"They... are all receiving education at Duke Borgia's Reunion Castle. That's the Duke's private territory, and we have no authority to interfere..."
"So no one has seen them again, isn't that right?"
"But this can't serve as evidence to slander Duke Borgia!"
Trafalgar still refused to believe it. Come to think of it, Duke Borgia hadn't appeared in the public eye for quite some time—he'd been holed up in his Reunion Castle for at least a month.
Considering the trauma Duke Borgia had suffered during his expedition, no one thought there was anything unusual about this.
"Baron Trafalgar, please listen to me."
"..."
"Lily was adopted from a church within the Duke's territory and placed under Duke Borgia's care. If you doubt Lily's identity, perhaps we could go look for the relevant records."
The church that had once sheltered Lily would definitely have a list of adopted orphans. Even if they didn't, the priests and nuns who had helped Lily would certainly recognize her. Once this was confirmed, Duke Borgia would have no way to distance himself from the matter.
Trafalgar was momentarily speechless. He suddenly drew his sword and roughly carved several frenzied slash marks into the ground.
"How could this be... could it really..."
Trafalgar muttered to himself. Actually, never mind him—probably everyone in the Duke's territory would have their faith shattered upon learning the truth, and their reaction might be even stronger than Trafalgar's, an adventurer.
I somewhat understood why Sigrdrífa and Lily had chosen to reveal the truth specifically when Trafalgar hadn't left yet.
"Baron Trafalgar... you don't want Duke Borgia's public image to be tarnished in his twilight years, do you?"
Trafalgar didn't immediately answer Sigrdrífa, but instead opened his quest panel on his own, remaining silent.
Seeing this, Carol Cat followed Trafalgar's example.
"Meow... all of you, look at this..."
Carol Cat shared the quest information with Sigrdrífa and me.
[Hidden Quest: The Twilight Hero]
From the girl Amaryllis pursued by Duke Borgia, you have learned another truth.
Within Duke Borgia's Reunion Castle, there seem to be secrets unknown to others.
Quest Objective: Investigate Duke Borgia's hidden circumstances
Quest Reward: None (Unknown)
You can share this quest with other adventurers through information sharing]
A hidden quest had been triggered.
"There's a quest, meow... this means Duke Borgia really..."
"Not necessarily."
Trafalgar suddenly spoke up.
"Hidden quests can contain false information and can't be considered concrete evidence. You're trying to win me over to your side, aren't you? Aren't you afraid I'll leak the intelligence?"
"If you truly care about Duke Borgia's reputation, you won't leak it."
Sigrdrífa answered extremely seriously. I felt that elves might have some hidden intelligence buff when they're in forests.
Even if Trafalgar made this hidden quest public, players wouldn't necessarily choose to accept it. The reward was unknown, and there was the possibility of no reward at all—it simply didn't have the conditions to attract mainstream players.
Trafalgar let out a long sigh, seemingly pondering something.
"You've been through a lot, Lily."
I gently stroked Lily's back and whispered softly in her ear.
"...After that, Duke Borgia came. When he saw me, his expression became terrifying."
Lily's hoarse voice reached my ears as she hugged me tightly.
"He picked up his sword... and swung it at me... everyone was cut down by him... I escaped using that thing called a scroll... I stole many of them..."
Thinking back to when I had left Lily alone at home, she had once had an emotional breakdown.
She had said, "Liar."
She said everyone had been deceived by him, and that he wanted to kill Lily and the others.
So that's what it was. What Lily had been talking about then was this.
Lily and the others had all thought Duke Borgia was a good person, but the truth wasn't like that at all.
Lily had stumbled upon Duke Borgia's secret, and then Duke Borgia had tried to eliminate her. But he hadn't expected Lily to have stolen spatial transfer scrolls. Though he had severely injured Lily, she managed to escape successfully.
Unable to determine whether Lily was alive or dead, Duke Borgia had brought in a legendary-level artist to use drawing skills to create Lily's portrait, distributing it to every guard squad within the Duke's territory. It was probably an order to bring her back alive or dead—that's why François and the others' mission had been classified as "finding someone."
All the clues had connected together.
"I need to confront Duke Borgia directly and get to the bottom of this."
"Baron Trafalgar, going there alone would be like a moth flying into a flame."
"I won't charge in recklessly. Until the truth is clear, perhaps protecting Amaryllis's safety is necessary."
Trafalgar's attitude had become much more amiable.
"I've been enfeoffed as a noble of Baron Hurst's Territory and have my own domain. Unless there are special circumstances, the guards wouldn't dare search my castle repeatedly."
Sigrdrífa quietly gave me a thumbs up. It seemed we had successfully won over Baron Trafalgar. If Trafalgar was willing to provide his baronial territory as our sanctuary, we would be much safer than wandering around in the wilderness.
"Forgive my presumption, but your confidants..."
"My castle is staffed entirely by NPCs, with no adventurers. You can rest assured."
I was worried that adventurers around Trafalgar might betray Lily. Having achieved the rank of baron was equivalent to creating a [Nobles] type guild.
However, Trafalgar indicated he had no adventurer companions. If the castle was staffed entirely by NPCs, at least the possibility of them betraying us would be lower.
"There's no time to lose. Let's set out now."