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Volume 1 Chapter 5 Part 1

CHAPTER 5: Decision

 

After Siluca left the Kraische family’s castle, she set up a carriage and headed south down the highway. The carriage carries a rainbow flag representing the Mages Association.

 

Since the option of joining the Factory Alliance was no longer available to them, they had no choice but to rely on the Fantasia Union, but unfortunately for them, the greatest Lord in the region belonging to the Fantasia Union was none other than Villar Constance, the Earl of Artuk. Siluca has already prepared a personal letter to him, and sent Irvin forward to deliver it. Right now, in the carriage were Siluca, Aishela and Balgary the Cait Sith, while the coachman for the carriage has been hired while they were still in Waldrind. Balgary is curled up on Siluca’s lap, and Siluca continued to caress his back with a dumbfounded expression.

 

「I can’t believe it!」

 

Ever since they left Artuk, Aishela had repeated the same words over and over again. She just could not stand that her former foster father, Aubest Meletes, turned down Siluca’s request.

 

「He’s always like that. He doesn’t realize that his thoughts are biased precisely because he doesn’t want to be swayed by his emotions. It was exactly the same when I was still in Magic Academy. 」

 

 

Back when she was still in Magic Academy, Siluca was almost sorted out of it. During her Magic Academy graduation exam, an accident occurred that nearly cost her she was life. On top of that, in order to protect her, Aishela had abandoned her own graduation exam.

 

At that time, she thought that the accident was a legitimate one that she herself caused, but it was only later that she found out that it was a part of her screening process, and that it was none other than her adoptive father Aubest who recommended her to be screened like that to begin with.

 

If it was not for the protection and recommendation of Sembros, the Headmaster of the Magic University, it was more than probable that another accident would have happened to her sometime in the future.

After she entered college, Siluca became more docile and had the surveillance removed from her as a result and Aishela began to work as an Agent for the Mages Association, so she had access to more information about the entire incident.

 

No, it would probably be better to say that this was the only reason why she became the Association’s Agent in the first place. Also, the only reason why she allowed the Arts to be engraved upon her body was that she wanted to become strong enough to protect Silica regardless of who or what was the enemy.

 

「I was rebellious and broke the rules all the time.」

 

 

Siluca raised her face and said vaguely.

 

「You were still a child, weren’t you? Whether you’re a little rebellious or breaking the rules, all such things should be excused when you are young and inexperienced in how the world works. And yet, that person still chose to make such an outrageous decision against his own adopted daughter, just so that he could brag that he never allows feelings to get in the way of reason when he has to make decisions, regardless of who is involved in them. And it was exactly the same this time too. I realize that it is important to not make exceptions in matters of such a grand scale, but there are also times when exceptions need to be made! In the first place, you are his adoptive daughter, so it really should not matter if you were a little pretentious, because that is exactly what it means to be human! Hell, even Jurgen Kraische, known far and wide as the Iron-blooded Earl chose to abandon the decisive battle against the Fantasia Union and withdrew his army in order to protect his family. 」

 

 

Jürgen Kraische was cut down by one of his subordinate Lords who was enraged by his decision to retreat from the battlefield at the most crucial time, and that is how the Iron-blooded Earl lost his life. That decision of his might have disqualified him as a competent leader, but it was most definitely the right thing to do as a human being.

 

 

「I understand that the contracted Mage should throw away my personal feelings to better survey their Lords, but does he not realize that by being so thorough about it he has become unfairly equal?!」

.

「Don’t speak ill of my father too much…」

 

Siluca said with a voice that sounded like she was about to cry.

 

「It’s true that my thinking was shallow. Now I see that it was a mistake to declare the we belonged to the Fantasia Union because I was only focused on increasing the number of our territories as fast as possible…」

 

「And how many people could have known that this was a bad thing to do?! Unless he pointed it out to them, no one would! 」

 

Aishela’s anger did not subside in the slightest.

 

「If we ever meet on the battlefield, I am going to behead him, even if that would be the last thing I would do!」

 

Siluca burst into tears.

 

「I knew that father is that kind of person. I should have acted with that in mind…」

 

「Siluca…..」

 

Aishela stood up from her seat and held Siluca’s head to her chest. Siluca raises her voice and began to cry.

 

Even Aishela knows that her adoptive father has a gentle and kind personality. After all, he took care of them even though he himself was clumsy and always busy, and yet, even despite that, he was always trying to make as much time for them as possible.

 

Siluca loved her father, and so did Aishela. But since the incident at the Magic Academy, Aishela has become wary of her adoptive father as well.

 

Reading the atmosphere, Balgary moved from Siluca’s lap to the seat next to her, he also did that to avoid Aishela, because he knew that if he allowed her to caress his back, he would have lost all of his fur well before they would have reached Artuk.

「There is still hope for us if the Lustful Earl agrees to become allies with us, but the Lords other than the King of Selvis are definitely going to be bewildered by this turn of events, because we all thought that Marine Kraische is going to approve of us joining the Factory Alliance. 」

 

「I will try negotiating with him, but I don’t think that our chances are looking too good here. After all, I am the one who humiliated him by breaking the agreement to become his contracted Mage. 」

 

「Do you really have to go meet with the Lustful Earl? I thought that this kind of personality was the one that you cannot stomach the most. 」

 

 

「If anything, I think he has a sadistic personality instead, since he would be happy to make a contract with any girl as long as she is young and would even go as far as to force them to wear such clothes.」

 

Siluca said so and unfurled her cloak. Below it, she was wearing a robe given to her by the Earl of Artuk. Wearing it might backfire horribly against her, but she chose to wear that robe in hopes that it might help her to flirt with The Lustful Earl as a last resort.

 

「I wonder if he would show any kind of interest in me? Then I could have done it instead of you. 」

 

Aishela mumbled to herself. If it meant saving Siluca, she would not hesitate to sacrifice her own body or her life. The two of them might not be related by blood at all, but to Aishela, Siluca was her one and only precious little sister. Because her father is the way he is, she is the only one who can protect her from danger, and she was hell-bent on protecting her until she would no longer need her. However, no matter how strong she becomes, there is always a limit to how much power she could have. For example, she will not be able to turn the tide of battle against Waldrind’s large army by herself.

 

(That bastard… when the battle is going to be over, would he even weep while standing over my and Siluca’s corpses?)

 

*          *          *

 

When the carriage carrying Siluca and Aishela entered Artuk territory, Irvin, who had been dispatched as a messenger, returned and brought a reply that Earl Constance agreed to grant Siluca an audience with him. However, just because the Earl did not slam the door right in her face does not immediately mean that he was going to accept her proposal. It is still entirely possible that she might get caught and killed. It would be a violation of the agreement, but Siluca was also largely at fault for making the current situation the way that it is, so she did not think that the Mages Association would punish the Earl for killing her, or not severely at least.