How to Save a Time-Limited Heroine

When he arrived, the ducal residence was bustling.

At the entrance of the mansion, servants were gathered everywhere, along with several pieces of luggage.

In the middle of it all stood Agnes and Duke Levadine, welcoming Deltain.

“Why is everyone out here?”

“It’s my first trip, after all.”

As Agnes smiled brightly, Duke Levadine spoke.

Saying that, he firmly grasped Deltain’s hand.

“Count, please take good care of my daughter.”

For some reason, a mixture of emotional and contented expressions appeared simultaneously on the duke’s face.

Among all the things Duke Levadine had said recently, Deltain thought that might have been the most frequent phrase. He smiled awkwardly.

“… I will make sure to return safely.”

Agnes chuckled as if Deltain’s behavior was amusing.

Deltain’s expression wrinkled slightly.

“… let’s load up the luggage and get going already.”

“Okay.”

The servants loaded the luggage into the sedan’s trunk.

From the looks of it, the trunk seemed far too small, but no mishap occurred with all the luggage fitting in.

<4th Tier Magic: Spatial Expansion applied.>

It was none other than Deltain Hebron’s sedan.

It would have been strange if spatial magic wasn’t applied.

As Agnes headed for the sedan, two maids followed her.

“Are these the maids you’re bringing along?”

“That’s Lia and Jerry.”

They looked to be in their 40s at a glance.

These were the maids brought along because Agnes couldn’t even change her clothes on her own.

For a moment, Deltain thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be more comfortable with maids of the same age?’ but he soon dismissed the thought and gestured with his chin.

“Get in. I’ve made a separate space for you two.”

The spatial expansion wasn’t applied only to the trunk.

The entire back seat, excluding the driver’s seat, was expanded to comfortably fit ten people.

The space had been divided into two sections, so the maids could rest during the trip.

Deltain naturally took Agnes’s hand and helped her into another section of the car.

“Have a safe trip. If anything is uncomfortable, make sure to tell the Count.”

“Yes, I’ll be back.”

Duke Levadine was dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief and waving.

For a man who held the position of the prime minister, he was quite a doting father.

Deltain couldn’t help but wonder if the empire was really in safe hands with a man like this.

“… I guess I’ll see you in two months.”

Clunk.

The sedan’s door closed, and they set off.

*

The driver was Gerhart.

Given the long journey ahead, Deltain had brought him along for the sake of convenience.

“What about the other hounds?”

“They’re waiting at the north gate.”

“They’re not riding in the car with us?”

“No.”

Just as they reached the north gate, this brief conversation passed between them.

Right after, Agnes opened her eyes wide and exclaimed as she looked outside.

The hounds were sitting on strange, two-wheeled vehicles.

It was a motorcycle that Deltain had created.

“That’s so cool. Is that also a type of car?”

“Motorcycle.”

“What?”

“They’ll be patrolling the surroundings as we move. It would be bad if demons approached.”

This was Deltain’s strategy.

Though a Saint Hall was placed on the sedan, it was only done lightly for efficiency’s sake. The hounds were sent out to keep any potential demons at bay.

“For the most part, you won’t have to step outside the car.”

“That sounds stifling.”

“That’s why I made it spacious on purpose.”

“What about the bathroom?”

“It’s inside. If you move to the back seat, you’ll see a small door. You can open it and go in.”

“Whoa, you’re really thorough.”

Deltain smirked and gestured to Gerhart.

Gerhart honked the horn.

Vroom!

The hounds’ motorcycles sped off, and the sedan began to move.

The journey had begun.

*

Not long after they had passed through the north gate, Deltain, feeling hungry, pulled out the sandwiches he had packed.

He handed one of them, labeled , to Agnes.

“Eat. You didn’t have breakfast, right?”

“Huh?”

Agnes looked at the sandwich Deltain had handed her, then smiled mischievously and said to him.

“Did you pack this thinking of me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“For someone who says that you sure know my preferences well. It even says in big letters on the label.”

“Gerhart prepared it all. I didn’t even know there were two sandwiches. I’m only giving you one because I don’t like pickles.”

Gerhart remained silent.

One of the reasons Deltain liked him was because he didn’t talk unnecessarily.

Agnes hummed and accepted the sandwich, then said to Gerhart.

“Thank you, butler. I was getting hungry, and it’s really touching that you were so considerate.”

Deltain flinched.

“… you know how to say thank you?”

“Of course, I do. It’s common courtesy.”

“And yet, you treated me so poorly?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Deltain gritted his teeth.

Though he hadn’t been expecting any thanks, it irritated him that she was expressing her gratitude to Gerhart now, after never once thanking him properly.

Even though it was him who had actually prepared everything.

Naturally, Gerhart felt unjustly caught in the middle of all this.

But he couldn’t reveal the truth.

“… since you’re a guest.”

Of course, if he told the truth, it was all too obvious that Deltain would explode in anger.

For someone under Deltain’s command, he was surprisingly quick-witted.

“… just eat.”

Deltain roughly tore open the sandwich wrapper and took a large bite.

Seeing this, Agnes also carefully unwrapped her sandwich and took a small bite.

