“Your Grace, you’ve arrived. I’ll inform His Majesty the Emperor.”

An attendant came running at once and bowed to Leviathan.

Standing before the great doors of the audience chamber, Leviathan quietly waited for permission to enter. It did not take long for the attendant to reappear.

“Thank you for waiting! His Majesty says you are to come in at once...”

The attendant trailed off and cautiously studied the Duke’s expression.

“Um, Your Grace... did our door somehow offend you?”

That was because he had been poking the jewels set into the grand door with the tip of his scabbard.

“Why are there so many red jewels set into it?”

“Pardon?”

“Change them. To blue. I feel like I’d resent coming here less if it had something like that, at least.”

“...Pardon?”

“Are you a little slow on the uptake? I mean a clear, beautiful blue jewel, sparkling so brightly you can see it from far away. The kind that somehow holds both curiosity and mischief at once, so that just looking at it makes you think it’s lovable by nature...”

“Ah, enough. Stop saying you miss your daughter and get in here already.”

In the end, the tired voice from inside cut Leviathan off.

“Tch. This is irritating beyond belief.”

With a face full of dissatisfaction, Leviathan stopped talking and started forward. Behind him, the attendant and the adjutant quietly exchanged glances.

Is His Grace unwell?

As always, he is in excellent health. ...Physically.

The first thing he saw upon entering was the Emperor, wearing a dumbfounded expression.

“What are you, an adolescent boy? Are you really that unhappy about missing your daughter’s entrance ceremony?”

Leviathan curled up one corner of his mouth in a smile.

“It isn’t that I’m quite that unhappy, but I do think it may remain a lifelong resentment.”

“......”

This is truly severe.

The Emperor shook his head.

“All right, all right, so relax your face. You can go to the closing ceremony. What, do you want me to declare it a public holiday? The Zebbert Princess Camp Completion Day, something like that?”

At that, Leviathan’s dark brow twitched once.

“Hmm. In that case, the date should be this day—”

“You really don’t let me joke anymore, do you? How did a man end up like this?”

Where did my hero go? Bring him back.

The Emperor let out an incredulous laugh.

Leviathan stared steadily at the man seated on the throne, then finally let out a long sigh.

Seeing the oddly hollow look in his eyes and the papers piled in disorder around him, Leviathan decided that was enough venting for now.

“Hah. So then.”

His low voice stirred the air in the wide audience chamber.

“What exactly happened with the continental alliance? Was there movement on the Arcadia side?”

At Leviathan’s question, the Emperor straightened his posture while still wearing a smile. That alone made the previously loose atmosphere turn serious in an instant.

“Yes.”

The Emperor spoke. His voice had dropped noticeably.

“It looks like the Mage King is moving in a strange direction.”

“...A strange direction?”

A murderous glint flickered through those violet eyes.

*****

After I finished eating and was taking a rest, Khalid came to find me.

Khalid and I had decided to avoid using our communication circuit here. Partly because of my magic problem, and partly because this was a land where magic was difficult to use for all sorts of reasons.

“Can we talk outside for a moment?”

We headed to a small back garden near the dormitory. The familiar squirrel perched on top of his head was twitching its nose and sniffing.

“What is it?”

“At the entrance ceremony... I think there was someone suspicious there.”

My eyes widened into circles.

“Someone suspicious?”

“She looked like a maid. But something about her was sloppy. As for magic... I’m not sure.”

Glancing at the squirrel, I lowered my voice and asked,

“Did you follow her?”

Khalid clenched his fist and muttered,

“I did, but I lost her halfway through. Sorry. I’m clumsy with controlling magic here too.”

“That’s not something you need to apologize for....”

I sank down at the base of a nearby tree.

‘A suspicious maid?’

Honestly, she could just have been a maid who got lost, but since I was the one being pursued, the Magic Kingdom inevitably came to mind. But...

‘This doesn’t feel like the Mage King’s style.’

If the purpose had been to track me, they would have sent at least a high-ranking mage, but all of the Magic Kingdom’s high-ranking mages were busy right now.

“Is the Mage King’s situation still the same?”

“Yeah. He’s completely focused on the Delcan Ruins beyond Iosia.”

When Khalid told me that news, I had immediately thought the Mage King had definitely picked up /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ the scent of dark magic there.

‘But he won’t be able to revive dark magic that easily.’

Because...

I was holding the key to that revival.

Anyway.

