Chapter 24: When the Palace Burns

Edem’s students are divided into two groups.

One group is the dormitory students who live in the dormitory building, and the other group is the regular students who commute from home.

Among them, Lucy was a regular student who commuted from home (the palace).

If you ask why, it was obviously for safety reasons.

Edem’s security system wasn’t that bad, but it was nothing compared to the palace that constantly used protection magic.

Of course, Lucy, who didn’t want such protection, requested to live in the dormitory to save time, but was naturally rejected by Arasia.

She said, ‘As a princess, you never know when or where danger might lurk.’

Anyway, that’s why she became a commuter student.

And so—As the sun was setting, Lucy, who had returned to the palace in the commuter carriage sent by the royal family, was enjoying her leisurely daily life for the first time in a long while.

Since it was her first day, all she had learned at the academy was orientation.

There was nothing else to review, so she took this opportunity to rest her tired body and mind from preparing for admission.

The first thing she enjoyed was taking a bath.

The royal bath housed in the western wing boasted a magnificent appearance.

Water gushed out from marble statues (demon figures) here and there, filling the large bath.

The fragrant scent of flowers was gently carried by the steam, as if bath salts had been added.

In the middle of the large bath, which was large enough to swim in, she laid down as if she had become one with the water.

Soaking alone in a place like this was the very essence of bourgeois.

While she was enjoying bathing alone, a maid came running from the entrance with a piercing scream.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The one who screamed was a girl with red hair and a similar body type to Lucy.

It was Perry.

She trembled her lips and looked down at the bath where Lucy was soaking.

Then, when Lucy looked at her with her bright eyes, she finally let out a sigh of relief, wiping her chest.

Lucy, who didn’t know what was going on, got up from the bath and tilted her head.

“What’s wrong? Why are you so surprised?”

“Oh, I thought you collapsed from a fever while taking a bath.”

Seeing her floating in the bath, she must have thought she had drowned.

To make matters worse, she had been in the bath much longer than usual.

“As you know, I’m not weak enough to drown in bathwater.”

“I guess so?”

Perry smiled bashfully.

It had been a few weeks since she was officially hired as a maid, and she seemed to have completely adapted.

Since she happened to have a towel in her hand, Lucy wiped the moisture off her body as she got out of the bath.

A moment later, Lucy returned to her room and sat on the bed quietly.

Behind her, Perry was carefully combing her gray hair that reached down to her waist.

It’s late to say this, but having long hair is no easy feat.

When washing her hair, drying it, and combing it like this, her hands were no joke.

If it weren’t for someone else doing it for her, Lucy thought to herself, ‘I would have cut it off to shoulder height’ long ago.

Meanwhile, Perry was combing his hair with a look of joy on his face.

‘Do you enjoy combing other people’s hair? I can’t understand what’s going on in girls’ minds…’

Just as she was about to finish combing her hair, there was a knock on the door and the maid’s voice was heard.

“Lucy, would you like some dessert after dinner? If you want, I can prepare it right now.”

She rubbed her stomach.

She didn’t feel any hunger at all in her stomach, which had just finished a plate of steak for dinner.

“No need…”

She was about to refuse without thinking, but she swallowed her words in the middle.

It was because of the red-haired girl who was licking her lips behind her.

“….. Prepare it, plenty.”

Soon, sweet-looking cookies (macaroons, Mont Blanc) and warm milk were delivered on a trolley.

Perry stared at them intently.

Lucy got up from the table as if she had no intention of eating.

“I don’t have an appetite, so take it and eat it.”

“Huh? But that.”

Perry couldn’t bring himself to touch the princess’s food.

“If you don’t want to eat it, just throw it away.”

“There’s nothing I can do, because I’ll be punished if I throw the food away.”

He quickly picked up the plate.

It was a kind of reward from Lucy.

It was a reward for all the hard work she had put into acting herself.

Thanks to that, Perry was able to act as Lucy perfectly.

She should at least feed her what she wanted to eat.

Lucy flopped down on the bed, watching Perry swallow his saliva and look at his plate.

“I’m going to take a nap, so wake me up before midnight.”

“Yes!”

Before midnight, Perry was carefully waking Lucy up, just as promised.

“Lucy. Lucy. It’s midnight now.”

Lucy stretched and got up.

