“Follow me! This way to the super wide living room!”
“Damn. That guy, Schwarz······.”
Pitter-patter.
Pouting his lips, Nikolai intentionally kicked the ground as he walked towards the inner part of the villa.
The prince himself had personally come by, yet he only gave a brief greeting before running away.
This was beyond mere impoliteness.
Considering he hadn’t even received an invitation and hadn’t notified anyone in advance of his visit, it would be fair to say that Nikolai had also broken etiquette; it could be seen as an act of revenge.
Still, it is usually the one who feels regret that must endure.
Nikolai barely held back his boiling frustration.
Even without the duke, there were still many objectives he could achieve in this villa.
“At the end of the left corridor is the reception room. And this is the dining room.”
“Also, over there! If you go out, there’s a beautiful garden! There are tons of flowers! Do you want Tia to show you?”
“Hey. The tour of the second floor isn’t over yet······.”
What a scattered tour, indeed.
Nikolai looked around the villa with a sullen expression.
It was nothing remarkable—just an ordinary mansion.
Nikolai found himself becoming bored.
“On the second floor are the office and the library······.”
“The library?! Can I take a look at the books in the library?”
“Huh? As for the library books······ there shouldn’t be any confidential documents, so I can allow that.”
“Guide me! Quickly!”
Nikolai’s eyes darted around.
The library.
If it was the library, it must contain the precious books that the duke had collected over time.
Additionally, there might be books where the duke had meticulously recorded knowledge about monstrous beings.
Not having the duke around might actually be a benefit.
Excited, Nikolai placed a foot on the staircase leading to the second floor.
“Damn······. What is this? Not even a literary scholar.”
However, Nikolai soon became disappointed and felt drained.
Though the small library was filled with shelves and had quite an extensive collection, none of it contained what Nikolai had hoped for.
Most of it were literary works he had no interest in, and the few books related to magic were all ones found in the royal library as well.
There were no books about monsters, nor any rare volumes.
With each book he opened, the excitement that had initially bubbled within him had long since diminished.
“Even low-grade romance novels? It’s really all sorts of things.”
The real treasure must be in the duke’s office.
However, Yulia had firmly refused entry to the office, saying that confidential documents were scattered everywhere.
Those were precisely the confidential documents Nikolai wanted to see.
He was becoming incredibly frustrated.
“Books. Are they interesting?”
“They’re boring. More importantly, where······. Huh?!”
A voice came from above.
Nikolai answered casually, but a chill suddenly ran down his spine, and he looked up to be surprised.
Tia was sitting on top of the bookshelf, looking down at him.
He was about to ask how she had gotten up there but decided against it.
After all, she was the type to leap over buildings barefoot, so climbing up a bookshelf quietly wouldn’t be a challenge for her.
Nikolai diverted his attention back to finding rare books.
“Tia is bored! She’s been looking at books for ages. Aren’t you bored, Nikolai?”
“Even if I am, there’s nothing I can do about it. That Schwarz fellow hasn’t written the titles on the covers, so I have no choice but to check each one individually.”
“Mew. Should Tia help?”
“No need. Besides, you don’t even know what kind of book I’m looking for······.”
“You can just tell me!”
“Huh?!”
Suddenly.
Bam.
Tia’s face popped right in front of Nikolai.
Startled, Nikolai tried to back away but tripped and fell, scrunching his face up in surprise.
Tia had hung upside down, draping her legs over the bookshelf.
Successful in her surprise attack, Tia burst into laughter.
“Muhihih! Were you surprised?”
“Calm down······.”
“Okay! I won’t surprise you anymore!”
“No. Not that······.”
“Muh?”
Nikolai turned red and looked away.
He couldn’t bear to look directly at Tia.
Because her skirt was lifted up since she was hanging upside down.
Casting a sidelong glance at her skirt, Tia smiled.
“Muhuh! These are my shorts! It’s okay!”
“Not okay······.”
Even so, Nikolai still couldn’t raise his head.
What’s the difference between underwear and shorts?
He felt a throbbing pain in his head.
How could a child like that always place first in the St. Sophia grade-level mock exams······.
“Ah!”
Nikolai slammed a book shut in realization.
Now that he thought about it, he had one more reason to be here.
He nearly lost track while searching for books; he could have returned without finding out how Tia studied at home.
What kind of study tactics did Tia employ while pretending to play all day at school?
“Show me how you study!”
“Huh? No way.”
“······.”
It was just as he thought.
There was no way she’d freely share her secrets.
What kind of condition would Nikolai have to propose for her to willingly share her study methods?
As he pondered, stroking his chin.
“But Tia doesn’t usually study. She doesn’t want to!”
“What are you saying······?”
Nikolai’s eyes twitched.
Doesn’t study?
That’s a lie.
It’s definitely a trick.
As he repeated this in his mind, Nikolai looked at Tia’s innocent face and froze.
There’s no way Tia could tell such a blatant lie.
If Tia were lying, she’d immediately break into a cold sweat, trembling, and show all the signs.
This was clearly a heartfelt declaration.
Realizing this, he was even more shocked.
“You mean you don’t study······?”
“It’s a secret from Mom!”
“Then how do you keep coming in first every year?”
“Muh? It’s easy. I just memorize everything for the exams.”
“But I heard you sleep during class!”
“I still can hear sounds while I’m sleeping! I remember everything I hear for the exam!”
“······.”
Tia tilted her head.
Isn’t it normal for everyone to do that, listening and memorizing while sleeping?
It seemed her expression conveyed that thought.
