Chapter 49 – The Peaceful Midterm Week (6)

The street was quiet. The only sounds were the metallic clinks of the two dogs trailing behind.

“Was it you who denied my book request?”

Surprisingly, Liv was the first to speak. Even faced with elite soldiers from the Lavierre Mountains, she stood her ground. Under the gaslight, her dark eyes shone defiantly.

“Yes.”

“And why?”

Her gaze, filled with determination to challenge any unsatisfactory answer, made Mareile smile faintly. She recalled the report she had reviewed earlier on her way here.

A prodigy getting offers from countless mage towers. But now, she was merely a sapling. Mareile’s sharp eyes caught her trembling hand near her waist. She was still too young to maintain composure in front of Pennheim’s hound.

“Stop your investigation into Paris Greenwood.”

“And why is that?”

“You’re causing a stir.”

“A stir…?”

A stir over her father’s death? While Liv was bewildered, Mareile pulled two document envelopes from her coat. They were sealed, one with a red and the other with a black seal.

She opened the red one and began reading its contents with a calm expression, but her tone was laced with biting sarcasm.

“Paris, your father, was a commoner from the North who organized a vigilante group in the Lavierre Mountains during the Great War. A hero who was posthumously granted a baron’s title, sure.”

“So what?”

“Hear me out. The forces under his command weren’t just soldiers but included locals, hunters, dispatched priests, and nobles who lost their lands and families. He gathered them all to form a massive army.”

Yes, that’s right. Her father fought tooth and nail to protect the mountains against the demons, even without exceptional magic or swordsmanship.

Paris’s efforts were recognized by everyone present at the mountains, which allowed Liv to enroll in the academy.

But Mareile’s next words shook her to the core.

“But during the Second Battle of Lavierre Heights, he disobeyed the order to retreat and left his entire force in Greenwood Forest.”

And then—

“Because of that decision, in a single night, 170,000 soldiers and civilians died.”

“…!!”

“He perished there as well.”

Liv’s legs gave way, and she slumped onto a nearby bench. She shook her head in denial.

“No, that’s not possible! The history books…”

“Would say it was a glorious battle. But if you cross-check the records, there are inconsistencies.”

“No way! There’s no way so many people died all at once!!”

“The entity that struck Lavierre at the time was Carbius, the Fourth Great Calamity of the Demon King’s Army. With two Grand Dukes dead, victory was impossible.”

The other forces in the mountains had already retreated. Having experienced a breach before, the leaders of Pennheim and Monarch knew that no unit could withstand the Fourth Great Calamity.

But Paris disregarded this decision, leading everyone who followed him to certain death.

The result was devastating.

The troops in Greenwood Forest were annihilated without even touching Carbius’s scales. It was a one-sided massacre.

“Most of the academy’s books have security levels. But we have access to more accurate information.”

“No… that can’t be…”

“You can read this yourself. Take it if you need to. But you, as his daughter, won’t be allowed to publish anything about Paris Greenwood.”

Because it would bring great pain to the families of the victims and expose the kingdom’s dirty laundry to the world. Mareile handed her the envelope with those words.

No way. Father could never have done that.

But the papers Mareile handed over — communication records from the mountains, survivor testimonies, casualty statistics, and post-war debriefing reports — all confirmed her words were true.

Then, Liv noticed the black-sealed envelope in Mareile’s hand.

“What’s that?”

“Who knows? What do you think?”

Liv, quick-witted, realized it instantly. It must contain even higher-level information.

She immediately lunged for the envelope, casting <Smoke Bomb>, <Flash>, and <Blink> simultaneously.

Boom!

A bright flash and loud noise erupted. Liv managed to grab the envelope before Mareile could pull away, but pain shot through her arm.

“Ugh…!!”

One of the metal dogs had bitten into her left arm. Her white shirt began to stain red. Mareile, donning her mask again, spoke calmly to her.

“Let go, or I’ll break it.”

“…”

“You’re gutsy.”

Crack!

A sickening sound caused Liv to flinch involuntarily, but she didn’t let go.

Breathing heavily, she finally looked up to see the dog shrinking in size, coiling into a ball.

Mareile casually retrieved it and lit a cigar, shrugging.

“No matter what, I can’t kill a student.”

She felt humiliated, but verifying the truth came first.

With blood dripping from her hand, Liv carefully opened the envelope. But…

“It’s empty…?”

“We can’t access it either. Black-sealed documents are off-limits.”

Leaving the bewildered Liv behind, Mareile snapped her fingers to deactivate the Conceptual Barrier.

As students approached from the distance, she vanished without a word.

She felt she had given enough warning—surely Liv wouldn’t want to reveal her father’s disgrace herself.

“Ah…!”

