"That's exactly why I said you're stupid."
Aurora looked at Claire as if she were staring at a complete fool.
"They were the ones who attacked you first. But after what you did, it ended up looking like you were the one who ambushed them. When something like that happens, all you need to do is explain it clearly."
Hearing that, Claire's body stiffened. She stared at Aurora in shock, opened her mouth as if to say something, then stopped. In the end, she simply looked at Aurora with a speechless expression.
"Hey! What kind of look is that? Did I say something wrong?"
Miss Aurora was clearly irritated by the way Claire was looking at her. It felt like being looked down on by a husky you raised yourself, staring at you like you were an idiot.
"No, you're absolutely right. I was just wondering where that noble lady aura of yours came from. You look like some refined young noble lady, yet you can say something this… wise."
Although Claire admitted Aurora's point on the surface, every word was dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh? Then could the beautiful and intelligent Miss Claire enlighten me with her brilliant insight?"
"I wouldn't dare call it brilliant. I just understand the situation a little."
"Hmph."
"Hmph."
Both of them snorted at the same time. Claire also stopped bothering with the sarcastic tone.
"I think you've been a ghost for too long. Where exactly do you get the confidence to believe they would trust anything I say?"
"Huh?"
The ghost lady looked confused.
"Who would believe they attacked me first? That guy, that Sa-something guy, only saw me kill my teammate. He didn't see those people sneak attacking me while I was fighting.
And collecting evidence at the scene is impossible. That was the World Battlefield. The terrain there can change completely within ten minutes."
"Hmm… well…"
Aurora's eyes began drifting away.
When she was alive, she had spent most of her life locked in a laboratory as a test subject. After gaining power and destroying that laboratory, she simply did whatever she wanted outside. She had never really thought much about these kinds of political schemes. After all, compared to absolute power, the dirty tricks of humans were hardly worth mentioning.
"…Aurora, don't tell me I actually guessed right."
Claire narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Aurora. Had this ghost spent so long being a ghost that her brain had become slow?
"Let's go back to talking about your brother."
After thinking for a moment, Claire also chose to skip that topic. To be honest, she also felt a little guilty about it.
"The whole thing ended with my brother saying he needed a few days to absorb the Evil Pieces, and using that as a reason to refuse participating in the Rating Game a few days later. That's basically the end of it. There's nothing else worth talking about."
"A few days to absorb them… hm hm hm."
Aurora narrowed her eyes and let out a satisfied chuckle after catching that key detail.
Based on her understanding of Cid, this "needing a few days" was absolutely something he deliberately arranged to buy time. After all, it was him. Even if his own sister had dragged him into a mess, he would definitely find a way to deal with it in the shortest time possible.
Aurora's quiet laugh caught Claire's attention. While she was wondering what strange thing Aurora was thinking about now, she suddenly remembered that Aurora had said earlier she came out because she sensed "his" presence.
Claire immediately questioned her.
"Aurora, you said you came out earlier because you sensed his presence. Is that 'he' the person you've been talking about, the one protecting me? Who exactly is he? And why is he protecting me?"
"Sorry, but it seems he doesn't want you to know about this. Since he doesn't want you to know, then I definitely won't tell you either."
Aurora's attitude toward this topic remained exactly the same as before.
"Sigh… then I'll ask something else. Is he also on this island? Is he protecting my brother while protecting me? Is he connected to my brother?"
"Uh… I said I can't say anything, so I can't say anything. No matter how much you ask, it won't change. I won't reveal even a single thing. I'm going back into your body now."
The barrage of questions left Aurora, who was floating in the air, momentarily stunned. She had no idea how Claire had guessed that the person protecting her was somehow connected to Cid.
The more you say, the easier it is to slip up. With that thought in mind, Aurora dropped that final line and immediately disappeared to avoid being tricked into revealing anything.
"Hey! Aurora! Aurora! Get out here! You've got the nerve to say things but not the nerve to answer…?!"
Seeing Aurora vanish, Claire panicked and started shouting Aurora's name at her own body.
After yelling for a while with no response and realizing Aurora had decided to keep silent no matter what, Claire made up her mind. She raised the mithril sword in her hand and pointed it straight at her own heart.
"Aurora, if you still refuse to come out, then I'll do exactly what you just said and stab straight through my heart. I refuse to believe you won't come out."
As she spoke, she began pushing the sword toward her chest.
"Go ahead and stab. Do it if you want. I can fix you anyway."
A voice echoed inside Claire's mind, causing her hand to stop mid motion. Unfortunately, what that voice said did not satisfy her at all.
She shoved the mithril sword in her left hand back into its sheath and slammed her right fist heavily onto the sofa beside her. The loud crack that followed practically announced that half the sofa had now been completely destroyed.
Sitting on the remaining half, Claire's expression darkened.
After spending a year together, she knew the presence inside her body far too well. If Aurora said she wouldn't die, then she absolutely wouldn't die. And judging by Aurora's reaction, it was highly likely that because of her, Cid had also been noticed by the person Aurora mentioned, the one who had supposedly been protecting her all along.
It had been a week since she left the World Battlefield. Yet Aurora only asked about what happened in the past four days, and she focused particularly on today and three days ago.
From that, one could infer that Aurora must have sensed that person's presence three days ago.
Three days ago was the day she arrived on this island and met Cid. However, the presence of "him" on Cid must have been extremely faint, so Aurora had mistaken it for an illusion at the time.
Today, Cid had spent the entire afternoon with her. That must have allowed Aurora to clearly sense it, which was why she came out to ask questions.
As for why Cid carried that person's presence on him?
What other reason could there be? It had to be because of her that Cid had caught that person's attention.
"I don't know who you are. But if you truly mean me harm, then direct all your schemes at me.
Don't hurt Cid.
If you dare harm Cid, I will kill you. I will make sure you die without even a place to be buried…"
Claire's grip on the sword sheath tightened as she stepped onto the balcony. Looking up at the moon in the sky, she muttered quietly to herself.
...
"Ring ring ring ring…"
"Hm? Who's calling?"
Inside a luxurious bedroom, a girl with curry colored long hair tied in a single ponytail was lying face down on a bed. Through the window behind her, the ocean could be seen, revealing that this bedroom was located on a cruise ship.
The girl stared at her phone in confusion. The number displayed on the screen was unfamiliar.
In theory, only members of the Lion King Organization knew her phone number. But this number clearly was not her superior's either.
Although she was puzzled, the girl still answered the call.
"Sayaka."
"M-Master!"
The voice coming from the phone was calm and cold, but the girl reacted as if she had been shocked by electricity. She immediately sat upright on the bed, holding the phone with both hands.
"Why are you calling me? Did my superior say something to you?"
Surprised that her master would personally call her, Sayaka immediately suspected that her current superior might have complained about her.
"..."
Silence came from the other end of the phone.
"Master?"
The silence made Sayaka uneasy, so she cautiously spoke again.
"There has been a problem with the selected candidate for a mission within the Lion King Organization. Look through the mission information and decide for yourself whether you want to accept it."
Hearing her master finally speak, Sayaka's first reaction was relief. The earlier silence had genuinely frightened her.