Chapter 97
Daphne was in quite a good mood.
When she found out that this body was actually a lump of curses and that only the warrior’s innocent family had suffered because of it, she was quite angry.
But after realizing that there was nothing she could do right away, she became frustrated, and thanks to Shio taking her to the den of black mages right at that time, her mood improved a lot.
There were as many as five black mages at the place Shio took her to.
She felt like beating them up would ease her anger appropriately.
On top of that, if she absorbed all of them, her mana reserves would surely increase far more than they were now.
– Now then, Daphne.
– Go and ask!
Shio seemed to have said something annoying, but it wasn’t something Daphne needed to care about.
She was excited just thinking about dealing with the black mage right in front of her.
And so, as a result,
Mana: 480
She had accumulated this much mana.
“Heh, hehehe. Hehehehe.”
Of course, she would need to become more accustomed to handling mana, but with this amount, even if she infused magic into her sword like earlier, her body should be able to endure it just fine.
“This body really seems like a genius.”
Daphne lifted her head with satisfaction.
Then she saw Shio staring down at her quietly.
“Who do you think brought you there so you could become such a genius? I’m really curious. Aren’t you?”
“……”
“Well, I mean, it’s not like I was asking for praise. Still, wouldn’t it be okay to at least say something like ‘you did well’?”
“You.”
Daphne opened her mouth toward Shio, who was speaking with a grin.
Is he praising me?!
Is he saying I did well?!
Shio’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“Stop hanging around with Teiti.”
“……Pardon?”
“You’re becoming more and more like Teiti. It’s very strange.”
Muttering like that, Daphne left her spot.
“…….”
Shio stared blankly at Daphne’s back and slowly blinked his eyes.
“……Isn’t it a bit too much to put Teiti and me on the same level?”
That was a lie, right?
She just said it casually, right?!
After entering the building, Daphne looked up at Heros, Rache, and the instructors surrounding her, one by one.
They were deliberately wearing serious expressions, which seemed to be because of what Daphne had just said.
“So you found the chimera laboratory.”
Heros spoke first.
“Finding it is good, but the problem seems to be what we do about it.”
Fiona continued.
“We’re not even five people at most, so it would be difficult to launch a sudden raid with just these five. I think it might be better to contact the imperial family and wait for support.”
“If we wait for support from the imperial family, it feels like they’ll all escape.”
Kenrick raised his hand and added.
“And aren’t we not just any five people? The empire’s only Sword Master and two top-class Guardians. On top of that, the white-haired person—what was it, from what I saw earlier, he’s incredibly good at magic too! Isn’t that enough?”
“But if we fail like that,”
“We die, I guess.”
“……I didn’t know you had two lives, Kenrick. I only have one, so I need to cherish it.”
Fiona pouted her lips and scolded him.
That was when it happened.
“Let’s sort this out.”
Heros said, nodding his head slightly.
“You. You’re coming with me.”
“……Me?”
Nike, who had been staying still the whole time and was suddenly pointed at, widened her eyes as she spoke.
But Heros didn’t really care.
“Two people are enough to go to the laboratory.”
“What? But……!”
“No objections. We go as decided.”
Ignoring Nike’s wavering gaze, Heros abruptly stood up.
Everyone present exchanged glances.
If they left it like this, it really seemed like he would storm into the laboratory with just the two of them.
So everyone looked at Daphne.
It was a look as if asking her to try stopping him at least once.
The mouth of Daphne, who had been sitting there blankly, slowly opened.
“Warrior.”
Will she stop him?!
People looked at Daphne with expectant eyes, but—
“Very brave. I see you in a new light.”
“…….”
“I will deeply honor your sacrifice.”
Daphne raised her thumb and grinned, looking like she had no intention of stopping Heros at all.
But didn’t she just say sacrifice?
Is that encouragement or a curse?
Yeah. What were they expecting from her anyway.
People shook their heads and let out sighs.
The first to come to her senses among
them was Rache.
“Then…… um, can I go to Shio? I want to learn the magic barrier analysis you showed earlier.”
Next, Fiona spoke.
“I’ll go to Teiti. I have something I want to ask about healing magic.”
Nike left with Heros, Fiona went to Teiti, and Rache went to Shio.
Then the ones left were Daphne and Kenrick.
“Then I……”
Kenrick looked down at Daphne.
As he pondered what he could possibly do with Daphne—
“Why are you staring at me like that? Lower your eyes… or won’t you.”
Daphne said, sharply furrowing her brow.
Perhaps because she had gotten used to life at the training institute, she felt like she should speak informally to Kenrick, the instructor who had worked her the hardest.
“I have somewhere to go. Don’t follow me… won’t.”
