Chapter 89
*
The day after Felicia became my bodyguard.
At dinner, I told my family several things.
That I had become an upper-rank mage,
that I was now a professor,
and that Felicia had become my bodyguard.
My peaceful daily life had indeed reached a turning point, but what I had to do hadn't really changed from usual.
At a time when the dawn mist had not yet fully cleared.
I got out of bed today as well, ready to head to work as Shun Isa.
When I opened the bedroom door, I saw Felicia leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
She had been bowing her head, a military cap tucked under her arm.
She slowly lifted her head.
"You are awake, Sir."
She addressed me in a flat voice.
I could guess what caused the dark circles beneath her eyes.
"Were you like that all night yesterday?"
"It's fine. Guard duty is supposed to watch over the most vulnerable times, after all."
She put on the military cap she had tucked under her arm.
"Once you head to Limbus Pit, Sir, I will hand your protection over to the paladins and catch whatever sleep I have left then."
"Well, I'm glad... Hm?"
Wait.
What?
"What did you say?"
"I said I would sleep while Sir Nihirit tends to the patients at Limbus Pit."
"...But I'm not going down to Limbus Pit."
I feigned ignorance, mindful of Shun Isa's identity.
"After I meet His Highness Edmund, I only intended to help my fiancé with the investigation...."
"You need not hide that from me. We have already received your dossier from the Inspectorate."
"..."
Those Inspectorate folks.
They said they were strict about confidentiality.
I heard they even use mind-altering magic.
Then why does it feel like everything is being spread all over town?
'This isn't The Truman Show, is it?'
No way.
No, it couldn't be.
It had better not be.
"By any chance, does the military know as well?"
"Only I know about your situation. And to correct one misunderstanding, I am not affiliated with the military."
"Pardon?"
"I ask for your understanding that I cannot go into detail about my affiliation. However, it is true that I have been dispatched at the military's request to serve as your bodyguard, so please trust me."
After saying that, she checked the time and then took a mask from her coat.
It was a gorgeous red mask, the sort you would only see at a masquerade ball.
She turned her back to me and put on the mask.
And when she turned back with the mask on,
a black-haired young man was looking back at me from the mirror, just like I was.
The young man—something wearing Yulian Nihirit's face—opened his mouth.
"It is a magical tool issued to strengthen your protection. With this, it will be much easier to create alibis for Shun Isa and Sir Nihirit."
"You mean you'll be impersonating me while I'm gone?"
"Yes. That is also why I was dispatched. My current mission is to observe you as much as possible before you go to the academy."
"I see."
So this was a way to rehearse our roles in advance before the academy.
No wonder the bodyguard had arrived so early.
"The Inspectorate is thorough."
"I'm not from the Inspectorate, either."
Come to think of it, that made sense.
The Inspectorate was merely a place that controlled information.
I had heard from my teacher before that they don't even provide security services.
Then if it wasn't the military or the Inspectorate....
"What on earth are you affiliated with?"
I could not guess her affiliation at all.
Special Affairs Bureau?
Those people operated outside the Empire.
Besides, I had never heard of them taking on bodyguard assignments.
In the end, the more I thought about it, the more Felicia's identity sank deeper into a mystery.
She seems to have even more secrets than I do.
She continued speaking.
"For the purposes of disguise, you must be in front of me. Therefore, before you change identities, please be sure to find me. Also, since I alone know about this matter, you may continue keeping it secret from the paladins as you have been."
I can roughly guess why.
It's a kind of show of force.
To make sure my affiliation is firmly with the Holy See, not the Empire.
They want the Order to know only my Shun Isa side, while the Empire knows all of my secrets.
That wasn't a bad thing for me, either.
Secrets are usually better when fewer people know them.
It's not that I don't trust the Order's Inquisition Bureau.
But there was no reason to increase the number of people sharing the secret when the Empire had already been doing a good job keeping it hidden.
I checked the time again.
Six o'clock.
It was about time to head to work.
She checked the time as well and took off the mask.
A gorgeous blonde, blue-eyed elf woman appeared before me again in a flash.
"I still haven't fully figured you out, so my acting is rather clumsy. It would probably be best if you acted as usual while you are staying in the capital."
The disguise would start from the academy, she said.
"I will only escort you as far as the Chief Inspector's estate."
