I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 45: Didn’t Know! -

Of course, under normal circumstances, the best move would be to run and hit other outposts instead.

Even if it’s damaged, a command post is still a command post.

The risk is enormous.

...If it weren’t for the fact that other nobles were targeting us, I wouldn’t have even considered this.

“Wh-Why are you looking at me like that? Why are you glaring?”

“...It’s nothing.”

Those two—Elija and Cysphia—were her enemies. Even if I beat them, I couldn’t get them eliminated.

Just like with Olvesia. I couldn’t finish her either. Because I’m just «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» a butler.

If minor nobles attacked powerless Emily and butchered her, they’d be met with scorn or branded as backstabbing scum.

But if a butler, a social step below even minor nobles, defeats powerful, high-ranking nobles—

...Surprisingly, there’s no issue.

Because I’m a butler of the Seriratus Family.

It’ll all be blamed on Firnea for failing to properly discipline her servant.

—And that’s the last thing I can allow.

Which is why—even if it kills me—I can’t be the one to eliminate noble cadets.

It might actually be smarter to use our current points to bring down this command post and spend the rest of the exam on the run. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Definitely safer than getting into a fight out in the open.

“Do you have a concrete plan?”

“Yup.”

I asked without expecting anything.

“What is it?”

“The whole post is made of flammable material, right? Let’s burn it down and pick off the ones who try to run.”

I wasn’t expecting much, so I wasn’t disappointed.

“If we do that, we’ll be the first ones to die of smoke inhalation. Don’t forget we’re halfway up a mountain.”

“Hmph, do you think I’m not a mage?”

Emily scoffed and held out her palm. Bubbles of water rose and floated in the air.

“I see. How fortunate—we’re both mages.”

I snapped my fingers. For magic this minor, I didn’t even need to draw a stroke with my sword.

In an instant, the moisture she conjured evaporated, and the storage room filled with steam.

“Cough! Cough! What the hell are you doing?!”

“If even my rudimentary magic can make those droplets vanish, what makes you think they’d survive a full-on inferno inside a stone fortress? Besides, it’s not the fire that kills you—it’s the smoke.”

Emily rubbed her nose and glared at me, furious.

“Then do you have a better plan?”

“First of all, ‘let’s set it on fire’ doesn’t qualify as a plan, so calling mine ‘a better plan’ would be incorrect.”

“Are you picking a fight?!”

“Second—yes. I do have a proper plan.”

I dragged my sword across the floor of the warehouse.

As a rough map began to take shape, Emily tilted her head in confusion.

“What’s this?”

“A simplified layout of the command post.”

“...Huh? When did you even make this?”

“Outside. And while entering. I mapped out the structure as we came in.”

“That’s completely ridiculous...”

“Arin.”

I asked for confirmation.

Arin scanned the rough map carefully and then slowly nodded.

“...Yeah, most of it checks out. But here, and here, and here...”

She added several extra lines.

“There were passageways the soldiers used.”

“Thank you.”

As expected, that beast-like instinct of hers had mapped everything out even while she was fighting.

Emily tilted her head again.

“Wait, so... I’m the weird one?”

“...No, it’s this command post that’s strange.”

I swept over the map with my eyes, frowning.

“This... no matter how I look at it, it feels like it was built with invasion in mind.”

“Well, obviously. It’s a wartime facility.”

“No, I mean... something else.”

Something didn’t sit right.

It had been structured to specifically counter ‘a small enemy force breaking in and causing chaos.’

If it were for real warfare, all these flimsy little buildings wouldn’t be here. They looked like they were built just for disruption.

...If this were copied from an actual battlefield, it’d be laughably inefficient.

So was it modified afterward?

Maybe the difficulty was too low for a command post, so they ramped it up artificially?

Hmm. Something’s definitely off.

“What is it? Stop moping and just spit it out!”

“It’s nothing. We’ll attack from the front where the advance team broke through earlier.”

“With all those soldiers?”

“Yes. That’s why we’ll send a decoy team to alert the guards. Meanwhile, the rest of us will steal enemy uniforms, infiltrate from a different route, and head straight for the command tower.”

“The command tower?”

“Yes.”

I checked outside again. Soldiers were still sweeping the area around the warehouse.

If we stayed here, we’d get caught. The perimeter was closing in.

And yet, they still hadn’t searched inside.

There was only one reason for that.

“There’s someone inside that tower coordinating everything, giving commands and tracking the situation. We’ll take them down, clean up the remaining soldiers, and secure the outpost. Any questions?”

“How do we even get to the tower?”

“...”

I pointed out the most suspicious part of the layout.

“Do you see the arrangement of those unidentified buildings?”

“Those? That’s the water storage and supply depots. What’s so strange about that?”

“They look like that, yes. But I don’t think that’s what they actually are. First of all, there are over twenty water tanks scattered all over the place, instead of just one or two in a centralized area. They’re not grouped together, and they serve no clear logistical function. The supply depots are the same.”

I pointed again toward the command tower.

“I don’t know what those structures are meant to be—but thanks to them, there’s exactly one route to the tower that’s always visually obstructed. That’s the route we’ll use.”

