Chapter 31

I tilted my head.

I almost repeated those words unconsciously.

“Huh? Orc bir……”

Sir Viaton hurriedly covered my mouth, condensed mana, and made small earmuffs before putting them in my ears.

It felt squishy.

“Negative energy detected. Please do not listen.”

Strangely, these earmuffs selectively beeped out only very severe swear words.

Sir Viaton frowned and said,

“Old man. Could you please watch your language in front of the young Princess?”

“Is she your Princess or my Princess? I’m not a citizen of the Empire.”

Teyselon chuckled.

He laughed so obnoxiously that Sir Viaton’s body trembled.

Wait, hold on. This is getting me a little angry.

Seeing Sir Viaton being teased made my blood boil.

“Aha, Sir Teyselon is low-class.”

“What?”

“An a*ult who swears in front of a child is low-class.”

Teyselon blinked.

He seemed to want to refute me, but he also didn’t seem very keen on seriously arguing with a child.

“But I don’t think I’m evil.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because I’ve been so happy getting here.”

Teyselon had spread a very wide barrier.

He didn’t like intruders, and even Arun, the male protagonist, got injured while trying to find Teyselon.

“If Sir Teyselon was evil, you would have tormented me.”

“Hmph, the magic barriers just malfunctioned.”

I nodded as if I understood and changed the subject.

“But, Sir Teyselon, do you really hate Sir Viaton that much?”

“Of course. I hate him very much.”

“Why?”

“He’s a human, a human intruder, a human intruder who’s a swordsman, a human intruder swordsman who also uses magic? He’s a collection of hateful conditions and the embodiment of hate.”

I tilted my head.

“Then why didn’t you leave?”

“This is my territory! Why would I leave because I’m scared of something?”

I’ve seen it all in the novel.

Teyselon actually liked Arun quite a bit.

He had even read his inner thoughts directly.

「’If I hadn’t liked you, I would have abandoned this place and left.’」

So, in fact, Teyselon didn’t hate Sir Viaton that much.

If he really hated him, Teyselon wouldn’t be here right now.

“People avoid p*op not because they’re scared, but because it’s dirty. But Sir Teyselon didn’t avoid it.”

“P, Princess, I’m not p*op.”

Sir Viaton looked a little sad, but the important thing now was to persuade Teyselon.

I lightly blinked my left eye and winked, and Sir Viaton smiled brightly again.

“I think it wouldn’t matter even if it wasn’t a person and it was p*op.”

I thought I heard something strange, but I couldn’t hear it properly because I was focused on Teyselon.

I said to Teyselon,

“But you’re still here even after seeing something more hateful than p*op. You didn’t even attack us with magic while we were coming here.”

“Hmm……”

Teyselon stroked his beard.

“So. How old are you?”

“Six years old!”

“You’re a little one who speaks very well. Come in for now. Let me hear what you have to say.”

I raised my arm first and took Sir Viaton’s hand.

I had to restrain him like this because I knew he would react strongly to words like ‘little one’.

Fortunately, Sir Viaton didn’t have a seizure.

We were able to safely enter the cabin.

✦✦✦✦✦✦

Isabel had various conversations with Teyselon.

No matter what she said, Teyselon’s words always ended up with ‘I hate humans’.

Teyselon was a passionate animal lover.

He repeated several times that humans are worse than animals and that animals are much more lovable.

It was still the same now.

“I’m telling you, I hate humans.”

“Then why did you work so hard on the alternating current research?”

“What’s wrong with a mage researching magic?”

Isabel knew very well why Teyselon was expelled from the Magic Federation and why he came to hate humans.

“Weren’t you actually trying to help people?”

“Has the child caught altitude sickness? What nonsense are you talking about?”

Isabel quickly reached her hand under the table and placed it on Viaton’s knee.

Isabel had already noticed that Viaton’s patience was reaching its limit.

She was afraid that Viaton would pour the hot tea on Teyselon or swing his sword.

“I was very curious as to why such a smart mage like Sir Teyselon was expelled.”

Teyselon picked his nose with his index finger, as if he wasn’t interested.

“Maybe I thought it was because there are too many bad adults in the world.”

“……”

The finger that was picking his nose stopped.

Teyselon’s eyebrows twitched.

“What are you babbling about, knowing so much?”

“Sir Teyselon’s research was research that could help many people.”

It helps everyone to easily enjoy the civilization of magic engineering at a lower cost.

