Chapter 191
Chapter 191
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 191
Chapter Title: 20. This World Won't Leave Me Alone. (3)
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#2 Their Circumstances: Lia El Nermia's Circumstances
“Tired…….”
I gaze into the mirror.
A fairly pretty face that doesn’t quite match the dry, frizzy brown bob cut.
Clear blue eyes sparkling with light, undercut by heavy dark circles.
A beauty.
Anyone would call her a beauty at first glance, but the reflection staring back was somehow off in every little way.
“Life sure is…….”
And that beauty—Lia El Nermia—let out a small sigh.
It sounds like someone else’s story when I put it that way, but sadly, this is my fate.
“Where did it all go wrong?”
I must’ve lost my mind.
I should’ve just gotten married and lived like a normal noble lady.
Back in my childhood—truly my naive younger days—I crossed a river of no return out of youthful folly.
No, there were chances to turn back.
If I’d just met that unforgettable instructor Naruan in the organization called Howling, then come back home afterward and taken bridal lessons under Mother while preparing for a normal engagement. If I’d done that, my life now—having reclaimed the family seal and returned—might not have turned out so badly.
I could’ve married the man I wanted, lived doing what I pleased.
But back then, I made such a foolish choice.
No, honestly, I couldn’t have imagined things turning out like this.
I mean, I’d met Naruan, the worst of the worst even within Howling, the empire’s most notorious evil organization.
I’d met the bat!
Nothing scared me anymore!
It wasn’t unreasonable to think that way.
Even the top talents from the Imperial Four Great Academies—supposedly the empire’s finest educational institutions—seemed like total greenhorns.
Oh, minus Yuglasia Academy.
I never even dreamed it.
That the instructor chasing me across the empire would end up inside the empire itself—in the Imperial Four Great Academies, the very heart of imperial education, no less.
And under the name of the legendary summoner, Niserwin Ain!
Even I, who’d met him right in front of my eyes, couldn’t recognize him as the instructor.
His face was the same as Naruan’s icy one, but the gentle smile on Niserwin Ain’s was from a completely different person!
Yeah, it wasn’t my mistake. It wasn’t!
- Snap out of it, Master! Your crazy fit’s coming back!
Kuaaaak!
I clutched my head as Surtr started scolding me.
“Aaah…… Why of all things…….”
The beautiful woman in the mirror was ruined.
Brown hair scattered messily amid streaming tears, her face twisted in distress.
No one would mistake her for sane.
Well, considering everything I’ve been through, Mira looking normal would be the weird part.
“Haa…….”
I give up.
Just give up and wait for the instructor to get caught.
After washing up and pulling myself together, I tidied my hair—then figured I’d be sleeping soon anyway, so I just roughly smoothed it and lay down on the bed.
I’d been helping Mira sort out the late arrivals without sleep for three days and nights.
Surprisingly, Mira was perfect as a group leader.
She planned everything in advance, coordinated all the info and opinions, then issued rational orders based on it.
Working so hard she barely slept at night—she was the ideal superior!
Of course, staying busy enough to skip proper sleep while still eating five full meals a day plus snacks was creepy in a whole other way.
Normally she’d have assistants, but right now, the only one who could help Mira was me.
She’d rushed ahead with a small elite team the moment we heard the instructor was spotted, so no other mages to relay messages except me.
“Yawn…….”
Flopping onto the soft bed, sleep came rushing in.
I had nothing left to do anyway. Well, one thing.
The mage’s role: preparing the magic circle to summon the others when the instructor’s found.
Using the mediums they carry, summon the sole mage—me—then I summon the main force’s other mages and troops heading here.
That mage summons another unit, and that unit’s mage summons the next, and so on.
Using one mage as the link to endlessly summon units until we catch the instructor—that was Mira’s plan.
Even after hearing magic doesn’t work on him in combat and pulling mages from the front lines, she’d devised this efficient strategy.
Summoning specific people without prep is impossible for individuals, but imperial tech made it work.
No, was it the First Imperial Princess’s power pressuring the magic engineers at its core?
Anyway, presetting personal coordinates via tiny accessories was revolutionary tech.
But,
“That only works if we can find the instructor, right?”
It’s that instructor.
Just ten people. No, nine without me—to track him down.
Scattering across every nearby kingdom, basically one per kingdom for the search. Even a normal guy would be hard to find.
“So I can rest a bit, yeah?”
- Just rest already. You’re just making excuses to relax, Master.
I clicked my tongue at Surtr’s sharp jab and removed the bracelet.
No longer a slim bracelet for summoning other units—it’d become a heavy, bulky shield-sized one.
Too much to wear while sleeping.
“Wake me at a good time, then.”
- Don’t use your summon as an alarm clock, Master!
Surtr complained, but the plush bed and pillow’s temptation drowned it out.
So comfy. With the shackle-like bracelet off one arm, I felt even freer.
Yeah, free.
