The day after Emperor Adrinus Odo Albas had his eyes fixed on Ro Steinclaw as the Saint’s true identity——one girl was summoned to the Emperor’s study.
“——You called for me, Your Majesty?”
“Indeed. Welcome, ‘Diamond.'”
The girl called Diamond is an imperial secret agent——Wendy Triard.
The girl who transferred to the Kingdom’s Saint Academy just recently. Luna’s lifelong rival.
Ten years ago, Adrinus caught a glimpse of young Wendy and recognized the natural talent sleeping within her.
He immediately made contact with House Triard, struck several agreements there, took Wendy into the Empire’s special operations organization——and raised her into a highly capable intelligence operative.
As an aside, in exchange for her service to the Emperor, Wendy has the Empire covering the enormous medical expenses for her curse-stricken mother, and has a renowned physician——who would normally require a months-long waiting list——sent to see her practically every week.
“I have finally obtained a promising lead on the Saint. Class 1-C of the Saint Academy——Ro Steinclaw. A face you know?”
“Yes, she’s in the same class and we sit near each other……. So she was the Saint.”
“I have no conclusive evidence as yet, but given the surrounding circumstances and my intuition, there is a nine-in-ten chance I’m not wrong.”
“I see……”
For Wendy herself, the equation of Saint = Ro was not difficult to accept.
Ro Steinclaw carries a strange air about her.
Something transcendent, something settled——a kind of ‘presence’ that one wouldn’t expect from a fifteen-year-old.
(And above all, His Majesty’s intuitions tend to be right.)
If he is stating it this definitively, Ro must indeed be the Saint——Wendy genuinely believed that.
“Now, to the main matter. The ‘Great Reincarnation Festival’ opening in our country one week from now——is it possible to bring Ro out for it?”
“I apologize. Given our current relationship, inviting her to the Empire one-on-one would be difficult. However……if I brought the friends around her along, it should be possible.”
What comes to Wendy’s mind is the airy, easily swept-up figure of someone who seems very easy to draw in.
Strike the horse to hit the general.
Ro and Luna share a close relationship——reel Luna in, and Ro will follow. That is the thinking.
“Very well, that will do. If Ro can be brought into the Empire, the necessary condition is met.”
Adrinus nods in satisfaction and continues.
“At precisely three o’clock on the day of the Great Reincarnation Festival, I will cause a ‘small incident’ in the heart of the imperial capital. Observe closely what reaction and movement Ro shows in response to this.”
“What sort of incident?”
“I will not disclose the details. Even between people, knowing an event in advance creates a resistance——an unnaturalness. If you were to know the content of the incident here and now, it would no longer be a genuine disruption but merely a staged event.”
He pauses and continues.
“This goes without saying, but the Saint and Silver are perceptive. If they notice any strangeness in Diamond’s reaction, they will stop taking any conspicuous action. So you remain as you are. Know nothing, and enjoy the festival in your natural state.”
“Understood.”
“Then let me issue the directive formally. Diamond——bring Ro Steinclaw to the Great Reincarnation Festival, and keep watch over her every move in detail. And should you become certain that she is the Saint——go ahead. Kill her.”
The Saint, as a volatile substance, had no place in the world Adrinus envisions.
“……With respect, the great responsibility of assassinating the Saint is somewhat beyond what I can take on alone.”
“Not a concern. The Saint right now is severely weakened——to the point of needing the protection of a proxy. ……Well, that said, if you judge the mission to be beyond execution, do not push yourself and withdraw. Under no circumstances are you to let it be sensed that you are aware of the Saint’s true identity. ——I have expectations of your performance, Diamond?”
“Sir.”
Just as Wendy, bearing the Emperor’s imperial command, moves to exit the study——Adrinus opens his mouth as if something just came back to him.
“Ah, speaking of which……there was an unremarkable ordinary girl in the Spedio domain. ルナ・スペディオ, if I recall the name. Keep an eye on her as well, since you’re at it.”
“Leave it to me.”
