I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game

The woman cupped her reddened, swollen cheek while her son, clutching his guitar, stared at her in disbelief. The café’s warm wooden interior, meant to create a cozy ambiance, stood in stark contrast to the cold, suffocating air pressing down on my shoulders.

Lir and I set down our cups and silently observed the young noblewoman and the café owner.

What could have transpired between them for this noblewoman to strike her so mercilessly?

“…I’m sorry!”

To my surprise, the woman who had been slapped reeled back but immediately bowed her head deeply, her posture like that of a sinner begging for mercy.

“I’ll have the rent ready by the end of the week! Please, just—”

“Do you even know what I had to endure because of you?”

The noblewoman’s voice dripped with venom. “My brother called me incompetent for failing to collect rent from mere commoners. Do you think I can live with that disgrace?”

“I’m truly sorry! The price of flour has risen so much that our profits have been thin, but we’re gaining more customers every week. The word is spreading, and soon, our—”

Slap!

A second, sharper strike sent the woman staggering once more.

“We’ll have the rent by the end of the week…! I swear, please forgive me!”

Despite her shaking frame, the café owner continued to bow repeatedly, her words an endless loop of apologies.

From what I gathered, the fault lay with the café for failing to pay rent on time. It was, indeed, a failing on their part as business owners. Still, the noblewoman’s method of enforcing the rules was barbaric.

“How many times has your rent been overdue?” the noblewoman sneered. “Commoners like you never learn unless you’re taught with pain. You’re no different from animals.”

This world, this medieval fantasy realm, thrived on a strict class hierarchy.

A noble striking a commoner a few times? No one would punish her for it.

Especially when the commoner in question had actually failed in their obligations.

“A-Ah, my lady! What brings you here today?”

“You. Come here. Now.”

The noblewoman’s voice was chilling as she called out to the café’s owner, who had just rushed in from the kitchen.

Lir fidgeted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable. She wanted to intervene, but after standing up twice and sitting back down, she couldn’t summon the courage to act.

Unlike the people of this world, Lir had spent most of her life isolated in the Mage Tower, surrounded only by scholars and her master. Mages were intellectuals, and among them, overt displays of violence and class-based humiliation were rare.

This scene of medieval brutality was both foreign and deeply unsettling to her.

Muttering “I can do this, I can do this,” under her breath, she slowly stood up—only for me to grab her thin wrist and pull her back down.

“The situation is unfair, sure, but the rent was still overdue. What right do we have to interfere?”

“…But still.”

Lir’s voice was weak, unable to offer a counter argument.

The belief that violence shouldn’t be tolerated only held true in societies where everyone was equal.

“Just bear with it. Let’s wait for this to end and leave. There’s nothing we can do.”

Soon enough, this café would find relief.

The young dragon in Enker Highlands was dead, meaning grain prices would stabilize. That would increase their profits and ensure they could pay their rent on time.

Additionally, word about their café was spreading. With more customers coming in, they just needed to grit their teeth and endure for a little while longer.

Intervening now, as outsiders, would only bring unnecessary trouble for both us and them.

“…My lady, w-what brings you here in person?”

Slap!

The noblewoman answered the café owner’s question with another harsh slap.

“I’m sorry, my lady! We will have the rent ready by tomorrow—no, by tonight! Please, I beg of you!”

Covered in flour and coffee stains, the café owner, a man over 190 cm tall with well-built arms from years of kneading dough, took the slap without flinching. His calloused fingers twitched, but he merely bowed his head.

“…”

The noblewoman stared at him coldly.

He was a massive man, his body hardened by years of labor, his hands scarred from burns and rough work.

Her eyes flickered between her reddened hand and his imposing figure. Then, with an irritated click of her tongue, she sneered,

“Didn’t even hurt, did it?”

A shiver ran down the café owner’s spine despite the heat of the kitchen.

“N-No, my lady.”

The man shook his head and bowed again.

Like any commoner, he planned to weather this storm silently, waiting for it to pass.

I, on the other hand, failed to comprehend what had provoked the noblewoman’s ire.

Was she furious that he hadn’t collapsed after her slap? Was her pride wounded?

“Come in.”

She gestured, and three burly guards stepped inside, squeezing through the café’s narrow door. Their swords hung at their waists as they flanked her, their gazes fixed on the café owner.

“Losing a leg won’t stop you from working, will it?”

“…Excuse me?”

The café owner’s face twisted in shock.

“I don’t like this. You acted as if I were beneath you. A mere commoner should collapse when struck.”

Annoyed, she glared at her own hand, which had turned red from striking him.

“If you lose a leg, you’ll remember your place next time.”

At her signal, the guards sprang into action.

They grabbed the café owner, forcing him down onto the floor. One held his shoulders, another pinned his arms, and the third positioned himself near his legs.

“A-Ah, my lady! Please! I swear we’ll have the money by tonight! Just one more chance!”

His desperate voice echoed off the café’s wooden walls.

