"The search parties will only grow larger from here on. We need to handle them appropriately while making our escape."
"Since we need to handle them, you're planning to corner the search party in a narrow space and roast them all with fire magic? And you'll cast a shield spell inside that?"
"Exactly. How many times do I have to explain?"
"......If you're asking for my opinion, absolutely not. Shields have attributes too—to block fire-type magic, you need to cast a shield with opposing attributes. This shield is for defending against physical attacks. So never even think about doing something so nonsensical."
Really, why is this so complicated? The imperial palace mages just cast shields whenever they felt like it.
I was looking down at the bracelet with a sour expression when Xenon spoke with an extremely serious and grave face.
"It seems to me there's something you need to study before learning how to use magic tools, Lady Anneli."
"Study? Is it essential?"
"Yes."
I had always thought of Xenon as easy to handle and push around, but for some reason, at this very moment, he was terrifying enough to make me unconsciously pull my head back slightly. Was it because magic was his specialty? His eyes, filled with intensity, even showed an inexplicable resolve.
If it's essential knowledge, I suppose I should learn it......
"What is it?"
When I asked suspiciously, he answered in a solemn and firm tone.
"Safety education."
And so began the safety education, through which I realized for the first time since traveling with Xenon that he was indeed a mage from the Magic Tower.
Truly, in a very certain and accurate way.
I also came to seriously question the unpublicized mage education methods of the Magic Tower—just how obsessively they must educate people there for someone to turn out like this.
The Magic Tower is a closed institution. Could it be that they brainwash study content through inhumane abuse and torture?
"......Xenon."
"Yes. Have you memorized everything?"
"Did you perhaps study while being beaten?"
At my question, Xenon looked at me with an absurd expression.
"If anyone heard that, they'd think I was beating you while making you study."
"But for someone as lax as you to recite this level of information in detail, unless they used extreme educational methods......"
"If you've memorized everything, we'll start the written test immediately."
No matter how I think about it, my conclusion is rational.
While tilting my head in puzzlement, I obediently wrote down the answers to the questions he presented.
Having grown up memorizing all sorts of imperial regulations from a very young age, this wasn't particularly difficult for me. Xenon glanced at my answer sheet that I had filled out smoothly and muttered with a defeated expression.
"Did the gods also give you an excellent brain?"
"I was always good at studying."
"Even so, really? You memorized all that after just a few hours of explanation?"
"I always had to be special."
When I answered calmly, Xenon hesitated. He stood there lost in thought, and it seemed he no longer intended to press about the safety education.
"......"
While organizing the papers, I glanced outside and saw that the day was already fading. For some reason, I was hungry. Would there be a decent restaurant nearby?
"Did you learn by being beaten too, Lady Anneli?"
"I memorized well without being beaten."
"But if you didn't memorize, you'd get beaten?"
I've never been beaten so I don't really know, but......
"I was designated as the future Empress from birth. So my excellence is only natural."
"But I heard the woman who became the Crown Prince's new fiancée is quite different from you, Lady Anneli. ......She's technically also the future Empress."
I had heard that rumors of Lilia had spread as widely as my infamy, but to think Xenon knew about it too.
So it really has spread everywhere. I smiled lightly and nodded.
"She is very different from me. She's excellent in a different way."
When I showed signs of going out, Nesy, who was changing into the form of an ordinary dog, rose to follow.
I petted Nesy and approached the door. When I glanced back, I saw Xenon awkwardly getting up.
He was frowning and looked displeased. He seemed to disagree with my words.
I don't know if he disagrees with my excellence or Lilia's excellence.
"Isn't it fine as long as someone is excellent in any way?"
Who cares, really. Let's just go eat.
***
Certainly, compared to camping on the road or dozing in a moving carriage, sleeping in a proper lodging was truly like heaven.
I dismissed Xenon's nonsensical talk about resting for a few more days, and announced to him the destination I had decided on last night. And as expected, he was appalled.
"Do you know how treacherous this place is!"
"Yes, I know."
"This is where wyverns nest! Not only that, it's a cliff that nearby residents don't even approach because of all sorts of birds of prey!"
"I know that too."
"Ha......"
Xenon kept sighing while clutching the back of his neck. Nesy was sighing deeply watching Xenon, as if calling him a 'timid male.'
Yet he was also trying to dissuade me gently, so he seemed worried as well.
However, I had no intention of changing my destination. Nadab said he remembered his comrade riding around on a wyvern.
