I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 44: Didn’t Know! -

"Wh-What the hell? What is it? At least try explaining something!"

"W-We were attacked..."

Emily flailed in panic inside the jostling carriage, completely at a loss for what to do.

Just moments ago, Arin had burst in, battered and bloodied, repeating only that they had to flee. Pressured by the urgency in her voice, Emily had ordered the coachman to drive at full speed without a second thought.

Sure, she knew this was a mana space—but Arin was in so much pain, it defied belief. As if she were a creature made of mana itself.

There wasn’t much Emily could do, but she at least pulled out a handkerchief, wiped off the blood, and helped her lie down more comfortably.

Fortunately, Arin’s breathing steadied almost instantly. That was when Emily finally fired off her barrage of questions.

"Why are we running? Who attacked you? And him? What about Virdem?"

"A woman... blue hair, wearing armor..."

"...Senfenesia? Why the hell would she attack you??"

"I don’t know."

"That—how is that even—"

The idea that someone from such a massive noble family had attacked a commoner was so absurd, Emily frowned on instinct.

‘Come to think of it, the previous Senfenesia heiress...’

She vaguely remembered hearing about her causing some incident during an exam.

It hadn’t been her problem, so she’d just brushed it off with a casual, “Huh, that’s weird.”

But if that incident was anything like this?

...Then yeah, it wouldn’t be totally out of the question for it to have come from Senfenesia.

Not that she’d ever say that out loud—but that house was basically a nest of lunatics.

And that naturally answered the second question too.

"So then, he’s out, right?"

"I didn’t see him get eliminated. He made me run... and stayed behind."

"...Then yeah, he’s out. Do you even know how strong Olvesia is?"

"No."

Arin shook her head and looked at her with unshakable certainty.

"Virdem wouldn’t die from something like that."

"..."

She said it with such confidence, it almost made you believe her.

Seeing a level of trust no one should have unless they were extremely close, Emily asked something that had bugged her since the special cadet exam.

"You—did you know Virdem from before or something?"

"I met him for the first time at the exam."

"Then why do you trust him like this? Did he give you something?"

"Yeah."

Bribed a commoner, huh?

Smart tactic. Since she’s a commoner, he wouldn’t need to pay much, and even if his reputation sucked, using someone like her behind the scenes could bring some solid gains.

Pretty damn political of him... or so she thought—until Arin gave her answer.

"A person."

"What?"

"He gave me a person."

Watching Arin's face soften, Emily finally realized what she meant—and her jaw dropped open.

‘...He slept with her?’

She’d already thought he was a lunatic when he acted up toward her despite being a butler, but she hadn’t expected this kind of lunatic. If he was going to do it, he should at least make sure it didn’t leave a trail...

"S-So... you two are dating?"

"Eh?"

Arin tilted her head and asked back.

"What’s ‘dating’?"

"Y’know—being together. Like, staying by each other’s side."

"...No."

Now looking much better, Arin sat up—and hung her head.

"Not yet. We can’t be together yet."

"What?! That’s... That’s just beastly!"

"...? Yeah. I was a beast."

"Ugh... wow..."

That was something Emily really didn’t want to know.

Face flushing with secondhand shame, she pulled herself together and began to make a plan.

Virdem was definitely eliminated.

Arin looked a bit better now, but there was no guarantee she could perform at full capacity.

Still, it wasn’t time to rest yet. They had a long way to go. Sure, she’d racked up a few points early on, but she wasn’t confident she could break into the top ten. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

At the very least, she had to keep her own head on straight and take care of what needed doing.

"First... the map..."

Arin opened the map and quickly fell into a fog of confusion.

"...How do you read this again?"

For starters, it was way too big.

The huge layout was crammed full of symbols and lines, clearly made to shove in as much information as possible rather than be readable.

She had learned some basic orienteering, but this went way beyond that.

Most critically, she had no idea where they were.

‘Wait... how the hell did he know his position without even a compass?’

What, was he born with a living compass in his brain?

Muttering in frustration, Emily folded the map back up and decided on a new plan.

"I guess I’ll just move forward and smash everything I see."

...Which was basically not a plan at all.

****

I was following the carriage tracks, growing more and more irritated.

"Seriously, where the hell did she go...?"

There’s no way she doesn’t know how to read a map.

She was marching forward like she had a clear goal.

And somehow, she was avoiding every single outpost.

My legs were starting to ache. At this rate, her score would be in danger.

