Chapter 1 - Unaware Genius Girl Is Oblivious — 1

「…Ahh, everyone’s eyes.」

The adventurer, who identified herself as Liana, looked around her, her beautiful silver hair swinging softly. She takes her gaze away from the fallen men piled in a stack on the carts that have been pulled rumbling down the street by their slender arms, and looks squarely at the man with the drawn face.

「I… have I done something wrong again?」

She tilts her head slightly, like a young child with innocent questions. Her expression and gestures are so cute that she charms men and women, young and old alike. She has a face as beautiful as an angel’s, and the way she stands so anxiously, even in ordinary adventurer’s gear, doesn’t diminish her charm in the slightest.

Rather, her tall but slender and slender body for a woman, combined with her boyish short hair, created a dangerous and unbalanced loveliness.

From her figure, it was impossible to guess how she was towing a cart piled with about 10 men.

「What did I do wrong this time?」

「Something like this… huh?」

The man standing in front of her sighs and scratches his head. A woman standing beside him poked him in the sleeve and scolded,「Guild Leader!」 and sent out a scolding. “Tell her,” those eyes are saying.

「Miss Liana… You’ve cleaned this up all by yourself again, huh…?」

「Yes.」

「I should say as expected, or should I say I didn’t expect it to go that far, no matter how much I wanted it to… I was expecting a multi-party joint request, but when you got one, I didn’t think it was possible.」

「No, I didn’t do anything special. I just raided a hideout I found and captured them.」

The girl with the perfect, elegant smile seemed to be sincere, not humble.

Standing in the center of the crowd that had gathered in front of the Adventurers’ Guild on Main Street, Liana was neither proud nor embarrassed.

「It’s only been 3 days since I submitted the request…? I haven’t even found their hideout. How the hell did you do that?」

「I just set up a very ordinary tracking spell against 37 locations along the street where there were eyewitness accounts… Oh, you were worried about missing them? Rest assured. After locating the base, I spent a whole day monitoring it, and once I snuck in to confirm that the number of people in the base matched the magic traces left behind, I captured them, so no one was missed.」

Liana’s words, which she said so casually as if they were nothing, caused a stir around her. How did she get eyewitness accounts of bandits that even the Adventurers’ Guild didn’t have all the answers to, how did she receive specialized training in espionage, and how could she deploy 37 simultaneous anti-personnel tracking spells that could be distinguished from demons, confident that she was a first-rate magician.

And then, instead of raiding the base and bringing back information such as the number of people, she solves this request by herself.

When someone remarked that Liana was indeed the most reputable adventurer in Lindemen, Liana, hearing the praise, denied her own achievement.

「No.」

「I haven’t done anything commendable, but… Err, isn’t this about as normal as it should be…? I used only what anyone who calls themselves a wizard can use, including tracking magic, and it’s not particularly difficult to defeat rogues with no specialized combat training, is it? I am sure there are many who can do the same. It’s nothing to commend… please dedicate those words to the truly excellent.」

Denied by the self-proclaimed「not so excellent」Liana herself, many of the ordinary adventurers around her, who were aware that they weren’t even close to Liana’s feet, broke their knees and looked up to the heavens inwardly.

An ordinary magician cannot deploy magic in 37 places over such a wide area that it cannot even be seen, and even more so if it’s used in such an advanced way that it is designated for use against people and tracked to a base of operations. That’s because tracking magic itself is common, and people around her swallow their words.

She even gathered information, snuck in, analyzed the residual magic, and match it with the number of people, something that only someone from the military police’s specialized investigative agency would be able to do. And she’s also a skilled fighter, and even though it was a surprise attack, she was able to defeat and capture this number of people unilaterally, and yet she called it「nothing」…

Certainly, each of these bullet points is not that unusual. However, how many people are able to use them at the same level? Besides, she was unaware of the rarity of having acquired such a wide variety of skills from a completely different lineage.

It’s a bad thing that she has no intention of being humble and sincerely believes that there are many people who can do the same things she does. Some are frustrated with the unresolved anger of those in the city who admire her and wonder what she was doing that they can’t even do. Not mingling with the voices praising the young talent, a few uninterested faces turned away from the scene.

「…Was I wrong? I was always told by my family that I deserved this…」

The words Liana muttered amidst the clamor didn’t reach those who gazed at her with a mixture of awe, disgust, and envy.

When Liana was with her family as Liliane Kirk Aggett.

She was known throughout social circles as the youngest daughter of「that」famous Duke Aggett.

Among the many talents of the family, she was the most talked about. Not because of her shiny silver hair and doll-like appearance. No, that is another factor that caught my attention, but like her older siblings who inherited the talents of the family and parents, or rather, at the age of 15, she was already a darling who was well known alongside various specialists.

She was naturally at the top of her class at her noble school, and was blessed with military prowess; no one in her age group could match her in both magic and swordsmanship. She wrote an article published in a magic journal before entering the school. She has obtained several patents in alchemy and has been very successful in the management of her store, which mainly deals with products she developed, and is planning to open a fifth store soon.

She is also a beloved goddess of the arts, and has a reputation for being a skilled artist in painting, sculpture, singing, and several musical instruments. Many of people may know her as「Annette J.,」her pen name, since it was only last year that her picture book, which she translated from ancient mythology, compiled by herself, and published with her own illustrations in a form familiar to the general public, became a bestseller.

