The second snapped her head up.

Magic.

Faint—very faint—but it was the presence of a mage.

She narrowed her eyes and looked ahead. In the distance, near the great lake, a small party was underway.

Is the seventh over there?

She hurried forward.

That was when—

“Excuse me.”

A youthful voice drifted from behind her.

“That isn’t the way to the library.”

“......”

She turned slowly.

A blond boy stood there, quietly watching her.

His face was gentle, soft-featured. But there was something cold about him all the same.

“There’s an Academy event going on near the lakeside. Outsiders aren’t allowed in.”

Licht spoke pleasantly and pointed to the opposite path.

“You should turn back.”

So he was an Academy student, apparently.

The second smiled as if nothing were wrong and answered smoothly.

“Oh, I see. But I’m not suspicious.”

“......”

She recalled the conversation she had overheard between Yuliope and Zenda Camel at the café.

That woman had said she had a younger sibling at the Academy camp. The name had been... Jerdin Camel, had it?

“I just came to check on my sibling for a moment. I’m here to work at the Academy.”

She held up the temporary access pass.

“So would you move aside, little boy?”

“You are...”

Licht tipped his head slightly.

“Are you really Zenda Camel?”

The second flinched.

Why...? Did I say something wrong?

Licht stepped closer, staring at the identification she was holding out with unnerving focus.

“If you really were Zenda Camel, there’s no way you wouldn’t know who I am...”

“Huh?”

“Have you forgotten, Ms. Camel? I asked you to translate some foreign books for donation to the southern children’s shelter.”

Ah, damn it.

Of all people, he actually knew this woman...?

“I even ended up returning to the Academy late because I was finishing that work...”

“Ah, well, that is...”

“And, well, saying this myself feels a little embarrassing, but because of the southern shelter matter, I became just a little famous.”

The boy smiled brightly.

“My portrait was passed around here and there. I assumed, naturally, that you’d recognize me. Was I being too self-conscious?”

Cold sweat ran down her back.

The southern shelter. A portrait.

The moment she connected those words with the boy in front of her, she arrived at one conclusion. She had heard in passing, back at the palace, a little about the Babilon royal family. So this boy was—

“...Ah, ah! Prince!”

Honestly, she had never imagined she would run into a prince in a place like this.

No, seriously, if he’s royalty, shouldn’t he be getting custom lessons at the Imperial Palace? Why is he attending the Academy like some ordinary kid?

The second forced an awkward smile and rushed to explain.

“Th-that’s right, now that you mention it! My eyesight is poor, you see. This is my first time seeing you in person, so I only just recognized—”

“Mm. That’s a lie.”

The reply was absurdly calm.

The second froze stiff, as if someone had dumped cold water over her. The prince stared at her for a moment, then smiled, his eyes curving prettily.

“I’m meeting Ms. Camel for the first time today, though. And royal portraits are not the sort of thing that gets passed around so easily.”

“......”

“So I’m not quite sure what exactly you were looking at when you said, Now that you mention it.”

What a truly...

awful personality.

As if he knew exactly what she was thinking—or didn’t care at all—Licht raised a hand without hesitation.

At once, the prince’s guard knights, who had been concealing their presence all around them, emerged one by one.

“Bind her. She’s suspicious.”

“Yes, Prince!”

She bit down hard on her teeth. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

When I can feel magic that might belong to the seventh!

That fluttering presence was shifting constantly, like a butterfly. She could not afford to lose the trail.

“Lock her up for now, and then we can speak with Headmaster Odelly—”

There was only one method left.

When she had left the Kingdom, she had brought a few magic tools with her for emergencies.

She slipped a hand into her pocket. Her fingers closed around a round object that rattled faintly, and several thin sheets of paper.

A fireworks magic tool... should be enough.

She did not want to kill anyone, after all.

She carefully gripped the tool in her hand.

Just don’t break the magical beast stone by mistake.

The magical beast stone containing the sealed magical beast was her last resort. She had brought it only for the possibility that her life might be in danger.

“Stay still!”

The knights seized both her arms roughly.

The instant the prince looked away and turned—

the second let the magic tool in her hand drop.

“What—”

FWEEEE—

“Ack!”

BOOM!

The startled knights stumbled back.

The second did not miss the chance. She moved her magic just slightly and stirred up a gust of wind.

The sparks from the fireworks caught at once on the dry leaves.

“Fire!”

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, CLANG.

Alarm bells rang out everywhere.

The flames roared up, cutting straight across the path that led to the library.

Now!

“Stop!”

“Prince, it’s dangerous!”

Leaving the young boy’s urgent voice behind her, the second sprinted toward the Central Library.

*****

BWAAAH—

“Hm?”

My head tilted on its own as I blew the horn.

“Wait... what was that sound...”

Didn’t I just hear something?

I was sitting in the deepest part of the Central Library, inside the Rare Books Archive.

I had just finished driving out Professor Yuliope, who was steadily on his way to becoming this place’s /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ resident ghost.

