The Manor the Dragon Claimed

“What nonsense are you muttering over there, suspicious woman in black?!”

“Do you think our army formation is just for decoration?!”

On the first day of Daisy and Viola’s journey, inside Baron Borus’s manor at the center of the farming town deep in the southern wilderness, the estate remained surrounded by the enormous force sent by the absurdly vindictive Viscount Clyde.

Within the vast courtyard where three to four hundred fully armed soldiers stood in battle formation, Viola casually surveyed the manor grounds after suddenly appearing to save Baron Borus by catching the flying knife meant for him.

She paid absolutely no attention to the human army before her, despite their magic-enhanced weapons forged with magic stones.

“Right… I should also hire an interpersonal etiquette tutor for my Daisy.”

Viola spoke coldly while turning toward Baron Borus, who still knelt nearby in tears.

“Even if you’re one of those rare foolish nobles who refuse to hoard wealth, surely your household can still afford private instructors?”

“T-This lady in black…”

Baron Borus still had not fully recovered from brushing against death.

Before he could finish speaking, however, the agitated cavalry leader interrupted loudly.

“Woman in black! Don’t ignore me!”

From within the iron fortress-like formation of soldiers, the cavalry leader shouted furiously and swung his sword forward.

“Men! Fire!”

“Turn that woman into a pincushion!”

“YES SIRRRRRRRRRR!!!”

At his command, over a hundred archers in the rear roared in unison.

Using the hands adorned with magic stone rings, they drew their bows and infused glowing magic into the arrows.

With a deafening chorus of bowstrings snapping through the air, hundreds of arrows streaked toward Viola like a metallic rainstorm, each one carrying magical light powerful enough to pierce solid stone.

Although humans could wield magic through magic stones, they still lagged behind powerful demons and other races in many aspects.

The reason humanity dominated most of the continent was simple:

Their numbers.

And their unparalleled ability to combine strength.

Against this kind of concentrated military firepower, even legendary warriors capable of defeating thousands alone could easily fall.

Yet Viola did not bother making any serious effort to defend herself.

Instead, she unfolded one of her dragon wings.

To avoid exposing her identity, she deliberately reshaped it into material resembling the fabric of her black dress.

At first glance, it merely looked like half a massive black cloak suddenly spreading from behind her.

Then she spun gracefully and swept it through the air.

BOOM—

A violent blast of compressed wind exploded outward.

The storm scattered the incoming arrows instantly, while the overwhelming pressure wave swept through the enemy formation itself, sending soldiers stumbling backward amid panicked shouts, frightened horses, and collapsing lines.

“M-Men! Don’t panic!”

The cavalry leader nearly got blown from his horse himself.

Still, he forced himself to shout angrily in an attempt to stabilize morale.

“T-This must just be some flashy trick!”

“It’s nothing special!”

Though clearly shaken after witnessing the arrows neutralized, he still refused to back down.

“Use long-range thrust formation!”

“Concentrate your magic and kill that witch!”

“YES SIRRRRRRRRRRR!!!”

At the command, hundreds of soldiers roared together while leveling their glowing spears toward Viola.

Then all at once—

They thrust.

The glowing magic blades extending from the spear tips suddenly elongated explosively through the air.

It was as though the combined spear formation of several hundred soldiers had converged into a single point.

Countless glowing magical spearheads surged toward Viola like a storm, carrying piercing power far beyond physical weapons.

A single human could barely kill a wild boar with a spear.

But if the strength of ten thousand humans were concentrated together, they could even pierce gigantic demons the size of mountains.

This was precisely the principle behind human military magic-stone warfare.

Using mass-produced magic stones and coordinated weapon formations, armies could combine their power into attacks far surpassing human limitations.

Faced with hundreds of magical spears piercing toward her from every direction, Viola herself might survive unharmed.

But Baron Borus beside her would undoubtedly be reduced to shredded flesh.

So Viola did not defend.

She simply waved her hand.

SHRIIIIING—

A sharp slicing sound tore across the sky.

The hundreds of magical spears extending toward her suddenly shattered apart midair all at once.

Fragments of glowing magic scattered everywhere before dissolving into countless drifting particles of white light.

In that instant, Viola’s weapon had been her fingernails.

The moment she waved her hand, five razor-thin nails suddenly extended over ten meters long like blades before sweeping through the air in a massive arc, slicing apart the magical spear barrage from the front and both sides simultaneously.

Then they instantly retracted again.

No one present even managed to see what had happened.

“How is this possible?!”

“What the hell just happened?!”

The cavalry leader shouted in shock and rage.

He ripped off his helmet and slammed it onto the ground, fully committing himself now.

“Heavy infantry forward!”

“Cavalry prepare to charge!”

“Archers continue firing!”

“We have to kill that black-clothed monster immediately!”

“YES SIR! YES SIR! YES SIRRRRRRR!!!”

This time, the soldiers no longer dared underestimate Viola.

The heavily armored vanguard infantry raised massive alchemically forged iron shields, driving the spiked bases into the stone courtyard floor to anchor themselves firmly.

Behind those shields, they raised glowing swords, axes, and spears infused with magic.

Meanwhile, the archers in the rear once again drew glowing arrows.

Even the feathered cavalrymen prepared magical lances for a full charge despite the cramped terrain.

“How noisy.”

Viola muttered coldly.

“To think this world could produce such meaningless noise.”

Suddenly, a violent gust erupted around her.

Her figure vanished completely.

An invisible wave of murderous pressure surged straight toward the army before even the archers could fire again.

“Perhaps erasing some of it would be nice.”

