Chapter 17: Debut

Part 02

Adonis: Eternal Bliss

Part 1
.

Year 1492, April: Arhad is born.

Year 1497, February: Ianna is born.

Ages 9 and 4.

Arhad holds a sword for the first time and sobs his eyes out.

Ianna chases Lebony around.

Ages 13 and 8.

Arhad redoubles his efforts in sword training.

Ianna poisons Sarachè to death.

Ages 16 and 11.

Arhad enrolls in the Valgenta Institution.

Ianna is persecuted by her household.

 

Ages 18 and 13.

Arhad founds Camastros.

Ianna craves for affection.

Ages 20 and 15.

Arhad gains influence in the underworld and his influence starts reaching normal society.

Ianna murders Horby while unconscious.

Ages 21 and 16.

Arhad joins hands with Schneider to confront the Black Fox.

Ianna debuts in high society and enrolls in the Theodore Academy.

Ages 22 and 17.

Arhad sees Ianna for the first time.

Ianna drops out of the Theodore Academy.

Ages 23 and 18.

Arhad annihilates the Black Fox.

Ianna gives up on being loved and focuses only on the sword.

Ages 24 and 19.

They meet at the Youths’ Swordsmanship Tournament that was held to commemorate the founding of Roanne.

Arhad feels a possessive desire for Ianna.

Ianna’s competitive spirit flares.

Ages 25 and 20.

Arhad begins attacking the Bahamut Empire from the Kingdom of Woodruff.

Ianna spends all her time training with the sword.

Ages 27 and 22.

Arhad succeeds in gathering nobles to his cause and winning the public sentiment.

Ianna wins the Continental Swordsmanship Tournament but feels dejected.

She becomes Prince Schneider’s subordinate.

Ages 28 and 23.

Arhad obtains his first heart.

Ianna rages at Arhad for not seeking her out.

Ages 29 and 24.

Arhad eliminates the Bahamut imperial family and usurps the throne.

Ianna purges House Roberstein and becomes a duchess of the Kingdom of Roanne in her own right.

They meet again.

Ages 30 and 25.

Arhad tries to appease Ianna.

Ianna is hostile to Arhad.

 
Ages 32 and 27.

There is a civil war in the Kingdom of Roanne and Prince Schneider emerges as king.

The Bahamut Empire wages war.

Ages 39 and 34.

Arhad kills Ianna.

Ianna is killed by Arhad.

~~*~~

He was the Demon, and he was not the Demon.

He was not the Demon, but he was Arhad.

He was the Demon, and he was Arhad.

The Demon’s heart was imprisoned in Pandemonium, pierced through by a certain god’s sword. The Demon’s soul, containing his
memories, was ripped to pieces and scattered across the world, and all that remained in the little fragment that was left inside his heart
was the memory of being stabbed and locked away by a crimson god whose face he could not remember, the dreadful memories of being
locked away for what seemed like an eternity, and a very faint sliver of his ego.

“Sniff, sob. What do I do, Lord Heinrich?”

 

By a stroke of luck, a woman carrying a fetus that did not yet have a soul of its own had arrived near a rift in the earth that had opened up
into Pandemonium. The Demon felt his soul from the other side of the rift.
The Demon’s sliver of a soul broke free from his heart, which could not budge, and crawled up from the rift. He split open the woman’s
womb and buried his soul into the fetus’ heart, which was unblemished and held only pure divine power within. He imprinted on the
fetus’ heart and made it his second.

The fetus created for himself the best body he could have ever wanted, and the instinct to seek out his fragments and heart was carved
into his soul.

And so, Arhad had been born. And the Demon’s second life had begun.

“I’ve wet-nursed many children, Lord Heinrich, but I’ve never seen a child who neither cries nor laughs and just stares blankly like this
one before. Shouldn’t he be taken to see a doctor?”
“Perhaps……. But in any event, thank you for your work today.”
 

Arhad had endlessly wandered the boundary between dreams and reality when he was young. The boy had always been drifting through
the darkness, like he was floating on a cloud, regardless of whether he was asleep or awake. Sometimes, he would find a crimson light in
a corner of the darkness and thirst for it as he tried to get closer, but the crimson light always only grew farther and farther away until it
vanished entirely. And then, the boy would roam the darkness yet again.

“Teacher, please just ignore that moron and teach me more magic.”
 

Arhad remained in this state until he was nine, and Lalatua El Mardial, who was two years his elder, was always jealous at how devoted
Heinrich was to him.

Lalatua was a peculiar princess who had broken completely free of the harsh struggle for the throne taking place in Mardial, and
Heinrich had taken her in upon noticing her talent for the magical arts. Lalatua had regarded Heinrich as her father and her teacher —as
the only member of her family— ever since. Which was why she despised Arhad, who took up much of Heinrich’s attention, and had
frequently bullied him with magic.

“Lalatua!”
“Waah, Lord Heinrich! Arhad, he…!”
“Haven’t I told you not to lay a hand against Arhad?!”
 

But even when Lalatua had attacked Arhad with spells, the magic would either fade away before reaching him or be flung aside entirely.
Lalatua had frequently been tormented by the spells that she herself had cast. Heinrich had grown warier of Arhad every time he saw it
happen. Arhad was not just simply retarded. He had considered simply writing Arhad off as being dull, but doing so and neglecting the
child would pose a problem in and of itself because the Bahamut imperial family was spiteful.

Heinrich brought Arhad all sorts of things. Teddy bears, wooden blocks, toys……and one day, when Heinrich had brought Arhad a real
sword, Arhad’s entire world had suddenly been dyed with color.

A sword. The memory of someone’s sword piercing through his heart had devoured his mind whole. The boy, who had always been in a
blank daze until then, could not withstand the sudden surge of his own emotions.
 

“Sob, sob! Sob!”
 

Arhad had bawled his eyes out. Why, he did not know —was it because of the pain or the betrayal he had felt? All the young boy could
do was clutch the sword and sob. He had cried ever so sorrowfully. His entire world had been colored by such sadness that he had finally
started crying like the child he was.

It was only then that Arhad’s life had truly begun.

He had not been able to do anything for what was practically an eternity, and his greed was as vast as the limitless expanse of space
itself.

He wanted knowledge. He had been imprisoned and unable to do anything for nearly an eternity, and he was thirsting for new
knowledge. He learned all sorts of things from his private tutors, including kingship. There had been times when, using Herinrich’s
permit, he holed himself inside the royal library for days just to read. His exceptional brain soaked in knowledge like a dry sponge
absorbing water.

He wanted money. His sense of lacking, which he had known since times immemorial, was never satiated and always whispered to him,
telling him to seize whatever it was that he wanted. And, as a rule, one needed money in order to get their hands on something in this era.
Arhad could cast spells freely so long as he knew how the mana was supposed to be arranged, and he had called forth the subspace that
his soul remembered. The subspace was packed tightly with the gold he had gathered during the Holy Age. He had a repository of high-
purity gold, made from divine power instead of mana, large enough to fill an entire castle to the brim. Man coveted gold just as the gods
once had, and Arhad’s gold, which was incredibly valuable in the Age of Magic, funded everything that he had wanted to do.

Arhad had begun investing into various companies ever since he was young, had tried starting his own businesses, had learned about the
value of goods and how to grow money even as some of his investments had failed, and had gained an outstanding sense for investing in
the process. His wealth had grown exponentially.

He wanted to try becoming the most prestigious person in the world. The Demon had once been treated as a parasite for being the
lowliest being in existence and his soul coveted the power of prestige —and Arhad had inherited that desire. At first, he had only wanted
to usurp the imperial throne because he needed to gather the Demon’s fragments and the imperial family was his biggest threat, but he
grew more ambitious as time passed and started wanting to look down on everyone else from a high and lofty seat.

He began interfering, either directly or indirectly, or either actively or passively, in the struggles for succession taking place in smaller
kingdoms, and he polished his political prowess for the day he would one day become the one and only emperor in the world. He
recruited individuals of talent with his vast wealth and fostered them, and he spread his influence all across the world using a colorful
assortment of means.

But he could not satisfy the feeling of lacking no matter what he tried. He received love and attention from the people, and he had
countless subordinates following him……but there was no wave that could satisfy him as he lived in a sea of emotion and greed. He
could not satisfy his sense of lacking and emptiness no matter how hard he tried to fill himself up, and this rendered him constantly
emotionless.

Which was why he devoted himself to training with the sword. There was something about the sword that irritated his heart whenever he
held it. He hated that feeling, and yet, he also coveted it like a moth taking to flame.

Until he was twenty-three, that is.

 

Arhad had enrolled into the Valgenta Institution, where Heinrich was the dean, when he was sixteen. He had met countless people there,
had gained countless followers, had taken countless classes, and had dealt with countless different people. And he had met Rikijen, who
had been wronged by House Owen, completely by chance and had saved him on a whim. The boy, who was burning in his hatred of the
nobility, had no one to rely on, and Arhad had noticed his talent and had begun sponsoring him upon seeing the difficult books that had
been crammed inside the boy’s room.

Eiji had come looking for him, blazing with his hatred of the Bahamut imperial family, when he was eighteen. Eiji was a young Roygen
boy who had risen to his position of being the boss of the Black Fox’s intelligence operations at his young age thanks to his exceptional
brains.

Together, Arhad, Heinrich, and Eiji had gathered those of exceptional talent who raged against the Bahamut imperial family, loathed the
Black Fox with every fiber of their being, or had other special ambitions and had founded ‘Camastros’.

The gold Arhad possessed and the money he had gained by investing in companies or starting his own businesses was more than enough
to fund Camastros’ activities. And they had begun confronting the Black Fox as soon as they had gathered enough people.

By the time he was twenty, Arhad’s forces were some of the greatest in the world, and his influence was vast enough that he could
puppeteer the entire world if he so wanted. But no one was aware of his existence, and even the executives of Camastros, who assisted
him, did not know exactly how far his influence reached.

Arhad detested the Black Fox by the time he was twenty-one, and he had joined forces with Schneider, who wanted to win the Roanne
throne and public sentiment, to begin confronting the Black Fox directly.

“There is an interesting girl attending the Theodore Academy.”

 

Arhad had been gathering more talent under his banner when he was twenty-two, and Eiji had given him a certain report.

“She’s a swordswoman. She’s known to most of the world as a reserved and passive girl, but there are rumors circulating between the
swordsmanship instructors at the Academy about how amazingly skilled she is. Her reputation is abysmal, but it is only based on rumors
and I found that she’s actually quite a great girl once I looked into her. I think it might be worth scouting her out —will you take a look
yourself?”
 

Eiji had pushed a rolled-up piece of paper at him. Arhad unfurled it and began reading its contents without much interest. The girl had
crimson hair as beautiful as a blaze and crimson eyes, but her lips were tightly pursed and he could tell at even just a first glance that the
light of depression dwelt in her eyes.

Arhad was intrigued by her crimson appearance.

He liked the yellowy light of gold. But, while he favored the color gold and liked it well enough, there was something about the color
crimson that stirred his heart and strangely seemed to bring about a kind of madness in him. As if he was a bull that grew agitated at the
color red.

He always welcomed more talent. Eiji had been at the peak of his recruitment process for those of talent who shared similar goals, and he
had chased after every rumor about any individual of talent with great haste. And everyone he reported back to Arhad had been hand-
picked by him and were all remarkable individuals whom he only awaited Arhad’s approval to begin scouting. She must have been pretty
good if even Eiji was singing her praises. But that was all. Arhad had only been interested in her talent. He had thought that the girl was
quite pretty when he saw her portait, but he had only been intrigued by her crimson looks —his heart had not skipped a beat for her or
anything of the sort.

Arhad had taken interest in the girl, and he had ordered Eiji to conduct a thorough investigation into her past. And Eiji had brought back
his report shortly thereafter.

<Ianna Roberstein, age 17>

 
Age 8: poisoned the countess to death.
Age 15: her grandfather passed away and she first took to the sword.
Age 16: enrolled into the Theodore Academy.
Age 17: debuted into high society.
She is currently still attending the Theodore Academy, but rumors say that she is planning to drop out soon. Her reputation in high
society is terrible. She is being severely ostracized. She is scorned by commoners because her mother used dirty means and money to
buy her way into being the count’s mistress, and she is called a monster for murdering the countess. It appears that she poisoned the
countess on her mother’s orders without knowing any better when she was young. There are several high-ranking members of the
nobility who have learned about her skill with the sword and have taken an interest in her.
 

Arhad had broken out laughing after reading Eiji’s report. It would be easy to recruit her if she was being treated this poorly despite her
outstanding talent. He didn’t know if her talent was the real deal or not, but even Arhad approved of those individuals whom Eiji
reported to him. Arhad had grown curious, and he had decided to confirm her talent with his own eyes as he usually did.
The Theodore Academy was close in proximity to the Institution, so Arhad had set apart some time to sneak in. And then, after taking
great pains to figure out her whereabouts, he had found her sitting in a corner of the library while studying.

Arhad had hidden himself and had scrutinized her up and down. That had been their very first encounter, though Ianna had never known
about it. The girl was expressionless and her crimson light was somber. And Arhad’s heart was as calm as it always was.

“Why, would you look at that? It’s that wench. Why is she always in the library like an eyesore?”
“Shall we tease her a bit?”
 

Just then, a few girls had started whispering amongst each other in Arhad’s vicinity and had elegantly walked up to Ianna with sneers
plastered on their faces.

“Goodness, isn’t that the book I was just looking for?”

 

Ianna, whose pen had been scribbling furiously across the page as she studied, carefully looked up when she heard someone speaking
loudly from right next to her.
 

“Do you require it? I’m done with it, so you may have it if you wish.”
“Oh, who’s this now? If it isn’t the young lady of House Roberstein?”
 

Ianna had extended her kind goodwill to them. But the other girls had never been after the book to begin with.

“Are you out of your mind? Are you telling me to take a book that your filthy hands have touched all over?”
“Hey, that’s enough. You never know if you might find something weird in your tea later today.”
 

The girl who had readily exposed Ianna’s past picked up a book from Ianna’s pile with only her fingers, as if she had handling something
dirty, and began flipping through the pages.

“What’s even the point of studying so hard? Don’t you only rank in the middle of your class all the time no matter how hard you study
because you’re stupid? You’re just wasting your time. Wouldn’t it be a better use of your time brushing up on your looks instead?”
 

The girl tapped at Ianna’s cheek with a gloved hand.

“Your skin’s a right mess. No gentleman will want to touch skin as coarse as yours. And look at how many blisters you have on your
lips. And goodness, your hair reminds me of a pig’s bristles…….”
“You’ll never have to worry about bettering your station no matter how hard you study, nor will you have to worry about marriage
because no gentleman will ever ask for your hand no matter how much you adorn yourself. How nice your life must be.”
“I hear that you’ve been training in the sword with the men? And you’ve been secretly showing off your body while being drenched in
sweat too…… I doubt that you’re training because you actually like it —so you must be doing such unsightly things because you’re
trying to seduce the men like the cheeky thing you are.”
“She’s just like her mother. She’s probably lost her virginity ages ago.”
“She’s pretending to be so pure, but who knows how many men she’s seduced with that nauseating face of hers?”
 

Then, one of the girls stooped over to whisper in Ianna’s ear.

“Stop coming out in public —no one wants to see you.”

“You murdered the kindhearted countess when you were just a child —we’re all terrified of you.”
“It’s unpleasant just looking at you.”
 

The girls who had just finished insulting her then hit her on purpose as they walked away while laughing amongst themselves.

“…….”
 

Ianna kept her head low for a moment before she resumed studying, as if she was used to it all. A fat and bulging man approached her
not too long afterward.

“Have you reconsidered my proposal, Lady Ianna? You don’t need to keep rejecting me like that…….”
 

The man touched Ianna’s shoulder. Ianna clenched her hands into tight fists. Her fists quivered for a moment before she fiercely shook
the man off. She glared at the shocked man.

“I’ve been rejecting you in a roundabout manner all this time, but allow me to be direct. I said no. Please stop this. Don’t bring this up
ever again. And, I’ve never given you permission to call me by my given name. So please stop calling it as you please.”
 

Ianna rejected the man’s offensive proposal sharply, unlike the gentler ways she had turned him down previously, because she was
already hurting from what the girls from earlier had said to her. Her face was pallid as she tried to reign in her disgust.

The man took that as an insult. He grumbled to himself, ashamed that the likes of Ianna had insulted him, and shoved her hard. Ianna
nearly fell over but just barely managed to keep herself upright by holding onto the table. The man’s pride was wounded further still
because Ianna had not made a fool out of herself by falling over like he had thought she would, and he yelled,

“Look at you acting so prude. Just how many men do you think there are out there who’ll offer a deal to a wench as hair-raisingly nasty
as you? What’s so bad about opening your legs for me when you’ve probably done it dozens of times already? Ugh!”
 

The man had left after treating her like she was cheap.

“…….”
 

The girl had righted herself and gripped her skirt in an effort to keep from crying, but her eyes, which were already flushing crimson, had
not obeyed her will.

Drip. Drop.
She had done well to endure it until now, but tears were falling from her eyes. Her eyes were moist with tears. Her face contorted heavily
and she trembled as she bit down hard at her lip, but her tears only kept falling.

She finally bent over the table, unable to endure it any longer. Her body heaved several times. But her cries were not audible. Ianna cried
silently for a moment before she stood back up with a gloomy look on her face. She had only shed tears for but a short while. She
organized her books with her eyes still red and she left the library. Arhad had simply watched over her without doing anything.

‘I’m sure she must be disillusioned by the nobility if it’s this  bad —there’s no way she’d harbor any pleasant fantasies about them.’
High society was heartless. Nobles hid daggers and poison in their elegant words and they attacked each other with them for profit. And
Ianna was among the weakest members of high society, so the other nobles vented their pent-up stress by abusing her.

‘But she’s still lacking.’

She was still kind to even those who showered her with spite, and Arhad had no use for a girl who could only shed tears, unable to
punish those who insulted her, in a revolution. Not until she learned how to suppress others, even those of higher standing than herself,
with the prominence of her spirit alone.

Every member of Camastros had that characteristic. They were all heartless and had killed at least one or two people prior to joining, and
they were all venomous individuals who carried a powerful hatred inside themselves. Arhad had not had the chance to see Ianna’s
swordplay, but he had decided that it would be impossible to recruit her until she gained that characteristic.

He could have helped her in her time of need and fostered her goodwill……but it wouldn’t have much of an effect because he would not
be able to help her on a continued basis. Arhad was busy, and more importantly, he did not feel as though she warranted spending so
much of his time on.
Arhad watched her return listlessly to the female dormitories before he departed from the Theodore Academy. He did not have the time
to waste on a feeble girl. And just then, he happened across the man who had insulted Ianna chattering loudly with his friends.

He was vulgar. He was also disgraceful and crude. Those who held anyone in a lower station than they in contempt on the basis of their
alleged prestige alone were vile. It was unseemly, the way they put up airs and acted so high and mighty when they were so worthless.

How did they not know? There was always someone higher up on the food chain, and if they could prey upon their inferiors, then others,
too, could prey upon them. A cold air hung about Arhad as he barred his sharp fangs.

The man’s household had been torn apart by Arhad’s claws and fell to ruin not too long thereafter. The houses of the wenches who had
insulted Ianna, too, had fallen one after another due to financial troubles or political schemes. But he hadn’t done it to take vengeance for
Ianna —he had simply taken offense as a top predator.

Then, Ianna had dropped out of school and had returned to the Roberstein lands.

At twenty-three, the Institution made Arhad go to a noble’s household for practical experience. Arhad was known as a student who was
promising but unable to control mana. He was regarded as being in the mid-upper ranks of the Swordsmanship Department by the merit
of his outstanding sword skills alone, however, so he could still choose where he wanted to go for practical experience to an extent.

Arhad spotted the Roberstein lands on his list as he read through it apathetically. He naturally recalled Ianna, and he decided to take the
opportunity to see how she was doing by choosing to go there. He was curious to see if anything had changed in the past year, and he
wondered if he would have the chance to see her swordsmanship, which Eiji had praised so highly. The Roberstein lands also branched
off from the center of the Lotso Mountains, so he decided to travel to the Lotso Mountains and search for a rift into Pandemonium while
he was at it.

The people of the manor had greeted the Institution students warmly when they arrived. Arhad had been walking through the gardens
with the knights after learning about what the students would be doing for practice and about the household’s circumstances when he had
spotted a crimson light passing by. It was Ianna, who had started to mature into a woman. The expression on her face had looked
completely dead.

Arhad quite liked that look on her face. Hers was the face of someone who was either emotionally dead or someone who held a bitter
grudge deep within their bones. It was easy to successfully recruit someone in either of those states.

Arhad looked to her hands.

‘She’s still training in the sword, I take it?’

Her hands were hard and calloused where she gripped the sword. Arhad was satisfied. The problem, was what had come next.
Arhad had seen Ianna climb up a mountain behind the manor with her sword in hand not too long after he had begun his stay at the
Roberstein lands for practical experience. He had completely concealed his presence. There was a huge gap in skill between Arhad, who
had both enormous talent and had been training for over a decade, and the girl, who had only been training for three years or so no matter
how amazingly talented she was. It was only natural that the girl hadn’t known that he was tailing her.

Shhhh…….
The girl had only stilled her quick pace when she had arrived at a windy hill. There was a large tree trunk at the center of the place, and it
was encircled by a ring of tall trees. Arhad had surveyed his surroundings before looking to the large tree trunk the girl was sitting on. He
had felt a strange sense of déjà vu as soon as he had laid his eyes upon it. His heart, which had always been still, was thumping so
furiously it hurt.

‘What a strange place.’

And then, he saw Ianna wielding her sword.

His breath was stolen away.

She was not the gloomy girl he had seen in her portraits. Nor was she the wounded girl he had seen at the Academy.

She was smiling. She was not laughing out loud because she was having fun, nor was she smiling coyly in an attempt to entice. She was
simply smiling brightly, as though she was enjoying life more so than any other.

How could anyone smile with such joy? She was overflowing with vitality as she smiled with delight, unlike the deadened expression
she had worn earlier, and she seemed to be emitting a fiery energy.

Arhad had thought she was so beautiful in that moment.

His grip on the tree he was holding had tightened.

Her smile was so explosively beautiful, as though it had gathered every positive emotion that existed in the world in one place. He liked
her so much that he thought he might lose his mind, and the way her face was absolutely oozing with delight and pleasure was more than
exhilarating.

The maximum fondness directed to only one being. The scorching vigor and the blindingly positive feelings that stemmed from it. His
heart, which was always cold and had never experienced anything close to what he was feeling now in the entirety of his life, had felt all
this indirectly through Ianna’s smile.

The shock he had felt was intense. He felt as if he had smashed his head against a tree. Her smile pounded against his heart, and the
feelings that had surged from within had conquered everything else and had filled his entire mind so quickly that he thought his
rationality and consciousness might leave him.

Arhad, who was always composed in his decisions and was cool, level-headed, and emotionless toward everything, had never
experienced such heated emotions before.

This had been the first and only time in his life that he had ever thought something was beautiful.

And the very first thing of beauty he had ever witnessed was imprinted in his soul.

His heart, which had always maintained a steady beat until then, stretched and contracted to its very limits like a rubber band. His blood
was boiling like burning lava.

I’m parched.
The heat had made Arhad scowl and touch his throat. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, and he experienced such horrid thirst that he
felt like he was standing in the middle of a scorching hot desert where he could see nothing but the sun and the sand.

