NBFTR 15

Chapter 15

The king replied indifferently.

“Denied.”

“The research institute is desperately short on personnel, and we are reaching the limits of what we can accomplish in defeating those monsters, so—”

“I come first. Airy Aster, finish the spell formula while you listen.”

Airy couldn’t tell whether the king used magic himself, but she could tell that he had probably never drawn a magic circle before.

She barely managed to hold together her mind, which had been blown completely white, and listened.

“Is there anyone else who knows that you were a maid of the Salisbury family?”

“At present, aside from the young master, everyone’s life or death is uncertain, but—”

“Right. So no one knows. I will grant you a title. The surname Aster is too common, though…. Hmm. Do you gentlemen have any good ideas?”

“How about Rotusia, Your Majesty?”

“I’ll make it Kotusia.”

“Your Majesty!!”

“I’m joking. Airy, what do you think?”

“…It’s too, nob… noble, so it doesn’t suit me….”

“Then what would be good?”

“Uh… I’m of low birth, so I don’t know anything about such things….”

She had almost blurted out her old surname, Belgiast.

It seemed better to simply keep her mouth shut.

Including the period before she possessed this body, she was apparently going to change her surname three times.

But what did it matter?

It wasn’t as though she was changing her gender.

“Hmmm.”

The king made an incomprehensible sound before speaking in a voice that, for the first time, contained a hint of amusement.

“Coilestium.”

At that moment, Airy became certain.

There is absolutely no way anyone can memorize this surname in one go.

Anyway, desperately wishing for this moment to pass quickly, Airy repeatedly muttered that it was a name she was grateful and honored to receive, and that it was so magnificent that she was ashamed of herself.

The king, unusually not cutting his sentences short, looked satisfied.

Airy wondered inwardly whether it was perhaps the name of his first love.

That thought was immediately disproved.

Rotusia, who was standing half a step in front of her, bowed his head and said,

“A flower crawling along the ground. How beautiful and erudite. Refined and intellectual—”

“Enough. Airy Coilestium is hereby granted the honorary viscountcy for meritorious service. What are you doing? Finish drawing it. Quickly. We don’t have time.”

The young king of the kingdom had a very impatient personality.

A flower crawling along the ground, huh….

It’s bad enough that it’s a flower, but he had to add that it’s crawling along the ground….

Feeling humiliated, Airy bent back down over the floor.

She drew the magic circle again and finally completed it after overcoming countless difficulties.

While Airy wiped away her sweat, Oetje Kaylee stepped forward as the caster.

He had overtaken Rotusia, who had volunteered first, by emphasizing the similarity of their mana circuits and obtaining the king’s permission.

Oetje Kaylee was the director of the Magic Research Institute under the Ministry of Magic.

Airy had read more than a dozen of Oetje Kaylee’s papers in the basement, yet she had never once imagined that he would still be alive and well, much less that he would be this young.

Inside the king’s office, the four mages other than Airy and the caster could not stop expressing their admiration throughout the casting of the magic.

“I’m amazed by the detection magic circle itself, but the idea of displaying the information perceived by the caster is truly extraordinary. To think this can be done without using image magic.”

“It’s as though a commander were drawing on a map during a battlefield briefing. It’s easy to understand, precise in its content, and objective.”

Despite all their excitement, Airy could not abandon her cynical attitude.

The shock of Coilestium—Fuck, I’ve already memorized it—had been too great.

How could she possibly guarantee that the king’s intention wasn’t for her to spend the rest of her life crawling along the ground and drawing magic circles?

“Lady Airy Coil… seems like a genius born for this era. For the nation and His Majesty—”

“Enough.”

What genius?

Airy almost snorted, but restrained herself because she didn’t want to have her nose cut off.

Have these people really never seen a true genius?

If they’d seen our young master, they would’ve lost their minds.

And what about Oetje Kaylee?

He was a lunatic who had written dozens, even hundreds, of papers without developing a single gray hair yet.

