Chapter 128
Burned white with exhaustion…….
The Guardians were indeed hanging their heads, their souls sucked out and their minds blank, but Pauline was different. He hummed a tune as if enjoying himself and tucked the completed documents neatly into his breast pocket.
That sight was quite annoying, so Kenrick Dried. narrowed his eyes and glared at Pauline.
“Must you really, truly go that far?”
“Ayy. What’s the big deal that you have to look at me with such fierce eyes?”
“W-what……!”
Kenrick Dried. grabbed the stiffening back of his neck and sprang to his feet.
“Under the pretext of a special award, didn’t you take everything from the Imperial Report to the right to form a private military organization! This is corruption! Corruption!”
Pauline’s eyes, which had been humming along the whole time, turned sharp.
“Corruption? Cor-rup-tion? Corruption?”
He slammed the table!
“Where else can you find an official as clean and honest as me, and how dare you let such a filthy word as corruption cross your lips! My, oh my! I didn’t see you that way, but you’re being too much!”
I clearly saw him being stealthily handed gold coins by a mage from the Magic Tower earlier……?
I know the rumors that he’s the number one person in the Empire when it comes to taking bribes……?
But how can he say he’s clean and honest……?
‘Is he a thug?’
The Guardians’ mouths hung open, but Pauline did not stop.
“You’re really being too much! This won’t do. I can’t stay still after hearing such things! I’ll tell His Grace everything……!”
“Aack! No! We were wrong! Oh, this mouth! This mouth! My mouth is the problem!”
Nike stood up quickly and tried to settle the situation.
“Even so!”
Pauline shouted, his eyes wide.
“It’s obvious everyone would have died if it weren’t for our Young Lady, yet you spout such nonsense! Fine, then! I suppose I should have let everyone die and had the Guardians face the nobles’ criticism directly. That way the Guardians would be disbanded, and the Imperial power would weaken, and all that. Right?”
Sssss—
The Guardians’ faces turned deathly pale.
If it were this guy, he was more than capable of actually doing that. Nike, who had kicked Kenrick Dried. in the side, hurriedly grabbed Pauline’s hand tight.
“Ha, ha, ha. Adjutant. Don’t listen to this fellow. He actually has a disease. A disease where he talks nonsense occasionally. So you can just ignore him.”
He joked around, trying his best to laugh. His mouth twitched, but he didn’t care.
“A special award! Of course we must give it! In fact, I’d love to announce Lady Daphne’s good deeds to the entire Empire and give her something like a Great Hero Award!”
“Ah, then will you also give the Great Hero Award……”
“We really want to as well! But to do that, we’d have to get permission from His Majesty! To proceed quickly before that, we have no choice! You’ll understand, right? You say you understand? Haha! Thank you!”
“…….”
Tsk, that one won’t work.
Pauline smacked his lips as if it were a shame, and Nike, barely maintaining a smile that was cracking apart, pushed Pauline toward the exit.
“Now, now. Your business is done, so you may leave! Yes! Go! Go!”
“No, I’d like more tea……”
“Goodness, our adjutant is busy! Say goodbye!”
“Goodbye!”
Steam was still rising from the teacup.
Pauline, who was thirsty from his passionate speech, pouted his lips, but then decided he wouldn’t gain anything more by staying, so he left the room.
“Yes, see you next time!”
Slam!
The door closed.
As soon as that happened, the Guardians muttered in unison.
“That guy over there has the face of a swindler. Just watch. He’ll cause an accident someday.”
“Ugh, sprinkle salt! Salt!”
***
Daphne, who had no idea what kind of scene Pauline was making, sat blankly alone in her room after sending Arius and Vifera out.
Daphne, who was looking out the window from a chair, unconsciously placed her hand on her chest. She stroked the area near the butterfly-shaped pattern, the mark of the curse.
“Ssssssip.”
If she uses her power, the curse manifests faster and she dies,
If she doesn’t use her power, she will be killed by the black magicians.
I have to keep living in this body until I find my own body, but what if I just up and die like this. Then it becomes a hopeless situation.
“What on earth am I supposed to do.”
Daphne clicked her tongue, frowning as if no answer would come.
“Let’s organize this.”
But soon, she slowly revived her memories to find a way somehow.
“When were the times I vomited blood and collapsed because of this curse?”
Broadly speaking, it was when she blocked the black magic bomb, when she caught the three black magicians with the search party, when she faced the chimera at the training center, and this time.
“When I used the sword, there wasn’t much other than fainting from lack of physical strength.”
The four situations where she vomited blood all had one thing in common.
“I used my original power.”
It was every time she used the energy of death, the power of the Calamity, Selus.
Having traced her memories and organized them like this, Lady Daphne let out a sigh of realization.
“So the curse manifests faster when I use my original power. Since it is a matter of using the energy of death…… could it be helped?”
Hmm. Lady Daphne tilted her head to one side.
“Then using the sword and magic has nothing much to do with the manifestation of the curse……”
The reason she hadn’t used the sword or magic when dealing with black magicians until now was simply because Lady Daphne was weak. No matter how outstanding her skills were within the training center, it was somewhat too much to face a black magician head-on.
That was why she had handled them easily and quickly using the energy of death, and it seemed the curse had manifested quickly because of that.
Daphne’s eyes sparkled.
“Then it means I just need to continue training so that I can face black magicians with the sword and magic as well.”
The answer came out more easily than expected.
“I just need to get stronger.”
Yes. That’s all.
Should I worry if it can’t be solved with strength alone? Before thinking that, I should consider whether it wasn’t just that my strength was lacking. Fortunately, in this case, it was a problem that arose because her strength was insufficient, and thus she had used the energy of death.
“Fine. Then as soon as my body recovers, I will begin training immediately.”
Daphne’s will burned fiercely.
It was then.
“Hey! You! You’re Joshua, right? Right? The kid said to be the most skilled in the training center right now! The kid who manifested sword energy!”
Arius’s whining shout could be heard.
“Then can’t you just fight me once? Let’s fight! Hmm? I want to go swish-swish with sword energy too! Hmm?”
Turning her gaze that way, she saw Arius practically begging while grabbing onto Joshua’s trouser leg. Joshua, who had been hit by black magic, clearly didn’t look to be in very good condition…… but it seemed that didn’t matter much to Arius.
In any case, Arius kept clinging to Joshua, and Joshua was in a situation where he was running around to avoid such an Arius.
“Aack! I said let’s fight once! Just once! Why do you keep refusing?!”
At the shout that was close to a scream, Joshua’s expression crumpled.
“I do not fight with nobles.”
Right. Joshua was a child with a phobia of nobles. No matter how close he had become to Lady Daphne, that was only Lady Daphne. He was still sharp toward other nobles.
“Ah, why? Why? Are you afraid someone will say something to you if I get hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, do I look like such a petty person to you?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
At Joshua’s answer, which came without a moment’s hesitation, Arius was at a loss for words for the first time in a while and gaped his mouth.
“In any case, I will not fight with the young master. There is no reason to fight either.”
“You……!”
At Joshua’s firm words, Arius’s face turned red and blue with rage. Eventually, unable to contain his temper, Arius yelled.
“You cowardly brat!”
……What?
Joshua’s eyes narrowed.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
