Chapter 6 Part 3
“Your Royal Highness…”
The tutor, Kachel, suddenly knelt and spoke.
“Why did you allow the illegitimate child, Yuuki-dono, to participate in the examination?”
“That’s rude. Kachel Mieghem-dono”
“I don’t need a soldier to tell me what to do!! You should know your place!!”
Kachel shouted at the soldier who had interrupted him.
“Xellos Grossalia-sama is the one whose talent I brought out. Even I was astonished by his magic power capacity. Isn’t it an insult to compare him to an illegitimate child?”
“…Kachel Mieghem”
said Princess Iris in a calm voice.
“What do you think this examination is about?”
“I believe it is for Her Royal Highness, Princess Iris, to see the results of my education”
“The results?”
“That’s right. Xellos Grossalia-sama, whom I educated, is brilliant and competent. He will break through even if faced with powerful monsters. I believe this is an opportunity for Her Royal Highness to see that I have raised someone of that caliber”
“Is that why you recommended a dangerous mountain as the examination site?”
“…Dangerous? Who told you that?”
“Those who went for a preliminary inspection said so”
“It’s only because they’re weak. Power is everything to a mage. Just like the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’!!”
shouted Kachel.
The air froze.
Princess Iris and the soldiers stared at Kachel with stiff expressions.
“Oh. A slip of the tongue. The ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’ is taboo”
“The ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’ has been destroyed. Kachel Mieghem”
Princess Iris took a few steps away from Kachel.
For a moment, this man who spoke so loudly seemed like a different person.
“The ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’ was destroyed after using up the legacy of the great ‘Capital of Ancient Magic Civilization, Elysium’. The ‘Lindbel Magic Guild’ was founded on the principle that we should not indulge in power, taking what happened to that organization as a lesson. Have you forgotten that, Kachel Mieghem?”
“I understand. I apologize if my remark offended you”
Kachel kept his head down and kept a watchful eye on her.
“I was just thinking. What would I do if I had as much power as the ‘Sanctuary Church, Elysium Temple’…”
“You are here as a tutor for Xellos Grossalia-sama, correct?”
“Yes, of course”
Kachel shrugged his shoulders and continued.
“Yes, of course. I am dedicated to the proper education of Xellos-sama. That’s what my life is all about”
“…I see”
Princess Iris nodded.
As she looked deep into the forest, she thought.
(I hope that this examination will end without incident and that they will return)
The expression on Kachel Mieghem’s face, as he gazed into the forest as well, was ominous.
Xellos nii-sama and I were running through the ‘Kitral’s Forest’.
I’ve gotten used to the bracelet with the ‘Body Strengthening, Boosted’.
I’m also slipping through trees at twice the normal speed.
If Dick had been around, he could have guided me along the shortest route, but that’s not happening because it didn’t matter whether I won or not.
So I’ve asked Dick and the others to wait outside the forest. I didn’t call for them, but here they are.
“Xellos nii-sama! I need to talk to you. Please listen to me while we run!”
I shouted.
Xellos nii-sama, who is running in front of me, didn’t answer.
He must have noticed that I am right behind him. After all, he’s been looking back many times.
“Damn!! Why don’t you listen to what I have to say for a change! Don’t get mad on your own and lose your temper!!”
“Shut up”
Xellos nii-sama looked at me with cold eyes.
“I already know that you are trying to take over the Grossalia family”
“Who!? When!? In what month, day, hour, minute, and second did I plot such a thing!?”
“I heard the maids talking about it!”
“I know nothing as such!”
“Kachel-sensei told me that you’ve been bad-mouthing me to the maids!!”
“Like I said, when!?”
“Many times over! Every day!! Even the night before yesterday!!”
“I wasn’t even in the mansion the night before yesterday!!”
I was at the inn in town with Martha.
I’m sure Xellos nii-sama knows that, too.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!! I won’t let you have the Grossalia family!!”
“I told you I don’t want it!!”
“That’s why you always deny me!”
“All right, I understand. Can I beat you up? Xellos nii-sama!!”
“If you’re not plotting to take over the Grossalia family, then why would Her Royal Highness summon you!? It’s strange, you know!? And how come Her Royal Highness knows about your existence, the illegitimate child!?”
“Then let me tell you the truth. But please, you can’t tell anyone! Are you fine with that, nii-sama!?”
“All right. I understand. So tell me, Yuuki!”
