Chapter 13

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“I’ll leave it to you.”

The man closed the door with those hollow parting words. I was left alone in a gloomy basement.

I scanned the dusty underground warehouse.

“… For real?”

I’m cleaning this huge warehouse all by myself? Have you seen how much stuff there is?

Someone tell me it’s a lieeeee! I suck at cleaning!

To find out why I was dragged into this, we must first go back several days!

Wasn’t that big of a deal though. I was doing my thing, running through the castle, when I broke some furniture.

Vyro witnessed it, and said he’d compensate for it if I cleaned his underground warehouse…

Sure, it’s better than angering the violent princess, but cleaning this warehouse is bad enough on its own!

“… Tina, help me.”

But she was sleeping at home.

Ugh. What should I do?

Aargh, I don’t wanna. I don’t wanna!

Crying or screaming wouldn’t change anything, so I started cleaning. Yep.

Tina once told me you should start by gathering similar items together.

I started by putting the boxes with the boxes. These boxes are gonna have a big meetup.

There was a corner with many boxes already so I brought the other boxes there.

Wooden boxes, iron boxes… wow, heavy! Why’s there a human-size iron box here! Stupid Vyro and your ‘I’ll leave it to you’—no way I can hold this alone, idiot.

I chose to ignore the coffin-sized iron box with the life-sized human engraved on the lid. That wasn’t all though, as the basement was scattered with all sorts of things I wanted to ignore. Bloodstained wall decorations and the like. Throw them out already.

With much hardship, I piled most of the boxes and then looked around for the next most common item. Hm, maybe ornaments?

Can’t wait till I finish.

Alright, thirteen things in total. That I broke. Not on purpose. I swear, it wasn’t on purpose.

Upon his return, Vyro examined the mountain of broken shards from the thirteen items and wrote on some documents with a nod.

“Two cursed pots and one ghost summoning puppet. Not bad,” he said.

“Hold up.”

I broke what now!? Wasn’t my job just organizing your basement!?

Have I been roped into another life-threatening job!?

I have the right to an explanation! And I’m not afraid to protest depending on the answer!

An irritating smile leaked onto Vyro’s pretty face.

“What, you believe shady stuff like that? Even though you’re an officer?”

“Then you go break them, cool guy!”

Half the people serving the court in this country were born into it, and the other half took exams, but apparently, Vyro’s parents were civil officials too.

Vyro began talking about how his family’s been serving the court for generation after generation. It was hard to imagine for me though.

“I was born into it but it’s not as stable as you’d think. Anyone who’s not good enough gets cut out,” he said nonchalantly.

“What does that have to do with me breaking the cursed pot?”

“Nothing. Just thought it was funny.”

“Can I hit you with the pot?”

His personality was so toxic it could probably melt through the floor.

Do all humans born into an annoying household turn out like this?

Vyro scanned the warehouse and once again, wrote on his documents. He looked up at me.

“Was there anything strange?” he asked.

“Everything was strange.”

“I see. If only there were magic tools here. Does the girl in your house have any?”

“She—”

Hmmmmmmm!?

It almost slipped! What!? Was this all a trick!?

Did I get tricked? Really? Hey, tell me!

I timidly looked at Vyro and saw him smiling ear to ear.

It’s the usual ‘I’m planning something’ smile. Oh no. What should I do?

“I knew she was a magician.”

“Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.”

“Don’t think you can dodge the question by imitating a frog.”

But I swear I’ve never told him about Tina.

Cold sweat ran down my forehead as Vyro cracked the smile that all the court ladies idolise him for.

“I did some information gathering on my own. Her face stands out so I got some eyewitnesses from other countries.”

“Oh…”

She had a pretty face, no wonder it stood out. Unforgettable, even. Just stay as a cat.

My mind ran to my hidden dagger at the sight of Vyro’s smile.

I didn’t want to do anything, and he wasn’t the type to listen to threats anyway.

Guess I’ll have to play dumb and make Tina escape once I get home.

No more serving the court either, but it is what it is.

Ah… my only regret is that I never held Miss Dyna’s hands…

Still aware of my weapon, I resolved myself, to which Vyro rolled his eyes. He spoke up, but his voice was colder than I’d ever heard.

“Why are you giving up already? You give up too easily. How about you plead me with some naked dancing first?”

“I’d never do that to anyone no matter what!”

And you’d let me go if I did that? Is that how you make decisions?

I had no idea what was going on in his head. Can I punch you?

“I would prefer if you didn’t resort to violence.”

“Are you a mindreader!?”

“It shows too easily on your face. Don’t worry, I’m not planning on telling others about her.”

“Huh?”

I’m grateful for it, but why?

The very existence of magicians was supposed to go against this country’s religions.

I fearfully asked why—to which Vyro grinned meaningfully.

“I’ve never announced it in public but I’m not religious. I do, however, think it’s better to have more elements you can utilise.”

“Utilise?”

“As a foreigner, I’m sure you know how much of a hard blow it is that this country bans magicians.”

“… I do.”

The absence of magicians in wars was fatal, in both defence and offence.

Not only that, it put us behind in treating diseases and injuries too.

Though, it wasn’t like most commoners in countries with magicians received those benefits anyway.

“So basically, I’ll be sending you work if anything troubling happens.”

Of all things he could ask for, he wants Tina’s cooperation.

We were similar in that regard since I asked for her help whenever I got any risky jobs.

I honestly had to though, since gentle wasn’t in the dictionary of the people around me.

No wonder I always got stomach pains—everyone seemed to ditch me in random dilemmas…

“Fine. I’m okay with that.”

“Good. You never had the right to say no though. Don’t forget, I’m the one who compensated for all the furniture you broke.”

“I’m so, so sorry!”

There’s truly nothing worse than being indebted to this guy! My stomach pains are assaulting me again!

Tina served lunch in silence once I returned home.

Her sour mood following her wake was as clear as ever.

I didn’t ask about her mood anymore since she never answered when I did.

‘Would you believe me if I told you the previous king died because of a witch?’

His words rang through my mind.

But I didn’t care, regardless of whether it was true or not.

Because I was already aware of how horrifying witches were.

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