“Hm?” The man called Socrates turned around and saw Hild.

When Socrates saw Hild, he frowned. A moment later, panic spread across his face, and he turned to run.

“Stop!”

Hild gathered up her skirt and jumped straight down.

But Socrates gave up running and stood right where he was. Then he turned around, forcing an awkward smile as he said, “I-Isn’t this the esteemed Miss Hilde? What an honor to see you here. But why have you suddenly left your home? Did you run away again?”

“Don’t you know?”

Hild blinked, then smiled and said:

“My father exiled me.”

“Exiled? Th-That can’t be…”

“Lord Socrates, it’s true.” Sophia had parked the carriage and come over to Socrates. Her expression was still serious, but the unease in her eyes betrayed how unhappy she was. “The master thought it would be better for the young lady to live outside Athens for a while, so…”

“There’s no need to lie at a time like this.”

Hild patted Sophia on the head.

As if comforting a sad little puppy.

“My father doesn’t like me, so he must have made up his mind before sending me away. We might not see each other again for a long time, Socrates. I really enjoyed your lessons, but unfortunately, I never got to hear the rest of what you said last time about virtue being knowledge. If you ever have time to travel, please come find me in Byzantium.” With that, Hild turned and climbed back into the carriage. Only then did Socrates finally react.

“B-Byzantium!? That’s not exile—that’s murder!”

“Goodbye!”

As soon as she said it, Sophia drove the carriage away.

Socrates stared wide-eyed as silver-haired Hild headed for the port of Piraeus without looking back. The Athenian citizens around them watched as the most beautiful woman in Athens prepared to leave the city forever. Just then, a lean-faced man came up behind Socrates and sighed. “Ah, I guarantee Hild will be the most beautiful woman in all of Greece. I suspect she’s a child of Zeus, just like Helen of Troy.”

“Phidias, what are you doing here?”

“Seeing her off.”

Phidias, Athens’ most famous sculptor, gazed into the distance with tears in his eyes.

“Phidias, do you know what Pericles is thinking?”

“Me? No. If I were Pericles, I’d see Hild as a gift from the gods, not a curse. Byzantium? You probably don’t know this, Socrates, but the city is under siege by the barbarians of Thrace. The people there have suffered terrible losses. Miletus is still holding out, but my friend says they’re already planning to abandon Byzantium and leave the city-state to fend for itself.”

“Th-Then this is murder!”

Socrates’ face flushed with anger.

“Pericles… How could he treat his own daughter so cruelly!”

“Don’t get so worked up. I don’t think Hild is an ordinary person. Even if she reaches Byzantium, she won’t simply die there. If she really survives that dangerous place, I’ll take all my possessions and follow Miss Hild. I’ll sculpt a statue of her myself, so her beauty will live forever.” As he spoke, Phidias wore a look of utter rapture, while Socrates began turning over all sorts of questions in his mind.

Could Hild really survive?

Hild already knew the answer to that.

Pericles was trying to kill her.

Hild didn’t know why her father had suddenly decided he wanted her dead. But she could tell Pericles had thought it through carefully. In the end, while Hild’s mother, Aspasia, was back in Miletus, he sent Hild off on a ship bound for Byzantium. Years of working like a corporate wage slave had honed her instincts, and Hild had seen through Pericles’ intentions long ago. Once she reached the port of Piraeus and boarded the trireme her father had prepared for her, she knew something was wrong.

“Miss, please go below deck and get some rest.”

An Athenian hoplite in heavy linen armor spoke to Hild with a stern expression.

“Aren’t you going to rest?”

“We’re here to protect you, miss.”

“Oh, is that so…”

Hild gave a cold laugh, then looked toward Athens.

From the murderous intent in their eyes, it seemed these men really did plan to kill her halfway there.

It was the perfect plan. Once the ship reached the middle of the sea, they could kill Hild and throw her overboard. On the way back, they’d simply say pirates had attacked and taken her. It was entirely plausible. Pericles would get rid of a troublesome problem without lifting a finger. Hild found it laughable. She hadn’t even made any enemies in this world, and her own father was already planning to kill her.

But Hild wasn’t going to let Pericles have his way.

She looked toward Athens, at the prosperous city.

And a wild idea took shape in her mind.

She was a transmigrator, after all. What transmigrator stayed a layabout for their whole life? She might be a girl now, but Hild believed that if she wanted to, she could make waves in this world. Then she’d return to Athens and show Pericles—and all those Athenians who wished her ill—that she wasn’t dead. She was alive and well. As she thought this, Hild watched the soldiers on deck. A crimson glint flashed in her purplish-red eyes.

Maybe they were still discussing how to kill her.

If so, when the time came, she’d show them just what kind of terrifying being they’d tried to kill.

“Weigh anchor—! Set sail!!!”

At the sailors’ calls, the trireme named Athena’s Shield weighed anchor and set off toward the Aegean Sea. At its expected speed, it would take at least ten days to reach Byzantium. But Hild and the soldiers aboard all knew that the purpose of this voyage wasn’t to deliver her safely to her destination in Byzantium. It was for something else… Of course, the soldiers and officers could hardly imagine that—