“Tastes good.”

“Good? How can you eat this with pickles in it?”

“You’re such a picky eater.”

“I’m not picky. Pickles aren’t even food to begin with.”

“They’re definitely food.”

“If everything you can put in your mouth is food, then even stones are food.”

At Deltain’s irritated response, Agnes giggled and continued speaking.

“They’re tangy and crisp. I don’t see why you dislike them.”

“They’re too overwhelming. They overshadow the flavors of everything else.”

“That’s what makes them good! Having a dominant presence is pretty charming, isn’t it?”

“Lack of balance and harmony is harmful to any group.”

Even during their meal, their sharp exchanges continued.

Gerhart, who had to listen to all of this from the driver’s seat right in front of them, thought to himself.

‘They don’t match on even the smallest things.’

He resigned himself to the idea that his ears would suffer a lot during this journey.

*

Three days into their journey.

The sedan smoothly cruised down the road, exiting the capital.

In just two more days, they would reach the empire’s border and begin their official entry into the northern region.

“We’re already leaving the empire? Why does it take two weeks to get there, then?”

“There are no proper roads outside the empire. Only the empire has decent vehicle supply chains, so what can you expect from other countries?”

It had only been two years since vehicles had been developed and put into full use.

While Ishmark, being highly efficient, had immediately started laying roads throughout the empire as soon as vehicles appeared, other countries had not been so quick.

Human beings, despite surpassing their threshold for growth, were far more conservative animals than one might think, slow to embrace sudden advancements.

For Deltain, this was a frustrating reality.

“Idiots who can’t make use of what’s given to them.”

“Talking about yourself?”

“What?”

“An idiot who can’t make use of what’s given to him. That’s exactly what you did.”

Deltain blinked.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Exactly three seconds later, Deltain realized that this was a sexual innuendo and glared fiercely.

“… you crazy bitch.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Agnes smiled mischievously, and Deltain’s face flushed red.

What would happen next was obvious.

Just like it had been for the past three days, Deltain would again snap at Agnes, only to grow increasingly exasperated at her impossible-to-reason-with behavior and eventually gave up, closing his mouth.

That was, if the sedan hadn’t come to a stop.

“Count, we’ve arrived at the campsite.”

Gerhart announced. Deltain raised his head.

Looking out the window with a grumpy expression, he soon spoke to Agnes.

“Hey, get out. We’re camping outside tonight.”

“Huh?”

“We need to recharge the mana in the car. While that’s happening, all the space expansion magic will shut off, so if you stay inside, you’ll get crushed.”

It was an unavoidable compromise.

Even Deltain couldn’t generate infinite power, and the more functions they packed into the vehicle, the more resources they had to consume.

The reason they’d come to this campsite after traveling for three days was simple.

This location had been under military surveillance since their departure date.

In other words, the chances of demons being in the area were very low.

Agnes, excited, exclaimed.

“Whoa, I get to experience camping!”

“You won’t enjoy it. Sleeping on the ground is more painful than you think.”

“But we brought mattresses, right?”

“They won’t block the draft.”

“I’ll just sleep cuddled up with you.”

“Get lost.”

Deltain said that and got out of the car to inspect the campsite.

A blue lens flickered over his eyes.

He was scanning for any traces of demons, just in case.

‘Nothing so far….’

As he was about to conclude, a sharp beeping sound echoed in Deltain’s ears.

The lens glowed faintly red.

Deltain’s eyes instantly sharpened.

‘There was no presence, though?’

How had something managed to approach without leaving a trace?

Deltain tensed and unleashed his mana, but it was in vain.

What he found wasn’t a demon.

The lens pointed toward a dense thicket at the edge of the campsite.

Deltain pushed through the foliage and instinctively cursed.

“… ah, shit.”

What appeared before him was a tail made of human flesh.

It was about the size of a human head, which explained why even the guards on watch hadn’t noticed it.

Without the spell, detecting traces of demons was notoriously difficult.

The reason Deltain had cursed wasn’t because of what the tail was made of.

This was a curse left behind by the .

In other words, this piece of tail was a demon’s temptation.

Deltain’s head creaked as he turned.

Please. Please. Please.

He repeated the words in his mind, but as always, God was not on his side.

“What’s wrong?”

There, stood Agnes, curiously tilting her head.

But her appearance had noticeably changed.

She was now about ten centimeters shorter. Her face had regained some baby fat, and her eyes appeared rounder.

Her skirt, which had once reached her calves, now nearly touched her ankles.

Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be around twelve or thirteen years old.

Agnes, noticing the unfamiliarity of her now-younger voice, belatedly sensed something was wrong and looked down at her body.

She froze in place.

The Demon of Retrograde.

It was a demon that reverted a person’s body back to a past state, eventually erasing their existence entirely.

Deltain covered his eyes with his hand.

Even though she had only briefly been exposed to cursed space, she had fallen prey to temptation.

Seeing her like this made Deltain feel a sickening disappointment.

He had to admit the bitter truth.

‘She’s on par with an insect.’

A pitiful resistance to mental temptation, at a pathetic 0.1.

He had underestimated it far too much.