The Main Heroine Likes the Extra

58 – Mother.

After arriving at the mansion, we met Riel’s brother, Prince Andrew, and we headed to the drawing room following the guide of the knight.

A few people were already sitting in the drawing room.

“It’s been a while.”

His Highness Aine, who always has a confident expression, greeted him, and Captain Garrett, who was standing next to him, slightly bowed his head.

Across the way, a woman in a white priestly robe was sitting, and when we came in, she got up and said hello.

I think he was a member of the World Tree Church, but he didn’t feel much of the unpleasant feeling he had felt from the missionaries of the church in the north.

Someone was also sitting at the table by the window on one side of the drawing room.

Long blonde hair, blue eyes, and distinctive long ears.

A thinly dressed elf beauty was holding a cup of drink and staring into her cup.

“…Elf?”

Riel muttered that as well, probably seeing her.

Hearing Riel’s voice, the elf turned to this side and she lightly bowed her head in greeting.

And Riel and I reflexively silently bowed.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen an elf.”

“Huh? Have you ever seen an elf?”

“Yeah. From home.”

Even in the north, there were few elves living there.

They are small in size, like a small village, but they are one of the races that have adapted well to the harsh northern life.

“Eve seems to be arriving late at night due to distance, so let’s talk a little bit first.”

After Her Highness Aine started talking, everyone sat around the table.

His Highness Aine, seeing that everyone was seated, looked at the priestess sitting in front of her and opened her mouth.

“Then, Priestess Alicia. I’m sorry to trouble you, but can I ask you to repeat the story you told me?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Saying that, the priestess named Alicia stared at Riel.

“…Probably, it’s going to be a very important story.”

“…Huh, did you mean you went there by all means?”

Zenon, the leader of the 2nd Holy Knights belonging to the Central Church, looked dejected.

She looked for Priest Alicia, who had been spotted in a village in the western part of the kingdom, near the border a bit far from the Duchy of Grace, but according to her eyewitness information, she had already wanted her carriage and left.

Anyway, Zenon, who decided that it was dangerous to wander around the kingdom now that it was causing friction with the kingdom, reported it to Cardinal Gerald, but what came back was an order to somehow catch and punish the apostates.

Even after the apostate was punished, an additional order was issued to confiscate all belongings and bring them back.

It’s ridiculous to talk about being an apostate, but to come with all your belongings…

Isn’t this just a robbery?

It was a mission I was really reluctant to do, but I still couldn’t ignore the cardinal’s orders.

In the end, Zenon took off the paladin’s armor and put on another armor to disguise himself as a mercenary.

And then, after culminating in a few subordinates wearing the same disguise, I was able to find out her destination while searching around the kingdom in search of information about Priest Alicia’s sightings.

‘Duke of Ignis, Brimton City…’

Unlike small towns or small towns, inspections become quite strict when the size of a city is Brimton.

Unless a false identity was prepared, entering the city of Brimton was currently impossible.

“Damn it, prepare a fake identity or something and send it on a search mission…”

Zenon stomped his feet, expressing his dissatisfaction with Cardinal Gerald, whom he had only harbored in his heart.

A few of Zenon’s subordinate paladins were watching, but they didn’t say anything.

It was because they were also dissatisfied with this mission.

“…Currently, there’s no way. I’ll go back and report.”

“Yes.”

After saying that to the lieutenant, who was similarly disguised as a mercenary, Zenon turned and left the place.

His men also followed suit, and a group of less than 10 left the vicinity of the Duchy of Ignis.

Without even a dream knowing that someone was secretly watching it.

“……”

“……”

Alicia’s words were quite shocking.

She was surprised when a familiar story like ‘Yggdrasil’s Child’ came out, but the most surprising thing was after that.

The world tree was already dying.

The ‘child’ chosen by the World Tree to create the next generation’s World Tree.

Saint Velia made the World Tree die and usurped its power.

And the saintess Velia, who has been jealous of the ‘child’ chosen by the World Tree and has been persistently harassing her.

And the true identity of that ‘child’ is none other than…

“Riel…The child of Yggdrasil, the world tree?”

“The World Tree said so.”

I turned her head to look at Riel.

Riel was also surprised, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide open.

Priest Alicia reached into her arms and pulled out something from her.

“Riel-sama, this…”

It was a ball the size of a fist with a slightly greenish, but close to brown color.

But perhaps because it was emitting soft light, it felt strangely divine.

Riel hesitated a bit, then swallowed her saliva and took the orb and placed it in her hand.

Her marbles were still shining softly.

“Riel, are you okay?”

“Uh…Yeah. I don’t think there’s anything strange about it. Ah…!”

When Riel winced and raised her voice, I was startled and put her hand on Riel’s shoulder.

“What’s up? Are you okay?”

“Ah…It’s okay. I just suddenly felt very warm…”

Riel stared at the marble in her hand.

Priest Alicia, who was watching her, opened her mouth.

“The World Tree said it was the seed of a new World Tree.”

“Is this it?”

It looks like a bead or a large pearl rather than a seed.

The color is similar to the seed, but since it is a world tree, are the seeds special?

“You told me to pass it on to Riel, the child you chose.”

Listening to Priest Alicia’s words, I thought of various things.

First of all, Alan was not a ‘child of Yggdrasil’ like the original.

No, I wondered if it wasn’t like that in the original work.

