Noble Lady Reformation Guide - Chapter 157: The Master of My Master (2)

“Having spent so many years as a mercenary, she surely likes strong liquor. And after living for so long in a place like Count Elvester’s house, she probably hasn’t had many opportunities to drink as much as she liked either. It would be best to prepare good-quality alcohol and top-grade meat.”

“The wines of our Ravencrow territory are famous for being among the best in the entire southwest of the continent. If we announce that a distinguished guest highly valued by the baron is arriving, the people of the territory will not hesitate to bring out the finest bottles they have stored in their cellars.”

“Wine is fine, but prepare rum or other stronger distilled spirits as well. And she’s not someone who feels comfortable with overly ostentatious receptions; good food and good liquor will be more than enough.”

Dereck maintained his usual expression, dry and restrained, but his slightly quicker pace and somewhat raised tone made it clear that he was in a good mood.

The experienced butler Delbriton caught that subtle change immediately.

Seeing his lord like that, he himself felt somewhat encouraged.

“However, given the nature of the visit, it’s possible that she may come accompanied by a young lady of the house of Count Elvester…”

“Hmm, then things change a bit. If a young lady of the Elvester family, the greatest power of the eastern continent, visits us, serving only strong liquor and good food might not be an appropriate reception.”

If Katia, of fallen noble origin, came alone, frank mercenary-style hospitality would be enough for her to have a good time.

But if she came accompanied by a powerful young lady, the situation was different.

The servants would have to move more carefully and offer treatment befitting her authority.

“Hmm…”

In the letter Katia had sent, there was no mention of that.

However, the tone was clearly that of an inspection related to magical education, and it would be strange for her not to bring her disciple with her. Either she would not bring her, or if she did, she would likely try to conceal it.

“She must have thought that if the visit were official on behalf of House Elvester, it would be too great a burden for me.”

Dereck’s assumption was accurate.

Even though it had been a long time since they last met, he knew Katia’s personality better than anyone.

“If she didn’t give advance notice, it doesn’t seem like something we need to worry about too much, but just in case she comes with a young lady, it’s best to be prepared.”

“That is a very sensible order. I will inform the head maid.”

“Good. If there’s anything that needs special approval, come inform me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dereck waved his hand to dismiss Delbriton and headed to his study.

It was his way of saying that, from that point on, everything was in his hands.

Delbriton bowed his head with a satisfied smile.

‘If she’s coming through the center, taking the main route through Count Renouel’s territory and the Duchy of Beltus, how many days will it take? Given the distance, she’ll surely arrive after a few festive days have passed.’

The fact that he was already calculating Katia’s arrival date showed that he himself was aware of how much he was anticipating her visit.

“You’ve got a grin from ear to ear.”

“…?”

Dereck rarely expressed his emotions, but to Fina’s eyes, he looked as if he were smiling shamelessly, which made her frown in irritation.

She had stayed in the Ravencrow territory under the pretext of conducting magical training, but in reality she was the one supervising Dereck’s magic.

Two seasons had already passed since they formally established a master–disciple relationship, enough time to grow fond of each other, but lately, seeing him like this, Fina couldn’t help feeling irritated.

“I don’t know how extraordinary that Katia person might be, but even with this lady right in front of you, who supervises 4-star magic, you’re still thinking about another master and smiling like an idiot—frankly, it hurts my pride. You know better than anyone how valuable I am.”

“…”

“And I don’t like that indifferent look either, as if you were thinking about another bothersome woman. Honestly, men always have their eyes wandering everywhere. It’s not worth getting attached to you. Not worth it.”

Fina, sprawled unwillingly on the sofa in the study while nibbling on a montblanc, sighed over and over again.

“I was the one who helped you reach the 4-star rank, and also the one who helped polish that magic. Of course, I know that Katia did many things for you as a teacher, but if we’re talking about who contributed more to you reaching where you are now, that would be me.”

“That is absolutely true. I am always grateful for it.”

