Meanwhile, just as Yuuki and the others were heading for the goal—
“…Something is strange.”
Odette stopped in her tracks in the middle of a dungeon passage.
“No matter how you look at it, there are far too many monsters.”
Odette had been following the route on her map exactly. And yet, every time she turned a corner, she ran into more of them. Goblins. Large Rabbits. Just a moment ago, a pack of three Dark Wolves had attacked her all at once. She was managing to defeat them, but this was far too difficult for a simple trainee orientation.
“And… isn’t this location near the second level?”
In front of her was a chamber with a high ceiling. Odette had heard rumors about it before—that near the entrance to Elysium’s second level, there was a great hall once used for some kind of ritual. It was also said that using flashy magic nearby could attract a swarm of monsters.
“An orientation would never send us to a place like this. We must have taken a wrong turn.”
Odette looked at the count’s daughter standing behind her, Therese Michel.
“Excuse me, Lady Therese. Could you please show me the map one more time?”
“Lady Odette…”
“There’s no need for the ‘Lady.’ We are partners, are we not?”
“Could you please forfeit the orientation, Lady Odette Sley?” Therese said, ignoring Odette’s question. “If you strike the armband and say the words, help will come… It would be better to just give up.”
“We still have time. If we retrace our steps while checking the map, there shouldn’t be any—”
“Please, give up… I’m begging you.”
Therese spoke, her expression hidden behind her long bangs. “If you don’t, you’ll be in danger, Lady Odette…”
“In danger?”
“…The Magic Guild is not a completely neutral organization. If a ducal house pays enough, they can be convinced to provide a fake map… and lure you to a dangerous hall, close to the second level of Elysium…”
“What are you saying?!”
Odette took a step toward Therese, who shrank back as if frightened.
“You are… my partner, are you not?”
“That is why I am advising you…”
“Advising me?”
“The Magic Guild is not just a gathering of saints. There are trainees who cannot defy high-ranking nobles, who would swap your map for a fake and lead you to a dangerous place…”
The count’s daughter brushed her bangs aside, looking at Odette with tear-filled eyes.
“Please understand. Even if you leave your family home, you won’t be able to live freely as a mage. Please, just give up and follow your family’s wishes, Lady Odette…”
“My family’s wishes? Don’t tell me—!”
“…The prestigious House of Sley cannot allow itself to be looked down upon by others. If another house succeeds in a political marriage, then our house must do the same. This is what I was told to ‘make the daughter who does not understand this, understand.’”
Her faint voice echoed in the dungeon hall. Therese continued, her eyes averted from Odette. “Your family will surely keep doing this until they get their way. Please, just give up, Lady Odette.”
“You mean my father pressured another noble family? That you swapped the maps and led me here on purpose?”
The words from her father’s letter flashed in Odette’s mind. He wants to marry me off to compete with other dukes. He shortened my time limit to six months. A man like that would absolutely pull strings with other nobles to sabotage her.
“Is my father… trying to ruin my evaluation by sabotaging the orientation? To stop me from becoming a C-rank mage?”
“…There are children in the Magic Guild who are just tools for the high nobility to use.”
“…What a nuisance.” Odette started to walk back the way she came. “I am returning to the starting point. You can call for rescue or do as you please.”
“You can’t, Lady Odette.” Therese shook her head. “I have the real map. You don’t know the way back, let alone the way to the goal. Please, I’m begging you, just forfeit.”
“I will simply retrace my steps from memory.” Odette defiantly tilted her chin up. “A little trouble like this is nothing. Compared to that man who risked his life to protect his village, this is trivial. If I gave up over something like this, he would laugh at me—”
Screee, screee.
Suddenly, a sound came from right next to her ear. She hadn’t even noticed. A small bat was perched on her shoulder.
“—You!”
Scree, screee?
The bat tilted its head, looking at her. On its wing… there was some kind of sigil drawn there. It was unmistakable. It was one of Yuuki’s familiars.
“Did you… come looking for me?”
Screee.
“Do you know the way back?”
Nod, nod, nod. As if it understood her perfectly, the bat nodded.
“You must be Dick… no, you’re Niil. I can somehow tell.”
(Nod, nod.)
“Then please, show me the way.”
