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Chapter 103
At that time, the Duke, who had woken up early as usual, was sitting alone in his study.
Even though only one member of the household had left, the Duke’s mansion felt far quieter than before. It was
almost as if the echoes of servants’ frantic cries—“Ah, the young lady is gone!”, “We should have protected her!
Sorry!”—or the clamor of children—“Dad! I’m going out!”, “Why can’t I go? Then I’ll go out the window!”—were
about to ring through the halls. Of course, the absence of such chaos brought a certain peace of mind, but still, the
unusually quiet atmosphere made the mansion feel somewhat awkward.
“……”
The Duke sipped his tea in silence. The food in the Duke’s household had been strictly managed for a long time, and poison checks were naturally part of that. After all, since his wife, Katrine Semperion, had come to this house, there had been several assassination attempts.
‘Even when Elizia and Howell were young, there were a few incidents.’
Though it had been so long ago that everyone likely forgot, reflecting on the recent attempt on Elizia’s life, perhaps the children still carried lingering fear and trauma.
‘I thought we had been more cautious recently.’
This attempted poisoning of Elizia was a painful failure—perhaps they had overestimated themselves and their family’s safety.
The Duke’s gaze then fell on a family portrait on one side of the room: a delicate oil painting depicting the Duke and his wife, with Elizia and Howell sitting obediently below.
It was a scene that could never exist in reality. His wife, Katrine Semperion, had passed away shortly after giving birth to Elizia.
“Katrine.”
The Duke quietly called her name. She had sometimes shown extraordinary brilliance and genius, and was even wiser than him at times, often giving advice he sought. Gazing at her warm smile in the painting, he murmured softly:
“…If you were still alive, you probably would have been better than me.”
But, naturally, that was impossible. And it was he who had failed to protect her; the one he should blame most was himself alone.
After this brief reflection, the Duke slowly rose. Lost in thought, he didn’t notice that the candle in front of the painting flickered more violently than usual.
The Duke’s wife and the name of the game company overlapped.
Even more, the game company’s name meant “The Duchess is alive.”
When Elizia spoke it aloud, the surrounding lights flickered!
Feeling something eerie, she rubbed her arms.
“Why did they name the company like that? What’s the connection?”
Honestly, when first seeing it, they thought it was some kind of mystery game foreshadowing.
This is well-known… Across both Remegol and the Seiros Saga, the character Katrine didn’t exist at all. That’s why, from the start, everyone had been asking who Katrine was.
“……Among all those characters, she didn’t exist?”
A name that had never appeared showing up here? Then, it was highly likely that the Katrine the game company referred to was indeed the Duchess.
But why hadn’t her name appeared in the game, and why the message that she was alive?
‘……Could it be a warning?’
Perhaps the game company had hidden a foreshadowing in its name, a warning not to assume the Duchess was dead.
‘……But in my dream, she seemed kind.’
She had greeted warmly, saying, “Our daughter, it’s been a while.” So Elizia hadn’t thought to be suspicious or cautious.
‘Could it be that in reality, she isn’t kind…?’
Thinking back, there were suspicious moments: she’d threaten to leave if things didn’t happen in her dream, grumble if someone forgot her mother’s name, and point out someone’s resemblance to another.
‘Now that I think about it, that’s too much!’
The more she recalled, the more exhausted she felt. But nonetheless, the Duchess was indeed a mysterious figure, especially considering she was the one to discover the dimensional-transfer artifact and had never appeared in the game.
‘If she’s alive, why hasn’t she appeared?’
Why assume she was dead in the first place? Why are her actions shrouded in mystery if she is alive?
‘……I think I might know.’
Elizia rested her chin on her hand with a serious expression. Officially, the Duchess was recorded as deceased. But what if that wasn’t death, but a dimensional transfer?
What if the Duchess had gone to the Seiros Saga world—or even to Earth?
‘Could she be alive and watching this broadcast?’
Thinking that, Elizia glanced at the camera—but it remained unchanged, filming her as usual. The truth beyond was unknowable.
To uncover it, she first had to gather information.
“…Let’s go to the re-examination site first.”
She adjusted the camera for viewers and flashed a confident smile.
“Today is the re-examination day.”
