Became the Villainess’s Guardian

Even though electric lights twinkled into the night, and we lived in the world’s first city with an underground railway system,

The East End slums were ultimately a step removed from the city’s prosperity.

Things that seemed natural entitlements for some, like snacks, clean clothes, or even education itself, were unfamiliar luxuries.

“The durability isn’t that tough, so anyone over five shouldn’t ride it, understood?”

“Yes!”

Realizing the squirrel show had reached its finale, Edan switched to a toy train set.
Not small in size, the few-year-old children rode atop it, circling the open area of the orphanage.

Since neither the squirrel nor the train cost much, Edan coolly gifted all the toys before leaving.
The vague sense of hope harbored by children vowing to escape the slums one day only grew stronger upon witnessing these tangible manifestations, rather than feeling disappointment.

Freugne, over ten years old, sat down beside Edan, who stepped back to observe rather than joining the frolicking children.

“You can often see things like this in the city center. I barely managed to get a ticket to visit just once when I was little.”

“Didn’t you go to those places much as a child, mister?”

“No. I was juggling jobs at a publishing house and textile mill before finally scraping together enough money and time. Professor Magni’s lectures were popular, so I had to ask an acquaintance in advance for tickets. But in any case, I succeeded.”

After casually reminiscing a bit, it was time for a simple lesson.
Having picked up reading through tattered books and newspapers, Freugne could somewhat understand Edan’s engineering explanations better than the other children.

It was common sense that the more one knew, the better the earnings potential.

Freugne was well aware that carpenters who made things earned more than simple factory laborers, and technicians handling machinery earned more than carpenters, with their employers beyond that.
One could easily tell from the thickness of the weekly pay envelopes, the clothes they wore, and the increasingly upturned angles of their lips.

If she didn’t want to be constantly starving after leaving the orphanage, she needed to learn something.

And Freugne knew well that such opportunities to gain knowledge were rare.

‘I need to capture his interest.’

The bread on the table had already become a bit more plentiful and softer, and the orphanage director had encouraged her to persevere as much as she could.

But no matter how many questions she asked Edan, no matter how often she held his hand,
While she could discern his occupation and life to an extent, the reason he had taken an interest in her from their very first meeting remained elusive.

Unfortunately, her ability to glimpse the future seemed to have shown all it intended to, rarely replaying scenes.
All she could do was speculate that if she wanted to find the cause instead of cutting ties with him now, she would need to become even closer than their current relationship.

And although she occasionally peeked into the future, being from the slum environment meant Freugne’s experiences were limited.
She was inept at forming relationships between employers and employees, and having never received affection herself, she didn’t know how to induce interest and cravings for it.

In other words, she was unaware of how to draw aggro and capture people’s attention like Edan could.

“…Mister.”

However.
Based on his behavior so far, she could at least reasonably infer that Edan was equally curious about her in turn.

“Don’t you have anything you’re curious about me?”

While Freugne herself didn’t quite understand yet,
This was one way to seek affection and attention.

The freshly graduated Edan could hardly be said to have drawn much interest with mere words.

In this era where education had become somewhat widespread, it was not uncommon to find people who had followed the standard mage tech tree of private school-university-royal palace.
Moreover, the palace itself was not so progressive as to readily accept the unique cases that had jumped aboard midway through that tech tree while taking on such risk.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for employment.”

“Ah, you mean as a general laborer?”

“No, I’ve graduated from the magic university.”

“I see. Do you have any noteworthy experience or letters of recommendation?”

“…?”

“If not, you’ll have to start from the bottom ranks.”

“Oh, come on…!”

A letter of recommendation essentially meant connections.
And Londinium was a society where it was not uncommon for the twenty-something son of a low-ranking palace official to parachute in as a high-ranking official himself, fast-tracking into the inner circle if his parents held esteemed positions in the council.

Sadly, for Edan who had started from humble roots without hereditary connections, his only ties were his fellow students, and as a freshly minted member of society, substantial experience was wishful thinking.
Oh well, I’m too dirty for this. Pfft. And as he spat towards the sky while browsing listings for remote mountain real estate, the only person who took notice of this almost free item was the one who snatched it up.

“You remember me, don’t you?”

“Professor Magni…?”

