Part 3 of 8
“Don’t die! Don’t you dare die on me!”
“Don’t worry. I don’t think I’m going to.”
I’m not putting on a brave face—I genuinely feel like I’ll probably survive.
Stats really are an amazing thing.
Normally, with a hole like this in your gut, you’d die for sure.
But between the HP Auto-Recovery skill and the Healing Magic I’ve been casting on myself, I think I’m going to make it.
“He let us live again.”
“I know.”
Once he figures out that I’m really not on the verge of death, Kunihiko mutters quietly as he continues treating me.
If that fight had continued, we would’ve lost.
We managed to injure Merazophis, but that’s it.
Each of us attacked him with everything we had.
And even then, the most we could manage was a scratch.
Even if we’d fought with the will to sacrifice ourselves in the process, I still don’t think we could’ve won.
“I’m no good. I still gotta get stronger.”
You don’t need to get that strong, really.
That’s what I want to say.
I never want to experience danger like this again.
There’s no guarantee that he’d let us live again next time.
They do say the third time’s the charm, after all.
This is now the second time that Merazophis has decided to spare us.
When he wiped out the clan that birthed and raised us, he let us go free purely on a whim.
And today, it happened again.
Although I don’t know what his reasoning was this time.
“Are you all right?!”
As I’m lost in thought, the child in the robe comes running over.
She really helped us get through this battle. I should thank her.
“Thank you very much. Your support was greatly appreciated.”
“You can thank me later! First, we have to heal you!”
“It’s all right—I can stand.”
My wound has mostly closed up.
It’s certainly still painful, so I can’t push myself too much until it’s fully healed, but I should be able to get up and walk around at least.
We’re still on a battlefield, meaning I can’t just lie around, so I start to sit up.
I catch a glimpse of the hooded figure’s face: a young girl, looking wide-eyed and surprised by the speed of my recovery.
I couldn’t tell in the middle of battle because her hood was pulled over her eyes, but she’s a real beauty.
And judging by her overall appearance, now I understand how she was able to fight so well.
“Aah, so you’re an elf.”
The girl’s pointed ears give it away.
Elves live even longer than demons, and they’re said to be especially skilled at magic.
As a result of their long life spans, they age relatively slowly, so this girl is probably a lot older than she looks.
This girl and one other.
I look to the fort.
I don’t know who it was or what they look like, but there was a mage supporting us by sniping at Merazophis throughout our fight.
Without the help of these two, we wouldn’t have even been able to begin to fight Merazophis.
Exhaustion is becoming harder and harder to ignore, but there’s no time to waste. I push away the desire to simply lie down and sleep.
Kunihiko reaches out his hand, and I let him pull me to my feet.
“How’s the battle looking?”
“Seems like they’re retreating.”
Looking around, I can just barely see the demon army pulling back.
And I see the adventurers who were fighting them, too, with Mr. Gotou among them.
Maybe Merazophis noticed that their battle was going poorly for the demons and decided to make a tactical withdrawal.
If so, we owe a lot to Mr. Gotou and the others.
“I suppose we should head back, then.”
“Yeah.”
Both of us are too exhausted to fight anymore anyway.
If we tried to chase the retreating demons, Merazophis might actually kill us once and for all.
No, we should quit while we’re ahead.
“Are you coming?”
“Yes.”
The elf takes off her hood and nods.
“But first, I should introduce myself to you…Tagawa and Kushitani.”
For a moment, I’m so tired that it doesn’t register as strange for her to know our names.
But then I realize: Kunihiko and I have never used our old family names in this world.
So how does this girl know them?
“My name is Filimøs Harrifenas. But in your case, perhaps I should give my old name instead: In my previous life, I was Kanami Okazaki.”
Kunihiko’s eyes widen in shock, and so do mine.
Because that’s the name of our old homeroom teacher.
Hiya!
It’s everyone’s favorite (BLEEP)-year-old, Aurel!
Yep, my age is a seeecret.
I am the daughter of a noble family, y’know!
Even if we’re damn broke.
But being a cute little noblelady who’s still unmarried at my age, I’m starting to fall behind the curve here.
According to my life plan, I was supposed to be married by now and have popped out a kid or two, so what the hell happened?
See, I’m the second daughter of a poor noble family in the boonies of the empire.
Yep. I’m from the sticks, I’m poor, and to top it all off, I’m not even the oldest.
At that point, being nobility doesn’t really mean a damn thing.
If I were the eldest daughter, I mighta still been able to get married off into some other friendly noble fam, but since I’m not, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Besides, there’s not a thing to be gained by getting close to a poor noble family like ours anyway, so I doubt there are gonna be people lining up for a marriage with us in the first place.
Oh, by the way, my older sister did manage to get married off to someone in a neighboring country.
And my older brother’s gonna take over as head of the family, so I really gotta get hitched someplace.
But since we’re dirt-poor and all, finding someone is a huge pain in the ass.
We really don’t have coin or anything to offer, either, so yeah…
That’s why I was shipped out as a live-in assistant so I could raise some dough and make a few connections at the same time.
It’s not super unusual for a noble family’s second or third daughter to be sent out as a live-in servant to a higher-ranking house.
