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<Chapter 6>
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What Changed, What Is Changing, What Never Changes
One month later.
“Are you guys, like, children of darkness?”
“There he goes again with the nonsense.”
It was a sincere question from my point of view, but Niche, with his characteristically cute way of speaking, dismissed it as the usual nonsense.
Undeterred, I kept running my mouth.
“How can you possibly live for a hundred years?”
“You picking a fight?”
“It’s admiration. It’s cool, like vampires.”
It was just words thrown out without passing through my brain, but honestly, this castle did kind of resemble a vampire lair. If I’m being generous.
This Belmeyer Grand Ducal Castle, called the Winter Castle.
This place had been abandoned for a whopping over a hundred years. There’s no other huge abandoned building quite like it.
The only decent places were a few spots, including the castle owner’s bedroom. In most places, opening the door would unleash a tidal wave of dust that even ghosts would avoid.
Here, the dining room was one of those rare decent spots.
“There are no windows, so it’s gloomy even during the day, and it feels like spiders and rats might come out, but considering that, it’s clean enough.”
I said that, glaring at the dining table.
A long, antique dining table, and on it, a basket of bread and a glass of water placed bleakly without any tableware.
This is the Winter Castle’s staple food.
Staple food. They say they eat only so-called potato bread—made by mixing potatoes and wheat, northern specialities—and water three times a day.
What’s more horrifying is the fact that the non-humans of this castle have been living on nothing but that for nearly a hundred years.
“Imperial prisoners probably eat better than this…”
“Why do you keep muttering? If you’re not going to eat, give it to me.”
I looked at Niche, who had breadcrumbs stuck around his mouth, and slowly chewed my share of the bread. His smooth eyebrows shot up.
I was too hungry to go on a food strike and starve.
‘If I live like this… I might die from malnutrition.’
Things I’ve learned while staying at the Winter Castle.
Including me, only six people live here: the Grand Duke and his subordinates—a butler, a witch, one maid, and two knights.
And all of them are over a hundred years old.
What that means is, a long time ago, for some reason, their bodies’ time stopped along with the Grand Duke’s.
However, in that process, they supposedly awakened a third type of special ability, neither a mage’s magic nor a knight’s aura—hereafter referred to as supernatural ability.
So, me,
‘They called him a demon, but they’re psychics? Esper, or something like that?’
Going through my reincarnation mindset,
‘This seems pretty confidential, but they’re telling me everything.’
Finding it absurd as a sensible person, and finally,
‘The state of the country… Its national power…’
I arrived at the conclusion that Belmire is not in a good state.
To summarize the current situation of Belmire:
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Harsh winter all year round (well, that’s the North for you)
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Poor household economy (that can happen)
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The poorest place in Belmire is the Grand Ducal Castle (huh?)
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The country’s leadership consists of only six people (is this even possible?)
‘How on earth did they fight the Empire on equal footing?’
The more I dig, the more Belmire seems like ‘Is this even a country? Even a territory would be a problem,’ yet it’s the target of checks from Hilvarcia , the continent’s top dog, the Empire.
In this continent, Hilvarcia is the only ‘Empire.’
Belmire is a duchy in name, but really, that’s just a formality; in practice, it’s close to an independent nation.
‘I hear the Grand Ducal family is also a cadet branch of the Imperial family.’
Well, various interests seem to be entangled.
Maybe that supernatural ability is incredibly overpowered, or maybe the Grand Duke is a deus ex machine, I don’t know.
In the original work, Belmire was never seriously attacked or occupied by the Empire.
But peeling back the layers reveals this mess. I can’t help but worry.
Because Belmire safety is now my safety!
“This won’t do.”
“What won’t?”
At my muttering, Zephyr appeared like the wind and asked flatly.
I’ve long developed immunity to his sudden appearances, so no matter when or where he spoke to me, it wasn’t surprising.
“Looks like she’s sick, just leave her alone.”
“Nishe, are you going to live as a knight eating only potato bread?”
“Ugh, see? Here she goes.”
“Irene has been spaced out quite a bit lately, hasn’t she?”
Ellie, who had been sitting quietly next to me, added.
With her characteristic dull brown bob cut, she’s the castle’s only maid, and she’s been attending to me since the day after I arrived.
‘She does attend to me… but…’
She’d bathe me like doing laundry, or if I seemed cold while sleeping, she’d wrap me up in the blanket right up to my head.
This maid, who only does bizarre things, held out the bread she had taken a bite from.
“Are you hungry? Would you like some of mine?”
“Bread.”
“Irene?”
“I have to deal with this damn bread first.”
I decided.
‘Ah, damn it. I was going to stay quiet.’
Even if we’re now bound by fate, I didn’t want to meddle in things no one asked me to. But.
