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Two days had passed in the mansion. Elena was pleased that her plan had been running well. She had spent more time on the training ground to demonstrate her 'improvement' in bow skill and magic. The knights had multiple training grounds around the city. This one was between the barrack and her mansion, it connected both places like a garden. Looking to the left from her mansion's side was a bunch of big trees to simulate forest warfare and the usual resting area for knights.

Elena's bow skill was 'improving' very fast under everyone's eyes. She also experimented with some spell ideas. Everything was good and fulfilling.

There were pros but there were also cons. The butler had some sneaky maids observe her maids. That fiance of hers, Finn, frequently went to the training ground and started to act lordly to everyone. And her mother was trying to get her to join some tea parties with her.

But overall, her plan was a success. All the knights had acknowledged that she was a strong mage and would be in the rank of great wizard in the future.

She played with the spirits and shot her bow.

*Bang*

*Bang*x5

She shot one arrow but there were six impacts. The wind spirits were swirling around her in the form of a gentle breeze. Whenever she shot, some of them followed the arrow and made their own projectiles.

Elena was imbuing them with her will. It was a simple command, 'Follow that and smash the target'. She released some mana toward them and they started working flawlessly.

It is the oddest magic system I have known.

Of course, she was the exception. No one had such powerful command over mana. Normal people had a hard time conveying their will to the spirits. That was why there were chants and formations. Humans invented them to advance in the magic path. They were used to self-hypnotize the caster and guide the mana.

In this world, chants and formations were built with the same concept but they were optimized toward guiding lesser spirits.

The mana carried the will and that will was absorbed by spirits. With enough purity in the will, the spirits would manifest their effect in reality.

That was also why it was hard. Humans had complicated thoughts and their will usually contained a lot of extra intentions. It was a matter of mana control to put in only the needed will. If your control over mana was weak, you need a pure will to bypass that step.

The spirits would not respond to something like 'Make fire! (I am so hungry)'. Being a mage in this world wasn't easy. The wizards in her old world just manipulated the mana by themselves.

But would a chant make the thought pure? Of course not, but it became usable. The higher a person's affinity was, the stronger the magic became. This world's path of magic made the starting mage strong but limited growth while her world's allowed the old, wrinkled, and experienced wizards to be a match for her Heavenly Kings.

The power of Elena's arrows was devastating. Both the wooden one and the spirit one. She raised her power gradually under the knights' watch.

Right at the moment, each of her shots would punch through a tree and shred it.

Elena was having a fun time shooting. She liked the sound of the air being torn apart and trembling loudly with a bang. There was a name for this thing, but she forgot it. To her, only the Heroes remembered everything with their weird words.

She increased her firing rate. Still, one arrow each time but the stream of air bolts was unceasing between shots. The knights watching had already lost count of the number a while ago, they just stood there being amazed. Her magic teacher Andre was furiously taking notes in the shade. He had made a huge fuss on the first day when he had supervised her training but quickly calmed down and had written endlessly ever since.

And her target was not the wall or the wooden pole. It was Mari, her new maid. The arrow was flying straight while the spirits made turn after turn when they missed. It was a bullet hell picture in all directions for Mari. But she blocked them all with her bare hand and a small hammer, her weapon of choice. Elena didn't understand why she picked the hammer though.

Mari was allowed to wear some basic clothes with a few pieces of leather and a big iron plate on her chest for this training session. She didn't need it so the protection was minimal. It was mostly for mobility and ease of cleaning. Those clothes weren't meant for her so they were barely fit.

Because the butler had already known about Mari's capability, she decided to make a spectacle and trained up her maid in front of everyone. This would establish Mari as a powerful combat maid and her guard.

Elena could also play around with her spells and prepare some spirit arsenal to use in the academy without worries. Magic was her thing so letting some noble brats have more spells than her was unacceptable.

But the old Elena had only learned some wind spells and a bit of earth theory. So she needed to go slowly and carefully in making up new spells. Going with [Wind Blade] as the base, she made the wind arrow but gradually changed it into a bolt. In reality, it was just a charged wind spirit flying super fast to the target. She had to limit herself to elemental spells.

Should I name this move? Magic Bolt? Wind Pellet? Death Beam? Wait, I already have a [Death Beam].

In the end, she decided not to name it. This was just her preparation to officially show her [Cyclone] spell.

Of course, she would tune it down. A full-size cyclone would cover this whole county. The wind speed would be just enough to blow away small trees, no need for it to tear flesh, these people weren't Heroes.

Elena had made countless spells since her genesis, but she forgot most of them as she didn't really use that many. It was often that she only remembered those spells after recreating them again when she needed it.

[Wind Blade], [Air Torrent], and [Vacuum] should be enough for single targets.

The old Elena only knew [Wind Blade] and [Breeze]. That would not do for her, so she replaced them with her versions.