“Professor! This is bad!”

“Miss Rubian? Excellent timing. Here, I’ll give you this elephant horn as a gift. It helps build lung capacity, so when you run or jump rope, you won’t get out of breath so easi—”

“I don’t think that’s the issue right now! Anyway, that’s not the point! The boys are all saying they’re going to your research office to look for treasure!”

“What?”

“You locked the door, right? You did lock it, didn’t you?”

I pressed him urgently. Yuliope’s cloudy eyes darted in all directions.

“I locke...d it, I think? Or maybe not? Did I not?”

He bounced his leg anxiously like a modern person trying to remember whether they had turned off the gas valve before leaving home.

That was how these things always went. If you hit someone with a question out of nowhere, they got confused.

“What are we going to do? There are hand-copied texts in there! What if the kids go rummaging through everything and spill drinks all over the place? What if your hand-copied texts get stained—and your salary along with them? Hm?”

“No, no. I’m sure I locked it...”

“Really? Are you sure? One hundred percent?”

“...Ha! This is bothering me to death! I’m going to go check. If the new restorer arrives, tell them to wait!”

“Okaaay.”

I watched him vanish like an arrow, then blew the elephant horn two more times.

Unless I blew with all my strength, like I was inflating a balloon, it barely made any sound, and the elephant’s trunk hardly unfolded either.

This really would improve your lung capacity...

Maybe it’s about time I got moving.

I poked my head out, confirmed there was no one around, then headed for the inner court of the Rare Books Archive.

Feeling the energy of the tree saturated with magic, I plucked out a few strands of my hair.

“Mm, was it this one?”

A blue magic circle floated into the air.

At the same moment my eyes turned red—

Oh! It’s changing.

Since I had restructured the formula by borrowing Wigeria’s power, magic was no longer pouring out of me in huge chunks like last time.

Before I knew it, the strands in my hand had turned silver.

I really reversed it...

That was when I truly felt the success of it.

Huh?

The magic circle hovering in the air expanded slightly.

The surrounding magic added strength to it,

the area of application shifted,

and in the end, all of my hair began turning silver.

“What the heck!”

I touched my glittering silver hair with a hollow expression.

Was it because the magic here was just too pure?

Or was Wigeria showing off to me?

“It all went back to normal...”

How was I supposed to explain this?

Should I say I used some kind of special shampoo...?

That was what I was worrying about when—

Sliiide, thud!

With the heavy sound of a door, I felt someone’s presence.

I had not seen the face yet, but I knew.

Whew. First things first... I’ll deal with her.

I turned slowly.

“Huff... huff.”

The woman who emerged after shoving through the maze of shelves was gasping for breath.

“You... huff. So you really are the seventh...”

Hearing her mutter that as she stared at my snow-white silver hair, I picked up the elephant horn I had dropped and dusted it off.

Reflected in the sleek surface of the horn, my eyes were a vivid red.

“You know, I don’t think you’re especially talented at tracking people.”

“...Huff, huff.”

“What are you supposed to do when the seeker is more out of breath than I am? If somebody saw you, they’d think you were the one being chased.”

The second, too bewildered to even think about steadying her breathing, looked around in confusion.

“This place... what in the world is this? This much magic... I’ve never heard of anywhere like this in the Empire...”

“Of course you haven’t. And you won’t.”

“...!”

Only then did the second come to herself and move her magic.

Of course, I was faster. My hand was already braced against the tree.

“Ack—”

Roots burst up from the floor and wrapped tightly around her body.

Her knees slammed mercilessly into the ground with a thud.

There’s a reason I lured her in here.

As long as I had enough magic, my magic circles took shape faster than the second’s.

And right now, I was also borrowing Wigeria’s power.

In other words, in this place at least, there was no way the second could beat me.

Of course, there’s the risk that she’s discovered this space now.

But that was going to become something that never happened soon enough, so it was fine!

I walked over to the pale-faced second.

“All right, then. Go report that you found absolutely nothing in the Empire, and be good!”

Then I blew the horn with all my strength.

At once, the folded elephant trunk slowly uncoiled, and a round magic circle rose at its tip.

“Y-you’re going to... erase my memories...!”

BWOO. BWOOOOOOT.

Ah. My lungs.

I didn’t want to touch her... but why was this thing taking so long to unfold?

“N-no! Wait! Hold on! I-I didn’t come here to take you back to the Magic Kingdom!”

The second jerked backward as far as she could, panicking.

I stopped halfway through dragging in another huge breath and sneered.

“What was that? I don’t really listen to underlings.”

“The mark!”

At that sudden word, I paused.

“I brought r-records about the mark!”

“......”

“To give to you!”

She twisted desperately in place.

I loosened the roots a little, and with a hand she barely managed to pull free, she yanked down the collar of her shirt.

“Look.”

Tiny ancient letters were written beneath her collarbone.

“I stole them from the palace.”

The second spoke in a trembling voice.