Count Florette had just turned around when the slick tentacle of the octopus monster lunged at him. Smack! He quickly pressed himself against the wall, and the monster’s tentacle slammed down onto the floor. Crash! Seeing the floor half-torn and crumbling sent an involuntary chill down his spine.
“Grrr—”
He let out a sigh of relief, sweeping a hand over his chest, as the monster’s tentacle slid past him with a hiss. That was way too close. “I almost ended up in a grave for real.” He raised his sword and stabbed the monster’s tentacle, which was still stuck in the floor.
Screech!
“I cut it off! Keep going, just like this!”
“What are you, a cheerleader?”
“No! Gasp!”
The monster’s eyes flashed blood-red, its rage boiling over as it became even more ferocious.
“Grrrrr!”
Before anyone realized it, the tentacle was already regenerating.
“C-Crazy. That regeneration is insane…”
“We’re going to need a different approach for this.”
With the vassals barely able to help, it was down to him, a few knights, and his aide to face the Octopus. In other words, they were seriously short on power. To make matters worse, the Octopus, furious over nearly losing its tentacle, charged at them in a frenzy. Its target was Count Florette. Whoosh! With a loud noise, he dropped his sword to the floor as if tossing it away.
Count Florette’s aide screamed. “No!”
Sssssk! Backed up against a dead-end wall, Count Florette clenched his teeth at the sight of the Octopus’s disgusting suckers coming at him. “Damn it, guess it’s time for my last words.”
“Co-Count!”
“Grrrrr!”
It was the moment when the Octopus’s suckers were about to wrap around Count Florette’s body. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself to go to his friend. Bang! Suddenly, the crushing force of the suckers coiled around him began to loosen.
“What last words! I’m here!” The footsteps approaching sounded casual, like a daughter returning to her parents’ home.
“Gi-Giselle? It’s dangerous…”
“Huh? You mean the monster’s in danger because of me?”
Smack—! The moment the light shot out from Giselle’s fingertips and struck, the Octopus’s tentacles collapsed limply to the floor. Its grips, which had been binding him tight, gradually weakened and then, with a soft slither, released him completely.
The Octopus target had shifted to Giselle. But there was no time to worry.
“It’s a monster. You can’t just handle it like that. You have to stab its core, or else it’ll regenerate and won’t die for good.”
…With a terrifying expression, the monster slayer himself, Duke Kalinos, appeared. He elegantly thrust his sword at the Octopus’s eye, and the tentacle, which had glowed briefly, went limp.
“Gr, grrrr…!”
A death so futile which was almost absurd.
“I-I’m alive…” The aide, finally feeling a sense of relief, rolled his eyes back and fainted. Bubbles foamed out of his mouth.
* * *
“You piece of trash, just die already! Die!”
The Octopus was dealt with, but smaller monsters kept pouring out endlessly. While helping Count Florette and Duke Kalinos fend off the never-ending swarm with magic, I found myself deep in thought. Weirdly enough, my spells work better when I curse while casting them. But taking care of the monsters wasn’t the end of it. To truly get rid of all these creatures, I had to find the lunatic who unleashed them on the capital.
Duke Reshaniel must be nearby. He must have realized his plan failed. That b*stard wants to hurt me, to make me suffer. So he wants to kill Count Florette first, then get rid of Duke Kalinos next.
After the endless stream of monsters had been somewhat subdued, I noticed a crowd of onlookers starting to gather. And then… There he is. The culprit. The culprit always shows up at the scene. Just like someone pretending to be a harmless bystander, Duke Reshaniel and his lackeys appeared.
“What a tragedy. Allow me to help with the recovery.”
“No, please just leave.”
But by now, hundreds of spectators had already staked out their spots. Honestly, I wanted to grab him by the collar and throw him out, but kicking him out would look strange in front of everyone.
Who the hell are these people, anyway? Why aren’t they scared of the monsters and just standing around here? So people feel reassured just because Duke Reshaniel shows up, huh?
With a saintly smile, Duke Reshaniel cast a gentle light toward the monsters, drawing gasps of admiration from the crowd.
He’s barely doing anything. He’s just conserving his divine power. But the onlookers, oblivious to the truth, were busy singing the praises of House Reshaniel. I can’t stand this. It’s driving me crazy. I was the one who actually took care of the monsters, but somehow Duke Reshaniel was reaping all the benefits just by cleaning up a bit of monster residue.
With that in mind, I strode toward Duke Reshaniel. “Well, look who it is~! The great Duke Reshaniel himself has graced us with his presence, hasn’t he?” I walked right up to him with a smile, making sure to draw everyone’s attention. This way, he wouldn’t dare back away because of his reputation.
