“What?”
“I said I’ll make you the next Grand Duke.”
The moment Sabel heard the words “next Grand Duke,” I saw the flames of ambition blaze fiercely in her eyes.
As expected of an Ellimore.
An endless hunger for power.
A competitive drive that refused to lose to anyone.
There was no way she would lack those traits.
“Do you even understand the weight of what you’re saying?”
“I don’t know. Is Gilbert so frightening that mere words about becoming the next Grand Duke feel that heavy?”
“Ha!”
That incredulous “Ha!” alone was enough to reveal the mountain of pride she carried.
But in the end, she was still only an eighteen-year-old kid.
If I pressed the right emotional buttons, she had no choice but to dance in the palm of my hand.
“I do not fear Gilbert. I simply pursue the most efficient choice.”
“Efficiency is the sort of excuse cowards make.”
Sabel seemed to lose her words at that.
She probably knew it herself.
Right now, Sabel wanted Gilbert’s recognition.
But “recognition” was something the weak sought from the strong.
All I had to do was keep striking that exact spot.
“An opportunity like this doesn’t come easily to cowards who only care about efficiency. So? Interested in making a deal with me?”
“If you intend to propose a deal, reveal your identity first.”
“I already told you. I’m something like a ghost. Just call me Ghost.”
I shrugged.
“If you absolutely have to know what kind of person I am... fine. I’m the one you’ve been looking for. The bastard who gave Gilbert an unforgettable humiliation.”
“You?!”
As though she found it unexpected that the person she had been searching for was standing right in front of her, Sabel slowly looked me over from head to toe.
Not to be outdone, I gave her a once-over as well.
Hmm.
Nice.
“...What kind of deal do you want?”
“You just have to become the Grand Duke with my help. That would be far better than letting that piece of trash Gilbert take the position.”
My voice hardened.
“But while you’re receiving my help, there are certain people I name whom you are never to touch. Never. If you break that condition, I swear I’ll erase House Ellimore itself.”
For the first time, Sabel smiled.
Even though it was clearly a mocking smile, it was beautiful enough to brighten the entire room.
What a dangerous woman.
“Erase my family? You?”
“I have enough power to do it. I can’t tell you exactly what I am, though.”
I tilted my head.
“If you need an explanation, think of me as something like a hatchling.”
“Nonsense. I know you aren’t ordinary, but even if you searched the entire continent, you wouldn’t find a hatchling childish enough to do something like this.”
She really refused to lose even a single verbal exchange.
Still, she was right.
At this point in time, most dragons were either sleeping or resting, let alone any hatchlings wandering around.
I had told a rather outrageous lie to keep her from realizing I was a mage, but she clearly wasn’t buying it.
In that case, I would have to prove myself with power.
“Fine. I understand why you might not believe me. But nothing I’ve told you so far has been a lie.”
I smiled.
“If you accept my offer, you become the Grand Duke. If you refuse... I suppose I’ll have to kill you here.”
“You keep claiming you can make me the Grand Duke. How exactly do you intend to accomplish that?”
“Simple.”
I answered without hesitation.
“I’ll turn Gilbert into a cripple. By destroying his Mana Core.”
A peculiar expression appeared on Sabel’s face.
Countless calculations were probably racing through her mind.
But in the end, she would have no choice but to accept my proposal.
The Imperial Family was the same, but ducal houses were no different.
Those who called themselves noble rarely possessed anything resembling deep sibling affection.
Their own position within the family was all that mattered.
If there was a guaranteed method of rendering Gilbert incapable of succeeding the family, Sabel would probably be the first person to act.
Assuming she believed me, of course.
“I cannot trust you. Prove that you possess the ability to carry out what you claim.”
“How would you like me to prove it?”
“Simple.”
Sabel stared directly at me.
“Defeat me. Overwhelmingly.”
Damn.
Bold.
She didn’t trust a word I had said.
To accept her condition of ‘Defeat me,’ I would first have to untie her.
And she had apparently concluded that once the restraints were removed, she could subdue me instead.
Even if she failed, whether a victory was “overwhelming” was ultimately subjective.
No matter how cleanly I defeated her, she could simply declare, ‘That wasn’t overwhelming,’ and there would be little I could say.
She really did seem twice as smart as Gilbert.
I was becoming increasingly interested in her.
“Fine. I’ll defeat you.”
I grinned.
“Overwhelmingly.”
I cut off the mana connected to the rope.
The knots that had tightly bound her immediately loosened.
Sabel rubbed her numb wrists and ankles for a moment before reaching for the thin rapier beside her bed.
So she used a Swift Sword style.
“I’m coming.”
That brief warning was all I received.
The tip of her rapier was suddenly right in front of my face, aiming straight for my head.
It was like a flash of light.
SWISH!
I avoided it with Physical Enhancement, but a few strands of my hair were sliced away.
Before I had even caught my breath, the needle-like point came at me again in a rapid barrage.
Every thrust targeted a vital point.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Sharp bursts of air exploded every time the blade pierced through empty space, forcing me to retreat again and again.
After attacking this much, a normal swordsman would have withdrawn their blade at least once.
Sabel seemed to have no such intention.
What the hell kind of swordsmanship is this?!
Does this style not even have the concept of defense?!
Sabel was far more skilled than I had expected.
If I tried to face her with a sword right now, I would lose completely before we could even exchange a single proper move.
That realization left a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Guided Bolt! (guided bolt)”
Deciding I had no other choice, I cast a spell.
