Chapter 71: Enemy

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Translator: Soafp

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About an hour has passed since Aldo and Elphus set out for the orc extermination.

During this time, Lush-san has prepared the Gran family’s secret medicine.

“Here is our family’s secret medicine. It took a while because it doesn’t have a long shelf life. It’s a bit bitter, but please endure it.”

“I don’t like bitter things…”

“Clara, if you can endure it, I’ll have Aldo make you pudding.”

“Really? Mother?”

“Of course. If Ashera and Clara ask, he’ll definitely make it.”

“Ara, Aldo-kun won’t have a choice with Clara-chan as his opponent.”

“Clara, drink the medicine!”

“Alright…”

Clara glared at the medicine for a while before gulping it down in one go.

“So bitter…”

“You drank it well, Clara.”

“If you keep warm and sleep, your fever should go down.”

“Thank you very much, Lush-san.”

“Don’t worry about it. Compared to the favor we received, it’s nothing.”

While Rafina and Lush are talking, it seems Clara is overwhelmed by drowsiness, her eyes fluttering.

“Clara, it’s okay to sleep.”

“Yes… Asher…ra nee-….sama….”

Clara falls asleep. Carefully avoiding making any noise to wake her up, they leave the room.

“Now, I’ll take a short nap too. Lush-san, please rest as well.”

“Thank you. I’ll take advantage of your kind offer.”

“I’ll check on Marl and the others since I slept well yesterday.”

“”Take care, Ashera.””

As if they were being told by the two mothers, Ashera muses that if she marries Aldo, it might turn out just like this. With a smile on her face, she goes to search for Marl and the others.

Now, let’s rewind time for a bit.

Let’s go back in time a little.

Aldo and Elphus were about to cross the gate of the town of Blue Ring, and a man who looked like a merchant observed them.

After watching for a while and confirming that they had completely left, the man turns on his heel.

To a casual observer, it might not seem fast, but it appears to be a special walking technique. He swiftly traverses the back alleys at considerable speed.

The man enters a building in the slums.

“My lord, I have confirmed the two Shura. I couldn’t confirm if one of the daughters is inside the carriage.”

“Well, that is fine. Let’s go kidnap the elf’s daughter from now on.”

“”Yes.””

The thieves, all heading towards the lord’s mansion, are acting independently, each at a distance of 10 to 100 meters. However, they are steadily approaching the mansion.

Maintaining a subtle distance from each other, the five head towards the back gate. The back gate is close to the knight’s training ground, a place with intense coming and going of knights.

As they approach the gate, one of the women deliberately falls, putting on an act as if she genuinely tripped.

One of the two gatekeepers approaches the woman.

“What happened?”

“I tripped… ouch…”

“Oi, your foot is pointing in a weird direction! It looks broken!”

“….I see…. It hurts…”

“Oi, someone, use healing magic…”

The gatekeeper who had been observing the woman suddenly falls asleep.

“Hey, what’s going on!”

The other gatekeeper tries to shake his sleeping comrade.

“You! Did you do something?”

“….Yes.”

“What…”

As the woman thought the gatekeeper touched her, the second gatekeeper also falls asleep. The woman glances at the gatekeepers, casually adjusts the foot pointing in an odd direction, and then the other four gather around. They carry the two gatekeepers to the guardhouse.

It seemed like they might be killed to keep them silent, but instead, their hands and feet are bound, and they are gagged before being rolled to the back.

“As usual, your magic-seeing eyes are…”

“I expect compensation for my work.”

“As planned, one will stay here as a gatekeeper. Strip them of their equipment and wear it.”

“Yes.”

“The rest is to secure the elf. She should be in the lord’s mansion.”

“””Yes”””

The four thieves head towards the lord’s mansion from the back gate. It happens to be the exact time when Ashera, having just left Clara’s room, sets out to search for Marl.

As Ashera searches for Marle within the mansion, she encounters Roland.

“Have you seen Marle and the others?”

“They are enjoying tea in the guest room.”

Though she usually doesn’t participate in tea parties, Aldo had suggested making friends of her age. While content with her current life, if Aldo thinks it’s necessary, she might as well join. She decides to head to the guest room.

Upon arrival, she finds Marl, Olivia, Faristea, Anna-sensei, and Yurisys enjoying tea.

“Ara, Ashera-sama, care to join us for tea?”

“Thank you. Excuse me.”

Invited by Olivia, Ashera joins the tea party. She has been studying etiquette alongside Aldo and Elphus. Despite being proficient, she rarely uses it since Aldo dislikes formality, as he himself claims.

As she sits down, a maid pours tea into her teacup.

“I suppose self-introductions are unnecessary now.”

“Yes.”

“What I’d like to ask Ashera-sama is about your engagement with Aldo! You two got engaged at the beginning of this year. Please share the details!”

Not only Olivia but all the ladies are eager to hear. The only one seemingly indifferent is Marl.

Ashera, a bit shy but somewhat delighted, starts sharing the story. She talks about her mother’s critical condition, Aldo’s pursuit, her initial refusal, and how he earnestly confessed, sparking interest and admiration among the ladies.

“Aldo is more passionate than I thought.”

