There Is No Place For Fakes

The two immediately put the plan into action. Philomel decided to go directly to Ellensia’s hometown. She said to Le Guin that it was okay for her to go alone, but he said she was his job and he felt sorry for leaving her to someone else.

‘I want to see the house where Ellencia and Catherine lived once again…’

Jeremiah stayed at the State Guest House to meet them as they left.

“Sheesh, it still hurts just to stay here.”

He complained, but one had to stay. Philomel looked at him and said.

“Sorry. If someone comes, deal with it appropriately and send it back. Dolls can’t speak, so Jeremiah has to convey my thoughts instead.”

Next to Jeremiah stood a doll that looked just like Philomel. It was a doll made with magic by Le Guin. It was indistinguishable from a real human only by appearance, and even simple movements could be followed. The only downside was that it couldn’t speak, so she really needed someone to assist me.

Jeremiah grumbled.

“Okay. Go quickly. Le Guin doesn’t have to come back.”

“A spoiled child.”

“Why are you fighting again? Come on, let’s go. Jeremiah, I’ll buy you a sweet dessert!”

‘Whoaaaaaa!’

A bright light soon spread.

When she opened her eyes, the two of them were in the mountains. Le Guin looked around the wooded area and frowned at her.

“Was it wrong? I can’t see the seal.”

This was a place he had never been to, so he had no choice but to use movement magic by relying on the coordinates marked on the map. However, there were often cases where the location on the map and the actual location of a rural village like Ellencia’s hometown were different. Philomel unfolded the map of Utina that she had brought with her.

“It wouldn’t have gone too far. Walk a little.”

“Shall I just hug you and fly? We will look for it in the sky.”

“Can I go?”

“Of course.”

It was time for Philodel and Le Guin to have such a conversation. A muffled sound could be heard not far away. The two of them walked towards it quietly as if they had promised. Miscellaneous items were placed on the ground, and five or six young men surrounded them. Judging from the awkward atmosphere, it didn’t seem like an ordinary gathering. The two hid themselves in the bushes and watched what they were doing.

A man with a teddy bear in his hand said sullenly.

“Ah, there’s nothing worth the money.”

The man who opened the lid of the pot answered.

“Honey, you’re the only one with one ring left in the jewelry box. Give it to me if you don’t like it.” 

“And what I meant was that there was nothing better than the house the princess lived in.”

…The house where the princess lived?

Another took the teddy bear man’s words. He was examining cosmetic bottles.

“Man, this is all treasure.”

The teddy bear man made a puzzled face.

“How is this a treasure?”

“You idiot. Isn’t Ellencia, the new princess, the most famous person in the empire these days?”

“Why is that?”

“Advertise it as something that the princess used when she was a commoner. It will sell like crazy.”

“Selling that well? It’s just junk.”

“Originally, if it’s a celebrity thing, it’s sold even if it’s garbage.”

The pot man didn’t say a word.

“I still can’t believe that Ellensia is the princess. It seems like only yesterday that she was walking around her neighborhood blushing.”

The cosmetics man smiled sinisterly. Besides, Ellencia was really pretty. There were perverts who wanted to get more fancy when it came to things belonging to pretty girls.

The teddy bear man cheered.

“Wow, then this is all treasure! Let’s go back to the house and get some more!”

The pot man giggled.

“What’s left? We went all the way to the trash and cleaned it up.”

At that time, the man who had been silently rummaging through the pile of books so far shouted.

“Oh! This is great!”

“Why, what is it?”

The man held up the pink notebook.

“Looks like a diary!”

“Who’s?”

“Look at this childish picture on the cover. Did Aunt Catherine wear this? Of course it’s Ellencia’s.”

The faces of the other men suddenly brightened.

“Really?”

“Of these, it must be the most collectible.”

“How much would I earn if I sold it?”

“You know that all the money you get from selling this is divided equally, right?”

“Are you crazy! I found it!”

Philomel thought as she looked at the group of men whose atmosphere had become bloody as if a fight would break out at any moment.

‘It didn’t take too much time, since I’ve been able to find the diary…’

A faint light spread from Le Guin’s hand.

“Should I handle it?”

“They’re bad guys…but don’t kill them.”

Le Guin made his way through the grass in front of them.

“Who, who!” shouted the men caught at the crime scene.

“Are you aiming for this too!”

“We steamed this one first!”

“If you’re not part of this, act as an outsider and get out of here!”

Whoaaaaa!

The men who rushed at him fell to the ground in the blink of an eye.  Le Guin flinched, exposing only the whites of his eyes, pulling the diary from the man’s arms.

He said after handing the diary to Philomel.

“But one guy ran away. He ran away from the beginning without attacking me. Shall I bring him?”

Philomel answered as she dusted off the diary.

“Leave him alone. I’m not here specifically for vigilante activity.”

The current priority was to check the inside of this diary. A pink diary with a cute teddy bear on the cover. Would Ellencia’s secret be written in it?

Philomel perched on a nearby rock and opened the diary, feeling her heartbeat.

‘First of all, from the first page…’

Ellencia’s first note in the diary was written about three years ago.

[Month X, 2th, weather clear. My mom bought me a cute diary. I will write a diary every day from now on!]

The next note in the diary was the date a week after that.

[Month X, 9th, clear weather. I forgot to write in my diary. From tomorrow, I will use it every day!]

And after a month,

[Month Y, 9th, the weather is cloudy. I just decided to write a diary when I feel like it. My mother made beef stew for dinner. It was delicious.]

[Month Z, 1st, the weather is fine. Today’s breakfast menu was tasteless cabbage soup. Lunch was hard bread, and dinner was boiled potatoes.]

[Month W, 1st, weather rain. Downstairs Jacqueline’s older sister went out to a big town and boasted that she ate a snack called cream puff. The cream puffs were delicious and smooth, she said. I want to eat it too.]

All notes…

[Month T, 2th, the weather is fine. My mom cooked peas and carrots. I ate the peas and secretly threw away the carrots.]

[Month S, 4th, cloudy weather. Bread for breakfast, potatoes for lunch, roast pork for dinner.]

Philomel opened her eyes mischievously.

‘It’s almost nothing but eating..

Did Elencia eat that much?

‘Although she liked spicy food, she didn’t really have that impression in the diary…’

Anyway, the important thing was not the front of the diary, but the part written at the time when the potato person changed.

Philodel quickly turned the pages of the diary.

“Uh?”

Then her hand stopped. The diary, which had been short from a certain point, suddenly felt longer. Strangely, that wasn’t the only thing.

An endless sequence of characters. On her white paper stood letters she did not know.

‘I don’t know. I have no idea.’

It didn’t mean that she simply couldn’t interpret the meaning. It was an unfamiliar text that she had never seen before. Philomel was confused. While she was being educated as her heir to the throne, she came across almost all kinds of texts. In most of the cases she was familiar with the letters themselves, even if she did not know the meaning. However, this letter was different. It was the first time she had ever seen it, and it bore no resemblance to any text she knew.

A character written by only a few tribes? Or ancient letters?? However, if it was such a character, it was strange that Elencia used it.

As Philomel looked at the diary with a serious expression, Le Guin approached.

“What’s the matter?”

“Le Guin, do you know this letter?”

Seeing the page she held out, he narrowed his forehead.

“I don’t know. First time I see it.”

“Isn’t it an ancient letter?”

“Well. I’ve been to many ancient ruins, but I’ve never seen a letter like this.”

“Maybe a code…”

“Somehow I don’t think so.”

The two of them put their heads together for a long time, but they couldn’t come up with a hypothesis.