This cool breeze is the wind of freedom…
“Huh?”
Cool? No, it’s freezing. Brutally cold.
Not a cool breeze—a bone-chilling frost ripping through me.
And I realized.
I wasn’t cozy in bed. I was outside.
“W-what the hell?!”
The sudden cold jolted me awake with a yell.
“Hey, hold on! What’re you doing?!”
A flustered woman stared at me—no, my old comrade in drag, the former hero.
Now slaving away like me: Swin.
“I was working till now and just trying to sleep… Instructor?!”
My foggy brain spat that out, then my eyes shifted, locking on a familiar face—snapping me alert.
Did this jerk really find the instructor?
Why now?! Freshly washed, in pajamas, bracelet off—of all timings!
Hesitating on the bracelet? Call out sooner!
“Looks like it’s you.”
The moment our eyes met, the instructor raised his hand and said.
No need for words—the silver thing in his grip was obvious…
“N-noooo!”
“Damn it!”
- C-calm down, Master!
Surtr called out, but I couldn’t calm down.
How could I?
It’s the bat! And not wooden—definitely the iron one, even stronger!
“Y-you bastard! Hit yourself, why drag me into it?!”
“No, hurry and summon the others!”
It’s on the bed! By the pillow!
Before I could say it.
“Surtr!”
“Kraaaaaak!”
The iron bat swinging at Swin veered toward me.
Summon.
He’d switched targets the second he heard the word.
“You did that on purpose?!”
“What’re you talking about?!”
Buying time with Surtr, I gathered my mana, focusing it.
“Short-range sum—kyaaaak!”
White. The world flashed white.
“Huh? Hey!”
Pain hit before the spell finished, scattering my mana.
No, if it just scattered, I could regather it.
But the backflowing mana turned to deadly poison, gnawing my insides.
“Th-this…?”
Normally, a cripple-making crisis.
But the backlashed mana evaporated instantly, and a mystical energy flowed in, healing the rampage’s wounds.
“N-no…….”
My body recovered, but my emotions plummeted.
I knew what this healing meant.
Thud.
“Who gave you permission to summon anyone?”
Endless fear dropped me to my knees.
And approaching was the instructor himself!
“N-n… n-no… not… ah…….”
No. I was just gonna run alone—never dreamed of summoning.
I needed to say it, but seeing him and the silver thing in his hand, my mouth wouldn’t obey.
“What is that?! It’s not even a bat anymore!”
Like Swin yelling behind me, the silver thing in the instructor’s hand was grotesque.
The gripped part was iron bat, sure—but atop it writhed whips, no, tentacles!
“Eek…….”
One tendril from the split mass coiled my ankle, breaking my held-back tears.
“P-please… spare me…….”
Reverse-summoned Surtr didn’t respond.
Swin’s fate? Screams behind me—no help there.
So all I could do was beg the instructor for my life.
“Why so scared? When have I ever tried killing you two?”
A gentle smile graced the instructor’s face.
Just like the one Niserwin Ain, Yuglasia professor, once showed me.
“Aah…….”
Was there hope?
Maybe he’d spare me?
I truly believed it, but if Surtr were here, he’d say:
- You idiot Master! After all that, you still don’t get it? Don’t you realize what ‘sparing’ means from him?!
But Surtr, who’d say it, had nobly perished to the iron bat.
Even if he were here, with my ankle gripped by a bat tendril, he couldn’t do much.
What’s that mean?
“We’ll skip killing you, but you’re getting a beating instead.”
“N-nooooo!”
A very sad confirmation I’d get hit anyway.
***
“Ehehehit! Feasting after so long!”
Thwack thwack.
Ignoring the iron bat gleefully beating my old disciples with cryptic lines, I headed to the carriage with Daughter.
“Done?”
“Yeah.”
Inside, the cat guy in human form and tense, glancing-around Kkoko awaited.
“Grandpa!”
Damn. Did the iron bat corrupt even the dragon?
A super familiar, utterly unwanted speech pattern echoed from somewhere.
“All done?”
“That’s right.”
But Kkoko hugging Daughter protectively—her speech quirk’s forgivable.
Anyway.
“Our Daughter’s amazing, isn’t she?”
It’s a top-class magic carriage with minimal shaking.
Straw piled thick to disguise luxury as ordinary adds extra cushioning and stability.
But like no earthquake-proof building’s fully safe, this hero ambush was no joke.
Yet she slept soundly without waking!
Sleeping Beauty in the woods or something?!
Damn, that means some prince kisses my girl’s lips!
“No. Benefactor’s human too. She’d wake in this mess.”
But the cat denied my delusion.
“She was anxious at first. But when I explained the situation outside…….”
- Daddy’ll handle it all! So it’s fine!
“…she fell back asleep.”
Kuugh…….
My heart took a sudden hit.
What’s with this Daughter? Too cute!
For her, I could smash even the Demon King.
Little did I know this thought would foreshadow far ahead!
***