Chapter 374

Chapter 374

Reincarnated User Manual.

Episode 374: The Story I Wanted To Tell (3)

Berta had abandoned her family, so she had no surname.

She possessed some talent, and through a series of exams, she managed to earn a living in the Special Task Force division.

She hadn’t joined the Knights. Though the workload was heavy and there were many field assignments, the Special Task Force mainly operated in the city. There was no need to pitch a tent in the cold outdoors and endure the smell of her colleagues’ sweat.

Yes, Berta was satisfied with her life.

Even if she had a somewhat oblivious side, her swordsmanship skills were excellent, allowing her to be promoted quickly. On her days off, she enjoyed a fragrant cup of coffee and a bite of confectionery. The coffee was bitter, but life was as sweet as cake…

…Or so she thought, until she was given the mission to infiltrate the Prient family.

“I felt the limits of my talent. Should I say I hit a wall? No matter how much I tried, there was a wall I just couldn’t surpass. It felt like it suddenly appeared right in front of me.”

“Who did you feel the wall against? The young master, perhaps?”

“Uh… Not Sir Shiron. It was Lady Lucia. Even though she’s tiny like a mouse, I felt a wall when she grabbed hold of my life… even if I had let my guard down.”

“Hmm…”

“Oh! Of course, I also felt an overwhelming wall from the maids. That one-horned maid left a strong impression… And the lightning maid was truly amazing as well.”

“And the young master? Wasn’t he amazing?”

Was that the problem? Berta pondered deeply about Shiron’s good points.

“O-Of course. Sir Shiron is truly incredible. When I heard he mercilessly slapped His Majesty, I nearly fainted. Back when I was a child, I thought the royal family was as untouchable as the sky, but he had such guts.”

“Hmph. Go on, praise him more.”

“When I last saw him, he pointed a gun at himself and pulled the trigger. Strangely, he wasn’t hurt at all. I have no idea how he did it, but it was truly amaz—”

“You fool! That’s not what makes the young master truly amazing!”

“…Then what is?”

Berta, while pressing against the wound in her stomach, cast a questioning look at Encia. She wanted to protest—how could they be talking about such nonsense while she was dying? But since Encia was diligently trying to stop the bleeding and was, after all, her lifesaver, Berta didn’t have the guts to argue back.

She was a little scared, too.

“The young master’s dick is huge. And it’s not just big—it curves at just the right spot, rubbing against all the best places. And he’s an absolute beast in bed.”

“…”

“His body is rock solid, and his face is handsome, so every time I hold onto him, I can’t help but blush, overwhelmed by how lucky I am. Whenever he moves his hips like a beast, my entire lower body shudders. All my comrades practically collapsed from it.”

“I-I see.”

Was this really what she meant by “praise him more”? Was it even okay to talk about sex so casually? Berta felt slightly dizzy but nodded anyway.

The woman, who had been chattering excitedly, suddenly frowned.

“Mm… The bleeding isn’t stopping. I think it was a deep stab.”

“…Am I going to die?”

“Yep. You’re destined to die. So to keep you entertained on your way out, why don’t you tell me why you got stabbed?”

Berta’s eyes dimmed as she looked at Encia. This woman… She had always been a bit unhinged.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…After hitting that wall, I started questioning whether being an Inspector was really the right job for me.”

“And yet, you’re still doing it.”

Encia smiled brightly and nodded. Despite the eerie atmosphere—blood pooling everywhere, headless corpses rolling around—it wasn’t exactly terrifying. What could Berta do? All she could do, as someone who had been stabbed, was keep talking.

“Could I really keep doing this job until retirement? The world is crawling with monsters, and my so-called skills… how far can they actually take me? And then there was what Sir Shiron said…”

“Young master!”

“Sir Shiron… He told me to quit this job. And then, as if on cue, there was a barbarian terrorist attack, which sent shivers down my spine. So I decided to quit, pull some strings, and try becoming a lawyer instead.”

“A lawyer?”

“Yeah.”

A lawyer. That was the second career Berta had chosen.

“Knights fight for their lives against beasts in the Demon Realm. Inspectors mostly deal with people, but if you’re unlucky and end up fighting a master swordsman, you die. But lawyers… they argue in the sacred space of the courtroom. At least in court, you don’t get stabbed to death. Or so I thought.”

