An awkward three-way confrontation.
There was no better way to describe it.
Count Lemercier had moved to the VIP lounge and was leisurely sipping his tea.
Lola fidgeted restlessly, clearly uncomfortable with the situation, her eyes darting around as she tried to read the room.
And Ex was desperately racking his brain over this completely unforeseen turn of events.
Yet in the middle of all that, the only thing happening before his eyes was…
“Lola, these cookies are exquisite. Here, have one.”
“Y-Yes. Father…”
“You’ve always liked black tea, haven’t you? I brought some with me this time.”
“Th-Thank you…”
“You’re not short on spending money, are you? Just say the word, and I’ll give you as much as you need.”
“I-I have plenty of spending money…”
Count Lemercier was lavishing an absurd amount of care on Lola.
It was hard to believe this doting, overprotective father was the same charismatic middle-aged gentleman Ex had seen before.
“I-I can’t breathe…”
Lola looked overwhelmed by the excessive attention.
Count Lemercier somehow found even that adorable.
“It’s been ten years since I last saw your face. Try to understand your poor father’s heart.”
“You saw me at the entrance ceremony…”
“That may as well have been twenty years ago. What parent in the world could go thirty whole years without seeing their child and remain perfectly calm?”
Lemercier simply stroked Lola’s hair with a look of pure affection.
Lola, apparently mortified that Ex was seeing her like this, couldn’t keep her eyes in one place and kept glancing everywhere but at him.
“Now then.”
Count Lemercier changed the subject and fixed Ex with a piercing stare.
“I hear you’re my daughter’s only friend.”
“Ah, yes. My name is Ex.”
“Yes, Ex. What you did in the courtroom was impressive. I certainly never expected you to expose the Imperial Princess as a demon. You’re no ordinary young man.”
“Uh, well… thank you?”
“However.”
Count Lemercier suddenly shouted, his voice overflowing with emotion.
“I will not tolerate you making advances on my daughter!”
“…What?”
“I don’t care if you’re some hero who can wield three different powers!”
“…”
Silence fell over the room.
Lola covered her bright-red face with both hands, while Count Lemercier flared his nostrils in agitation.
Before Ex could feel his consciousness slipping away, he quickly opened his mouth.
“Forgive me for saying so, but I regard Lady Lola strictly as a classmate and friend.”
To begin with, ever since Ex had fallen into this world, he had never once thought of anyone he’d met here in a romantic sense.
The students in his class were all little more than children from his perspective.
Besides, this world was inching closer to destruction by the day.
He hardly had the luxury of sitting around worrying about romance.
“So you truly have nothing to worry about.”
“You’re saying you don’t find my daughter attractive at all?!”
‘What the hell do you want from me?’
As Count Lemercier practically sprayed spit everywhere while passionately extolling Lola’s beauty and charms, the look Lola was giving Ex gradually turned colder.
There was a hint of anger in her eyes.
Apparently, hearing him say he felt no attraction toward her had offended her in its own way.
‘Is this really the terrifying margrave family everyone talks about?’
Just as House Lemercier’s reputation was rapidly plummeting inside Ex’s head, Count Lemercier abruptly changed the atmosphere.
“It has been a long time since I came to see my daughter, so I’ve shown you an embarrassing side of myself. I won’t apologize for it, though.”
“There’s no need to worry about it.”
“I didn’t invite you here for anything particularly serious. I simply wanted to hear how my daughter has been doing from someone other than Lola herself.”
That was a surprisingly human reason.
Ex had been through something similar before, so he decided to answer honestly.
“Lady Lola is… enjoying academy life in her own way. She’s been studying diligently lately, and she has already reached Tier 4 as a mage. That’s remarkable progress. I’m sure she’ll become an excellent mage in the future.”
“An excellent combat mage, you mean.”
The atmosphere froze in an instant.
Count Lemercier cast aside the doting-father act from moments ago and stared at Ex with cold, subdued eyes.
“Do you understand how a father feels when he sees killing intent in his daughter’s eyes after only two months apart?”
“F-Father…!”
“Lola. Be quiet.”
