Chapter 296: The Witch and The Ash-Covered Bride (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 296: The Witch and The Ash-Covered Bride (6)
“Besides, things like carriages or dresses made with magic are gone once the spell wears off. But a carriage and dress bought with money will still be there after the event is over. If things go south, you can at least sell them. Isn't that obviously the better deal?”
Dorothea’s words were perfectly reasonable and logical.
However, the ash-covered girl couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
‘Somehow, this doesn't feel any different from just getting a rich sponsor...’
Of course, that wasn't a bad thing.
After all, it went without saying what a great fortune it was to have a rich Daddy-Long-Legs (or in this case, a young lady) watching over you in this harsh life.
It was just that she felt a wizard or a witch should be a bit more mysterious and fantastical.
After finishing the measurements and a few other tasks, the ash-covered girl cautiously asked.
“Um… can I go now?”
“What are you talking about? You have to learn to dance.”
“Huh?”
Dorothea spoke to the dumbfounded girl as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
“Have you ever been to a ball?”
“No.”
“Then do you know how to perform the dances they do at balls?”
“I don’t… know.”
“You said you were going to capture the prince's heart at the ball. Even if you manage to get asked for a dance, what happens if you keep stepping on his feet or trip over your own tangled steps? Wouldn't the budding flame of love be extinguished in an instant? Hmm?”
The ash-covered girl fell silent, imagining the scene in her head.
While there were plenty of people in the world who preferred a partner with a few flaws over a perfect one, there was a limit.
Above all, since the ash-covered girl’s family situation and household were already far from perfect, she needed to at least project perfection in her abilities and conduct.
As the girl’s expression soured, Dorothea fired off another remark.
“The same goes for etiquette. No matter how obsessed with pretty faces the guy is, you still need to know the basics of noble etiquette and conversation.”
“B-But the ball is less than a week away. It’s impossible to learn all of that in such a short time.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll make it possible.”
“What?”
“The detailed principles are useless for you to know, so we'll skip them. But there's a place where only an hour will pass in reality, while you'll experience dozens of hours.”
As she spoke, Dorothea waved her hand through the air, and translucent human figures materialized beside her. Five of them.
The ash-covered girl jumped back in alarm, but instead of rushing her, the unidentified ghosts bowed their heads elegantly or gentlemanly in greeting.
“A former noble lady, a dance instructor, and an etiquette tutor. You'll learn from them. These two here are the nanny who looked after the prince you're trying to win over when he was a child, and one of his distant ancestors. Learn everything you can from them about the prince and his family history.”
“Y-You want me to take ghosts as my teachers!?”
“You’ll make a contract with a witch, but you won’t learn from a ghost? What’s the difference?”
Are they really the same thing?
Her thoughts in a jumble, the ash-covered girl suddenly spoke up, startled as if a frozen video had suddenly started playing.
“W-Wait a moment. I mean, I’m grateful for the opportunity, but I have chores to do! A little bit of time is one thing, but spending too much time is…”
“You said you were going to get your revenge after the plan succeeds, right? Why bother walking on eggshells around them? You could just eat and sleep here until the day of the ball.”
“To be honest, I don't care about my stepmother and stepsisters, but I have to maintain my position as my father's daughter. There's a difference between a girl with no parents or connections and the daughter of a once-noble, albeit fallen, family.”
“Hmm.”
Dorothea crossed her arms and fell into thought.
The ash-covered girl thought it was a pose that strangely emphasized a certain part of her anatomy. So much so that her gaze was reflexively drawn there.
“There are plenty of souls with housekeeping skills, so I could just turn one into an undead and have it do the work for you… No, that won't work. A short while might be fine, but if it stays in the house too long, it'll be completely absorbed by that tree.”
Just then, Adelaide, the golden-haired, violet-eyed girl who had been silently watching their conversation, raised a hand.
“Um, I’ll go and help.”
“You? You can’t do chores.”
“I can do simple tasks! Like mopping!”
Seeing Adelaide’s strange enthusiasm, Dorothea shrugged.
“Well, the tin can would probably just break things, and Sophia is as slow as a slug when it comes to this stuff, so she'd be no help. I guess you're the best option.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ protests Dorothea’s assessment, claiming he could at least carve delicate sculptures around the building!]
“A cold, objective self-assessment is important. I fully agree.”
“What good would carving sculptures do, you tin can? And Sophia, you could at least deny it a little.”
Things seem to be getting decided without any regard for my opinion.
The ash-covered girl thought this to herself but didn’t dare say it out loud.
Psychologically, it was far more comforting to have the cheerful-looking blonde girl help out than the witch in that… dress? Anyway, that unique outfit, coming to her house to mop the floors.
Honestly, the others exuded a sort of noble aura or dignity that made them difficult to approach, whereas this girl felt familiar, perhaps because of her bright, sunny disposition.
Leaving the witch’s words—to finish up as quickly as possible and return—behind them, the ash-covered girl led the golden-haired lion back to her home.
“Um, so, Lady Adelaide, are you an adventurer?”
“You don’t have to add the ‘Lady.’ And no, I’m not an adventurer. I’ve just left home and am traveling for a while.”
“Is that sword on your back okay? It looks incredibly large and heavy.”
“Oh, this? Take a closer look at this part here.”
“Oh, it’s floating! It’s not even touching your back.”
“Yes, it’s that kind of scabbard. So it doesn’t really have anything to do with my own strength.”
“I see.”
‘She’s the witch’s companion, so of course she has a lot of strange items.’
The ash-covered girl came to this understanding.
After all, the idea of a magic scabbard was far more plausible than the story of a girl with a similar, or even smaller, build carrying such a greatsword on her back through sheer strength.