“You need to eat well and live well to fight well.”
I bid farewell to this maddeningly poor environment.
It’s absolutely not that I’m trying to start a food revolution because just seeing the silhouette of potato bread makes me feel sick…
Probably.
The past month.
Actually, I’d been loafing around aimlessly during that time.
It’s funny that I ended up as a freeloader after putting on airs in front of the Grand Duke, but I had a valid reason.
The Grand Duke really didn’t give me any work.
Not only that. No one in the castle demanded usefulness from me, didn’t particularly restrict my actions, and didn’t even look at me with disdain.
I found out the reason after some time had passed.
“Didn’t you know? The reason the Master is awake right now is thanks to Irene.”
“But I haven’t done anything?”
“That’s what everyone thinks. Irene’s very existence is, um, a kind of luck for us.”
That was it.
The Grand Duke, who was supposedly almost always asleep due to his terrifying magical energy, had, surprisingly, not fallen asleep again since I came.
They said he was breaking records for continuous wakefulness.
On top of that, the witch, who has the ability to see the future, made some prophecy, and it all ended up being attributed to me.
I’m just sitting here like ‘huh?’.
I can only guess that I received some kind of passive skill like a luck totem, a reincarnation buff.
Anyway, it seems I’m very effective(?).
If things go according to the prophecy, the Grand Duke’s magical energy won’t go berserk and cause the end of the world.
Because of that, I’ve become quite relaxed.
‘…I was thinking too conveniently.’
I’ve already twisted the original plot, so there’s plenty of possibility that, through the butterfly effect, I’ll get caught up in events that weren’t in the original!
Moreover, I’ve already experienced the butterfly effect firsthand.
“Rishie is still treating Giselle, the Crown Prince?”
“Yeah. The Crown Prince is still unconscious.”
“That can’t be. Divine power is a gift from God… capable of regenerating severed limbs.”
“Maybe the Saint divine power has faded, or perhaps she’s intentionally not healing him completely.”
“…Huh”
” Isn’t that good? Thanks to that, the identity of the assailant who stabbed the Crown Prince and fled hasn’t been revealed yet.”
The witch Giselle told me this, thinking it was news from the Empire I’d like, but I couldn’t laugh.
It meant Rishie neither accused me of attempted murder, nor saved him, nor let him die.
A choice that chose none of the options properly.
‘And I’m the one who caused that unexpected choice.’
Maybe it’s because the villainess, who should have exited long ago, avoided the execution ending. Things were gradually diverging from the original.
Realizing it sent a fresh chill down my spine.
‘…Then, could the armistice really be broken?’
Truly, this country has no answers from start to finish.
I think, ‘Nah, it couldn’t come to that,’ but ‘couldn’t’ often leads to ruin, so what if we end up clashing with the Empire?
…No way.
If I live like this, even things that are possible will become impossible!
“Grand Duke, may I interrupt you for a moment?”
And so, right now.
I’ve come to see Belmeyer highest authority.
I don’t know much about the Grand Duke, but finding him wasn’t difficult. I just had to go where his immense magical energy, as always, could be sensed.
On the castle walls that enveloped the Winter Castle.
In a place offering a clear view of the entire white duchy’s landscape, there was a pale man, melted into the scenery like a landscape painting.
“Grand Duke?”
“…”
Perched at the very edge of the wall, the Grand Duke glanced back at me for a moment, then turned his head towards the snowy mountains visible in the distance without any answer.
The fine silver hair of the snow-white man fluttered in the wind. My long black hair also fluttered like a flag planted on the wall.
‘The Northern Grand Duke is this white?’
His gaze was still fixed somewhere far away. It seemed like he wasn’t looking at something, but drifting through somewhere in his memories.
“Ahem. Anyway, the reason I’ve come to find you is…”
“…”
“I want to improve the quality of our meals. Eating like this will lead to malnutrition, you know? Of course, this castle only has non-humans who’ve been fine eating only potato bread for a hundred years, and you, Grand Duke, who’s fine eating nothing at all.”
Maybe because I had just eaten potato bread to fill my stomach, I spoke, pouring out words like someone with a bit of a grudge.
“People need to eat a balanced diet of carbs, protein, and fat. Everyone looks fine even without eating well, but still, we need proper meals. For starters, I’ll die if I only eat this kind of bread.”
“…”
“I’m saying we need to eat at least an average level. Even if you’re called demons, in the end, if you don’t eat, you die, just like humans.”
From what I’d observed by their side, they were just long-lived psychics. If they were truly demons, then the demons in this world are pretty pathetic.
Besides that.
I overheard that, unlike the people in the castle, the duchy’s citizens are ordinary humans, so they eat better than these guys.
Honestly. The Grand Ducal Castle lives worse than its own people.
Where in the world are there demons like this?
