A large bonfire, as tall as a building, shone in that deserted village for the last time.

It was a ritual—an offering—for the spirits of the dead to rest as they returned to the heavens.

Marnie watched as the flames consumed her enemies, not bothered in the slightest by the rancid smell of burned corpses permeating through the air. She knew she should feel happier since her family and village had been avenged, but all she could feel was hollowness inside her heart.

“You’re alright?” Reinhard put one hand on her shoulder.

“Mmm,” was all she replied with.

Her maid, on the other hand, was busy conversing with Marina instead.

"Thank you for the kind offer, milady, but I'm afraid I have to refuse. Miss Marnie still has her uncle, so there would be no need for us to burden your household with our presence.”

Knowing that they had lost everything, Marina offered them refuge in her grandfather’s house. She did it not just out of pity, but out of duty as well. After all, her father, the baron, technically worked under her grandfather.

"Her uncle, who is he if I might ask?" Marina asked further.

"The Viscount of Dramor. So you don't have to worry. He'll take care of us just fine." The maid gave a reassuring smile.

Marina never heard of him before, but she didn't expect to. She barely familiarized herself with the lay of the land and for her to remember every single noble out there—it's just too much to ask. Especially when it's a baron or a viscount, lower rank nobles with not much land not influence on their names.

"Hey, Marina. One sec."

The mage turned her head. It was Reinhard. He walked up to them with a serious expression on his face.

“Miss, what do you think of me accompanying you and the young lady to her uncle’s place?” He asked the maid.

“W-what? But we can’t possibly—”

“It’s fine.” He added a smile. “I have nothing better to do anyway. And I won’t sleep well if I just sent the two of you off on your own. This kingdom isn’t as safe as I want it to be, unfortunately.” He shook his head.

He was right. For the two to just travel on their own… there’s a high chance they might get captured by bandits (yet again) or mauled by monsters.

“Hey, you’re fine with this, aren’t you, Marina?” He gave her a grin.

“Of course,” she answered with her own smile. “You make a good point.” She turned to look back at the maid. “You should take his offer. He’s a reliable person, you know. He won’t let you down.”

The maid looked towards Marina, and then to Reinhard, and then back and forth between the two for a couple of times.

“A-alright, Miss… And Sir, please forgive us for imposing on your kindness even more.” She gave a bow towards the warrior.

And thus, Marina had to return to her grandfather’s house on her own.

------

Marina

“Lady Marina, welcome back!”

I was greeted by a group of butlers and maids when I arrived back at Grandfather’s mansion. They all stood in a line in front of the stairs leading up to the front door. As usual, the gatekeepers rushed inside to announce my return, and with a swiftness that honestly surprised me, the servants immediately came out and organized themselves like this.

I suppose this kind of thing is a common procedure in the aristocracy, but for me, it just feels odd and even wasteful. They could be working instead of greeting me like this, you know.

Leading on the front was Annelise, the head maid of the establishment. As usual, the woman was looking younger than she actually was. She could easily pass as Henrietta’s older sister if she wanted to.

“Lady Marina, I assume that everything went smoothly there?” she asked.

I gave her a nod.

“Then how about Sir Reinhard? Where is he?”

“It’s a long story. But he’s fine. He’s just escorting someone.”

“Escorting someone?” She raised her eyebrows. She didn’t probe the matter further though. She had heard my statement that it’s a long story so this wouldn’t be the place nor time to ask for further explanation.

“Lady Marina, do you wish to take a rest first? Or do you wish to meet with Lord Archimond right away? He’s currently in the study.”

“I’ll do the latter,” I answered. “Though please prepare the baths as I would head there once I spoke with him,” I added with a smile.

“Of course, Milady.” She bowed once again. “I’ll send Henrietta to accompany you there, as usual.”

I took a few steps forward, before stopping as I remembered something else I needed to ask of her.

“How about Erika? Did she throw any tantrum while I was away?” My smile turned into a slight smirk.

“Oh, rest assured that the young lady has been very well behaved,” she replied with her own smile. “She and Lorry have gotten along excellently.”

“That’s good to hear. Though, how about Roland?”

Her smile disappeared.

“W-well, the young master has been… decently good to her.”

That’s a lie.

Roland was the son of Reinhard and Emma, his first wife. He inherited his mother’s blonde hair and yellow eyes. In the terms of age, he was a bit older than Erika.

And he was the biggest rapscallion I had ever encountered.

Unlike Hugo, he was fond of pranks and mischief. Said pranks ranged from throwing frogs to frighten people to lifting up skirts and yelling loudly what color of panties his victim was wearing today.

Yes, that included me. When we first met, I thought he was just a cute and harmless young boy so I let down my guard. Thanks to that, the black panties I wore that day were revealed, not just to Henrietta but also to Reinhard, who was also there.

And yes, it was a terribly embarrassing accident. I would have disciplined the boy for it, but I had no right to do so. So I could only ask Reinhard to do it. As his father, it’s his job to be tough to his kid after all.