And so it was that our beloved Saint came to be kept under surveillance as an afterthought.
Having resolved the land tax situation facing the Spedio domain, Luna settles into a quiet life at the Saint Academy for a while.
With Wendy, being in neighboring seats if nothing else, she gets to know her reasonably well.
‘Villainess’ and ‘Main Heroine’——polar opposites in terms of what they represent——yet sitting through the same classes, chatting during breaks, eating lunch together.
Living those kinds of days, they became what could be called friends.
Peaceful, pleasant days flow by——and today, when the Saint Academy enters its extended break, Luna, Ro, Sarko, and Wendy, the four of them, have come on a one-night-two-day ‘little trip’ to the Albas Empire.
“Ohhhh, so this is the Albas Empire! (Amazing! It’s developed so much more than when I was here three hundred years ago!)”
Luna’s eyes sparkle like a small child’s——
“Hm……I’d heard the rumors, but it really is a lot more lively than the kingdom.”
——Ro looks around the streetscape with an impressed expression——
“My, there’s a new magic tools shop over there……. I’ll have to check that out later.”
——and Sarko, who frequently visits the Empire due to her family’s trading company connections, is busily taking notes on something.
“Everyone, my family’s house is this way. It’s very crowded, so please stay close.”
Wendy walks forward down the bustling main street with the ease of someone who knows every step.
This little trip had come about at her invitation.
[Actually, I’m planning to go back to my family home in the Empire during the next break……. If everyone would like, would you all come and stay? The Great Reincarnation Festival happens to be opening in the imperial capital around that time, so I’m sure it would be enjoyable?]
One afternoon after school, Wendy had said this and extended the invitation to Luna, Ro, and Sarko.
(Staying over at a friend’s house, and going to a festival together……)
It is an invitation from the enemy——but.
A sleepover with friends and a festival——for Luna, who had spent her springs in gray three hundred years ago, this was far too appealing to resist.
“I actually kind of want to go……!”
“Next break, right? Yeah, I think I’m free around then, I’ll come too.”
If her mistress is going, the lady’s maid Ro will naturally follow——
“It sounds like a wonderful opportunity, I’ll join as well!”
——and Sarko, who has few friends, enthusiastically committed to coming along as well.
And that is how Luna, Ro, Sarko, and Wendy have come together on their friendly little trip to the Empire.
“Still, there’s such energy here. Everyone looks like they’re having a wonderful time.”
Luna offers this impression as she walks the main street——and Wendy agrees.
“The Empire is in the middle of high economic growth, everyone is getting wealthier all at once, so the whole city has this very bright atmosphere.”
The pace of the Albas Empire’s development is genuinely remarkable.
The Kingdom of Elgia and the Albas Empire had long maintained comparable populations, territories, and economic scales, competing side by side in mutual growth——but.
Ten years ago, when the thirty-third Emperor Adrinus Odo Albas ascended to the throne, the relationship between the two changed dramatically.
Under Adrinus’s leadership, the Empire achieves remarkable growth through fundamental structural reforms: mass production of magic tools using magic stones, utilization of beastmen as a superior labor force, and introduction of a transparent personnel evaluation system.
Meanwhile the Kingdom, its free development strangled by entrenched class structures and the monopolizing of vested interests by the high nobility, falls further behind……
The result is an enormous economic gap between the two nations.
“Even so, there are so many more ‘beastmen’ here compared to the kingdom.”
“Now that you mention it……yes, quite a number of them.”
As Ro and Sarko observe, wolves, bears, rabbits——people bearing the characteristics of animals can be seen throughout the city.
Beastmen are a race with mixed human and beast blood.
Possessing the traits of both humans and wild creatures, their physical ability, magical capacity, and lifespan all far exceed those of humans.
Due to their origins and unusual appearance, they are scorned as ‘impure’ and face discrimination across the world——but.
In the Albas Empire, the world’s conventional wisdom simply does not apply.