"What’s this guy’s deal?"

"Haha, coming at us solo?"

...Guess I had to take care of some of the outposts myself.

Alone.

"Haaah, haah... This dumbass, seriously..."

I smashed through a checkpoint, gasping for breath, and broke into a run again.

She wasn’t stopping.

I’d already memorized the entire map, and if this continued, she’d end up at the final restricted zone.

From there, moving forward would be impossible.

What the hell was her goal? Just getting as far away from Olvesia as possible?

Thankfully, she did stop eventually.

She could’ve gone further, but she made a 90-degree turn.

...Why?

With an uneasy feeling gnawing at me, I turned to look in the direction the carriage had gone.

"...You’ve got to be kidding me."

There was an outpost.

A massive fortress, so huge it could be seen even from here.

According to the map, that one served as both a fortress and a command center.

...No way.

Come on. She’s Laurencia.

She’s not brain-dead enough to charge the command fortress.

The map clearly labeled it as the command HQ, and said it had at least five hundred troops stationed there.

The other cadets weren’t idiots for avoiding that place.

Sure, destroying it would guarantee a top ten score, but it’d take way longer and be way more dangerous than hitting thirty smaller outposts with thirty troops each.

This had to be a coincidence. I forced the rising anxiety back down and kept running—and—

"No way. This goddamn idiot..."

I spotted Laurencia’s carriage parked in front of the command fortress and let out a deep sigh.

The only good news was, it wasn’t the only one there.

...There were several.

So it wasn’t just Laurencia being an idiot—plenty of other nobles were dumb as bricks too.

Why the hell would you shove your head into the command post?

"Tch... small mercy, I guess..."

There was still a chance to salvage this.

Out of the four carriages, only ours still had a living mercenary.

Mercenaries were set as essential NPCs in the initial configuration—meaning they didn’t move, couldn’t die, and wouldn’t vanish.

The owners of the other three carriages had all been eliminated.

Still, they must’ve taken out at least some of the enemy troops on their way out. That was something, at least.

I stepped through the shattered front gate of the command post and called out.

"Geminos."

"Yeees~"

I didn’t want to use her if I could help it.

But time was of the essence—so just this once.

“Find Emily.”

“Uhh... hmm...”

Geminos, for once, looked genuinely troubled.

“I don’t think you really need my help for that~”

“What?”

No sooner had she finished speaking—

“KYAAAAHH!!! What is this—why are there so many?!”

...

A familiar scream rang out nearby.

With a dry expression, I gave a silent thanks.

“Appreciate it. You can go back now.”

“Should I not help you with the fighting?”

I hesitated for a moment, then confessed honestly to the smiling Geminos.

“...I’ll be real with you. I don’t want to swing around a weapon I don’t even understand. I know it’s messed up to say after you literally saved my life, but... not until I get a proper explanation from McClain.”

“Hmmm. But our Head Butler probably wouldn’t give you much more than I could.”

“Sorry for using you like that.”

Geminos stared at me with amusement for a beat, then—

“You’re wise. Yes, it’s never good to use something you don’t truly understand.”

“Thanks for getting it. It’s not about whether I like you or not.”

“In that case, I’ll just give you a hint.”

“?”

—rustle.

She lightly tugged down her dress from one shoulder.

“...Hah.”

For a second, I had no idea what she was trying to do.

But there it was—on her skin, the exact same Scar of Obedience as mine.

My eye twitched involuntarily as I confirmed it.

“Oh dear, I only show this to the Head Butler~”

“Don’t tell me—”

“Yes, you recognized it right away, didn’t you?”

Geminos smiled gently, left one last line, and vanished.

“We cannot be a danger to our Head Butler. Please remember that, at least.”

“...”

...It was true.

The moment I saw it, I knew.

That Scar of Obedience was made for me.

A slave of a slave. It’s like some sick philosophical riddle...

I let out a sigh and shoved the thought aside. For now, the exam mattered more.

“Haah, haah... This is endless—wait, huh?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Vi—Virdem?!”

Emily, locked in combat with the enemy soldiers, stared at me like I was a ghost, then turned to ask Arin.

“Didn’t he fight Olvesia? How the hell is he still alive?!”

“Yeah. I knew it—you beat her.”

“I didn’t beat her. I just ran.”

No matter how generous you were, claiming I’d defeated Olvesia would come across as full-on bullshit.

Even as I betrayed Arin’s gaze filled with faith, she didn’t waver.