“Where are you going? Huh?”
Looking up at Kenrick, who asked back as if he truly didn’t know, Daphne let out a long sigh.
Why were these guys human, yet so incapable of understanding other people’s feelings?
Daphne clicked her tongue.
The children who had fought the chimera together with Daphne were gathered in one place.
Rather than gathered, it would be more accurate to say they were sprawled out like baggage.
They were hanging on hospital beds like laundry, after all.
“Ugh…….”
“Huaaah…….”
Up until they returned to the dormitory, their bodies hadn’t hurt much.
Since they hadn’t been injured in the first place, they thought there was no need to receive treatment.
But they realized belatedly that this sense of being fine was because their bodies had been tense.
“My legs, my legs hurt so much……!”
“Ah, I pulled my neck. This is crazy.”
As if someone had grabbed them and beaten them up, their entire bodies throbbed with pain.
So they couldn’t properly get up, nor could they properly lie down.
The children let out long sighs.
“If we’re this bad, I wonder how Daphne is.”
“She must be having it even harder than us.”
Cilia spoke, and Joshua answered.
Joshua was in better condition than the other children, but he was still far from fine.
He frowned while massaging an arm that wouldn’t lift properly.
“She’s really…… really insane.”
Teppy said, lifting his legs straight up against the wall.
“My dad said this. That Daphne was all just hype. That even if people said she was amazing or whatever, she’d still be at a kid’s level, and that it was all lies. But then? Who was lying? I think my dad was.”
Teppy muttered, thinking that when he later saw his father, the Imperial Count, at home, he absolutely would not hug him.
“Daphne is a magic swordsman, right?”
Rachel said.
Moris beside her nodded.
“That’s right. A magic swordsman I’d only ever heard about in legends.”
“She’s amazing.”
Even though they were praising Daphne, their expressions were somehow dark.
At a glance, they even looked depressed.
“If, you know.”
Bunny, who had been silent the whole time, cautiously opened her mouth.
“If we weren’t there today. Would Daphne have been able to deal with the chimera more easily?”
“…….”
The children’s faces crumpled all at once.
What they had been constantly thinking about but couldn’t bring themselves to say out loud had finally burst out.
Lowering their heads deeply, the children clenched their fists while glancing at each other.
“Honestly, we weren’t much help.”
“Yeah. We were basically baggage.”
“Useless…….”
“Is there even a need for the training institute?”
“Seems like grades wouldn’t matter either.”
A deep gloom sank into the room.
Even the children who had been doing relatively well became gloomy as well.
“Aren’t we completely useless?”
“What are you saying. Rachel, you at least attacked once. I was basically just running away.”
Cilia scolded Rachel’s muttering.
“That’s right. I was supposed to be bait, but I couldn’t even do the bait role properly. I’m the useless one. I was thinking it might be better to just go out and die.”
“No. I couldn’t even land a proper attack either. I only managed to leave a single scratch on the chimera’s body.”
“At least you attacked. I was trembling the whole time.”
They began competing back and forth over who had been more useless and who had been more trash.
In truth, the fact that the children had even survived after facing a chimera among themselves without having received proper training was already an amazing feat.
But because they compared themselves to Daphne, this kind of atmosphere was inevitable.
Daphne really felt like a being from a different dimension.
‘This isn’t very good.’
Joshua, who had been watching them, thought.
‘If this continues, some of them will drop out.’
The children were each so outstanding that it made him think they could become the strongest knight order in the empire if formed as they were now.
But if their spirits broke like this, they wouldn’t be able to properly push forward in the future……
Joshua pondered for a moment about what he should say.
That was when it happened.
Boom!
The tightly closed door burst open.
Beyond the open door stood Daphne, with curly blond hair, big sparkling eyes, and a sulky expression!
Having received Teiti’s careful treatment, Daphne looked far more energetic than before, and as a result, her already cute appearance sparkled even more adorably.
The children stared blankly at Daphne, all thinking the same thing.
That she was really a doll-like cute child.
“What are you guys doing?”
But that was only the case before Daphne opened her mouth.
“I saved you when you were about to all die, and now you’re sitting around competing over who’s more of a mess? Being a mess isn’t exactly new for you guys, so why are you pulling this kind of crap now? If you’re only realizing it now, then bang your head against the wall over your own stupidity, and even if you’re just getting swept up by the mood, bang your head and reflect.”
……If only she’d keep her mouth shut, it would be perfect.
“Ah, thinking about it just makes me angrier. Are you messing with me? Do you think I saved you so you could act like this? Seriously! This tiny little five-year-old me tore my body apart to save you brats, and that’s the thanks I get! This is my fault!”
She’s not keeping it shut.
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