I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 41: Didn’t Know! -

“...?”

Firnea suddenly looked up at the sky.

“Is something wrong, my lady?”

“...No, nothing. I just felt... something unpleasant.”

“A feeling?”

“Yeah. It’s probably nothing... probably.”

“Though I can’t be sure, shall we take a break just in case?”

Watching Psyche play the role of the loyal subordinate concerned for her master, Leah let out a quiet sigh.

‘How much time do we have left...’

There were definitely three people in the team, but only two were having a conversation.

Feeling the full sting of social alienation, Leah watched Firnea shake her head.

“It really was just a feeling. Nothing worth taking a break over.”

“There is a saying that the instincts of those who have reached a certain realm are not to be taken lightly.”

“I appreciate it, but I’m not quite at that level, you know?”

Psyche looked utterly smitten with Firnea.

Seeing how she seemed ready to offer up her liver and gallbladder, Leah reached for her sword.

Not because she was annoyed and wanted to attack—

The next outpost was coming up.

“Enemies! But... there’s only three of them?”

The scout’s voice was filled with doubt.

And five minutes later—

The forward base, which even had a watchtower, was engulfed in flames.

Firnea nonchalantly sheathed her sword and muttered.

“Took a little longer than I thought.”

“...But according to the map, this was supposed to be the largest base...”

“Yeah? I expected a restricted zone. Guess the scale of this war’s smaller than I thought.”

“A-Amazing...”

Even Leah couldn’t help whispering to herself.

She’d been the one to kill the most soldiers.

Psyche had burned down the most barracks.

But—it had all been made possible by Firnea.

She walked straight into a base packed with archers—enough to turn anyone into a pincushion—

And swung her sword.

It was a light gesture, but the result wasn’t light at all.

Every archer died, and the intricately built gate was split perfectly in half.

...Of course, such a miracle couldn’t be accomplished with swordsmanship alone.

“Well, it is a swordsmanship exam. I tried to keep it close. What do you think?”

“M-Magnificent swordsmanship, my lady!”

Psyche quickly piled on the flattery, but swordsmanship, my ass.

If a sword alone could do that, then Firnea, not Charles, should be the one giving lectures.

More than that, she might have fooled others (not that she had),

But she couldn’t fool Leah.

Because Leah had heard about it.

‘...So this is that love letter.’

A sword style created by Virdem that could simultaneously use swordsmanship and magic—

It was said only a genius like Firnea could understand it, because of how abstruse and difficult it was.

A sword art that could turn not just strong geniuses, but any gifted fighter into a magic swordsman.

That was Leah’s conclusion as her cheeks flushed red.

Every strike Firnea used to take care of small fry seemed tailor-made for her.

He probably even accounted for her future growth and height.

‘How is this not love?’

From Leah’s perspective, it made no sense to claim this wasn’t love and was “just duty.”

It wasn’t something thrown together casually either. Of course there were parts that needed adjusting—

But that was because it was designed for Firnea—assuming Virdem would use it, it would’ve had issues.

Watching Firnea wield the style now, it was nearly flawless.

It was impossible not to see how much thought, how much effort, how many revisions had gone into it.

“...Hm? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Leah turned her eyes away, cheeks burning red.

Too obvious. She didn’t know how Firnea hadn’t picked up on it yet.

Firnea tilted her head for a moment in mild confusion, then unfolded the map.

“Looks like we’re almost done... How much time has passed?”

“Yes, it’s been approximately four hours and twenty-three minutes since we entered the mana space.”

“Hm, we’ve still got a lot of time left and we’re already done with everything.”

All the objectives marked on the map had been cleared.

Firnea narrowed her brow with dissatisfaction.

“If I’d known it’d be this easy, I would’ve taken it slower.”

“I don’t think the difficulty was easy exactly... So what shall we do now?”

“At this point, we’re guaranteed to place in the top five just by sitting still.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“But still... I don’t like the idea of anyone being above me.”

