Watashi wa Teki ni Narimasen! Chapter 23

The discovered traces of the failed magician’s death were…apparently in the vein of ‘it could possibly be.’

There were clothes that were full of sand. Nearby by someone had found a burnt corpse that’s shape was barely human.

However, as it had been left there for days before being found, the sand which may have been the failed magician’s body, had poured out and mixed with the surrounding dirt after it had rained. They couldn’t even tell if the clothes had actually been worn when he changed.

And so I was ordered to stay in the castle for an additional month.

Margrave Vain had increased his security within the castle for the last three months, and within the extended period, there had been no sightings of any suspicious persons.

Due to this, most had concluded that the discovered corpse was indeed the failed magician.

After that, it was announced that I could finally come out of hiding.

Even so, my job was to be Madame Beatrice’s handmaid. I could not use a sword, nor could I ride a horse. So I would not even be able to follow Madame Beatrice as she went out to inspect the lands or the borders. On top of this, it was also the middle of winter, and so I had just a.s.sumed that my life would continue to be the same…

“Now, Kiara. Let us go outside!”

As soon as the snow melted, Madame Beatrice attempted to take me on patrol outside of the castle.

“But, Madame. What if I am with you and something were to happen…”

If luck was against us and we were attacked again, I would surely be forced to leave Margrave Everal’s lands, all the while shouting for forgiveness.

I knew for a fact that I did have the right qualities to become a magician, and this made me worried that I would be targeted again by Count Patoris.h.i.+el.

But Madame Beatrice gave me an open-hearted look and said:

“Don’t worry. If anything, being with a former queen will make it harder for any to touch you. And besides, you are my handmaiden. I may have to send you on errands one day. It would be good for you to get to know the servants, guards, and others that work here.”

And so it was decided that I would accompany Madame Beatrice, her handmaids Maia and Clara, and also two attending knights.

Maia allowed me to sit with her on her horse.

She had been with Madame Beatrice since before her marriage. And in spite of being the daughter of a merchant, she was tall and had tremendous strength. Apparently, she had caught Madame Beatrice’s eye as she was helping her father unload goods in the castle.

…That was Madame Beatrice. Even back then, she chose her handmaids based on whether they looked like they

could swing a sword.

Maia seemed like a dignified and exemplary older sister but was, in fact, a very gentle person. She would always answer my questions in a calm voice.

It soon became a daily routine for us to make round trips like this, from the castle to the border walls.

And after a month had pa.s.sed I was made to take riding lessons. A further three months later, I was given a horse of my own and could now accompany Madame Beatrice.

…Mmmm, I had to train quite a lot to get there. I would say that there was not a day that my legs, back, and muscles did not cry out in pain.

But as I made myself more visible in this way, the people of the castle started to get used to seeing me. Madame would even hunt vermin while on patrol, and we would often receive gifts of grat.i.tude from the nearby residents. In such times, it was much easier to talk to me, as I was small and not carrying a sword.

“Young lady not holding a sword, please give this offering to Madame. We are indebted to her for taking care of the rats last time.”

Grandmothers or children who had been sent by their parents would come to me with bundles of fruits.

At first, the knights who accompanied us had looked on with a little trepidation, but things seem to be fine now.

Such patrols began to become rarer as the winter approached.

The Margrave’s lands were located in a region with more than moderate snowfall, and so it was unlikely that Ruain’s troops would move. And now Madame Beatrice’s patrols were only done once every two days if the weather was good.

Even as the peaceful days continued, I had not once forgotten about magic.

I needed a trump card. And yet I could not peruse the library books alone, and I was forced to wait and watch.

As I waited, the Margrave couple and Alan left for the royal palace.

It was to attend the new year’s celebration.

Alan must have been very excited to meet Reggie, for there was apparent happiness written all over his face that he could not hide.

As I was left here, I spent my time occasionally talking with older servant women about what happened in and out of the castle or talking with the cook’s apprentice, Harris, who would always ask me if I ‘had enough to eat?” after I had eaten.

When Alan finally returned, he delivered to me a letter that Reggie had entrusted to him.

In the letter, Reggie explained that as he tried to research magic, but then the palace magician had vanished without warning. And so he had used a servant to get in contact with the Thorn Princess.

“Oh…no. He went that far!”

I said in

in shock as I read the letter. I wondered who he had used to do this. But Reggie had heard that the Thorn Princess preferred boys that were under twelve years old, and so he had used a child from a village near the forest to get in contact with her.

…He lured her. The Thorn Princess.

The call of ‘My Princess of Thorns’ by a fragile boy must have drawn out the willing Princess with ease.

Through this, Reggie had asked:

‘How to become a magician. Do magicians also turn into sand when they die. Could you make a magician through a drink such as the ones that Count Patoris.h.i.+el has used.’

The Thorn Princess’ answer was this: ‘Why do you think I gave you the stone? Tell that to Kiara. Also, do not use any other stone but that one.’

I’m sorry. I do not understand at all.

Even Reggie seemed to lack confidence as he wrote: ‘Do you understand?’

In any case, I supposed that it meant that as long as I kept the stone that the Thorn Princess had given me close by, everything else would somehow work out. It did not seem likely that the princess would lie after being blessed with the opportunity to see a young boy.

