Absolutely Do Not Touch Eldmia Egga – Chapter 15

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Lagnis Lien da Levien. That was Levi’s real name.

Clearly, Lagnis was the name. Lien would be the family name, and Levien would be the form of the territory or region. I learned that’s how the kingdom’s nobles named themselves.

Things like “da” or “tsin” were attached, and Asirye had told me that they ultimately meant something like “of ~” in ancient language.

Among them, “tsin” was only allowed for high-ranking nobles with a long history, and they didn’t bother attaching a territory name. Like their family alone was great, or something? She said such nobles were usually concentrated in the capital.

Levien was not a region but a territory name. It was located within the southern Sevil region of the kingdom where Ogwen was, and it was completely wiped out by the Demon King’s army, just like our village. I had heard about that roughly when we first met, but…

I never thought she herself was the child of the lord who managed that territory.

“Thanks to your help, I had some leeway, and with the money I saved little by little, I sent a letter to my teacher.”

She had shown remarkable talent in magic from a young age. Her father, the lord of Levien, who took note of this, used his connections to find a mage who could become her teacher, and fortunately, he was able to connect with a fairly famous mage.

Although his spontaneous wanderlust, traveling here and there and recruiting disciples, was a weakness if anything, he was very enthusiastic about nurturing the next generation and was a true famous one-shot teacher of the kingdom who made his disciples successful one after another.

Like the mage who had visited our village a long time ago, mages seemed to be surprisingly enthusiastic about raising disciples.

“There were factional fights among the nobles. In fact, I think he received my letter when the situation was overheated regarding how to deal with our territory.”

Her teacher immediately tried to inform the Council of Elders of the kingdom’s nobles that she was still alive. It felt like a school teacher getting dragged into family issues, but she said the master-disciple relationship of the mage profession was not such a simple structure.

Simply receiving teachings was done in any way, but forming a master-disciple bond was never light or simple.

It was said that the original master-disciple relationship between mages was not only to study and advance the way of magic while alive, but also, depending on the circumstances, to inherit the master’s task and further pave the way ahead. Although there have been changes during its long history, the master-disciple relationship is like a family connected by mana as it continues on such a foundation. Once a master-disciple bond is formed, they are not treated as outsiders even in the kingdom’s laws, so that says it all.

There are even cases where they transfer all their assets and rights to their disciples despite having their own children, and there are actually cases where the children do not take any legal action against it.

I didn’t know about other things, but it was clear that it wasn’t something I could rashly judge with my common sense alone.

Anyway, up to that point, it was fine, but the problem was with other nobles connected to her family.

Roughly speaking, in the midst of a fierce power struggle between the royalist faction and the noble faction, a dogfight broke out to absorb the remaining assets and rights of the Levien family and even secure their status.

Since her body had not been found unlike other family members and she was considered missing, the royalist faction, who thought she needed to be found, and the noble faction relatives, who asserted their rightful ownership of the abandoned assets and rights.

Believing she must be dead, they were fighting, so even her teacher had no choice but to hesitate.

“My father was in the royalist faction, and I was taught that way too.”

She was not an adult yet. The place that secured her safety first could arbitrarily wield everything, including the right to speak, under the name of personal protection.

In the midst of that, if her survival was confirmed at the scene of that dogfight, it was clear that the noble faction would be burning with anger.

After respecting Levi’s wish not to fall into the hands of the noble faction through several letters, her teacher concluded to publicly meet in Ogwen on the day she became an adult.

But they caught the tail. The royalist faction had already finished talking with the teacher, so there was no reason for them to search, but they found out that someone was searching for her.

Since the only means of communication was letters, they couldn’t adjust the schedule, and the planned “public meeting” was not just a mage coming alone to meet her, but a kind of show aimed at the public eye.

With the mage directly picking her up along with troops mobilized by the royalist faction, so they couldn’t move away to another city.

“That’s quite a grandiose script.”

The heroic return of an unfortunate young lady who lost her parents to demons, fled from the persecution of the noble faction, and went into hiding for 3 years for the glory of the royalist faction and her family.

