The Snowball Starts Rolling
The snowball was rolling.
It is not only external enemies that threaten a nation.
No—the most dangerous ones are the enemies within.
The kingdom operated under a dual-power structure of the Imperial family and the great Strauss house. The prestige of the Strauss family was formidable, yet even they could not freely restructure the Imperial Court itself. Without a legitimate reason, searching the palace remained impossible no matter how powerful the Strauss name might be.
The apostles of the Evil God had exploited that loophole with perfect precision.
…There are quite a few Evil God’s apostles quietly nestled inside the Imperial family, too.
In pure numbers they were a minority, yet several among them already held real power. That alone made the situation perilous.
Even the Empress herself has contracted with the Evil God.
With the Empress effectively holding the entire Imperial household in her grip, there was nothing I could do. If I revealed myself as a hero and declared, “The Empress is suspicious!” I would be thrown into a dungeon with a thunderous “How dare you!” before the sentence even finished. I would bet my own neck on it.
In the end, investigating the Empress required the strength of the Strauss family. Becoming Ann Strauss’s daughter was therefore not a bad option.
…It really would have been the right choice.
I knew that. Yet the instant Ann Strauss insulted Ceryll, heat surged through me and all I wanted was to leave. I had always believed myself a rational person. Apparently I was wrong.
…He wouldn’t petty-revenge me over something this small… right?
Ann Strauss had been the one to provoke me first, but I had returned the rudeness in kind. He was the head of a house whose standing rivaled the Imperial family itself. And me?
…The daughter of a fallen noble house.
Exactly. One simple defamation suit from him and I would be crushed flat.
“…He’s not the type… I don’t think.”
He had been on the side of good in the original story, after all.
“…But the original has already gone so far off the rails I can’t be sure of anything.”
Ann Strauss, who should have been at the northern border marquisate, was sitting in the capital instead. And more than anything—
“Ceryll is somehow connected to the fall of House Reina.”
That was a complete departure from the original setting. I could accept the original protagonist drifting out of the main storyline; that was largely my fault. But—
“…House Reina had already fallen before I even transmigrated.”
The collapse had nothing to do with me. That was precisely why it felt so strange.
“How did things end up like this?”
According to the original, House Reina fell simply because they could no longer pay the noble tax. Nobles had to pay that levy to maintain their status, and House Reina was too poor to manage it.
…What a heartbreaking backstory.
In any case, Ceryll should have had nothing to do with it.
“…Did Ann Strauss just get the wrong information?”
The thought crossed my mind, but I shook my head. In the original story Ann Strauss had never once been wrong about intelligence he gathered himself.
“…Then what the hell actually happened?”
Ann Strauss.
At that moment he was seething with rage.
“To think that a man of my standing failed to notice that an apostle of the Evil God had wormed his way into my own household.”
He had not dismissed Reina’s words as empty talk. Though the claim had seemed absurd, he still resolved to investigate. That decision had led him to the truth: his own butler was an apostle of the Evil God.
Worse—
“It was not just one.”
Several of the underlings the butler had recruited year after year were likewise apostles. Thanks to a single remark from Reina, Ann Strauss had been able to purge the spies nested inside his house.
Reina had not spoken merely to needle him. She had been certain—certain that spies existed within House Strauss. And perhaps—
…She may even have suspected the same of the Imperial family.
Both the butler and the subordinates he had brought in had been recommended by the Imperial side. That was why Ann had never doubted them. The Strauss family had trusted the Imperial household completely. Reina had only named the butler as suspicious, yet investigating him inevitably revealed the Imperial connection.
“How in the world did she know…?”
Did exceptional heroic talent simply reveal such things?
“No wonder Anin took an interest in her.”
When he first heard that someone had caught Anin’s attention, Ann Strauss had been furious. He had used his own talent to dig up every scrap of information available and discovered the existence of Reina. Shortly afterward he realized that Anin’s interest stemmed from the fact that Reina was a hero. Whatever reason his daughter had for hiding that truth from her own father, he intended to respect it. That was why he had still not reported Reina’s identity to the Imperial family.