I want it.
He was struck by an unfamiliar possessive desire.

I want to make that smile mine. Her goodwill, her vigor, her feelings —I want them all to be directed at  me. I want to take her beautiful
figure and keep it by my side for all eternity.
‘But why?’
Arhad, who was very dull to his own feelings, could not know what this emotion was. He was bewildered, as this was the first time in his
life that he had ever experienced this.

The girl looked like she was having so much fun as she finished her training and laid down on the ground while trying to collect her
breath. Arhad simply watched her with a shaking gaze because he did not know what else to do with himself.

The expression vanished from the girl’s face as soon as she stood back up. Her visage turned cold, as if her smile had only been an
illusion. And then, she began descending the mountain.

“…….”
 

Arhad, who had been watching everything, had been struck by a sudden blaze of greed in his heart that told him to take her away from
this place at once. He did not want to let this girl, who had made his heart skip a beat, slip through his fingers. Only she seemed to glow
bright in his otherwise cold and monochromic world. The girl had cast him into a sea of turbulent emotion, like the crimson light of his
dreams had when he was younger, like the delight he had felt when he had first held a sword, and he did not want to let her slip away.
But why was that? Was it because she was a rare example of a girl who had taken up the sword? He had seen other girls who were
prettier when they smiled, had seen so many other girls who were more elegant and lovelier when they smiled that he was almost sick of
them, and one could even say that Ianna was unattractive when she was covered from head to toe with dust and dirt, and yet…….

You’re more beautiful than any other. Your vitality —you shine brighter than any other.
Arhad was dizzy.

He had observed Ianna throughout the entirety of his stay, and he had returned to the Institution when his stay was over. And then he had
begun receiving reports about her each and every move.

Arhad had not reached out to Ianna to recruit her into his fold. The girl was still young. Much too young. She was still growing, she was
intoxicated in her sword as she wielded it alone, and she was still at a stage where she improved faster by polishing her skills alone rather
than by doing actual battle against others.

More importantly, however, Arhad’s situation was dangerous. There had been countless deaths within Camastros. He was assaulted by
anxiety as he wondered what he would do if he obeyed the greed growing in his heart and brought her to his side when there was so
much death around him only for her to end up dying too. There would be even more bloodshed in the place where he was planning to go
to in a year from now —would she be able to survive it?

Arhad had decided that she wouldn’t. His circumstances were not something that a swordswoman who hadn’t even fought her first
proper battle yet could withstand. His enemies were extremely dangerous monsters —the Bahamut imperial family.

Arhad had finished annihilating the Black Fox. He had killed off the other two Black Fox bosses —the bosses of the drug and slave trade
operations respectively. And yet, he had never once taken an eye off of Ianna. He wanted to treasure her. She had made him overflow
with emotion, and she was precious to him.

I will come to find you after I take the imperial throne and things have settled down, he decided. He had been twenty-three at the time.
 

~~*~~

Part 2
Theodore, the capital of the Kingdom of Roanne, had been hectic as of late.

Yellow-gold decorations were being put up around the royal palace, the epitome of extravagant luxury. The palace’s white walls had
been polished so fastidiously by the servants that it almost seemed to glow, unblemished by even a single speck of dust.

Countryside nobles who had come to the capital to participate in the Institution’s school festival had stayed behind in the manors of
nobles whom they were friendly with. Nobles from the countryside and capital alike had been busy having tea and chattering away
amongst themselves or walking up and down the bourgeoisie streets as they went shopping.

The ministers had been busy bowing endlessly to foreign envoys in the royal castle, and the knights were working up a sweat as they
regulated the flow of traffic at the castle gates. Roanne’s flag fluttered in the wind from every tree, and the people were singing and
dancing in good cheer.

On December 31st, the people looked to each other as they greeted the last day of the year.
“Whooooo!”

And Theodore, the normally quiet capital, was enveloped in a loud cheer as soon as the clock struck midnight on January 1 st. People ran
out to the streets and began singing and dancing in good fun.
Founding Day, the grandest event in the Kingdom of Roanne, had opened in Theodore, her capital.

“It’s impossible to do any more than this, Miss.”

“No, squeeze it tighter! Sir Calix will be there. I have to make sure I stand out more than the other bitches.”

“I understand. Please let me know at once if it’s too much for you to bear.”

“Cough!”
The nobles had been busy dolling themselves up all day. A florid party would be hosted in the royal castle at five in the afternoon as the
sun was beginning to set. They were preparing for a battle of sorts, so that they wouldn’t get buried in the crowd.

And it was the young noble girls debuting at the party who were doing the most to doll themselves up. Noble girls debuted when they
came of age, and it signified the first time they presented themselves in high society as their own person. A noble girl’s social rank was
determined by how she debuted, so they always dreamed of holding grandiose parties on their birthday when they came of age and of
being congratulated by countless nobles during their debut.

But it was difficult for the dreams of noble girls from lower-ranking houses to come true. It was one thing that their household lacked the
finances to host such a grand party, but the bigger problem was that lower-ranking houses did not have many connections. Any party not
attended by more well-known nobles were shameful and were treated as a waste of money.

There was an extremely uneven distribution of power amongst the Roanne nobility. There were only a few higher-ranking nobles, but
there was a plethora of lower-ranking nobles because the royal family could grant anyone the title of baronet so long as they
accomplished some sort of great merit or displayed outstanding skills, though baronets were not granted any territory of their own. It was
only natural that there were so many lower-ranking nobles.
The state had designated Founding Day as a day when such lower-ranking nobles could debut. Thus, girls from lower-ranking noble
families dreamt of debuting on Founding Day. They received less attention individually because they debuted as a group, but debuting on
Founding Day, which was special in that countless nobles attended it, meant that they could greet more people.

White dresses symbolized a noble girl making her debut, so no other nobles were allowed to wear white on that day. They were also
given a basket of red roses, which were meant to symbolize how they were to act as the flowers of high society from thenceforth.

Naturally, the entire kingdom participated in the celebrations —not just the nobility. Only the Institution and a portion of the capital had
been festive during the Institution’s school festival, but the entire kingdom was covered in a festive mood on Founding Day.

The people were in a busy thrill, as if it was their own birthdays, as they celebrated the founding of the kingdom they were so proud of. It
was a day that people saved up money for so they could celebrate lavishly by spending it on Founding Day. Merchants were busy
transporting all sorts of foodstuffs, souvenirs, and lovely flowers and accessories favored by women during this time.

Founding Day was the day when the founding queen, Roanne de Roanne, blessed the nation!

The queen had once been one of the Five Apostles who had followed Laos ardently ages ago. Was it because she had received Laos’
divine blessings? She had lived for as long as the elves did while she had been walking alongside the god, and she had only aged and
died after the god had hidden himself.

The queen was said to have been very beautiful. She had lorded over countless men, and she had loved many of them. The legendary
Queen Roanne de Roanne was their founding queen, but the people also revered her as a goddess of love of sorts. This was why
Founding Day was also sometimes called Queen’s Day. The legends stated that your love would come true if you confessed to someone
with a rose on Founding Day.

It was the one day of the year that boasted the most confessions. A day of romance where those who dreamt of love tasted sweet
fantasies. A day where everyone carried around at least one rose with them. A day where there were couples everywhere. Such was
Founding Day!

“Why are roses so expensive? This is more than the price of gold.”

“Well, it is Founding Day, isn’t it? They’re expensive because there’s a high demand.”
“You think I don’t know that? But they’re way too expensive even for Founding Day. They weren’t this expensive even when the
harvest was bad.”

“There just isn’t enough to go around. I looked around, and all the other merchants were in the same pickle. Apparently, the rose farms
were monopolized a while ago, and the merchants were hard-pressed to get them from elsewhere.”

“Is someone stockpiling them? No, I’m pretty sure they are. Just which bastard decided to hoard up all the roses? I need to win Jessie’s
heart this year!”

“It’s probably some merchant who wants to sell the roses back at high prices to people like you. But even then. There should still be
roses on the market, even if at more expensive prices, if someone’s been stockpiling them. There are two rumors going around, and one
of them is that some rich guy was turned down and he bought up all the roses and had them burnt because he didn’t want to see other
people be happy.”

“That just sounds like the work of a psychopath. It’s too unrealistic.”

“Which is why the second rumor’s more plausible. You know how the king’s favorite daughter, Princess Angelina, is debuting this year?
The royal family might have bought up all the roses.”

“That’s got to be 100% true. Founding Day is the Princess’ day this year.”
A flash of crimson swept by, leaving behind the gossiping florist and the man who had come to buy roses in its wake. And a tiny girl was
left out of breath as she hurriedly chased after the crimson.

“Little Iaaaaaaaaanna.”

“Please don’t address me like that.”

“Aww, don’t be like that. I finished preparing a dress for your debut ages ago.”
“Ages ago?”

“I started working on it in secret ever since I heard that you hadn’t debuted yet.”

“You’ve wasted your time, I see.”

Priscilla pulled Ianna into a hug from behind. The tiny girl wailed as she was dragged along when Ianna ignored her and kept pushing
forward.

“It’s not that flashy, I promise. I know that you don’t like wearing flashy things, Little Ianna, so I made it simple with only a few beads
and jewels!”

Ianna stopped walking and turned to Priscilla with exasperation in her eyes. Priscilla hugged her tight.

“I’ve already prepared myself a pre-made dress, Priscilla. And I’m on my way to retrieve it. Please stop wasting your money on me.
Why don’t you try selling your dress to another?”

“No way! No one else can satisfy my desires! Please just accept it as my gift to you. Just get a refund on that other dress —no, I’ll buy it
off you, so please wear the one I made!”

“Why are you so desperate just to give me something? You want to give me a dress even if it means taking financial losses…… It’s just
too strange, Priscilla.”

“You’re mine, Little Ianna!”

Priscilla’s eyes grew bloodshot as she hugged Ianna tight.

“You don’t know how desperately designers look for a muse, do you, Little Ianna? You probably don’t know how obsessive we can get,
right? We might not care that our muse wears someone else’s clothes on a normal day, but we’ll fall into despair if it happens on a
special day. You’re my muse, Little Ianna. I’ve been so excited for your debut.”

Ianna sighed when she felt something moisten her back. Priscilla continued,

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. But, do you not like my clothes, Little Ianna? They’re not so weird that they disgust you, are they? I
don’t know if it’s because my tastes are unique, but people usually make a fuss about buying my clothes. I’ll fix it if you don’t like it,
Little Ianna. Okay? So please just wear my dress.”

It wasn’t something that Priscilla should feel sorry about. Ianna knew that Priscilla was only doing this because debuts were important to
noble girls. But Ianna didn’t care about high society because she planned to leave the kingdom in a few years anyway. She was only
debuting because she had promised that she would, and she didn’t want to dress up for it in particular.

“I’ve already bought myself another dress. And besides, shouldn’t you be enjoying Founding Day too?”
“Founding Day comes every year —what do I care? And besides, I broke up with my boyfriend a while back.”
It made Ianna reluctant to go and retrieve the dress she had already bought when Priscilla said this. She felt like she was trampling over
Priscilla. Priscilla had grown so pale when Ianna had told her about the ready-made dress she had bought a few days ago.

“Oh my…….”

Sarachè, who had walked up to them after catching sight of Ianna from afar, faltered for a moment in surprise upon seeing Priscilla
hugging her from behind. Ianna bowed to Sarachè.

“It’s been a while, my Lady.”

“It has. Have you been well?”

Sarachè had promised to have lunch with Ianna. She would not interfere with whatever happened at the party, as she had promised, but
Ianna had consented to being together with her until the party started. Ianna was still reluctant to spend time with her family, but she
didn’t hate it as much as she had before.

Perhaps it was because she had accepted their apology, or perhaps it was because she had someone who wanted her madly now. Ianna
did not know.

Priscilla’s head shot up as she looked to Sarachè.

“My Lady? Countess Roberstein?”

“You must be the young lady who made Ianna’s costume for the fashion show during the school festival. What’s your name?”

“It’s Priscilla, my Lady.”

“I see, Little Priscilla. But what brings you here?”

Priscilla clasped her hands together and pleaded.

“Can’t Little Ianna please wear the dress I made her, my Lady? I’m begging you. I worked really hard on it. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

Sarachè looked awkward as she shook her head no.

“You have my full faith in your skills, Little Priscilla. I myself asked Ianna if she might ask you to make her a dress because the dress
you made for the fashion show left such a deep impression on me. But Ianna wanted to buy a ready-made dress. And I can’t force her
into doing something against her will.”

“Little Ianna…….”

Priscilla tore her gaze away from Sarachè and brought her imploring eyes back to Ianna. Ianna sighed. Priscilla’s tenacious attack had
lasted several days now, and Ianna finally brought her hands up in surrender. Priscilla laughed like a wilting flower who had finally
regained its vitality upon being watered.

But she was crying her eyes out again just a few hours later.

“Sniff, sniffle, sob, sob sob.”

“Sigh…….”
How could a fully grown woman cry so easily? Priscilla continued crying as she brushed Ianna’s charmingly crimson hair. It was
difficult to guess what she was thinking, and she had been all smiles and joy earlier and yet was suddenly crying again. Disconcerted,
Ianna asked,

“Why are you crying?”

“Little Ianna…”

Priscilla sounded very uncharacteristically depressed.

“Do you hate me?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Did I get you in a lot of trouble by any chance? Am I bothering you? More importantly, do you hate my clothes? Please be honest with
me.”

Priscilla was standing limp. She was glad that Ianna had agreed to wear her dress after she had lamented and clung to her, but it had
taken a war of attrition to make it happen.

“I’m sorry…….”

Priscilla was human too. She pretended not to be affected, but the way that Ianna only ever agreed to wear her clothes as if she had been
forced into them chipped away at her self-confidence and nerves little by little. Simultaneously, she had begun wondering if her clothes
weren’t to Ianna’s tastes, if she was annoying Ianna by clinging to her the way she did, and if Ianna was started to hate her, and her
worries had only been piling up.

And they had finally hit the ceiling today.

‘What will I do if she actually says she hates me……? What will I do if she says that it took me long enough to figure it out, that she was
only putting up with me because we’re roommates, and if she asked me to ignore her moving forward?’
Roommates were reassigned every year. Roommates could opt to stay together if they liked each other, but Priscilla was sure that Ianna
would choose otherwise. She had been bothering Ianna so much, after all.

The memories she shared with Ianna flashed across her head as she wondered if today might be their last day together. Priscilla could not
hold back her tears.

Ianna was alarmed.

“That’s not it at all.”

“I like you, Little Ianna. I really do. I like you as a model, of course, but I really like you as a person too. I’m a huge fan of yours.”

Ianna stiffened up. She could never grow accustomed to people saying things like this to her. After all, she was more used to people
slandering her and cursing at her for her faults. She was no longer shaken by the lowly insults, but she did not know how to deal with
people who showered her with their sincere goodwill.

She returned spite with spite, and all she had to do was coldly brush away those she didn’t like. But Ianna didn’t know how to act when it
was someone whom she didn’t dislike……no, when it was someone she was actually fond of who was showering her with their sincere
goodwill, and she was always confused. Priscilla continued,
“Maybe that’s why I kept clinging to you. I’m sorry. I’ll stop forcing you into my clothes after your debut if you really don’t like them
that much. So please just keep being friends with me.”

Priscilla continued to shed sorrowful tears even as she continued brushing away at Ianna’s hair. It was only then that Ianna realized that
she had never once complimented Priscilla out loud.

Priscilla had always been the first to bring Ianna her clothes, her each and every design was filled with her sincerity, and they also suited
Ianna’s tastes because they were always sophisticated and neat. Ianna always turned them down because she was afraid that she would
get Priscilla’s beloved clothes dirty or ruin them, but she would always consent to wearing them in bewilderment when Priscilla started
crying. And then Priscilla would start beaming in gratitude. Ianna had always lost the chance to thank her because Priscilla would always
thank her first even though Ianna was the one receiving her clothes as a gift. And so, Ianna had always naturally lost the chance to
compliment her.
She did not dislike Priscilla’s clothes. Nor did she dislike Priscilla. Actually, it wasn’t exactly correct to say that she didn’t dislike either.
She was rather fond of both.

Priscilla had only focused on Ianna as a person and had ignored the bad rumors about her from the very beginning. And she always
smiled sweetly as she held up her clothes against Ianna’s frame. She was always openly fond of Ianna.

Ianna had long since thought that Priscilla was quite cute, though she felt a little apologetic about seeing her almost like she was some
kind of pet.

All of Priscilla’s actions toward her had stemmed only from her goodwill. Apparently, she had grown too accustomed to Priscilla’s
goodwill that she had started to take it for granted. Ianna reflected over her actions.

‘Have I hurt her?’

She didn’t want for Priscilla to be hurt. Would it help if she was honest? She didn’t think that Priscilla would dislike it. Ianna hesitated
for a moment before saying,

“……It’s because your clothes are lovely.”

“Huh?”

“It’s because I don’t wish to stand out, but I feel like I’ll attract more attention because your clothes are lovely……. I don’t dislike you
or your clothes. I actually quite like you. And, though I know I don’t speak up about it, I think your skills in making clothes are amazing.
I don’t feel like I deserve to be wearing your clothes. And I am always grateful for them.”

Priscilla didn’t reply. Ianna grew a little embarrassed and she brought a hand up to her forehead as she snuck a glance at Priscilla. And
she was alarmed. Priscilla was overflowing with more tears and snot than she had been before.

“Little Iaaaannaaaaaa!”

Priscilla’s eyes sparkled as she hugged Ianna tight.

“Ahhh, I’m gonna make you mine forever!”

‘Pervert……,’
Ianna thought. But she also smiled in resignation upon seeing Priscilla be so happy she didn’t know what to do with herself.

Afterward, Priscilla stuck to Ianna and wrestled with her for a while.

Priscilla’s dress was reminiscent of the snow as it fell down from the heavens. The dress’ neckline was made of a translucent cloth
covered with embroidered snowflakes. Shining jewels of cubic zirconium adorned the top of the translucent cloth and they scattered and
became sparse as they came down. The arms and back of the dress were covered with cloth because it was winter, which hid the scars on
Ianna’s skin nicely. Ianna looked no different from any other girl when she was covered up.

Priscilla braided Ianna’s hair neatly and put it up with a hairpiece made of cubic zirconium and white pearls arranged in a floral design.
She powdered Ianna’s face so it glowed with a subtle light, and she drew wings at the edges of Ianna’s sharp eyes. Was it because the
eyeliner had been drawn to point downward? It made Ianna look like any docile girl her age.

She used a gradient of white and pink for eyeshadow and touched up Ianna’s cheeks with a peach-colored blush. Priscilla’s lips were
curled up in fierce satisfaction as she grabbed Ianna by the chin and applied a lovely translucent crimson gloss on Ianna’s lips.

Ianna seemed to glow gently, but the impression she gave off was not intense. She would still look pleasantly simple in comparison to
those girls who would be giving their all in dolling themselves up today. She would be buried under the crowd of showier nobles unless
people looked to her on purpose.

And yet, she was still lovely. She would be a hidden treasure, and anyone who laid their eyes on her would never be able to look away.

“And I’m done!”

Priscilla felt that it had been worth chasing Ianna around all this time. A dizzying ecstasy, like a cataract beating upon her heart,
overcame her whenever her muse was turned into a masterpiece by the works of her hands. It was a striking sense of satisfaction that she
had learned only after meeting Ianna.

“Hmmm.”

Ianna opened her eyes and looked at her reflection in the mirror from all sorts of different angles. It was so strange to her —she had
transformed so completely.

Sarachè, who had been watching from the side, applauded in admiration.

“You’re incredible, Little Priscilla.”

“Hoho. This is what I do, my Lady.”

Priscilla sighed and used the back of her hand to wipe away the beads of sweat on her forehead. Then, she clenched her hands into tight
fists.

“Little Arhad will be floored when he sees how different you look!”

“That’s enough.”

Ianna looked exasperated as Priscilla began stomping on the ground, lost in her fantasies. Still, she did not refute Priscilla sharply with
stark rejection like she had before, but rather seemed to be persuading the other girl out of her delusions. Ianna was much more relaxed
about the matter now that Arhad had given her his answer. She continued,

“He only sees me as a companion.”

“Ack, is that what Little Arhad told you?”

“Yes. I asked him directly. I asked him if he loved me. He told me that he only saw me as a companion whom he wanted to walk with.
And that is how I, too, see him. So please stop saying things like that.”
“That’s so cruel…….”

Priscilla’s, who had been listening quietly to Ianna’s explanation, slender frame quivered. Her trembling was so intense that she would
have dropped all her leaves had she been a tree.

“You’re like a piece of hard bread, Little Ianna, so you probably looked really displeased when you asked him. You probably looked like
you were so displeased that you’d rather die than be in love, like how you were with me.”

“I admit that I was displeased, but what does that have to do with anything? I was simply expressing my thoughts on the matter.”

Ianna had not hidden how much she had loathed the idea. She had no reason to hide before Arhad. Rather, she actually wanted to be
more open when she was with him. Besides, there was no reason why he would love her……and that was as far as Ianna’s thoughts went
before she shook her head clear.
“Do you really think Little Arhad would be able to be honest with you if you were acting like that?”

“My attitude has no relation to his answer. In any case, please stop acting as if he and I are in some kind of romantic relationship. It’s
unpleasant.”

“Waaah!”

Priscilla ultimately ended up collapsing against the vanity, unable to say any more.

Priscilla had been compensated generously. She had initially tried to refuse getting paid, but she had accepted the money with bashful
joy when Ianna had said that the dress wasn’t something that she could simply accept for free and would have definitely bought it with
good money had the dress been out on the market.

Clatter clatter.
Ianna was currently riding in the Roberstein’s carriage. Cherno, Sarachè, Harchen, Ianna. There was a slightly awkward silence inside
the carriage.

Ianna was looking out the window. They had apologized, and Ianna no longer held anything against them, but there was nothing that
could be done about the fact that their hearts had grown distant and that Ianna had no intention of growing closer to them. She rather
liked where they were right now —they could share important conversations without feeling worse afterword, and that was it.

The streets were vivid with the excitement of Founding Day and a banquet of roses, but the air was frozen and blue. Ianna figured that
the commoners’ events that would be carried out in the evening would end in a success as she watched the kingdom’s flags and the rose
decorations flutter in the winter breeze.

It was tradition to send up lanterns up into the sky at night on Founding Day to wish for good fortune and peace in the kingdom. The
colorful lanterns would light up the sky like brilliant stars, and it was a spectacle that could only be seen once a year.

“You look lovely, Ianna.”

Harchen broke the ice with a compliment. Ianna, who had been thinking about a myriad of things as she stared out into the winter
scenery outside the window, flinched.
Harchen, who had been studying at the Theodore Academy, was attending the party as well. It was better to attend the party on Founding
Day if one didn’t have other pressing matters to attend to. Almost every noble in the kingdom attended the event, so it was a good way
for nobles to greet one another.

Thank you, Ianna replied. She had no reason to reject him now. Harchen had done her absolutely no wrong in this life where she hadn’t
poisoned Sarachè to death.
‘No, he never did anything wrong in my last life either.’
Rather, it was she who needed to apologize to him.
Harchen was not that old. He was barely four years her elder. He had been just twelve when his mother had been poisoned to death. He
had lost his beloved mother at such a young age, and he had not had any choice but to hate Ianna for her part in his mother’s death. It had
only been natural that he, the legitimate heir to the household, had been hostile to the daughter of the mistress who was trying to devour
his household whole.

