“This is the address.”

Tie’s eyes widened as she accepted the sheet of paper Adeline held out to her.

On it was written: “89 Rosewobel Street.”

“It is still registered under my name for now, but as soon as I hire a new treasurer, I will transfer it to Miss Tie. So before you leave, please leave only Miss Tie’s mercenary identification number.”

The sudden turn of events left everyone frozen in place.

After a moment, however, Nordix stepped forward, brows drawn together.

“Rosewobel Street... that is the nobles’ district, isn’t it?”

Adeline nodded.

“Yes. To be honest, I wanted to find somewhere quieter, but it was a property Her Highness the Princess recommended...”

She recalled the capital.

Spired towers piercing the sky and a dome edged in gold.

The Imperial Palace, gazed upon by all, stood at the very heart of the city where dozens of roads converged.

Beyond the vast central plaza surrounding the palace began the nobles’ street.

Only the wealthiest and most powerful aristocrats of the capital lived there.

Broad roads lined with rows of trees.

Townhouses spaced generously apart, their family crests fluttering in the wind.

Ironically, the property Adeline had acquired at a bargain turned out to be an old mansion at the very center of that street.

“The mansion originally belonged to Her Highness. When she was preparing to sell it, she heard that I was looking for a townhouse and passed it to me for half the market price.”

Even half, of course, had been an enormous sum.

But Adeline had been able to pay it off in full without difficulty.

While working for the princess, she had received a rather high salary, and there had been little for her to spend it on.

“Once you see it, you will understand. The building is perfect as a base.”

Still, Nordix looked as though something was holding him back.

At that moment, Bale asked incredulously,

“So... you are just going to hand that mansion over to our little one?”

Adeline smiled as though he had asked something entirely obvious.

“Did you think I would take money from you?”

“No, but still...”

“You... gave me back my homeland.”

Adeline’s eyes reddened slightly.

She sat on the edge of the bed where Tie was sitting.

Then she gently tucked the loose strand of Astie’s hair behind her ear and said,

“...Thanks to Miss Tie, I was able to say goodbye to my mother in a way I could not back then.”

Her eyes shimmered again with tears.

With a faint smile, she added,

“Before coming up here, I looked into Agavert a little.”

Agavert was a newly formed mercenary squad.

It did not even have ten members.

Reading about the King of the Dead, said to be their leader, left Adeline speechless for a long time.

A great mage capable of summoning the dead and wielding necromancy freely.

Identity unknown, but rumors claimed the figure appeared in the form of a child.

After reading that, Adeline had been able to roughly guess Astie’s circumstances.

She said,

“...I owe you a great debt, Tie.”

In her memory surfaced the image of the child who had allowed her to meet her mother and then collapsed unconscious, deathly pale.

“I thought I would never see my mother again.”

The last image Adeline remembered of Stasia was from the day she had left her °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° homeland.

Because of that, Adeline had believed that perhaps Stasia hated her.

“I felt... so pathetic.”

She had pretended that she was fine, but in truth she was not.

The guilt of being the only one who survived after sending her mother away like that tormented her every night.

“I could not fully let go of this city, but I could not reclaim what Reginald had taken from me either...”

Recently, Adeline had been slowly but steadily giving everything up.

The lives of the people in the territory had been nothing but suffering, and Caldenbein Lidge had been rotting from within.

And then Agavert had appeared.

They had shown land to Adeline, who had been wandering in a boundless sea, a shore where she could anchor.

Adeline tightly clasped Tie’s hand.

“I am sorry that this is all I can give you.”

A hot tear rolled down her smiling cheek.

But these were no longer tears of despair or sorrow.

They were tears of relief and hope, of readiness to move forward after stepping past the past.

The corners of Tie’s lips lifted slightly.

Rising to her feet, the child hurriedly wrapped her arms around Adeline’s neck.

“Unni, Tie in house, unni also come.”

Adeline flinched.

As if comforting her, Tie gently patted her back.

“Come and Tie make orange juice again!”

For some reason, at that moment a flash of magical exhaustion crossed Tie’s mind.

‘Then for sure...’

The image of Adeline and Stasia finally meeting had looked to Tie like herself and Father.

That was why she had been unable to hold back the power bursting from her body.

So they could stay together just a little longer.

Just one second longer.

‘I did the right thing.’

And now, warmth overflowed inside her chest.

The child hugged Adeline even tighter.

Adeline had regained her homeland.

Regained the house where she could live out her life.

Now the people of Caldenbein Lidge would no longer suffer.

“Anytime, anytime, if you ever think of this place, please come visit?”

Adeline pulled back from Tie.

Her face was flushed from tears.

But the smile on her lips was brighter than ever.

“If you come again, you will be surprised. The city will be unrecognizable.”

“Then Tie go to Pon play again!”

“Next time not to the pub, but to the castle. Then I will prepare strawberries for Tie in advance, the ones you like.”

“Waa, strawberries...!”

Watching the delighted Tie, the members of the squad laughed.

Adeline’s heart, as she watched them, filled strangely as well.

‘There is so much to do ahead.’

She could not even remember the last time she had laughed like this.

All this time, she had lived hiding her own feelings.

Her days ahead would be busy.

She needed to interrogate Reginald and decide the fate of the soldiers who had served under him.

Open the castle and treat the sick residents, draw up new plans to help those ruined by excessive levies.

Yet her heart felt light.

Adeline quietly looked at Astie standing before her.

The child had already climbed down from the bed and was pleading with Raul to carry her on his shoulders.

Suddenly, one person surfaced in her memory.

‘She loved children too.’

If the princess noticed a child while walking through the square, she would always stop.

And with a faint smile, she would watch until the child disappeared from view before asking,

‘Adeline. Will I ever be able to start a family?’

In her eyes at such moments, there had always been a strange sadness.

‘Will such a day ever come for me?’

Adeline pressed her lips together.

And for a while longer, she watched Astie.

More precisely—she watched the dimples that formed so beautifully on the child’s cheeks when she smiled.

Three days later.

Under a banner that read <Welcome to Caldenbein Lidge!>.

“Hey, why are you giving us all this.”

“Be quiet and take it! They say the child was sick. When it is a cold, this herb is just...”

“Bale! Is all the luggage loaded?”

The members of Agavert moved about busily.

And a little farther away, on an empty lot— 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“...Ahem! You, take this.”

Tie’s eyes widened at the object suddenly held out in front of her.

Standing there, scratching the back of his head, was the same pickpocket boy she had seen on the first day in the village—Zen.