“Your Grace?”

“Bind him for now. The mages are moving.”

Far off in the distance, the mages were burning the dark creature corpses.

“They may have noticed something. We should withdraw for the time being.”

The blue-haired knight spoke calmly.

Leviathan, however, did not move.

At that moment, a chill raced down Allen’s spine.

The loose, bored expression was gone. The Duke’s face, glimpsed in profile, was as terrifying as a demon from hell.

“...Your Grace, you must not confront them now.”

“...”

“Didn’t you promise His Majesty the Emperor that you would not clash with the mages? Learning what they’re after is already a major gain.”

“Which is exactly why I’m thinking they ought to die now.”

The voice that came back was frighteningly low and dark.

“They mean to start another war on this land. To bring back that horrific hell. Again.”

“But—”

“Hah. Ha. Why’s everyone so grim? But look over there.”

Then Allen, who had been watching through the spyglass, lowered it and spoke.

“The ruin entrance is gone, isn’t it? Looks like the mage bastards hid it.”

“...”

“And from what I’ve seen... unless it’s another mage, I’d say it’ll take weeks to find that again. No—months.”

“Months...”

Leviathan repeated the word under his breath.

In the end, they had no choice but to withdraw for the moment.

Leviathan immediately sent a message bird to the Imperial Palace requesting additional surveillance forces. The Emperor then ordered him to return at once, saying the palace would handle what came next.

And so now—

on the road back to the Empire—

Damn, I almost got caught in a fight between monsters.

Allen, done with his recollection, trudged after the horse and thought to himself.

But wow, he hates mages even more than I expected. Ugh, that look in his eyes.

Khalid, you bastard...

Are you seriously okay? If that Duke finds out you and the princess are mages, isn’t that going to blow up into a disaster?

More importantly, I need to get a message bird out to the brat.

Allen swallowed a sigh as he looked around at the knights surrounding him without a single gap in their formation.

If I don’t report that the Mage King moved, he’s definitely going to lose his mind...

He remembered Khalid’s snake darting out of the darkness. A shudder ran through him.

All right, let’s think.

He began to scheme.

At that moment, click—the sound of a metal locket snapping shut rang out.

“All right, we’ll be picking up the pace soon.”

Leviathan, finished looking at the portrait inside, tipped his face slightly and spoke.

“So. Are you going to tell me who’s behind you, or keep your mouth shut forever? Have you picked your route yet?”

Fuck, my life.

As Allen hesitated, wondering what to do, his gaze landed on the gold locket in the Duke’s hand.

He seemed to be looking into it once every three seconds. When Allen had stolen a glance over his shoulder, it had looked like a family portrait.

All or nothing.

“Ahhh! Right! Your Grace! There is one thing I can tell you!”

He shouted with theatrical enthusiasm.

“Looks like you’ve got an adorable little daughter, and there happens to be a shop kids her age absolutely love! A chubby macaron place. According to my information network, it’s a must-buy item, top three, for fathers coming back from business trips—”

“Has he lost his mind? What kind of bullshit is that all of a sudden?”

Yujen smacked Allen on the back of the head again.

Damn it, guess this isn’t going to work either.

Then the Duke looked at Allen.

“Is it nearby?”

“Huh?”

“The chubby macarons. I don’t have much time.”

“Uh, yes, yes, yes, yes! The village just down below this mountain!”

At that, the Duke’s smooth chin tipped lightly toward the road ahead.

“Lead the way.”

“What? Seriously?”

This is working?

Allen felt dubious, but he also knew a chance when he saw one, so he hurried to guide them.

Once they left the empty forest path and entered the village, there were people everywhere.

Sure enough, if the place really was that famous, the crowd made sense.

Riding horses through it would be awkward, so they headed for a nearby stable.

Now.

The instant the rope linking him to the horse came loose—

Allen ran with every ounce of strength in his body.

“Huh? That bastard!”

In an instant, he plunged into the crowd, lifted a few things to disguise himself, and kept moving. An outer coat, a hat, a scarf...

Thank God he was good at little tricks.

After a while, he casually turned as though browsing a street stall.

No sign of anyone on his tail.

Ha, shit! That’s the most scared I’ve been in ages!

I really almost died.

Deeply relieved, he quickly slipped into a dark alley.

Still, the princess is cute.

He remembered the locket he had glimpsed in Leviathan’s hand. It had only been a rough charcoal sketch, but the round little features had stood out clearly. It had been weirdly memorable.

Khalid, that bastard.

So that’s why he kept it hidden like treasure.

