Reborn As Noble

Mimi's smirk widened.

"Nya~ gotcha."

With a snap of her fingers, the fifty spirit fighters shimmered and phased into the adamantite puppet knights, merging like wisps of smoke entering armor.

The puppet knights froze for a split second.

Then—

They turned.

One by one, every puppet knight shifted, their glowing eyes flickering. Swords raised. Shields locked forward. Magic bows drawn. All of them slowly aimed at Javier.

Gasps echoed from the nearby guards.

Delya crossed her arms, her lips curling slightly. "Hmph. That's clever."

But Javier just smiled.

Calm. Unbothered.

Still standing there with his hands behind his back.

The knights didn't move.

No charge. No attack. No sudden strike.

Javier tilted his head, his eyes gleaming faintly.

"Do you think my puppet knights can be possessed so easily?"

He took one slow step forward.

The knights didn't flinch.

"Nice try, Mimi. But I already programmed them to respond only to my mana signature."

He raised one hand.

"Even if something enters them, they won't move… unless I say so."

The knights instantly lowered their weapons and returned to a standing formation around him like loyal guards.

"But… good job." Javier added with a soft smile, glancing at Mimi with something that could almost be called praise.

Mimi blinked, then crossed her arms, cheeks puffed just a bit.

"Hmph. I was close."

Delya raised an eyebrow.

"You underestimated him."

"Well… if we can't use those, then…" Delya murmured, her eyes glowing faintly with dark mana.

Then—she vanished.

A flicker of shadows, a shift in pressure—and she reappeared behind Javier, her massive obsidian scythe already mid-swing.

"Got you."

Javier jumped back instinctively, his boots scraping against the stone as the blade sliced through the air just inches from his face—clean, silent, and lethal.

But she wasn't done.

As he leapt, several shadow chains erupted from her afterimage, chasing him like serpents, weaving through the air with intelligent motion.

And from her lips came the most dangerous line of all:

"If you lose... you're going to become my future husband~"

Javier's expression flatlined mid-air.

He landed, slid back several steps, and exhaled.

"...Are you stupid?"

Delya raised a brow, her grin never fading.

He ducked under one chain, spun sideways as another zipped by, and casually reached behind his back—not for a relic, not for a named weapon—just a standard forged blade, ordinary in appearance, but etched with faint channeling runes.

"Why would you marry a man who loses to you?"

With one smooth slash, he deflected the incoming chains, sending them spiraling into dust with nothing more than purely channeled mana flowing through the ordinary blade.

The air snapped from the force of it.

Delya paused.

Javier stepped forward slowly, blade resting loosely in his hand, his expression half-annoyed.

"Is that how you pick husbands? Beat them into submission?"

Mimi, watching from the side, cupped her chin thoughtfully.

"…Actually, that does sound kind of romantic."

"IT'S NOT."

Delya stood with her scythe lowered, dark aura swirling faintly around her feet. She stared at Javier with mild irritation—and lingering amusement.

"Hmph… We both haven't even used our full power yet."

She looked around at the area—the cracked ground, the scorched edges of the training stone, and the subtle shift in the air from all the mana flares.

"If we did, this whole area would be..." She paused, searching for the right word.

Mimi offered helpfully, "Wrecked?"

Delya frowned. "No, too light."

"Destroyed?"

"Too dramatic."

"Reduced to magical debris."

"...Better."

Javier yawned loudly, completely unfazed by the escalating threats.

He turned his head toward the nearby vendor stalls—only to see a massive feathery head, swirled in red-and-black patterns, leaning over a fruit cart.

Buddy, his large mount-sized Pekko, was happily munching on glowing fruit—each bite echoing like the crunch of a small boulder.

One clawed foot rested firmly beside the cart, pressing down enough to make the entire wooden frame creak. The vendor stood frozen in place, clutching his coin ledger like a shield.

"Cuquawked!"

Javier sighed and raised a hand calmly.

"Ah… sorry about that. Just record how much my Pekko eats. I'll pay for it later."

The vendor nodded stiffly, still unsure if the bird was going to eat the cart itself next.

Buddy didn't even glance back—just reached for another mana pear with his big beak, tail feathers swaying contentedly behind him like a royal flag.

Javier turned back to the girls.

"Let's stop here. Before this turns into a property damage report, an international incident, or a bill I really don't want to explain to my mother."

Javier dusted off his coat, preparing to wrap up the madness and find a quiet corner to plan his actual mission.

But then—

"We stop~" Delya said softly.

He looked over.

She was smiling—a serene, elegant, completely composed princess smile that usually came right before something terrifying.

"If you agree to marry me."

Javier froze.

"…What?"

She tilted her head gently, her horns gleaming under the sun, her voice smooth and sweet like a diplomatic dagger.

"It's a fair deal. I stop attacking. You become my fiancé. Peace is achieved."

"NYAA!" Mimi's tail fluffed out like a puffball, her ears shooting straight up.

She pointed accusingly with both hands.

"He becomes Mimi's husband, not yours!!"

Delya gave her a sideways glance.

"Technically, he hasn't agreed to either of us."

Mimi stomped her foot. "He drooled with me all night! That's fate!"

"That was you drooling on him."

"Same thing!"

Javier, now standing between two noble girls in full debate mode, just looked toward Buddy.

"These two are crazy."

"Cuquawked!!" (Agree!)

Javier raised one hand lazily.

"Sorry, girls~" he said, his voice light and unapologetic as he turned away. "I have no more interest in adding more girls into my life."

Both Delya and Mimi blinked.

"Adding more?" Delya asked slowly, her eyes narrowing.

"You got one already?!" Mimi shouted, her tail flailing.

Javier glanced over his shoulder with a faint smirk.

"Two, actually."

Mimi's ears twitched.

Delya's scythe paused mid-lift.

"One's human—name's Gloria." He scratched his cheek absently. "Well, I think she's human... never checked, honestly."

"And the other's an elf. Liana."

The girls stood frozen.

Javier gave a lazy wave with two fingers as he started walking toward the gate, his coat swaying slightly with each step.

"So, err… no thanks."

"See ya, girls."

He didn't even look back.

Mimi and Delya stood in stunned silence, one ear twitching, the other eye twitching, both slowly realizing—

They were too late.

The spot had been taken.

And now?

Now it was personal.

( End Of Chapter )