Volume 3, Chapter 8 – An Unexpected Change

“What’s with her? That Renee, I used to just find her annoying, but now that sullen face of hers just irritates me.”

In the spacious room arranged by the village chief, Liti puffed out her cheeks, her expression one of great annoyance.

Anastasia, who had been crouching to inspect the house, stood up and replied as she looked around the room.

“There will be a time to deal with her in the future. Your Highness Liti need not be angry over such a person. More importantly, you did not get to eat properly tonight. This house happens to have a stove, so I can prepare a simple dinner for you.”

“Ah, then I’ll have to trouble you, Anastasia. What about you, sister? It seems you didn’t eat properly either.”

“I’m fine. I’m already full.”

Fia, lying face up on the bed, said with her eyes closed.

Although Fia’s limit for feeling full was the same as a normal person’s, her nanomachines would provide her with energy according to the actual situation. If there was little food, the nanomachines would work at full capacity to digest it completely. If there was a lot of food, they would work slowly, digesting it gradually. Therefore, even though dinner was just monotonous nut bread, Fia didn’t feel hungry.

Compared to hunger, Fia wanted a good night’s sleep more. No matter how luxurious the carriage was, it couldn’t compare to a real bed. The continuous travel and taking turns on night watch had left Fia in a state of sleep deprivation. She wished she could just take off her clothes and fall into a deep sleep right now.

Although the bed prepared by the village chief was a bit simple—just a combination of wooden planks, a quilt, and a cool mat—it was large enough. Furthermore, the chief had placed three beds in the room, which meant they didn’t have to sleep crowded together, and the quality of their sleep would be greatly improved.

It was hard to imagine how Anastasia managed to maintain her abundant energy during the day after sleeping for only a few hours at night.

“It’s a good thing Renee isn’t in the same room as us, otherwise we’d have to be careful even when we speak,” Liti said with relief, crossing her arms. “By the way, where is that Renee?”

“The village chief arranged for her to stay in another room, with those girls from before. The bandits today burned down nearly half the houses, so everyone has to squeeze together to sleep. I heard from the chief that there’s a custom here against sleeping outdoors. They say that if people sleep on the streets or in a house without a roof, the Flame King’s Fire Bats will snatch them away from the sky.”

Fire Bats?

The familiar name made Fia, who was resting on the bed with her eyes closed, stir slightly. In her memory, a “Fire Bat” was a weapon of war equipped with a flamethrower. However, the Fire Bats Anastasia was talking about were probably creatures like “flaming bats,” Fia guessed.

“I hope she doesn’t get into a fight with those girls… But with her personality, I feel like those girls will be bullied and end up sleeping on the floor.”

Liti’s comment made Fia open her eyes. She turned her head to look at Liti, who was sitting by the window, having stripped down to her underwear ¹ Liti… , though her white over-the-knee socks were still on. Bathed in the moonlight from the window, Liti’s fair skin was covered in a faint silver glow. Her purple hair cascaded down her smooth back, and the image of her lifting her slender legs, her small, jade-like feet curling to create a stunning arc, had a certain artistic beauty.

Unfortunately, Liti herself was unaware of this. When she saw Fia looking at her, her complaining face turned to one of curiosity, her mouth forming an “o” shape.

“What’s wrong, sister?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Coming to her senses, Fia quickly averted her gaze.

I was actually staring at Liti in a daze.

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What a sin.

She coughed lightly twice and asked the question she had originally intended to ask.

“Isn’t Renee a member of the Royal Guard? But apart from her standard-issue equipment, in every other way, she’s just like a noble lady.”

Although Fia wasn’t angry about Renee’s admonition before she left, she was not fond of it either. Coupled with Renee’s malicious words towards the villagers at the dinner table, her impression of Renee was terrible. Even if you don’t like worm stew, you shouldn’t say it to their faces when it’s the best meal the villagers could prepare.

In response to Fia’s question, Liti had a thoughtful look on her face as she slowly rolled down her white over-the-knee socks in the moonlight. So she doesn’t sleep with her socks on, Fia commented inwardly.

“Renee is not of common birth. Her original family is a branch of the Reinhardt earldom. I think she was the second daughter of a baron or a lord?”

“She is the fifth daughter of a quasi-baron. Furthermore, the Earl of Reinhardt is also on Prince Schain’s side. Because his territory is prosperous, he holds a certain prestige in the court.”

Anastasia supplemented Liti’s explanation, and Liti nodded in understanding.

“Ah, that’s right. In short, she’s from a minor, lower-class noble family, and the fifth daughter at that, the lowest-ranking in the family. Normally, her life would have been to become a handmaiden in another noble house or marry a man with a bit of money. But for some reason, she was suddenly taken notice of by the third daughter of the main Reinhardt family.

