“Earning a living to support the family, Young Lady. After all, a job with the City Guard is a stable one.”
Though this answer sounded a bit lowly, Sifuke knew it was the best response.
If it had been her from several years ago, just after joining the City Guard, she might have said something passionate and righteous like “To protect this city.” But now she understood that those weren’t the words the higher-ups wanted to hear.
Masha had once asked her a similar question—putting herself in Masha’s shoes, which answer would Masha prefer? Definitely the first one.
A City Guard captain whose goal was to support her family was far more “stable” than one full of hot-blooded zeal, wasn’t she?
“Alright then, we’ll head back first.”
Xiliya turned to leave. Of course, this wasn’t the answer she’d wanted to hear, but she knew she couldn’t force the issue. Just as Xiliya pushed open the door to depart, Sifuke, who had been keeping her head lowered, seemed to steel her resolve and called out to her.
“Wait a moment, Miss Xiliya.” Sifuke bit her lip. “I still have some work matters to report.”
“Yesterday afternoon at three o’clock, the Textile Merchant Guild also shipped a batch of goods out of the city. But during the inspection, we found that the cargo in their carriage had five more crates than declared.”
“I’d originally planned to detain the carriage as per routine procedure… but Lady Masha happened to visit the City Guard yesterday. She said it was just a minor error in the cargo declaration and there was no need to waste time double-checking everything, so…”
Reason told Sifuke she shouldn’t reveal these things. She shouldn’t offend Masha—once she waded into this muddy water, there’d be no turning back… But Sifuke also felt that Xiliya was truly different. She wasn’t one of Masha’s people.
“Got it,” Xiliya said with a smile. “I knew I hadn’t misjudged you, Sifuke.”
“I promise you, I’ll protect this city. So—” Xiliya patted Sifuke’s shoulder. “If anything like this happens again, tell me.”
Those extra five crates were clearly smuggled goods. Xiliya had thought Sifuke would hesitate longer before siding with her, but she’d come around so quickly.
Masha had her own network of connections in the city—those merchant guilds involved in smuggling. If Xiliya wanted to take on Masha, she needed “her own people” like Sifuke.
On the way back, Ximo asked curiously, “Master, since we’ve got evidence of Masha’s smuggling now, why don’t we report her?”
“To whom?” Xiliya knocked on the little maid’s foolish head. “Masha’s the one actually in charge of Camberlan City right now. Should I report her to herself?”
“Wait a bit longer, and there’ll naturally be a chance to take her down in one go. It’s not time yet.”
Xiliya knew full well that in a short while, the Empire’s Queen would send someone to the border city to handle the City Lord issue.
After all, Masha had kept dragging her feet with all sorts of excuses to prevent Xiliya from succeeding as City Lord. The Empire couldn’t leave the border city without a proper leader forever. The envoy from the Imperial Capital wasn’t there to help her claim her inheritance—he was only responsible for confirming a new successor for the Camberlan Family.
In her previous life, Masha had exploited this exact point. During the envoy’s visit, she’d tripped Xiliya up repeatedly, making her look like a fool in front of him. Then Masha had seized the opportunity to claim Xiliya wasn’t mature enough yet, suggesting they wait until she graduated from the Imperial Magic Academy. Under the envoy’s witness, Masha’s ascension had seemed perfectly reasonable.
This time, what Xiliya planned to do was gather solid evidence and expose all of Masha’s misdeeds right in front of the envoy from the Imperial Capital.
“Besides, Masha took something of mine,” Xiliya said darkly. “I need to get it back before I report her.”
Her mother had left behind a very important heirloom—a pair of earrings styled like blue jasmine flowers. In Xiliya’s memory, they were an accessory her mother had always worn, and they should have been the most precious thing passed down to her.
Yet the earrings had gone missing not long after her mother’s death. In her previous life, Xiliya had searched endlessly but never found where they’d gone. Later, she’d finally realized Masha must have taken them.
Xiliya didn’t know where Masha had hidden them, but she’d already planned the perfect time to search. In just two more days, it would be Camberlan City’s traditional winter hunt. The Camberlan Family and numerous merchant guilds would form a grand procession to hunt in the City North Forest.
By then, nearly everyone in the mansion would be gone—a perfect opportunity for Xiliya to turn the place upside down and reclaim her mother’s heirloom.
Back at the mansion, Xiliya spotted Masha approaching her the moment she entered the hall.
“Xiliya, come to my room later,” Masha said in a concerned tone. “It’s about time to find a magic enlightenment tutor for little Malisi, so I bought a magistone to test for magic aptitude. It’s a rare chance—why don’t you test yours too?”
“No need, Aunt Masha. Father tested me for something similar when I was little. I don’t have any magic talent.”
“You never know—aptitude can change. It’s no trouble to check.”
“Alright, I’ll change clothes and come over.”
With that, Xiliya took Ximo back to her room. This old fox is still suspicious of me after all.
Ten minutes later, under Masha’s watchful gaze, “Xiliya” slowly placed her hand on the magistone.
This magistone was specially made, infused with highly reactive magic elements. Anyone with even a modicum of magic aptitude would make it glow upon contact.
It was the most common method used across the human Empire to test for magic talent—accurate and impossible to cheat.
As she placed her hand on the magistone, Ximo nervously swallowed. The intense sense of déjà vu had her fantasizing already: the stone would shine with twin lights, and Masha beside her would gasp in shock, “What? The rarest xx spiritual root? It’s been how many years since a genius with xx spiritual root appeared on xx continent!”
Okay, maybe she’d read too many web novels. But as a transmigrator, was it too much to ask for some awesome magic talent? She couldn’t be stuck with just this useless system, right?
And so Ximo waited, tense and expectant… three seconds… five… ten seconds passed. Finally, the magistone emitted a faint glow—but it was so dim Ximo could barely see it.
Damn it, I really am a total waste!
Masha, watching the result, breathed a sigh of relief. This should prove Xiliya had nothing to do with that vigilante, right?