Despite his size and strength, he didn’t fight back. He could only beg.

“You still don’t understand, do you?”

The noblewoman crossed her arms, tilting her head as if speaking to a particularly slow child.

“I’m not punishing you for the rent. I’m punishing you for making me feel insignificant. You humiliated me. Even chopping off all your limbs wouldn’t be enough, but I’m merciful. If I take just one foot, you’ll still be able to work and pay me what you owe.”

She was even more insane than I had thought.

“…”

As her guards unsheathed their blades and held them to the café owner’s ankle, he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

Yet he did nothing.

Because there was nothing he could do.

This was the medieval world. There was a reason historians referred to this era as the Dark Ages.

“At the very least… please, not here. Not in front of my family.”

“No.”

She smirked. “They need to see what happens when someone defies my family. Let them watch.”

The noblewoman wore a cold smile as she approached the boy gripping his guitar tightly in the corner of the café.

At most, the child looked to be around thirteen or fourteen. Tears welled in his eyes as he silently blamed himself for his helplessness.

“…Close your eyes.”

Faced with an unavoidable reality, the café owner took a deep breath and instructed his son with a desperate voice.

The noblewoman pulled up a chair and sat beside the boy, draping an arm over his small shoulders.

“If you close your eyes, your father won’t just lose a foot.”

Hearing her whisper must have felt like a venomous snake slithering into his ears and sinking its fangs into his brain.

“Watch closely. Learn from this. Stupid beasts like you only understand when something is taken from you.”

The boy trembled violently, clutching the guitar’s neck with pale fingers.

“I don’t enjoy this, you know. But what can I do when you commoners are so unbelievably stupid, hmm?”

She gently brushed his bangs aside with a delicate finger, her smile as sweet as honey.

“……”

Across from them, Lir was openly displaying her emotions for once.

Pure, unfiltered rage.

“I suppose we can’t just walk away after seeing all this?”

I slowly rose from my seat and asked.

“…But I don’t know what to do.”

Lir’s response was unexpected.

She was hesitating.

Hesitating?

She had been ready to intervene over a few slaps earlier, yet now, with a father’s foot about to be severed before his son’s eyes, she was unsure?

“Why?”

“The castle is far from here. I can’t stay and protect them forever, and assigning elite guards to this place isn’t feasible. Even if we step in today, what about tomorrow? And the day after that?”

She was right.

If we interfere now, we might save them for the moment. But in the long run, we would only bring greater disaster upon them.

This noblewoman—this entire family—was the kind that would escalate their retaliation if their pride was wounded.

“Next time, it might not stop at a single leg. Their lives could truly be in danger.”

We were just passing through. The café owner and his family, on the other hand, had to live here. They had to face this noblewoman every day as long as they ran their business.

If we humiliated her and her guards now, they would surely return with a vengeance, beyond anything a mere commoner could endure.

“So we just walk away?”

“That’s not what I mean! I just… I don’t know how to help.”

Charging in now would be nothing more than an act of self-satisfaction.

A self-indulgent rescue that would only bring ruin to this family.

“Then wait here for a moment.”

I smiled faintly at Lir as I stood up from the table.

For someone so quiet and reserved, she had a surprisingly upright moral compass.

“I’ll shift the situation a bit.”

I walked out from my seat by the sunlit window and casually made my way between the noblewoman’s guards.

The heavily armed men, as well as the burly café owner, looked bewildered as I suddenly inserted myself into the scene.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Can’t you read the room?”

Ignoring the guards’ sneers, I walked straight to the counter.

“Bill, please.”

“What?”

The woman behind the counter, still dazed from her beating, stared at me blankly. I placed a coin pouch in front of her.

“Quickly, if you don’t mind. I’ve lost my appetite with all the filth crawling around in here.”

I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for the noblewoman to hear.

Her face twisted in an instant.

“…Are you talking about me?”

“No.”

I didn’t even spare her a glance as I answered.

“This bastard… You know who I am?”

She scoffed, her voice rising in fury. “I’m Binen Guiner, first daughter of the Guiner family! Do you think you can walk away after speaking to me like that?!”

Originally, I had planned to just pay and leave.

After all, the café had indeed failed to pay rent on time, and the difference in social status was undeniable. There was no reason for me to waste my rare day off meddling in a pointless fight.

But this noblewoman had crossed a line.

No matter how much the café had erred, no matter if they were commoners—ordering a father’s leg to be cut off in front of his son was inexcusable.

Lir was too kind to ignore such a situation.

And I still had a modern sense of ethics lingering inside me.

“…Even if I wasn’t talking about you, it doesn’t matter now. You’ve already decided to take offense, haven’t you?”

“You little—!”

“…Random nobility not even mentioned in the setting, acting all high and mighty…”

I clicked my tongue and muttered, exaggerating a yawn as I lazily dug at my ear with my pinky finger.

The noblewoman’s shriek filled the café.

And then, the world flipped upside down.