The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady

ood intentions, isn’t it? What a devil.”

“Princess! I’m a princess, Illya!”

“Are you listening? I know better than anyone just what this means, since I can’t escape anymore.
So, please take note of what I’m saying now; Have you truly gone mad? No, I suppose you’ve been mad since the beginning?”

“Illyaaaaaaaa!”

Is she angry? Or bawling? Ignoring Anne-Sophia who beat ineffectually at her dress like a crying child, Illya turned to Euphilia once again.

There was something unsettling hidden in the depths of those eyes, but they were also overflowing with empathy.
Euphilia found herself shrinking away from them involuntarily.

“Lady Euphilia, you shouldn’t be too hasty to accept.
Please don’t listen to this devil whispering in your ear.”

“Uh… um…”

“By no means should you make a deal with the devil.
Understand? The moment you do, she’ll take your soul and drag you down to hell, you know?”

“D-Does she really want to do such awful things to me…?”

“No.
The issue is the tendency to become ‘collateral damage’, and even if you get angry, ‘the ends will always justify the means’, Lady Euphilia.”

As she finished speaking, a shudder ran up Illya’s body, as if in telling Euphilia that she recalled some terrible memory.

Not quite understanding the meaning of the phrases she spoke, Euphilia looked at her in askance.
Nearby, Anne-Sophia had given up on stopping Illya, and had resigned herself to sulking next to the desk.

“Lady Euphilia, no matter what, I can assure you that the Princess’ intentions no doubt come from a good place.
Although I’m sure that some of her own personal desires played a part, she was thinking of you first and foremost.”

“Y-Yes… Well, I understood at least that much, somehow…”

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“But, that isn’t the issue at hand.
To phrase it one way, the Princess is like a strong drug.”

“A strong drug…? Ah, yes.
I think I understand what you mean.”

“…I’m not sure if I should feel sad for the Princess that you didn’t deny or it, or pleased that you agree with me.
At any rate, it’s fortunate that we’ve reached some form of understanding.
However, I have to wonder if you understand just what I truly mean, Lady Euphilia.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

Euphilia’s eyebrows narrowed at Illya’s words.
The idea that Anne-Sophia is a powerful drug was a simple enough idea for Euphilia to understand.
What she had created had inherently changed and strengthened the power of the Kingdom of Palletia.
She truly had many remarkable achievements to her name, even if she happened to also be the most infamous eccentric in the Kingdom.

What’s more, she also had the power to change her life, so she just didn’t understand what Illya’s problem was.
Illya, meanwhile, correctly guessed that was how Euphilia interpreted it, so she continued to speak.

“The Princess’ inventions are wonderful.
Just looking at the room around you, I’m sure you can already tell how incredible some of them really are.”

“Yes, I’m sure that if these spread to the world, everyone’s daily lives will improve.”

“And therein lies the problem.”

“Huh?”

“Once you’ve entered this world of hers, there’s no going back.
This needs to be made crystal clear; once you choose to go down this path, you’ll never be able to turn away from it.”

“Don’t you think that’s overstating it…?”

Illya raised her voice slightly, wondering if Anne-Sophia herself would have any objections.
But, she remained slumped over the desk, barely moving at all.

Seeing that there was no rebuttal coming, Illya shook her head at Euphilia’s words.

“Imagine, for instance, if you took away fire from a civilization that had come to rely on it?”

“…Ah, I understand.
So that’s how it is?”

“Yes.
That’s why I’m telling you all this now.
This place is far too ‘convenient’.
The way that the Princess sees the world is too difficult for me to understand, but, once you’ve tasted the forbidden fruit, there’s no going back.
Once you come to know that devilish convenience.”

Anne-Sophia’s inventions are truly amazing.
But, because they’re so amazing, it’s hard to live without them once you’ve come to know them.

Once they’ve grown used to it, humans are loathe to give up the benefits of a convenient life.
So, that’s why she compared Anne-Sophia to a powerful drug.

“Certainly, with the situation the way it is, to an observer it ‘looks like’ the royal family broke off their engagement with you.
In that sense, gathering credit could be a way to fix things.
Since Lady Euphilia is so talented, I’m sure it won’t be long before word of your achievements spread.”

“But, if I become immersed in the cutting edge… I see, it might be hard to leave once this is all over, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes.
I’m sure that you can understand without me spelling it out, but to put it literally, “the way you see the world will totally change”.
However… are you willing to still go along with this, despite knowing the risks? I have to ask you once more; are you serious? Do you understand what you’re getting into?”

“Why does it sound like your assessment of me is getting worse and worse? Actually, this feels less like personal evaluation, and more like you’re treating me as a dangerous substance?!”

“I see you’re up, Your Highness.”

Euphilia thought to herself as she began to understand.
That, in truth, there was more to Anne-Sophia’s ‘strangeness’ than she first realized.

Anne-Sophia was someone that could transform the world around her.
As for the person herself, the way she saw and interacted with the world was completely unique to anyone else she had ever met.

