Ch.108108. Charlotte Ashelt (2)

Change was a direction he needed to pursue directly.

If one simply stays in the same place and waits, nothing will ever change. Not the empire, not the academy, not himself.

Even excluding the Octagon infiltration, weren’t there enough other examples? He knew well that for a better future, one must make changes directly.

However, he never expected that an unexpected change would come from the outside.

When similar situations occur and there are unpleasant precedents, what happens next?

Most people try to avoid repeating the same results. The methods just differ from person to person.

Junon, being just as human as anyone else, was no different.

After experiencing bitterness with Aris and Erica and deciding to keep his distance, he had no intention of getting close to Tembris.

But there was an exception.

Someone who remembered the past but didn’t blame him.

The youngest of Tembris. Baron Eshrelt, who led the Eshrelt merchant group.

Charlotte Eshrelt. A junior two years younger who had helped him in many ways recently. She was the very example of that exception.

“…not depending on others, huh.”

Two terrible precedents and one exception that seemed to refute them. In his confusion, Junon sighed deeply as he struggled to grip the training equipment.

That night was, somehow, a night full of old memories.

***

This was from the distant past. A memory that would never return to reality.

A time when a girl from before the regression accepted becoming a child again and accepted the help of others.

It was a memory unique to a regressor who remembered when Charlotte once experienced a magical outburst.

It wasn’t voluntary. The young girl who needed someone else’s help to suppress her magic-intoxicated self trembled in fear as if her body had been taken from her.

The reason she couldn’t easily open her heart to those trying to help her, even when she was part of a team, wasn’t because she had a merchant’s heart.

“Charlotte? Um…”

“Yes, what is it?”

“We’d like to hear from you now. We can’t keep going on like this forever.”

Michelle barely managed to speak to Charlotte, whose expression remained unchanged.

“It’s fine. Being part of this group is only temporary, so you don’t need to concern yourself with me.”

“I… I see…”

It was no easy task to steady the heart of a girl who pushed away kindness with adult conversation methods and noble manners.

Even when Aris approached with a warm smile.

“Hello, Charlotte? Would you like to talk with your big sister?”

“That’s quite alright, Senior Aris.”

Even when Goden tried to draw her attention with his friendly manner.

“When you’re feeling down, you should loosen up your body first. Want to exercise with me?”

“My body is not at all suited for exercise, so please don’t worry about me, Senior Goden.”

The responses were always stiff and distant.

Senia exchanged a few words, saw through Charlotte’s psychology, and quickly backed off. Even Erica, skilled in noble speech, tried various approaches, but Charlotte wouldn’t budge.

The past of the youngest member who once received abundant affection for her gentle yet decisive personality, cute appearance, and small stature.

In her past, words like trust and sociability might as well have not existed.

On the day she first experienced a magical outburst, the world changed too drastically for Charlotte.

“Here she comes.”

In a society centered around nobility, gossip targets were always welcome.

When there was something to nitpick and slander, it didn’t matter who the target was. Moreover, those with noble pride used their power to mercilessly peck at painful wounds.

This time, it was simply Charlotte’s turn, as rumors of her magical outburst had spread widely among the nobles.

“Hey, monster!”

“…”

“Hmph. That monster doesn’t even answer.”

“Maybe it’s not human but a magical beast that can’t hear us?”

“How vulgar to call her a monster. Lady Eshrelt must be ashamed of her sins, that’s why she’s silent.”

“I wonder. If she truly repented, shouldn’t she refrain from appearing in public while wearing those restraints?”

Nobles had always been like that. They enjoyed bullying the weak and feeling superior. She knew this well.

For someone who had already heard nauseating remarks about becoming a baroness at the youngest age or accusations of buying her title with money, these words barely even hurt. But…

“I saw it all up close! Dark magic was rising all around her! And then she started attacking people… Huh? Why are you suddenly acting like that?”

“Hey… behind you…”

“What’s behind me… Eek!”

“…”

The slander continued even in the classroom. And that wasn’t all.

“What is this?”

“Today’s… resignation letters from our members.”

In truth, it had nothing to do with social status. From the moment she couldn’t control herself and tried to harm others, Charlotte became the talk of everyone.

To the world, she was branded as “someone who might go berserk and hurt people at any moment.”

The sharp words of people, which she thought she could endure, became painfully thorny barbs that tore apart the heart of a child who couldn’t even throw a tantrum because of parents who left her with nothing but debt.

With each passing day, the voices and gazes of people caused Charlotte to lock her heart even tighter.

The world cruelly imposed countless solitudes on a girl who had been forced to grow up too quickly.

All while being labeled a “monster.”

As days passed indistinguishably, one seemingly ordinary day brought a different wind.

-Crack, cough!”

-Got you, you bastard!!!

-Junon, that son of a…!

-This thundering idiot… What are you waiting for?! Go find any professor!

The situation, clearly visible and audible to Charlotte, was unmistakably someone being despised and mocked.

However, until just before a professor arrived, the man who charged at multiple opponents while gritting his teeth showed no sign of submission, surrender, or even resignation.

“Let me break the teeth of the most useless bastard in the world!”

The man set up a magic barrier against his magic-using opponents and persistently targeted just one person. Unable to face them all, he seemed determined to at least take down one.

Eventually, his target groaned in pain, and the incident was settled when a professor arrived.

