Chapter 9
"What are you thinking about that makes you smile so scary?”
“I’m thinking of abandoning you.”
“……How are you going to abandon me, you heartless master?”
“I’m going to become a knight.”
“Why a knight all of a sudden?”
“I’ll become a Falcon of Azure Sky and try to get a decent Giosa other than you.”
“Hey, where else can you find a Giosa as decent as me! Look at me, I’m being so well-behaved even though my master is planning to abandon me!”
“If you don’t like it, then stop whining about killing innocent people.”
“Hey, killing is the fastest and cleanest solution to most problems. I’m just recommending a good method for both you and me, so please respect my taste, Master.”
Eki ignored the Demon Sword’s nonsense.
She had decided what to do about the Demon Sword problem. Now, another problem remained. She took out an empty package she had kept in her drawer. It was the package she had received from Nora earlier.
“Bal. You said you don’t know what happened before your ego awakened, right?”
“Would you remember what happened while you were asleep?”
“Then you obviously don’t know why you were in our house’s kitchen.”
“I don’t know, things like that.”
Eki carefully examined the wrapping paper and string. Nothing was written on it, and there were no traces. As a non-mage, there was no way for her to find out more.
Bringing the Demon Sword could never have been done with good intentions. So, did someone have a grudge against the Roaz Count family?
She had to deal with this problem somehow before leaving for Ajenka. She couldn’t leave her family in danger.
But she couldn’t just stay home and wait for something to happen. It wasn’t a problem that could be easily tracked down, and getting rid of the Demon Sword was urgent.
‘Someone who can track this down for me and protect my family while I’m away.’
There was someone she could ask. No one else came to mind. Someone who had known her and her family for a long time. Someone she trusted like family. Someone strong enough and wise enough. And like other precious people, someone who had died by her hand.
‘Nicole….’
She was scheduled to arrive at the mansion tomorrow. Eki made up her mind and put the package away.
“……I’m going to be busy.”
“Busy? Who are you going to kill?”
“Shut up and go to sleep.”
Eki frowned and gripped the Demon Sword. The Demon Sword grumbled and disappeared into her hand.
* * *
Ekinesia woke up early the next day as well. Having saved sleeping time to gather Giosas, she had a habit of getting minimal sleep. And if she didn’t wake up before Nora came in, it would be difficult to hide the mark on her palm.
Of course, she couldn’t explain these circumstances. She had woken up early yesterday, and if she did it again today, everyone around her would look at her like she was a three-legged chicken.
So, she secretly went out in the early morning to do some light exercise and came back in, pretending to sleep in until late morning.
It was subtly difficult. After spending years like a ascetic monk, it felt awkward to lie down and rest. She kept feeling uneasy and like she had to do something.
‘But I didn’t have a nightmare for the first time in a while. I probably won’t have them much anymore.’
Eki was buried in bed, lazing around and thinking like that. She slept well without dreaming. It was a pleasant sleep.
Just as she had fallen asleep comfortably, she would soon adapt to resting. Now she deserved to rest. She was allowed to rest. Eki rubbed her cheek against the soft pillowcase and smiled faintly. Then, as soon as she heard the knock she had been waiting for, she jumped up.
“Lady, you should get up soon.”
“I’m already up, Nora.”
“Oh my.”
When Eki opened the door, Nora’s eyes widened. She brought the washing water and said as if she was amazed.
“You woke up early yesterday too.”
“I’m going to try to wake up a little earlier from now on. When is Nicole supposed to arrive?”
“She’s already here. She’s unpacking in her room.”
“Already? You should have woken me up.”
“Nicole told me not to wake you up.”
That was understandable. Nicole was the person Eki felt most comfortable with. She didn’t have to pay attention like when she was talking to other noble young ladies of her age.
As such, she had also gotten annoyed a lot. Knowing that well, Nicole had obviously stopped Nora, saying, ‘Don’t wake her up, you know she gets cranky when you wake her up in the morning.’
Nora cleared away the washing water and prepared a simple breakfast. Eki ate breakfast and changed her clothes, constantly thinking about how and to what extent she should talk to Nicole.
‘If it’s Nicole… I can just tell her the truth. But I can’t tell her everything.’
Nicole Sizton was a mage sponsored by the Roaz Count family. It was common for nobles to sponsor talented people, but her case was a bit special.
Nicole was an orphan who couldn’t find a sponsor because her magical talent was too insignificant. Most nobles refused to sponsor her, saying that this level of talent was useless. Only the Roaz Count couple took pity on Nicole’s situation and took her in.
With Roaz’s sponsorship, Nicole attended a boarding magic school and returned to the Roaz mansion every vacation to be a playmate for Eki and Lansel.
Nicole’s magical skills were so poor that it was unreasonable to even call her a mage. However, the Roaz Count family never blamed her for it. They knew she was doing her best.
The Count couple told Nicole that it didn’t matter if she didn’t become a mage and gave her a small town called Sizton as her territory.
The situation changed around the time Nicole graduated from magic school. A sage belonging to the Magic Tower, where the best mages gathered, realized that Nicole had a talent that was difficult to define with existing methods.
After that, Nicole became the sage’s disciple and successor and entered the Magic Tower, and from the age of twenty-two, she became known as an excellent mage.
Now, Nicole, the successor of one of the only seven sages, was more impressive than the Roaz Count family, which was only a decent level of nobility. But Nicole still used the name Sizton, which the Roaz Count couple had given her, and often stayed at the Roaz Count family during her vacations.
“Everything is ready, Lady.”
