“Hold on tight.”
After landing, Anna leaped onto a black horse that had been standing by. Ai’er and Fina were placed in front of her. Following a sharp crack of the whip tearing through the air, the three of them galloped toward the city as night gradually descended.
‘Wait, speaking of which… how did Anna know where I was?’
“Um, Miss Anna? I wanted to ask—”
“I have been tailing you since the moment you left the manor. That includes when you suddenly turned into the alleyway and boarded the carriage belonging to Sirius—I was there for all of it.”
…Huh?
‘Was I really that untrusted? -_-||’
Ai’er wondered whose instructions Anna was following. If it was Elena…
‘To be suspected by the heroine I’m trying to woo… if that’s true, I’m a total failure.’
“Please forgive the tailing. In the words of Mister Sebas: there have been far too many outsiders visiting the Duchy recently. Although following you in the shadows carries a hint of monitoring, it is mostly for your protection.”
‘A hint of “monitoring”?’
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Since she even admitted it was monitoring, what else could Ai’er say?
Ai’er sighed in her heart.
‘A pure-hearted girl like me being suspected? This world is just… sigh… hmph.’
**[“Pure” is not a word suitable for the Host.]**
‘Hmph! Stupid System, mind your own business! Blech!’
After huffing in her mind, Ai’er turned her gaze toward the sky.
The night was gradually driving away the last of the evening glow.
The villa where she had been staying earlier was no longer visible.
‘It’s finally over… things should quiet down for a while—’
The next moment, a flying bird approached the three of them from above.
The bird landed precisely on Anna’s shoulder, stayed for a moment, and then dissolved into particles of light.
Ai’er suddenly felt Anna’s body shudder behind her.
A second later, the crack of the whip rang out again. A surge of force jerked Ai’er violently on the horse’s back; she felt like she had been tossed into a drum washing machine, and her head began to buzz.
“Whoa! W-what’s happening?”
Anna did not respond to Ai’er immediately. The whip cracked again and again, and the whistling wind made it difficult for Ai’er to keep her eyes open.
“Miss Anna! What—is—hap—pen—ing!”
Fearing her voice wouldn’t reach or that she might fall off the accelerating horse, Ai’er shouted while clinging tightly to the horse’s back.
“The Young Lady’s mana has rampaged! We are going to the Marquis Residence now!”
“What are you saying? The wind is too noisy; I can’t hear anything!”
The wind was too loud, and Ai’er couldn’t hear what Anna was saying clearly. Just as she was about to ask again, the System’s voice echoed in her mind.
**[Mission Update: Current Mission – Prevent Elena White from being consumed by her own mana.]**
**[Reward: Upon completion, the System will unlock the Custom Time Flow function.]**
**[Penalty: If failed, the Host will permanently lose the eligibility to remain in the current space-time.]**
“Holy crap. O.o”
—
In the silent darkness, Elena suddenly remembered things from the past.
‘What kind of man was my father?’
As a child, every time she saw that massive oil painting in the manor, Elena would ponder that question.
She had never met her father; he had passed away before she was old enough to remember anything.
Therefore, Elena could only learn about her father through her mother’s words—about this hero of the Duchy of White, this hero of the Empire.
Elena remembered it was a night back when her mother was still alive. That day, she had nearly let her mana spiral out of control because she could not endure the freezing chill within her body.
Her mother had rushed to her side, ignoring the overflowing Cold Qi, and held her tightly.
Then, her mother said to her:
“My dear little Elena, do you know? Your father particularly loved swords. Once I asked him a question that I was very curious about as a mother—if he had to choose, would your father choose to become a sword or a shield? Do you know what your father said? He said, ‘Why would a knight go to the battlefield with only a sword or a shield? I definitely want both.’ Then I laughed at him; I laughed at how greedy he was! Then your father said, ‘Well, of course I have to be greedy. If I weren’t greedy, I wouldn’t have been able to marry such a wonderful wife.'”
Elena remembered that her mother was smiling when she said those things. Even though the chill from Elena had already covered her mother’s hands in Frost, her mother was still smiling.
Elena didn’t understand why her mother suddenly said those things at the time, but in that moment, she seemed to be able to imagine what kind of expression her father would have had when he responded to her mother like that.
Perhaps he would have pretended to be playful, or perhaps he would have answered seriously—but his ultimate goal would certainly have been to see her mother’s smile.
Because that was how heroes in stories were. For the sake of others’ smiles, for the sake of the smiles of those they loved, heroes were often able to act regardless of their own safety, completely fearless!
Elena also wanted to become a hero like her father, but…
Her innate, massive mana had turned her into a “Witch.”
“My dear little Elena, do you know why I am mentioning your father’s past now? Because your father also couldn’t control his own power well when he was a child! He possessed an innate monstrous strength; even just swinging a tree branch could stir up a sword-wind! In the aristocratic social circles of that time, your father was even called a ‘Humanoid Minotauros’!”
The Minotauros was a massive monster with a bull’s head and a human’s body. It possessed a hardy physical form and enormous strength, making it a very dangerous Magic Beast.
Hearing this, Elena raised her head. Tears, shed from the piercing pain of the cold, glistened in her eyes.
“Your father was also very troubled by this back then, but he firmly believed—since the heavens had bestowed such power upon him, there must be something that only he could do. So he picked up a sword, carried a shield, and volunteered to lead the servants who had followed him through life and death to clear the land where the Duchy of White had not yet been established, and to resist the Magic Beasts invading the Empire from this land…”
After saying this, her mother stroked Elena’s head.
Elena had heard the stories of how her father resisted the Magic Beasts, how he built a city on this land, how he repelled the Magic Beast Leviathan that attacked once every 10 years, and how he received rewards from the Emperor to become a Duke and finally establish the White Principality many times.
However, that was the first time Elena had heard about her father’s childhood.
“If your father were still here, he would certainly tell little Elena—your talent is not a so-called curse as the rumors say, but a mission. The gods bestowed such power upon our little Elena because they must hope that little Elena will accomplish things that ordinary people cannot do. To obtain power, people created swords and shields. Our little Elena was simply born with a sword. But a sword has two sides. A sword can be a weapon for killing, or it can be a power to protect others. Therefore, my dear little Elena… I hope you can control the sword in your hand well. Then, one day in the future, use it to protect the ones you love.”
‘Protect the ones… I love…’
The memory ended there.
Elena tried to look at her right hand, at the Magic Ring that was no longer there.
‘Mother… you were right. I don’t need to care about those rumors…’
‘As long as my power can be used to protect those important to me… then even if I become a Witch, it doesn’t matter—’
Right?
In the darkness, Elena closed her eyes completely.