"Arrival. Get down."

"Hmm... just five more minutes..."

"Do you really want me to carry you?"

"Huh? Eh? Yes...?"

Srrrk.

Yuria's eyes slowly opened. Realizing she had been in a deep sleep until now, she jolted in surprise and trembled.

What she saw in front of her was Aslan Vermont and Sylvia, sitting across from her.

And this place...

The Imperial Magic Academy dormitory?

"I-I'm sorry, Count! I must have dozed off..."

"It’s fine. Your escort mission ended the moment we left the Imperial Palace. You did well."

"..."

Yuria bit her lip tightly and couldn’t say a word.

What did he mean by "did well"?

She had been following Aslan Vermont the entire time as his escort, but in the end, it was Yuria, Charlotte, and Sylvia who had protected him.

She felt as though she hadn’t done anything but follow him around.

‘I feel like I'm the only one falling behind...’

While Yuria and Charlotte had become powerful necromancers and dark knights...

The only things Yuria had going for her were speed, strength, and good swordsmanship.

Could she awaken some dark power if she truly followed Aslan Vermont...?

‘Ugh! What am I even thinking!?’

As she reached this thought unconsciously, Yuria's eyes widened.

No matter how much she wanted to become stronger, the idea of being corrupted by Aslan Vermont made her shudder.

Her attraction to Aslan Vermont was for Charlotte and Yuria, not for herself!

Yuria squeezed her eyes shut, trying to steady herself and regain her composure.

"In case you're wondering, I’m not just saying this to flatter you; I genuinely mean it. The fact that your escort didn't need to intervene directly means that your ability was good enough to prevent danger from coming too close. Sylvia must have mentioned this many times, but in security, the ability to avoid a crisis is more important than the ability to respond to it. In that sense, bringing you along for the escort was the right decision."

"..."

What? Did he read my thoughts or something?

Just as she had been beating herself up and sulking, Aslan's words of encouragement made Yuria feel a little lighter.

"I'll include your extra pay with the next salary."

"No, the extra pay... wasn't it written in the contract that being mobilized for special missions is part of the job...?"

"How annoyingly conscientious. Go back and rest. You’ll be late for class tomorrow."

"Yes..."

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.

Yuria’s head was roughly ruffled, and she felt her hair shake from side to side.

The rough hands offered no sign of warmth, but somehow, they felt incredibly warm.

Yuria rubbed her eyes sleepily as she got up and got off the carriage.

Without any particular greeting, the door slammed shut, and soon the carriage quietly left the Imperial Magic Academy in the middle of the night.

"Ugh. I need to sleep quickly..."

Yawning, Yuria trudged into the dormitory. Passing the attic room she used before, she entered the single room that her seniors had 'voluntarily' given her and lay down.

Exhausted, she was about to fall asleep, but then remembered she should change clothes, so she struggled to get up.

As she did, the sleepiness faded, and she began to slowly come back to her senses.

"Huh? What was that...?"

She lightly touched the spot where Aslan’s hand had been on her head.

Yuria's expression went blank.

Just now... did Aslan pat my head?

Just like that? Out of the blue?

But why did I just accept it naturally, as if it was expected!?

She couldn’t understand it at all.

Even though she still disliked Aslan Vermont...

It should have been natural to feel disgusted at a genetic level.

Why didn’t I reject his touch when I was half asleep?

It was truly a mystery.

"How did he know I was feeling down and managed to comfort me so well? It feels kind of weird..."

I used to act tough, like a boy.

Why is he suddenly being so kind to me?

If it’s not kindness, is he just treating me like a puppy?

Her mind was suddenly flooded with thoughts, and Yuria felt dizzy.

"I’m the one who’s supposed to be seducing him... why does he seem more excited...?"

Confused.

Had Aslan Vermont really fallen for my charm?

Or did he just think I was cute?

She didn’t know. She didn’t understand anything.

What had seemed simple from the outside was becoming more and more complicated the closer she got to Aslan.

What did Aslan Vermont think of her...?

"Oh. The sun's coming up."

As she was trying to organize her scattered thoughts, the sunlight streamed through the window, and only then did Yuria realize with a start that she had stayed up all night.

Ah, this is bad.