“Don’t kill them all!”

At that moment, Baron Borus—still standing there as if trapped inside a dream—suddenly heard a soft childish voice.

He turned and saw a tiny white-haired girl in a pale pink dress and oversized hat running out from nearby.

Her golden-red eyes shone brightly.

Needless to say, Borus became even more confused.

“I know…”

Viola heard Daisy’s hurried plea and halted her killing strike at the very last moment.

The claws she had been about to unleash stopped mid-motion.

Then Viola reduced her speed slightly before suddenly leaping directly into the enemy formation.

Before the soldiers could even react, she had already appeared beside the cavalry leader and dragged him violently from his horse onto the ground with a crash of armor.

“WAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

“H-How—?!”

The cavalry leader hit the ground so hard his vision spun.

Before he could recover, he already felt something cold pressed against his throat.

It was the very throwing knife he had hurled at Baron Borus earlier.

Viola now held it against his neck from behind.

“Your knife.”

“I’m returning it.”

Viola restrained the panicked leader from behind while the surrounding soldiers froze completely.

Even the archers stopped drawing their bows.

Her killing intent flooded the courtyard as she gave a cold command:

“If you don’t want to die, order your men to withdraw.”

“Once they’ve all left town…”

“I’ll let you go.”

“Y-You… I…”

“H-How…”

The cavalry leader stood trembling helplessly.

For several moments, he seemed unable to process reality itself.

Finally, his spirit broke.

“A-All troops!”

“Retreat!”

“RETREAT! RETREATTTTTT!!!”

From the moment Viscount Clyde’s absurd punitive force surrounded Baron Borus’s manor to the moment they finally retreated awkwardly under torchlight, confused and humiliated, quite some time passed.

Afterward, Viola used her fingertip to draw a complicated magic circle upon the captured commander’s face, branding him with a strange curse mark.

Then she calmly informed him:

“If you do not immediately take all your men and return home, the curse will activate and kill you instantly.”

Only after that did she release the terrified man and allow him to reunite with his troops.

Thus, the mortal crisis threatening Baron Borus’s family that night was finally resolved.

“U-Um… Lady in black…”

Later, inside the manor’s reception hall, Baron Borus hurriedly ordered servants to bring out every fruit, cake, pastry, and treasured black tea the household possessed.

The long white-clothed dining table became completely covered with food.

Filled with sincerity and lingering nervousness, Borus sat opposite the mysterious saviors who had rescued his family:

Viola, standing silently in her long black dress with cold eyes—

And Daisy, who sat beside her happily devouring cake without even lifting her head.

“…”

“Munch munch… slurp…”

“The cake here is sooo good too!”

Daisy cheerfully stuffed herself with cream cake using metal utensils, speaking only about desserts instead of anything remotely relevant.

“First of all…”

Baron Borus spoke emotionally.

“I sincerely thank you for saving us.”

“You truly rescued my entire family.”

“I don’t even know how to repay such a life-saving kindness…”

Beside him stood his wife, the baroness with neatly tied flaxen hair.

Nearby stood Pelinda as well, her loose flaxen hair framing still-moist green eyes filled with lingering fear.

Alongside them, all the servants who had escaped disaster together bowed deeply toward Viola and Daisy in heartfelt gratitude.

“You should thank an old man for that.”

Viola spoke quietly and emotionlessly.

At the same time, she casually pierced a fresh apple from the fruit platter with her slender pale fingers.

Sssss—

The apple rapidly shriveled dry as its juice was absorbed directly through her fingertips.

“He looked like a shepherd.”

“We encountered him in the wilderness.”

“He told us the lord was in danger and begged us to help.”

“A shepherd…?”

Baron Borus and his family exchanged surprised glances.

They could not determine exactly who it might have been.

As a genuinely benevolent noble household, they had helped too many commoners over the years to remember every face.

Yet among those they had helped, there were still some who remembered such kindness deeply enough to repay it with their lives.

Such stories did still exist in this world.

They were simply very rare.

“May I ask… your identity, Lady in black…?”

Though grateful, Borus still could not hide his unease toward the mysterious and overwhelmingly powerful woman before him.

But Viola immediately interrupted.

“My identity is inconvenient to discuss.”

“My name as well.”

Viola spoke coldly while placing a hand atop Daisy’s oversized hat.

“The only thing you need to know is that this child beside me is named Daisy.”

“She’s traveling together with me.”

“Slurp… too sweet… Viola—mmph!”

Daisy nearly blurted out Viola’s name from habit after stuffing herself with cake.

Thankfully, Viola immediately shoved the same finger she used to absorb apple juice into Daisy’s mouth before she could expose anything important.

After noisily sucking the juice from Viola’s finger, Daisy simply resumed devouring pastries without concern for anything else.

Meanwhile, Viola regained her cold composure and continued negotiations.

“Daisy and I currently require a temporary place to stay.”

“Would it be possible for us to reside in your manor for a while?”

“And if possible, please hire a few teachers knowledgeable in interpersonal interaction and social etiquette for Daisy as well.”

“Of course!”

Baron Borus immediately nodded repeatedly.

“You are the saviors of my entire family!”

“As long as you don’t mind our humble residence, you may stay as long as you wish!”

Although Viola phrased it as a question, her tone practically assumed agreement already.

Naturally, the Borus family—having just been saved from destruction—had no intention of refusing.

And so, the first stop of Daisy and Viola’s journey across the continent would temporarily become this inconspicuous noble estate.

Naturally, the main reason was still to avoid the dragon slayers secretly pursuing them from behind…