Watercolor (1)
The reason Count Freya’s Young Lady was able to avoid being swept up in the great tragedy of the Duplein estate was simply because the Mont Blanc she ate at the tea party was too delicious.
It sounded like nonsense, but in reality, in the corner of the estate kitchen where she was crouched down, she was holding a pretty Mont Blanc placed on a plate in her arms.
To her, who was hiding under a table in one corner of the estate kitchen, the servants who were busily carrying food to the ballroom as if they were being driven by something did not even pay her any attention.
While quietly watching those servants who were moving mechanically as if possessed by something, Count Freya’s Young Lady was lost in thought about what she should do.
If one were to explain the situation, it was not that complicated.
Usually, her diet was strictly managed by her teacher Katia at her family home, but at a ball in the far southwestern region where she had finally escaped her teacher’s interference, she was so happy to be able to eat bread to her heart’s content.
And so, after conquering all kinds of desserts, she ended up completely falling in love with the Mont Blanc that the Duplein estate’s patissier had presented as his proud creation.
While the other nobles were resting in their private rooms, she made an excuse to her personal servant that she was going to the restroom and came down to the kitchen to get more Mont Blanc.
For the eldest daughter of the prestigious Elvester Family to sneak into the Duplein estate’s kitchen just to eat a few pieces of bread without worrying about others’ eyes was a terribly embarrassing thing to do.
So, she was in the middle of using her specialty, Illusion-type magic, to secretly take some food while avoiding the servants.
‘What in the world is all this?’
It was a situation where most people would be trembling in fear, but she, hugging the Mont Blanc tightly, was surprisingly maintaining her composure.
Looking at her still munching on honey-coated bread even in such a situation, she looked like someone who had come sightseeing in hell.
Count Freya’s Young Lady brushed off the crumbs around her mouth and recalled the words her teacher had left when she departed the estate.
–“Young Lady Delia of the Duplein estate is very likely to become the most influential figure in the southwestern part of the Empire. So, at the ball, please do not commit any discourtesy, and for heaven’s sake, do not be obsessed only with food, and leave a good impression by keeping proper etiquette.”
–“I also heard that Elder Kohela is at the Duplein estate, so if you meet him, be sure to greet him properly...... um...... if it’s the Duplein estate’s ball, my former disciple might be there as well.”
To Freya’s Young Lady, Teacher Katia, who interfered and taught her about every little thing, was an object of fear.
When teaching Derrick, who was exemplary in every way, she was always a kind and warm person, but when it came to students who needed discipline and control, she was also someone who knew how to withdraw mercy.
To manage the figure of Count Freya’s Young Lady, who was weak to gluttony, and to raise her ambiguous level of magic, she sometimes had to know how to become a devil.
–“My teacher’s former disciple? What family is he from?”
–“He was a commoner from the slums. He was a child unbelievably full of talent and passion for magic, but I couldn’t bring him all the way to the Elvester Count Family, so we parted ways at Ebelstein. We exchange letters from time to time...... he’s said to be working as a magic master in the Noble Society of Ebelstein, so if you ever come into contact with that High Society, you might see his face at least once.”
–“My teacher teaches commoners too? That’s surprising.”
When Freya asked that while sitting on the bed, the old female mage who was sitting at the desk and fiddling with a quill pen gave a bitter smile.
“Is there any distinction of status when it comes to handling magic? Sometimes, even among commoners, there appear people with unbelievably deep knowledge of magic.”
–“Even so, no matter how much they devote their entire lives, they end at 3-star, right? I wonder what the point is of struggling so much just because they like magic. From the perspective of teaching, wouldn’t it feel kind of empty too.”
–”...”
When Freya’s Young Lady spoke so sharply, Katia made a complicated expression and then lightly placed her hand on Freya’s head.
And after thinking about what to say, she spoke briefly.
–“That’s right. There are no commoners who can handle magic as excellently as nobles.”
Freya read from Katia’s expression that she was hiding something.
Even though she seemed to know something about that former disciple, she appeared to be deliberately not saying it.
