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In a luxurious office, a man was scribbling with a feathered pen on a table.

– Knock, knock.

At that moment, someone knocked on the office’s door.

“Come in.”

As the man granted permission, the door opened, and a butler in a black suit entered.

“Master, a letter has arrived from Jeminal Academy.”

“Is it a runaway situation?”

“If that were the case, the Dean wouldn’t be sending a letter but would come here personally, right?”

“True enough.”

The man accepted the letter from the butler. Given the significance of the matter, he paused his work and immediately opened the letter, focusing on its contents. The letter itself wasn’t very long; it was manageable enough to read at a glance. However, upon seeing the brief information, the man clicked his tongue.

“Tsk.”

The butler, who had his hands clasped and stood waiting at the door, responded to his reaction.

“If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask what it says?”

“It says the third child has dropped out.”

“…What?”

Even a butler accustomed to unusual events was taken aback and asked again.

“What do you think?”

“…Are you asking for my opinion?”

“Yes. Do you think the third will return to the territory?”

“To be honest… I don’t think so. Given how long it took for the letter to arrive, if she intended to return, she would have done so much earlier.”

“That’s quite a relief.”

Even in a situation where his daughter had dropped out of the academy and was missing, the man felt a sense of relief. He folded the letter again and pushed it to one side of the table, then looked back at the butler.

“Is that all?”

“There’s one more thing.”

The butler again took out another letter from his pocket. This time, the envelope was distinct. The edges were adorned with a golden pattern, and in the center was the seal of the imperial family.

“…The imperial family.”

The letter handed over was an invitation to the annual social gathering hosted by the imperial family. Naturally, the head of a ducal family in the Empire would receive such an invitation.

“It’s already that time, huh.”

The man’s brows, which had remained indifferent until now, slightly narrowed. Families vying for the favor of the ducal family were overwhelming in the Empire. They would try to create connections, even bringing gifts to curry favor. It was a tiresome endeavor for the man, who had to deal with these so-called nobles one by one.

“Then why not skip this time?”

The respected Emperor held the social gathering every year for a reason. The current Emperor was an acknowledged wise ruler. He listened to the accumulating dissatisfaction of the nobles, graciously offering favors within reason while trying to understand them.

Some greedy nobles took advantage of his leniency to engage in corruption, but the Emperor swiftly investigated and dealt with them.

That said, he didn’t only favor the nobles. The Empire’s legal reforms enacted by the Emperor did not discriminate between commoners and nobles. Because of this, there had been no disputes among nobles or uprisings from commoners against the Empire.

Some nobles remained trapped in elitism and looked down on commoners, but the Emperor couldn’t possibly concern himself with every single detail, so the commoners were understanding in their own way.

“No. I will participate this time as well, so call the first and second children.”

“Yes, understood.”

*

After hearing from Uncle that it was impossible, I left the Blacksmith with a rather sour mood. In the end, to create a weapon, it was said I had to head to where the Dwarves are located, but the problem was that I didn’t know where that was.

The appearance of Dwarves was something for a far-off future. It would only be right before the full-scale war between the Demon and Humanity Alliance that I would see Dwarves and get a weapon made for Arthur. Even then, only the name of the land where the Dwarves lived was mentioned, and not its location.

‘It would be great if an Elf could come down to guide me again like this.’

Even if I manage to find them, it’s uncertain whether our noble Dwarven friends would make everything nicely for me. But it wasn’t just me feeling unsettled.

“Luke.”

“What?”

“Why is Riche acting like that?”

“Must be because of this.”

I pulled out the invitation I had received from Adela earlier from my inventory and shook it. It was a letter from the imperial family, decorated with shiny golden accents—definitely a polished invitation. It seemed Riche was anxious about the upcoming social gathering.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen her look so defeated.”

“Everyone has their own trauma.”

Just like Luna, whose family was slaughtered by humans, and Yui, who nearly lost her identity due to vampirism, Riche’s deepest trauma was also connected to her family.

In the original story, Riche would certainly avoid all social gatherings, for her family would undoubtedly be present there. Overcoming that trauma would happen much later. Riche would eventually be rescued from her trauma by Arthur when he uses his “Wind Evasion Mouth” during the lesson in the second-semester event.

But asking me if she couldn’t skip it hastened that timing. She probably wasn’t mentally ready, so it must be confusing for her. But why should I care?

“It seems you don’t have any of that.”

“What do you take me for? I have my own trauma too.”

