139. Information Warfare (3)
139. Information Warfare (3)
- 1 -
[She has already regained some of her memories, Maria. So, for that matter, ask her directly.]
Maria looked down at the ring in her hand.
It was an accessory her master had personally enchanted, so she could directly understand the summoned creatures' intentions.
- Dalkak.
Before her, 'Mire,' summoned by Libertas, stood with her head tilted as she gazed at Maria.
Though her skeletal body revealed no expression, her cautious and worried heart was clear in her posture.
'Is it really true...?'
At present, the only parts of her body where white bone was visible were portions of her limbs and the area around her eyes.
She concealed that body with equipment far superior to what she had worn in life, and knowing the circumstances, it was questionable whether even that appearance betrayed any 'emotion.'
For instance, that she did not want to show herself.
"Haa..."
As she watched that 'emotional' Skeleton she had grown accustomed to, Maria hesitated, until at last...
"Lemia."
- ...Yes, Maria unni.
With the ring on, she heard the answer to her call.
"... Ah."
And then, unable to wipe away her flowing tears, she covered her face with one hand.
- 2 -
"Unni."
"Sonia."
Maria greeted Sonia—her friend and her younger sister's friend—with a smile as she entered the room.
Sonia approached and wiped Maria's face with a handkerchief. Her face was still a mess, as she had not cleaned up the tears she had shed a moment ago.
"I heard what happened."
"I see."
Maria nodded a couple of times, then summarized her conversation with 'Mire.'
"... Are you okay?"
"I am."
Nodding, she swallowed her tears once, then soon continued.
"In the end, that child said she had to stay. It's true that she has nowhere else to go now anyway, but she said the master is someone she can't just leave alone. ... What about you?"
"..."
Sonia looked at Maria's gradually clean face as she asked the question.
There were almost no traces of negative emotion visible on her face.
Even though by now, Maria must have realized that Sonia had known about this and kept silent.
"You don't resent the Master?"
"I resent her. Of course."
The words came out without hesitation.
Yet Maria's expression and the hand holding Sonia's lacked any strength.
It meant that while the emotion still existed, it had not gained great power.
"It's been four months since I came to be with the Master too, Sonia. It might not be as much as what you've seen, but I've come to know her well, too. I found that I couldn't only resent her."
Right after that punishment, she resolved to take care of her own body first. During that time, Maria watched Libertas, and naturally felt her prejudices being stripped away one by one.
"I saw how she treated summoned creatures that were judged irrecoverable during battle."
As long as this was a dungeon, complete safety could not exist for Libertas's subordinates.
Setting aside her powerful close aides, losses among ordinary summoned creatures like Skeletons occurred periodically.
"She didn't even seem to realize she was acting that way."
On days when dozens of ordinary summoned creatures fell, Libertas would often not drink her usual tea, not read any books, and just hole up in her room without moving.
Maria remembered the gloom on that face she had happened to see once.
Lately, the occasions to see that kind of look had decreased greatly, but the memory remained.
"I also saw how she took care of people who got hurt while working inside the dungeon."
Currently, there were 'Skeleton healers' within the dungeon.
Not 'mages who heal Skeletons,' but Skeleton mages in the literal sense of 'mages who use healing magic.'
It was a measure taken by Libertas after seeing a 'slave' who had fallen ill for a long time after getting hurt just once while working in the dungeon.
"She said, 'It's just about conserving human resources.' As if she was telling us to believe that."
A bitter smile rose to Maria's lips.
A pathological fear of loss.
An intense obsession with those she called her possessions.
A desperate bearing to be a righteous master.
She had witnessed all of that childish behavior.
"In a fixed society where humans rule the continent, she was born that way, so she had no choice but to live that way. How could I only resent such a 'person'?"
'And honestly, for Lemia to live, she also has no choice but to stay here,' Maria murmured lastly with bitterness.
Caressing Maria's hand, Sonia discarded her hesitation.
She intended to reveal what she had been guessing about Libertas.
"Actually, unni..."
"That's truly..."
They forgot that their guess was only a guess.
Because they had speculated to a degree close to the truth, they shared it as if it were an established fact.
Half-conscious of how devoted they were to her.
- 3 -
"This place...?"
When Mikaela, the eighth child and third daughter of Frederick Ironfield, the head of the Ironfield Marquisate, opened her eyes, she did not doubt that she was in some palace or mansion.
Because high-class furniture that anyone could recognize at a glance was arrayed everywhere.
"A style I've never seen before."
Mikaela, who had been examining various pieces of furniture, soon felt a sense of déjà vu from the material of the wood and was lost in thought for a moment.
Realizing what it was, she opened her eyes wide.
'This is...'
"Ironwood, isn't it...?"
The fir that humans called Hysen Mistheim Ironwood.
