The explosion of the S-Class Mana Core, Fafnir.
An explosion like a meteor magic strike occurred, but even within that explosion, I did not die.
Although there was a minor mishap where everything covering my body burned away, no part of my body, including my hair and eyebrows, burned at all.
What happened after that?
I put on a proper black robe, which I had taken from the Empire’s Master, and then I casually threw myself into a river.
I spent some time floating leisurely like a buoy on the flowing river current, and while drifting, I hoped to make new connections.
If I had drifted all the way to the sea, I would have simply waited calmly, as if I had washed ashore near the sandy beach.
Then I would just keep waiting for someone to find me.
“Are you alright?”
Just like this woman with white hair in front of me, who is speaking to me with respect.
“I… I am fine.”
Remember this.
You are not Hans Wilhelm.
The moment it’s revealed that you are Hans Wilhelm, the way this woman looks at you will change instantly.
The noble young lady of the Arsin Barony will no longer give you that gaze—one that holds a bit of wariness toward someone who appears to be a very peculiar being, yet at the same time wants to help due to her kind heart.
Fear and awe, and admiration for the continent’s hero.
“Really? Are you sure you’re not hurt anywhere?”
“Yes. Thank you for your concern.”
Those political gazes that so many people in the Grates Kingdom sent me will disappear forever, replaced by this gaze toward an ordinary person.
“Um, Miss?”
Usually, people don’t call a noble young lady “Miss.”
However, before I could even act the part, I treated this beautiful white-haired woman as if she were mistaking her “suspicion” towards me for “certainty.”
“Do you… know something about me?”
“…….”
“I’m sorry. This might be a strange thing to say, but I don’t know who I am.”
“You must have amnesia.”
“Amnesia.”
“Yes. I don’t know who you are… but you’re probably not an ordinary person.”
This woman.
She spoke to me with respect when I woke up from fainting.
“This is the Arsin Barony in the Senderan Duchy. I am Diela Arsin, the youngest of the three daughters of this Barony.”
“Diela Arsin.”
As soon as I heard the name, I tried to adopt a posture that followed noble etiquette.
“……?”
And then I paused for a moment, showing a confused expression. As if thinking, ‘Why am I in this posture?’ I showed confusion about my own identity and tensed my body.
“As I thought.” (Diela)
Seeing me like that, Diela nodded with a look of conviction.
“I don’t know what incident you were involved in, but you can stay here at the Arsin Barony until your memories return.”
“Yes?”
“The Arsin Barony is not so impoverished that we would simply cast out someone who has lost their memory.”
“Th-thank you. Thank you, but…”
I acted naive and asked, placing my hand on my chest,
“Why are you being so kind to me?”
“Well…”
It’s because your noble etiquette, evident in your actions, wasn’t acquired overnight. You’re likely at least a noble who has lost his memory.
“My father, the Baron of Arsin, would surely have done this.”
Instead of voicing such materialistic thoughts, Lady Diela replied with a radiant smile.
Mistaking me for a noble who lost his memory.
That was not something I just fabricated.
It was because she was already suspecting it, and I merely solidified it with simple actions that my body remembered, even though I had lost my memory.
I didn’t deceive her.
If anything, it was Lady Diela herself who mistakenly assumed it on her own.
This is really unbearable.
I don’t know if I’ll reveal my identity as Hans Wilhelm later or just disappear, but when judging people, I can faintly read their thoughts through the mana emanating from their bodies.
This woman.
She is curious about my background, but she is fundamentally a kind person.
If I had acted in a non-noble way, she wouldn’t have shown me respect. But she still would have cared about me.
In other words, even if I weren’t a noble, what she was about to say would be the same, albeit with a difference in speech.
This woman is, at her core, truly kind.
Because she met me as the nameless “Amnesiac A” and not as Hans Wilhelm, I was able to build a genuine, romantic bond with this pure-hearted, beautiful woman—one that wasn’t tainted by fame or expectations.
If I had revealed my real identity…
— Kyaa! Sir Hans Wilhelm is part of our family now? The Hero of the Continent?! I’m such a fan!!
…It probably would’ve turned into something more like a fan meeting than a heartfelt connection. Considering the way the noble ladies looked at me during the banquet in the Kingdom of Grates, I can’t exactly say that’s an unrealistic thought.