You get paid, and if you’re lucky, you might even meet someone special.
Depending on how good a worker you are, there’s a chance you can stay on with that family permanently.
’Cept, since I’m from the boonies and I have the mouth of a sailor, I more or less got thrown out before I even made it through the damn interview.
I guess I just ain’t got what it takes to act like a proper lady, so I never get picked for that kinda crap.
But while I was practically going on a damn world tour of failing every interview, I was lucky enough to run into Mr. Ronandt as a potential employer.
Ronandt is the number one strongest court mage in the whole empire, the elite-est of the elite.
Basically, he’s a damn living legend.
But I thought, for a guy that important to hire some chick from the boonies like me, there’s gotta be a catch, yeah?
Oh, there was a catch, all right.
If I had to sum up that geezer in a word, I could go with perv, magic-obsessed moron, freak, total brute, and so on.
Oops, that was more than one word, huh?
Basically, the dude is unhinged.
But if I ran away from this job, I’d never be able to find work again.
So I bravely held my tears at bay and served the damn weirdo.
Looking back, this is where my life started to get real weird.
Work for the geezer, save up money, and get married to someone who’s loaded enough to at least make sure I won’t go hungry, even if they’re a commoner.
That was my highest goal at the time.
Best I can hope for, with my damn dirty mouth.
I shoulda given up on the idea of marrying into a noble family from the start.
My poor-ass family is barely any better off than commoners, so I didn’t really mind getting out of the nobility game anyway.
If I can just be a commoner with a half-decent life, that’s good enough for me, dammit.
And yet, my prime marrying years are pretty much over, and I’m still friggin’ single.
But maybe not being married is the least of my problems right now.
Why the hell am I on a shitty battlefield anyway?
“Goddamn, this is a real mess.”
I end up grumbling out loud despite trying to rein it in.
How does the second daughter of a poor noble house from the boonies end up as a court mage?
If you’re confused, that makes two of us.
Basically, it’s all that damn geezer’s fault for saying “You have a talent for magic!” and forcing me to be his apprentice.
Mostly ’cause the hero Sir Julius, who became the geezer’s apprentice first, barely survived his insane training.
You can’t even call that training at all. It was straight-up torture!
He literally looked like he was gonna die, so I used Healing Magic on him on the spot, and that’s when everything went to shit.
The old geezer saw me do it and assumed I was good at magic or something…
But the only reason I knew how to do it in the first place is ’cause when we were traveling in a carriage a while back, the old man used Healing Magic to fix up my sore butt, so I thought Hey, that’s pretty damn handy; I should learn it and practiced in secret.
There wasn’t any real reason for me to hide it, but looking back, I think young me really made the right call.
Because the moment the geezer found me out, my life turned into a living hell thanks to the torture he calls “training.”
I’ve tried to escape him tons of times since then, but that old man is a Space Magic master.
No matter where I run, he always chases me down with teleportation!
So I figured my only choice was to learn Teleport, too!
But learning Space Magic just wound up making things worse.
The government itself started taking notice, and before I knew it, I got shoved into a court mage seat and even got a fancy title.
All I wanted was a roof over my head and food in my belly. Instead I found myself moving up in the damn world instead…
All ’cause Space Magic is super rare.
But since I’ve got a personal noble title now, maybe someone will actually wanna marry me!
Except I’ve been so damn busy with work that I haven’t had time to even worry about that.
Imperial court mages have a lot of crap to do, y’know!
And even when I’m free, I end up having to teach things to the other court mages and their apprentices and stuff, for the sake of future generations or some junk?
One day, I’ll be like, Sweet, I don’t have any work today!
And then the next day, I’m suddenly drowning in more crap I have to do.
Where am I supposed to find the time to meet someone to marry now?!
Honestly, though, this war takes the cake.
Why is a sweet young maiden like me giving orders on a battlefield, huh?
“Ughhh. I just wanna retire, dammit.”
Right now, I’m giving directions to restore a fort wall that got wrecked.
Luckily, the damage was fairly light, so the other court mages and I can get the wall back into half-decent shape, even if we can’t fix it completely.
“Ma’am, could you help us instead of complaining, please?”
One of my fellow mages starts whining, but I’m having none of that crap, thanks.
“I just worked myself half to death, dude. Just lemme rest a little, okay?”
Damn right.
That’s literally what happened.
In fact, if I had made one wrong move, I really would’ve died.
I was pushing my magic to its limits in that crazy long-distance firefight, y’know?
Who the hell was that freak?
Since when does the demon army have someone like that?
I hear the guy who messed up our fort’s wall is a demon called Merazophis or something, but his magic might’ve even been on par with my master’s, which is ludicrous!
Master Ronandt already falls way outside the normal limits of human strength, but I dunno if even he could bust the wall of a fort like this from such a long distance…
Although the scary thing is that maybe he could.
“D’you think my master coulda pulled this off?”
“Surely, this would be madness even for Elder Ronandt…although I can’t say for sure that it’d be impossible…”
My colleague seems to have the same opinion as I do on the matter.
“I mean, yeah, Master’s pretty wild, but this Merazophis guy seems absolutely monstrous, too.”
“Ma’am, that makes it sound like Elder Ronandt isn’t human.”