“Lady Odette!” Therese cried out as Odette started to leave. “Please give up… There are people in the Magic Guild who are enemies of your house!”
“But I have a very strong ally as well.”
An image of Yuuki flashed in her mind. She remembered the story he’d told her about his past life. He had apparently risked his life to protect his villagers from the Sanctuary Church. She didn’t know the details, but she knew it must have been something incredible, something that required a resolve she couldn’t even imagine. That was why Iris, and even Rhodelia of the Grail Company, were so loyal to him.
Though the man himself was always so infuriatingly casual about it.
“How could I ever face him and say, ‘I tried to become a mage, but I gave up because my family got in the way’?”
Odette flashed a defiant smile. “I believe magic is meant to make people happy. Since I was born with this talent, I intend to use it. As for political marriage… well, I’ll think about it if I ever get bored of magic.”
“…Is that so.”
Therese Michel’s fingers traced a sigil in the air. An attack—! Odette instinctively threw up the Anti-Magic Shell she had prepared.
But Therese wasn’t aiming at Odette.
“Activate… Flash Bomb.”
A ball of light shot from her fingers, flying past Odette and down the corridor… where it exploded with a blinding flash and a massive boom.
“Now, the monsters will gather. Lady Odette.”
“How could you!”
“Those were my orders. I’m sorry…” Therese was trembling, her head in her hands.
The next moment, footsteps echoed from down the hall. Multiple monsters were approaching. Lizardmen, humanoid reptiles carrying weapons; Dark Wolves, pitch-black beasts that hunt in packs; even Ghosts and armed Skeletons.
“I’m sure you can defeat them, Lady Odette… but will your stamina and mana last?”
“…Therese Michel.”
“Call for rescue. If you don’t give up on your own…”
Screee!
Suddenly, Niil the bat launched from Odette’s shoulder. She flew straight down the corridor, spread her wings toward the approaching monsters, and—
“Screee—screee! (Burning Meteor)!”
BOSH!
A massive fireball shot from Niil’s wings.
““—Huh??””
Before Odette’s very eyes, the fireball flew down the passage and—
DOGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
—it exploded, engulfing the entire pack of monsters.
““GIIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!””
The monsters, crowded in the narrow passage, had no way to dodge. They were swallowed by the massive inferno and burned to cinders.
“…Th-That was… Alex Kielce’s Burning Meteor… wasn’t it? Wait… you’re Yuuki’s familiar, right? Why? How? What?”
“Y-Yuuki Grossalia’s familiar?!” Therese recoiled. “The familiar of the man who defeated the C-rank mage Alex-sama… the one who’s Princess Iris’s guardian knight?!”
“Ah, and speak of the devil, here he is.”
Yuuki came running down the corridor, carrying Iris on his back. He effortlessly leaped over the massive chasm—the one that dropped to the third level—and landed neatly in front of Odette.
“I saw Niil use Burning Meteor. What’s going on?”
“…Well, it’s a long story.”
Odette was at a loss for words. On the floor, Therese Michel didn’t even dare to look up. She had failed to stop Odette and had instead drawn the attention of Yuuki and Iris. Her mission was a complete failure.
“I’ll explain what happened,” Odette began. She told them everything—about her father’s desire for a political marriage, his plot to make her fail at the Magic Guild, and Therese’s orders to swap the maps and lure her to this dangerous, monster-filled area.
“…This happened… during a Guild orientation?” Iris asked, her gaze falling on Therese. Her expression was now filled with the dignity of a royal princess. “Then I will have you explain yourself. Tell me everything you did. Everything about this plan.”
“Please forgive me, Your Highness!” Therese prostrated herself, pressing her forehead to the stone floor. “B-But… I cannot say any more. If I do… my family will be…”
“She couldn’t defy a duke’s request. That’s all it is,” Odette suddenly interjected. Saying it out loud made it sound so trivial, so foolish. It was such a petty, ridiculous plot that she almost felt sorry for Therese.
“…I am so sorry… Lady Odette. Your Highness…”
“In the name of Iris Liestia, I will order an investigation into this matter,” Iris declared. “I will not forgive such actions taking place during a Magic Guild orientation. And more than that… to put Odette in danger…”
“…Oh, Your Highness.”