The fire element was hard to display. She couldn't fire off a [Fireball] at Mari yet as she would burn all her clothes. Mari was just a newbie at fighting so she couldn't take care of her surroundings yet.

Elena would have to wait for when there was a monster-hunting event to show off her fire magic. Simply casting it could only gain some temporary awe from people.

Good spells in the earth element were devastating so she had to bear with the basics like [Stone Pellet].

Other large area spells would have to be held off for a while, [Cyclone] was more than enough.

Seeing as Mari was getting used to blocking and dodging projectiles, Elena gave the arrow she was holding some more mana and shot it with a deafening sound.

Mari, who was dancing in the dome of spirit bullets, snapped her head toward the arrow. It was just a split second, but thanks to her new reflex, she raised her hand in time to block the straight line to her head.

*BANG*

It was a dreadful situation. Luckily the arrow was made of cheap wood so it disintegrated upon impact. The residual energy caused a screeching wind flow that pushed everyone back.

"… S-Such power."

The knight captain… no, the former knight captain was next to Elena to guard her. He was watching and 'guiding' the young Lady as instructed by his Lord. Elena was obviously doing more than just practicing because she didn't need the training to get stronger. The showy behaviors were very effective in increasing her image. The whole mansion had already known about her 'getting stronger'.

It would only be a matter of time till she could comfortably show her might without set back.

"Lionel, what do you think about my maid? Is she good enough yet?"

"You both are fantastic! Miss Mari has such strong physics and instinct, but her martial discipline is not good. Unfortunately, there is no one proficient in hammer art in our military to teach her."

He felt Mari was so much stronger than him but he still tried his best to help improve her. In the end, they served the same master so having a strong combatant was a good thing.

Elena was just asking to let him think more about her and consequently make the other knight focus on Mari more. She had made another plan for Mari after the incident with the butler.

She would build a colosseum and host tournaments every three months. Mari would be sent there to be the unreachable champion. After observing the city a few times she noticed there were a lot of mid-tier fighters. So the other places on this continent must be similar.

Why three months? She felt yearly was too long and monthly would hurt her money. Furthermore, she missed the fight pit in her old castle.

She knew the butler would never stop watching her maids so she would make them become celebrities. And gradually having as much prestige as a noble. To the point where the notion of being an assassin was ridiculous. At least, it was what she thought. It might or might not work but it would be a fun time for her regardless. She needed her fun while building her new territory.

Well, I don't know how to make Emily famous though.

"I think I will stop for today. How about you have a few training matches with her? If she has enough battle experience she will learn on her own."

"... That's true. I guess I will be her partner for the meantime… anyone else may die."

"Hmm?"

"S-Should we start now?"

Of course, Elena had heard it. But she would pretend like she didn't. Lucky for him it wasn't a slight and she wasn't a real noble.

She gestured for him to go to Mari. A knight quickly ran up to her and took the bow and quiver from her hands.

Elena retreated to a corner of the training ground. There were big trees around so this spot was perfect for a rest. Emily had already prepared a table and chair for her. Sweets and tea were plentiful, they were all made by Emily.

She sat down and enjoyed her time. By her side, her maid, Emily, was shifting from one leg to another with her eyes closed.

It looks like she has some success in feeling mana. I had heard humans usually took months to do that. She really has potential. She looks dumb though, why?

Elena watched Emily doing her stationary dance amusedly.

But her blissful time was cut short by the appearance of someone, Finn.

He walked slowly toward her place without hesitation. She had already decided to take over his land so she didn't stand up to greet him. Politeness was at the minimum and he started to realize it too.

"Oh, your Highness. Are you here to train with the knights again?"

He was alone. His own knights were standing guard at the corridors leading to the training ground.

Two days ago, he fancied himself to do some mock battles in the name of keeping his routine. It didn't bother her as his showiness wasn't up to par to disrupt her show. Elena just stood in place and shot quiver after quiver. Every arrow imbued with [Force] was breathtakingly powerful. And that hurt the young boy's pride.

He kept coming two times a day but the show of power just kept intensifying. Unfortunately for him, Elena didn't care about his feelings at all.

She glanced at him and resumed her tea break.

"…"

He stayed silent and looked down a bit. It felt like she was bullying him. Which she was, because he was acting like everyone was beneath him. She should be the only one allowed to do that. This was her land!

"Greeting Lady Elena De Heuser."

"Well now. Why don't you join me? Emily, get a chair."

"Huh? Wha- yes sir! I mean ma'am!"

"That girl is weird."

Elena chuckled watching her maid wake up panickily and run off to get a chair somewhere. In the meanwhile, she closed her eyes and sipped her tea. It wasn't tasty but there was nothing else better in the mansion.

