Transmigrated Into A Tragic Romance Fantasy-Chapter 93: Where Everything Began (3)

《May I ask why? Why would you oppose such an arrangement?》

《Hah! You don’t get it? Pathetic.》

《Don’t misunderstand. I have no interest in marrying someone like you, I’m merely curious about your reason for refusing this betrothal.》

《Oh That? It’s pretty simple. You’re ugly.》

《......What?》

《There’s no greater torture than to look at your ugly face every day for the rest of my life. So sho, sho! Go find a wimp who can endure this ugly face of yours while I find a much better wench to plow.》

《T-Thats...Incredibly rude.》

《Me? Rude? Woman, did you look in a mirror today? Your face is the one being rude right now.》

《.........》

**

Heh-.

While the sun had reached its highest point, the snowy clouds observed its radiance making it a dim noon.

Under that gloomy sunlight, Anna chuckled as she walked.

It was because she remembered the betrothal meeting from years ago.

That meeting where she suffered the greatest humiliation possible for a noble lady.

Her blood boiled.

The betrothal with the Wastrel Elden Raphelion was something so horrifying that no words could represent her feelings when she heard about that dreadful match.

And after the humiliation she received at their betrothal meeting, Anna endured difficult days, both personally and publicly.

It took a long time for that to pass.

Yet, time heals all wounds.

Although she felt extreme humiliation then, now that betrothal meeting was just one of many memories.

A trivial, half-forgotten memory.

But now, because of that past, Anna managed to acquire a helper.

Truthfully the task of installing the mana detection devices through the Grand Duchy was a daunting one.

It’s all that geezer’s fault.

Anna kicked a peddle on the street.

Regulations demanded a swift response when the Association received reports of Dark Magic.

If a Dark Sider were to go berserk, countless lives would be lost, and the Dark Magic, fed with those lives, would cause a massive explosion through the user, vaporizing the area.

The explosive power varied depending on the user’s ability.

Of course, such cases were extremely rare, but there were historical precedents.

200 years ago a Dark Magic user went berserk exploding half of a barony.

There’s a popular saying that goes like this - A person in their twilight years must be cautious of even the failing leaves.

And there was some truth to that.

However, recently most reports of Dark Magic users turned out to be either misunderstandings or simply mistakes.

But Anna couldn’t understand how the chairman refused to ask the Grand Duke of Winterfell for help just because he didn’t want to make a fuss and end up being wrong, adding a tiny blemish on his career right before his retirement.

What frustrated her even more was that the reason Anna was dispatched by herself was also because of the preparations for the damned association chairman’s retirement ceremony.

In the end, she tried to grab any available help, but with the uproar of unrefined mana leakage at the association branch, all departments were deployed for damage control, leaving her to go on the mission alone.

Ironically, Anna’s old wounds became the reason she was able to recruit a helper.

Confidentiality is the top priority in dark magic investigations.

The main reasons are to prevent the user from disappearing if they notice the investigation and to prevent the public from panicking.

Thus, it was customary to work with trusted or verified individuals.

From that perspective...

Elden Raphelion didn’t meet any of those requirements.

The man was a barbarian, who let his lower head do all the thinking.

A man whose mouth only knew how to spew vile words and insults.

While Anna only experienced this once, she also heard tales about his misdeeds.

Nevertheless, the reason she borrowed the help of such a sorry excuse of a human being was because of the look in his eyes.

They seemed so desperate and sincere, begging for her forgiveness.

Although it was a long time ago, the Elden Raphelion she remembered was...The complete opposite.

His cruel crimson eyes filled with contempt.

His crooked mouth, spewing vulgar words.

And his beastly aura.

Anna clearly remembered it all.

Yet, years later, when they met again, Elden appeared so docile.

Such a stark contrast made Anna doubt her own memories.

Well,

This still might not qualify him for the mission, but if his apology was sincere, Anna believed it would be better to choose the devil you already know than an unknown variable.

Moreover.

I would save quite a bit on the mission budget with him going along.

If the situation hadn’t been favorable, she had planned to use the money provided by the association to hire someone capable.

But here was someone so desperately needing her forgiveness.

And well,

Anna might just as well forgive him if he lent a hand.

Of course, only if he showed up at the promised place.

If his apology was sincere, he would appear.

And maybe, since she would have all that leftover budget for the mission, she could go on a shopping spree(?), to alleviate the stress and humiliation he caused her.

Of course, Anna would make sure to not overindulge.

With these thoughts, Anna arrived at the place where she had met Elden yesterday, and.

“......?”

She could see two beautiful women standing on either side of Elden,

An elderly gentleman,

And what appeared to also be another woman(?) with a cloak and hood pulled over her head.

Ah.

Truly, the Gods must have favored her today,

Because her help brought even more ‘Helpers’!

And all without Anna wasting a single coin!

***In the end, I had to drag everyone with me to the meeting place.

Truthfully, I wanted to leave Lumia at the lodging and leave Rachel there to protect her.

But Rachel was also absurdly stubborn, wanting to come too.

So, it seemed safer to have Lumia and Rachel moving together, than to leave Lumia with Rendler at the lodging.

Besides, Lumia seemed eager to help as well.

“I’m serious here Ariel. Look both ways before crossing a street and also don’t follow anyone suspicious, even if they offer you candy...It could be dangerous.”

