Chapter 7.5

I had a dream for the first time in a long time. Perhaps it was because I was exhausted after solving one of my problems.

It was a dream about my previous life.

Back when I was still Dean Nosferatu, I was teaching children in that old castle ──

“My lord!!”

“Lyle. You’re still here.”

“Yes!”

The 8-year-old Lyle Carmine nodded with laughter.

This is the innermost room of the old castle. It’s a classroom for the children.

The villagers jokingly call it the ‘Throne Room’.

Indeed, there is a chair that makes it look like a throne. The villagers made it several generations ago. It’s getting a bit worn out, but it gets repaired every few years.

On the floor, there are tablets lying around.

Until just now, the children of the village were practicing their writing and doing math problems.

In the morning, children between the ages of four and thirteen come to this old castle to study. They would leave before sunset.

It may sound like a classroom, but it also partially acts as a nursery.

I’m always taking care of the little ones while letting the older children study.

“And why aren’t you home yet, Lyle?”

“Please continue teaching me, my lord!!”

“It’s already late today. Let’s do it tomorrow.”

“No!”

“…Hey now.”

Lyle is the only son of Dick and Gerda. He is small for his age and likes to study more than playing. However, his ability to learn is poor.

When I look at Lyle’s writing on the tablets… Aah, he makes a lot of mistakes in his grammar and calculations.

After all, Lyle is a hasty child.

I always tell him to write more calmly.

“Look outside, Lyle.”

“It’s dark, isn’t it! My lord!”

“You probably heard the evening bell ring, didn’t you?”

“I did. My lord!”

“Then, what should you do?”

“To learn more!”

“Wrong! Hurry up and go home! It’s dangerous, you know!?”

“There are no monsters on the mountain trail around here, so it’s okay!”

“That’s because the people in the village and I have been exterminating them regularly.”

“Thank you very much! My lord!”

“Don’t mention it, just go home. I’ll send you off.”

“Eeeeeehhhhhh.”

“Go home!”

“Ouch, ouch! My head hurts!”

He is saying that, but isn’t he smiling?

Seriously, I don’t understand humans. They came to a ‘Monster, Nosferatu’ like me, and showed me a smile.

I have lived for nearly two hundred years, and I still do not understand humans.

“In the first place, why do you want to study so badly?”

“Because I’m behind everyone else.”

“It’s not a contest, you know?”

“I know. B-But…”

Lyle’s cheeks turn red.

He crouches down and begins to poke at the tablets.

“What’s wrong with Remilia’s tablet!?”

“No! I don’t like Remilia!”

“Huh?”

“I don’t care that Remilia said she likes smart people! I don’t care that Remilia said she wanted to be the wife of the village chief! I just don’t care!!”

“I see. So you want to marry Remilia!?”

“Stop it!”

Hey, don’t hit me… while crying.

Seriously.

“It’s late now, so go home. This is my decision.”

*Sniff Sniff* “…Uuu.”

“Instead, come back thirty minutes early starting from tomorrow morning.”

Lyle looked at me dumbfounded.

Before I knew it, his tears had stopped. He is a calculated child.

“Tell Dick and Gerda that I asked you to help with the cleaning. I’ll help you with your studies before the other children get here.”

“…My lord.”

“It’s just that. Remilia is by far the best I’ve ever taught. It will take a lot of effort to make her fall in love with you, you know!? So don’t hit me!”

I took him back to the village since it was getting late ──

“Good morning! My lord!”

“I told you to come here thirty minutes early, didn’t I!? Why are you coming right after dawn!!?”

I really do not understand humans.

“I’ve decided to marry Lyle.”

It was a few years later that Remilia came to report this.

Her declaration of marriage threw the men of the village into the depths of despair.

For she is a beautiful girl, which was rare around here.

“In commemoration of our marriage, please teach me the magic for restraint, my lord.”

“Why’s that!? What are you going to use it for?”

“Don’t worry! I won’t use it on anyone but Lyle!”

“What are you going to do to your newly-wed husband?”

“…I mean, isn’t Lyle popular?”

Is that so?

Are you not the only child in the village who likes him?