Firnea’s lips twisted.

It was a cruel, wicked smile.

“Let’s go ahead and crush every remaining outpost and aim for first place.”

“Yes, my lady!”

It was a goal worthy of Seriratus.

Seeing her press onward with such determination, Psyche looked about ready to faint from joy—

And the next moment, she was crushed.

“Then let’s split up.”

“...Pardon?”

Firnea clapped her hands once and replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“There’s nothing special about the remaining outposts, right? You’re super strong, and so is the Hero. There won’t be a problem. Let’s each smash one and regroup.”

“W-Wait a moment!”

Psyche, flustered, hurried to stop her.

“What?”

“In this situation, ordering individual action is difficult to understand. If you were to be disqualified, all the work we’ve done would be...”

“Hmmm.”

Firnea stared at Psyche for a moment before speaking.

“You think some other team could hunt me down?”

“O-Of course not, but there’s no need to take unnecessary risks—”

“No need to worry. I said what I had to say, so I’m heading off.”

“...”

Firnea turned and began walking off in the opposite direction, having said her piece.

Psyche stared after her in shock, then tilted her head.

“Why is she suddenly acting like this...?”

“Hm, I think I know why...”

“You do?”

Psyche turned her head toward Leah’s muttered thought.

“What do you mean?”

“Well...”

Leah hesitated for a moment, then answered.

“Maybe she’s going to help her butler.”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, Virdem? You’ve heard of him, right?”

“Why would Lady Firnea help her butler? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?”

“This is just my guess, but... here, come closer.”

“?”

“I don’t think they have a purely master-servant relationship...”

As Leah whispered, Psyche’s face twisted sourly.

“I didn’t take you for the gossiping type.”

“Ugh...”

Leah regretted saying anything and hung her head in shame.

****

I hadn’t expected it to be like this.

The speed at which she approached the truth was unnatural.

“—It’s not magic.”

Olvesia deflected Geminos’s knifehand strike and closed her eyes.

“A curious thing. It feels like I’m fighting multiple opponents.”

“Waaah, you noticed right before it landed.”

Geminos giggled behind her hand, then lifted her skirt slightly and slammed her foot into Olvesia’s waist.

—BOOM!

Olvesia flew far into the distance, rolled dozens of times, then stood up like it was nothing and resumed her stance.

“Hmm...”

Touching the cracks in her armor for a moment, Olvesia frowned.

“No... this isn’t it.”

“What isn’t?”

“It’s too light. There’s no clinging weight that swallows the entire space. Are you really someone who can kill me?”

“...”

I took a step back, doing my best to conceal my shock.

Because I’d already realized a while ago—range meant nothing to that woman.

Anyone who called Arin a witch needed to take one look at Olvesia.

This is a witch. This is a demon.

“Before I regret this, prove the words you just spoke.”

Olvesia vanished.

“Butler-Chief, right side.”

—CRACK!

“Guh...”

If not for Geminos’s warning, I would’ve been hit.

The difference in strength was overwhelming—like being crushed in a press. Her hair was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} so close, it tickled my cheek.

Our eyes met, and what I saw was disappointment.

“In my life, no man has ever been able to overpower me. You’re the same as the rest.”

“...You keep talking about men and women—why does that matter?”

“Hm, perhaps it doesn’t. But to me, it’s rather important.”

“I really don’t get what you’re saying...!”

I gave Geminos a glance.

She smiled, and instead of kicking Olvesia again—

She gently laid her hand over mine.

“...?”

Cold. I didn’t speak—if her true identity was exposed, it would be a disaster.

But she simply smiled and explained.

“Her senses are absurdly sharp—she detects every attack the moment it’s made. So we do it like this...”

Geminos applied strength.

Slowly, our positions reversed.

“...!”

Olvesia, startled, pressed down harder—

“It’d be disgraceful to lose in strength to a human, after all~”

“Kh...!”

