Chương 6: Can’t I get a simple thank you?

Ophelia played with the rings on her fingers as the protagonist laughed manically in front of her. There she is. That's the crazy bitch I've spent three years rooting for. She ignored the heavy stench of iron. If she thought too much about how she'd just killed fifty people, she was going to lose it. For heaven's sake, no one would've ever called her nice, but she'd never killed anyone before!

She just thought [Spatial Rift] would cut into The Host's arm or something, not massacre everyone - and the whole damn building. The worst part was that every time her mouth twitched at the carnage, the System screamed [OOC] at her. She sidestepped The Host's bisected body. A fan favorite. His real name was Ziggy Bonaparte - not the author's best name - a fun fact the author had released during an interview.

What stunned her, aside from killing fifty people, was how she had totally neutered this arc in about ten seconds. In the webtoon, Rin had been captured about a week from now after killing Lady Vyx, while looking for her friends. Tragically, she'd arrived too late, and the last of the orphans had just died in the rings. She spent the next two weeks killing thugs in the ring and consuming their skills, and practicing how to use the very overpowered [Observe]. Then she escaped.

Ophelia tended to skim over this arc on rereads. The gauntlet of fights had been boring, especially so early on. The Host was okay as an antagonist. She liked his character design, mostly. She checked her points, her eyes almost flying out of her head. Still -10, 000?? After killing fifty NPCs to save this girl's ungrateful ass? Not even one point earned? Rin, your heart was this pitch-black at only fourteen years old? [Congratulations! You've completed the quest to save the protagonist from the pit fighting ring. 200 points!]"What quest? I didn't know there was a quest." [It's a belated quest]"…" [Just take the pity points] Ophelia pinched the bridge of her nose. Well, who was she to deny freebies? Beggars couldn't be choosers.

"An angel," a young blonde girl murmured, staring up at her with a dreamy gaze. The effect was made doubly more pitiful by her blackened eyes.

"Did you come to save us?" The boy with dark brown hair stayed quiet, but he was analyzing her. Their names escaped Ophelia. She crouched down in front of the bars.

"Of course."

"Don't!" Rin bit out, before turning her head away.

"I'll go with you. I'll be your apprentice. Just… leave them alone."

"Rin, I want to go with the nice lady," whined the blonde girl. Ophelia had known that earning Rin's trust wouldn't be easy. But the treatment still stung.

"Well, my apprentice, regardless of how you feel, it would be wise to get out of here. I'm not in the mood to deal with Prince Solomond or the Royal Court right now." Prince Solomond especially. He didn't exist in the webtoon aside from a name-drop here and there, and he'd died during the invasion of the capital. She had no idea what his level was, or his abilities. She cast [Warp], attaching the spell to Rin and the two kids as well.

They suddenly disappeared from existence without a sound, only a slight breeze marking where they had been. Ophelia had the sense that she could've minimized the displaced air if she desired the additional stealth. They landed in Castle Nighthold. Ophelia appeared gracefully, as though stepping out of thin air, while Rin and the two kids stumbled on their feet and collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut. Ophelia observed them with crossed arms. She had only wanted to go on a shopping trip and eat out.

Instead, she ended up with two children. But what was she going to do with them? This setting was so dark that she had no idea how any children ever made it to adulthood. If she sent them off to another orphanage, who knew if a serial killer was hiding underneath it or something? And Ophelia herself wasn't exactly maternal. Back in her world, her dream life had been living alone in a Parisian apartment with several cats, spending all her money on eating delicious food and buying luxury clothes.

She had never desired children of her own. Or a husband. A fancy wedding, sure - who didn't love a great party? - but the groom could've been anyone for all she cared. There was only one option.

"So what do you children want to do?" she asked.

"Can I drop you off anywhere, or…?" Rin opened her mouth to speak up, but the blonde girl beat her to it.

"Can we stay with you, my lady? Please, please, please?" She turned towards the boy who had been silent thus far and elbowed him.

"Come on, Toma - tell her you want to stay too." Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Toma glanced at Rin for half a breath, a bitter grimace forming on his lips.

"Didn't you hear them earlier, Marika? The lady is Rin's mistress. We would just be getting in the way."

"That's right," said Rin coolly, starting for the door.

"Come. I'll find a place for you to stay." God. And where would that be, Rin? Under a bridge?

"It's already late at night. Why don't you three go to bed and we'll discuss what to do tomorrow?" Rin narrowed her eyes at her.

"But–""You already got kidnapped once today," Ophelia hissed.

"Do you think I'm your butler, willing to follow you around everywhere?" Ophelia exhaled sharply through her nose. She grabbed Marika with one hand, and Toma with the other.

"The other rooms aren't made up yet. You can sleep in my bedroom for now."

"What about Rin?"

"Her too. The bed is big enough." She escorted them to Lady Vyx's massive bedroom. The only room in the castle which was properly furnished. A grand four-poster bed sat against the back wall, draped in a gauzy black canopy. Underneath the piles of stoat furs and pillows, the sheets were of the finest black silks. The closet had clothes in Lady Vyx's size, though Ophelia hadn't given it more than a cursory glance yet.

