I Raised the Villain's Daughter Too Well-Chapter 47: Didn’t Know! -

Sacrarion.

A house that had once rivaled the Seriratus in scale.

But they defied the Empire—and were annihilated.

...That’s about all I know.

Most of the records have been sealed.

So, going off the available information—

They lived just fine, then suddenly rebelled against the Empire, held out for an oddly long time, and for all that, were instantly destroyed.

Each of those phrases must hide something deeper.

But... does that have anything to do with me?

Not at all. I couldn’t care less. Looking into it would only risk irritating the Emperor.

Even if the Emperor had a hobby of kidnapping and devouring Sacrarion heiresses, I’d just go, “Oh, how shocking,” and move on. I had no interest in empathizing or fighting for them now.

Most noble families would feel the same.

“Would you care to tell me why I’ve been waiting for you?”

That line meant nothing.

I’m not dumb enough to mistake a pinned butterfly shaking in the breeze for something alive.

So I just shouted out with full clarity of purpose:

“Emily!”

“...I know already!”

She stepped forward—and became light as a feather.

That’s how weightless she became. Her sword aimed precisely at the back of the neck, and Sephennity didn’t dodge.

“What...!”

Emily had expected her to evade. She was startled—but didn’t make the mistake of loosening her grip.

Sacrarion. That name alone forbade even a shred of carelessness.

And Sephennity proved exactly why.

—She was still far above our level.

“Oh ho.”

She caught the blade.

With just one hand. Like snatching a bug out of the air.

Her palm, which should’ve been bleeding, looked as untouched as if she’d picked up a dull kitchen knife.

Sephennity murmured, staring at the stunned Emily as if finding her amusing.

“So it was to fight... That’s not a very pleasant answer.”

“Ghh...! Kill her!”

Emily’s scream didn’t carry hatred.

It was just a plain, matter-of-fact declaration.

I immediately drove my sword into the back of Sephennity’s neck.

“?!”

No force went through.

It didn’t feel like piercing flesh—it felt like thrusting into a stone bead slick with oil.

Instead of tearing, the blade slipped. I rolled with the motion, coming to Emily’s side.

Emily stared wide-eyed, glancing back and forth between my sword and Sephennity’s neck.

“W-what the hell? You definitely stabbed her!”

“Tch. Guess we’ve uncovered one of the Empire’s little secrets.”

“What?”

So that’s what the ‘oddly long time’ was about. This difficulty’s screwed.

I flipped my reverse-gripped sword and backed off as I explained.

“Sacrarion really was powerful. But even accounting for their strength, it took far too long to bring them down. This was probably why.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re under the protection of a sword.”

I watched Sephennity’s calm, smiling face as I slowly moved my blade.

I needed to prepare a stroke in advance.

“You can’t kill them with a sword. That’s what they are.”

“What...?”

“...How strange.”

Sephennity suddenly joined the conversation.

“You’re right. I’m not afraid of your sword at all. I don’t fear the weapon that could kill me. That must mean I’m under the protection of a sword.”

“...”

“But isn’t that strange? If I am protected, your strike should never have been allowed to land. I could’ve killed you before that. I could’ve killed you the moment you even thought of attacking. So why didn’t I? Why couldn’t I?”

So they did patch in some balance?

Sephennity, caught in confusion, didn’t seem capable of showing her full strength.

That just left one question: how strong was she, really?

I kicked off and charged forward.

“Don’t join in. If I lose, run.”

“R-right!”

We traded a few blows.

Not enough to draw blood—just probing for information.

It was a desperate movement meant to create a gap for Emily to escape, if it came to that—

...But it wasn’t quite what I expected.

“Ugh, but if I run, the exam...”

“Hmm. On second thought, I don’t think you’ll need to.”

“W-what?”

Emily stared at me in disbelief.

But Sephennity really wasn’t doing anything.

She deflected my attacks with effortless grace. That much was fine.

But she didn’t counterattack.

Just stood there, blocking, with a face that looked lost in thought.

“As I thought... I really don’t understand.”

My swordsmanship wasn’t especially advanced.

My magic was Tier Five. For my age, I could be called a prodigy—but Firnea already surpassed me. Compared to the other cadets at the Academy, I wasn’t that exceptional.

However—

If the opponent exchanged blades with me, and I could withstand it, the situation changed.

I stepped in and intentionally locked into a power struggle.

“Why... What does it all mean...”

Even in that state, Sephennity continued to murmur.

I fired back.

“Maybe... go your entire life not knowing.”

“...?”

The count was up to -139 strokes.

In the very next moment, Sephennity’s entire body was consumed by flame.

“KYAAAAAH!!!” novelbuddy.cσ๓

Emily screamed and stumbled backward—

Either because she saw someone burning right in front of her eyes,

or because of the searing heat wave that shook the entire command tower.