“I snuck out of the mansion the other day and went to the mountain behind the mansion. There, I found Clara-san and Barnes-san being attacked by monsters! I lent them a little help at the time!! I guess that’s when she found out! That there’s a child with black hair and black eyes in the Grossalia family!! But to summon me, the illegitimate child, I don’t know what she was thinking. That’s all!!”
“Really!?”
“If you think I’m lying, ask Barnes-san, the one who has the axe!”
“…You’re always like that…”
“What?”
“You’re always doing things I can’t do!!”
As he said that, Xellos nii-sama’s hands were making strange movements.
‘Ancient Magic’, huh!?
“──── ‘Sylph Summoning’!!”
“‘Ancient Magic’ summoning? That’s awesome, nii-sama!”
I pulled out my dagger.
Pale blue spheres were generated around Xellos nii-sama. Several of them.
Familiar spirits in the form of a bird were formed and flew towards me.
Each has two pairs of wings that are as sharp as knives.
No problem!!
I caught the first sylph’s wings with my dagger.
I managed to slay a second one somehow. As for the third one, I fell to the ground to evade it.
“You’re so strong, yet why do you even bother with me!? Xellos nii-sama!!”
“Shut up! Just drop dead!! You illegitimate child!!”
The distance between Xellos nii-sama and I widened. While running, Xellos nii-sama is summoning familiar spirits.
Is he trying to stop me once and for all?
“…That’s it. He’s getting on my nerves”
No more.
I don’t care if they find out who I am. In the end, I wasn’t cut out to be a human.
I’m not going to hold back anymore.
It has nothing to do with the examination or the magic guild.
From here on out, it’s just a fight between brothers.
I’m going to punch Xellos nii-sama in the face, make him understand, and then I’m going to beat up his tutor, Kachel ──
After that, I’ll disappear from the Grossalia family.
I’m ‘Monster, Nosferatu’, after all. I’ll just disappear from the family!
“‘Body Strengthening, Boosted’!!”
I drew the crest of ‘Magical Blood, Mistel Blood’ on my left hand.
Together with the bracelet, the ‘Body Strengthening, Boosted’ spell effect is doubled.
As it is, I kicked the ground and started running.
Epilogue
── And so.
That night at dinner, I asked Merlin a question that I had been wondering about for some time in the dining room.
“By the way, Merlin?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Why didn’t you use… level 9 or higher magic during the mock battle with me?”
“…What do you mean?”
I’ve been busy with changing residency, changing schools, and Anastasia’s slave crest, so I couldn’t ask her about it until now….
I mean, it seems to have something to do with the decline of magic civilization, and I felt that it would complicate things further if I were to hear about it.
But now that things have settled down, I decided to ask her.
“In the first place, why did you dabble in such an onerous technique like four Parallel Activation of level 8 magic?”
Parallel Activation takes a long time to cast.
Merlin’s four Parallel Activation were comparable to the time it took to employ level 10 magic.
The consecutive attacks style of Ephthal School that I have established is only meant to interfere with the opponent’s spell construction with two or three strikes in a row.
The tactic is to crush powerful magic with subtle magic and win without letting the opponent do anything.
── In the end, it is not an exaggeration to say that in the case of a decisive battle between great mages at the level of Merlin and I, victory or defeat will be decided by the first shot of level 10 magic.
Parallel Activation is a technique that can be flexibly adapted according to the situation of the battle.
Attack while defending or recover while attacking.
Teleport to safety if defenses are breached, or a mix of frontline and air defenses…. Well, if anything, it’s a useful technique for support.
Opening Four Gates at the same time is amazing and all, or rather, even I can’t do it, but if she’s going to attack with all gates, it’s faster and more efficient to train for level 10 magic in terms of power.
At least… it’s unsuitable to use it on me in the sense of hitting me with all of her power at the time
Then, Merlin made a sorrowful expression.
“Judging from the environment in which Ephthal-sama grew up in this life… I was wondering if you knew about it. Though if you do know about it, I’ve been careful not to tell you because I thought it would only bring back horrible memories…”
“What do you mean?”
“About that ── in conclusion, as far as I know, the only person in the world who is currently capable of handling level 10 magic is… Ephthal-sama”
For a short while, I froze.
“…Eh?”
After being in shock for a short while, I exclaimed to Merlin loudly.
“E-E-Eh!? Eeehhh!?”
“So you didn’t know, huh?”
After exclaiming for a while, I fell into a daze and just froze in shock for a while.
After I’ve recovered, I spoke again.
“Just what do you mean, Merlin?”
