PROLOG

"Hh… What a waste of time." Arina spat at last. "You should have seen them. They sure are talkative and crazy—Oh! Felix might fit in there." She chatter for so long while the woman in front of her could only fold her lips bitterly until her mistress finished venting all her complaints.

Arina had been slightly expecting to meet some important people when she was invited to the birthday party--of the kingdom's most famous merchant, they said. But it turned out that mostly it was just a beer-loving old man with a ridiculous sense of humor, who was even worse than his father! When she got home, Arina promised not to talk to her father for a week because he had asked her to replace him there.

"But strangely there was one merchant who was rather handsome, you know. He looks as disheveled as any other old man, but his wild style is a bit my type." She continued. "Unfortunately I didn't get to ask his name—"

Clatter... Thud! "ARGH!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise from outside accompanied by unpleasant shaking in the carriage, even though there should be no rocky road along the way home. But if you hear the sound of the horses screeching in panic, it seems they didn't just encounter a big rock.

"What is it--"

"Ssh." Arina stopped her maid from opening the curtain at the door. The problem was that she had caught a glimpse of the shadows outside, and it looked like they were being attacked by bandits. "If we're lucky, maybe they'll just go—"

Thud! A man with a long sword was already in a hurry to force open the carriage door. "Hurry out and hand over all the money you have!" He threat.

The maid, Sei looked like she was about to shift her body to protect Arina, but strangely her employer just complied and stepped outside the carriage, so the man's men could start searching the contents of the carriage.

Including them and the boss, it seems the bandits numbered around 8.

But because the schedule was just going to a party, there were actually only a few bags of money on the carriage. So instead of worrying about her meager fortune, Arina glanced at her other bodyguards. Although unfortunately they all turned out to be lying dead on the ground. If there is anything, at least the horse is still alive.

"Your jewels…" Said the swordsman again. "Take it all off."

"..." Arina could have given up all her jewelry, but she definitely couldn't take off the necklace with purple gems around her neck. So before got protested, she said it first. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Trust me, you don't want to either."

"Huh? What are you saying?! Take it off quickly or I'll have to do it after slitting her throat!" He said while pointing his sword at Sei, even though Arina suddenly widened her smile as if she was laughing inwardly.

"Hmph, of course. What do I expect from a noble…" Said the man who finally decided to point his sword at Arina's neck instead. "Don't mess with me, young lady. I will really kill you!"

"Yes. In fact, I can see it. If I could guess, you've probably killed over 50 people. Your eyes are really scary." The reply was light.

"..." The man had a strange feeling, but he still brought his sword closer to Arina. Until finally the woman in that blood red dress was seen raising her hand, giving a gesture that she would obey this time.

And Arina finally took off her necklace.

But right after the man snatched the necklace from Arina's hands, he started to feel a terrifying aura creeping up his legs instead. So spontaneously, the man immediately jumped back in a hurry. "What the hell…!"

"Boss, what are you doing?" Said one of his men. "I know! Here, let me take all the jewelry." He continued, who then immediately approached Arina.

"Wait, don't-"

SLASH! But out of nowhere, something stabbed him in the heart, then threw him away like a lump of raw meat.

"Ewh." Arina looked disgusted and averted her eyes, but all the bandits immediately drew their swords in alarm.

"W-What the hell?!" But no matter how many times they look, there's no telling what's really going on, or what's actually happening. And as if that wasn't enough, the flaming torches that were set up in front of the carriage also suddenly went out so everyone could only depend on the dim moonlight.

"F-Fuck!!" Someone shouted and finally decided to lunge at Arina again. But again, not even a second later his voice immediately turned into a squeal of pain, followed by a helpless thump. Then another man, another woman, until the remaining 3 men.

"Ugh, that sounds awful." Arina muttered, still reluctant to open her eyes even though it was already quite dark around her.

But because the boss didn't seem to be dead yet, reluctantly Arina sighed softly and made her own purple flames from her hand. Showing her true identity, or rather the identity of the monster that helped her.

Beating the darkness of the night, there were many dense black smoke billowing around Arina like wild roots.

Realizing the dire situation, the man immediately ran with all his might. But after letting him run for a few seconds, the shadow finally caught hold of him and dragged him back in front of Arina.

"That's why I said I couldn't." She muttered while taking her necklace back. Then, without waiting any longer, she began to move her shadow to squeeze the man's neck.

CLASH! But before she did, it turned out that the man was still able to muster all his last strength to reach for his small knife and point it at Arina's face. Her cheeks were obviously bleeding. But after being caressed by her own shadow, the wound immediately closed perfectly. "Next time you should use poison."

"Y-You devil!" The man's curse, which spontaneously made Arina purse her lips in displeasure.

"Well, mister bandit, my title is actually just 'dark magician'. So I would be grateful if you don't equate me with those hideous creatures with big teeth."

"Dark magician…?" The man repeated with widened eyes. "B-But that's just a myth!"

"Yes indeed. For people who have never met me." Arina replied, who finally put her necklace back on. Her shadow immediately began to fade, but fortunately she still had time to snap the man's neck first.

"Phew. Hmm?" But as soon as she turned around, her eyes immediately caught Sei's figure who was still sitting on the ground, trembling.

"Ah, no one killed you huh…" Arina said while looking around. Because she averted her eyes while her shadow was going berserk, she thought someone had already killed her servant. But it turned out that the maid she had only seen in the past few weeks had a rather long life.

Arina was silent for a while, but she finally walked over and knelt in front of her maid. "If you promise not to tell anyone, you can come home with me."

"I-I-I promise! I beg you to spare my life!"

"Okay. Then from now on we are friends, Sei." She replied, then stood up and held out her hand.

Sei's whole body was still shaking, but after being silent for a while, she also worked up the courage to accept her master's helping hand. Anyhow that was all she could do now.

Arina smiled, but she sighed again as soon as she looked around. "Well, now what…"

She could have left all the mess and went home. But the carriage belonging to her family—like most of the other nobles—has a special logo indicating that it is the property of her family, the Almira family. And if someone saw it, strange rumors about her would surely spread.

Moreover, it's not like she could explain how he survived the bandits' attack earlier. "Sei, do you have any ideas?" She asked, but the maid could only remain silent.

"Hm, if only I could bury them all at once…" She muttered.

'You can'

"...Or I can?" Arina muttered somewhat in disbelief. But because so far her conscience has never been wrong, Arina took off her necklace again and the shadows at her feet widened again to envelop the whole mess earlier. Only then did her shadow begin to bubble upwards to swallow everything clean like a blood leech. Except for one horse.

"Wow, I don't even need to concentrate fully while doing it." And suddenly, the laughter started again. "Look Sei, it looks like I'm a real dark magician after all!"

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"Miss Arina!" Exclaimed one of her maids, surprised because her master's daughter went home alone with her maid, riding a horse with bare feet! "What happened? Your carriage—Why don't you get on the carriage?! Where are your other guards?"

The maid stretched out her hand to get Arina down from Sei's back, but the young lady took off the dress she had torn earlier and jumped down herself. "It's nothing." She answered flatly.

"Rina? Arina! What happened?" But now her mother, father, and all the other maids started running out too looking panicked. "Your dress! Your shoes! What happened?"

"It's nothing." Arina replied again while removing her mother's hand. "I was just attacked by bandits earlier."

"AND YOU'RE OKAY?!"

"Mom, I'm fine." She said with a small smile. And she just walked in. "Hurry Sei, I'm already sleepy."

Sei was confused because everyone was still looking at her. But because her priority master called, she quickly bowed to them and ran after Arina.