SWDnovel Chapter 410 [Illustration]
Chapter 410 [Illustration]
Chapter 410 [Illustration]
Harriet quickened her pace as she left the imperial palace.
The person she had thought of as a good advisor thus far had shown such a different side, and the intense sense of unease she’d felt quickly turned into a chilling fear.
Although nothing had actually happened to her, Harriet could instinctively tell from that conversation that he was not a normal mage.
She was afraid he might follow her. In fact, she definitely felt that he would.
He’d kept spouting strange things while leaving his intentions unclear. He mentioned how he wished he had known her earlier, and his praise had felt excessive, almost as if he deified her.
He had even uttered incomprehensible nonsense about becoming a god of a new world. No normal mage would say such things.
Harriet had followed the path of an elite mage. While magic was fundamentally a discipline reserved for geniuses, there were also street mages, and those who learned magic from these street mages were usually madmen and eccentrics.
Harriet had heard plenty of stories about madmen who enjoyed tormenting those without talent in magic by forcibly teaching it to them.
As an elite mage, Harriet had rarely encountered such mad mages. Her father was a grand mage, and those who taught her magic were clean-minded, respectable mages.
The first and last mad mage Harriet had encountered was Aaron Mede, who had been creating chimeras in the basement of his mansion. Thus, it was only natural for her to be engulfed by an inexplicable fear when Rother Dwin, who had seemed normal thus far, started spouting strange things.
He was certainly not on the level of a legendary evil mage villain, the sort she had heard about from her brother or father when she was younger.
However, Harriet was experiencing in real-time how terrifying it was to be face-to-face with someone with immeasurable madness. She kept looking back as she walked.
‘Is he following me? It seemed like he was obsessed with me. If he’s following me, then what on earth does he intend to do to me?’
Harriet’s pace quickened, and she was sweating as she rode the magic train back to the Temple with the other passengers.
Even though nothing happened, it felt like something was about to occur. Harriet couldn’t hide her nervousness, even though a part of her knew that this anxiety was unfounded.
She kept recalling that strange gaze of his when he was looking at her, the desire glinting in his eyes while he talked about the magical tomes, and the completely incomprehensible and incoherent nonsense he had spouted.
Harriet almost ran back to the Temple when she got off the train, hoping that such a mad mage wasn’t planning to harm her.
She felt somewhat relieved after passing through the Temple gate, but it wasn’t enough. It was nighttime, so the tram was rather empty.
Only a few students were on the tram, busy with their own affairs, while Harriet, still sweating, looked around. The thought of becoming a mad mage’s target, a situation that was unheard of, made her blood run cold.
It was probably just a groundless fear. She was probably just overreacting to some trivial conversation because her nerves had been on edge lately.
However, the things Rother Dwin had been saying were all so bizarre that it was hard to dismiss them entirely. Harriet finally arrived at the Royal Class dormitory stop, her mind still full of complicated fears, and she went into the dormitory.
And as soon as she returned to the second-year dormitory, she immediately felt the fear and dread that had been consuming her dissipate.
“Oh...”
Reinhart, who had just come out of the shower with a towel around his neck, was walking towards the lobby. Their eyes met.
As had been the case lately, he hesitated slightly, but ultimately couldn’t bring himself to speak to Harriet.
This hesitant Reinhart was now standing in front of her.
Harriet believed that if it were Reinhart, he would somehow make things right.
She didn’t want to admit it, and she knew it was probably not right, but the moment she saw Reinhart’s face, the anxiety that had been constricting her heart vanished as if it had never even been there in the first place.
“Ah...”
As soon as Harriet saw Reinhart, she reflexively relaxed, and her legs gave out.
Wobble!
“Hey, what’s wrong!”
Just before she hit the ground, Reinhart quickly caught her.
Harriet bit her lip as he supported her.
There were certainly many people stronger than Reinhart and more trustworthy than him. But why did seeing his face give her such a strong sense of relief?
