“The demons are getting active.”

“... I see...” Eric muttered after hearing Fran's bad news.

“You seem calm despite the gravity of the news.”

“The royal palace was restless for some reason over the past year. I could see in the faces of the ministers there that something bad was about to happen. Unfortunately, no one answered me when I asked... so it was about the demons starting to get active...”

“Wait!” Again, Clara interrupted the conversation. “Then what do you need Rina for?... Don't tell me you want her to fight them!?”

Despite Clara's loud, even slightly threatening voice, Fran remained calm. “That's right... I already told you... she is one of our strongest assets in the fight against them... she needs to gain combat experience against demons and beasts before the full-blown war starts.”

Clara really wanted to stop Fran from taking Rina into battle so soon, but knowing about the contract between Rina and the Duke, she couldn't. After all, it was true that her maid had special abilities, and she would have to fight demons somewhere along the way. Even though Clara was already working on a plan to get Rina out of the contract with the Duke, she was still too weak politically, so she needed a little more time on that front.

And even without the problem with the Duke, Rina had in the past expressed the wish to fight at the front when the time came. She had said that it was the only way to prove her existence. Though Clara hadn't understood the meaning of those words back then, and still didn't, she couldn't find it in herself to stand in her maid's way.

Meanwhile, while Clara was still deep in thought, Rina was talking to Fran. “Um... What exactly do you want me to do? And for how long? Lady Clara's admission to the Royal Knight Academy begins in less than a month. As her personal maid, I have and want to accompany her.”

“No problem, although I said a few weeks, I think we'll be back in less than a week if all goes well.”

Rina nodded at Fran's words and waited for her to continue.

“Near a small village, about three days' walk or a day's carriage ride from here a Demon-Spawning-Cloud has been sighted. It's already several days old. Even though it's comparatively small, it won't be long before the first demons crawl out of it. Will you come with me and help me fight them off and save the village?”

Rina had no problem helping Fran. Quite the opposite. In fact, she wanted to agree right away. But there was something, that didn't make sense to her. After thinking about it for a few seconds, she opened her mouth to ask. “Won't the Royal Palace or the nobles responsible for the village send soldiers?”

Fran frowned at the question. “Paah! They won't move their asses to protect the poor commoners at a time like this. I'm sorry to tell you this, but no one will come to their aid. In fact, when I was travelling, I helped as much as I could. But I have also sadly seen a fair number of burnt-out remote villages when I was too late.”

Unfortunately, Rina's lack of understanding of human greed made her find Fran's words hard to believe. So she turned to her mistress, who was a noble, for confirmation.

Clara, having finished her thoughts a while ago, shook her head with a sad expression on her face. “It pains me to say that, but, unfortunately, noblesse oblige doesn't exist anymore... No, that's not quite right, it never existed in the first place.”

Since Clara had entered the noble society with her coming of age three years ago, she had been forced to learn the hard way, that her grandfather Rick's teachings and way of life were something to be found only in dreams and books. There was no aristocrat who followed that code. If there was, that person would have to be truly insane and out of touch with reality.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

So, Clara turned dejectedly to her maid and continued, “Fran's right... those people living in remote villages without guards or walls are likely to disappear soon. Either because they leave their homes for a large, guarded city, or because the village has been overrun by demons, or worse, raided by bandits taking advantage of the situation.”

After hearing Clara's frustrated words, Rina thought silently for a few moments. When she was done, she looked with determined eyes at her mistress. “Then I'd like to go with Fran and help those people... it is okay? I'll make sure I'm back in time for the start of the Academy.”

Clara knew that she wouldn't be able to convince Rina not to go, or rather, she could, but not without hurting Rina emotionally, so she sighed in resignation. “Alright, but I'm coming with you!”

Both Rina and Fran had already guessed that Clara wanted to come with them. So they weren't really surprised and therefore only smiled wryly. They knew that allowing the young lady to accompany them was a concession they would have to make. However, before Fran could even accept Clara's demand, she was interrupted by someone who had been watching silently the whole time.

“Absolutely not! Rina, who has trained herself since she was a small child, is one thing. Clara, you haven't trained at the Royal Knight Academy yet. Apart from your magic, you're too weak to go. I will not allow you to go!” Naturally, it was Eric, who intervened.

This was the moment when everyone braced themselves for a drawn-out argument between father and daughter. Unfortunately, there was no time for that, as no one knew when the first demons would emerge from the cloud. Fran wanted to get herself and Rina there before the first ones appeared. So she prepared herself to interrupt them, but fortunately, there was nothing to interrupt. The reason was that Clara had withdrawn her wish to accompany them for some reason.

“Fine... I'll stay here.”

“Like I said, that's reject-... wait, what?” Like everyone else, Eric had also expected his daughter to be stubborn. After all, she had always been hard-headed when it came to her beloved maid. So, still surprised, he only managed to stammer out the next words. “I-I see... I'm glad that you listen to me...”

But it was then that Clara pointed to Marianne. “Let her at least accompany them.”

Eric saw no problem with this request. “That's fine with me, but you have to ask Lady Fran as well.”

Instead of following her father's order, Clara just glared at the High Elf, who shrugged her shoulders in response, showing that she didn't care.

The girl in question, Marianne, on the other hand, felt that her next few days were somehow being decided without her input. But since she could be with Rina without an annoying Clara interrupting her plans that way, she didn't object to the situation and just nodded in agreement.

“Okay, now that that's out of the way, I'd like to discuss when to leave. To be honest, I don't know how long it takes for the first demons to spawn after the appearance of a cloud, but if my information is correct, it appeared about five days ago. So we must hurry. I'd like for us to leave by the carriage today.” Fran turned to Eric. “Would you lend us one?”

The head of the household nodded at the question. “Of course, I shall have one prepared as soon as possible. When would you like to leave?”

“As I said, as soon as possible. Rina, Marianne, can you get ready in thirty minutes? If we arrive before nightfall, we can book a room in an inn and rest, so that we can investigate the situation in the village tomorrow with full strength. Is it alright?”

The two girls, Rina and Marianne, looked into each other's eyes as if that was all they needed to communicate. A split second later, when they seemed to have reached an agreement, they turned back to Fran.

However, before both could agree to that plan, Clara interfered for the nth time. “Wait... make it one hour.” The blonde then walked over to Marianne and took her hands. “There is something I need to discuss with her first. Please wait that long.”

With that, Marianne was dragged out of the room by Clara, before anyone could even say anything.

When both girls were gone, Fran breathed out again. “As you heard, in one hour. Please prepare yourself.”

Rina nodded and made her way to the door, through which her mistress and Marianne had just left. When her hand was on the doorknob, she stopped and turned to Fran. “By the way, Lady Fran. You said our destination is the location of the Demon-Spawning-Cloud, didn't you?”

“That's right. It's near a village on the outskirts of the capital. With the carriage, we should arrive before nightfall. On foot, including rests, it will take us up to three days.”

At this point, Rina had a feeling about which village her magic instructor was talking. However, that feeling was unreasonable and implausible, as there were dozens of villages around the capital. There was no way, Fran was talking about that village. But Rina couldn't get that intuition out of her mind, so she asked further. “Do you know the name of this village?”

As Rina asked this, she could feel the elf looking at her with those crystal green, clear eyes. It was as if Fran could read her mind and see all her secrets.

Fortunately, the stare didn't last long, as the elf turned away after a few seconds and answered Rina's question with one word.

“Mousa.”