“Keith...?” There was no response. The room was as silent and still as it had been before.
That day, Keith never came home to Claes Manor.
Until now, Keith had never left home like this. Everyone was shaken. Then, just as there was talk of sending out a search party, a single letter arrived at the manor. Written in the letter was...
The pressure of carrying on the good name of Duke Claes has become too much for me. That is why I have left. Please do not search for me.
Sincerely,
Keith
It was written in Keith’s handwriting, without a doubt. Upon receiving the letter, the entire house was thrown into chaos.
“To think that our perfect Master Keith would suddenly say that he cannot bear the pressure of succeeding the Claes name... It doesn’t seem plausible.”
“Did he not shadow Duke Claes on numerous occasions? Master Keith is so smart — they’ve been entrusting him with more important tasks recently too.”
“He really did not seem to be having any problem with the pressure...”
All the servants and other staff members who worked at the manor had similar things to say. And I felt the same way. It had been over a decade since the Claes family took him in, and Keith was always capable and quick to learn. He blended into noble society very quickly, and had always been more socially agile and wittier than me. In fact, Keith was seen as the perfect heir to the Claes name. Why would he think that the pressures of inheriting that name would be overbearing?
As I sat in my room, with almost-visible question marks hovering over my head, a voice called out to me. It was my mother. What is it? Did we get new information about Keith?
“Katarina... it’s about Keith,” Mother said with a serious expression as she entered my room.
As I thought, she must have gotten new information. I listened intently with an equally serious expression.
“About Keith’s letter... as I suspected, his disappearance does not seem related to the pressures of taking on the Claes name.”
“...Of course.” Hmm. So Mother is on the same page as I am. I nodded emphatically.
“And so I decided to speak with the servants about it, ask them some questions, and then...”
“And then?” There was strength in Mother’s eyes. I leaned forward a little without even realizing it.
“It would seem that Keith has been somewhat depressed, unhappy as of late. Several servants reported witnessing him in such a state.”
“Keith was... sad? Down?” I hadn’t ever seen Keith looking like that. Had I simply not noticed?
“Yes. And from what I have been told, he only had such an expression after meeting with a certain person.”
“Eh?! A certain person?” But who? Who could it be? Is that person linked to Keith’s troubles? Then we should speak to this person right away... “But Mother, who is it?”
“...Well, you see...” With that, Mother paused, before staring straight at me. “It is none other than YOU, Katarina!” Her declaration made her sound like one of the famous detectives in the television programs I’d watched in my past life, in scenes where they point out the true perpetrator of a crime.
“...E-Eh?! M-Me?”
I could only gape in surprise as Mother continued, as if finally cornering the elusive criminal with her flawless deduction. “Yes you, Katarina. According to various testimonies I have received from the servants, Keith always seemed depressed after speaking to you as of late.”
“After speaking to me...” While I had been complaining to him quite often recently, was he ever depressed? Thinking back on it... hmm. Oh yes, there was that one day, right before we returned to that manor, when Keith made that sad face. “Ah, come to think of it...”
Before I could finish my sentence, my mother gave a deep sigh. “As I thought... so it was you.” Just like a detective during a mystery’s parlor scene. And then...
“The reason Keith ran away from home had nothing to do with inheriting the Claes name at all. The reason why he left... was due to the stress of having to clean up after you all the time!” Mother declared, her voice reaching a peak.
“E-Eh?! Clean up after me?” Hmm. I suppose Keith has been supporting me and covering for me when I make mistakes, but... cleaning up after me?
“I am sure he feels tired, having to look after his sloppy sister throughout all these years. But of course... Keith is such a gentle child. That is why he could not come clean with the facts. That is why he sent this letter...” Mother said sorrowfully, hanging her head as she did so.
“...” Well, the question of ‘cleaning up’ after me aside, I supposed I had been barging into his room to complain a lot lately, and he’d had to put up with that. If that was what caused his apparent tiredness, then I could understand that. “...What do I do?” If Keith had really gotten tired of my antics and decided to never come home...
Seeing how deflated I was, Mother shot me a grave look, before gripping my hands tightly. “There is no use crying over spilled milk. Firstly, you shall sincerely apologize for everything you have done up until this point. And you shall inform your brother of how you will work hard and never trouble him again. If you sincerely communicate that to him, then Keith, being the gentle child he is... will surely forgive you.”
“...M-Mother...” I was moved at her words. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes as I returned her grip with an equally earnest force. “Mother, I will apologize to Keith! And I’ll tell him that I’ll work hard not to trouble him again!”
“Yes, work hard indeed, Katarina!”
And so somewhere, in a room of Claes Manor, a very mismatched mother and daughter pair held each other’s hands, shouting energetically.
All right! We will now commence an insightful analysis on how we would get Keith to change his mind and return to Claes Manor.
Meeting chairwoman: Katarina Claes. Meeting representative: Katarina Claes. Meeting secretary: Katarina Claes.
“Well then. The subject of discussion for this particular meeting is the ways and methodologies with which we could convince Keith to return home. Everyone, let’s hear your ideas.”
