Private Tutor to the Duke's Daughter: Volume 17 (eBook)

Riku Nanano (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-8630-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Allen races into the heart of the empire, drawn by a summons from the Hero herself. But when he arrives, the world's mightiest girl seems in no hurry to explain her business with him. As she sleeps the days away, Allen and his students are left to grapple with her jealous would-be heir while the wily emperor schemes to fit them all into his games of intrigue. Meanwhile, Io 'Black Blossom' Lockfield bides his time in the palace dungeons. Allen and company need all the information they can get out of their defeated foe. But even at death's door, Io is a force to be reckoned with, and the rogue sorcerer's last gambit might prove more than anyone bargained for-himself included.

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Allen races into the heart of the empire, drawn by a summons from the Hero herself. But when he arrives, the world's mightiest girl seems in no hurry to explain her business with him. As she sleeps the days away, Allen and his students are left to grapple with her jealous would-be heir while the wily emperor schemes to fit them all into his games of intrigue. Meanwhile, Io "e;Black Blossom"e; Lockfield bides his time in the palace dungeons. Allen and company need all the information they can get out of their defeated foe. But even at death's door, Io is a force to be reckoned with, and the rogue sorcerer's last gambit might prove more than anyone bargained for-himself included.

Textauszug

Prologue

“That concludes the military report from Commander Owain and my bro—ahem, Sir Renown. They add that ‘the entire royal guard has pooled its strength and will continue scouring the eastern frontier for the apostles who caused the disturbance.’”

The young knight’s frank voice filled the chamber, which looked a touch old-fashioned despite the Bright Wings insignia inlaid on its walls. Another knight—older, though still in his prime and majestically whiskered—stood behind me with a dirty-blond young sorcerer. Both gave a slight start.

“I see.” I glanced out the window at the workshop city of Tabatha, where reconstruction proceeded apace, and rubbed at my Leinster red hair. “And you made the trip back to fill us in. Much appreciated, Ryan.”

“Thank you, Vice Commander, sir.” Ryan Bor threw a gallant salute. The sheltered second son of an earl now cut a fine knightly figure.

Experience was the mother of growth, I reflected as I sank into an imposing chair. Each item of furniture displayed astonishing craftsmanship, even considering that Lord Oswald Addison, leader of the republic, had allotted us this villa. I could feel his eagerness to please the Wainwright Kingdom we represented. No doubt a certain emergency had played a hand in—

The whole house shuddered. I would suspend judgment on the matter until I had all the details, I decided, and speedily returned my attention to the papers on the table. Relations between the kingdom and the republic had been foundering since the Algren rebellion. The Lalannoyans couldn’t have expected the bloody civil war that broke out in their capital just when a new peace seemed within reach. And to make matters worse, Miles Talito, Lord Addison’s brother by adoption, had joined hands with the Church of the Holy Spirit to lead the rebel forces. The church’s apostles had even revived the legendary ice wyrm that the republic had used in its war for independence from the Yustinian Empire, forcing its lawful government into a temporary retreat to the former capital. Not even the republic’s two greatest champions, “Heaven’s Sword” Arthur Lothringen and “Heaven’s Sage” Elna Lothringen, had been able to stop it. I had no doubt that the miraculous victory over first the wyrm and then a false goddess owed a lot to one man’s efforts.

“So the apostles might have had a violent falling-out in what’s left of a shrine in eastern Lalannoy,” I mused, hand on my chin. “I wish Allen were here so I could pick his brain about it. Or that I’d gone with him to the empire so this wouldn’t be my job.”

People called Allen “the Brain of the Lady of the Sword.” As for the Lady of the Sword herself, that title belonged to my little sister—the eldest daughter of the Ducal House of Leinster, which governed the south of the kingdom—who cared more for him than for anyone else alive. He and I were firm friends too, for all that he was younger. We had fought together in the eastern capital. But both Allen and my sister had made a hasty departure for the Yustinian capital.

“Richard, I believe you have duties to perform,” the older knight behind me admonished, stroking his beard. “I realize that Allen has gone to answer the Hero’s summons, but Princess Cheryl remains here by royal order, as does Lord Ridley Leinster, the Swordmaster.”

“Stop preaching sense, Bertrand,” I sighed. “Well, even forgetting my wayward cousin, I could never have gone off with my mother marching in from that port city.”

Her Royal Highness, one of my sister’s few friends, had appointed Allen her personal investigator. But while she’d seen them off with a mountain of gripes, she had still stayed behind in Tabatha. Our princess took her duties seriously.

For the time being, I turned to the young knight. “Sorry to keep you dashing from one corner of the kingdom to another these past few months, Ryan. You’ve earned a rest.”

“Thank you, Richard,” he said. Not many months earlier, he would have insisted that he wanted to go back to the front.