“How about conducting research with me? It may not be an easy path, but I will help you build up experience and connections as much as I can. Let me ask again. Will you follow me?”

“Thank you very much…?”

Quite some time had passed since then, and Edan had not simply been twiddling his thumbs either.

It is said that when photographs were first invented, some people believed their souls would be stolen when a picture was taken.
But the key point here is not the humorous notion itself, but rather the fact that unprecedented objects were gradually revealing themselves one by one in those days.

The era of invention had truly arrived.
The light of the electric bulb illuminating the night, the telegraph instantly connecting the ends of the kingdom – these were unimaginable sights just half a century prior.

And like moths drawn to the light, those who took the path of tinkering magician did not engage in noble, dignified competition to maintain honor and prestige…

“I’m sorry, but this has already been registered as a patent, so it’s difficult to recognize.”

“What? You’re saying someone invented this before me?”

“Yes, they came right when the patent office opened this morning.”

“Could you perhaps tell me that person’s identity?”

“There’s no need to look, Master.”

“You… my student from two years ago? Don’t tell me your invitation to dinner last night was with this intention? I trusted you! How could you dare…”

The law is inherently unable to keep up with the pace of technology.
Leveraging connections, the power of academic ties, and sometimes even wielding outright authority, they sincerely fought in the savanna of capitalism where letting one’s guard down could lead to being hunted down like a gazelle having its neck clamped by a hyena and dragged away.

In other words, patent piracy.
To put it another way, the era of the great piracy had arrived.

“Professor, help! Help!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Some bastards stole my invention!”

And Professor Magni was someone who understood the importance of keeping promises, a man of no small repute.
To Edan, the sight of him scratching his belly after experiments and demanding burgers and booze didn’t seem particularly dignified, but outwardly, the impression was different.

“A decent invention came out, why not just release it under a different name?”

“Ah, Arthur. No need to provoke Professor Magni’s lab.”

Half a century ago, the electromancer pioneer Michael discovered the laws of electromagnetic induction.
And with a stroke of brilliance, he created the world’s first motor that very day, ushering in the full-fledged era of electricity.

Professor Magni was Michael’s disciple, and this lineage extended directly to Edan.
While he could not start from a prestigious household in this other world, at the very least the promise to provide connections and experience was not an outright lie.

Of course, there were occasional heroes who would jump from three stories to test their parachutes, unabashedly declaring their patent infringement.
But most would cower before the professor’s fierce glare at having their beloved research rodent’s treats snatched away.

And under this minimal assurance of safety, Edan began to run rampant.

“This is the washing machine I made as an undergrad…”

“When did you ever make something like that? If you had told me in advance, I could have helped register the patent.”

“Back then, everyone would have mocked me if I spoke about it freely. Ah, and this electric car was made by borro…taking the engine from your storage, Professor.”

“Wait, when did you take that?!”

As patents tend to go, there was some entanglement of rights with Professor Magni as well, but even excluding such tedious matters, Edan as a whole bundle of intellectual property rights was an excellent treasure goblin himself.

With some embellishment about seeking a business partner among fellow magicians, he could have circled the Londinium University campus in a massive line, and if recruiting investors to establish a palace branch, three more lines could have been added alongside it.

But whenever he tried to worm his way into such endeavors, Professor Magni’s iron wall blocking would invariably come into play, growling “You’re my slave!” And even overcoming that hindrance, Edan himself would give a lukewarm response about still having unfinished business.

However, those days were now over.
The rumor that Edan’s resignation had been accepted spread first, followed by accounts of him planting his foot firmly in the professor’s rear end while thanking him for the free meal thus far.

“So does that mean we can start drooling too?”

“In theory, I suppose so.”

“Then shall we go take a look?”

“But I’ve heard he’s been wandering around lately. Could he have already decided on a place?”

However, Professor Magni had no interest in having the painstaking results he had created snatched away by a complete stranger.

And sending out parachute hires to form an inner circle to feed themselves was not the exclusive domain of other palace officials alone.

“Hmm, the budget is…”

“It seems you need some help.”

“Hah, Master?”

It was only natural to contact a former student who seemed intent on devouring the very palace he had been catapulted into after all the effort to push him up there.