Chapter 3
“Ugh! Hey, you! Are you trying to kill someone?!”
“If you don’t want to die, run over here. I’ll fire another shot.”
“A mage? Protect me. You can leave the Mad Dog.”
There was a slight issue with distance control, but either way, a noisy battle suddenly broke out. And I was the one who faced three high-risk griffins and all the smaller monsters under them, almost entirely alone.
‘Thanks to certain people who just stood and watched.’
I glared at the two knights who lacked any sense of chivalry.
“…?”
Despite looking a bit battered, they were clearly dressed in black uniforms and carried black swords. They lacked an insignia, but I could easily guess their affiliation.
‘Bellmeier. They must be the Grand Duke’s knights.’
What did it matter if they lacked chivalry? What did it matter if, instead of being grateful for the trouble they caused, they spoke to me so disrespectfully?
With a benevolent smile, I pulled out my last remaining emergency ration—jerky—from the hem of my dress.
“You said you were hungry. Want this?”
They say you give the most cake to the one you hate the most.
—No, that’s not it. It was because I judged that they could be my High Pass ticket to Bellmeier.
The Hilbarcia Empire and the Bellmeier Grand Duchy.
The truce between the two nations has lasted for ninety years.
About a century ago, the Demon Grand Duke of Bellmeier was a Grand Duke and the Master of the Magic Tower in the Hilbarcia Empire. But one day, he was supposedly corrupted by demonic energy and murdered the Saintess of the time.
Attacked by the Empire, the Grand Duke blew up the Magic Tower, declared his Duchy independent, and a war broke out between the Empire and the new Grand Duchy.
However, a victor was not easily decided.
Even though the Bellmeier army was vastly outnumbered, each of them was said to be monstrously strong.
A ceasefire was finally signed, ending the prolonged deadlock, and it has lasted until now.
And the Grand Duke from that time is still alive.
‘Because they say he became a demon for the crime of harming the Saintess.’
It’s unclear if the term “demon” is a metaphor or if he truly became such a being. I only accept it because his non-human nature—immortality while being infused with demonic energy—is a fact, and because Lissie refers to him as a demon in the original novel.
Well, whether he’s a real demon or a fake one, it doesn’t matter.
What matters is that the enemy of Bellmeier is the Empire.
“Ahem. I am Irenne. Of Hilbarcia’s Val—”
“I know.”
…I guess so?
I had braced myself to reveal my identity, having offered a bribe, but their attitude was surprisingly casual.
The man referred to as the Mad Dog scoffed and added:
“You’re a Valtres, aren’t you?”
It wasn’t surprising that he recognized me. Valtres is a famous, powerful family in the Empire, and black hair and red eyes are the family’s distinctive features. Plus, my look-alike brother often went to border disputes, so they might have guessed that way.
“Zephyr.”
The pink-haired man, who had instantly swallowed the jerky, abruptly cut in.
With a youthful face, somewhere between a boy and a young man, and an expression that was hard to tell if it was serious or blank, he repeated:
“Zephyr.”
…I could guess why his nickname was “Blockhead.”
“Alright. Is that your name? And you?”
The man with sun-tanned, bronze skin and long, braided platinum hair, with a hostile expression, answered readily:
“Nishé.”
“Good. Then, why are you two here?”
“You first. Why is the Duchess, who should be in the capital, wandering the mountains looking like a vagrant?”
A vagrant? Since I couldn’t really refute my appearance, I just twitched an eyebrow.
“Wrong, actually. I’m no longer a Duchess. I’m currently running away after having stabbed the Crown Prince.”
“…Huh. Isn’t this one completely crazy?”
“For your information, I wasn’t ‘wandering’; I was successfully finding my way to Bellmeier. Now it’s my turn, right? Why are the Bellmeier knights here?”
Since they hadn’t crossed the border yet, this was still Imperial territory. Their presence here was a little significant.
While Nishé remained silent, Zephyr answered without any hint of caution:
“Returning after a mission.”
…He just told me straight away?
I sincerely hoped this careless knight hadn’t exposed his identity to an Imperial citizen while spying.
Anyway, moving on.
“How about taking me with you on your way back?”
“Why?”
Zephyr, with his sleepy, blank face, tilted his head.
“I caused a huge incident and can’t stay in the Empire. I’m actually a pretty amazing mage, so I’ll be helpful.”
Fleeing the execution block of one’s own country to defect to an enemy nation.
The “enemy of my enemy is my friend” strategy!
“Okay.”
“Listen, my specialty is magic alchemy; I can turn stone into gold… What?”
“Okay.”
Zephyr repeated it nonchalantly. The overly easy acceptance sounded refreshingly simple.
I was momentarily dumbfounded and asked:
“Are you saying you’ll take me to Bellmeier?”
“You said you want to come.”
“What? Are you seriously insane?”
Nishé, who had been quiet, suddenly got angry.