“Well, yeah, he’s definitely at least half given up on being human by now.”
“Ahhh…”
The way that guy simply nodded like it all made sense really goes to show what the people around Master actually think of him.
But that also means that the guy we just fought was so bizarre that he might’ve even been a decent match for my master.
Honestly, if those young adventurer kids hadn’t held him off, this whole damn fort might be a pile of rubble by now. It was seriously that bad.
My master likes to say, “The truly strong can fight any number of riffraff with ease.”
Might as well have been talking about himself.
Forget dozens—it’d take hundreds or maybe even thousands of people to try and take down that geezer.
Since I’ve seen that geezer fight up close, I can understand this Merazophis guy’s insane level of power to an extent, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy he’s on the enemy side.
I felt sorta bad for the demons who got sent to the fort where my master was stationed, but who decided I gotta fight a demon even stronger than those guys?
Am I being punished for something I did or what?
All I can think of is that time I snuck some poison into the geezer’s food.
“Bah! You’ll need ten times this amount of poison if you want to kill me!”
Yeah, he was totally fine…
Is that geezer really human?
Honestly, sometimes I half-seriously think he might be some super-strong monster in disguise.
I mean, the whole reason my life went off the damn rails is ’cause that monster of an old man set his eyes on me…
“I was supposed to be making out with my super-hot husband by now…”
“You’re back on that again, ma’am?”
I’m always talking about how I just wanna marry half-decently and retire, so I think my colleagues are sick of hearing it.
“Ma’am, if you really want to get married, all you’d have to do is rub that chest of yours up against whatever guy you want, no?”
“You know what comments like that are called? Sexual harassment, dammit.”
Yeah, my chest is on the large side, that’s for sure.
It’s one of the few things I can be proud of, but it also comes with a lotta problems.
Like creepy stares from lots of dudes and some major back pain to boot.
Even that purehearted Sir Julius always glances at ’em whenever we meet…
“Well, the real problem is there aren’t any guys I wanna marry.”
“I think your standards are just too high, ma’am.”
“Nnngh!”
I can’t argue with that, since it’s kinda true.
Especially since Julius happens to set the bar extremely high.
Good looks! Perfect pedigree! Great personality! Power to spare!
I know it doesn’t make sense to compare other people to someone like that, but it’s hard not to when you know an actual hero.
The one downside is that being the wife of a hero sounds like a huge pain.
But compared to that…
The guys usually around me are all mages who are a buncha weirdos, especially the geezer.
I look at my colleague’s face and heave a huge sigh.
“Ma’am, isn’t that a bit rude?”
“Whatever. I’m allowed to sigh at grown-ass men who call a younger lady ‘ma’am.’”
That’s right. All the other court mages, not just this guy, are older than I am!
But they all call me “ma’am” for some reason!!
And not even to be rude—they seriously mean it.
For imperial court mages, your magic power decides your position.
And since I’m second only to the geezer in strength, that means I get almost as much respect as he does.
I guess some people might fancy the idea of a buncha older guys falling all over themselves to heed your every word, but really, it just means I’m surrounded by damn magic-loving weirdos, okay?
Not exactly the kinda guy I’m looking to marry…
But most of my days end up being spent with these guys from morning till night.
I hardly ever meet anyone new, and even if there’s someone who catches my eye a little, I rarely get a chance to talk with them.
Besides, most of those people are already engaged or married to boot.
The best ones always get taken early, y’know?
Next thing you know, everyone half-decent’s already spoken for, and there’s hardly any damn singles left who’re near my age.
…I might seriously be screwed at this point.
“Aaargh! Aren’t there any awesome guys who’re my age lying around somewhere?!”
“Hmm. I mean, I can think of one…”
“Huh? Who?!”
Is my colleague gonna throw me a bone here?!
“You know—Sir Hero.”
“Argh…”
Makes sense.
But that isn’t an option.
“Sir Julius is way outta my league, dude.”
“You think so? But you seem to be pretty close with him, so I do believe you have a chance, ma’am.”
“Like hell I do. Me and him aren’t a good match.”
“Why do you always sell yourself short like that, ma’am?”
I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that Sir Julius, who’s a prince and the hero, could do a hell of a lot better than some poor noble girl from the boonies.
Besides…
“Besides, me and Sir Julius just aren’t like that.”
I know he’s super amazing and all, but that makes it even harder to see him as more than a friend.
“Sir Julius is a light, dammit. A light that draws people to him. All kinds of folks end up gathering around him and decide to walk alongside him of their own free will, y’know? That’s what makes him a hero. A legend.”
Yaana the saint once said that he’s like gentle sunlight or something.
But I don’t think so.
He’s way more intense than that, like a fire blazing wildly in the darkness.
You know it’ll burn you if you get too close, but people can’t help moving toward him anyway.
And then they sacrifice themselves in his name.
Now, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.
It just shows how much charisma Sir Julius has, to the point that people want to dedicate themselves to him.
“But I just wanna live in peace, so that light’s a little too damn bright for me.”
Sir Julius is noble and all, but staying by his side kinda seems like a heavy burden to bear.
Personally, I think he could stand to take it a little easier, y’know?