“... You... Why are you sweating so much...?”
Reinhart hesitated, but he couldn’t just stand idly by, so he cautiously examined Harriet’s condition.
Harriet thought she knew the reason why she felt such reassurance when she saw Reinhart. It was because he was a bad guy.
He was crazy enough to do anything to protect someone precious to him, like getting engaged to Charlotte when her life was in danger. He was a bad guy who did such things even though he knew it would hurt those around him.
If something happened to her, he would somehow, by any means, make things right for her too. Just like he did for Charlotte.
He was a bad guy and a shameless one, but he always managed to make things right, so Harriet believed he would do so this time too.
That was why she couldn’t help but feel reassured when she saw Reinhart.
“Hey... what’s wrong? Did something happen?”
She wanted to hate Reinhart, and she actually did hate him. But as much as she hated him, she trusted Reinhart.
“I don’t know... I don’t know why I’m like this either...”
And more than she hated Reinhart, she liked him.
“Just... just... Stay like this for a moment. Just for a moment...”
“H-huh? Uh... okay...”
In the end, she couldn’t hate Reinhart any more than she already did.
***
“You think it was just a misunderstanding?”
“... Yeah. Now that I think about it, I probably just scared myself. Nothing actually happened.”
‘What the...’
I had thought Harriet was caught up in something serious, but when I tried to listen calmly and understand what happened to her, she kept nodding with an embarrassed expression and dismissed it as nothing.
“Well, it’s just... There’s this person who keeps praising me as a genius... and it’s kind of suspicious, you know? Like he has some other motive. He did say some strange things, but I think that person is just a bit odd... He didn’t actually do anything to me, though... What should I say? Did I just get scared for no reason...?”
“Maybe you’re delusional?” I suggested, and Harriet’s face turned bright red.
“Uh... yeah, delusion... M-maybe that’s it...”
‘What was this? From what Lucinil said, did our little twin-tailed cutie fall victim to hero syndrome or something? That can’t be it, right?’
—Just eat them.
—Really? You’re not giving in?
—I’m holding a knife.
—Wow... You’re really going all out, huh?
“Reinhart... I’m feeling dizzy...” Harriet whined, slumping across the table as she listened to Ellen and Charlotte’s bickering, which was indeed dizzying just to hear.
“Honestly... I’m not used to it either.”
Their conversation was dizzying in a way unrelated to status or anything like that.
In the end, despite Charlotte’s grumbling, Ellen completed the beef bourguignon and served it to all of us while Charlotte crossed her arms and scoffed.
“Sorry, but do you remember me saying I’m on a diet? What makes you think I’d eat anything after eleven at night? Use your brain a little.”
‘Yeah. I figured you’d say something like that.’
As Charlotte turned her nose up at the food, Ellen stared at her intently.
‘There it is. Her lips are starting to pout.’
Seeing Ellen’s increasingly pouty lips and gaze, Charlotte tried to ignore it and muttered quietly, “What? I told you I’m not eating it.”
“...”
Ellen continued to glare at her with her lips jutting out, as if to say that she wouldn’t eat unless Charlotte ate as well.
‘I’m going to be really disappointed,’ her eyes said. ‘I’m going to be genuinely sad if you don’t eat.’
It was almost a coercive level of eye contact.
“Fine, fine! I’ll eat it, okay?”
Charlotte seemed genuinely intent on not eating, but in the end, she ate because of Ellen.
“... Hmph, well. It tastes decent enough.”
It was such an obvious line that it was almost shocking. Harriet, watching Charlotte, seemed to reflect on whether she had been like that, and her face turned bright red.
“I, I... I’ll never... I’ll never say things like that again... Or scoff like that...”
‘Yeah. You’re cute enough without having to say such things anymore...’
