Chapter 76 (2/2)

“Are you sure? Not going together with her.”

“That’s… what about you?”

“I have something I must do.”

As always, Carla smiled gently.

Famous as Ria’s representative, she went around healing the sick and injured. There would be many serious tasks unable to be fulfilled without Carla.

And there was something that only Serge could do here. If another revolt happened, the transportation of goods would be interrupted without him there.

“She’s returning to Manesh to help Guinevere-sama with important things, so I’m staying here to study magic from you while watching your treatments.”

“I don’t mind, but…”

Carla placed her hand on her chin, thinking.

“You are very formal.”

“Eh?”

“Even though you call Ria with ‘Nee-chan’, don’t you find it odd always attaching ‘-sama’ for me?”

As for Serge calling Ria ‘Nee-chan’, this was a privilege awarded to him as a special case when he was given the rank of baronet.

Therefore, no one could stop Serge from calling Ria ‘Nee-chan’. However, Carla took a different approach.

“Shouldn’t you call me ‘Onee-chan’?”

The unexpected attack left Serge stunned.

Ria was ‘Nee-chan’. More than ‘An-chan’, she was ‘Nee-chan’. [1]

Carla-sama was ‘Carla-sama’. The only people that could call her by name along were likely just Ria and Guinevere.

There were a few cabinet ministers that didn’t call Carla-sama with ‘Carla-sama’, but even so they still used ‘Carla-dono’.

This was a matter of status as a human.

“Umm, then, since you’re teaching me magic, ‘s.h.i.+shou’ or ‘Sensei’…” [2]

Just then, Carla’s expression looked rife with sadness.

“T-then, Carla-san? Please forgive me with that.”

“… Understood. That will be good.”

Serge felt relieved, but Carla just realized something.

Was it because the war ended, interrupting the tension in the air?

Or perhaps it was because she felt uneasy after parting with Ria?

At any rate, Ria and them’s lifestyle had brought about a change in Carla.

*

Carla’s life in Cornada was systematic.

Early in the morning, before the sun rose, she practiced her swordplay and magic.

Unexpectedly, she’d eat a surprisingly solid breakfast and receive citizens’ pet.i.tions, pressing a seal onto the endless stack of doc.u.ments.

She would eat a light lunch. This appeared to be so that she wouldn’t feel sleepy.

She would patrol the city in the afternoon and visit the orphanage and hospital.

At night she would with with Serge to study magic, but sometimes she was called out for emergencies.

Carla was famous, but that much was natural.

She had character, beauty, and recovery magic.

Even her relations to the temple that seemed perilous at first were mended. By doing her treatments in the temple, they had come to an understanding.

Called the silver-haired saintess, the final angel to descend to the world, she herself clearly stated that she was an atheist.

“To begin with, the other continents were ruined by the G.o.ds’ foolish fighting.”

She unhesitatingly made a remark about a considerably important historical event. One that Serge wasn’t aware of.

“Eh? There were other continents?”

“It was buried beneath the sea due to the G.o.ds’ fighting. Not to mention just humans, all living things had died. It is said that the minimal number of humans that survived washed up in Krasil Kingdom, the Seven City Union, and the demon tribe territory.”

It had already been around three thousand years since then.

At that time, this continent was also being ruined, but according to legend, the Saint Emperor Ryuke s.h.i.+faka put an end to the fighting.

In cooperation with the G.o.d dragons and a portion of the G.o.ds, the other G.o.ds were destroyed.

“Heh~, but I’ve never heard anything like that until now?”

“That is right. It’s because the tale lies within the forbidden section of the magic academy.”

Now that the imperial capital vanished, that was very possibly the only place the history remained. Or perhaps it remained in the memory of elves as well?

Serge felt that he should have asked Dark Dragon Valis many more things.

“But you know, is it really alright to tell me about things like that?”

“Serge, you will be going to the magic academy at some point soon. There, you should be able to make the best use of your previous life’s knowledge.”

With Carla saying it, it sounded almost like a prophecy.

Serge certainly hoped for an environment that would allow him to study vigorously. Being surrounded by so many strong people too far distant from him in ability didn’t serve as good reference most of the time.

“Right. I’ll study here a bit more first, then I’ll head to the magic city.”

Right then, Serge thought he would definitely do it.

But his thought would be realized for entirely different reasons.

Their occupation policy proceeded well.

There would be small-scale revolts here and there among the provinces, but they were easily repressed by sending the army out.

Cornada was peaceful.

That is, until a certain case of serial murders occurred.

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