Boyhood (1)
Inside a splendid carriage, a little girl who had been nodding off suddenly spotted something and went wide-eyed.
"Mama! Is this your diary?"
"A diary?"
The girl's mother—the Duchess of Erhardt—checked the seat beside her.
It was empty.
It seems our Serifina is loved by the spirits.
Blessed with a relentlessly positive outlook, the Duchess did not entertain the notion that her daughter might be unwell. Instead, she thought of the extraordinarily rare blessing of the spirits—though she also made a quiet mental note to summon a skilled mage and a priest once they returned to the duchy.
Serifina, blissfully unaware of any of this, eagerly examined the diary.
Edwin's Diary – Serifina von Erhardt Route
"Wow! My name's in it!"
"Then perhaps it's our little one's diary?"
"No! Euh..."
If the diary owner's name is spoken aloud, or if the owner discovers that the diary has been read in secret, this route will be erased.
"...Achoo!"
Serifina sneezed before she could stop herself.
Routes, erasure—words far too difficult for a child her age to grasp. But even she understood the basic principle that if you snuck a look at someone else's diary, you absolutely were not supposed to go around telling the whole neighborhood about it.
She had not sneezed out of fear!
Terrified Serifina failed to notice the growing pity in her mother's eyes.
"Darling. Are you all right?"
"I'm fine-yoh!"
Having bitten her own tongue, Serifina squeezed out a few tears.
This is all the diary's fault!
Furious, she flung the diary open.
It's already been a month since I transmigrated. Who would've thought the diary was an item? I used to trash modern games for making you write a journal just to save, but only after getting dumped into this world did I finally understand the developer's profound design philosophy...
???
Serifina's tiny head filled to the brim with question marks.
The moment this little genius encountered something she didn't know, she latched onto the nearest available adult—her mother.
"Mama. What's a game?"
"...Did the spirit ask you that?"
"...Yes."
Feeling guilty for no good reason, Serifina avoided her mother's eyes.
"Mama doesn't really know either... Perhaps it's a word from the spirit tongue?"
"Oh, okay!"
Curiosity satisfied, Serifina went right back to reading the diary.
Apparently writing diligently raises my stats. I'm going to treat today like Day One of the transmigration and start keeping a proper journal.
Even thinking about it again, the reason I got dumped here is ridiculous.
Honestly, I'm So Loved at the Academy That It's a Problem is just a pile of romance-fantasy clichés. Asagon 2 was a painfully obvious rofan game that only swapped the protagonist for a villainess—and I get transmigrated because I wrote "cliché city but fun" in the review section?
Little Serifina was thoroughly confused.
Stats? Asagon 2? Clichés?
"Mama..."
She looked up with glistening eyes, and the Duchess averted her gaze.
So mean!
Serifina made a decision.
She would diligently read the spirit's diary and become smarter than Mama!
Still, after a month I've roughly figured out when I am. It's before Serifina's mother dies.
"Hic!"
Serifina hiccuped.
Once because her own name had appeared in the diary. And once more at the part about her mother dying.
"Mamaaa..."
Tears like beads of sweat rolled down her cheeks as she threw herself into the Duchess's arms.
"Why are you suddenly crying?"
"Mama can't die..."
"What?"
The Duchess was taken aback.
Why on earth was this child trying to kill her mother?
"Calm down, darling. Why would Mama ever leave her baby behind and die?"
"But, buuut..."
"Mama is never going to die. So let's dry those tears, hmm?"
"But..."
Across from them, the maid who had been sitting as invisibly as a ghost let out a quiet sigh.
The men of House Erhardt are all born with excellent brains—so why are the women like this? And Her Grace married in from another family, yet somehow she's the most Erhardt of them all...
"Your Grace. And my lady. Lady Serifina has received the blessing of the gods and communed with a spirit, has she not? It seems the spirit may have prophesied Your Grace's death."
"Mm-hmm. That's right!"
Serifina mumbled into the Duchess's chest. At that, the Duchess grew serious.
"Did the spirit truly say so? Why would I die?"
"W-wait just a second!"
Serifina hurriedly checked the diary.
In the game, Serifina was ten. Her mother left for a fairly distant city to attend an auction and ran into bandits along the way. Except they weren't actually bandits—it was all because of that pink-haired bitch...
There was a hidden ruin near that city. Pinky found an item there that raised people's affection for her, right? She wanted to test just how broken it was, and a carriage just happened to be passing nearby, so she basically brainwashed some mercenaries into attacking it.
It's the event that had the biggest impact on Serifina turning into a villainess, so I want to stop it—but is this even the forest where the ambush happened? The only forest near Vent City that looks like it could hide a ruin is this one, and I don't see a carriage or that pink bitch's mercenaries anywhere.
Serifina stopped reading and squeezed her eyes shut.
Far too much information had poured into her tiny head, and she was exhausted.
Ordinarily, Serifina would have fallen asleep right then and there.
When you were tired, sleeping was only natural!
But the spirit had warned her that Mama was going to die. Sleeping was not an option.
"Mama."
"Did the spirit tell you something?"
"Where are we going?"
In truth, Serifina had no idea what their destination was.
She had simply been told they were going somewhere fun before her birthday, and so she had climbed into the carriage.
"There's a very large auction being held, so we're going to take a look. Why? Did the spirit say something's wrong with the auction house?"
"Eek! Stop the carriage right now!"
The quick-witted maid threw open the window and shouted.
"Everyone, halt!"
Having given the order, the maid looked back at Serifina. Even the usually slow-on-the-uptake Duchess urged her daughter on.
"And then? What else do we need to do?"
"Mercenaries. There are mercenaries nearby, it says. The mercenaries are going to kill Mama!"