She became that daughter’s attendant, and eventually, due to her outstanding performance, she was successful in the Royal Guard’s selection. It took her twenty or thirty years to climb to her current position as the vice-captain of the Fifth Division of the Royal Guard.”

It sounds like an inspirational story.

“In any case, since she is from a branch of the Reinhardt family and was promoted by them, there is no possibility of winning her over. She is a pawn of the opposing faction. Sister, you need to be careful.”

“There’s no need to worry. When Your Highness takes the throne of the Elf Kingdom, Renee will be in the second batch of people to be executed. The first batch will be Prince Schain and the Earl of Reinhardt. Of course, it will be done in secret. I will arrange a suitable death for them.”

“Eh…”

That sounds a bit dark.

But power struggles were always accompanied by unsavory things. Even if she felt it was dark, it couldn’t be helped. If one lacked strength and was unwilling to use underhanded methods, the only outcome was death. What Anastasia said was the correct course of action.

Under Anastasia’s care, the aroma of food soon filled the room.

The house the village chief had cleared for them was an ordinary civilian house, so it naturally had an earthen stove. As for the fire, Anastasia used neither [Fairy Fire] nor went out to find firewood. Instead, she used a type of stone called “Crimson Stone.” By rubbing two Crimson Stones together forcefully, they would soon ignite, providing a stable and continuous source of fire. Because they were more expensive than firewood, only nobles and the wealthy used them.

“Are you sure you don’t want any, sister? I can feed you.”

Holding the mushroom stew with a rich sauce that Anastasia had prepared, Liti, like a newlywed wife, smiled and brought a spoonful to the lips of the lying Fia, gently poking the corner of her mouth.

Fia sighed helplessly and sat up in bed.

“I’m already full. I won’t fight with you over dinner, Liti.”

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Although she said that, Fia still ate the spoonful of mushroom stew Liti offered. Then she stood up and patted down her black formal dress.

“As expected of Anastasia’s cooking, it tastes great.”

“It is just a simple dish. Your Highness praises me too much,” Anastasia said, looking a little embarrassed. “Is Your Highness going out?”

“Yes, I’m a bit worried that Renee might argue with the villagers, so I’m going to check on her. I also want to ask her about that top-secret mission she mentioned. And I want to try making those magic potions we talked about earlier. Once we get back to the Elf Kingdom, there might not be as much time. It’s only nine now. I’ll probably be back around ten or eleven. Anastasia, you can stay here and keep Liti company.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“And I wanted to feed sister a few more bites…”

Liti said mournfully, dangling the silver spoon in her hand.

Fia couldn’t help but find it amusing.

“When you can cook for yourself one day, Liti, I’ll be sure to properly enjoy your heartfelt gesture.”

“Really?!”

Liti immediately sat up straight.

She’s taking it seriously! A jolt went through Fia. The surprise on Liti’s face had already given her the answer, but Fia had only said it casually to her cute sister.

It would be too embarrassing to take it back now.

The arrow is already on the bowstring…

Fia nodded with a stiff expression.

“Uh… really.”

“Then prepare to receive my heartfelt gesture, sister! As long as I want to learn, I can become as good as Sister Ana in no time!”

“…Good luck?”

Fia offered her blessings to the motivated Liti—while inwardly hoping that Liti would never learn to cook. That way, Claire would never see the scene of Liti feeding her mouthful by mouthful and get some strange ideas.

Oh gods, please grant that Liti can only make charcoal and rocks. At the very least, make her cooking so bad that even a dog would climb onto the stove overnight to cook dinner for her.

With such a blessing ² xD in her heart, Fia left the room with a pious expression.

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…Is this also a form of faith magic?

◇

After leaving the room, Fia soon arrived at the square where the carriage was parked.

The bandits who had been tied up here during the day had been moved outside the village earlier. At first, the village chief was worried that the bandits would untie themselves and escape during the night. But after Fia created a ten-meter-thick ice wall to imprison them, his worries vanished. There was no way that mere First Rank bandits, without tools, could dig through a ten-meter-thick ice wall in one night, not to mention they were securely tied up and watched in shifts by the village men.

As for the two Third Rank black-robed men, after Fia had incapacitated them with [Mental Shock], Renee had fed them a sleeping drug potent enough to knock out a troll for several days, so there was no need to worry about them escaping.

Entering the dark carriage, Fia took out two books of varying thickness from the storage box: Advanced Alchemy, Seventh Edition, Volume One and An Introduction to Alchemy That Even Slimes Say Is Good.