A sharp mass of light shot from my hand and curved toward Sabel’s back.
“Hah!”
With a short shout, Sabel released Sword Mana without even looking toward the magical projectile and destroyed it.
That movement was practiced.
Wait.
Had this girl even trained specifically to fight mages?
She was much stronger than I expected.
“And with only this much ability, you intend to do something about Gilbert?”
Sabel continued pressing me while sneering.
All right.
You asked me to defeat you overwhelmingly, didn’t you?
Fine.
I’ll give you exactly what you asked for.
“Blink! (blink) Smite! (smite)”
I instantly teleported behind Sabel and crushed her down with a massive concentration of mana.
She tried to resist by releasing Sword Mana again, but unfortunately, this technique could not be stopped that way unless she possessed more mana than I did.
Combat Mages capable of fighting warriors like this were rare in the first place.
And I was a 10th-Circle Mage.
Being able to cast high-level magic within seconds was absurdly unfair.
“Aah!”
Overwhelmed in an instant by the tremendous pressure of mana, Sabel dropped her rapier and collapsed to the floor.
I crouched beside her and looked down with an excessively unpleasant grin.
“What else should I show you?”
I tilted my head.
“How about this? Confusion! (confusion)”
My fingertips lightly touched her forehead.
The moment they did, Sabel’s face twisted in discomfort.
By now, the world was probably spinning wildly around her while every one of her senses screamed in protest.
It would feel like an incredibly severe case of motion sickness.
“Stop!”
Only when she looked close to being sick did I withdraw my hand.
Sabel glared at me while breathing heavily.
Even glaring, she was ridiculously beautiful.
Dangerous.
Very dangerous.
“By the way, did Gilbert ever tell you exactly what kind of humiliation he suffered?”
“...”
She merely glared at me in silence.
Of course.
There was no way Gilbert would have told her that.
“I completely immobilized him and then gave him a very painful jab in the backside.”
For a moment, Sabel’s eyes trembled slightly, as though she had failed to understand what I meant.
Then—
“P-Puhahahahaha...!”
She burst into clear, unrestrained laughter.
Among high-ranking nobles like those of a ducal family, laughing loudly was generally considered improper.
So this might have been the first time in Sabel’s life that she had laughed like this.
Or at least the first time in a very long while.
After laughing for quite some time, Sabel cleared her throat and finally regained control of herself.
Then she looked directly into my eyes.
“I do not know whether you are truly a hatchling, a demon, or something else entirely, but your abilities are certainly extraordinary.”
A smile remained on her lips.
“Fine, Ghost. You pass. I accept your proposal.”
“A wise decision, Lady Sabel Ellimore.”
I extended one hand toward her.
Looking slightly awkward, Sabel took it.
With that, our deal was complete.
All that remained was dealing with Gilbert.
***
“Hmph. Ghost? How ridiculous.”
The moment the mysterious figure calling himself Ghost disappeared from her room, Sabel summoned every member of her security detail, slapped them, and subjected them to harsh disciplinary punishment.
Sabel was an iron-willed woman who showed absolutely no mercy toward those beneath her.
After venting her anger for quite some time over the glaring hole in her security, she returned to her room.
Then she noticed something strange.
A dark reddish stain on the floor.
‘Blood?’
Sabel immediately recognized it as a bloodstain.
Only two people could possibly have bled in this room tonight.
Her or Ghost.
And Sabel had not been injured.
She hurried to her dressing table and retrieved an empty glass vial along with a tiny blade normally used for grooming her eyebrows.
Then she carefully scraped the dried blood from the carpet and placed it inside the vial.
“Is anyone outside? Bring Heinz here immediately!”
After summoning her attendant, she stared at the blood inside the vial with satisfaction.
“Got you, Ghost.”
Perhaps he really was a hatchling using Polymorph.
Perhaps he was simply some mysterious figure whose true identity she could not guess.
Either way, Sabel was already thinking about how she could bring him completely over to her side.
“I doubt I’ll be sleeping tonight.”
For some reason, the memory of being overwhelmed by Ghost’s mana kept replaying in her mind.
She could feel her heartbeat quickening slightly.
Sabel Ellimore spent a long time awake that night.
***
“Ugh, I’m exhausted.”
After completing my deal with Sabel, I barely managed to drag my exhausted body into bed.
My face had been covered in blood from the nosebleed caused by repeatedly using high-level magic, so even washing up had taken quite a while.
And now I had another task to deal with.
I would have to take care of Gilbert soon.
Damn it.
All I wanted was to steadily become the strongest warrior.
Why did I keep ending up in situations where I had to use so much magic?
Thinking back to my previous life, Gilbert had been assassinated at a relatively young age.
His personality was so utterly rotten that, after becoming Grand Duke, he committed far too many atrocities.
That was ultimately what led to his death.
He was cleanly eliminated by an assassin whose movements were so elusive that no one could ever identify them.
After Gilbert died, House Ellimore rapidly collapsed.
It was never revealed in my previous life, but the truth was that I had been the assassin.
Gilbert had been the first person I ever killed in that life.
As my existence caused House Seirin to rise rapidly in prominence, Gilbert had tried to suppress our family.
And eventually, his actions crossed a line I had drawn that should never have been crossed.
So I had no choice but to kill him.
Gilbert Ellimore.
I would not kill you in this life.
But you might end up thinking death would have been better.
Because this time, I’m going to reduce you to a helpless invalid.