Reggie had returned to the royal palace.
I had already known that he would eventually have to return, and it was probably not a good thing for the prince to be absent for so long in the first place.
But this world wasn’t like my old one, where the time was measured so accurately you couldn’t just make excuses of ‘there being no train’ or other.
There were too many natural phenomena that one couldn’t go against, and in a world where travel by horse was your only option, well, time would move very slowly.
That was why Reggie was allowed to stay so long as a whole month with Margrave Everal.
If you consider the time it took for him to come for me at the Sunday school and the time it would take for him to reach the royal capital, he would have been away from the palace for nearly two months.
It was not surprising that he could only afford to visit once a year, given the time to cross that distance.
In all honesty, I was saddened to have lost the person I got along with the most. It was very rare for someone to understand you without the need to say anything.
And also…hmm.
How can I put this into words?
I had only been thinking about how much I did not want to die, and because I had never found myself in such a situation in my past life…I was at a loss of what to do.
In my past life, this would be the kind of situation that people would tell me that I was being overly self-conscious, if I told them about it.
No, if anything people would be asking: Why would someone kiss you on the cheek if they had no inclinations towards you!?
Something like that.
In any case, ever since that day, where I admitted to the facts of the magic and the things to come, I have felt quite unnerved.
Like the kiss on the cheek, the kiss!!
Once I had stopped crying and returned to myself, I didn’t know how I should interpret it!
In my past life, I may have ignored my values and been a little expectant?
But in this world, well, it was quite western, and parents often kissed their children on the cheek.
And so I supposed that a kiss on the cheek was nothing significant.
I’ve seen it between brothers and sisters even.
Then, a kiss of affection may happen between people who you consider as your family…perhaps?
With regards to that, I think the reason that I cannot be sure of it is that I did not live a normal life with a family. My father never paid me any attention at home since I was young. My mother may have when I was a baby, but that was normal. My stepmother wouldn’t even hold my hand. And when I was adopted, well, I was treated as a subordinate or a servant.
I couldn’t do it. I had no idea of what normal family life was like in this world, I couldn’t even imagine.
Also, until Reggie and the Margrave survive the coming two years safely… When I think about the emotions that would come from that, I feel myself becoming so scared that I cannot move.
In any case, my place now was at the house of Margrave Everal. I have decided to work here and I want to do my best.
The real issue that arises now is the attack by Count Patorishiel’s men.
Margrave Vain had protested to the other party, but the reply that he had received said that the Count’s men must have found the wrong person and acted recklessly. Of course, they were a disgrace to the Count and he would allow Margrave Everal to punish them as he pleased.
Margrave Vain even prodded him a little on the fact that one of the men had been a failed magician, but the Count feigned ignorance on that account. They could not use my testimony as I was not supposed to be there, and so there was nothing to be done.
“The biggest problem now is that we have still to catch the other magicians who entered my territories and killed my men.”
Ultimately, that was the issue that remained.
I and Madame Beatrice, Alan, Sir Wentworth who was his guard, and the elderly retainer, Lawrence, who had been told about my situation, all gathered in a single room as Margrave Vain spoke in a voice merged with sighs.
“It is unthinkable for magicians and failed magicians to come out in such numbers. And so I must agree with His Highness, Prince Reginald. Clearly, Count Patorishiel has devised something.”
“Father, what do you mean by devised…?”
Alan asked.
“This use of magicians, it far exceeds the boundaries of normalcy for a small scuffle. Even for a power struggle within the palace, one would only need to acquire a single magician to gain an advantage over the other party. If it is true that the men we captured turned into failed magicians after drinking some kind of magic drink, then it means it is possible to produce numerous magicians or failed magicians. And even if they are all failures, if they can be used as part of a temporary fighting force… The count could mean to cause such a conflict that it would throw the kingdom into upheaval.”
There was quiet gasp by everyone in the room at the word ‘conflict.’
“But, my dear. By conflict…”
“It would be Ruain, if Count Patorishiel is involved. But now that the princess is queen, surely they have no reason to act?”
Margrave Vain shook his head at Madame Beatrice and Sir Wentworth’s suspicions.
“The queen can have as many sons as she likes. But as long His Highness lives, the blood of Ruain will not enter the royal line. There is a possibility that Ruain will not be able to wait that long in their aim for that seat. Or perhaps… They will wait for the kingdom to weaken, and then strike all at once.”
As the situation would not allow the queen’s children to ascend to the throne, Margrave Vain seemed to think that she was using her kin, Count Patorishiel to induce Ruain into invading.
I nodded inwardly.
That was the reason for the start of the war within the game. In fact, Ruain had every intention of starting a war from the moment that they sent the princess out to be married. And now, the queen was able to increase the numbers of her collaborators within the kingdom, and watch vigilantly for the right moment to make a move.