She hadn’t slept a wink.

Yuria, with a face of despair, yawned.

As she did, she noticed noise outside and stuck her head out the window.

Early-rising students were walking around with the morning newspaper, waking up other students...

"Oh. Right."

It seemed that the incident at the Imperial Palace was finally starting to spread.

Yuria quickly grabbed the delivered newspaper and began reading through the article.

"What!? Yuria of Vermont Security subdued the chaos!? What is this...!"

Then she found a strange part of the article, and her eyes widened.

None of Aslan, Charlotte, or Yuria’s names appeared, yet somehow, when her name was mentioned, it made it sound as though she alone had stopped the Imperial Palace terrorist attack!?

"Yuria! Are you there? I just read the article, what is going on here?"

"A terrorist attack at the Imperial Palace! You stopped it!?"

"Tell me the details! Please!"

"Ah... Ahhhh...!"

Thud, thud, thud!

Just then, the sound of someone pounding on the door echoed loudly, and Yuria collapsed in place, her mind spinning.

She had just been trying to focus on studying quietly, so why was all the attention being drawn to her...!?

"Well, this turned out well."

The morning after the incident.

I opened the newspaper as soon as it was delivered and felt satisfied as I folded it back up.

The article was exactly as we had discussed beforehand.

"Sorry, Yuria. The sacrificial lamb... I mean, we needed a protagonist."

[The Demon God 'Cali' complains about how much our Yuria is making things hard for him. She blames you.]

The Emperor's sister decided to cover up the incident at the Imperial Palace.

Of course, it would be impossible to fully cover up a disaster where the Empire’s high-ranking officials fainted, the 4th Legion rebelled, and part of the Imperial Palace collapsed overnight.

It would be classified, but...

They had to explain the situation to the press.

They couldn’t reveal that a single necromancer had played with the Empire's heart, so they decided to put forward one person as the protagonist.

And that person turned out to be Yuria.

The scenario was written such that it looked like Yuria, who had been present as part of the escort, had defeated all the soldiers brainwashed by Sephiroth.

The title of the hero who suppressed the unprecedented Imperial Palace terrorist attack was no small thing.

She would be in the spotlight, and if she was destined to become a great hero later on, she would surely handle it.

More than that, if Yuria did well, it would be a huge advertisement for Vermont Security.

Just as I was thinking of expanding the business...

If requests increased because of this, I could make the decision to expand without hesitation.

I was glad I brought Yuria into Vermont Security.

"And... Reinhardt got demoted."

As a result of the incident, Reinhardt was dismissed as the 4th Legion commander. His rank was lowered by two steps.

Although he was a member of the royal family and wouldn’t serve prison time, this was still a heavy punishment.

What about Sephiroth, though?

‘I’d rather not know.’

I tried to imagine it but quickly gave up.

No matter what I imagined, it was probably worse than anything I could think of.

Of course, they wouldn’t execute her immediately.

The Empire needed to extract a lot of information about magic from Sephiroth.

She was a tough one to kill.

"Uncle!"

"Aslan!"

"...?"

Bang!

Just then, the office door was violently thrown open, and Charlotte and Yuria, looking excited, appeared.

Why were they up so early?

"What’s going on?"

"I heard everything!...?"

"While I was passed out, you tried to fight that huge monster by yourself?"

"That was too reckless...! Bow your head! We need to check if you’re hurt!"

[The Demon God 'Cali' cries tears of gratitude for our necromancer and dark knight’s devotion.]

They marched over, tugging at my sleeves, demanding I kneel down.

I had no choice but to squat down. Then Yuria let go of my sleeve and started checking my arms, while Charlotte gazed deeply into my eyes and face.

"I'm fine. There's no wound or pain, so no need to worry."

"Heh, heh! Who’s worried about you? I’m not here because I’m worried, okay?"

"I’m not as cold as Yuria! I came because I was really worried! I’m so glad you’re okay..."

With that, Charlotte hugged me, burying her face in my chest.

She said it playfully, but I could feel her faint sobbing.

But when I turned around, wondering why Yuria was so quiet...

"Cold... no, I mean... it's not like I wasn’t worried, but..."

Her pupils were darting around as she stuttered.

Ah. Yuria’s broken.