TTM CH 05

Kinemia’s face flushed bright red as she turned her dazed expression toward her vassals.

‘This isn’t how it was supposed to go….’

It had been perfect in her head!

The vassals couldn’t hide their pity as they stared, mouths slightly open.

Embarrassment surged all the way to the top of her head.

‘…Should I just die right now and reincarnate again?’

Her knees hurt so much that tears welled up in her eyes.

Unable to stand or say anything, stuck in that standoff, the tears that had been clinging to her lashes finally dropped.

At once, the vassals began wildly shaking their heads and waving their arms.

“N-No, it’s fine, Your Grace…!”

“That’s right. We didn’t see anything, Your Grace!”

“Truly! We saw nothing at all!”

To avoid crushing the spirit of a child striving to grow into a true Grand Duchess, the vassals desperately began denying what had just happened.

Kinemia quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“…Really?”

“Y-Yes.”

Should she try again?

It felt like she could. The corner of Kinemia’s lips slowly curled upward.

Power, honestly…!

Just as she was about to rise again, slightly intoxicated by that sense of authority, Eiyan suddenly approached, slipped his hands under her arms, and lifted her up.

“…?!”

Kinemia’s eyes widened.

Ignoring everyone else’s reactions, Eiyan gently placed her onto the chair. Then, with a face that suggested he knew nothing, he said,

“It looked like you wouldn’t be able to climb up on your own.”

“Ah….”

A wave of sympathetic sighs spread among the vassals.

Kinemia buried her face in both hands.

Seeing her despair, the vassals boldly began to scold Eiyan.

“Her Grace could have sat down by herself!”

“She didn’t fall! She merely sat down abruptly!”

“That’s right! Her legs are just a little short!”

“You insolent wretch! How dare you! Her Grace may be tiny now, but she will drink lots of milk, grow strong, and become taller than you!”

“What nonsense is that about being tiny! Her Grace is a faaaairy! She hasn’t fully transformed into a human yet, which is why she’s a bit below average height!”

“No matter how cute and adorable she is, what do you mean ‘faaaairy’! Have some dignity!”

“Only those with pure hearts can see Her Grace’s wings, so of course you wouldn’t understand!”

“Are you saying I’m a bad person then?!”

“Of course! You said you couldn’t see Her Grace’s wings!”

Naturally, it only made things more humiliating.

Amid the vassals’ noisy commotion, Kinemia quietly shed a few more tears.

“…Moving on to the next matter. Three unidentified flying entities, presumed to be monsters, have been discovered near the coast.”

It took fifteen minutes for Kinemia and the vassals to regain their composure.

During that time, Kinemia had been thinking things like, ‘I want to die,’ ‘Should I jump from here,’ and ‘Am I really that short?’ But she soon came to her senses, ordered everyone to sit in a stern voice, and only after all the vassals had taken their seats did the meeting resume.

“Is that so?”

“Yes. The flying entities were immediately shot down by archers on standby upon discovery. Fortunately, there were no injuries or damage to the village. An investigation is currently underway to determine whether a new dungeon has appeared nearby.”

Monsters… Kinemia sank into thought.

Monsters were beings mutated from spirits or divine beasts, instinctively attacking villages and harming people.

However, to those with power, they were also valuable prey.

Their byproducts could be turned into money, weapons, and armor.

‘Come to think of it, they’re not using monster materials as crafting resources yet. In the original story, that happens a few years later….’

As Kinemia fell into thought, Count Dennis shot Baron Romeo a sharp glance, and Romeo gave a nod.

“A flying entity looks like this, Your Grace.”

With a serious face, Baron Romeo spread his arms and flapped them like wings.

“…?”

“Flap flap. You’ve seen birds, right? It’s like a bird, but much bigger and more dangerous.”

Seeing Kinemia’s stiff expression, he flapped even harder, then looked to the other vassals for help when she showed no reaction. Soon, they all began flapping their arms.

Each of them was a handsome middle-aged man, but watching four grown men flap their arms like avant-garde performers was not a pleasant experience.

Kinemia looked on with a blank stare, and Eiyan, who had been quietly observing, leaned in and whispered,

“They all seem insane. Shall I kill them?”

“I-It’s a misunderstanding.”

The vassals weren’t insane; they were just doing their jobs diligently. Probably…

“Then… what should we do with the… flappy things we caught?”

“The corpses of monsters are sold to merchant guilds.”

“Romeo, you can stop flying now.”

“Yes, descending.”

Baron Romeo lowered his arms.

“Come to think of it, isn’t it about time to replace our armaments?”

At Count Dennis’s question, Baron Romeo nodded.

“Yes, that’s correct. I will submit the budget proposal soon.”

“The poison from the monsters is driving up expenses.”

“It can’t be helped. It melts even iron.”

Count Bruyn shook his head.

The blood of monsters that frequently attacked the village was all poisonous. That poison easily corroded iron, forcing weapons and armor to be replaced frequently.

Hmm. Watching her vassals murmur, Kinemia rolled her eyes.

Her late father had left behind a fair amount of money, but if the budget kept draining like this, the territory would grow poor, they wouldn’t be able to replace equipment, and they would lose the ability to respond to monsters.

Dark clouds began forming in her mind.

‘Angry citizens.’

‘The villainess of Leon.’

‘Resentment.’

‘The guillotine.’

Thud—

Kinemia clenched her fist.

‘I need an upgrade…!’

They needed weapons capable of slaying monsters, not ordinary ones.

But according to the original story, those with the power and skill to process monster corpses would only appear later.

‘First of all, you need aura to dissect monsters.’

Even if someone painstakingly learned to use aura, they usually chose the path of a knight, not a blacksmith.

And to make high-quality items, specialized techniques were also required.

Still—

‘If I can get Behemoth…!’

Behemoth referred to two weapons merchants who roamed the northern battlefields two years later.

In the story, it was said that there was no material in the world they couldn’t handle, and they were the ones who forged the protagonist’s sword.

Despite their extraordinary skill, they became wandering merchants due to a false accusation.

They had been barely making ends meet doing small commissions in a rural area, but after being falsely accused of murder, they fled to the snowy northern border and settled there.

‘This is my chance to bring them in.’

If she could recruit Behemoth before they were framed, the territory would gain superior weapons, become safer, and the budget wouldn’t keep leaking.

‘And that grim future of revenge killings would disappear too!’

Having made up her mind, Kinemia smiled brightly and met her vassals’ eyes.

“…Hmm.”

Then her eyes darted again.

‘What should I say?’

Should she tell them she planned to bring in two mysterious women to make weapons? And if they asked how she knew them… she obviously couldn’t say, ‘Well, they were characters from a book I read in my previous life.’

“Umm…”

As Kinemia hesitated, opening and closing her mouth, the vassals clenched their fists, encouraging her to speak.

‘Wait!’

No, you don’t have to do that. It’s just making it more stressful!

But the vassals, completely unaware of her feelings, even began pumping their fists enthusiastically.

‘…It’s too chaotic, stop that!’