Chapter 25
The world seemed to flip upside down, and a piercing ache surged through the back of my head. Dizziness overwhelmed me to the point of nausea, and soon I felt the cold sensation of metal pressing against my throat.
The guards standing above me had, at some point, drawn their swords and now pointed them at my neck.
“Vera.”
As I barely made sense of the situation, a chilling voice echoed in my ears. The noble maiden showed no change in her expression as she seemed intent on staining this café’s floor with blood.
“…So from now on, this is self-defense?”
I glanced at the man holding the blade to my throat and managed a bitter smile. Honestly, I hadn’t anticipated the blade getting this close…
Swish!
Still, since they were the ones who picked a fight with me first… I consider my original purpose as good as accomplished.
This upcoming fight is between them and us. The café owner and his family have nothing to do with this.
They won’t suffer any collateral damage due to our reckless interference.
Bang!
Suddenly, bright light filled the shop, and the man with the blade to my neck was instantly engulfed in electric currents.
Overcome by massive electric shocks, he lost consciousness and collapsed onto the café’s wooden floor.
“It’s a Mage!”
The two remaining bodyguards belatedly turned to Lir and shouted those words. Although they rushed toward her, it was already too late.
Crackle!
Once again, cold flashes of light illuminated the café. The two guards charging at Lir were hit with electrical attacks just like the first, falling unconscious instantly.
Their heavy bodies toppled over nearby tables, scattering napkins and other items across the room.
“What the hell?”
In the midst of this rapidly changing situation, the eldest miss of the Guneir family could do nothing but widen her eyes in shock.
I slowly rose, steadying myself with my hand on the floor, and touched my neck where the blade had been.
… seriously, was I just about to die that easily?
Somehow…
“It doesn’t feel real.”
“Useless fools.”
The noble maiden, having understood the situation, pushed herself off the floor in irritation, pressing her forehead with her hand. The chair supporting her buttocks lost balance and collapsed to the side.
Enraged, she overturned the nearest table without any reason, creating a chaotic cacophony as various dishes fell and scattered.
…Why is she acting like this?
The café owner’s son, sitting nearby, gripped his guitar tightly and shook in fear at the noble’s wild behavior.
“Hey, you over there, magic-user wannabe!”
The noble waved a finger at Lir while bashing the chair with her other hand.
…Mage “wannabe”?
Attaching the word “wannabe” to “mage” feels awkward to me. In this era where people die almost every day, one rarely comes across someone who disrespects a mage. Even the most powerful nobles with a sense of propriety treat mages and soldiers with respect as a matter of course in this world.
But Mage “wannabe,” huh… it seems this noble has suffered some brain injury.
Do they even realize whose efforts allow them to maintain their peaceful everyday lives? Do I have to spell it out for them?
“You messed with the wrong people. Even a dukedom can’t lightly cross our family! Once my father hears about this, he will cut off not just your heads but also the worthless heads of your families!”
Seeing her guards lying powerless, the noble flew into a rage, her eyes rolling as she began shouting loudly.
“Lir, could you please knock this woman out too?”
“I’ve never made a young woman faint, so I don’t have a good sense of how much voltage to use…”
Lir hesitated to cast magic on the noble, worried she might accidentally kill her.
Killing someone, no matter how despicable, is no light matter.
“A public hanging will be in order! If my father hears about this, you will have no idea what’s coming with that small brain of yours! First…”
“You started this. I don’t understand why your tongue is so long.”
“Started it? That’s absurd! How dare some commoner wannabe address a noble with such disrespect?”
“Why do you assume I’m a commoner?”
“Look at your clothing! Are you trying to pass off as a minor noble from some border region with that garb? I can’t believe this!”
Behold this girl whose head is filled with prejudice and rigid thinking.
This is why I like stories set in medieval times.
In the medieval era, most members of society reveal their social status through their clothing. Nobles announce their position with elaborate decorations and lace-filled garments, whereas commoners showcase their ordinariness with plain cotton shirts and trousers.
It was a kind of societal agreement.
And I hate such agreements above all else.
“Just because someone wears comfortable clothes doesn’t mean they’re worthless.”
My assigned servants filled my wardrobe with luxurious outfits, but I stubbornly refused them all.
