“I’m here…”
In front of Stella’s eyes was a small, familiar village. It was a village on the outskirts of a neighbouring town of the royal capital.
She survived as a result.
Thanks to exterminating the strong demons beforehand when she was on the front lines, even if she did encounter demons, they were the ones she could handle.
There were times when she was injured, but it was never serious because Stella had the second best healing magic after the Saint. Healing magic never worked that well on her, but she used a power move that consumed a large amount of mana.
I continued to run while casting physical enhancement, but luckily there were potions in the subspace to recover herself. So she reached the the town next to the royal capital in about a month.
“I survived… is funny to say. I barely made it.”
Her white military uniform was stained green due to the moss or the fluid of the parasitic leaves. It was unrecognizable and no one could tell that Stella was a former Saint.
With what little money I had, I bought cheap clothes and ate some of the most comforting food I had in a long time.
The human-like environment made the back of my nose twitch, but I wasn’t done with what I had to do.
I headed for my parents’ house in the royal capital, still feeling unsettled.
The mansion of the Hayes family was a mansion that was far too grand for a Baron, a lowly aristocrat. It could be said to be a symbol of the money that Stella had spent on her services.
An unfamiliar mansion that was purchased after Stella’s trip to the front. In one of the rooms, Stella was reunited with her family after a long time.
“How dare you come back here! You’re useless! You’ve lost your merit pay, and now you’re leaving the military without permission. And now you won’t get any salary or anything!”
As soon as she returned, she was slapped by her adoptive father, Baron Hayes. The inside of her mouth was cut, but she knew that if she used her recovery spell now, she would be struck again, so Stella endured the pain.
“I’d rather you have been killed in the line of duty than to have gone missing so soon and come back now. And that unseen clothing… decommissioning money is the Hayes family’s money. Don’t be stupid enough to spend it without my permission!”
Stella thought about what her father had said as she held her cheeks, which were starting to heat up.
(If they didn’t know I was banished, then they probably don’t know about the attack on Olivia? If I survived, then I guess they will keep their promise to let me go?)
It was a little disappointing, because I was prepared to go to jail if they found out I was alive.
(No, I can’t let my guard down yet. It could be a trap to catch me after I return alive.)
The adoptive parents, who didn’t care about Stella’s sinking feelings, were worried about their future.
“What are you going to do with the money? I still have to pay for the jewellery That’s right.
Stella is only good for looks. Why don’t we sell her to a whore in secret? They’ll pay more.”
My adoptive mother, Baroness Hayes who wore glittery, and bad accessories, told my father that it was a good idea.
“No… if word gets out that she was a former Saint, we will lose our reputation. We can try selling her as a nobleman’s wife.”
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about. I hadn’t taught her as a Lady, and people will get dubious of our parenting. Raymond is also too sickly to get a fiancée yet as well.”
“I guess we’ll have to deal with Raymond!”
“Oh, yes, we do. Then what are you going to do about it?”
My parents only seemed to want to take advantage of me for my money.
(You didn’t even bother to teach me the manners of a Lady. It was brother Ray who taught me manners, calculations, laws and magic. I hate the Baron and the Baroness, but I need the money for brother Ray.)
The reason why Stella came back to her parents’ house was for Raymond. Now that she had lost Lyle, Raymond was the only one she could rely on. Stella also thought of a way to earn money for his medicine.
(I have healing magic. So I could open a clinic and have the patients pay… Oh, but I need to get registers from the government to do that. Then the government will find me, and maybe I’ll end up back on that front or in jail.)
Remembering the day of the attack, I bit down on my bitterness. When I couldn’t come up with a good idea, a young man came into the office.
His soft brown hair and brown eyes were a soothing colour to Stella.
“Brother Ray.”
“Long time no see, Stella. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
Stella was moved to tears when she saw the person she wanted to see the most. Raymond was as thin as ever, but he looked good, and Stella was relieved.
“I have a suggestion for your father and mother. I’ve got a great way to get some quick money with Stella.”
“What?! Tell me now.”