On the World Tree Continent, alchemy was basically synonymous with making magic potions. Advanced alchemy could even create potions that increased one’s lifespan and made one younger.

Furthermore, because alchemy required more time and money than studying magic, alchemists were even rarer than magic casters, especially high-level ones. Sometimes, you couldn’t even find five in an entire country.

Correspondingly, the value created by high-level alchemists was extremely significant. Life-extending potions were secondary; what was more important were the Life Recovery Potions that could pull a person back from the underworld as long as they had a single breath left.

Even a king had to treat an alchemist who could create high-grade magic potions with courtesy. Their status was comparable to that of a magic caster who could use forbidden spells.

Of course, Fia didn’t expect to become a high-level alchemist overnight. For now, she just wanted to make a magic potion that could restore Liti’s mana.

Considering that alchemy might create noise, Fia took the books and left the village, heading to the valley below.

“Hah… it’s much cooler here.”

Taking a deep breath, Fia created a chair with her spatial power and sat down on it. As the village chief had said, due to the Flame King’s death, a stream had re-emerged in the valley, and the ground was covered with inch-long green grass. And because the grass and stream had only just appeared, there were no mosquitoes or insects to bother her. Coupled with the gentle evening breeze that swept through the valley, the cool and quiet moonlit night was very pleasant for Fia.

She began to read the books by the light of a [Light] spell. However, before she could even open Advanced Alchemy, the faint sound of footsteps appeared behind her.

She could tell that the other person had no intention of hiding their presence; the footsteps were very clear. Fia subconsciously turned her head, but the figure reflected in her eyes startled her.

The newcomer was an elf woman with long, chestnut hair hanging down naturally. Her figure was slightly less impressive than Claire’s, and her expression was as serious as Anastasia’s. She was wearing armor. As her body was hidden in the shadows, her eyes glowed with a wolf-like green light. At first glance, she looked like a knight from the darkness, or perhaps a Darkborn.

Renee.

Why is she here?

Without a doubt, Renee must have been following her since she left the village. But before doing something like this, she should have informed her first, not silently trail behind her. This was a breach of etiquette.

Fia stood up from the chair formed by her spatial power, simultaneously hiding the two alchemy books behind her with her Spatial Hand. Renee was one of Prince Schain’s people; she couldn’t let her find out that she had lost her memories of magic.

Her mind racing, Fia watched Renee’s every move. Although Renee had stepped out of the darkness, the sinister impression she gave did not diminish in the slightest. Her expressionless face even became more eerie in the moonlight.

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Following me silently… is she planning to assassinate me?

Indeed, when an elf princess was out alone, it was the best opportunity for an assassination. But did Renee not know that her strength was far inferior to her own? As long as she wasn’t a fool, she should have understood from the battle during the day that their strengths were not on the same level at all.

Fia frowned slightly.

Showing hostility prematurely would make me seem ungracious. It’s better to see what Renee is up to and then react accordingly. In any case, she’s no match for me.

Prepared, Fia waited for Renee’s reaction.

Only the rustling of footsteps remained in the air, as if any extra sound would shatter the tense atmosphere.

The distance was only a few meters, yet it felt incredibly long.

Finally, Renee walked up to Fia.

Without any warning, she suddenly lowered her head and knelt on one knee.

“Greetings, Your Highness, the First Princess. I am deeply sorry for almost exposing your identity during the day! Renee… even if I were to atone with my life, it would not be enough to clear me of this dereliction of duty!”

Hmm?

Exposing my identity? Atoning with my life? What is she doing?

Fia was momentarily stunned.

A moment ago, if not for her sufficient self-control, she would have thought Renee was about to attack her as she bowed down. But instead, it was this.

Now, both the way Renee kept her head bowed deeply and her tone, which was filled with sincerity and guilt, were the complete opposite of the annoying Renee from the daytime. If Fia had to make a comparison, the current Renee was just like Anastasia—no, the “sense of servitude” about Renee was even heavier, more intense.

Of course, Renee had no idea what Fia was thinking. Having received no reply from Fia, she swallowed hard. Then, as if remembering something, her whole body trembled as if struck by lightning. She quickly changed from kneeling on one knee to both knees—no, to a full prostration, her entire body flat on the ground, her forehead pressed tightly against the tip of Fia’s shoe, as if afraid she could not convey her loyalty to Fia.

There was no seriousness in her voice anymore, replaced by extreme panic and fear, to the point that her body was trembling.

“I-I failed to use the address you repeatedly instructed! Lord Thanatos, please forgive Renee’s transgression!”

“…Huh?”

A small, cute sound that only she could hear escaped her lips. Fia tilted her head, her expression baffled.

Translator Note

huh..