Famous for its strength and flexibility, this rare strategic material—always used to craft weapons whenever it was obtained—was used in every piece of furniture here.
'Who would commit such extravagance...?'
Realizing that fact, Mikaela felt momentarily overwhelmed.
A noble's class and wealth were ultimately proven by 'extravagance.'
To use ironwood, which every nation was eager to buy, for ordinary furniture rather than weapons, armor, or siege engines—that was extravagance.
And when she further noticed that the furniture's finish, though not flashy at first glance, was a clever extravagance—silver or gold deliberately plated in black—she was even more shocked.
"Who could it be...?"
'A duke? Or royalty?'
It was natural for her to mistake the place she was in for a mansion owned by at least a high-ranking noble.
There was no way she could know.
That if this place were to be called a royal castle, it would be more correct to call it a 'Demon King's Castle.'
"It's locked."
'A tremendous place like this, that's not bad.'
She thought she had been kidnapped, but she felt no fear about that fact.
Because her last memory was of a drinking party with close acquaintances, she mistakenly assumed her arrival here involved cooperation from one of them.
"It's fine."
'I'm in a position to be kicked out to a monastery anyway. If I find a better marriage, the family won't ignore it.'
Furthermore, a novel containing fantasies about such situations was trending in current noble circles.
A novel with the theme of a being of supreme status—male or female—first kidnapping someone they fancied, consummating a de facto marriage, and then developing affection afterward.
Though the cities were not isolated, news traveled slowly, and the armed force and power the nobles possessed were so great that such novels happening in reality would not be strange.
Realistically speaking, the relationship between the two families would become extremely bad instead of the parties getting married, though.
'Will he be handsome? Still, I hope he has at least an average appearance.'
Because of that, Mikaela's worries stopped at this level.
After all, the ending that awaited her was to be cast out of her family and sent to a monastery.
Once sent to a monastery, it was not easy to return.
She would have to waste years of her life inside, so she thought this kind of thrill was not so bad compared to that.
It was an immature thought.
That was why Elias and Elena disliked her.
Tok-tok.
The sound of knocking was heard right after she had examined every object in the room and concluded that she could do nothing now.
"Who is it?"
Deolkeok.
At Mikaela's question, the door opened.
Not the whole door, but the small door-view window attached to the top of the door.
- ...
Tak!
Beyond it, two lights flickered.
Before Mikaela could confirm what they were, the door-view closed, and the room fell back into silence.
"What the..."
She could not hide her bewilderment.
What kind of place attached such a facility to a guest room?
Such facilities were installed in prisons, or...
"Prison?"
Only then noticing something, Mikaela looked at the window.
Beyond it, something like scenery was clearly visible, and even daylight was coming in.
But...
- ...
Tung!
No bird cries or anything of the sort could be heard, and the window did not open either.
"This..."
What was there was merely a highly realistic landscape painting that had been taxidermied and brought over, depicting the outside.
She realized it then.
"A real prison...?"
That the place she was in was a prison in the shape of a guest room.
- 4 -
After learning about my future and past, one of the things the three had requested was that I must let them personally share a part of my daily life.
Though it felt a little embarrassing, I accepted, and today, Ran decided to use that opportunity to share our daily life by washing my feet.
Chareureuk...!
"It is done."
With the water poured over the top of my foot as the last step, that daily routine with Ran came to an end.
"Thank you, Ran."
"You need not say such things. This task is a great joy to me."
"I see."
What followed was the gentle touch of a soft towel, massaging and gliding between each toe, over the top of the foot, and even the heel.
With her fingernails, usually sharp but neatly trimmed through a sorcery that transformed her own body, she pressed firmly here and there on my foot.
"It tickles."
"Does it? Please endure it just a little."
A body that was clearly designed and completed based on the human form.
This body also had muscles, flesh, and blood.
The only difference was that each of those things was composed of biological cells that transported mana.
It was a body that extremely resembled humans in appearance and structure, but was different only in essence.
In other words, it had pressure points, and it could become fatigued from transporting massive amounts of mana and blood.
Normally, it was a level of fatigue that naturally resolved itself while sleeping, but this kind of intentional massage was not bad either.
"Hmm."
Also, since it hadn't changed from its initial form, not a single toenail grew longer, and not even muscle could be built, but even so, my feet, which could channel strength or mana down to each toe, were quite sensitive.
I could clearly perceive every movement of Ran's fingers, even whether it was her index finger or ring finger.
It was pointless.
Pointless, but...
'How can she be so sincere?'
Feeling the gestures of Ran filled with her heart, I ended up feeling the weight of that trivial daily life growing heavier.
Because I knew that this child cherished every single extremity of my body.
'Happiness.'
Daily happiness must be something like this.
Tok-tok.
That peaceful, richly dense happy daily routine met its end with the sound of a knock.