And he had died at Ianna’s hands at the end of his misfortunes.

Ianna had been living while being trapped in her own misfortunes, and it was only now, after she had finally grown past them, that she
could look back and see that the pile of this family’s corpses, once strewn about like a pile of debris atop a ruin, had been caused by an
immature child who had only wanted for love.

“Congratulations for debuting. This is for you.”

Ianna stared down at the single rose that Harhad was holding out to her.

Sarachè hadn’t died, and Harchen was acting as kindly to her as a real brother would. It had been Ianna who had unilaterally rejected
him because she had not been able to break free of her past. He had not known how he was supposed to approach the younger girl who
always coldly turned him down, so he had simply continued to simply give her flowers in silence.
But now that Ianna had torn down the high and sturdy walls around her heart, she was filled with not her selfish awkwardness nor her
staunch refusal to even look at Harchen, whom she had personally murdered in the past, but with a stinging sense of guilt and a desire to
apologize that roamed her heart like the fragrance of the tea Arhad brewed for her.

Our relationship probably would have been different if Lebony had given up on her love earlier, if I hadn’t clung so vehemently to vain
love and ended up poisoning Sarachè to death because of it. At the very least, our relationship would not have taken a turn for the
absolute worst.
The crimson rose that Harchen held out to her filled her vision vividly. She continued to stare at it as she thought,

‘As I’d thought —love is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.’
Ianna quickly shook her head after determining that she had ruminated over something senseless. The past was the past, and there was no
use in imagining what could have happened.

Slowly, Ianna reached out.

“……Thank you.”

She accepted his flower for the first time ever. Harchen looked shocked for a moment before nodding back with a gentle smile on his
face. Ianna placed the rose in her lap. Then, she returned her gaze to the world outside the window. Sarachè and Cherno’s countenances
brightened as they watched the siblings interact.

Ianna had changed. She no longer rejected them like a sharpened blade, as if she had absolutely no intention of ever letting them in. Was
it the people who had given her flowers on the last day of the fashion show and the handsome young man they had met during her break
that had brought about the change? The young man had seemed to treasure Ianna dearly.

Sarachè smiled bitterly.

Ianna was a good child, and Sarachè had never really done anything for her because she had trusted that people would come to accept
Ianna naturally with enough time. She had never in her wildest dreams thought that people were insulting Ianna so horribly. She would
have definitely done something about it had she known.

She knew that it sounded like an excuse, but the servants had hushed things up and she truly hadn’t known about it because she was
always left in her own little world as their Lady. Sarachè had known that the servants despised Ianna and that the people of her lands
were reluctant to interact with Ianna, but she had simply opted to watch over the situation because she had never seen the insults being
hurled at Ianna firsthand.

Those horrid insults had fallen upon Ianna like the blades of a guillotine during the fashion show. Sarachè had been so shocked as she
watched it happen with her own eyes. Her mind would have gone blank, and Sarachè probably would have fled the scene had she been in
Ianna’s place that day. But Ianna had simply stood there as if she was accustomed to the treatment. Which meant that she had always
been enduring it. And it was only then that Sarachè had realized that something had long since gone horribly wrong.

She had entrusted everything to time, and she had believed that things would change naturally on their own. And Sarachè now knew just
how irresponsible she had been. The opinions of others might someday change, but Ianna, the person at the center of the storm, had
already been hurt. If she had truly meant to act in Ianna’s best interests, then she should have been strict about regulating the servants and
the people and made them mind their words from the very beginning. Ianna had only been a child. At least one person should have acted
as her shield and protected her, but no one had.
Sarachè was embarrassed. She had spoken about how she wanted to act in Ianna’s best interests, but she had ultimately done nothing.

‘So I at least have to do what I still can.’

Ianna had said with a clear light in her eyes that she would no longer harbor any lingering feelings in her heart about the matter when
they had apologized. Which meant that there was no longer a point in apologizing to her with their words.

‘In that case, we’ll have to apologize with our actions instead.’
They had to apologize and ensure that no one could blame Ianna for their —the adults’— mistakes any longer. As a household, they
would have to support Ianna in whatever it was that she wanted to do. And……they would have to disown her from the household, just
as Ianna herself wanted.

Their relationship had already gone so wrong that there was no fixing it. Their relationship with Ianna had gone wrong since the very
beginning, with their relationship with Lebony, Ianna’s mother, like a shirt that was buttoned wrong from the very first button, and it was
not possible to rectify things without undoing everything first.

Perhaps undoing the buttons that had been fastened incorrectly also meant having to take the shirt off, but it was also the only way to put
the shirt back on properly. The apology they had given Ianna was only the first button. They had to apologize for and remedy every
wrong they had done to her, and the only way they could truly undo all the incorrectly fastened buttons was to let her go in the end.

Everything stemmed back to the beginning. Quiet peace would return to House Roberstein’s blues when the crimson that had been
overshadowing it disappeared, and Ianna would shine brightly and take to the skies with newfound freedom when she was finally
liberated from the blues that choked her. It was only right that their current relationship should end if Sarachè considered their respective
identities and values.

‘How wonderful it would be if we could re-forge a new and better relationship afterward.’
The carriage arrived in front of the castle. The lazily setting sun was hanging over the castle’s peak. The stop in front of the castle gates
were already littered with sparkling carriages even though they had not arrived late. The stablehands and servants were busily managing
the carriages.

Ianna looked to the endless gardens and the colossal palace that stretched out before her on the other side of the window. The white
palace walls were beautifully adorned with roses, decorations, and illuminated artefacts for Founding Day.

She had lived inside the palace like it was her own home in the past, but she felt a little awkward now because she hadn’t seen it in such
a long while.

Cherno climbed down from the carriage first and escorted Sarachè out, and Harchen, too, extended his hand out toward Ianna after
climbing out behind his parents. Ianna let out a soft sigh. And then, she took Harchen’s hand as she stepped down from the carriage.
Part 3
The Founding Day party was to take place both indoors and outdoors. The party hall was built upon a foundation of white marble. There
was a throne sitting at the very back of the hall with a large tapestry displaying the crest of Roanne hanging behind it, and the floor was
covered by a harmony of geometrical tiles.

On the high ceiling and walls were murals and elegant sculptures, which blended in stylishly with the gold and silver, and the hall was lit
up by crystal chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling.

The walls were lined with glass windows that could be opened if needed, each of which connected to a small terrace outside. The terrace
was divided up by walls, and no one section of it could be seen from another.

The terrace offered a private space for nobles who had grown weary of the party. They could draw the curtains as they stepped inside if
they wished not to be disturbed. The curtains were also drawn when lovers wanted to spend romantic times with each other. It was a tacit
rule that others did not intrude when the curtains were drawn. On the other hand, stepping into the terrace without drawing the curtains
was basically an open invitation saying, “I’m lonely, so please come and talk to me.” Seeing someone through the terrace windows and
going to chat with them if they happened to catch the eye was one of the many pleasures that the nobility enjoyed at parties. There were
even nobles who met each other for the first time in the terrace and drew the curtains to share their passionate love.

Though, there were still a few bold nobles who would knock on the door if someone whom they had been keeping an eye on entered the
terrace and drew the curtains. It was the height of disgrace to ignore others, and the nobles on the terrace usually turned the intruder
down courteously or even let them enter graciously because it required earnest sincerity to rudely break the tacitly understood rule.

The garden in front of the ornate hall was filled with roses that had been cultivated especially for Founding Day along with an assortment
of other decorative plants, and it was beautiful.

The hall was more than large enough to receive all the nobles who would be attending the party, but it would be a shame not to enjoy the
party outside as well, so the outdoors had also been equipped with tables covered with white tablecloth and chairs so that the scenic
beauty could be enjoyed to the heart’s content. Parties that extended into outdoor gardens were welcomed by the nobility, as they could
begin by enjoying the party indoors before moving outside to enjoy expensive wines poured out to them by the servants or delicious
dishes cooked up by the royal chefs, exchange pleasant conversations with other nobles, and even dance to the atmospheric music that
leaked out from inside the hall if they so wished.

Ianna walked on top of the long red carpet as she headed toward the brightly lit hall. Servants were busily confirming the nobles’
identities and checking off a list of names at the entrance to the hall. They bowed to the Robersteins from the waist in greeting.

“Welcome. Could you please identify yourselves?”

The servants gasped when Cherno pulled out his invitation and his house crest from his pocket. He was a big shot.

The Kingdom of Roanne had a lot of nobles, but that only held true for lower-ranking nobles like barons and viscounts —there was only
a fixed number of high-ranking nobles ranked count and above. Aside from the reigning king’s brothers or the reigning’s queen’s
husband consort, who received special status, there were only about fifty houses in Roanne that counted among the higher-ranking
nobility.

The duchies of House Tarwitt, which had shared a long history with Roanne since times immemorial, House Winifried, and the more
recently elevated House Solsavier held extensive territories within the kingdom.

Roanne’s marches included Houses Owen and Claude, two of the Five Founding Houses, Houses Tacitus and Menistry, which had
become marches for the merits they had achieved during the war against Bahamut, and House Chaipan, which had been recently elevated
from a county on account of the head of the household, Gellonian Chaipan, being known as the king’s sword.

Next, there were about thirty counties. Among them, House Roberstein was renown for having turned away from the prospect of wealth
and honor by taking up roots in the countryside far away from the capital despite being one of the Five Founding Houses. It was the only
county among the Five Founding Houses, but it boasted equal influence to any of the marches.
The other three-thousand or so nobles were either viscounts, barons, or baronets. All they could do was to stare at the high-ranking
nobles in admiration because it was nigh impossible for them to elevate their station.

“Congratulations for debuting, dear lady dressed in white.”

Every young lady debuting at the Founding Day party was given a basket of roses cut straight from the royal gardens. The roses had been
cultivated by the royal gardeners with great care, and the baskets, adorned with ribbons, were beautiful and in no way inferior to any
other gift the young ladies might receive for their debut. Ianna placed the rose she had received from Harchen inside her basket.

“Presenting Count Roberstein and his family!”

There were a lot of nobles present, so the servants called out loudly using megaphone artefacts to announce each new arrival. The nobles
in the hall turned to the entrance whenever the names of nobles they were interested in was called. And House Roberstein, which did not
frequent the capital, was at the center of a lot of attention. The lion’s share of the nobles’ gazes fell on Ianna, who had never stepped into
high society before.

“That young lady…….”

“Ianna Roberstein…….”

Ianna had been singled out as the symbol of House Roberstein’s immorality and disgrace from the very beginning. And the fact that she
had personally murdered her own grandfather worsened her reputation even though Horby had been a commoner and had tried to kill her
first.

She had become a topic for conversation for being admitted into the Institution’s Swordsmanship Department last year, and there had
even been rumors circulating that she had been sold as a slave at one of the Black Fox’s slave auctions.

Then, she had become the star of the Institution’s school festival. It was surprising enough that she had won both the fashion show and
the swordsmanship tournament, but more surprising was the fact that Schneider Lezè Roanne, one of the most powerful members of the
royal family and an idol to the nobility, had eagerly tried to win her at the Swordsmanship Department auction. The fact that someone
had out-bid Schneider and won her for 500,000 gold had been the talk of town for a while.

There were still a few people who stared at her with nasty gazes, but just the fact that Schneider had taken an interest in her alone had
been more than enough to melt away most of the bad rumors surrounding her. Moreover, the head of House Roberstein had publicly
acknowledged her as his daughter and had threatened any who would dare be rude to her, so Ianna had gained more than enough worth
in the eyes of the nobility. Some nobles had begun cooking up political schemes to use her in, and others had begun considering
marriages of convenience.

“They say her mother was beautiful enough to seduce any man, and her daughter’s no worse on the eyes…….”

Setting other rumors aside, Ianna Roberstein was just as lovely as the rumors painted her to be. Any young man who laid his eyes upon
her could not tear his gaze away. She only appeared lovelier in their eyes as she kept her eyes down and gently walked along. If she had
been an animal, then she surely would have been a coy and proud noble cat.

But those nobles who had seen her at the school festival could not help but take a second look. Was that girl really the same beautiful yet
high-handed girl from the fashion show? Was she really the same swordswoman who had fought like a demon and had singlehandedly
crushed all those powerful swordsmen?

She was still pretty, but she looked different from the beauty she had possessed at the school festival. Her eyes were still as red as rubies
and her hair was still the same vivid crimson, but Ianna looked like any other noble girl when she wasn’t holding a sword.
The fact that the girl whom they had scorned for over a decade, the swordswoman who had shocked them with her outstanding skills at
the school festival, was just a young lady who was only now coming of age hit them anew. Freed from scandal and with her sword down,
Ianna was just another ordinary person.

What kind of person was she?

It was only then that people began to wonder who she was beneath the rumors and her skills.

The nobles who were on good terms with House Roberstein approached them when the Robersteins settled into the party.

“It’s been a while, Cherno.”

A middle-aged man with fine blond hair stepped forward and greeted Cherno with good cheer while the latter was exchanging greetings
with other nobles.

“Mernov. It’s nice to see you so early into the party. I meant to visit you after the school festival, but you weren’t home?”

“I had to go east on urgent business.”

The man was Count Mernov Monovican, the head of House Monovican. He was Cherno’s good friend from their days in the Theodore
Academy, and, unlike Cherno, he was a nobleman who engaged in politics in the capital while leaving his aides to manage his territory.

Mernov bowed his head to Sarachè.

“It’s been too long, my Lady. How have you been faring?”

“I am well enough to be outside all day. Thank you for worrying after me.”

Sarachè pulled up the edges of her skirt as she curtsied back. Mernov looked to Harchen for a moment when the latter greeted him before
turning his eyes to Ianna, who was standing quietly behind her half-brother.

“I’ve seen Harchen quite often in the capital. And this child…….”

“Is my daughter, Ianna.”

Ianna flinched, still unaccustomed to hearing Cherno call her his daughter, but she curtsied quickly enough.

“I see. This is the first time I’ve seen you since you were just a babe.”

“……It’s an honor to meet you, Count Monovican.”

Ianna looked away immediately after extending her greetings because she felt uneasy.

Mernov Monovican.

He had despised Ianna after she slaughtered House Roberstein and succeeded the name, and he had died at her hands when Schneider
usurped the throne because he had sided with Fernando out of his hatred for her.
Mernov had cursed her viciously until the moment he had died. But now, he was smiling fondly at her, unable to remember any of the
past.

“She seems quite shy —contrary to what the rumors say?”

“Not at all. She’s probably a little awkward because your face is so oily.”

“What was that? How could you say that about a face as handsome as mine —are you trying to challenge me to a duel, you bookworm?”

Mernov pretended to be angry for a moment before he smiled again and turned to Ianna.

“I’ve heard much about her. Why didn’t you send her to the Theodore Academy?”

“My daughter insisted on going to Valgenta. And I’m sure you already know how well she’s doing there, considering that you live here
in the capital.”

“She’s a unique little girl. No, I should call her a young lady now.”

Mernov gestured to his servant, who had been roaming the area while holding onto a rose, and took it from him. Then, he held it out to
Ianna. He continued,

“You’ve grown up to be beautiful. Congratulations for debuting into high society. I’ve prepared a rose to congratulate you with.”

Ianna stared holes into the rose that Mernov was holding.

“Your father is a good friend of mine, so feel free to ask for my assistance should you ever find yourself in trouble.”

Mernov showed no signs of being repulsed by Ianna. He actually seemed rather fond of her. After all, his good friend did not detest her,
Ianna was a top student at the Institution, and Prince Schneider himself had taken an interest in her.

“Thank you.”

Ianna accepted Mernov’s rose. She realized that she, too, must surely only be human. The past had been erased and she had resolved not
to let herself be tied down to it, and yet she was still letting herself be bogged down. How nice would it be if hearts could be moved on
command?

Now that she thought about it, there was no reason for her to feel so uneasy —she may have slit his throat in her last life, but he alive and
well in this one.

Ianna braced herself as she recalled her resolve and she relaxed her shoulders as she turned to Mernov. Mernov’s eyes took on a color of
intrigue as he saw her take on a bolder attitude.

“It’s been a while, Lord Harchen.”

“You’re as beautiful as ever, Lady Sarachè. How are you faring?”

“Is the lovely lady standing beside you your much-rumored younger sister?”

“Congratulations for debuting, Lady Roberstein.”

“Won’t you please tell me more about the Institution?”

“How did you come to wield the sword?”

Other nobles began striking conversations with Sarachè, Harchen, and Ianna as Cherno conversed with Mernov. They were mainly
interested in Ianna. Sarachè and Harchen stayed next to her, worried that she might feel burdened because she had never had to deal with
so many other nobles before.

But their worries were entirely unfounded. Ianna had been harassed dreadfully by these very same nobles in the past, and she had grown
deft at dealing with them. The only difference was that they were now treating her with intrigue instead of contempt.

‘They’re treating me so differently than they did in the past.’

Ianna scoffed internally as she watched the young noblemen treat her in a completely different manner than they had in her past. She saw
several other young ladies wearing white here and there. Their faces were filled with envy and jealousy, as everyone wanted to be at the
center of attention when they debuted.

Ianna wished for the royal family and Princess Angelina to hurry up and make their appearance already so the party could finally begin.
Angelina would become the center of everyone’s attention when she appeared, which meant that Ianna could finally stop dealing with
this tedious chore.

Ianna was planning to dance with the people whom she had already promised to dance with and entertain a few additional requests
before using the excuse that she was tired to retire to the garden and spend the rest of her time at the party there. She would participate in
parties because she had promised to, but she had no intention of getting to know any of the nobles too well.

“Little Ianna!”

she heard a familiar voice call out to her. Ianna, who had been hard at work hiding how bored she was while brusquely participating in
conversation, quickly turned around. She saw Herrace coming over to her while holding a rose. He beamed, unable to hide how happy he
was to see her.

“Wow, you look lovely. You’re blinding. Congratulations on debuting!”

Then, a man walked over and scolded Herrace something fierce. He had a respectable mustache, a sturdy nose, stark eyebrows, and an
overall stern air about him, and his brown eyes left an impression on Ianna.

“Your tone is one thing, but have you forgotten that you’re supposed to greet the Count first? It looks like attending the Institution has
caused you to forget how to act like a proper noble.”

“I’m sorry, Father.”

The man was Herrace’s father, Viscount Torque Bendham.

House Bendham had no territory of their own, but the house was not one to be made light of. They were a house of royalists to the core
who had sworn fealty to the royal family for generations, and the current head of the house, Torque, was a trusted knight to the reigning
king, Harios Maxium Roanne. They were famous for the style of swordplay named after the house, and the Knights of Bendham was
among the best knight orders in the kingdom and was swarmed by hopeful knights and soldiers every recruitment season.

Torque turned to Cherno and Mernov and bowed his head.

“It’s been a while, Lord Cherno. I trust you’ve been well?”

“But of course, Torque. And I see that you’re the same as ever. Is your son friends with Ianna?”
“I hear that they are classmates in the Institution. I am glad to finally meet you, Lady Roberstein. My name is Torque Bendham, and I am
father to both Herrace and Travis.”

Ianna curtsied back when Torque bowed to Ianna in greeting.

“May the bright light of Laos be with you. I am greatly indebted to Sir Herrace for being my friend.”

“Please forgive my discourtesy for not greeting you first, Count Roberstein —I was too glad to see Lady Ianna here that I forgot myself.”

Cherno slowly shook his head no as he accepted Herrace’s apology. Herrace smiled as he gave Ianna a rose.

“Congratulations again for debuting, Lady Ianna. You’re as beautiful today as you always are.”

Ianna accepted the flower with a word of thanks. Then, another familiar face walked up to her from behind Torque. He was accompanied
by a middle-aged woman in a fancy dress, and they both stopped next to Torque and bowed to Cherno from their waists.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Count Roberstein.”

“And you are?”

“I am a son of House Bendham, and my name is Travis. I am also a student at the Institution, and I am greatly indebted to Lady
Roberstein’s kindness. It has been a while, my Lady.”

Ianna returned Travis’ poised greeting with one of her own. Torque looked between both of his sons before intoning and nodding in
apparent satisfaction.

“Travis, is this the young lady you mentioned before?”

“Yes, Mother.”

The middle-aged woman, who had been watching over them from behind, stepped forward.

“My name is Ceciliss Bendham, and I have been tasked with managing our household.”

Ceciliss stared at Ianna with open displeasure. Travis had praised Ianna, but she did not like the girl for having covered her precious son
in wounds and forcing him to lock himself up in his room for months. She did her best not to let her emotions show, but she could not
help that words were a little thorny.

“Oh, this is where you were.”

Filliger Ashltondt and Gellonian Chaipan came up to them and greeted Ianna warmly next. Other nobles froze up stiff as influential
figures took to the stage. They were the king’s sword and shield. The former head of House Ashltondt, who was also the former general
of the royal guard, and Marquis Chaipan, who had been elevated to the position from the station of a count, were two of Roanne’s
strongest swordsmen.

“Good evening, Marquis Chaipan, Professor Filliger. May the bright light of Laos be with you.”

“Congratulations for debuting, Lady Ianna. There’s a slightly different air about you today than when I last saw you in the Institution.
You’re very lovely.”
Gellonian Chaipan looked content as he kissed Ianna on the back of her hand after she had straightened herself out from her curtsy. Other
nobles held their breaths as they watched him treat Ianna with such respect.

Gellonian presented her a rose.

“Congratulations for debuting into high society. I’m told that you’re very free-spirited in nature —you must find all this pomp rather
stifling.”

She was being treated as somewhat of a tomboy, but Ianna simply accepted his rose and smiled because there was no malice in his
words.

“I most certainly do. I truly wasn’t made for events like this, so I might make myself scarce partway through the party.”

“I see, I see. But do make sure you only run away after sharing a dance with me. I’m very much looking forward to dancing with a
young and beautiful lady like yourself!”
“You’ve grown foolish with age……. I pray that you don’t mind him, Miss Ianna. Gellonian is a devoted husband who’s wrapped
around his wife’s little finger when he’s back at home. Oh, I should be addressing you as Lady Ianna while we’re here. Congratulations
for debuting.”

Filliger chided Gellonian a little before gifting Ianna a rose as well.

“I didn’t mind at all. Thank you, Professor.”

“Oh, I’ve finally found you.”

The nobles at the party began talking amongst themselves when they saw an elderly man with a long white beard, a middle-aged man,
and a man wearing a robe approach Ianna’s group.

The first of the three was Heinrich, the dean of the Valgenta Institution and one of the Ten Archmages, whom any citizen of Roanne
could identify at a first glance.

He had cast aside his previous title —he was from a minor noble house in the countryside— to freely travel the world and research
magic, and he had come back to the kingdom as the Institution’s dean only after his entire family had died untimely deaths and several
years had passed. The Kingdom of Roanne had tried to reinstate him as a noble, but he had refused. Which was why his authority could
not be ignored despite his commoner status.

“Lord Heinrich.”

“It’s been a while, Torque. I’ve been too busy to visit your home.”

Torque bowed to Heinrich politely. Heinrich was his late father-in-law’s elder brother, but he regarded Heinrich as his father-in-law
because his late wife had regarded Heinrich as her father. Moreover, he was one of the Ten Archmages of the continent. And he was
House Bendham’s steadfast ally.

“Oho, Little Ianna. You’re a snow fairy today, I see! It’s a very different look from the last time I saw you, when you were more
reminiscent of hot magma, but this new looks suits you just as well!”

said the flippant middle-aged man standing next to Heinrich with his blond and grey hair swept back neatly. He was wearing a tidy
scarlet robe and looked different from the last time Ianna had seen him —he had been more disheveled then— but his attitude hadn’t
changed at all.