“Luke…?”

That was something from my past life… the trauma from almost having hot ramen broth splash into my eyes, nearly unlocking my Sharingan. Since then, I’ve eaten ramen carefully to avoid splattering broth.

“Is there a good way to overcome trauma?”

“It differs from person to person.”

In Luna’s case, the trauma was something exogenous, so she could just calm her mind, while for Yui, since everything was already over, it couldn’t be classified as trauma anymore.

As for me, since I couldn’t avoid ramen, it just faded away naturally, but for Riche, the source of her trauma was still alive, acting and tormenting her.

“Riche is like a victim of school bullying, so to speak.”

“School bullying…?”

“It’s when a commoner gets trampled by a noble at the Academy.”

“Ah…”

Luna seemed to grasp it more or less. Being a victim of school bullying doesn’t just end when the perpetrator is punished. The victim is always the first to fear whenever such cases come up. Meeting the perpetrator once, they’d start sweating cold and their pupils would quiver.

Even now, Riche had to voluntarily seek out the perpetrator, so she must be even more distressed.

“What did the novel say to do in such cases?”

“Comfort them and that’s it.”

“Is that really enough?”

“Don’t underestimate the protagonist’s mouth.”

In the original story, Arthur attempted to solve others’ family issues with mere words. He said that was wrong, not blaming Riche, always advising her father without rest.

This eventually led to a knife fight, where Arthur ended up knocking out his father-in-law. The result was, of course, Arthur’s victory. Just because he could wield a sword didn’t mean anyone could defeat the protagonist. But even after that, the conflicts never resolved, and they avoided each other.

*

Since leaving the Adventurer’s Guild, Riche had been in a state of distress. No, to be precise, it was since Luke received the invitation and expressed his willingness to attend the social gathering.

Following Luke to the social gathering meant she would inevitably meet her family. If her father was as she remembered, he would attend the gathering without fail due to his position. It was obvious he would bring her older brother and sister along.

If Hex was the target of her revenge, her family was the source of her trauma. She hadn’t been abused or bullied, but wasn’t indifference considered scarier than bullying?

Her family showed her a chill of apathy. It felt as if she had become invisible to them.

Once, driven by rebellious spirit, she had run away from the territory to hide in the Forest. But no matter how much time passed, her family didn’t come searching for her. By the stroke of midnight, only her brother and the butler showed up to look for her.

Fortunately, she didn’t have no allies at all. There was her brother and the butler who had served her late mother. They stood by her side, which allowed her to endure thus far. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to hold on and would have long since taken her own life.

However, the one with the highest authority in the Winchester family was her father, the head of the family. As long as he neglected Riche, others had no choice but to be wary of his gaze, including her older brother, who held the second-highest position in the family. Hence, Riche voluntarily enrolled at the Academy, hoping to create a space where her servants and beloved older brother wouldn’t have to look after their father.

“I thought I would never get involved with a social gathering for my whole life…”

As she walked, isolated in her troubled mind, Luna approached her.

“Riche, are you okay?”

“Uh…?”

“You don’t look well.”

“Aah… it’s nothing much.”

For it to be nothing much, Riche’s expression looked like she was about to vomit at any moment. When someone didn’t want to discuss it further, one wouldn’t pry. Still, since Luna had heard everything, she and Yui were completely aware of Riche’s situation.

“I know all about your family from Luke.”

“That… makes sense, Luke would know everything.”

“Why don’t you ask Luke what you should do?”

“What about?”

“How the Riche in the novel overcame her trauma.”

In truth, Riche had also thought of the method Luna suggested. If the novel Luke read had a happy ending, Riche in the story must have overcome her trauma. If she asked Luke about that method, wouldn’t it be easy for her to overcome her own trauma? But after thinking for a moment, the conclusion was that this would tie her to Arthur, so she dropped the idea.

Given the current situation, she absolutely could not overcome her trauma on her own. That meant the Riche in the novel must have received help from someone, most likely Arthur. Now that she had pushed Arthur away and was hanging out with Luke, it was impossible for the method from the novel to work.

“Unfortunately, that seems difficult.”

“Is that so…”

While the two were brainstorming without any solid idea, Luke slyly approached and casually said.

“Do you want to know an easy way to overcome trauma?”

“Is there such a thing?”

“It depends on the situation, but for someone like you, there’s a definite way.”

“What is it?”

Just kill everyone.

That answer rang in my ears oddly clearly.

“…Huh?”

 

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