“Ashera-sama, it’s wonderful how Aldo has feelings for you…”

Olivia’s feelings towards Aldo seem more like admiration for being rescued from orcs during their journey to the capital. With everyone enjoying the conversation, it spills over to discussions about Elphus and Marl.

“Marl, you seem to have a good relationship with Elphus. It’s enviable.”

While the ladies continue chatting, Ashera senses an odd presence. Although there’s nothing specific, the feeling of discomfort persists.

“What’s wrong, Ashera?”

“I sense something strange… just to be safe, let’s be cautious.”

While saying this, Ashera quickly deploys five wind spells around her.

Marl, not as proficient as Ashera, still casts two wind spells, being an apprentice of the Ice Witch.

“Move slowly to the corner of the room…”

Startled by Ashera’s words, the ladies slowly move to the corner of the room.

At the moment of reaching the corner of the room, the thieves burst in simultaneously—four in total. Two from the door, one from the window, and one from the balcony.

Ashera and Marl immediately cast the wind magic they had prepared on the man entering from the window and the one from the balcony. The two men, who hadn’t considered any countermeasures, were hit directly by the magic.

“”Gue… Gah…””

With broken bones visible at a glance, the two men collapsed on the ground, injured.

“Were you aware of us?”

The man entering from the door asked as he and his female companion rushed towards the corner where the ladies were.

“How dare you! There are two elves here! Which one?”

“The 12-year-old. Her name is Faristea.”

“We can’t know an elf’s age… We’ll just have to capture both.”

The female thief shouted upon seeing the elves and approached the ladies in the corner. Ashera stood in front of the group.

“You won’t pass here.”

Five spells are immediately deployed around Ashera.

Marl also deployed two spells from behind her.

“There’s still one Shura left.”

Ashera rushes toward the female thief. It seems that the woman is also a martial arts expert and has no weapons.

Assuming they could overpower her with magic while focusing on the male intruders, Ashera directed her magic towards the men.

“It seems I have underestimating things… Maybe I should show a little effort.”

The woman mumbled and charged towards Ashera. Her fist grazed Ashera’s shoulder for a moment, causing a brief dizziness.

“Magic Vision Eye…”

“I know it well. I’ve injected poison. Your victory is impossible now.”

Ignoring the woman’s words, Ashera quickly deployed five more magic spells around her.

“That’s enough, isn’t it?”

Seemingly judging that she couldn’t win in hand-to-hand combat, Ashera applied her full-body reinforcement.

“You have quite a lot of magic power. Are you a monster or something?”

With five magic spells enveloping her, Ashera attacked fearlessly. Somehow managing to get close, she succeeded in landing a single effective blow. At the same time, she also cast a mild paralysis, a recently learned status ailment she could apply without the affected person noticing.

“That’s it? Using all your magic power for a single blow. You must be running out soon.”

The woman taunted Ashera. Although the woman was likely superior in martial arts, Ashera had twice the magical power of an ordinary mage and the Magic Vision Eye.

Without responding to the woman’s taunts, Ashera deployed twice as many… ten magic spells simultaneously. Even Marl was surprised by this.

“…Monster…”

Ashera simultaneously manipulated the ten magic spells to attack the woman. If it were a moment ago, she might have dodged them. However, the woman took all the magic spells directly.

“Why… I can’t move my body…”

While collapsing under the onslaught of magic, the woman seemed to maintain some level of consciousness.

“I paralyzed you.”

“N-No way… You also have the Magic Vision Eye…”

Having received ten spells, the woman’s neck and limbs were twisted in impossible directions… This was beyond salvation.

There should be one more man among the attackers. Ashera switched her focus and turned around, but the man had already fled, leaving Marl alone, lying on the ground.

“Marl!!”

With frightening speed, she rushed to Marl and cast a healing spell. It seemed that she had only lost consciousness.

Now, in this place, there was one dead woman and two incapacitated assassins.

Ashera thought, “I need help.”

However, sending Olivia and Faristea to call for assistance felt hesitant.

As a last resort, Ashera unleashed magic on the windows and doors, causing destruction within the mansion.

Upon hearing the sudden sounds of destruction, Roland quickly rushed to the scene.

Entering the room, Roland was astonished to see the ladies huddled in the corner and Marl lying on the ground.

“An attack! It seems they were targeting Faristea. We managed to repel them somehow.”

Ashera briefly explained the current situation as she looked at Roland.

Then, Faristea, searching desperately, shouted.

“Yuri! Yuri! Nowhere!!”

Originally a guardian, Yuri was excluded from consciousness. But now, indeed, Yuri was nowhere to be found.

“Called herself Faristea, made them think I was Faristea…”

Making herself appear as Faristea… It would be easily discovered soon. At that time, there would likely be no mercy.

“We need to pursue immediately!”

Leaving this situation to Roland, Ashera intended to chase after Yuri.

“No, it’s not possible! Ashera-sama. You are Aldo-sama’s fiancée. Let’s leave it to the knight and mage corps.”

If it were only the disciple of the Ice Witch, she might not have been able to stop her. In this moment, being Aldo’s fiancée was the first time she felt regret.

Roland contacted the knight and mage corps to set up a blockade.

In her heart, Ashera murmured, “She’ll probably escape.”