...An unimaginable force.

It felt like my hand was being forced into a hydraulic press.

I got up without showing pain and crushed down on Olvesia.

Before long, I was the one looking down at her.

“...Satisfied now?”

“Hah...!”

Her eyes shimmered—not with despair, but with pleasure.

...Not despair?

“It still hasn’t touched my throat. Press harder!”

Oh for fuck’s sake. She’s insane.

—Crack!

With the sound of Olvesia’s wrist twisting out of place, her sword flew free.

She rolled once out of range, stepped back a few paces, glanced at her limp wrist—and casually snapped it back into place.

As if it were nothing, she drew a spare shortsword from behind her and asked with a crooked smile:

“You’re strong. So why live like some loyal dog guarding a house?”

“Because that’s the only kind of life this body allows.”

“Ahh... That’s right. The Serbus Family was said to be born with the Scar of Obedience, wasn’t it?”

Olvesia touched her chin, thinking for a moment.

“...I might be able to fix that.”

“What?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she threw her shortsword.

“You’re out of your damn—!”

Every strike was lethal.

Each one targeted my vitals with terrifying precision, bearing only one intention: to kill.

—KAGAGAGANG!

My ribs were scraped, my clothes slashed, blood splattered everywhere...

I landed a few counterattacks with Geminos’s help, but Olvesia charged forward without the slightest care—wounds that would’ve disabled any other cadet didn’t even slow her down.

“Strength alone isn’t enough—show me your talent, let it shine!”

If it weren’t for Geminos, I would’ve died long ago.

I’d sparred with the commander of the Imperial Knights several times—

But if that man had tried to kill me in earnest...

This is what it would feel like.

She’s a cadet, but already moves with the strength of a Knight-Commander.

“Haa... haa...!”

“It’s good that you’re a magic swordsman. If that talent passes down, I wouldn’t mind.”

Olvesia muttered as she ripped out chunks of her scorched hair.

“But that alone isn’t enough. You need something more—something others can never possess.”

Her shortsword came for my neck.

Olvesia wasn’t exactly unharmed either. Her entire body was burned and torn, her armor unrecognizable.

I’d done almost nothing. More than half of it was Geminos.

A strange thing to think, but—now I truly understood.

Just how monstrous Geminos was.

There hadn’t been a single lie in what McClain had warned me about.

“Butler-Chief. Don’t respond—just listen.”

“...”

“I don’t think this will end until that cadet is dead... so, can I kill her?”

I shook my head—barely.

No matter what, me disqualifying Olvesia would cause too big of a stir.

The wrong kind of attention would fall on Firnea.

As her butler, I couldn’t overstep that boundary.

“Hmmm, well, can’t be helped then.”

Geminos smiled softly at my reply.

“This might sound weird, but... could you bluff a little?”

“...?”

“Say something like, ‘You’re not even worth my time.’ Something along those lines. You can do that, right?”

“???”

I glanced at Geminos, but she just smiled, saying nothing.

...I didn’t know what she was planning, but I had no choice.

With a deep sigh, I threw my sword aside.

Olvesia’s eyes widened at the sight of me discarding my weapon.

“...What are you doing?”

“Lady Olvesia. I have something to say.”

“I won’t accept surrender. Pick your weapon back up.”

“My apologies, but... this has grown rather tiresome.”

“What?”

“I’m tired of holding back to avoid injuring you, Lady Olvesia.”

“...”

“From this point on, I can no longer guarantee your safety. If you don’t want to be disqualified, I suggest you go home quietly.”

“...”

Was that enough?

I stared at Olvesia with the most annoyed expression I could muster.

She stood there dazed—then began to tremble.

“...Ha.”

Well, that’s a normal reaction. Anyone would be angry.

It was an insult, after all—

“—Yes, you really do know just how to excite me...!!”

...Oh. Right. She’s insane.