“Let’s let Stella die.”
Raymond’s words made everyone in the room almost gag.
“She was a saint, albeit a former one. If she is dead, there must be people who want to pay their respects or offer condolences. In the name of maintaining poor Stella’s grave, we will receive donations.”
“Ha… yes, so the grave will be there forever so we can get donations for a long time.”
Her stepfather’s eyes glinted as he looked at Stella. Stella felt a chill go through her body and she tensed up.
Does he really want the money that badly? And is it really that kind Raymond’s idea? My head was too shocked to think.
“But, Father, you can’t really kill her because it would leave evidences. We must pretend that the adventurer found the body part and told us about it. That’s how we’ll prove it.”
Raymond took a pair of scissors from his desk drawer and cut Stella’s hair.
Her long braid was untied and became shoulder length.
Her hair retained magical power. If you examined it, you would immediately find that it was Stella’s hair and you could turn it into a relic, Raymond said.
“So what are we going to do with Stella? Are you just going to leave her at home and let her rot on the granary?”
“No, let’s remove them to a land as far away as possible now. You should also erase the fact that you were staying in this house. Father was ‘busy filing Stella’s death certificate and giving the gatekeeper enough money to cover his expenses.’ Mother ‘prepared to organize a memorial service for Stella and arranged for a lace to be hung on her coffin.’
I’m going to see Stella off now.”
Raymond pulled hard on Stella’s immobilized arm and left the office. He didn’t stop at his room, but went straight to the door.
Stella wanted to ask so many questions but her mouth wouldn’t move. She was being dragged along, as if she was a stranger to this matter.
A carriage was already prepared at the entrance.
“Stella, get in. The stuff from your room is in the trunk, so check back later. As far away as possible… Yes, the easternmost city of Lindale is good. You can live as an adventurer there without a family register.”
Raymond pushed Stella into the carriage. There was only one trunk in the carriage, which was large enough to hold enough necessities.
“Here’s some money for the carriage. Use it. Don’t come back again.”
An envelope was placed in Stella’s lap as she sat in her chair. The door was immediately closed and the carriage departed.
Her stay at the Hayes’ mansion was less than an hour.
The carriage rattled and the envelope fell from my lap. After staring at it for a moment, I reached out to pick it up and realized that the envelope was strangely thick.
“……?”
Stella hurriedly opened the envelope. Inside was a wad of bills and a letter.
When she opened the letter before checking the wad of money, she found Raymond’s words lined up.
—To Stella,
You’ve worked hard enough. You don’t have to spend your life with your parents or me.
Staying at home would have been a life of exploitation for you. In order to break the cycle, allow me to do one last terrible thing to you. From this day forward, you are no longer Stella Hayes, you are just Stella.
You can use the contents of the trunk as you wish. It’s not much, but it’s what you should have gotten.
Don’t worry. My parents are too careless to find out.
And don’t worry about me. I’m still strong enough not to die.
It’s been a pleasure being your brother for almost ten years.
Thank you so much for everything.
—From Raymond.
After reading the letter, Stella opened the trunk with her weak hands.
The trunk was filled with wads of money, coins, and expensive jewellery that hadn’t made it into the envelope, along with a scribbled note advising her to “put it away’ in her subspace as soon as she checked it.
“Brother Ray…”
Even with a small trunk, it is difficult to prepare this much money and jewellery in an hour. If he had prepared it in a few days, even his foolish parents would have noticed something was wrong.
This means that Raymond had been preparing for several years beforehand.
“Brother Ray, ugh.”
The only reason he had rushed to do this was because he didn’t want his parents to regain their composure and change their minds and keep Stella.
It was all Raymond’s kindness to let Stella go and set her free.
I wanted to hug my kind brother right now. But the carriage was already running and there was no going back.
Suddenly, I felt lonely. More than that, I was filled with gratitude for Raymond.
“Thank you, brother—Goodbye.”
Stella hugged the letter, which was blotted with ink, with her heart, wished Raymond happiness, and said goodbye to the royal capital.
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