Until now, I had used the Hauzen marquis's estate when switching between Shun Isa and Yulian's identities.
When Yulian went to the marquis's mansion to play detective with his fiancée, the Chief Inspector's car would leave the estate.
After that, I would transfer between vehicles several times in some secluded places, and in the final car, driven by Otto, I would finish disguising myself as Shun Isa.
Then, as Shun Isa, I would meet the paladins at the trading company building and head to Limbus Pit for work.
That meant Felicia would only accompany me as far as the Hauzen marquis's estate.
"Then let us go. I will safely take you to the Chief Inspector's estate."
***
The morning sun rose.
In front of the Hauzen marquis's estate.
Felicia—now wearing Yulian's outer shell—listened to the sound of the carriage carrying her protection target disappearing into the smog.
She scanned the surroundings for a while.
Watching in case anyone was tailing the route.
Fortunately, there were no uninvited guests today trying to disturb this peaceful routine.
She relaxed her shoulders and returned to the Nihirit estate.
Upon returning to the mansion, she was greeted by the head butler, Wilhelm.
"Welcome back, bodyguard."
"Yes."
"Then may I introduce you to the young master's daily routine?"
"Please do."
Head butler Wilhelm.
A member of this household.
To Yulian, he was like a grandfather.
The man who had been the only one to support Yulian even during the difficult years in this mansion.
Top-tier in both trust and familiarity.
In an emergency, he was someone who should be protected at a level comparable to the family.
Recalling the bodyguard priority list Yulian had given her, Felicia followed behind the butler.
"I have been informed by the young master. You said you wanted to check the young master's daily routine, correct?"
"Knowing the schedule is important in security."
"Indeed it is."
Wilhelm somehow looked pleased.
And in truth, he had reason to be.
A fourth-tier transcendent had been assigned as protection personnel.
A fourth-tier transcendent was a level at which one could obtain the title of viscount or count if one possessed vision magic.
Such transcendent beings were usually the sort of personnel only major figures like dukes could hire.
In other words, it meant the Empire also regarded Yulian that highly.
"You seem to be in a good mood."
"The young master has been awarded an upper-rank mage certificate, and Lady Erika has also passed the first interview for the Academy's undergraduate department. Lady Freya is also making a name for herself in high society. There has been nothing but good news for the house lately, so this old body can't help but get excited beyond its age."
Watching the old man sincerely happy as if it were his own matter,
Felicia could understand why Yulian cherished this old butler so much.
The old man guided Felicia and explained Yulian's daily routine.
"The young master usually spends his time in the laboratory converted from the storage shed in the backyard, his own room, and the annex where Lady Erika stays."
Felicia nodded as she took that information into her head.
The butler guiding her stopped in front of the laboratory shed.
"On days when he does not go to work, he mostly stays in this laboratory. Consider this a trial run and stay inside until I come to get you, would you?"
Felicia nodded silently.
Wilhelm unlocked the laboratory and turned away.
Felicia hesitated at the door for a moment, then stepped inside.
"The person I'm guarding this time is a little unusual."
Mages usually detest outsiders entering their own laboratories—spaces they commonly called workshops.
Who would want to show the secrets they had built up over an entire lifetime to others?
But Yulian was different.
He seemed not to care much whether it was Felicia or anyone else who came into the laboratory.
"He doesn't seem to realize how dangerous this workshop is."
Looking around Yulian's workshop, Felicia thought.
Research notes were packed tightly into the corners of the workshop.
At the same time, the research topics Yulian had scrawled out yesterday came to mind.
"...If black mages saw this, they'd be drooling over it. It's practically a forbidden library."
If he ended up leaving for the academy, these notes would probably have to be moved as well.
Depending on the case, they were the kind of contents you could call a grimoire.
"I'll need to contact headquarters and be careful with the transport route."
Thinking back on what she had seen yesterday....
The loss of even a single volume might deal a fatal blow to the Empire.
"I should raise the protection priority of these grimoires."
With that thought, she quietly picked up one of the research notes.
Before parting with Yulian.
He had allowed her to read the notes outside the vault, so there was no hesitation in her actions.
The topic of the opened notebook was 'Clinical Anatomy—Healing Department, First Year'.
Pages were packed with moving black-and-white images and explanatory notes.
"So this must be teaching material to hand out to students when he teaches as Shun Isa."
