Private Tutor to the Duke's Daughter: Volume 16 (eBook)

Riku Nanano (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8628-0 (ISBN)

Infos

The church has taken the Lalannoyan capital. With the menace of the ice wyrm looming over their heads, Allen and his companions join the desperate fight to retake the city before the monster fully revives. Cut off from their homeland, they will need to tax their brilliant minds to the limit if they hope to stand a chance against the forces arrayed against them. But more secrets lurk in the shadows of the republic, while the Dark Lord's intentions remain cloaked in mystery, and the dueling machinations of the false Saint and her prime apostle threaten to upend all predictions. When all is said and done, can Allen bring himself to finally settle things with his undead erstwhile friend Zel?

Textauszug

Chapter 1

I, Lynne Leinster, second daughter of Duke and Duchess Leinster, sprinted up the interminable slope to my hilltop destination, letting the raw force of the magic fortifying my limbs carry me onward. A pleasant breeze ruffled my red hair and the hem of my skirt. My one-handed sword and dagger clattered at my side, but I couldn’t afford to let them bother me. My dear brother—Allen, “the Brain of the Lady of the Sword”—had asked me to investigate the ruined chapels of the Great Moon on his behalf. But above all, this was a contest.

Breathtaking views of the southern capital leapt at me from the gaps between buildings. I felt the urge to pause, but all the sights could wait. I wanted good news to lay before Teto’s group when they returned from the city of water escorting Carlotta Carnien. The marchesa had been investigating the cult of the Great Moon in the League of Principalities.

I kicked the paving stones, invoking wind spells for greater speed. Generations of Leinster dukes had invested princely sums of money and time to give the city streets their distinctive white-stone surfaces, so comfortably conducive to running. I wore the garb from a land far to the east that Lily, our maid corps’s number three, insisted on calling her uniform, but the jacket patterned with interlocking arrows in shades of red, long skirt, and leather boots didn’t hamper me in the least. My dear brother had also complimented the ensemble in the city of water, so between one thing and another, it might actually gain traction as an alternative maid uniform.

“L-Lady Lynne, wait for me!” a girl’s voice wailed from behind me as I reached the final ascent. Sunlight gleamed on the brown pigtails of Sida Stinton, a diminutive maid in training, as she struggled to catch up to me, looking and sounding ready to burst into tears.

“We four made a pact,” I reminded her. “The last two to arrive must do whatever the winner asks, within reason. Show us what you’re made of.”

“M-Must I really? O Great Moon, w-watch over me,” Sida groaned, clutching the insignia hanging from her neck. She herself belonged to the cult of the Great Moon, one of the least numerous faiths on the continent.

A moment later, we passed through a small stone gate, and our view opened wide. We both paused in spite of ourselves, exclaiming over the vista. Roofs of many colors capped avenues of dazzling white stone and side streets lined with verdant trees. The sight of buildings climbing like terraced fields up the many hillsides never failed to fascinate me.

Perhaps I should share the view with my dear brother, Tina, and Ellie during the next long vacation.

Just then, at the very instant the thought crossed my mind, the trees behind us rustled. Sida and I started, clasping each other’s hands on instinct, as a maid with long milk-white hair landed lightly on the road ahead of us.

“I just knew you’d stop here,” gloated the Leinster Maid Corps’s number six. “I grew up on the streets of this city! No one raised in a mansion will get the better of me, my lady!”

“C-Cindy?!” I gasped. I had been wondering why she hadn’t tried anything yet.

“I...I still have a lot to learn,” Sida admitted, “but...but you haven’t won yet!”

The maid plucked a leaf from her milky hair and bobbed an elegant curtsy. A flurry of magical enhancements, a great leap, and she was off, running along the walls of the buildings that lined our route.

“If you’ll excuse me,” she called in a singsong, “I’ll see you up ahead!”

Sida and I raced after her, fuming, but her lead narrowed not at all. Our final adversary had yet to show herself. Still, our future looked bleak.

“Sh-She leaves me no choice!” I balled up my right fist, and fiery sparks began to whirl. This road toward the city’s outskirts was practically deserted and devoid of flammable wooden structures. I would give Cindy a fright and turn the tables. It was the only way.

Then she smirked over her shoulder, speeding nimbly over a stone-roofed walkway. “Oh? Goodness gracious, what have we here? Are you sure you want to do that, Lady Lynne?”

“Wh-Why shouldn’t I?” I demanded.

“Have a listen!” The milky-haired maid did a midair flip, landed on her feet, and tapped a communication orb disguised as a hair clip. “‘For safety reasons, I say we ban offensive spells. Anyone who casts one automatically comes in last place.’”

