Chapter 11: Trouble Close to Home

The lord turned out to be more of a middle-aged guy than the old man I’d expected. Just some dude.

And apparently, he had issues with magic—leaning toward rejecting the guild branch. Wait, wasn’t the preliminary intel different? Oh right, the Magic Guild staff handled the initial survey.

Nothing’s more annoying than superstitions and baseless fears. The moment you try to reason with people like that, they shut you down before you even start.

Hopeless.

Just as I was about to give up, the lord made an offer: if we exterminated the monsters infesting the town’s plantation, he’d approve the branch.

…The whole point of setting up a Magic Guild branch was to help this town. And now he’s treating it like some transactional favor? What a joke.

But I agreed. Even if the lord was an unreasonable fool, the townsfolk didn’t deserve to suffer for it. The sins of the leadership shouldn’t fall on the people.

So, monster hunting it was.

Unfortunately, today I was playing the role of the Ninth Princess—not exactly dressed for combat, nor was I expected to fight as a mage.

I decided to send Yusuke alone for the hunt. Sure, dismissing my guard wasn’t the smartest move, but I could handle myself in town. I’d been through plenty of close-quarters fights before.

Thus, we split up.

Not that I was worried about Yusuke. The guy walked away unscathed after getting punted by an evil dragon—some random monsters wouldn’t even count as a warm-up.

I could relax. Sit back, sip some tea, let him handle it.

Easy work.

…Or so I thought.

"Ow, damn—!"

Trouble struck.

The tea was laced with paralytic poison—the kind that wrecks your nervous system and knocks you out. I noticed something was off and cast an antidote spell on myself, but—

In that brief moment of distraction, the lord’s lackeys ambushed me.

I fought back with magic, but between their numbers and the lingering effects of the poison—not that I’d lose to this level of threat, but—

They took Jane hostage in the chaos.

With no choice but to surrender, I got beaten down.

Now, I’m sitting in the lord’s dungeon with a magic-dispersing bracelet locked around my wrist.

Damn it. I’m the Ninth Princess—no, forget that, beating up and imprisoning a young woman is messed up regardless of royalty!

Jane’s tied up in ropes, her face deathly pale. Meanwhile, I… guess they went easier on me since I’m technically a princess? All I got was this cursed bracelet.

"P-Princess…"

"I’m fine. It looks worse than it is."

"But—"

Goddammit, they really went to town on me.

Using Jane as a hostage, they made sure I couldn’t fight back—and took the opportunity to rough me up.

My dress is torn in places, my underwear fully visible.

Not sexy—just pathetic.

I look like a wreck, so I get why Jane’s worried, but… eh, I’ve taken worse. I lived through an evil dragon subjugation, after all.

Just some bruises. A split lip. A swollen cheek. A few scrapes on my legs.

…Wait. Is this actually serious?

"............"

I glance outside the cell.

No guards.

They really think I’m harmless without magic, huh?

…Well. They’re not wrong.

Without spells, I’m just a delicate maiden.

I look down at the bracelet on my wrist.

A device that automatically drains mana when I try to cast?

Never seen or heard of anything like it.

Normally, an artifact like this would short-circuit under my mana output, but this thing’s capacity is absurd.

…They used part of the evil dragon’s corpse.

Probably a fragment of its flame sac.

Channeling mana generates heat—if not for the modifications, this thing would've just shot fire.

But right now, the how doesn’t matter.

The real questions are:

1. Why did the lord imprison me?

2. How does he have a magic tool made from the evil dragon’s remains?

I don’t recall pissing him off, so this isn’t personal. He must want something.

And that bracelet...

No ordinary mage could craft something like this.

This backwater town doesn’t have the expertise—not without a Magic Guild.

...So someone’s pulling the lord’s strings.

The financial power to manipulate him.
The technical skill to create magic tools from an evil dragon’s remains—

The mastermind must be—

"Had you not resisted, you wouldn't have gotten hurt. You always insist on such pointless struggles."

...Figures.

"...Figures it'd be you, you fossil."

A familiar old man descended into the dungeon.

That condescending tone. Those extravagant robes. That long white beard.

The head of the kingdom’s Magic Guild—Othum.

"Oh? So this is how you truly speak? How unbefitting of royalty—that vulgarity suits your current attire perfectly. Fuhohoho."

He stroked his beard with a slimy laugh.

"My 'current attire'...?"

Oh, right. The torn-up dress.

I slowly exhaled. "...I thought I had a decent opinion of you."

"That arrogance of yours—looking down on others despite being a mere girl—is precisely what led to this. Do you understand, Ninth Princess?"

God, this guy’s insufferable.

I should’ve fired him ages ago.

What kind of worthless old man spends his time bickering with and harassing a girl who isn’t even twenty?

"...You didn’t act alone. Who’s helping you?"

"Many nobles share my distaste for you and that outsider. You’re quite unpopular, the both of you."

He actually answered me?

Meaning… he doesn’t see me as a threat anymore.

This senile bastard is way too confident.

"...What happened to Yusuke?"

"Fuhohoho, I'm in a good mood, so I'll tell you. That outsider is currently monster feed in the forest outside town."

"...What?"

Monster feed...?

Are they breeding monsters?

But monsters can’t be domesticated. They don’t obey human orders.

And monster experimentation is a capital offense under kingdom law.

"That magic tool—magnificent, isn’t it? Crafted from monster remains. Specifically, the evil dragon you killed."

"...I could tell."

"The kingdom confiscated the corpse, but you insisted on preserving it for analysis instead of burning it—sending it straight to the Magic Guild. How does it feel, tightening the noose around your own neck?"

"Like absolute shit."

Othum laughed down at me, sprawled on the dungeon floor.

"Fuhohoho, indeed. Let me share something that will make you feel even worse... I mentioned that outsider became monster feed, but that too was thanks to another magic tool crafted from the evil dragon."

"...Don't tell me you deliberately triggered a monster stampede?"

"How astute... as expected of the princess. We burned incense made from the dragon's bodily fluids. Research shows that monsters who inhale it become frenzied, exhibiting several times their usual strength."

"...You were even researching monsters? That’s a capital offense."

"Fuhohoho, yes... but as long as no one finds out, it doesn’t matter. No one can hold me accountable."

Damn. This guy’s way too chatty.

Just how badly did he want to gloat?

...Guess that’s how much he hated me.

After years of running the guild unchallenged, suddenly having royalty interfere must’ve felt like a direct threat to his position.

Not that he was wrong—

I was planning to fire him.