Leave a comment

I more or less had the mentality of respecting elders, but I wasn’t tolerant enough to swallow that earlier statement from him. So I decided to smack him on the head once before questioning him once again. Unfortunate thing was, a little girl’s punch didn’t seem to have dealt any significant damage to him.

“Again, what was that?”
“Ow-ow, I said you just had to make him fall for you.”
“Isn’t that just putting the cart before the horse!”

Why should I make the guy that was trying to court me fall in love with me? Wouldn’t he just end up following me around instead?

“No, no, you got it wrong. I did not mean your current form, but your adult one.”
“The adult one?”
“Indeed, use your adult form illusion and make him fall!”
“Hmm?”

He had two reasons for courting me. One was that I was a beautiful girl that would surely turn into a fine woman one day. Another was about who my parents were. Now, if a third party appeared there and he fell for her, while I also had my parents promise him their cooperation, his aim should naturally move on to her.

“Hmm, that doesn’t sound so bad actually…”

Changing his target to a fabricated person didn’t sound so bad. If it was some actual person instead, it could get problematic in its own way. They could lack in good faith, or in the extreme case, even influence the throne.

But if it was a fictional person, they could just disappear whenever I wanted. If I keep his aim redirected for about five more years… then leave the town as an Adventurer or become independent once I approach the age of my fictional appearance, even he should not be able to do anything unreasonable.

“Looks like you will be able to buy about five years with this method, would you agree?”
“But it will be troublesome after that.”
“Well, we shall be protecting you for as long as you remain in town, so he would not be able to attempt anything. After that, you can just leave the town.”
“You make it sound so simple…”
“You used to move between towns when you acted as an assassin, right? If so, it should not prove to be that difficult for you.”
“Well, yeah.”

I was a wandering assassin, to begin with, so I had various bases hidden across the land. Moreover, the places where I hid the Evil Dragon’s parts were left alone all this time, so I wanted to check on them too.

One day, I definitely had to leave my parents’ side and set out on a journey.

“Well, there is indeed a reason for me to go out, but…”
“Not just that. You can’t leave little Michelle as is either, right?”
“Michelle?”
“She holds the Gift of Marksmanship. She even has a divine bow. She is talented enough that not just this lad Elliot, but every nation in the world would want in their army.”
“…You are right.”
“I am protecting her now, but what about when she graduates? Everyone would surely start competing over her then.”

Even now, she had such an accurate hitting rate that it was no exaggeration to call her a dead shot. Moreover, with the strengthening effect of the bangle, she could even fire the Third Eye freely for a few minutes.

Its destructive power left everything else in the dust. In a war, she could even shoot the enemy general from an extremely long distance.

She was simply a genius of that level. And at the same time, a loose cannon. Someone the countries couldn’t leave alone.

When she graduates from the Adventurer academy, scouts from every nation would surely come in floods. And the only way of evading them was leaving the country.

In the end, Michelle and I had no choice but to flee this country after a few years.

“What a pain this situation is…”
“You have a hand in developing her Gift. It stands to reason that it would be a pain.”
“Well…”

I suppose that could be true given it’s her we are talking about. But I couldn’t just take her along.

“Either way, it is still a few years too early to worry about that. You have to prioritize seducing Elliot now.”
“I suppose that comes first, yeah.”
“First, you have to learn how to seduce Elliot!”

Setting aside the grave future, Maxwell suggested that in amusement.

“You’ll have to learn the essential ‘feminine behavior’ that you would need to make him fall for you.”
“Say what?”
“Your appearance itself has a seal of approval from me.”
“You can shove it!”
“What is left is behaving like a woman. You are far too unrefined.”
“Leave me be!”

There was hardly a difference between the conduct of kids of either sex. However, after reaching ten, their conduct starts to slowly differ. At the moment, people at the academy viewed me as ‘a hard worker’ who trains hard despite her frail body, and a ‘young lady’ who plays the piano after school.

Given who my parents were, there were few students that approached me, but Letina and Michelle evaluated me as “you are kinda sloppy, Nicole”.

Maria who seemed like she’d be strict when it came to manners was actually taking a non-interference stance, thus I was gradually becoming more boyish.

“Fuhahaha, leave it to me. My popular self shall educate you personally.”
“I’m reaaaally hating the idea though!?”

And like that, I was forced to take lady lessons until the evening.

When the sun setting and the streets started to be dyed in red, I was finally freed from Maxwell’s grasp. As I returned back dejectedly, a fruit selling old man that I was familiar with called out to me in worry.

“Oh, what’s the matter, Lady Nicole? You look awfully fatigued today.”
“Old man, stop calling me lady.”
“Ahaha, given your usual response, it seems everything is alright, eh? Here, I’ll give you this so cheer up!”

He took one of the apples that I often bought from the fruit basket and threw it my way. I threw both of my hands and caught it. I could’ve done it with one hand in my previous life, but it was too much for me now. My hands were too small.

“Thank you.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Gotcha.”

I wiped the apple with my cuff and took a bite. Its sweet and sour juices filled my mouth, ridding me of some mental fatigue.

“It’s so good.”
“I know, right? Everything I sell is tasty, after all!”

Suddenly, I felt a strange presence. No… I think it has been following me ever since I left the academy?

“It was tasty. Thank you.”
“Glad you liked it.”

I told my thanks to the old man and hurriedly left the place behind. I was followed by a suspicious individual so I wanted to get away as fast as possible. I personally wanted to walk away gallantly, but it ended up sounding more like a toddler.

As I felt the warm gaze of the old man on my back, I intentionally rushed into an area devoid of people.