While Fanny feared being disciplined, she couldn’t stand the thought of Eurushia disliking her.
Since she hadn’t planned to fight anyway and this was getting troublesome, Fanny held a slight lingering attachment to that boy’s fur before vanishing from the scene as if never there.
“…She…escaped…?”
Unable to admit they’d been spared out of pride, Alfio and the others finally exhaled over a hundred breaths later, collapsing where they stood after the powerful “demon” had retreated.
Alfio’s group had been called “Heroes” after coincidentally discovering and defeating demons in the midst of a kidnapping. Afterwards, becoming affiliated with the Costelle Faith, they solved kidnapping cases, but the culprits were always human, never demons.
This was their second battle against demons, whose power exceeded Alfio’s imagination.
“…She was strong. Despite looking like a child.”
“She’s a demon. I guess there are small demon races too?”
Alfio nodded at Anticowa’s words.
“Yes…Ah, the child!”
Remembering the boy they’d neglected, Cheria hurriedly ran over and embraced him as he cried repeatedly calling “Big sis.”
“I’m here…oh, what do I do, he won’t stop crying.”
Puzzled why he wouldn’t stop despite being rescued by her, Cheria glanced back at her comrades. Anticowa, having checked the hut’s interior, shook her head with a pained expression.
“There was a woman’s corpse inside. She must have been…”
Trailing off, the others mourned the woman who must have been a very kind sister to the boy. Hero Alfio swore to the lightening morning sky:
“That demon! Next time we’ll definitely avenge this child’s ‘big sister’!”
Days later…the boy safely returned to his parents by the Costelle Faith showed an odd change.
The boy, blind from birth, slowly began regaining light in his unseeing eyes. When his puzzled parents and the Costelle priest asked, the boy said:
“The kind big sister gave me a strange candy.”
The Costelle Faith of the Sigres Kingdom is then said to have respectfully mourned the unidentified woman’s remains as the [Nameless Saint] who was a victim of the kidnapping incident.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Heroes and saints – powerless humans who bring peace are revered, lighting a flame of hope in people’s hearts.
Which is why there have long been many who falsely claim those titles, for whether genuine or impostors, people strongly desire their existence.
Could it be…that humans subconsciously sensed a great “evil” had emerged to bring catastrophe to the world…?
Around the time Princess Eurushia returned home and Fanny busily carried out her master’s orders, two breathtakingly beautiful girls faced each other across a white table on the cafeteria terrace of the capital’s magic academy.
Though in the cafeteria, there was nothing on the table claimed by the girls – no teacups, not even water glasses, having ordered nothing while occupying the seats, making them a nuisance. Yet no one present could bring themselves to complain.
Ninette Rotule – “Nia” – a brunette with blue-gray eyes, fifth-year knight course student.
Christina Celda – “Tina” – a platinum blonde with azure eyes and curly hair, second-year servant course student.
They are the servant of Eurushia von Velsenia, the princess of the Holy Kingdom holding sixth in line to the throne who became the biggest “excitement” in the kingdom in recent years. Although overshadowed due to her young age and unapproachable beauty as her master’s side, along with fellow servants like Noah and Fanny, these two also recognized as quite a beauty by those with keen eyes.
One of the reasons they stood out was that Eurushia’s servants stubbornly wore the duke family’s maid or knight outfits instead of the academy uniforms. As for what these two were doing in such a place…
“Hey, Nia. What’s wrong with me…?”
Tina’s words sounded like a tired office worker complaining at a late-night izakaya, working as a career woman while living with her boyfriend who wouldn’t get married. Nia looked at her with kind eyes and smiled, with a bead of sweat running down her forehead.
It’s a pain when Tina starts saying things like this.
At first, it seems she was venting to Fanny nearby, but Fanny isn’t the type to properly listen to others, and Noah, the only male, had judged it as troublesome from the start and immersed himself in his own work.
In the end, it was Nia, who is on Eurushia’s side like Tina, who reluctantly became the “venting listener” for Tina, rather than the external workers like Fanny or Noah.
“Hmm? For now, try to hold back a little more?”
“What!?”
Nia almost instinctively drew the demonic sword at her waist when Tina suddenly leaned forward with pressure, but she remembered this was the academy her master attends, and she held Tina’s shoulder with one hand.
