Chapter 11.1

I realized the moment I entered the mansion that I hadn’t even had time to change out of my uniform yet. What kind of chaos was this? To think that monsters that had rarely been found after the Second Age were appearing in our fief was very mind-boggling.

“I hope everyone’s safe.”

Saying as much into the empty air around me, I passed through the corridor that was polished so clean, it shined, and stepped into the familiar room I called mine.

“Whoa.”

I raised my eyebrows at my room, which was so neat that you could even say that it had been remodeled.

I had no idea what in the world was happening to our house.

“Miss?”

As I was putting down my bag, a familiar voice from the doorway made me look back.

“Rita.”

With a warm smile, I hugged my exclusive maid-in-waiting.

“I was just about to look for you, but I see that you’re already here.”

The corners of Rita’s lips trembled with joy. Returning my hug, she patted me on my back.

“Long time, no see, Miss. Nothing’s happened, right? Did you do well on your test? Is anyone bothering you?”

“Let’s take our time talking.” I laughed as I sat myself down on the edge of the bed.

“Oh my.” Rita looked at the slightly crinkled blanket and frowned.

Rita seemed to be acting exceptionally like a clean freak today.

“Oh right, I should put away your luggage for you. Everyone’s so busy these days, and we don’t have enough workers to go around.”

Rita began unpacking the bag I’d left on the floor and put my things away.

“Goodness, have you been lugging this around with you the whole time? It’s so heavy!” Rosa yelped in the midst of unpacking when she found a thick book in my bag.

I sat up and answered nonchalantly, “Oh, that’s for my club.”

“Your club? You mean your reading club or whatever?”

“Yeah,” I murmured softly, lowering my eyes.

It just so happened that somebody had borrowed that very book from the library at that time, so I remembered now that I had to buy it with my very own money. Though it was cumbersome, I didn’t want to look like the only fool who couldn’t even bring the right book to the club meetings.

“This doesn’t look like something you would read by choice, Miss. Korlnwe, no, Korl… What does this say?”

Rita’s eyebrows twitched as she held up the book and attempted to read the title.

“It’s okay. I can’t read that either.”

Didn’t they say that ancient dialect was mixed into it or something? Anyhow, it was a piece of very classic literature.

Flora could pronounce it really gracefully. Noah didn’t really talk much, so I didn’t know… What if it was something only Flora could pronounce in this entire world? Maybe she had a unique different tongue structure that only she knew about?

I was tilting my head, thinking that might actually be credible, when Rita held up a familiar book and asked, “This is a notebook, right?”

It was a red book embellished with fanciful gold.

No matter how much I tried to recall, I couldn’t remember putting it in my bag when I’d packed, but there it was anyway. I was used to it now, though, so I wasn’t too shocked to see it.

“Wow, you didn’t use it at all. Was it because you didn’t study, or did you think it was too pretty to use?” Rita asked, flipping through the book, but I had no answer for her.

“Miss?”

“…”

“Are you upset because I said you didn’t study?” Rita tilted her head, her expression forming a question as she looked at my face.

“No.”

“Is there something worrying you?”

“Well…”

Chewing on my lips, I searched for something to say.

If I said that I got dumped by the person I liked, then Rita would probably bring me into her arms for a hug, right? I’d be grateful and moved, but if that happened, the whole mansion would be filled with rumors within seconds that I’ve been dumped, and I didn’t want that.

“It’s nothing.”

“That just makes me more curious.” Pouting, Rita moved her hands to unpack the bag even faster.

“But why is the house so clean today? Is someone coming?”

I made a curious face as I looked around my room.

“Didn’t you hear? Several guests are arriving soon.”

“Who? Who did Dad invite?”

I had heard nothing about visitors.

Blinking my suspicious eyes, I tilted my head.

Dad must be really busy. He wasn’t telling me anything.

“Hm, let’s see… Oh! They said that the people from the Tower of Magic are coming to fight off the monsters,” Rita answered, clapping her hands together after seeming to have thought of something.

“What?!”

At those words, I sat up quickly from where I previously was lying idly on the bed.

***

The Tower of Magic was the dream job for anyone who could do magic.

Though I had yet to set foot there, in my fantasy, it looked exactly like paradise with milk and honey flowing from its fountains.

“Dad, the Tower of Magic!” I shouted, banging open the doors to his office.

“Hm?”

“The people from the Tower of Magic are coming?!”

My heart was pounding with excitement.

I couldn’t believe it—I was about to see several magicians who belonged to the Tower of Magic itself.

“Oh my, I forgot to tell you.”

Dad pushed up his glasses with a rueful expression.

“We can’t have monsters running around everywhere. So I put in a request for subjugation at the Tower of Magic as Viscount Blair.”

Covering my mouth with my hands, I murmured, “Wow… Dad, you’re so cool.”

“Haha, right? Your dad is so cool, right?”

Squaring his shoulders back, he burst out laughing.

“I thought you might like it. So starting next year, work hard on your lessons to become head of the household, alright?”

“Oh, um, okay.”

Twiddling my hands together, I secretly avoided Dad’s eyes.

The truth was my dad had no idea that my dream job was to work at the Tower of Magic. He thought that it would be a given that I would become head of the family after he dies.

As he was someone who valued the family’s name as much as he valued me, it was natural that he wanted to hand over his title to the daughter he’d raised so preciously.