But surprisingly, he was glaring not at Zephyr or me, but at the empty air.
As if conversing with a ghost, he rubbed his face with a thick hand and muttered:
“…Fine. I’ll do as you say, Witch.”
“…”
“Tch. Just don’t send me on missions with the Blockhead again.”
“…”
His crazy mumbling was starting to scare me a bit, but then Nishé turned his gaze to me.
And this time, he finally spoke directly to me:
“Hey. You want to come to Bellmeier?”
“…Yes, I do.”
He pulled the corner of his mouth into a nasty smirk.
“Let’s go. There’s something you need to do. Blockhead!”
Huh? Do what?
Before I could react, Zephyr snatched my hand. A strange light flickered in his brilliant green eyes.
“I can run now.”
“What do you mean by that… Whoaaa!”
Whoosh!
Before I could mentally prepare, the scenery flashed past like I was on a rollercoaster.
“Oh, that crazy Blockhead! You should take me too!”
“You can get there on your own.”
Zephyr and I paid no attention to Nishé, who was left behind and throwing a fit.
‘This is what he calls running? Unbelievable.’
My jaw dropped at this strange ability, which was akin to transference magic. Zephyr glanced at me and warned:
“You should close your eyes.”
Whoosh!
After that, all sensations passed in a blur.
A very brief period of time, feeling like an instant, passed. When I stood on solid ground again, I was no longer in the Empire.
“…It’s Bellmeier.”
The snow-covered landscape of the North, like a drawn Rofan setting.
The white, frozen scenery under the cloudy sky welcomed me.
Was entering an enemy country supposed to be this easy?
I sideways glanced at Zephyr, who suddenly seemed competent.
According to the original novel, there are non-human beings other than the Grand Duke in Bellmeier. They are his trusted aides, generically called “monsters,” though their exact nature is unknown. All I know is that they possess powerful, foreign abilities that are neither magic nor aura.
Could he, or rather, they, be these “monsters”?
‘But both of them had Aura Cores.’
A mage’s heart holds a magic circuit, and a knight’s heart holds an Aura Core. Since their aura was so strong, I had guessed they were the Grand Duke’s knights.
Then again, there’s no rule that says you can only have one.
I realized I was the only one fooled in a situation where no one had actually lied.
‘Since they are more than mere aides, this is actually better.’
I examined the Grand Castle’s desolate (actually, like a slightly overgrown abandoned building) exterior, which was covered in white snow, and cautiously spoke up:
“Say, could you arrange for me to meet the Grand Duke?”
Asylum requires the permission of the highest authority.
At this speed, maybe I could meet him right away? And the Grand Duke would casually grant permission, saying, ‘You stabbed that annoying Crown Prince? I like you’?
“Master is sleeping.”
…It’s not what I hoped for, but yes, that’s plausible.
“Then tomorrow? Or the day after?”
“Master will be sleeping.”
“…When will he wake up?”
Zephyr rolled his eyes at my question, counted silently, and replied with a question mark:
“Next year? Maybe not?”
“Right, no, that’s wrong. That unit of time is strange. Tomorrow, right?”
“The year after next? Master has only been asleep for three months.”
‘Is he Sleeping Beauty or what?’
I had never heard any rumors that the Demon Grand Duke was under a sleeping curse like in a fairy tale.
For one, the Grand Duke never appeared directly in the original novel, not even at the very end.
‘Because Lissie’s reverse harem was the main plot.’
In that case, remembering the original plot is useless.
In any case, the Grand Duke’s state = the world’s survival = my life, so I tried to ask more questions. Then, Zephyr suddenly spun his head around.
“Ah.”
It was an inarticulate sound, neither an exclamation nor a click of the tongue. He left me with one remark and vanished like the wind.
“I don’t want to get bitten by the Mad Dog.”
“What?”
Doo-doo-doo—
A vibration in the ground followed immediately after.
“Zephiter…!”
A figure with a menacing physique was rapidly approaching the Grand Castle, which had no gatekeeper.
The Mad Dog reached me in an instant and yelled:
“Today, I’m finally going to give you some sense—”
“You’re here? Are you one of the non-human ability users too?”
Nishé’s handsome features crumpled as he seemed to grasp the situation immediately.
“Ha.”
“I don’t appreciate you sighing in my face.”
“Whatever. You… just follow me for now. Let’s get ‘that thing’ done. The Witch is raising hell for us to hurry.”
What thing? The Witch? Ah, now that he mentioned it.
I had been so distracted by the bewildering way I arrived that I’d forgotten Nishé said there was “something I needed to do.”
“Shouldn’t you at least explain what the job is?”
“You’ll see when we get there.”
Such an awful way of speaking.
Unfortunately, I was the subordinate here, so I silently followed his rude lead.
And the moment I entered the Grand Castle, I realized the uncomfortable truth: the exterior was the only part that was halfway decent.