Count Lemercier continued looking directly at Ex, slowly allowing the emotions he had kept tightly contained to surface.
“I sent my daughter to the academy because I wanted her to make ordinary memories. Memories like the ones other children her age would make. I did not send her there so she could gamble her life in one deathtrap after another and claw her way through mortal crises.”
“…”
“I couldn’t even rejoice when my daughter received the Royal Knights’ Honor Medal. Because receiving such a medal meant she had been placed in enough danger to earn it. And when I heard that she’d gone into the Ancient Ruins, a place little better than a restricted danger zone, and nearly disappeared there… my heart nearly stopped. I regretted giving her permission to go so much that I felt like an idiot.”
Count Lemercier was angry.
Not as a noble.
Not as a margrave.
As a father.
No matter how proud Lola herself might have been of what she had accomplished, in the Count’s eyes, she was still his one and only precious daughter.
A father would rather see his daughter safe than praised.
“I know my daughter’s personality better than anyone. Lola isn’t the type of child who would have chosen to do all these things on her own. Which means her only friend, you, must be deeply involved. There’s no need for an investigation. The rumors are already everywhere.”
In other words, Count Lemercier was telling him one thing.
“If you intend to remain my daughter’s friend, then remain only that.”
Do not use my daughter.
“…”
Ex had no rebuttal.
He couldn’t claim he had never used Lola for the sake of efficiency.
And just as the Count said, the path Lola had walked beside him was by no means a safe one.
It was a path where a single mistake could easily have gotten her killed.
Hadn’t Ex himself learned that lesson all too painfully in the Ancient Ruins?
“I…”
And it wasn’t only Lola.
Simply being someone’s friend was a luxury Ex could scarcely afford.
The road ahead of him was one where everyone involved would eventually have to risk their lives.
If they wasted precious minutes and seconds playing at friendship, everyone would die.
That was what a Doomsday Scenario meant.
‘I’ve just been lucky so far.’
It wasn’t something else talking to him.
This was a father’s point of view, and Ex couldn’t help but sympathize.
And if someone asked him whether he truly had the right to drag them into danger by invoking the destruction of the world, he couldn’t easily answer.
So Ex was about to make a decision.
“I was the one who decided.”
At least, he would have, if Lola hadn’t interrupted him.
“I thought about it, and I made the decision myself. Ex, don’t try to take responsibility for my choices too. I have the right to bear the consequences of what I choose. Don’t take that away from me.”
Lola continued, completely serious now.
“Father, I’m not some princess who needs to spend her entire life being protected. I can choose how I want to live.”
A strange light appeared in Count Lemercier’s eyes at Lola’s bold declaration.
Then, as though she were still a little girl, he gently ran a hand over her hair.
“You’re still too young to understand. You are a member of the proud House Lemercier. The responsibility for your actions is not something you can speak of so lightly.”
“Is preventing me from learning combat magic what you call the pride of House Lemercier?”
Count Lemercier’s hand stopped.
Lola took that hand and lowered it, then continued trying to persuade him.
“I can’t fully understand everything you’re worried about. But you don’t fully understand me either. And right now, I don’t believe the path I’ve chosen is wrong.”
“That is not something you can know. Preparing for war is a job for muscle-headed fools overflowing with strength. You have no need to join them.”
“But I need strength. I need enough strength to protect the things I want to protect. And it’s not as though I lack that strength. Look.”
Without hesitation, Lola created a constellation of explosive spells in midair.
Count Lemercier’s eyes widened at the sight.
Then he muttered bitterly.
“Stella Strike… You can already produce this many explosive spells without chanting… I suppose blood really does tell.”
Count Lemercier closed his eyes.
Lola dismissed the magic and continued.
“I understand why you’re worried about me. But I’m perfectly capable of making sound judgments, and…”
“No. If you have that much talent, then all the more reason I cannot allow it. I will not let the same thing happen twice.”
Count Lemercier opened his eyes again, deep in thought.
“Lola. That will be enough for today. Go back to your room. We’ll continue this conversation later.”
“Father…”
“Go. I would like to speak with your friend a little longer.”