“Lyle is good-looking, hardworking, responsible, and very honest! What girl wouldn’t like him!!?”

“You think so?”

“…Please make corrections. My lord.”

“…Well, first of all, I think you two are a good match for each other.”

“As expected of my lord, you’re a good judge of character!”

“Stop pointing your finger at me. Don’t prepare to chant. That’s intimidation!”

“I mean, only my lord knows how great Lyle is.”

“I know he’s been working hard to get you to like him.”

“I know, right.”

“But didn’t you always like Lyle? So why did you put conditions on the marriage? Like becoming the village chief or the best mage in the village?”

“Eh? Because isn’t it cute that Lyle makes an honest effort?”

“…Human women are scary.”

“When we get married, I’m going to make him work hard so we can have lots of kids.”

“Please be moderate.”

“If Lyle gets sick, please take care of him.”

“Don’t rely on me before you two get married!”

It can’t be helped.

I grabbed some herbs from the warehouse.

“Here. This is a decoction of ‘Hermes Grass’ root, which is good as a nourishing tonic. Use it only once a day.”

“I love you! My lord!!”

“Yes, yes.”

“In return, Lyle and I would like to give you a present.”

“A present?”

“Lyle loves you, my lord.”

“I suppose so.”

“Of course, I love my lord, too. In other words, the number one and the number two in the ‘I love my lord ranking’ of ‘Fila Village’ will get married. What do you think will happen?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, believe it or not, the child who loves my lord the most in the world will be born and will become your wife!”

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

“Why is that?”

“Because you’re all going to die before I do.”

“…Is that why you’ve always been alone?”

“It was pretty tough when your parents died. What would I do if it was my wife?”

“It will be fine!”

“What?”

“Because Lyle and I are going to have lots of children.”

Remilia smiles shyly.

“Then maybe one of them will be immortal who can stay with my lord forever and even have a child together.”

“What are the odds of that?”

“You will see. I’ll do my best!”

“Well, just make sure Lyle doesn’t die. Also…”

I placed a stone on the palm of Remilia’s hand.

It was the ‘Lapiris Stone’ that I had refined, which has a magic power accumulation effect.

It was quite difficult to find one with high purity.

“It’s a wedding gift for you. Be happy, Remilia.”

“Yes!! I promise!!”

“Haa… haa…… My lord…”

“It’s okay, Alice. You’re not going to die.”

A few years later.

This is my room in the old castle.

Lying on the bed is Lyle and Remilia’s daughter, Alice.

Around that time, the epidemic of ‘Death Crest Disease’ was in full swing.

The death toll in the royal capital continued to rise.

So I told the villagers not to go to the royal capital or any villages near it, but ── I couldn’t stop the ones coming from there like messengers and emissaries.

There were several infected people in the village.

Those with mild symptoms were placed in the inner ‘Throne Room’.

But Alice’s fever has not gone down yet.

The ‘Death Crest Disease’ that appears when one is infected is still there. That is why I have been keeping an eye on her.

I did the treatment.

I have been giving Alice my ‘Magical Blood, Mistel Blood’, and continue to use the power of ‘Purification’ on her.

The worst is over. Alice should be ── fine.

Now it’s just a matter of time… I keep repeating the same words over and over again, don’t I?

I have been living for almost two hundred years, and every time someone is dying, this would always happen. I just never grow up, don’t I?

“Hey… My lord.”

“Go back to sleep, Alice.”

“Why do you look like you’re in pain?”

“…Huh?”

“My lord is immortal, right? But ever since Alice is dying, my lord has been in pain. Why’s that…?”

“…I don’t like this kind of thing.”

“…This kind of thing?”

“I just can’t get used to people around me dying young. It’s like I’m cheating since I don’t die. That’s all.”

“Is… that so.”

Alice rolled over in her sleep.

She squinted her big eyes and looked at me.

“Then Alice will do her best.”

“Yeah, that’s the spirit. The purification is progressing, so you’ll feel better soon. Hang in there.”

“If I do my best, will you reward me?”

“Very well.”

“Then, when Alice grows up, Alice will be my lord’s wife.”

“Yes, yes.”

“…My lord, you idiot.”