The concept of the child mentioned in the original work is just a child who was chosen by the world tree, Yggdrasil, and received blessings and protection. Nothing more, nothing less.

However, the concept of a child that Priest Alicia told me was completely different.

The concept of a child of Yggdrasil in this real world is a child blessed and protected by Yggdrasil, who has lost his power, in order to give birth to the next generation of World Trees.

A kind of relay that the next generation’s world tree gains strength the more the child feels joy, pleasure, … And positive happiness such as love.

She wondered why she wanted to be Riel, but she wasn’t convinced.

In fact, she said that Riel before Saint Velia intervened had a happy childhood thanks to her caring family and loyal servants.

I had a real feeling that it was significantly different from the original, but I didn’t expect that even the fundamental parts would be drastically different.

What was the original novel?

While thinking about that, Prince Andrew opened his mouth.

“I don’t understand everything… Alicia, is there any harm to Riel?”

“Yes. He said that he only draws strength from the child’s happiness, but does no harm. …Above all, the benevolent world tree will do something that will harm anyone he even calls his child. I can’t imagine.”

“…Is that so?”

Prince Andrew looked at the seed of the World Tree in Riel’s hand with a suspicious expression, but smiled at Riel as he held it tightly with both hands as if it were precious.

“My happiness goes to this seed…”

Riel muttered as she looked at the seeds she held in her hands.

Happiness.

The standard of happiness is different for each person.

A person who is happy with a lot of money, a person who is happy with a lot of friends, and a person who feels happiness while helping others.

…In extreme cases, even those who feel happy seeing the misfortune of others.

Then, what makes Riel feel happy?

With that thought, she looked at Riel’s side of her face, who was keeping an eye on her seed.

Riel’s red eyes looked at her seed, then her head turned to look at me.

My eyes met Riel’s.

“…hehehe.”

“…!!”

Riel smiled broadly.

Unbeknownst to me, I felt embarrassed and lowered my head.

…Suddenly, I remembered the ‘forced confession’ incident at the entrance earlier.

…What should I say, I was thinking about something like a confession in a romantic situation, but did this really work?

Riel felt that the soft light emitted by the seed of the World Tree in her hand had brightened a little.

I am now standing in front of a door on the upper floor of the mansion.

Phyllis was waiting behind, and right next to the door stood a knight under the command of Her Highness Aine, as if guarding the place.

“…I’m worried.”

“Come to think of it, did you know Phyllis?”

“Yes, Mrs. Rachel was a very caring and nice person.”

After the story of Priest Alicia is over, we decided to talk about future measures when Mr. Eve arrives, and with Prince Andrew’s suggestion and Riel’s strong hope, Riel’s mother. I came to the duchess’s room where the Duchess Rachel Ignis was.

Even so, I’m an outsider, so I’m waiting outside the door.

“If you’re worried, why don’t Phyllis go in too?”

“No. I am already a servant of the Wentos family. I cannot go alone, leaving the young master.”

Should I say that he is still stubborn in this respect?

After hearing Prince Andrew’s story that the Duchess couldn’t come to her senses because of her fairies, she thought about fairies.

I don’t know much about fairies.

What I actually saw was only one light fairy that Alan summoned as a summoned beast, and in the original work, the summoned light fairy and some assisting fairies appeared, but there was no such detailed mention.

A fairy on the errand of the World Tree…

It is said that it uses the power to manipulate the human mind, but if that is the case, it is quite a nuisance.

Of course, there are magic tools that can prevent him, but magic tools aren’t that cheap.

While she was shaking her head, the door opened and Riel came out.

Seeing her gesture to come in quietly, Phyllis and I stepped into her room.

As expected, it was a very ornately decorated room befitting a duchess’s room.

I think it looks even more so compared to my parents’ room, who like outdoor activities more.

A lady with light brown hair was lying on a bed decorated with a gorgeous veil.

Except for her hair color and her age, she was a woman who definitely looked like Riel.

“Mom, his name is Kyou.”

Riel spoke to her own mother, holding her hand tightly to mine with one of her hands.

“When my mother was young, she was worried that I would be able to make friends because of my timid personality. I made a lot of friends with her. Emmy and Iris seniors, as well as Aria and Ferris, whom I recently became close with…”

Riel’s expression was a little dark.

She must have been very depressed to see her own mother who couldn’t come to her senses.

“I have a lover like this. I want to introduce her to her mother quickly…”

Riel’s voice was slightly crying.

No, she actually had a little bit of her tear in her eye, and she started sobbing quietly.

The expression of Prince Andrew standing next to Duchess Rachel was also dark.

She held Riel’s silently weeping hand, which was holding mine, with her other hand.

… Before long, Riel’s sobs stopped little by little.

“…I’ll be back.”

After Riel said that, she kissed the Duchess on the cheek.

Prince Andrew followed suit and kissed the Duchess on the cheek.

Phyllis was also looking at her with a slightly darker expression than her usual expression.

After that, we all tried to leave the room in the form of Prince Andrew leading the way.

That was the time.

“…Riel?”

A weak voice from behind.

Hearing her voice, all of her movements stopped.

Riel turned her trembling head behind her.

“Is it Riel…?”

“Mother!!”

Still lying helpless, the Duchess lifted her eyelids and looked this way.

Riel ran to the Duchess as if jumping out.