The Childhood Friend of the Villainess in a Romance Fantasy

Translator: Elisia

Editor/Proofreader: TempWane

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Well, it’s not like I was saying the Information Guild members didn’t wear black clothes altogether.

The members of the Information Guild, involved in everything from information gathering to outright criminal activities, did dress like that. While they didn’t act like actual ninjas, there was a setting steeped in Orientalism suggesting they were influenced by some Eastern martial arts faction.

Come to think of it, in a world where settings from the early medieval period to the Renaissance coexist without issue, a fantasy world like this would feel incomplete without at least one reference to the East.

The concept of an Information Guild was something that often popped up in fantasy stories. Add in the trope of the guild leader being handsome, and it would fit right in a typical romance novel.

…That being said, I couldn’t help but wonder if the wolves would actually recognize someone based on that drawing, which looked like a signpost figure dressed as a ninja.

“Woof!”

But surprisingly, Gray barked shortly, as if he understood. He even panted excitedly, mouth open like he couldn’t wait.

Here, he likely hadn’t had the chance to hunt freely. After all, he’d had to share hunting grounds with human hunters. While he wouldn’t have starved if he ventured deep into the forest, he couldn’t have roamed the entire woods without restraint either.

“Absolutely no biting random people.”

Just in case, I gave the warning.

“And if you must bite, don’t kill them. Ideally, try not to hurt them at all.”

“Woof!”

Hmm… His expression seemed cheerful, but I couldn’t tell if he really understood.

“…It’ll be fine, right?”

“They’ll be fine. We already know how smart they are,” Amelia reassured me. “They never caused trouble back in Grattanmount Forest, did they?”

“Well, no, but…”

When we first met them, Amelia seemed extremely suspicious of them. Especially when Snow bit my head, she had been utterly horrified.

Since then, she had ridden on their backs several times and learned that they understood human words. Even so, I didn’t entirely understand why she trusted them so much now.

The Crown Prince was the same way—spending time with them often seemed to make her more Delkis-like than the Delkis people themselves.

…Or maybe city life was rubbing off on me.

Watching Amelia approach Gray and Snow without hesitation and enthusiastically stroke their necks left me feeling conflicted in many ways.

*

After entrusting the wolves with a task, Amelia and I returned to the mansion where we were staying together.

The mansion’s atmosphere reminded me of Grattanmount. Of course, the properly whitewashed walls didn’t evoke the stone fortress feel, but the interior design, room layout, and furniture arrangement were very similar to when I lived in Grattanmount Castle. Except for the lack of a “castle-like ambiance,” the mansion almost felt like a replica of a part of Grattanmount Castle.

“Lady Amelia, Lady Elsie, welcome back.”

The loyal maid who had taken care of Amelia since she was young greeted us.

When I first met her, I wondered if she might be a noble of higher rank than I was, but I was wrong. While one of her distant ancestors had noble blood, her family had lost their noble status over the generations.

Even so, she came from a relatively well-off family among commoners and was considered trustworthy due to her family’s ties to the Grattanmount household.

After I became Amelia’s escort and was almost always by her side, the maid’s workload significantly decreased. Still, she stayed with us, helping in various ways.

She had even gotten married during that time. Now, she worked in the capital, commuting from home every day. Although her working hours were very long, she earned enough to comfortably support her family, which eased my guilt somewhat.

Ten years had passed, and she had gained some maturity, but she was still only in her late twenties. To me, she still looked quite young.

“While you were both out, letters arrived for you,” she said.

“For me too?”

Handing us each an envelope, I couldn’t hide my surprise.

What’s more, Amelia had only received one letter, while I had two, which was even more shocking.

However, upon seeing the name written on the envelope of one of the letters addressed to me, I immediately understood why it had come.

The envelope bore the name of my brother, Harvey.

“I’ve also prepared baths for you, considering you must both be tired.”

“Oh, thank you,” Amelia said, nodding as I struggled to suppress the smile spreading across my face.

Alright.

I’d take a bath first and read the letter at my leisure afterward.

*

“What does it say?”

Amelia asked cautiously as I folded the letter back up after reading it.

But judging by the smile forming on her face, she might’ve already guessed from my expression.

“The battles are going well. Pulling the younger ones to the rear a few years ago was a big help. It seems there’s a maximum distance to how far dimensional gates can be made, and now they’ve almost pinpointed that distance.”

Recalling my brother’s blunt tone in the letter, I relayed the message.

“They’ve defeated so many enemies over time that their numbers seem to have thinned significantly. Because of that, the frequency of attacks has decreased, giving them more breathing room.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yeah. So, there’s a chance Harvey-Hyung might visit the capital soon.”

“Really?”

Hearing that Harvey might visit, Amelia’s face lit up. At the same time, my excitement dimmed slightly.

Not that I disliked Harvey. In fact, there wasn’t a single person in my family that I disliked.

It’s just… Harvey is handsome. So undeniably good-looking that even someone like me, who doesn’t have that preference, couldn’t argue otherwise. Seeing Amelia so happy at the thought of his visit left me feeling a bit uneasy.

Amelia would get married someday, of course. Still… imagining her marrying some man wasn’t exactly a pleasant thought. It was about as uncomfortable as imagining myself marrying a “man.”

Amelia had grown entirely accustomed to me calling occasionally Harvey “Hyung.”

At first, I worried she might assume I was a man. However, it turned out that Amelia believed I called him that because of the lack of sister-figures.

To be fair, I used to roam outside a lot, tired of being doted on excessively by my brothers. I never corrected Amelia’s misunderstanding—it wasn’t something I wanted to reveal anyway.

“The other letter I received is from the people from the Tower of Magic.”

Amelia said this with a bitter smile.

She seemed to find it a bit ironic that the letter from the Tower of Magic had arrived at the same time as the one from Harvey.

Magic doesn’t work on Delkis people. Because of this, Delkis people tend to look down on magic. For them, battles were ultimately about swords clashing or fists meeting. Even though they used bows, those were usually fired unilaterally by the Delkis side.

On the other hand, one of the male leads, the Archmage of the tower, considered Delkis people a thorn in his side. Magic spells that relied purely on mana became useless against them. Delkis warriors could even cut through wind or fire conjured by magic with their sword auras.

If one were to conjure a physical object, it wouldn’t harm a Delkis person unless it moved at significant speed. And unless it was made very large, it wouldn’t pose much of a threat either.

In short, Delkis people were a nuisance not only to warriors but also to mages.

Anyway, there was only one reason the Tower of Magic would send a letter to Amelia.

“They’re asking anyone with an aptitude for magic to participate in the tower’s training program starting this autumn.”

While the Tower of Magic produces various items and provides technical support, their most lucrative venture was enticing wealthy nobles into basic magic training sessions and then charging exorbitant fees.

Yet, people considered those costs perfectly reasonable. Magic was expensive by nature.

In the first place, magic that wasn’t “basic” couldn’t be learned just by throwing money at it. It required innate talent.

Normally, since “Delkis people lack talent,” I wouldn’t have received a letter. In the original story, Harvey hadn’t received one, and the Archmage of the tower had tried to turn him away at the door for accompanying Amelia without an invitation. That was the first episode of the conflict.

But—

“…I received the same thing.”

When I handed the second letter I’d received to Amelia, who was sitting beside me by the fireplace, she took it with a serious expression and began to read.

“No, it’s a little different,” she said after a moment.

“In my letter, it says, ‘If you have a talent for magic, please attend.’ But yours just says, ‘Please attend.’”