“Thank you, Nora.”
Nora finished tidying up Eki’s clothes. Eki sent Nora away and headed to Nicole’s room alone.
Walking down the hallway, she recalled her memories from before the regression.
Even in the past before the change, Nicole arrived at the Roaz Count family on the same day. However, unlike now, what Nicole saw in the past would have been the ruins of the Roaz mansion, which had been massacred by Eki.
Eki didn’t know how Nicole would have reacted to that. She was slaughtering other villages nearby at that time.
And Nicole tracked down the traces of the demon who had massacred Roaz alone and came to find her.
‘Nicole… didn’t recognize me.’
It was natural that even she, who was as close as family, couldn’t recognize her. Eki had become such a mess in just a few days.
Nicole glared at the Demon Sword’s demon with a face swollen from crying and eyes burning with hatred. She didn’t run away even though she could have. She desperately attacked the demon for the revenge of the Roaz Count family.
Ekinesia, who had not been tainted by the Demon Sword for long, was injured for the first time at that time. Nicole Sizton was an excellent mage, and the Demon Sword was not yet familiar with the host’s body. But it wasn’t a fatal wound. In exchange for causing that wound, Nicole died by her hand.
‘I’m glad she didn’t recognize me. It would have been harder if she had. For both Nicole and me.’
Lancelid and her parents, and the people of the Roaz mansion, had recognized her. It was right after she had taken the Demon Sword. That’s why Eki still found it difficult to recall that dawn.
She was already in front of Nicole’s room. She hesitated without knocking.
“What are you doing, not going in?”
The Demon Sword chattered in her head. Eki nervously clenched her right hand. She took a deep breath and knocked carefully. She felt someone approaching from beyond the door. The door opened.
“……Eki?”
Nicole had a dazed look on her face. Short red hair cut around her shoulders, dull green eyes, slightly prominent cheekbones and blemishes under her eyes. A face filled with slight fatigue and bewilderment instead of red hatred and pain. The familiar face appeared before her eyes as she remembered it.
Eki quickly swallowed the tears that were about to well up and smiled.
“……It’s been a while, Nicole.”
“Oh, well.”
“Can I come in?”
“Sure.”
Nicole stepped aside. The room was messy. Nicole, being a mage, didn’t entrust her luggage to a servant, but she was terrible at tidying up, so the room was often a mess. Eki nonchalantly pushed away the dirty pile of papers and sat down on a chair.
“Have you unpacked everything? How long are you planning to stay this time?”
She asked with a smile. Nicole pushed up her stained monocle and looked at Eki intently, then frowned.
“You’re Eki, right?”
“I am. Why? Is something wrong?”
Nicole cleared away the books piled up on another chair and sat down, glancing at Eki. If it had been the old Ekinesia, she would have started by pointing out the stained monocle and openly showed her disbelief while looking around the room. She wouldn’t have even set foot in the room, let alone sit down, saying it was dirty.
“The Eki I know isn’t the type to smile brightly at me like this.”
Only after hearing Nicole’s words did Eki realize that she was acting differently from ‘usual’. She didn’t care about the stains on the glasses or the messiness of the room. It had been a long time since she had cared about such trivial things. Since the person who had died was alive and breathing, she didn’t even notice it.
“It’s because I’m happy to see you, Nicole.”
“You’re talking nonsense, so you must have something to ask me? Just get to the point, I’m busy.”
Nicole retorted bluntly. Eki couldn’t help but laugh. She hadn’t changed at all from the Nicole in her memory. The only thing that had changed was Eki herself.
“I’m not talking nonsense. I honestly like you a lot, Nicole.”
“Are you crazy? Why are you being so creepy?”
“I thought it was cool that you didn’t show it when you must have had a hard time in magic school and that you were getting scholarships. I was actually grateful that you treated me like nothing even though I was the daughter of a sponsor. And I’m sorry for always pointing things out while pretending to be dissatisfied.”
“……Did you eat something wrong?”
“I just thought I’d never said it before.”
Nicole rubbed her arm as if she had goosebumps. Eki had a constant smile on her face. She felt relieved after saying what she couldn’t admit in the past because of face and pride.
The Eki of the past hated Nicole’s non-aristocratic aspects. She secretly looked down on her as a commoner and a mage sponsored by a family. So, while waiting for Nicole to stay at the mansion, she didn’t show that she liked Nicole.
It was a foolish thing to do. Once you die, you can never meet again, and no one knows when death will come.
Besides, what people show in the face of death is not status but character. But why was that status, that shallow pride, so important that she couldn’t be honest?
Nicole seemed very awkward, unable to adapt to Eki’s friendly behavior. She coughed for no reason and turned her gaze here and there, even fanning herself. Then she asked back in a nonchalant voice.
“What kind of favor are you trying to ask that you’re even saying such embarrassing things?”
“Of course I have something to ask, but what I just said is all true.”
“Ugh, okay, stop saying weird things and just tell me what you want.”
Eki obediently took out the empty package and placed it in front of Nicole. Nicole looked at the package with a puzzled expression and picked it up. After confirming that it was empty, she frowned.
“What is this?”
“It’s a package that was found in our house’s kitchen this morning.”
“It’s empty. What was inside?”
“Nicole. You have to keep what I’m about to say to yourself. Can you keep a secret?”
“What’s so serious? I understand, so tell me.”
Eki checked her surroundings. Only she and Nicole were near Nicole’s room. She took a deep breath for a moment and lowered her voice to whisper.
“There was a Demon Sword inside.”