It allows many people to enjoy what only the privileged can enjoy now.

It’s the theory that forms the basis for that.

“Bad adults don’t share what they have in their hands.”

Magic is a privilege.

A precious right that only the privileged can enjoy.

Teyselon wanted to share that right with everyone.

“That’s why I think the adults didn’t like Sir Teyselon’s research.”

That was the reason why Teyselon was expelled from the Mirotel Magic Federation.

Actually, Teyselon liked people.

Teyselon had a dream when he was young.

He wanted to benefit people and make them happy.

“That’s why they expelled Sir Teyselon and ostracized him.”

Until then, Teyselon didn’t hate people.

Even though he was expelled from the Magic Tower, he wanted to live as a mage for the people.

However, it was the ordinary people who pushed Teyselon, who was expelled from the Magic Tower.

「Because of you, the dispatch of mages was rejected!」

「You’re a lousy mage.」

People didn’t trust Teyselon, the mage who was expelled from the authoritative Magic Tower.

Rather, they dragged Teyselon down further.

No one recognized his sincerity, and he was subjected to violence and threats every day.

The dream of his younger days to become a mage for ordinary people was shattered like that.

“I don’t think Sir Teyselon is bad. I think Sir Teyselon was right.”

Teyselon, who was listening to Isabel’s words silently, turned his head away with a snort.

“It’s all pointless talk. It’s already in the past.”

“Sir Teyselon is actually a good person.”

Teyselon looked at Viaton in disbelief.

“What is she talking about?”

“She’s saying you’re a good person.”

“Is it possible to see me that way?”

“Nothing is impossible for the Princess. The Princess is the embodiment of possibility.”

Actually, Viaton didn’t understand it well either.

He just thought, maybe what I can’t see, the Princess can see, and moved on.

Teyselon shook his head.

Even he himself thought that he could never look like a good person.

“What do you see in me that makes you call me a good person?”

“You just seem like a good person.”

“Heh, there’s no logic, no context, you’re acting like a child.”

“I am a child.”

Isabel held up six fingers.

“I’m six years old.”

“……”

“Six years old is a child.”

Teyselon lost his words for a moment.

It was because Isabel’s words were absolutely true.

‘Hah. How can a six-year-old be so mature?’

He had forgotten that Isabel was six years old throughout the conversation.

Of course, she looked about ten years old on the outside, but in any case, the time Isabel had lived was only six years.

“I wish Sir Teyselon would be a good a*ult.”

“Little one. The world doesn’t want good adults. It likes adults who are rich and strong.”

“I like good adults.”

Isabel pointed at Viaton with her finger.

“That’s why I really like Sir Viaton.”

She moved her finger and pointed at Teyselon.

“I’ll like Sir Teyselon too.”

“……”

Viaton slowly sipped his tea.

The tea felt particularly fragrant today.

“And I’m the Princess of Bilotian. I can help Sir Teyselon.”

Isabel didn’t just appeal to emotions.

She needed a strong motive to move Teyselon.

She rolled up her sleeve.

The hourglass-shaped mark was visible.

“The Mark of Narvidal?”

“I’m not just a Princess, I’m a Princess who’s in a great hurry.”

“……”

“So I can fully support Sir Teyselon.”

A person in a hurry.

A desperate person moves quickly.

“I’m in such a hurry that every day is precious. I don’t have as much time as other people. I really need a good a*ult.”

“……Why do you say you need a good a*ult so much?”

Arun in the novel had said this when persuading Teyselon.

「Because I dream of a slightly more just world.」

Isabel said,

“Because I dream of a slightly more precious world.”

“……So why?”

“Because the world gave me the gift of 21 years.”

“……”

“So I want to give back to the world.”

She meant it.

That was the reason Isabel could live happily.

Isabel drove the point home.

“You know, there’s a honey badger in the Imperial Palace who gets along really well with me.”

The eyes of the animal lover Teyselon began to waver.

“It has very soft fur.”

Every time she spoke, Teyselon’s body flinched.

“It smells like honey.”

“……”

“It’s very cute.”

He gulped.

“It’s very brave.”

He couldn’t hold back any longer and reacted out loud.

“B, Brave?”

“It’s also really, really good at sledding.”

“A, Are you saying it sleds? A honey badger?”

Teyselon, half out of his mind at the thought of a honey badger sledding and talking, gulped.

He began to ask very serious questions in his own way.