For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

Faye stood in front of the well-preserved hatchling corpse, her mouth agape, stammering incoherently.

Beside her, I tossed another pouch of gold.

Thud.

It wasn’t the clinking of coins—it was a heavy thud. Only then did Faye snap out of her stupor, realizing the sheer weight of the pouch that was too massive to be called just a gold coin pouch.

“It’s 100,000 gold. I’ll explain more when we return, but time’s running short. Use the money to save as much time as possible. But as I mentioned earlier, don’t settle for anything subpar.”

“So… you’re saying, Junior, that I can use as much money as I want to get the best results as fast as possible, right?”

“Exactly. If necessary, I can give you more, and you can even use my name and title as a duke.”

“Eh? Duke?”

“Oh, and now might be a good time to contact Sir Havel. Instead of waiting endlessly for rare materials at auctions, it’d be much faster to acquire them under the Swordmaster’s name.”

“What in the world are you saying, Junior? Why is the Empire’s Swordmaster suddenly involved here?!”

Faye’s eyes started spinning, still unaware that we’d already been to the Levantin Empire.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t really explained what’s been happening lately.”

“R-right. I also have a few things to tell you. There were some issues while you were in Solaris.”

It was still lunchtime, so I could meet with the Chairman later. First, I needed to catch up with Faye.

Pointing at the mess of debris scattered everywhere, I suggested, “Let’s clean this up a bit while we talk. When I got to Solaris, this is what happened…”

---

“And that’s how it went.”

“……”

While the finer details still needed attention, the workshop’s interior was mostly tidied up. I nodded in satisfaction, admiring the result.

However, Faye stood frozen, her mouth wide open, unable to move a muscle.

Eventually, Helena cast a light blessing on her, bringing her back to her senses. She quickly ran over and looked up at me with sparkling eyes.

The bright gaze, shooting up from below, seemed to tickle my skin with an infectious joy that her messy bangs couldn’t hide.

“You’re a duke now, Junior?”

“The estate hasn’t been settled yet, but yes, I hold the title.”

“Wow! Congratulations, Junior!”

Faye clapped her hands while bouncing up and down in place. Her chest, shaking in tandem, inevitably drew my gaze.

Even though it should have been restrained by both underwear and outerwear, it moved with a freedom that defied logic.

“Wait… didn’t you say that chimera was made by Fafnir, the dragon?”

“It’s something like that, yes.”

“Then isn’t this hatchling corpse basically your sibling?”

“…If it helps take down the Evil God, I’m sure my brothers would understand.”

I spoke wistfully, gazing into the distance, but the look I got in return was one reserved for someone clearly out of their mind.

Still, this was too valuable to just leave behind!

Of course, saying that out loud would make me seem like trash, so I smoothly changed the subject.

“By the way, doesn’t it bother you that you’ve inherited the Lindelheit name, Faye?”

I was curious since other women had been openly envious during the journey here, but Faye just sincerely congratulated me without a trace of jealousy.

Her answer was something I never could have expected.

“Hmm? Well, I’m the duchess, right? So it doesn’t matter what the name is. Besides, I never really liked the name Yareunshade anyway.”

“…?”

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Objects fall downwards, and every life that’s born eventually faces death—universal truths as natural as breathing.

Faye believed with absolute certainty that she would become the duchess, as though it were a foregone conclusion.

Her statement made everyone except Carla tilt their heads in confusion.

“???”

“…?”

“???”

“…!”

Realizing the reactions around her, Faye panicked and let out a shrill cry.

“B-but it’s the natural order of things!”

“Oh my? Did you just bring up ‘natural order,’ Faye?”

Elisha, equally convinced of her claim to the duchess title, stepped forward with a smirk.

“As I recall, I came before you in terms of ‘order.’”

“Well… but you’re a slave, right? Even if that’ll probably change later…”

“And doesn’t that resolve the matter?”

“But wouldn’t a duchess with a past as a slave be the subject of rumors? I’m the daughter of a dwarf chieftain! That’s like being nobility in the Empire!”

“In that case, my teacher and I are noble high elves.”

The two began arguing, puffing out their chests as they did. Watching them bicker, Iona whispered to Helena behind them.

“You know, I think in Yandel’s heart, it doesn’t matter what your status is—Carla’s still number one. Not that he doesn’t care about us, but… what do you think?”

“I agree, and so does the God of Righteous Radiance, however…”

“However?”

“The Lord says: ‘Order doesn’t matter. What matters is who has children first.’”

“…Wow.”

Iona couldn’t help but admire the sheer wildness of Solaris’s ideology.

So this is how an ancient beast god thinks, huh?