“You speak with an irritating eloquence. I know well that you’ve had several good teachers, but when someone asks you whose disciple you are, the correct thing is to say that you are Fina’s disciple. That is what’s appropriate. Don’t forget that identity, understood?”

Although she spoke as if she didn’t want her disciple to be taken by another, the truth was that Katia had been his teacher before Fina.

Even so, Fina puffed out her cheeks and continued eating the financiers the maid had baked, clearly jealous that her beloved disciple was thinking of another teacher.

“Anyway, you were destined to reach 3 or 4 stars. You were the type who absorbed knowledge and learned magic even from beggars on the street, so it doesn’t matter much whom you took as a teacher along the way. What matters is who helped you reach the highest level, understand?”

“Of course.”

“Ugh. Even though you give me the answer I want, I’m still annoyed! There’s no sincerity in your words! No sincerity at all!”

Fina sprang up from the sofa, planted her hands on her hips, and cleared her throat dramatically.

“I’m leaving the house!”

“…?”

“What’s the point of teaching someone who doesn’t recognize my worth? Go learn magic from that Katia person or from coffee or whatever! I’ll go back to Tigris territory to rest!”

“…Did a message from your family already reach you telling you it was time to show yourself?”

“…As perceptive as ever.”

Fina narrowed her eyes and sighed in boredom.

Although she had spent quite some time in the Ravencrow territory, in the end she was still a young lady of Baron Tigris’s house.

She had chosen that territory as her home in this life, but that didn’t mean she was particularly attached to her family.

Even so, she couldn’t completely ignore the main house.

No matter how comfortable her stay at Baron Ravencrow’s mansion was, it was inevitable that she would have to show herself before her family from time to time.

Fina dropped back onto the sofa, swinging her legs as she spoke.

“It’s time for me to present myself once more at the main house, and also to start wrapping up my personal research.”

“…”

“Yes. I think I’ll be able to do something interesting with the corpse Happy picked up last time. I feel like I’m quite close to fulfilling an old longing.”

Advanced corpse resurrection.

She had made considerable progress toward that forbidden domain she would use to revive the 6-star mage Kalimpord.

Fina adopted a distant expression, rested her chin on one hand, and smiled wryly.

“Rest isn’t that far away. It’s been quite an ephemeral life.”

“…”

“Oh, how curious. When I complained so much you didn’t pay attention, but now that I talk about this, you put on such a serious look. Really, men never react the way one wants.”

Despite her youthful appearance, one should not be deceived.

The woman smiling with her chin propped up, possessing a seductive charm, was a traveler who had wandered through countless cycles of reincarnation.

She was expressive and always seemed relaxed, but if one looked carefully into her eyes, what could be seen was weariness and skepticism toward life.

She might believe she hid it well, but Dereck had noticed it long ago.

‘I see another winter.’

The memory of the day of the first snowfall, when she stood dazed, staring at the sky before an enormous window several times larger than her own body.

Every time she showed that contemplative air before the passage of time, Dereck felt it clearly.

She wished to leave the world.

Because an endless life was not a blessing, but something closer to a curse.

“In any case, I’ll tell you in advance—if one day I leave this world, keep considering yourself my disciple.”

Fina stood up and adjusted her clothes.

It seemed she was already determined to return to the main house of Tigris.

“Leaving at least some proof that I existed in this world wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Master.”

Dereck set aside the pen on the desk and looked at her.

“Will we see each other again?”

Fina opened the door to the study and, before leaving, turned to smile at him.

“Maybe.”

After leaving those words laden with meaning, Fina began preparations to depart for Tigris territory.

As far as Dereck knew, Fina would complete the advanced corpse resurrection.

And even so, she would not attain the rest she so greatly desired.

Eventually, she would attempt to devour Tigris territory and carry out something, only to be defeated by Melverot and imprisoned in the underground chambers of the palace of Gremfort.

He didn’t know when it would happen.

But he had the feeling that it wouldn’t be long.

Even so, Dereck could do nothing about it.

He understood all too well the weight of the desire that Fina carried in her heart.