But he’s always been super uptight, ever since he was a kid, so I don’t think he’d be able to change the way he lives at this point.
“So being a step behind him as a friend is the right place for me.”
“I see.”
“I just hope he’s not doing anything too crazy in this war…”
But knowing Julius, he’ll end up doing something reckless no matter what anyone says to him.
“But that sort of sounds more like a worrying older sister than a friend, don’t you think?”
“I guess you could call it that.”
“How fitting for you, ma’am.”
“Ugh.”
I can’t say he’s totally wrong, so I just quietly give my colleague’s back a shove to send him off to finish fixing the wall.
Right now, I’m more worried about whether Merazophis is gonna attack again than my stupid marriage prospects.
Between those three adventurers and me sniping at him from here, we managed to chase him off, but I dunno if it’s gonna go that well again next time.
He seemed totally fine even after I landed a direct hit on him. I aimed right for his heart, too…
I doubt there’s a lot more freaks like him out there, but either way, it seems like this battle’s gonna be harder than I thought.
So much for the rumors that the damn demons being in such dire straits that we were even getting refugees at the border…
I don’t think folks like Master and Sir Julius are gonna go down easily, but I wanna make sure they know to be extra careful.
But I guess I’m in no place to worry about other people right now.
Better get down to business.
I have to get stronger to protect the young miss.
How long has it been since I made that resolution?
Along the way, I somehow gained the position of Fourth Commander of the demon army.
I’m sure it’s primarily because I’m an acquaintance of the Demon Lord.
But in spite of my becoming their commander due to that connection, the Fourth Army has been loyally following my orders.
To them, I am just an unknown man who showed up with the Demon Lord and suddenly became their leader.
They would be well within their rights to doubt me. I am not even a demon but a vampire.
I have been hiding that truth and living as a demon, so I am sure even my identity is still a mystery to them.
So I feel nothing but gratitude to my men for treating me as their commander nonetheless.
Technically, I did need to put in the work to earn this position.
Originally, the Fourth Army was commanded by Sir Balto.
However, he was so busy with his work that his younger brother, Sir Bloe, was generally in charge.
I joined the Fourth Army under Sir Bloe’s command and quickly worked my way up the ranks.
When Sir Bloe became the official commander of a different army, everyone remaining moved up a rank, myself included.
From then on, my rank continued to go up, and by the time Sir Balto officially retired from his post as commander to focus on his political responsibilities, the Demon Lord Lady Ariel personally appointed me as the new commander.
It’s open knowledge that Lady Ariel brought me to the demon territory.
Thus, I imagined that many people would object to a newcomer becoming commander so quickly.
But to my surprise, there were no complaints from either the other commanders or the rank and file of the Fourth Army.
I thought it strange, but Lady Ariel simply smiled.
“You really don’t give yourself enough credit, Merazophis,” she said.
And, “There’s nobody more qualified to be a commander than you.”
Although Lady Ariel claims I do not give myself enough credit, it is my belief that she gives me far too much.
The truth is, I am nothing more than a humble servant.
Even if I’ve been reborn with the unusual race of a vampire, my fundamental nature has not changed.
For an ordinary human such as myself to become a vampire, there is little change other than gaining a bit more power.
And even that is nothing more than strength borrowed from the young miss, who is a Progenitor vampire.
It does not reflect any excellence on my part.
But when I said all this, Lady Ariel simply warned me: “Too much modesty just comes off as obnoxious, you know.”
…The truth is, I know she’s right.
With my power, I am more than capable of being a commander.
Those around me are simply accurately gauging my value.
But there is a part of me that does not want to admit this.
For most, I imagine being valued highly would be cause for celebration, not denial.
But there is a reason that I feel I must react in such a way.
I am afraid of letting myself get too comfortable.
Many things have gone wrong in this life of mine.
Of course, I’m sure many people feel the same way.
Like countless others, I ran into quite a few obstacles as an ordinary person.
The first of these was unrequited love.
The woman who I served, now the deceased mother of my young mistress.
As her servant, I fell in love with her, a love that was doomed to failure.
She was already loved and in love with her fiancé, who of course was the young mistress’s father.
Given my position, and out of respect for their relationship, naturally I could not act on my feelings, and so the curtain fell on my first love.
And the next great obstacle I encountered was their deaths.
My love would never be fulfilled, but I wanted the woman I loved to be happy, at the very least.
Thus I served her, and eventually her husband as well.
And yet, both their lives were taken in an act of senseless violence.
I still feel deep hatred toward the Church of the Word of God, who backed them into a corner, and most of all Potimas, who took their lives with his very own hand.
But I was not strong enough.
I did not have enough power to save them.
These two are the biggest obstacles I have been unable to overcome, but I have encountered a great deal of smaller ones, too.
Many times have I stumbled due to my lack of ability and lamented my own incompetence.
In short, I have spent my life running into one insurmountable barrier after the next.
Thus, I am unaccustomed to being respected by those around me.
My lord found me dependable, but hardly in any manner that earned me a reputation.
I have never been given a role such as commander that puts me in charge of many others, nor have I ever been assessed as someone worthy of such a role.
That was why I was afraid that such high praise would go to my head, tempting me to rest on my laurels.
What if I start to feel that this is good enough?