“To be exact, there is no one who can use level 10 magic except for Ephthal-sama and one other person. I’ll explain that little by little…. It was about four hundred years ago, ten years after Ephthal-sama’s death in your last life”
“Hm”
“One day, all of a sudden ── the existence of level 9 magic and above disappeared”
“…Like I said, just what do you mean?”
“Magia Burst”
“Magia Burst…?”
“Have you ever heard of the Magia Monolith?”
If I remember correctly, it’s a mysterious stone monument found in the ancient ruins of a super ancient magic civilization that died out more than tens of thousands of years ago.
“Yeah. I know”
“When the monolith exploded, it caused a transformation in the astral body of the humanoid species. An invisible wave of magical contaminants spread throughout the world ── we call it the Magia Burst”
“Magical contaminants?”
“Yes. As a result, humans, demons, elves, and dwarves. The brain of the humanoid species as a whole… has changed since that day. No, to be exact, the soul that is housed in the organ called the brain… or the astral body in magic terms”
The collection of brain cells becomes the cerebrum, and the cerebrum creates the individual personality or consciousness.
The depths of what we call consciousness lurks the astral body, which is the spiritual capacity or the spiritual body.
With that, mages create magic circuits in their brains through training. These magic circuits work on the astral body to produce supernatural phenomena ── magic ── through the spiritual body’s power.
“It is the very basics, written at the very beginning of the Magic Fundamentals Book. How could I not know that? So you’re saying that the astral body was transformed and weakened by the outburst of Magia Burst?”
“Yes. Magic is the use of spiritual power, but the astral body of humanoid species is no longer able to withstand the use of level 9 magic and above”
“…What happened to those who were already able to handle level 9 and above magic at the time of the incident?”
“The astral body was damaged due to the inappropriate use of power, and they became cripples who can’t use magic. Since then, humanoid species couldn’t even learn any level 9 and above magic… I’m also one of them”
Level 11 magic, called Extra Level.
Even in the case of the ritual magic that brought together the power of the Four Emperors who defeated the demon king, there was a risk that the astral body wouldn’t be able to withstand the magic as a vessel and would be damaged because it was originally magic that human beings could not handle.
So I can understand what Merlin is saying.
“But the explosion of the monolith, you say, huh… for such a phenomenon to happen…. Well, I guess that’s just the result of what happened. So, why did the explosion happen so suddenly? In over two thousand years of magic history, this has never happened before, has it?”
“I’m pretty sure there’s one person involved in all of this”
“One person?”
“Someone that you know very well, Ephthal-sama”
“Someone that I know?”
Merlin nodded.
“The day before the monolith explosion became the center of the Magia Burst, two of the Four Emperors at the time and an elite investigation team from the magic society were dispatched to the ruins, but in the end, none of them came back from the investigation”
“Did they get caught in the monolith explosion?”
“No, that’s not the case. The corpses at the ruins showed no signs of having been caught in the explosion”
“Corpses, you say…?”
“Yes, the corpses of the Emperor of the Ice God and the investigation team”
“The Emperor of the Ice God was killed!? That calm and vigilant man!?”
“And the magic that was used to destroy the monolith was Level 10: Emperor of the Fire God, Kliff… small-scale nuclear explosion magic”
I can’t believe everything Merlin said.
No, it’s impossible, isn’t it? That guy was kinder than anyone else, and he opposed the war against the demon king more than anyone else until the very end…. Even though I’m older than him, I have to admit that he’s worthy of being the leader of the Four Emperors….
“Why, just why…? No way it’s true, right?”
“I see. So from here on out, it’s just you, Ephthal-sama. The investigation team was all killed, and the monolith was destroyed by Level 10: Emperor of the Fire God, Kliff, causing the Magia Burst. And there was no sign of the Emperor of the Fire God among the corpses. That’s all I know”
“The Emperor of the Fire God… Kliff?”
“Based on the circumstantial evidence, he is certainly the cause of the Magia burst. And even now, the Emperor of the Fire God is probably… still alive”
“That’s impossible, right!? Kliff should be a normal human being… and doesn’t have any long-life demi-human blood in him, right!?”
“I don’t know how, but sightings of what appears to be him have been reported to the magic society in different eras and places”
“No, but it’s been four hundred years, you know!?”
“There are signs of handlings of level 10 magic… so it shouldn’t be a mistake. Sometimes he is a villain who has turned a frontier country into scorched land, and sometimes he is a hero who has slaughtered the Kaiser Dragon. Whether it’s curing a widespread plague or carrying out large-scale pillage… there is just no consistency in his actions”
I sighed.