Unfortunately, Lady Vyx didn't have any fire spells as far as she knew, so she had to crouch beside the large hearth and use the fire starter sitting beside it to spark a flame in the stack of wood inside. Marika and Toma stood nervously in the room but quickly climbed into the bed after Ophelia sharply ushered them towards it. They tucked themselves into the furs, looking comically small on the mattress.

"Um, my lady?" asked Marika.

"Hm?"

"How did you find us so quickly? Did you have a tracking spell on Rin?" Ophelia sat on the edge of the bed.

"I hitched a ride from the Ghost of the Canal." As she had been frantically paging through her spells to find something useful for tracking Rin down, the old gentleman gondolier had rowed straight to her. Such was the plot armor of protagonists, she supposed. Able to make strange friends in strange places. Rin hadn't ever ridden Mister Monroe's gondola in the webtoon, but often tracked him down to get pieces of hearsay and gossip. The two kids shared an uneasy look.

"Doesn't he charge double at night? Did you pay him?"

"I told him to send an invoice to Castle Nighthold." Marika started, "Um… my lady…"

"What is it?"

"Mister Monroe doesn't charge money," said Toma, gulping.

"He takes your soul as payment." Ophelia's eyes widened slightly. What? Well, if that was true, it was a good thing that Mister Monroe was only Level 500. Though… the abilities of ghosts worked strangely in this setting. They were more conceptual, relying less on levels than most creatures.

"Then how can he charge double?" wondered Ophelia. The two kids shrugged.

"Well, don't worry about that. If he wants my soul, he can try his best." After all, surely even a ghost couldn't just take an archmage's soul. That would be ridiculous. Suddenly, a loud knock erupted from the front door - like someone was trying to charge a battering ram through it. The walls of the castle shook and shuddered. The hair on the back of Ophelia's neck went cold. The Royal Court? Did they bring an army?

"Stay here. Don't move," she commanded the two kids. Ophelia swept through the castle, Rin at her heels. The girl had been watching her every move, a black cat hiding in the shadows. Her lip curled as the banging continued. Just because my castle is in ruins, don't presume you have the right to turn it into rubble.

"Hang on. I'm coming," she called out with supernatural volume. She cracked open the door. Standing there wasn't an army, nor even a prince. Though looking at who the figure was, Ophelia wished it had been one of those two. A tall woman with long, sweeping white hair, and tan skin stood imperiously before her. Her very presence had a gravity to it, like she was more real than her surroundings. Even the shadows didn't dare to touch her. Headmistress Bianca Albini of the Royal Mage Academy.

Ophelia was so shocked she couldn't speak for a moment. Headmistress Albini had been Rin's worst nightmare. She had been a peer of Lady Vyx, whose demise had kicked her into spiraling insanity. Even with the Ring of Dark Subterfuge on Rin's finger, the headmistress managed to track down the protagonist again and again with vicious, relentless hatred in her heart, unwilling to hear reason. She was a psychopath - a permanent thorn in Rin's side. Since the headmistress had reacted so poorly to Lady Vyx's death…

that meant they must've been close friends, right? Maybe Ophelia had nothing to fear? The woman's voice was stiff, aloof contralto.

"Lady Archmage."

"Bianca," Ophelia greeted with a small smile.

"How lovely."

"I prefer Headmistress." Without another word, the statuesque woman stepped through the castle's threshold. She paused, a shard of red stained glass cracking under her boot. Her dark eyes gazed around slowly, critically. Ophelia tried to picture the Castle Nighthold through her perspective. Ruined stone walls, shattered windows, and furniture either burned or blasted into pieces. The product of some battle the author had never bothered to expand upon. It just existed for spooky ambiance.

"I wonder if you have any cleaning spells in your repertoire, or if you've wasted all your spell slots on beauty charms."

"I'm all natural," Ophelia said with a forced smirk.

"Foolish question. Of course you don't have any cleaning spells," Bianca continued as though she hadn't spoken.

"Why else would you have left such a mess in the Grandiflora District?" Ophelia's blood went cold, her limbs numb. Bianca Albini was the number one offensive mage in the world. An archmage, just like Ophelia. If the headmistress chose to attack, it would be a gamble if Ophelia could teleport away fast enough. She doubted a Beginner's First [Spatial Rift] would kill her. Rin padded up to Ophelia, half-behind her. Bianca gave the girl a cursory, bored glance before seeming to disregard her entirely.

"This is Rin," Ophelia introduced, pulling Rin in front of her.

"My apprentice." Sorry, protagonist, I'm going to shamelessly hide behind your plot armor.

"Her only apprentice. I was the only one who passed Mistress's tests," corrected Rin quietly. Ophelia glared at her. Is she trying to clue the headmistress in? True, Lady Vyx deserved punishment for killing and torturing an untold number of orphans. However, it could be said that she'd already received divine punishment - her soul evicted for a terminally online seventeen year old, and her reputation being lashed to death ad infinitum in fanfiction. Bianca looked down her nose at the two of them.

"Yes, well... may I have a word, Lady Archmage?" she said.

"In private?"