His tone left no room for argument.
Lola fidgeted anxiously for a moment before reluctantly leaving the room.
Once only Count Lemercier and Ex remained, the Count spoke again.
“From this point onward, I will not address you as Lola’s father. I will address you as the head of House Lemercier and as a margrave.”
“…Understood.”
The atmosphere changed again.
An oppressive presence settled over the room, like the pressure of a seasoned general, and every word that left the Count’s mouth carried unmistakable authority.
The man before Ex was no longer merely a refined middle-aged gentleman.
He was an experienced blond general who had spent his life commanding the front lines.
“You wielded internal energy and magic power, yet you also used divine power. Much like the legendary hero.”
“It is true that I can wield all three.”
“And I hear you reached Tier 4 in magic after barely two months. That rate of growth defies common sense. An ordinary person generally requires about five years of training to reach Tier 4. Yet you accomplished it in two months. You’re no ordinary genius. And on top of that, you possess internal energy and divine power as well… Remarkable.”
Ex couldn’t quite tell where Count Lemercier was going with this.
Soon enough, however, the Count made his intentions perfectly clear.
“Originally, I intended to have Lola withdraw from the academy and return to the family. But now that my daughter has finally steeled herself to pursue something, I suppose I cannot simply disregard her resolve as her father.”
“Is that so…?”
“Therefore, I have a proposal for you.”
Count Lemercier spoke in a grave tone.
“Join the Blue Moon Mage Corps. I will give you the opportunity to formally enter the service of House Lemercier.”
The sudden offer caught Ex off guard.
But he immediately realized that the Count hadn’t made it simply because of his abilities.
“You want me to keep an eye on Lady Lola.”
“You catch on quickly. From what I’ve seen, you don’t possess even the slightest romantic interest in my daughter, and you seem capable of keeping Lola under control while remaining at her side.”
Count Lemercier spoke coldly.
“Whatever you desire, I will grant it. In exchange, devote your life to Lola. I ask for nothing beyond that. In the first place, a noble and a commoner cannot truly remain friends as equals. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Once again, Ex was reminded that the man before him was a general responsible for guarding the Empire’s front line against the Demon Realm.
Right now, he wasn’t looking at Ex as a person.
He was looking at him as a piece on the board.
‘If I refuse this offer, things are going to get difficult in a lot of ways.’
Naturally, the Count would tell him to stay away from Lola.
And as he had already said, Lola might even be forced to withdraw from the academy.
It was almost absurd that the direction of Lola’s future now rested in Ex’s hands, but either way, he had to make a choice.
“You must have much to consider. Relationships between people are not so easily changed, after all.”
Count Lemercier, apparently seeing through Ex’s hesitation, rose from his seat and adjusted his fedora.
“The doors of the Corps will always remain open to you. If you decide to accept, contact me at any time. However, from this point onward, you would do well not to approach my daughter carelessly. Even if you enjoy the protection of His Highness the Imperial Prince, House Lemercier will not concern itself with that. Those who are not allies are enemies. And enemies are eliminated. Do you understand?”
“…Of course.”
“I hope you make the correct choice.”
Count Lemercier strode out of the room.
His steps were those of a man who believed the answer had already been decided.
Ex could only let out a long, heavy sigh.
“This is driving me insane.”
Too many events had become tangled together.
Roxwell’s departure, Andras’s escape, Circe splitting from Leon’s party, Elysia’s intervention, Elia’s whereabouts, and everything else.
It felt as though Ex had been handed a broken puzzle whose pieces didn’t even fit, then told he had to force the entire thing together if he wanted to survive.
And there was something else bothering him.
“This isn’t nearly as bad as it should be.”
The Luck assigned to him was 0.
He still didn’t know exactly how Luck worked in practice, but he had learned at least one thing.
Anything that happened around him always had a habit of developing into the worst possible outcome.
Yet looking at how everything had unfolded so far, his current situation was not the worst possible outcome.
Someone else might simply say he had gotten lucky.
But to Ex, that only gave him more reason to think.
‘It feels like I’m standing on someone else’s board.’
