LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 33 - Emilia. (1)
Within the deep and dark dungeon, an ominous energy swirled.
Every direction was engulfed in pitch-black darkness.
On the ground, shadows of indiscernible shapes writhed, moving as if alive. They were the hunting dogs commanded by Celestia.
With their gleaming red eyes, they awaited their master’s orders.
Atop the throne gazed upon by the hounds sat the Succubus Empress, Celestia.
Although her seal was broken by Ariel, she still stayed in the dungeon.
Celestia’s sensual cheeks were framed by a magnificent cascade of black hair with a blue sheen.
Her rosy lips, snow-white skin, and beautiful features were dazzling enough to captivate any man.
However, her gaze was simply spine-chilling.
“Hmm.”
Sitting on the large throne, Celestia was staring at the parchment in her hand.
A notice from the Supreme Council.
“Granting freedom?”
A sneer appeared on Celestia’s lips.
Though wearing a faint smile, it held a cruel coldness.
“Did those wretched beings think they could confine me?”
The notice’s contents were simple.
It stated they would grant partial freedom under the Supreme Council’s attendance.
The humans who would vanish with a wave of her hand acting this way seemed absurd.
Even without the Supreme Council’s permission, she could leave the dungeon anytime.
There was one reason she guarded the dungeon even after her seal was released.
To search for her master and the Leader of Black Raven.
Didn’t Ariel say it?
That the Leader had returned.
To track her master’s whereabouts, Celestia covertly released her hounds.
Fortunately, tracking wasn’t difficult.
The hounds had already made contact with her master at the mine.
By tracing that in reverse, they could locate her master.
Lips curled in a cold smile, she gazed at the darkness filling the dungeon.
Soon, the darkness quivered, and red eyes multiplied.
“…You found it.”
A cruel smile graced Celestia’s lips.
“Yes, shall we head out now?”
Having found her master, there was no need to remain here.
Though dungeons were important to monsters, wherever Celestia went became the dungeon.
“My minions, let us all depart.”
At her command, the monsters of darkness roared and exited the dungeon.
* * *
Count Benedict Hartwell issued an order to me.
To subjugate a dungeon threatening the people within the territory.
However, there wasn’t much for me to prepare for the subjugation.
‘No, it’s practically nothing.’
The family would provide knights and soldiers anyway, and the head butler Edgar would handle the supplies.
Even going to subjugate, there was nothing for me to do.
I just needed to watch from behind, safely guarded as the soldiers cleared the dungeon.
‘It’s no different than going out for a drink.’
This subjugation order was the Count’s intention to let me gain experience.
As such, I had nothing to prepare separately and only needed to care for my well-being until the day of departure.
Thanks to that, I was freed from studies other than swordsmanship and magic lessons.
Erin, my magic tutor, spoke to me with puffed cheeks.
“I heard from the Count. I was told the Young Master refused the academy proposal?”
Even if Erin was a mage, writing a recommendation letter for an academy wasn’t a simple matter.
She tried to give me such a big gift, so her reaction was understandable when I refused.
I bowed my head in apology.
“I’m sorry. You must have prepared with difficulty, yet I rejected it….”
But I had to decline no matter what.
Going to an academy would overlap with my eldest brother, Albert, in many aspects.
If that happened, the Count’s support turning into surveillance would be instantaneous.
‘It’s not time yet.’
Solidifying my position came first.
If I went now, I wouldn’t be able to form any ties to the Hartwell family.
Above all, my situation in the family wasn’t bad.
‘If I do well, I might avoid conscription?’
With Bastel holing up in his room alone, the Count’s patience was wearing thin.
In this situation, if I raised my value, it was obvious who would be conscripted to the front lines.
“Still, I want to keep learning from you, Teacher Erin, rather than the academy.”
Anyhow, it was true that I refused the gift Erin prepared.
While apologizing, I added some lip service.
Perhaps my actions weren’t bad, as Erin laughed.
“Oh my, it’s nothing. It is an honor to teach the Young Master.”
Erin smiled and continued.
“Well, I expected it anyway. The academy I recommend would fall short of the Empire’s Imperial Academy.”
“No, that’s not what I….”
Suddenly, Erin began self-deprecating.
The Imperial Academy was a prestigious institution that couldn’t be entered with just a recommendation letter.
‘Now I feel bad.’
Fortunately, Erin was still smiling, speaking half-jokingly.
Soon, Erin took something out from her bosom.
“So I prepared a separate gift. You wouldn’t refuse this too, right?”
She handed me a small, round blue badge.
“Oh, this is…?”
In the center of the badge was a tower-shaped emblem in relief, with complex runes engraved around it.
The badge’s identity was proof of being a mage belonging to the Magic Tower.
The blue badge Erin handed signified the Water Tower.
“Yes, it’s a badge showing affiliation with the Water Tower. You’re not an official member but a prospective mage, so feel free to accept it.”
She then said to infuse the badge with mana.
“……”
I quietly gazed at the badge.
In a way, it might have been harder to get permission to give me this badge than the academy recommendation letter.
And since it was a prospective affiliation rather than an official one, there was no need to be dragged around by the tower.
I could leave the Water Tower and go elsewhere at any time.
‘This is really good?’
Above all, mages were treated as valuable assets wherever they went.
This badge could become a card that proves my identity anywhere on the Elluncia continent.
Of course, if I put my mind to it, I could obtain the Fire Tower badge, but the likelihood of Bella being annoying was too high.
