Chapter 27
“Don’t you know flight magic?”
“…Huh?”
For a moment, Ariella forgot how to respond.
It was such a random question.
Why now? In this situation, is that really important?
She’d expected him to say something like, You did well or Good work, praising her quick reaction earlier.
But instead—this?
“I asked if you can use flight magic.”
“No, I can’t.”
Ludwig’s eyebrow twitched.
“A human who can draw a Demon King’s summoning circle can’t even fly?”
He looked genuinely baffled.
“Summoning magic is a one-time thing. It’s a whole system that requires a sacrifice. It’s not the same as flight magic. And anyway—why are you asking me this so suddenly?”
“If you can’t fly, does that mean you haven’t learned leap magic either?”
Leap magic, as the name suggested, let you jump extremely high into the air.
Hearing that, Ariella finally guessed why Ludwig was asking such a strange question.
“I can use that one.”
“If you can, then you should’ve used it! When a vampire was charging at you to cut your throat!”
His face stayed stiff.
Then, surprisingly for him, he spoke in a longer sentence.
“When someone’s trying to kill you, the first thing you should think about is getting away! Whether it’s by flying or jumping, you should run immediately! What kind of human just stands there staring without fear?”
Ariella stared back in disbelief.
He was actually scolding her for not running away—
for standing her ground and catching Bephar with her Hold spell instead.
“How was I supposed to chant a long-start-up spell like leap magic in that urgent moment? I used the fastest, simplest magic I knew.”
Thanks to recently catching the slime over and over with Hold, the spell had become second nature to her.
It was so simple that it had burst out like a reflex.
But Ludwig still looked full of complaints.
“Next time something like that happens, just run! Don’t plan to fight up close. Do you even know how dangerous that was?”
Ariella tilted her head and repeated his first word with emphasis.
“‘Next time’? There won’t be a next time, right?”
“…What?”
“You said you’d protect me. On the battlefield or anywhere else. That’s part of our contract. So instead of saying ‘If it happens again’, shouldn’t you be making sure it never happens again?”
Ludwig’s expression faltered.
After all, he had promised to protect her.
And if Bephar had gotten close enough to threaten Ariella, that meant he had slipped up.
“…Fine.”
He nodded, accepting the point.
But he still had something left to say.
“Anyway! Facing a centuries-old vampire with just a Hold spell? What if he broke through it?”
“But he didn’t. I stopped him just fine.”
That, Ludwig couldn’t deny.
After a moment of silence, he finally nodded again.
“I’ve never seen anything like that, honestly.”
Such a tight, flawless Hold spell.
He asked again, just to be sure.
“You didn’t… learn that from anyone, did you? Self-taught?”
“Yes. I read about it in a book and practiced alone.”
“I want to read that book.”
“You can’t even read. And even if you learned, you wouldn’t be able to—”
Ludwig’s face stiffened, as if she’d just insulted him.
“What? Do you think I’m stupid? I just haven’t had time until now, but if I decide to learn—”
“Oh? You’re actually going to learn to read? Keep that promise, then. You can start tomorrow.”
“…What?”
Got him.
A Demon King wouldn’t take back his own words.
Ariella smiled slyly and explained.
“And the reason I said you wouldn’t be able to read it isn’t because I think you’re dumb—it’s because that book doesn’t exist anymore. Remember?”
When she had summoned Ludwig to the human realm, the magic book had been offered as part of the sacrifice.
It had vanished completely.
“There’s no way to read it now.”
“…Oh. Right.”
Seeing him hesitate over something he should have remembered, Ariella sighed lightly.
He was amazing in battle, but outside of that… he was lacking in a lot of areas.
Richmond’s guess about him deciding on their contract just by glancing at the summoning circle was probably right.
He clearly needed some basic education.
“Still, how did you even manage to self-teach something like that?”
He muttered the same question again, looking deep in thought.
Then suddenly—
“You’re not human, are you?”
Ariella’s blood pressure spiked.
“What? I just finished the job and you’re starting a fight again?”
“Think about it. Could one of your ancestors have been a demon or a dragon?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Our kingdom’s founding myth doesn’t have anything like that!”
Ludwig went over all the amazing things she had done so far.
“No matter how I think about it, a normal human shouldn’t be able to do that. From the start, you were suspicious. You can pour out enough mana to pass out… Maybe I actually contracted with a non-human. Hiding your true identity to trick me—so this was a scam contract?”
“This is so annoying. If anything, I’m the one who got scammed! I didn’t know the Demon King’s domain was this poor. You completely hid it from me!”
“You never asked if I was rich or not. How was I supposed to answer something you didn’t ask?”
“There’s such a thing as common sense! How was I supposed to imagine you were this broke? You’re a Demon King!”
Their bickering continued all the way out of the forest.
Bephar was dead.
It was a shocking event.
He had been one of the longest-serving vassals of the domain, working for generations.
And yet… all his actions had been steeped in corruption.
Still, the common people barely reacted.
There were rumors, but surprisingly little unrest.
When the head butler reported this to Ariella, she felt relieved—but also uneasy.
They’re all just too exhausted from surviving each day.
They didn’t have the strength left to be angry or shocked.
Whatever happens among the “high and mighty” in the inner city… corruption or not… they just don’t care. They’re too busy trying to live through the day.
Meanwhile, Bephar’s mansion, now without its owner or any residents, was overflowing with activity.
“Move everything to the Demon King’s castle!”
Soldiers turned the huge house upside down, searching every inch.
Ariella was in charge.
This time, they weren’t looking for a vampire—they were looking for evidence.
And they found more than Ariella had ever expected.
A chest full of gold bars in Bephar’s bedroom was only the beginning.
“I knew he messed with the ledgers, but I didn’t think it was this bad.”
“C-Contractor! What should we do with this?”
“Another stack of documents? Put them on that cart. I’ll check them myself.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Their voices were quick and respectful.
Nothing like when she had first arrived, when they mocked and ignored her.
Guess the chain of command is finally clear.
After the chase had ended, Ludwig had gathered all the soldiers and said something.
Ariella didn’t know what exactly, but after that, they treated her with complete respect—sometimes even surrounding her protectively wherever she went.
Well… I can’t say I dislike it.
Following her orders, they moved the seized goods.
One by one, magically sealed safes were opened.
Later, when Ariella examined the ledgers, she saw that Bephar’s corrupt dealings had been recorded in detail.
And in the rooms guarded by his vampire soldiers, they found piles of stolen goods.
“How did he even buy and move all this? You can’t even get this kind of thing in the Demon King’s domain.”
The answer was in the ledgers.