“Mn!”

“Ho, Ho, Ho! You worry too much My Lord.”

As I was trying to hammer some safety rules onto our bookworm’s head, Anna Ventria appeared exactly at noon, with a bewildered expression on her face.

“...What is with this crowd?”

I guess that’s a natural reaction.

She had only asked for one helper, but suddenly that helper multiplied into four...

“These are my companions, you can trust them with the task.”

“......I don’t have the budget to hire this many helpers...”

“Don’t worry about that! We’re here because we want to help Eld-Ack I mean the Grand Duchy! So we don’t need compensation!”

Ariel waved her hands as she talked, while Anna stared at the group with a suspicious expression.

Soon enough, however, she let down her guard and approached us.

“Well... if that’s the case.”

Then, I formally introduced my companions before getting to work.

I thought this would help build some trust with Anna.

After all, exchanging names is also the most basic of human interactions.

“Right, unto introductions...This is Lady Ariel Elrond.”

“Pleasure to meet you. Lady Anna Ventria at your disposal.”

“This is Rachel, she’s my Escort Knight.”

“Ah, nice to meet you, Dame Rachel. I’ve heard many wonderous tales about a female Knight with purple hair.”

“This is Rendler, my Head Butler.”

“Pleased to meet you.”

“And this is...”

I gestured towards the hooded Lumia and paused for a moment.

I had already thought about how to introduce her.

Since this was the first time I was introducing her to someone, I had to be a bit cautious.

“Cough-. This...Is...Charles, yes...That’s her name. Due to an accident Dear Charles here lost her voice, and because of a skin disease, she wears this cloak to avoid sunlight.”

Nailed it.

With the combination of being mute, an accident, and a skin condition, Anna simply nodded her head without asking further questions.

“Well. The less said, the better, I suppose. Nice to meet you.”

Bow-.

Lumia bowed her head in response to Anna’s greeting.

With introductions complete, Anna led us to a deserted alley and immediately began explaining how to install the mana detection devices.

“See? It’s not that difficult, right? Everyone got it?”

To summarize the explanation, it was a simple process.

The devices needed to be ‘well’ placed in inconspicuous locations and ‘well’ concealed.

She said that when black magic is used nearby, the devices would react and send a signal to Anna’s receiver which was disguised as a pendant.

‘Isn’t this just a Fantasy Bluetooth device...Or maybe it’s more like a wifi receiver...?’

Heh, I guess this world’s Magic Association must be like my old world’s Scientific Associations.

Isn’t highly advanced magic said to be like science?

......Or was it the other way around...?

Anyway,

Thanks to this fantasy wifi/Bluetooth device, I might get my pardon once we’re done installing them.

Anna took out a map and unfolded it.

The map of the Grand Duchy had numerous checkpoints marked on it.

“There’s a total of 423 locations we need to install the detector. In this southern area, there are about a hundred of them but they’re relatively densely packed, so a day should be enough.”

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423 locations.

It certainly seems like an impossible number for one person to install alone.

Having finished her explanation, Anna took out two pouches and handed them to me and Rachel.

“Since it’s your first time doing this, let’s split into pairs of two.”

So the decided teams were as follows,

Anna and Ariel.

Me and Lumia.

Rachel and Rendler.

Now that everyone was paired up we began our cover operation(?) of installing the mana detection devices.

**

...To think I’d be paired with Elden’s...betrothed.

Ariel, who ended up paired with Anne, stole glances at her as they walked.

Though she wanted to be with Elden, Ariel was at least a bit relieved that her Rival(?) was paired with Rendler.

The worst-case scenario was avoided!

Still......

To think his betrothed would be this beautiful and impressive.

Her professional capabilities seemed quite outstanding, and the way she distributed tasks and gave instructions was incredibly refined and dignified.

Unlike Ariel, Anna Ventria seemed a strong, wilful, intelligent, and reliable woman.

If the marriage talks progressed so much, it shouldn’t have fallen apart so easily...

A betrothal was a serious matter for nobles.

For it to happen the family heads must have interacted quite a lot, and in most cases, when a betrothal happened, the couple married.

If Ariel were to estimate a number for it...it would be something like...9 out of 10.

As it’s a crucial family matter, betrothals are treated so seriously that even a partner’s disgraceful past might be overlooked.

So, why hadn’t such a betrothal concluded?

Dying out of curiosity, Ariel’s eyes darted around the streets as she spoke.

“Um...Lady Anna?”

“Yes?”

“May I ask you something? I... I heard about your past relationship with Elden.”

“...I see.”

Although Ariel started the conversation, for some reason she couldn’t continue it.

The young bookworm worried she might touch on a sensitive topic.

She had asked Elden indirectly before, but only received a vague answer that they simply weren’t compatible.

Somehow, she felt knowing the reason might help.

Since it seemed like years had passed, Ariel gathered her courage and spoke again.

“If, if it’s not too rude... could I ask why the betrothal wasn’t finalized?”

And then.

A moment later.

When the answer came.

“He said he disliked me because I was ugly.”

“...What?!”

immediately after hearing Anna’s response,

Ariel despaired.

Everyone could see that Anna Ventria was a beautiful woman.

She also felt a bit betrayed.

......Elden never mentioned anything about appearances before...

After all, the man himself said that his ideal type would be someone who cared for animals or plants.