IAWWMSP Chapter 466 Suspicious Individual and the Simulacrum Model

Hm? Ah, excuse me for a moment.

As I was having a pleasant chat with the other dignitaries from different countries, my smartphone suddenly started going off, so I excused myself from them and went to a less crowded place to check it.

Hmm.. Eh? From Shizuku? For what reason is she texting me, especially now, during a masquerade? Hm?

Kirigakure Shizuku was one of the three kunoichi girls under Tsubaki from our intelligence team. I checked the message she had sent, and as soon as I saw the title of the message, I immediately frowned.

The message title read Suspicious Individual Sighted. There was also a photo attached to the mail which shows a woman wearing a pale pink dress and a red domino mask. At a glance, there was completely nothing wrong about her Just what exactly makes her suspicious?

Whats wrong? Youre making such a weird face.

As I was completely lost in thought about how the woman in the picture looked sus, Elze suddenly called out to me. What do you mean weird face? I mean.. Im your husband, you know? Are you saying that everytime I frown, my face would look weird?

Uh, nothing.. I just got this weird mail from Shizuku.

Its not really something that should be kept secret, so I showed the mail to Elze. Perhaps theres something weird about it from a womans perspective.

..Those badonkers are pretty big, sus, Id say. Perhaps, theyre padded.

Oi, thats not what I meant.

Elze stared intently at the photo whilst viewing it in a strange perspective. I mean.. yeah, sure. They are quite big.. but, I dont think thats the reason Shizuku sent this to me. Right..? Uh, but Shizuku and Elze are quite similar, arent they?.. I mean.. theyre both flat..

Owowowowowow!

Just now, you were thinking of something rude, werent you?

Stop! Agh! My arm! It hurts, you know! Kkkk Man.. My wives has such a keen sense of intuition that it makes me wonder whether they always know exactly what Im thinking of everytime..

Fuu.. Alright then, cant be helped I cant call her in the middle of the party, so Ill just go meet her and ask what this mail is all about.

Fortunately, my clothes were fancy that it wasnt that different from what the others were wearing. All I had to do was put on my mask, and people wouldnt know its me even if I mingled with them.

Aight. Ill be going out for a bit.

Wait, wait! I wanna go with you too! I wanna leave from this hellish place!

Leave from this hellish place.. you say? I understand that going to parties that you werent used to is pretty tiring but, this is, in a sense, an obligation you have to fulfill, you know?

As I was hesitating, Elze clasped her hands together and looked as if she was preparing to beg with her pleading eyes.

Pleaaasee? Just for a while. Pleasee?

If its only for a while, then..

Yay!

Damn it! I cant really refuse this wife of mine especially with those pleading eyes of hers. It seems that Elzes slowly getting the hang of using her womanly charms. I mean.. Its pretty effective.

It cant be helped. I feel sorry leaving the others behind, but I will be going down together with Elze for a bit.

Right as we were about to leave, Sakura suddenly came towards us from who knows where with a swoosh.

Its not fair that only you two could sneak off somewhere.. I want to tag along too..

You were listening werent you?

Fufun. You know that my ears are pretty sharp, dont you Grand Duke? This is the gift I received from your divinity, after all. Sakura said as she looked at me with a smug face. Cute.. I mean, shes right. Her dependent traitSuper Hearingmanifested because she had become my retainer which made her benefit from my divinity.

And, the Demon Lord keeps following me wherever I go, its so annoying.. Thats why I want to get out of here for a while.

..Ah, that makes sense. I bet he kept on forcing himself on conversations saying, Oh, our countrys also quite interested in those kinds of things, right?

The Demon Lord rarely gets the opportunity to talk to his daughter in a formal way and as a leader of a country, so.. its not that I dont understand the reason hes doing it, though.

Lets hurry up and go before the Demon Lord finds us.

Alright.

I hope that the demon lord wouldnt resent me for doing this, but I know its already too late.

I activatedTeleportand transported the three of us into a waiting room on the first floor, then asked them to wear the masks I had taken out. There wasnt any problem for me, but Elzes dress and Sakuras hair stands out a bit, so I usedMirageto make their looks more subdued.

Etto.. wheres Shizuku at..

I searched where Shizuku was using the search function on my phone, and it indicated that she was in a corner of the courtyard. It was hard to identify who the person was because of the mask, but with my phone, it was a piece of cake.