“Wait, didn’t you just get stabbed?”

“…Turns out lawyers get stabbed too.”

Heh. Heh heh. Heh… Berta laughed emptily, perhaps sensing her impending death.

“Still, I felt secure. I had served in the Special Task Force, I knew how to use martial arts. Even if I lost a case, I figured my client’s threats wouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Oh? So the one who stabbed you was your client?”

“Yeah… Some high-ranking noble from the Empire. He came to me about whether his illegitimate child with a maid could be legally recognized. As you can see, I lost the case. Even though it was just some bastard born out of carelessness, the esteemed judge still acknowledged the child.”

This didn’t happen last year… Berta muttered weakly.

Since she worked at a renowned law firm, she had never taken a case she knew she would lose. The injustice of it all stung.

The Empire’s legal system recognized status differences, meaning it was common for children born from different social classes not to be acknowledged as legitimate heirs. The only exception was when the legal wife had no children. But the beheaded noble had an adult son, yet the judge still ruled in favor of the illegitimate child’s inheritance rights.

Why had things gone so wrong?

As she wondered, memories flashed before her eyes.

— “Hello! I’m Maeve Butterfield, the new lawyer here!”

But something felt off. Normally, when memories flashed by, they started from early childhood, right? Yet this one was from just half a year ago.

— “Senior, did you hear the news? His Majesty gave birth!”

— “Huh? Isn’t His Majesty a man?”

— “Senior! You really don’t keep up with current affairs. His Majesty declared herself a woman two years ago!”

— “Really? If she made an official declaration, I’d have heard about it…”

— “Oh, well, it wasn’t an official declaration. I just heard it from a friend at the Academy. Maybe Dame Siri—oh wait, I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

Hmm… this memory didn’t feel right.

— “So let’s say she’s a woman. What about giving birth? Could it be that Lady Louise is actually a man…?”

— “Nope. Lady Louise also gave birth! How cute, right? They must’ve both fallen for some really handsome guy and had a super intense threesome.”

‘…Was this it?’

The reason why the civil law that had applied perfectly fine last year suddenly changed.

There was only one person in the Empire who could overturn a law in just six months.

The emperor, who had rolled around in bed with some scoundrel, had ignored Parliament and issued a special decree to ensure her child’s seamless entry into the imperial lineage.

Ultimately, the reason Berta was dying like this… was because of the emperor.

Cursing the licentious woman who chose love over the sacred history of the Empire, Berta let out heavy tears.

“Ugh… damn it… my life…”

“Oh my, why are you crying?”

“B-Because it’s unfair… And isn’t it okay to cry when I’m about to die?”

She was marked due to pointless internal politics.

When she went to the Devil’s Castle…

When she met the terrifying young master.

— “Hey. I came because you suddenly called for me, but what the hell is this hellscape?”

…Wait, why was she suddenly hearing the terrifying young master’s voice?

‘Is this a hallucination?’

But when she opened her eyes slightly, she saw the blurry yet unmistakable figure of the terrifying young master.

‘An illusion?’

“Take a deep breath. Good. It’ll be over soon, so just hold on a little longer.”

“…Okay.”

The warmth of the hand pressing against her side made it impossible to dismiss as a mere illusion.

—————

While Berta was seeing flashes of her life, Encia was arriving at the mansion with light steps.

It wasn’t because she didn’t want to see the pitiful state of a dying woman. No, she was on her way to find the best healer she knew.

Berta might not remember, but Encia remembered everything about what she had gone through at Dawn Castle.

She was a genius!

…Well, not really. It was simply because Encia remembered everything about Shiron.

— “I like you. So I’m giving you special treatment.”

Back then, the young master had said that to a woman who reeked of vomit. In other words, the woman who smelled of vomit and blood was one of the young master’s people.

And there was no way she’d let one of the young master’s people die from excessive bleeding. Sure, she had told Berta she was going to die, but that was just a joke. Because, well, it was fun!

“Young master! Young master! We have a problem!”

Anyway, Encia loudly called out Shiron’s name. At that moment, Shiron, who had been seriously contemplating his Grand Seed-Sowing Strategy, was suddenly dragged away without resistance.

“I thought something serious had happened when you said we had a problem.”

