Why Are You Calling Me Again? (2)
I decided to hear her out first. “What is your reason?”
The Empress stared at me with great interest for a long moment before pointing a finger at my head.
“It must be Mana Fusion. That thing.”
“Huh?”
“I heard that achieving Mana Fusion lets you wield every attribute. Including the power of light they call divine energy. And that white hair is proof enough, isn’t it?”
As far as I remembered, the Empress had zero knowledge of magic. Well, she knew the basics. But something like Mana Fusion should have been completely outside her understanding. After all, she had trained in the sword and archery rather than magic.
“How did you know about that?”
“A self-proclaimed mage named Noah or whatever told me about Mana Fusion. Right in front of the Empress, no less, with his eyes wide open. He was the second person to glare at me like that.”
“Excuse me?”
Had I really done that? This was complete historical distortion.
“When I mocked him, asking what a mage was doing pretending to be an archmage, he bragged about it. Said something about how people who can’t use magic must live such pitiful lives.”
“Is that so?”
The fact that you took that as bragging is truly impressive. You must have completely erased the part where I told you to stop spouting nonsense. Typical of a lunatic Empress.
Should I just go straight for the honest approach? It seemed like that would be better with this woman.
“Olivia Lapa Ashtar.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The moment she used my full name, a sense of unease washed over me.
“I hereby appoint you as the Imperial Tutor.”
Oh, what an honor. It was so touching that I wanted to escape this place immediately.
So. I. Olivia decided to boldly exercise my rights.
“Right of refusal?”
At my words, she smiled brightly. As if she had expected this from the very beginning.
Right. I had stepped right into the trap. She really was an evil woman. Wasn’t a true tyrant exactly someone like her? She left politics to the council and summoned people whenever she felt bored just to use them as she pleased.
“I hear the Church is raising private soldiers?”
Goddammit. She already knew everything.
“Well, perhaps it’s because you take after Katarina. You seem to enjoy raising private troops.”
Now I understood why that woman called Mother had attached her maids to her. She must have caught some weakness related to the assassination guild. She couldn’t handle politics, but she was the kind of woman who could kill people without it being framed as tyranny. The moment I got caught, it was already over.
“When should I start?”
“Is that acceptable? There’s no need for you to indulge my childish request.”
That childish request. She was saying this because she knew what kind of mess she would cause if I refused.
“Isn’t it rather amusing for someone over thirty to call herself childish?”
I was doing this because I didn’t know what kind of scheme you would cook up if I didn’t indulge that childish behavior.
“My, my. To think my subject wouldn’t consider the Empress even a little.”
“Would you like me to? First of all, a magic instructor? In truth, don’t you simply need someone to talk to?”
Even a moment ago, the atmosphere had suggested she just wanted to chat.
“You noticed?”
“Yes.”
“The previous Olivia really liked me. What a shame.”
Huh? The first generation actually conversed with this weirdo? And even liked her? What kind of bullshit is this?
“Understood. Let’s… talk.”
“Then how about after your classes at Aetherina end?”
It would probably just be a few conversations at most.
“Yes. I will do that.”
“Good. You may leave for today.”
The Empress, still dressed as a maid, waved her hand dismissively, telling me to go. That bothered expression of hers didn’t sit well with me. If you’re going to act like that, why call me in the first place?
As I left the imperial palace, I mulled things over. There were more than a few suspicious things about the Empress. It was strange that she was showing such interest in me. Even though she knew I was the Saintess—a position that held authority separate from national power and social status—she still approached me like this. Why?
“No, wait a second.”
The Empress had an oddly sharp intuition. Maybe she had seen Noah inside me. Either way, she had certainly taken notice of the person called Noah. Could it be that in the past, I had made some kind of promise with the Empress?
Even if there was a connection, it should have been nothing more than the curiosity of an Empress toward a member of the Hero Party. Nothing more, nothing less. Perhaps some memories between Noah and the first Olivia had gotten mixed up and lost.
If so, did that mean the Empress and I had some kind of hidden connection?
I called out to Claire, who was following behind me.
“Claire.”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Do you happen to know what kind of relationship Noah had with Her Majesty the Empress?”
There might be something tangled up in this.
“As expected. Did Her Majesty say something about Sir Noah?”
Claire smiled in a rather unpleasant way. It was obvious she was suspicious again.
“Don’t get any weird ideas.”
“I wonder.”
Noah hadn’t stayed in the Empire for long. The main battlefield had been the Kingdom, so it didn’t seem like he would have built any close friendship by chatting with this strange woman all day. And even if he had, why would she come looking for me? Why specifically call me the Saintess?
“Ah. But among the Hero Party, Her Majesty was closest to Sir Noah.”
“The Empress?”
“Yes. At one point she even said she would take him as her son-in-law. That was right after we repelled the Demon King’s army, so they held a banquet at the imperial palace to celebrate the victory. So everyone who knows anything is aware of it.”
Ah. Now that she mentioned it, I remembered. A memory from quite a long time ago that I had wanted to forget.
“How about it? Would you like to become my son-in-law? If you don’t like my daughter, how about me?”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
“Surely you’re not into men, are you?”
“I might seriously blow up the imperial palace.”
Ah. It was coming back to me now. But that wasn’t a matter of being close or not. To me, she had simply been one of many annoying existences.