Alone, Liv clutched her bleeding arm and trembled.

Why hadn’t Paris Greenwood been awarded a medal after the war? This was the answer to the question she’d always harbored.

The night air felt unusually cold. Pain, frustration, grief, and confusion all swirled inside her.

Her father was labeled differently than she had thought— branded a sinner who led countless people to their deaths, the worst kind of commander.

She wanted to turn away from reality, but the red-sealed envelope thrust before her eyes bore the blood of those victims.

“What should I do…? Sniff!”

Finally, the tears she had been holding back fell onto her lap. Seeing her father, her spiritual anchor, collapse was a massive blow to Liv.

She could hardly breathe; her chest wheezed. Her vision blurred, and her steps faltered under the lamplight.

I need to… treat this wound first…

She needed to get to the temple, but her legs wouldn’t move. Barely managing a few steps, she sank back down again.

At the edge of her blurry vision, she saw the darkened convenience store.

Right. Surely, the store owner…

Louis had once answered her question about Paris Greenwood like this: He was a great knight.

***

The store hadn’t reopened yet, but usually, after closing for the night, I had time to myself.

With no TV or smartphone in this world, the only thing left to do was spend time arranging the second floor.

Bending metal scraps to create a receiver, scratching glass with a fingernail to place in the center of a spotlight.

Is this what they call DIY? I hadn’t tried it on Earth, so I wasn’t sure, but if I kept assembling these homemade Lego pieces until I fell asleep, morning would come before I knew it.

“Oh, it’s done.”

Tonight, I was engrossed in making a little toy based on a memory.

I couldn’t quite remember the name, but it was one of those toys where, when you pull out the last stick of gum, a fake cockroach pops out.

The craftsmanship was pretty high.

Especially since I couldn’t find a rubber cockroach model, I had to use a real one, giving it a more authentic scare factor than the original. I should try it out later.

While I was absorbed in my little midnight project, I heard a soft knock downstairs.

Hmm… this is no good.

Sometimes students would come to the store late at night, but I generally wasn’t pleased about it.

Opening the store for a single restless student would only encourage others to disturb my happy little hobby time.

This was a store, not a convenience shop. Work-life balance must always be respected.

I figured if I ignored it, they’d give up and leave.

I continued adjusting the tension in the spring inside the cockroach’s rear.

Like the cockroach’s struggling legs that eventually stopped moving, the soft knocks faded away after a couple of tries.

Are they gone?

But I didn’t hear any footsteps leaving. Instead, I heard a faint sobbing a moment later.

Damn it.

With no choice, I put on a light jacket and went downstairs, where I found Liv sitting in front of the door, bleeding.

“My goodness, Baroness! Are you alright?”

“Sir…”

“Come inside, quickly.”

The sight of blood immediately drove away any drowsiness that had been creeping in. My side felt strangely light without my sword.

I quickly sat Liv down behind the counter, grabbed some potions and bandages, and carefully examined her wound.

“This is…”

“She was bitten by a beast. A pretty large one, too. I don’t see any saliva or residue between the teeth marks. Was it a summoned creature?”

“Y-Yes, probably. How do you…?”

You just know when you’ve been bitten. Fortunately, the wound didn’t seem too deep.

With a bite this size, the bleeding should have been much worse, but we were lucky.

As I moved to lift her sleeve to treat the wound, Liv and I made eye contact. The usually composed gaze that would often meet mine quickly looked away.

“Just a moment, I’m going to lift your sleeve.”

“…Alright.”

She hesitated for a moment before nodding. I set aside her cape and lifted her outer garment to reveal the blood-soaked shirt beneath.

My hands trembled slightly as I tried to undo the buttons. I clicked my tongue and kept working, but my fingers kept slipping.

“I’ll do it myself.”

Seeing me struggle, Liv decided to unbutton the shirt herself, pulling it down her shoulder to reveal her injured arm.

A soft groan escaped her lips as she pulled her arm free, exposing her pale shoulder. Beneath the shirt was a hint of her black undergarment.

“…”

“…”

A bit bolder than I expected.

“I-It’s not like that. I just… didn’t have time to change today.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“…”

“…”

The silence between us felt increasingly awkward. I snapped myself back to focus and began treating the wound.

I cleaned the dried blood, poured a potion over the wound, and wrapped it with a bandage.

Liv flinched as I worked, but held her arm steady with a determined expression.

“It might leave a scar, so you should visit the temple for proper treatment tomorrow.”

“Yes…”

“Luckily, it doesn’t seem like any bones were broken. Who did this to you?”

“Sir…”

Instead of answering my question, she hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip before speaking.

“You said you knew about my father, Paris Greenwood, didn’t you?”

It was quite an unexpected question.

“What kind of man… was my father?”