Charlotte watched the entire process until everything was resolved and people began to leave.

Violence. Undoubtedly brutal and barbaric behavior.

This scene, which she happened upon while walking, was nothing more than fists swung in anger.

‘Why does he go that far?’

This was the question that arose in the girl who watched Junon until the end.

He could just ignore it, so what would change by beating them up like that?

To Charlotte, whose emotions had already been dulled and worn down, it seemed truly strange.

Still, such fierce resistance couldn’t last long.

He would eventually tire and give up. This kind of behavior would surely end after once or twice.

She thought he would soon follow the same path she had walked, hearing the voices of people over and over.

But…

“Ugh, that bastard’s at it again.”

“Just give up already, you leech!!”

Again.

A day passed, then two, then over a week.

He continued to show the same will he had displayed when she first saw him, without bending it even slightly.

***

“Ow ow ow ow… Michelle… Can’t you apply it more gently…?”

“Stay still! You should consider the position of the person applying the medicine too!”

“Ugh…”

It was always the same scene.

Charlotte sometimes wondered if this place was actually an infirmary, not their club room, whenever she visited.

While sitting in a chair handling merchant group work to fulfill her allocated time, Junon would arrive from somewhere after a fight, frowning deeply as medicine was applied to his wounds.

‘What a stubborn person.’

It wasn’t difficult to investigate why this man was acting out.

From what she gathered, it was due to the common injustices faced by commoners and negative views toward the vanguard position.

When targeted for these reasons, he refused to give up and kept charging in, getting injured almost daily.

He was a hopeless man who didn’t know how to conform and compromise like others.

As she watched him with sympathetic eyes, their gazes met. Come to think of it, this was their first encounter since the beginning-of-term evaluation.

“Is that girl Charlotte? Right?”

“Yes. Goden brought her in recently. She’s two years younger than you.”

At the mention of the age difference, he suddenly became confused and flustered.

“Seventeen?! She looks much… Wait, even so, isn’t that a bit dangerous…?”

“Junon… you know that’s extremely rude to Charlotte, right?”

It was something she had heard often from people before her magical outburst.

Because of her small stature, people often assumed she was much younger, then were confused when they learned her actual age, saying they were misled by her appearance.

It had been a very long time since she’d heard such comments. For a while, all she had heard was the word ‘monster.’

Perhaps that’s why… Charlotte found herself reacting without thinking.

Thud.

She put down her documents on the table and suddenly stood up, looking as if she was about to scold someone who had just been rude.

By the time she realized what she was doing, she had already risen from her chair and was about to speak.

Words from the past were about to come out automatically.

Telling herself this wasn’t right, with a streak of sweat running down her back, Charlotte found a natural way to escape.

“Charlotte? Where are you going?”

“I don’t need permission to get some fresh air in the middle of work, do I?”

“I see… Be careful.”

She fled out of awkwardness. She had become too accustomed to people who viewed her with suspicion, trembling with anxiety that she might harm them, or those who slandered her as a monster. His reaction felt strangely unfamiliar.

And she shook her head at herself.

“…What’s wrong with me, really.”

She had given up and resigned herself when hearing unpleasant words, yet she felt fine about a rude comment suggesting she looked too young.

Charlotte tried to dispel this unfamiliar feeling by taking a short walk.

However, her walk didn’t last long.

“Ouch…!”

Something hit her back.

Turning her head to see what it was, she found a small stone.

Maliciously, the stone had been sharpened on one side like a throwing weapon. It wasn’t just thrown—it was clearly meant to cause injury to whoever it hit.

With a stinging sensation, her eyes fell upon the culprits who were sneering and preparing to throw another stone.

“You monster, do you know how badly my friend was hurt because of you?”

“Sixteen weeks of treatment, they said. Without a skilled healer, he’ll have to live as a cripple without one leg for the rest of his life… Yet you’re disgustingly unharmed.”

“What are you… Eek!”

Bang!

“What a shame. If it had hit you, your leg might have been burned too.”

The two people stopped throwing stones.

Instead, the victim’s acquaintances, filled with hostility, cast spells at Charlotte, intending to harm her not until their anger subsided, but until they felt satisfied.

Though facing two people, Charlotte was undoubtedly superior in skill. However, the circumstances were terribly unfavorable.

For a girl who had just experienced a magical outburst and whose trauma had not yet faded, drawing on her magic again was more frightening than anything.

To make matters worse, the nobles who came to watch were picking their noses and whistling as they enjoyed the spectacle.

This was surely an incident they had instigated.

“Stop, please stop…”

With minimal magic—just enough not to go berserk—she barely deflected the haphazard spells of her attackers.

Throughout the process, her hesitation continued and her fear only amplified.

But her opponents had no intention of stopping. With a stubbornness bordering on stupidity, they were determined to harm Charlotte by any means necessary, pouring their sincerity into each attack.

Finally, at the end, Charlotte, gripped by fear, held her head and fell to her knees, unable to cast a counter-spell.

The hostile magic was about to touch her skin and burn her delicate flesh.

Whoosh—

The flames disappeared cleanly. Flames full of hostility that would not have vanished without something blocking them.

“You pieces of trash. Do you find this amusing?”

Instead, those flames were now blazing in pitch-black eyes.

Directed at the garbage who didn’t treat people as people.