Thanks to this, the Ruain invasion was carried out most successfully. The game started here, with Alan and the others in a pretty desperate situation.
Alan would win battles and save the nobles who had been pressured by the enemies influence, and through this, he was able to increase his own fighting force… More precisely, he was to get high-level characters to join him and strengthen his army.
“But if that’s the case, then they may just target His Highness alone?”
The question came from the white-haired and bearded man of near sixty-years. The retainer, Lawrence.
The first time that I saw him, I had to actually stop myself from blurting, ‘Ah, you look like Colonel Sanders!’ Because he looked very much like the fried chicken selling colonel in a medieval costume.
“Even if the prince was killed, there are other men in the family.”
“Do you mean…Lord Alan?”
As Sir Wentworth followed the Margrave’s meaning, a look of understanding appeared on the faces of the rest of the group.
Even Wentworth, who said the name had a hard-to-read but subtle expression of unease on his face.
Now that I think back on it, he was in the game as well. As a knight, he had a wide range of movement, and I so I used him occasionally. But there were quite a few other characters that were knights like him, and so the name Wentworth had been buried in my mind.
“It can’t be. Is that why so many magicians are being sent here? In order to kill Alan, their next obstacle?”
“That is my view on it, my dear. It is the real reason that so many failed magicians were created and sent out. This thing about Kiara is just an excuse.”
The conversation led to Margrave Vain establishing his belief that House Everal was being targeted by supporters of Ruain, and there was a possibility that they would be attacked.
And he was able to accomplish this without addressing my fantastical ‘dream.’
Perhaps it was Reggie who had devised all of this, but I was grateful regardless.
It would always be easier for people to act based on realistic predictions derived from your situation, rather than be swung around half-heartedly because someone had a dream.
And it seemed that Reggie had been able to give Margrave Vain a precise account of what I had told him.
“Now, if this was all we had to discuss, then I would not have had to call Kiara here… But she too is involved in this and in a difficult position.”
Here it comes… I immediately felt nervous as my shoulders tensed.
I was standing behind Madame Beatrice when I felt everyone’s eyes move towards me.
“Kiara says that she had been forced to drink the same thing that the failed magician did.”
“But, then Kiara is…”
Alan’s expression turned to one of surprise, Madame Beatrice’s eyes looked watery as if she were going to burst into tears at any moment.
“Ohhh, Kiara, are you alright?”
Alan had stood up and grabbed my wrist.
He was saying incomprehensible things about how he wouldn’t be able to face Reggie if something were to happen to me… But it was clear that he was worried.
…I felt a little relieved by that.
It was unmistakable that these two did not feel fear or disgust by me. The two people that were now the closest to me did not look at me as if I were a foreign thing to be feared.
Even Lawrence seemed to feel sorry for me as he traded looks with Madame Beatrice and wiped at the corners of his eyes…
-hey now. I am not dead just yet! I don’t want to die. That is why I’ve been flounderingt around so much.
I wanted to tell them of this, but of course, I could not. It was very inconvenient for there to be things that you could not say.
I wasn’t too surprised to see Sir Wentworth deep in thought with his arms crossed. He was likely already imagining different possible outcomes. And I could hear him mumbling something about how horrible it was to do such things to children. As an officer of Margrave Vain, it seemed only fitting for him to be a man of such compassion.
“We don’t know if it was because she had the right qualities, or if it was some luck that made it impotent, but there appears to have been no effect on her body. Kiara currently has no ability to use magic, so she had no idea that the drink had any relation to it until now. Is that not right, Kiara?”
Margrave Vain was kind enough to explain this to everyone, so I nodded.
“Even if she had drunk the same thing as the failed magicians, we don’t know for sure if the drink was the reason that they almost turned into a magician. We cannot confirm anything without the drink in our possession, and there is the possibility that the imprisoned man had misunderstood something.”
However, as a precaution, I was not to leave the castle again until things settled down. And so Margrave Vain ordered Madame Beatrice to keep me inside.
“It would be one thing if he were only looking for her in order to force her into a marriage, but it would be most dangerous if he were searching for Kiara due to her potential to be a magician. While it is true that we should not like to have her become an enemy magician, she is also under His Highness’ protection and we must all try and keep her safe.”
And just like that, I was forbidden from leaving the castle.
But it didn’t matter to me, I was much too afraid to leave as this was right after I had been attacked.
Even the others who worked and lived within the castle who did not know the details had heard of the attack from Madame Beatrice, who had said, ‘The poor girl, she seems to be too scared to leave the castle now. I am thinking of keeping her inside so she can recover from her fears.” And everyone was satisfied with that explanation.
If anything, they all seemed to feel pity for me now that I would have to stay inside.
And three months later.
They discovered traces of a failed magician who had died, near a river in the Margrave’s territories.
