—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“A letter has arrived from the capital, Your Excellency the Count.”
“Throw it away.”
“The sender is the young master.”
“Bring it here.”
The white-haired butler handed over the letter without so much as a twitch of his eyebrow.
The attitude of Coltman Aindarok, the head of the Aindarok family, was always like that.
He was decisive, his response changing completely depending on what was said before or after, so occasionally delaying a small addendum was a minor amusement for the old butler.
“Insolent brat.”
It was a one-sided notice.
A notice telling him to come back and not let things get any bigger, though it was likely already too late.
It wasn’t sent with the expectation of a reply. If he were to return, it should have been Lockstryn’s body, not a letter.
But upon receiving the letter, he discovered something even more absurd.
“What is this?”
“Regarding that, I have verified its authenticity, and it is indeed a proper seal.”
Imprinted on the envelope was the seal of the head of the Yuchsilla family.
A central politician who had not a single point of contact with the Aindarok. They were the sort of people Coltman was known to utterly despise.
Why had a Yuchsilla seal arrived in his domain, attached to a letter from an Aindarok sender?
Coltman pressed his forehead.
“This is going to be tiresome.”
He hadn’t thought his son was stupid, merely clumsy in his methods.
Perhaps a father’s affection had blinded him.
Even a rotten sea bream is still a sea bream, as they say.
Was even that a vain hope? It seemed he had finally been played by the hands of a politician.
Coltman tore open the letter roughly.
[To my beloved daughter.]
“……?”
He narrowed his eyes. For him, it was a rare display of emotion.
[I am sorry to deliver such bad news. The mines in the Demphel, Kadekas, and Posoti regions have all been attacked and shut down. The stationed soldiers were soundly defeated and have retreated, and we must now pay reparations for 183 out of 191 contracts…….]
‘What is this nonsense?’
He checked again, but it was unmistakably the Yuchsilla seal.
It was, without a doubt, a letter sent personally by Siilin Yuchsilla, the head of the Yuchsilla family, to her own daughter studying at Somerbadge.
“What is the known situation with the Yuchsilla?”
“I have heard that the Demphel mine suffered a significant blow, but otherwise, it is said to be at a level they can sufficiently handle with their hired forces. Their foundation is still intact.”
“Is that so?”
A lie.
The truth was here in his hand.
The fatal reality of the Yuchsilla, something extremely private that must never be leaked to the outside world.
He didn’t know how the dull-witted Lockstryn had obtained this letter, but even so, what was his intention in delivering it to him?
And in such a timely manner.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His index finger tapped intermittently on the desk. A matter that only two people were ever supposed to know: himself and Bilgen, the butler who had protected the Aindarok family his entire life.
A plan that had never been composed into even a single line of text, so there was no way it could have been leaked.
‘It can’t be.’
It was a leap in logic.
Coltman dismissed the thought and put the letter down.
He had memorized it and was planning to burn the letter. But the contents weren’t finished.
[To Father.]
There was writing on the back as well.
Was this the main point? Coltman held the letter with both hands.
[I know you must be busy with recent events, but I was wondering if you could lend me some of your strength.]
Busy?
It was obvious nonsense. Although some regions had been attacked, this was the northern part of the Empire, the Aindarok territory.
There was no reason for Lockstryn, who had grown up seeing the strength of his own domain with his own two eyes, to worry about its safety.
‘But this is not a forgery.’
It was Lockstryn’s elegant handwriting, a style that even a contemporary literary master could not dare to approach. This, no one could imitate.
Only Lockstryn, who had a strangely uncanny talent in odd places, could write like this, so the one who wrote this phrase was indeed Lockstryn.
[It is about the first friend I have ever made, who has committed a great wrong.]
He had heard that the eldest daughter of the Yuchsilla family had enrolled at Somerbadge, so it was possible they had connected.
Yes, his face at least was passable. Has it been two weeks since Lockstryn enrolled?
It meant that the boy, who had not a single shred of talent besides that, had somehow managed to charm the scion of a politician in that short time.
The proof was this outrageous letter that had reached his hands.
[If you have any spare forces, I would appreciate it if you could send support discreetly.]
At that point, Coltman’s thoughts deepened.
Calling him busy when he wasn’t.
At Somerbadge, there must be countless families from distant kingdoms and the Empire.
Of all of them, why Yuchsilla?
‘Discreet’ support.
Tap.
The moment he mulled it over, the tapping of his hand on the desk stopped. A sudden chill ran down his spine.
“……You little…….”
The letter, on which hung the very lifeline of the Yuchsilla family, known as the heart and lungs of the Empire. The three sentences scribbled on its back.