It felt like I had poured out every drop of mana I had.

Gasping hard for breath, I looked at Sephennity—still engulfed in flames.

...It didn’t work.

“...What, are you protected by magic too?”

“If only I were that lucky.”

I tried mocking her.

It was all I could do.

She was completely unharmed.

Blinking inside the flames, she looked at me—and muttered:

“Ah.”

“I see. So it wasn’t to fight.”

She snapped her fingers.

A simple motion—with a far from simple result.

The flames I had staked everything on vanished.

...Even her clothes were untouched.

Sephennity muttered as if absolutely nothing had happened.

“Meeting you was my goal all along.”

“Ugh, how can a fake have so much to say?”

She didn’t attack.

But she wasn’t taking damage either.

What am I supposed to do with her? Should I summon Geminos again?

Surprisingly, it was Sephennity herself who offered an answer.

“My apologies, but... may I ask just one question?”

“...What?”

“Please. After that, I’ll allow you to do whatever it is you wish.”

Emily and I looked at each other.

I’d been feeling it for a while now—

...How the hell was this implemented?

The mana space’s NPCs are nothing more than restructured fragments of mana, residual will bound by the system. Simply put, they act according to preset values.

Like mercenaries pulling a carriage without a single question.

You just use that base and tweak how much freedom they appear to have.

But something this restricted behaving like that?

This... we need to be careful.

If she’s like this with restrictions, I can’t even imagine what kind of autonomy she’d have without them.

“W-what is it?”

“No, Lady Emily. You shouldn’t just accept it so casually—”

“Who was it that found the path to this place?”

“...”

That question—

It wasn’t about the Empire, or about her, or about us.

It was shockingly irrelevant.

I sighed and answered anyway.

“...That was me.”

“I see...”

Sephennity nodded, then raised the hand holding her thin sword.

I immediately braced myself at maximum alert.

“She’s moving—stay sharp.”

“I know alre—huh?”

Shhk!

Emily’s confused voice echoed just as a wet tearing sound filled the command post.

But she hadn’t been struck.

“W-what is she doing?!”

“...?!”

It was Sephennity.

She had plunged her sword into her own heart—without a moment’s hesitation.

A graceful, fluid motion with not a trace of doubt.

Coughing blood, she looked at me with a twisted smile and muttered something.

“Khk... cough... I truly was... lucky.”

“What—what is this—”

I furrowed my brow, completely unable to grasp what was happening.

Sephennity didn’t answer.

Still impaled, she glanced outside the command post and let out a chuckle.

“To throw a gamble like this... and win. A criminal could never pull this off. So should «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» I call it luck... or curse myself...? I really don’t know.”

Then she collapsed forward—and didn’t get back up.

Emily, stunned as she watched, eventually opened her mouth.

“...Was she just insane? Did she actually die like this in real history?”

“...I’m not sure how the traitors met their end.”

Watching Sephennity dissolve into dust, I let out a long sigh.

What even was that.

“Maybe... I dunno, she realized she was just a puppet in a mana space and killed herself?”

“Do you think the mana space is some brain-in-a-jar breeding tank? That’s impossible. It just reconstructs simulated characters based on residual mana traces and known data. Of course, they move according to the will embedded in those mana traces. For example, the soldiers attack us because they genuinely had the intent to kill enemies—and in the scenario, we are the enemy.”

“Then what was she? Did she have the will to die?”

“Probably not. The most likely explanation is that Charles decided the commander was too strong, so he set a hidden condition: if someone reaches her through a specific assassination route, she’s programmed to kill herself immediately.”

Emily nodded as if she understood.

“Oh! Yeah, that’s gotta be it. What else could it be?”

“Still... it’s bothering me a bit. She said she’d achieved her goal.”

I stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsettled, then decided to take it in a good light.

The most dangerous enemy just took herself out.

If I think of it that way, it’s honestly the best outcome possible.

She didn’t do anything to me.

Even if she had information I wasn’t supposed to know—she didn’t share it.

She just... died on her own.

The end.

“So... shall we head down?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“We’re done here. No point sticking around. Let’s follow the original plan—head down, eliminate the remnants, and destroy the outpost. With the commander gone, we can take them apart piece by piece. Should be doable.”

“Yeah... let’s do that. Might take a while, though. It’s not like everything ends just because the commander’s dead.”

“Let’s not go down just yet. The soldiers will probably come up soon for their next orders—let’s assassinate them on the way.”

“...”

I stood beside the staircase, glancing one last time at the spot where Sephennity had been.

I was curious.

What kind of will must she have carried to do something like that on this battlefield?

****

[VARIABLE DETECTED]

“D-don’t tell me... this happened because I talked to Firnea...?”