Chapter 115 – Microwave Oven (5)

According to historical records, parties hosted by great nobles in the Holy Acetaria Empire were like a kind of jungle.
If he had the authority of the Marquis Elvin, it was natural that many people would gather to enter his salon.
However, there is not enough space and budget to accommodate all the nobles gathered from all over the country.

Therefore, it was a custom to secretly hand out invitations to those who were sufficiently qualified for the banquet, which started a few days in advance.
The selection criteria were varied, but unless they were familiar with the host or could show off their status, they placed emphasis on an aristocratic aspect.
In short, a beautiful appearance, simple manners, a non-frivolous tone of voice, and an understanding of magic were required.

Even though there were aspects of Erzsebet that did not match the standards of people in the past, her dignity and intelligence as a royal did not go anywhere.
Although she was only a minor noble from the border territory of Penheim, she had achieved a position that attracted the attention of many nobles in just three days.

“I really enjoyed today, Lady Erzsebet. Do you have any plans for later? “If you don’t mind, I’d like to treat you to dinner.”
“I’m sorry, Viscount Berkel. “I have a prior plan for dinner.”

Of course, in the process, I needed to be able to remove the flies that stuck to me with a smile.
However, today, perhaps because Louis was not around, the nobles kept making noises trying to lure him out.

“Really? However, seeing as he hasn’t come to pick up the young lady even though it’s already this time, it seems like the other guy doesn’t have any regrets. “What is his name?”
“Ah, this is my escort who came with me earlier. It’s Luis and we’re meeting at the hotel…”
“The attitude of the ignorant mercenary Naburaeng towards the nobles was very bad! “My lady, I will scold that bastard with our family’s vision, so don’t worry and go eat the eggplant sandwich.”
‘If you say that in front of Lewis, I won’t even be able to remove your bones!’

As Erzsebet declined the invitation from Viscount Berkel, who showed off a lot of belly fat, all she could think about was the meal that Louis would prepare.
I have low blood pressure after eating, so today’s concept of throwing down my food as soon as I receive it seems to have worked well, and luckily I didn’t eat too many terrible party dishes.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t turn off the gas light at the hotel, so——!”
“Lady Erzsebet!? For a moment!!”

Eventually, she made her way out of the party under her own power, climbed into her carriage, and let out a sigh of relief.
At the same time, her happy emotions bloomed wildly.

‘Now I can eat a proper meal!’

Although I don’t know what kind of food will be prepared, even if you drink soy sauce mixed with tap water, it will be better than the food here.
Maybe it was because I was finally able to escape from the unfamiliar foreign food, clothing, and shelter and see a ray of salvation, but I suddenly felt a familiar sense of déjà vu in this whole situation.

It occurred to me that Lehel had mentioned that Luis was her former fiancé.
When you return home after a tiring day of hard work, isn’t he waiting for you?
Even Ujet followed him and willingly served as his guard.

It was a situation where I had no choice but to be on edge in many ways, so there were more than one or two moments today where I felt regretful about Lewis’s absence.
Erzébet realized that she was more confident than she thought and that she was relying heavily on his presence.

“Ugh, it’s because I don’t have blood.”

She closed her eyes, consciously shaking off her thoughts.
This training must produce results.

There were no significant obstacles to succession to the throne, but after the Great War, Fenheim’s royal authority was surprisingly not that strong.
This is true just by looking at the small war that broke out with Seongguk not long ago.
The royal family was unable to persuade the five Grand Dukes, and through the Grand Dukes’ Council, they voluntarily refused to participate in the war.
The 12 alliances remaining in the mountains also expanded their respective forces and established themselves as the losers of the Ravier Mountains.
The death squad that defeated the Demon King has already dispersed and, except for White Knight Hublett, all have refused the first-class medal Grand-Croix that should have been given to them.
The people’s evaluation of him as the wise king who ended the war against the demons was also limited to Baor III.

In other words, when Erzsebet ascends to the throne, she has no support base at all.
If he didn’t achieve even the bare minimum at the academy, he could really become a scarecrow.
In the first place, the fact that he did not know the strange things listed above meant that he was not recognized as a proper successor to the royal family.

