Chapter 40: Side Story – Bitter Nightmare

Irisdina had turned sixteen.

A year ago she was officially classified as an adult.

Her father had died of alcohol drowning.

She was organizing her bags.

Four years ago a man in a suit had come to her house. She was a little frightened, but it seems the man had come to imprison the feudal lord of these lands for various crimes.

He had caught him in carnal acts with the wives of his vassals.

Immediately both the chief and his heir were executed.

The man had heard rumors about a commoner possessing magical power.

She showed him in a wound that was made what she could do.

The man marveled at what he saw. He thought it was water magic as it is normally used to treat wounds and hastens the cellular acceleration of wounds.

Since he didn't know what it was, he also handed him a letter that said he could enroll in the Royal Academy in the capital of his country, the Kingdom of Altfode.

He also gave her things like children's books to learn to read and write.

And, as a gift to the village he left an instructor in education and manners in the village.

It was there that Irisdina learned of rare words she had never heard before, such as calling a person "san" respectfully.

Irisdina had spent four years of her life learning.

From then on every day she wanted to know more about the world and her surroundings.

A boat had come to pick up people going to the capital.

She was really happy.

Her face showed such a pure and beautiful smile that dazzled everyone around her.

Her short hair had been styled by the instructor who had been living in the village for four years. She didn't know that this style was called a bob cut.

The ship had finally arrived and she prepared herself for what the future held.

◇◇◇

Suddenly Airi woke up.

She was sleeping on a bench at school.

(When was it that I fell asleep???).

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She had her head in the clouds a bit as she didn't remember what happened.

When she turned her head to one side there was nothing but people, students carrying boards, paint, among other things.

And when she turned to the other side.

(Rudel-san?!?)

She found a Rudel reading a book on how to improve tea and cookies.

After hearing his voice, Rudel's serious face changed to a smile and he replied.

"Good morning. I can tell you've been very tired lately."

"Huh?"

"For some reason I found you sleeping here. And you looked so vulnerable so I decided to protect you by keeping some weirdo from getting close to you."

"Did you..."

"Oh, sorry, don't worry, I would never lay a hand on you even though I'm a simple country baron, you can rest easy!"

Airi was a little terrified when she heard that she fell asleep, then a little anxious when Rudel said he was taking care of her. And now, for some reason she was a little annoyed by that in between.

But, still. She was happy.

There were sounds of hammering and people shouting.

"Get that up here!"

"We need to set up a candy stand by the end of the week."

"I heard some girls were doing a servants-only cafe."

Despite all the hustle and bustle. Rudel never turned around as he was only interested in Airi's well-being.

He asked, "Did you have a bad dream? Sometimes you made a bad face."

And Airi answered with a smile "I'm sure it was just stress from the exams. Let's go look for Alisa, she must be hiding from her pursuers."

The two headed off to look for their friend.

Airi smiled as she walked along with her first friend Rudel, looking for her first friend Alisa.

She for the first time felt an inexplicable happiness.

Pitifully before long, she would go through that nightmare again.