Old Hag Sorceress
Luca's words struck the room like a thunderbolt. The one who reacted the most was Estellia.
"Th-th-th-that's impossible! How can you just get married right away…!"
"No, I mean, you're basically saying you're going to end up getting married anyway, right?"
Luca's blunt fact-checking shut Estellia's mouth. Though her face flushed even redder.
"Ahem. Well, she didn't pass the exam…"
Zap. Estellia shot him the coldest, most fury-filled glare I'd ever seen. Under her silent pressure, Jarvis quietly clamped his mouth shut.
Anyway, Luca's question boiled down to one thing. Would he get married? And I had the answer to that.
"Hmmmmmm…"
Estellia de Ortes. From what I'd heard about her, she was truly pitiable. Obsessed with her image and reputation? No big deal. Looks? Gorgeously pretty, of course. Figure? Out of this world. Personality? She was polite even to a barbarian like me—a genuinely kind woman.
Of course, it wasn't like I hadn't thought about marriage at all until now. In this world, most people married around twenty. Political marriages were the norm, after all. Among commoners, premature unions were rampant.
"Hmmm… I don't really have any plans to get married yet."
"Wh-what…! We're only twenty years old!"
Estellia cried out in shock. Which made sense—I'd seen plenty of kids marry at sixteen, and I was just turning twenty myself. But the issue was, if I weighed this world against Earth… I still had a modern Earthling's mindset. I wanted to tie the knot sometime before thirty, maybe.
That was probably why I hadn't given marriage much thought.
"Ugh… I'm twenty… At twenty-three, they'll start calling me an old maid…!"
For someone as image-conscious as Estellia, delaying marriage would obviously hit her hard. She agonized over what to do.
To her, Luca said, "Who said anything about getting married? If he has no intention of marrying, how's he supposed to pick a partner?!"
"Th-that's…!"
"Heh heh… Go find some other guy!"
"Who are you to say that!!"
She was supposed to be the villainess… but why did she look like a kicked puppy? Maybe because I'd seen her cry so much, the tears welling in her eyes felt familiar now. Come to think of it, she'd cried once when we met while fleeing the assassin—that made this her fifth time, right?
Sigh… With Estellia on the verge of tears, the duke shot me a frosty glare. Yeah. Better keep quiet on this one.
"Anyway, I still have no plans to get married. I need to attend the academy first… Oh, right, I have to go meet someone before that. Big trouble. Duke! Got a carriage?"
"We have one that's ridiculously fast. Our horses aren't your average steeds."
"Perfect! Just give me some clothes, then. We gotta head out right now."
"Got it. Jarvis! Prepare the fast carriage."
To escape this awkward situation, I hurriedly asked the duke for a carriage. He didn't want to watch his daughter get rejected either, so he quickly ordered Jarvis to prep it.
Estellia looked like she wanted to tag along, but I turned her down. You can't just bring anyone to meet the person we were going to see—I'd get beaten to death.
"See you at the academy!"
"Take care, Estellia."
"Y-yes…!"
We hopped into the carriage the duke had prepared. It was fast—seriously fast. The horse's mane gleamed with luster; at a glance, it was top-tier. As a Northern great warrior, I wanted to snag one to take home. I'd have to ask for it as a gift later.
"We're here!"
The back mountain of the academy was indeed brimming with mana, just as I'd been told—it wasn't a lie. No wonder, living three hundred years as an old hag; her barriers were top-notch.
"Hey, old hag, I'm coming in~"
Her hearing was shot anyway, so I just barged right in. How? By smashing through every barrier in my path. They had auto-repair, so I'd just pump some mana back in after.
"Whew, even I can't match her barrier skills. Phew…"
Since we'd always met like this, I was getting used to it now. Back north, it took a full year to reach her. "Prove your worth" or whatever nonsense. That's why I was still brute-forcing through barriers even now.
There are many types of shamans. Talisman specialists like me. Barrier masters like this old hag. Familiar handlers. Diviners focused on fortune-telling. And so on—tons of specialties.
Me? I'm a genius, so I excel even outside my specialty. No other talisman shaman could keep up with me. Except maybe those transcendent freaks up top.
"I'm here! Where are you?!"
