Chapter 33: Serious Conjecture

“Sigh… Ha.”

Taking a deep breath in and out, I surveyed the battlefield.

Blood splattered everywhere, staining the surroundings red, and corpses and flesh lay scattered about.

The nauseating smell of blood pricked my nose, entering my system, making me frown.

Sia’s blood definitely didn’t have this repulsive smell. On the contrary, it was sweet and addictive, that kind of…

Thinking of Sia made me miss her even more, so I closed my eyes. An action taken, thinking I needed to calm down a little.

“Monster…”

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the audience chamber.

The Emperor on the throne already had his head severed. Turning my head slightly, I saw the curly-haired 2nd Prince looking at me with eyes full of fear.

My reflection was clearly visible in those two eyes. Blood-soaked hair and flesh clinging to my sword.

What was stranger was that my body and face, were completely unscathed.

It was a natural fact, so I didn’t think much of it. A mortal struggling against a transcendent was less than amusing entertainment.

It didn’t take long for the situation to reach this point.

About 4 minutes.

In that short time, the Imperial Knight Order was annihilated, and the Emperor and Crown Prince lost their heads.

Despite possessing excellent information gathering. This result was derived from overlooking the opponent’s power, which they failed to accurately grasp.

“Monster, you say. Been a while since I heard that.”

It has been a while. Since Master said it when she discovered my talent.

“What did you do for half a year with that brilliant information network?”

“……”

As expected, he 2nd Prince stared at me with eyes that looked ready to kill me on the spot, keeping his mouth shut.

“The Imperial family will not fall.”

“What…?”

“Why. Did you think I killed the 3rd Prince too?”

“Don’t tell me…!”

‘f*cking idiots.’

That phrase truly suited this bunch.

Looking at it now, the claim of excellent information gathering seemed like ancient history.

Ignorant of the situation within a mere Duchy, unaware of what transpired. No, they probably knew but suppressed the truth.

“Your younger brother is doing very well. In the basement.”

“Heh.”

The 2nd Prince let out a dry laugh. As if this entire situation itself was absurd.

“You were playing us from the start…”

“Was it fun, running wild like an unbridled colt?”

“No. How could it be fun? All I feel now is the desire to tear you apart and kill you.”

Responding with a sneer, I made him face reality.

“Pitiful. You should blame the ignorance and incompetence of the Imperial family, which lacks even the ability to do so.”

“That’s true.”

The 2nd Prince admitted cleanly.

The saying ‘Royal blood even in death’ wasn’t for nothing; the pride of the Imperial family was that high.

It was certainly that high.

But if it devolved like this, living like idiots, who would believe that fact?

At least before dying, I wanted to applaud the prince for showing the pride of the Imperial family. Though mixed with ridicule and disgust.

Who would have thought the end of the dirty, hideous Imperial family would be so futile?

Moreover, some still believe the Imperial family represents glory, which is utterly deplorable.

“Any last words?”

“Can’t you kill my younger brother too? You dirty traitor b*tch.”

The words I said earlier were retracted. Pride, my frozen-dead pride.

I thought such human trash didn’t exist except for the Ducal heir.

I reflect on myself for having thought that until now.

“Traitor? That’s harsh. The Imperial family is still intact.”

“Heh. You spout such nonsense so well. Just kill me already.”

“As you wish.”

With those words I placed the blood-soaked sword against the prince’s neck.

“Any regrets?”

Still, since he defied me until the end, I let him say one last word.

“Regret not being able to eat you, wench.”

“Crazy bastard.”

“Keke… Keuk!”

I plunged the sword into the neck of the laughing madman.

Blood splattered again, melting the hardened blood anew.

“Need to wash off the blood before going. Can’t see Sia like this.”

Looking unpleasantly at the bloodstains covering my body, I suddenly sensed a presence outside the audience chamber door.

Very familiar, yet once feared and dreaded.

But also the aura of a warm person.

“Master. What are you doing, not coming in?”

“The manners you speak to your master after seeing her for the first time in ages. Tsk tsk.”

Turning my eyes, I looked towards the silver-haired young woman standing at the audience chamber door.

Sharp, sculpted eyes.

An aura that felt like it would slaughter anyone who approached closely.

Somehow familiar yet foreign golden pupils.

Seeing my master’s face after such a long time.

‘Why…’

What coincidence makes me think of you?

“Sia…”

“……”

Grabbing hold of my wavering heart, I looked at Master.

Not much different from the Master I saw years ago.

Still maintaining her 20s appearance, she had achieved the same realm as myself.

Perhaps that entity called Goddess already knew.

“Call me Senior, Master.”

“Have you truly lost your mind?”

“I entered the realm of transcendence first. So wouldn’t Master be my junior-.”

“Your nonsense has increased. Is it related to the name you mentioned earlier?”

“……”

Master’s direct question silenced me for a moment.