Even to her, who knew nothing about anatomy, the explanations were laid out in a very easy-to-understand way.
The moving black-and-white images showed how to locate the structure,
while circles and lines appeared over the images and connected them to the notes.
======================
[Midline longitudinal incision along the sternum. The thymus was separated as a single specimen and excised from the upper mediastinum.
According to anatomical standards, the thymus atrophies in childhood and is classified as a useless organ that scarcely exists in adults,
yet in this specimen, it remained in a male adult aged 29, weighing approximately 18.4 grams.
Clear boundary observed between cortex and medulla.
Numerous minute structures distributed in concentric patterns within the medulla
— Conclusion: theoretical basis established that the thymus may remain even in adult males. The remaining structure is provisionally named a Hassall corpuscle.
======================
<Moving text>
<Moving image>
It is a rank-0 beginner spell.
A spell mages learn as their foundation, one that can be cast with nothing more than a pen, ink, and paper.
It was also a spell that every mage, for whom grimoires are life itself, had to learn.
And yet Yulian was using that spell to make teaching materials for students.
"The cost must be enormous...."
For a moment, Felicia envied the students who would learn from him.
She turned page after page without noticing the time.
Before long, she reached the very back of the book.
There, information about the people who donated their bodies and their final words were recorded in meticulous detail.
— Imperial Year 1046, April.
— An adventurer from the Bronze Wall outer expeditionary force donated his body
— Cause of death: multiple trauma from a monster attack.
— Age at death: 31. Unmarried.
— Treatment was attempted, but death occurred due to irreversible spinal injury.
— Last words before donating remains
: I've come back alive from beyond the wall seventeen times. Ten of those times were because healers saved me. If this body can't get back up again, please give it to the healers. Consider it repaying the debt I owe you after I die.
— Imperial Year 1047, December.
— A frail elder from Limbus Pit passed away at my clinic.
— Cause of death: natural causes.
— Age at death: 71. All three children entrusted the body with the patient's consent.
— Last words before donating remains
: I never learned to read a single character in my whole life. If, at the very end, someone can gain enlightenment from my body, wouldn't that count as enlightenment too?
— Imperial Year 1049, Spring.
— An adventurer whose legs had been severed below the knee in an emergency evacuation donated his body.
— Cause of death: (unrecorded)
— Age at death: 29. Passed away at my Limbus Pit clinic. Unmarried. Family — none.
— Last words before donating remains
: If my body can be of use to healing department students, I would be happy. If it is the students who watched over my final moments, I feel I can entrust them with my body.
"..."
Felicia looked over the anatomical records for a while.
"To think you would bother asking the corpses for their consent."
In this harsh world, even dead bodies are commodities.
There are people who seek knowledge from corpses, and others who process them into magical catalysts.
If you're lucky, you can even study the magical circuits left in a corpse.
So gravekeepers would sometimes secretly sell corpses for money,
and nobles and clergy would bury corpses in family graves or cremate them to prevent magical leakage or ancestors from being insulted.
But in Limbus Pit, even such permission was a luxury.
Not only fresh corpses made just yesterday in back alleys,
they even dig up graves in front of people and sell the bodies like fish at a fish market.
In Sector H, they even deliver corpses made only five minutes earlier.
Everyone knew it was not a desirable thing to do.
They simply didn't have the time or interest to question it.
But Yulian was different.
Felicia's hand lingered on the last page.
— May you rest peacefully. Thank you, deeply and sincerely.
He was always reverent in the face of death.
He recorded every detail of his patients, always treated them respectfully, and never used them carelessly.
"Sir...."
At that moment, she recalled what headquarters had told her about Yulian (Shun Isa).
Namely, that he had avenged the black mage who attacked him in the most horrific way possible.
Namely, that the lizard-man who attacked his students was still suffering in the basement of the guild building for some research.
Namely, that his first two submitted papers were initially discussed as taboo-grade, and only one was downgraded to grade one.
Namely.
"In the event that any suspicious movement is detected from him, report immediately, and if necessary...."
Authorize summary execution.
Those instructions had come directly from the Imperial Family.
Felicia was both his bodyguard and his observer.
That was why Felicia remained fully wary of the man named Yulian.
A double-edged blade that would clearly help the Empire, but could become fatal to it if mishandled.
That was the Empire's evaluation of Yulian.
But,
"Seeing this notebook, maybe we've been too suspicious of you, Sir."