“Yes. But as for ideas... wouldn’t simply carrying out Mother’s suggestions be enough? Like she said, we could just apologize and promise not to cause any more trouble.”
“That’s the basics of it, but I feel that we need to be more sincere in this kind of situation.”
“Sincere?”
“For example, we could offer to do something for him, to make up for all the trouble we’ve caused up until now?”
“Oh ho, now that’s a good suggestion. But what should we offer to do?”
“I haven’t thought that far ahead!”
“That’s not something to say so proudly, Miss Claes.”
“Maybe a present of some kind? Or a treat?”
“I guess that would be fine, but would he be satisfied with just a treat?”
“Hmm, then how about new seeds or fertilizers?”
“That’s what Katarina would want.”
“In that case, then... how about I.O.U.s for shoulder massages or friendly back-washing in the shower?”
“Well, Father would like that kind of thing, but I don’t know about Keith. Hmm, it isn’t a bad suggestion though. It would be like a accumulation of the daily gratitude that we feel for him, represented by our actions.”
“Well, it’s decided then! We will apologize to Keith when we see him, and then express our gratitude with tangible actions.”
“And also promise we won’t cause him any more trouble!”
“Yes, definitely. For instance, no more eating too much and getting stomach aches, or rough housing indoors and breaking things. We should swear we’ll be more aware of those things and not make the same mistakes.”
“That’s perfect. Well then... all that’s left is to go talk to Keith.”
“That’s right!”
“So... where’s Keith, again?”
�
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“Perhaps we should start by actually searching for him?”
“Words of wisdom indeed, Katarina Claes! That’s just what we should do.”
“Yes, first we should set off in search for him. If he went through all the effort of running away from home, it isn’t likely that he’s anywhere nearby. We may have to set out on a journey.”
“A journey to find Keith! It’s like that movie, something-something-in Search of Mother!”
“Yes, but in this case it would be ‘In Search of Keith’ instead!”
“So then, our first course of action will be to set off in search of Keith. Are we all agreed?”
“Yes.”
And so, I made up my mind to set off on a journey in search of my adopted younger brother.
Just after I resolved to go off and find Keith, news of my decision was quickly leaked. Before long, a bunch of people showed up wanting to come with me.
One of them was my fiancé, Jeord Stuart. “I shall come with you, Katarina, out of worry.” I couldn’t refuse.
The next was Larna, who somehow heard about this all the way at the Ministry. “It’s a good opportunity, don’t you think? Let me come with you. It’ll be a good chance to train up new Ministry staff.” Although I was surprised that Ministry employees went on excursions like this, having a big-shot like Larna with me would be helpful on the journey, so I took her up on her offer.
Also tagging along were the new staff that Larna had mentioned — Maria and Sora. The one who was now going by the name “Sora” was Rufus, the same person who had kidnapped me a while ago. Although he had used the Dark Arts to carry out a kidnapping, he had shed a lot of tears and portrayed himself as an unfortunate victim. “My master made me do it!” he’d claimed. Now he was in the Ministry’s custody. Though Sora didn’t really seem like the type to cry and claim he was threatened, from how he’d acted when he’d kidnapped me...
Anyway, that was how our motley crew — Jeord, Larna, Maria, Sora (Rufus), and me — set off on our journey in search of Keith.
“Come to think of it... there is something I would like to ask you, young miss,” Anne said as she finished up her preparations for my upcoming journey. She was almost done with sorting out my hair and clothes. Although Anne usually accompanied me everywhere I went, she wouldn’t be doing so this time. “I cannot help but be worried at you heading out on your own,” she said in a somewhat severe tone.
Keith’s disappearance hadn’t been made public, and we had resolved to keep the search party relatively small as a result. Even so, we had quite the impressive roster. Larna, one of the strongest and most capable individuals in the Ministry, was with us. On top of that, we had a Wielder of Light and a Wielder of Darkness. And of course, a prince who could do just about anything. With this search party, given its unreasonably strong composition, I didn’t think I had much to worry about.
I reassured Anne with those facts, but she was still hesitant. “I am referring to my worries about your daily life, young miss...”
Personally, I felt like I could take care of my own business. But Anne seemed to disagree. “You do not tidy your hair, nor do you iron out the wrinkles in your dresses! Whatever do you mean by taking care of yourself, young miss?!”
I mean... my hair’s pretty wavy anyway. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little messy. And as for my dresses, a few wrinkles here and there doesn’t impact my ability to wear it. It’ll be totally fine! “I’ll make sure to do it right...” I said to Anne. But...
“That which you consider ‘right,’ young miss... is hardly appropriate for most situations...” This was Anne’s response. What a terribly strict maid!
Even Jeord, who was a crown prince, wasn’t accompanied by anyone. Having Anne along would be reassuring, but honestly, if I alone brought along a servant, I’d seem too sheltered. If possible, I wanted to go without any servants accompanying me.
My savior appeared in the form of Maria. “In that case, I shall assist Lady Katarina with her personal grooming,” Maria said, smiling like a goddess.
