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“Isabel is dead?”

“Yes, Master Ned.”

In an abandoned factory, about five figures were kneeling before one person.

The man with half-closed eyes receiving the report tapped his fingers and questioned,

“She wouldn’t die that easily…”

The organization’s executives were each called monsters known as “one against a hundred,” having their magic power infused into them to make their bodies nearly immortal.

“And the opponent?”

“They say it was the Empire’s sword.”

“…Amelia, huh…”

At that, snickers began to echo from various corners.

“I should have known from the moment that psycho was relying solely on her regeneration ability.”

“I agree; it’s laughable that she’s one of us.”

“Silence!”

With that one command, the noisy room fell silent in an instant.

“And…”

“Yes?”

“Was it only Amelia who broke into the mansion?”

“Ah, no… When leaving the mansion, a total of four people were spotted, including her. One was a young girl, seemingly taken by Lady Isabel as a hobby.”

“…Is that why the tail was stepped on?”

The atmosphere in the room turned heavy. The overflowing magic power made the anger palpable, causing cold sweat to trickle down the executives’ backs.

“I guess I’ve been too lenient lately?”

The moment those words fell, everyone in the room bowed their heads in fear.

““I’m sorry, Master Ned!””

“What you do is none of my concern, as long as you do your job properly… But getting caught like this is no excuse, is it?”

“…”

“There won’t be a second chance, understand? If you’re caught like this even once, you’ll all be dead, do you get it?”

““Yes!””

They sighed in relief as Ned, having turned away, regained his composure.

“…So who were the other two?”

“One is a silver-furred beastkin, and the other has purple hair and was wearing an academy uniform!”

“Silver-haired beastkin… and purple hair, huh…”

Ned contemplated the words briefly, then smiled intriguingly.

“This has become quite interesting… Does that mean she’s completely taken over the Empire, that rabid dog?”

Currently, the only approved beastkin within Melian was Anubis, the Empire’s secret weapon.

“And… I didn’t think the priest would get involved.”

Purple hair, a rare color; among the people he knew, there were only two with that hair color in this world. No, now there was only one.

One of the most noteworthy figures within the Empire, a junior and former companion who shared the same mentor…

“Ned, I’ll take care of them.”

One of the executives at the front said, licking his lips.

“I’ll make sure to cut off the limbs of the mage you’re looking for…”

In that moment, with a rustling sound, the man’s head fell off.

“…Who said you could speak?”

In a voice as cold as ice, the severed body slumped, rotting away.

“Don’t touch them yet, especially that mage. Dispose of the area Isabel was in and create a new stronghold.”

After wrapping up the meeting, Ned covered his head.

“There should be a sacred relic embedded in Isabel’s body…”

The sacred relic he had planted to lure the masked demons; there had been no reports of its retrieval.

That meant it had either fallen into the Empire’s hands or…

“…I’ll need to confirm directly.”

As he said that, the paper he held had “Class A” inscribed on it.

*

At 5 AM, I woke up early and was fiddling with an object on my desk.

“What is this?”

A skull cup that came from the corpse of an Akandis executive killed by Anubis. Initially, I thought it was the skull of the dead executive, but it was much too small.

Above all, it emitted an ominous energy.

“It’s harboring some unusual magic.”

Normally, I should have handed something like this over to the Empire’s security unit, but it felt too valuable to just hand over. Honestly, if this was significant to that organization, they would definitely come looking for it.

“I would feel much safer keeping it myself than handing it over to the Empire.”

Of course, the Empire was guarded by ten powerful figures like the Swordmaster and the Three Great Clans.

But I didn’t think they had the leisure to protect something mysterious like this. In conclusion, I deemed it rational to keep it myself.

“Then… shall I head out?”

Having stored the skull away in a pocket dimension, I cautiously made my way toward the entrance.

“Surely, they wouldn’t be awake at this hour…”

Today was the day I was supposed to go shopping for clothes with Shia.

But the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to go; it would be far better to train at the dojo and practice some magic.

Just as I was about to open the door carefully,

“Where are you going?”