“Imperial society operates on thorough meritocracy——humans and beastmen are not distinguished from one another, and only individual ability is evaluated. So the capable beastmen of the world gather here from everywhere. I imagine it’s a comfortable place to live.”
Wendy says this and explains the Empire’s inner workings.
In the Albas Empire, the Emperor himself is the law——the one absolute order.
If Adrinus declares beastmen acceptable, that becomes national policy, and those who defy it are executed without mercy.
“A society without beastman discrimination……the Empire really does sound like a wonderful place! (If Zel saw this, he’d be so happy……)”
Luna thinks of a certain beastman swordsman who had been in the saint’s party——
“Well……it is a society where meritocracy has perhaps gone a little too far, for better or worse, so sometimes it can feel a bit suffocating.”
——Wendy scratches her cheek and offers a slightly strained smile.
They arrive at their destination while still talking.
“——Ah, here we are. This is my family’s house.”
Wendy’s family home is a vast manor in one of the imperial capital’s prime locations.
“Wow, that’s enormous!”
“My, what a splendid manor, it has real character.”
As Ro and Sarko shower it with praise——Luna is trembling slightly.
“Um, could it be……that Wendy-san’s family is quite the nobility……?”
“Well, it’s difficult for me to say myself, but……I hold the rank of Marquess, for what it’s worth.”
“Mar-quess!? H-heh……is that right. A Marquess, huh……Marquess……”
Luna is desperately trying to appear calm, but from any angle it is clear she is not.
(Damn it, a Marquess……so enviable……!)
She bites down on her back teeth in frustration.
Luna’s House Spedio is an earldom on the borderlands; Wendy’s House Triard is a marquessate at the center. The gap between them goes well beyond the simple difference in titles.
And above all else, the fact of being a ‘Marquess’s daughter’ was particularly galling.
A Marquess rather than a Duke——second from the top, with ‘room to rise further’——the perfect position.
Everything is just right. Literally every single thing is just right.
Wendy was a perfect Main Heroine in every possible way.
(But……I won’t lose! Depending on how I think about it, this little trip is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’! If I find plenty of Wendy’s flaws here and lower her Main Heroine Level……in the end I win……!)
Not raising her own Villainess Level to win, but lowering the enemy’s Main Heroine Level to win.
That is no longer anything resembling the conduct of a villainess. It is the strategy of a ‘cowardly mob enemy type A’——
——but the Saint, who appears to be in a state of some confusion, does not seem to have noticed.
(Heh heh heh, are you prepared? My lifelong rival, Wendy Triard! From this point forward, I will be picking away at your weaknesses little by little, stripping the gilding off that ‘Main Heroine’ of yours!)
Luna, having descended from Saint all the way to mob enemy type A, wears an evil smile as she steps into the Triard manor.
The great door opens, and the moment she steps into the entrance hall——
“[Servants]: ——Welcome home, Wendy-sama.”
The waiting servants bow in perfect, synchronized unison.
“Yeah, I’m home.”
Wendy returns the greeting gently and warmly——then:
“Everyone, this way——follow me.”
She climbs the front staircase to the second floor, proceeds straight down a long corridor, and stops before a particular room.
“Um……could I have just a little bit of time?”
Her expression has gone uncharacteristically serious, and she says it apologetically.
“Of course.”
“No problem.”
“Please don’t worry about it at all.”
“……Thank you, everyone……”
Offering her thanks, Wendy knocks on the door before her——knock, knock, knock——and turns the handle.
“——Mom, some friends came to visit.”
In her line of sight, a large imposing bed, and on it lies Wendy’s mother——Taylor Triard——on her back.
Purple bruising spreads across Taylor’s face. Her eyes are clouded to a pale grey, staring blankly at nothing.
“Th-this is……!”
“……A curse. And quite a powerful one.”
“Whatever could have happened……?”
As Luna, Ro, and Sarko’s eyes widen in shock, Wendy begins to speak haltingly.
“A long time ago, when the two of us went on a picnic, a ferocious magic beast attacked. Mom protected me, who was still so little, and……she ended up like this. At first she could still walk and talk, but it just kept getting worse and worse, and lately she’s been in a state where she’s barely conscious.”
