Chapter 79 - 6: Future Plans

Chapter 79: Chapter 6: Future Plans

The girl paused in her attempt to crawl away, her light-blue eyes looking up at her timidly.

Lilia smiled, her delicate face bathed in the hazy light, looking like an Angel who had descended to the mortal realm.

Seeing her pure, untainted smile, the girl gradually let her guard down.

Seeing her chance, Lilia pressed on. "Look."

She held out her hands. "I don’t have any weapons. Why would I hurt you?"

The girl’s gaze finally shifted from that impossibly beautiful face, slowly falling to her hands.

One hand was empty.

The other held a tough blade of grass, from which dangled... two fish, each nearly as long as her arm.

The girl’s eyes met the unblinking stare of the dead fish.

Then, she slowly swallowed.

Lilia smiled. "Want some?"

The girl nodded.

Lilia said, "You can’t eat it yet."

The girl looked crestfallen.

Lilia explained, "It’s still raw. Eating it now will make you sick. We need to find a way to cook it."

The girl’s eyes lit up again, only to immediately dim. "But..."

She whispered, "But we don’t have a fire, or a pot..."

In the Royal Court, only the kitchens had iron pots and stoves, and a filthy little maid like her wasn’t allowed anywhere near a place like that.

The thought made the girl more dejected than ever.

’The beautiful girl brought food right to me, but I can’t even eat it because we don’t have what we need.’

’I’m so useless.’

She had once overheard other maids chatting and knew that Mages existed in this world.

She’d heard they could control Magic Power, conjuring hurricanes out of thin air and igniting flames at will.

’If only... if only there was a Mage with them right now.’

’But how could one of those high and mighty Mages, beings who only existed in the maids’ stories, possibly appear before her?’

Just as she was thinking this...

...the girl across from her, Lilia, smiled. "Who said we don’t have a fire?"

As her words fell...

...she flicked her wrist, and an orange-red flame instantly flared to life, dancing in the girl’s wide eyes.

The girl stared blankly at the flame before her gaze shifted back to the brilliant smile on that delicate face.

"A ma-ma..."

’A real, live Mage!’

At that moment, the girl was utterly astonished, as if a figure of legend had materialized right before her.

Her brief shock was quickly replaced by a wave of pure joy.

’We can have roasted fish!’

The girl scrambled to her feet. Though she was so hungry her legs felt like jelly, she didn’t hesitate for a second. "I-I’ll go find some firewood!"

"No need."

Lilia said, "If we burn firewood, the smoke will give us away."

Seeing the girl standing beside her with her head bowed, seemingly sinking back into self-pitying thoughts of ’I’m so useless,’ Lilia considered for a moment, then said, "Why don’t you find two sharp sticks? It’ll be easier to roast the fish if we skewer them."

"O-Okay!"

The girl’s spirits lifted at her words. She ran off, her tattered shoes making a PATTER-PATTER sound on the ground.

「A short while later.」

She came PATTER-PATTERING back, breathlessly handing two sticks to Lilia.

Lilia took them and easily skewered the fish. The girl then eagerly stuck the makeshift spits into the ground.

Under Lilia’s control, a crimson ball of fire enveloped the two fish. A rich aroma soon wafted out, carried by the gentle breeze to the two girls’ noses.

Lilia was doing alright. She had only missed lunch, so she could still maintain a shred of civilized decorum.

The girl, however, who had been starving for two days, had no such self-control.

Her nostrils flared as she gulped repeatedly. Her straw-like golden hair brushed dangerously close to the flames as she leaned in, testing the limits just to get a better whiff of the meaty aroma.

It was Lilia’s first time roasting fish—in fact, she’d never even cooked a meal with her own hands before—so she had no idea how to tell when they were perfectly done.

Surprisingly, the girl seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the subject.

When the skin of the fish turned a crisp golden-brown, she timidly said, "It’s ready," her voice lacking any conviction.

After all, in front of others, a low-level maid like her would be cursed at or even beaten for daring to voice an opinion.

But Lilia, clearly, was not like the others.

She was good at taking advice. The moment the girl spoke, she extinguished the flames.

"Go on, try it," Lilia said, looking at her. "How is it?"

With her permission, the girl finally let go. She grabbed the slightly smaller fish, gave it a quick blow to cool it, and then took a huge bite.

Unsurprisingly, she burned her mouth.

But even so, she couldn’t bear to spit it out. After starving for days, getting any food at all was a blessing, let alone meat.

’This was meat!’

’Back home, she was lucky if she got to eat it even once a month.’

She took several more bites until her mouth was stuffed full of fish. Only then did she seem to remember someone else was there and mumbled a long, garbled sentence.

Lilia could only make out a few scattered words: "delicious," "thank you," and "you eat too."

"You’re welcome."

Lilia rested her chin in her hand, watching the girl eat. She waited until her chewing slowed before asking, "What’s your name?"

"Re-Rebecca..."

The girl swallowed the mouthful of fish.

"You’re a maid here?"

"Mhm."

"How long have you been here?"

"Almost a year..."

"Why don’t you get enough to eat?"

"Because I used to be a vagrant, they always say I’m dirty, that I carry diseases..."

After she finished, the girl added in a small voice, "I’m not dirty. I fetch my own water to bathe every day."

Whether it was because Lilia had given her food and earned the "good person" label, or because she was simply naive enough to trust a stranger, the girl named Rebecca answered Lilia’s questions without reservation.

From Rebecca, Lilia learned that the current year was 1369. Based on her own age, she calculated that, compared to her previous playthrough, her birth had been delayed by a full eight years.

They were currently in the Royal Palace of the Light Kingdom. The Light Kingdom had no rule requiring the Prince and Princess to move out upon reaching adulthood. Compounded by the fact that the position of Crown Prince was vacant, all the King’s descendants lived in close proximity.

Due to the friction between the royals, the maids often formed factions based on which Prince or Princess they supported. The direct reason Rebecca was bullied wasn’t her background as a vagrant, but that her low status meant none of the royals valued her.

Lilia nodded slowly.

’This starting point is riddled with constraints.’

’If I want to get out of this situation, I can’t just stay put and passively wait for the King to remember I exist.’

’Since I have powerful Magic Talent, that’s my way in. I can either seek a direct audience with the King or align myself with one of the Princes or Princesses.’

’Compared to the King, my brothers and sisters are more likely to take me in. After all, their own power bases aren’t fully formed yet; they need all the support they can get to secure the title of heir.’

"Rebecca."

Lilia asked again, "What can you tell me about the Princes and Princesses?"