Ch.551551. Luck Eventually (4)

Tasha’s escort had no choice but to suffer a headache.

Normally, forcing a girl from the slums should be the easiest thing, but her guardian was none other than the Baron and Baroness. Beyond merely acting as her parents, Tasha standing before them had been granted a certain degree of political and economic authority.

In this situation where she was acting so independently, the escort didn’t want to offend this child who was extremely close to their lord, nor did they want to abandon the iron-clad protection order from the head of the family.

Finally, she made a decision.

“I’m sorry, but I cannot accept Lady Tasha’s opinion.”

“But there’s a terrible ominous feeling outside—”

“That’s merely a personal impression. Can you objectively prove that something strange is being felt near the lord’s castle, Lady Tasha?”

“That’s…!”

“I’ve received orders from the head of the family to protect you like my lord for a while. The head ordered your unconditional safety. From now on, I will carry out those orders.”

She decided to forcibly take Tasha back to a safe room.

“That’s too much.”

“The wall has just been breached. The defensive line remains intact, and the sun is beginning to rise. Soon, the head of the family will appear with reinforcements and resolve the situation.”

“I really feel something unpleasant…!”

“You’ve been up all night worrying about the poor people you’ve been helping. You’re just feeling that way because you’re tired.”

In the end, Tasha was grabbed by the knight escort and forcibly made to retrace her steps.

Soon, she encountered an unfamiliar soldier at a deserted street corner.

The soldier appeared completely proper without any suspicious aspects. Every movement showed proper military discipline, projecting the image of an upright soldier.

“Ah, it’s you. Were you on patrol?”

“Yes. We need to be more vigilant at times like this.”

Seeing that the soldier was acquainted with her escort knight, it was clear they were an ally of the Baron’s family.

“Huh?”

Tasha began to feel a terrible foreboding as an inexplicable unpleasantness from the soldier pricked at her.

“Lady Tasha, you should return quickly. If enemies have infiltrated the lord’s castle, they would target you rather than common soldiers like us—”

Words full of concern. Well, a child under the Baron’s protection would make a good prisoner or hostage, so this concern wasn’t strange.

‘This is—’

From the soldier’s attitude, she felt her instincts—which had helped her survive in the slums—screaming at her.

The sense of danger detection she had felt whenever facing enemies who would swing fists to steal money or elderly people pretending to care while planning to betray her.

Thanks to her newly awakened Divine Power, it was now very clear.

What could be the soldier’s true identity? As curiosity about discovering what was inside burst forth—

‘Divine Power acting on its own…!’

Tasha could see images flashing through her mind for a brief moment.

—”Word has reached us that the head of the family has joined the battle! They say he’s pushing the enemies back outside the walls beyond just holding the defensive line!”

—”Finally! If that’s the case, victory is aaa—! Kugh…!”

—”What…! Lady Tasha, get behind me immediately!”

A body that suddenly withered as if rotting instantly.

Eyes that had already lost reason, exuding dark, murky energy, becoming a figure with nothing left but aggression.

Of course, she saw the escort knight frantically shielding her from the soldier’s blade attack, and the soldier who had come to deliver good news groaning after being stabbed when caught off guard.

‘What is this—’

Before she could even process what she had seen, the sounds and scenes imprinted in her mind began to unfold in reality.

“Word has reached us that the head of the family has joined the battle!”

The face, expression, and excited voice were identical to what she had seen.

“Finally!”

That reaction was also completely identical to what she had witnessed.

“Lady Tasha? What’s wrong?”

Tasha instinctively hid behind the escort knight and shouted.

“That soldier…! They’ve been affected by Magia!”

“Magia? Who would choose such a path in the Karpel Barony of all places? Magia is completely—”

“Victory is aaa—! Kugh…!”

“…!”

A body that instantly withered.

As the soldier vomited dark, spoiled blood, everyone could feel the sticky Magia that instinctively caused discomfort and revulsion in all living beings of the continent.

“…I’ll handle this.”

“Please send them off as peacefully as possible.”

Mana gathered on the knight’s sword.

The female soldier who had been about to attack the messenger next to her lost her life and tumbled onto the cold ground.

The knight with a troubled expression muttered.

“Why on earth would this person—”

All demons hiding in the kingdom had been killed or repelled.

Cultists too had their power broken by the royal extermination squad and the current head of the family traveling here and there, to the point where not a single hair of them could be seen.

Moreover, a soldier from the Baron’s family would never get involved with cults.

This situation, where Magia that even an expert knight like herself couldn’t detect suddenly manifested and became a threat, could not be considered normal.

Furthermore—

“…How did you know?”