He couldn't explain exactly whether Durahan rode a wyvern or rode one before becoming Durahan, but I guessed it was probably the latter.
Originally, I wondered if riding a wyvern was even possible......
But since I also had a history of escaping once with a wyvern's help, I thought there might have been someone long ago who rode wyverns like horses.
"Even so, you don't seem to know how scary monsters are......"
"Do you want to end our contract because it's dangerous?"
"Why do you always start by talking about splitting up? You actually want to quit the contract yourself, don't you?"
"Your nagging is worse than I thought, so it's sometimes annoying."
At my answer, Xenon's jaw dropped. Then he looked at me filled with the hurt he often showed. Well...... but it's true.
"Still, the regret is greater for now. Your cooking skills are good enough that I can tolerate the annoyance, unless there's a special reason."
Thinking about it again, the culinary world lost tremendous talent to the magical world.
At my words, Xenon's expression became complicated. He looked at me with a face I couldn't tell if he was crying or laughing, then fixed his bag with a sullen expression.
"I need to get this damn mana seal lifted quickly."
"You can't lift the seal during the trial period, right?"
"I applied for permission to lift it. Just you wait. When the mana seal is lifted, I'll double the labor costs."
He was making threats, but it wasn't particularly scary. If the threat was money, I had nothing to fear.
But that means......
"That means you want to keep being employed?"
When I asked indifferently, Xenon, who had been boldly declaring he'd raise labor costs, shut his mouth abruptly.
He blinked blankly as if hit on the back of the head, then showed an expression of shock. Then he slowly moved away from me and turned his back.
His family situation must be quite difficult, right?
"......Nesy, let's go."
Seeing his ears turning red, he seemed very embarrassed that his poor circumstances had been discovered.
I should give him a bonus occasionally. Timely additional compensation boosts work motivation regardless of what you're doing.
Feeling satisfied that my sense as an employer hadn't died, I started walking.
***
Dense vegetation and mountain paths are unfamiliar to me.
Before death, I spent my entire life moving between dazzling mansions, the imperial palace, and beautiful territories. Even the bedroom where I was practically confined all day after receiving my terminal diagnosis was spacious and splendid.
Of course, I did disguise myself and travel around a few times to reclaim my position, but there were always plenty of servants around me, so my body didn't suffer.
After resurrection, as my full-fledged fugitive life continued, the scenes I encountered were shock after shock.
I still haven't gotten used to shabby and dirty rural villages. Still, I thought I had become familiar with the mountain range, but this was yet another new landscape.
I was looking around with a renewed feeling when Xenon started whining.
"Do you really have to go? It's not too late yet."
[Use this chance to build some courage, you pup!]
Even at Nesy's shout, Xenon's hunched shoulders wouldn't straighten. Being protected by such a righteous wolf, what could be so scary, really?
"That's why I told you to wait in the village below."
Looking at the scenery, the terrible rumors made sense. As we went deeper, massive trees swayed gauntly, and crows sat in rows on long branches, cawing endlessly. This was the path we had to take to reach the cliff.
Someone we met in the small village below the mountain range had tried to stop us, saying strange things happened frequently in this forest.
From what I heard, there were apparently many missing persons. Stories about a ghost of a young man holding a grudge, a ghost of a blood-covered child, sounds of a woman crying—the tales went on and on.
"Even so, a person should have loyalty. How could I send you alone when the rumors are so terrible?"
Did Xenon really think his accompaniment was a significant increase in combat power?
"Nadab is stronger than you."
[Thank you for acknowledging that, Boss!]
Nadab cried out vigorously with a flourish. Xenon, who had been looking back and forth between me and Nadab with an absurd expression, grumbled as if he had forgotten his fear.
"......If only the mana seal was lifted......"
[If you're going to be weak, at least be humble. I don't know when this male will ever grow.]
Nesy growled and nudged Xenon from behind. Even if he couldn't understand the words, he seemed to understand the meaning to walk confidently, and Xenon forced his back a little straighter.
Of course, it didn't look like there was any visible improvement—just a tiny speck of effort.
"Actually, I absolutely detest unrealistic and supernatural beings."
Xenon, who had been walking slightly ahead, started mumbling excuses again.
"I also came back to life unrealistically."
"Lady Anneli, you're human regardless."
Goodness, in Xenon's eyes, I appear human. An exclamation escaped me at this unexpected fact.
"Where else in the world is there a human who died by beheading and came back to life with their head reattached?"