Due to suspicions regarding ‘Finn,’ who had previously repelled a beast invasion, today was the day for re-examination. Observers from the palace had come, and from the temple side…
“T-The ambassador himself has come…”
The unexpected presence startled the magic tower staff and young magicians. Nobody had anticipated the ambassador personally attending a single magician’s re-examination.
Elizia shared the same sentiment.
‘Why did he come? Has he suspected Finn all along?’
Finn concealed that he was a relic user. Perhaps the temple had been watching him closely.
Elizia felt relieved he was present. If Finn had been re-examined alone, he might have been exposed or become a person of interest.
Preparation was quickly complete. At the re-examination site in the forest, examiners questioned Finn.
“Then, Wizard Finn Ende, could you explain the situation again?”
They wanted to ask about the battle against the beasts she had joined him in.
“Wait!”
Before Finn could speak, Elizia raised her hand.
“…Miss Semperion?”
The examiners looked annoyed at her interruption. Elizia took advantage of the attention and shouted:
“I was there too! I can explain!”
“But, miss, today’s examination is for Sir Finn Ende…”
“I did it!”
Elizia’s declaration surprised the magicians, and the ambassador raised his eyebrows with interest. He seemed more curious to hear Elizia than to reveal Finn’s identity. She pressed on.
“I apologize to Sir Ende. He was only re-examined because I asked him to keep my defeating the beasts a secret.”
“But that doesn’t make sense, miss,” a senior-looking magician interjected.
“Sir Ende’s accomplishments are excellent, but Miss Semperion is a recently registered regular magician. How did you defeat the beasts?”
Another magician added, reviewing the records:
“All the beast corpses had damage caused by a strong energy source. Such wounds could only be made by high-energy, high-output magic. Even with swordsmanship, this would be impossible. Even a sword master couldn’t cause these—this looks closer to magic than sword strikes.”
‘That’s right.’
The phenomenon was purely energy-based, something nonexistent in this era.
The ambassador intervened.
“…Or could it be, miss, that you’ve been hiding such magic?”
Though surprised, Elizia felt his expression was partly an act. He continued:
“Even so, words alone are hard to prove. It’s better to show directly.”
‘Beasts are supposed to appear here.’
They had intentionally chosen a site where beasts would appear to partially recreate the event. It was odd that the temple chose the location, but…
As soon as he finished speaking, strange cries echoed.
Kiiieee! Kkiiiik! Kkuueee!
“Wait a moment.”
One magician paled at the growing noise. Others looked troubled.
“This is more than we expected…”
“Miss, be careful.” Finn warned. Elizia nodded. He had stepped back yesterday at her request to let her act, but…
“Please wait a moment! I have a plan.”
Before Finn could respond, swarms of beasts appeared in the sky.
Kkiieeek!
“Everyone, duck!”
Magicians raised defense spells, young magicians ducked in fear, and someone shouted about calling the tower master. Chaos erupted instantly.
Elizia locked eyes with the ambassador, still observing her and Finn.
‘Seems like he’s daring us.’
Whether they used swords or magic—or if someone’s identity was revealed—he stood to gain.
“There are too many of them!”
“We must retreat!”
“Fall back! Reinforce the defenses!”
Shouts filled the air. Elizia turned, calculating nothing in the desperate moment. A massive bird-shaped beast lunged toward a magician gathering documents.
“Magician!”
Bang!
A bright light burst forth from Elizia’s hands, turning the beasts to dust. Bang! Pop! Crack!
Within seconds, countless beasts were destroyed. The magicians gawked.
“What on earth…?”
The ambassador’s expression was the same.
‘Something is wrong.’
If it were magic, they could roughly discern it. If a relic, they might notice too. But what Elizia held was an unknown small ‘something.’
Special Collaboration!
Using the Spaceflight Academy Special Ultra! Personal Cutie☆Laser Ray Gun!
Usage time remaining: 3:25:56
“Ta-da, everyone! You’ve seen this in other game ads, right?”
Elizia winked at the camera. In her hands was a futuristic-looking gun—the same item sent for a collaboration from the game she had promoted earlier.
‘SF space war concept, very powerful.’
Truly. Its energy output rivaled or exceeded magic crystal bombs!
Pew! Pew! Bzap! Bang!
The ambassador, mouth agape, watched as Elizia effortlessly obliterated the monsters with the laser gun.
‘I never thought I’d use a laser gun in a fantasy romance world…’
