episode_0498

Ethan couldn’t hide the confusion in his eyes as soon as he read the first line of the letter, but he calmed his heart as much as possible and read the rest of the content.

Thinking that the name ‘Blackwood Young Lady Assassin Lily’ might be a clue to finding the release he was looking for.

“… … ?”

And, as he read more of the letter, the feelings that came to Ethan’s mind were confusion and bewilderment.

That was understandable, because the letter he read contained such serious content that he could not just pass it over.

“E-rank adventurer…? Goblin King…?”

The story of three F-class adventurers, including a character named ‘Assassin Lily’, who got caught up in the Goblin King subjugation during their promotion exam.

From then on, it was a long, drawn-out apology. The Goblin King incident happened because the Adventurer’s Guild didn’t investigate it enough, and it wouldn’t happen again.

And he enclosed a letter asking for leniency, saying that he had received additional compensation from the territory for subduing the Goblin King.

It was disconcerting enough that the release was simply the Iron Horde operating under the name of ‘Assassin Lily’ in the Adventurer’s Guild, but Ethan’s mind began to gradually build up anger at the thought that he might have almost lost his life in that Adventurer’s Guild.

“These fucking kids.”

“… … .”

Ethan, who is slightly angry at the thought of putting the person he loves in danger, and Dietmeyer, who is cautiously keeping silent by his side.

Ethan briefly imagined how he would exact retribution from the Iron Horde guild master, and soon regained his composure.

Because it was still unknown whether the name ‘Assassin Lily’ written in this letter really referred to her.

‘Lily is a common name to begin with. Maybe some woman claiming to be from the Blackwood family just happened to have the name Lily.’

Although Lilith is good at handling daggers, she fits the assassin profession.

It is understandable that he is not a wizard since he cannot use magic as a commoner.

Although it is highly unlikely that it could be anyone other than Lilith, given that even the Goblin King could easily be defeated if given enough time to cast his magic.

‘No, no matter what, there can’t be two people like that in the world.’

However, since it was something he couldn’t believe until he saw it with his own eyes, Ethan quickly headed towards the Iron Horde.

“I’m sorry, but I think I can only do this much work today. I’ll finish dinner with Sesin right away and then go back out, so tell the cook and groom.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

“Okay, thank you for your hard work.”

Maybe this time I’ll finally find a release.

Ethan returned to Blackwood Manor with those thoughts in mind, and only half a day later, he was out to the Iron Horde again.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

‘Yeah, come to think of it, I was overthinking it from the beginning.’

Ethan thought as he rode his horse back out of Blackwood Estate, preparing to travel again.

‘If she really ran away from me, she wouldn’t have gone to places that I have memories of. The same goes for places related to her acquaintances that I know.’

Places you’ve already seen, such as the Imperial City, Auguste’s Estate, and Professor Mamali’s Mansion, as well as places you haven’t been able to visit because they’re too far away or you can’t enter alone, such as the Dephrin Kingdom and the Witch’s Forest.

All of those parts were erased from Ethan’s mind as candidates, and Ethan felt relieved.

If Lilith had decided to run away to the Witch’s Forest or the Kingdom of Dephrin, it would have been quite difficult for him to track her down.

‘It’s not like she’s going that far… I guess Lilith also wants me to come to her in her heart.’

The fact that she uses the pseudonym Lily seems to mean that she has no intention of hiding her identity.

It seems that he chose to subdue the Goblin King rather than run away from him, and that he has no intention of living in hiding.

Above all, it is likely that this letter was sent to her because she had revealed to the Adventurer’s Guild Master that she was related to the Blackwood family.

… If she still hasn’t let go of her foolishness, then this might be a message from her to come find herself.

“… I’ll let you off just this once, Release.”

I too am guilty of not being able to reassure the release.

If it’s still like that, you can think of it as a small jealousy that arose out of a momentary impulse.

… If he runs away again after doing this, I’ll have to think about it a little more.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

About a month has passed since we moved to the commercial city of Ermia with Mirif’s party.

It had been about a month and two weeks since I ran away from Blackwood Manor. Excluding the period of moving, it had been about four weeks since I had started living in a group at the church.

When we wake up in the morning, we wash together in a group in separate shower rooms for men and women, and then most of the church members gather to pray and eat breakfast.