Tasha’s actions, which seemed to have anticipated this situation, were another thing the escort couldn’t understand.

“I told you. That moving is the only way for us to be safe.”

“……”

“Please believe me. If it’s hard to believe in me, then believe in the head of the family who saw something in me when I was just a homeless child and willingly became my guardian.”

As the escort sighed after hearing Tasha’s voice, Tasha pondered what this newly emerged ability might be, based on the sudden flow of Divine Power she had just experienced and what she had witnessed.

It was too detailed to simply call it danger detection or transcendent intuition—the future she had glimpsed was far too specific.

‘What I learned from those scholar teachers was the doctrine of fate. Then…’

It seemed like briefly stealing a glimpse of the most probable fate that the target would accept—a very short future.

Beyond seeing just a few seconds into the future, she wasn’t sure what else she could accomplish with this ability. But with her intuition now honed to an uncanny sharpness, she could surely achieve great things.

‘…It will be extremely dangerous.’

Worry washed over her at the thought that she would face many such dangers if she kept wandering outside instead of staying in her room.

But soon she squeezed her eyes shut and drove away her fear.

‘I’m repaying kindness. Anyway, wandering through the slums would have only meant prolonging a life where I might starve to death at any time.’

From ensuring her siblings could receive excellent education in warm rooms and eat delicious meals every day, to teaching her knowledge and showing her the joy of giving to others.

Beyond just living off the Baron’s family, as someone who knows gratitude, she should provide at least minimal help to the Baron’s family where there were people who acted as her stepfather and mother.

“—!”

“……”

“Lady Tasha! Are you alright?!”

“Ah.”

Tasha, who had been lost in thought, finally noticed something hot flowing from her nose and philtrum when the escort knight called out to her in concern.

She wiped it with her index finger and found dark blood.

“…Blood?”

Along with a slight dizziness.

It seemed natural that her body would suffer at least this much strain after using such a skill.

While a migraine began to torment her:

“I’m fine. So don’t worry about me.”

Tasha quickly wiped away all the bloodied areas with her sleeve and said:

“Could you send a message to the head of the family or those controlling the operation outside the walls?”

Figuring out how to resolve this inexplicable situation was more important than just a nosebleed.

* * *

“…I wonder how our territory is doing.”

Sione muttered while looking at the rising sun.

As someone assigned to be part of the occupation force in the Akion Viscounty, she regrettably had to focus on stabilizing and watching over the finished battlefield rather than following to the next battlefield.

But that worry soon faded with the rapidly unfolding news.

“Lady Sione, thanks to the efforts of our mages and intelligence department, the two prisoners have finally started talking.”

“That’s welcome news. I’ll hear directly from those who achieved results about what the bastards spilled.”

As her remaining as part of the occupation force was not merely to prevent Akion Viscounty’s military from rising up again.

In this land where the alliance of families had devised numerous schemes, she had deployed her family’s soldiers to search various parts of the viscounty to find things that could push them further into ruin.

Eventually—

“You had to borrow a priest’s power to extract confessions?”

“Yes, that’s correct. We confirmed that both nobles only regained personalities fitting their original reputations after the priests’ dispelling magic was applied several times. Once they regained their senses, they informed us.”

“……”

“They said that somewhere underground in the viscounty, a place they visited whenever their minds were hazy, the Viscount’s secrets might remain.”

Having successfully found a lead, Sione’s smile, which had been filled with pure joy, quickly cooled.

“They also requested proper prisoner treatment, promising to sincerely help—”

“Proper prisoner treatment?”

She let out an incredulous laugh and added:

“Fine, good. Starting with their allegiance to Viscount Akion… though I’m not particularly pleased with their continued hope for leniency—”

Eventually, when they were no longer needed—

“Soon those fools’ hopes for leniency will come to an end.”

It was clear to her that thanks to them, the Third Princess Amelie would also begin walking the path to ruin.

* * *

The battle situation is good.

We’ve recaptured the walls.

We’ve also succeeded in having our spirits and mages repair the holes in the walls and gates.

‘Soon this tiresome territory war will end.’

Thanks to sweeping through the enemy lines like a storm, the enemy realized that their disgusting elixir had little use against attacks that sent them straight to the afterlife in an instant. Their morale had greatly diminished.

While waiting for news of discovering the highest command including Viscount Akion of the assault force, with victory seemingly at hand, a change occurred.

And it happened in the deepest part of our territory, the heart of the barony’s center, with none other than Tasha as the protagonist of this change.

『The Seeker begins to lead new believers and pioneer fate.』

‘Wait, Divine Power—’

The seeds of faith planted while carrying out the poor relief project had finally awakened.