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Volume 2 Chapter 1 Part 2

At that moment, a dashing voice echoed throughout the area, and Vilar appeared from the castle. His Head Mage Margret followed closely behind him.

Theo knelt down on the spot, and Siluca slightly bent her knees while standing and bowing herself.

「Lord Theo, even though your status is the same as that of the Imperial Guard now, there was no need for you to actually join the squad. 」

Villar calls out to Theo first.

「What are my duties going to be then? 」

「Duties? Let me see… 」

Villar paused and pondered the matter for a moment.

「Whenever I will be venturing out of the castle, I am going to be taking you with me as my escort, but whenever I amgoing to be staying in the castle, you are free to do however you please. 」

「Uh… huh? 」

Theo gave him a dumbfounded reply.

Aside from being a genius strategiest, Vilar Constance is also said to be a brilliant swordsman. On the other hand, even though Theo had a good set of muscles on him, his sword-wielding skills could only be described as immature, so he did not know if he really qualified as an escort for the Earl.

(But I guess that is a part of your duties now.)

Siluca encouraged Theo in her heart.

「Lady Siluca, please be sure to ask Margret about the details of your work later. 」

「Understood. 」

Siluca answered and bowed to Margret.

The female magician, nicknamed 「Hellfire」 only glanced at Siluca. Her figure, clad in her bright red robe, was like an incarnation of flame itself.

「What are you going to do about these two though?

Irvin is a Chamberlain who serves me, and this is Priscilla, the priestess from the Order of the Crest, who has chosen to accompany me in order to serve Lord Theo. And last but not least, here is His Highness Balgary, a Cait Sith from the royal family of the cat fairies from the world of Tir na Nog. 」

「If I remember correctly, you are the man who apprehended Siluca in the grand cathedral right before 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral」took place. 」

Villar first looked at Irvin and said as such. He knew about this because Vilar was also present in the grand cathedral on the day when Marine and Alexis were supposed to be married.

「If that is how you remembered me, then I am afraid I have made a terrible first impression. 」

Irvine bowed his head without changing his expression at all.

「The blunder that I have made back then ended up in my master Mathias’s death at the hands of the Demon Lord… 」

「I see, so you were actually one of my uncle’s servants… do not blame yourself though. Given the situation, it was unavoidable. I am sure that everyone present at the scene at that time must have thought that Siluca was some kind of rioter or insurrectionist. 」

「My actions at that time were thoughtless as well. 」

Siluca was still ashamed of how she acted back then. Everything started because she sprung into action the moment she noticed that the Chaos was converging around the Chaos Globe in the grand cathedral, but she definitely could have been smarter about how she decided to handle it all.

「In other words, you are serving her now because you wish to atone for your sins? 」

「That is one of the reasons, yes, but now I wish to serve her because she is not afraid to use me much more roughly than Lord Mathias did. 」

「Is that your… way of doing things? 」

「Exactly. 」

Irvin noddes at Vilar’s inquiry.

「I see. You seem to have mastered the way of operating in such a manner quite well. All right then. If you swear on your Arts that you are not going to hurt or betray Siluca, then I shall allow you to continue to work as her limbs in the world. 」

「Thank you very much. 」

Irvin bowed politely again.

「So this young lady right here id from the Order of the Crest, you say? I heard that your order might be plotting various things behind the scenes. 」

Vilar shifted his gaze towards Priscilla. At the same time, Siluca agreed with his words in her heart with all her might.

「It is outrageous to say that the Order of the Crest is plotting anything! The only aim of the Order of the Crest is to serve the Lords who are the apostles of the Only God, and they do it free of charge while they also preach to the common people how they can properly serve their Lords. If you approve of me doing the missionary work in your territories, it will surely prove to be useful to you! 」

Priscilla hastily said, trying to convince Villar to allow the Order of the Crest to work in his territories.

「Several priests from your order approached me before saying exactly the same thing. Until now, my usual response was to turn them all away without paying much heed to whatever they were saying. But hearing those words coming from a beautiful woman like you… I have to admit that they managed to melt the ice around my heart, so I will decide whether or not to allow missionary work to commence in my territories after hearing more about the doctrine of the Order of the Crest from you. 」

After saying that, Vilar took Priscilla’s hand and gracefully kissed her.

「Yes, gladly! 」

Priscilla nodded happily.

If she managed to convince Vilar join the Order of the Crest, her position in the Order would undoubtedly rise tremendously. But if something like that did happen, then it would undoubtedly result in the shaking of the balance of power across the entire continent.

(I would appreciate it if he could take her off our hands so that she would leave Lord Theo be, but it seems like that is not going to be so simple.)

Siluca glanced at Margaret, but she was expressionless. But the question here was: how much hellfire was burning deep inside her heart right now? That Siluca did not know, and she did not want to find out about it anytime soon.

「And of course Your Highness the Cait Sith fairy. How is Queen Titania doing? 」

Villars greeted Balgary as he would a guest of honor. She should have expected as much of him, but Siluca was still impressed at how Vilar could address someone like him with such familiarity that he even mentioned the name of Queen Titania like it was not that big of a deal at all.

Queen Titania is said to be one of the companions of the Founding Monarch Leon, and she has always been regarded as an ideal woman among Lords of both genders alike.

「May fortune and good health bless you as well. The Queen is as eternal of a ruler as she has always been. 」

Balgary also responded with dignity to Villar. Then Villar took Siluca and the others and guided them through the castle.

In stark contrast to the all-white exterior, the interior of the castle was lined with colorful rooms incorporating various local cultures. There was no sense of unity, and in a sense it was more like a museum you would find in Elam, to the point where everyone started feeling dizzy as soon as they entered a room where the ceiling and walls were entirely covered with gold leaves.

(He really has some strange tastes and hobbies…)

Siluca could not stop herself from thinking like that. Then each and every one of them was assigned with their own room. Fortunately, those rooms are very ordinary. Theo and Priscilla were in the guest room, Siluca was in a private room near Vilar’s office, and Irvin was in a shared room with the rest of the servants.

Siluca brought her luggage into her room, and she took a bath and changed into the new underwear and robe that had been prepared for her. Her long gloves and boots were the ones she was using so far, and she uses magic to polish them to look like new before wearing them. As soon as she was done cleaning them, there was a knock on the door.

It was decided that Irvin would come at this time, and that is exactly what he did, since being there whenever their master needed them no matter the circumstances was the trait that every first-class chamberlain should have. She Invited him into her room, and then he carefully dried Siluca’s damp hair, braided it for her and applied her makeup.

When he was done, Siluca stood in front of the full-length mirror in her room.