Chapter 46: Five Days Trip to School?!
“Here is a knife set for you, Milady. An enchanted paring knife, made by the best artisan in the capital.” Rodrique gave Eli the knife he had bought a day ago. Rumors about Count Shadowstep being a high-level mage reached even the capital, so many peddlers tried their luck selling magical tools to the manor. All Rodrique needed to do was browse their wares.
“Wow! So beautiful. The blade glowed orange.” Eli poured her mana into the knife, and the blade glowed like a setting sun.
The knife was sharp, with an elegant curve that made it perfect for slicing steak. Its blade gleamed silver when it was not activated. Its handle was carved with an intricate design resembling a lion biting a red arcane stone—the source of its enchantment. Unlike Alicia’s sword, this knife did more than just glow. It could sterilize anything the blade touched, perfect for a life magician like Elidranthia.
Since it was a steak knife, it did not have a wooden sheath like Alicia’s sword, but a leather cover engraved with an intricate carving of a lily flower.
“We of the Shadowstep household will miss you, Lady Elidranthia. Please study hard in the capital and become the best mage of Shadowstep,” Rodrique said.
Her father escorted her to the carriage the very next day. He, too, had gifts for Elidranthia: a silver ring with the Shadowstep crest on it. The crest was elegant—a two-headed raven with a shield and a sword engraved on it. It was to be worn on the forefinger.
“I will come back and become the best mage ever!” Eli said.
“I know you will. You already are, my daughter.” The count patted her head as he told her to leave. “Ah, please greet your brother for me, alright? His graduation ceremony should be near. If I recall correctly, he should graduate a month after your enrollment.”
“Yes. I will definitely attend Brother Falfane’s graduation ceremony, Father.” Elidranthia curtsied.
“You may bring Elena with you. I will assign John and Lain as guards for your trip to the capital.”
“Eh? Lain is that paper knight who escorted me to the capital, right? Are we going to be okay?” Alicia muttered.
“Don’t worry. The path is safe. We have already cleaned out any bandits or monsters that roamed the area,” the Count said. The real reason he assigned so few knights to Eli and Alicia was because his vassals were eager to provide protection for her.
Claiming the Count should not waste his own troops, the vassals wanted to forge a relationship with Elidranthia and Alicia by providing their knights to guard them. Since they were his vassals and in the same faction, the Count could not refuse. As they said, it was cheaper and more efficient that way. That was why Alicia and Elidranthia were only assigned two knights before their journey.
“Alicia. Is there anything I should take note of at the academy?” Eli asked Alicia in the carriage to pass some time. Since Elena was here, she asked Alicia in a roundabout way about this being a novel world.
“Why would you ask Alicia that, Milady?” Elena frowned. Why would Elidranthia seek counsel from a commoner? There was no way a commoner could be more knowledgeable in political matters than real nobles like Elidranthia.
“Well, Alicia sometimes has prophetic dreams, right? I was wondering if Goddess Sistielle had said something to her. We will be at the Royal Academy with everyone—all manner of nobility and mages. From dukes to barons. If Goddess Sistielle wanted us to do something, now would be the time. I also remembered the first prince and… who was it? Claire, right? Will she be there?”
“Dunno, I just said what I saw. Claire was supposed to be there. But whether she will actually appear or not, I don’t know. From my dream, she would appear in three years, so it’s still a long way off, Milady.” Alicia tried her hardest to remember the details from the NovelPhoenix she read. The NovelPhoenix The Reincarnated Villainess Assassin Only Wanted Friends had run for over two years. She could not possibly remember all the details.
Her two brain cells, hardly to anyone’s surprise, could barely remember the school events before Elidranthia met Claire, the heroine. Except that she would become a reaper and assassinate some children or other government spies.
But Alicia didn’t want Eli to become a reaper. So, she stayed silent hoping would prevent her from going to places where she might meet reapers and get recruited into their midst. As she scrambled her tiny brain, she suddenly remembered Ludwin, the second prince.
“Ah. There is Ludwin, the second prince. He is also a mage and a royal. You will become his fiancée in several years. Be careful about him,” Alicia muttered.
“Hah!! I will be engaged to a second prince? Why??” Eli shouted. Her etiquette lessons fell apart due to the shock of the news Alicia brought.
“Alicia, stop daydreaming. There is no way a count’s daughter will be married to a prince, even if she is a mage,” Elena sighed at Alicia’s delusion.
“Dunno. He kinda likes you. Personality-wise, I mean. He’s annoying though.” Alicia shrugged.
“You should have told me sooner! Will he do something awful if I reject him?” Elidranthia weighed her options. If what Alicia said was true—if a prince took a liking to her—then refusing him might cause her county to fall apart.