The sound of my own voice from the start of the race shook me so badly that I let my fire spell dissipate. Behind me, Sida let out an adorable squeak, but I had more serious concerns.

“Wh-When did you record that?!”

“A maid always comes prepared!” Cindy brought a finger to her chin, no hint of fatigue in her cheery demeanor. The hill rose just ahead. “Now, wouldn’t Mr. Allen be sad to learn you’d broken your own rule, my lady? I can practically hear him now. ‘I’ve failed her as a tutor. How could Her Highness, a duke’s daughter, do such a thing? Oh, Cindy, thank you for telling me! I’ll cut your workload at the company in half.’”

“H-Half of that is just your wishful thinking!”

Dear brother, what possessed you to appoint her my bodyguard?! I can’t— No. I like her just fine. All our maids are family. She’s just a bit, well, tricky to deal with.

“B-But ma’am,” Sida piped up, breathing heavily, “that sounds an awful lot like”—more panting—“a complaint about your duties at Allen & Co.”

“Pardon?!” Cindy froze, her composure dashed. “N-No! Perish the thought! I wouldn’t change them for the world! The tea and pastries Mr. Allen always brings us are to die for, and Miss Fosse is such a darling that my stress just melts away. It’s just that the paperwork could be a little less—”

“Well done, Sida!” I shouted as we slipped past the discomfited maid, making a mental note to ask some hard questions about the tea and treats my dear brother apparently served at the company when I got back to the royal capital.

“H-Hey!” Cindy yelled after me. “I’d hardly call that fair!”

“Blame your own complacency!”

The milky-haired maid groaned and muttered, “You sounded like Mr. Allen and Lady Lydia just now.”

Like my dear brother and sister? I like the sound of that!

I entered hailing distance of the hill, a stone’s throw from victory.

“I’ll take that as a compliment! This race is—”

“But that reminds me. I chat with Mr. Allen while we work, and he usually brings up his tutoring. You know, ‘Tina and Ellie really surprised me today’ or ‘I’m happy to see Stella and Caren making such good progress.’”

“Cindy...”

No, Lynne! Anyone can see it’s a trap! Ignore her and keep running, and victory is— H-Huh?

Before I knew it, my body had turned of its own accord, standing to bar the maid’s path. “Confess!” I demanded. “What did my dear brother say about m—”

“Another opening!” she crowed, breezing past without even bothering to answer. That left Sida in the lead, with Cindy hot on her heels...and me bringing up the rear.

“Cindy!” I roared, feet pounding the ground so hard I left potholes as I took off after her.

“I can’t wait to give you orders, my lady!”

O-Oh no. This looks bad. I need to think fast.

But I had no distance left in which to overtake them. I could already see our destination: the ruined, moss-covered chapel of the Great Moon where my dear sister used to pray. We tore up the slope. Then exclamations of surprise escaped all three of us. Black birds had flitted into view ahead.

Aren’t those...

“You must be tired, Lady Lynne. And you fought hard too, Sida. I’m impressed.”

A woman’s kind, gentle voice took Sida and me aback. Then I found myself being handed a dry towel and a bottle of water. Before the chapel stood a dignified bird-clan maid, gray feathers poking through the black hair that just covered her ears: Cindy’s partner Saki, the corps’s other number six. I’d heard that they’d grown up in the same orphanage.

She beat us all to the finish line?!

“That wasn’t very nice!” Cindy pouted while Sida and I stood stunned. “You call that fair play?”

“No one made a rule against magical creatures,” Saki replied. “Honestly, you’re such a child. Have you forgotten that we’re maids in service to the Ducal House of Leinster and not...”

I wiped my sweat on the towel, remembering something that our head maid, Anna, had once told me as I watched the dressing down. As a child, Saki had been a little terror, racing through the city’s back alleys. Everyone had a past, most full of surprises.

The maid in question soon noticed my stare and cleared her throat, embarrassed. “Please pardon the delay, my lady. Now, shall we be going? I’ll consider my orders for you and Cindy while we walk.”

The ruined chapel seemed less eerie than it had on my previous visit. It had been shortly after my dear brother had gone missing, swept up in the Algren rebellion. My own unease might have done a lot to shape my impressions. And it had been after dark.

“So...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 17.6.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter
• Illustrationen: Riku Nanano
• Übersetzer: Riku Nanano
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Schlagworte: Academy • action • aristocrats • Comedy • Harem • Light Novel • Magic
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-8628-1 / 1718386281
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8628-0 / 9781718386280