It’s well known that Annette J. herself, who also has a talent for languages, worked on the translated version for foreign countries.

Naturally, her talent blossomed largely because she was blessed with a family environment full of experts in various fields, but everyone agreed that she was that talented herself.

「Winner, Liliane Kirk Aggett!」

This sword competition, also known as Imperial Inspection, is famous as a gateway to success for young people aspiring to become knights.

In the center of the arena, the final was filled with cheers, and Liliane, who had been holding a rapier to her opponent’s throat, let out a slightly uneven breath and lowered it.

「As expected, Liliane. I couldn’t beat you again.」

「Thank you very much for your kind compliments.」

A slender, but feminine, slender body, which the dignified knight’s uniform cannot conceal, politely bows. It is not the bow of a vassal to the prince Reynold, but that of a knight thanking his opponent.

Reynold swallowed his frustration and smiled as best he could at the winner. Liliane’s beautiful hair was not a strand of mess, even though she had won the final.

The neutral beauty of Liliane’s figure had even aristocratic daughters excitedly looking up to her as a beautiful woman in men’s clothing, and there were even daughters in the audience holding violet-colored handkerchiefs, the color of Liliane’s eyes, as they watched the game. The girls seemed to be in tears of joy at their favorite’s victory.

「Thank you, Your Highness, for your hard work.」

「Wilfred, your sister is a strong one.」

As he descended from the arena stage, Wilfred, an Imperial Knight, was waiting in front of him in the stone aisle. Liliane’s second brother, he is a military prodigy who, at 20, has been named the strongest in the country and is Liliane’s mentor in the martial arts.

Wilfred, a knight, is not a participant in today’s sword competition, but is in charge of security for the event. Of course, there is no one in the military who doesn’t know that Wilfred was honored as a winner every year when he used to be a participant.

Reynold praised the winner to Wilfred, who was also his own pointer, with a smile that hid his frustration and was exemplary as a prince.

「I’m afraid I’ve said too much… Liliane, she had misallocated her energy again, haven’t she? In her haste to win, her swordsmanship had become messy.」

「I apologize.」

「If that one sword had not been decided, she would have been outnumbered. I don’t remember teaching her that kind of one-or-two sword.」

Liliane, who is simply inferior to Reynold, a man, in terms of physical strength and arm strength, has no choice but to hone her skills and attack quickly in order to win. Reynold also trained in his own way to compete in today’s sword competition, and in fact, he won the other participants with a sense of his own growth. So Liliane went even further and had a quicker sword stroke, even though she didn’t even realize if it was a chore or not.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, Reynold listened to Wilfred’s remarks to his sister. He knew it was always the same.

「Reflect on today when you get home. Be ready and waiting for me in the training hall.」

「Yes, Brother.」

After the exchange, which was like that between a superior and his subordinate, Liliane thanked Reynold, this time as a subject, and then left the room. After this, there will be a simple awards ceremony, for which Liliane, who is a woman, needs to dress herself, but the waiting room is located far away.

When Liliane was out of sight, Wilfred’s face fell slack-jawed and he said in a good mood,「Your Highness, our Liliane is as good as it gets.」There is no sign of the hard-nosed warrior who is rumored to be… to be crowned「Sword Saint」in the near future.

「Well, really, I thought I could have a good match this time, but no.」

「Good grief, we can’t give our little Lili as your wife like that!」

「I know. But you praised me for getting stronger.」

「The stronger His Highness has become, the more Lili has grown. So the gap hasn’t narrowed.」

「I have a hunch that you don’t want me to engage her and that you are deliberately training Liliane so that I can’t win.」

「That’s one thing, but after all, our Lili is a genius.」

Reynold chuckled at Wilfred’s praise of his sister with open arms. He is chagrined, but feels no envy or jealousy. Everyone knows that she is a genius. The couple would have been engaged even if they had done nothing, but it is a well-known story in social circles that Prince Reynold asked Cornelius, the head of the Aggett Duchy household,「to propose to Liliane if he could win her hand in any way.」

The match between the beautiful prince and the perfect girl genius should have been hushed up by the prince, who feared that his feelings would be conveyed to the girl herself, but ten years later, it has become a heartwarming story that no one in the aristocracy knows about.

Hence, at his age, Reynold still has no fiancée, but no one is worried about the vacancy now that it has spread to the commoners as gossip. Everyone is looking forward to the day when the prince will beat Liliane in something, and they are eagerly awaiting that first victory.

Reynold was tickled by this, but thought it was good to have so many people celebrating. He also made sure that he didn’t ignore Liliane’s own wishes, and he also made sure that he conveyed his goodwill to her from time to time. He’s convinced that Liliane doesn’t hate him either, but he have made her wait because of his own unworthiness.

By no means is Reynold inferior. Rather, he has a reputation for being an excellent and impeccable prince among his peers. Just that Liliane is even more so.

Sometimes Reynold himself thinks that this is no longer a matter of pride or pride, but rather a matter of stubbornness. But he didn’t want to change the words he had sworn to himself as a young kid. He was determined not to compromise on Liliane.

Flipping through his schedule in his mind to see what was next to compete with Liliane, Reynold thought of the school’s hunting days for demon subjugation, and the honor of winning second place in the sword competition was nowhere in his mind.