Cleanup - 4
Everyone has a dream they long for. Isabel recalled her own wish.
Since she had been born with magic power, there were only two paths available to her. Become the ruler of her village, or become an adventurer. The exception was if her innate talent was exceptional enough to be taken in as a vassal by a ruling noble family of the land or a landless noble house. Everything else was mostly the same kind of life.
One option was to become the ruler of the village where she was born. In an ordinary rural village rather than a city, it depended on talent, but in practice she would become the village’s unspoken master. Even if there was a village chief, he would have to watch her mood. The village maidens would flirt and fawn over her to obtain her seed, and the men around her would be unable to defy her.
What if she were a woman? In a crude place, they would scheme to make her bear children somehow. In a slightly better place, she might seize power while carefully reading the room like a man. Unfortunately, the place where Isabel had lived was one of the crude ones. People who knew she was extraordinary but couldn’t truly grasp it—or who simply looked down on her for being a woman—had tried to lock her up and turn her into a breeding vessel.
She had no parents. She was imprisoned just like that. She had nearly been taken without any chance to resist. Despair had swallowed her as she wondered if she would have to live trapped like this forever. If she had known how to use her power, if she had been just a little older, she might have escaped. But young Isabel, who had not even had her first period yet, could only scream in terror at the village chief who tried to climb on top of her.
If a passing adventurer hadn’t helped her, she really would have been taken.
Though he became her master, the adventurer said he had to wander and left immediately. Still, the knowledge he taught her in less than a year became her blood and flesh. She, too, became an adventurer just like that.
Wandering the continent, exploring unknown lands, building fame. Days when she became so renowned that even nobles scouted her—a commoner with magic power. Accepting requests, solving them, traveling between cities, and sometimes helping people. Reality wasn’t as easy as the dreams Isabel had once held, but she could confidently say she had worked hard as an adventurer, just like her master in her childhood.
Whenever their paths crossed and she met her master, Isabel would puff out her chest proudly and say the little girl he had saved back then had grown up like this. Her master would then gently stroke her head. That made her happy, so she worked even harder.
She continued working as an adventurer like that. One year, two years passed. Time flowed on.
One day, when she had become a famous adventurer even among other adventurers—
“Oh my, Isabel. You’re still working as an adventurer?”
“M-Master?”
It was the day she reunited with her master wearing loose clothes, holding a small child’s hand in one hand, and cradling what still looked like a baby in her arms.
The woman who had once possessed a seductive appearance and large breasts that lured other male adventurers and earned jealous glares from women had now completely become an auntie.
“U-Um, when did you get married?”
“Oh my. You didn’t know? Ah, that’s right. You were in another region back then, weren’t you? It would have been nice if you could have come to the wedding.”
“……”
Where had the cold, cool-headed woman who had once resembled a black panther gone? The woman who had toyed with countless men and left behind mountains of their broken hearts? Seeing her master laughing “hohoho” in the complete form of an auntie, Isabel’s mind went blank.
“Say hello. This is Mommy’s disciple.”
“Dis~ciple?”
“Papa.”
The child clinging tightly to her master’s leg, only lifting his head, and the baby burying his face in her master’s chest while waving his hands wildly. Isabel had met many people through her work, but being an adventurer was a rough profession. As a result, she had almost no connection to young children, so she flinched and trembled.
“Disciple……”
“Ugh.”
The child’s round, innocent eyes were staring at her steadily. She felt pressured by that gaze. The unfamiliar sight of a small lifeform reminded her of her own childhood. When Isabel unconsciously took a step back, her master’s voice reached her.
“Marriage is good.”
“I never thought I’d hear you say that… I thought you would live freely forever.”
“I guess I was still a woman after all.”
As she said that and stroked the child’s head, her eyes were filled with maternal love. Oh my god. That master had become a mother. Isabel felt like she might faint. Her mind grew distant.
Seeing Isabel like that, her master looked at her with warm eyes. She knew Isabel’s past better than anyone. It was fine to admire her and follow in her footsteps, but she hoped Isabel would also come to know the joy that could be gained from such family bonds.
So—
“Now that I think about it, Isabel. How old are you now?”
“……Pardon?”
At the sudden question, Isabel looked at her master without thinking. Her master approached with sparkling eyes.
“It’s about time you got married too, Isabel. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“What? Um, Master?”
She blinked at her master’s abrupt words. Her master, whose build had grown even fuller than before, took a step closer. Was it her imagination? The sound of the earth rumbling—thud!—echoed in Isabel’s ears. She grew even more frightened than before. She unconsciously stepped backward. In that instant, her master grabbed her arm.
Clench!
Muscles trained by housework gripped Isabel’s arm tightly. Wait, had this person really retired? The thick arms and those muscles… were these battle-hardened muscles?
“No, before that. Have you ever even had a boyfriend?”
“W-What are you suddenly saying? Why is that topic coming up all of a—!”