Ten years ago——Wendy and Taylor had gone on a picnic to a meadow near the imperial capital, and were attacked there by ‘a mysterious unidentified magic beast.’
[M-Mom……!]
[Wendy, just you run, now!]
[But……]
[I said go, hurry……!]
[……!]
Hearing her mother’s voice raised in a way she had never heard before——Wendy ran.
Leaving her mother behind, she ran.
Of course, this was the right decision.
At five years old at the time, she had no power to fight a magic beast.
Not long after, the Emperor’s own palace guards arrived and swiftly dispatched the beast.
But by that point, Taylor had already sustained injuries so severe it was a wonder she was alive.
Despite the best efforts of the imperial hospital’s treatment, she somehow clung to life——but she had been hit with a vicious curse, and has been in her current state ever since.
This incident became Wendy’s trauma, and she still wakes from nightmares about it frequently.
The choice she made was without doubt the correct one.
And yet——Wendy has continued to regret her decision then, to blame herself for leaving her mother behind and running.
“Sometimes on her good days she gives a little response……but today doesn’t seem like a good day. ——Sorry, that was a heavy thing to bring up. I thought that if Mom saw my friends, even a little, she might be happy……I’m sorry for putting a somber mood over what’s supposed to be a fun festival.”
Wendy bows her head deeply, her face sad.
“Hey, you don’t have to apologize for that……!”
“Indeed, there is nothing for you to apologize for.”
While Ro and Sarko offer kind words——
“……hic, uweh……! (……She’s wonderful. Wendy-san, despite being the enemy, is genuinely wonderful……!)”
——Luna’s tears are falling in drops as she aches for the Main Heroine’s circumstances.
(……It’s no good. I can’t win.)
She had let herself feel for the protagonist’s situation.
She had thought how sad it was, thought she wanted to help.
Luna bites down on the ‘defeat’ called immersion.
(……I am……a speck of dust……)
Her self of just a few minutes ago, who had been planning to find Wendy’s flaws and claim a psychological victory, now feels hopelessly petty and pathetic.
In the heavy atmosphere——Sarko lets out a small “Oh.”
“I just had a wonderful idea! Why don’t we ask Luna to make a potion?”
“Ask Luna-san to make a potion……?”
Wendy murmurs quietly, tilting her head in puzzlement.
“Yes! This girl is a genius at making potions! If she drinks that supreme masterwork, a magic beast’s curse would vanish in an instant!”
The suggestion from Sarko draws skeptical reactions from those around her.
“I’ve heard that some high-tier potions can neutralize curses……”
“Are Luna-san’s potions really that incredible……?”
To the questions from Ro and Wendy, Sarko answers with chest out.
“Luna’s skill at potion-making is without question ‘top class’! This I, Sarl Ko Layton, firstborn of House Layton, personally guarantee!”
“Hm……if Sarko goes this far, it must really be something.”
“Top class……(The dossier His Majesty gave me didn’t mention anything like this. But House Layton, even starting with the head of family, has a ‘mysterious power.’ If anything, maybe it’s possible……)”
Sarko presses on, announcing Luna’s abilities.
“And I’m not the only one vouching for Luna’s skill, either! Jurall-sensei, the Saint Academy’s teacher responsible for pharmacology, has also given her the highest rank, an ‘S rating’!”
At that, Wendy’s eyes go wide.
“J-Jurall——our homeroom teacher——the pharmacological authority, Jurall Serpent!?”
“Yes, that terrifying-faced teacher!”
Wendy now considers it seriously.
(The heir to House Layton gives her personal guarantee, and the authority in pharmacology gives an S rating……)
Reading the description alone, Luna’s skill is top class——good enough to open a pharmacy anywhere at any time.
“Wendy, does this manor have any potion ingredients?”
“Umm……I think there might be some mid-tier potion materials left over somewhere……”
“That will be more than enough. Please have them brought here right now, our teacher’s skills are about to shine!”
