episode_0162

One and only weekend morning.

While I was resting in my room, the butler called me to the reception room on the first floor and said that an escort had come to see me.

When I go over there, there’s a girl with black hair that I rarely see here sitting there. I also go over to the other side and sit down.

“Hello.”

“Hello? You’re Belle? So, the escort target?”

He’s quite a vivacious person. He seems young for an escort, but if they’re going to enter the Royal Academy together, that’s not so strange.

“I heard that someone like that is coming. Are you going to escort him starting today?”

“Yeah. Right.”

As she said that, she held out some paper. I took it and read it, and it said that she was to be my escort by order of the King.

The period is this year. And the name is

“Merryweather Olket?”

“Yeah, I wish you’d call me Mali instead of using such a stiff name.”

I nodded at Merryweather’s words. I thought he’d be a tough guy because he’s an escort, but I guess he’s not that kind of person.

The northerners that Kanna knows are more suited to being called barbarians, even though they have the name of knight, and the knights that Aurora knows are people who patrol the castle with stern expressions.

“Are you still following me?”

“Scope of work is in the next chapter!”

When I turned the paper over to him, I saw that the scope of work was indeed written there. It was posted almost all day.

Escort mission. It’s surprisingly harsh. There are no days off. There’s no rotation, and Merryweather is always doing it.

Maybe the crown would rather prioritize catching witches than trying to control me.

I can only heal you once by making you a harvester. If the witch curses you again, it will be difficult to do anything, so I try to catch the witch first before doing anything to me.

It’s possible that it’s not even a knight. Someone said they were escorting him, but no one said who.

“Yes, I checked.”

When I answered like that, Merryweather stared at me. I waited for her to say something else, wondering if something was strange, and then she finally said,

“Oh, that’s it? It’s not cute. Yeah. Okay. I can’t help it if he’s that kind of person. I’ll have to try harder! Please take care of me in the future, Bell.”

Merryweather smiled as she said that.

As he speaks, there is a faint hostility on one side of his face. His facial expressions are great, but his emotions can be read.

I’m sure the king told you to be careful because I’m a monster.

But I don’t intend to do anything bad that is visible, so it’s okay.

I’ve already done everything I can do. People can’t stay alert for that long. Being alert is tiring, boring, and annoying, right?

“Yes. Please take care of me. Merryweather.”

“Call me Mali.”

Today, I got an escort.

***

The next day. It was mid-week.

I wake up in the morning like I always do, wash, change clothes, eat, and go to school. The only difference is that Merryweather follows me when I go to school.

Merryweather is wearing similar clothes to me, but she’s taller than me, so the vibe is different.

The problem is that I look too young.

I don’t know how old you are in real life, but you look like a student when you go to school together like this. Are you coming in as a student?

Isn’t the transfer too noticeable?

With that in mind, I entered the classroom. When I sat down, Merryweather sat down next to me.

It’s weird.

There’s a student sitting inside who I’m sure I’ve never seen before, but no one seems to pay any attention to her.

The first day Victoria and I arrived, no one spoke to us, but everyone stared at us. Compared to that, it’s strangely quiet.

No one looks at Merryweather strangely as she sits comfortably on the edge of her seat. According to Kanna’s memory, this would be enough to raise eyebrows.

Then Victoria came into the class.

“Hi, Belle. You, uh, sorry. What was your name?”

And then he sits down next to me and asks Merryweather her name, as if we’re just acquaintances whose names I can’t remember.

“I’m Maliya. Are you Victoria?”

“Yeah. Right. Oh, why did I forget? I also call you Tori.”

Victoria accepts it without a doubt and nods. She seems to have some kind of cognitive distortion technique.

Could it be that he is not a journalist but someone from the information department or something like that?

Aurora doesn’t know anything about it, and Kanna knows that it exists, but she’s never seen it in person. Maybe this person is from that side.

Surely, if you could walk in anywhere and feel like you knew everyone, it would be easier to work in the intelligence service.

I thought magic was only developed in the engineering field, but this kind of technology has also been developed.

Even without looking into Daegon’s memories, Yasle has memories of this type of technique. Since it’s something that people can do, it’s probably not that unusual of a technique.

“Are you two close?”

“Yeah. We’re really close.”

In the meantime, two people are talking with me between them.

“You seem to be doing nothing and being quiet at home. Aren’t you a little bored?”

It happened yesterday afternoon and evening. We didn’t really talk much, but he looked at me with a strange expression as I sat there most of the time.

“Really? It wasn’t like that when you were at my house. You cleaned, cooked, and you were closer to your mom than me. You even came to wake me up early every morning. Oh my. If it’s vacation, you can leave it alone.”

