Became a Medieval Fantasy Wizard

Chapter 257

TL/Editor: raei

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: none

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"I have committed a grave sin, Your Highness!"

"Please punish us!"

"..."

Elia stared blankly at her self-proclaimed followers who knelt before her.

The day after Elia was attacked by the black wizard, her followers came to her sickroom, dropping to their knees and bowing deeply.

"Keep quiet in the temple! What kind of disgraceful behavior is this from people who should know better!" the priest scolded the followers.

The followers apologizing with bowed heads, the priest rebuking them...

To Elia, it all felt like one enormous act.

'What are these people even doing?'

Elia Shakraine Hastria was born into the House of Hastria.

Shortly after her birth, her father became a candidate for Emperor and was elected ruler of the Holy Empire.

Elia became an Imperial Princess while learning to walk, and grew up under Duke Hastria's tutelage in place of her busy father.

Wherever she went, people bowed their heads.

Daughter of the Holy Empire's Emperor. Member of the great House of Hastria.

Without any effort on her part, she became the most noble lady in the Holy Empire.

'I wanted to become someone better.'

For most people, such status would have been more than enough.

But Elia wanted to increase her own worth even further.

Like her respected father. Like Duke Hastria who raised her as his own daughter, she wanted to become a great ruler.

But her hands were empty.

Had she been born male, she could have taken up arms and gone to war, but she was female.

She had neither innate talent for swordsmanship nor exceptional academic abilities.

Her only notable trait was her radiant beauty.

'...Still, I won't give up.'

Though she could become a joint ruler through marriage, that was a last resort.

She wanted to gather her own followers and carve out her own kingdom.

Elia enrolled at Imperial University where young talent gathered, and there she found many followers.

She seemed to have gained power, and her influence at Imperial University was indeed strong.

Everyone acknowledged her as the core of the noble faction, and countless talented individuals would seek her out after graduation...

Or so she had thought.

'Talented? Talented, really?'

Elia looked once more at her kneeling followers.

They were completely out of control.

Some idiots got expelled for trying to mess with Ian, others constantly fought among themselves, and some even got themselves killed going to 'protest' to the black wizard Pals.

No, even Pals himself turned out to be a black wizard disguised as her follower...

Did she truly have any real followers at all?

Elia wondered.

Were they really concerned about her wellbeing?

Or were they just worried about their own futures being ruined?

She hoped it was the former.

Really. She sincerely hoped there were some among them who genuinely cared about her and were prepared to move forward with her into the future.

...But Elia knew that was just wishful thinking.

What they wanted was only the value of her name.

They were merely drawn to the titles of Emperor's daughter and Hastria family member, rushing to make connections.

'What... have I been doing all this time?'

Elia knew the answer.

It was all just 'role-playing.'

And now the game was over.

Like some forgotten king once said, it was time to go home.

"Leave."

"But, Your Highness!"

Elia returned to her sickroom and closed the door.

A deep exhaustion washed over her.

#

Meeting Ian during her walk was pure coincidence.

She'd planned to help since he seemed troubled, then leave.

But she ended up getting caught.

"Are you perhaps busy?"

"No. Just taking a walk."

"Then come walk with me."

"..."

"How was it? Fun, right?"

"Huff... ugh...! My heart... feels like it's going to burst...!"

After landing softly on the ground, Ian checked on Elia's condition.

Her face was bright red and her arms were still tightly wrapped around Ian's waist, refusing to let go.

'Well, she's not dead so... probably fine?'

No problems here.

"Shall we go up again?"

"What? WHAT?! Wait, let me rest a bit...! Kyaaaaaaah!"

Ian grabbed Elia again and flew back up to the tower top.

"Fun, right?"

Elia started to say it wasn't fun but stopped herself.

She was worried Ian would just throw her off the tower again...

"It's fun... it's fun so...! Please, stop!"

"Then one more time?"

"...Please, have mercy..."

Elia whimpered weakly, her limbs feeling like jelly.

She truly felt like her whole body would melt from shock.

"I was wondering which novice air wizard was invoking the mysteries. So it was you, Ian?"

"Oh. Master. Are you teaching?"

Eredith and Ian spotted each other and burst out laughing.

Though Eredith was famous as a fire wizard, she was also skilled with air magic and other types.

After all, she was the one who had introduced Ian to all kinds of magic.

"Ah, hello Professor Eredith."

"Hello? Elia? You came with Ian?"

Eredith looked back and forth between Ian and Elia before nodding in understanding.

Ah, young love!

"Class hasn't started yet so you can sit there if you'd like."

"Ah. We'll head down in a bit..."

"When class starts, you two can listen and go down together!"

"..."

Ah.

Ian scratched his head. Suddenly he had an extra lecture to attend...

Ian and Elia sat side by side on the tower edge, enjoying the cool view.

Below the tower lay Imperial University and the town.

Further down stretched mountain ranges and rivers cutting across vast plains.

A perfectly peaceful and beautiful medieval landscape.

Ian and Elia silently admired the view for a while.

Ian spoke first.

"Have you forgotten your worries a bit?"

"...What?"

Elia turned to Ian in shock.

Ian was right.

She'd been so busy screaming that she'd completely forgotten all her gloomy thoughts.

And... one thought occurred to her.

Then did that mean.

Ian had deliberately brought her to the air wizards' tower... for her sake?

"I never said I had any worries."

"Well, it was written all over your face."

Ian said while slowly swinging his legs.

"Want me to be honest? Your expression earlier - you looked just like a student about to drop out and go back home."

"..."

At Ian's words, Elia gripped her skirt tightly.

She couldn't deny it because it was too accurate.

"I understand. With a black wizard assassin running around, of course you'd want to go-"

"No. That's not it."

Ian looked at Elia.

Their eyes met.

"Then what is it?"

'Should I tell him.'

Elia hesitated. After resolving to pull Ian to her side, now she was showing him this weak side of herself...

But Elia found herself speaking anyway.

Because she knew that pretending to be strong wouldn't change anything.

"...I was just feeling down. I realized that I'm actually... nothing at all."

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