Noble Lady Reformation Guide

“Who is this? What is an old man who wanders like a coward through the forgotten corners of history doing, showing his face in person…?”

“…”

It smells like blood.

The crimson splatters near her violet eyes proved that she had just carried out a massacre.

Baroness Fina Raffaella Tigris shook the blood staining the hem of her dress and sat on the palace windowsill.

It was an enormous mansion, incomparable even to the castle of Tigris, which she used as her base.

The County of Elvester.

The true ruler of the east of the continent, directly responsible for administering the Barony of Tigris.

The heart of that authority-laden territory was covered in blood.

There were only two figures in motion—the Baroness of Tigris, responsible for the slaughter, and, facing her, an elderly archmage dressed in an old, worn robe.

A 6-star mage of the exploration system.

The Observer Drest Wolftail narrowed his wrinkled eyes.

A wandering specter of the continent.

Many had tried to track him down, but this old archmage, capable of observing fragments of the future, never allowed himself to be seen without his own consent.

In other words, the fact that he had appeared directly before Fina had also been by his own will.

“They say old men are cautious, but I didn’t think you would present yourself before me. Why? Are you afraid I’ll take Dereck away? You don’t seem like someone who cherishes him that much—or am I wrong?”

Fina let out a carefree laugh.

Sitting on the windowsill, laughing loudly while clutching her stomach, she seemed innocent; but when one looked at the corridor soaked in blood, it was impossible to accept that image as it was.

“Or did you observe one of the future lines with that exploration magic of yours? Thinking about it that way, it’s pathetic. With no remarkable ability of your own, scurrying through the corners like a cockroach that has seen the light, merely observing futures that are already decided. What value is there in watching a few futures twisted by major variables and then branching off again?”

“…”

“Well, people may call you wise, but to me you’re still a nobody. I’ve lived longer than you. Want me to guess what you’re thinking? You must want to twist, somehow, the path ahead of me, stained with massacres and death. I’m sorry, but I won’t stop until Dereck becomes a 6-star mage.”

Fina’s smile, brimming with ecstasy, was tinged with madness.

In the corridor of Count Elvester’s palace, filled with corpses, she turned her gaze toward the open door of the lord’s office.

There, Count Elvester was slumped over an enormous throne.

He was already a corpse.

Some members skilled in confusion magic and a few direct relatives seemed to have escaped, but almost everyone else had been captured.

Now even the Elvester palace, the center of high society in the east of the continent, was in Fina’s hands.

The resplendent palace had fallen under the dominion of a necromancer.

With the situation reaching this point, the news would not take long to spread to the center of the continent.

The political landscape, already in turmoil due to Emperor Gattrel’s death, would inevitably plunge into chaos.

Fina’s purpose in expanding her power was singular—to seize Dereck.

Even if the entire world became her enemy, it was enough to create the conditions to hold him in her arms.

To do so, she had to rise to a position no one could aspire to.

Unfortunately for the world, her power was more than sufficient.

“You keep hiding as always, watching from the shadows like a coward.”

“…”

“Isn’t it interesting? They say Dereck is the most famous magic instructor in the southwest of the continent and a genius in educating noble ladies. That he forcibly pulls out even the most violent ones sunk in darkness and sets them on the right path.”

Fina raised her dim pupils and opened her arms.

The way she laughed loudly was the incarnation of a demon.

Her life was stained with blood and flowed through the deepest darkness.

Among all the ladies Dereck had guided until now, she was the one who harbored the deepest malice and curse.

“Lublien.”

At the name Drest uttered softly, Fina’s eyes trembled violently.

It was a name even she herself had forgotten—her first name.

A distant era, even before necromancy.

A time when the continent was not yet unified and was divided into dozens of fragments immersed in war.

The name of a girl born in a remote village who liked wildflowers.

The name of a woman who knew nothing of corpses or necromantic arts, who had not fallen into grim darkness, and who, when gazing at the sunset in the mountains, thought only about what to eat the next day or which hill to climb to gather flowers.

Why did he know that name from such a distant past, from a time when Drest did not even exist…?

That question was meaningless.

Her opponent was a 6-star mage of the exploration system.

Fina’s once-relaxed face twisted.

It was the expression of someone who had just heard something unpleasant.

“Many will gather to kill you. There are many who will protect Ravenclaw.”

“…”

“At least three 6-star mages will come.”

Historically, whenever a confrontation between 6-star mages occurred, political order changed, maps changed, and the history of the world changed.

And it would not be only one, but several.

No matter how Fina stood at the pinnacle of necromancy, a war of such magnitude would not be easy to endure.

However, Fina regained her composure and drew a viscous smile.

“Then I will have to kill them all.”

Even if they were 6-star mages, she was determined to eliminate every one of them.

If they could not burn away the mark of reincarnation, that was all they were.

Throughout her long life she had seen countless promising mages spread their wings, reach their peak, and eventually die—but she had never encountered a talent as extraordinary as Dereck.

Therefore, it was enough that he survived.

After all, among those who claimed to be his masters, there was not one capable of truly making him bloom.

Fina, who had touched absolute bottom, was the only one who understood Dereck at the deepest level.

“I hope he likes the training ground I prepared just for him in the castle of the Barony of Tigris. Kyararara.”