There had been numerous cases in the past where a king leveled villages or towns because their marriage proposals were rejected. Eli thought she had to tread this very carefully.
“Yeah. I don’t like him either. He is rather arrogant. Please reject him somehow.” Alicia nodded. The novel never discussed Eli’s relationship with Ludwin because of the demon invasion—a disaster that ravaged the western kingdom. The novel ended with Eli turning back into her loli body while Ludwin kept their fiancé agreement. They were never married, nor did they break it off.
Alicia wondered how things were going to play out now. If Eli didn’t kill, she would be powerless. What if the demon came from their continent and invaded this land? But Goddess Sistielle had assured her that her only worry was Elidranthia becoming a demon lord; she never mentioned a demonic invasion. Which meant that those events might not happen at all.
“... I understand. That means he is a pest. We need to stay away from him.” Eli nodded.
“Huh? Wait a minute, Lady Elidranthia, even if what Alicia said is true, getting married to a prince is a tremendous honor. Moreover, he is a mage, right? Getting engaged to him would boost our county. We would become prominent members of society in one go,” Elena said.
“Elena, marrying up the ranks doesn’t always come with benefits. There are risks as well. For example, we don’t know how many enemies the second prince has. What if Duke Bron doesn’t like him? What if the second prince wants us to move to the theocracy in the south? There are risks involved—it’s not all bright up there.” Eli explained the politics to her maid.
You don’t even know that, the maid thought to herself but didn’t oppose her mistress. Eli was milder than other nobles, but she didn’t want to earn her ire. She was unlike Alicia with her job security as a high-level mage.
The carriage was then intercepted by a group of knights in shining armor claiming to be from Viscount Kerbeck and Baron Lucas.
“Greetings, I hail from Kerbeck territory, here to guard Lady Elidranthia on her way to the capital,” the knight—obviously chosen for his looks rather than his skill—said. Eli noticed how this knight was unsteady on his horse, the armor looked brand new, and the sword was off-center on his waist.
“Here is my apprentice. I shall not intrude on the ladies further. Please, have fun.” The knight grinned and motioned for his squire to climb down from behind him and into the carriage.
“Greetings, Lady Elidranthia. I am Sotek, son of Silum. A knight apprentice.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Sotek. Our journey will be short, so I would prefer if you would indulge me in the scenery,” Eli said. Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Sotek was young, barely fifteen, chosen to accompany her as a guard not because of his skill but because he was handsome. His father probably thought he could score some points with Elidranthia through him.
It worked in reverse, though. Eli’s opinion of him and his knight entourage dropped even lower. This squire before her could not even ride a horse. His breastplate was too shiny, probably made of silver—an ornamental piece unfit for combat.
“Would you like some confectionery? These candies are famous in the capital. I would love to introduce you to the confectioner and patissier there. They go great with tea and cakes,” the squire said.
“Oh? Should you be eating on the job? I thought you knights were supposed to protect me?” Eli almost scoffed at him.
“My fa— I mean, Sir Silum is enough for the job. I was tasked with entertaining Milady. We still have over a week before reaching the capital. It would be boring to stare at empty plains and forests all day, wouldn’t it, Milady?” Sotek smiled. His smile was like a radiant sun.
“Seven days?” Eli turned to Elena. “Last time I was here, we only needed three days.”
“Unless you would prefer to travel at night or camp out in the wilderness, this is the usual path, Milady. Your journey to the capital prior to this is an outlier.”
“I see.” Eli sighed.
“Thank you! Oh. This one is crunchy but bland. This one is too sweet!” Alicia, the shameless, nabbed herself some of the cookies Sotek had brought. “Lady Elidranthia, I would recommend this pastry with the tangerine on top. I believe it has the best taste.”
“How did you know it would taste the best?” Eli tilted her head. “They all looked different.”
“The box had twenty-five different sweets, but there were only three bases they used: crunchy, soft, and plump. The difference lay in the topping. This one had sugar with chocolate, this one had apples and caramel, this one had breadcrumbs, and several others. Without tasting them, I can imagine how they taste,” Alicia said.
She then began a tirade about cakes and sweets and how the artisans had cut corners when making them because they had to meet production quotas. Just because they were from the capital didn’t mean they didn’t cut corners. Alicia had learned this the hard way, often preferring street food compared to restaurants.
Eli listened with interest, smirking all the way as Alicia dominated the conversation, rarely giving Sotek a chance to interfere.
The one-week journey turned out to be less tedious than before because Eli could sleep inside an inn rather than on the road.
Then, they finally reached the capital.