Of course, that did not change the fact that he was dangerous.
She had the feeling Yulian could secretly pull something off even with Felicia sitting beside him as his watcher.
But after seeing this anatomy textbook, she had no choice but to change her mind.
A man this courteous in the face of death.
She felt he would not abuse that knowledge against the citizens of the Empire.
Thud.
She closed the research notebook.
At the same time, curiosity suddenly arose.
What about this man's other research?
She wanted to check the path he had walked.
If only so that she would not doubt him.
With that thought, Felicia reached out toward one of the books.
It was then.
Creak—
With a sound from the hinges, the laboratory door opened.
Through the gap in the opened door, someone peeked their head in.
It was Erika, her red ahoge twitching like antennae.
"...A retriever?"
As soon as she saw Erika, that thought came to Felicia.
Why did a retriever come to mind, of all things?
She did not know either.
Erika's round eyes turned toward Felicia.
"..."
"..."
Breaking the silence, Erika spoke first.
"Huh? Why are you here and not with the teacher?"
"I am bodyguard Verbeau. I was ordered to stay at the main house today while Sir Nihirit is out, and to learn the young master's daily routine. To operate the disguise magic tool, I need advance training so that I can imitate his routine as accurately as possible during his absence, young lady."
"...?"
The furrow between Erika's brows deepened.
Felicia's way of speaking was still hard for her to understand.
There was only one thing.
What she had understood was that Felicia was calling her young lady.
"I'm not a lady. I'm just a guest staying here."
"At dinner last night, I observed that young master Frid called you his big sister."
"Frid is still young, that's why. You can just call me Erika."
"I am on duty, so I will call you Lady Erika."
"Being a soldier is rough..."
For a moment, she almost said she wasn't in the military, but barely held it back.
There was no need to tell that to someone who wasn't Yulian.
"You and the bodyguard have it rough too."
Felicia stared fixedly at Erika.
By nature, she did not really enjoy small talk.
But if she had to impersonate Yulian during the mission, she would need to build up some small-talk ability.
After staring at Erika for a while, Felicia spoke.
"Before I was assigned here, I was informed that Lady Erika had personally handled the young master's private security."
"Ah, that's true. But not anymore."
Erika waved a hand.
"The teacher has become too big a figure for someone like me to guard now. What kind of protection could I possibly provide when I can barely squeak by at first tier?"
Erika let out a snort of laughter.
But Felicia's eyes went wide with surprise.
"At this age, already first tier?"
Even among noble young ladies and young masters called the stars of high society, there were only a handful who reached first tier this quickly.
Felicia herself had only reached first tier after entering the academy.
"What on earth is this child..."
Admiring Erika, Felicia brought up a new topic in order to continue the conversation.
"Then may I ask what Lady Erika has been doing lately?"
"These days I'm preparing for the Academy's Hero Department entrance exam. I already passed the first document screening, so I just need to pass the second sparring test and the third written exam."
"If it's Lady Erika, I'm sure you will pass."
The Eschenwald Academy is always open to the talented.
She could not imagine a future in which Erika failed to get through the gates of a place like that.
"Thank you."
Hehe. With a goofy laugh, Erika gave a light jump and hopped up onto a chair.
It was the chair Yulian usually sat in, the one Felicia had been unable to bring herself to sit on.
Erika naturally dragged the chair over and took out several books.
Rattle—
As five books came out in order, the bookshelf slid to the side, revealing a classic hidden vault.
Felicia also knew of the vault's existence behind the shelf.
She just hadn't opened it because she lacked permission.
Erika turned the vault's dial.
Mm-hmm~
She turned the dial in rhythm.
Click, and the vault opened.
Several notebooks were inside.
[Three Sacred Artifacts]
[Complete Compendium of Black Magic Variations]
Inside the vault were notebooks with ominous titles.
There was no doubt that those were Yulian (Shun Isa)'s true grimoires.
But Felicia pretended not to see.
She could not betray Yulian's trust.
Felicia was a token of the Imperial Family's favor toward Yulian.
Her betrayal would be no different from smearing the Imperial Family's name.
Therefore, she decided to neatly forget what she had seen inside the vault.
However, there was one thing she needed to confirm.
"Lady Erika, are you allowed to open the vault?"
"Huh? Oh, yes. He's allowed me to since I was twelve."
