The Young Lady With the Most Powerful Specs Was Just Too Cute, so I Started Teasing Her—But Then She Tried to Trap Me With a Chain, so I Kept Running Away With All My Might

A Letter from Katary

I was wiping off my sweat after finishing training when Horn walked up to me.

“Nil.”

“Yes?”

“A letter has arrived for you from Katary Bare Iitasso.”

“For me?”

“Yes. It wasn’t addressed to Oldie, but specifically to you, Nil.”

That lady actually sent a letter.

She was getting so worked up all by herself back on the terrace.

At the very end, she said something like, “If I remember anything else, I’ll send you a letter!”

I didn’t think she would actually do it.

“Thank you.”

The envelope I took from her was decorated with a really cute design.

It was a pale light blue with tiny flower patterns. My name was written in the beautiful handwriting of a noble lady.

I opened the seal right then and there.

Inside were three sheets of paper.

(To Nil. I am so sorry for being so sudden the other day! Today, I am sending you a very important and probably very dangerous story!)

She really jumps right into things, doesn’t she?

She’s an interesting person, but she’s a handful.

I let out a sigh and kept reading.

(As I mentioned before, Oldie is supposed to be the villainess with the strongest stats in the game. She is the user of the chains of ruin, and in the end, she falls into darkness and shakes the very world itself!)

I didn’t really get it, but I understood that was how things worked in Katary’s head.

The problem was what came next.

(And the thing that finally pushes Oldie over the edge into evil isn’t just the loss of her mother.)

My hand stopped.

What was that? There’s more?

I was already getting sucked into the letter.

I thought if she could just recover from the thing with her mother, everything would be okay.

(There is one more big event. It’s the Duke’s inspection.)

An inspection? The Captain mentioned recently that the Duke was going to inspect the territory soon.

(The Duke goes out to inspect the land, and on the way, he gets attacked by a swarm of monsters.)

Wait, wait, wait! I frowned while holding the paper.

Inspections aren’t rare at all for the Ducal house.

Of course he’d do them. But getting attacked by a swarm of monsters? Hunting monsters is usually part of the inspection plan anyway.

That’s something they would have prepared for.

(During that time, a knight apprentice loses his life while protecting the Duke.)

…Huh? A knight apprentice of the Ducal house? Isn’t that me?!

How many knight apprentices are there in this house right now?

I can count them on one hand, and lately, I’m the one who talks to the Captain the most. In other words, the number of apprentices who would actually go with the Duke on an inspection is pretty small.

The rest of the letter caught my eye.

(It’s not just the death of the apprentice; the Duke himself gets badly hurt. Oldie becomes terrified of losing anything else important to her, rejects everything, and eventually heads toward ruin.)

I whispered with a dry mouth.

“So, you’re saying I’m gonna die during the next inspection!?”

A senior knight at the edge of the training ground looked back.

“What’s wrong, Nil!?”

“It’s nothing!”

I decided to head back to my room to finish reading.

(It’s not 100% certain that Nil is that apprentice. But considering the situation right now, it’s extremely suspicious!)

Don’t just call it “suspicious”! Besides, Oldie doesn’t participate in the territory inspections.

So, does that mean it’s okay?

(You’re in the position of Oldie’s personal knight apprentice, the Duke knows your face, and you’re making huge changes to Oldie’s fate! You have a massive ‘important character’ vibe!)

Even I’m starting to think it’s me?!

What even is an “important character vibe”? Don’t talk about people’s lives so casually! But looking at the shaky handwriting on the paper, I could tell Katary was seriously panicking too.

(So, I have a request! From now on, please be very careful about the Duke’s inspections or any plans to go out! If there’s any talk of you going along, please stay on high alert! And if possible, please let me know! I will try to remember everything I can to help you!)

After reading that far, I slowly lowered the paper.

I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand, but it didn’t feel like something I could just ignore.

The inspection.

Monsters.

The Duke.

The death of a knight apprentice.

If something like that is actually going to happen…

If the Duke is going to get hurt, I can’t just not go.

But if Oldie uses her black chains, couldn’t both the Duke and I be protected?

“…No, this isn’t funny at all.”

I scratched my head.

I wanted to brush it off as just another one of Katary’s fast-talking delusions.

But I couldn’t.

That woman is strangely serious whenever it comes to Oldie.

Besides, the thought of me dying was a lot worse than I expected. Dying sucks, but more than that, I hated the idea of Oldie’s eyes going back to being empty.

What should I do? This is a bit too heavy for me to handle alone.

But if I suddenly told the Duke, “I heard you’re gonna get hurt on the inspection,” he’d just think I went crazy.

If I told the Captain, he’d probably just wrinkle his forehead at me.

“…I’ll talk to Oldie.”

The words slipped out of my mouth.

If it’s Oldie, she’s at least closer to the Duke’s schedule than I am.

Plus, she’s the one who really needs to hear what Katary has to say.

All that stuff about villains and games makes no sense.

But the part about the Duke being in danger is worth sharing.

The problem is how to say it.

If I tell her everything exactly as it was written, she might start worrying about things she doesn’t need to.

Dammit.