Recuperating? – Q of Hearts (Part 2)

Note: Please don’t read it in the little pop-up for the reader. For some reason it doesn’t reflect my later edits (which I often make a lot of after publishing), so please click ‘view original’.

One Day I Became a Burikko Villainess Noble Girl, out now.
Honto tutorial here.

Think of it as throwing money at the author and Alphapolis, and getting a book with squiggles and pretty pictures as a pleasant extra.

You might be thinking, ‘Well, do I owe any thanks to Alphapolis the publisher?’, but in fact it is because the publishers are so willing to pick up web novels (Alphapolis in particular) that so many creative stories are being written by people wanting to make it as writers.

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FYI, ‘scenario’ in english visual novel jargon etc. refers to the story/script.
Ah, btw, I’ve been using ‘villa’ to mean ‘secondary residence of less importance’ but I realised now that villa apparently usually refers to bigger, richer get-away type houses. And um, that’s not what I meant. But “secondary residence” sounds less fluid, so I’ll keep using villa. Unless you guys prefer ‘secondary residence’ and ‘secondary estate’. Please leave a comment if you have a preference or an opinion.

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This… might be different to the Revolution End.
In the game’s Revolution End, at the very least, there was no mention of a town like this.
Or it could be that it just hadn’t been mentioned in the story, but it really did end up in this state.

The game’s Revolution End went like this.
The K of Clovers and the protagonist managed to get together…

After that, the Garnet Nation wanted to use her magic and aimed for her, but they somehow managed to avoid it. Three years later, they started the revolution and the monarchy collapsed.
The ringleader was shockingly revealed in the end to be the K of Clovers.
The revolution succeeded, and the king and Royce-sama were executed.
In front of the guillotine, the heroine and the K of Clovers stared at each other in a trance, and that scene spelled the end of the game’s scenario, so we don’t know what happened after the revolution.

“There’s no way I’ll let Royce-sama be executed.”

I was sideways on my quill, and overlooked the chaotic city from high above in the skies.
There was a flame rising from the plaza. Around it was a group of men who seemed to be extremists, raising their voices.
I still can’t hear what they’re saying, but it’s probably criticism towards the monarchy or something.
All of the extremists were wearing black clothing, and green scarves around their necks.

“It’s worse than I thought, huh…”

They probably fought with the public safety force… there were vivid scars left here and there around the town.

“Now then, time to work, time to work.”

My job was to indirectly assist the soldiers who were driving the extremists out of town, as well as help the soldiers who were taking back the other town from the extremists’ hands.
This was the compromise between Royce-sama and Achille.
I wasn’t standing on the front lines, but if the soldiers were in danger, then I’d lend them a hand… What a complicated position.
A few other Red magicians came along to this town. They should be carrying out their jobs of helping out the soldiers at other locations.
Achille went to check on the viscount’s estate, and we’ll be meeting up later. Thanks to the great efforts of the viscount’s soldiers, it seems that the fire was kept at a small scale.
The soldiers from the castle charged into the plaza.

I’m worried about Achille who’s gone elsewhere, and Royce-sama who remained at the castle.
I had the two of them wear the new tattoos that I completed.
Using the dyes from the flowers I plucked from the academy greenhouse, I tattooed their arms with a scale design. The effect is protecting the two from forbidden arts up to two times.
Honestly I wanted to do something more Hearts-ey like pictures of hearts or roses, but… I lacked the courage to draw those kinds of designs onto a man’s body.
So I went with a simple design. You could even mistake it for a bracelet at first glance.
Of course, I have them on my arm too.
They can’t completely protect us from forbidden arts, but I think that this is enough to somehow protect us from surprise attacks.

The soldiers of the castle were cornering the extremists. The soldiers were catching the scattering men.

“How strange.”

A certain group of extremists grouped together and ran in the same direction. And chasing them were soldiers.
Even though it would be easier to lose their pursuers if they split up, instead they’re showing no signs of breaking up which is odd. It looks almost as if they’re leading the soldiers somewhere.

They approached a narrow alleyway, and the moment that the soldiers formed a line, the extremists ambushed them from the side.
Some of them came out from the windows of commoner houses, some of them came from the side-streets, and they attacked the soldiers all together.
The line of soldiers fell into disarray.

“Mmn, things look bad at this rate, don’t they.”

Just in case, it’s better to do something early, right? Achille told me not to make a move until the very last moment thought.
From the skies above, I aimed for the direction of the extremists.

“Ummm, I wonder if sleeping magic and wind magic would be good… If I use too much magic then it seems like Achille will scold me again for wasting magic power after all.”

I used wind magic to carry the sleeping magic to the extremists.
The movements of the extremists who were vigorously attacking the soldiers became sluggish. They collapsed one by one.

“Ohh dearr. A few of our allied soldiers fell asleep as well… Adjusting this sure is hard.”

Well whatever. With this, the soldiers should make a comeback.
The soldiers who once again held the upper hand began arresting the extremists.

※

“Camille!”

Somebody called out from behind me, and when I turned around, I found that Achille was floating on a quill just like I was.
It seems that he came back from the viscount’s villa before I knew it.

“Ah-, Achille. Welcome back. Was your villa okay?”

“It’s fine. Father and Desirée are dealing with the rest.”

He didn’t mention Dominique’s name… even though he’s the first son. And even though he’s the next head.
I had the feeling that it was better not to delve too deeply, so I decided not to mention it and just gave a smile.

“I see.”

“It seems that the soldiers of the castles have the upper hand here, huh. I wonder if driving all of the extremists out of town is just a matter of time.”

“Mn, it was annoying so I had them sle-… Ah, I mean, nevermind.”

“…”

Achille was looking at me like he wanted to say something, but in the end he just sighed.
Phew, it looks like I’m off the hook this time.

“Camille, let’s move to the town that has their headquarters. Another group of soldiers are already headed their way.”

I nodded towards Achille, and turned my quill towards the direction of that town.
This town is probably alright now.

“Got it.”

The town that serves as the extremist headquarters is just nearby.
We flew through the skies towards it.

 

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