Chapter 7: A Capable Servant
Claudia, holding Noah’s hand, looked up at her uncle with a bright smile.
The uncle who had just called her “Claudia” hurriedly covered his own mouth.
Cold sweat seeped out, his eyes darted in panic, and he seemed completely shaken.
(What a nice expression… but it’s still not enough.)
Next, Claudia turned her gaze to the mages standing a few meters in front of her uncle.
All of them appeared to be fairly skilled.
However, the one who caught her attention was the silver-haired man with red eyes.
(That’s the Chief Court Mage, Karlheinz?)
She had been listening to his conversation with her uncle from outside the tower using magic.
(He’s quite presentable, and his magic reserves are decent too. But…)
When Claudia smiled sweetly at him, the silver-haired man’s eyes widened slightly.
Seeing that, her uncle raised a strained voice.
“Ah… n-no, that’s a fake—no, an intruder!! An intruder has entered the princess’s tower!!”
“Oh my?”
“Hey!! What do you think I paid you for!? Hurry up and get rid of those brats!!”
The robed man urged by her uncle was likely a hired mage.
There was no carelessness in his gaze as he looked at Claudia and Noah.
After all, he had witnessed Noah defeating other mages and breaking the barrier.
The mage hired by her uncle began chanting with visible caution.
“—‘Come forth, thunder. Shatter the chaos and rend the sky…’”
“Noah. Can you handle it?”
“Yeah.”
Answering casually, Noah formed an ice sword in his right hand.
It was a spell Claudia had just taught him moments ago.
Yet Noah had already mastered it with ease and dashed straight toward the mage.
“‘With the power born of an instant, strike down my enemy—’”
“Too slow.”
Closing the distance in an instant, Noah advanced.
The mage distorted his face and shouted.
“‘Strike!!’”
“——…”
A thunderclap burst from the mage’s palm.
The white lightning rushing toward him was swept aside by Noah’s blade.
Without changing his expression, he used his flexible body to evade follow-up attacks, lowering himself as he moved.
Then, he seemed to chant something.
“‘—’”
“Uwah!?”
A wave of ice surged toward the mage.
Leonora screamed as her father pulled her into his arms.
But Claudia paid them no mind.
(…Ice magic.)
She stared intently at Noah’s back as he moved farther away.
(Not just that… is he also using physical enhancement? And not with his own magic, but by drawing from mine?)
Mixing one’s own magic with another’s was actually quite difficult.
Yet Noah did it effortlessly—no, as if it were completely natural.
(This is beyond what I expected… no, far beyond anything I imagined.)
Excitement began to stir within her chest.
(High output, high purity, high precision…! It’s still rough, but it’s first-rate—he might even surpass my former disciples someday!)
Having evaded all the lightning strikes, Noah kicked off the ground and leapt.
Raising his sword, he brought it down in a straight line toward the mage.
“Gh…!!”
With a short cry, the black-robed mage collapsed.
Clinging to the unconscious man, her uncle shook him desperately.
“Hey! This isn’t funny, wake up!! Do you know how much I paid you—h-hey, what are the rest of you doing!?”
“They’ve all already been taken care of by Noah.”
Giggling happily, Claudia informed her uncle.
At that, he turned to Karlheinz with a furious expression.
“Chief Court Mage!! What are you doing!? Hurry up and protect the princess—ugh, wah!!”
A surge of hot air burst forth, and the floor was engulfed in flames.
At the center of it stood Karlheinz, letting out a small sigh as he looked at them calmly.
(Don’t think that cold gaze will fool me.)
After all, his red eyes revealed the nature of his fierce magic.
“Noah.”
“I know.”
Noah dismissed his ice sword and raised his right hand toward Karlheinz.
(How reliable.)
It was fortunate that one of the spells she had taught him earlier was ice magic.
Thinking that, Claudia held hands with her temporary servant.
At that moment, both of them chanted simultaneously.
“‘Blazing heat, devour all.’”
“——‘Freeze!’”
There was no need to even watch to know the outcome.