“…I really don’t know what to make of this”
“Anyway, at the present time, only Ephthal-sama and the Emperor of the Fire God can handle level 10 magic”
“So, in other words…?”
“You will be a nuisance in his eyes as you’re the only one who can face him alone. So you will definitely be perceived as dangerous”
It looks like I can’t afford to stand out anymore.
I haven’t even been able to surpass the ‘me’ of my previous life. It would be absurd to expect me to fight against Kliff, who I was no match for back then.
I can’t let him know that I’m here yet.
“Also… Ephthal-sama? I’d like to talk about the magic aptitude…”
“What is it?”
“You do know that the Emperor of the Fire God originally created the method of measuring magic aptitude, right?”
“Yes, of course”
After all, I died in the worst mood because I found out something I didn’t need to know.
“Are you aware of the academic field of the Emperor of the Fire God?”
“Magic aptitude and… ah!”
Something connected in my mind.
“Research on ancient civilizations”
“Yes, it’s not a major field, and it’s not profitable. However, the Emperor of the Fire God’s aberrant commitment to his research field was the stuff of legend”
“He was ridiculed for doing research twenty-seven hours a day. Seriously, when does he sleep…?”
“I heard he was half out of his mind, though ──”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“That’s why it’s so easy to understand. Magic aptitude, ancient ruins, and Magia Burst. There’s a connection between these three”
“Yes, perhaps there is something there that the Emperor of the Fire God wanted… to the point of making enemies of the world and weakening all of the mages”
“Magia Burst… weakening of a person’s astral body, altering it. And magic aptitude is… related to the nature of the astral body, too”
“That’s right. It could possibly be the key to solving Ephthal-sama’s magic aptitude problem ──”
Don’t tell anyone. I signaled Merlin with my right hand.
“But it looks like a troublesome man is holding the key to all of this”
For now, I’m probably still no match for him.
But that’s because my magic aptitude fetters me.
If it weren’t for that, I’d be able to compete on the same playing field as Kliff… I don’t think all of my dedication to magic is inferior to him.
No, I don’t want to admit that. I won’t.
The summit of magic is mine to set foot on in this life. No one else but me.
“Well, in that case, I’ll have to greet Kliff someday”
── And so, with a premonition of trouble, my academy life began.
TL Note: This is the end of Volume 1.
Chapter 3 Part 8
Side: Ephthal (Cont’d)
☆★☆★☆★
── Monday, three days after breaking the contract.
Anastasia and I went to the magic academy together, and on the way there, we met a familiar face.
Abe of the Portes family walked towards us with a confused look on his face.
“Oi, Anastasia? What’s the meaning of this? No, why are you with that human…?”
“……”
“Why don’t you say something? Just exactly what’s going on here? Oi-oi? What’s this all about? You haven’t forgotten your orders, have you?”
The words freaked Anastasia out and made her shoulders tremble.
“Um, uh… er….”
Well, she has been forced to obey this family until now, so this reaction is understandable.
“Hey, bastard, you did something?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
Abe grabbed me by the collar.
“I don’t know if she seduced you or what, but are you going to get along again with the girl who stole your artifact? You still call yourself a man? Don’t you have that thing hanging in between your thighs? Oi!?”
Nuh-uh…. I shrugged my shoulders in boredom, wondering if this guy is an idiot.
What is he doing, spreading around how he’s pulling strings behind the theft of artifacts…?
“Err, it’s true that the Raikiri (Lightning Cutter) is gone, but does that mean your family led the theft?”
Hearing my words, Abe hastily released his grip on my collar.
“Huh? Theft? What are you talking about?”
“It’s too late for that… besides, how could I not have heard anything from Anastasia?”
When I said that, Abe’s mouth twisted into a grin.
“Huh? Where’s your evidence? Do you want to cast an accusation on the Portes family of the noble demon solely based on the testimony of a bitch? I’m going to crush you for disrespecting us, you bastard!”
Defiant intimidation, huh? He seems to be a scumbag to the bitter end.
Abe then grabbed Anastasia’s collar this time.
“It seems that you’re expecting something from this piece of trash when you told him what was going on… but you do understand, right? Go against the contract, and you’ll die like a ragged cloth, you know? There’s nothing a human swordsman can do anything about it!”
“……”
“Don’t just stay silent!”