He also had a half-sister named Veronica, born out of his second mother, Rina. She was still just a baby though.

“...I see. Then tell Lady Emma I wish to speak with her later.”

Once again, I would have to ask her to raise her son better.

And no mother in the world would like that.

After our short conversation, we headed upstairs to the study straight away while the rest of the servants returned to their posts.

--------

“Milord! Announcing the presence of Lady Marina!”

As decorum unfortunately demanded, Annelise had to do that first before I entered the room.

I saw him at the far end of the room, looking at the gardens outside through the window. The morning sunlight lit his figure, making his greying hair shine. He was wearing his work outfit, a black suit with a white undershirt. Looking at him like this, he distinguished himself clearly from the nobles I had met before. Even at his age, he still commanded respect, to the point that even I tensed up a little in his presence. It was far different than how I first met him when he was bedridden.

Now that I think about it, his health has been improving ever since I arrived here. I smiled inwardly. The herbal medicine I gave to him is working after all.

Turning around, he greeted me with a smile.

“Please, leave us, Annelise,” he commanded with a gentle tone.

“As you wish, Milord.”

The maid left without another word, bowing before closing the door behind her.

“So, I take it that all of the vermins have been exterminated?”

“Yes, Grandfather.”

“And you have no problem at all in the process?”

“None, Grandfather.”

“I see...” He brushed his short beard. “Then, all those nights of me worrying you’ll never return were spent for nothing after all.”

And then, he burst into a laugh, before breaking down into a coughing fit once again.

“Grandfather! Please, don’t overexert yourself!” I shouted as I approached him. Really, why must he be like this?

I helped him sit on the nearby chair. I assumed this was his work desk, judging by all the documents stacked on top of each other on the table. Taking a peek at the top, it was a list of numbers that seemed to be about the income his territory was receiving from the taxes.

Of course, normally, Reinhard would be the one doing all this. Well, him and Elise, his personal maid/assistant. Since he wasn’t around, I suppose Grandfather decided he wanted to do it instead.

“Well, my dear granddaughter.” He took a sip of the cup of coffee on said table. “Tell me everything. And do not spare me any of the details.”

And so I did, describing what they had inflicted upon the villagers and how I decided on the fitting punishment for them. I even told him what I did to their leader. I wasn’t going to hide it. I believed it was justified. I wasn’t in the wrong. And so what use was there to not tell him about it?

I also informed how Reinhard had gone with Marnie and her maid.

Thanks to all that information, when I finished, the sun was already high up in the sky.

“I see… For those cravens, death is the only punishment that is fitting for them. However,” He looked at me straight in the eye as he said his next words. “What you did was certainly unorthodox. Normally, for bandits, we would parade them around on the city before publicly executing them by hanging. Though for assaulting a baron and burning down a village, it wouldn't just be hanging. They would also be drawn and quartered, or even crucified. But instead, you decided not to bring them here and kill them there right away. May I ask what your reasoning was for such an action?”

His eyes narrowed. It didn’t take a genius to tell that I was being tested by him.

“Because their victims are those villagers, not the people of this city,” I answered, matter-of-factly without flinching.

“You know, it could be a great way to introduce you to the people. They would look up to you as a dispenser of justice. Then you would easily gain support amongst them. Perhaps your farming project with the Farmers’ Guild is one of them. I heard that you still have some difficulties negotiating the planting of your seeds with them.”

He was talking about the still experimental cold-resistant seeds that I had developed over the months I had stayed here. Using the knowledge I stole from Vera’s library, I could apply the same principle she had applied to the crops in her territory. Unfortunately, the seeds her books described were not of the usual kind, like wheat or potatoes. Their usage was for alchemy and herbal medicines. And around here, people needed food crops more than anything. We didn’t have a booming alchemist population around here after all. Thus, the lack of excitement from them. Not to mention how they had yet to trust me as a mage. Mages were rare around here, with most being adventurers. And the rumors about the Verdant Witch of Dead had reached their ears. They didn’t know she was me yet, but it already made them even more suspicious of any sorts of earth mages. The farmers in this region were what you would call “rugged traditionalists”. They believed that using magic was a form of cheating that would only bring misfortune later on. They believed instead of the hard work of manual labor and praying to the Saint that their crops would grow.

If a person from the Magocracy would see them, they would no doubt declare them as idiots.

And, as much as I would love to disagree, I had the same opinion. Especially when your crops’ yield was poor, both in quality and quantity. They could barely feed the mouths of the people in this region. Not that anyone would want their products, thus the export of farming goods remained practically zero.

Such was the difference in culture. And no matter how powerful of a mage I was, I couldn’t change that overnight.

“I would also prefer if you had kept them alive a little longer, just so we could interrogate them. Information about other bandit groups and the like would be useful. And if they had any connections with the Dukedom in the north. They came from there after all.”