–“My former disciple was an outstanding person, but he won’t be able to become a mage as skilled as nobles.”
That expression was surely the face she made when she was lying.
Katia was a person who rarely lied, so when she was hiding something, it was not difficult to notice the signs.
Freya did not know what kind of person Katia Flameheart’s former disciple was, but at least, it seemed clear that he was someone who held a special meaning to Katia.
Katia was scary when she was angry, but at least among the teachers Freya’s Young Lady had met, she was the most outstanding person.
If she was someone Katia considered her prized disciple and still worried about even now, then surely he must have been born with some extraordinary quality that Freya could not even imagine.
That was why, even after coming all the way to this southwestern ball, Freya had been looking around here and there out of the corner of her eye.
Because the mage Katia had spoken of might have attended the ball.
From asking around at the ballroom, it was said that Katia’s former disciple, a person named Derrick, had taught Delia of the Duplein Family.
If such an authoritarian Duplein Family had even taken in a commoner as a magic master, then he must surely be an extraordinary person at first glance.
And so, she sat in the tea party hall all day, searching with side glances for people who looked like commoners, but there was no one who stood out as particularly extraordinary.
‘At this level of disaster, he was probably swept up and died.’
With indifferent eyes, Freya’s Young Lady chewed and swallowed the last remaining piece of Mont Blanc.
Then she shook the crumbs left on the plate into her mouth, placed the plate on the marble floor, and stretched deeply.
“Ukyahaak.”
Even though grotesquely twisted monsters were wandering the corridors, she loosened up her stiff body with cute movements like a rodent that had just woken from a nap.
And then, mana began to circulate in her eyes once.
Count Freya’s Young Lady was a master of Illusion-type magic who had absorbed Katia’s realm of magic as it was.
Even setting aside direct combat ability, she was an expert at deceiving crowds and moving around here and there while hiding her tracks.
The reason she could be so relaxed even in this chaos was because of her confidence in her own skill.
Even in the Elvester Family estate, if she made up her mind to hide, the only person who could find her was Teacher Katia.
Among these ordinary servants, there would be no one who could catch Freya’s Young Lady’s covert movement.
‘For now, let’s just get out of the estate. I’ll have to walk quite a bit...... if I come across a residential area, I can reveal my identity and give them a couple of gold coins or something, right.....?’
Her hair, fluttering as if guided by mana, covered her shoulders like a blanket.
She was a girl with a strangely lacking sense of crisis.
It was not just that she was bold or strong in the face of danger...... it even felt as if some part of her emotions was restrained.
She looked so relaxed that it seemed like she could hum a tune even in the middle of a battlefield.
Coming out from the corner of the table and quietly standing up, she glanced sideways at the main hall ballroom where food was being prepared little by little.
The servants were bringing in guests who had lost their minds and seating them at various round tables in the main hall.
On the tables, lavish feasts were being laid out, and the band was tuning their instruments, preparing for the highlight of the ball.
That sight was strange and bizarre, but Freya’s Young Lady, as if it did not matter, drew out her mana and manifested the 1-star Illusion-type magic ‘Sound Block’.
–Whoosh
A bluish mana wrapped around her and began erasing all sound.
Soon after, she drew out the 2-star Illusion-type magic ‘Illusion’ and began scattering illusions that looked like her here and there throughout the corridors.
The illusions of Freya’s Young Lady, striding forward, looked lifeless enough that one could tell at a glance up close.
However, it was enough if they could just attract the attention of the corpse monsters wandering around outside.
“With the next magic, I’ll hide my presence and roughly get out along the estate’s central garden. If there are horses left at the carriage, I might be able to ride one and run out toward the plains..... just in case, should I check the stable on the way out? Um..... I’m not confident in horseback riding..... even during lessons I always got scolded....”
It was the moment Freya’s Young Lady stretched and stepped out toward the corridor.
–Boom!
“Hm......?”
–Boom! Boom! Boom!
From the upper part of the corridor, a loud noise like something pounding the floor was being heard.
It was the moment Freya’s Young Lady felt something was off and listened more closely.
–Boom! Bang! Kwaang!
–Crash!
