasn’t stopped. There are footsteps on the other side of the door, and I can even hear them on the floor above and below. The Alchemists’ Guild must be really busy… “My name is Philip Wealworth, and I’m the head of the Alchemists’ Guild branch in Ebrilyon.”

Branch? Is that how guilds work? Do they have a headquarters or something? “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Iroha Shinohara.”

Unlike before, the man was now focused on the conversation. His dismissive attitude was gone, and he seemed a bit nervous. I guess the letter really rattled him. “So? What business do you have with us today?”

“It’s what I’ve said before. I want to meet Ririna.”

“Ri- Ririna… And why do you want to meet with her? If you need our services, there are plenty of other alchemists who can take on your request.”

This asshole really wasn’t listening last time, was he? “It’s not a request… Ririna is a friend of mine. I just wanna talk to her. She’s the one who told me to come here if I ever wanted to see her.”

Philip doesn’t immediately respond. He taps his finger repeatedly on his armrest then glances to the side. Oh, a clock… He was looking at the clock in the wall… “I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.” He looks down with a solemn look. “There’s no easy way to say this, but Ririna passed away recently. She suffered an unfortunate accident and is no longer with us.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“…” Pa- passed… away…?

…

H- he’s sweating… On his forehead… It’s a lie…? It’s like Bea said. The higher-ups of the Alchemists’ Guild are liars. Right… Ahahaha… I was so shocked by what he said that I couldn’t even see how obvious it was. Am I an idiot or something?

Whew… I’m glad I didn’t immediately freak out… But what do I say now? I don’t really have any evidence, so I can’t just claim he’s lying. From his attitude and Bea’s warning, I’m pretty sure it is a lie. But without any evidence, I can’t pin him down.

Why is he lying about Ririna? Is he trying to prevent me from meeting with her? Why? Could it be that she really is dead, but they’re the ones who killed her? And now he’s trying to hide it? Ughh… I hope I’m wrong about that part… “She died in an accident, huh? Can you tell me what happened?”

“Well… Unfortunately, we don’t know the details yet. We’re still trying to find out exactly what happened. We’re not ready to share any information with the public until everything is known.”

Huh… With that response, I think the idea of them having murdered Ririna is wrong. If it was a murder disguised as an accident, he’d probably want to give some kind of information that would match the accident set-up. Like, if she was stabbed, he’d probably say she fell on a shard of glass or something. Then, when the information came out that she died because of a stab wound, I’d immediately think it was the glass. Either way, I think the fact that Ririna’s dead is a lie. Something happened to her, and they don’t want me seeing her.

Oh…? He’s looking at the clock again. Is he waiting for something? Is he in a rush? Oh well, I don’t think I’m gonna get anymore out of him, so I’m done here. I slowly got up from the couch. If Ririna’s here somewhere, once I tell Bea how he lied, she should be able to storm in here and find Ririna for me… He has no idea how over it is for him.

“Please wait! Don’t leave yet.” Philip interrupted me just as I was getting up. “You work for the princess, correct? Why hasn’t our guild’s latest request been approved yet?”

Is he an idiot? I guess he wouldn’t know my relationship with her just from me having a piece of paper. “I don’t know.” Back on the couch, I answer. “Me and the princess a-” Are friends… Flanne seemed worried about others’ perceptions of Bea, so I can’t say that out loud. “a- are working together, yes… B- but I’m only a helper. I don’t know anything about requests and things like that.”

“Is that so…” The man looks down in a disappointed manner, but at the same time, I catch a glimpse of a smile on his face. Why would he be smiling? He didn’t say anything else, and the room was dead silent.

Wait… Dead silent? What happened to the footsteps outside? They’ve stopped… They completely stopped

*SHATTER!* The next second, all the windows of the room broke and the door slammed open. Multiple men with hoods over their heads swarmed into the room from every entrance.

“KYAAAAH!” The woman who was with Philip screamed, and they both ducked. Crawling between the intruders’ legs, both of them headed immediately for the door. What’s going on he-

*Clash!* I didn’t have time to think. One of the men swung a short sword at me. I barely managed to draw my katana in time to block. They’re after me! Guess we’re doing thi- “Grrr!” A sharp sting on my back. Before I could counterattack, someone else attacked me from behind. My clothes protected me from the worst, but this won’t do. I can’t fight like this. They have me surrounded! I have to get out of here!

I desperately blocked attacks coming from every direction, but some still hit me. This is an emergency situation. I have some extra MP, so I can imbue my blocks with some magic using Parrying Strike. I need all the help I can get if I’m going to get out of here alive.

The following series of the enemies’ attacks got parried with extra power. *Snap!* I even broke some of their blades! I managed to weaken their encirclement and headed straight for the door. I used Agility Burst, then Heart Piercer. I wasn’t trying to get anyone with that, I just wanted to get out. The attack itself wasn’t that good. I was in a rush and couldn’t really move properly. Two enemies managed to get in the way and block, but the impact was so strong that they got knocked back and hit the wall. That’s my opening!

I ran out of the room straight for the stairs down. Hooded figures fighting with short swords… That’s the same as the ones who tried to kidnap Bea… Am I fighting more demons then? If they’re here, then this is proof the Alchemists’ Guild is working with the demons! Oh, Philip…. Just you wait until Bea hears about this… You’re gonna regret not letting me see Ririna when I asked!

I got to the stairs, but it wasn’t going to be that easy. There was a group of four climbing up the stairs with weapons in hand. I guess I gotta make my way past them…? “I got you!” I felt someone swiftly catch up to me from behind. “How?” I turned around just in time to block the attack.

Agility Burst! I jumped while our swords were locked, and I flipped over the man. I pushed him down the stairs, hoping to create a gap for me to leave.

But that didn’t work.

The group climbing up efficiently leaned to the sides, letting their comrade fall straight down. Their eyes were focused on me, and their resolve was unshaken. Scary… Can’t believe how cold they are! I need to find another way out of here!

Can’t go downstairs, can’t go back to the room… The only way left is up! I turned my back on the stairs and ran in the opposite direction. After a turn down the hallway, I found another set of stairs. This time, one that goes up. That’s good… That’s exactly where I wanna go… They weren’t expecting me to come this way. As proof, there was only one demon guarding these stairs.

“Out of my way!” I didn’t stop for a second and ran straight at him while swinging.

“Woah?!” Good, I made it through to the top floor. Now… Where was it…? I ran along the hallway, kicking down doors, and looking for the large window into the alley I found earlier.

“Oh! There it is!” The bedroom with the window. Time to get out of here! I jumped out through the window, grabbed onto the wall of the building next to the guild, and climbed up to the rooftop.

“Where did she go? Why’s the window broken?” I heard the pursuers’ confused voices from behind. I didn’t have time to turn around and ran without looking back. “Sh- she’s on the roof! She escaped through the window!”

“After her! Don’t let her get away!” Damn, they’re persistent! At least I got a nice head start!