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AFTER defeating the assassins, Vi headed to Cassandra’s quarters to make a report. Inside, Frau’s son Arthur and Carmilla’s son Leon were sleeping soundly in a big bed. Both Frau and Carmilla had placed their children in Cassandra’s care, seeing as that was the safest place in the world for them to be. But as for Cassandra herself, her daughter Hilda was wide awake, even though it was the middle of the night, trying to wriggle out of her mother’s arms.
“Don’t you think you were a bit slow?” Cassandra asked. Vi’s body twitched in response.
“M-My deepest apologies!” she said, kneeling as she begged for forgiveness. It was hard to believe this was the same woman who had effortlessly crushed a gang of assassins only moments earlier.
“You took your time, and now she’s awake.” Cassandra lowered her gaze to her daughter in her arms. “Compared to her, Arthur and Leon have fantastic self-control. They can sleep peacefully because they don’t see those petty intruders as a significant threat. But Hilda thought someone was coming to play with her, so she woke up. And after all you did to put her to sleep.”
Vi’s feelings turned fatalistic. She had to put Hilda to bed again. If she had known that she was about to have to look after this inhuman toddler, she would much rather have continued to fight the assassins.
“C’mon, Hilda. You can go to Vi now,” Cassandra said, releasing her daughter.
Hilda began to crawl forward at an intense speed. Vi squatted down, stabilizing her stance, sweat beading on her forehead. She hadn’t been this tense at any point during the earlier fight.
With a thud, Vi caught Hilda, sliding backward as she did.
She’s so heavy, Vi thought.
Feeling a dull pain, she tried to carry Hilda in her arms, but the red-haired toddler resisted her, all while cackling as if to say, “You were just playing earlier, weren’t you? Play with me now!”
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“Hm, it looks like she’s excited by the scent of blood on you,” Cassandra muttered with great interest as she watched the two of them.
The comment made Vi shiver. Is Hilda a carnivorous beast or something? Am I going to end up as her prey someday? The baby was just that powerful.
When Vi had first begun working for Cassandra, she had considered Hilda to be somewhat tough for a baby, but the girl had grown in strength by the day, and now she almost constantly pushed Vi to her limits.
Hilda’s existence made Vi recall a certain story that was passed around among assassins, about making children with the potential to become assassins jump over a fast-growing tree every day. It was said that by putting them through this training, their jumping strength would grow along with the tree, and in the end, they would be able to clear even large trees. Of course, the story wasn’t meant to be taken literally, and no such training actually existed. People had certain, unchanging limits, and it was impossible for anyone to grow at the same pace as a tree. But Hilda was like a tree—a tree that exhibited explosively fast growth.
I can’t jump any higher than this, Vi thought. She had felt this nearly every day lately. However, there was no way that sort of complaining would be tolerated. She was Cassandra’s one and only personal maid. If she even so much as considered running away, that crazy-perceptive Swordmaster would no doubt sense it. And on top of that, this Swordmaster and her daughter had apparently taken a liking to her.
As these thoughts went through Vi’s mind, Hilda clung tightly to her. Vi smiled kindly. The girl behaved no differently from any ordinary toddler. Vi didn’t dislike her, not at all. And she really was adorable—on the outside.
The cute child sweetly extended a hand to touch Vi’s forehead. But she did it so quickly that Vi couldn’t follow the motion with her eyes. The toddler’s fierce blow knocked Vi’s head sideways, and for a second, she almost lost consciousness.
Those assassins must’ve been after Lady Hilda, but what were they planning to do with this monster of a child? Vi couldn’t help but feel pity for her former colleagues who had broken into the castle. They had been doomed to fail from the start.
Ever since losing to Carmilla, the Blue Knights had apparently devoted themselves to training in the same style as the Hundred, and they had become quite skilled. They were much stronger than a newcomer like Vi. The only reason they had let the assassins into the inner chambers was to give her some real combat training; the assassins themselves had merely been unwitting pawns.
Even if Vi and the Blue Knights hadn’t been there, though, Cassandra would’ve been waiting for them, and undoubtedly would’ve wiped them all out the moment they stepped foot in the room. And even if Cassandra hadn’t been there, King Mars’s children were strong enough to protect themselves. Their parents seemed to still think of them as small, weak children, but that was far from true. Arthur could already use magic, and Leon could fire off a technique resembling Sonic Blade by swinging a stick. Their parents’ frame of reference was the Hundred, so their standards were off; in reality, the kids were stronger than most warriors.
The more Vi had learned of Farune, the more she had come to believe that it lacked any weaknesses. At times, countries lost stability because of political or economic blunders, or sometimes collapsed due to military coups. There were even examples of extraordinarily beautiful women bringing about a country’s downfall. However, while Farune appeared to be a constitutional state thanks to Gamarath’s administration, in actuality it was no less than a pack of wild beasts ruled over by one powerful individual. Political and economic stability were essentially irrelevant, and because it was ruled by force, there was no way a coup could occur.
Farune’s princess consorts were all women who could easily have brought down governments—by means of physical strength, that is. As a matter of fact, Carmilla had usurped Dorssen, Frau had conquered the Magedom of Kiel, and Sheila was reported to be in the middle of taking over Vulcan. It was no joke. If any woman did try to gain power using nothing but seduction, Farune’s terrifying princesses would probably have instantly crushed her into a fine paste. One just couldn’t make it in Farune without strength.
Somehow managing to clear her mind, Vi focused everything she had on managing Hilda as she tried to play. If Vi let herself relax, she could very well pass out like she had almost done earlier. If she was really unlucky, her life could be at risk. Taking care of a child like this every day toughened her up, whether she wanted it to or not.
Vi keenly felt herself being tainted by Farune.