A Mastermind? No, I'm just the Live-In Son-in-Law-Chapter 10: Parsha

White magic isn’t really designed for combat. It’s primarily defensive or used to counter black magic. But with the engagement event’s plot being riddled with black magic curses, there was bound to be a place where it could shine.

...But honestly, that won’t be enough.

No, against the sheer difficulty of the prologue, my white magic alone wasn’t going to cut it.

I had been hoping—especially after that odd incident during the tea party—that my white magic might have some sort of hidden potential. So, over the past week, I squeezed in time to study it between ritual designs.

And the result?

“My magic is really, really good at putting out creepy, unpleasant energy.”

That’s about it.

No secret power. No dramatic reveal.

I even tried everything—testing its effects on cursed objects, muttering recorded incantations under similar conditions, and even flipping through some of my father’s old black magic research notes. No reaction. Just the usual curse-cleansing behavior.

It didn’t help that Alfred, ever helpful, had volunteered to be a guinea pig multiple times—and walked away unaffected every single time.

So, for now, I had to conclude: no secret buffs. No hidden destiny. Just very awkwardly bad vibes.

Still, that meant I needed more than just my magic to survive the upcoming disaster.

I needed allies.

Fortunately, I already had one trustworthy bodyguard in Lunelle. But she wasn’t enough—not for this.

To survive the engagement event, I needed more than just muscle. I needed information, strategy, and precision execution. Which meant I needed a team—a real one.

Specifically, the ultimate dream team.

And luckily, I already knew exactly who they were.

First: Lunelle—the strongest fighter in the game.

Second: Parsha—Meredia’s butler and the sharpest strategic mind in the entire storyline.

Third: Bergen—the hidden informant only the player could access, and the greatest information broker in the Empire.

All three were game-breaking characters in their own right. But due to the game’s design, they could never be on the same side.

Each one was tied to a different ending route. Each one was a final act NPC in someone else’s arc.

But... this wasn’t a game anymore.

I had already shattered the system by recruiting Lunelle. There was no reason I couldn’t do the same with the other two.

If I succeeded, I wouldn’t just have a dream team—I’d have the unbeatable team.

Of course, first I had to find them.

Fortunately, I already knew Bergen’s whereabouts. Which left just one person unaccounted for.

Parsha.

And here... was the problem.

Where the hell is she?

Even in the most detailed lorebooks, Parsha’s origins were a mystery. Before becoming Meredia’s right hand, she basically didn’t exist.

In the story, she just... appeared one day. A ghost of a backstory, a brilliant tactician who rebuilt Meredia’s position from the ground up when it had all but collapsed.

Her sheer talent was so overwhelming that even as a child, powerful families across the Empire sent her offers with outrageous conditions—but she never left Meredia’s side.

No one knew why she was so blindly loyal. But she stayed that way to the very end, helping Meredia become a queen—or a demon, depending on your route.

Naturally, I didn’t want Meredia to become some sort of final boss figure. I was hoping she’d just stay a slightly terrifying noblewoman.

So I had to find Parsha before she pledged herself to Meredia.

And if she could also fix my house’s collapsing finances with her superhuman intuition, that’d be fantastic.

Honestly, the Ringaarden estate was one bad investment away from bankruptcy. That alone made recruiting Parsha a top priority.

But that was the catch.

All of this only worked if I could find her.

“Ugh... should I just put up missing-person posters in the capital or something?”

I was seriously considering it when the office door creaked open, and Alfred’s thin, worried voice came drifting in.

“Oh, young master, what in the world is going on?”

“What now?”

“There are rumors of ghosts roaming the estate, the maids are all taking sick leave en masse...”

Oh. That.

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The ghost rumors were nothing new. And if the maids were traumatized by Meredia’s aura, I could just give them paid time off. I had far bigger problems to worry about.

“Alfred. Are you any good at finding people?”

Still frowning at him, I suddenly straightened and asked the question that popped into my mind.

When Alfred had handed me a bunch of servant recommendations before, it struck me—he probably knew a lot of people.

“Finding people...? Well, as long as I’ve got a description, there’s not many I can’t track down.”

“Good. Because there’s someone I urgently need to hire.”

“Oh! In that case, this’ll be easy.”

As expected, Alfred stared at me for a moment with a blank expression, then cleared his throat and suddenly wore a look of smug confidence, rolling his shoulders back with pride.

“If you’re looking for a servant, and they’re from the Empire, I can pretty much sort out their identity within a day.”