‘You must obtain the crafting technology for iron soldiers.’

Or get something equivalent to it.
That was why he offered the title to Lewis.
If I stayed by his side even after he graduated from the academy, he would feel more secure.

I thought I deserved that much.
He escorted me well and brought me medicine when I felt sick every night.

‘If it’s delicious by dinner tonight…’ …’

There would be nothing better.
As a reward for assisting the princess of a country.
That’s what I thought.

***

While the chicken was being fried, Erzsebet arrived.
It was later than expected, but fortunately nothing seemed to have happened.
Rather, she scolded her and asked why her meal wasn’t ready by this time.
When she told Caroline that she had made a strange misunderstanding and that she was late to explain it, she suddenly got angry.

“Why are you, my bodyguard, conniving with a saint from a foreign country? “And because of that, I’m late for dinner!”
“It wasn’t an internal cigarette, I just smoked a bit.”
“Oh my god, even cigarettes… ! I can’t do that, Louis. “Sit down here.”

It’s like admonishing a child who hangs out with bad friends and is being influenced in a bad way.
Hergé Bett expressed the ugly side and selfishness of the saint and the duplicity and suspiciousness of her saint by tearing off a chicken leg.

“You can’t trust any of the people involved there right now!”
“Didn’t you get quite a bit of help during the last election? “It doesn’t seem like we have a bad relationship with the Farencia branch.”
“Ha… Although they belong to the Temple of Light, they are definitely citizens of Penheim. The same goes for Alios Magic Tower. But have you forgotten where the people who came with her saint from the Monarch stay?”
“It’s in the temple.”
“Then their voice would be much stronger. Because they are priests directly under the denomination. “Maybe she’s stronger than a saint.”

Anyway, it meant that everyone should be careful, whether they are saints or not.
Luckily, she seemed to like the food I cooked for her and fell into bed, saying she didn’t need medicine today.

***

It was the fourth night after the training began.
When I arrived at the library, Liv was floating seven books of magic in the air, his eyes busy.
It was always amazing to see the bookshelves turning over every time he waved his hand in the air.
The speed of learning rune words is so fast that you don’t even need my help unless it’s a really difficult passage.
When I had some free time and was thinking about reading a children’s book, there was someone next to me who nudged me.

“Is the boss here?”
“Ah, Baron Lev.”
“Yes~. “It’s Lev, hehe.”

It was an alter ego created by Liv that looked exactly alike.
However, there were some differences compared to the first day. Unlike the main body with a calm personality, it seemed quite talkative and active.
It was fun to see a different side of Naya Liv.
However, perhaps because it was an illusion created through imagery magic, even when I patted its head or touched its stomach, it felt empty somehow.

“Boss, boss.”
“Yes?”

Lev, who was organizing the books Liv had read and carrying new reference materials at the same time, motioned for me to listen.

“Do you know why Liv studies so hard?”
“Well? “To inherit the Pekda Magic Tower?”
“No~? “It’s all because I want to be by the boss’s side.”
“Next to me?”
“Yes. “After Adela awakened her original magic, she was very jealous when she saw her stuck next to the boss.”

The reason I lived with Adella after vacation was simply because it was too hot.
I just want to say that I don’t discriminate based on that.

“My goal is to ultimately be recognized as a grand duke and then receive the title of count. “There are additional preparations that need to be made, such as cooperation from the royal family or meritorious deeds worthy of receiving a medal.”
“Okay.”
“If I get an estate near Greenwood Forest, shall we launch a sailboat and play on the canal? “Let’s go see the site together during winter vacation.”

They were already ready to buy a new home.

“We need to make dinner plans before that.”
“Oh, I see! When are you okay?”
“It will be on the evening of the 6th. The princess’s schedule will probably be over by then. “Would you like to tell this to Baron Liv?”
“I’m sure you’ve already heard everything?”

On the sofa she pointed to with her finger, smiling, Liv was flipping through her book with her ears turning bright red.
I thought she spoke quietly, but she must have rang out because she was in the library.
As I sheepishly scratched my head, Lev spoke to me this time in a voice so low that I couldn’t really hear it.