‘But even if that’s how she carries it, what does she do when she fights? …Is it decorative? Or does the sword fly around on its own?’
Lost in her imagination, the girl didn't realize.
The little lion had said it had ‘nothing to do with her own strength,’ not that she ‘couldn’t lift it with her own strength.’
Of course, it wasn't that great of a misunderstanding.
Compared to the fact that she was using a future powerhouse—one destined to grasp authority rivaling the kingdom’s king—as a common menial laborer, it was a cute mistake.
*
Around the same time, on the eastern continent. The City of Pleasure, Albert.
“Now, sign here.”
Looking at the document presented by the beautiful, cold-faced blonde, the old man’s eye twitched.
At first glance, it looked like a scene of a young person bullying a helpless old man, but those who knew the old man’s identity knew that was nothing but a delusion.
For the old man was the lord who ruled this City of Pleasure.
By treating criminals—who had to tread carefully elsewhere—as honored guests and facilitating the ‘back-alley deals’ of wealthy individuals from around the world with dark hobbies, the old man had amassed immense wealth and power, making him the de facto tyrant of the entire region.
So much so that even criminals who committed all manner of atrocities—murder, arson, rape, and plunder—dared not even meet his gaze and would tremble before him.
Being such a man, he had been able to simply laugh off the letter that first arrived, stamped with a lion seal.
And why wouldn't he?
The letter was filled with all sorts of flowery language typical of nobles, but its core message was this:
—Will you submit to us willingly, or will you submit after a beating?
Frankly, the old man thought their bravado was excessive.
It was true that the might of the Lion Duke’s bloodline once shook the continent, but that was a story of the past.
Framed as the masterminds behind a treason incident involving the Imperial Family, the reputation of the World’s Greatest Martial Family was declining at an incomparable rate, and many had lost their lives in connection to the incident.
The sentiment that these mere remnants of a defeated army were trying to play king in a kingdom that seemed an easier target than the Empire was a shared one, not just held by the old man but by all the powers in the surrounding area.
Therefore, the old man had rejected their offer.
And not long after, they came to the City of Pleasure.
Just thirty people.
That’s right. There were only thirty of them.
The elite soldiers the old lord had trained to suppress the countless criminals coveting his city numbered in the thousands.
To the old lord, who could easily command several times that number by using money and concessions to draw in outside forces, it was a mere handful of people.
But that handful of warriors ruthlessly shattered the foundations of the old lord’s confidence, one by one.
The high walls surrounding the entire city were breached by their athletic ability as they scaled them with their bare hands.
His elite soldiers, equipped with high-quality gear thanks to his hefty investments, were cut down, armor and all, by the sword energy they wielded.
He hastily offered bounties to rally the criminals within the city, but upon seeing the members of the Lion Duke’s bloodline scattering blood and death like predators among a flock of sheep, the criminals were crushed by fear and fled.
Recalling that bloody scene, the old lord shuddered once more.
He carefully read the contract pushed before him.
The basic content was not much different from the letter he had received before. Only now, the detailed conditions were much harsher.
If the previous contract was about a lord ‘respecting’ a stronger lord, this one was blatantly closer to the relationship between a king and his subject.
“…Are you people planning to build a new country?”
“Yawn.”
A lazy yawn escaped.
It wasn't from the cold-faced beauty the old lord was facing.
It came from one of the other members of the Lion Duke’s bloodline standing behind her. The culprit was a particularly young-looking girl.
“You think you have the right to ask questions right now? This is a pain, so just hurry up and sign.”
For words spoken to the lord of a domain, it was an outburst so unconventional as to be shocking.
But the old lord could only twitch his eye, not daring to utter a word of protest.
The strength of the Lion Duke’s bloodline was such that each one was worth a hundred men, but that girl’s strength was on another level entirely.
The image of her slaughtering his soldiers with a roar of laughter, dressed in a simple one-piece dress without any armor, was seared into the old man’s mind like a nightmare.
Just then, the cold-faced beauty spoke.
“Stay out of it and shut up, Hilda.”
“Why, sis Maris? It’s not like this ended nicely with words. Isn’t it funnier that he’s still weighing his options after getting his ass kicked in a fight?”
“Whatever his past, he’s a member of our alliance now. Don’t make unnecessary provocations.”
“His reputation is trash anyway. We should just replace him.”
“Our lord is the one who decides that, not us. If you keep acting up, I’ll tell him when he gets back.”
“Y-You think I’d be scared of… that?”
Her faltering voice made it obvious that her confident words were just a bluff.
Seeing the clear fear in the eyes of the girl called Hilda, the old lord felt a sense of wonder and curiosity.
To think that a monster so strong she seemed to have no equal in this world could be so frightened.
He couldn’t help but wonder just what kind of person their ‘lord’ was.
‘The Lennart family hasn’t grown weaker. Rather, these people, who had grown dull protecting the power and authority they held, have been unleashed into the wild, becoming even sharper and more ferocious.’
A violent group that no longer cared for saving face or self-preservation, one that simply and purely wielded its transcendent martial power without restraint.
And the existence of a ‘lord’ who had succeeded in commanding them, overwhelming them with his mere presence.
He must be an immensely powerful hero of the age, possessing a profound gravitas, the old lord thought.
He imagined that even now, their lord was surely weaving some grand scheme to realize his ambitions.
*
“Hey, Zoluschka! I’m done with the mopping here!”
“Wow, already? Hold on, you’re right. It’s spotless. I didn’t have much faith since you looked like a total beginner just from the way you held the mop.”
“I’m pretty confident I can learn physical tasks quickly!”
“In that case, want to try some sewing? Later, if you find someone you like, it’s nice to give them something you’ve embroidered as a gift!”
“Ooh, ooh. Teach me!”