Several days had passed since Vincent became Adel's subordinate.
She had exhausted herself coaxing and soothing Vincent, who whined about not wanting to go home. Just how rough would the road ahead be...
At least he was still young, so his stubbornness wasn't too severe. The adult Vincent would never listen to anything Laila said, no matter what. ...Well, if he had been obedient, he wouldn't have started a war in the first place.
Now, what kind of training course should she design?
She had never raised a frail child like Vincent before, so the future seemed daunting. Everyone she had taught up until now were muscular, burly men—more like bandits.
They could be tossed around without any problems.
Vincent, on the other hand, was too soft and small, looking as if he might burst into tears at any moment. If she trained him as roughly as she had done before, it would seem like she was bullying a child.
Of course, Adel appeared even younger than him on the outside.
Lost in thought about the future, Adel snapped back to attention when a food scent tickled her nose.
"I absolutely hate being lured by food."
"...Says that, but your body is honest, isn't it?"
The man who had brought the food right in front of her smiled softly. Since half the food on the table she'd just been served was already gone, it wasn't awkward to place new dishes down.
The man with long silver hair tied back with a red ribbon was a rare beauty. Even by Adel's high standards, he was fairly handsome.
He also had the kind quality of providing food and shelter to Adel, who had nowhere to go.
Of course, there was a high probability that he was being kind because he had ill intentions and wanted to use Adel, who appeared to be an orphan.
However, this was not a problem for Adel at all. If that were truly the case, there was a 100% chance this man would die by Adel's hands.
Given this situation, Adel, effectively safe, could drop all suspicion and just focus on eating well.
However, she glared at the man with suspicious eyes as she moved her fork.
Because there was a very big problem concerning this man that even she couldn't resolve with her power alone.
'Why is he here? Could he already be spying?'
Before her regression, this man was Vincent's right-hand man. In other words, Adel's enemy.
It had been incredibly difficult to subdue him, as he kept killing her subordinates left and right with mysterious powers. He was a strange man she'd met on the battlefield, whose inner thoughts were completely unreadable.
She had no idea why he was interested in her. She also didn't know why they had suddenly met like this, or why of all places, it had to be there.
The incident where the two met occurred the very next day after Vincent became her subordinate.
CRASH—!!
It was a peaceful day of breaking down walls to test her strength. Adel, contemplating how to raise Vincent, was moving her body to clear her head.
The power that had been unstable at first gradually became more steady with use. Her body was still young and not yet perfect, but at this rate, she might recover all her power once she grew a bit more. Just like before her regression, she'd be able to use aura freely.
How could she use this power?
'Perhaps world domination is... the way to go. It's been my long-cherished desire.'
Adel was pondering what to do with her overflowing power when—
"Oh, good heavens! You're the talent I've been looking for!"
A middle-aged man approached Adel with trembling hands. Adel instinctively clenched her fist. If he was a molester, her fist would pierce through his stomach...
'...That wouldn't be good.'
Not wanting to cause a bloody incident, Adel slightly loosened her strength.
"What is the matter?"
Startled by her tone, which didn't sound like a child's at all, the man faltered.
After a moment, he gathered his courage and spoke.
"Child, where are your parents?"
Child? How dare he call her that? Forgetting for a moment that she had become younger, Adel glared at the man who had addressed her so, scolding him with her eyes.
But then again...
'Who were my parents, anyway?'
It was something she'd never thought about before.
The fact that she'd never even considered whether she had parents in all her life was likely because she was an insignificant character in this world. That said, she wasn't curious about her birth secrets now either. So what should she tell this man?
Adel was merely deep in thought, but the man's face turned deathly pale as if he felt threatened, and he immediately dropped to his knees and shouted.
"I-I misspoke! Please, I beg you, help me!"
A man who appeared to be in his forties, crying out to Adel who was, by calculation, around six years old—anyone would find the scene strange.
A molester? Human trafficking? Adel, having completely forgotten that she had scolded him, stared at him in bewilderment. Without loosening her clenched fist, she pulled her right foot half a step back, ready to strike at any moment. Seeing this, the man quickly shouted.
"I, I want to work with you!"
"Work?"
The suspicious man's situation was as follows.
A certain noble wanted to tear down an existing building and construct a villa, but the laborers had started running away.
Recently, the ground had been rumbling and gusts of wind had been frequent, frightening everyone. They said nature was angry or something.
"That's quite something."
"Exactly. I'd already received payment and the deadline was approaching, so I didn't know what to do—and then I saw you breaking down that wall!"
Adel fell into thought. After all, to keep surviving in this world, she needed money. She was now young, and going to the palace to receive a knighthood would be useless, so the only option left was to use her absurdly immense strength.
"How much will you pay me?"
And so, Adel was introduced to a plausible job: building demolition.
Adel was immediately put to work on site, and the few remaining laborers tilted their heads at the sudden appearance of a small child.
But when the little girl, who looked about six years old, swung her fist and lightly smashed a wall, everyone dropped their equipment in shock. The man who had hired her cheered with joy.
He seemed bewildered by his own decision to rely on a child without realizing it, though.
The employer also strictly observed break times. Thanks to that, this job became the best way for the young Adel to earn money. She also found the act of breaking things quite enjoyable.
Adel was in the middle of enjoying her work today as well.
"Phew. It's unfortunate, but I'll have to let that one go."
The foreman sighed, looking at someone and shaking his head. Turning in that direction, she saw a silver-haired man.
Even while carrying a load that was less than half the size of what Adel was carrying, his legs were constantly trembling. It looked like he'd collapse if anyone so much as touched him.
Adel thought he looked like a flimsy paper doll and shook her head just like the foreman. Someone like that would be expelled even from the knight order.
The man set down his small load and wiped his sweat. Even then, he hadn't even reached half the distance to his destination.
Despite that, he seemed immensely proud, smiling with a refreshed expression before stretching his body with a grunt.
That was when it happened. Their eyes met.
"Huh?"
"...Huh?"
The man spotted Adel, erased his lively expression, and looked at her strangely. He wasn't the only one who grew serious.
Adel was so surprised she dropped the sack she was holding. The red-eyed man tilting his head at her. He was definitely...
Adel, looking at the disheveled appearance of the man who was Vincent's right-hand man and the mage who had killed her subordinates, thought:
'Why is this bastard here, acting like this?'
The man approached Adel immediately and began clinging to her persistently.
Where she lived, what she did—it was the kind of excessive curiosity that would make anyone call the guards.
Adel also felt uncomfortable and considered hitting him, but shook her head. A bastard like him would die from just a light flick from her.
It was right for the strong to endure.
But the man's strange behavior didn't end there. He proposed to provide a home for Adel, who had been living on the streets.
Her initial hesitation about whether she could trust him vanished the moment she heard those words. Even if she couldn't trust him, she could use him. She couldn't keep sleeping on the streets.
She had no idea why he suddenly latched onto her, fed her, and gave her a place to sleep—even when she pushed him away coldly.
Sometimes he muttered suspicious things while looking at Adel, but nothing ever changed. Perhaps because he was a mage, she couldn't read his inner thoughts, but he wasn't chanting any spells, so she figured it was fine.
Moreover, for some reason, this mage's current appearance was exactly the same as just before he died several decades later. Back then he'd looked like he was in his early twenties, and she'd thought the young man had a lot of talent—now, he still looked exactly like he was in his early twenties.