That I’ve worked hard enough already?
I am still not nearly strong enough.
I decided long ago to dedicate this life of mine to the young miss, so it’s all the more important that I am ready to protect her from danger.
But her enemies are terribly powerful, and such meager strength as mine cannot shield her from them.
Potimas, the leader of the elves.
The Word of God religion, who drove my lord and lady to their deaths.
Both are far too powerful for me to do anything about alone.
But still, I must hone myself so that I can at least begin to resist them.
I never wish to experience again the powerlessness I felt when I lost my lord and lady.
And yet, it is difficult not to lose heart.
I am an ordinary person.
No matter how hard I might struggle, I can never reach the strength I desire.
I know the incredibly powerful people around me are rare and exceptional, but I am still ashamed that I cannot muster even a fraction of their power.
And what is hardest of all for me to accept is that the young miss, whom I am supposed to protect, is quickly leaving me behind.
The young miss has grown a great deal.
She was but a baby when we resided in Sariella, and still only an infant when we journeyed to the demon realm, so I thought she would remain a child even after we arrived.
But now, the young miss is beginning to grow into a beautiful young woman, resembling her mother.
When I was still human, an elderly person once told me that children grow up fast.
I thought the young miss was still a child, but she started to climb the stairs to adulthood before I even realized it.
Not only in her appearance but in strength, too.
The young miss is already so powerful that I could not hope to match her.
I am far weaker than the person I am meant to protect.
That knowledge weighs heavily on my heart.
And when I see how much she’s exceeded me, so far that I can never catch up no matter how much effort I devote, a part of me is tempted to give up on moving forward at all.
I am a coward.
Truly, a pathetic coward.
Even if I cannot reach her—no, especially because I know I cannot reach her—I must not stop striving for greater heights, or the gap between us will only grow more.
Even now, when I’m running with all my might, the gap is already widening.
So I must not allow the praise and acknowledgment of others to dampen my resolve and commitment.
I cannot content myself with the way things are.
I absolutely must not stop trying to catch up to her.
Even if an ordinary person like me can never catch up no matter how hard I might try, I still cannot stop walking forward.
Coward though I am, I must always stay steady.
Especially after what I just experienced.
“I still have a ways to go.”
After our retreat, I admonish myself back at the camp.
I failed.
My wounds have already closed up. They were light to begin with.
If I kept fighting, I likely could have won.
But I am the one who decided to retreat.
I gave up on victory and chose failure of my own volition.
Because the sun was out, the weakness of vampires such as myself.
Because there were several reincarnations among our opponents.
Because the other adventurers were stronger than I expected, and my army was being pushed back.
Yes, I can think of any number of excuses.
But that does not change the fact that I failed.
I was fighting the reincarnations who were survivors of the clan I’d destroyed with my own two hands long ago.
That young boy and girl have grown quite strong.
Not nearly to the extent of other reincarnations like my young mistress and Wrath, but those two are likely far beyond the realm of the ordinary. I believe the pair I fought today was still quite formidable.
I could not completely defeat them.
Since they are reincarnations, I knew I was supposed to hold back so I wouldn’t kill them—but the truth is, I wasn’t holding back.
I fought to the best of my ability, but I still couldn’t bring them down.
My stats and skills alike were unquestionably superior, but somehow, they still held their own against me.
The boy’s swordsmanship was skilled, his footwork sharp and precise.
Even his blinking and breathing were methodical.
He used the powers of his magic sword at just the right moments, never leaving an opening for me to exploit.
The young girl was perfectly in sync with the boy, too.
She managed to constantly pressure me with a hail of attack magic without ever getting in the boy’s way.
The way she wove her spells was smooth and flawless, and they were quite powerful.
Truly, I cannot help but envy their natural talent.
I have no such thing myself.
Each swing of my sword is unsteady, and my command of magic is laughable.
To cover my shortcomings, I train without rest.
I practice swinging my sword over and over in a desperate attempt to steady my hands.
I cast one spell after another, hoping the next will come together more smoothly.
Repetition, repetition, repetition.
And if I finally manage to pull it off perfectly, it’s merely the product of dogged practice, not talent.
But if I cannot do as well in live combat as in practice, it is all for naught.
I cannot stand still in battle, like I do when I practice my swings.
If I pause in the middle of fighting to construct a spell, I only make myself a tempting target.
So I practice while moving around, as well.
Once I started doing that, I simply became even more aware of my lack of talent.
I stumble. I falter.
There is nothing to do but correct these failings.
To take another step forward, to start over.
Even if I sometimes take a step backward and must start over yet again.
Those with natural talent may find it easy to handle such things, but it is not so simple for me.
My only choice is to keep practicing until these things are second nature and carve the memory of every action into my body.
But even that is difficult for me.
On occasion, I’ll manage a sword swing that I’m satisfied with.
But other times, I cannot re-create it no matter how many times I try.
Sometimes, I can do something perfectly one day but not the next.
As I test things out, there are even occasions when I can’t cast a spell correctly.
All this experience doesn’t necessarily add up to progress.
I’m sure the truly strong, like Lady White or the young miss, cannot relate to such struggles.
Since they are constantly moving forward, they know not what it is for an ordinary person to stumble, stop, or even slide backward.
