Debriefing (1)

Soto had brought an angel along with her.

A neat, mature woman, wearing the archaic smile you'd expect of an angel. The kind of beauty who looked like she'd go, "Oh my, tee-hee."

"I got to wanting an angel of my own too, so I went and summonedcalled up one! I came to introduce her! Her name is Socksphon-chan, and her nickname is Socks."

"I'm Socks. It's a pleasure to meet you, Master."

Is that, uh, a play on Sandalphon?

The "sandal" in Sandalphon definitely has nothing to do with the kind you'd actually wear on your feet, though…

"… Y-Yeah. Make sure you look after her properly."

"Okaay! … Huh, you're not going to tell me stuff like 'don't go summoning things without permission' or 'take her back where she came from'?"

"It's a bit late for that… Besides, you can support her just fine on your own, off the Karisoto District's income, and you can put her to work, too. I know you can take proper responsibility for her."

This was nothing like an ordinary kid dragging home a stray cat. Even if we did nothing at all, Soto could give this angel a proper life.

She was far more of a self-sufficient adult than most grown-ups, and vastly more capable than Rokuko had been back when I first came to this world.

There were even parts of her too capable for me to handle… It kind of made me think maybe this is what it feels like to be the parent of the protagonist in one of those cheat-power stories.

"Still, if you went out of your way to introduce her to me, you've got to be scheming something. Take Silky: you summoned her without asking, and before I knew it she was working as a cleaner in the Karisoto District… Come on, out with it, chop-chop."

"I just wanted to show off how well Socksphon-chan turned out, that's all? Look at this Madonna-like smile! Isn't she neat and cute, exactly like me?!"

"She looks nothing like you, though?"

And with that, I became certain. This kid's definitely hiding something.

Playing dumb this obviously is, you could say, Soto's tell for when she's hiding something.

… Is something coming up soon?

No, maybe this one has a part to play when it does. Or maybe her real aim lies somewhere else entirely, and she introduced this one to cover for it?

Hmm, doesn't seem like there's any point stewing over it.

Having a daughter who's too capable is equal parts delightful and exhausting… In the end nothing came of it beyond the introduction, so for the time being I just decided to keep my guard vaguely up.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

It was settled that I'd hold a debriefing with Haku-san on Holy-Kingdom-related matters.

It was a tea party held near the Imperial Capital, at [White Sands], under a beach parasol with the sound of the ocean waves in our ears. I sat across from Haku-san, Rokuko at my side, and to top it off, Soto was perched on Haku-san's lap.

"And so, this here is the list of spies who've infiltrated the Empire, obtained from the spy we planted inside the Holy Kingdom. He says that when you cull them, please do so in moderation."

"…………"

"…………"

"…………"

"… Um, Haku-san? Please take it."

"Yes… thank you."

Haku-san had frozen up, her eyes gone distant over any number of things, but she did take the list without incident.

"Auntie Haku! Papa worked hard, so praise him!"

"Ahh… well done. Thank you."

"Ah, yes."

Prompted by Soto, Haku-san praised me, but her expression was a complicated one, sour as if she'd bitten down on a bitter bug.

"I understand how you feel, Sister Haku. Say what you will, nobody saw it coming that he'd climb his way up to Pope, after all."

"'Does Kehma-san not know the definition of the word spy?' … is what went through my mind, yes."

"It was beyond my control. It's just what came of the Holy Kingdom, having lost its former Pope, Core Number 10, piling self-destruct upon self-destruct, somehow."

"Haaah…" Haku-san let out a deep sigh.

"If it were a matter of taking up the ideal position for gathering intelligence, I could just about follow the logic. Some post like personnel in a department that handles information, say… Why did you go and plant yourself at the very top?"

"It was beyond my control. All the other candidates died off in the infighting."

"That's precisely the part that makes no sense."

Even for the Holy Kingdom, infighting fierce enough to wipe out the candidates to a man was hard to imagine. Though if you pointed out that that's exactly what had happened, well, I couldn't really argue.

"Since I didn't intervene myself… perhaps there was intervention from some other country."

"Another country, you say?"

"Yes. Geographically speaking… the Beast Kingdom, or Wakoku, I'd think. Dragonia is within the realm of possibility as well."

Supposing every candidate other than Narikin, the one who became Pope, had held ideologies inconvenient to those nations. Or perhaps, as a result of each of them intervening in turn, every candidate but Narikin, who had no strings tying him to anyone, had been wiped out.

Now that she put it that way, it made a lot more sense than simply "they self-destructed through infighting."

"Yes! Auntie Haku, isn't there a chance it was the Demonlands?"

"… Rather than work that kind of cunning on a faraway nation, that country would just march in and punch them head-on, Soto-chan."

"Is that so."

Well, that's probably true, I thought, but the fact that Soto had asked that stuck with me.

… Though naturally, I could hardly grill her about it right here.