After an explosion resounded, the ceiling directly above suddenly collapsed.
“H-kyahaaak!”
Freya’s Young Lady screamed in surprise and quickly stepped back, but with her small stride, she could not go very far.
The moment she hurriedly drew out mana to protect her body, chunks of marble mixed with dust came pouring down.
–Boom! Crash! Bang!
–Thud
When Freya’s Young Lady, who had been violently knocked backward, quickly lifted her head, an unbelievable sight unfolded before her.
A boy who had fallen from the upper floor along with the building debris was crushing and pinning down a grotesque man in armor with his knee.
Both men were covered in dust, and their bodies were full of wounds.
At a glance, it was clearly a situation where they were fighting a life-or-death struggle.
‘W, what is that......!’
–Clang! Bang!
–Thud
Through the hole in the ceiling, various pieces of furniture like desks and candlesticks fell down with crashing sounds.
In the midst of that chaos, the white-haired boy who was trampling the armored man turned his head sharply toward Freya’s Young Lady.
“....”
“W, wh, what...... are you a, a survivor....?”
It was the moment Freya’s Young Lady managed to speak first.
The huge man who had been pinned down pushed against the floor and kicked his legs, then drew out mana and sent the boy flying far away.
–Bang!
The white-haired mercenary was swept up in the aftershock of the mana and was slammed into the wall.
It all happened in an instant.
As the huge man who had sent the boy flying stood up, Freya’s Young Lady deeply frowned.
–Thud
Between the dust falling from his whole body, red light bloomed in his eyes.
‘That person...... that’s the second son of the Duplein Family......!’
The man whose eyes were filled with madness was covered in wounds all over his body.
He was breathing heavily, exhausted to the point where it looked hard for him to even keep himself standing, like a starving beast.
He had already lost his reason.
The sight of him wildly firing magic in all directions as if he would smash anything in sight was no different from the enraged bull Freya had seen long ago in a bullfighting arena.
A bull just charges honestly with its huge body, but that monster uses magic.
That difference was enormous.
The moment Freya’s Young Lady tried to quickly hide herself, the monster with blood-mixed saliva dripping from his mouth and glaring eyes began to draw out mana.
‘Damn it!’
It was the moment Freya’s Young Lady, unable to adapt to the sudden situation, clenched her teeth.
–Crack!
Before she knew it, the white-haired boy who had risen from the collapsed debris was gripping the head of Raig, who had lost his reason.
He charged forward just like that and smashed Raig’s head into the floor.
–Crunch!
Raig, who had been slammed down by the hair, let out a grotesque sound and rolled once on the floor.
Before the monster could get up again, the boy kicked his abdomen with his leather-booted foot.
–Crunch! Thud!
Fresh blood splattered from Raig’s mouth.
The series of movements was so smooth and natural that it did not seem like he had only done this once or twice.
“U, uwaaat....”
“Stay there and you’ll die. Create as much distance as possi—”
“Behind! Behind! Behind!”
At the moment the boy warned Freya’s Young Lady, Raig, who had already gotten up, was swinging a wooden chair he had picked up from the floor.
The boy quickly lowered his stance, chanted an incantation, and smashed the wooden chair in his hand to pieces.
That appearance was exactly that of a master duelist.
If it were a contest of firepower versus firepower, it might be different, but in a one-on-one duel involving technique, there was no way Raig could beat Derrick.
Even though his physical strength was stronger than usual due to being played around by strange Necromantic-type magic, and his level of magic was also a bit higher than usual..... Raig’s level still could not even reach Derrick’s toes.
However, in a brawl like this, even the one who was winning would take damage.
Every time he allowed one of Raig’s blows, wounds would appear on Derrick’s body.
When magic hit him directly, or a fist even grazed his cheek, blood would flow profusely, but Derrick did not care.
He was someone who had resistance to pain.
In Freya’s Young Lady’s eyes, Derrick and Raig both looked like monsters all the same.
‘W, what is that person....!’
No matter what anyone said, Raig was a person who had inherited the blood of the Duplein Family.
