DPAA 54

chapter 54

I watched the woman silently screaming before me and smiled faintly.

“The world’s gotten better.”

In my previous life, no one would have frozen up just from seeing her.

It was always the opposite.

Back then, she was the kind of person who trembled even at the appearance of an F-rank monster or a C-rank hunter.

Someone who would grovel on the ground, sacrificing her pride just to survive.

A weakling.

And now, that same weakling had become the one to inspire fear in others.
Of course, that made me happy.

That was the reason.

“……!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, I threw the assassin into my inventory.

“Wow.”

Normally, living beings couldn’t be stored inside an inventory.

Time within an inventory was infinite—an endless void.

Even if someone entered for just an instant, the time they felt inside could vary wildly.

In other words, even a single second in there could feel like a hundred million years—or longer—spent in total darkness and nothingness.

Anyone would go insane.

When countless idiots first experimented by going in and out of inventories and ended up losing their minds, the system created a restriction:

You simply couldn’t put a living person inside.

“But it worked.”

Now, that rule was broken.

“Did I become strong enough to override the restriction? Or is it because this is another world?”

Or maybe…

“That wasn’t a person at all?”

Perhaps the “System” didn’t recognize beings from this world—like her—as true living creatures the way it recognized me.

While I was lost in thought, Aiden spoke up.

“Where did you send her?”

“I put her in my inventory.”

“……You can put people in there?”

His eyes widened slightly.

I turned to look at him.

Black hair that reminded me of my former life in Korea—rare in this world.
Exotic green eyes.

His chest rose and fell with each breath, and his lips twitched as he waited for my answer.

He looked undeniably human.

Yes, definitely human… and yet—

“You can. Though there’s a fifty-percent chance they’ll go mad.”

I smiled lightly.

“I was going to interrogate her, but we already know who sent her and why. No need to keep a loose end alive.”

I had already dealt with the other one anyway.

Hearing that, he asked,

“There were two of them?”

“No.”

The firmness in my voice made him blink in confusion.

“Then three? You mean more of them were after you?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.”

Of course, I denied it flatly.

“One’s dead, one’s in storage—so that leaves one.”

I raised two fingers, then folded one down and nodded to myself.

“Right. Just one left.”

He stared at me in disbelief.

“My lady, do you happen to know the phrase ‘that’s ridiculous’?”

“What, were you about to say something like ‘a millstone without a handle’? Never used one myself, but I imagine grinding grain without a handle would be annoying. You even know what a millstone is?”

“…? What’s that?”

“It’s a thing.”

Ignoring his confused stare, I brushed off my hands.

“Well, shall we get going?”

“Going where—”

“Where do you think?”

I patted his shoulder.

“You said you’d treat me today. Lead the way.”

The assassin cleanup could wait until after we had fun.

At my words, Aiden blinked a few times, then moved as if flipping a switch.

Despite supposedly being new to the imperial capital, he somehow knew an impressive number of tourist spots.

“This place is famous for its Earl Grey tea. Next door, they sell a limited edition fruit ice cream—noble families with kids send servants to line up every day.”

“Sounds perfect.”

It was late summer—not yet autumn.

In a world without refrigerators, making ice cream in summer required an ice-element mage.

But ice magic was extremely hard to master—it required high-level skill in both wind and water magic, cast simultaneously in perfect harmony.

So ice cream was a luxury dessert, rarer even than what you’d find at the top academies.

Of course, ice magic itself was child’s play for me—but the recipe for ice cream was another matter entirely.

“This is… honestly touching.”

For the first time in almost a month, I could experience a little taste of modern civilization—or magical civilization, to be exact.

“Mmm. It’s actually better than the sorbet they serve at the royal palace. Two hours of waiting well spent.”

Aiden nodded, eating his strawberry ice cream.

“I’m surprised you know this area so well. Didn’t you say it was your first time here?”

“I’ve always wanted to walk these streets,” he replied. “I read a lot of travel guides.”

Still, something didn’t add up.

“Even so, you could’ve gone out during academy holidays, right?”