"Then is there anyone other than Lady Erika who has been granted permission?"
"No? Probably just me."
Confirmed.
Felicia mentally marked the vault as off-limits to anyone other than Erika.
Erika pulled out a bundle of notebooks with thick leather covers from inside the vault.
"My magic seems to be a bit different from ordinary magic. So I learned only the basics and technical parts from the teacher, and he told me to refer to his notes for symbolic tools and principles and stuff."
A sense of unease began to creep up on her.
Is this really okay?
"Are you a black magic user?"
"I thought so too and asked whether it was okay, but he said it wasn't that important. Using black magic itself isn't taboo, after all."
"That is true."
Learning black magic itself was not taboo.
And yet, for some reason, she wanted to stop Erika from learning it.
Even after just learning that Yulian was a trustworthy person.
Erika tilted her head while waving the leather notebook.
"But why are black mages' towers and research societies taboo while black magic itself isn't?"
"You will gradually learn the reason after you enter the academy, Lady Erika. For now, you may simply focus on learning."
"Hmm. Is that so? Then I'll hear about it then."
She turned her gaze back to the notebook.
"Blood... blood, blood, hematology, hematology..."
Her fingers quickly traced down the notebook's index, line by line.
"...Here it is!"
A single strand on top of her head twitched upward like a tail.
Looking at her cheerful crimson eyes from the side,
Felicia thought of an animal.
"No matter how I look at it, she's a retriever."
After Erika memorized the hematology contents,
she put the book back into the vault, returned the bookshelf to place, and hopped down from the chair.
Growl—
The red-haired girl's belly clock rang.
"Huh? Already lunch?"
"Please go eat."
"Aren't you going to eat, Felicia?"
"I..."
She briefly explained that the butler would come get her.
"Since I am currently learning Sir Nihirit's routine, I will eat when Sir Nihirit does."
"If that's the case, you should come now."
"Pardon?"
"The teacher usually sneaks into the kitchen around this time to avoid the butler."
Confirmed.
Go to the kitchen at mealtime without the butler knowing.
"He mostly does that in the evening, but on weekends he also goes at lunchtime."
"You mean he cooks there?"
"Yes. Can you cook, bodyguard Felicia?"
"I will try."
"..."
Erika looked at Felicia with somewhat doubtful eyes.
Felicia simply kept her usual expressionless face.
"Then shall we practice starting today?"
"What dish am I supposed to make?"
"In that case, take a look at the desk."
Erika pointed to a stack of cards on the desk.
"They're recipe cards. When the teacher cooks, he draws one from there and cooks that recipe."
Felicia nodded and drew one card.
<Croustillant de Ris de Veau>
Literally, crispy calf thymus.
Loosely speaking, it was veal sweetbreads with a crispy crust.
"..."
Felicia's brow furrowed.
I'm supposed to cook this?
At that moment, her gaze moved to the anatomy book on the desk.
And she recalled the knowledge about the thymus she had just seen.
—According to anatomical standards, the thymus atrophies in childhood and is classified as a useless organ that scarcely exists in adults,
yet in this specimen, it remained in a male adult aged 29, weighing approximately 18.4 grams.
"Veal thymus... that must be it, right?"
Coincidence, surely?
Felicia silently picked up the card and headed to the kitchen with Erika.
One hour later.
"Um... Felicia?"
"..."
"Have you ever cooked before?"
"I learned survival cooking when I was isolated in a demon realm during an operation in the past."
"How many years ago was that, by any chance...?"
"Half a century ago."
"..."
Erika poked at the blackened lump of meat and said,
How on earth do you have to cook for it to end up like this?
The ingredient that had once been veal thymus had not merely burned, but had become an alien substance impossible to recognize, screaming on the frying pan.
"I don't think the problem is effort anymore..."
"I agree."
"Let's just agree not to have you cook when you're disguised as the teacher."
"I wholeheartedly agree."
Even to Felicia, this did not seem like something effort could fix.
Her own cooking skills were perfectly fine, of course(?),
but Yulian's level of cooking was simply too high.
Afterward, Felicia happily ate what remained in the frying pan.
"...Is it good?"
"Since it's beef, it's tastier than survival worm emergency rations."
"..."
That day,
Erika had no choice but to admit it.
That there existed food she could not eat.
And that there also existed someone who could eat even such food.