They all pointed to a single conclusion.
‘He knows.’
Lockstryn knows.
That face that always seemed somewhat vacant, that childish self-righteousness that kept him holed up in his room without exchanging a single word with his father—it was all a facade.
He had thought to watch him a little longer, wondering if he was finally starting to act like he was wearing a person’s skin.
—He was wrong.
Even from that tiny corner of his room, he was already seeing through it all with an embarrassing clarity.
Through his own mind. The future of this continent.
“What a fearsome boy.”
Coltman carefully tucked the letter into his breast pocket and rose to his feet.
It was his son, impertinently giving his father advice, and furthermore, an order. But he was willing to listen with pleasure.
So this is your first step.
Good. It was sufficiently weighty.
Of course.
An Aindarok must certainly do so. Because that is the mission given to them.
“Bilgen.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Postpone my schedule. There should be room to dispatch some troops.”
In the aftermath of the large-scale inland raids, the area around the northern ramparts was actually calmer, with fewer monsters.
He had stopped his vassals who, full of courage, wanted to go on subjugation campaigns, but he couldn’t just let precious talents kick up dust on the training grounds.
“Yes, how many should I…….”
“Dispatch the Special Assignment Unit, one company.”
“Is this official?”
“No. Make it top secret. We will depart as soon as the sun rises tomorrow.”
Mage corps exist in any nation, usually structured with mages interspersed among regular infantry formations.
However, the northern part of the Empire, due to its level of danger, commanded a number of mages that was on a different scale from other borders. Thanks to this, a strange kind of troop management, normally impossible, became feasible.
A unit composed solely of 5-star or higher mages, the Empire’s strongest firepower unit.
That was the Special Assignment Unit.
“We are going to Yuchsilla.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Three days had passed since the night raid.
With classes canceled until the weekend, I decided to increase my training time first.
And so, today again, I was at the dusty Somerbadge training ground.
“Achoo!”
Sniffle.
I wiped my nose with my sleeve.
From running around at night and in the early dawn, I had finally caught a cold. The weather was cold today, a late cold snap. It would probably stay cold for a while.
Still, having average physical stats was an advantage. It was bearable.
“Ghaaaack.”
But I couldn’t bear the fifth lap!
Compared to the past when I would collapse in exhaustion after just three laps, this was a massive improvement.
The finish line was right in front of me, so I crawled on all fours to complete the 50 laps. As a result,
[Stamina Level Up!]
[3 → 4]
“Woooah!”
I was too out of breath to speak, but I let out something resembling a cheer.
The hellish training ground run was indeed effective. It was a splendid achievement accomplished in just over a fortnight.
Now I can proudly declare it.
Above average!
I had taken a step, maybe half a pinky’s length, from being a common talent to a gifted one.
Of course, the higher the level, the slower the growth. Level 5 would probably take at least two months.
Reaching 2-star magic was also an ordeal. Having achieved this much, I decided to reward myself by going to bed 30 minutes early today.
“……Have you been doing this every day?”
As I was grinning to myself, a sigh-laden voice suddenly drifted from a distance.
I had no strength to get up, so I turned my head while lying down. No wonder my body was feeling chilly.
Euria was sitting on the stairs, looking down at the training ground.
She wasn’t the type to talk to others first, but there was no way she could ignore a 10-level charm.
“It would be inconvenient if our times overlapped.”
“Your wound?”
“It’s all healed.”
“That’s a relief.”
And then, thud, the conversation ended.
Should I leave? It didn’t matter to me since I had just finished my workout anyway. It seemed Euria had slept in today.
I wiped my sweat-drenched hair and stood up. With a walking air conditioner right here, there was no need to cool down separately.
As I was having such useless thoughts and climbing the stairs to pass by Euria.
“Why did you do it?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Why did you save me?”
Surprisingly, it seemed Euria had business with me. We hadn’t run into each other since then.
“Because you can’t get hurt, Euria. You’re a princess, aren’t you?”
“Why?”
“Well, it’s not like you did anything wrong—”
“Why?”
For someone asking so persistently, her tone was gentle, and her face, when our eyes met for a moment, was serene.
What can I do, that’s the truth.
It wasn’t like I could tell her, ‘I’ll need your power later, so you can’t get hurt.’
“I’m just overflowing with a sense of justice.”
“Liar.”
“It’s true—kyaak!”
I let out a cute, girlish scream.
It was because Euria had picked up a twig at some point and pressed it firmly against my left forearm. Euria’s eyebrows, which had been expressionless, twitched at that moment.
Did you just smile?
“See. Your wound isn’t even fully healed.”