The mage and soldiers to show this off. Even for a local noble, if they were completely annihilated by the Demon King’s army, was it worth doing this much?

If I hadn’t met Asirye, I might have been used for similar propaganda.

“A script… You understand too quickly. Could you also have been a noble?”

“No, Eldmia, who has exceeded 30 years of mental age, is well-versed in all things in the world.”

“You’re making excuses like that again.”

Although she spoke with dissatisfaction, Levi, no, Lagnis smiled slightly. Feeling sorry for her, I ruffled her hair, and she whined, telling me not to do it.

“So this is what you meant by using your head. If it were a noble, they absolutely wouldn’t think I was the young lady of the Lien family if they saw me like this, right?”

“If they’re sending people to search for you, that might be the case… but if it’s important enough for the royalist faction to move like that, the noble faction wouldn’t be searching for you in a complacent way either.

Wouldn’t it make sense for at least someone who knows your face to come along?”

Even though 3 years had passed, her facial features hadn’t changed much. Above all, the fact that they came straight to Ogwen meant they had clearly caught her trail. Or there was a spy who could find out the contents of the letter in the middle.

“My father hardly interacted with his noble faction relatives. There wouldn’t be many people who know my face.”

“What matters is that there are some, not none. In this situation, it’s right to assume that someone who can recognize you will come and act accordingly.”

You have to prepare for the worst-case scenario to be ready. If you act based on mediocre hopes, you always face the worst.

“Actually, in a case like this it’s better to openly leave alone the things you can easily hide. It’s not like you’re the only redhead in the entire world, after all.

Rather, if you were originally a redhead but then dyed it, they would suspect you first. I’m not sure about the nobles, but commoners don’t consider hair dyeing as a form of makeup.”

“Huh?! Really?”

“What would I gain by bluffing you? It’s better to think about the next move instead of wasting time on that.”

When I asked about her intentions with a somewhat cautious expression, I unknowingly furrowed my brow.

“Then are you going to help or leave me alone? Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten?”

“Wh-what?”

“Never mess with Eldmia Egga.”

That doesn’t just mean to leave me alone. It means don’t fuck with anyone associated with me.

“If they come properly, they should have an official document and activities that don’t lose face publicly.

The actions of the royalist faction and your teacher are desirable in that sense. If they had tried to take you before you became an adult, I would have told you to run away instead.”

But they mentioned it after she became an adult. I don’t know how much wealth and rights she has left, but it’s no exaggeration to say that they are the exact opposite of the noble faction who are secretly searching for her now.

“If that’s not the case, it means there’s something fishy, and if there’s something fishy, it means they can use illegal means if there are obstacles, and that can lead to acts of violence at any time.”

Rumors are circulating among the villagers, but there’s no legal notification? It means mercenaries or adventurers are searching for her at the level of asking around for rumors.

The fact that even those rumors are being hushed up means that the atmosphere of the targets wasn’t very friendly to the extent that even spreading such rumors was unsettling.

It’s also possible to violently kidnap her and then kill all the hired individuals when meeting, claiming they rescued her themselves, and then try to pin the entire process on the royalist faction.

From their standpoint, it’s a situation where they can do anything if they get their hands on her first.

“You think I’ll leave it alone when they make such a threatening approach to a kid who’s staying at Alisha’s inn in Ogwen, and whom I personally found and secured a place for?”

I ruffled Lagnis’s hair once more as she blankly stared at me, but this time she didn’t react.

For a noble, it’s not just their family and neighbors dying like me, but losing everything they had.

That territory belonged to her family, and it should have continued to support her, whether she succeeded the family or married into another family.

She’s a kid who lost all that and still managed to stand up, working and smiling among commoners while ignoring even class differences. She’s my neighbor who can hold her head high anywhere.

If she follows the royalist faction and leaves this place and time passes like that, it might be different, but not yet.

“No one can mess with Eldmia Egga anymore.”

It would depend on the other party’s attitude, but if they act like a dick, they’ll see themselves get fucked.

Whoever fucking touches little Eldmia will get fucked.

They’ll really get fucked.

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