Honestly, I don’t really understand what she’s saying.
Is she saying that I’m brainwashing myself into thinking I’m precious? Just because she happened to find me? All of a sudden? Then I must be incredibly lucky.
Ah, I almost forgot again. I shouldn’t try to find logic in the crazy actions of a crazy person.
Kiraxus had mastered ordinary magic far too quickly, so he eventually turned to black magic simply because he was bored.
It wasn’t as though he had some grand reason for learning black magic. If I had to put it one way, he simply happened to have better compatibility with black magic while experimenting with it, and ended up becoming a black mage altogether.
The way he thought and the way he viewed the world were completely different from those of ordinary people. Naturally, an ordinary child like me wouldn’t be able to understand the mind of a lofty Archmage.
I decided to give up on trying to understand Kiraxus.
“Um, but…”
Since the atmosphere seemed pretty good, perhaps I could ask about something I’d been curious about all this time.
“What happens if… they find out I’m a fake saintess?”
“That won’t happen. The family has already decided to make you the saintess.”
It was an arrogant answer.
If Driblyane wanted it to be true, then it would become the truth.
It was a wonderful thing to hear, but at the same time, it was terrifying. Because, conversely, if the family decided to cast me aside, it meant I’d be discarded just as easily.
“Um, I’m not officially a daughter-in-law yet, am I?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Well… I haven’t greeted the maids or anything, and I haven’t signed a contract either…”
“You’re cleverer than you look.”
As expected.
The servants were quick to catch on.
Some of them had already started calling me Young Lady after seeing how I was being treated, but nothing had been made official yet.
There hadn’t been a welcoming ceremony, nor had there been a ceremony to add my name to the family tree.
“Once you have greeted the Duchess, you’ll be officially recognized.”
“Ah…!”
“It is only that Mother needs a little more time before she can meet you. She is currently in seclusion.”
Inna Abigail Driblyane .
The eighteenth Duchess and an earth spirit mage.
After looking into it, I learned that Ariadne had died in battle last year.
The Duchess was still immersed in grief over the loss of her daughter, so naturally, she wouldn’t want to pay much attention to or concern herself with bringing in a daughter-in-law.
Let’s not make trouble by unnecessarily stepping forward and upsetting her.
I made that resolution and nodded.
It would be nice if I could somehow help the Duchess, but… sometimes there were situations where it was better not to recklessly step forward and simply stay still.
It was probably best not to have the foolish thought that I could dare take the place of her daughter or anything like that.
“Well, then, go to sleep now. You’ve had a hard day.”
“Eek!”
With a light movement of his finger, Kiraxus lifted me into the air.
Then my mouth suddenly felt all minty, and I was washed clean with magic in a single second.
I was wrapped up tightly in my blanket like a fried seaweed roll and was about to protest, but Kiraxus had already turned off all the lights.
“Have sweet dreams.”
No, wait! It’s still daytime!
***
……But considering how desperately I wanted to shout that it was still daytime, I slept ridiculously well.
When the next day came, I woke up early, only to spend quite some time being held in the arms of my worried nanny, Linda, and Nina.
“Sob, please wear this beautiful tiara for our sake.”
“That’s right. We’d feel so much more at ease if you wore this pretty pink cape too.”
“Exactly. If the young lady would also put on these cute and adorable winged shoes, I think we’d be able to sleep soundly at night.”
Something about this… the three of them seem to be fulfilling their own personal desires…
Still, I put on the tiara for now and draped the pink cape around myself. After that, John came over, buried his head against the floor, and apologized profusely. And all of that happened before I had even eaten breakfast.
“I’ll introduce myself properly once again.”
And now.
“Starting today, by the head of the family’s command, I will be responsible for the education of the Little Lady. My official title is Baron, and I am an owl beastkin.”
“Hewwo!”
Oh my goodness! No wonder there had been a miniature desk among the furniture delivered this morning!
Laphiren Jervaitz adjusted his silver-rimmed glasses and placed a book down.
“Since today is our first lesson, I will begin by explaining the values that guide Driblyane .”