“Really?”

“Don’t let my current job fool you, young master. I’ve been in this business for over forty years. I used to get recruitment offers from all across the Empire, and even now I hold a senior advisory seat in the Imperial Domestic Service Guild.”

I’d always held a high opinion of Alfred’s abilities, but I hadn’t realized he was that well connected. Come to think of it, my father did mention once that Alfred used to be quite a big deal back in the day.

In that case, there might be a surprisingly easy way to locate Parsha.

Considering she was eventually scouted by Meredia herself to be her butler, chances were high that she was currently job-hunting—sending out résumés to various noble houses.

Of course, most noble families wouldn’t hire a child as a butler, so she was likely being rejected left and right. But if someone like Meredia were to recognize her potential, she’d offer unwavering loyalty in return.

“Then... would you mind asking around for someone like this?”

“Leave it to me.”

With a bit of hope bubbling in my chest, I handed over a rough sketch of Parsha’s features—a poster draft I’d been preparing, just in case.

“......”

But something about Alfred’s expression turned oddly serious as he took the sketch.

There’s no way he could’ve recognized her immediately... right? Or was my drawing just that bad?

“Young master.”

As I awkwardly scratched my head, Alfred lifted his head, looking unusually grave.

“...What exactly do you want with my granddaughter?”

And just like that, I couldn’t help but grin—wide.

“Young master?”

So this is what people meant when they say the darkest place is just beneath the lamp.

“Haha...”

“Hmm.”

Alfred made a face like he’d realized something far too late, and hastily opened his mouth to speak—but I didn’t give him the chance.

“Found her.”

I had just discovered the second key piece to my personal survival puzzle.

***

A few days later, somewhere in the western reaches of the Empire, nestled quietly on an ownerless hill, stood a plain, unremarkable cabin.

“Haaah...”

Inside, a young girl sat slouched in a battered chair, flipping through a worn-out notebook with a deeply dissatisfied expression.

“It’s just not quite right...”

Her mutter carried a tone of disappointment, almost like a merchant criticizing subpar goods.

But what reflected in her eyes wasn’t merchandise—it was a detailed portrait of one of the Empire’s most distinguished nobles.

“Fail.”

Tearing out the page with shocking nonchalance, she crumpled it and tossed it toward the waste bin behind her without even checking if it landed.

“This one’s got no charisma. Fail. And this guy? Looks like he’d ruin everything the moment things get tough. Fail.”

She continued the savage culling of faces until she finally reached the last page.

“...I guess this one’s the best of the bunch.”

Delicately caressing the paper like it was a treasure, her eyes lingered on the portrait of Meredia.

“Fully-evolved monsters are fine, but there’s something charming about the kind that grows into one.”

Carefully, she tore the page out and held it close to her chest like a precious keepsake.

“Either way, becoming the Demon King’s second-in-command isn’t that different.”

Her eyes shimmered—not with tears, but with an intense, dangerous gleam.

—Knock, knock, knock.

“Hmm!”

The sound of knocking startled her out of her thoughts.

“Oh, please, young master... I’m begging you, my granddaughter’s still got her whole life ahead of her...”

“She will have her whole life—especially after I get her a job.”

“Grandpa...?”

Hearing the all-too-familiar voice outside, the girl tilted her head, rose from her seat without much thought, and moved toward the door.

“But what are you doing here all of a sudden without warning—”

Her sentence cut off with a hiccup of surprise.

“Hello!”

Beside her grandfather—who looked positively ashen and on the verge of collapse—stood a cheerful girl around her age, smiling brightly and waving enthusiastically.

“Whoa...”

The moment she saw that dazzling smile, her eyes began to sparkle—not with innocence, but something far more... unhinged.

“...This is insane.”

To be fair, she wasn’t exactly a normal child. That manic gleam in her eye wasn’t from excitement.

It was from recognizing that the malevolent entity of her dreams was now standing right in front of her, alive and breathing.

“Would you like to apply for a position as a servant?”

“Excuse me, but would your family happen to need a maid right now?”

The two girls spoke in unison, voices overlapping like a perfect harmony, echoing within the little cabin.

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As they did, the precious portrait of Meredia fluttered silently from the girl’s arms, landing face down on the floor.

“I’d rather die than grow old at this rate...”

Beside them, Alfred muttered with the sigh of a man rapidly approaching his limit—but, of course, neither of the girls paid him the slightest attention.