Medieval noble attire felt unbearably cumbersome and uncomfortable compared to modern sweatsuits I was accustomed to.
“Isn’t your perspective too narrow?”
I was born as a street urchin but am now a high-ranking soldier under the royal household.
My social status, which includes direct audiences and reports to figures like the Emperor and leaders of various races, far surpasses even most nobles in the capital.
“I have the right to speak casually to someone like you.”
Therefore, my casual speech to some unknown noble is, strictly speaking, not a wrongdoing.
Shouldn’t one use honorifics with strangers?
Once again, let me remind you, this is the medieval world, where class distinctions thrive. It’s a medieval world also threatened by the war with the marauders.
This is the Dark Age of humanity… indeed, the entire continent where notions like modern decorum have no place.
Thus, applying modern standards to this Dark Age is fundamentally contradictory.
Still, why did I intervene when this noble mistreated the common family working in their own building?
If only they hadn’t gone so far as threatening to cut off the patriarch’s ankle in front of his family, I wouldn’t have escalated things this far.
“You insult any dignified gathering! Of course, given your dress…”
Enraged, the noble removed a small dagger hidden within her dress and pointed it at us.
I wondered why a noble lady would carry such an item, but considering her erratic behavior in such a short time, it somehow made sense.
“Lir, can’t you just silence this, please?”
“…I’ll reduce the power to one-fourth and try to shock her.”
Apparently, Lir couldn’t endure this girl’s constant yelling anymore and began concentrating a small bolt of electricity in her fingertips. She, too, wasn’t exactly known for her patience.
“One-fourth seems too low, she’ll wake up soon.”
“Still, we can’t kill her…”
“Your kind! How dare you lay a finger on me! Simply dying will not suffice! I’ll bring in my torturers until you’re begging for your own heads…”
Crackle!
Before she finished her dramatic monologue, a sharp electric current pierced her fragile neck, and she collapsed like a wooden puppet. The café owner’s son, who was sitting nearby clutching his guitar, flinched in fear.
“Damn, that’s loud.”
“Do noble people usually talk this much?”
“I don’t know, it’s my first time meeting a noble like her. Maybe even the Emperor is different.”
“…I’ve never met the Emperor.”
“Just saying, he’s very gentlemanly.”
“…Gentlemanly?”
While brushing off the dust from my clothes, I gave a brief impression of the Emperor.
Lir looked at me with a somewhat reproaching expression, as if questioning whether it was okay to describe the leader of the Allied Nations with such a simple word, but…
What’s wrong with calling someone gentlemanly?
I returned the coin purse I had dropped to the register.
…I already didn’t feel well, and this unexpected shock only worsened it.
“Ah, sir, your bill?”
“…Excuse me…”
The wife seemed unable to distinguish between dream and reality regarding what had just transpired at her café.
“You’d better run. You seem to be adventurers from the frontier… the Guneir house won’t let this slide. You should leave the capital as soon as possible and hide in some remote town…”
These people were so panicked they hadn’t heard the conversation between Lir and me.
Had they overheard us casually mentioning the Emperor, they’d be trembling in fear of me rather than the unconscious daughter of some baron…
“What did I do wrong? They were the ones who tried to kill me first.”
I lightly tapped the coin purse on the counter, signaling for them to hurry up and close the bill.
“The elite soldiers of Baron Guneir are on an entirely different level from these guards! I only say this out of gratitude for your help, but you should run…”
“Help? Me?”
I couldn’t hold back an awkward laugh.
“I was just trying to settle the bill when they started the trouble. You seem to be mistaken. Why would I uphold any righteousness for your shop?”
It wasn’t comfortable showing such rude manners to someone expressing gratitude, but clearly defining boundaries is necessary to prevent unnecessary trouble.
“Y-you… actually dared to touch me!”
A hoarse voice reached my ears from the floor.
Turning my head, I saw the noble who had regained consciousness after the electric shock and was now crawling on the wooden floor.
“…Didn’t I tell you one-fourth power was too low?”
“But using magic on a young girl is new to me… What if she really dies?”
“Raise the output and fire again. She’ll just start yelling again.”
“…You bastards! Dared…”
Electricity began to gather at Lir’s fingertips, brighter than before.