“Do not worry, Grandfather,” I answered. “I had interrogated them thoroughly while I paraded them through every village. I only gave them water and food if they answered. And from what they told me, they didn’t have any connection with the Dukedom. Nor did they had any connections with other bandit groups. Or rather, they had assimilated every other bandit group they met into their own. At least the ones that existed in the region. However…”

“...Yes, go on.”

“It seems they have made some transactions with a certain slave-trading group. Unfortunately, they didn’t mention any names, but they did indeed make a transaction with them. They didn’t sell any of the villagers though. They instead sold the travelers and adventurers that just were unfortunately enough to trespass through their territory. I believe the slave traders only wanted non-humans, which was why the villagers were spared.”

“I see.” The earl then gave a dejected sigh.

"Do you wish for me to look more into the matter, Grandfather?”

“No, there’s no need for that.” He shook his head. “They most likely came from other regions, so even if we identified their location, there’s nothing we can do about them.”

In this kingdom, slavery was allowed as long as the slaves were acquired lawfully. Meaning, either voluntary slavery, where the person sold themselves into it (usually done by poor families), or criminals whom the local lord decided to sell into bondage. In this kingdom, each lord had their own laws for the most part, with the king only caring about the taxes they collected for him and other things like foreign relationships and security.

Thus, it would be really hard for us to prosecute those slave traders when they’re based in another noble’s territory.

“Poor Jackson… to think that his life would end this way…” The earl sighed once again, as he took another sip of his coffee.

Jackson was the name of the murdered baron—Marnie’s father. Grandfather had told me how they had somewhat of a close relationship over the years. He liked the man and his simple way of life. Most nobles he met were all conniving and worldly in one way or another, but that man was content with whatever he inherited from his parents. And Grandfather appreciated that.

"We can only hope that the poor girl's uncle will treat her well. Regrettably, I know nothing about him, only that he's a viscount in the southern part of the kingdom."

He then stood up from his chair.

“That would be enough, my dear.” He smiled. “I think you deserve a long and nice rest. Please, don’t mind all these papers and whatnot. An old man still needs some work to do so his brain doesn’t rot.”

I looked at the pile of documents on the table once more. As shameful as it was for me to admit, I was wholly unskilled in the matters of territory administration. Grandfather offered a tutor to teach me the subject, but I refused since I was already busy with my seed research.

And besides, I had no plans to really becoming his heir. That would be Reinhard. I would prefer to be seen as an advisor of sorts, especially in things relating to magic. Any nobles who are serious in developing their territory would want a mage as one of their aides. Or at least, that’s my personal opinion. There are so many things you can do with magic to help one’s territory prosper after all.

“Alright, Grandfather.” I smiled at him. “But please, do not tire yourself. I don’t want to hear you coughing like that ever again. It makes me worry, you know?” I added a little pout.

“Ha!” He laughed, showing off his perfectly white teeth. “What grandfather wouldn’t want to be worried for by her granddaughter, especially one as beautiful as you?”

“Oh, Grandfather…” I sighed. Me? Beautiful? I don’t think I am. Beautiful is something like Emma, with her long blonde hair and golden eyes.

On that note, our meeting was over. I excused myself, heading straight to the bathing house afterward.

--------

The bathhouse was large, located in a separate building from the main house. It wasn't that lavish compared to the other bathhouses she had been into (especially the one owned by Glinda), but it was still a bathhouse fit for a noble. Or at least, that's what I believe.

“Miss Marina!”

When I arrived, I was immediately greeted by my personal maid, Henrietta. And by “greeted”, I mean her throwing herself at me for a strong and tight hug.

“Ooh, I missed you so much, Miss! Can you believe how boring things are here without you around?” She giggled as she released me, though still keeping both of her hands on my shoulders. The girl was only a bit shorter than me, so she could do it with ease.

“So, Miss, you want a bath, don’t you? I can tell that straight away. No offense but you don’t smell as nice as you usually are after all.”

My smile disappeared. “...You don’t have to say that, you know.” Really, she knows just how much I’m particular with my hygiene.

“A-ah, Miss, sorry if I offended you. I-it’s just a little joke, that’s all.” She quickly returned in a panic.

Afterward, she quickly guided me towards the changing room, where she undressed me in a flash. Now without any clothes, I moved on into the baths proper.

The water, of course, was perfectly warm. And it was scented as well, just the way I wanted it to.

I entered without hesitation, feeling my muscles relaxing as more and more of my body went under the water.

“Want a massage, Miss?”

“Yes, that would be nice.”

The girl’s massages were actually pretty good, so I didn’t hesitate to accept her offer.

Aah, this is pleasant indeed.

Just when I thought I could just drift off and let her touch carry me to dreamland…

“Lady Marina. I am glad that you have returned safely from your trip.”

It was Emma. And behind her was Rina. Reinhard’s two wives. Just like me, they were fully naked, and they were accompanied by their own attendants each.

I expected to have our talk later, as we had our lunch, but I suppose it had to happen now.

I sighed inwardly. So much for my relaxing bath time...