Still, I saw her face too!

Chuckling to himself, Allen picked up his pace. Then he rummaged through his clothes, pulled out a blank sheet of paper, and scribbled something down in a hurry.

“As expected, he ran.”

When Leon said it, Leviathan merely rolled his neck with a bored expression.

“He took his time about it. I was wondering when exactly he planned to run... Yujen.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Go after him and confirm where he sends the message bird. No matter what.”

Yujen gave a brief bow, grabbed his bow, and vanished like the wind.

From the beginning, it had been closer to letting him go on purpose. There was no chance they would lose him.

“I have no idea who could have hired him to keep his mouth shut that tightly. I believe he’s the head of the largest mercenary company in the Empire...”

So he’d been strangely quiet lately after all.

Leviathan listened in silence to Leon’s muttering voice, then spoke.

He had been thinking about something the entire ride back.

“Rubian...”

It was an abrupt opening. Leon blinked in confusion and said, “Yes?”

“When Rubian is at the castle, she sometimes plays hide-and-seek with Boyd and Liam.”

“...Ah, I know. But what does that have to do with—”

“When I’m in my office, she sometimes comes asking me to hide her. And every time she crawls under the desk, she always says the same thing.”

Leviathan turned his gaze and met Leon’s eyes.

“She tells me to keep watch out the window and let her know the second Liam or Boyd shows up.”

“...”

Only then did Leon understand what Leviathan was getting at.

“If someone has a reason to watch another person, then either that person is their enemy... or...”

Leviathan finished the thought.

“Someone they have to run from.”

Someone running from the Mage King.

As far as Leviathan knew, there was only one such person.

They did say that child was already caught last spring...

But the longer time passed, the more unpleasant the question remained.

No one had ever revealed where or how they had captured that young mage.

What if the claim that they caught the child was just a strategy to make that mage let down their guard... and the child is still on the run?

The doubt that had lingered like a thin mist took on sudden shape the moment he saw Allen’s face.

Once the possibility occurred to him, he could no longer shake it loose.

By now, Leviathan was half convinced.

A young mage who escaped from the Kingdom.

Was that mage... the one who set that mercenary in motion?

If so, then it made sense that the man could not easily open his mouth. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He had heard the mage was powerful...

Perhaps some kind of binding spell had been placed on him.

“That could be it.”

After a brief silence, Leon nodded, as though he had read Leviathan’s thoughts.

Then, with something suddenly occurring to him, he added,

“If that really is the young mage, Your Grace... what do you intend to do if you find where the child is?”

“Well...”

Leviathan lazily brushed a hand back through his hair.

To be honest, he had not really thought that far.

Ordering Allen’s shadow traced had been closer to instinct than reason.

He let out a long breath and looked up at the sky.

“For now.”

“...”

“I think I’d like to feed the kid something.”

The vast autumn sky resembled the eyes of his precious little one.

“She’s only ten, after all.”

For some reason, it felt as though he were looking straight into those eyes, and he found himself unable to look away.

A short while later,

Yujen returned with the letter Allen had sent by message bird.

Leviathan took the letter and read its contents.

*****

“An acorn!”

I promptly stuffed the squirrel’s daily ration from the roadside into my pocket.

“There’s another acorn here too!”

The Academy had so many hazel trees that it was practically a harvest year!

I could use them for the crafting period too.

But that application...

Picking up one good acorn after another, I walked along the path and thought.

The handwriting looked familiar.

One of the applications Yuliope had left on top of his desk.

The handwriting kept bothering me. It stirred a strange sense of déjà vu.

“Hmmm.”

Feeling like /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ a detective, I laid out everything I’d learned so far.

That clumsy, suspicious maid.

The dispatch of high-rank mages to the Delcan Ruins.

And the handwriting on that application...

No way. Could “the second” have come here?

My hand, which had been busily filling my pocket until it bulged with acorns, stopped dead.

“No, no way. Surely not...”

I laughed into the empty air and shook my head.

“She’s not an idiot.”

Why would a tracker who came in secret sit down and openly submit a job application?

Unless she was the type who stayed cooped up in the palace all the time and barely ever operated outside.

“...”

...But that was exactly what she was. Someone shut up inside the palace.

“the second” was a high-rank mage who handled affairs inside the palace. She rarely came outside it.

Which meant there was a high probability she had not been dispatched to the Delcan Ruins this time either.

...Yuliope did say the restorers are arriving tomorrow, right?

Ugh.

At that point, I was almost certain “the second” had come looking for me.