(Chapter 18) Intuition
“Senpai? Why do you look so listless again today?”
On her way to work at the Border Knights’ Order today, Louise once again spotted Anna lazily riding her horse, yawning as if she hadn’t slept well.
“Ah, Louise, good morning.”
“Good morning. So why do you look like this again, Senpai?” Louise looked at Anna curiously. “Don’t tell me you didn’t sleep well again?”
“…Well, it’s not that I didn’t sleep well. I’m just really sleepy, that’s all.” Anna shook her head, her gaze lingering on Louise for a moment.
“Louise, did you send that letter?”
At the mention of the letter, Louise’s expression turned serious.
“The same night Senpai pointed out the problem, I sent a letter back home.” Louise said earnestly. “But since I sent it through the usual family correspondence channel, as I mentioned before, it’ll take a while… By the time Father receives my letter and starts investigating things in this town, it’ll probably take at least ten days.”
“Ten days, huh…” Anna shook her head. “As expected, ten days is still too long.”
“Senpai, did you discover something?”
Although Louise was gradually becoming more mischievous in her interactions with Anna, when it came to serious matters, she still used the respectful form of address.
“I wouldn’t say I discovered something… but recently, I’ve noticed someone following me.”
This was one of the decisions Anna made last night after running a simulation, to reveal a bit more of her situation to Louise.
“How could that be? Isn’t Senpai in danger then? Should you come to my house—”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
Anna firmly rejected Louise’s invitation to stay at her house.
“Why not?”
“I have a feeling there’s a traitor in your household.”
Finally, she brought up her suspicion once more, that someone close to Louise might be a traitor.
“A traitor…? Does Senpai have any evidence?”
“No.” Evidence was impossible to provide. Even if the simulator had confirmed it, the existence of the simulator itself was not something she could casually share with others. And whether Louise would even believe in such a thing was another question entirely.
“Just think of it as my intuition. I trust my instincts quite a lot.”
This part was true. According to imperial scholars, intuitive abilities were often linked to a person’s luck. Though this theory remained just a theory, and Anna didn’t consider herself particularly lucky in life, her instincts had never been wrong.
“Senpai’s intuition…” Louise hadn’t expected Anna to say something like that. She was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled.
“Senpai is really different from what I imagined.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, I’ll believe in Senpai’s intuition for now.” Louise covered her mouth and laughed softly. “But you must be careful, Senpai. Take care of yourself.”
“Of course I’ll take care of myself. But wait, what do you mean by ‘different from what you imagined’?”
“That’s a secret.”
“There’s no need to be so mysterious about it, is there?”
Following Louise into the garrison, Anna felt the malicious presence behind her disappear and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Indeed, just as in the simulation, someone had started following her today. And because she had been paying special attention to her surroundings, she quickly detected the presence of that hostile intent.
That person had been tailing her from the moment she left home.
However, strangely enough, when Louise spoke to her, the hostility seemed to lessen slightly.
So this person only bore ill will toward her, but not toward Louise…
Could this person be the traitor close to Louise?
Of course, it was just a small hypothesis, there were still many other possibilities.
After tying her horse in the stable, Anna walked into the barracks and stood in front of Philsey’s office.
Alright then…
[Simulation Start]
Though the simulator’s content would flood her vision instantly, making it nearly impossible to perceive what was happening around her, it wasn’t completely impossible to maintain some awareness of reality.
After finding a chair to sit down on, Anna began reviewing the simulation’s events.
This was something she had wanted to test, starting a simulation in a specific situation. The simulator would then continue running from that scene, potentially revealing hidden secrets within that moment.
Thinking about it this way, the simulator felt a lot like a theoretical future-observation magic.
[Day Zero: You stood in front of Philsey’s office and directly opened the door.]
[Philsey was visibly surprised that you’ve come to his office voluntarily. Then, he quickly puts on a disgustingly lewd smile, his eyes full of perversion, and asks why you’re here.]
[You get straight to the point and ask Philsey if he has any improper thoughts about you.]
…What? That’s way too direct! Anna could hardly imagine what kind of mental pressure she would have to endure to ask such a question to someone she despised.
[Philsey’s eyes widen in shock, seemingly not expecting you to say something like that.]
[His breathing becomes heavy, and his face even appears to flush red.]
…Ew. He looks even more like a perverted pig now.
[He demands to know why you’re insulting his character like this, claiming that he has never harbored such thoughts.]
Huh?
That response was completely unexpected. Anna was stunned.
Then why have you been staring at me all the time?
[When you question why he keeps staring at you, his expression suddenly becomes strange.]
Hah! Caught you!
[He says it’s because he thinks your armor is well-maintained, and he can’t help but admire it.]
…What kind of excuse is that? Is my armor well-maintained? You’re just making things up—
Wait a minute. When I see someone wearing particularly nice armor, I also tend to take a second look…
No, no, no! This guy has been staring at me for extended periods! There's no way he’s just admiring my armor! Besides, my armor is just a plain set of plate armor, no decorations, no engravings…
[You tell him you don’t believe his excuse. Besides, it’s well known that Philsey frequents the red-light district. For him to claim he was just looking at your armor, it’s highly suspicious.]
[Philsey shrugs and says that if you don’t believe him, there’s nothing he can do. But since it’s a fact that he has been staring at you, it’s understandable that you would misunderstand.]
[Your intuition tells you he’s not lying.]
…What? I’ve run so many simulations, and my intuition never kicked in. Now, after all these runs, it suddenly activates at this moment?
Even though I just told Louise that I trust my intuition, now I’m not so sure about it anymore…