[V11C2] The Promises You Hate So Much

The incident occurred while the Fourth Thorn Witch, Melissa Roseberg, was promoting her products to potential customers at a salon within the walls of the royal palace.

The Jade Chamber, where only the Seven Sages and the king were allowed to enter, had been struck with an attack of unknown origins, resulting in extensive damage.

Fifty-three individuals were affected, including both severe and minor injuries. Among them, five were unconscious, namely:

  • Mary Harvey the Starseer Witch, a member of the Seven Sages.
  • Adeline Albright the Second Abyss Shaman, a former Sage.
  • Abigail Roseberg and Paulina Roseberg, the younger sisters of the Third Thorn Witch.
  • Frieda Blanquet, the fiancé of the Third Abyss Shaman.

All five were covered in black marks and believed to be under the influence of dark magic. They were placed under restraint and seal by the Barrier Mage in the basement room of the Magic Corps, and monitored closely.


…This was all the information available to her two hours after the Jade Chamber was destroyed.

It was still early afternoon, with a cover of gray clouds outside the window. The damp wind hinted at impending rain.

Melissa crossed her legs on a sofa in the Magic Corps’s reception room, letting out a deep sigh.

With the complete destruction of the Jade Chamber, the damage naturally extended to the surrounding areas as well. The offices and guest rooms of the Seven Sages sustained particularly heavy damage, given their proximity to the Jade Chamber.

Consequently, this room within the Magic Corps was repurposed as their emergency meeting room.

However, the only other person in the room was Melissa’s brother, Raul.

Ray seemed to be looking after his grandmother and fiancé, while the remaining two Sages, the Barrier Mage and the Artillery Mage, were probably busy running all over the place with various reports, as well as tracking the culprit.

The Aquamancy Mage and the Thunder Mage were apparently overseeing the preservation of the scene and confirming the extent of the damage.

(In other words, those old folks know exactly what’s going on.)

Melissa clicked her tongue while leaning back against the sofa and tapping the armrest.

Raul, sitting on the sofa in front of her, was simply staring at the ground with his hands folded in front of his stomach. He seemed deeply distressed, showing zero sign of his usual cheerfulness.

Two of the victims in critical condition were witches from House Roseberg, the younger sisters of the Third Thorn Witch, who was Melissa’s great-grandmother.

Both Melissa and Raul were shocked at the fact that their family members were among the victims, but Raul seemed equally distressed at the involvement of Ray’s fiancé, Frieda Blanquet.

“If only I hadn’t brought Frieda in…” Raul muttered, sounding on the verge of tears.

Frieda had only intended to drop off her luggage at the reception, until Raul greeted her and led her into the palace. Then, she was one of the first to realize the anomaly at the Jade Chamber and rushed to the scene, getting caught up in the incident.

Raul seemed to be blaming himself for Frieda’s injuries, but given the situation, his vines were one of the factors minimizing the damage. Without him and the Second Abyss Shaman’s desperate resistance, Mary would probably not have survived the destruction of the Jade Chamber.

“Stop moping around. Especially considering that slug of a guy is practically useless even without this mess.”

Melissa scowled, recalling how downcast Ray had been earlier.

Comforting her brother was not Melissa’s style, but she wanted to have a constructive conversation. For that, she needed to get as much information out of him as possible.

“So, summarizing your story, Carla Maxwell the Starspear Witch had been isolated or whatever in the Starseer Witch’s office. Then someone manipulated her into blowing up the place, right?”

“…Yeah, I think so,” Raul replied.

“And the old folks have identified that someone.”

Wielders of dark magic were extremely rare. And if they were powerful enough to cause such an incident, it’s hard to believe a human could pull it off.

(In which case, our culprit is… either a forbidden tome or a runaway ancient artifact.)

This was as far as Melissa could go with the information available to her. The rest would have to wait until Louis and Bradford returned.

Just as she was thinking this, Louis entered through the door.

Though still reclining on the sofa, Melissa locked onto him with her emerald-colored eyes and put on a fake smile.

Louis looked visibly exhausted, having handled the coordination between the Magic Corps and the Noble Council for the past few hours. Unfortunately for him though, Melissa had no intention of being considerate.

“You know the culprit behind this incident, don’t you, Barrier Mage?”

“Yes, I do,” Louis replied.

“Spill everything you know, right now. If you can’t, I’m leaving.”

“Sis!”

Raul interjected in protest, but Melissa glared right back at him.

“You’re not happy about this either, are you? Someone just attacked our family. Don’t tell me you’re okay without even getting an explanation.”

The pressure of Melissa’s stare caused Louis to adjust his monocle as he let out a deep sigh.

“To be honest,” Louis began. “I’m so busy that I would accept any help I can get… But the Noble Council insists on maintaining strict information restrictions, claiming that only those who know the situation should handle it.”

“After such a huge incident!? Are they all idiots!?”

Melissa couldn’t help but raise her voice.

Louis also seemed fed up with the situation. He probably shared Melissa’s opinion.

“The Noble Council puts it this way: the Fourth and Fifth Thorn Witches have not been informed about the details behind the incident, so they should devote themselves to defending the palace…” Louis explained.

Unable to contain her frustration, Melissa kicked the coffee table in front of her and shouted in fury.

“The nerve of them! So they intend to keep us in the dark, and at the same time, have us protect them in case the palace comes under attack again! Every single member of the Noble Council should come over and beg me on their knees! I’ll kick all their heads off!”

Dealing with the Starspear Witch, capable of manipulating seven magics at the same time, was troublesome enough. Add an unknown dark magic wielder to the mix, and it only got worse.

They were currently up against an outrageously dangerous foe. Not sharing detailed information about this enemy was tantamount to making a mockery of the situation.