Nikolai sank deeper into despair.
Tia was simply a monster.
She was not someone he could ever compete against.
Realizing that fact somehow made him feel more detached.
“I don’t feel upset anymore······.”
“Have you seen all the books? Do you want to go play with Tia? Huh? Huh?”
“Yeah······. Let’s do that······.”
Nikolai followed Tia, feeling completely drained.
What did she want to do to play?
“Hehehehe!”
“Muhuhuh! Were you waiting, Hekheki?”
“······.”
In the end, they returned to the garden again to play with the foxes.
They had just played before, yet the foxes crowded around Tia and Nikolai, lying around and making noisy commotion.
He remembered that there were many people who coveted these foxes.
At that time, there hadn’t been any issues with Tia taking them since the ownership was ambiguous, but as soon as the rumors spread that the monsters had turned into ordinary foxes, various research institutions clamored to examine the foxes.
If she wanted, Tia could probably make a fortune.
“Incredible······.”
Strong, smart, and capable.
Nikolai had to admit that Tia was amazing, even if it stung.
But, on the other hand, he could not completely suppress his feelings of jealousy towards Tia.
“Even if I sell just one fox, I could buy a villa like this.”
“Absolutely not! I won’t sell Hekheki!”
“There are a lot of people who would want them.”
“Everyone wants to do tests or something. So I’m just going to let them borrow them.”
So Tia chose to sell the golden eggs rather than the goose that lays them.
Smart.
“How much do you get for each test?”
“Muh? I didn’t decide to get any money?”
“What?!”
Nikolai’s eyes widened.
While Tia often acted oblivious to the world, he didn’t expect her to be this naive.
“If people learn more about monsters, fewer people will get hurt in the future! I won’t take money from those doing good things!”
“Those guys are not like you! Their goal isn’t to do good—they want to file patents and accumulate wealth through their research!”
Tia clearly did not understand what these foxes truly were.
Monsters are a complete calamity that has caused humanity immense suffering throughout history.
The church has been able to build its power by slaying monsters without compensation all this time.
As long as people believed in the benevolent deity, the church would continue to exorcise the monsters that tormented the townspeople, allowing the faith of the benevolent deity to spread among the various races.
Thus, if anyone were to invent a perfect method for exorcising monsters, they could gain a power rivaling or even surpassing the church.
“That’s not gonna fly! The condition for conducting tests is that all the results must be made public!”
“Ah······.”
Tia certainly had thought this through.
By allowing research, the research institutions couldn’t hoard the results, ensuring they must share all findings with everyone else.
It was a rather refreshing idea.
No one could wield absolute power over the results.
“In the future, I want to revert all the monsters back to being animals! Then, we won’t have to fight between monsters and humans, right? Muhihihi!”
“······.”
Moreover, it seemed that Tia shared similar thoughts to Nikolai.
The difference, however, was that while Nikolai was thinking of discovering every monster’s weakness and exterminating them all, Tia wanted to protect even the monsters.
She didn’t just defend her kind.
She loved and valued all creatures with intelligence, including monsters.
That’s who Tia was.
“Yeah······. That would be nice······.”
Nikolai hugged the gathered foxes and lay back on the grass, closing his eyes.
It was a warm day, perfect for a nap.
Today had been a whirlwind of chaotic events, and he just wanted to bask in the warm sunlight and take a nap.
.
.
.
Where did Lara go?
Lara was nowhere to be found.
Could it be that Tia left her back at the accommodation? He went to check but found no sign of Lara there either.
Lara had disappeared along with her cage.
She was definitely there when they returned from school.
“Did she escape outside?”
Had she finally cracked and fled?
But then again, it was strange for the cage to vanish along with her.
Someone must have stolen Lara.
Given that Lara’s magic was completely sealed, she was utterly powerless······.
Was someone going to harm Lara?
“Damn······.”
With that fear in mind, he hurriedly set off to find Lara.
If he told Tia, she would cause an uproar, so for now, he decided to keep it a secret.
Just as he rushed outside the villa, looking around anxiously.
“······it seems.”
He heard the duke’s voice.
Lara’s voice was there too.
So they were together.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he headed towards the alley where the sounds were coming from.
“I’ve found a way to restore your wings.”
“Then please do it quickly!”
“Hahaha. That’s impossible. Right now, Tia owns you. I can’t decide that.”
“It can’t be······!”
“I will persuade Tia to set you free. She may be greedy, but she has a good heart. Once she learns of your circumstances, she will set you free quickly.”
“Please, you must help me······.”
The duke seemed to be genuinely concerned about the great spirit being held captive.
He couldn’t help but chuckle.
Though he appeared indifferent to everything, the duke was actually quite a kind person.
“Seven thousand years ago, no one could oppose me! It’s truly infuriating!”
“That’s true. Ah, there was one person, ten thousand years ago, who possessed strength surpassing that of a dragon. Perhaps that fellow could have surpassed your strength.”
“Ten thousand years? Speaking of which, how old is Schwarz this year?”
“Uh······. I’m not exactly sure. He’s definitely around fifty thousand, but he seems to have lost track of time as an immortal.”
“······?!”
Immortal?
His heart sank heavily.
In his surprise, he inadvertently made a loud noise with his footsteps.
Then, the duke appeared from the alley, holding the cage.
His expression turned to one of bewilderment upon seeing Nikolai’s face.
“······Did you hear?”
“Is it true that you live forever?”
He had heard it.
He had heard it all.
As he trembled and asked, the duke merely smiled with an expression that seemed to indicate he was confused.