I got close enough and, in a voice too soft for anyone else to hear, whispered to him. “I came here with my husband, like a coward. And I’m planning to run an experiment.”
“What do you mean by that? You should be helping with the monster cleanup.” He raised his voice, and suddenly the mood around us shifted, with people starting to glare at me.
Wiping off that looked like the Octopus’s venom from my face, I stared straight at him. “See this?” I knew exactly how to leave the deepest scratch on his pride. Lifting my necklace, I flashed him a sly smile. “A lucky stone.”
His eyes wavered.
“You’re not the only one with that special lucky stone. I have one too. That’s how I managed to steal your mana. Didn’t you notice?”
I knew that my words had struck a fatal blow. Because the specialness he thought was his alone is gone now. That’s why I had to act quickly while he was still reeling. When I brought the lucky stone close to his fingertips, a pure white light began to pour rapidly into my body.
“You…!”
I reclaimed not just 70%, but the full 100% of the mana he’d stolen from me. With a surge of overwhelming energy filling my mana heart, I clenched my fist, then slowly opened it again. What is it? What… exactly is this power? There was a faint force mixed in with the mana I’d absorbed, something that filled my mana heart, but I couldn’t quite identify it. That made me narrow my eyes.
And just then, Duke Reshaniel bit his lip hard and pulled a teleportation scroll from his pocket. “I didn’t expect you to have a lucky stone…”
“Running away, are you?”
Duke Reshaniel whispered softly. “No, Giselle. I’ve simply become greedy to find another way to have you again. I’m convinced now that cheap tricks like this won’t cut it.”
“What nonsense. Anyone can see you’re just running away.”
At Duke Kalinos’s blunt assessment, Duke Reshaniel’s face flushed red.
Yeah, truth hurts, doesn’t it? Either way, now that he’d already used the teleportation scroll, there was no way to catch him.
As his figure slowly faded, I gritted my teeth and whispered. “Strange, isn’t it? I used to be the one running away. Doesn’t it feel like things have completely reversed?”
“Shut, up.”
“Fine, go ahead and run away.” And while you’re at it, leave behind plenty of evidence with your pathetic actions. “I’ll chase you to the ends of hell and snap your neck myself.”
At last, Duke Reshaniel, who had been helping restore the scene, vanished.
I clenched and unclenched my fist. “It feels like I’ve gained some kind of strange power.”
“In my opinion, Giselle,” Duke Kalinos murmured softly beside me, “It seems you managed to steal a small portion of that trash’s divine power. Because, you see, this sword I’m holding is a tool that detects both divine power and mana.” At the tip of his blade pointed toward me, red and blue lights intertwined. He’d told me before that the red glow sensed divine power, the blue sensed mana.
I had no way of knowing just how much divine power I’d taken. But as I felt the new strength coursing through me, I smiled gently. This was the very moment when the power dynamic between Duke Reshaniel, so widely known throughout society, and me was completely overturned.
I turned, beaming radiantly at the bewildered members of his household, the onlookers, and the House of Florette’s vassals still working to restore the scene. “Yes, I suppose there’s something I ought to reveal here and now.”
I hadn’t originally planned to announce ‘this fact’ to the world like this. Duke Reshaniel had vanished. Meanwhile, Duchess Giselle Kalinos takes full responsibility for cleaning up the monster’s remains. Isn’t this the perfect situation for a bit of framing? All that honor and fame he used to bask in, I’ll take every last bit of it for myself.
I waved my hand with a dazzling smile. As a stream of pure white, thread-like light flowed from my fingertips, the hushed crowd’s murmurs rang clearly in my ears.
“Isn’t that divine power?”
“No way, she’s descended from the archmage. It must be mana.”
“No, I’m sure of it. That light is definitely divine power!”
“…Really? Then how is Duchess Kalinos able to use divine power?”
Listening calmly to their heated debate, I cracked my wrist and smiled sweetly. “It is indeed divine power. As for how I came to possess both mana and divine power at the same time…” Well, I just stole it from Duke Reshaniel a moment ago. But I had no intention of telling them the truth.
Beaming radiantly, I shot a beam of light toward the roof of Florette Mansion. “It’s because I’m ‘Wot’, the doctor who possesses divine power.”
The moment I made that bold declaration for the whole world to hear, everyone’s eyes went wide with shock. Fwoooosh—! Half of the divine power I’d stolen from Duke Reshaniel surged from my fingertips and exploded in a brilliant burst.
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