“Why can’t you do this?”
They have no idea how cruel those words can be.
I’ve finally reached the point where I can wield my sword and magic simultaneously, but not yet to the point where I can seamlessly shift from one movement to the next.
If something unexpected happens, my reaction is inevitably delayed.
I am sure the likes of my mistress or Lady White would never fail to make a snap decision in such situations.
Simply another thing that illustrates the difference between those with talent and those without.
I only managed to retain the upper hand in this most recent battle because my stats and skills were simply higher.
Because I lack any talent myself, it is easy for me to identify: The reincarnation boy and girl have both been blessed with far more natural ability than myself.
Their capacity to hold their own in a fight against me, even though I was theoretically stronger, is proof enough of that.
Quite worrying.
Today’s battle ended with only minor injuries, but who knows how the same engagement might turn out in a few years’ time?
The difference in our natural abilities will translate into differing rates of growth.
If people make the same amount of effort over the same time, the ones with more talent will grow more.
Thus my only choice is to work even harder to close that gap, but time moves at the same rate for everyone and waits for none.
The amount of time one can spend training is limited, too, which is one of the few cases in which the playing field is even regardless of one’s natural talent.
Even so, life is still unfair.
Compared to those of us without talent, who must make more effort, those with talent are given the same amount of time to make as much effort as they choose.
I know it is no use to bemoan things I do not have.
And yet, I cannot help thinking, If only I had some talent…
The thought never fails to drag me down.
Perhaps that just goes to show how big of a shock this most recent loss was to me.
To calm myself down, I examine my stats with Appraisal.
And in my skill column, I see the word Perseverance.
Perseverance…a skill that Lady White once had.
It is one of a small amount of special skills known as ruler skills.
I do not know why one as lowly as myself would be given such a skill.
But I admit, it does seem fitting.
All I know how to do is persevere.
For one such as myself, without natural talent, there is no other way.
Endure, persevere, and press on.
That is the only way I can keep moving forward.
As I gaze at this skill, I begin to feel that perhaps I can persevere and move forward again after all.
Even if I know I cannot catch up to my young mistress and the others as they run on ahead.
Even if the other talented youngsters who are running to catch up with me now will someday surpass me.
I shall grit my teeth and keep on running as well.
My name is Phelmina.
Just Phelmina.
There was a time once when I had a family name as well, but no longer.
I was born into a distinguished demon family and wanted for nothing in my life.
My father is the head of the ministry of finance as well as the Tenth Commander of the demon army, a rock-solid position by any measure.
To be precise, I should say he was the Tenth Commander, but it was still the case when I lived with my family.
There was no actual Tenth Army, so it was a paper title, but it still paid well enough that our family was quite affluent.
But while we wanted for nothing, my family was accordingly harsh.
Those who stand at the top must be in possession of the corresponding amount of strength and spirit.
I’m sure all noble demon families raise their children with such beliefs, not just mine.
The rumors that my family is far harsher with its children than the others are entirely unsubstantiated.
Rote learning, training, etiquette lessons.
From a young age, that is how I spent my days, and I believe I became a proper young lady who would not shame my family name.
At least, I used to believe that.
Because after a certain incident, my family disowned me…
Under cover of my hood, I cast a stealthy glance at the person next to me…
“What?”
…only to be noticed right away.
This person, who is now frowning at me, is Sophia Keren.
She is the cause of my expulsion from my family.
Even now, just thinking about what happened makes my blood boil.
“Oh, nothing.”
“I see.”
A brief exchange.
We are not close enough to carry on a friendly chat, nor is now the time or place for it.
Right now, we are hiding in a forest, waiting to ambush the enemy.
Looking around, I see other members of our white-cloaked band hidden around the area.
Since all of us are using a high-level Stealth skill, it would be nigh impossible to see any of them without knowing beforehand they were there.
This small group of exceptionally talented soldiers is the Tenth Army.
When my father was in charge, the ranks were solely filled with our family’s private soldiers, most of them of little use in battle.
But those days are over.
When my father stepped down from the position of commander and a new one took his place, the Tenth Army was reborn as a small but incredibly elite force.
Compared to the other armies, ours is scarcely even a tenth of the size.
But each individual can fight as well as a hundred from any other.
I would even be willing to wager that we could hold our own in a head-to-head battle with one of the other armies.
That is how powerful the Tenth Army soldiers are.
The most terrifying part is that these elite soldiers were trained over the span of just a few years.
I can hardly pass judgment, since I am one of them.
But the other armies do not know the true strength of the Tenth Army.
It hasn’t been long since we were established, and we are quite small as armies go, so we haven’t yet had a chance to demonstrate our power.
But we’ve been working that much harder behind the scenes, under the orders of our commander: gathering information, carrying out assassinations, and other various missions.
As such, people seem to assume that we specialize in this sort of subterfuge.
They’re not entirely wrong, but in reality, that is merely one aspect of our talents; we excel just as much in normal combat.
Sadly, we haven’t yet had a chance to prove this.
Nor will today be an exception.
The other armies are all boldly invading the human territory, but we are still lurking in the shadows.
I am sure the fact that we cannot boldly display our prowess in battle is the reason for Sophia’s foul mood, too.