"Mercenaries, you say?"
The knight who had come over to ask why they had stopped repeated the word.
"Do you truly believe mercenaries could defeat us? Any of them with real skill are off at the war front—all that's left around here are the dregs. And our knight order is not so weak as to lose to the likes of mercenaries."
"But..."
"Sir Sero. Our Serifina heard this from a spirit."
The Duchess spoke with solemn gravity.
The knight's expression turned strange.
"Spirits are the sort of thing that only appears in storybooks. Lady Serifina..."
"Enough! Do you dare doubt my daughter? Even if you would disregard the child, do you also doubt the word of the Duchess of Erhardt herself?"
"...No, Your Grace."
"And even if it were nothing more than a child's nonsense, is it not still your duty to maintain thorough security? Is there any need to court danger purely on the strength of that confidence of yours?"
"Lastly—you are retainers of House Erhardt. If you fight mercenaries somewhere that is not even a battlefield, and one of you is injured—or heaven forbid, killed—what then? I treasure not only my own life, but yours as well."
Crushed by the Duchess's presence, and moved by her final words, the knight bowed his head.
"It was my failing! Even a mere band of mercenaries should never have been underestimated."
The maid spoke up as well.
"In my opinion, the spirit may have grasped the mercenaries' appearance without knowing their purpose. If they were simple plunderers, they would avoid us the moment they saw our house's crest—and yet they dare attack. They may be assassins targeting Your Grace."
"We shall protect Her Grace and the young lady!"
The knight issued orders to his men.
"Form a protective formation! And send several of our swiftest soldiers to scout the surroundings! If you spot anyone suspicious, return at once and report."
The soldiers moved with crisp precision, while the Duchess soothed a thoroughly frightened Serifina.
"The knights have gone to scout the area, so they should be able to find the mercenaries the spirit mentioned."
"Can't we just leave...?"
"Trust the knights, darling."
"Okaaay."
In the warm circle of her mother's arms, Serifina felt safe again.
And once the fear faded, she found herself wanting to keep reading the diary.
"I-I'll keep talking with the spirit!"
Displaying the greatest cunning of her entire ten-year life, Serifina opened the diary once more.
Something's noisy. Did I get the place right?
Shit! Those are mercenaries!
Calm down. They haven't spotted me yet.
Time to carefully pull out. After how hard I've ground for the past month, getting caught would be a disgrace to every transmigrator who ever lived.
You can do it!
Serifina found herself cheering Edwin on without meaning to.
The account of him fleeing the mercenaries' eyes was unfolding in real time, and it was so thrilling that both of her hands had broken into a sweat.
Good. I've put enough distance—I should be safe now.
Huh? What's with that soldier? Why is he so tense, scanning the area like that?
Don't tell me today is the day Serifina's mother dies.
Makes sense, though. The lady of one of the empire's greatest noble houses is traveling—there's no way her escort would be slacking on perimeter security.
I should make contact. Maybe Serifina's mother doesn't have to die.
"Waaah!"
Serifina couldn't hold it in and cried out.
"Mama! Tha—"
She was about to demand that Edwin be brought over immediately when the diary's warning flashed through her mind.
Unable to say anything, she fumbled awkwardly—until the maid, sharp as ever, stepped in.
"Did the spirit perhaps tell you something else?"
"Y-yeah! It says I have a friend!"
"A friend?"
"I want to see my friend!"
Edwin.
A modern man transmigrated into I'm So Loved at the Academy That It's a Problem—and a ten-year-old boy—boldly rolled across the ground.
"Who goes there!"
"I-I'm alive!"
Edwin launched into full method acting.
"Please save me! Bandits! There are mercenary bandits in this forest!"
"Halt."
Even with plenty of distance between them, the soldier drew his blade.
"Who are you?"
"I'm a hunter."
"Don't lie to me. What kind of hunter is a little brat like you?"
"My father was the only hunter in our village, and after he passed away I had no choice but to take over... Never mind that! The bandits are nearby! You know the knights, don't you, sir? Please go wipe them out!"
"Hmm..."
The soldier began to deliberate.
Edwin seized the opening and pressed hard.
"If you can't decide, then you have a captain, right? Please take me to your captain!"
"...Fine."
As Edwin drew closer, the soldier firmly restrained him.
"No funny business. If your story turns out to be false, you're the first one I kill."
"Yes, sir!"
So far, so good.
He thought as much while being half-dragged along by the soldier.
Then he saw the procession of carriages arranged in a full escort formation, and thought it again.
With defenses this tight, why did the Duchess die in the original? Were these mercenaries actually strong enough to chew through a knight order?
At any rate, he had made it to the carriage where the Duchess was presumably riding. That was enough.
If he could somehow persuade them to leave this place, he could save the Duchess's life.
Time to write in the diary.
He called the diary up in his mind.
This diary, which he had possessed since the very first day of his transmigration.
After he accidentally stained it with blood, it had bound itself to his mind—so that he could write in it with nothing more than a thought.
I've finally reached the Duchess's carriage. How do I convince them? Say the bandits are strong enough to chew through knights? Yeah, they're not going to buy that...
While he was still fretting over it—
"Friend!"
A tiny child burst out of the carriage.
She was so cute that any child actor brought in for comparison would have been slapped clean across the face.
So this is Serifina...
"From now on, you're mine!"
An abrupt claim of ownership.
Caught completely off guard, Edwin wrote in the diary on pure reflex.
What is this. Was this body originally Serifina's friend?
No—we shouldn't have had a single point of contact.
Don't tell me this isn't a standard rofan transmigration story? A villainess regression? Did I fail the first run so Serifina came back? Some dark redo route?