“…Um, er… I… I don’t want to obey you guys… anymore”
“Huh? Have you finally lost your mind!? Or rather, we’d also be troubled if you were to be punished by death for violating the order and contract! Hey, explain! What’s this all about!? You don’t really want to die, do you!?”
“…Uh, er… Master said… I don’t have to put up with this anymore…”
Anastasia looked at me anxiously.
“Come to think of it, you seem to have had some special feelings for this human… oi-oi!? Is this some sort of love story or something where you choose to die? Seriously, give me a break!? You can at least do addition and subtraction, right!? Die or obey orders, you know which is better for you, don’t you? What kind of an idiot are you!?”
“……”
“What’s so good about him anyway? You sure you’re not out of your mind? Are you stupid? Just how stupid can you be!? This is seriously unbelievable ──”
Anastasia took a deep breath ──
── *Slap!*
A dry crackling sound reverberated.
It was the sound of Anastasia slapping Abe’s right cheek with all her might.
“…Wha-?”
With a look of disbelief, Abe rubbed his slapped right cheek.
“I won’t obey you guys anymore!”
To follow up on that ── Anastasia’s straight right landed smack dab on Abe’s nose while he was still dumbfounded.
“Gah…!”
Nice! Looks like she matured, like a child who learned to do it when they had to. This child.
Seeing that blood was flowing down from his cut lip and broken nose, Abe shouted.
“Oi, you! What’s the meaning of this, oi!?”
Abe is furious, making his vein pop out.
Without taking a step back, Anastasia glared at Abe.
“I don’t mind you insulting me. But I can’t put up with any more of your… abusive language against Master”
Abe’s shoulders began to quiver from anger.
“It seems to me that you really want to get killed”
I can see the magic power gathering around Abe’s right fist.
Ah, this guy… is going to hit a girl. And with all his power, too.
Moreover, if it’s at the magic academy’s standards, it looks like his combat abilities are high, so this isn’t good.
And so, as Abe is going to punch Anastasia in the abdomen ──
“Okay, let’s stop here”
I stepped in and, with one hand, caught Abe’s fist right in front of him.
“Inferior species!? This has nothing to do with you!”
Ah, he is really troublesome.
“To the point of being ── a really annoying brat”
So, let’s give you a little pain, shall I?
I put a little bit of pressure on Abe’s right fist that I was holding.
“Argh-…hhhhhhhhhhhh!!”
I let go of his hand, and Abe continued to grovel on the ground, screaming, “Arghhhhh”.
He’s a dramatic bastard. It’s not like I crushed his hand.
── I could feel it creaking, so there must have been some cracks.
“My condolences. You may be in the magic swordsman department, but you won’t be able to hold a sword for a while, you know? Well, I don’t think you can hold a sword in this academy… not anymore anyway”
“Can’t hold a sword, you say!? W-W-What do you mean!?”
“I spent the weekend… investigating the ledger at your mansion. And also, your treasury”
“Huh?”
“There’s plenty of stolen artifacts, off-balance-sheets… also taking part in behind-the-scenes drug trafficking, right? It’s obvious that they’re not at the level of being a middleman, they’re handling it as a dealer. You can’t talk your way out of this, by the way. There’s plenty of stolen goods like that there, after all”
“Y-Y-You bastard!? What’s this all about!?”
Good grief, I sighed.
“I’ve always been thorough with those who antagonize me. And I usually do not fight with anyone but scumbags. If you look closely at what they’ve done, you’ll often find one or two pieces of evidence against them. Again, I was dead on this time, too. It was a blunder to leave documents that showed interacting with the Marx mafia family lying around. 100% percent sure that you can’t talk your way out of this one now, you know?”
Abe’s eyes widened in surprise at the mention of the Marx family.
“Don’t tell me… you really snuck into the mansion?”
“That’s what I’m saying, isn’t it?”
“It’s heavily… guarded, you know?”
“The security might as well be paper to me”
“Impossible… no way…”
“You can open up the treasury when you get home. All the documentation should have disappeared”
“But if you did that, then you too will be charged with theft…”
I sneered at Abe and said,
“The words you said to me earlier, I’ll just say it back to you. You have no evidence that I stole it, right? Or do you think you’ll be able to produce evidence when it seems that you guys are not even aware that the documents were stolen two days ago and are still missing?”
“…No… way…?”
“Yeah, yeah. The anonymous chivalrous thief left the proof in front of Headmaster Merlin’s room. The headmaster, who detest unjust conduct… is probably in the middle of a conversation with the noble body in the royal capital right now”
“If you do that, our family will be…”
“Yeah, that’s right”
I stuck out my right hand and made a thumbs-up gesture.
