Chapter 10: ~I am the villain?!~ (1/2)

***Norfolk, Sarn-Valley***

Great! Just Great! I am lost!

This mansion is a fucking maze! Three floors and more rooms than I cared to count! What does he need so much space for? I thought he lived alone?

When I awoke this morning I thought to myself that it wouldn't be so bad to know the layout of the mansion a little better.

Well. Let's see. I will just try to walk back the way I came. Originally I just wanted to explore the mansion to get a feeling for it. But then I must have taken a wrong turn without noticing it.

So annoying! And yesterday was annoying too! Liandra and Violetta continued to question me about my time at the Academy until late in the night.

In the end they looked at me like I was the villain and told me to apologize! Haaah....

Well. Sorry for being angry! My little brother was assassinated by his family and he walks up to me and proposes like nothing happened!

But from my current knowledge I may have been in the wrong. I overreacted and I even kept playing bad tricks on him while he never retaliated. Which I found strange.

In hindsight it wasn't strange at all. He visited the Academy against the wishes of his parents and couldn't count on their support. He lived off of his studentship alone and if a commotion had happened and he had lost it he would have been forced to leave the Academy.

I may really have to try to apologize to him. If that's even possible after all the time in the Academy. Waah. He will never forgive me for that even if I tried in all earnestness.

How should I know that he had almost no contact with his parents besides being trained to death in a dark training room? But Violetta's story about her youngest brother still makes me sceptical.

Her father just emphasized that Ascathon was a monster. In which way? How can a ten year old instil such a fear in a grown man that he starts to vilify his own child?

Shouldn't he have been happy to have a son with outrageous talents? But when I look around at what he accomplished in this world I have to admit that I was a sloth in this reincarnation.

I leaned back and hoped that I would achieve happiness by simply living from one day to the next. It didn't work out in the end. And now I even have a slave-ring attached to me.

That means no magic! What else can I do? Medicine? Biology? Martial Arts? Nothing which would be helpful in my current situation against those muscle guards.

Maybe I could deal with one of them by crushing his marbles but the others would get me for sure. They have the habit to run around in groups. And whenever I come close to a window they are there. It's like they are smelling me!

No, first I have to find a way to get rid of that slave-ring. Or to find a way to work around it. Let's see. The ring activates when I start to manipulate mana. But how does it discern that I am consciously manipulating it and …. hmmm.

Does it react to my outer magic system? That means if I am just using my inner magic system I am fine? But it's unbelievably hard to use just one magic system alone. It's like moving just one segment of my finger while holding the rest completely still.

I still try it and my mana gets immediately sucked away.

Sigh. This might call for quite a bit of training.

“Can I help you, Mistress?”

I jump at a rough voice directly behind me and turn around. One of the big burly guards is towering behind me. How did he get there? Sneaky bastard!

“~Hahaha.~ I may have lost my way.” Then I realize his usage of the word mistress! “AND I AM NO MISTRESS!”

The big guardsman snorts. “I am Den. I am the captain of the guard. You ended up in the guards-barracks while -loosing your way-. Follow me, Miss ~no mistress~. Should I call you slave instead if you prefer that status? I will lead you back to Ascathon's quarters.” The big guardsman turns and walks away.

I quickly catch up to him. What does he think who he is? Did he think I was lying? “These are barracks?” Can't be! Those were really high quality living rooms.

“Ascathon is paying very good in exchange for our service.” A small smile rushes over Den's face.

“I see....” I follow Den who is towering at least three heads above me without further words. When we arrive back at my quarters we find Liandra and Violetta there.

“Sis! We need you.” “Brother isn't doing well!”

Both of them run up to me and grab my arms. They start pulling me towards the staircase.

“What's wrong?” I follow them up the stairs and along the corridor towards a roomy bedroom. Is this Ascathon's room?

“Brother is sick! Look!” Violetta runs towards the bed and crouches down on the floor. She is pointing under the bed.

I go to my knees and take a look myself. H.. Holy shit! “Why are you down there!?”

“Ff....Fuck off!”

Ascathon is under the bed with a pale face and pearls of sweat on his forehead. He is shivering with his whole body an is hugging a pillow.

Den takes a look under the bed beside me. “A shitty night again?” He talks to his master in a very casual manner.

“Ccc.c.c Count on...it.”

“Is he doing that often.” I look towards Den.

Den shrugs his shoulders. “Now and then he has nightmares. Freaks him out like hell. He will get better. Just takes him a while to recover.”

“That can't be caused by a mere nightmare!” I point under the bed. “A mere nightmare doesn't cause ague.”

“Does it have something to do with the dead prisoner in the basement master? You intended to interrogate him last night.” Den looks under the bed again and asks something outrageous.

“Mam..m.. Magical...b...backlash...just...t..time.. will be fine!”

Then the puzzle-stones fall into the correct order and form a picture of the situation.

“ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?”

I scream and start to crawl under the bed. “Magical backlash and a dead prisoner! Were you in his mind when he died?! That's dangerous! It's like receiving a huge shock or trauma. You could get a circulatory collapse from that!”

Then I grab his hand which is cold like ice and start to pull.