Even after defeating the Evil Gods, the idea of being pinned down every night nearly brought tears to her eyes—of course, from below.

Anyway, while this might partly be a joke, it’s the first time I’ve seen them argue over such a topic.

Until now, they’d avoided discussions about the duchess position to prevent actual fights… which must mean they’ve grown closer.

Glancing back, I saw Carla tilting her head with a calm expression.

Yep, she’s fine. Now, to deal with those two.

Smirking, I stepped between Elisha and Faye, ready to intervene.

And then—

Slap!

“Kyah!”

“Yelp!”

I smacked both of them on their behinds simultaneously and wrapped my arms around their waists.

“Wh-what are you doing all of a sudden?!”

“Yeah! Junior, this is problematic—I’m still in the middle of my class!”

“That’s what happens when you bicker over nonsense. If it comes to that, I’ll just request permission to take multiple wives, so don’t worry about it.”

“Wait, can you even do that, Junior?”

“I’ll make it possible.”

As I, and my companions, would grow stronger, the opportunities would naturally increase.

“Well… this is all for after we’ve defeated the Evil Gods, though.”

“Ah.”

“True…”

The two nodded obediently. Comparing the sensation of their behinds as I squeezed them, I continued.

“I mentioned earlier that we don’t have much time left, right? We defeated the monster horde in Solaris and eliminated the spies within the Imperial Palace, but… there’s no way those cultists would stay quiet after that, is there?”

Their forces had already recovered enough to pose a threat to the entire continent once again. However, their primary goal wasn’t continental conquest—it was the resurrection of their Evil God, which was why they’d been lying low until now.

“Since they can’t hide any longer, they’ll start acting more openly, even if it’s a bit early. Specifically, the Boiling Silence even threatened to send assassins after me.”

“Oh wow. Though, nothing’s happened yet.”

Elisha shrugged her shoulders. However, Faye’s reaction seemed a bit unusual.

Her expression stiffened, as if something was bothering her.

“Senior Faye? What’s wrong?”

“Well…”

“Come to think of it, we haven’t heard much about what’s been happening to you, Senior Faye. Does it have something to do with this?”

After hesitating for a moment, Faye nodded.

“Yeah. For the past few days, I’ve sensed a strong magical presence near the workshop. But the place it came from doesn’t seem like somewhere anything significant would be.”

“…Please, tell me more.”

My low, calm voice made Faye flinch. Stammering slightly, she began to explain.

“D-don’t worry too much. Nothing happened, and that was the end of it. It could’ve just been a malfunction or some temporary phenomenon caused by the Academy’s distorted mana field. But… after hearing your story, I thought it might be connected.”

“Well, it’s hard to believe it’s just a coincidence at this timing.”

“Agreed. I think Yandel is onto something here,” Iona said, nodding as she joined the conversation.

“If you ask me, it looks like the Chairman got involved.”

“The Chairman?”

Before I’d left for Solaris, I’d borrowed some staff and received warnings to watch out for the cultists. Could she have been monitoring Faye because of that?

“Think about it. Faye’s workshop is tucked away in a corner of Workshop Street, so remote that hardly anyone visits. If someone with no apparent connection suddenly approached…”

“It would definitely be suspicious.”

“Exactly. Plus, the Chairman would’ve known that the Imperial Empress was a cult leader and that the Boiling Silence had threatened Yandel.”

Rebecca was still officially regarded as a powerful archmage and a member of the Hero’s Party. Just as she’d known about the siege in Solaris through some method, it wouldn’t be surprising if she’d also gathered information about the Levantin Empire’s situation.

“This entire Academy is the Chairman’s domain. While the cultists may hide their identities, they can’t escape detection entirely.”

“So instead of killing them outright, she probably apprehended them first.”

“Most likely. Something similar happened in the early days of the Academy. A dispute between students escalated when one secretly hired an assassin, but the Chairman caught them using the same logic.”

“……”

The Academy’s past was no joke.

Anyway, it was a relief that Faye was safe. Since I planned to visit Rebecca later, I could ask her about it then.

“Senior Faye, don’t attend your afternoon classes today. Stay here and wait. I’ll talk to the Chairman directly and figure something out.”

“Alright. I didn’t feel like going to class anyway—I have so much research to do. But are you leaving right now?”

“Yes, that’s the plan. Do you have something to say?”

“Well, um…”

After hesitating for a long moment, Faye finally spoke in a serious tone.

“Before you go, could you transform into your draconic form and let me trim just a bit of your horn?”

“……”

“Oh! And maybe scrape off some scales and claw tips too!”

“……”

“You see… I need those for the golem to recognize you as its master.”

“Well, if that’s all…”

Some authentication procedures just can’t be helped.