“Lord Maimayè. Have you been well?”

People had been staring closely, wondering who it was that was being so rude to Ianna, and they tilted their heads to the side in
confusion when they heard his familiar yet unfamiliar name —only to realize who he was upon seeing that Heinrich was standing next to
him. And they were astonished.

He was Maimayè Leviagè, the master of the Magic Tower of Fire in the Kingdom of Vampirka and Heinrich’s fellow archmage!

“The king of Roanne even extended me an invitation because his daughter was debuting today. I was going to ignore it since it was too
much of a bother, but I changed my mind when I heard that you’d be debuting as well, Little Ianna. Here you go —it’s a gift from me.”
Pop.
Something popped out from Maimayè’s hands. He was holding a crooked green stick. It almost looked like a green stem that had lost its
flower. Maimayè held it out toward Ianna.

“What is this?”

Ianna stared at it without accepting it, unsure of what it was, when Maimayè smirked.

“Bloom,”

he whispered, and a small pinch of mana gathered at the end of the stick and blossomed into a flame. The flame grew in size, like a
bunch of fireflies gathering together, until it grew into a large blaze. The shimmering blaze took on the shape of a rose.

“It’s a flamerose, made especially for you. I’m a very romantic old man, you see.”

Maimayè offered it to Ianna. Ianna studied the flamerose in her hand with great curiosity. Maimayè continued,

“Hanidelf and I worked hard to make it. You just need to say, “Bloom,” if you want to see the rose, and you only need say “Wilt,” if you
want to turn it off.”

“Wilt,” Ianna muttered. And the flames vanished into smoke and only the stem was left behind.

“Isn’t it cool?”

“It’s perfect for a torch,”

said Heinrich drearily as he watched over them from the side. Maimayè began grumbling with indignation.

“Goodness, Mr. Heinrich! How could you call this amazing work of art a mere torch?!”

“Thank you, Lord Maimayè. I’ll be sure to treasure it.”

“A-ahem. I’m glad you like it, Little Ianna.”

Ianna studied the green stick with interest for a moment longer before putting into her basket with the rest of the flowers.

Every noble in her immediate surroundings was staring at her. They all wondered who she was and how she knew such important figures
so well. The king’s sword and shield, as well as two archmages…

Swish…….
Then, the nobles gasped as the man standing behind Heinrich and Maimayè pulled back his hood.
Ianna, who had been organizing her basket, looked up. She was alarmed upon seeing the man, who was staring openly back at her with
his turbid eyes.

His eyelashes lowered and his sharp eyes narrowed as he smiled charmingly as soon as their eyes had met. All the other women, who had
not been able to take their eyes off him ever since he had taken off his hood, immediately blushed. But Ianna, who received the full brunt
of his smile from up close, stiffened up instead.

Why are you here?

Ianna asked with only her lips, hiding her sudden uneasiness, prompting Arhad to shrug and turn away. Ianna glared at him as he avoided
her censure. He had no reason to be here —in fact, he couldn’t be here.
Most of the people present were nobles, and only powerful commoners who were either famous merchants or high-ranking mages —both
were practically treated as nobles— could be invited here.

Those attending the Founding Day party would have their identities checked, and they could not wear masks inside the venue. Which
meant that Arhad had exposed his eye-catching appearance to be here. He was supposed to be in hiding —so why was he showing off his
good looks, the likes of which was difficult to find even amongst the nobility?

‘He’s not here because of me, is he?’

A part of her wondered if she was being narcissistic, but Arhad’s previous actions also told her that her hypothesis was well-founded.
She planned to give him a piece of her mind if he truly  had come here just for her. Just how brazen did he have to be to mingle with the
nobles of a kingdom that would one day be his enemy? Nothing good would come of his gaining the nobles’ attention.
“Little Arhad?”

Filliger was a little surprised to see Arhad, a commoner, at the party, but then he remembered that Arhad seemed to have deep ties with
Heinrich. Heinrich had asked Filliger to excuse Arhad’s absences in class on multiple occasions. It was probably Heinrich who had
brought him here.

Arhad gave Filliger a brief greeting, to which Filliger nodded back.

Cherno and Sarachè, who had already met Arhad once after the Institution’s closing ceremony, was curious as to his social status
because he was attending the party, but they decided not to pay him any mind because they recalled how thorny Ianna had been as she
warned them not to ask about him or take an interest in him.

Just then, the trumpets sounded.

“Presenting His Royal Majesty the King!”

Out came an imposing man with jewels embedded into his long mantle. Every nobleman in the hall placed a hand on the left side of their
chests while the noblewomen curtsied, and everyone bowed from the waist.

“We greet the sun of Roanne.”

Harios Maxium Roanne.

He was the reigning king of Roanne. The king, dressed extravagantly in jewels, walked across the luxurious red carpet that had been laid
out for him as though it was parting the seas as he made his way over to where the tapestry was.

Ianna observed him with her head down. His beard, which came down to his chest, indicated his age, and no amount of glamor could
hide the deep wrinkles of his skin. The dark color of his lips, the beads of sweat forming on his forehead even though it was winter, and
his large belly, fat with all the greasy foods he ate, showed how poor his health was.

Harios would pass away from his chronic illness in five years. Ianna thought he had done well to even last that long, considering how he
was looking now.
Behind him was the queen, Muziniel Roanne, hand in hand with the eight-year-old prince, Linus Muziniel Roanne.

The powerful Queen Roanne de Roanne had been born with beautiful silver hair and silver eyes, and with her dying breath she had
declared that her kingdom would be led by those who shared her likeliness. Accordingly, only those members of the royal family with
silver hair and silver eyes had the right to succeed the throne.

The people had no complaints regarding the matter. They had loved their queen and had loved and taken great pride in her silvery
appearance, and so the rare silver colors had become as a distinct feature of the Roanne royal family.

Moreover, those who had inherited a lot of Queen Roanne de Roanne’s blood were born with an innate talent in controlling mana, so the
people of Roanne, which had been at war until only twenty years ago, welcomed their rulers’ silvery colors.

Muziniel Roanne had nearly been deposed for not being able to carry out her duties as queen and giving birth to an heir because she had
only two daughters who were not silver in appearance despite her longstanding relationship with the king.

The title of crown prince had been passed over to the first prince, Fernando, because no one had thought the queen could give birth to a
son at her age. And so, Fernando and Schneider had begun their war of succession.

But the queen’s forces had joined the fight when Muziniel had given birth to Linus, a prince with radiant silver hair and eyes, eight years
ago. The forces within Roanne had split into three.

Fernando Luria Roanne, who was guarding his seat as the crown prince, Schneider Lezè Roanne, who had the support of much of the
people and the nobility, and Linus Muziniel Roanne, who was young but had the most legitimacy.

The royal court was being filled with the bleak greed of those who lusted for power as the wrinkles on the king’s face only deepened.

Behind the queen was the younger and more beautiful first royal concubine, Luria Roanne, who looked like a man-eating snake who
could devour any man and then some, and the second royal concubine, Lezè Roanne, who was just as beautiful as Luria and appeared
strong-willed.

Following them was the crown prince, Fernando Luria Roanne, the second prince, Schneider Lezè Roanne, and the third prince, Saiwè
Luria Roanne. Then came Lyxillia Muziniel Roanne, whose glowing blond hair was adorned with jewels, and the beautiful Angelina
Muziniel Roanne, whose silver hair was done in a braid.

The king sat down with grandeur when he reached the throne.

“Today is Founding Day, the very day that our first ruler, Roanne de Roanne, founded the Kingdom of Roanne. Dashnit, speak.”

The king’s aide, Viscount Dashnit, who had his mustache styled fashionably on both sides, began reciting the royal family’s history. He
recited every important event in the Kingdom of Roanne’s thousand-year history like he was reading aloud an epic.

“The wicked Bahamut Empire’s invasion ended after His Royal Majesty Harios Maxium Roanne ascended the throne.”

It had been a long and cruel war. And it had been almost a millennium since the first battle had broken out between the two nations.

Barbarians from the North had invaded the South, jealous of the South’s warm sun and fertile lands, ever since the dawn of the Age of
Magic when the founding queen had first come to power. But they had been repelled mercilessly and had failed to win a single thing.
And yet, they had not been the Bahamut Empire.

It had only been after, when borders had been established between the kingdoms and the madness of war had begun fading away from
the continent, that Bahamut had raised her flag, calling herself the empire of the North, and declared that she would subjugate the South
—the lands overflowing with milk and honey. It was then that the Bahamut Empire, which had taken in the barbarians and minority
peoples of the North and devoured her neighboring kingdoms, had begun the ages-long war.

The war had paused during rainy seasons or harvest seasons, but the peace had only been temporary. The Bahamut Empire reorganized
her forces and invaded the South several times a year.

The past twenty years, during which Bahamut hadn’t initiated even the smallest of disputes, were a first. And awkward but warm breeze
had blown over the Kingdom of Roanne, which had never known the stench of blood to stop or the cries of those who had lost loved
ones quiet until then. And along with it had come the winds of luxury.

“This is proof that the God Laos is watching over His Royal Majesty Harios Maxium Roanne. The people have danced and sung with joy
ever since His Majesty ascended the throne, and our kingdom has prospered and flourished to the point that we cannot even begin to be
compared with our neighbors. All of this was made possible only because of His Majesty’s grace.”

The speech ended as Harios stood up. The praises were showered upon him on Founding Day every year, but Harios still looked rather
pleased with himself nonetheless.

“May Roanne last for all eternity!”

“Long live the king!”

The nobles cheered as they broke into applause, drunk on the atmosphere. The commotion fell into silence once the king had clapped
twice.

“Today is Founding Day, but it is also the day that my beautiful daughter Angelina makes her debut into high society.”

Angelina walked elegantly up to her father as Harios gestured to her. She was so beautiful that no one would object if she was called an
angel who had descended from the heavens. Her face was pale and petite, and her features were delicate. Her slender lines were so
seemingly fragile that she looked like she would break if she was hit. Her sapphire eyes swayed like the sea beneath her long lashes. Blue
eyes were not a characteristic of the royal family, but they suited her noble silver hair very well. Her hair was done in a loose braid, and
her dress had translucent diamonds on it that looked like droplets of water —she was as lovely and as beautiful as a fairy.

“You will spare not your laughter and devotion as you celebrate my daughter this day.”

The king extended a hand out to his daughter, who was a pure as a lily of the valley, and she bashfully placed her hand on top of his.

“May the Queen bless my daughter and all the other noble ladies making their debut! Let the party begin!”

The entire dance hall breathed in anticipation as the king proclaimed, and the orchestra, which had been ready to display their abilities,
began playing a beautiful tune.

“Have your first dance with me, Angelina.”

“Yes, Lord Father.”

Today was Princess Angelina’s day. Young men flocked to her eagerly to dance with her after the king. The lovely Angelina was on the
passive side, but even she could not hide how excited she was.

The people forgot that they too were supposed to be dancing as they watched her dance circles with the king. There was a reason why
Angelina was called the most beautiful girl in the world. There was no flaw in her background, and she deserved to be called the flower
of Roanne alongside Lilith Tarwitt, the daughter of Duke Tarwitt.
Oh, I’ll be blessed for the rest of the year if I could only place my lips on her dainty hand. The lovely princess is the star of today’s
party!
Ianna was not called a flower of society because of the unusual rumors surroundings her, her peculiar views on femininity, and her
flawed background. House Roberstein was a renowned house, but Ianna’s position in it was too delicate for high society to warmly
welcome her as a flower.

Ianna would have been the star of the party regardless of her reputation if it wasn’t for Angelina, but the nobles chose to pay more
attention to the debut of the beautiful princess of honorable blood.

But Angelina was only a princess and a flower. The trees surrounding her would revere her and praise her for her beauty, but the more
realistic young men with a good sense for aesthetics would focus on Ianna instead.

Such young men had already long since scrutinized Ianna from head to toe. If the princess was a white doe, then Ianna was a white cat.
Ianna looked coy at even a first glance, unlike the more docile princess, and she was so captivating that the young men could not help but
imagine her in their beds.

Yes. Indeed. Ianna was a proud and noble cat when she was being gentle, but…….

The young men gulped. There was an intense pressure coming off from Ianna as she glared daggers at a man so attractive that the other
men couldn’t even find it in themselves to be envious. It was like the cat had disappeared and transformed into a lithe white tiger. She
was a dangerous woman who would rip out their throats and fling them aside if they should ever dare throw her on their beds.

But she was charming even still, and some men grew competitive and began wanting to try to break her with their military might.

“…….”

Ianna was not happy about how their gazes had fallen away from her like wilting leaves. It had happened only because Arhad had walked
up to her as soon as the orchestra had begun playing before any other man could even take their first step toward her.

“Why are you here?”

“Because I wanted to dance with you.”

“Sigh…….”
Arhad had replied as if he was only repeating the obvious. Ianna had thought that she was being narcissistic, but he had actually come
here because of her. She did not hide how absurd she thought he was being.

“Only nobles and those who were specially invited otherwise can attend this party. So how did you, a commoner, get inside?”

Quietly, Arhad whispered,

“I came here as the adopted son of Viscount Callisto, a minor noble from the countryside. My current set-up is that I was a commoner all
my life and was only recently adopted into a noble house. A spectacular lie that anyone would fall for.”

He wouldn’t have set all this up just to be here today, right……? Ianna thought, but then she realized that Arhad was prone to breaking
her expectations. And she was certain he had done it again. Ianna sighed yet once more.
“Don’t you need to stay in hiding?”

“I won’t stand out when there are so many people around.”

“With your looks? There are so many people staring at you even as we speak.”

Arhad, who had taken Ianna’s thorny words as a gentle compliment, reached out to her. She stared down at his white glove, which was
waiting only for her hand to rest on his, before tearing him apart thoroughly with her eyes. His suit, while tidy, would have made any
other nobleman a laughingstock for dressing too simply had they been wearing it, but all those flaws seemed to disappear because it was
Arhad. His fine black hair fell over his forehead, there was a weight to his subdued golden eyes, his brows were thick, and the corners of
his eyes looked a little bored.

The bold lines that formed his figure gave Arhad the impression of a proud aristocrat.

‘Oh.’
Ianna realized it anew now that she saw him not in casual clothes or the Institution uniform but looking more aristocratic than any other
in the midst of high society.

Indeed, he was always lax when he was alone together with her, but he was also the emperor of the North who was nobler and prouder
than any other.

“Ianna.”
 

The enemy ruler who had called her name so ardently. There had once been a black-colored man who had called her name with such
yearning. And he had tried to coax her so desperately into coming to his side with a face that looked exactly like the face of the man
standing before her now.

He had tried to appease her for three years, and then Bahamut had waged war soon after Schneider had usurped the throne. And then,
seven years had passed…….

“Ianna, you…”
 

The battlefield reeked of blood. And on the other side of a soldier who had been mercilessly cut down had stood that man.

That man, who had stood within a sea of blood. That man, who had been as black as dried blood yet also as conspicuous as the golden
full moon.

His emotions had seemed to wax and wane.

“What are you, Ianna?”

 

That man, who had jumped down from his panting steed and made his way to her as she glared daggers at him, who had carried a
madness inside him that was more frightening than the madness of war, had reached out to her.

“Ianna, what are you to me that I……?!”

 
Why were you so……?
“My Lady, won’t you grant me the honor of your first dance instead of staring down at my glove so?”

Ianna, who had been staring at his hand, snapped back to her senses.

It wasn’t crimson. It was white.

Fool. Who am I trying to recall when the real man is standing before me? Ianna shook her head to clear her thoughts, and it was only
then that she realized that Arhad was still holding his hand out to her.
“……Are you seriously here only to dance with me?”

“To be exact, I am here to ask for your first dance.”

Ianna’s ears flushed slightly red. She thought he was being foolish, but she didn’t dislike the fact that Arhad had wanted to ask for her
first dance even if it meant making an unreasonable decision and putting up with the fact he would have to appear before the nobles.

“Pft.”

She laughed. She figured that she had no choice but to dance with him. Putting aside the fact that she wanted to chide him for his sudden
actions, she had realized that there was a part of her that was happy he had declared he was here just to have her first dance.

Now that she thought about it, she should be honored to share her first dance with the man who was to be the emperor of the Bahamut
Empire one day regardless of whether she was being forced into it or otherwise.

Ianna slowly reached out to him. She touched his hand gently, like a butterfly landing on a flower. Arhad stared at Ianna’s hand in his
with ecstasy in his eyes. He squeezed her hand for a moment before pulling her close.

Ianna’s heels clicked loudly against the floor when Arhad pulled her close as they stood in the middle of the hall with other nobles
dancing around them. He squeezed her hand tight in his left and placed his right hand gracefully behind her left shoulder blade. Their
bodies entwinned together as if in an embrace.

Ianna looked past Arhad’s shoulder. She was tall for a girl and she was wearing heels as high as two of her fingers together were wide,
and yet she still had to look up at him.

Ianna placed her free hand above Arhad’s elbow and under his deltoids. She felt his sturdy frame, hidden by his clothes, beneath her
fingers.

“I might step on you. I’m not used to dancing,”

Ianna whispered and she wrapped herself gently around his arm. It had been a truly long time since she had last danced in high society
instead of dancing like the way she had learned as an elective when she had been younger. She decided to put her worries behind her and
concentrate on dancing.

“Step as much as you’d like.”

Ianna smiled a little when Arhad replied generously. Her smile lingered in his eyes.

“Idiot. I might accidentally dig into your foot with my heels.”

Ianna turned her head slightly to the side as she posed herself in a typical waltz. Arhad, who was still looking forward, stole a glance at
how her crimson hair, which had been done up, was starting to get a little messy.
His gaze brushed over the lines of her chin, up to the crimson lines of her lips, and up to the bridge of her nose as if he was stroking her
with his fingers.

Ianna still had her head turned slightly to the side when her gaze fell upon him like falling rubies. Arhad’s golden eyes, filled with a
melancholy obsession, and Ianna’s red ones, filled with a drowsy smile, tangled into each other to the tune of the waltz they were
dancing.

Part 4
“Look over there.”

Those nobles who weren’t dancing were observing those who were and they gossiped about the people who stood out to them. Ianna and
Arhad were a couple who stood out for obvious reasons on that front.

“Who is that young man? There’s no way his looks would have escaped my notice. This is my first time seeing him.”

“He was accompanied here by Lords Maimayè and Heinrich. Perhaps he’s affiliated with House Bendham?”

“But Viscount Bendham doesn’t seem to know him either.”

“It looks like he’s close with the young lady of House Roberstein.”

Many young women had flushed as soon as they had laid their eyes on Arhad, much like how the men had greedily wanted to make a
move on Ianna.

He looked like a character from a romance novel. The way that the aristocratic yet stoic man looked feverishly only at the one girl
currently in his arms, the way he seemed to look to her as if she was the most beautiful thing in the world, and the way he was subtly
sensual despite the fact that he seemed to have no lewd intentions at all made their legs go weak.

The young women might have fainted in his arms, unable to endure his passion, had they been the girl he was dancing with. Their bodies
shivered in delight just by imagining his gaze pouring over their face and figures, just by fantasying the touch of his rough hands.

But, how on earth was that girl able to withstand his gaze as if it was nothing? She was no ordinary girl.

‘One, two.’
Ianna stepped calmly in only the directions that Arhad led her because she wasn’t accustomed to dancing. She focused hard as her feet
threatened to tangle up, but she still ended up stepping on Arhad anyway.

“……!”

Ianna lost her balance because she had moved her foot off of him too quickly in her alarm. But she avoided making a fool of herself
because Arhad grabbed her tightly. Her ears flushed red in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s really rare to see you slip up like this. It’s all right —I don’t mind if you step on me again.”

Arhad was smiling leisurely even though it had most definitely hurt because Ianna had put her weight into that step. Her eyes grew only
redder. Is this man some kind of pervert who enjoys pain, or is he just teasing me? It’s probably the latter. Her chagrin showed a little on
her face.
“Are you teasing me right now? I dislike making mistakes,”
Ianna said before she redoubled her concentration on her footwork. Arhad lowered his gaze and looked into her face.

“I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but you dislike making mistakes to the point it even seems obsessive. You’re trying too hard to
be perfect. Isn’t it exhausting?”

Ianna pondered for a moment before replying,

“I’m all right, as I dislike making mistakes more than the exhaustion. I don’t know about anything else, but I would like to execute the
tasks entrusted to me with nothing short of perfection.”

She didn’t know when it was that she had stared hating making mistakes. Her mind swam through her past as they danced in circles.

Her teachers had whipped her fiercely whenever she had made a mistake when she was young. Back in those days, she had tried to be
perfect so that no one could criticize her flaws, so that people would acknowledge her.

Ianna had never forgiven herself for making mistakes ever since she was young. She had focused only on tempering and polishing
herself after she had given up on love. Every mistake she made caused her to be disappointed in herself. And Ianna hated feeling that
way. She had to be strong, and those feelings were too difficult for her to bear.

“I suppose I’m like this because I’ve always been this way since I was younger.”

Arhad listened quietly as Ianna mixed together parts of her childhood from both her past and current lives as she spoke.

“I am satisfied with the person I am today. I’m not too bad the way I am now, wouldn’t you agree? If I’m perfect, then I won’t bring
needless trouble onto others.”

She particularly didn’t want to make any mistakes in front of Arhad. Ianna had become much more reluctant to make mistakes after the
Keigus incident a few months ago where she had realized just how much she wanted to look good in front of Arhad.

She wanted be of assistance to him. She would serve him as her king, and she would be as his capable hands and feet. She wanted to be
someone worthy of Arhad’s sincerity. She wanted to be someone outstanding enough to satisfy his standards and then some. She wanted
to grow more perfect so that he would want her more.

Do you know how I feel right now?

“And so, I dislike making mistakes.”

Ianna stepped on Arhad’s foot yet again. Her expression crumbled. Arhad broke out in laughter as she stepped on him. Ianna continued,

“It looks like I’ll have to practice dancing. It’s one thing that I’ll lose face if I keep stepping on my partner like this, but their feet won’t
last for long if this keeps up. I don’t exactly enjoy dancing, but I’ll probably have more reason to have to dance going forward.”
“Would you like to practice with me? I’d like to be the only one to see your mistakes.”

Ianna pursed her lips. Did Arhad like seeing her all shabby and mortified? It was embarrassing. Ianna turned her head to look at Arhad in
discontent.

“You look like you’re having so much fun. It’s quite mean of you.”

“I won’t deny it. But do you know why I enjoy watching you slip up?”

Arhad asked as he pulled her in closer. He continued,

“It’s because it means there are cracks in your armor when you make mistakes, and it gives me the chance to help you.”

Ianna made a strange face.

“I don’t understand. Wouldn’t it be better if I was more competent? You need me, and I want to support you. Which means that I must
not slip up and accidentally bring you trouble. Why are you happy to have the chance to help me?”

“I like to give. But there’s little that I can do for you if you’re too perfect. To be honest, I’d like it if you needed me more……whether it
be in the form of money, things, or cleaning up after you. What I’m trying to say is that you needn’t drive yourself so hard just to aid me.
You can just be at ease.”

Ianna’s facial expression grew stranger still, but Arhad didn’t notice. He continued,

“I invited you into my fold because I like talking with you, because I wanted to watch you enjoy yourself as you trained with your sword.
You don’t need to be capable or perfect when you’re with me. I…….”