Whatever it was, it was fortunate that the Mage King’s attention was turned in that direction. Thanks to that, every mage, including the tracking mages, had been dispatched to the Delcan Ruins.

‘Ah, except for the mages guarding the royal palace.’

As I thought that far, I narrowed my eyes slightly.

“Hmmm.”

The wind blew. My black hair fluttered in it.

“I’ll keep tracking it for now. She looked like a noble household’s maid.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It wasn’t the Academy maid uniform.”

Khalid spoke as if trying to reassure me.

‘A noble household’s maid... from which family?’

I thought it over, then nodded.

“Okay. Just in case... I guess I should be as careful as possible while moving around.”

More precisely, I thought I should lie low inside this Academy.

After all, the reason I had come to this Academy in the first place was to see whether there was any clue related to the mark, so it didn’t seem likely I would do anything that drew much attention.

‘Ah. If people had learned at the entrance ceremony that I’m Rubian Zebbert, maybe it would’ve been different.’

It was a little embarrassing to say it myself, but people seemed to be far more interested in “the daughter of the Zebbert family” than I had expected.

Out of habit, I toyed with the watch hanging around one wrist.

This thing, which I had stubbornly worn ever since arriving in the capital, was actually a portable magic battery pretending to be a watch.

It was a masterpiece Asha and I had made together, a magic tool that held magic well and released it little by little in set amounts.

“How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

Khalid asked while watching my hand.

“Yeah! It feels similar to when I was in Ipsen.”

“If you need magic, tell me anytime.”

At that utterly dependable tone, my expression softened with emotion all on its own.

“Thank you... my high-capacity battery....”

Khalid gave a small, awkward cough.

“Hm.”

“But you’re banned from using too much magic here too!”

At my stern warning, Khalid furrowed his brow in displeasure, but I lightly ignored it and clenched my fist with determination.

“Anyway, let’s both stay out of sight and get through this well! We absolutely can’t let anything happen!”

“Don’t worry that much. I’m here, and the Duke is right outside the Academy, so there’s no way you’d be in danger—”

“Ah, Dad isn’t in the capital.”

The thought suddenly struck me, so I added it.

At my neat answer, Khalid showed a rare look of surprise.

“...He isn’t?”

“Yeah. Dad...”

I recalled the contents of the letter the maid had handed me just before I came to meet him.

“He left on official business by order of His Majesty the Emperor.”

*****

“Your Grace, preparations are complete.”

“...That was quick.”

Clicking his tongue, Leviathan cursed the Emperor inwardly. So this had been the plan all along when he summoned him to the Imperial Palace.

He recalled the conversation in the audience chamber.

“What happened with the Mage King?”

“The Delcan Ruins on the border between Iosia and Casalia. We’ve heard he suddenly dispatched mages there.”

“That’s a disputed zone.”

During the war, dark creatures had altered the terrain there, which had brought the border issue between the Kingdom of Iosia and the Kingdom of Casalia to the surface.

Leviathan let out a short sigh.

‘So the King of Casalia granted them entry.’

Casalia, a desert nation, was a country with heavy use of magical tools and an important role for stationed mages. The Mage King had surely used that point to persuade them.

“And why, exactly, are mages crawling all over that place?”

“They say it’s a survey for magic stones.”

“It is unquestionably suspicious.”

“My thoughts exactly. What magic stones would there be in ruins full of nothing but wreckage? But since Casalia permitted the survey...”

“And so... that is why you summoned me.”

“The Delcan Ruins. You’ve been there before, haven’t you?”

The Emperor did not hesitate.

“...You mean for me to go.”

“The official purpose of the visit will be... dispatching an envoy to encourage an amicable settlement of the border dispute. Something along those lines. Keep it secret that the Duke himself is going.”

Then he added in a grave voice,

“...I’ll say this in advance: do not clash with the mages. Just seeing what they are investigating there, and what scheme they have in mind, will be enough.”

The Emperor still had not decided whether it was truly right to exclude the Magic Kingdom from the continental alliance.

There were countries like Casalia that lived with close support from the Magic Kingdom.

Magic was a convenient tool.

So it was true that part of him was conflicted, wondering whether it was better to soothe the mages and keep the alliance intact.

However, the matter of the child soldiers during the war was unforgivable, and the business with the tracking mage also irritated him. It was clear he had judged that pressure needed to be applied.

“This is why I do not come to the capital.”

When Leviathan said that coldly, the Emperor let out a short laugh.

At that signal, an attendant stepped forward and presented a large box.