Although Karlheinz had summoned flames, he had not been serious.
Proof of that was how Noah’s ice magic easily swallowed the fire.
“Kyaaaah!!”
With Leonora’s scream, steam burst into the air.
The raging flames burned against the ice, but were ultimately extinguished.
Cracking sounds echoed as the ice advanced, crushing the sea of fire across the floor.
The entire guest room became covered in transparent ice.
Letting go of Noah’s hand, Claudia stepped forward, her shoes clicking softly as she approached Karlheinz.
“—The real Princess Claudia is me.”
She gave the mage—who likely already knew—a radiant smile.
“What business do you have, dear guest?”
“…”
Karlheinz lowered his eyes, then knelt upon the ice.
Bowing deeply, he spoke.
“I humbly ask for your forgiveness for my grave disrespect… Princess Claudia.”
“W-wait, that’s wrong! What are you saying!? That brat is not Claudia—!!”
Claudia slowly turned her gaze toward her uncle, who still tried to protest.
“That’s what you’d like to believe, isn’t it?”
“…!?”
“After all, you know it yourself. That it’s strange for the real ‘Claudia’ to be alive here.”
“Th-that’s…!!”
A gulp echoed in the room.
Karlheinz slowly raised his head, looking at the uncle with cold eyes.
From that expression alone, it was obvious what he was thinking.
“Right, Uncle? Normally, a six-year-old child who can’t use magic would die if they were thrown from the top of a tower, wouldn’t they?”
“S-stop… w-what are you saying!? I never meant—”
“I can’t hear you.”
Looking at her uncle with calm eyes, Claudia continued.
“—I said, I can’t hear your ‘I’m sorry.’”
“Hii…!!”
A pitiful, strained voice escaped him in front of his daughter.
But Claudia couldn’t care less about his pride as a parent.
“When you do something wrong, you have to apologize. You’re an adult, so you should know that, right?”
“S-sor… I’m…!”
“Yes, that’s right, Uncle, good boy! I’ll forgive you properly, so you should apologize to Claudia too, okay?”
Brushing her milk-tea-colored hair behind her ear, Claudia smiled.
“Apologize for throwing Uncle from the tower… I’ll have to make sure you practice properly.”
“…!!”
Her uncle’s face turned pale with despair.
He collapsed onto the floor, as if realizing there was no escape.
Looking up at Karlheinz, Claudia spoke.
“Dear guest, could you ask Uncle where all the money from Father has gone?”
“As you wish. I will ensure appropriate punishment is carried out.”
“Good. Not just what’s in his house—please investigate everything in his mistress’s house as well.”
At those words, Leonora looked at her father in shock.
“A mistress…!? Father, what does that mean!?”
“No! That’s not it, Leonora!! Please, don’t look at me like that…!!”
Leonora began to scream loudly, and the noise annoyed Claudia enough that she covered her ears.
(The confiscation of his wealth. The loss of trust. Abandoned by both family and mistress, despised by his daughter and cursed by his wife, then imprisoned in despair… Honestly, it’s still too lenient for someone who insulted me, but it will do.)
After all, she had seen something interesting this time.
“Noah.”
As the mages moved to restrain her uncle, Claudia walked over to her servant, who was quietly staring at his own palm in the corner.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“I see. Good boy.”
“I just did as I was told. It’s nothing special.”
Even so, what Noah had done was far from ordinary.
He likely understood that himself.
Looking down at Claudia with his dark eyes, he gave a faint, shadowed smile and said—
“—With your magic, it feels like anything is possible.”
“Fufu.”
A shiver of delight ran through Claudia, and she smiled as well.
She might have found something far more interesting than she had expected.
Just as she was thinking that, a voice called out from behind.
“Excuse me.”
“…”
Turning back to Karlheinz, Claudia fell silent for a moment.
(What should I do?)
“Princess?”
To be honest, this might be troublesome.
(…Dealing with this man seems like it’ll be very annoying…)
Thinking that, she immediately looked up at Noah.
Then, she tightly clung to him.