Chapter 7

＊＊＊

Claudia held Noah's hand and looked up at her uncle with a smile.

Just a moment ago, her uncle had called out to her, "Claudia," but now he was hurriedly covering his mouth. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead, his eyes darted around in panic, and he seemed utterly confused.

(He looks good... but it's not enough yet.)

Next, Claudia turned her gaze to the magicians standing a few meters in front of her uncle.

They all seemed to be skilled in their own right. However, Claudia's attention was drawn to a man with silver hair tied in a ponytail and red eyes.

(Is that the head magician, Karlheinz?)

She had overheard the conversation between that man and her uncle from outside the tower using magic.

(He looks impressive, and his magic power is considerable. But...)

When Claudia smiled at him, the silver-haired man's eyes widened slightly.

Seeing this, her uncle let out a strained voice.

"Ah... no, it's a fake, no, an intruder!! An intruder has entered the princess's tower!!"

"Oh?"

"Hey!! What do you think I paid you for? Get rid of those kids quickly!!"

The robed man, likely a hired magician, was urged by her uncle.

There was no sign of carelessness in his eyes as he looked at Claudia and Noah. After all, he had witnessed Noah defeating the other magicians and breaking the barrier.

The hired magician, with a wary expression, began to chant.

"--- 'Come, thunder. Smash the chaos, tear the sky...' "

"Noah. Can you do it?"

"Yeah."

Noah, who answered nonchalantly, made an ice sword appear in his right hand.

It was a spell Claudia had just taught him a moment ago. Noah, who had mastered it so easily, ran straight toward the magician.

"--- 'With the power that emerged from the moment, smite my enemy...' "

"Too slow."

The magician, whose face contorted, shouted as Noah closed the distance in an instant.

"--- 'Smite them!!' "

"---..."

Thunder erupted from the magician's palm.

Noah deflected the white lightning with his sword, his face unchanged, and dodged the follow-up attack with a springy movement, crouching low.

Then, he seemed to chant something.

"---"

"Whoa!?"

A wave of ice attacked the magician. Leonora screamed, and her uncle embraced her.

But Claudia, at this moment, paid no attention to such things.

(Ice magic...)

She stared intently at Noah's retreating back.

(Not only that, but he's also using body enhancement? Not with his own magic power, but by drawing on mine?)

Mixing someone else's magic power with one's own is quite difficult.

Yet Noah did it effortlessly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

(More talented than I imagined... No, beyond what I could have imagined.)

A sense of excitement began to well up in her chest.

(High power, high purity, high precision...! Rough, but a top-notch talent that might even surpass my disciples one day!)

Noah, who had dodged all the lightning attacks, leaped off the floor.

Swinging his sword, he struck the magician in a straight line.

"Ugh...!!"

The black-robed magician let out a short scream and fell to the ground.

Her uncle, clinging to the unconscious man, shook him with all his might.

"Hey! This isn't a joke, wake up!! How much do you think I paid you... Hey, what are the other magicians doing!?"

"Well, Noah took care of all of them."

Claudia told her uncle, laughing merrily.

Her uncle, with a hateful expression, raised his voice at Karlheinz.

"Head Magician!! What are you doing? Protect the princess quickly... Oh!"

A hot wind rose, and the floor was stained with flames.

Karlheinz, the source of the flames, let out a small sigh and looked at them calmly.

(I won't be fooled by just a calm gaze.)

After all, Karlheinz's eyes, which were red, indicated that he possessed fierce magic power.

"Noah"

"Sure. I understand."

Noah made the ice sword disappear and pointed his right palm at Karlheinz.

(Quite reliable.)

The ice magic spell she had taught him in advance was perfect for this situation.

While thinking this, Claudia held hands with her temporary servant. At that moment, both of them began to chant.

"--- 'Devour, scorching heat' "

"--- 'Freeze'!"

The outcome was clear even without seeing it.

Although Karlheinz had produced flames, he wasn't serious. As evidence, the flames were easily consumed by the ice magic Noah unleashed.

"Ah!"

A large scream from Leonora accompanied the hiss of steam.

The burning flames scorched the ice, but ultimately were extinguished. The ice creaked as it crushed the sea of flames on the floor.

The guest room was covered in transparent ice.

Claudia let go of Noah's hand, clicked her heels, and stepped forward in front of Karlheinz.

"--- I am Princess Claudia."

She smiled at the magician, who must have known from the beginning.

"What brings you here, sir?"

"..."

Karlheinz lowered his eyes, knelt on the ice, and bowed deeply.

"Please forgive my great impertinence... Princess Claudia."

"No... no, that's not right! That kid can't be Claudia...!!"

Claudia slowly turned her gaze to her uncle, who was still trying to argue.

"Uncle, you want to think that, don't you?"

"..."

"You know, it's strange that the real 'Claudia' is alive and here, don't you?"

"That...!!"

Her uncle swallowed hard.

Karlheinz, slowly raising his head, looked at her uncle with a very cold gaze.

His expression made it clear what he was imagining.

"Uncle, normally, a six-year-old who can't use magic would die if dropped from the top of the tower, right?"

"Stop... what are you saying! I didn't mean to...!"

"I can't hear you."

Claudia looked at her uncle, who had a look of incomprehension.

"--- I said I can't hear your 'I'm sorry'."

"Ah...!!"

A strained voice leaked out pitifully in front of his daughter.

But Claudia didn't care about her uncle's dignity.

"If you do something wrong, you have to say 'I'm sorry'. As an adult, you should know that, right?"

"Sorry, s... sorry..."

"That's right, Uncle, you're a good boy! I'll forgive you if you say 'I'm sorry' to Claudia too?"

Claudia, brushing her milk tea-colored hair behind her ear, smiled.

"Sorry for dropping Uncle from the tower. ...You should practice saying it properly from now on."

"..."

Her uncle's face was stained with despair.

Sitting on the floor, he seemed to realize there was no escape. Claudia looked up at Karlheinz and told him.

"Sir, can you find out where all the money from Father went, from Uncle?"

"As you wish. I will arrange for appropriate punishment to be meted out."

"That's good. Check everything, not just what's in Uncle's house, but also what's in his mistress's house."

At these words, Leonora looked at her father in shock.

"Mistress...!? Father, what do you mean!?"

"No! It's not true, Leonora!! Please, don't look at me like that...!!"

Leonora's loud cries were so noisy that Claudia covered her ears.

(The confiscation of accumulated wealth, the loss of trust, being abandoned by family and mistress, receiving the contempt of her daughter and the scolding of her wife, and imprisonment in a state of despair... Honestly, after insulting me, this is rather mild, but it's fine.)

After all, this time, she had been entertained.

"Noah"

The magicians began to move to restrain her uncle.

Amid the commotion, Claudia walked over to the servant who was looking at his palm in the corner of the room.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"That's good. You're a good boy."

"I just did what I was told. It's nothing."

But what Noah had done was no small feat.

He must have realized this too. Looking down at Claudia with his black eyes, Noah smiled darkly and said,

"--- With your magic power, I can do anything."

"Hehe."

Claudia laughed, feeling a thrilling joy.

She might have found something unexpectedly interesting. As she thought this, a voice came from behind.

"Excuse me."

"..."

Claudia turned to Karlheinz and remained silent for a while.

(What should I do?)

"Princess?"

Honestly, this might have become a bit of a problem.

(Dealing with this man seems incredibly troublesome...)

Thinking this, she looked up at Noah without hesitation and clung to him tightly.