“This sounds too much like a trap.”

“I doubt it. These are the kind of blind alleys that should never be built into a base. Even if they planned an ambush, they wouldn’t have all their troops lying in wait without line of sight.”

“Oh... then someone did mess with it. Probably Charles. He must’ve made it harder because the command post was too easy.”

“...”

Emily had come to the same conclusion I had.

Which meant I was wrong—there must be another reason.

Still, dwelling on it now would just waste time. I stood up.

“Then let’s divide roles. We need someone to rush out the front and draw their attention.”

“I’m not doing it. No way am I getting surrounded by a bunch of guys.”

“I can’t either. Even if I told you the route, I doubt either of you could memorize it well enough.”

Which left only one person.

“Emily, looks like you’ll be going.”

“...?”

“I’ll go.”

Before Emily could spit out the curse forming on her tongue, Arin stood up.

She didn’t even look fully healed, and I frowned.

“You sure you’re up for it?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

Those wide, alert eyes of hers actually made her look fine.

Though to be fair, she’d probably say the same thing even if she was about to keel over...

If she says she’ll do it, there’s not much I can do.

“...I’m counting on you.”

“Mm.”

Arin gave a faint smile.

...Not sure what’s so joyful about being given a task, but whatever.

****

Even if it had been her own idea to take the role—

Arin’s ability to sow chaos was nothing short of legendary.

“I’m right here.”

“That crazy bitch—!”

With no hesitation, she charged straight into the crowd of soldiers, grabbed one at random, and hurled him into the air.

A tall man in full armor—lifted effortlessly with one hand.

“Uwaaaah—!”

Swords, spears, arrows—she dodged all incoming attacks with strange, twisting movements—

Then swung her blade like a bat and smashed the falling soldier away like a baseball.

—BOOM!

“Gaaaargh!!”

He instantly became a projectile. Their formation shattered, and screams full of panic and rage echoed across the grounds.

“She’s—she’s a monster in human skin!”

“Crush her now!!”

Even as soldiers swarmed like ants, Arin calmly kept doing her part—and honestly, it was kind of irritating how good she was at it.

“She’s... kind of amazing...”

Even Emily couldn’t help but gape.

“Let’s move. All eyes are on Arin right now—that’s our best window to strike the command tower.”

“R-Right.”

She was doing even better than I expected. The number of enemy soldiers had thinned out considerably.

Just enough for us to grab their uniforms.

“Who’s th—!”

One down. Then two.

“Put this on.”

“Sniff sniff... Ugh, it stinks. Do I really have to?”

“...It increases our chances.”

Three down.

We donned their gear and moved forward, avoiding the command tower’s line of sight.

...I wondered if I’d misread things at first, but no—as expected, there really was a perfectly angled blind path that couldn’t be seen from the tower.

“No one’s coming this way...”

“Let’s focus. This route avoids surveillance, but it winds a bit. It’ll take longer to reach the tower.”

We moved from building to building, sometimes hiding inside barrels.

Slow and cautious.

After a while with no contact at all, Emily finally muttered in amazement.

“This is real... How the hell did you even find this path?”

“What’s strange is not finding it. The way those bizarre buildings are laid out—it felt like someone intended to create a blind spot. The fact that there’s only one such route is what’s truly suspicious.”

Still, convenient was convenient.

Emily glanced at me, then frowned.

“You’re weird.”

“What now.”

“I’ve been thinking this since earlier, but... don’t you seem a little too capable for a butler?”

“That’s sudden. If it’s a compliment, thank you.”

“...It’s not a compliment. I mean, okay, map reading I’ll give you. But war strategy? Swordsmanship? Magic? A butler doesn’t learn those things. Are you even really a butler? You’re not some knight pretending, are you?”

“Back to this again...”

I gave a tired look at the way she flinched.

“I didn’t have the luxury of staying ‘just’ a butler. To support a young lady who stood alone, I had to learn many things.”

“And... that had to be you?”

“She didn’t trust anyone but me—not at first, anyway. My role was to learn from others and then teach her.”

“So... you’re saying anything Firnea can do, you can do too?”

“If she were the kind to teach one thing and know only that one, then maybe. But she’s not. She’s the kind who learns one and masters ten. A talent truly beyond anyone else’s reach...”

I glanced at Emily and smirked.

“Unlike someone we both know.”

“...I-I’ll have you know, they used to call me a prodigy in magic.”

“A prodigy who never develops is no different from a mediocre student who just started a little early. I said this before—if my skills are enough to impress you, I suggest you refrain from picking fights with the young lady. She’s far beyond someone like me in every way.”

“Ugh...”

“There’s no need to worry. She has no hobby of trampling the already-defeated. If you just keep your head down and avoid doing anything stupid, you’ll graduate without incident.”

“...Hmph. You wouldn’t say that if you knew how much your lady hates me.”

Emily sighed as she fired back, sarcasm laced in her voice.

Hates you? Please. That level of self-importance is almost impressive.

She probably doesn’t even think about you at all.