“Lublien.”

“Could you stop calling me by that name?”

— Grrraaah!

Fina’s violet pupils flashed violently, and the aura of death emanating from her began to wrap around the old mage’s body.

However, Drest’s figure did not take long to dissipate, transforming into smoke until it vanished completely.

It was a scene that lived up, word for word, to his nickname of wandering spirit.

Fina stared irritably at the spot where that specter had faded away and let out a deep sigh before lifting her gaze beyond the window.

“What a useless way to make me angry. Disgusting old man.”

The moon, suspended high in the sky, shone clearly.

If that celestial body were to behold the panorama of the County of Elvester, what it would see would be truly horrifying.

Corpses wandering aimlessly, a gigantic dragon made of bones perched atop a spire observing the world, and the enormous Archlich Happy seated in the gardens, directing the undead.

Baron Tigris, Margrave Elvester, Bishop Levent of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and even Captain of the Guard Morgan—all had become subordinates moving about while spreading blood.

The small girl seated on the windowsill was the queen of those corpses.

“What fine weather.”

The blood-soaked girl raised her face toward the moonlight and shuddered with evident satisfaction.

The gesture was as delicate as that of a cat stretching, yet the landscape surrounding her had already become a hell.

***

“The castle of Count Elvester… entirely…?”

“…”

Katia Flameheart’s condition was pitiful.

Seated in the audience chamber of the Duplain mansion, she looked like someone who had just escaped a battlefield.

After barely fleeing from Count Elvester’s castle, she had ridden for days without rest until she arrived like one possessed at the Duchy of Duplain.

There was no need to explain how long and exhausting that journey had been.

What truly mattered was the reason.

Dereck, eyes wide, remained standing before her, listening to the news Katia, utterly exhausted, had brought.

The castle of Margrave Elvester had been completely devoured by Fina.

Supported by the maids, Katia shifted her gaze between Aiselin and Dereck and spoke in a weary voice.

“When I returned to the County of Elvester, I strongly insisted before His Excellency. I told him that the situation in the Barony of Tigris was not normal, that we had to send an inspection mission as soon as possible.”

“That is understandable. Lady Fina’s movements were already unsettling.”

“At first, His Excellency did not take it seriously. He was even annoyed that a mere magic instructor would comment on the political situation. But after sending messengers again and again without receiving a response, and receiving increasingly ambiguous reports, he began to understand that something was wrong.”

Katia coughed several times harshly.

One of the maids frowned in concern, but Katia gestured for her not to interrupt.

This was information that had to be conveyed immediately.

“And just when we were finally about to send a proper inspection mission—the territory of Tigris attacked Count Elvester’s castle first.”

“…”

“Innumerable corpses rose from the ground, and wandering souls covered the night sky. By the time I began to react seriously, the dead had already stormed the main building. I had no choice but to flee immediately, taking young Countess Freya with me. I was injured in the process, but it was not a fatal wound.”

Although she insisted that she had not suffered serious injuries, her appearance made it clear that she was completely exhausted.

Most of her wounds seemed to have healed during the journey to Duplain, but the accumulated fatigue remained.

With a grave expression, Dereck asked,

“First of all, you should rest and stabilize yourself. Where is Countess Freya now?”

“We parted near Rhelham, in the eastern fortified city. She departed for the Gremport Palace in the imperial capital, escorted by the local garrison.”

“I understand. That was a wise decision. For now, go inside and rest.”

Countess Freya, who had direct connections with the central nobility, had set out to personally inform the imperial family.

Katia, lacking those contacts, had chosen to come to Dereck first.

Aiselin spoke with a tense face.

“Then Gremport Palace will act directly. If they conclude that it is a necromancer of a level equivalent to six stars, they will respond with full force.”

“They will.”

Roselin’s imperial faction, Damon’s noble faction, and Kohella’s magical faction would join forces to reclaim Count Elvester’s castle.

If the power of Gremport Palace was fully mobilized, even the sleeping lion of the north would eventually awaken.

The ancient hero, isolated in the territory of Rochester amid the northern snows, would rise once more.

“Dereck…”

Aiselin looked at him with concern. Dereck, with an even more serious expression, slowly cleared his throat.

It was time to move.

“We must contact Count Renuel’s castle. Also Belmierd and Beltus. The Empire will surely deploy all its elite forces, but we must act with the greatest determination as well.”

Dereck pressed his brow and stood up, his thoughts already in order.

‘Yes… I must reach the 5-star domain right now.’

If Melverot moves personally, the situation will escalate into a great war involving 6-star mages.

Kalimford will not stand idly by, and Kohella will not remain still if she detects the scent of a 6-star necromancer.

The magnitude of the conflict will rise to astronomical levels.

And at the end of it all, what Fina Raffaella Tigris desires to hold in her hands is the brightest gem among all the mages she has seen with her own eyes.

Dereck Lydorf Ravenclaw.

It is estimated that at least five or six 6-star mages will gather.

Has there ever been, in the history of the continent, a battle of such scale?

Never.

Not a single time.

Then only one path remains.

Mobilize every possible means.

The most powerful necromancer in history.

Fina Raffaella Tigris.

They are going after her.