Arhad whispered to her,

“What I want, is you yourself.”

“……!”

Ianna’s heart skipped a beat.

“I fell for the sword you are.”

 

The sincerity in his whispers was not unlike the sincere confession he had given her the day after she had injured herself while trying to
control divine power. Why was it? She found it difficult to breathe, as if she had been hit in the stomach with an iron rod. Something
wriggled unpleasantly in the corner of her heart. It surged up to her throat and choked her.

‘I don’t need to be capable? Is he trying to say that I don’t need to wield the sword?’
But unlike the thrill and joy she had felt back then, what Ianna felt now was incredible unease. For some reason, Arhad’s heart, which
had seemed like it would want her eternally when he wanted her sword, now felt as fickle as a scrap of paper that could blow away
readily with the slightest breeze.

‘What worth do I have if not for my sword?’

Ianna lost her confidence for the first time in her life when her sword was separated from her ego.

She wasn’t able to respond, and Ianna had the chance to reflect on herself as she was assaulted by strange sense of stubbornness and
revulsion. The thoughts that had been filling her head without her notice had started flowing violently in one direction.

No, you have to want me because I’m capable. Or else a small fault will appear in the perfect relationship we share now. You cherish
me almost recklessly for now, but you might change your mind.
No, you must never change.
I don’t even want to give you the  option to change.
Something that had been hiding as if it had never been there to begin with pushed out from her heart and gushed with anxiety. The blood
drained from Ianna’s face as something unknown to her made her nervous. She didn’t want to learn what that something was, so she
turned away from her heart as she said,
“Didn’t you want to keep me as your retainer? Was it not my sword that you needed?”

Arhad, who had been about to refute her, stiffened up when he saw how strangely she was acting. Ianna continued,

“I want to be someone you need for my strength.”

Ianna returned to standard pose she was supposed to be in for the waltz. She avoided Arhad’s gaze as she gracefully turned her head to
look over his shoulder.

“If it’s not because I wield my sword well that you need me, if you’re only trying to keep my at your side because you simply liked me
as a person, then what will you do if you suddenly tire of my sword or my personality one day?”

“…….”

“If that happens, and you don’t need my sword anymore, then will you simply let me go even if I find myself a new liege to serve……?”

Arhad’s grip on her hand tightened harshly just then. Ianna scowled and stopped talking for a moment because he had gripped her hand
so tight she thought he might crush her bones, and he only relaxed his grip after their feet had stopped moving.

“Look at me.”

Ianna’s thoughts stopped processing because it had all happened so suddenly, and he abruptly grabbed her by the chin and pulled as she
looked to him. Ianna looked back at him in the heat of the moment, alarmed, and flinched. There was an incredible amount of rage in his
frozen gaze.

“Why are you saying that?”

Bewildered, Ianna thought back on what she had said and tried to figure out what exactly it was that had infuriated him so. Was he angry
that she had suggested that he might change his mind? Was that really something he needed to be so angry over?

It wasn’t as if she had ignored his sincerity. All she was trying to ask was that he need her sword and maintain the perfect relationship
they shared now, because she couldn’t know if and when his sincerity would extinguish.

“Do you want me to let you go? Are you regretting the fact that you swore your oath to me? Are you already dreaming of a different
future?”
“No, that’s not what I meant, I just…….”

Ianna was bewildered and tried to justify herself. But she trailed off because she did not know how to put her anxiety into words.

She felt as though she must never say it out loud. She felt as though she would be forced to confront something inside herself that she
didn’t want to face the moment she put it to words.

She felt an ill premonition, as if everything she had stacked up neatly until now would come crashing down.

Arhad’s face grew only colder.

“Keep your mouth shut if you’re trying to say that you want to go to someone else.”

Ianna was confused and looked away again as she tried to push Arhad away. Arhad’s eyes flashed ferociously.
The hand he had placed behind her shoulder blade coiled around her body and held her in place like a vice. He used his other hand, still
on her chin, to grab her by the head and pull her into him as hard as he could.

“Ugh.”

Ianna broke free from her thoughts as his tightening grip around her made it difficult for her to breathe. Gloomily, Arhad whispered,

“You were the one who swore an oath to me first.”

Arhad was normally forever kind and careful with her, but he would act unusually, as if he had gone half-mad, whenever he thought she
was rejecting him. The madness leaking out from his voice right now was no different.

“You swore an oath to me first, so you have no choice but to stay by my side until I let you go. And I haven’t the slightest intention of
ever doing so. If you leave me…”
Arhad held her tighter and in a quiet and suppressed voice continued,

“Don’t even consider leaving me, because if you do, I will rip out the throats and tear off the limbs of anyone who walks the new path
you choose and feed them to monsters.”
It was quite the cruel warning.

‘Oh.’
Ianna groaned to herself as she faced the man who had barred his true feelings, unable to hold himself back. He had wanted her right
until the day she had died in the past, and he was still the same ruthless and reckless savage beast even now after that time had been
erased.

How had she forgotten? This was the kind of man Arhad was. She could not even imagine an Arhad who did not want her.

‘Yes. He will want me no matter what and no matter how.’

An eternal constant. There was no way that such a thing could ever exist, and yet Arhad was peculiar enough that Ianna believed that it
could.

“…….”

Her anxiety subsided and her heart bubbled over. An unprecedented joy brightened Ianna’s countenance. She had never before been
seized by such delight while she wasn’t holding a sword. And yet, she was overcome by a mysterious sense that something she was
lacking inside was being filled —a feeling that she had never experienced before.

Ianna reached out with her hand, which she hadn’t known what to do with, and grabbed tightly to Arhad’s clothes. She felt a shiver run
up her spine, and she didn’t know what to do with herself because she felt like her heart might explode with every beat. Arhad had failed
to notice how her emotions were making her lose her mind. His breathing was uneven, and Ianna’s, too, was growing rough.

“I will never let you go. So don’t even think about leaving me.”

The waltz ended while they were bickering. Arhad let go of Ianna as people started to noisily scatter away. Ianna stepped away from him
and massaged her tingling arm as blood began circulating through it again.

Arhad bit down hard at his lip.

“I want to apologize, but I won’t. I would have normally apologized, but things weren’t normal just now. I wish you could be more
understanding of where I’m coming from.”

Ianna stared back at him without another word. Her gaze seemed to pierce deep into his heart, and Arhad looked away. He continued,

“I never wanted you to see me act the way I did just now. But I lose my ability to reason when you say things like that.”
Arhad clenched and unclenched his fists repetitively before reaching up to the front of his shirt and grabbed it over and over again in
frustration. His entire being was reflected in Ianna’s eyes.

“I couldn’t say that I’d let you go or that I didn’t need you even as a joke. You might actually leave me.”

“…….”

“I’m always anxious because you might just up and leave me one day without warning regardless of the nice things that you say to me
now. And I only grow more anxious the longer you stay with me.”

Arhad pressed at the corners of his eyes as if he was tired. He continued,

“That’s why I said that I enjoy it when you make mistakes, cause trouble, and need my help. It makes you rely on me. I frequently
entertain crazy thoughts like how nice it would be if you were so weak that you couldn’t live without another’s help and needed to rely
on me.”

Arhad let out a long sigh as he lowered his eyes.

“……Why do I always make a fool of myself when I’m with you?”

Ianna simply stared back at him with a peculiar light in her eyes without a word. Arhad’s expression darkened as he wondered if she was
uncomfortable by how bizarre he was.

“Do you find me disagreeable?”

His straight brows drooped and his eyes crumpled. He didn’t look like he would cry, but the area around his eyes was beginning to turn
red. His composure had long since shattered, and his breathing was slightly quicker than normal.

“But this is who I am.”

Ianna wasn’t uncomfortable in the slightest. She felt a little weird about it herself. She even found herself strange. She wasn’t
uncomfortable when Arhad acted like a madman in his obsession for her……rather, it relieved her and she quite liked it.

Her anxiety had evaporated, and her mind was filled only with the thought that this man would keep her firmly by his side and never let
her go.

“That’s not what I meant,”

Ianna said while shaking her head as Arhad began to hang his head a little with his mouth pursed shut. His eyes flickered to her at her
unexpected words.

The orchestra began playing another piece. Ianna reached out to him.

“Shall we dance another song?”

“…….”

Arhad hesitated for a moment before he took her hand. Ianna chose her words carefully as she danced slowly.
“I don’t find you disagreeable —rather, I’m happy that you’re so adamant to keep me by your side.”

Ianna spoke her thoughts with candor, and Arhad’s gaze changed ever so subtly. Ianna opened her mouth to continue as she accepted his
gaze head on.

“Please always want me the way you do now. I will stay by your side forever, for as long as you keep wanting me. And…….”

Ianna pondered over whether she should say it or not before she finally reached a decision. Arhad would feel better if she opened her
heart to him. Cautiously, she continued,

“You needn’t worry, because I like you and I haven’t the slightest intentions of ever leaving you. I am not careless about the oaths I
swear. I want to stay by your side, just as you want to keep me with you.”
‘And…….’
Ianna grew restless as she saw how restless Arhad was as he looked down at her.

‘Should I tell him?’

That which had coiled up in the depths of her heart at some point.

It really wasn’t anything that important when she thought about it. All she had to do was say it out loud with nonchalance, so why was it
so hard to put to words that it made her heart beat so?
Ianna made an effort to act at ease. But her grip tightened, and she squeezed Arhad’s arm tightly. Shake, shake. Arhad seemed to shake
in her vision. It was her eyes that were wavering, not Arhad himself, but Ianna did not have the leisure to distinguish that.
‘Should I tell him why I said that?’
He would never cast her aside if he needed her. Arhad was someone important in her heart, and Ianna wanted to stay at his side because
he always cared for her.

She had never once thought that Arhad might change until now. But she had been shocked and frightened today when he had disregarded
her sword and had said that he wanted only ‘Ianna.’

Ianna’s eyelashes fluttered. She felt like she knew why she had been so frightened, but she had wanted to turn away from it. She did not
have the confidence to endure the ripples that would result if she was made to confront it.

But, she also felt as if it would be all right to be a little more honest when she was with Arhad.

“You too…”

Her eyes, which were usually upturned with pride, were drooping like the eyes of a child in search of her guardian. Arhad was listening
to her every word with his ears perked so that he wouldn’t miss a thing, and his golden eyes, which were focused solely on her, grew
wide as he saw the change in her attitude.

She did not want to acknowledge it, but she acknowledged it. The fact that she had grown afraid that the man who always cared for her
might suddenly change his mind and leave her…….

And the fact that……there was ‘something’ still alive and breathing inside her even though she had thought it had long since died and
disappeared.

Ianna knew and wanted to deny it, and she wanted to brush it aside and turn away from it —and with her feelings contradicting
themselves in her heart, she uttered a little of what was teeming inside her.

“……Please don’t cast me aside.”

Ever.
“……!”

Arhad gasped and drew in a sharp breath as he wrenched his head to the side. Ianna stared up at him. Arhad usually only blushed at his
cheeks, but his entire face was glowing scarlet. Even Ianna could hear that his heart was hammering away furiously, as if it had lost its
mind.

“That’s, of course……. Why would I ever……?”

The violent beating of his heart, his tightening grip as he seemed to lose control, and the stuttered but satisfactory answer he had given.
Ianna blushed a little and smiled, like a crimson flower bud blooming to the morning sun, as Arhad responded honestly and very
satisfyingly to the anxious feelings she had laid bare before him.

Arhad, who hadn’t known what to do with himself as he looked over to the side, cast his eyes down, as if he was sneaking a glance at
her, and he gasped and looked away as Ianna’s lovely smile hit him directly.

Arhad’s breathing grew ragged. His lips felt dry as he bit down at them. His hand squirmed in want of covering his mouth, but he
couldn’t because he was holding Ianna’s hand as they danced.

“I-I’m happy to hear you say that. Very happy. Truly.”

The edges of his lips curled up against his will no matter how hard he tried to bring them down. The redness refused to leave his face.
Ianna watched in good cheer as Arhad didn’t seem to know what on earth to do with himself.

Arhad tried to control his expression and collect his breathing for a while before his features relaxed as if the invisible string holding
them together had snapped.

“Haha.”

His lips curled into a smile, and Arhad ended up chuckling out loud, unable to help himself.

“You really…….”

Once he had regained some of his rationality and returned to normal somewhat, Arhad cheerfully said,

“I never said that I didn’t need your sword. What kind of idiot would let someone as talented as you go when you came to me of your
own accord? Especially at a time like now when I’m frantically searching for more talent. Rather, I should be the one chasing desperately
after you.”
“…….”

“I only meant that what I ultimately want is for us to be emotional companions who can share our hearts with each other. You are the
sole person who is able to understand me. That’s all I want from you.”

Ianna rather liked it. Her cheeks flushed a little. Arhad continued,

“I don’t know how this happened……but in any case, it’s fine if you want to be perfect. It’s fine if you don’t want to make any mistakes.
I just don’t want you to push yourself too hard because of it. And I want you to trust me and rely on me more if you’re having a difficult
time. Don’t try to shoulder everything or solve everything on your own. And don’t blame yourself even if you do make a mistake.”

“…….”

“If I had it my way, I wish you’d slip up constantly and have to rely on me to solve things for you, but…….”
Ianna frowned.

“That sounds horrible. Just what do you see me as? Are you this generous to your other subordinates too?”

“Of course not,”

Arhad said decisively. He continued,

“This only applies to you. I’d penalize the others as they should be if they slipped up and made a mess of things.”

“I never wanted special treatment.”

Ianna stared up at Arhad for a moment before lowering her gaze. Emotional companions……. She thought that it wouldn’t be a horrible
idea to loosen up a bit in front of Arhad if he was willing to go so far.

This man was perfect even at dancing. Perhaps it would be all right to make a few mistakes and cause a bit of trouble when it came to
trivial matters like dancing. He seemed to like it when she did, after all.

“Whew.”

Ianna had been stiff as she focused on dancing, but she decided to loosen up and entrust herself to Arhad’s rhythm. He squeezed her hand
when he felt the change.

“Nice attitude.”

See that? Look at how happy he is. What a strange man.

“Pft…….”

Ianna chuckled quietly in good cheer.

It had become much easier to dance once she entrusted herself to Arhad’s rhythm. She did not have to be so mindful of how to take her
next step, and all she had to do was move her feet in accordance to Arhad’s lead. She grew more accustomed to dancing as she broke free
from her fixation on not stepping on Arhad’s feet and began enjoying herself. The waltz’s tune began sounding softer on her ears, and
her muscles relaxed.

It was only then that Ianna stopped stepping on Arhad’s feet. They had almost reached the climax of the orchestra’s second song.

“What will you do after this? Are you planning to stay in the hall?”

“I’ll be here as long as you are. Why?”

“You should head back now if you were only here for me since you’d had your dance.”

Arhad didn’t reply, but the expression on his face asked her to explain herself. Ianna looked over his shoulder to where Schneider had
been seated earlier, but he wasn’t there anymore. He was probably dancing with people in the hall. If possible, she wanted to escape to
the garden before he found her…… Ianna shook her head once the idea had crossed her mind.

“What will you do if you happen to catch Prince Schneider’s attention? It’ll spell trouble if he finds out that you’re the man who bid
500,000 gold.”
Schneider was very quick on the uptake. The man who had spent 500,000 gold just to spend an evening with her, and the man who had
spent eighty-nine gold just to buy her a bouquet of flowers. There were more than enough similarities between the two to arouse
Schneider’s suspicions.

Arhad had made an enemy of Schneider during the auction, and no one knew what would happen if Schneider found him out. It was
unlikely that Arhad’s real identity and wealth would be disclosed, of course. But it would still end with Schneider’s overwhelming
victory when considering the fact that Arhad was supposed to be in hiding.

“…….”

Arhad looked off to somewhere before he pulled Ianna, who was still looking up at him, deeper into his arms. Ianna found herself stuck
as close to him as if they were sharing an embrace. His shoulder was so close to her face that she could no longer see past it. Then, he
abruptly said,

“No.”

Ianna’s eyes grew sharp. Arhad had started to be rather stubborn as of late. He continued,

“It’ll be fine. Being the adopted son of Viscount Callisto is actually a pretty good station. And he doesn’t know what I look like because
I was wearing robes and a mask during the auction. I had my voice altered too.”

“The flowers.”

Ianna’s voice was cold. She continued,

“Anyone paying even the slightest attention to the rumors going around in the Institution will know that you’re on good terms with me
and that you bought me a bouquet worth eighty-nine gold for the fashion show. You went out of your way to spend eighty-nine gold on
just a bunch of flowers……. That’s not very different from spending 500,000 gold just to spend an evening with me, no? On top of that,
you’re now a commoner who’s recently become the adopted son of a viscount. It’s suspicious. I would have my misgivings about you,
had I been in his shoes.”

Arhad smirked after hearing Ianna’s sharply spoken argument.

“Who could say? The set-up is that Viscount Callisto, a noveau riche, is extremely proud of his son and supports me in whatever I want
to do. The viscount himself spends money like it’s free, so it shouldn’t draw much attention just because his son’s spent a mere eighty-
nine gold.”

“Did you buy your way into the station? Is everything all right with Viscount Callisto? What if he stabs you in the back……?”

“He’s one of mine. Only a few of my people know what I really look like, since I normally wear a mask, and the viscount isn’t one of
them. He only knows ‘Arhad’ as someone who serves the same master as him and has been ordered to play the role of his adopted son.”

Ianna forgot what she was about to say. It truly was remarkable. Had all of this really been set up just so he could dance with her? Still,
she found it hard to breathe because Arhad was so close.

“Please relax your grip.”

“……Don’t look anywhere else —look only at me.”

“And stop saying nonsense.”

Arhad slowly relaxed his grip, and Ianna, who had been practically stuck to him until then, was able to gain some distance again.

Ianna swiftly looked up at him.

“I’ve been meaning to ask —did you really do all that just to dance with me on my debut?”

“Of course not.”

“I see. Then, what are you planning now?”

Ianna asked in all seriousness. She did not know how the Arhad of the past had taken a foothold toward the imperial throne. She had
devoted herself solely to her swordplay until she had become Schneider’s subordinate at twenty-two, so she only knew of the results of
Roanne’s history until then.

She had thought that nothing much had happened until she had turned twenty-three, when things had happened so quickly it was like the
world had been gripped by a storm. Had Arhad used the royal family during his stay in Roanne?

Arhad responded seriously in kind.

“I plan on attending all the same parties as you going forward so that no one can keep their eyes on you.”

Ianna lost her balance for a moment and ended up stepping on Arhad yet again. Veins bulged out from her hand, still holding to Arhad’s
arm, and temple.

“Are you joking right now?”

“I am not.”

The expression on Arhad’s face was the epitome of seriousness. This man is so… Ianna hung her head in shame.
“And here I thought that you were planning to upturn the political scene or something…….”

“I can use others to do the political maneuvering. I don’t need to step forward and do everything myself. Don’t worry. I don’t let my
personal affairs ruin my public ones. Though……there could still be exceptions to that rule, of course.”
Ianna let out a sigh and turned her focus to his peculiar reply. She dearly hoped that it had only been in jest.

“You’ll be attending other parties as well?”

“Yes. I’m going to stand by your side and prevent anyone else from coming near. I dislike it when others take an interest in you.”

“But Prince Schneider might take an interest in you if you stay by my side like this…….”
“You’ve been repeating Schneider’s name over and over again for a while now —stop it. And stop associating with him too,”

Arhad muttered with a bit of bloodlust leaking into his voice. Schneider —Ianna realized that the prince’s name made Arhad extremely
sensitive. It was almost to the point that she wondered if it was because of Schneider that Arhad was even attending the party in the first
place.
“I am your sword.”

Arhad’s cheeks flushed red. He always seemed to loosen up and blush when she said things like this, no matter how frigid he was being.
Ianna thought she might get addicted to it, since she found the change both curious and fun. But that was that, and this was separate
matter entirely.
“It was my mistake that I told Prince Schneider of my plans —I had thought he would stop paying interest to me if I told him. He might
continue having an interest in me moving forward. I might have to dance with him a couple of times. But please know that my heart and
my desire to walk into the future at your side will never change.”
The hand Arhad had against her back tensed, and Ianna shook her head no —this wasn’t what she wanted. It would be fortunate if Arhad,
who was currently pretending to be the adopted son of a mere viscount, didn’t make his displeasure of Schneider obvious. She continued,

“There’s no reason for you to be so wary of him just because of me. So please, enough of this. Weren’t you working together with the
prince?”

“I don’t need that much of his support. All I need is for him to be my shield. I could have chosen a royal from any kingdom to play the
role, and I only chose Roanne to make our mutual enemies hate Roanne more.”
“In any event, I am against you acting like this.”

“……Sigh. Fine. If you don’t like me being here today, then why don’t you make me leave my stepping on my foot as hard as you can?”
Ianna furrowed her brows.

“What kind of nonsense is this supposed to be?”

“It’s not nonsense.”

“Then you’re being serious?”

“But of course.”

Ianna shot Arhad a look, finding him ridiculous, and Arhad stiffly continued,

“But you need to leave with me under the pretext of helping me. Come on now —step on me.”
She had thought he was only being ridiculous, but he was apparently entirely serious. He continued still,

“We should spend some time together outside of the palace. I’ll pay for everything.”

“You do know that there’s a custom for all the girls debuting on Founding Day to leave the hall together at midnight, yes?”
“Who cares? —just break tradition.”

“I don’t wish to be blamed for failing to do a task so simple.”

“All right. Then we’ll slip out of the party, and I’ll find a way to bring you back here just before midnight. So, does that solve
everything? Let me have at least this much if you truly think of me as your liege.”

Ianna fell into contemplation. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t really listened to what Arhad asked of her very often. She had
chased him around and ultimately became his sparring partner when he said that he didn’t want to spar, and she had stubbornly stayed
behind and rescued Chendelf when he had told her to go home because she was getting in his way at the slave auction. She had injured
herself seriously while trying to control divine power when he had explicitly told her not to, and she still intended to call on the spirits
even though he had told her to stop.

“Hmmm…….”

Ianna groaned as even she found herself a little too much. It was so bad that she almost wanted to pat Arhad on the back and ask how on
earth he had managed to deal with someone as headstrong as her all this time. He always caved first, and he was compromising even now
and begging her to let him at least have this little.
‘All he wants to do is spend more time with me…’
Ianna looked up apologetically at the sullen look on Arhad’s face as she made her decision.
“Actually, I was planning to escape to the gardens and spend the rest of my time there after dancing with the people I’d promised to
dance with. I’ll go with you if you can wait until I’m done.”

“Fine.”

Arhad was satisfied by her answer.

The music stopped. The nobles who had been dancing around them bowed elegantly to their partners. Ianna tried to slip out of Arhad’s
hand and follow suit.

But Arhad pulled her in instead. She found her face buried against his chest. She was used to it now, since they had hugged several times
already, but, that aside, she was curious as to the reason why he was hugging her.

Badump……badump…….
Just then, she heard an irregular beat by her ear. It was only then that she realized that Arhad was acting strange.

‘Why is he like this?’

His heartbeat never grew irregular, except for when he was reacting violently to her words. And he wasn’t the kind of person to find
himself out of breath just from dancing either. Arhad’s heart condition flashed across her mind.

“Arhad, your heart…….”

“I trust you.”

“Pardon?”

“You said that you would never change —don’t you ever forget that,”

he whispered to her before pulling away. He placed his right hand over his heart and his left at his waist as he bowed to her courteously.
Ianna lifted the hems of her dress and curtsied back, perplexed.

