"You've got that wrong."
Ash, who had been listening in, gave his own response.
"Even that H—" The words caught in Ash's throat as soon as they left his mouth. He remembered that person liked sweets, but had already forgotten his name. "Anyway, that doctor who liked sweets could be incredibly serious at times. He hated the sight of people like us just as much as you do, and he fought me plenty of times."
"But he never regretted teaching me medicine, not even once."
Though his methods looked frightening, he was no third-rate, half-baked mad doctor. With what he had learned, he had genuinely saved lives.
Even he had things he respected.
"I know you're amazing, but how could you possibly do something like that?" Rikka no longer even wanted to complain about Ash's strange abilities.
"Because I'm a genius."
Just as Ash was smugly basking in his own praise, another voice rang out at the perfect moment.
"I... I already told you!"
Unable to stop herself from wiping her eyes with the back of her hand again, Makoto, her eyes reddened, seriously met Ash's gaze this time. Suppressing her embarrassment, she gathered her courage once more.
"So please, tell me where the Princess is already!"
"Fine. Catch."
Ash nodded readily this time. He had no doubt that if he kept stalling her now, she might actually pounce on him and bite him.
He tossed over the Spade J card. It landed before Makoto and continuously unfolded, eventually turning into a map with three locations marked on it.
"Three?!"
Makoto, who had been overjoyed just moments ago, was immediately dumbfounded. She was stunned by the marks on the map. She only knew of one Princess, yet there were three markers.
Ash had gotten this answer by using up some