“If you have become the Empress’s tutor, that is a great honor for your family.”
Indeed. A great honor for the family. A young lady who hadn’t even graduated from Aetherina becoming the Empress’s tutor, no less.
* * *
Around the time Olivia left the imperial palace, the Empress sat upon her throne still dressed in a maid’s uniform. Then she suddenly found it strange.
“How odd.”
“What is it, Your Majesty? Did the Saintess perhaps not please you?”
The maid who had brought Olivia cautiously probed the Empress’s thoughts. Although she served as the Empress’s maid, she originally belonged to the assassination guild, and the Saintess Olivia was her master’s daughter. It was only natural that she would be concerned.
Empress Velia shook her head. This wasn’t a matter of liking or disliking her.
“It’s not that.”
“Pardon?”
At the maid’s reaction, the Empress narrowed her eyes.
“Usually I get a feel for someone the moment I see them. But no matter how I look at her, I can’t read her at all.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Empress Velia was the type to observe anything that caught her interest right away. The same went for Olivia. The Olivia who had become the Saintess this time was a truly fascinating being. She had driven away a succubus with the power of a Saintess and completely changed the landscape of noble society. She had even managed to annoy her quite a bit.
“Hmmm.”
Empress Velia compared the previous Olivia with the current one. They were certainly similar. The two were alike, yet there was something slightly different about them. Yes. It was just like that obnoxious mage.
The arrogant mage who had dared to claim his magic was stronger right in front of the Empress’s authority. It felt similar to him.
“Are geniuses inherently unpleasant?”
Even though it was the Empress speaking, her reaction had been one of pure annoyance. An ordinary citizen of the Empire could never have reacted that way. It seemed she would need to observe her for a while. Who knows? Perhaps this girl could replace that self-proclaimed mage who had promised to lift her curse and then vanished as he pleased.
* * *
The life of Saintess Olivia was a continuous series of suffering. Her daily schedule was packed. In the morning, she had to wake up and deal with nobles and other people who came to see the Saintess from early on, pretending to pray to God. After that, she had to head to Aetherina.
The problem was that Aetherina also had a major obstacle waiting for her.
“Ol. Li. Vi. A~!”
It was Seria. I decided to call her Plene Number Two.
“Plene Two. What is it this time? And what the hell is this creepy doll?”
Because Plene had been taking on my share of the work in exchange for money, she mostly handled librarian duties rather than classes. Plene was a girl with a decent sense of reality. Aetherina was under suspicion for being an elite educational institution, and with local nobles now advancing into it, the power structure had completely changed. For a commoner like Plene, there weren’t many options. So she planned to earn just enough graduation credits and make money through librarian work.
I had thought it was nice that the one noisy person beside me had disappeared, but something even noisier had shown up instead.
“Aren’t we rivals? This is my way of saying let’s get along.”
She suddenly handed me a doll. As for what it was, its appearance was exactly that of a cursed doll. Looking at the clothes and the white hair, it seemed like she had made it to resemble me.
“Anyone would call this a cursed doll.”
“Ehehe. I’m doing this because I sincerely want to get along with you.”
The words “get along” coming from Seria’s mouth sounded like they would lead to doll experiments, which terrified me. The experiments themselves weren’t a problem. She wasn’t a necromancer, so they weren’t particularly cruel, but when I had experienced her as Noah, this girl had been incredibly loud. In other words, she talked way too much.
“Are you certain you didn’t tamper with this in any way?”
“Of course. I am not someone who lies.”
No, it still looks suspicious so I can’t trust it.
I lightly burned the doll with fire.
“Ah, even so, the person who gave it to you put some thought into it. Don’t you think burning it like that is a bit much?”
“The eyes are mismatched. The colors are different too.”
One eye was big and the other was small. I was not mismatched. The appearance of Olivia Lapa Ashtar was not this distorted doll.
“No, it’s only to that extent—”
“I insist on perfection. Besides, you said it was given with sincerity, but judging by the smell and the traces of it being torn apart, you clearly took something that already existed and turned it into me.”
The answer was obvious at a glance.
“Wow, you’re really too sensitive, aren’t you?”
“Am I wrong?”
Anyone could see the malice behind it. At my question, she began to smile in an unpleasant way.
“How could that be? You’re completely right! Of course I wouldn’t go out of my way to be nice to a rival! Still, I didn’t put any curses on it, okay? I may not look it, but I am the top mage of the Magic Tower~?”
“Ugh.”
What would become of my life after getting involved with a woman like this? It would have been better if I had stayed dead as Noah. As Olivia, this woman was simply frustrating. The damn woman who had arbitrarily turned me into a narcissist.
“Even so, dyeing the hair white as well seems a bit much, don’t you think?”
I was dying of frustration. Even if I laughed it off, if rumors spread it would be me who suffered. It was obvious this woman would cling to this until the end.
“I do not like Sir Noah.”
“Oh? Really?”
How many times did I have to say it was true?
“We had no connection to begin with. You’re the one who misunderstood on your own.”
So let’s stop here.
“It’s suspicious.”
“Suspicious or not. What isn’t, isn’t.”
Even if I really were some pervert who liked myself, facing such a persistent woman would make anyone give up.
“Hmm, now that I hear it, maybe that’s true?”
She was clearly teasing me. Should I just kill her?