“Will this girl really be able to help? She doesn’t know the first thing about you, brother.”
“Well I do know about ‘Japan.’”
“What?!” Recilia turned back to me in shock, and I furiously shook my head.
“Ehee hee hee,” Lily started giggling as she watched my panicked reaction. “Don’t worry, I simply heard Rex mention it when he was drunk; I don’t know the particulars of his situation.”
Recilia shot me a withering glare, and I silently mouthed an apology. But frankly this was a problem with Rex’s body, and not my fault.
“But...” Lily continued, “even if I don’t know everything, I believe I can still help. Besides, being willing to support someone even without hearing all of their secrets is proof that you truly care about them.”
“I don’t like her,” Recilia said, pouting. But she didn’t protest Lily joining our group any further, which meant she must have accepted her at least. In fact, she looked a little relieved that we’d be getting more help.
“A-Anyway, I was thinking of having you start by gathering intel on a certain person for me, Lily.” I said.
“Who?”
“They live in this city, and I’m trying to compile as much information as I can on them.”
I handed a small sheaf of papers to Lily and Recilia.
“Let’s see...” Lily narrowed her eyes as she flipped through the pages.
There had been four potential candidates for Lily’s first mission, and I’d picked the one that seemed the most practical. The first had been the Hero of Light, the game’s true protagonist. However, the chance that the true protagonist was in this city was quite low, and there was no guarantee they existed at all, so it wasn’t worth asking her to look for them just yet. The second person had been the rambunctious younger brother of Ain, the Prince of Light. The boy had been exiled from the kingdom, but he was a famous brat who had a lot of importance to the game’s story. The third had been the second prince of Ars, who would eventually go on to become the Prince of Darkness. He always wore a mask, which people claimed was to hide the burn scars on his face, though in truth he was quite a hottie with flawless good looks.
In the game, I’d only ever encountered Ain’s younger brother and the second prince of Ars as enemies, but I figured that if I was able to find them early on, there was a chance I could recruit them before they became antagonists. Unfortunately, I had very little information on them, and all I knew from my time playing the game was what they looked like. It would be a hard search, even for someone as resourceful as Lily. Furthermore, even if she did find the second prince of Ars, it was possible meeting him would reopen barely healed wounds for Recilia. As a result, I’d removed these two from consideration as well. The fourth and final candidate was who I’d decided Lily should look into first.
“You want her to investigate...Rose?” Recilia muttered in surprise as she read the name written on the page.
Her shock was understandable, since Rose was someone Recilia and I had “coincidentally” met a few days ago.
Lily also raised an eyebrow as she skimmed the pages. Once she was done she slowly looked up at me and said, “Upon coming to this city I heard quite a bit about you, Rex. You discovered manual Arts, are able to appraise adventurers and let them know where their talents lie, and are also apparently publishing picture books you call manga. But recently it seems you’ve cut back on your public presence and have been spending most of your time in a mansion on the outskirts of the city.”
The depth of her knowledge on my activities caught me by surprise. It seemed I’d made the right choice, recruiting her to be my information gatherer.
Lily gave me a searching look and asked, “Rex, I told you I would support you unconditionally even if you told me nothing, and I intend to stand by that. But there’s one thing I would like to ask. What is it you know, and what is it you’re trying to do?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing special. I just want to change the fate of this city.”