“Sis…”

Raul could sympathize with Melissa’s anger as well as the difficulty of Louis’s position. He glanced between the two with conflicting emotions.

Melissa knew that her foolish brother, driven by self-blame, would defend the palace as instructed.

(But I won’t bow to the whims of those geezers! They do not get to tell me what to do!)

Melissa glared at Louis again.

However, just as Louis was about to open his mouth again, the door opened, and Bradford Firestone the Artillery Mage came barging in.

“Good news, Barrier Mage! The Noble Council has relaxed the information disclosure conditions. Now everyone can be included in the operation!”

The news caused Louis to widen his eyes. Apparently, this was an entirely unexpected outcome to him.

“The old fogeys of the Noble Council changed their stance in such a short period of time?” Louis asked.

“Yeah,” Bradford replied. “I didn’t see it coming either.”

There was a certain man who, even after being stripped of most of his authority, held significant influence over the Noble Council. He was one of Ridill’s most prominent nobles and the grandfather of Second Prince Felix Arc Ridill. His name was…

“Duke Crockford has given us his support!”

Louis dropped his jaw in shock.

＊　＊　＊

The Duke of Crockford, Darius Knightley, understood that not all of the Noble Council viewed him in a favorable light. In fact, the members of the council were staring at him with tension, confusion, and suspicion.

Duke Crockford shrugged off all of those gazes and gave his instruction in a calm tone.

“Relax the information disclosure conditions. This will allow us to cooperate with the governors of central Ridill and deploy a cordon to capture the culprit. We can request support from the Seven Sages, the Magic Corps, the Royal Guard, and the Dragon Knights.”

Duke Crockford paused for a brief moment and lifted his face from the documents. He scanned the room with eyes devoid of emotions, as cold as a winter lake, before continuing.

“We should use every means at our disposal to deal with Gluttonous Zoe. However, if the recovery of Gluttonous Zoe proves impossible, we must secretly destroy it.”

His words caused a stir in the members of the Noble Council.

“But, Your Excellency, ancient artifacts are powerful weapons! Simply possessing them allows us to maintain a deterrent against the Empire…”

“That’s why I said to destroy it secretly,” Duke Crockford countered. “Worst case scenario, we can maintain the fake in the treasure vault. The same as we’ve done for the past eight years.”

Can you not understand something so basic? The implied criticism caused the council member to turn pale and fall silent.

While writing the details of instructions on a sheet of paper, Duke Crockford remembered back to the conversation he had with the Starseer Witch about a week ago.


“Darius-chan, I want you to exert your influence and persuade the Noble Council.”

Those were the words of Mary Harvey immediately after setting foot in Duke Crockford’s mansion.

“I refuse,” Duke Crockford replied.

His immediate refusal caused Mary to squirm her body and glare back with upturned eyes.

“Oooh, how cold~! Can’t you make an exception for your ex-fiancé~?”

“The same ex-fiancé who unilaterally broke off our engagement, and throws me unreasonable requests every time we meet. I am constantly wondering what goes on in your brain.”

“My father was the one who dissolved the engagement,” Mary retorted. “Send any complaints to his grave, okay?”

Mary was twirling her silver hair around her fingers, but eventually, she stopped and stared at him with a more serious face.

When her dreamy and absentminded eyes focused on something, she was seeing into the future of this country. That was the look Mary had now.

“Gluttonous Zoe will bring a significant loss to our country. That’s what the stars are telling me. We must nip this disaster in the bud. I want the removal of information restrictions, as well as permission to destroy the ancient artifact.”

The ancient artifacts managed by the royal family were to be saved for use as trump cards in wars.

They were essentially weapons holding tremendous power. One could easily turn the tide of a battle, but consequently, it would come with an equally great price.

Thus, in a war between two countries possessing artifacts, both sides preferred to subtly brandish the existence of their trump cards without actually using them, if possible.

Just possessing an artifact was a deterrent to other nations. Hence, when Gluttonous Zoe was stolen eight years ago, the Noble Council placed a fake in the treasure vault and went to great lengths to conceal the incident.

While the relationship between Ridill and the Empire appeared peaceful on the surface, there were many underlying issues.

If either side wanted to invade, there were plenty of excuses to do so. Creating a justification for war was no challenge; even Duke Crockford had once planned to take the initiative and invade under the banner of the Second Prince Faction.

As someone who foresaw an eventual war with the Empire, Duke Crockford believed in keeping the theft of Gluttonous Zoe as secret as possible. Naturally, he found this information disclosure and the destruction of an artifact unacceptable.

“Don’t worry, Darius-chan. The relationship between the Empire and Ridill will remain stable for a while. Princess Cecilia is coming here as a bride.”

“The formal marriage ceremony has yet to happen. An engagement is merely a promise that can be broken at any moment.”

“How stubborn can you get?”

Duke Crockford could think of several additional counterarguments, but he knew that no matter what he said, Mary would only argue back with delight.

Once he fell silent, Mary sighed and stood up from the sofa before opening her mouth.

“In that case, let me say one last thing.”

“If you have a final will, submit it formally in writing.”

“Not happening,” Mary teased, lifting the corner of her lips slightly.

Then, she narrowed her eyes, as if taunting him.

“Let’s make one of the verbal promises you hate so much… If something happens to me, please, Darius-chan, remember what I said. It’s a promise, okay?”

It’s a promise, okay? How many times has he heard those words from his former fiancé?

“…Forcing unilateral promises on others has been your specialty since the old days,” Duke Crockford responded.

“Well, the Darius-chan I know would keep a unilateral promise as long as our interests align.”

Mary laughed with a voice as pleasant as rolling bells, then casually swept up her silver hair as she continued.

“If the nation’s top prophet is absent, the ever patriotic Darius-chan would have no choice but to act. Am I wrong?”

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