According to my request, she seemed to have slightly increased the output…
“Nah, you might need to raise it a bit higher.”
“Do you abuse magic toward young girls?”
“Never! Do I look like that kind of person?”
I grinned and responded.
“Are you saying I’m… immoral now?”
“You’re becoming an immoral mage, Lir. How impressive of you. How do you feel about electrocuting young girls just because they’re loud? Are you going to knock out whiny kids with electricity too?”
“No, no. Wait, no! Clearly, she started it by threatening us with a knife. This is self-defense! Besides, you told me to…”
“Do you always follow someone’s orders so blindly? Disappointing, master.”
“Th-that…!”
Lir reacted unusually strongly, causing a wide grin to spread across my face.
Since she usually never got angry or pulled such pranks, her trembling fingers gathering electricity were rather impressive.
Creeak!
While I was chatting casually with Lir while the noble was writhing on the floor after being hit by electricity, the shop’s front door opened with a loud bang.
Are reinforcements here?
I turned my head coldly, expecting someone serious, but instead found someone I never imagined: my assigned butler.
“…What brings you here?”
“I heard Lord Bin was here, so I came looking for you. I apologize for interrupting your day off, but I need you to choose the staff to accompany you on the next operation…”
Assigned staff? Oh, that thing the commander-in-chief mentioned last time.
I thought they had already chosen someone for me…
Apparently, due to my contributions and my status as a general, the final decision on who I’d go on missions with was handed over to me.
The commander-in-chief’s considerate treatment, giving me the respect a general deserves, was quite touching…
“…Oh.”
This is absolutely bad timing.
“What’s happening here?”
The café was an utter mess. The eldest daughter of the Guneir house was trembling like a freshly caught fish, and three large men were sprawled unconscious on the floor.
Each of these unconscious men wielded swords that seemed much too heavy for me to even lift, and the floor was littered with broken table fragments, shattered glassware, and scattered dishes.
…Ugh.
This is trouble.
“There was no incident. They were just drinking too much and got into a fight among themselves, now lying sprawled out like that.”
Like a cat shamelessly demanding food despite knocking over and breaking a cup on the desk, I blithely told a lie.
“They were drinking? Isn’t this a café?”
“…They brought in outside food; it’s technically not allowed, but oh well.”
“Three people brought alcohol into the café?”
“Coincidence does happen, doesn’t it?”
“…”
I didn’t want to escalate this further.
It’s my first ever vacation after all, and I wouldn’t want to ruin it.
There’s still a lot I plan to do today.
I heard there’s a decent musical instrument shop nearby that I want to visit, and I want to watch the performance of a traveling bard at the square.
“…The emblem on your shoulder shows you’re from the royal family! Listen, these commoners dared to use magic on guards and nobles. Especially that woman over there, she shot electricity at me directly! That is high treason. Lock them up immediately!”
However…
This idiot still hasn’t recovered her senses.
Has she damaged her head somewhere?
“…What?”
The butler scanned the café and quickly turned his gaze to Lir after frowning slightly.
I immediately raised a finger to my lips, signaling silence to Lir, who then instinctively pulled her hat brim down to cover her face.
It was an excellent defensive strategy, like a turtle retreating into its shell, but completely useless in this situation.
After all, there were others present who could also explain the situation besides Lir and me.
“Are you the owner of this shop?”
“…Ah, yes, that’s correct.”
The flustered chef, bowing halfway, replied.
He wasn’t the type to lie to someone who bore the royal emblem, and there was no reason for him to do so.
“…You mean they pointed their blades at your neck? Just because you talked to them without honorifics? To a general of the Allied Forces?”
“Yeah… a general of the Allied Forces?”
Finally, the noble seemed to realize something was drastically wrong and, with a paralyzed body, muttered weakly as she wriggled across the floor.
I just wanted to give some light advice to some troublemakers at the café…
“Pointing a blade at a member of the Sword Saint faction constitutes treason against the continent and a direct challenge to the royal family. Lady Guneir should understand this isn’t something to be taken lightly, right?”
This is getting far too…
“Maybe I should meet with the Baron…”
…out of hand.
“Let’s head back to the castle first, Lord Bin. This could get me in trouble too.”