She looked to him in bewilderment. But he wasn’t looking back at her. His frigid gaze was looking to something behind her. Ianna
turned around, wondering what he was looking at, only for silver colors to fill her vision.

“May I have your next dance?”

It was Schneider.

Part 5
Ianna was baffled as she was caught in between Schneider and Arhad and looked between the two of them in turns. The other nobles
turned in interest to observe the situation they were creating while the music was stopped. Schneider’s silver eyes looked to Arhad,
standing behind Ianna, in inquiry.

“And this is?”

A frigid wind seemed to be blowing around Arhad, as if the fevor he had been showing Ianna just earlier had been but a lie. Slowly,
Arhad bowed. His black hair scattered down, and a brusque voice escaped his lips.

“My name is Arhad Callisto, the adopted son of Viscount Callisto.”

Ianna’s countenance twisted when she heard Arhad speaking courteously to the prince. Why was it? It twisted her insides to see the
crown of his head, which she normally could not see unless he was sitting because he usually carried himself upright. It was all good and
well that he hadn’t been rude to Schneider, but…….

“And how are you related to Lady Ianna?”

“He is my senior at the Institution and a good friend of mine.”

“You seemed a little too close to only be good friends……. Everyone thought you were lovers. Is that not the case?”

Schneider had only spoken the truth. Arhad’s eyes had held a certain recklessness to them and his touch had been careful, as if the
woman in his arms was the most precious jewel in the world.

It looked like they had been arguing about something at one point, but the man had flushed red and looked delighted after the girl had
whispered something to him. Those who had been sneaking glances at them had decided that they must surely be in an ardent
relationship.

And the warm look on Arhad’s face had instantly cooled as soon as Schneider had walked up to them and their eyes had met. He was
openly wary of Schneider, like a hungry beast facing down his nemesis as he guarded the most delectable delicacy in the world. He had
pulled the girl into a tight embrace in front of all to see, as if he was marking his territory. As if he was openly declaring that he would
not allow anyone to dare covet what was his and invade.

And his visage had been frozen as he stepped away from her. The frigid look on his face made him seem like a completely different
person from the man who had been showering his feverish feelings upon the girl just earlier.

Schneider could feel that Arhad was being wary of him.

‘Is he being wary of me? But why?’

Schneider absolutely wanted to keep Ianna by his side. As for why? It was because she was a diamond in the rough. Once carefully cut,
polished, and adorned beautifully by a craftsman, she was a jewel who would be worth more than any other in the world. Winning the
swordsmanship tournament had only been a taste of what she could truly achieve.

Schneider’s, a prince who coveted the throne and was incredibly greedy for talent, heart palpitated with the desire to temper her with his
own hands. His intuition told him that he would regret it in the future if he let that girl slip through his fingers.

Perhaps that was why. His mood had soured considerably as he watched the tight embrace between the two of them. His were not the
romantic feelings a man had for a woman. After all, he already had a political lover and fiancé in the wonderful Lilith Tarwitt.

The image of Ianna from the fashion show, who had been more beautiful than any other, flashed across Schneider’s mind.  She had
seemed so sturdy as she wielded her sword fiercely during the swordsmanship tournament. But her sturdy foundation had been shaken as
her father’s sudden apology exposed the wounds she had been hiding. Her shaking eyes had seemed like they would grow moist with
tears, and yet she had not shed a single tear, as if her tears had already long since dried. She had exercised rigid control over her heart as
she expressed her gratitude and picked up a single flower.

A piercing affection had stabbed Schneider’s heart as he watched it all happen.

But that had simply been something he had felt for her as a fellow human being. Schneider shook his head.

Just then, Ianna stepped forward in rage.

“Your Highness, please don’t assume that Sir Arhad and I are in a romantic relationship.”

“Hmm?”

“With all due respect, I would ask that you don’t say things that might disrupt the bond that exists between us currently.”

Ianna looked genuinely displeased even at a first glance. Schneider turned back to Arhad, bewildered. Arhad had simply stood there
without particularly reacting despite the coldhearted things Ianna had said. Surprisingly, it looked like she was telling the truth. But men
always understood other men better. It was obvious to Schneider that Arhad was ardently in love with the girl.

And he had thought that Ianna had loved Arhad as well, but Schneider was apparently wrong on that count, considering how displeased
she was right now. Then perhaps Arhad was simply being possessive and jealous in his desire to not let his unrequited love be stolen
from him. Schneider’s teeth peeked out from behind his lips as he laughed.

‘I had not planned on seeing Lady Ianna in a romantic light, but now I’m all impatient because it feels like he’s picking a fight with me.’
But was Arhad really just the adopted son of a viscount? He was bowing, but it didn’t feel like he had submitted himself at all.

“Raise your head.”

Arhad slowly looked up and straightened himself out, and Schneider scrutinized him up and down. He had sensed as much just by
looking at Arhad from afar, but his body truly was the perfect sculpture of musculature. His proportions were so perfectly balanced that it
would be difficult to find someone with a figure as good as his even among the royal knights.

“You have quite the figure. I suppose you must have trained hard?”

“I am still lacking, but I am giving it my best effort.”

Schneider smiled insistently.

“Then how about it? Why don’t you and Lady Ianna both join me as my knights?”

Arhad looked like he had heard something truly preposterous for a moment before he started emitting a fierce bloodlust that seemed to
ask how Schneider dare propose such nonsense. It was only Ianna who noticed.
“A thousand pardons, but I don’t believe I will be able to serve Your Highness as a knight because I am not able to control mana. But
thank you for looking upon me favorably.”

“Can’t you just learn how to do it?”

“I can perceive mana, but I have a genetic condition that precludes me from controlling it.”

“That’s a shame. Can your condition not be fixed with medicine?”

“Unfortunately, even the best healers have not been able to cure my condition as of yet. Lord Heinrich is helping me greatly, and I am
eagerly awaiting a cure.”
Arhad, who should be looking down on the entire world from up high, was bowing before the prince and speaking up to him. Ianna’s
insides churned as she watched how Schneider looked back at him in pity.

“I see. In any event, may I have this dance, Lady Ianna? I would like to get to know you better. Oh, but before that. I almost forgot
because I was so eager to share a dance with you.”

Schneider asked Ianna to dance with him yet again as he gestured to his servant who had been lingering around him. The servant ran off
to somewhere in a great hurry before returning with a long rectangular box. Schneider took it had presented it to Ianna.

He undid the latch on the box and opened it when Ianna stared at it without accepting it from him. Ianna stiffened up when she saw what
was inside, and the other nobles around her who had been watching all gasped.

“Congratulations on debuting into Roanne’s noble society, Lady Ianna. This is a token of my goodwill that I grant to you purely as a
means to forge a good relationship with you.”

It was one of the greatest treasures among treasures that he had once gifted to Ianna in the past when she had been a duchess. It was
something that every knight coveted, as Schneider had long since declared that he would gift it only to the knight whom he trusted most.

“This is the greatest sword in the royal family’s possession, crafted by only the best dwarven craftsmen.”

It was a dwarven sword that he had once granted to Ianna only after she had been elevated as a duchess in her own right. And it was the
sword she had wielded until the day she had died. Ianna’s face froze stiff. Why was he giving this to her, who was still just a young girl,
when she wasn’t even his?

“This sword is worth at least 500,000 gold, you know?”

“I cannot accept this. Why are you giving this to me? You are going much too far for a mere jest.”

“But I’m quite serious, you know?”

Schneider clicked his tongue as Ianna looked so resistant to the idea of accepting it that it looked like she might actually flee the scene
even if it meant being discourteous if he pushed her, and he gestured at his servant once again.

“All right. Let us put this matter aside if it’s too much of a burden for you to accept.”

The servant took the sword away, and in another servant slipped past the whispering nobles with a smaller box. Schneider opened it to
reveal a crystal bottle filled with a light pink liquid sloshing inside.

“I am told that young ladies who come of age and make their debuts have a custom of buying perfume, yes? This perfume was made by
Versatica, the best perfumier in Roanne.”

The nobles, who had stirred up a fuss upon seeing the dwarven sword, looked to the bottle in surprise next. Versatica was famous for
only making five bottles of perfume a year. Versatica’s perfumes weren’t something that one could easily get their hands on even if they
wanted to.

“Why……? Please take this back, Your Highness. I am not worthy of receiving such valuable gifts from you.”

“You seem to reject me at every turn, my Lady.”

“I’ve said this to you before, Your Highness. I…….”

“I will hear no more of it. Very well, in that case, I pray that you will at least be satisfied with this.”

The servant took the perfume back, and yet another servant came with a large bouquet of roses.

“I tried preparing all sorts of things, but I suppose nothing will best a rose. These are some of the most precious roses in the world, which
grow only in the deepest parts of the Roanne royal family’s gardens —the royal rose.”

They were legendary roses that symbolized Queen Roanne de Roanne. The crimson roses glowed gently at night, as if they had been
brushed by a silvery powder, and it was illegal to take them out of the kingdom.

Those ladies who had never seen royal roses before looked ecstatic. They were sparkling silver even in the brightly lit hall, as if by
magic. The bouquet was wrapped with expensive lace and only the highest-grade pearls, and it looked so expensive that several people
had gasped.

“You will wound my pride if you refuse even this. I am not trying to woo you —I simply wish to congratulate you, so I pray that you’ll
accept.”

“…….”

It was still cumbersome, but this was at least better than the two gifts he had tried to give her earlier. And, like he said himself, there
wasn’t much more meaning to the roses because this was Ianna’s debut.

Ianna stole a glance at Arhad. His face was still stiff, but at least he wasn’t emitting bloodlust. He had simply frozen in place while
observing the gifts that Schneider was trying to give her.

The prince was both sly and generous, but he was also very prideful, and he always extracted vengeance from those who had wounded
his pride. Ianna, who had served him at his side for over a decade, knew that best.

The prince would be incredibly displeased if she refused even this in front of all the other nobles, and she didn’t know how
disadvantageous things might become for her if she refused. It would be no different from making herself a powerful enemy.

“I trust you.”
 

‘He said he trusted me, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.’

Ianna accepted Schneider’s roses with an awkward look on her face. Schneider smiled deeply.

Just then, a certain young woman quickly ran up to him.

“My Lord Brother Schneider!”

“Oh, Angelina.”

“I was just telling the other ladies that you promised to dance with me, but then you disappeared…….”

Princess Angelina ran up to Schneider before she suddenly stopped in her tracks upon seeing Arhad. Arhad took one glance at her before
turning away in disinterest and looking to Ianna and the roses she was holding, but Angelina could not tear her eyes off him.
“Lord Brother, who is this?”

she asked Schneider with her gaze glued persistently on Arhad. Schneider took an interest in her change in attitude and happily
introduced them.

Angelina Muziniel Roanne was the star of the Founding Day party. And she didn’t leave even after learning who Arhad was. Ianna was
starting to feel incredibly burdened to keep standing there. She had planned to dance with those she had promised dances to and leave,
but things were growing bigger because of the prince.

“Your Highness.”

“Oh, Lilith.”

Then, even Lilith Tarwitt approached them with a saccharine smile on her lips.

The young woman with platinum blonde hair and clear green eyes certainly deserved to be called the flower of high society. She had the
support of countless noblewomen, and the dresses and hairstyles she wore to a party became the fashion trend for the rest of the month.

House Tarwitt had close ties with House Claude, the house Prince Schneider’s mother had belonged to back when she had still been Lezè
Claude before her marriage into the royal family, and they had made great contributions in supporting Schneider as he usurped the
throne.

Lilith was twenty, the same age as Schneider, to whom she was engaged to be wed next year, and she smiled quaintly at the precious
royal roses Ianna was holding.

“Are you already taking interest in women younger than I?”

“Not at all —Lady Ianna is simply someone of incredible talent. I trust you are aware that it is in my nature not to be picky of my means
or methods in trying to win the favor of someone talented, no?”

“You don’t gift someone roses simply because they’re talented. And these are royal roses at that…….”

Lilith looked slightly disgruntled as she studied Ianna.

Lilith and Schneider may not have been passionately in love with each other, but Lilith had been chosen to be Schneider’s betrothed as
soon as she was born and the two of them trusted each other greatly. Schneider coveted the throne and his greed for latent talent boiled
like volcanic lava, and he had never been tempted by another woman and had never once shown absolutely any interest in any other
women once their engagement had been finalized.

Lilith was a woman who loved Schneider deeply. There were as many young men in high society who cast their passionate gazes upon
her as there were stars in the night sky. But she had ignored all of them and looked only to Schneider.

She was a tad unhappy about the fact that the prince did not love her back as passionately as she loved him, but she was to be queen one
day and her role was to support him, so she could not do anything that might hold him back.

But the fact that her noble fiancé had tried to bid almost 500,000 gold for Ianna Roberstein, the Swordsmanship Department’s champion,
had spread around scandalous rumors that suggested the prince might have fallen head over heels for her at first sight. And today she had
personally witnessed him shower his attention on Ianna, who looked beautiful today. She might have said, “Goodness, His Highness
must truly covet her talent,” out in public, but it didn’t change the fact that her mood was sour.

‘Is she being wary of me?’

Ianna strongly wished to give back the burdensome roses in her arms as she received the full brunt of Lilith’s coy gaze. She had been
baffled by Lilith’s hysteria more than a few times in the past.

‘She was like this back then too. I see. Is she being jealous again? Schneider cared more about talent and politics than women, after all.
It was only natural that she was wary of me, as I was both a talented woman and his most treasured knight. And now he’s even given me
such grand roses…….’
Lilith, who had been eyeing Ianna carefully, suddenly expressed her astonishment and clapped her hands together.

“Oh, from the streets back then…… Are you the young lady who jumped in front of our carriage to rescue a child?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh my. I can see how you had the courage to jump in front of a moving carriage to save the child, since you were skilled enough to win
the swordsmanship tournament.”

Ianna wasn’t going to mention it if Lilith didn’t remember, but she would have to respond appropriately now that Lilith did. Ianna lifted
the hem of her skirt with one hand as she lowered her head.

“Please allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Ianna Roberstein. And if it pleases you, I would return these roses to His Highness
at once.”

Lilith’s visage relaxed a little when she heard the sense of burden and rejection in Ianna’s words.

“Not at all. I was only teasing. I couldn’t possibly ask you to return the roses when His Highness gave them to you personally.
Congratulations for debuting, Lady Ianna. I had thought you were a commoner back then, but it appears I was mistaken. Would you
please find it in your heart to forgive me my discourtesy? My name is Lilith Tarwitt,”

Lilith said eloquently. Just as she had been in the past, she was a refined lady with no faults that could be criticized.

Ianna pondered for a moment. A noble’s words were generally indirect and figurative. It was different from the Valgenta Institution,
where everyone was straightforward. And she wasn’t currently a duchess who could speak her mind as she pleased. Did that mean that
she had to soften her tone?

No. Why would she, when she had no intention of living in high society to begin with? Who cared if she sounded coarse? She was only
Arhad’s knight.

She would be just courteous enough and just honest enough to avoid needless clashes. But she ultimately would not concede.

“But of course, Lady Tarwitt. Rather, it is I who should be asking you to forgive me for jumping in front of your carriage. I pray that I
haven’t caused you to be late to your appointment.”
“Not at all. We were not late. Still, while I hadn’t had the chance to say this back then, shouldn’t you have valued yourself a little more?”

‘Is she trying to put me in my place?’

Ianna did not feel the need to display the extent of her skills as she had with Rikijen. And so, she simply nodded and said,

“I will take your words to heart.”

“I’ve noticed that you speak like a staunch knight. Another lady might mistake you for an amazing warrior and develop a crush on you.”

Lilith was chiding her for not speaking as a lady should, but Ianna replied as if she couldn’t have cared any less.
“I have simply developed the habit of speaking this way. Still, I will not be at risk of bending the rules of high society, as I will not be
sitting at the tea table. I ask for your understanding.”

Lilith took an interest in Ianna, who was so starkly different from her.

“Then where do you mean to go, if not to the tea table?”

“To wherever my liege will go.”

“Your liege……. That’s what His Highness desires to be,”

Lilith muttered quietly, but Ianna pretended not to hear.

“I do not feel the need to correct my speaking habits. Would you please be understanding of this, Lady Tarwitt?”

“Why of course. In any event, may I ask you just one last question?”

“So long as it is something I can answer.”

“Is it not difficult to train in the sword with a woman’s body? Have you never wanted to quit?”

“It would be a lie to say that it’s not difficult, but I feel so accomplished after training that my fatigue is simply but another of my
pleasures. It would be nice if more women could enjoy the charms of the sword, but I am sorry to say that social norms must dictate
otherwise.”

Lilith’s smile grew deeper.

“Mm, it’s not a terrible idea for everyone to play the roles they’re most suited for. There must surely be things that only you can
accomplish, my Lady. Things that no other man can do.”

“I must concur, to an extent.”

The first ruler of the kingdom had been a queen, Roanne de Roanne, and wives had equal status to their husbands in the Kingdom of
Roanne.

But men were to work outside the home, and women were to work inside. Men must be strong and protect their family, and women must
be gentle and raise children. Gender roles were heavily divided in Roanne, and adhering to them was tacitly considered a virtue.

Ianna believed that the traditional gender norms of Roanne for women were important, as she believed that there was worth in every type
of work. She simply thought it was unfortunate that it was so difficult to break tradition and venture out into the other gender’s roles.

But Lilith’s point of view was important as well, as everyone had their own opinions on the matter and it wasn’t that serious a flaw when
considering the efficiency of the nation as a whole. Ianna did not feel the need to go out of her way to single out her personal merits.
“Lilith. I’m afraid that may have been rude to Lady Ianna.”

Lilith gasped and placed a hand at her lips when Schneider discretely called her out.

“I never meant for it to be an insult.”

She had been a little too direct for that to not have been an insult. Her words could have been taken to mean, “You will not be treated as
a sword-wielding woman, but the same as any other man.” Ianna maneuvered gently over Lilith’s thorns.
“I did not take it as such.”

“Lady Roberstein may be as dashing as any gentleman, but she is also as refined as any elegant lady should be. And your dress today is
especially beautiful, my Lady. An incredibly skilled tailor must have labored hard in making it.”

Lilith paid a closer look at Ianna’s dress. It had caught her attention even from afar, and she was even more amazed after seeing it from
up close.

The delicate embroidery and lace on the white dress was so refined that it could probably fetch a hefty price if Ianna chose to sell it later.
The dress was perfectly wrinkle-free, and the cubic zirconia adorning it, though it was cheaper than precious jewels, looked much nicer
than those dresses that were laden with jewels just for the sake of extravagance.

“May I ask which madame you had it tailored by?”

“A friend of mine from the Institution’s Fashion Department, who plans to open her own boutique one day, tailored it for me out of her
goodwill. Priscilla is a very delightful individual.”

“Now, now.”

Schneider, one of the people listening in on Ianna’s and Lilith’s conversation, stepped forward. He gestured to the orchestra, which was
hesitating over whether they should begin playing or not. Schneider continued,

“Play the next song.”

The conductor waved the long baton in his right hand upon receiving the prince’s order. The other nobles began dancing as the orchestra
began playing an exquisite tune.

“May I please have this dance, Lady Ianna? Please do forgive me just today, Lilith.”

“……Very well.”

Schneider extended a hand to Ianna as Lilith gave him her permission. A servant politely collected the flowers Ianna was holding, and
Ianna turned to glance at Arhad. He looked dreadfully sour, considering the deep trenches in his brow. Angelina was staring at Arhad in
a blank daze. Schneider guessed what she was feeling and tapped his fist against the palm of his other hand.

“I see. Good Sir, why don’t you share a dance with Angelina?”

Angelina looked back at Schneider in alarm.

“L-Lord Brother…”

“And Lady Ianna, will you dance with me in the meanwhile?”

“My ap…….”

Ianna elbowed Arhad in the side just as he was about to resolutely decline. He could not be allowed to refuse. He was only pretending to
be the adopted son of a viscount, so there was no way he could be allowed to refuse a princess’ request for a dance. He must not do
anything that might invite more suspicion upon him.
“…….”

A bluish vein popped out of Arhad’s temple. He stared back at Ianna in extreme discontent. Still, he sighed and extended a hand to
Angelina when Ianna began glaring at him. Angeline wriggled her fingers around for a bit before placing her trembling hand on top of
his while blushing furiously.

Ianna stared at their touching hands with an odd feeling in her heart. Perhaps it was because this was her first time seeing someone else’s
hand in Arhad’s, but it felt incredibly awkward to her.

But there was nothing she could do about it. She put the strange feeling aside and looked to Schneider. Lilith had already left to dance
with a young nobleman whom she was on amicable terms with, so only she and Schneider remained.

Ianna had no choice to place her hand on Schneider’s when he gestured with it. He gently put his hand on Ianna’s waist and began
moving his feet to the music.

Waltzes were known as playful dances because they naturally required a lot of skin contact. Lovers could draw close to each other and
whisper sweet nothings to each other during a waltz, and men could sneak a feel on their partner’s backs or pull them in from the waist.
Partners could also choose to kiss, if they were unable to ignore the pull of love —they were thoroughly wonderful dances.

Moreover, waltzes also presented a great opportunity to talk in secret. Partners could share a conversation only between the two of them
while they danced to the music. Schneider looked like he was at a loss as he smiled.

“Everyone usually follows me with great gratitude when I say I want them as mine. This is the first time I’ve ever had to go so far.”

“Your Highness, I…”

“Ah, enough. If you’re about to refuse me like you’re cutting me off like a blade again, then stop. Why don’t you hear me out while
we’re here?”

Schneider pulled Ianna closer by the waist. He smiled wryly upon seeing the awkward look that crossed her face.

“I, too, am more than capable of fulfilling any of your wishes. What is it that the bastard promised you? I can promise you anything you
wish for. Do you want your independence? Do you want territory? A peerage of your own? Or perhaps an amazing sword?”

“…….”

“A sword forged by a dwarven craftsman, perfume from Roanne’s best perfumier, royal roses……. The reason why I suddenly presented
to you these treasures that could never be bought by gold before the nobility was to make my will official. I wanted to express just how
badly I want for you to come under my banner.”

The music, which had been as subtle as a cat’s footsteps, gradually grew more intense. Ianna spun around as Schneider led her.

“I can do for you everything that the bastard who offered 500,000 gold for you can. I can even do things for you that cannot be done with
money. To be honest, my real gift to you were the roses, but there was still a reason why I presented you the other gifts as well despite
knowing that you would refuse them because of your personality. I may have lost at the auction, but I wanted you to know that I do not
fall behind that bastard in any way.”

Schneider’s eyes were glistening in the humiliation and hostility he felt toward the man who had bid 500,000 gold for Ianna that day.

Schneider had been enraged as he bid against the man that day, and he had thought that the damned bastard had lost his mind and was
just calling numbers when the bid reached 500,000 gold. And that was why he had given up. He had been certain that the man would not
be able to pay the sum, and he had meant to execute the man for insulting him.
But then, the man had looked ever so satisfied as he pulled out a blank check, wrote 500,000 gold on it, flung it away like it was some
piece of trash, and dragged Ianna outside. When added together with the other 500,000 gold check that Ianna had ripped to shreds, the
man had spent 1 million gold as if it was nothing!

Infuriated, Schneider had ordered for the authenticity of the check to be confirmed at once, but the bank representative had simply bowed
to him and confirmed that it was real.