Finn continued to keep silent so she ignored him too. There was obviously something he wanted to say but didn’t have the courage to do it. She was thinking about other things, like, what to do in her new territory, or should she go to a few tea parties with her mother, or how to gather treasures without too much hassle, etc…

Her maid finally returned with a chair like hers. Elena noticed a few gashes on her skin.

She must have fallen again. This girl will definitely die on her first day on the battlefield.

She sighed at her clumsy maid. She was thinking of giving her a demon body like Mari too but suddenly having two powerful servants was suspicious. And the butler was too sharp to deceive when he had already remembered Emily. Killing him and taking over the house was easy but afterward would be a disaster. She would ruin her fortune in a month. The temples would be zoning on her too and that would be bad.

So for now, she just chilled and built up her army slowly, then she would try to pull the gods’ leg again. She had all the time in the world.

“My maid is improving well, don’t you agree, your Highness? If only she chose a different weapon.”

“... yes, she is.”

Mari was hammering down on Lionel’s shield like a blacksmith. They were moving agilely without any break but the former captain didn’t lose a single sweat. Mari’s swings were heavy enough to crack the ground and lifted her up but Lionel was skill enough to control the flow and redirected her attacks away from him. Elena could feel the tremor slightly from where she sat without even trying.

Sitting next to her was Finn who was also looking at the duel. He was really timid after seeing all the training they had been doing the past few days. When he sparred with the knights they always held back and let him win or draw. This was the first time he saw a serious fight between strong people. After entering the training ground and seeing the form of Mari, he lost his will to fight.

He couldn't just turn around and leave. So in the end, he decided that going to Elena's place was better. And now he was sitting awkwardly with her.

Elena only saw his actions as having some problems with her who also had many problems with others. She was fine with him staying silent but she could also extract some information from him so why not?

"Next year we will be attending the Academy. I wonder what is it like? Your Highness, do you know about it?"

Finn seemed glad to have something to talk about.

"Oh, the Royal Academy. I have been there once with my father.”

“Is that so?”

“It has the biggest library in the kingdom. Many renowned mages gathered over to the Academy to teach and do research. In our three years studying there, we will be able to choose our education. The three main areas are martial art, magic, and liberal art. Each of them has many smaller branches to choose from. The Academy also holds a lot of events for students to compete with each other.”

“Hmm, it sounds wonderful. I didn’t expect the Academy to teach martial art to nobles. What kind of martial art they are teaching?”

Elena also didn’t expect him to know so much. It looked like he was very eager to go to the Academy and gathered all sorts of information about it.

“It used to be a tradition because a thousand years ago, a prince was a companion with the hero on his quest to slay the demon lord. That prince was said to be a peerless swordsman so it became the norm for noble to practice various kinds of weapons or fighting art. Nowadays, it is a source of pride and achievement outside of court ranking for many nobles.”

“... Oh, so fascinating.”

“Yes, it is. The magic course has…”

Elena had stopped listening to his enthusiastic explanation, talking about the Academy had made him act like a real child. The appearance of a Demon Lord was unexpected. She guessed Demon Lord was the same as Demon King because her Heroes called her by those mixed words often. Some even called her Demon Queen but she thought they were just dumb because the gods were the ones that gave her the title Demon King in the first place.

But what did a ruler of demons mean to Elena? She was very unhappy about it.

But it was a thousand years ago. Is that thing still alive? Oh, what am I saying? Of course, it would still be around. Just look at me is enough.

The vitality of a Demon King was not to be underestimated at any circumstance. But she needed to prepare to deal with this new competitor. Fighting someone like her was different than fighting Heroes. There would be no weakness exploitation, no holy power, no weird power-up. It would be a straight fight between power and power.

If the past experience with the Heroes taught her something, it was that she lost a lot of her army against a handful of elite humans. She didn’t know how powerful this world version of a Demon King was but she would not give it any break.

I need to make more elites and less useless minions. Near my new castle are some cave systems. Perfect for my dark force.

Building an army was already on course but she would change the components of it. Right now she had the advantage of being unknown. The groups of opposing forces had increased by one but Elena welcomed it.

I have Gods, Heroes, Apostles, and now a Demon Lord on my waiting list. Oh well, I will wait for clues to come to me, no need to go around and search for any of them. I am a Demon King, they should come to me, not the other way around.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t searched for people before but for occasions like this, she would like to act like a real Raid Boss. The habit of letting the Heroes annihilate her minions one by one was hard to die it seemed.

There were also the Heroes. Elena was sure Heroes would appear sooner or later regardless of her identity being exposed or not because of the Demon Lord thing. It was her intuition, a special thing with demonic sense so it couldn’t be wrong about demons.

"... At least that is what I think."

What? What did you think?

Elena had completely ignored him so she didn't know what he was saying at all. But the sudden condescending tone toward her was making her curious.

"I don't know how you come to that conclusion at all."