Ending the joke, I approached Master leaning against the doorframe and changed the subject.

“Anyway. If you were coming, why didn’t you come earlier? Weren’t you the Crown Prince’s swordsmanship instructor?”

“Don’t even mention that dimwit. Less so than the 2nd Prince, but he too was ultimately useless. Tsk. Killing him for me like this reduced the effort.”

“Don’t you feel there’s a contradiction in your words?”

“If there were such things, I wouldn’t have picked up and raised a wench like you.”

“True. That eccentric personality hasn’t gone anywhere.”

“This wench teases her master till the end. So, what will you do now?”

Chatting idly with Master, we moved on to the main topic.

Indeed, with such confidential matters erupting, it’s only a matter of time before it hits the press.

But so what? Just erase their memories with magic and leave.

Anyway, those who saw me were all people within the Imperial Palace. Meaning, using memory erasure on the entire Imperial Palace solves it.

Then, enthrone the 3rd Prince who was stuck in the mansion basement.

Naturally, on the condition that the Duchy serves as his backing.

Explaining this to Master, she seemed to understand roughly.

Master is also a Magic Sword Master. Since Master taught me magic, she knew what kind of magic needed to be employed.

“When should we begin?”

Still, pouring that much mana into this vast Imperial Palace increases the chance of mana exhaustion. So it needed to be resolved with Master’s help.

“I need to set up the formation, so please wait a moment.”

“Ha. Now you even order your master?”

“If you don’t like it, become stronger than me.”

I don’t know for sure yet, but Master’s and my martial prowess probably aren’t that different.

Just intuition.

“Later, I’ll have to re-educate my disciple. Anyway, hurry up and draw the formation now.”

Ignoring Master’s grumbling, I began drawing the magic formation with mana.

The magic circle itself is a tool that helps cast magic easily, and it doesn’t require that much mana.

The mana used when setting up the formation is everything.

However, drawing a perfect formation in one go is difficult, so the formation needed checking intermittently.

After about 10 minutes passed. A small magic circle appeared in the air.

It wasn’t finished yet. Who could this tiny magic circle possibly affect?

Overlaying expansion magic and maximization magic onto the magic circle, I projected the entire Imperial Palace.

“Should I do it now?”

What remained were minor additional magics and repair magics. To restore parts of the damaged Imperial Palace.

“Done. Activate it.”

Master’s magics were also projected in their places. Now, placing my hand on the thick line, I poured mana.

Just a slight flow of mana activates the magic circle.

Fwaaaaaaaat.

The blue mana, shining intensely before vanishing. It was a beautiful sight, but having seen it several times already, it held little interest.

“So. What does Master plan to do now?”

Confirming the magic worked properly, I turned around and asked Master.

The battlefield in the audience chamber was cleanly restored, and even the hardened blood disappeared, perhaps due to cleaning magic.

Butler and Diana were still unconscious but looked unharmed.

Diana was even snoring.

“Khuaaaaa…”

It made me wonder if a Saintess’s dignity would allow her to be like that.

“What else. Follow you and visit the Duchy estate after a long time. Come to think of it, you said you became Duchess this time? Belated congratulations.”

“Master’s interest is declined.”

“This wench complains even when praised.”

However, there was something more important.

“Master.”

“What is it. If you apologize now, I’ll accept.”

“Shut up and listen till the end.”

“Why are all my disciples like this in their attitude towards their master?”

While listening to Master’s exasperated voice, I pulled Butler and Diana closer.

Breaking the ropes binding them, I asked Master a sensitive question.

“Master’s daughter. How old would she be this year?”

“…What do you plan to do knowing that?”

Master, rather Noah briefly fixed her chilling atmosphere.

“Hurry up and answer. So I can explain.”

“She would be 19 this year…”

“Is that so.”

It was strange.

White hair and golden eyes weren’t common features.

And the possibility of such a child existing among slash-and-burn farmers was almost nil.

Holding Butler and Diana, I deployed teleportation magic.

Noah watched somewhere displeased, then similarly manifested magic.

Watching Noah, I became lost in thought.

Looked at one way, it might be fate. Or perhaps a coincidence harsher than fate.

Noah lost her daughter. To demons.

And Noah’s daughter also had silver hair and golden eyes.

Moreover, counting her age now, 19 years old.

The unbelievable conjecture heard the moment Noah disappeared via teleportation magic.

I wanted to deny it forcefully. But all these facts pointed to one person.

A village suspiciously exposed to danger from demons.

The ‘lost’ daughter.

19 years old.

Silver hair and golden eyes.

The lost daughter did ‘not’ die and ‘happened’ to settle in a village near the Demon Realm, spending several years there.

“I sincerely hope you did not suffer greatly, Master.”

Noah’s daughter, kidnapped by demons.

A serious conjecture.

It must be, it had to be.