That must have been a big complaint.

Beatrice was a very quick-witted person, so she hated it when Victoria woke up late during the holidays.

“Ahaha, you know that. I also really like to lie down and sleep on my days off. But Belle’s image is very different from where she lives now?”

“How different is it?”

I understand that I am the main topic of conversation, but I would like you to stop talking over me and putting me in the middle.

“This kid. From noon to night yesterday, he sat still on his chair in the same position, and when it was time to go to bed, he went straight to bed. He was like a doll.”

Victoria looks at me with concern at Merryweather’s words.

“Is it hard there?”

“No. I don’t do it because I don’t have to. If I do that kind of work myself, the person working in that house will be in trouble.”

At least there is that kind of feeling. Since it is a place to invite high-ranking officials, I think they are very thorough in that regard.

Even if I, who has no class, came in there, there was a sense of pride that this was that and this was this. There was no need to take that away and create unnecessary hostility.

“Working with pride is a good thing. That’s what I expect from the people I contract with.”

The self-esteem gained in this way eventually wavers and degenerates into arrogance, and technology becomes outdated, leaving only those who are left behind by the times.

At that time, we open our eyes to the exploitation of others.

Because it’s convenient and easy.

Look at the craftsman system.

Of course, the craftsman system is not a bad thing. It is good to properly pass down skills and develop them further to pass them on.

But the teacher has the power. The learner becomes the weaker one. This is not good. It is easy to exploit the subject and discard it if you want.

Of course, if you do it openly, it goes against your own ethics. But there are many ways to do it without doing it openly.

For example, you give them just a little bit of work, an amount that they absolutely cannot do, and then mentally abuse them by asking why they can’t even do this.

This is when human wisdom shines the brightest.

It would be best if you made him kill himself like that.

It’s only with such malice that I can easily obtain warmth. I pretend not to know, saying that I only gave strength without having to get my hands dirty.

“Yeah, Belle is saying this again. Belle is scary at times like this~”

Victoria giggles and points at me. No, but that’s a conspiracy. Are you saying I’m scary here?

“Why are you scared? I like it too. Isn’t it good to work with pride?”

At Merryweather’s question, Victoria stares at him.

“Why?”

“Yeah. No. It’s definitely a nice thing to say. He completely approves of me doing whatever I want. Just.”

“Just?”

Victoria stops talking and becomes lost in thought. Merryweather asks curiously, and I look at Victoria curiously too.

Victoria crossed her arms, collected her thoughts, and said:

“Bell will approve of whatever I do. Right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

I know, I’m fine with Victoria doing bad things. Even if she has superpowers and controls people, I’ll support it.

“Because you have no discernment. Bell. In that sense, you are not human.”

“Ah, then I don’t like it. To be honest, that’s what it means to be indifferent.”

You’re talking behind my back. Are you gossiping? No, talking in front of me like this is bullying, right?

Victoria looks dumbfounded.

“Indifferent? That guy?”

“No, doesn’t saying “anything is fine” mean “anything is fine”? That’s indifference.”

“That’s not what I meant. What else is it? Endless breadth of arms? Intense attraction? Something like that.”

Okay, I get it.

Merryweather Olket. I think he’s not a knight, but an intelligence officer. He’s escorting me, and at the same time, he’s gathering information on me.

What if this strange cognitive distortion were directed at me too?

When she sees me, I should have no doubts about the conversation we’re having now.

Besides, since it’s under the pretext of being an escort, even if you get caught, you can just ignore it by saying it’s an escort. You’ve used your brain, Your Majesty.

It’s not strange that they arranged people like this, since they seemed to know something about me.

It may seem a little blatant, but I feel like there’s something special about it… … . I guess I’ll have to pretend to be a victim here. Since you didn’t ask me directly, I’m not the bad guy.

I just embraced it even though I had doubts. If you’re wondering why I didn’t point it out, you can just say that you thought that was your culture.

Hehehe.

“Aren’t you indifferent? You keep using formal language, and you call Tori Victoria instead of Tori.”

At those words, Victoria’s gaze fell on me.

“I’m also dissatisfied with that. But if you say it.”

“I have a mental illness.”

“It’s like this.”

Merryweather made a face as if to say, “Are you serious?” So I nodded.

“That’s a bit. Cowardly.”

“What I’m saying is.”

Victoria and Merryweather. They seem to be fine together. I’m a bit worried about what will happen to their friendship once this cognitive distortion technology disappears.

Ugh.

I guess you’ll just do it on your own.

Soon the teacher came in. And after calling the attendance, the class began. It was really scary to see Merryweather’s name on the attendance list. The Kingdom’s Information Department.

I have to be careful.