“Still... that’s amazing. She was really, really strong...”

Arin lowered her head slightly.

“I couldn’t beat her.”

“...Of course not, idiot. You haven’t even properly learned swordsmanship. The fact that you even put up a fight is already ridiculous. You’ve got talent, so don’t let it get to you.”

“...Really?”

“You think I’d say something like that just to be nice?”

I patted Arin’s back, and slowly, her expression softened.

“Hey! Can you two save the heart-to-heart for after the fighting?!”

“Let’s not say gross stuff like ‘heart-to-heart,’ please. And I’m not planning on fighting.”

“What? KYAA—!”

I grabbed Emily by the collar and swung my sword, activating magic.

—KWAANG!

“AAAGH! They’ve got bombs!!”

“Don’t break formation!!”

The surroundings dissolved into chaos, blinding white mist swallowing everything.

I leaned in and whispered into the startled Emily’s ear.

“Wh-What the hell is this?!”

“Just loud, that’s all. When you condense moisture and detonate it, it turns into fog. I’m using it as a smokescreen.”

“I can’t see a thing...”

“I’ve memorized the route. Follow me.”

“O-Okay. Ack! Hey—don’t step on my foot!”

“Apologies. It’s hard to see.”

“Ugh... you did it again! That was on purpose, wasn’t it?!”

“Please lower your voice. They’ll hear us.”

And yes, it was on purpose.

Once inside a nearby storage building, I immediately tore into her.

“Are you out of your mind? Even if I wasn’t around, what the hell were you thinking entering the command post? Did you just give up on the exam?”

Emily flailed her arms slightly, clearly aware of her own guilt.

“L-Look, it’s not like I charged in with no thought! I made a plan because I could pull it off!”

“What plan?”

“The command post wasn’t in good shape. It was practically cleared already.”

“Excuse me?”

“Just look—outside, through the wall there...”

I peered through a small crack in the wall.

Soldiers were still combing the area for us.

There were still plenty of them, but the damage was clear—major structures were in ruins.

The barricades were burning, /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ the place was a mess.

“I didn’t do all that—”

“I know. Most likely, the three carriages out front didn’t enter one by one, but as a group.”

“Y-Yeah.”

In that case, it was a bad call—but not an outright idiotic one.

I couldn’t be sure who exactly was in that group, but if nine people coordinated to take the command post, even if the score was split among them, they could probably still break into the top ten with a few more outposts afterward.

Of course, that wasn’t easy. And they’d lost in the end.

“That’s why I’m saying—if we take this half-destroyed command post, we can take all the points for ourselves!”

“Why would we even go down that road?”

“We’ve already taken out a bunch of outposts. If we add this one, we might actually rank first...!”

Emily’s eyes were blazing with ambition.

Apparently, Laurencia’s thirst for victory didn’t care about her current situation—it only burned harder because of it.

Or maybe it was precisely because of this situation that she was fired up.

If she managed to take first place in an exam where Seriratus and Senfenesia both participated, Laurencia’s standing would shift dramatically.

From my perspective, stopping her would’ve been correct—but Firnea had probably already taken out fifty outposts. Maybe even seventy, since she had Leah and Psyche with her.

Whether we took the command post or not, first place was already hers.

That meant second place was the real fight.

And most likely, Senfenesia was the main contender.

...To be honest, Olvesia’s combat power far exceeded cadet level. Whether she had a team or not, if she started wiping out outposts seriously now, she’d hit forty with ease.

Forty.

The command post was worth the same as thirty outposts, so...

“...Very well.”

“Eh?”

I’d factored in the odds of taking the command post, and the image I had to maintain as Firnea’s butler.

Laurencia was a paper tiger.

Whether she took second or even first, it wouldn’t be enough to ever bite back at Seriratus.

The real threat was Olvesia.

For now, I’d managed to redirect her interest to me—but who knew when she might turn that hostility toward Firnea?

I had to leash her. Soon.

Fighting her head-on would be a nightmare, so groundwork had to be laid.

If Laurencia overtook her and pushed her down to third, it’d stir a lot of talk.

Her standing within the Senfenesia family would also drop. She’d be easier to manage.

That was the rationale behind my decision—but Emily looked at me strangely.

“...What?”

“N-Nothing. It’s just—you agreeing so easily is kind of weird. I thought you’d freak out, demand we stop immediately, and insist on playing it safe...”

“...”

For a moment, I seriously considered saying screw the exam and just smacking her.