Because the one who was killed wasn’t Nagi.
It wasn’t about herself, so she couldn’t give up so easily.

Still, at the very least, she understood that in her current situation, Yuliane Flockhart and her fellow mage companions were beyond her reach.

‘I thought that if those people were caught, I could immediately take revenge for Rio.’

This wasn’t a dream world.
It was just reality.
There was no way everything would go smoothly.

So then, what should she do?

‘…School, I guess.’

What Nagi needed most right now was the knowledge and common sense required to live in this world.
To determine what she could and couldn’t do, she needed to firmly acquire the standards by which to judge those things.

Knowledge was power.
First, she would obtain that power.
Fortunately, the environment she needed for that was being prepared at this very moment by this country’s kind crown prince.

‘Alright. I’ll properly repay this favor later through my saintly duties, so I’ll gratefully study for now. Prince Oswald.’

As Nagi squatted there, sulking and thinking to herself, Seiad spoke up.

"Yuliane Flockhart and her companions will die on their own even if you don’t lift a hand.
Is that not good enough for you?"

"If you were stabbed through the heart with a sword despite doing nothing wrong, and then dumped in the forest, would you calmly leave the cleanup to someone else?
Wow, such a big heart."

After a brief silence, Seiad muttered,

"…You.
Why are you alive?"

"That’s what you’re focusing on?!
I mean, I get it, but still!"

When Nagi snapped her face upward, Soleil stood there with both hands half-raised, wearing a thoroughly troubled expression as she spoke.

"Well… yeah.
I kind of understand wanting to beat the culprit to a pulp.
If that happened to me—well, I don’t have an affinity for healing magic, so if my heart got stabbed I’d just die instantly.
…Right.
If that happened, I’d want to become a wonderful demon who could rot the enemy alive."

At his colleague’s suddenly serious declaration, Seiad’s complexion turned slightly pale.

"Hey, Nagi.
Now Soleil is saying scary things too."

"Huh?
Do people here turn into demons if they die holding grudges?
What’s a demon, anyway?"

In response to Nagi’s question, Seiad answered seriously.

"It’s one of the monsters that appear in fairy tales used to scold mischievous children.
Long ago, a mage with tremendous power was betrayed by their companions and met an unjust end.
Because their resentment was so strong, they couldn’t fully die, and even now, with a body that continues to rot, they seek revenge against those who betrayed them.
That is a demon.
What Soleil is talking about is the type where anyone who touches its body will also rot alive."

I see, a zombie.

Satisfied, Nagi nodded and turned a beaming smile toward Soleil.

"Soleil.
Even if you become a demon, let’s stay friends!"

"Indeed.
But demons who command flames or control lightning are also quite tempting."

Apparently, demons weren’t limited to the infectious zombie type.
That was a little exciting.

"Do other demons’ bodies rot too?"

"Basically, yeah.
Demons are kind of like walking corpses.
But since only people with enormous magical power become demons, they usually use illusion magic to look like they did when alive.
Then, only when it’s time for ‘Let’s get revenge!’ do they show their true, gooey form to their enemies."

"Ohhh," Nagi said, clapping her hands together.

"That’s cool!
Maintaining an unyielding heart that never gives up on revenge, while also having the consideration not to trouble unrelated people—what an admirable mindset!"

"Right?!
Aim for the cool demon mindset!
That said, if you go punch Yuliane Flockhart and the others right now, there are a looot of people—starting with Vice-Captain Lainil—whose stomachs would be in terrible pain, so let’s put that plan on hold until we come up with a better solution, okay?"

Soleil firmly grabbed Nagi’s clasped hands with both of hers.
Nagi couldn’t help but half-lid her eyes.

"…Has anyone ever told you that you’re good at acting, Soleil?"

"Nope.
If anything, I’m pretty bad at it.
But I do believe I just did a job worthy of full praise from the captain and the others."

As she said that with a straight face, Seiad gently patted her head.

"Don’t worry, Soleil.
If you become a demon, I’ll properly cut your head off."

"Don’t rot people without permission!"

Soleil swatted Seiad’s hand away.
A cat punch.

Very reluctantly, it seemed that the plan to beat up Yuliane Flockhart and her group had hit a temporary dead end.
Nagi groaned.

‘Damn it.
If that’s how it’s going to be, then until the day I fulfill my true goal, I’ll slowly and thoroughly let this grudge mature.
My mother taught me that favors are repaid double, and grudges triple.
Don’t think you can escape me, Yuliane Flockhart!’

Nagi had always been the type to hold onto grudges for a long time, like when her older brother ate sweets she had carefully saved.
Compared to reliving the moment Rio—‘herself’—was killed, to the point of vomiting everything in her stomach, that kind of grudge was nothing.
After all, what she had thrown up back then was the embodiment of kindness, food personally prepared for her by the knights here.

The grudge of Rio, who had been killed.
The grudge over the wasted food.
And the grudge of Nagi herself, who had lost all the happiness she once had.
With all that combined, there was no way she could forget.

Even so, there was nothing Nagi could do right now.
Even if she shouted about compensation and damages, she didn’t even know what procedures to follow.
In the end, it was just the shallow idea of a child.

‘…I need to study.’

Letting out a deep sigh, Nagi began to think about what lay ahead.

"Hey, Soleil.
I’m going to enroll in the magic academy, but since you’re my escort assistant, does that mean you’ll be enrolling too?"

Soleil’s eyes widened.