I’ll pass on that.
“Thank you so much! I didn’t know you’d go to such lengths….”
“Come on, infuse it with mana.”
I expressed my gratitude to Erin and infused the badge with mana.
“…..?”
What, is this it?
I infused mana, but there was no phenomenon of the badge glowing or anything else happening.
It just ended with infusing mana.
“It’s done! From now on, the Young Master will also be welcomed as a member of the tower!”
Erin rejoiced as if it were her own affair.
“And I heard from the Count that you’ll depart for dungeon subjugation in a week. Let’s study hard until then!”
Erin’s words were what I wanted.
The Water Tower mainly utilized the water attribute, which is specialized in defensive magic.
‘Protecting myself with magic shouldn’t be a problem.’
Thus, I learned magic from Erin and began selecting personnel to participate in the subjugation.
Of course, it was selecting servants to attend to me, not knights and soldiers.
“Emilia, come with me.”
Knowing her strength to some extent, I included her in the subjugation party without burden.
“Yes, I shall do so.”
Emilia bowed her head as soon as I finished speaking.
‘…Her tone is a bit cold.’
There was a big difference between Emilia’s appearance when I first saw her in the underground mine and now.
I didn’t know which was her real personality, but I decided not to dwell on it.
I also treated Emilia as usual without showing it.
‘Anyway, Emilia is a child who will do well on her own without worrying.’
Even if the subjugation party was annihilated, Emilia had the strength to survive alone.
On the surface, she was accompanying me to attend to me, but she was no different than a guardian knight who could protect me at any time.
“Ah, and are there any additional attendants to select?”
Now, it was time to choose attendants who would truly assist me.
Since Emilia was planned to be deployed in combat if necessary, I intended to select ordinary attendants this time.
“There are good children. We’ll utilize Lena and Ray, whom Lord Ethan brought.”
Lena and Ray were twin siblings I brought from the orphanage.
Currently, they were being educated at the mansion and assisting me.
“Hmm….”
Emilia probably spoke without much thought, but Lena and Ray were children younger than me.
Those children will join the subjugation party in a dangerous situation?
“Hmm, wouldn’t that be a bit dangerous? Lena and Ray are still young.”
But Emilia was steadfast.
“They are children who will be of help to Lord Ethan.”
There must be a reason why Emilia said that.
I fell into thought for a moment, trying to understand her intention.
‘If I took Chloe instead….’
Chloe was also my attendant, but she was a servant of the family.
Unlike Emilia and the twin siblings who were practically my hands and feet, she was strictly a person of the family.
‘Ah, could it be she considered that far?’
In the end, apart from Emilia, Chloe might be the one closest to me.
But since Chloe was ultimately a person of the Count’s family, the stories about me might reach the Count’s ears.
‘Then wouldn’t it be fine to take the twin siblings?’
If there was surveillance from the Count, there was a possibility Emilia might not be able to reveal her true strength.
In that case, utilizing the twin siblings I brought seemed better.
“Yes, it’s better to do as you say. Inform Lena and Ray as well.”
* * *
Emilia, who left the room, immediately moved to a different place.
Her destination was none other than the servants’ break room.
Fortunately, no one was in the break room except Lena and Ray.
“Oh….”
Upon confirming Emilia’s presence, Lena’s eyes trembled severely.
“Y-You’re here?”
It was as if she had seen a demon.
Ray, the younger brother who belatedly grasped the situation, also quivered.
The twin siblings were cruel and the strongest forces even at the orphanage run by the Eighth Elder.
But Lena and Ray were trembling before Emilia.
The reason they trembled was because they had experienced Emilia’s power.
Lena knew well.
The fact that not only Ethan but also Emilia, who was before her eyes, had come to the orphanage together.
Moreover, while staying at the mansion, she also realized that Emilia had come with Young Master Ethan.
That meant one thing.
There were two Phantoms, not one.
The Eighth Elder thought only Ethan was a Phantom, but in fact, Emilia was also one.
Upon learning this new fact, Lena tried to leave the mansion at night and report to the Eighth Elder secretly.
Unfortunately, Emilia caught her.
She didn’t know when Emilia had followed her.
She just came to her senses, and Emilia was before her.
In the dead of night, Emilia was terrifying enough to send chills down one’s spine.
Shh.
As she brought her finger to her lips, Lena and Ray couldn’t do anything.
Literally, they couldn’t even move their bodies.
An overwhelming sense of fear was imprinted on the twin siblings’ bodies.
– Disobey, and you die.
The fear and dread imprinted on their bodies didn’t easily disappear.
This was the power of a Phantom.
It was the moment they felt why the Eighth Elder had told them to be so wary of Phantoms.
Since then, Lena and Ray have felt terror just by seeing Emilia.
Naturally, they didn’t inform the Eighth Elder of this fact either.
If they did, they would never be able to die comfortably.
It was the same now.
Upon seeing Emilia, Lena felt horror.
At the same time, a question arose.
‘Just how strong is Lord Ethan….’
If he could command Emilia, who possessed tremendous power, as his subordinate, it meant Young Master Ethan was beyond that.
That aspect made Lena afraid.
She simply bowed her head until Emilia spoke.
Soon, Emilia opened her mouth.
“Lord Ethan has given an order. Both Lena and Ray will participate in this subjugation party. I await your performances so Lord Ethan can devour the Hartwell family.”
The Phantom’s command had officially fallen.