Chapter 47, A Day at the Fortress – Trouble

Translator: Lizz

 

The oxen mooed as they leisurely pulled the cart.

—Then.

“Outta the way!”

A rough-looking man ran toward them.

“Lady Sylvia!”

Gina tried to shield Sylvia, but Sylvia had already readied her slingshot.

She accurately shot and shattered the man’s knee.

“Gah!?”

The man collapsed.

“I didn’t really get what was going on, so I just made sure he couldn’t run.”

Sylvia said in a flat voice, and Gina drew her dagger, carefully observing the man and the surroundings.

“Lady Sylvia! Are you unharmed!?”

The guards arrived.

“Mm.”

“…What exactly happened?”

Gina asked cautiously, and the guards explained.

“After yelling at the shopkeeper in the store, he stole merchandise and fled.”

Gina was exasperated.

“What did he think would happen after running away? Even if he got through here, there’s no way he could pass the checkpoint at the neighboring country.”

Lately, traffic between countries had increased, so the neighboring country’s checkpoint was staffed by guards.

They had also asked skilled people to man their own checkpoint, but since there were so few of them, there were days when no one was there.

“Town security is a real issue… I’ll try talking to Edward, but he probably already knows and just can’t do anything about it…”

 

Dragged away by the guards, the man with the shattered knee screamed in pain.

Of all things, he had tried to harm the Lord of the castle, so he was doomed to a severe punishment.

If it had been a quarrel between city residents, the Mayor would usually handle it, but if the Lord was harmed, Edward would personally deal with it, and the body would end up as food for forest monsters or sea creatures.

“Edward’s mood is going to be terrible…”

“Would it have been better if I finished him off?”

Sylvia asked Gina, and Gina gave a wry smile.

“Well, the result would’ve been the same… but Edward might be able to get something out of him, so your decision was correct, Lady Sylvia.”

“I see, that’s good!”

Saying that, she started moving the ox cart again.

 

After returning to the fortress, Sylvia was made to take a bath.

When she touched the bathtub, it filled with hot water.

Gina undressed Sylvia and diligently washed her.

 

The fortress was under Sylvia’s command. Therefore, it was extremely comfortable.

Looking at the results, even the royal palace or a Marquis’s estate could be just as comfortable.

But that was due to manpower and effort.

Take, for example, a Duke’s household.

If the head of the house said, ‘I want a bath, prepare it’, someone who could use water magic would fill it with water, and someone who could use fire magic would heat it to the right temperature. Or they would boil a large amount of water and fill the tub.

To ensure the head of the house lived comfortably, many servants were hired and worked tirelessly behind the scenes.

It was all sustained by the servants’ labor and the Duke family’s wealth.

 

But in the fortress, the fortress did everything.

Water and hot water came out on their own, and once a room was renovated, it stayed clean.

Back when Sylvia didn’t have enough magical power, only part of the fortress functioned that way, but now her power seemed to be sufficient at all times, so the fortress conveniently handled many things on its own, allowing them to manage with only a few servants.

Still, for appearances’ sake, they had people do the laundry and cleaning.

 

Once she was thoroughly washed, Sylvia got out of the bathtub.

She was wrapped in a bath towel made of multiple layers of gauze fabric, had the water wiped off, changed clothes, and then it was time for dinner.

When she went to the dining room, just as expected, Edward wasn’t there; only Calogero was.

Gina sighed.

“So, I guess it’s just as we predicted?”

Calogero asked Gina with a wry smile, and Gina nodded.

“…It’s not like anything happened, you know? Lady Sylvia dealt with it immediately beforehand.”

“If anything were to happen to Lady Sylvia, no matter how much he atone, his sins would never be cleansed. Yes, he would become a pitiful wretch unable to reach the presence of God.”

Calogero said this with a frightening smile.

 

—Gina knew that Calogero had secretly begun learning swordsmanship and offensive magic.

Because the one teaching him was Gina herself.

It wasn’t to protect himself, nor was it out of guilt for leaving all the executions to Edward… Gina suspected that he simply wanted to punish those who tried to harm Sylvia himself. And she was absolutely confident in that guess.

As a priest, Gina wondered if that was really appropriate, but she reconsidered, thinking it was good to have more capable fighters, and continued teaching him without saying anything.

 

Unaware of Gina’s exasperated thoughts, Calogero ate with graceful movements that showed no trace of the gap between his noble past and his current role as a commoner priest. Sylvia mimicked him precisely.