And after finishing miscellaneous tasks like cleaning the church and doing laundry in the morning, the afternoon was free time. You could go hunting with the Adventurer’s Guild, read books alone in your room, or just spend time walking around the city.

‘Actually, I’m a guest, so I don’t have to do things like cleaning or laundry.’

But people have a sense of shame. It’s just like a beggar to pass on things that you can do to others, such as renting a place to sleep and getting meals for yourself.

Most people knew that I was a commoner, so there was the inconvenience of not being able to use clean magic, but since I had experience as a maid until two months ago, it wasn’t a big problem.

“Sister Lily, are you going out to hunt monsters today?”

“… Yeah.”

“Then how about we go and clear out the orc horde that just happened to appear north of the city! If Sister Lily joins us, it will be a great help, haha!!”

“… Okay.”

Most of my afternoon routine is spent going out to hunt monsters through the Ermia Adventurer’s Guild, but when my schedule overlaps with that of the Paladins, I try to accompany them whenever possible.

Usually, when you do a raid through a guild, you’re mostly solo, and sometimes a Mirif accompanies you, so the scale of the battle is bound to be small. However, group raids like this, where people rush in, provide many opportunities to gain experience points.

The best part of all was that the knights were religious and had little material desires. It was a real treat to receive my share of the sales proceeds without any commissions. Those unscrupulous bastards from the Adventurer’s Guild were taking a 30% commission.

Sometimes, when it rains and I can’t go on a military expedition, I’ll practice swordplay with the knights in the indoor training hall. Since there aren’t many people who use daggers, when I go into the training hall, everyone wants to fight me at least once.

Thanks to this, I was able to share swordsmanship with people of similar or slightly stronger skill levels, so it was a good thing for both of us.

After spending the afternoon like that, I go back to work at 3pm, have dinner, and then go to bed.

There are various events held in the middle of daily life, such as dawn prayers, morning prayers, afternoon prayers, and bedtime prayers, but I am currently not participating in any of them.

Sitting in one place for an hour or two straight and saying the same thing just didn’t suit me. Other people didn’t really force me to pray in church, even though I wasn’t a priest.

After spending the day like that, it’s time to go to bed again. Four weeks have passed since I started living this daily cycle, and I’ve become quite accustomed to life in Ermia.

‘The academy is probably busy preparing for the midterm exams by now.’

The time I shared 1st and 2nd place in the Ministry of Magic with Agnes was also an old memory.

Agnes, now that she has no competition, would be able to maintain her position as top student much more comfortably.

‘Now that I think about it, I do want to see it again.’

Agnes, of course, but also Lizzie and Natalie.

Girls like Geumjeongjossegi, Seristana, Seraphine, Lalana, Mezlen, and Liria.

Looking at it this way, it seems like I’ve been on good terms with most of the major figures in the academy. People like Silena and Luke are a bit awkward, but they’re not the kind of people you’d turn your head and pretend not to know if you met them on the street.

They’re not specifically related to the Academy itself, but I’d like to see Isabelle and Katarina too.

And, also… .

“… … Phew.”

Whenever I reminisce like this, the first person that comes to mind is this.

And I felt like Ethan’s face, the one I wanted to see the most, was floating before my eyes again.

“… Should I go back now?”

I’ve already taken the semester’s classes, but graduating from the Academy doesn’t mean that much to me.

To be exact, it had some significance in that I was graduating with Ethan, but now even that had disappeared.

And as for me, Ethan would have probably returned to the Academy anyway, so even if I went to Blackwood Manor now, there was no way I could meet him. Considering that Isabel might have gone to be Ethan’s exclusive maid instead of me… At best, only Katarina or Dietmyer would be left.

‘There’s no point in going back now.’

Even if you really want to see Ethan and go back to Blackwood, you’ll have to find a time to do it.

I went to bed thinking that tomorrow would be the same routine as today.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

And then the next morning.

“… Thank you, I will enjoy it.”

I start my breakfast today by just following the last sentence of the priests’ prayers.

The moment I took a spoonful of the somewhat boring soup that was served with a similar menu every day.

“… … Huh?!”

… a disgusting, stomach-turning taste began to rise from the back of my tongue.