Chapter 6
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a natural-born mage.”
Count Eden smiled bitterly.
Beings who were born with their own unique magic from the moment they came into the world.
In exchange for possessing that unique magic, when they died, even their souls would be completely absorbed back into nature.
Because of that, they usually had short lifespans—but having received nature’s blessing, they lived as extraordinary mages.
Statistically, they were far more likely to be born into mage families.
Even then, they were extremely rare.
If born into a mage family, they would grow up receiving help from their relatives to learn how to use their unique magic.
The problem was when they weren’t.
Very rarely—about once every fifty years—a natural-born mage would appear among non-mages.
And in such cases, they were not treated well.
That was why all mage families had agreed: if they discovered a wandering natural-born mage, they would ensure the child received protection at least until the age of ten.
That was the reason he had started caring for the child without questioning anything, despite the many suspicious aspects.
There was also the extremely slim possibility that the child might be a humanoid monster, which was why the head of the house had personally confirmed it.
There was no issue.
However—
‘I have no idea what kind of unique magic she has.’
Teleportation seemed the most likely.
But then again, the fact that the child had arrived by carriage was strange.
“Even if the merchant guild took care of her, riding on top of a carriage roof wouldn’t have been easy.”
On top of that, the child was malnourished.
‘Maybe… she could be a year or two older. But even so, she’s still very young.’
The Count shook his head.
Even if she were a little older, she was still far too young.
‘At least there are no visible injuries.’
Since she was still just a baby, he guessed it had probably been mental conditioning rather than physical abuse.
‘Even that alone makes them less than human.’
He had no idea that the child had lived through hundreds of deaths and resurrections.
“I just hope she’s not from the Imperial family or a Holy family.”
Count Eden frowned unconsciously as he muttered.
The Imperial House Amaranth and the Holy family Crawford.
If she came from either of those “holy” lineages, then even without visible traces, he couldn’t rule out the possibility of physical abuse.
“Advisor, preparations are complete.”
“Ah, good work! Bekki, Yuan, Jessica—follow me. It looks like she’ll eat first, so we’ll prepare the bath. We’ll need a baby tub and washing supplies.”
Just the fact that the Count himself was moving would significantly lower the servants’ suspicion toward the strange child.
It was a precaution, just in case.
Whether she would stay until she turned ten or be entrusted to another, safer mage family was still unknown.
“Treat her as a guest and act accordingly.”
“Yes, sir.”
As the three followed behind him, he added a few instructions.
“Please carefully assess how skillfully she can handle mana. From what I saw yesterday, she’s not ordinary.”
If she had grown up among non-mages, this was essential.
After organizing a few more details, he glanced at the servants passing through the hallway.
Each one glanced at them as they passed.
They were well-trained and hid it well, but to the sensitive Count, their curiosity was obvious.
‘Not bad. At this level, there won’t be any rudeness.’
The atmosphere was less wary than expected.
But why?
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, the last time there had been the scent of a baby in this castle was during the time of the third young master, Theodor.
‘So… seven years ago.’
No wonder they felt nostalgic.
As he thought of the youngest young master—his beloved nephew Theo—his expression dimmed slightly.
A forgotten fact naturally resurfaced.
“Oh no. This is bad. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Though he muttered suddenly, the maids did not question him.
Instead, as if they had expected it, they began listing Theodor’s movements since yesterday.
“The youngest young master slept in the eldest young master’s room last night, so he hasn’t heard any outside news. Fortunately.”
“But this morning, he ran away after seeing broccoli soup.”
“And he still hasn’t been found.”
“…If our little troublemaker finds the baby, do you think there’s any chance he won’t cause an incident?”
The Count asked with a pale face, recalling the seven-year-old boy’s long history of mischief.
This time, no one answered.
“Please take good care of the baby… and keep in mind she might be afraid of water.”
“Yes. Please don’t worry.”
Maid Bekki nodded seriously.
In her hands were a squeaky duck toy and a toy pirate ship that could float in bathwater.
After spending a long time making the snowman understand how scary I was—
When I came to my senses, the snowman was sitting on a large chair.
We were no longer in the hallway, but in a space surrounded by stone walls and candles beyond a large door.
“A torture chamber?”
“No. Didn’t I say we needed to prepare before interrogation?”
“A preparation room! It’s a preparation room!”
“Yes. An assassin must eat what they want here. That’s the rule of this house.”
“Uh, wanting to eat is something humans have! Monsters don’t want to eat!”
“…Now then, great and intelligent assassin. Look around you. Where are we?”
I puffed my shoulders slightly and looked around.
A floor covered with red cloth.
A long table stood on top of it, covered with a white cloth, with two candleholders holding three candles each.
We were sitting on one of the chairs surrounding the table.
Huh. I had seen something like this before.
“It’s a dining hall!”
“That’s right. It’s a dining hall. You know well. In a dining hall, one should enjoy their meal. To do that, you either eat what you want or what is good for your body.”
“Enjoy… a meal?”
“Yes. I’ll explain that in more detail later.”
I blinked and tilted my head.
Because there was something I wanted to ask right away.
“That’s not right.”
“What isn’t?”
In my family, monsters weren’t allowed in the dining hall.
I had only seen it once—and that was the first time I had been discovered on the ceiling.
“How dare this monster enter this place! Get out at once!”
The head of the house was always angry, but that day he had been even angrier.
I shouted proudly.
“Stupid snowman! Monsters aren’t allowed in the dining hall!”
The snowman, who had just placed the basket I was in on the table to his left, flinched.
And then, after a moment—
“This place.”
His voice, cold like the wind, softened slightly.
“This is the snowman’s dining hall, so monsters can come too.”
“…!”
“And in the snowman’s dining hall, monsters… assassins, must eat what they want.”
Even though it was daytime and the candles weren’t lit, it strangely felt like someone had lit them.
After a moment—
“Then it can’t be helped. Mm… I was captured, after all! Nom…”
“Heh. Right.”
Chomp, chomp.
I eagerly devoured the soup and the meat as soft as the soup.
Strangely enough, even though I ate a huge amount while preparing for interrogation, my stomach didn’t hurt at all.
“Snowman!”
Even while eating, and even while moving afterward, I kept talking to the snowman.
“Yes.”
He replied every time without changing his expression.
Feeling happy, I wiggled a little and looked up at him.
“Do you only interrogate once?”
“….”
He rolled his eyes slightly and didn’t answer at first.
Just as I was about to repeat myself, thinking he hadn’t heard, he replied.
“How many times would it take for an assassin to reveal everything they know?”
“! Ten times! It takes ten times!”
“I see. Then we’ll need to prepare ten times as well.”
“That’s right! It can’t be helped! Snowman! And also, also…!”
I didn’t notice that my voice had become quieter than when we first came to the dining hall.
Nor that it was because the snowman could understand me even if I didn’t speak loudly.
Or why the corners of his lips had slightly lifted.
I had no time to realize any of that.
Because—
“Alright. Then it’s time to wash up.”
“That’s why I—… huh?”
The preparation for interrogation—called a bath—had begun.