Was that someone Elysia?
No.
If it were her, this method felt unlike her.
The more he thought about it, the further the answer seemed to slip away.
***
Deep within the massive remains of a mansion, where scorched ash still blanketed everything.
Someone was rummaging through the ruins, desperately searching for something.
“Haa, haa…”
She had been digging for so long that her entire body was already covered in soot and ash.
“I have to find it… Records… anything… please…”
It had already been several days.
With no promise that she would find anything at all, she had spent day after day frantically digging through the collapsed remains of the mansion destroyed by arson.
“Haa, hhk… Ugh…!”
She suddenly retched.
What came up was black, rotting blood mixed with chunks of flesh.
“…I really don’t have much time left.”
Looking closely, her condition was anything but normal.
Half of her body was rotting away as though she had contracted the plague, and the hair that had once shone brilliantly had completely lost its luster.
Death was not far away.
“Please…!”
She simply wanted to know.
That single desire had carried her this far.
‘So please… if there really is a god, grant me a miracle. Grant me mercy…’
Then something brushed against the tips of her shriveled fingers.
Her one remaining eye instinctively turned toward it.
“Ah… Ahh…”
Tears began to flow from that eye.
Whether they were tears of sorrow or joy was impossible to tell.
“Elia. Is that you?”
Because people had arrived to interrupt this moment.
“…I am not Elia.”
“Did you really think you could escape the Mage Corps’ pursuit? The crime of attacking House Lemercier is not one you can simply walk away from.”
“I am.”
The woman denying that she was Elia rose to her feet.
Her clothes had been torn and worn down until they were little more than rags incapable of serving their original purpose.
Of everything she possessed, only two objects remained intact.
Two swords.
Soul Killer and a scrap-metal sword.
“Elia.”
Her eye gleamed ominously.
And rather than Soul Killer, the scrap-metal sword drew itself from its sheath.
The leader of the Mage Corps, who had been watching her closely, immediately shouted to the dozens of soldiers surrounding her.
“CONTROL BLADE!! SPREAD OUT!!!”
The soldiers reacted instantly, scattering in every direction as each prepared their magic.
For a sickly girl who looked as though she might die at any moment, their response might have seemed excessive.
It wasn’t.
If anything, it was nowhere near enough.
“I’m not.”
Before the Mage Corps could finish preparing their spells, her sword drew one enormous circle through the air like a flash of light.
Not a single person escaped its path.
“Mon… ster…”
The leader of the Mage Corps managed to force out the word just before losing consciousness.
“…Yes. I’m a monster.”
Hearing that, she laughed bitterly at herself.
She knew now.
She finally understood what she was.
A being who could reach the realm of 7-Star in less than a single month could no longer be called human.
Monster.
There was no other word for it.
After crushing the Mage Corps’ ambush in a single strike, she returned the scrap-metal sword to its sheath.
There wasn’t so much as a drop of blood on its blade.
Elia then picked up what she had discovered among the wreckage and tucked it carefully into her clothes.
It was something important.
Something she could never afford to lose.
“…Come to think of it, I still had this.”
This time, she drew Soul Killer.
For a long while, she stared at the sword in deep thought.
Then, apparently having made up her mind…
“I don’t think I need this anymore.”
CRASH-!!!
She smashed Soul Killer against the ground.
The shattered Soul Killer broke apart into fine particles and vanished like dust.
She had finished everything she needed to do here.
Elia dragged her body toward somewhere far away.
At the end of that direction lay her destination.
“Ex, I really do hate you after all.”
Reach the Tournament finals.
That promise, founded on a lie, was now the only goal she had left.
“I have to kill you.”
Killing intent burned within her as she reaffirmed her purpose.
“I’ll obviously need to prepare for it properly.”
She opened the system and brought up her stat screen.
Her incomplete system possessed neither an Item Shop nor a Talent Shop.
There was only one thing she could purchase.
The Intelligence stat.
She purchased Intelligence until she hit the limit.
“So I’ll use everything I have to kill you.”
Now, all that remained was to reach the academy.
–TL Notes–
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