Her longing was not something others could lightly judge as right or wrong.

One could not control a 6-star necromancer mage at will.

That was why the only thing Dereck could do was silently acknowledge the path she had chosen.

That was the greatest respect he could offer her.

***

Trisha was dead.

At least, that was how she felt.

When she received the baron Ravenclaw’s classes for the first time, she entered the baron’s mansion with a heart full of expectations, but the method was very different from what she had imagined.

Instead of the refined instruction she expected, Dereck spoke directly the moment Trisha entered the training pavilion.

“The first thing you must focus on is physical endurance.”

“Eh…?”

“It doesn’t matter what you try to learn. If you don’t have the body to endure it, you won’t learn anything. Physical endurance is one of the requirements I value the most.”

The elegant magic lessons she had imagined while lying on the ceiling of Count Renuel’s palace—following magical resonance, reproducing the forms of the different elements—flashed fleetingly through her mind.

But as soon as she arrived at the baron’s mansion, the first thing she did was change into comfortable clothes prepared by the servants.

The hell that followed was something she preferred not to remember.

“Come on! Hup-hup-ho! Hup-hup-ho! Hup-hup-ho! Steady breathing helps maintain movement in the long run!”

“Hup… hup… kuh-hok…!”

Running through the garden, push-ups, sit-ups, climbing stairs, jumping jacks.

‘This… is this really a magic class? Haa… haa…’

Without really knowing how, she kept up the pace until, before she realized it, she could no longer apply any strength to her arms or thighs.

It wasn’t just one day.

Trisha spent the entire three days of the holiday doing maneuver training—no, physical endurance training—and only then was she able to return to the main house.

On the night of the third day, feeling the muscle pain coursing through her entire body, Trisha understood.

“So that’s why all of Dereck’s disciples have those well-shaped bodies…”

“Oh. Miss Trisha, it seems you were taking lessons during this holiday.”

“Miss Ellen… ah… good afternoon. Have you been well…?”

On that last day, seeing Trisha half-dead walking toward the carriage, Ellen began to sweat and swallowed hard.

Dereck’s magic classes are absolute hell at the beginning.

As the first victim to experience that hell faster than anyone else, Ellen watched her silently with a look of pure compassion.

It was a kind of hell that only those who had suffered it could understand.

One that had never been experienced before.

For a young noble lady raised like a greenhouse flower, it was a trial far too cruel.

Of course, Trisha had a tenacity that even made Diella and Ellen click their tongues. She wouldn’t give up here.

Precisely because of that, Ellen couldn’t help but feel moved.

“Miss Trisha, when you feel that life is full of trials, always remember the achievements you have attained so far. Even if the storms seem unfair, if you endure, you will surely find meaning.”

“Why… does everyone talk to me with such poetic expressions every time they see me…?”

“That’s not it. If you need help with anything, don’t hesitate to tell me…”

The goodwill of Ellen, the true power figure of Belmierd, was worth more than a thousand gold pieces to the ladies of high society.

Even for Trisha, brimming with vanity and pride, it should have carried great meaning, but for some reason, that day Ellen’s kindness felt strangely melancholic to her.

It was a complex feeling.

Clatter, clatter.

Inside the carriage carrying her back to Renuel territory after three days, Trisha groaned in pain for that very reason.

Feeling the coachman’s worried gaze, her eyes grew moist.

She wanted to scream at this suffering so different from what she had imagined, but even so, it hadn’t been in vain.

‘Still, I can tell that the gaze of the nobles of Rose Hall toward me has changed, heh hehehe…’

Human nature does not change so easily.

As expected, ever since she became an official disciple of Baron Ravenclaw, the attitude of the other ladies had changed.

“Hello.”

Siern, walking through the noble district with her usual aloof, world-indifferent air, greeted her in passing.

“Your injuries look better already.”

Diella, who always looked as if she wanted to devour anyone, examined her wounds with an indifferent expression.

To a layperson, it would have seemed like cold treatment, but considering her usual disposition, it was hard to believe.