“…I did well not to speak.”
If apostles of the Evil God also lurked within the palace, concealing Reina’s identity was far safer for her.
Ann Strauss summoned a truly trustworthy old steward who had served the family for decades.
“Keep the knowledge that Reina is a hero under absolute information control. Ensure even the Imperial family never learns of it. And one more thing.”
He recalled the words Reina had spoken.
“Not every demonkin can be called an apostle of the Evil God. There are kind ones among them as well.”
“Just as not every human is good, the same may be true of demonkin, would you not agree?”
“You claim all demonkin are apostles of the Evil God—yet do you know this? Quite a few of this kingdom’s own people are apostles of the Evil God as well.”
At the time he had thought it pure nonsense. Mere empty bluster. Looking back now—
She must have been certain.
It had not been random venting. Perhaps, just as Reina said, good demonkin truly existed in the world.
“Investigate every individual who was imprisoned simply for being a demonkin. If they have committed no crime, release them.”
Apparently I had left a rather poor impression on Ann Strauss. If that were not the case, Anin would never suddenly say something like this.
“Number Six, Reina. I will force your Mana Reinforcement to bloom.”
I already possessed mana and the ability to control it, so I met the basic conditions for using Mana Reinforcement. Activating it, however, normally required either a special catalyst or long, grueling training. Still, every path has a shortcut.
…If I use the Mana Reinforcement Stone the goddess gave me, I can force the awakening extremely quickly.
Yes—provided I do not die in the process. Forcing mana open can literally kill you. And it is not a clean death; you suffer for a long time first. Even if you survive, you endure agony that borders on death for the entire duration of the awakening.
Anin is already forcibly opening my mana right now, so in two or three months I should bloom naturally.
There was no need to rush into something so reckless. Especially when one wrong move could kill me. I did not even have the original protagonist’s plot armor!
…Now that the Reina-kidnapping incident has been erased, I should be safe for at least a few months.
Other accidents might still occur, but in the original story things had stayed quiet until just before summer vacation.
“This is a Mana Reinforcement Stone. Swallow it and you will bloom at once.”
That was why I simply edged backward when Anin held the stone out toward me. Where had she even gotten something like that?
“It is an heirloom left by one of our ancestors—extremely precious. Taking it will certainly help you.”
Why leave something that dangerous behind? They should have used it all up back then!
“I’m fine.”
“Reina, don’t be like that…”
“Teacher, I would like to do personal training today.”
I spoke the words and tried to bolt. Anin’s hand closed around me with casual ease.
“…Very well. Today is not the only day, after all. However—”
However?
“The training hall is this way. I have prepared a private training room just for you. You will practice here.”
Half-dragged into the training room, I resigned myself to actually training.
“I did have a few things I wanted to test anyway.”
As a reward for defeating Lutin I had received two gifts from the goddess Eru: the talent of parkour, and Eru’s Love-Filled Holy Water.
“…What kind of name is that?”
In any case, I had already consumed the holy water. Ever since then my stomach had bubbled and churned; by this morning the sensation had finally settled, so it seemed to have been fully digested. That meant my divine power should have increased. There was no convenient numerical display, however, so I would have to check the hard way.
“Let’s try it.”
I stretched my hand forward. Then, feeling a little embarrassed yet also a little excited, I spoke the word I had always wanted to try once.
“Summon.”
A flash of light burst from my palm, and something began to materialize.
It was none other than the sacred relic Goddess Eru had gifted me. Looking at the bow now forming in my grip, I grinned.
As divine power grows, additional effects appear on the relic.
One of them was this. No matter where the sacred bow was, the moment I called “Summon,” it would appear in my hand. Of course, the fact that it had answered already proved my divine power had risen…
“I should check how much divine power I can pour into an arrow.”
Knowing one’s own strength thoroughly was always wiser, so I decided to test a little further.