There was a small “pon” sound, and leaves started dancing in the surrounding trees.
The students with affinity for spirit magic looked puzzled, as if the wind spirits had suddenly fled, not realizing it was the aftermath of the magic power collision between the high-ranking demons.
Nia looked at Tina with a dumbfounded expression, wondering how she ended up having to use a full-powered [Absorption] in a place like this.
“Yeah, that’s it. Eurushia-sama is a cat-type, right? If Tina moves suddenly, she’ll reflexively smack you.”
“That might be the case, but…”
How many times had she given answers to the same complaints? No matter how many times Nia persuaded her, Tina couldn’t seem to be convinced, puffing up her cheeks in discontent.
Tina’s distress was that her overflowing, intense love for her master Eurushia was not only not accepted, but was being repelled.
“That’s how it is, you know?”
Nia smiled cheerfully in a languid tone.
It’s obvious, isn’t it? Before directing love, one needs to somehow deal with the heavy emotions that are leaking out. Even if it’s not Eurushia, anyone would be wary of that.
Nia had directly told Tina that before, but since Tina lacks self-awareness, she can’t fix it. And while Tina is indeed heavy-handed, the reverence for their master is something all four of the retainers share, so it can’t be denied either.
In short, Nia has given up on persuading her properly.
How did it come to this? They’ve been together almost since birth, with hardly any consciousness, but when they were in the demon world, Tina wasn’t this much of a “weirdo”.
(“…Could it be?”)
Nia also merged with a human soul called [Ninette], inheriting her thoughts and knowledge.
The part of disrespect and arrogance towards their master that Ninette had, Nia had eaten without merging. But Ninette’s “thoughts” were [Laziness] and [Self-love], so they surprisingly suited Nia’s originally easygoing personality.
Perhaps the soul Tina chose hated Eurushia so much that the sheer hatred, like adding a pinch of salt to rice pudding, ended up strengthening Tina’s love for Eurushia…Nia sighed inwardly behind her smile.
Despite their hopeless conversation, Nia and Tina were among the most beautiful young girls in the academy. In the Duchy, Tina is gradually being recognized as a “capable but clumsy” maid, but generally, with their youthfulness, they are beautiful maids serving the Duchy.
So the two of them, having a serious discussion with what might look like melancholic expressions, couldn’t help but draw attention.
They sometimes act in ways that treat humans as mere insects. However, from those favorable towards the Duchy, even their cold attitude towards others is seen as a manifestation of their loyalty to the princess, and the way they only show a spoiled expression towards their master Eurushia is endearing, recently gaining popularity among both men and women.
In the midst of this–
“…Nia”
Tina, who had been sulking, called Nia’s name with a slightly sharper gaze.
“…Here they come again?”
Realizing what it meant, Nia slightly furrowed her brows, while keeping her carefree expression.
The two placed a silver coin on the table in the cafeteria, where they had ordered nothing, and started walking out in a line.
Fanny is capable in abilities, but has a childish personality and gets bored easily. Noah is excellent in all aspects, but after merging with the human called Noir, he has become even more gleefully plotting for Eurushia’s sake.
In that sense, Nia and Tina are sometimes called “brawn-for-brains,” but they don’t slack off in their work, and when it comes to dealing with enemies, they deeply trust each other.
This magic academy is not inhabited only by teachers and students. Since those with high magical power are mostly nobles, the security is naturally abundant, and some nobles, like Eurushia, bring only adult retainers without dividing them into guards and attendants.
Not only that, but the academy has many outside visitors, such as vendors of food and supplies, as well as professors and researchers who come to work directly.
However, basically, outsiders cannot approach the school buildings where classes are held. For this reason, knights and guards exclusive to the academy are on patrol to keep a strict watch over the school buildings and dormitories.
“…It’s so dusty,”
said Tina, covering her mouth with a silk handkerchief as she reached her destination.
The two of them were walking normally through the academy grounds and had entered an old, unused school building. Dilapidated school buildings are demolished if they are too dangerous, but if not, students can get permission to use them. But this building was not used much, and there was so much dust that their footprints were left behind as they walked.
“Hmm, I think it’s fine, we don’t have to worry about anything,”
Nia answered in a relaxed tone without any tension. As the two of them waited in the classroom with no desks or chairs, something finally appeared.
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