***
Ever since Ellen had become Charlotte’s knight, there were times when the three of us ended up spending time like this, and although Harriet and I hadn’t exactly reconciled, Harriet’s misinterpretation of her earlier situation meant that she had somehow joined the three of us in the Class A dormitory.
After eating the meal Ellen had prepared, we had some time to have a cup of tea.
Usually, if left alone, Ellen and Charlotte would automatically start bickering, whether Ellen started it or Charlotte did. Whenever they started arguing, Harriet pressed her fingers against her temples and tried her best not to listen.
Of course, that wasn’t the only conversation.
“... Uh. Did I hear that wrong?”
“You heard it right. I’m talking about increasing the efficiency of gate usage.”
“No, I mean, you’re saying you can travel from one gate to another in one go, as long as the gates are connected to the gate network?”
“I don’t know if it actually works, but theoretically, that should be the case. I don’t know if you’ll understand, but I even made something like a blueprint.”
Charlotte had asked Harriet if she’d found anything she wanted from the research materials at the imperial magic department, and Harriet had answered.
Her words also took me by surprise. Improving the system such that any trip could be made just by a single entry and exit from a warpgate, instead of having to pass through several gates consecutively, was astonishing, even though it wasn’t something that could be implemented immediately.
Charlotte gave Harriet a skeptical look. “If what you’re saying is true and it really happens... Wow, I can’t even begin to imagine how much will change.”
Charlotte seemed overwhelmed by the thought of calculating the impact of the increased efficiency and simplification of warp gate usage.
Ellen just tilted her head as if wondering if it was really that significant, while I couldn’t help but think that our genius was truly the best.
Harriet’s discovery was probably as impactful as the development of the Power Cartridge or Moonshine, but I couldn’t fully grasp it since the discovery was beyond my expectations.
Ultimately, this discovery would greatly benefit the empire’s interests, and Charlotte seemed to be giving serious consideration to the talent of Harriet de Saint-Ouen, the greatest genius in the history of magic.
Ellen, Harriet, and Charlotte.. Seeing the three of them together and talking was unfamiliar, but it was reassuring.
“What has that unnie been up to lately?” Ellen asked me quietly, as if she were genuinely curious.
Charlotte and Harriet also seemed interested, and turned their attention to me.
Asking me about Olivia’s whereabouts wasn’t absurd, but it was surprising that Ellen was the one who was curious about it.
Perhaps she was starting to feel a sense of camaraderie, since they shared the same fate as masters of holy relics.
Olivia hadn’t explained to me what she was going through, perhaps believing that it wasn’t worth mentioning. She was often away from the Temple, which made it hard to meet up with her.
“I heard she’s working as an inquisitor... but I don’t know the details.”
I only knew that Olivia was searching for clues about the Demon God Cult. If I revealed that I was the Demon King, Olivia would side with me and keep my secret.
However, Olivia choosing to side with me would also mean willingly becoming an enemy of humanity.
I hoped Olivia wouldn’t become anyone’s ally, rather than risk her safety by siding with me.
In fact, it would be better if Olivia considered the Demon King her enemy. That way, she wouldn’t become an enemy of an unspecified majority.
Having her consider the Demon King an enemy was more desirable than drawing Olivia to the Demon King’s side and making her an enemy of humanity. That way, I just needed to avoid her, and there wouldn’t be any issues.
“An inquisitor?”
The word itself sounded foreboding, and all three of them looked surprised.
Although the current second-year Royal Class students saw Olivia as a senior with a terrible personality, they knew she was renowned as a saint.
Thus, the idea of Olivia working as an inquisitor, someone who captured and tortured people, seemed unexpected.
The engagement proposed by Vertus and the numerous changes that followed had ultimately altered the entire continental situation, and our relationships as well.
Among those small changes, the smallest was that we now gathered like this in the middle of the night to eat and talk.
Our relationship wasn’t shattered, but there was a precarious little peace in this strange relationship that seemed both awkwardly broken and awkwardly mended.