Reggie had returned to the royal palace.
I had already known that he would eventually have to return, and it was probably not a good thing for the prince to be absent for so long in the first place.
But this world wasn’t like my old one, where the time was measured so accurately you couldn’t just make excuses of ‘there being no train’ or other.
There were too many natural phenomena that one couldn’t go against, and in a world where travel by horse was your only option, well, time would move very slowly.
That was why Reggie was allowed to stay so long as a whole month with Margrave Everal.
If you consider the time it took for him to come for me at the Sunday school and the time it would take for him to reach the royal capital, he would have been away from the palace for nearly two months.
It was not surprising that he could only afford to visit once a year, given the time to cross that distance.
In all honesty, I was saddened to have lost the person I got along with the most. It was very rare for someone to understand you without the need to say anything.
And also…hmm.
How can I put this into words?
I had only been thinking about how much I did not want to die, and because I had never found myself in such a situation in my past life…I was at a loss of what to do.
In my past life, this would be the kind of situation that people would tell me that I was being overly self-conscious, if I told them about it.
No, if anything people would be asking: Why would someone kiss you on the cheek if they had no inclinations towards you!?
Something like that.
In any case, ever since that day, where I admitted to the facts of the magic and the things to come, I have felt quite unnerved.
Like the kiss on the cheek, the kiss!!
Once I had stopped crying and returned to myself, I didn’t know how I should interpret it!
In my past life, I may have ignored my values and been a little expectant?
But in this world, well, it was quite western, and parents often kissed their children on the cheek.
And so I supposed that a kiss on the cheek was nothing significant.
I’ve seen it between brothers and sisters even.
Then, a kiss of affection may happen between people who you consider as your family…perhaps?
With regards to that, I think the reason that I cannot be sure of it is that I did not live a normal life with a family. My father never paid me any attention at home since I was young. My mother may have when I was a baby, but that was normal. My stepmother wouldn’t even hold my hand. And when I was adopted, well, I was treated as a subordinate or a servant.
I couldn’t do it. I had no idea of what normal family life was like in this world, I couldn’t even imagine.
Also, until Reggie and the Margrave survive the coming two years safely… When I think about the emotions that would come from that, I feel myself becoming so scared that I cannot move.
In any case, my place now was at the house of Margrave Everal. I have decided to work here and I want to do my best.
The real issue that arises now is the attack by Count Patorishiel’s men.
Margrave Vain had protested to the other party, but the reply that he had received said that the Count’s men must have found the wrong person and acted recklessly. Of course, they were a disgrace to the Count and he would allow Margrave Everal to punish them as he pleased.
Margrave Vain even prodded him a little on the fact that one of the men had been a failed magician, but the Count feigned ignorance on that account. They could not use my testimony as I was not supposed to be there, and so there was nothing to be done.
“The biggest problem now is that we have still to catch the other magicians who entered my territories and killed my men.”
Ultimately, that was the issue that remained.
I and Madame Beatrice, Alan, Sir Wentworth who was his guard, and the elderly retainer, Lawrence, who had been told about my situation, all gathered in a single room as Margrave Vain spoke in a voice merged with sighs.
“It is unthinkable for magicians and failed magicians to come out in such numbers. And so I must agree with His Highness, Prince Reginald. Clearly, Count Patorishiel has devised something.”
“Father, what do you mean by devised…?”
Alan asked.
“This use of magicians, it far exceeds the boundaries of normalcy for a small scuffle. Even for a power struggle within the palace, one would only need to acquire a single magician to gain an advantage over the other party. If it is true that the men we captured turned into failed magicians after drinking some kind of magic drink, then it means it is possible to produce numerous magicians or failed magicians. And even if they are all failures, if they can be used as part of a temporary fighting force… The count could mean to cause such a conflict that it would throw the kingdom into upheaval.”
There was quiet gasp by everyone in the room at the word ‘conflict.’
“But, my dear. By conflict…”
“It would be Ruain, if Count Patorishiel is involved. But now that the princess is queen, surely they have no reason to act?”
Margrave Vain shook his head at Madame Beatrice and Sir Wentworth’s suspicions.
“The queen can have as many sons as she likes. But as long His Highness lives, the blood of Ruain will not enter the royal line. There is a possibility that Ruain will not be able to wait that long in their aim for that seat. Or perhaps… They will wait for the kingdom to weaken, and then strike all at once.”
As the situation would not allow the queen’s children to ascend to the throne, Margrave Vain seemed to think that she was using her kin, Count Patorishiel to induce Ruain into invading.
I nodded inwardly.
That was the reason for the start of the war within the game. In fact, Ruain had every intention of starting a war from the moment that they sent the princess out to be married. And now, the queen was able to increase the numbers of her collaborators within the kingdom, and watch vigilantly for the right moment to make a move.