We left the waiting room and went straight through a corridor that was connected to the dance hall, making our way past the dancing masked men and women in the dancehall until we reach the courtyard. While on the way, a man tried to call out to Elze, but she spotted him and reflexively clung to my arm as we walked.

I-its better for us i-if we walk this way, got it? I-I mean.. W-were married, so its not weird, okay?! Elze turned red and started talking as if she was in a panic. Well, its a matchmaking party for single men and women, so I dont think people would notice that we were married. And, walking this way makes me happy as well, so Im very OK with it.

Me too.

Sakura said as she rustled to my other side and clung to my arm. The state I am in may not be bad from my perspective, but.. If we walk like this, especially in a matchmaking party, we would definitely stand out.

As we entered the garden area of the courtyard, we saw the attendees enjoying themselves in groups. Eh? Princess Ririel wasnt in the same spot she was in before when I saw her. Did she went off to somewhere? I just hope that the Emperor didnt catch her messing with her phone again, though.

Oho, isnt that Shizuku over there?

Its her? I cant really tell though because of the mask.

Shes right. The girl standing next to the fountain dont have any traces that are similar to Shizuku at all. Though, I was certain that it was her, or at least, thats what my intuition told me.

The disruptive effects of the mask are working quite perfectly. To be sure, I activated my Divine Sightto check if it was really her, and what I saw beneath the mask was the familiar face of Shizuku. Yup, confirmed.

Oooi, Shizuku~!

Eh? Whos callinah! Your Highness!

I immediately removed my mask off and revealed my identity to her. These masks couldnt be removed or forced off by someone, but if the masks wearer tries to take it off themselves, they can do it quite easily.

I saw your text. Ah, these two here are Sakura and Elze, so dont worry.

Ah, I understand. Im sorry for making you come all the way out here.

No, its perfectly fine. We were in the mood to go down and leave the floor as well. So? Wheres this suspicious person you were talking about?

Shes over there.

I followed Shizukus gaze as she glanced towards a group of around five people and saw the person she was talking about. She was wearing the same pale pink dress in the photo. Her hair was tied up in a bun. She looked kind of like 20-ish, which was quite older than us. There was a pearl necklace wrapped around her neck, and a pair of sapphire earrings on her ear. She looked like an ordinary woman, neither flashy nor plain though, the only thing I could really say was that she really has those big boings on her.

Uh, whats really suspicious about her?

You cant notice it? You see, Ive been disguising myself whenever I go to infiltrate some country and collect information, right?

Ah, right. I remember when I was interviewing Shizuku, she said that she was skilled in disguising herself, and I even saw it firsthand. I was so impressed that I couldnt even begin to imagine how she does it without the help of magic.

And when I do disguise myself, its not just the costume, but the way I act, my mannerisms, and the way I speak needs to be considered in order to match the person I am disguising as, since with just the slightest mistake, Id be found out. Thats why I have this habit of observing someone. and I find something suspicious about that woman.

Shizuku explained to me in detail. But even as I took a closer look at the woman, I still couldnt find something suspicious at all but.. theres this.. uh, feeling? Like, theres something off about her..

Shes too pretty.

Eh? Even though shes wearing a mask, you could tell?

No, thats not what I meant. Its not her face, its her movements, movements, okay? There are no deviations, or rather, hesitations to her movements at all, its like she is repeating a fixed movement over and over again.

At Elzes words, I once again looked at the woman, but more attentively this time. Ah, I somewhat understood what they were trying to say. The way she laughs and the way she speaks seemed like it was kind of programmed..? Or like, its prepared beforehand. However, it might just be us being quick on jumping to conclusions. I mean, maybe, isnt it just her natural mannerism?

Grand Duke, she seems kind of. odd.

Did you also notice something, Sakura?

What the hell, man? Am I the only one who cant notice anything weird about her at all? Ah, Im starting to lose my confidence.. Ive been called slow many times before.. but I dont mean to be slow, you know!

That woman.. I cant hear any heartbeat coming from her at all.

Ehh?!

What do you mean by no heartbeat!? Dont tell me a zombie!?! ..Ney, theres no way a zombie who could move that well and casually talk to others like that exists.. Then, just what the hell is she? Hmm.. A person without heartbeat no.. something without a heart, but talks and moves as if its alive.