This was a point of no return.
Once she crossed that line, there would be no going back.
She couldn’t return to life the way it was before.
In essence, that was Illya’s warning.

“…Princess Anne-Sophia.”

“Mm?”

“I don’t quite know why you would be willing to go so far for me, but…”

“It’s because I like you as a woman.”

“Ah, right… I don’t know if I can agree with that part, but I understand.
Instead, Your Highness, just why do you pursue magical research like this? What end are you trying to achieve in all this?”

Just what is Magicology in the first place?

It brought benefits that could transform the world as she knew it, but it could also serve as a truly addictive vice for humanity.

The two girls saw the world through a different lens and the two girls approached life in different ways.
So, just where was the Princess’ path leading?

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Euphilia didn’t have the answer to that question.
When she tried to fathom the answer, she felt like she was staring into an abyss.

And, after mulling it over a bit, the abyss known as Anne-Sophia stared back and answered Euphilia’s question.

“You know that I can’t use normal magic, right?”

“Yes.”

“One of my earliest memories is when I thought to myself ‘I wonder if I can fly using magic?’.”

“…Right.”

People weren’t meant to fly in the sky.
Nature intended them to walk the earth with their two feet planted on solid ground.
That was obvious, since people don’t have wings.

So, Euphilia couldn’t understand why Anne-Sophia would have such thoughts.

“But, even if I talk about flying in the sky, it’s not quite that simple since there’s lots of things that fly, right? For example, birds and insects fly in different ways, and you even have things like flower seedlings that float on the air.
And, if I decided that I wanted to float indefinitely in the air, then that would require a completely different line of thinking.”

“Uh… huh…?”

“Ahh, how do I put this… I honestly thought that people should be able to do much more with magic.
Especially since I can’t use it myself.
It just feels like a huge waste, you know?”

“A… waste…?”

“Yeah.
A waste.”

“…And, that’s the reason…?”

“Yeah?”

Because she felt like it was a waste.
Euphilia could feel that headache creeping back into her skull.

That’s all that she had to say? With just that simple motivation, she started to change the world? Ah, but, if one considers that she was looking at a completely different world to Euphilia, it begins to make sense.

Perhaps it’s something that Anne-Sophia could see, plain as day.
When you’re dealing with someone so different, it’s useless to assume that anything seems impossible or ludicrous in their eyes.

“It’s a waste not to use what’s there, right? And it just so happens that I knew a method that could make things work my way.
Ah, you probably already know, but I should mention that my innate magical power is top class! Just because I can’t use my magic the normal way like everyone else, it’s only normal to figure out a way to imitate and surpass it in a way that I can use, right? So, because I could do it, I did.”

Ahh, finally, Euphilia understood the true depths of her eccentricity.

It’s because this was all natural to her.
Simply changing and shaping the world around her into an image she saw fit, that was all as natural as waking up and getting dressed in the morning.
What a terrifying way of viewing the world.
But, she understood that, in effect, it had turned out to benefit many people.

“That’s all there is to it.
I wanted to do it, so I did, that’s just the way I am.”

“…You really are a frightening person, aren’t you, Princess Anne-Sophia?”

“You’re much more scary to me though, Miss Euphilia? Unless you think that being armed with a super powerful family, genius-level academics, mastery of all magical elements and excellent martial arts skills is normal? You’re like some kind of noble lady Einstein.”

“Eins…? I don’t quite understand what you mean by that last part, but I suppose I understand what you mean by the rest of it…?”

Ominous, isn’t that what Illya said earlier? Euphilia smiled to herself.
The way this person looked at the world, she felt like she’d never quite be able to understand it.

She began to empathize with Algard a little bit, when he had mentioned to her how much he hated Anne-Sophia.
If Anne-Sophia had been like this since the beginning, just what could Algard have thought, having to grow up alongside her?

She was sure that he must have felt the same way.
That is, a feeling of fear, a feeling that one should run far away.
The idea of being sucked into her world was terrifying.
A world that she could change to her whims just as easily as she drew breath.

“To be honest, I’d be super glad if you help me out, Miss Euphilia.
If you can lend me your aptitude for all the forms of magic, then I’ll be able to expand the range of my experiments.
Without you, I don’t know if I can make it work.”

“You… really do need my help?”

“It could help out the country as well.
Or, rather, it will.
That’s part of why I can do what I like, after all.
I can do whatever I want, so long as it can change the country.”

Right? Anne-Sophia seemed to say with a smile.
She said that innocently, just like she was talking about normal future plans.

“So, Miss Euphilia, if you ever want to join me I’ll welcome you with open arms.
Why don’t we change the world together? As for the future where we don’t, let’s kick it to the curb!”

She spoke with the voice of an angel, but Euphilia felt a chill run up her spine all the same, as if the devil had whispered in her ear.

The strangest, most eccentric person in the Kingdom.
The pioneer of Magicology, and a person who was changing the world.

On that day, even if she would rather have been a hundred miles away, Euphilia Magneta came to understand the type of person Anne-Sophia von Palletia truly was.