Even the other nobles of the Elfontaine Pavilion opened their eyes wide upon seeing it.

It was inevitable that Trisha’s momentum would soar.

“Ufufu… kuh-hut…”

Just moments ago she had been writhing in pain from sore muscles, but now she was letting out that unpleasant laugh again.

She cried, then laughed—the coachman broke out in a cold sweat at that incomprehensible behavior.

‘Ufufu… yes… what does it matter to suffer a little…? I’m interacting directly with the ladies of the Ravenclaw faction, and my influence in society is visibly increasing. I am Trisha of the Renuel family. I’m finally starting to have the dignity that befits me.’

‘Ufuf… hehehe… yes, this is it. This is what’s good about living. This is life.’

The self-esteem that was about to hit rock bottom raised its head once more.

Laughing loudly, as if the entire world belonged to her.

Trisha of the Renuel family.

At last, she was beginning to receive respect befitting her position.

Intoxicated by that euphoria, her laughter grew louder and louder.

‘Why should I shrink back? Someone like me can boast as much as she wants! Of course…!’

Clonk!

At that very moment, when Trisha’s arrogant nature fully revived, the carriage jolted and came to an abrupt stop.

“What’s going on?”

Startled, the coachman opened the front window and replied at once.

“I’m sorry, Miss Trisha. We’ve entered Renuel territory, but there’s congestion at the main gate, so we stopped for a moment.”

“At the gate?”

Trisha pursed her lips.

Having entered Renuel territory meant that from there on, everything was entirely her domain.

As was only natural, the inhabitants of Count Renuel’s territory swallowed hard and lowered their heads as soon as they saw Trisha.

As the daughter of Countess Rodelia, no one dared treat her lightly, and that made her pride soar to the heavens.

This was, without a doubt, her true territory.

“It seems someone is arguing with the gate guards.”

“Haa… I’m already exhausted, and on top of that they block my way back and waste my time. Let’s see what kind of face they have.”

At the clearly villainous expression that appeared on Trisha’s face, the coachman shrank back in fear.

In Count Renuel’s territory, there was no one capable of stopping an enraged Trisha.

She herself knew it well, and with her face flushed with anger, she looked out the window.

At a glance, the carriage in front of them was old and miserable.

The person speaking with the guards on behalf of the passengers looked like a ragged mercenary.

She was a woman of some age.

But her status was clearly low.

Although she was dressed practically for long travel, true nobles always went lavishly attired no matter where they went.

‘What is that vulgar woman? I’m already exhausted, and she’s blocking the road on top of that…’

Filled with venom, Trisha spoke while holding her breath.

“I’ll check it myself.”

“A-ah… if you go out, the guards will be surprised…”

“It doesn’t matter. If something annoys me, I push it aside.”

Trisha raised her chin arrogantly and flung open the carriage door.

The coachman swallowed again, his gaze tense.

Having had her self-esteem trampled to the ground while running around with the Ravenclaw family, exhausted to the limit.

At least in her own territory, she thought she should raise her head and spread her pride, so she walked toward the gate with firm steps.

‘Even seeing it again, that carriage is miserable. It surely only carries cheap luggage inside.’

Casting a sidelong glance, Trisha held the hem of her dress and advanced.

“What is going on here?”

“Please wait behind—Ah…! M-Miss Trisha! H-how is it that you have come all the way to this outer area…?”

“That’s enough. My path is urgent. Who dares to block it like this?”

At Trisha’s irritated voice, an elderly woman in a cloak stepped forward.

At first glance, she still looked like a poor mercenary, but the intelligent gaze filtering out from beneath the hood was quite striking.

With a youthful face for her age, an upright posture, and clear eyes, though she had long passed the age of being an active mercenary, she exuded a palpable vitality.

“I apologize for the inconvenience. Please accept my apologies.”

“Ha…”

Trisha laughed as if she couldn’t believe it.

After so much suffering, it almost seemed like a good opportunity.

At Baron Ravenclaw’s mansion, she was always in an inferior position.

It was inevitable to want to vent at least here.

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