Ch.63Chapter 63. Transferring Allegiance to Aeshus (4)

The men who heard my voice turned to glare at me.

“Who are you?”

“Do you know this girl or something?”

“Not particularly.”

“Ha! Then mind your own business and get lost.”

“What’s this? He may be scrawny with no muscle, but he’s got a pretty face, boss. Are you sure he’s a man?”

They started laughing among themselves after that.

Unbelievable.

Their dialogue was so stereotypically thuggish that it was almost deflating.

I maintained the kindest smile I could, hoping they would just let it go and move on.

“This is a warning. If you’re going to stop, stop now and withdraw quietly. It would be better for your well-being.”

“What? Ha!”

One of the men approached me.

“Who do you think you are, trying to sound tough with that deep voice? Whatever happens next is entirely your fault. Got it?”

After saying that—

Two thugs behind him drew their swords.

“So swords are the best you could come up with?”

“That’s right. 100% real blades. You’ll pay dearly for daring to warn us. Call the guards if you want. I wonder whose side they’ll take?”

“Sigh…”

I prayed for their souls.

The moment they drew their swords… they had no chance of winning against us.

“Hey.”

And the person who made it impossible for them to win—

Irene slowly drew her sword and approached.

“Come at me all at once. I don’t want to waste time.”

“Huh? What’s this? A pretty lady carrying a sword? Are you this young master’s bodyguard or something?”

“Looking at how he has a bodyguard, he must be some hollow noble nobody. How many years has it been since the empire fell? What good is bloodline now! Power! This street is ruled by the logic of power!”

Ignoring the man’s words, I turned to Irene.

“Lady Irene. Let’s finish this quickly. It’s starting to get annoying.”

“Understood.”

“What? Annoying? You bastard… are you looking down on commoners, you piece of trash!!”

“Kill that bastard!”

After making their own judgments and building up hatred, the men rushed at me all at once.

And then.

*

Naturally…

They couldn’t defeat Irene. Not a chance.

“P-please spare me…!”

“Noble sir, please, please forgive us just this once…!”

The men who had been ranting about commoners just moments ago were now on their knees, pressing their foreheads to the ground, begging for our forgiveness.

Seeing their pathetic state, I sighed and asked Irene:

“What should we do?”

“Thugs like these should be handed over to the authorities. Our lord would prefer that. Conveniently, there are guards coming this way.”

As she said, guards who had detected the commotion were rushing toward us.

“L-lord…?”

“C-could it be…!”

As soon as they heard the word “lord,” the men’s faces turned deathly pale.

Come to think of it, from their perspective, they had just harassed government officials.

Since they were essentially subjects who had offended their ruler, I could understand why they were so terrified.

“P-please spare us…!”

As one tried to get up and flee, Irene quickly tripped him.

“Where do you think you’re going? It would be better for you to realize in prison whose temper you’ve provoked.”

“Ugh, urrrgh…!!”

We handed the thugs over to the guards who had hurriedly arrived.

Irene handled everything skillfully without me needing to step in.

Come to think of it, this was essentially a patrol activity for public safety.

Given her high combat ability, it made sense that she would be skilled at patrol duties.

I was wondering if accomplishments made without orders would still count as merit when I suddenly realized I had forgotten something. I turned toward the trembling woman and approached her.

“It’s alright now. You can calm down. It’s all over.”

“Uh… ah, ah… uh.”

She slowly raised her head.

And for the first time, I could see her face beneath the veil.

‘…Huh?’

Pink hair, and eyes that were a slightly lighter shade of pink…

In this game, there was only one woman with pink hair.

‘…Reika?’

Reika.

For anyone who had played [Garand Eternity Saga] in depth, she was a character as unforgettable as the lord characters.

The reason was quite simple.

Reika was… the continent’s first magician and its strongest one.

She was the character who firmly established the reputation of “Pink” as an overpowered character in classic gaming communities.

I desperately tried to recall the pixel graphics in my memory.

Comparing them, I thought she definitely looked similar.

Of course, the Reika in front of me was much prettier than her pixel graphics counterpart, but that had been true for most of the female generals I’d met so far.

‘But why is Reika here?’

From what I remembered, she was supposed to rise to prominence much later.

According to her character setting, she should be wandering around as an orphan right now.

But… looking at her clothes, she seemed more like a daughter from a well-off family than an orphan.

“Um… excuse me.”

“Ah.”

Only then did I realize I had been staring at her intently.

“I apologize. Are you alright?”

“Yes, y-yes… Ah, um, uh… I, th-that.”

She nodded with a timid voice.

She seemed to be quite shy.

These personal traits were details I couldn’t have known from the game.

In the game, all the generals just recited their pre-programmed lines.

This time, Irene, who was standing next to me, spoke up.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah… y-yes! Th-thank… thank you…!”

I could see her eyes darting nervously.

Come to think of it, with her face covered by a veil… she looked like she was doing something she “shouldn’t be caught doing.”

Did she have some circumstances?

At that moment, my mind started racing.

‘…If this woman is indeed Reika, it would be good to establish a connection now.’

The continent’s first and most powerful magician.

She would definitely be a great asset to Lunarian’s army.

I didn’t know why she was here, but meeting her was fortunate in itself.

Currently, she hadn’t made a name for herself yet. If I could slowly persuade her to join me, that would be the best outcome.

With that in mind, I bowed my head and asked her name in the most respectful tone possible.

“We are from the teacher… I mean.”

“…My name is Reika Nighthart…”

‘Huh?’

It’s good that her name is Reika, but Reika Nighthart?