Sophia has a powerful desire to be in the spotlight, and she also simply loves fighting.
However, in a way, this is the most important battlefield of all.
Which is exactly why we’re here.
“……”
Pure silence.
The entire Tenth Army shifts to take their positions and make ready.
Our senses, sharpened by our skills, have detected footsteps of people moving through the forest.
So we still our breathing and wait.
Since all our members have the Silence skill, no one will detect us from our breathing or heartbeats, and the Odorless skill will prevent us from being detected by smell, too.
In addition, we’ve undergone all manner of training to avoid detection.
The only possible way to spot us would be with a skill like Clairvoyance.
There is no real way to defend against it, but with skillful use of skills like Stealth and Concealment, we can minimize the risk to a certain extent.
I doubt our target is constantly using detection skills, so as long as they do not know we are here, they almost certainly will not spot us.
And as we quiet our breathing, we wait for our targets to pass underfoot.
We do not look in their direction, for even the slightest of motions might be enough to alert them.
The footsteps come closer and then begin to pass by our hidden unit.
Judging by the sound, there are likely about a hundred of them.
The only paths through this forest are animal trails, so it’s hardly suited to marching through with a large amount of troops.
Consequently, it’s that much harder for anyone to monitor it.
Such is the nature of the no-man’s-land that lies between the human and demon realms.
There are human forts positioned anywhere it might be possible for an army to march through.
The areas in between are known as no-man’s-land, where small skirmishes between humans and demons frequently occur.
This forest is one such area.
And it would appear that while the majority of the demon forces are marching into battle, the enemy has been planning to pass through the no-man’s-land to invade demon territory instead.
As the Tenth Army, our job is to annihilate that incursion.
Our other members have been positioned at the other sections of the no-man’s-land as well, tasked with destroying any enemies who attempt to make their way through, as well as any humans who already lived in those areas.
But the main thrust is right here.
I hold my breath and wait for the signal.
Before long, it arrives.
A thread so thin that the eye can scarcely see it is wrapped around my finger.
I feel a tug.
On that signal, all of us jump into action at once.
We emerge from our hiding places and attack the enemy as one.
My specialty is a throwing weapon called a chakram.
I hurl it past Sophia as she charges straight ahead, and it embeds itself in the skull of my target.
A moment later, Sophia slashes at another enemy, and after that, the rest of the members strike as well.
Our first surprise attack is a complete success, leaving our victims no time to defend themselves.
We press the attack against a stunned enemy as they try to figure out what’s happening.
Less than half of them are able to counter the second wave of attacks, so it deals a significant amount of damage as well.
Only when we begin landing our third round of attacks does the enemy finally understand that they’ve been ambushed and begin to defend themselves.
By this point, they’ve already taken heavy casualties.
The fact that they were advancing down a narrow trail in single-file works in our favor as well.
We struck their thinly stretched line from both sides in a pincer attack, dividing them up and defeating the isolated elements.
Besides, it’s difficult to move on the narrow trail even at the best of times.
There’s no hope of mounting an organized defense here.
The fighting will come down to a pure contest of individual strength.
Unfortunately for our enemies, our initial attack has already thinned their numbers, and they still haven’t recovered from their confusion.
Not to mention our sheer strength.
Truly, I do not see how we could lose.
“Ambush! We’re under attack!”
“What?! Damn it!”
While the enemy panics, the Tenth Army soldiers simply attack in silence.
“POOOTIIIMAAAAS!”
Correction: all except for one, who’s bellowing as she swings her broadsword.
“So you were waiting for us, hmm?”
Standing opposite the bellowing Sophia is an elf man with a nasty gleam in his eyes.
Our primary target: Potimas Harrifenas.
Him plus the elves under his command.
“You have my permission to use your weapons. Kill them.”
Potimas gives an order in a calm yet piercing voice.
Immediately, the elves begin to change.
Some of them transform their hands to reveal something called a gun barrel.
Others draw similarly shaped weapons or produce glowing blades in their hands.
Right away, the guns begin to chatter as they spit out bullets.
But since we expected all of this, we react without panicking.
Some of us create magic walls to shield ourselves, while others predict the paths of the bullets and dodge them.
“Wha—?!”
As the elves recoil in surprise, it’s time for our counterattack.
Even Potimas seems taken aback by this development, judging by how his expression becomes fractionally darker.
That’s right—we know all about you.
How you elves use strange weapons called machines.
Because the Tenth Army Commander is none other than the master herself.
“Hmph!”
Sophia’s broadsword bears down on Potimas, who blocks it with his right arm.
I’m sure that arm is made out of some kind of machine or something, but Sophia’s sword cleaves through it easily.
“Tch.” Potimas clicks his tongue. “I have no choice. Anti-Technique Barrier—”
The elf leader’s words cut off mid-sentence.
Because his head and neck have abruptly been separated by the person who suddenly appeared behind him.
“…Would you mind not interrupting just when things are getting good?”
Sophia looks sulky that her opponent has been stolen from her.
But the culprit doesn’t respond, instead silently crushing Potimas’s severed head.
At around the same moment, the destruction of the elves’ forces is complete.
Zero escapees. Zero survivors. And zero casualties on our side.