“Yes…”
“I will read it first. You must not forget this material. You must memorize it so thoroughly that you can recite it anytime, anywhere.”
Laphiren’s voice was quiet, and his pronunciation was clear. And because I was very clever, I immediately picked up on the meanings hidden between the lines.
“Driblyane is thoroughly results-oriented.”
This meant that if you didn’t show kindness to someone first, you shouldn’t expect kindness in return—
“A member of Driblyane must never cease to be greedy, but must also possess the qualities of a schemer.”
It meant that instead of stupidly drooling over something and making it obvious that you wanted it, you should seize it through a clever scheme—
“Driblyane chooses its prey carefully, and once it begins a hunt, it always cuts off its prey’s escape.”
It meant that if you’re only going to poke at something half-heartedly and embarrass yourself, you’d be better off staying put so you don’t disgrace the family!
Everything they’re saying makes so much sense that I can’t help but nod along.
I like that there was nothing about being humble, being kind, or enduring and having patience. Maybe that sort of thing would work if this were my first life, but after dying and coming back to life over and over again, it just sounds like complete nonsense to me.
The values of Driblyane suited me perfectly.
“Do you know what the most important commodity handled by Driblyane is?”
“Yes.”
“Then do you know what this is?”
I stared intently at the gun lying in front of me.
It had such an elegant appearance that it didn’t look like a lethal weapon at all.
Golden laurel-leaf decorations ran along the pitch-black barrel, and it seemed to have been specially designed for a comfortable grip according to human ergonomics.
It was probably a new product that hadn’t… been taken to war yet. Was it meant for decoration rather than use on the battlefield?
“This is a gun that rapidly converts the user’s Iculis into mana to create bullets. It will become Driblyane ‘s finest product in the future.”
So it really was a new product!
Curiosity getting the better of me, I cautiously stuck out one little paw. Of course, under Laphiren’s stern gaze, I slowly lowered it again.
“When the Little Lady grows older, you will learn how to use this weapon.”
“Reawy?”
“Yes. But for now, you should first learn how to defend yourself against and evade this weapon.”
Oh, that sounded interesting too.
I looked at Laphiren with eyes full of anticipation.
Would we be doing practical combat training too?
“Of course, that will also come after we confirm how old the Little Lady is. Driblyane strictly prohibits teaching children under the age of ten about firearms.”
Ah, so that was just a little preview. It was a bit disappointing, but there was nothing I could do.
I nodded to show that I understood.
Then Laphiren pulled something else out from inside his robes. This time, it was a much older gun—old enough that it deserved to be called an antique.
“This is an old-fashioned gun that uses gunpowder placed inside something called a bullet. In practice, it is now obsolete, as it cannot overcome modern magical barriers or the power of spirits.”
“Ah-ha.”
“Still, you should see it. Lord Kiraxus was the one who developed firearms from this old-fashioned gun… to this modern one here.”
How fascinating.
I looked at the unloaded gun before poking at the bundle beside it. A pungent smell wafted out from inside.
“This is gunpowder. It is an item that no longer has any use. It has disappeared into history, but as I mentioned, today is an experiential lesson, so I brought some along.”
So this was what gunpowder smelled like.
Perhaps because my sense of smell was so sharp, it stung and burned my nose.
It was somewhat like the smell of cinnamon.
“Teacher…”
“Yes.”
When I called him teacher, the corner of Laphiren’s mouth twitched ever so slightly.
I’ve thought this for a while now, but I think Laphiren likes me while pretending that he doesn’t.
“I have a question.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“Spring is here now, right? Then does that mean the war is over?”
If so, wouldn’t they be unable to run a massive weapons business like before?
Then… wouldn’t Driblyane , whose parent company was an arms manufacturer, become a little poorer?
“So what the Little Lady means is that, for the time being, the business can shift toward selling things such as fertilizer and seeds, which are managed by the eldest master, but what will happen to the arms business in the future?”
“Gasp, exactly!”
He’s smart. He understood me right away!
Laphiren stared at me with an extremely peculiar look in his eyes before asking me a question in return.
“Who said that there would be nowhere to sell weapons once the war ends?”
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