That damned bastard of a man, who had used a check from the Suranat Bank, a bank managed directly by the Roanne royal family, and
taken away what Schneider had wanted as if he was showing off.

It had clearly been Schneider’s loss.

This was the first time in Schneider’s life that he had tasted such defeat. He thought that just looking at the 5 in 500,000 would make him
neurotic.

“I will make my offer again. Follow me, Lady Ianna Roberstein. I can give to you everything that I presented to you before.”

“What is it that you see in me that you are acting like this, Your Highness? All you did was see me win the swordsmanship tournament.”

“I confirmed your talent at the tournament,”

Schneider said in earnest. He continued,

“And I instinctively knew that I must not allow you to slip through my fingers.”

Ianna recalled the Schneider of her past as she stared at his face from up close.

Five years later, when she was twenty-two, she had met Schneider after winning the Continental Swordsmanship Tournament and he had
said that he needed her as seriously as he was speaking to her now. The king had already been sick in his deathbed by then, and a
dreadful strife had been rippling through the royal family.

Ianna had readily accepted Schneider’s proposal that day so she could beat back the emptiness she felt in her victory, the rage she felt at
Arhad, whom she hadn’t seen even a trace of for the past three years, and the sense of defeat that kept gnawing away at her heart.

But things were different now. And so, Ianna calmly said,

“I have already sworn my knight’s oath to that person, Your Highness.”

Schneider scowled. Ianna continued,

“As I said to you before, I will follow him and leave Roanne upon my graduation from the Institution. So please give up on having me.”

The way she calmly yet strongly asserted her opinions would have scored her points with Schneider had it been any other time, but he
disliked it at the moment.

“You already possess everything, Your Highness. There is no reason for you to be so greedy just for me.”

“……I am stubborn, and I am the type of man who gets what I want even if it kills me in the process.”
Schneider organized his emotions for a moment and beamed. He continued,

“They say that little strokes fell great oaks, so I shall keep hacking away at the great tree before me for the time being. Is it not still
possible that you’ll have a change of heart one day and come to me, my Lady, or that you’ll grow sick of my persistence and give up on
refusing me?”

Ianna thought that there was no idiom more ill-befitting of her than that. After all, she had refused Arhad throughout her entire past life
until the day she had died.

But then again, perhaps it was true of her to at least some extent, since Arhad had hacked away hundreds of times and she did in fact
concede in this life…….
 

Arhad lowered his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at Schneider. Schneider’s hand was touching Ianna’s waist, and he wanted to saw it
off bones and all. Schneider was looking at Ianna, and he wanted to rip out the prince’s eyes and crush them. Schneider was whispering
something to Ianna, and he wanted to grab his chin and break it. He wanted to cover the dance hall’s colorful floor with a sea of
Schneider’s blood.

His malice toward the general population, and his avarice toward life. The bloodlust borne from those impulses had vanished by
now……but the people’s sticky gazes as they looked to Ianna registered to him as if they meant to steal her away, and it brought back his
greed and bloodlust and churned it all into one great mire.

The pitch-black Demon he had chained up in his heart so he could maintain a peaceful relationship with Ianna was screaming.

Kill them, kill them, kill them all.

But he had to restrain himself because Ianna did not know this about him.

Arhad, who looked more rational and aristocratic than any other but was actually fantasizing something insane, closed his eyes as he
suppressed his emotions. The lovely princess in his arms didn’t even register to him anymore. His body was moving to the music, but the
entirety of his mind had long since been centered only on Ianna. There was nothing he could have said in his own defense if the princess
called him out for being discourteous.

“Excuse me.”

Arhad’s golden eyes fell on Angelina when she called out to him quietly. Angelina’s face flushed red.

“Did you call for me?”

‘Oh, his voice is really nice too.’

It was emotionless, but his voice was masculine and wonderful. Angelina’s sapphire eyes took in his face. His hair was pitch-black and
his features were aristocratic and cut like a beautiful sculpture. Angelina thought that the man before her eyes was the most attractive
man she had ever seen in her life.

He also had a masculine air about him that bewitched women. The man standing before her was so tall and sturdy that he was large
enough to wrap around her and then some, and his hand was so large that hers fit completely inside his.

His eyes were calm and did not appear greedy, as other men’s eyes had. She felt as if she was standing before a heartless savage beast
that no man could possibly tame.
She had heard that he had been a commoner, but she felt like she was dancing with an heir to a large and great kingdom. The acetic looks
on his face, as if he had cut away his greed like monk, and his sharp attitude made her want to try and shake him.

“You said your name was Arhad?”

There was an unsurpassable gap in status between herself and the adopted son of a viscount, but Angelina still found it difficult to talk
down to him.

“Yes.”

“How old are you?”

“…….”

Arhad stared down at the girl who had taken an interest in him without replying, and it was only when she began blushing red in
embarrassment that he spat out,

“I’ve just turned twenty-two.”

“Ah, I see. I hear that you’re in your fifth year at the Institution. What will you do after you graduate?”

“Nothing in particular…….”

There were actually plenty of things he had to do, but none that he needed to tell the princess about. Arhad trailed off as his gaze returned
to Ianna. Ianna was in the middle of a conversation with Schneider.

‘Why the hell am I dancing with this girl right now? This isn’t what I planned for.’
He frowned, finding his current situation extremely unpleasant. Angelina thought hard about something for a while before she gathered
up her courage and said,

“What do you say about becoming a knight of the kingdom, Sir Arhad? I can recommend you personally. All royal knights must be able
to control mana, but I’m sure something can be done about your illness if we all try to cure it together.”

Arhad looked expressionlessly down at the sparkles in Angelina’s eyes. It only lasted for an instant, and his eyes twisted and the edges of
his lips warped into a splendid smile. Angelina fell into a blank daze as she stared up at him.

Arhad smiled as he looked down at her. The blushing princess in his arms was a young girl who was completely ignorant of the ways of
the world.

‘Should I just kill her?’

It nauseated him to see the bastards who had won nothing for themselves and simply basking in the underserved happiness they had been
born into. Flowers who grew up in sheltered gardens and talked as if they could bestow him with everything when they didn’t know a
thing made him impulsively want to trample over them so hard that they began oozing of pus.

The sea of emotions born from his near-eternal life was deep and dark. Pandemonium had been filled with strong negative emotions.
Any beast exposed to even the weakest malice that leaked out from the rifts into Pandemonium was transformed into a monster. The tidal
wave of violent emotions tore apart the beast’s soul and drove it completely insane.

Arhad’s ego had been trapped alone in that very same darkness for eons and was now tougher than mithril armor, so the violent emotions
could not devour him. He actually enjoyed controlling them, in fact. In turn, this made the emotions of man seem trivial to him. They
were vain, futile, and so incredibly bland……like he had been suddenly made to chew on unseasoned grass when he had been ripping
into thick slabs of meat flavored amply with rich gravy just earlier.
This was why Arhad was generally so emotionless. The pointless and trivial emotions of mankind utterly failed to move him.

This puppy before his eyes who was too ignorant to fear the tiger was no different. He could crush her skinny bones just by squeezing
them. She might even shrivel up and die on her own if he shot his bloodlust at her.

Arhad wasn’t fond of young flowers. They were so trivial to him that he might accidentally trample them to death before he even
noticed.

The sole being in the world who could move him with even the smallest action was none other than Ianna. His twisted nature made him
want to snap the necks of all the women who were thrilled to see him and stared at him to no end, but the beast inside quieted like the
gentlest lamb only when he was with Ianna. The monster living inside of Arhad reacted ardently only to Ianna.

‘……I’m quite the clown.’

Arhad looked away from Angelina and turned forward. He could always spot Ianna, who alone was radiant in the midst of all those other
colorless lifeforms, no matter where she was.

Ianna, Ianna.
Her name excited him more with each recitation. It resounded oddly even in his agitation. The name of the cruel woman who had seized
his soul and refused to let him go.

His every emotion, which were nearly driving him insane, was pointed only toward Ianna. And they disappeared and disappeared and
disappeared every time she smiled. All that remained……was his pure and reckless ardor, which had thought had long since stopped
existing within him.

Just what are you? What are you to me that I……?

His eyes grew murkier under his lids as he continued to look to Ianna. Arhad closed his eyes in an attempt to subdue his feelings.

Angelina, who had been sneaking glances at the profile of the rude man who was ignoring her, caught a glimpse of the rabid emotions
swaying behind his eyes by chance and recoiled.

The waltz was almost over. Arhad opened his eyes again. He was looking down at Angelina, but his eyes were no longer filled to the
brim with the inner emotions that had made it difficult for her to breathe. His eyes were so much incomparably colder and more
emotionless than before, to the point that it was frightening. Angelina’s eyes shook.

“Thank you for your kind offer……,”

Arhad whispered frigidly. He let out just enough bloodlust that she didn’t pass out but still started to wrap around her throat. Just enough
so that she didn’t choke but still enough to make it difficult for her to breathe.

The blood drained from Angelina’s face and she began to tremble. The look on Arhad’s face was no different from earlier, when he had
tempted her heart, but now he seemed like a monster who was drooling as he barred his fangs at her.

Her vision grew dark. His golden eyes shined with a queer light in the darkness. Angelina’s lips quivered. His golden eyes terrified her as
they seemed to approach her like a deadly and venomous serpent. He seemed like a giant monster who would rend her flesh apart any
moment now.

Arhad gently held her up as her legs started to give out from under her, and he whispered,

“But I’m not interested.”

So stop trying to flirt with me unless you want to die.

Arhad didn’t say the latter part out loud, but Angelina felt as though the words had reached her ears regardless. Arhad gently let go of her
and bowed to her courteously. And then, he immediately exited the dance hall.

Part 6
The music stopped. Schneider tried to keep Ianna with him, suggesting they could talk a while longer, but Ianna refused by
saying that she had promised others she would dance with them, and he readily let her go after promising that they would
speak again. The fact that other nobles were approaching him because they wanted to speak with him probably factored into
his decision.

“Where did that man go?”

“Where is he?”

There were many women in search of Arhad because they wanted to dance with him. Ianna and Arhad had looked close
enough to be lovers, but those women who still wanted to touch him just once did not let that stop them.

The men of the royal family were all handsome as well, but they were already betrothed and it was difficult to approach
them, whereas the handsome man named Arhad had vividly caught their eye. He was apparently only adopted into nobility,
but he must surely be amazing person if he had Viscount Callisto’s, who was currently on a roll as his businesses took off, full
trust.

Ianna was also looking for Arhad as well. But she could not find even a single strand of his hair no matter how hard she
looked. The princess, whom she had thought he would be with, was surrounded by a throng of other men, and Ianna had
looked all over the dance hall, wondering if he had been caught by some other woman, only to learn for certain that he was
no longer there. He was taller than most and was always at the center of attention, so there was no way that her eyes would
miss him.

‘Did he get annoyed and leave?’

But there was no way that the man who had persistently begged to her spend more time with him, who had begged her to
listen to him just this once, would simply leave her behind like this.

‘Perhaps he’s out on a walk, since he seemed like he was in a bad mood. But still, he left without a word…….’
Ianna was a little disconcerted as she observed Angelina, who had parted with Arhad just moments ago.

“Are you feeling ill, Your Highness?”

“Shall we call a royal doctor?”

“No, not at all. I’m quite all right.”

Angelina was pallid and trembling. Ianna watched the princess from afar and wondered if Arhad had done something to her,
since the princess was trembling as if in abject terror.

In any case, she would have to find Arhad first. Who knew what sort of mishaps he would case while walking around with
that face of his……. Ianna’s eyes met Angelina’s just as she was about to turn around and head for the exit.

“E-excuse me. Please wait, Lady Roberstein!”

Angelina pushed through the crowd of young men with her slender arms and walked up to Ianna. She tried to placate her
furiously beating heart as she gingerly continued,

“May I ask you something?”

She was so small and white and slender, like a lovable little rabbit. The princess had given off this image in Ianna’s past as
well. She drew the attention and envy of all the young men at every party she attended, and she had never once spoken to
Ianna.

The princess was of prestigious birth, and she was always loved by all. Whereas Ianna was of dirty origins and had been
scorned all her life for the innocent mistake she had committed as a young child.

Ianna had always felt deprived when in the princess’ presence. She hadn’t dared hate her, however. She had simply been
envious of her and had felt wretched in comparison. Those adolescent feelings had chilled her to the bone.

‘But she just seems immature now that I’ve met her again.’
Ianna gave thanks to her sword for freeing her quickly from such pointless emotions. She wouldn’t have wasted so much of
her time or her emotions if only she had taken up the sword even a day earlier, if she had learned sooner that it was more
enjoyable to polish herself and shine rather than put in all her effort trying to win the love of others……she was a little wistful
on that count.

But Angelina had never spoken to her in the past, so what was it that drove her to pose Ianna a question now?

“But of course.”

“You were with Sir Arhad earlier —would you be able to tell me what kind of person he is by any chance?”

Her question put Ianna on edge. She would not allow anything to bring Arhad trouble. Ianna already disliked the idea that
the nobles might take an interest in Arhad, but now Angelina of all people was after him? The light in Ianna’s eyes grew
wintry.
“I am not certain what it is about him that you are asking about.”

“Just his personality, I suppose. Like if he’s a generally scary person…….”

Had Arhad intimidated her? Ianna suddenly wondered if Arhad was angry, since he had left without telling her despite that
he wasn’t generally so rude.

“Did he say something to you, Princess? I hope he hasn’t shown you any discourtesy…”

“No, not at all. He was very polite, but he was giving off this feeling…….”

Ianna figured that Arhad had pressured with his aura rather than with words as she watched the princess shake her head.
The princess would not have been asking after him like this if he had told her to shut up and get lost or to stop taking an
interest in him unless she wished to die.

‘What kind of person Arhad is…….’

Ianna thought about him. He laughed often and was rather insecure and anxious when he was with her, but he was always at
leisure and enshrouded in a tight layer of endlessly cold rationality in front of others.

“He’s very cool and composed, but he’s not a scary person. He is liked by many in the Institution.”

“Truly? Then perhaps I was mistaken because of my nerves?”

“May I ask what it is that you feel that you were mistaken about?”

“Hmm……. I simply felt a chill while we were dancing, but I suppose it was just my imagination. I was probably mistaken. In
any case, my Lady. Could you please share it with me if there’s anything more you know about him?”
Angelina blushed bashfully. The princess was the picture of a young girl in love as she wriggled her fingers in
embarrassment. Ianna understood what it meant when a girl acted like this. And the princess was especially obvious about
her feelings.

‘She didn’t fall in love with Arhad, did she?’

The princess would one day be courted arduously by the king of Killiko, and she would eventually become Killiko’s queen.
Ianna recalled that she had been loved dearly by the king, and she remembered how feeble Angelina had looked as she
appealed to Schneider for help because she was terrified about the large civil war that had broken out in Killiko.

The princess was a lovable flower who could only survive under another’s protection. She was not suited for Arhad, who had
once been called the Demon of War. Ianna would not tolerate this girl bothering Arhad and getting in the way of his work.

It was on thing if it had been Arhad who liked her first, but Ianna had no desire whatsoever of introducing her to Arhad at her
request.
And so, Ianna decisively said,

“A thousand pardons. I find it difficult to speak about another behind his back. Please tell him directly if there is something
you wish to relay, and please ask him directly if there is something you wish to know. I regret to inform you that I am not
able to give you the answer you seek.”

“Oh, not at all.”

Ianna had been courteous, but Angelina shook her head in bewilderment because Ianna’s answer had been so cold and curt.
The noblewomen who had been eavesdropping on their conversation unfolded their fans and said things like, “My my. How
pert,” and “Do you think she’s trying to keep our beautiful princess in check? Earlier……,” but Ianna ignored them
completely.

“May I ask if you know where he went?”

“Oh……he went outside as soon as the music stopped.”

And so, their business was over. Ianna bowed to Angelina in farewell and slipped past her.

She pushed aside the nobles who were trying to approach her and went to the gardens.

It was already dark because it was the middle of winter and it was cloudy today. Ianna lingered in the garden, lit up by the
glow of magical artefacts, as the cold night breeze teased her hair and dress, but she could not find Arhad anywhere. She
tried leaving the gardens and walking through the trail as well, but she was only hit on by other nobles —she did not find
Arhad.

Eventually, Ianna had no choice but to return to the hall. She moistened her throat with wine and waited for Arhad to return
to the party, but he did not.

‘What on earth is he doing? It’s already been long enough for him to finish taking a walk.’
She could not waste any more time than this. Ianna danced with Gellonian and Filliger, with whom she had promised a
dance, and also with Maimayè and Heinrich, though she hadn’t initially planned to dance with them. They gave her their
sincere congratulations for debuting, and they elevated her endlessly in the eyes of their onlookers.

Cherno, Sarachè, and Harchen, too, only spoke good things about Ianna when other nobles asked after her. They expressed
their anger when sycophants tried to insult her on the sly, and they rebuked those who made sarcastic remarks about their
house.

Ianna gradually became as someone whom the nobility could not dare insult not only because House Roberstein took her
side but also because she had a peculiar but powerful list of ties to important people.
“You look really different today.”

Herrace was the last person Ianna danced with.

“How so?”

“You’re as lovely and as cool as ever, but you also look like an ordinary person today. Maybe it’s because you aren’t holding a
sword?”

Her heels clicked against the floor. Ianna could dance without stepping on her partner’s feet now, perhaps because she had
gotten the hang of it after dancing with Arhad.

“Nothing has changed about me. The only difference is my clothes.”

“Then perhaps it’s because of your clothes? I don’t know how exactly to put it, but you usually give off the professional air of
an ‘outstanding swordswoman,’ Little Ianna, but today you feel more personal, like a ‘normal woman.’ You feel more like a
person than a swordswoman, and you seem more effeminate than the people around you.”

Herrace smiled and continued,

“Like the way you feel when you’re with Sir Arhad.”

A curious look spread across Ianna’s face.

“Am I different when I’m with Sir Arhad?”

Herrace’s eyes sparkled, as if he had been waiting for her to ask.

“Hmmm. Sir Arhad really likes you and treasures you a lot, Little Ianna. And you accept his goodwill, and only his, without
hesitation.”

Ianna was a highly independent individual who generally refused the goodwill and consideration of others like she was
cutting them away with a blade. She was confident enough that others relied on her, but she herself never treated others
emotionally —she was like an upright tree that stood alone and was green all throughout the year.

But she was so different when she was with Arhad. She hardly ever refused Arhad’s goodwill. Rather, she had been the one to
chase him around first, cling to him, and pour out her emotions to him unsparingly. The smile on her lips as she sparred
with Arhad was so captivating that it made Herrace’s heart skip a beat.
Ianna had always been hard and stern, but she was visibly beginning to loosen up a little. Herrace had a good eye for these
things because he was sensitive to how others were feeling, and he looked up to Ianna as his idol and had observed her as a
friend for a year now, so he understood this best.

“Maybe that’s why —you’re normally like a sturdy tree, but you seem like a rose when you’re with Sir Arhad. Would that
make Sir Arhad a gardener? I’m a poor speaker, so I don’t think I can express it properly.”

Ianna was a flower only when she was with Arhad. She was a sturdy bud whom no one had ever seen bloom. And Arhad was
the gardener who tended to her with sincere devotion.

Herrace had come up with this image during the fashion show.
Arhad had pushed aside the girls who were insulting Ianna without any hesitation whatsoever, and he had given her his
bouquet that overflowed with his affections for her, as if he was trying to convey how beautiful and dear she was to him. And
Ianna, who usually detested being called beautiful, had thanked him upon receiving the unprecedently luxurious bouquet.

The flower and the gardener.

A woman and a man.

“From time to time, the two of you seem more like just a man and a woman rather than a senior and a junior competing
against each other in school. Just like when the two of you were dancing today.”

Ianna had looked like a flower just about to blossom while she had been dancing with Arhad today. Herrace’s heart had
fluttered even though he had only been observing them.

“We’re not in a relationship.”

“Ack, my apologies.”

Herrace came back to his senses and paled when Ianna coolly reproached him. His pinkish imaginations shattered.

“We’re a man and a woman biologically speaking, but we’re not in the kind of relationship that you’re implying.
Understand?”

“Yes, my apologies. I was simply imagining things. Perhaps I’ve crossed a line.”

Ianna, who wasn’t too happy with the subject, brought up another.

“Enough of that —we’ll be starting your training next week, so come out at six in the morning. You’re going to be joining me
in my training.”

“……In your training, Little Ianna?”

The blood drained from Herrace’s face. He knew just how notorious Ianna’s training was. Ianna could normally only be
found in the library, the training grounds, or her dormitory, and her schedule was jam-packed with only training and
studying.

“Yes. We’ll also be going to the mountains to hunt monsters, so make sure you repeat to yourself that you’re dead if you don’t
perform.”

“M-monsters?”

Herrace gulped. He had never seen a monster before, as he’d never stepped foot outside the capital. He had only ever trained
alone or under his father’s guidance because he was frail. Forget monsters —he had never even experienced even the faintest
bloodlust outside of sparring.

“You’ve never been in battle or exterminated monsters before, right?”

“No.”

“You’ve been spoiled. People start thinking about pointless things if they’re too comfortable. There’s a huge difference
between sparring and real fights. You’ll be able to feel yourself change after you’ve experienced a few real fights.”
“B-but. If we see a monster……we’ll have to kill it.”

“Are you afraid of taking life? But a swordsman is fundamentally someone who takes lives. The swordplay we’ve been
learning exists to kill others with. A swordsman’s job isn’t to spar. It’s to fight in actual battle and kill.”

Herrace felt like he’d been smacked on the back of his head when he heard what she had said. The fundamentals of a
swordsman. The reasons why a sword was sharp. Putting all else aside, the first and foremost reason that the sword was
created was to kill. If you took away everything that was superfluous and only considered the essentials, the end goal of
everyone who trained with the sword was to take lives.

Ianna looked Herrace directly in the eyes.

“Why is it that you want to control mana?”

“……I want to be a real swordsman. If I can’t control mana, I won’t be able to wield by sword because it’ll be broken as soon
as my opponent wraps their own sword in mana. I’m nothing but a deadweight swordsman as I am now.”

“A real swordsman and a deadweight swordsman…….”

Ianna smiled. She continued,

“Then why do you wield your sword?”

Herrace fell into thought as he contemplated her question.

He had always wanted to be a swordsman, but he had never considered why it was that he wielded his sword. House
Bendham was a military house, and it was only natural for him to train in the sword. Herrace had liked sword training ever
since he was young, and he also liked sparring with other martial artists. More importantly, swordplay was his life, and it was
his sole means of being acknowledged. Herrace grew a bit embarrassed, and he replied with little confidence.

“Because……I want to be acknowledged, I suppose?”

“That’s not a bad reason. To get stronger, for wealth and honor, for glory, to get ahead in life, for recognition, to protect
something, to survive……there are many reasons why people wield the sword, and yours —to be acknowledged by your
household— is a ubiquitous one that many others share. But. How much murder are you willing to commit to achieve your
goal of being acknowledged?”

Herrace did not know how to answer.

“Killing is something that every swordsman must one day overcome. You classified swordsmen based on the ability to
control mana, but I would say otherwise. I say that you become a deadweight swordsman only when your reason for wielding
the sword crumbles beneath the weight of killing. At that point, you’ve lost sight of your goal and you’re simply swinging
around a blade.”

Calmly, she continued,

“But your sword will only grow sturdier if you can bear the weight of karma and carve out your own path in life even still.
Your sword will become unique to you, and it will become as your life itself. I say that someone like this is a real swordsman.”