Upon hearing her offer, Anne immediately agreed, quickly responding with, “If you would be so kind, Lady Maria.” What a drastic difference from her earlier dismissal!
While the sudden change in Anne’s attitude between talking to me and talking to Maria was less than ideal, in any case, with Maria’s help I was able to avoid looking terribly sheltered and spoiled. That said, Anne still helped me a lot and looked out for me as we prepared for the journey.
“Young miss, firstly... have you even decided on the direction of your search?”
“Eh? Direction?” I started gaping like a goldfish.
“You are on a search to locate Master Keith, yes? Then surely you would first have to head to a certain destination, or a location?”
“...Eh?” I froze up completely at Anne’s question.
“...Um, young miss... have you not thought of where your search party would be headed toward, at all? Judging by how spirited you were and the volume of your declaration, and how all preparations had been completed... Did you perhaps not have a destination in mind from the start?”
“...”
“...Young miss.”
Ah, Anne... please don’t look at me with those eyes. I’m just as surprised as you. In my enthusiasm at the prospect of setting out on a journey in search of Keith, I had completely forgot to even think of a destination.
Honestly, we didn’t have a single clue about where Keith had gone. Perhaps he went west? East? North? South? I had no idea. Where were we even going, then...? Hmm. What should I do? The departure date was dangerously close.
What should I do?!
The next savior to appear was the Ministry big-shot herself. Larna soon fished me out of my predicament.
Although we were planning to leave very soon, I hadn’t come up with a destination. I talked about it with Larna, who exploded into peals of laughter as she listened. Then she smiled with that cat-like smile of hers and said, “As expected of you, Katarina.”
Then she said, “In that case, I do have something special for this occasion.” She left, asking me to wait for a while. When she returned, she was holding what appeared to be some kind of plush toy. It had brown fur, round ears, and beady eyes. A stuffed bear?
“Um... Lady Larna. What’s up with the toy?”
Larna responded with that same smile once more. “This is a magical tool — one we can use to locate Keith.”
“A magical... tool?” It wasn’t a phrase I’d heard before.
Larna provided an explanation while holding up the bear. Apparently, magical tools were the main subject of her research. She had made a great number of these tools, but said they were not very stable. She was still in the prototyping phase, apparently.
“If more advancements are made in the field of magical tool crafting, then we’ll be able to grant the blessing of magic unto tools and objects...” Larna said, her eyes sparkling as she rambled on.
After that, Larna’s passionate talk of magical tools went on for some time, eventually reaching a point of conceptual philosophy. I could only nod and respond with the occasional “Oh... I see.”
As Larna continued on her impassioned explanation, I saw the plush toy next to her... move. E-Eh? I rubbed my eyes and stared once more... only for my gaze to meet with that of the stuffed bear’s! Given that the bear had been put down with its head hanging downward... shouldn’t it be looking down?! Why was it looking at me?
“W-Why?!” I blurted, surprised.
Larna soon followed my gaze. “Ah, yes. I was about to come to that,” she said, once again holding up the plush bear. “This is something a certain weird— I mean, something a very important person in the kingdom asked me to make. It’s a magical tool used to find people.”
“A magical tool for... finding? People?”
“Yes indeed. You just have to strongly think of something of great value to the missing person, and you’ll eventually pick up on their trail
. It’s useful for research into the Dark Arts as well, but...” Larna’s explanation trailed off from there.
From what I understood, all I had to do was imagine a certain thing that was particularly important to Keith, mentally suggest that to the plush toy, and it would then magically show me where he had gone. According to Larna, its success rate was still somewhat varied at this point, but given that we had no clues, this tool was a lot better than nothing.
More importantly — “Um, Lady Larna... Did that plush bear just move?”
While Larna continued to speak, the plush toy seemed to squirm a little in her hands, moving this way and that. I couldn’t help but notice.
“Ah, yes. It is, after all, a tool to locate people with. What good would it be if it couldn’t move and lead the way?”
“Eh?! That plush toy will lead us to Keith?”
“That’s right,” Larna said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
A plush toy that leads the way...? Well, I did wonder how a toy like that would be able to help us search. But a bear leading the way...? “Um. Why a plush toy, though?” I asked with a somewhat serious expression. Was there a deeper meaning to all this that I wasn’t seeing?
“Ah. Because it’s cute,” Larna responded casually.
Eh?! That’s the reason? Just because it’s cute? Does its cuteness make it better somehow? I stared long and hard at the plush bear in Larna’s arms. I’d been wondering ever since she returned with it... Is this plush toy really cute? I feel like... it doesn’t really look cute at all.
Perhaps it would be a bit ironic for someone like me to say, given that I had the face of a villainess, but, this bear... it looked... ugly. Most plush toys are cute, but there was something about its face. Something about it was off. Where was this toy even found? I didn’t say what I was thinking, but...
“Ah, I found it at a gift shop in town, you see. It was love at first sight,” Larna said, smiling happily.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Volume 4 Page 3