“Why, all of a sudden?”

“That’s not how you answer a maiden’s confession.”

“That can wait till you get better.”

“By the way, by wife, Alice meant that Alice would be with my lord for the rest of her life.”

“…I’ll think about it when you’re older.”

“…My lord, didn’t you tell everyone that?”

“You’re scary.”

“They’ll forget about it when they’re older anyway, is that what you think?”

“Don’t read the mind of the ‘Immortal Mage, Lord of Nosferatu’.”

“Won’t you think about it…?”

“Time passes differently for humans than for me. I’m not going to let the ‘future you’ take responsibility for the ‘present you’.”

“Mmm. Then let’s play a game.”

“A game?”

“Alice will always remember this feeling, even after Alice is older. So, if Alice doesn’t forget, take Alice as your wife.”

“Sure. But then who’s going to succeed Lyle?”

“Mother has a second child in her belly. So it will be fine.”

“Remilia is overusing ‘Hermes Grass’ on Lyle, huh…”

“He’s still young, so he’ll be fine.”

“Don’t say that. And don’t say that to the other children.”

“We’re quite open about it.”

“All right, all right. Now go to sleep.”

“…Yeah.”

I patted her on the head, and Alice closed her eyes meekly.

This was just before I died.

I don’t know what happened to Lyle, Remilia, and Alice after that.

I… should not know.

However ──

*Rustle Rustle*

I heard strange noises.

There are faint voices from over there. What… is this?

Whose memory ── is this?

“I… I… with this hand of mine… my family… ‘My Lord’…”

“……‘My Lord’ said… ‘see you’… so surely… someday.”

“…You are…… our…… hope……”

“──── Hero ────. I put you ──── in ──── charge.”

“──── If you are okay with it ────, I understand.”

“──── No matter how much time passes ──── I will always be waiting for you ──── so ────”

“Someday, I hope we meet again ────”

“…Eh?”

When I came to my senses, I found myself in my bed in the Baron’s mansion.

…I was dreaming.

A dream from long ago…

The last thing I heard was voices. Lyle, Remilia, and Alice’s.

There was also a mixture of voices from people I didn’t know.

It was not my memory. Maybe it was something that has happened from the past two hundred years ago.

Something that Lyle and the others were talking about…?

In that case, who conveyed it to me…?

I don’t know.

I don’t even know why I was reincarnated in the first place. It is pointless to think about it.

…But Lyle… was concerned about the fact that he killed me.

If that was truly his voice, what did Lyle and the others do after my death…?

“What’s the matter, Yuuki-sama?”

“…Something from long ago… no, I had a strange dream.”

“Please tell me about it, Yuuki-sama.”

“Rather than that, Martha, why are you in my room?”

“You’re leaving for the royal capital tomorrow, aren’t you? And you told Martha to wake you up early because you have many things to do before that, didn’t you?”

Right.

It has already been about a month since the enrollment examination.

Since then, I have been very busy every day. I have to read the materials that Princess Iris sent me and the enrollment guidelines for the ‘Magic Guild’. I read the orientation guide and the document about the ‘Knight Escort’, and I accompanied Rumia in my free time ── just like that, time flew by quickly.

If Martha had not helped me with the preparations, I might not have made it in time.

“Thank you, Martha. I’m getting up.”

“With that said, what were you dreaming about?”

“……I don’t remember.”

I feel bad for Martha, but I have to leave it like that.

“What a shame.”

“Why’s that?”

“Martha thought that by analyzing the dream, Martha would be able to serve Yuuki-sama better.”

“It’s fine. Rather, come help me get dressed.”

“Yes, Yuuki-sama.”

From now on, I will study ‘Ancient Magic’ at the ‘Magic Guild’ in the royal capital.

I wish I could find out about Lyle and the others… there.

I should be careful not to reveal my true identity and be prepared to disappear at any time.

If I disappear by dying… they would be sad.

So let’s just be sure that it will be a normal, missing person case.

“Well then, let’s go, shall we?”

“Yes, Yuuki-sama.”

I then left the room of the mansion.

Tomorrow is the day I will leave for the royal capital, so let me do what I can today.