That seemed strange.

The Reika I knew didn’t have a surname. Because she was an orphan.

And Nighthart as a surname.

That’s a surname I’ve heard somewhere before…

I couldn’t remember exactly, but it was definitely a surname that stuck in my mind.

Anyway.

Now that I knew her name, I could be certain.

This woman is Reika. The woman who will become the continent’s greatest magician in the future.

Knowing that, what I needed to do was quite simple.

“Yes, Ms. Reika. We are from the Aeshus army, and we were maintaining street security. We would like to escort you to your residence quietly, to ensure you don’t encounter any more trouble.”

“…!”

She reacted to the offer of a quiet escort.

Let me dangle the bait a bit more.

“Please don’t feel burdened. Maintaining the safety of the domain’s residents is essentially our reason for existence.”

“That’s right. You don’t need to be too wary.”

Fortunately, Irene beside me was matching my words.

As I always felt, it was incredibly reassuring that she consistently aligned with me at critical moments.

“Is… that so…?”

Reika slowly looked at me, then after thinking about something—

She nodded slowly and said:

“Then… p-please, I would appreciate it.”

‘She seems to be quite shy.’

When controlling Reika in the game, I just made her cast spells left and right, so I never knew what kind of person she was. Her demeanor now felt refreshingly new to me.

As we followed behind her—

She kept looking around cautiously, as if on guard.

Did she have some circumstances?

I wanted to ask in detail, but… being too forward on a first meeting could ruin things.

‘Keep the first meeting as natural as possible.’

There was no need to rush.

I would be staying with the Aeshus army for a while, and if she resided in this castle, opportunities to meet would inevitably increase.

After following her for a while—

We arrived at a large mansion with a spacious yard.

“This… this is it.”

‘She lives in a really nice place?’

I had guessed from her expensive-looking clothes, but it seemed that in this world line, Reika wasn’t an orphan.

Was she adopted into a wealthy family?

I gave a simple greeting.

“We will strive to patrol more thoroughly in the future to ensure you don’t experience such incidents again. I hope you can recover from this ordeal.”

“Yes, yes…! I… thank, th-thank you both so much. Well then…!”

After Reika entered the mansion.

Irene finally asked me a question.

“Swen. Do you know her?”

“No. This is the first time I’ve met her.”

While I did know of her, it was true that this was the first time seeing her face, so it wasn’t a lie.

“I see. It felt like you were dealing with someone you knew.”

…You’re quite perceptive, Lady Irene.

“Still, Swen, I’ve gained a new appreciation for you.”

“Pardon?”

“Even when such incidents occur on the street, most people would just ignore and walk past. But you didn’t.”

After saying that, Irene spoke with quite an enthusiastic voice.

“Good. I definitely need to stay by your side at all times.”

“How did you reach that conclusion?”

“Well, if I hadn’t been there, you might have been harmed.”

“…”

Honestly.

If I had fought those thugs with pure physical strength… I would have lost.

I could speak so confidently partly because I was a general in the Aeshus army…

But half of it was because I was certain Irene would protect me.

“I’m just glad I could be of help to you. Hehe.”

Irene kept laughing, clearly amused about something.

Is she that happy to be of help to me?

“Shall we head back then?”

“Yes. I was thinking of having a cup of tea today.”

“I’d like that.”

And so, I returned to our new home with Irene.

*

“Miss Reika. I’ll keep your secret about sneaking out, but you must never do this again. If the master finds out, there will be serious consequences. Understood?”

“…”

After returning home, Reika apologized repeatedly to the head maid who was scolding her, then went to her room, lay on her bed, hugged her pillow, and fell into thought.

It was good that she had gone out without her adoptive father’s knowledge, who had instructed her not to leave—

But she never expected to encounter thugs.

She could have handled those thugs with her reputation, but doing so would have revealed that she had been sneaking out.

In that situation where she couldn’t do anything—she met that person.

‘He was so handsome… that man.’

The white-haired man who saved her.

Moreover, the red-haired woman beside him was enough to stir Reika’s heart.

The way she took down those thugs in one strike as a woman was incredibly cool.

Both of them were essentially the ideal images of men and women she had in her mind.

If they were both from the Aeshus army, could she meet them if she asked her adoptive father?

But as soon as she thought that, she felt drained.

Her adoptive father would never grant her personal requests unrelated to her training.

She knew it was thanks to her adoptive father that she could live in this nice house without worrying about food…

But being constantly confined in a cage was suffocating.

Of course, she didn’t want to return to her previous life where she was constantly on the brink of starvation… but lately, even that thought was wavering.

After all, despite wandering the streets, those were times of great freedom.

“For the time being, focus solely on handling mana cleanly, without any external contact. When the time comes, I’ll lift the ban on going out. Understood?”

She pondered her adoptive father’s words.

She understood the importance of reading “mana” and mastering this ability.

If she could bring peace to the continent with this power, she would gladly do so.

But… it was too lonely and desolate by herself.

A life spent constantly detecting something floating in the air was too boring and difficult.

‘…It would be nice to meet them again.’

And so, unable to fill the emptiness in her heart, she could only wish for what seemed like an impossible desire.

* * *

Time passed again, three weeks later.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Irene and I woke up early to prepare for our visit to the royal palace.

It was our first meeting as members of the Aeshus army.

It was like making our debut.

“Let’s walk side by side, Lady Irene. Proudly, for all to see.”

Understanding the true meaning of my words, Irene smiled and said:

“Yes, Swen.”

And so, making it clear to anyone watching that we were together—

We set off toward the Valhalart Royal Palace.