He let out a quiet chuckle without even realizing it.

"I thought so."

The faint, barely noticeable warmth seeping in from behind was unmistakably holy power.

He slowly stepped away from the child.

Then, looking at the child who for some reason had lowered her head helplessly, he parted his lips.

"General...."

Originally, he had intended to say something simple and direct.

He wanted to ask Astie, "Are you planning to erase my memory with that unregistered artifact?"

But for some reason, the moment he saw the child lift her head, he unconsciously closed his mouth.

"...I see."

Bitter tears streamed down the cheeks of the King of the Dead—drip, drip.

"Totlen uncle... I’m really really sooo sorry...."

And in those eyes, guilt hung in thick clusters.

A reaction completely outside his expectations made Valentis frown.

On the other hand, there was a perfectly natural reason why Tie was sniffling.

'I really did it.'

She had hesitated dozens of times before making the decision.

After all, erasing someone’s memory was not a trivial matter.

Until now, Tie had only erased the memories of her squad members and Marianne Weybril.

And even then, it had only been done with their consent.

'I made it so their memories would only disappear if they betrayed Tie, so it was self defense.'

Her gaze returned to Valentis, who stood before her.

He was still looking at her without emotion, but there was now a strange note in his eyes.

'What Tie just did to Totlen uncle was completely....'

Words like trickster, greedy, petty swindler, and liar flashed through her mind all at once.

Just now, after receiving a promise to be shown the organizational structure, Tie had immediately erased Valentis’s memory.

More precisely, all the secrets she had told him up until that point.

Her lips began to move again on their own.

Until now, the tree of Tie’s conscience had been full of plump, ripe fruit.

But at this moment, because of the first act of deception she had ever committed in her life, it was as if each fruit had been covered with a hundred stickers reading "I’m sad."

"...Tie is really a bad child. A terrible one."

Her voice became even more pitiful.

A faint trace of confusion flickered across Valentis’s face.

Meanwhile, Bale’s eyes snapped open.

His hand stretched out through sleep. What should have been there was gone.

He sat up—and as expected, the place beside him was empty.

"...Alert."

Bale immediately rushed to the wall, lit a magic lamp, and shouted:

"Alert! The kid is gone!"

At those words, Basto shot upright as if thrown.

Then Nordix, Raul, and Enzo, frowning, opened their eyes slightly.

"Astie is gone?"

At Basto’s question, Bale hurriedly nodded toward where Tie had been lying.

"I don’t know. She was just here, and in an instant...!"

Before he could finish, the door burst open.

Basto kicked it down and rushed outside.

"Basto! Don’t charge out like that!"

Nordix called after him urgently, but—

"I’m going too!"

Bale had already rushed out after him.

Looking between the empty bed and the door, Nordix let out a short sigh.

'Until the investigation is over, everyone should remain indoors as much as possible.'

He recalled the order Totlen had relayed through the blacksmiths the day before.

Of course, the mercenaries had no reason to obey his orders unconditionally.

They were an independent organization, separate from the Holy Knight Order.

But—

'Right now, it’s best for Agavert not to provoke him.'

"Old man, what should we do?"

Raul asked.

Groaning, Nordix got to his feet.

"For now, stay here. I’ll go out and bring them back. Astie couldn’t have gone far."

In his view, Basto and Bale were making unnecessary noise.

If you thought about it, there was no reason Astie couldn’t have left the bed.

"She’s a child. She could have woken up thirsty."

Or she might have urgently needed to use the bathroom.

In that case, she definitely wouldn’t have gone far.

At most—to the common room on the first floor.

Nordix threw on his uniform and stepped out.

Then he headed down the corridor, following after Basto and Bale.

No matter what, he needed to settle things before those two caused an even bigger scene.

'It seems the location of Krazar’s core is still unknown.'

Nordix had already heard the contents of the meeting from Basto the day before.

'The Scream of Silvar suspects Tie. It seems they think Tie might have taken Krazar’s core.'

That, perhaps, was not strange.

Many had long been after Krazar’s core.

And if it suddenly disappeared one day, it would seem suspicious to someone.

That was why Nordix considered Totlen Luminel’s decision to conduct a search in the weapons district to be reasonable.

'I just hoped it would all end quickly.'

Until, right before falling asleep, he saw what had briefly appeared from Tie’s bag.

"Haa...."

His head throbbed, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) and another heavy sigh escaped his mouth.

At first, he thought it was some kind of child’s toy or doll.

But it had definitely moved.

A small, plump body.

Round eyes, a tiny mouth. And a strange nose.

'I even wondered if it was a summoned creature....'

When it peeked out from Tie’s bag and then quickly slipped back inside,

that was the first time Nordix instinctively felt that something was wrong.

'Did Astie even have time to summon something new?'

Before she was trapped in the subspace, Tie had only one summon.

That one that looked like a black baby dragon.

And inside the subspace, it would have been impossible for her to summon anything.

There wasn’t enough control over mana in a place like that.

So if Tie had summoned a second one, it must have been after she came out of the subspace.

The problem was that since then, Astie had not used her mana even once.

And that was when a suspicion began to rapidly grow in Nordix’s mind.

Could it be—

'The location of Krazar’s core is still unknown.'

What if...?

'The Scream of Silvar suspects Tie.'

That night, he could not fall asleep for a long time.

The suddenly vanished Krazar’s core.

And at the same time, the appearance of Tie’s second summon.

A coincidence?

No matter what, one thing was certain.

'If Tie is hiding something, and it comes to light—it’s over.'

Tie had already declared to everyone that "Krazar’s core has disappeared."

If the truth turned out otherwise under those conditions, Agavert would be in serious trouble.

Especially now, when the head of the Holy Knights and a devout servant of the church and empire—Totlen Luminel—was in the weapons district.

'And if they drag in some accusation of deceiving the church....'

There was a high chance that the actions of a four year old child would not be dismissed as mere mischief.

'Where did they all go...?'

Walking down the corridor, Nordix anxiously looked around.

And finally, ahead at a corner, he saw Bale and Basto standing still.

"Bale, Basto!"

Calling out quietly, he quickened his pace.

He only stopped just before reaching the corner.

"Astie?"

Astie, whom he had expected to find on the first floor, stood before Bale and Basto in her nightclothes.

And behind her—

"Lord Totlen?"

A completely unexpected person.

Valentis Luminel stood there, looking down at Basto and Bale with an expressionless face.