In any case.
“Th-thank you so much. I don’t know how I can repay this kindness.”
I felt my heart naturally at ease by interacting with this pure beauty, whom Hans Wilhelm would never have seen. Unlike the social gatherings of the royal family, filled with spiders and mantises, where Princess Sylvia seemed to want to bind me with a forced marriage.
“Hmm… kindness.”
*Swoosh.*
Lady Diela reached out her hand toward me and pointed in a certain direction.
“I want to check if you can read and write. Would you follow me?”
“Read…!”
“Yes. Come this way. I’ll see if there’s any ‘work’ you can do.”
Work.
One regrettable aspect is that this place, the Arsin Barony, clearly shows signs of not being very wealthy.
If it were the House of County Wilhelm, they could provide food, lodging, and bathing for a beautiful woman who lost her memory, but this place isn’t affluent enough to offer such luxuries, even to someone who has lost their memory.
The Senderan Duchy itself is like that.
Although they succeeded in defending the capital of the Duchy from the Empire, quite a few people died or were injured in the process.
If the war had continued, the Duke Family would have all died, and then the nobles of the Duchy would cease to be nobles, and the Senderan Duchy would have disappeared into the annals of history.
“Follow me.”
Diela Arsin, the third daughter of the Arsin Barony, kept glancing at the man following about three steps behind her.
Face – Handsome.
He wasn’t a peerlessly handsome man who could conquer the world with just his face, but compared to the effeminate sons of noble families, his appearance was fresh and innocent.
Body – Perfect.
His physique and build, visible through the lines of his clothes, and the muscles that couldn’t be hidden even by his clothes, made him look like a knight who had consistently trained his body.
A man with a much more impressive physique than the knights in the family.
Although he lost his memory, his actions were surprisingly calm and composed for someone who had lost their memory.
He must be an amazing knight.
Not like those who were haphazardly granted knighthoods for spitting out their sword-fighting experience to survive the war in the Senderan Duchy. He’s on a different level altogether, like the knights of the Grates Kingdom—someone who can at least use Aura, someone who has reached the realm of imbuing mana into their sword. A true knight.
The most probable assumption is that a knight from the Grates Kingdom drifted ashore after losing his memory.
He didn’t seem surprised by the sight of the interior of the Barony’s mansion, and his every glance revealed that he was repeatedly contemplating his own self and identity.
If he were a commoner, he would have gaped in surprise at the mansion of a noble family, even if it were just a baronet’s family.
His lack of surprise indicates that he often walked the corridors of such mansions, or that he frequented even grander noble residences.
Perhaps he is someone far more magnificent than I imagine.
Diela was convinced.
This man was no ordinary man.
Therefore, even in preparation for when he regains his memory, I must never treat him carelessly.
For that purpose, for now—
“Hey!”
“……!!”
Just as I thought it would be problematic if she ran into the Baroness.
“You, you brought a man home, didn’t you?”
“Mother…!”
“Ohoho! Well, you’re an adult now, aren’t you?”
A middle-aged woman with frill-like blond hair trailing down appeared from the opposite side of the corridor. The blonde-eyed woman, wearing a resplendent dress unbefitting the Barony’s budget and approaching with a frilled fan unfurled, stood before Diela, emanating pride with her body tightly corseted.
“As the wife of the Arsin Baron, bringing just any man into the bedroom is an unforgivable offense.”
“Mother…!”
There are things a mother and daughter should say and things they shouldn’t, but these words are clearly an insult to Diela.
“Don’t speak so casually. I brought this person here because I was afraid he would die, and I was taking care of him, not for that reason!”
“It’s always the girls who say that who secretly signal for you to come to their room at night in just their slip.”
“Mom…!”
“Hey, you’ll damage my hearing. How dare you call my name so disrespectfully? Insolent child. Who do you think you are…!”
As the Baroness’s right hand raised and her palm opened, Diela’s body froze.
A posture that had become a long-standing habit.
The angle was such that it would be least painful when that palm flew toward her cheek—
*Thwack.*
“……?”
“What is the meaning of this?”
Somewhat dull thudding sounds resonated.
“Right now.”
Before long, the man had stepped behind her and caught the Baroness’s wrist with one hand.
“What are you trying to do to the lady?”