At that moment, an assumption suddenly appeared in my mind I didnt think something like this would actually happen, but.. dont tell me, shes

I used myDivine Sightto peek underneath the mask. What greeted me was a beautiful and neat face of a woman, that anyone given the opportunity to see her beauty would do their utmost best to try and woo her. I plunged my vision even further, down to the tip of the skin. Usually, Id be greeted with a vision Id rather not see. After all, seeing something like blood-red flesh clinging to the bones would really freak you out. But, I had to do it, since if it is what I think it is, then.

I knew it.

Knew what? What did you see?

Elze asked as she looked into my eyes, which should have turned golden by now because of using divine sight.

Thats not a human. Thats a gollem.

A gollem?!

Damn right it is. I have no doubt it is one of those gollems calledSimulacrum Models1.

And, since there are a lot of gollems out there in the world, they were divided according to their type in order to easily identify them.

First, theAutonomous Modelsthat had the ability to act independently. Majority of the gollems were of this type. It also had various variations such as humanoid models, animal models, and miniaturized bipedal models. The Crownseries and Ellukas gollem, Fenrir was also in the same category.

These kinds of gollems requires to have a contract with someone as their master, and would have better performance if they have good compatibility with each other. There were also gollems like Fenrir who can talk, but theyre quite rare.

Next would be theVehicular Models.It is the type where the owner would directly hop on and operates it firsthand. There are also semi-autonomous types of vehicular models where the gollem has its own ego. It includes tanks, trailer, multi-legged models, etc. There was also this rumour that the Magitechnocracy of Isengard had a giant aerial battleship. And speaking of multi-legged models, the merchant Sancho from the Holy Kingdom of Allent also had a bus that was designed like a crab.

These types of gollems did not require any contractual relationships, but they did require keys to make them function. Lots of these gollems were made in factories, but those found in ancient ruins are much rarer.

After that would be the Drone Modelswhich were almost similar to theVehicular Models, except that instead of directly controlling it and riding the gollem, the owner operates it by either using a remote control or voice commands. These types of gollems didnt have any will and couldnt make decisions themselves, which makes their performance lacking compared to the other gollems. The Military gollems, Soldato, fell into this category.

Then, theArmament Models.These are gollems that could be worn by their masters or turned into weapons they can wield. Some were originally weapon-like in appearance which then you could use to surprise the enemy by transforming it into something else, like an armor, a weapon, or you could even transform it into something like a power suit. I guess you could say that its a derivative from the autonomous models. Before, I fought this gollem called Panzer in Isengard, which I think falls into this category. I dont really remember it that much though.

And lastly, theSimulacrum Models.It was said that these kinds of gollems were designed to have a human-like appearance for people who craved someone to stay by their side, or to accompany them. However, the truth of their origins were uncertain. My gollems Ruby, Saph, and Emerl from theEtoileseries fell into this category, although they only acted like humans, and didnt exactly resemble them appearance-wise.

Nonetheless, the body-double of the witch-King of Isengard I fought before and Norns maid, Elfrau, looked really just like humans that its hard to tell they were gollems at a glance. These types, however, were incredibly rare, though. Perhaps, that woman over there is one of those rare types.

Why is that gollem here, though? What was her purpose in coming here?

What will you do now, Grand Duke?

Even if you ask me that

Its not like we had a rule that says Gollems cant participate, right?

Well, youre right Elze, but you know what? Im sure shes not here to find a partner.

She hadnt done anything yet, but that doesnt mean I should leave a ticking time bomb alone that would potentially explode later on, right?

Anyways, I think I should inform the Emperor of Refreese about this. Hes the host for this masquerade after all.

But first

I usedDrawingto sketch the gollems face underneath the mask on a piece of paper that I could see with myDivine Sight.This is useful for finding the real identity of that gollem. If I asked around, I would be able to get the answer for that.

I left Elze, Sakura, and Shizuku behind to observe the gollem just in case, then I usedTeleportto move on the second floor where the Emperor of Refreese currently was.

Theres no doubt This is the face of Miss Imelda.. I cant believe she was a gollem all this time Grand Duke, are you sure that theres no mistake here? Lucrecion, the former crown prince of Gardio, who is now the count of Lowe, inquired to me as he looked over the image displayed on the paper, quite confused.

Unfortunately, this is true.. Did His Majesty, the Emperor of Gardio know about this?