"Huff… huff… so tiring…"
Luca panted beside me, exhausted. Not from stamina—she was getting crushed by the overwhelming mana. Looked good on her.
By the way, that fur coat over her? Nah, it was the new outfit from the duke. As expected, the "no exposure" warning was bullshit; her clothes had just a hint of skin showing. I'd seen her naked plenty, but half-covered was still the best…
'Is it wrong to think that about my little sister?'
But we weren't blood-related, so it was fine, right? She didn't even call our mom "mom." We were family on paper only—no one really thought of each other that way. Harsh, but that's the north. We adopted her for training, and that was that.
"Damn… we're going in?"
True to her three-hundred-year-old hag status, she probably couldn't hear properly. I opened the wooden door and stepped inside.
Whoosh—
"Ah, she's bathing."
With her bad hearing and the sound of water, no helping it. As I turned to head back out—
Clack.
"Haaah… baths are the best~ so good~"
She froze.
"Wha—what the hell are you doing here?!"
"You told me to come, old hag!"
"And why do you keep calling me 'old hag'…! No respect?!"
"Eek… granny talk. Put some damn clothes on first!"
"Eek!"
She bolted back inside. Apparently, her body had stopped aging at fifteen, despite being three hundred. Something about absorbing too much stellar power young. Fun fact: if a shaman reveals which star blessed them, they lose their power and get hit with divine punishment. My guess? Barriers plus anti-aging screamed dragon.
Dragons and barriers? They layer them on their lairs, rooms, mountains, whole regions. Masters by necessity. Elves live long too, but high elves top out at a thousand years—no way partial power makes a human live three hundred hale and hearty. Had to be dragon.
"Old hag, you dressed yet?"
"Stop calling me old hag!! Do you call the elves 'old hag' too?!"
"They live forever anyway."
"Sigh… how'd I end up stuck with a lunatic like you…"
"Whatever. Hand it over. You said you had something for me?"
I stuck out my hand. She just stared at my teeth. Shamans do that—it's normal. As I stood still, used to it, she suddenly clicked her tongue.
"Kid. Why'd you stick your nose into that?"
"…Haha, skills haven't dulled, huh?"
Suddenly switching to casual speech—the stellar power must've surged. I knew what she meant. Obviously Estellia. In other words, I'd jumped into the romance fantasy world.
In my view, I was inevitably entangled. If anything, I'd started off strong.
She gave me a pitying look, then tossed something over.
"Ooh! This is it!"
"Cherish it. Don't waste it."
"Gotcha."
What she gave me was a potion—the kind witches were famous for. Where there were shamans, witches followed. This one ignored causality temporarily. Crazy expensive, obviously. She'd poured every coin from divining for the emperor into it. No wonder she was broke.
"Damn, you can't even buy this with money… awesome! Old hag's the best!"
"Enough! Get out!"
Witches existed to defy causality. Or rather, they had to defy it to survive. Experts in it, naturally. Defy causality long enough, and you live long—like elves, around five hundred years. That's how a three-hundred-year-old hag could score potions from witches.
"Thanks, old hag. I'll use it well!"
"Out!"
She started hurling furniture, so I dodged and bailed. Outside, Luca was still panting, barely coherent. I scooped her up and headed down, infusing mana into the barriers as I went.
"The academy's huge, huh?"
"Ughhhh… carry meee…"
Even as a 5th Hierarchy warrior, Luca's face was pale as she spoke. I turned her head to show her the view, but she buried her face in my chest. So much for the massive academy scenery. Not something you see every day, since you can't just waltz in.
"Alright, alright~ Let's go~"
Dragging the sweat-drenched, exhausted Luca down, tons of nobles stared at us. A sun-tanned two-meter hunk carrying a pale-skinned beauty. Dripping sweat in his arms, no less. All decked in pricey clothes.
'Hmm… they think it's some noble lady's illicit escapade.'
Their eyes said exactly that.
"Oh my… he's so tall."
"In broad daylight, no less…"
"Ahem. Height doesn't mean everything."
Romance fantasy vibes? Savage. This was romance fantasy? Ignoring the stares from all sides, we headed to the lodging the duke had arranged.
"Huh…? Just one room?"
"Ah, yes."
"Eh…?"
Gottta save money. Room rates here were insane.