“I have high hopes for you.” I tapped the sheathed sword beside me in heartfelt satisfaction. “Oh, and give me a private warning when you and Celerian pick a date for the wedding. The Ceynoths and the Leinsters go way back.”

“W-We don’t— I mean, it’s a little soon for— I-If you’ll excuse me, sir!” The minute I brought up his relationship with his fellow knight, Ryan blushed beet red and beat a flustered retreat. He even forgot to close the door behind him.

I take it back. He’s still green as they come.

“Richard, try to keep your teasing within reason.” Bertrand gave me a rueful grin as he followed Ryan out, no doubt to show him his way around. He remembered to shut the door.

Now...

“How does this business at the abandoned shrine strike you, Uri?” I asked the young sorcerer, whose robe reminded me of Allen’s. “Oh, and have a seat.”

The boy nodded and took a chair in front of me. I couldn’t let his youth deceive me—he had studied with Allen and Lydia under the professor, one of the greatest sorcerers in the kingdom.

Uri smoothed his robes and looked me in the eye. “After a number of investigations, it seems clear that the girl who calls herself the Saint has appointed seven apostles in all, and that she also commands a formidable swordswoman and a vampiress. Five have been sighted in this city: the third through sixth apostles and the Saint’s servant, who uses an unusual eastern sword called a katana.” His pen sped across a sheet of notepaper.

• The Saint’s servant, Viola Kokonoe. Enigmatic, black-haired girl who wields a long foreign sword.

• Third Apostle Levi Atlas. Linked to the Principality of Atlas? Her house name seems to suggest so.

• Fourth Apostle Zelbert Régnier. Allen’s former friend. Dhampir. Once thought dead.

• Fifth Apostle Ibush-nur, aka the former Earl Raymond Despenser of the kingdom.

• Sixth Apostle Ifur, aka the former Marchese Fossi Folonto of the League of Principalities.

Viola and the greater apostles—those ranked fourth or higher—were the kind of freaks you couldn’t overwhelm with numbers. Even the lesser apostles carried remnants of the great spells Radiant Shield and Resurrection inside them and commanded tactical magic that both human and demon forces had always considered taboo, even two centuries ago during the War of the Dark Lord.

The boy sorcerer removed his spectacles. “The corpse left in the shrine belonged to Sixth Apostle Ifur. According to Suse, who examined the scene, eighty percent of his body turned to ash. He had also been slashed to ribbons—by the blood-blades only vampires use. You can trust Suse’s judgment on that. She’s fought one.”

A university student had fought a vampire and lived? Even for a demisprite, widely considered the mightiest spellcasters on the continent, I found that hard to credit. The creatures were a blight on anything mortal. But then, the professor’s students were always a cut above.

“Val and Vil’s sweep of remnant mana confirmed that Fifth Apostle Ibush-nur cast the spell that destroyed the shrine,” the boy continued. “You can trust that result too. Allen shared his analysis of the lesser apostles’ spell formulae with them before he left for the Yustinian Empire. Which means we can infer that...”

I suppressed the urge to interrupt.

Really, Allen? You cracked the apostles’ formulae? And you found a way to share your results with those handsome elf twins—at least I think they’re elves—by orb?

The young sorcerer, whose name reminded me of the aging emperor, slid his spectacles back on.

“A greater apostle purged two lesser ones in that shrine.”

You could cut the tension with a knife.

Dissension in the church, then. Ironic that the first apostle we’ve confirmed dead fell victim to one of his own.

“Uri,” I said, “how would you like to join the guard after you graduate? We’d love to have you.”

“Your Highness overestimates me,” he said, “but I appreciate the offer.”

“‘Richard,’ please. That’s what Allen calls me.” I gave an exaggerated shrug. I wasn’t cut out to be a Highness, though my house had a right to the style. Apart from royalty and the eight grand dukes of legend, only the kingdom’s Four Great Ducal Houses could claim that honor. “I’m glad you magic experts stayed to help. I was afraid you’d all leave with Allen. Still, I’m amazed the other three were willing to listen.”

The lion’s share of the royal guard were out chasing the apostles, along with any Howard maids left in Lalannoy, picked soldiers from the army of the republic, and three more of the professor’s students.

“Allen asked us to stay himself.” The young sorcerer lowered his eyes and frowned. “We owe him too much to refuse.”

“Oh, I see how it is. Don’t let him hear you talking about debts, though.”

“I know. But what else can I say, Richard?” The eyes behind the boy’s spectacles registered understanding, and he pressed his left hand over his heart. I knew that look. Like him, I owed a debt of gratitude I could never repay, but to the Leinster maids. “Suse nearly died in a gutter in the poor parts of the royal capital. Val and Vil...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.9.2025
• 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: 1-7183-8630-3 / 1718386303
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-8630-3 / 9781718386303