"Oh, right, you did say that, didn’t you?
Yeah, I guess that’s probably how it’ll turn out.
…Wow, I never thought the day would come when I’d attend the magic academy!"

Seeing her so excited, Seiad asked,

"What do you mean?
You’re Nagi’s escort assistant?"

"Oh, I didn’t tell you?
Yeah, that just got decided.
Like you said, there are probably going to be all kinds of hassles involving the MacFarlane Ducal House from now on.
If anything happened to Nagi, Vice-Captain Lainil would seriously fall apart.
By the way, Siegwald is the main escort, and I’m the assistant."

In just a few minutes, Soleil had apparently already seen through the fact that Lainil suffered from a severe sister complex.
For some reason, that made Nagi feel a little apologetic.

Nagi scratched her cheek.

"Even if something happens to me, as long as I don’t die, I can heal myself right away.
But if Siegwald or Soleil got hurt, I’d honestly lose it.
So please, really, safety first."

"Thaaaat’s why!
I’m a magic knight trainee!
You’re a civilian, Nagi!
Now that I’m in charge of your protection, your safety comes first for me!
This is absolutely non-negotiable!"

"Eeh…"
Nagi frowned.

"I don’t think someone who can stab their own heart and instantly self-revive really counts as ‘typical.’"

"Ev-even if you’re not typical, you’re still a civilian category-wise!
A protected individual!"

At that point, Seiad let out a sigh and cut in.

"Nagi.
You should get a little more used to being protected."

"?
What do you mean?"

Tilting her head, Nagi listened as Seiad continued.

"You’re Vice-Captain Lainil’s biological younger sister, right?
Anyone in the noble class knows that the MacFarlane Ducal House drove him out over reasons that were practically false accusations, despite him having no fault.
Once your existence is made public, it’s bound to cause a huge uproar."

"Huh?
Seiad, you know how I was abandoned by the MacFarlane Ducal House?"

She had thought he was knowledgeable, but this was more than she expected.

However, Seiad shook his head.

"No, I don’t.
But I can imagine it wasn’t a pleasant story."

"Oh, I see.
Then I’ll tell you anyway.
This is something I heard from Lainil, but apparently when my mother was pregnant with me, the duke’s mistress was pregnant too.
And so, to make that mistress his wife, the duke falsely accused my mother of infidelity and had her expelled to a convent."

Since she was at it, Nagi continued and explained everything to both of them.

"My mother gave birth to me at the convent, and then she died shortly after.
I was at an orphanage in Nordahl until last autumn, but it turns out that place was a storage facility for a human trafficking ring, so maybe I was sold to Yuliane Flockhart?
My memory’s a bit fuzzy around there, but in the end I was stabbed pretty badly in the forest and almost killed.
Then I somehow revived using my own healing magic, got picked up by the magic knight order by sheer luck, and now I’m Lainil’s little sister and adopted daughter.
…Yeah, lining it all up like this, it really makes no sense."

Of course, the part that made the least sense was that right after being killed by Yuliane Flockhart and the others, Rio’s soul and Nagi’s soul had switched places.
But that was something she couldn’t tell anyone, and there was nothing she could do about it anyway, so she decided to leave it alone.

‘…Huh?’

When she noticed how strangely quiet it was, she saw that both Soleil and Seiad had stiffened.

"Did something happen to you two?"

"…If anything, I think the ones who are truly ‘off’ are the MacFarlane Ducal House."

At Seiad’s response, Soleil nodded.

"…Yeah.
Normally, no matter how much your mistress gets pregnant, you don’t kick out your legal wife.
And after going that far, the heir you choose is some absolute moron who doesn’t even compare to Vice-Captain Lainil.
That’s the part I really don’t get."

"A moron."

Nagi recalled that Lainil had also referred to his half-sibling as ‘incompetent.’
…Was he really that bad?

‘Come to think of it, if we’re the same age, does that brother also enter the magic academy this year?
Well, no matter how messed up his parents are, and even if he’s a bit of a moron, he hasn’t directly done anything to me.’

She was a little curious to see the face of her ‘half-brother’ at least once, but that was all.
He seemed like someone who would be troublesome to get deeply involved with, so she decided to keep her distance.

As she was thinking that, Seiad cleared his throat and steered the conversation back on track.

"Well… yeah.
If that’s the case, then all the more reason.
If the MacFarlane Ducal House learns of your existence, assassination is a worst-case possibility.
For someone tasked with protection, allowing harm to come to their charge is absolutely unacceptable.
You could even call it a humiliation.
The moment you accepted having an escort, you took on the obligation to remain safe, no matter what."

"Exactly, exactly!"
Soleil nodded vigorously.

"And on top of that, now that you’re Vice-Captain Lainil’s adopted daughter, protecting you is his duty as your guardian.
So for the sake of protecting his stomach, too, you need to let us protect you properly, okay!"

"It’s not like I want to get hurt on purpose, you know?
I’m just saying that I don’t want Siegwald or Soleil to get hurt because of me…"

The conversation just wasn’t lining up.

In the end, Seiad took a deep breath, frowned, and said sharply,

"Fine, I’ll put it in terms you can understand.
An untrained amateur should shut up and let the professionals protect them.
Don’t move unnecessarily.
You’re in the way."

"…Yes, sir."

Comments (0)

Trending Novels

I Became the strongest hero of the previous generation

Archmage on the bed

I was mistaken for an undefeated general

Healers in the martial arts world are obsessed

Became a genius Muggle in the Archmage Gallery

I Wove Earth’s History Into A Fantasy