Ambushing the Ambushers (1)
“Haa, that bitch just shows up out of nowhere and…!”
Crash!
The moment Alley Justina arrived at her dormitory, she hurled an object across the room.
A butler who couldn't stand it anymore tried to calm her down.
“Please calm down, Grand Duchess.”
Slap!
“You. Don't get ahead of yourself. I took you in as a butler because you're handsome, but do you not know your place?”
“I'm sorry…”
He ended up with a slap across the cheek.
Then she replayed the recent events in her mind.
“Crown Prince Your Highness… you'll regret it. You'll definitely regret it.”
Daring to look at another woman—she'd make him regret it.
First, she thought of people who didn't yet have feelings for Maria.
Kael Lotus. He wouldn't have any affection for Maria, and their first meeting hadn't been hostile. Plus…
'Kael Lotus… did he foresee this mess in advance?'
On the day of the aptitude test, Kael Lotus had given her a warning that seemed to predict this very situation.
More than that, he was handsome.
To be honest, not quite on the level of Crown Prince Lucas, but his unique wild vibe matched Alley's tastes.
His gray hair messily swept back, those sharp yet elongated eyes—they were more than enough to stir a girl's heart.
Alley had a hobby of collecting handsome men like trophies, so taking an interest in Kael wasn't strange at all.
“You there. Sign up for a few arts classes. And send a proposal to Kael Lotus to study basic magic together.”
“Understood, Grand Duchess.”
She decided to start by arranging a meeting with Kael Lotus.
“Young master. Two letters arrived this morning.”
“What are they?”
“One is from the lady of the Maria Frendis baronet family… and the other from the lady of the Alley Justina grand ducal family.”
“Hand them over.”
The morning after the special dungeon class ended.
Early in the morning, two letters arrived for me.
One from Maria Frendis, the original heroine. The other from Alley Justina, the mid-story villainess.
Ironically, both letters contained the exact same message.
Because of the Basic Magic Studies Fireball assignment, would you like to study together?
Both were something along those lines.
'I already know how to use Fireball…'
Of course, I had no intention of accepting.
But since both were looking for study partners, I figured I could do them a favor.
“Send both letters back to them as-is. But swap them—Maria's to Alley, Alley's to Maria.”
One's the villainess and one's the heroine—putting them together won't cause a huge mess, right?
Not my problem.
I had my own plans for the day anyway.
'Time to handle some backlog.'
Normalizing the characters was important, but I had more pressing business.
Most of Professor Temiri's evidence had been submitted, but I still had a few pieces held back.
Specifically, info on his fellow kingdom spies. I needed to dig deeper into where they were, what they were doing, how they operated.
If I could delay the war, that alone would boost the odds of avoiding the island exile ending.
“And if anyone comes looking for me, say I'm not here. Got it?”
“Yes, young master.”
While I'm at it, I should test the power of this sword I got.
The sword with the red ruby I took from the Draugr.
I wanted to see just how strong it was.
The capital was a forest of buildings and a sea of people.
Naturally, the Adventurer's Guild existed there too, though its nature differed greatly from frontier branches.
Local guilds mostly handled monster extermination, escorts, and security quests.
The capital's guild focused on back-alley patrols, investigation aid, crowd control—outsourced work from the guard bureau.
A few high-risk quests existed, mostly tagged for gangsters and mafia ties.
Unlike local guilds fighting monsters, here it was mostly dealing with people.
Which explained why…
“Hey, kiddo. You look like some rich young lady. Why don't you go suck on mommy's tit a bit longer?”
“Puhahaha!”
“Ugh…”
The adventurers' vibes were all trash.
For example, some adventurer uncles were cackling and teasing a girl who'd just entered the guild.
Not my business, of course.
“New face. First time here?”
“Registered as an adventurer with the Lotus branch.”
Fortunately, all guilds nationwide were unified, so one registration worked everywhere.
I came to the capital guild because kingdom spies—and even their hideouts—could be found here.
“A-Rank adventurer… You must be stronger than you look.”
“Skip the small talk. Take me to the board.”
“Right this way.”
On the way to the quest board after ID check, I glanced sideways and saw the girl still getting teased.
Terrified, eyes squeezed shut, but stubbornly pushing deeper into the guild—she seemed tough.
'Trying hard, huh.'
Round glasses, pink hair in twintails. The book in her arms looked like a magic tome…?
And that's when it happened.
“…!”
Our eyes met.
I didn't know her, so I looked away, but this time she called out to me.
“Um… excuse me!”
“What?”
“A-Are you… an academy student?”
Academy student?
My gaze flicked back to the girl.
Now that I looked, the shirt and skirt under her outerwear were academy uniform.
“D-Do you… need a party member?”
“What?”
She suddenly proposed joining a party, avoiding others' eyes.
I had no idea what was going on, but…
Her eyes weren't those of someone offering help—they were pleading for it.
“I-I take the same classes! Professor Rapel Strahct's Basic Magic Studies…”
“Oh, you're from the magic department?”
“I-I'm arts department, actually… But anyway, about the party…”
“Need one that bad?”
“W-Wait! I'm more useful than I look… Or at least I can handle chores…”
She desperately tried to prove her worth.
Subtly shifting toward the opposite side of the adventurers.
Naturally, their attention turned to me.
“Oho… boyfriend?”
“Cheater! Hey, boyfriend! You look like a weakling too—why not head home? Huh?”
“Puhahaha!”
'Why can't romance fantasy aimed at women escape these clichés.'
At this point, I wondered if the authors shared a cliché playbook.
Breaking them illegal or something?
But I had no time or reason to care.
A mangnani has his own ways.
'Time to try this out…'
Stun Magic, was it…
Kiiing!
I quietly activated the stun magic I'd learned from the Draugr.
Instantly, I flooded the room with killing intent. The adventurers froze.
Some even foamed at the mouth.
Hearing a tiger's roar head-on stiffens your muscles beyond survival instinct.
Your brain knows to run, but your body won't obey.
Before death's terror, shock steals control.
“Hey. What'd you say?”
“…”
“Wanna die?”
Shing.
“One more word. I'll kill you, then pay the fine. Did it once before—people die in a blink.”
Gulp.
They could only swallow hard in their paralysis.
I'll be coming to the guild often, so establishing discipline like this was smart.
Releasing the stun magic, the adventurers finally gasped and coughed.
“Th-Thank you for the help…”
“Hey.”
“Y-Yes…?!”
“You said you'd do chores? What's your name?”
“I'm… Hestia Cloudy.”
“Wait… Hestia Cloudy?”
I'd come to pick up quests and track spies, but things got complicated fast.
Hestia Cloudy—a character mentioned in the original story.
Why had I forgotten?
Hestia Cloudy appeared in the original as the culprit behind an incident. One of the early events: the magic department monster rampage. She triggered it.
Her character in one word…
'The type who'd do anything for money…'
Yeah. She got paid to plant a magic circle in the academy, sparking the early crisis like a firecracker—and burned out.
A disposable event to showcase the male leads' powers. But it got her expelled from the noble academy and saddled with massive reparations.
Her reason for dragging herself here despite the fear? Obvious.
'Money, in the end.'
She was desperate in her own way.
And I was convinced the monster rampage wasn't just a power demo.
Probably the author's foreshadowing—hinting at a force targeting the empire and academy.
'This has value. I can use it.'
I was sure that force was the kingdom. Hestia could be bait to lure out spies, depending on how I played it.
I grinned at the unexpected harvest.