He had lived a life far from honor, being overshadowed by the eldest son Valerian, but he was a man known among nobles for having outstanding skill.
And yet, that man, despite being caught up in strange magic and rampaging like a monster, was being pushed around and rolling on the floor by a single man who looked like a commoner.
–Whoosh! Thud!
–Thud! Thud! Thud!
Mana began to pour out again from Raig’s hands as he was being beaten, transforming into a huge spear of flame.
–Crash! Crackle!
However, when it came to reaction speed to mana, he could not keep up with Derrick.
Intercepting an opponent’s magic by throwing Mana Arrow before they could even finish casting was Derrick’s specialty.
Even though Raig was a famous mage, he could not even properly use magic.
Derrick, who dealt skillfully with all kinds of magic usage, was like a gigantic wall.
No matter how enraged a bull is, if it keeps smashing its head against a wall, it will only get a concussion.
That madman did not know how to give up even in front of Derrick, who was a level above him in magic usage.
If magic did not work, he would throw punches and bite flesh, just trying to kill Derrick.
–Crunch!
He succeeded in driving his fist into Derrick’s side, but Derrick, who took a breath and tightened his lower abdomen, endured the blow.
Derrick did not get pushed back, nor did he collapse.
He swiftly reached out and grabbed Raig’s head in his hand.
“Agh, ka-geuk.”
It was the moment Raig, whose face was covered in blood, tried to bite off Derrick’s hand.
–Crackle!
1-star magic ‘Full Power Manifestation’
The electricity that burst out from Derrick’s hand pierced through Raig’s head once.
–Crackle!
No matter how sturdy a man was, if he was hit directly by magic at this distance, he could not stay conscious.
Soon, the movement of Raig, who was held in Derrick’s grasp, subsided.
–Thud
Just like that, Raig’s legs lost strength and he dropped to his knees, then collapsed onto the marble floor with a thud.
Dust puffed up once.
Derrick shook one hand and loosened his wrist.
The match was decided in an instant.
‘My god.....’
Despite the enormous difference in size, Derrick easily subdued the huge man.
Facing the man sprawled on the floor, Derrick was only breathing heavily in exhaustion, and there was not a single wound that looked fatal.
‘Th… that is....’
Freya’s Young Lady, who had been sprawled on the floor, swallowed her dry saliva.
At that moment, Derrick turned his head sharply and looked toward Freya’s Young Lady.
A face stained with caked blood.
His eyes were as vividly red as that blood.
He was another monster who had easily subdued that huge monster.
Shaking off the dripping blood, he walked toward Freya’s Young Lady step by step.
The murderous intent still lingering in his eyes from subduing Raig made one’s spine grow cold just from looking at him.
Freya’s Young Lady even forgot to breathe and hurriedly drew out her mana.
‘If I hide myself with Illusion-type magic, I can escape! No matter what, it’s better not to deal with a monster like that!’
Drawing out her mana like that, she manifested the highest level of Illusion-type magic she could use.
2-star Illusion-type magic ‘Momentary Invisibility’.
It was a magic that made her completely disappear from the opponent’s sight for a very short moment.
The time was not long, but it was enough to buy time to run toward an escape route.
She was just about to kick open a window and jump out into the central garden.
–CRASH!
However, something unbelievable happened.
The boy grabbed the back of the neck of Freya’s Young Lady, who was about to completely hide herself and disappear.
Freya’s Young Lady almost tripped over the hem of her dress and fell, but was pulled by the boy’s hand and barely managed to stop before hitting the floor.
“Uh, huff....”
Freya’s Young Lady swallowed her dry saliva.
‘Search-type magic......! Mana sense, or Life Detection......! At least 2-star or higher ..!’
This commoner was at the very least 2-star or higher.
She realized that fact, but realizing it now, with her neck already grabbed, had no meaning at all.
When Freya’s Young Lady turned her head, there stood a monster covered in blood, glaring with red eyes.
In the end, there was only one action Freya’s Young Lady could take here.
“P, please...... spare me....”
It was a plea for her life, throwing away even her pride as a noble.
In situations like this, she was truly a girl with very quick judgment.
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