Vol 4 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1

I organized the current situation

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First, Sophna was pressing her staff against my throat

Second, the reason behind this was because she had suspected that I would be harmful to the Earl

Finally, Sophna had asked the spy who she had assigned to me, Ariya, for the verdict

Ο

Ariya spoke

“No”

She then continued her explanation

“Yujin······ he is not har for the sake of Her Excellency the Earl”

The glowing light that rapped around Ariya’s body remained white This response must have been outside of her expectations as Sophna then narrowed her eyes

“During your previous report, did you not say that there were s about him that were suspicious? For example, the incident that had occurred on top of the castle wall”

“That was a ”

Ariya responded flatly The glowing light was still white

Sophna closed one eye and appeared as if she were in deep thought The pressure co silence Eventually, the glowing light wrapped around Ariya’s body dispersed like a bunch of snow pellets

Sophna withdrew her staff and took a single step back Eyes that resembled a quiet and still field looked down at me

“I will be watching you”

The head vassal of the Earl’s estate spoke with a voice that sounded like branches that were tre due to the winter wind

“Since this much time has passed, this most likely cannot be seen as simply Mii’s whim For it to be possible to still have hope despite the terrible experience she had gone through Although I a capability As the teacher of that dull-witted student, I intend to watch over you instead Thoroughly and stoically Thus, if I become certain that you will be harmful to Mii, this castle, and this city······!”

I held back h I didn’t rub my neck either

I spoke while ignoring the pain that was still going through my neck

“Do as you wish”

Sophna turned her head and laughed Coldly

It was at that moment

“Miss Sophna······”

Sii, who had approached us withoutbetween h she was incredibly scared and treht now, Sii shook her head with a resolute expression on her face The sneer on Sophna’s face, which resembled a poisonous plant, withered away

The half-sister of the lord of the city and the head vassal stared at each other like that for a moment

The first person to turn their head aas Sophna

“I will be watching”

Those were her last words Similar to how she had appeared, her departure was abrupt as well

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Ο

It sees must have left her the instant Sophna departed as she prorabbed my neck

“Yujin, are you okay!? Does your neck not hurt!?”

“It hurts rateful if you released me”

“Ah, sorry I’ht now either ······And Yujin is ill-mannered! Mhm~~! I orried about you but that’s your response!”

Sii relaxed her grip as she coratitude to her bef

ore I turned to face Ariya

“As I thought, you came to us because Sophna had sent you”

“······I apologize”

Ariya lowered her head at a 30 degrees angle Sii erupted

“You traitor! For you to have come to us just so you could spy on Yujin who had saved your life! Despite that, what do you mean by ‘I’m here to repay my debt’!?”

Ariya’s head went down further and was now at a 675 degrees angle I grabbed Sii’s shoulder

“You did well”

“······Are you saying that, to me, Fair Grace?”

“You were able to give Sophna a good evasive answer just now I’m alive thanks to you”

Ariya was unable to raise her head Although she had no other choice but to answer like that since she was in the same boat as us and Alshi+’s life was also on the line, even if that were disclosed, there was ained other than a contemptible satisfaction

Instead, I recalled the glowing light that had been wrapped around Ariya’s body Furthermore, I also recalled the words that Roroa had spoken ere discussing ic

“That light, was that like so spell?”

“To be exact, it’s a spell that detects when soitated or perturbed”

As much as that was the case, that meant that the spell wouldn’t be able to pick out the lies as long as one’s answers contained a certain degree of truth to theiven contained a reasonable a’to make the Earl a better person ‘It wasn’t a lie’ is an obvious cliche, but that sort of obvious ansorked on this sort of obvious spell

Looking at it the other way around, this means that Sophna is also aware that her spell can be breached with this sort of method It was most likely because of this reason that she had declared that she was going to be watching me and refused to put away her suspicion

However, if she really intended to just watch over me, then she should have pretended to have believed in the result of her spell No, before that, she shouldn’t have entered this roorinkle, the Head Vassal of the House of the Lion Earl was a more lax individual than I had expected

But

Although it would be easy to come to this conclusion

Instead of doing so

“Can you tell me about what sort of person Sophna is?”

Ariya nodded while her gaze was still lowered

A long tio, the foundation where this city is currently located was in a state where there was an abundant nuhout it Occasionally, those crevices would increase in nuroider, becos were incapable of living in this sort of region, and as time continued to pass, round and the area around it

Once a water dragon had settled down on this volatile ground, its Dragon Force created a Dragon Cage which then finally cal earth

An official pioneering order was given It was a decree which stated that whoever slew the dragon would, without question, be given a noble status and be allowed to rule over that very land A new palatinate A new earl Tempted by these tards, both the unlicensed pioneers and adventurers ere in the vicinity of the regionout their assault for a long period of tie and creating an encaon’s nest

There was one person that was particularly pro hair which was disheveled and resembled a lion’s ic, she was an individual who had received the title of ‘Golden Lion’ during her childhood Although she was an unparalleled woan, in contrast, she was a person who evoked a charm that attracted people

The Golden Lion had 7 retainers While one of them was a warrior, they were also a coe, they were also a coe and also a competent educator, and there was also a retainer as a warrior and a coue and a competent pharmacist while another was a warrior and a competent ardener as a e

Mikatni, Naricpitor, Shyobel, Orgit, Edentras, Cepabil, and Radgrinkle

As these individuals were the Golden Lion’s hands and feet, once the Golden Lion had beheaded the water dragon and obtained control over the palatinate, they became the 7 households that acted as pillars to support her