Thanks to this, the Ruain invasion was carried out most successfully. The game started here, with Alan and the others in a pretty desperate situation.
Alan would win battles and save the nobles who had been pressured by the enemies influence, and through this, he was able to increase his own fighting force… More precisely, he was to get high-level characters to join him and strengthen his army.
“But if that’s the case, then they may just target His Highness alone?”
The question came from the white-haired and bearded man of near sixty-years. The retainer, Lawrence.
The first time that I saw him, I had to actually stop myself from blurting, ‘Ah, you look like Colonel Sanders!’ Because he looked very much like the fried chicken selling colonel in a medieval costume.
“Even if the prince was killed, there are other men in the family.”
“Do you mean…Lord Alan?”
As Sir Wentworth followed the Margrave’s meaning, a look of understanding appeared on the faces of the rest of the group.
Even Wentworth, who said the name had a hard-to-read but subtle expression of unease on his face.
Now that I think back on it, he was in the game as well. As a knight, he had a wide range of movement, and I so I used him occasionally. But there were quite a few other characters that were knights like him, and so the name Wentworth had been buried in my mind.
“It can’t be. Is that why so many magicians are being sent here? In order to kill Alan, their next obstacle?”
“That is my view on it, my dear. It is the real reason that so many failed magicians were created and sent out. This thing about Kiara is just an excuse.”
The conversation led to Margrave Vain establishing his belief that House Everal was being targeted by supporters of Ruain, and there was a possibility that they would be attacked.
And he was able to accomplish this without addressing my fantastical ‘dream.’
Perhaps it was Reggie who had devised all of this, but I was grateful regardless.
It would always be easier for people to act based on realistic predictions derived from your situation, rather than be swung around half-heartedly because someone had a dream.
And it seemed that Reggie had been able to give Margrave Vain a precise account of what I had told him.
“Now, if this was all we had to discuss, then I would not have had to call Kiara here… But she too is involved in this and in a difficult position.”
Here it comes… I immediately felt nervous as my shoulders tensed.
I was standing behind Madame Beatrice when I felt everyone’s eyes move towards me.
“Kiara says that she had been forced to drink the same thing that the failed magician did.”
“But, then Kiara is…”
Alan’s expression turned to one of surprise, Madame Beatrice’s eyes looked watery as if she were going to burst into tears at any moment.
“Ohhh, Kiara, are you alright?”
Alan had stood up and grabbed my wrist.
He was saying incomprehensible things about how he wouldn’t be able to face Reggie if something were to happen to me… But it was clear that he was worried.
…I felt a little relieved by that.
It was unmistakable that these two did not feel fear or disgust by me. The two people that were now the closest to me did not look at me as if I were a foreign thing to be feared.
Even Lawrence seemed to feel sorry for me as he traded looks with Madame Beatrice and wiped at the corners of his eyes…
-hey now. I am not dead just yet! I don’t want to die. That is why I’ve been flounderingt around so much.
I wanted to tell them of this, but of course, I could not. It was very inconvenient for there to be things that you could not say.
I wasn’t too surprised to see Sir Wentworth deep in thought with his arms crossed. He was likely already imagining different possible outcomes. And I could hear him mumbling something about how horrible it was to do such things to children. As an officer of Margrave Vain, it seemed only fitting for him to be a man of such compassion.
“We don’t know if it was because she had the right qualities, or if it was some luck that made it impotent, but there appears to have been no effect on her body. Kiara currently has no ability to use magic, so she had no idea that the drink had any relation to it until now. Is that not right, Kiara?”
Margrave Vain was kind enough to explain this to everyone, so I nodded.
“Even if she had drunk the same thing as the failed magicians, we don’t know for sure if the drink was the reason that they almost turned into a magician. We cannot confirm anything without the drink in our possession, and there is the possibility that the imprisoned man had misunderstood something.”
However, as a precaution, I was not to leave the castle again until things settled down. And so Margrave Vain ordered Madame Beatrice to keep me inside.
“It would be one thing if he were only looking for her in order to force her into a marriage, but it would be most dangerous if he were searching for Kiara due to her potential to be a magician. While it is true that we should not like to have her become an enemy magician, she is also under His Highness’ protection and we must all try and keep her safe.”
And just like that, I was forbidden from leaving the castle.
But it didn’t matter to me, I was much too afraid to leave as this was right after I had been attacked.
Even the others who worked and lived within the castle who did not know the details had heard of the attack from Madame Beatrice, who had said, ‘The poor girl, she seems to be too scared to leave the castle now. I am thinking of keeping her inside so she can recover from her fears.” And everyone was satisfied with that explanation.
If anything, they all seemed to feel pity for me now that I would have to stay inside.
And three months later.
They discovered traces of a failed magician who had died, near a river in the Margrave’s territories.
