I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 38: Didn’t Know! -

Empty lecture hall.

Lying sprawled out, slurping sweet coffee through a straw while peering into a crystal orb, Charles's ears twitched at the sound of the door not just creaking open—but slamming open.

He flinched and turned his head. Striding into the room with a face full of irritation was Luminele, clad in a pristine white research coat.

“Magralina Charles.”

“Ah... ehehe. Weren’t you in the middle of your Herbology lecture...?”

“I wrapped it up early. Something more important came up.”

Luminele scratched at her fluffy hair in frustration, marched over, and held out her hand.

“Where’s my ID card.”

“Right here!”

Charles handed it over without a second’s hesitation. He’d already finished everything he needed it for anyway.

It would’ve been ideal if things ended there. But Luminele didn’t look like she had any intention of just leaving.

She began grilling him sharply.

“What did you do with it.”

“I didn’t do anything~ It just looked all shiny and pretty so I...”

“Hand over the crystal orb.”

“...Why tho?”

“You wanna give it to me, or do you wanna get hit first?”

“Y-You know I’m a Dragon Slayer, right? I’m pretty confident in a fight?”

Charles threw punches in the air and huffed, but after locking eyes with Luminele’s endlessly dark gaze for five seconds, he realized there was no winning this and gave up.

“...Here you go.”

Luminele took the orb and inspected it, then let out a long sigh.

“...What were you thinking, sending cadets into a Forbidden Zone? I’m gonna get reamed for this.”

Nagging. Minimum two hours.

Estimating the damage, Charles immediately started whining.

“It’s fine?? I tested it myself. There’s no real info inside, it’s just kinda brutal, that’s all.”

“Why’d you pull this stunt? You didn’t have to use a Forbidden Zone just to run a test.”

“But... all the other mana spaces besides the Forbidden Zones are already known!”

Charles scrambled to defend himself.

“Nobles get way too intense with their training these days! No matter how rare the mana space is, they take one look and go, ‘Hmm, this is the Such-and-Such Battlefield, or that old Terror Incident,’ and immediately optimize a route and start clearing it. A Forbidden Zone is the bare minimum to test actual discernment!”

“What are you saying? Even if they know the strategy, individual ability still makes a difference.”

“That’s exactly why we need to test discernment—”

“Be honest.”

“...Because otherwise I’d have to teach all thirty of them.”

Under Luminele’s icy stare, Charles collapsed back down.

“I mean, come on, Herbology lectures are easy!! They’re not toddlers, right? If you say ‘don’t eat that,’ they don’t eat it. If you say ‘gather this,’ they go buy it! It’s a total freeloader subject, isn’t it?? But me? I have to study each cadet’s swordsmanship in detail, I can’t just swap styles around, I still have to improve their actual skill, and I’m a Dragon Slayer so expectations are insane, and I just wanna die... Why’s it only me?! Why always me?!”

“...Haaah.”

Luminele let out a sigh at his tantrum, like dealing with a child.

And in truth, swordsmanship was the hardest course of all.

Even teaching three people a semester was a nightmare. Thirty was unimaginable.

And the only reason Charles was saddled with it was because he had the ability.

That’s why Luminele always ended up going soft on him.

She reluctantly handed the orb back.

“Alright, fine. Just make sure nothing happens. I can cover for using a Forbidden Zone as a test site. But if something goes wrong in a Forbidden Zone, you’ll be held responsible too.”

“It’s fine! What could possibly go wrong in a mana space~”

As if he hadn’t been throwing a tantrum just moments ago, Charles jumped to his feet and beamed.

“I’m not talking physical injuries. I mean mental trauma.”

“Oh, c’mon. Everyone knows it’s all mana constructs anyway. Killing fake people doesn’t traumatize anyone!”

“...Let’s take a look.”

“Sure, go ahead~”

Luminele took the orb and scanned the cadets currently undergoing the test, Charles peering over her shoulder.

“...Oh? Is that Seriratus?”

“Yup.”

“And Paltis, and even Liascent? What kind of absurd lineup is this?”

“Random draw~ Heehee.”

The Seriratus team was, quite literally, crushing each stronghold.

