Chapter 33

"Well, I don't know about Alexei, but all of the magical beasts I defeated before were ceremonial in nature, and most of the work was already done for me. Sorry for acting all high and mighty. As far as Alexei is concerned, I'm sure he's had to actually take care of magic beasts plenty of times, as plenty of magic beasts show up in the Yurinova territory."

Mikhail explained while laughing.

I see, that means that you defeated a magic beast that has been marked and been surrounded by soldiers before he took care of it? Even so, facing something like that is still pretty scary. And, though that's all the experience you had, weren't you able to keep calm while facing that huge beast while summoning spears of water to keep the beast down? That's already quite amazing.

Also, the scope of the Duke's duties is way too broad! Not only is he the president of a trading company and a governor of a prefecture, but he's also a commander of a force designated to take out magical beasts! You're too cool, big brother!

"But it'd be best for you to prepare yourself. It's Alexei we're talking about here. When things calm down, I'm sure he's going to lecture you. Alexei is a person who's strict and rational, so it's hard when he holds you down to reprimand you. We've been friends ever since we were little, but it's always been worse to be lectured by Alexei than by an adult, so whenever I did something naughty, my mother would call Alexei over. And that's why I'm wishing you good luck."

Ugh... W-What was wrong with those adults! Well, that's just as expected from my brother...

M-My brother is a siscon, so there's no way he'd lecture me like that!

You look like you're enjoying this, prince... Is his personality this rotten? I'm supposed to be the villainess here, you know?

"That's why I'll be the one to talk to you before that."

Mikhail cracked a smile.

Wah, what do you think you're doing?!

Even if that's something you could say to a high schooler, those same words won't matter to someone who's around thirty!

"You were very brave."

...Huh?

"Even though you were scared to the point of tears, you did your best. Good job.

I think the four of us here right now have the strongest magical power in the entire magic academy, even if we factor in the faculty."

"Because you stood your ground, the four of us were able to join forces, and due to that, nobody was hurt." He continued on.

"It was reckless for you to face it on your own, but I think what you did was praiseworthy." Mikhail ended his praise.

......

Um, you know. I didn't really do anything that was praiseworthy.

I knew prior information from the game and realized that it'd be a huge problem if the beast wasn't defeated, so I did my best, and that's all.

But, I do have to admit, I am a bit... happy.

Maybe it's because I remembered the job I had in my previous life. When I was told that if I didn't recover the system from its failure within three hours, I'd have to pay for damages.

I identified the cause of the issue within 15 minutes by myself, and fixed it in the next 30 minutes.

When I reported my findings, I was told to "write a report on the cause and preventative measures that can be taken, before the business operation resumes."

The cause? It was the change in specifications that I was forced to make despite having told them that it was impossible, you dumbass!

Without saying that out loud, I dispassionately wrote the report. By staying up all night. That's what a systems engineer does, after all.

This time, when I did my best, I was praised.

That's all, but why are tears welling up?

In my previous life, I was used to not being rewarded, but of course it was painful.

Thank you, prince.