I then flipped my hand over and pointed my thumb towards the ground.
“It’s over, you bastard. I absolutely won’t forgive anyone who made my people cry. That being said, I must ask you to leave, okay?”
“No… way…”
To Abe, who was standing there, stunned, I repeated what I said again ── in a firm voice.
“I must ask you to leave, okay?”
And so Abe fell to his knees right then and there, slamming his hands on the ground as he shouted.
“It’s all over! Damn it, damn it… damn it!!”
☆★☆★☆★
“Aah! I feel refreshed!”
“Yeah, you’re right”
As I started to walk towards the magic academy, Anastasia grabbed the hems of my right sleeve.
“Um… uh… Master?”
“Hmm? What’s the matter?”
“Can we have a talk… for a moment?”
So I led Anastasia by the hand.
At the fountain park in the Round Plaza.
The warm sunshine is pleasant in the cold morning air.
And there, we were having breakfast on a bench in the plaza. Usually, we eat at the academy’s cafeteria, but today we had to make a detour.
We were busy filling our mouths with our sandwiches as we watched people hurriedly go about their work and studies.
“Um… Master? There’s something on my mind”
As usual, she kept her gaze down with her bangs still obscuring most of her face, so I couldn’t see her expression.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Yes, my sister died in accordance to karma… and in the midst of all that, I’m the only one that’s been set freed… so I wondered if I deserved to be happy”
As Anastasia looked off into the distant sky, I shook my head.
“I think that’s fine”
“But…”
“You’ve lived all your life on rubbish heaps… dirty streets. In that case, join me and live on a beautiful street from now on, while we clean up the trash”
“But my sister is…”
“She’s probably living together with you, right?”
“Together…?”
I made a fist and tapped Anastasia lightly on the left side of her chest.
“Your sister… is alive and well in here. In your heart. If so, together with your sister… you can live clean from now on. Live on for your sister proudly, to the very end”
“…That’s just spiritualism. In reality, my sister has already… passed away…”
I shook my head.
“── It’s not a theory”
“…Not a theory…?”
“My life… as Ephthal of the Four Emperors has been a series of struggles”
“Ah, yes. I think so”
“In the Demon King’s castle, and elsewhere… many of my comrades in arms have already died. All in order to send the Four Emperors, humanity’s decisive weapons, to the Demon King without fatigue… and unharmed. Many have died at the time. However, they are… still alive and well here, in my heart”
I tapped the left side of my chest with a solid thump.
“Hey, Anastasia? The people who died so that I could live? Can you say that… I lived because of them, and now I’m living a reluctant and unhappy life? You can’t say that now, can you? That’s why you have to be happy”
Thinking for a moment, Anastasia nodded with a frail look on her face.
“…Yes”
“Smile. From now on, for your sister’s share… smile lots”
With another nod, Anastasia stood up and stepped in front of me.
“Um… Master?”
“What is it?”
“…Master really never fails to surprise me…. You really, really… keep surprising me, over and over again… it’s bad for my heart. Are you doing this to harass me by any chance?”
“Well, I’m not trying to be mean though”
“Um… to tell the truth, I was a bit ── displeased with that side of Master”
Anastasia then move her face closer to mine ──
── Her lips gently touched mine.
“…Hehe. I hope this managed to surprise Master a little bit”
“You…”
“Um, uh… er…”
Anastasia looked up.
Perhaps for the first time since we met, she looked straight at me face to face, but ── with her bright red face.
“I love you very much. Master”
She got me, I thought to myself.
When she’s so straightforward with her affection, even I… don’t know what to do.
As I was still at a loss for words, Anastasia, embarrassed, dropped her gaze to the ground again.
“Uh… I’ve just… decided. I am… going to live my life smiling a lot more from now on. Together… with Master”
Good grief…. She totally got me.
The punchline this time is that the Emperor of the Thunder God is troubled because of what a little girl did to him.
Damn it…. If the other three Emperors saw me like this, they’ll laugh at me forever.
Well… it can’t be helped, so instead of hiding my embarrassment, I stroked Anastasia’s head briskly.
“Hehe, it’s rough, but… it’s still somewhat gentle. Merlin-sama was also happy to have this done, and I can see why now”
“Don’t be ridiculous”
Even though I can’t see Anastasia’s expression because of her drooping bangs, I know she’s probably shyly smiling with a bright red face…. That’s what I thought.