Their skill was far beyond expectations. Seriratus, in particular, seemed fully aware this was a swordsmanship test—using their sword more than magic and slaughtering elite soldiers with ruthless precision.

The Paltis—specifically the younger sister—was performing so well it was almost comical, even for a hero’s bloodline. And Liascent’s Gale Sword wasn’t lagging behind either.

...Though for some reason, the girl from the hero’s line didn’t look too happy.

“It’s obvious they’re in first place.”

“Actually, not quite. Look here.”

“Hm?”

Charles pointed out the Senfenesia team.

Luminele’s eyebrow twitched.

“...What the hell is she doing?”

She wasn’t destroying any strongholds.

She had climbed the tallest mountain nearby, where no strongholds were located, and was surveying the entire battlefield from above.

Charles grinned with glee.

“Her sister did the same thing... it’s hunting!”

“Hunting what?”

“The other teams!”

She was hunting other teams.

Sure, it had the advantage of blocking other cadets from attending advanced sword classes—but it was still the kind of thing you'd only do to your mortal enemies.

Random team hunting meant nothing.

Unless you were going to take out at least twenty of them.

“Senfenesia best! Leave just five teams—no, three!”

“Is it even possible to reduce it to ten teams within twelve hours?”

“Well, before you arrived, a few years back, the last Senfenesia girl ended up completely alone.”

“...What?”

“It was great! I only had to teach three people that time~”

So... she eliminated the other 29 teams. Eighty-seven people.

If the sister had done it too, it wasn’t just personal initiative.

It was an extermination order from the Senfenesia house itself.

...Why?

Even if they were strong, this would only earn them resentment. No one would criticize them outright, but still...

Politically and practically, it made no sense.

Luminele mulled over it as she flipped through the orb—until she stumbled on a particularly shameful sight and grimaced.

“...Do these kinds of idiots pop up every time?”

“What, what is it? Oh...”

Charles, following her gaze, trailed off and nodded.

“Yeah, always. Probably the least intense it’s ever been, actually. New encounters! Gets the blood pumping!”

In the orb, a boy and girl were reenacting what could only be described as a steamy novel scene.

Back against a tree, arm braced beside the girl’s head—a wall slam. Faces close enough to kiss.

Luminele, looking disgusted, tossed the orb back at Charles.

“They know we’re watching, right? Why do they act like this?”

“Apparently, that’s part of the thrill~”

“...Stop saying weird shit.”

“Hmm? Hmmm? Come to think of it, Luminele, you’re getting to that age, aren’t you? Daaanger zone? Ready for marriage??”

“I’ll kill you.”

In the end, neither of them realized.

...That what they just saw wasn’t anywhere near a romantic wall slam.

****

“Wait. Arin.”

“Hm?”

I gathered some straw from around the area, lit it, and made a small torch before handing it to Arin.

“From here on, your mission is to go set fire to all the remaining food depots. Think you can handle that?”

“I’m slow, though...”

“I’ll give you a box of snacks when you’re done.”

Arin vanished in an instant.

I watched her sprinting off toward the distant depots—no interference expected.

Now that it was just the two of us, I called out to Emily as gently as I could.

“Lady Emily.”

“...W-What is it.”

Seemed like I just made her even more wary.

“I believe we need to have a brief discussion.”

“About what? We need to move quickly—”

“A short delay is fine. This is important.”

“...?”

Emily tilted her head slightly, then asked a question of her own.

“Come to think of it... how did you light that fire just now? Wasn’t ‘Geminos’ supposed to manifest magic through swordsmanship?”

She said it again.

I slowly stepped toward her so she wouldn’t run.

“...W-What the hell?!”

Emily flinched like she’d just seen a cockroach, instantly jumping back several dozen steps. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

I kept smiling as I spoke.

“Why are you running away? We’re on the same team, aren’t we?”

“It’s because you’re coming at me like a creep! What is your problem?!”

“Haha. I’m just a little curious about something.”

“About what?”

“That word, Geminos. Where did you see it?”

“...Ah.”

Only then did Emily’s expression change.

As if she had made a terrible mistake.

“I-I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

“Is that truly the case?”