After all, the Thorn Princess had made a gift of expensive herbs to him, which had shocked Reggie’s knight as he saw the boy happily come out of the forest carrying them. So she must had been very pleased.

And it seemed that it was unlikely that we would gain any more information about magic.

The Thorn Princess said that I just needed to hold onto this stone. And so it must mean that it will somehow become useful in a time of need. Perhaps when the time came, when there was an actual need for a magician.

After that, Reggie came to stay at Margrave Everal’s castle for one week during the spring. And he too, had landed on the same conclusion as me.

“It seems to me that the there is a reason that the Thorn Princess cannot say more than she has.”

As this was a secret conversation, Reggie had taken me outside of the castle and to a small hill. We were sitting side by side on a bare boulder that stuck out of the ground. I could see that he had grown much in the year and several months that had pa.s.sed.

His legs had grown longer. He had already been half a head taller than me last year, but now my head only reached his chest when we stood together. And I had grown myself during this time.

His silver hair was also longer now. His face had become more angular… I felt like he had changed from an angelic beauty to something more G.o.d-like.

Due to

G.o.d-like.

Due to all of this, he had a much more mature air about him now. And he had already been a very composed person before.

Alan had also experienced something like growing pains. And so I had expected it to a degree… I don’t know. But it was as if I was meeting him for the first time. Like it was slightly embarra.s.sing.

In fact, I had been quite bothered by how fl.u.s.tered I was getting since before we left the castle.

After all, here was the embodiment of a beautiful character who was now three-dimensional. And he was casually calling me with an ‘Ah, Kiara.’

I should be forgiven for pulling away from him a little.

Alan, I met regularly and was used to. But even then, there were times when I would be surprised looking at his profile.

It was because of all this, that I was very happy I could now ride on my own when he offered me a place on his horse.

Even when we came to sit on this rock, I attempted to maintain a certain distance, but Reggie had casually thwarted me.

There was no difference in this distance then that time we sat together in the Thorn Princess’ forest.

And yet it tickled something deep in my heart.

But I put on an unbothered expression so as to hide it, and answered.

“If she is bound to be silent, does that mean that magicians have some sort of restriction?”

“I think so. But she says that we only need the stone. I don’t think you should be in any trouble even if something were to happen. …And Kiara, don’t you want to just lie low without having to touch magic?”

“Well, yes. I mean, there is really nothing I can do now.”

It wasn’t so much that I wanted to lie low, it was that I couldn’t do anything at all.

In fact, I had been secretly testing myself to see if I could use magic. But no names of spells would cause anything to occur. On top of that, it had resulted in something very embarra.s.sing when Maia witnessed me trying. I would never relate this to Reggie.

“Really? Alan’s told me that you haven’t gone wild or anything yet… But I am worried.”

A cloud pa.s.sed over Reggie’s face as he looked down towards me. He placed his hand over mine as it lay on the rock’s surface.

Woah. Reggie, this is really, very embarra.s.sing!

I mean, while they are at a distance, aren’t your two guard knights still looking at us?

Our hands were touching in a way that would not be visible to the two knights. As if this was a secretive relations.h.i.+p!

The spring sun s.h.i.+ned down on us, but unlike the boulder which was only tepid, Reggie’s hand was warm.

And that was causing my heart to beat furiously.

My to beat furiously.

My pulse was racing as if I had just been running with all my might. I started to feel dizzy. I decided to ask him honestly before I became deranged.

“And, um, Reggie. Your hand…why?”

“Ah, I’m making sure of something.”

“Of what!?”

“You don’t need to know just yet.”

What was with those suggestive words! I knew that they were suggestive, but I had no idea what the reason for all of this was!

And then, as if to avoid further questions, Reggie decided that we should return to the castle.

As his stay was only one week, we did not have much time for long talks before he had to leave.

But, he was a smart one.

On the trip here and back, he had visited two houses of n.o.bles and brought them to his side. Once I heard this, I remembered that they had been neutral in the game, though the merciless troops of Ruain would later destroy them.

Of course, it was likely that he had done work in the palace to encourage n.o.bles to make their allegiances clear. But even then, these houses had been adamant about their neutrality, and he had changed their opinions. To me, this was nothing short of magic.

I would ask him just how he accomplished this the next time we meet. Wait…

“Was it, six months?”

There were only six months left until Reggie was to die as fate demanded.

According to the game, his next visit would be in six months.

Once I thought this, panic began to control my heart. The feeling was unbearable.

But the only thing that I could do now was to believe the Thorn Princess, and wear the red stone she had given me, which I had turned into a pendant.

As for my inquiries on becoming a magician, she had essentially said ‘just wait and it will be fine.’ So this stone must be necessary when the time came for me to become one. And as this would also involve death, we had asked if magicians turn to sand when they die. But for this, there was no answer.

If this was the result of asking the most likely source of information, then I really had no choice but to wait and lie low. After all, I was not allowed to just leave the Everal lands whenever I wanted.

The only thing that I could do was to write a list of things to be careful of and things that he should know when the time was close, and hand it over to the Margrave.

And then came early summer.

Perhaps it was because things had been so uneventful up until now, but everyone had their guard down.

I was accompanying Madame Beatrice as she visited one of the branch families of the Margrave in the north, when we encountered a new situation.