“Yieks?!?”

I screamed in shock at the hand that suddenly gripped my shoulder without a sound.

“Is Stella trying to make a run for it?”

“N-no way… I’m just going out for a quick morning training session…”

“Hmm… Is that so?”

Looking into my eyes, Shia paused, then pulled me toward her bed.

“Shia…? Why are we on the bed, um, what?”

“I still can’t trust you.”

With that, she laid me down on the bed as if embracing a doll and cuddled up beside me.

“Uh, why are you doing this?!”

“Since we’ll be walking all day, you don’t need to go out for exercise.”

“W-walking all day?”

“Yes, we’re supposed to go with Serena at 9, so it’s better to sleep comfortably until then.”

“Serena too? Why on Earth does shopping have to take all day long?”

I wanted to train and then go to a cafe for something delicious and just hang out.

“Um… Shia, I’m sorry but I have something urgent to attend to today…”

However, my words were quickly cut off.

“Stella.”

“…”

“You promised that we’d go shopping together this time.”

“…yeah.”

“I’m in a position where I have to keep my end of the deal; I’ve already received the money, you know.”

“I could just give that to you…”

“Ugh!”

What is this… I feel like I’m being reprimanded by my parents; it’s not like I even have a mom.

But still, I dislike it. Why buy clothes when I have more than enough?

“I don’t need any clothes! I don’t want to!”

In the end, as I tried to break free and flee from the bed, Shia called out to me.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay with that?”

What more was she trying to say… I can’t get caught up in her nonsense.

The moment I grabbed the front door, her words froze my body.

“Do you think you’ll capture Nova’s heart like this?”

“Wait, what?!”

What is she talking about? Why is Nova coming up here?

Flustered, I turned my head and yelled.

“What does buying clothes have to do with Nova?!”

“You’re misunderstanding, Stella. Do you not know what happened to Nova this week?”

“…What happened?”

My head instantly went blank. Confessions… that kind of confession?

From Nova? No way, that can’t be true.

“Well, of course! After Nova beat Siel in practice, he became quite popular among the female students.”

“What even…?”

“With looks that could rival most noblemen, you know.”

“But, but Nova is common-born?!”

“That makes it all the more appealing. Without a family background, there are nobles trying to hire him as their knight, and some are just playing around to test the waters… Yikes!”

“Playing around?”

Who on Earth is that insane girl saying such nonsense?

Doing such a thing to Nova?

He’s such a pure and kind guy!

“What are those girls’ names?”

“Pl-please calm down! That was just an example; they never really said anything…”

“No, it’s not like it’s impossible; tell me the names of those who confessed to Nova!”

If there’s a chance, I need to cut it off from the start.

I have to show them a lesson so that no one approaches him.

I certainly can’t just let this slide; the moment I thought about barging into those girls’ rooms

and grabbing my staff, Shia grabbed my pant leg and shouted.

“They all turned him down, so you don’t have to worry!”

“…Even so, you never know…”

“That’s why we should prepare!”

“…Prepare?”

“Exactly! If you want to win a man’s heart, you have to compete fair and square!”

“I-I’m not into that… W-wait! As a childhood friend, I just want to prevent any dirty, vile girls from crawling all over Nova!”

“…You’re saying something outrageous… Didn’t you think that when we first met?”

“Huh? N-no! I wasn’t thinking that!”

I tried to face Shia with confidence, but in the end, I just turned away.

Seeing me, Shia sighed and said to me again,

“So! You need to create an allure so Nova won’t have weird thoughts!”

“Me?”

Wait… is that so? To be honest, I won’t fall short in appearance anywhere!

I also take care of my body well, and my figure is… I have an average chest, right?

Ugh! What am I thinking?! Alluring him…

I’m a man! A man, after all!

There’s absolutely no way I could do something so crude! So…

“…Fine, I’ll go.”

“Really?!”

“But! Make sure to clarify that it’s for clothes and not for any kind of allure!”

“…”

I’m going because I truly need clothes!

Yes, definitely not that other thing!

 

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