She narrowed her eyes a bit and gave a general answer to him. That expression usually made her minions talk like their lives depended on it. It looked like it worked on him just fine.

"P-Please pardon my rudeness, milady. I didn't mean anything malicious by that. It is merely a fact that your magic is already on par with the graduated students. The magic course wouldn't be able to teach you anything of worth. So I thought it would benefit you more if you took martial art course.”

Oh, so that’s what he said. But why does he act so reserved now? Didn’t he treat me utterly like air? What the hell happened while I was spacing out?

What he said seemed logical at first but Elena saw some problems. Why would a mage need to waste their time learning martial art while they could further their magic instead? Just because Elena didn’t learn all the rules in this world didn’t mean she was dumb enough to be fooled.

Is he plotting something? What does he want? It isn’t like I would be affected but letting his plan come true still feels irritating.

“Hmm, I don’t think I’m fit for such physical work. If what you said was true then I think I will pick the liberal course. They won’t ban me from reading magic books in the library, right?”

“... Yes, all nobles have the right to use the library. Students can learn as much as they want if they are capable.”

He looked disappointed. Great.

She would like to see what his plan was but ripping it up was fine too. As she was losing interest in interacting with him, Elena called her maid to clean up the place and returned to her room. Lunch was still an hour or two away so she could enjoy some good massage quietly in her room. She was enjoying being a noblewoman to the fullest.

Seeing Elena doing things at her own pace and disregarding him, Finn felt very frustrated but couldn’t say anything.

The former knight captain, who was now breathing heavily, approaching him slowly. He was Elena’s personal guard so obviously, he was following her and only passing him by.

“Greeting, your Highness. Are you about to train with our knights again today? Please be lenient with them as they are a bit more pump-up than usual.”

Lionel bowed deeply and ran off after the back of Mari who was going ahead of him. Finn was left alone at the table. All the tea and food were cleared but the table and chairs were left alone. It wasn’t because he was sitting there that Emily didn’t return them. The truth was that she totally forgot about it. It had become a norm for her to forget this and that in her duty. Usually, this was the time when she was fired but thankfully, her job was now solid.

---

The city of Silver Pass, where the wealthy Count Heuser reigned was still peacefully doing business as usual after the slum event. The people still whisper to each other about the young Lady leading the knights raiding the slavers’ hideout.

Rumor upon rumor piled up and made a completely different story altogether. The soldiers and the knights helped to regulate the citizens but there was a limit to how much they could do.

In the end, the young Lady had become something of an iron princess that would destroy her enemy and burn their houses to the ground, a compassionate maiden who cherish her servants, an evil noblewoman who was ready to kill countless people just for fun.

People were wild and free in their own heads. But her action helped in making the territory become famous. To a trading city, it was a good thing.

But the laidback daily life filled with interesting rumors didn’t last long. A messenger from the capital along with some tattered caravans arrived at the city. Bad news was the only thing they brought with them. Bone-chilling anxiety spread through the city like waves.

Hearing there were multiple disaster-class monsters running rampage in their kingdom was like hearing the end of the world had come.

The messenger had gone to the Count’s mansion to deliver the full report. But the caravans were in the city. Merchants retold the story to many as they felt the safety of entering a city again.

After waiting for the monsters to settle their battles and leave, the people started to crawl back out of the sewer and mourn. But in the disaster, there was still something good left. There were corpses of the monstrosities, four of them. An enormous red dragon, a kraken, a giant minotaur, and a giant living armor. With the material gathered from those corpses, their kingdom would rise again in no time.

Another terrifying news was that the remaining disaster-class monsters had gone somewhere. They didn’t know where those things were and no one dared to go look for them.

Some people were intending to run from the city. Some decided to stay because there were nowhere safe when those monsters could be anywhere.

In general, the city was shaken but there wasn’t much panic.

After several days, things seemed to return to normal but another news arrived through the merchants again. Some neighboring kingdoms and the empire offered ‘help’. Their kingdom, Agava, was about to face some serious diplomatic period. War was on the horizon despite those disasters were still lurking somewhere.

The city of Silver Pass was the gateway between the Kane empire and their kingdom. Groups of mercenaries from Kane had been entering the city each day. The neighbor’s information network was way faster than their kingdom’s couriers who were very scared of encountering those monsters in the wild.

It was the tenth day since the messenger arrived that something drastic happened.

An army of undead was marching to their wall and the gate wasn’t closed. Someone had destroyed the contraption. Panic ran over the city. The whole city was in its most vulnerable time since its beginning.

Knights and soldiers lined themselves outside the gate and on the wall readying to lay down their lives for their loved ones.

Among them was a young girl with golden eyes holding a hammer. Her face hardened with focus and her hand held the lump of metal with confidence.

Unlike everyone else, she looked over the line of the undead with a silent excitement.

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End of chapter 7