“Y-yes……!”
Wendy nods and leaves the room at a small trot.
With the person in question left behind, things are moving along at a rapid pace.
(……Now that I think about it, this could be a ‘nice assist’……)
A friend’s mother with a curse placed on her——Luna genuinely wants to help heal this.
But jumping up with a “Yes! I can fix that!” here would be far too suspicious.
In that sense, Sarko’s push is genuinely helpful.
(And what’s more, this is——now this truly is a ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’!)
Redemption. Rehabilitation.
To break away from her own petty and pathetic self, and to show something good to her lifelong rival——this calls for nothing less than making ‘the finest Elixir possible’!
Luna’s heart is burning.
Approximately three minutes later, Wendy returns to the room.
In the basket she has brought: medicinal herbs, pure water, test tubes——all the materials needed for potion-making.
“Luna-san, I’ve got them.”
“Thank you.”
Luna exhales a slow, shallow breath and grips the test tube firmly.
“Then I’ll begin.”
She gives her sleeves a light roll and gets started.
First she pours pure water into the test tube, then adds the medicinal herbs.
She swirls it around two or three times, drawing out the active compounds, then presses in her magical energy——a bit more than usual——and it is done.
“Done!”
“[Everyone]: ……Huh?”
Confusion spills from those around her.
“As expected of Luna! To complete a mid-tier potion in under a minute……what incredible skill!”
Sarko offers unrestrained praise——
“No wait……making a mid-tier potion usually takes a lot longer, doesn’t it……?”
——Ro tilts her head, puzzled——
“Is that……really okay?”
——and Wendy looks very uncertain.
(Oh no……)
Luna has not the faintest idea how difficult and time-consuming potion-making is supposed to be.
But that, too, is understandable.
From her perspective, there is no such thing as low-tier, mid-tier, or high-tier potion.
Simply mixing her magical energy into whatever water happens to be nearby produces an Elixir every single time.
“Ha, haha……! My potions are known for being ‘fast, cheap, and good’……!”
Luna laughs it off with a deflection, then——
“More importantly, Wendy-san, freshness is everything with potions——please give this to your mother quickly!”
——presses the Elixir into Wendy’s hands and steers the conversation forward.
Looking at the potion swirling in the test tube, everyone present exhales in genuine wonder.
“Wow, the clarity……!”
Ro’s eyes go wide——
“Yes, yes, this is it! This purity is precisely what makes Luna’s handmade potion what it is!”
——Sarko nods, satisfied——
“……It’s beautiful……”
——Wendy murmurs in surprise.
(Maybe it really……no, it can’t be, that’s impossible. No matter how high the quality, the materials used are mid-tier. The foundation of magic is equivalent exchange——you cannot produce something higher than the basis.)
The greater the hope, the greater the despair that comes with it in proportion.
She tells herself ‘this won’t work’ to keep herself from expecting too much.
And yet——the extraordinary holy resonance she can feel coming from the potion in her hand makes her heart beat faster, despite herself.
“Mom, it’s a potion. My friend made it.”
Wendy tilts the test tube and slowly pours it into Taylor’s mouth.
But——nothing happens.
(……Right. Of course.)
Wendy bites her lower lip lightly and turns around.
“Luna, thank you. But still——”
Just as she gives a wistful smile——
“——SHHKRAAAAAAAAGH!”
An evil serpent rises up from Taylor’s body.
“What is this——!?”
“It must be the curse placed on your mother!”
“That can’t be——a curse powerful enough to materialize……!”
The curse placed on Taylor was far more potent than anything they had imagined.
But——a Saint’s potion is literally ‘beyond all classification.’
“Oh, please look at that……!”
Where Sarko points——from behind Taylor, two arms radiating divine light rise up.
Hands full of compassion wrap gently around the furiously thrashing curse-serpent——
“Sskrgh, skrg, SKRGHIIIIIIeeeeee——!?”
——and, like a vice, grind it slowly to nothing.
“[Everyone]: ……Huh?”