“Aish, it’ll heal. I’m in my prime. Is this because I tied your shoelaces? So petty of you.”
If she was going to speak as if she already knew, did she really have to poke it? I grumbled and rubbed my forearm.
It was a deeper wound than I thought.
Ainim’s judgment was correct. To fully heal, I should have stayed in Ainim’s bed at least until sunset that day.
Even with 3-star healing magic, a half-day was only enough to barely stitch the skin together. Even now, my arm was tightly wrapped in bandages under my robe.
More than that, it’s cold now that the sweat has dried.
“Achoo!”
Flinch.
Startled by my sneeze, Euria reflexively took a step back.
Like a frightened kitten, she made such a timid face at times like this. I couldn’t even get mad.
Seeing that she had even dropped the twig she was holding, she must be very conscious of the distance between us.
“I already had a cold. It’s not because of you, Princess. Really. This isn’t a lie.”
“…….”
“I’m an Aindarok, you know. From the North.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m used to the cold. Sniffle. Sniff.”
Darn, trying to talk while sniffling was useless. This wasn’t a good time for a heart-to-heart with Euria. I should get back quickly…….
Just as I was thinking that.
“This,”
It felt like I shouldn’t miss it, so my eyes automatically followed it.
Rustle.
Euria unwrapped the scarf she always had wound around her neck. The hidden hair fell loose.
Shimmering silver hair cascaded down like a waterfall.
“Take it. You said you’re cold.”
It was just a shame that in just a few seconds, a bright red scarf was abruptly held out to me.
“What about you, Euria?”
“I have another one.”
Saying so, Euria pushed her hand into her thick clothes. A light-blue scarf popped out like magic.
‘Like Doraemon.’
The light-blue scarf that quickly wrapped around Euria’s neck was tantalizing, but the chill that escaped in that brief moment was not to be ignored.
I already had goosebumps on my arms. Now it’s really cold.
“I’ll return it later.”
“You can just keep it.”
“It’ll get warm soon enough. I have to go to class, so I’ll see you next time.”
I tied the scarf I received and turned around.
I had to let my nose run freely, trying not to sniffle until Euria was far away.
“……Liar.”
Euria had good eyesight.
Beyond what could generally be called ‘good,’ her gray eyes reflected things in the distance with a strange clarity and sharpness.
Of course, she could clearly see Lockstryn walking away in the distance, rubbing his arms as if a fly were rubbing its hands. He must have had the chills.
It was always like this.
Everyone around her got hurt and suffered.
The people she cared for left, one by one. Because there was nothing left in the hollow royal family.
It was painful for the young Euria to have understood and accepted that as a matter of course.
By the time she threw herself into the cage of the vile enemy nation, she had already realized.
—Nothing changes.
The kingdom is a weak nation.
The lives of the people suffering from famine did not get any better, and the royal family was under constant external pressure.
Euria had just run away.
‘Move.’
Just by being there.
She always caused trouble for those around her, so being alone was easier. The nobles of the Empire, being the most pragmatic of people, treated her as if she didn’t exist.
She got used to it.
There is no such thing as pure goodwill.
The motive that moves people is profit and loss.
But why?
‘Because you can’t get hurt, Euria. You’re a princess, aren’t you?’
She was called a princess.
He wasn’t ignorant of who she was.
The princess of a fallen kingdom.
A wicked curse had greedily gnawed away at her warmth from inside her mother’s womb, and the king, having lost his reason, drove the kingdom to ruin.
Once the kingdom lost the power to defend its own borders, she became a de facto hostage in exchange for the stationing of imperial troops.
Even if she graduates from Somerbadge, she is a body that cannot return to Mashreu.
“He’s just… a strange kid.”
You can tell just by the things he does.
He’s a little strange in the head.
I was just momentarily bewitched by that cheat-like face of his.
She decided to accept it like that.
‘Then me,’
To such a strange boy.
What was I hoping for, coming all this way…….
Lost in thought, she had unconsciously walked down the stairs.
The school grounds had been chaotic, so she hadn’t been able to practice magic for the past few days. Maybe she could just do the practice she had put off. Maybe that’s why she came.
“Water?”
Water.
The ground was carved. It was a word.
The only people who came here were Lockstryn and herself, so it was probably a phrase Lockstryn had carved. She naturally read the words next to it.
Water.
Magic.
X.
“Hehe.”
Did you leave this for me to see?
Another foolish laugh escaped.
Crouching on the ground, Euria took off her glove and reached out her hand. If it had been a human hand, it would have frozen in an instant.
But sand doesn’t freeze.
Euria stared at the ground like that for a long time.
In the dry sand, there would have been no warmth to be found.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