“Y-Yeah. I misspoke, that’s all.”

“I see.”

I took another step forward.

“Eek...!”

One step. Ten steps.

Another step. Another ten.

—Thud.

Emily’s retreat was stopped short by a massive old tree.

Her prized footwork—blocked. I had cut off her escape, standing so close she could feel my breath.

“Please. I’m begging you. This is important to me.”

“I-If I tell you... you’re gonna kill me...”

“Pardon?”

Now it was my turn to frown.

Emily, shivering as if genuinely terrified, spoke.

“What in the world are you even talking about.”

“I-I learned something top secret... and now you wanna kill me, don’t you?”

“Why on earth would I kill you? That’d get our whole team disqualified.”

“In the real world...”

“Wha—Why? There’s not a single reason for that.”

“T-Then why are you asking me that, huh...?”

“...Because I’m just curious. About how other noble houses perceive this Geminos thing.”

It was probably best not to let her know I didn’t actually understand what Geminos was at all.

Emily hesitated for a moment, then slowly opened her mouth.

“...I don’t know much. It was just described as some strange magic the Butler-Chief uses. It says... weird things happen when it’s activated...”

“Magic? Geminos is magic?”

“Y-Yeah?”

But that person is... a person.

What the hell is this supposed to mean?

As I struggled to make sense of it, a voice answered unexpectedly—from somewhere I hadn’t even considered.

“Calling it magic isn’t entirely wrong.”

It wasn’t Arin.

The voice was faint, delicate, like birdsong. I turned my head toward it.

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself yet. Greetings, little Butler-Chief.”

“...”

Geminos was there.

Dressed in a maid uniform, as if she had been there from the start, she lifted her skirt gracefully and bowed to me.

I glanced at Emily—but her gaze remained fixed on me.

“...Wait—can’t you see that?”

“Huh? See what?”

So... she couldn’t see it.

I looked once more at the smiling Geminos and gave a subtle beckoning gesture with my finger.

Leaving behind the bewildered Emily, I stepped behind the tree to confirm what I was seeing.

It was the same form I’d seen in the mansion.

No—exactly the same as the figure I had seen during the trial when I was ten.

Rubbing my face in disbelief, I asked,

“...What the hell are you.”

“Geminos. The Butler-Chief’s loyal subordinate~”

“No, I mean... this is a mana space. How did you get in here?”

“I live inside you, Butler-Chief. Wherever you go, I go.”

Only then did it dawn on me.

“...So you were never human to begin with.”

“That’s correct. Does that bother you?”

“Bother me? That’s not the issue. Why didn’t Lord MacLaine say anything?”

“Because he can’t~ If someone reveals our identity aloud, we weaken. Our numbers dwindle. You must discover us on your own.”

...That can’t be real.

Just what the hell did MacLaine implant in my body?

“Setting aside who you are... why show up now?”

“You called for me. We can’t ignore a summons.”

“When the hell did I—”

“Just a moment ago! When you said, ‘Geminos, that thing~’”

“...That counted? Should I have just talked to myself this whole time...”

So the thing I’d been searching for was living inside me all along.

I reached out and touched the smiling Geminos—her hair was as soft as silk beneath my fingers.

She closed her eyes and nuzzled into my hand like a pleased cat.

Like this, she really did look like nothing more than a cute little apprentice maid.

This... this was what MacLaine called the ultimate weapon?

“What exactly can you do?”

“Anything you order me to~ Most things, anyway.”

“No, I mean... how much can you do?”

“That, even I don’t quite know~”

“So like, if I asked you to chop down this tree, you could—”

“Yeees~”

Geminos twirled in place once.

And then—

—CRAAACK!

The massive tree let out a thunderous groan and began to topple over.

“...”

Mouth agape, I watched as Geminos continued smiling sweetly while the enormous tree—so thick it would take ten grown men linking arms to encircle it—crashed down with a deafening roar.

“Kyaaa! Wh-What was that?!”

Emily’s startled voice rang out from the other side of the tree.

So, to summarize—

“...How many of you are there again?”

“Hmm~ About thirty?”

...Wait.

Am I actually the strongest being in this whole world?