“Boss, please take this.”
“What is it?”
“Adela gave it to me, because she thought it would explode like a bomb if she kept beeping when she was next to me.”

What she handed me was a duck made out of ice that sometimes wandered around on the floor of her stall.
In fact, when she saw Lev, she started crying and her body swelled up, looking like she was on the verge of exploding.

“Actually, I’ve seen him react to other people besides me.”
“Who?”
“That’s him.”

At the place she pointed with her finger, there was Caroline, who opened the door to her secret library and came in.

“Would you like to try it?”

As soon as she saw her she beeped! When I saw the ice duck running away and crying, I hurriedly ran to catch it.

***

Regardless of Lewis’s existence, the order Caroline received from the church was to find out the location of the Sacreure Dragon’s Nest during this training.
It is a former ancient dragon’s nest and is currently a secret place where all the empire’s treasures are hidden, so only a very small number of nobles or royals will know where it is.
That’s why she decided to check the security documents of the Uzet Grand Library.
Because the books here contained all the secrets of the empire.

Obtaining access permission was surprisingly easy.
The efforts of the Fenheim royal family, who had occupied Skandal for decades and tried to somehow enter this archive, were in vain.
Because the imperial saint directly helped Caroline.
I was able to enter the second-level storage room by showing the permit with her signature on it.
But–

“Beepeeeee———!”
“Crazy, I barely caught it…” … ! “How on earth did you get in?”
“Why on earth are you here?”

Somehow things seemed to be going smoothly, and it was Lewis again.
Besides, I wasn’t alone this time either.

“Baron Greenwood?”

Liv Labre des Greenwood.
Of course, it wasn’t the person the brigade was keeping an eye on, but it was the name of the wizard Caroline heard the most since entering the academy.
Undisputed 1st place in grade from admission to present.
It is said that he has reached a point where he is not just a theory, but has already created his own magic, even if it is clumsy, and showed it off in front of his professor during his first semester midterm exam.
A hero who is hell-bent on taking you from the Seven Magic Towers.
She was alone with Lewis.
And that too in the secret archives of the empire, which are known to be inaccessible until now.

“Why did you come here?”
“I have work to do. “And you?”
“Ah, Baron Reeve asked me to help you…”

Surely again?

Suddenly, I remembered modifiers such as ‘cat thief’ and ‘pervert who likes to rub her stomach’, which appeared a lot in the 17-hour story I heard from Adela Sylvester.
Only then did I realize again that this man in front of me was a player who seduced all women.

“Caroline?”
“Wait a minute. Then now…”

As she spread her fingers one by one, she reexamined the relationships she had researched about Lewis.

“To the chairman I met yesterday, to the princess who rode in the same compartment, to the idiot from Rochear, to that older sister, to Baron Greenwood…”

When all five of her fingers were stretched out, she reflexively tried to count to six ——

“Me… “Even if we subtract it!”
“?”

I barely managed to get her mind together.
And I was even more scared that this might not be all.
Since the Church of Light is a religion where the majority of believers are commoners, it emphasized monogamy in its doctrine.
Even nobles with some rank who were close to the religious order would hear harsh words from the old priest of the temple after taking their third wife.
The next officiant says, “Don’t even dream.”

But who would have thought that a stall owner who was not a nobleman would have such promiscuous relationships with women?
In addition, all the candidates assumed are neither a girl from a rural village nor the second daughter of a miller, but rather talented people who will turn the country upside down.

“Oh my god…”

Caroline seriously wondered if the great disaster that the goddess had spoken of was a human disaster turning into a human disaster.
If that were to happen, the person who would be in more danger than anyone else would be none other than Lewis himself.

“Hey.”
“Huh?”
“You’re so stupid you can’t even get a bone out of it.”

She was torn as to why she should worry about this philanderer, but she couldn’t help it since she had decided to follow the revelation.

“Did you get some kind of demon lord? I wonder if he has a title higher than that of a grand duke. How can he handle so many women? … Hey, that’s it. “I definitely advised you.”
“…”

Caroline told him, flicking her finger lightly on the bridge of her nose as her ice duck glared at her.

“Don’t get stabbed in your sleep and run away to the temple.”

I didn’t realize that Lewis didn’t respond at all.