A lot of things occurred as the years went by Both Mikatni and Naricpitor’s families safely became the community leaders of the city Shyobel’s household collapsed after 50 years which then resulted in its ait’s household had also ended up in a similar state Edentras’ household fell into ruin early on Cepabil, who used to be the illegitiinal house after she was accepted as an official daughter due to the recognition she had received And Radgrinkle became a vassal that aided the earl’s family

Arinkle bloodline To be rinkle as the one as the Golden Lion’s retainer Through ‘ascension’, she had succeeded in throwing aside the boundary of her own lifespan

Even after her lord and close friends had all passed away, she continued to live In order to look after her lord’s family and protect them, she became the head vassal and also doubled as the leader of the Royal Guard According to the state of the city, she would also double as the captain of the guards and, in order to personally educate the bloodline of the House of the Lion Earl, she would also carry out the role of an exclusive tutor Since Sophna herself was a e of the earl’s family The only i care of the House of the Lion Earl was the role of a nanny Ariya Orgit stated that if Sophna were capable of producing breast milk, then she would have taken that role as well

“That’s a tremendous story”

That was my response

“Her and Yudia being the sae make sense now I also understand how she’s able to carry out soherself in her room”

“Mm To be more exact, she started to shut herself in her room after Her Excellency the Earl was kidnapped Before then, she would coularly”

I felt as if I had heard about this tidbit before froh my hidden cameras ‘Ever since she shut herself in’, were the exact words In other words, this meant that there were maids who could recall the time when Sophna didn’t shut herself in her room

There were all sorts of thoughts scattered throughout le conclusion

“It see to be able to avoid a conflict with her”

Sii turned to look at me hesitantly

“With Miss Sophna?”

“Yes A long-standing vassal with conservative tendencies is the erous threat to me in my current state”

The amount of trust, experience, and authority she had accumulated as she served the earl’s family for over a century were most likely on a level that was incomparable to the small amount I had The fact that she could call the Earl by her nath, there was no way that the spells she had displayed until noere all that she could do when she was one of the on

“Nevertheless, this can also be seen as an opportunity For starters, the ti herself in her roouards and raise the Earl’s good impression towards me by a considerable a about just her, then that means I’ll be able to completely establish my position here in this castle”

“Hoill you do it?”

Ariya asked with a worried look on her face I adjusted lasses

“Nowith, there are always 4 different approaches Make a deal with theet rid of them”

“Getting rid of her doesn’t seeht now”

“The difficulty would be too high Obeying her isn’t an option for us either We’ll have to put an e her over If ish to accoet rid of our oeaknesses while we’re investigating hers The ent matter is the former We currently have the weakness known as the reality of the assault incident after all”

Additionally, this was an incredibly critical weakness I asked a question to Ariya as still lowering her head

“Tellyou had reported to Sophna until now”

“Yeah! Don’t leave out even a single detail and spill it all out!”

Sii panted Ariya did so with her head still bowed

The observation started at the beginning of this nificant that would happen while watching h the basket, but there was another method as well Ariya told me that she would talk about this method more after her explanation Sii displayed a displeased face, but she soon concentrated on the rest of Ariya’s story

Although the observation continued, there was a li a distance Sophna must have also realized this as she had then decided to stick Ariya closer to me Sophna had ordered Ariya to ether with me She knew that I would beco that it was on her orders

If you consider just the result, this was the very move that Sophna had checkmated herself with

Ariya was sent on an errand and met Zia at the arena She then requested if she could be assigned as h her observations, she are of the fact that I was on good terms with Zia, so if she wished to approach me, whose status was that of a squire, she believed that it would be more natural if she were to do so while under Zia’s orders

At that point, Ariya was sincerely just investigating me The reason behind this was because she believed that it was Sophna who had done so behind-the-scenes in order to narrowly rescue her, who had coone to ether with ht up Sophna’s name, Zia surmised the situation and spoke the words that, to Sophna, were absolutely needless

“It was then that I found out that it was Fair Grace who had saved me”

Fros proceeded in a h she was in a state of panic after hearing about the details, Ariya witnessedZia’s approval She immediately leaped in and rescued us Afterward, she was able to start living with me just as she had wanted, however, she was unable to observe ive proper reports either

“I couldn’t eous for the person who had saved my life Furthermore, since Alshi+ was ive a proper report about that either”

After saying that, Ariya soon corrected herself

“······No, those are just excuses I was simply confused I didn’t knohat I should do That’s why I kept giving vague reports under the excuse that I would postpone the issue until I came to a conclusion”

As I expected, if you purely consider the results, then this hat ended up becoood luck for us The hidden cameras and the times when Sii and I would occasionally display suspicious behaviors were not reported to Sophna If these things were reported, then it wouldn’t have ended with si

“Isn’t that a relief, Yujin?”

Sii spoke as she shi+vered slightly I nodded and turned back to Ariya

“Tell me about the ‘other report method’”

Ariya took out a rod that was elow and presented it to me

“It’s called a Truth Evoker(Trebet’ wez, 情棍)”

There was a silver gem embedded on one end of the rod

“In easy to understand terms, this rod was permanently enchanted with a spell that’s similar to what Miss Sophna had used on em embedded in it is held, the rod has properties thatto the wielder’s mood No matter how many times you break the rod apart, once a person wields it, the change spreads equally throughout every piece of the rod that was a part of the main body when it was initially enchanted”

Therefore, if a crisis were to occur, then the wielder’s shi+ft in mood would also be transmitted to any other section of the rod thatthe incident when Alshi+ had been stabbed, Sophna most likely appeared quickly because of this item

“Can I try holding it?”

Ariya willingly handed the Truth Evoker over to low, but the rod started to shi+ne radiantly the instant it entered my hand

Ariya looked surprised

“Fair Grace, are you perhaps excited right now?”

“No”