For roughly an hour while the magic circle was being cast, the four mages talked endlessly about its possible uses and applications, while the king occasionally cut off useless remarks and diligently wrote something down.

It was an absolute circus.

“It actually leads us to the conclusion that there are fewer monsters the closer we get to the northern mountain range.”

“It’s astonishing that there are so many tunnels.”

“Since they were directly fighting on the front lines, wouldn’t they have realized sooner than we did that the monsters don’t touch the underground?”

“But what are they living on? Even with mages among them, there must be limits.”

“Wouldn’t it be similar to us? They hunt monsters and roast or steam them. Since monsters don’t eat grass, they probably gathered plants to some extent as well. And when even that became difficult, they cultivated root vegetables and ate those.”

“The fact that there are this many survivors is truly fortunate, Your Majesty.”

“I’ve heard everything. Finish it now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The king twirled his pen around his finger as he fell into thought.

Airy discreetly pulled the damp fabric away from her back.

Before long, the king put down his pen with a sharp click, leaned back, and spoke.

“Sir Penin Mufala. From now on, train the knights with their objective focused on searching for survivors in the north. Entrust the necessary research to Sir Airy Coilestium and communicate with her.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Sir Oetje Kaylee, share the necessary research with her and provide support through the institute’s personnel and resources.”

“But, Your Majesty—”

“Denied. Sir Coilestium will not be assigned to a separate organization for now. And Lord Rotusia, oversee this research so that it proceeds without the slightest waste and report to me every day.”

“Your Majesty…”

“Denied. This is not excessive. Lastly, Sir Ron Plumosis, ensure that all the administrative procedures regarding Sir Coilestium’s status are completed within this week so that this matter proceeds without obstruction, and report to me.”

“Your Majesty!”

“Denied. All the people who would have objected are dead and resting, so why are all of you making such a fuss one by one? Are you all planning to continue investigating this Fourth Monster Raid until the day I die? Will bringing in one Airy Coilestium somehow make the work finish faster? Then are you planning to divide up the work this person is supposed to do among the four of you?”

Every word of the impatient king’s lecture struck like a dagger.

The four mages sealed their mouths like clams and bowed their heads.

Airy stared blankly as their backs became soaked with sweat.

Perhaps even the time spent getting angry was too precious to him.

The king, unable to contain his temper, waved both hands wildly.

“Enough. Get out and deal with everything quickly. Is Laertes Salisbury still stubbornly refusing to join the knights?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“My goodness. Deal with that quickly too. Get out!”

Before the sentence had even ended, the king found his glasses and placed them on his nose.

Then, with an extremely irritated expression, he began rifling through his documents.

Airy cautiously tried to retrieve her mana from the magic circle drawn on the floor.

As though he had eyes in the back of his head, the king spoke without even looking up.

“Leave it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Airy fled as though her backside were on fire.

He is definitely not an ordinary man.

The attendant closed the door to the office.

The five people immediately leaned against the stone wall and slid down to the floor.

Despite the damp, chilly nature of the underground palace, the corridor felt scorching hot.

They had been completely drained.

Airy blankly rested the back of her head against the wall and let her mind go numb before shaking herself back to reality.

I need to return to the room and tell Laertes about all this.

And what was that business about the knights?

Just then, Rotusia, who had been pressing his fingers against the space between his brows, cleared his throat.

“We have a new person in the Central Palace. We should have a welcome dinner.”

“I’ll send an attendant. Shall we meet at dinner time?”

“Prepare plenty of alcohol. Ah, Airy. You drink, don’t you?”

At the unexpected question, Airy nodded awkwardly before quickly shaking her head.

She had almost fallen into the trap.

“Everyone is busy, so there’s no need for a dinner party…. I’m grateful for the thought—”

“Bring the young master of Salisbury as well. We need to settle things with him today.”

“I don’t think that will work. The young master has never had alcohol before.”

There was no way Airy could take Laertes to such a gathering.

Her inner nanny simply could not accept him learning how to drink for the first time at a company dinner instead of from his parents.

But these people were formidable.

They had not survived for so long as the king’s close aides for no reason.

