The Girl Who Hacked The Magic System

"Aurea is so scary when she's in the zone."

"What did she do this time?"

Ingela and Yaci are happily chatting as we take our first breakfast in the liberated city of Beaudorf. They are holding hands and very close to each other, which is once again throwing my heart into disarray.

"She ordered us to take the Marquess' wife to the throne room, with baby in hands. And then manipulated him into thinking that she would kill the two of them."

"Oh? And what did he do then?"

I cough 'discreetly' to catch their attention.

"I'm not saying anything bad about you, Aurea. I'm just telling her what happened."

"You could at least do it when I'm not here to hear you. It's embarrassing."

"Oh, but now I'm curious, what did you do, Aurea?"

"Not much, actually. I just showed her the deep truth of what her husband thought about her."

"And made that woman pass the verdict sentencing him to death herself."

"He had it coming. We would've killed him anyway. And she did the right thing. I just empowered her to overthrow her own abuser, ending a loop of regret and self-loathing."

I don't think I did anything wrong. I might have gone a bit overboard, but the nature of what I did was what needed to be done.

I'm tired. I want this war to end so I can simply sit down and enjoy life a little bit.

An officer enters the hall and calls my name. A way of the world to remind me that all this hasn't ended yet.

"Yes?"

"The remaining Blessed armies are marching towards Beaudorf. From what one of our agents overheard, they seem to be intent on besieging the city."

"Nothing out of what we expected. How long until they arrive?"

"Five days."

"Good. That's enough time for us to prepare."

The hidden army has never fought a defensive siege battle yet, and they are quite different from the guerrilla tactics we've been using until now.

And, with this castle, now we have three different bases to coordinate. The main army's camp outside the capital, the hidden army's arena, and here, where we were planning to maintain a visible presence to lift morale.

I give some orders, and the officers scatter to their positions, except for Yaci and Ingela, who are still at the breakfast table with me. The other girls are in other positions in the city or back at our office.

The way these two are looking at me is screaming 'we want to say something important to you, but we're afraid' vibes.

I sigh and ask them.

"Is the thing you want to talk about something that concerns the campaign, or is it of a more personal nature?"

"It's a personal thing."

"Then let's go to my quarters so we have privacy."

I stand up and open a portal to the arena's office, where my quarters are. After all, even though I'm to spend the waking hours in this castle, it's safer for me to sleep in the arena, where assassins wouldn't be able to reach me that easily.

:::

"Then, speak up."

The two look at each other and nod, then Yaci speaks.

"Ehm… It isn't something that we would normally tell other people, but you and I have feelings and a promise. So I think that it would be fairer to tell you what's happening."

"I see. So, you're dating, after all."

It has been obvious for some time to anyone with eyes to see.

"Yes… but that doesn't mean that I don't have feelings for you, or…"

"I know, Yaci. But I'm still not of age, right? I mean, this body is not of age."

"Yes, there's that. And I've been waiting for a long time now…"

"It's been almost seven years. And you found yourself a very, very, very nice person to be with you. I mean, Ingela is a dream wife for most people."

Ingela has been silent this whole time, staring at the floor with great interest. But this last comment has made her blush from head to toe.

"Yes… she is, indeed."

Even though we studied in the same class, Ingela is actually two years older than me. She just joined school at a later age because of being a commoner and because this world doesn't have compulsory schooling, like ours.

That's why Yaci didn't find a problem with starting dating her before I was of age myself.

And that leaves one question open for me.

"Are you intending to mean that the promise still holds?"

"I mean… My feelings are still the same."

That's all I needed to listen.

I hold her face with both my hands and give her a kiss. I don't care about anything else at this moment.

"Aurea!!"

After we part the kiss, Yaci protests, completely flustered, while Ingela is looking with renewed interest at the floorboards.

I decide to check on my silent friend.

"Ingela… is it okay with you? How do you feel about it?"

For the first time since entering the room, she raises her eyes to meet mine.

"I… I might be a bit jealous right now. But it's okay. I knew from the start that she loves you and that this was going to happen someday. I just thought that I was better prepared for it."

"It's normal to be jealous. I have been a lot as well lately. But I think that talking things straight between us will ease everything."

"Yeah…"

She smiles and then extends her hand to me, which I happily take. But then Yaci intervenes.

"Just to make things clear, Aurea. This was just a kiss, we are not dating yet. I'm adamant on that."

"I know. I'm sorry for stealing the kiss like that."

"It's okay. It's not like I didn't want it, either. But lines need to be traced. Even with your mental age."

"There it is again, what's this about her mental age and her body?"

We both look at Ingela. We miiight have spilled the beans. Oops.

"You didn't tell her, Yaci?"

"Of course not! It's your secret, and I'll carry it to the tomb if needed."

Yaci, I love you so much.

But then someone knocks insistently on the door.

"Your Majesty? Are you inside?"

"Okay, time for personal matters is over. Yaci, I give you permission to tell Ingela, and only her, about that thing later. Now, let's get back to work."

:::

Lovelace is waiting for me at the main hall of Beaudorf's castle. The one that was a throne room for the late Marquess.

"Hi Lovelace. What is the news?"

"Good morning, Aurea. Yaci and Ingela too. Well, we have news from the foreign front."

"Ughhn"

Just by hearing the words 'foreign front,' my head is starting to ache.

"The Pontifex has been going from kingdom to kingdom rallying people for a holy crusade against us."

Fuck. My worst fears are coming to light, aren't they?

"And the kingdoms?"

"Castro and Calem aren't so keen in diverting forces from the war against the dragonkin, but it seems that someone there has a personal grudge against you…"

"Princess Urraca…"

"Exactly. She will be personally leading the crusade forces."

"A princess of Castro will be leading the forces? That seems like a very high profile for that campaign."

"Yes. The Church will be providing her with all the elite paladins and a hefty chunk of the normal ones. Essendia and Histria are also providing big contingents of soldiers."

"That doesn't look good. How long until they come?"

"They are still assembling, so it might take a few months."

"No sign of the goddess awakening yet?"

"Not a single one."

"Okay, then it's our moment, Lovelace. Now that they've already called a crusade against us, we have no reason to delay the raid on the Church's temples."