“I always thought it was strange whenever we met. Why don’t you meet any men? It’s not that you hate men, is it?”
“M-Master? I-It’s not that I particularly dislike men or anything……”
“Perfect! I know a decent young man. Shall I introduce you?”
“No, wait! Master! Just a moment, please!”
It was good that she seemed to be doing well, but the toughness that had taken on a completely different meaning from her adventurer days still felt unfamiliar to Isabel.
* * *
Was it after that day? Her interest in marriage and romance with men had suddenly increased. Her body was still in its prime. A body in its prime was still strong and responded immediately if she wanted it to. The magic power boiling inside her also moved freely at her will. She could still work as an active adventurer.
She judged it objectively. But every time she did, the image of her master came to mind. Stroking a child’s head while complaining about her husband, laughing and saying how exhausting it was to deal with the children’s mischief, yet looking at her husband and children with those warm, gentle eyes. That sight tickled her heart.
Once again, her master’s image became a new dream for her.
So she retired. And so she became the guildmaster of the adventurer guild.
“……I did manage to do it, but I have no connections!”
Perhaps because she had lived so roughly during her active days, the male adventurer colleagues only saw her as a comrade, and ordinary people naturally didn’t look at her favorably. Of course, there were still adventurer-commoner couples, so she had wandered around quite a bit in the area, but……
“Only old men keep getting involved!”
Well, she was one of the influential figures in the city. She understood that much. That was why she performed her duties diligently.
-Kwaaang!
“What? An old maid?”
The man she had met a few times because of territory business. Zeke, was it? His words came to mind. How dare he call her an old maid right in front of her? Say she was past the ideal age for childbirth? That she wasn’t the type for easy labor?
-Grind.
“I’m still young! There isn’t a single wrinkle, and my skin is still firm and smooth?!”
“……Ah, yes.”
The guild clerk who had been helping Isabel gave a bitter smile. It was true that she was still on the young side if one simply said she was young, but considering the typical marriage age for commoners or high-ranking nobles, it was also true that she was getting on in years. Still, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t get married if she tried. She was the guildmaster of the adventurer guild. She herself was a renowned adventurer and a possessor of knight-level magic power. She was more than qualified to marry into a knight family.
The reason she still hadn’t married despite all that came down to two things. One was that her standards for men were high. The other was……
“Here is the report.”
“Ah, thank you. I’ll submit this to Lord Leoric tomorrow, so you all can go home now.”
“Yes! Have a good evening, Guildmaster!”
As the clerks watched Isabel examine the report, saying she would check it one last time, they exchanged glances. The expression that briefly crossed their faces at her words about submitting it personally said everything.
‘So the rumors are true after all.’
The guild clerks whispered among themselves and giggled. A rumor had been spreading around the guild and the surrounding area for some time now. Isabel claimed she had no popularity, but both her appearance and her magic power made her a famous beauty. There had been many places that coveted her—a woman who had risen so high as a former adventurer. She had simply rejected them all because her standards were too high.
But recently, even those offers had completely stopped. There was only one reason.
It was the rumor that Leoric Franz, the second son of the Franz family, had laid his hands on her.
From the clerks’ perspective, judging by her reaction, it didn’t seem like they had gone all the way, but there was no way for outsiders to know. And even if they did know, touching a woman who had gone that far with him would be no different from suicide.
Isabel, who was already sensitive about her age, had been thrown into confusion when marriage proposals suddenly dried up one day. Was it really because she was getting too old? Just as her stress was skyrocketing, a message arrived from Leoric Franz saying he wanted to see her. Her stress vanished in an instant, and a subtle smile formed on her lips.
“Ahem.”
Realizing her lips had loosened, Isabel cleared her throat, organized the report, and packed her things. Tomorrow she would head straight to the castle to submit the report. The meeting with Lord Leoric was not far away now.
She didn’t dislike the idea of following him, but she could not abandon her position as guildmaster. Thinking it was a shame, Isabel returned home.
“……?”
She sensed a strange presence. Isabel’s senses sharpened instantly. As if shifting gears, the magic power inside her body ignited and her body was reinforced. With eyes emitting a faint blue glow, she scanned her mansion.
“……”
There were no signs of illegal entry, but someone was inside.
-Creak.
Isabel moved slowly. She drew the dagger she favored from her bosom and erased her presence. She walked carefully and entered the room.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“……Eh?”
She blinked. Huh? Why? Why was this person here?
Leoric Franz, wearing an apron and holding a pot. He was standing right there.
“Are you hungry? I cooked for the first time in a while. Come here.”
“U-Uh? L-Leo-nim?”
“Ah, right. There was some laundry piled up. I washed it and hung it out in the yard. Want to check if I did it properly?”
In the moment she stared blankly, her eyes jerked at Leoric’s words. She saw the clothes and underwear hanging on the drying rack in the yard. Even the panties with bears on them. Mismatched underwear and the cheap ones she had bought on sale.
“……Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”