I turned my head towards the young Emperor of the Gardio Empire, Lancelett Rig Gardio, who was standing next to Lucrecion.

..No, I had no knowledge about it at all.. I mean, I dont really understand whats going on.. The Emperor of Gardio said as he shook his head.

Then, I glanced over the pope of Ramissh, which she in turn, nodded and smiled. That meant that her Mystic Eyes of Sinceritytold her that what the Emperor told us wasnt a lie.

If thats the case, then There must be a plot established here by the family from which Miss Imelda originated. Imelda Tryus is from a noble family that bears the title of Earl, after all.

I can think of three possibilities from this, darling. The first is that Miss Imelda was a gollem from the very beginning, in which case the human Imelda Tryus never existed in the first place. Then theres the possibility that there was a real human Imelda Tryus who was supplanted by the fake one at some point in time. This seems to be the most likely scenario, however Im not sure if the switch was made in order to infiltrate this party or the Tryus family. And finally, the last thing that I could think of was that it was simply darlings misunderstanding.

No, no, Leen. Sakura couldnt hear any heartbeat coming from her, remember?

I know, darling. Im just saying that its a possibility we need to consider. Leen replied while grinning as she heard me complaining about her hypothesis.

Ive known Miss Imelda since she was still small, so I dont think the first hypothesis is correct. I mean, gollems dont grow after all, so its not possible. At the very least, I could say that the human Miss Imelda exists.

The Emperor of Gardio was a member of a high-ranking noble family, so it was natural that he would be associated with the Tryus family at some point of his life. Which means, the real Imelda was switched with the gollem one Was this the work of the Tryus family? Or a plot instigated by some unknown third-party?

For the time being, we should capture this fake Imelda. As the Emperor of Gardio, I cant overlook this.

Umu. As the Emperor of Refreese, I can understand your feelings, but making a big fuss by capturing her flashily in a party like this, trouble would ensue. And we dont want that to happen now, do we?

Still, we cant leave her alone either. Sure, gollems of her type dont have any skills and have such weak combat prowess, but they could still harm people. We must act quickly while we still have time, or else well regret it later on.

Both of the Emperors talked with each other, troubled expressions plastered on their faces.

I could understand what they were feeling. I mean, how could we destroy such a splendid occasion with a flashy arrest? And from the Emperor of Refreeses perspective, having the matchmaking party called off because of it wouldnt really leave a good taste, especially since he planned all of this for his daughters sake.

Weapons were prohibited to bring inside the venue, and from what I saw earlier when I did a body scan2on her, I didnt see any weapons similar to what the body-double of the witch-King of Isengard was hiding. However, if she really wanted to do so, she could kill a person around her quite easily. Well, the same could be true for the other attendees though.

Hey, darling.

Hm? What?

Leen leaned in and whispered something to my ears. I see, if we do it like that, it wouldnt cause such a big fuss.

Alright then, Ill be back in a bit.

Fufu, goodluck, darling.

After being sent off by Leen, I once again usedTeleportto return to where Elze and the others were.

It went pretty well, didnt it? Elze said as she looked towards the fake Imelda slung over my back.

Leens plan was straightforward. Sakura and Elze would approach the gollem and draw its attention, and I would useInvisibleon myself and sneak up on her, touching her neck while Id useCrackingto sever the neural magic circuit nerve line linking her Q-crystal to her brain while she was occupied. When the gollems connection is severed, it loses its ability to move, so when the gollem finally collapses, Elze and Sakura then would close in and comment how pale and anemic she looked. After that, Id appear in front of them, clearly visible, and offer to carry her to the infirmary on my back, signaling our escape. Mission accomplished, Ez.

Still, even for a gollem, shes way too light. These types of simulacrums are actually pretty elaborately made, huh? The two things pressed against my back are so soft. Heh, I wonder what they were made of?

..Grand Duke, youre thinking of something indecent right now, arent you?

W-what!? T-thats not true! I wouldnt think of such a thing, especially at a time like this!

Thats right. You wouldnt dare think of something indecent, and comparing sizes while two of your wives are both beside you, right?

T-thats right!

Elzes eyes were terrifying as she said those words.

No! I wasnt comparing or anything! I was just curious!

I was sweating buckets, but I still managed to open aGatein a deserted area and transferred us to the infirmary.