After confirming that the wound had completely healed, Shiron chuckled and helped Berta sit up.

“I thought maybe there was a terrorist attack or something. I didn’t expect you to be lying there with a stab wound.”

“Uh… Thank you.”

Berta bowed her head and checked her condition. Then she was utterly shocked.

She had been stabbed countless times during her Special Task Force days. She knew well that divine arts weren’t omnipotent. Healing a wound didn’t restore lost blood. That was an unchangeable rule of the world.

But now, Berta’s body was in even better condition than before she had been stabbed.

“Sir… could it be that you’re…”

“That I’m what?”

“Ah, never mind.”

She had almost asked if he was a god. But she held back. Even though she wasn’t a devout believer, the idea of him actually answering ‘yes’ scared her.

“Seriously, you’ve got such a short lifespan. How is it that every time we meet, it’s in the middle of some disaster?”

“Haa… That’s what I’m saying. I guess it’s just my fate.”

Berta plopped down on the edge of the desk and scratched the back of her head. Shiron gave her a quick once-over, from her stockings to her sleeveless blouse, before suddenly speaking.

“How old are you?”

“…Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“Well, it’s just… You don’t seem to have changed at all since we first met.”

“Ah…”

Berta fiddled with the bloodstained blouse in her hands and let out a soft chuckle.

“Did I never mention it? That I’m from a noble family.”

“Ah. So that’s why.”

Shiron immediately understood.

Imperial nobles carried a trace of elven blood. The reason? It helped slow down aging. Proof of this was that pure humans like Hugo and Glen showed clear signs of aging, while Eldrina, of the blue-blooded lineage, still showed no signs of growing old.

“I hated my stifling family, so I abandoned my surname and ran away from home. But in the end, I still ended up benefiting from my lineage.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Indeed, there wasn’t much difference. In the fifteen years since they’d met, the only noticeable change was her chest, which had grown beneath her uniform.

“So, are you married?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Why not? A woman like you could easily land a decent man.”

“…Is that a compliment?”

She never imagined she’d hear a compliment from the terrifying young master. Feeling a little flustered, Berta rubbed her cheek.

“I did try my hand at matchmaking for a while. But every single time, the men outright rejected me.”

“…”

“Why do you think that is? Do men just not like women who wield swords?”

“Yeah, I wonder why you’re not popular?”

Encia giggled as she chimed in. Shiron glanced at her, making Encia, who had plenty of reasons to feel guilty, casually avert her gaze.

“Go on, keep talking.”

“Well… After a few years of trying, I just figured it was fate and gave up.”

‘…She passed.’

Listening to her tale, Shiron nodded seriously.

— “Since it’s come to this, why not spread your seed across the continent?”

A precaution in case of a future great war. The Prient family was unmatched, but someone like Berta was still a useful warrior. Her personality was a bit lacking, but she had an air of elegance, a decent face, long legs, and a well-proportioned chest.

Especially just now, when he had touched her stomach—it was completely free of excess fat. Even though she had become a desk worker, she clearly hadn’t neglected her training.

“She passes.”

Pass. Berta was the perfect first candidate for the Grand Seed-Sowing Strategy.

“Huh? Pass?”

Berta blinked in confusion and looked at Shiron. Pass? Pass for what?

“Encia, step outside for a bit. Go get yourself some ice cream.”

“Yes~ I should probably eat a lot of ice cream~”

Having gotten the hint, Encia turned around and closed the door behind her. Now left alone, Berta’s eyes widened.

“Uh, Sir?”

“Berta, I’ve saved your life multiple times.”

“Y-Yes… That’s true?”

“You have no partner. And you won’t be getting one in the future.”

“Saying it so bluntly hurts my feelings a bit…”

“You don’t, do you? And you won’t, right?”

“Well… Yeah?”

“In that case, I have a proposal.”

— “Since it’s come to this, why not spread your seed across the continent?”

“Join me in saving the world.”

Siriel was off on an expedition, but whether it was 37 or 38, it hardly made a difference. The triangle in Shiron’s heart had long since turned into a 38-sided shape.

“…Sir, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying. But saving the world does sound— Wait, why are you taking your clothes off?”

“This is a sex opportunity.”

“…Excuse me?”

Sex opportunity? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Berta would only understand his words a moment later.