"The first defense line has been breached!"
"The second line is taking heavy casualties! It’s no use—we can’t hold her back!"
"Stand your ground! You must endure until the Master and the Young Master return!"
A massive uproar was unfolding in the Catreia Marquisate, located in the northern reaches of the Aiwood Kingdom.
House Catreia was a renowned lineage of warriors. The current head of the house served as the Kingdom's Knight Commander, and his children had followed in his footsteps, joining the Knight Order and attaining respectable ranks.
The sole exception was the youngest child, Yuri Catreia—the only girl among the siblings.
"You must not let Lady Yuri escape!" the house steward shouted from the center of the sprawling garden. "Restrain her, even if it costs you your lives!"
He was surrounded by a phalanx of armed soldiers, while screams and the sounds of shattering architecture echoed from within the mansion. They had erected multiple layers of barricades, both inside and out, but against a "demon" like her, how long could they truly hope to last?
"The second line has collapsed! Lady Yuri’s coming through!" a soldier cried.
A moment later, a section of the mansion wall exploded outward. A lone figure emerged from the dust.
"Lady Yuri!"
"Haa... haa... honestly, can't you all just give it a rest?"
Yuri Catreia stepped through the jagged hole in the wall, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She was in a state of total dishabille, clad only in a single shirt thrown over her undergarments. It was a provocative sight—her ample chest nearly spilling out—but not a single man present looked at her with lust.
Instead, their faces were masks of extreme vigilance, tinged with a palpable sense of dread.
"I just want to go back to the Royal Capital," Yuri told them, her tone brooking no argument. "I have classes at the Academy, and my friends are waiting for me. Now... are you going to let me through?"
"............!"
The steward felt his face twitch with anxiety, but he managed to maintain his stance.
"The Master has commanded that you are not to leave the mansion, My Lady. Please, I beg of you—return to your room."
Some time ago, Yuri had run away from home. Defying her father and brothers, she had fled the territory and, with the support of a relative, enrolled in the Royal Academy in the capital. It was only about two weeks ago that she had been caught—or rather, forcibly retrieved—on the battlefields of the civil war sparked by Marquis Eiger.
Yuri, who had joined the Kingdom Army as a volunteer, had been discovered by her father and brothers. It had taken a combined family effort to subdue her, after which she was dragged back to the ancestral mansion.
And yet... to think she would attempt a prison break the moment the Master’s back is turned! the steward lamented, gritting his teeth.
While Marquis Catreia was away in the Royal Capital on official business, Yuri had smashed through her bedroom door and made a run for it. She had already neutralized the soldiers guarding her, demolished the barricades in the hallways, and finally fought her way out of the building itself.
More than thirty elite soldiers are already incapacitated... To do this much with her bare hands—is this truly the power of the Ogrekin Sickness?
Since childhood, Yuri had lived under a regime of near-total confinement. While much of it stemmed from her father’s overprotective ego, there was a legitimate, darker reason for her isolation. It had been determined that Yuri could not be allowed into society because she suffered from the "Ogrekin Sickness."
The Ogrekin Sickness was a condition—or more accurately, a constitution—inherited from the savage race known as the Ogrekin. Unlike humans, Ogrekin were incapable of using magic; instead, they possessed physical abilities that bordered on the supernatural.
Patients with this condition possessed extremely little mana, but their muscle and skeletal growth were phenomenal, granting them physical strength far superior to any normal human.
Although Yuri’s figure was that of a girl her age—albeit one who was quite well-developed—the sheer density and strength of her muscles and bones were monstrous. She was a girl who could shatter boulders with her bare hands or walk away from a fall off a cliff without a single scratch.
The official policy of House Catreia was to keep her locked away to ensure she didn't come to harm—and to ensure she didn't inadvertently harm anyone else.
"It’s actually really hard to hold back enough so I don't break things," Yuri said. "So... it would really help if you’d just step aside quietly."
"Ugh...!"
The steward’s face twisted in frustration. He could see the panic spreading through the remaining soldiers. Most of the elites stationed at the mansion had already been laid low, and she had reached the final defense line. It was only a matter of time before she broke through and made it to the edge of the territory.
To fulfill the Master's orders... there is no choice. I must stake my life here—!
"That’s enough, little sister."
"You...!"
The steward’s eyes lit up with relief, and he spun around. Standing atop the mansion's locked gate was a young man in his mid-twenties.
"You shouldn't expect to have your way now that I've returned," the man declared.
"Brother Toya..." Yuri muttered.
The young man was Toya Catreia, the third son of the house and one of the many brothers who absolutely doted on Yuri.