“I didn’t have anyone I wanted to go with.”

He shrugged.

“And besides, you know as well as I do that wandering the capital alone—when the safest place for me is already secured—would’ve been stupid.”

Through the Eyes of Truth, I could tell he wasn’t lying.

Not that that means he wanted to come out with me.

Even if he had, it wouldn’t be out of romance—or even friendship.

To him, I was just someone convenient to use. Nothing more, nothing less.

Whatever.

Then I’ll just let him use me.

I scraped up the last of the ice cream from the cup and tossed it into my inventory.

When I was F-rank, I didn’t even have enough space to consider storing things like this—but now that I was S-rank, the space was vast enough to fit an entire nation.

The person floating around in there now was probably drifting among all sorts of random junk.

“Come to think of it, I have something to do.”

Aiden gave me a questioning look.

“I need to transfer some money.”

“Money?”

“Yeah.”

I’d planned to do it after the tournament, but since I’d come into a fortune earlier than expected, why not now?

I grinned, holding up a small pouch of gold coins I’d pulled from my inventory.

“Time to pay the back wages.”

* * *

There was no need to visit a bank.

Kanis had a skill that made bank transfers—or even the carrier pigeons that delivered letters—look laughable.

And she wasn’t stupid enough not to use it.

“Lady Larisa, a package has arrived for you.”

At that very moment, in the ducal mansion, Larisa received a small box from a servant.

What’s this?

It was neatly wrapped, but she could guess what was inside—something small and metallic, judging by the faint clinking sound when she shook it.

Did Father send it?

Larisa was due to return to the academy in ten days.

It wouldn’t be strange if her father had sent her some allowance.

Though he could’ve just sent it through the bank…

Inefficient, sure, but possible.

Tilting her head, Larisa opened the box.

Inside was an unexpected name.

From: Kanis Escliff

“Milady?!”

Larisa’s blue eyes widened.

She quickly unfolded the small note attached to the pouch of coins.

‘Here’s the rest of your pay. Keep what’s left for yourself.’

Larisa let out a short laugh.

“She actually kept her word.”

Only a month ago, that woman had been living like a shut-in wreck.

Who would’ve thought she’d change so much in such a short time?

Smiling faintly, Larisa murmured,

“Well then, I’d better do my part too.”

* * *

The next day, Larisa gathered the servants and maids working under Kanis.

“This is a gift from the young lady. Accept it gratefully.”

They were already proud to serve Kanis, thanks to the brooches she’d given them earlier.
And now—barely a month later—they were being handed a huge sum of money.

Twenty gold coins each.

Even if the butler had secretly skimmed off their pay for years, their combined total wouldn’t have reached five gold coins. This was four times that—per person.

It was enough to make anyone’s tongue itch to spread the news.

“In fact,” Larisa said smoothly, “it wouldn’t hurt to brag a little.”

Then she sealed it with a final touch.

Before the grateful servants, she smiled and added,

“Oh, and there’s something extra too…”

* * *

Larisa Rememberal was a talented woman.

Though her genius sister’s magical brilliance had always overshadowed her, Larisa’s true gift lay elsewhere.

“Did you hear? The servants under Lady Kanis all got a huge payout!”

“Really? How much?”

She had a knack for persuasion—for winning hearts.

“Twenty gold coins each, apparently.”

“What?! Are you serious?”

That was Larisa’s talent.

“They say the lady paid it all out of her own pocket. She even wrote everyone a personal note of thanks.”

“No way. That can’t be true.”

Of course, it wasn’t.

Kanis hadn’t written a single note—Larisa had.

And “note” was generous—it was really just a short slip of paper saying, Thank you for your hard work. Let’s keep it up.

Barely three lines.

But that little scrap of paper had a massive effect.

The servants who already boasted about their brooches now flaunted their special treatment, driving the others mad with envy.

And so—

“Lady Rememberal, one of Lady Helena’s maids has come to see you.”

Larisa opened the door with a warm, knowing smile.

“Of course. What can I do for you?”