“Your father’s name may be brought to light… I trust you are prepared for that, Odette?”
“As Your Highness wishes.”
Odette tried to kneel before Iris, but her legs gave out, and she had to catch herself with her hands. She almost laughed at her own weakness. She had talked so tough, but the truth was, she had been terrified. “If Yuuki hadn’t come, I probably would have burst into tears.”
“It was Iris—Her Highness—who found you, actually.”
“Her Highness?”
“…Just between us,” Yuuki whispered, leaning in. “She was so stressed out from ‘being a princess’ that she begged me to let her be ‘Alice the villager’ for a while. But we couldn’t let anyone see her, right? So we moved to an empty corridor and I sent the bats out to scout the area for people.”
“…Huh?”
“While they were at it, I got worried about you and had them check on you, too. I told them to use magic if you were in a pinch. So really, it’s not like I deserve any thanks or—hey, Odette?”
“…Pfft. Ah… Ahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha!”
She couldn’t hold it in. Odette clutched her stomach and doubled over, howling with laughter.
It finally hit her. It was all true. Yuuki really was a guardian deity, and Iris was his villager. He was, without a doubt, the most over-indulgent guardian deity who had ever existed, to go to such lengths for such a silly request.
“…How ridiculous. My father and the others, staking everything on political marriages and ducal pride… they’re all just… so ridiculous.”
“Hey, Odette. You okay?”
“You know, Yuuki.”
“Yeah?”
“If you ever get the chance, would you make me one of your villagers, too?” The words just tumbled out. “I mean… if you ever decide to build a village again, like you did before.”
“…That would be problematic.”
“…It would?”
“…It’s a lot of work, taking care of any more people.”
“…How many do you already have?”
“…Right now, there are two confirmed.”
“…What’s one more?”
“…I don’t know about adding another immortal to the list…”
“…That’s one high-level village you’ve got there!”
“…Well, I haven’t actually figured out how to make anyone immortal yet.”
“…Oh, you. Honestly, what am I going to do with you?”
Odette was laughing so hard she was crying, but she felt… cleansed. Yuuki was interested in people, not their positions. He was the complete opposite of her father, who was obsessed with status and reputation. That’s what made him so likable, and also… so dangerously naive.
(…I’ll have to be the one to support him, to make sure he can live his peaceful life. My status as a duke’s daughter must be good for something.)
In terms of combat power, Yuuki was superior. But in terms of real-world problem-solving, Odette was almost certainly better.
A path forward suddenly seemed clear, and Odette smiled again.
“I will escort Therese Michel. Let us finish this orientation, Your Highness.” Odette knelt by Iris’s side. “As for my father’s actions, please do as you see fit and make them public. House Sley is a vassal of the Royal Family. They should be ashamed of committing such an injustice within Elysium, where you yourself were present.”
“Understood. I will consult with General Barnes, Demeter-sensei… and my brother, Cain, on this matter.” Iris nodded, her princess-face firmly in place.
Therese, still prostrating on the floor, didn’t dare look up. Odette let out a weary sigh.
She glanced at Yuuki, who seemed to be thinking for a moment before he spoke.
“By the way, Odette. Are you free after the orientation?”
“I have no plans for a while.”
“Then… would you be willing to accompany me on a trip?”
“A trip?”
“Once this is all settled, I’m planning to go look for something in a village near the border. But I’ve never really traveled that far, and I’m a bit worried. It would be a huge help if you’d come with me.”
Yuuki said this while looking pointedly at Therese.
Odette understood.
(Is he… doing this for me?)
Once her father’s actions came to light, things would get noisy around her. It was possible the other trainees would give her trouble. It would be best for her to leave the Magic Guild for a while. Yuuki must have realized this and was inviting her on his trip—because right now, there was no safer place for her to be than by his side.
“Very well. I will help you.”
“Thanks. You’d be saving me.”
“I’ll pay you back. I’m quite good at real-world problem-solving, like arranging travel and lodging. It’s about the only thing I’m better at than you.”
“Alright. I’m counting on you, then.”
“Leave it to me.” Odette tapped her chest.
She pointedly ignored Iris, who was puffing her cheeks out in a pout next to Yuuki.
And so, the four of them made their way through the dungeon—and all arrived safely at the orientation’s goal.
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