They were just as skilled as the king at hearing only what they wanted to hear.

Rotusia waved his hand first, saying, “I’ll take it that way,” and left.

Even Oetje Kaylee, whom Airy had trusted, brushed off his backside and stood.

“You should learn to drink from adults.”

And then he left.

Penin Mufala also muttered, “That’s right, that’s right,” brushed himself off, and left.

Only the man with the difficult surname, Ron Plumosis, held out a hand to Airy with an apologetic expression.

“Please get up. Your body will become chilled.”

“Thank you….”

“And you should probably stop calling him ‘young master.’ Clothes and necessities appropriate to your status will be sent to your room through the servants. They’re ready-made, but there is no one left to quibble over such things, so you shouldn’t hear anything strange. Since you’ve received an honorary title for meritorious service, you need to have some merit to your name, but I’m not sure how to process that magic circle as paperwork…. Are you the type who cares about official rank? Since you aren’t being assigned to a separate organization, how exactly are we supposed to prove that the title was granted? You won’t be asking for a genealogy certificate in the middle of all this, will you?”

“I won’t….”

“I’d appreciate that. I’ll see you at dinner.”

He disappeared down the corridor, muttering,

“Let’s be grateful she’s only an honorary viscount. Let’s be grateful the documents were lost. Let’s be grateful we have a week.”

Airy stood there alone for a while, enjoying a brief moment to herself.

Then a tremendous sneeze from inside the office startled her.

She immediately ran toward the stairs.

Fortunately, she had a good sense of direction.

When she returned to the room, Laertes was playing with Pepper near the bed.

He asked whether everything had gone well.

Airy collapsed face-first onto the bed and gave him only the essential points.

“I’ve been promoted to honorary viscount Airy Coilestium. I’m unaffiliated, but I’ll be doing research at the Ministry of Magic. There’s a welcome dinner tonight, and you’re coming too. Oh, and since I’m a viscount now, we have to change how you address me….”

“Huh?”

“Wake me before dinner. Ah, I’m completely drained.”

The tension and exhaustion came crashing down on her.

As she was sucked into sleep, she felt familiar hands carefully adjust her position.

A bundle of warm heat curled up beside her.

The late-afternoon nap was so comfortable that she wanted to sleep forever.

As expected, the dinner was even more chaotic than she had imagined.

Airy placed the two 17-centimeter-thick volumes of Encyclopedia of Monsters—8th Revised Edition, which she had received as a palace-entry gift, beneath the table.

Then she began eating with Laertes while treating the shouting around her as a side dish.

“Lady Airy is much more closely connected to the research institute. No! She’s practically a member of the research institute!”

“Hey, Oetje! What do you mean ‘Lady Airy’? You should call her Sir Airy Coilestium! Surely you haven’t failed to memorize her surname yet? And don’t forget that the research institute is under the Ministry of Magic! Sir Coilestium belongs to the entire Ministry of Magic!”

“Sir, is there a coat of arms you would like to use if you become a noble? It must fit appropriately within a space of 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters, and neither the colors nor the symbols may overlap with those of another family. If you need the register of names, would you mind looking it up yourself in the library?”

“Sir Laertes! No, Rael! I’m begging you! Please join the knights!”

“Why haven’t they brought the palaksae meat yet?! There should be at least five palaksae from the ones I caught today!”

“Yes, Sir Coil. These are the studies currently being conducted at our institute. There are many that could be merged with your research. What do you think?”

“His Majesty is being too harsh!! I’m fifty-two years old! Do you know when my father retired?”

Even Laertes, who had gotten slightly drunk, ended up contributing to the disaster.

“Airy. You never listened when I asked you like that, but now that you’ve received a title, you’re calling me Rael?”

“Excuse me, could I have some more alcohol?”

Airy drank five consecutive glasses of extremely strong distilled liquor, earning applause from Ron Plumosis and Penin Mufala.

And the last thing she remembered that night was the terrible pain in her forehead and the tip of her nose, as though they had been smashed apart.