As soon as I confirm this, I kneel.
“Mission complete, Master.”
The rest of the unit follows my example and kneels toward Master as well.
Only Sophia remains standing.
Master simply nods silently without sparing us a glance.
Our master, the Tenth Army Commander…Lady White.
If you were to ask where my life went off the rails, the answer would be simple.
The day that Sophia appeared at the academy.
From then on, everything was wrong.
Aside from undergoing strict training to ensure I wouldn’t bring shame on my family name, I lived a life without any difficulties.
Never had I experienced events so far out of my control.
My parents chose a fiancé for me, so I suppose my future was not for me to decide.
But my fiancé, Sir Wald, was a perfect gentleman, and it is the duty of any noble to live out whatever future has been chosen for them, so I wasn’t particularly unhappy with this arrangement.
In fact, I was rather fond of my fiancé, Sir Wald.
But those feelings were more akin to friendship than romance.
Or perhaps, since I knew I was engaged to marry him in the future, it was an almost familial affection.
At any rate, my feelings were not romantic.
And I believe it was the same for Wald.
But this was not an issue; even if we did not have a tumultuous love affair, I was confident we could build a family on the basis of mutual respect.
Until Wald fell in love with another woman and betrayed me.
Yes, you guessed it: The woman in question was none other than Sophia.
When she transferred into the academy, Sophia immediately captured everyone’s attention.
The high society of demons is a small world.
Since the overall population is so tiny, it stands to reason that the number of nobles is even tinier.
Naturally, I had met most of the other noble children long before we entered the academy.
Even if I didn’t know them personally, most were at least acquaintances or friends of friends, so I had a basic understanding of their character through word of mouth.
But Sophia was an exception.
Her origin was unknown, and no one had ever met her before.
The only thing we knew for certain was that she was staying in the mansion of Duke Phthalo before she came to the academy.
As such, the speculations ran wild: “Is she the illegitimate child of Duke Balto Phthalo?” “Is she the daughter of the previous Demon Lord who disappeared?” “Is she related to the current Demon Lord?”
Now that we know the truth, it’s obvious that none of those theories is correct, but at the time, no one knew how to approach the mysterious new transfer student.
So in a way, it was only natural that Sir Wald would be the first to approach her as a representative of the class, since he has the highest social standing in our year.
But Sophia turned out to be more exceptional than I expected, and since Sir Wald is quite competitive, I believe he soon forgot his original goal in establishing contact with her.
Yes, that’s right.
Despite her horrid personality, Sophia is quite gifted.
And while Sir Wald appears friendly, the truth is that he’s extremely prideful and competitive.
Since I’ve spent many years with him since a young age thanks to our betrothal, I know him quite well, but most are easily fooled by his appearance and flowery words.
Wald has a talent for building up his following by pretending to be nice while making it clear that he’s superior. He’ll casually mention his own talents in such a way that most come to believe I can’t beat this person, while also acting friendly so that they’ll think But he’s so nice!
Quite a character, I must say.
Although knowing that side of him is exactly why I couldn’t develop romantic feelings for him.
Still, Wald’s scheme assumes that he is in fact superior to the person he’s trying to impress.
He comes from a high-ranking noble family and makes a great deal of effort accordingly.
But Sophia outstripped him in every way.
Sir Wald, who has always been at the top of our class, lost to someone.
Naturally, this lit a fire in him.
It didn’t help that Sophia was obviously smirking and looking down her nose at him.
Yes, they’re quite a pair, all right.
From then on, Sir Wald’s one-sided battle began.
He started challenging Sophia whenever he got the chance and lost every time.
Whether it was test scores, sparring practice in our combat classes, or even dance lessons, Sir Wald fell short of Sophia in every category.
“You really are amazing, Ms. Sophia.”
He would smile lightly and compliment her, but I could tell that on the inside, his sense of rivalry only blazed even brighter.
I doubt anyone else noticed that somewhere along the line, his compliments became genuine.
Maybe even Wald himself didn’t realize it right away.
Wald had always come first in just about everything. I don’t think he’d ever had so much trouble winning at anything before.
On occasion, I didn’t hold back enough and bested him by accident, which always led him to work that much harder to come out on top again next time.
That’s the sort of person Sir Wald is.
I know that he constantly works hard to keep up his position of first place, so I’ve put in effort to stay in second place as well.
Hee-hee. As clever as Sir Wald is, he never noticed that I was carefully restraining myself to ensure he remained first, you know.
But I still respected Wald a fair amount for his work ethic and lofty ambitions.
I thought that together, perhaps we could help lead the demon race out of its decline.
We are high-ranking nobles, the leaders of the future.
We could not tolerate failure. We needed to always stand at the top.
But Sophia, who knows nothing of such struggles and difficulties, continued to win without mercy.
And Sir Wald, who has always constantly won and gained the admiration of the losers, began to admire the one who was constantly defeating him.
…Rather simpleminded logic, is it not?
Wald began to spend increasing amounts of his time and money on Sophia, and it only worsened as the years dragged on.
She was already beautiful when she first arrived, but her appearance only grew more beautiful and her aura somehow more bewitching.
Most of the male students had long since started serving her.
Part 3 of 8