Today was the day she had decided to visit the Adventurer’s Guild for the first time in a long time.

She needed to cheer up since she had neglected to gather information because of her entrance exam preparations.

Soon, Lucy prepared to go out.

Perry, who was next to her, transformed into Lucy’s appearance without saying anything and helped her go out without permission.

“Are you going out?”

“Yeah, you can just sleep in my bed.”

“Can I really use Lucy’s bed?”

“Because I gave permission.”

“…..Yes.”

Perry seemed a bit uneasy about using Lucy’s bed, but soon agreed.

After finishing preparing to go out, Lucy took out a ring from her bosom and handed it to Perry.

A mutual ring.

It was an item with a radio function and a tracking function, and was a means of communication in case of an emergency.

“If anything happens, just contact me with that. Here’s how to use it…”

Perry, who had learned how to use it in detail, crawled into bed with a lively reply, “Okay, have a safe trip.”

Afron Guild Association.

The guild building, which had reached the end of the day, was used as a place for adventurers to have a party.

Today again, cheers—! were heard everywhere.

As Lucy passed by, the smell of alcohol and meat fat wafted from all directions.

It was a familiar sight, a pub.

Lucy passed by and went to the desk where the guide was.

“Welcome, Ruby.”

“Here.”

She handed the guide a leather pouch.

The contents were two basilisk fangs.

They were the harvest from the request she had received a little while ago.

The guide’s eyes widened when she saw the fangs the size of a person’s forearm.

Not only was the difficulty of the request difficult, but it was also because Lucy had only received the request an hour ago.

Lucy herself felt that it was too soon, so she coughed in vain and tried to cover up the situation.

“I had already identified the basilisk’s habitat, and I happened to have the items for subduing it.”

In reality, she had been searching the forest with flying magic.

The guide said, “I see,” and accepted the situation casually.

She then completed the request and took out eight silver coins from the drawer and placed them in front of Lucy.

Lucy put the small change in her pocket.

“The guild leader?”

“He’s off work.”

“Have you heard anything about the request I gave you?”

“Is it a request to find a ring?”

“Yes.”

The guide unfolded the list of requests neatly arranged on one side and checked Lucy’s request progress.

The result was no progress.

Despite the high request fee paid, treasure hunters from all over the place struggled, but no one had found the ring.

“They’re asking around at each pawn shop, so I think it would be best to wait a little longer.”

The player’s ring.

Lucy smiled bitterly behind her mask, knowing that it would be impossible for it to be found at a pawn shop.

It had been almost a month since she had used adventurers to search for the player’s footsteps.

Still, there was no result.

As time passed, the player only thought that she was the only one who had found it.

“…. Yes, then I’ll excuse myself first.”

Lucy left with a faint sigh.

She had finished gathering information for today, and she had to go to school tomorrow morning, so she was thinking of going home.

Then, a dandy man sitting at the table put down his glass and spoke to her.

“Hey, Fox Mask! I’m sure your name was Ruby?”

“What’s going on?”

“I heard about you. You solved that kidnapping case in Gray Town by yourself, right? And you were dealing with multiple necromancers, isn’t that amazing?”

“I just wanted you to tell me what’s going on.”

“Hey, you! You’re just asking to have a drink with your business partners, right? I’d like to see your face while I’m at it.”

The man suddenly offered her a drink.

His face was pale, indicating that he was already drunk.

Lucy waved her hand at his offer without a moment’s hesitation.

“I won’t refuse.”

Going out without permission and then drinking?

Isn’t that a truly inexcusable juvenile delinquent?

Leaving the man’s sighs behind, Lucy exited the guild and returned to the palace.

“What is it?”

Lucy tilted her head back in confusion as she floated through the air and returned to the palace.

Even though it was dawn, there were many people on the streets.

As if there was some kind of commotion, all the residents’ eyes were pointed in one direction.

It was in the direction of the palace.

Lucy, sensing an ominous feeling, increased her speed.

Soon, along with the sight of the palace, a musty smell began to tickle her nose.

It was a burnt smell.

“!?”

A pillar of smoke was rising from the previously peaceful palace.

She thought it was a fire, but judging from the damage to the outer wall, it wasn’t.

They had been attacked by someone.

And the center of it all was Lucy’s room.