Herrace carved Ianna’s each and every word deep inside his heart. They were dancing lightly, and Ianna’s theory about the
sword was confusing and difficult to comprehend, but Herrace had a hunch that it would help him break through one day
when life presented him with an obstacle in his path.
Ianna beamed.

“You said you wanted to be a swordsman, but you aren’t desperate enough. You lack the enmity and spite to kill. You need to
experience a lot of real battles. It’ll give you the opportunity to think more seriously about yourself and your sword, and it’ll
help you find your real goals.”

“……I see. I understand. I’ll take that to heart. But, why do you wield the sword, Little Ianna?”
Ianna fell into silence. Herrace tilted his head to the side in bafflement, as, considering her personality, he had thought she
would reply promptly. But it only lasted for a moment as her firm and decisive words began flowing from her lips.

“Because I love the sword. And because I can do anything with the sword.”

She had given up on people and had loved the sword instead. She enjoyed wielding the sword because it made her feel alive,
and she had indulged herself in the sword ever since she had first learned of her talent with it. She relied on the sword
because it shut people’s mouths when they insulted her, and she loved the sword for protecting her against all threats and
persecution.

The sword was her everything.

“I wield the sword to feel alive, to prove my worth, to protect myself, and lastly, to eliminate my enemies.”

“…….”

“Which is why I don’t find any worth in those whom I decide to sacrifice to my sword. I don’t bother myself with pointless
feelings like guilt. I can cut down anyone and anything, especially my enemies, without hesitation. It doesn’t matter who or
what they are.”

Ianna’s unemotional words were frightening as she suggested that murder was no big deal to her. She continued,

“My resolve is the first thing that changes when I wield the sword with the intent to kill, as opposed to when I’m simply
sparring at the Institution.”

Herrace had never seen Ianna truly cut something down. The closest he had gotten was when she had cruelly turned the four
pieces of trash from the Swordsmanship Department into eunuchs. She had been terrifying even then, so how much scarier
would she be when she truly intended to kill?
Herrace imagined what Ianna would look like if she was coming to kill him. The earth would split open as she kicked off
against it, her sword would fall upon him like a ray of light, her face would be dark as she had her back against the sun, and
her crimson eyes would be surging with bloodlust.

What was scarier still was that the image suited Ianna well. Herrace felt a chill run down his back just from imagining it.

“……But I have a slightly different reason now……,”

Ianna muttered quietly to herself and stepped away from Herrace as he started trembling.

“In any event, I’ll see you in a week. I might add that you need to be more spiteful if you want to learn how to control mana
properly.”

“I’ll keep that in mind!”

Ianna lifted up the hem of her skirt as she curtsied to him, and she made to leave the hall now that she had danced with
everyone she had promised to dance with. But an uninvited guest stopped her before she could.
“May I ask you for a dance as well, Lady Roberstein?”

Ianna opened her eyes wide in surprise when she saw who it was. And she immediately lowered her head.

“I am humbled by your presence, Your Royal Highness Prince Saiwè Luria Roanne.”

It was Prince Saiwè, the third prince. Ianna was a bit bewildered, as his request had been so truly unexpected.

He had taken after his mother and had chocolate-colored hair and amethyst-colored eyes. He was the younger brother of
Fernando Luria Roanne, and he was a prince who, like the princesses, had no right to vie for the throne because he had not
been born with silver hair and silver eyes, and he had lived his life while mostly being ignored until he had suddenly
disappeared a few years before the king had passed away. He had been declared dead only a few years later, and a national
funeral had been held in his honor. And he had never crossed paths with Ianna in the past.

‘So why is he approaching me now?’

Ianna was bewildered because he was asking her for a dance out of absolutely nowhere. But she simply accepted it —the
future had already begun changing, so what difference did one more change make? She carefully placed her hand on top of
Saiwè’s.

“It is truly an honor.”

Saiwè took her hand and place his other hand against her back. Ianna put her other hand on his arm and looked him in the
eyes.

“I was rather surprised that you asked me for a dance, Your Highness.”

Ianna wanted to know why Saiwè had approached her. Schneider alone was already giving her so much trouble, so she was
incredibly reluctant to have ties with any of the other members of the royal family. He smiled an alluring smile.

“My Lord Brother Schneider has taken an interest in you, and I’ve also taken a personal interest in you myself.”

Schneider was on horrible terms with Fernando, but he was on relatively good terms with Saiwè. Their mothers, Luria and
Lezè, fought like cats and dogs, as they were on opposing factions of the nobility in the game of thrones, and, though they
were not openly hostile to one another, they were still wary around each other.

Saiwè’s first reason made sense if you considered that he and Schneider were political enemies. His second reason, however,
caught Ianna’s attention.

“A personal interest?”

“Ah, please don’t misunderstand. You’re beautiful, my Lady, but I am not interested in you as a woman. I wish to live a long
life, after all.”

“Have I done something to cause you trouble, Your Highness?”

“Haha. That isn’t what I meant at all —I prefer more docile women.”

“Is that so? But, why are you being so courteous to me? Please speak at ease.”

“I pray you don’t let my manner of speech bother you —I’m simply more accustomed to speaking like this. More importantly,
I hear that you are training in the sword? They say you even won the swordsmanship tournament.”
“It’s nothing much to brag about, but yes.”

“That’s remarkable. I know they do exist, but it’s rare to find a swordswoman with such skill. To seize victory after beating
back all the men……it’s astonishing. A little late, but allow me to offer you my congratulations for your victory.”

It looked like it was her victory that had caught his interest. Then again, swordswomen were rare in Roanne to begin with,
especially when they were from noble origins. Perhaps he had simply been intrigued by her as a peculiar noble girl.

“Are you interested in the sword?”

“Ah, I prefer the bow over the sword. I have a taste for shooting through my targets as they flee, you see. And I dislike getting
blood on my hands.”

Saiwè’s dark mauve eyes glistened as he bowed to Ianna after the music had stopped.

“It was wonderful meeting you, my Lady. I’ll be in your care from now on.”

Saiwè smirked at Ianna before making his leave.

‘In my care? Is he suggesting we get along in future social gatherings?’

Saiwè was a peculiar prince. Ianna tilted her head to the side before she spotted a terrace without its curtains drawn yet and
moved toward it.

“How curious —His Highness Prince Saiwè doesn’t normally dance with women at parties.”

“Perhaps Lady Roberstein……is simply remarkable in more ways than one…….”

Ianna’s excellent hearing caught the whispers behind her back as she passed them by. Several young men tried to ask her for
a dance, but Ianna coldly but politely turned them down by saying she was tired. There wasn’t much they could say or do to
press the issue. She had already danced with eight different people, which was more than enough dances to tire anybody out.

In truth, Ianna was not physically tired at all. But she was still emotionally fatigued because there had been a lot she had to
pay attention to. She ignored the glances that were being cast on her as she entered a terrace on the second floor and sharply
drew the curtains.

“Sighhh.”
Ianna walked up to the terrace’s marble bannister, undid the hairpiece that was pulling at her hair, and draped herself over
the railing. Her crimson hair fluttered in the cold winter wind. It was still only waving smoothly for now because it had been
tended to before the party, but she would have to comb it down again when the strands, now flowing down like Western silk,
inevitably became tangled.

Ianna let her hair be even though she could be criticized for being unrefined if she went back to the hall with her hair in a
mess. She simply leaned against the banister and looked up at the night sky with nary a thought in her mind.

She heard someone knocking on the door not too long afterward. Some of the nobles she had not been able to dance with her
were trying to at least sneak in a conversation with her. Ianna had only been scorned by the nobility in the past, but she
found that it was actually more cumbersome and exhausting when they were actively hitting on her like this.

Ianna ignored the sounds she was hearing from the doors and looked out at the scenery stretched out before her. She heard
the tune of music and the sounds of laughter leaking through to her, and she looked to the trees and tender grasses that
remained green all year long. The outdoor garden was decorated beautifully with roses, and magical crystal artifacts were
illuminating the darkness.
It was lovely, but she was getting tired of it because she had seen it so many times in her past. She pushed the boring scenery
out of her mind and quietly fell into thought as she leaned against the banister.

Arhad  had been thorny before the prince. It was obvious that he was upset, seeing that he had left without telling her. ……
But she didn’t think she had done anything wrong. She had dealt with the situation appropriately, and she had acted in
accordance to her convictions. And yet…….

“Arhad.”

“You called?”

Ianna had simply muttered his name for no real reason in particular, and she looked up from the banister in alarm when she
was returned a reply. Arhad jumped up to the banister like a black bird before she could even look down. He looked
nonchalant as his feet hit the floor even as Ianna stared openly back at him.

“I was just taking a walk.”

“Ha……haha.”

Ianna could not help but laugh in resignation because Arhad had shamelessly jumped up the bannister even though this was
the second story and had started talking to her.

“Where have you been? I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“Were you looking for me? I’m sorry. I thought I might show you something you wouldn’t want to see if I stayed there.”

Arhad straightened himself next to her, and Ianna kept one hand on the banister as she looked up at him and slowly asked,

“Were you angry?”

“Not angry, per se. Just a little annoyed that the prince was getting so fresh with you. And I was irritated about the fact that
he danced with you as well.”

Arhad looked a little embarrassed as he stroked his chin.

“It was quite childish of me……. But in any event, I wasn’t angry with you.”

Ianna, who had been staring at him, turned back around and rested her arms against the bannister as she looked off into the
distance.

“I’ll keeping attending parties, but I don’t intend on giving my heart out to anyone. Even today, I was only planning to show
up and leave. Though I never expected for things to end up like this.”

“Yeah.”

“It might ruin your plans if you accidentally wound the prince’s pride.”

“I know.”
“Should I still have been colder to the prince for your sake anyway?”

Arhad, who had been tidying up his clothes, looked up and watched as Ianna still kept her gaze out to the distance.

“……Why should you have done that? Of course not. I would have felt better, admittedly, but it would have brought you
trouble. It wouldn’t make sense for you to be disrespectful to the prince of your own country. If the prince told you to play
dead like some street performer, then it’s only right that you comply. I know that, and that’s why I had to dance with the
princess, and it’s also why I tried to bring you outside before he could come and talk to you. If it were possible, I would have
liked to stop you from attending any parties at all, but…….”

“I want to keep the promises that I myself made. It’s the only way I’ll be able to feel like I’ve completely stopped being Ianna
Roberstein. I made a resolve when I made my promise to the countess, and everything will be over only after I’ve attended all
six parties. I would feel uncomfortable, like nothing was truly finished, if I ended things before then. Am I strange for
thinking this way?”

“No, you’re not. That’s just who you are.”

“After all, I believe in keeping my promises unless something happens that makes it absolutely impossible.”

Ianna continued to uncharacteristically lay excuse after excuse for herself. But she still wanted to give Arhad these excuses.

“Yes, and that’s why I’ve kept close to you all this time.”

Arhad walked up to her, plopped his hand on her head, and began stroking her hair. Ianna looked at him out of the corner of
her eyes. He looked rather happy. He continued,

“You must have been concerned about me, seeing how you keeping going on about that. It’s all right. I was annoyed with the
prince, but I understood why you acted the way you did. It makes me happy to see how hard you’re trying to make me feel
better. All the unpleasantness just washed away.”

Ianna lowered her eyes as Arhad’s hand was still on her head. Arhad’s path to the imperial throne had been smooth back
when he hadn’t been involved with her. He had never once attended any of Roanne’s social parties, never mind a debutante
ball. And he had maintained a cooperative relationship with the prince as the leader of Camastros.

Which only bothered her all the more, and it also made it difficult for her to be stern with the aforementioned prince.

“Then please stop attending any more parties from now on.”

It would be better for Arhad to stop attending the parties altogether if his mood would only be soured by seeing her there.
Especially if he was only attending to keep others from approaching her.

But Arhad took his hand off Ianna’s head and shook his head.

“I already said no.”

“I’d……rather give up.”

“On what?”

Ianna looked quietly down at the scenery before her.

“If you’re only attending these parties because of me, then I’d rather stop attending myself.”

Arhad did not hide his surprise. This was the first time Ianna had ever yielded to his will first.

“Why? I thought you believed in keeping your promises. Didn’t you say that this was the only way you could feel like things
had ended completely?”

“I don’t want you to be exposed to the world because of me when you’re hiding in the Institution to plan for your rebellion.
So please make a choice. Either you should stop coming out to these parties, or I’ll stop attending them myself.”

“……I’m not inclined to either of those choices. I’m overjoyed that you’re even willing to bend your values for me, but I’d
prefer it if you were able to completely end your life in Roanne with your own hands. I don’t want to interfere with that. You
might feel uncomfortable later if I do. And besides, I’m attending these parties because I want to. If you’re really trying to act
in my best interest, then don’t stop me.”
Ianna straightened herself out and stared at Arhad.

“Very well. I’m sure you’ll manage your identity perfectly well on your own. But, above all else, I’d like it if you stayed in high
spirits. You were angry that I danced with the prince, were you not? I will never be persuaded into joining the prince, but he
will keep approaching me until he finally gives up. Can you remain in high spirits even as you watch this unfold? You can’t,
so why are you so insistent about attending these parties?”

“……The truth…”

Arhad nodded toward the brightly lit hall that he could peer through from the small crack in between the curtains. He
continued,

“Is that I simply wanted to dance with you in the light where everyone else was watching.”

“Please stop saying such nonsense,”

Ianna retorted coldly. Arhad looked like a great injustice had been done to him.

“It’s the truth.”

“You can’t, even if it’s the truth. Please stop coming to these parties.”

Arhad wilted a little when Ianna firmly told him no. Anyone else would have thought that he was still standing just as upright
as ever, but Ianna, who had watched him for a long time now, knew that he was heavily disappointed. She stole a glance at
him now that he was no longer being stubborn.

Was it just her delusion that he reminded her of a downcast wolf hanging his tail down low? The man before her was an
elegant savage beast, so why did he always act like an abandoned puppy in front of her? She almost felt like she had
mistreated him.

Ianna held her tongue and pondered for a bit. She recalled how Priscilla had jumped for joy and how Arhad had been so
happy he hadn’t known what to do with himself when she had been honest with them. She wondered if she should do it
again.

“You’re the man who will be the emperor of the Bahamut Empire one day, so you mustn’t dance with the nobles of Roanne in
a mere ballroom on the Kingdom of Roanne’s Founding Day.”

Ianna stroked the gentle glow of the bannister as she spoke. She continued,
“Don’t come out to places like this just to be treated poorly. You are to be my master one day, and I dislike watching you bow
your head and speak up to others even if it’s just a pretense. You are not someone who should be treated this way.”

The displeasure that had filled her chest when she saw him bow to Schneider had made her all the more reluctant to see him
come to a party ever again.

“You can dance as much as you want in the ballroom of the nation that is to be yours one day. I can simply dance with you
when I debut as a real noble, no? I will think of that as my true introduction to high society.”

Something white dropped down on the banister. Ianna looked up at the skies. Pure-white snowflakes were falling down to
earth like white flower petals riding the wind. It was the first snow on the first night of the new year. Ianna continued to look
up at the sky without a word for a moment before another snowflake landed on her nose. Ianna closed her eyes and
continued,

“I am looking forward to having my first dance when that day comes. And I will be sharing it with none other than you,
naturally. I had fun dancing with you today. So I am sure I will have just as much fun then.”

“…….”

“This will only be possible if you ascend to the throne, of course, but I have never considered that you wouldn’t be able to do
it.”

My master is the best, so I don’t want to see him be treated poorly by others even if it’s only fake……. Ianna grew a little perplexed
when Arhad didn’t respond even after she had grumbled like a young child. It didn’t show on her face, but her ears were
flushing red.
Ianna touched at her ears and snuck a glace to her side, and her hands left her ears when she found that Arhad was staring
openly back at her.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“You…….”

Knock knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the terrace doors and broke the silence. Ianna narrowed her eyes and glared at the doors.

“How annoying……. They’ve been so noisy since even before you arrived.”

“If it’s all right with you, shall I chase them away? I’ll make it so that no one will bother you anymore, so long as you agree to
it.”

Ianna grew intrigued by the composure in his words.

“And how will you do that?”

“Ask who it is, and let them in when they reply.”

“You want me to let them in?”

“Just do as I say.”
Ianna hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided to comply. The man outside gasped and called himself Viscount Shon
when Ianna asked who it was. His speech was slurred by wine, and he tripped over his tongue because he hadn’t imagined
that she would actually answer. Ianna scowled, reluctant to have to confront him, but she had no choice but to let him in
nevertheless.

“……!”

The door was wrenched open as soon as she had begun opening it. Ianna didn’t even have the time to react to the unexpected
force before she found her face buried in Arhad’s chest. Arhad kept his back to the door as he wrapped his arm against
Ianna’s waist and leaned her against the terrace banister before grabbing onto the bannister with his free hand. And he held
Ianna tight, as though she was the woman he loved most in the entire world. Ianna opened her eyes wide.

The door opened all the way and light poured into the terrace, but Ianna couldn’t see anything because Arhad was blocking
her view. Arhad’s chin was on her head, and the man behind him gasped and stepped right back out.

“You’ve been knocking for a while now —could you please stop bothering us?”

“M-my apologies!”

The man closed the terrace doors and immediately made himself scarce. Ianna kept her face against Arhad’s chest for a short
while before looking up a little. He had embraced her so many times now that she no longer found it awkward or wanted to
push him away. She wondered if she was growing used to it.

“What are you doing?”

“I chased him away. And now the number of men approaching you will drastically decrease. He’s bound to spread rumors,
after all.”

“People will misunderstand.”

“Does it matter? There’s no need for them to know about our actual relationship.”

Arhad smirked as he let her go. But just then.

“Ahhh.”

A lewd noise sounded from beyond the banister. Arhad’s and Ianna’s gazes turned to the dark garden below them.

“Ahh, Lord Baron, you mustn’t…….”

“Tut tut. There’s no need to make such a fuss.”

A man was lifting up a woman’s dress as he bit into her nape like she was a fruit dribbling in sweet juices. The woman kept
moaning as she pulled the man in closer by the neck. And the two of them disappeared off into the dark grasses.

“…….”

But they couldn’t avoid Arhad’s and Ianna’s gaze because they had good vision. Ianna propped her elbows up against the
banister and observed their graphic act.
“I can’t help but think that they’re just animals when they act all posh but still do things like that outside,”

Ianna judged them apathetically. Arhad placed his hand over her eyes.

“You shouldn’t be watching something like that yet. You’re too young.”

“What are you talking about? I’m old enough to get married. And you weren’t any better yourself just earlier.”
Ianna removed Arhad’s hand. She continued,

“Why do you keep treating me like I’m a young child? Is the age of maturity different in the Bahamut Empire?”

Ianna felt strange because Arhad kept treating her like a child. Arhad pat her on the head with his large hand as if he found
her cute.

Seventeen and twenty-two.1 Ianna was still technically young enough to be treated like a child, but she felt somewhat
awkward because no one else had ever really treated her as one. She touched at her head where Arhad had pat her earlier.
A smile alighted Arhad’s face as he watched over her antics.

“It’s getting a little awkward to stay here —shall we leave?”

“And how would we do that?”

Arhad reached out a hand toward her.

“I’ll be using magic, so grab on. I’m going to cast Teleport.”

“Teleport?”

It was a spell that even archmages found difficult to cast. And it had been regarded as one of the most dangerous spells in
existence after the mage who had used it to escape Kandemayon, the Chaos Dragon, and gone insane.

“Yes. It’s difficult to use over long distances, but shorter distances are easy enough.”

Ianna realized that Arhad was skilled at magic as well. Ianna was doubtful, but she cautiously took his hand anyway because
he was an owner of a Demon’s fragment, which was the mana’s master, and because he looked incredibly confident in
himself.

“There’s an anti-magic barrier surrounding the royal palace.”

“That doesn’t matter. Stick close to me. I might accidentally teleport only half your body if things go wrong.”

Ianna stuck close to Arhad with nervousness all over her face, and mana began fluctuating at their feet.

Buzzzzz—
And black magic circle expanded across the terrace with Arhad at its center. The magic circle, covered with geometrical
patterns and teeming with intricate formulas and letters, began rotating ever so slowly. A breeze of mana blew and
disheveled their hair. Ianna squinted as the magic circle began emitting a bright light.

“We’ll be moving soon.”

This was her first time teleporting. Ianna grabbed Arhad’s arm tight in anxiety and stuck even closer to him.

Swoop!
The magic circle shrank instantaneously and intensively absorbed mana as their figures vanished.

Part 7
“Where are we?”

Ianna whipped her head around as she surveyed her surroundings, unable to hide her astonishment. The scenery around her
had changed completely. She was in a tidy room with a sofa made from water buffalo leather, a mahogany table, and a warm,
velvet carpet.

And elderly woman who had already been standing there in wait bowed deeply to the two of them.

“This is one of my manors. I’ve prepared a set of comfortable clothes for you, so let’s head outside as soon as you’ve gotten
changed.”

Arhad pointed to the knee-length winter dress and a jacket thick enough to stave off the cold laying out on the sofa as he
walked out the door. Underneath the chairs were a pair of ankle boots lined with thick soft fur.

“Please hand me your dress once you’ve finished changing.”

The woman bowed courteously and took the dress that Priscilla had made for Ianna after Ianna had finished changing.

Ianna walked over to the mirror in the corner of the room and studied the dress that Arhad had prepared for her. It was
similar to what the commoners wore in design, but its make was luxurious beyond compare.

Arhad had already finished changing and was waiting for her by the time Ianna opened the door and stepped out. He was
wearing a simple but luxurious swallow-tail coat, a thick white shirt and black overcoat, and black pants.

The corners of his lips curled up in apparent satisfaction as he saw how Ianna was dressed head to toe in clothes that he had
prepared for her.

“Shall we?”

Ianna looked around at her surroundings as she followed Arhad to the front entrance of the manor. They were in an area of
the capital that was densely populated with noble manors. Ianna had lived here herself in her past. Only nobles had the right
to buy property in this area, and even then, only the wealthiest nobles lived here because the property value was so
expensive. Just how wealthy was Arhad?
But more importantly, her initial excitement about teleporting had worn off and her mind started being filled with worry in
its place.

“Who was the woman in the room? She saw us teleporting in…….”

“She’s a servant who obeys me completely. There’s no need to worry about her.”

“Wouldn’t the royal knights have felt the wave of mana you created?”

“I made sure to freeze all the mana around us that we weren’t using, so no one will be the wiser.”

Ianna raised her hands in surrender.

“You truly are remarkable.”

How long had it been since they had exited the nobles’ residential district, which was dark and silent because most nobles
were attending the Founding Day party? They were greeted with bright scenery and boisterous noises even though it was
nighttime. Unlike the party, which had been illuminated by extravagant and luxurious crystal artefacts, the streets were lit up
with simple lanterns shaped like animals and other aspects of nature that were hung up on every statue.

The roads were lined with stalls selling things like flowers, accessories, and souvenirs. After walking a bit farther, they found
an open square where a play was being enacted on a stage, and there was even a drinking contest being held in a corner.

There were drunkards singing to themselves in their drunken stupor, tourists looking around at everything as they traveled
in groups, and flocks of women walking around comfortably as they stuck with each other.

Ianna watched the people laughing and going about with curiosity in her eyes. They were both festive events, but Founding
Day was different from the school festival. It was a special day meant for seeing the old year out and ushering the new year
in, and the streets were filled with joy.

Ianna had never been able to see the world properly because she had always been living in the cage of thorns that the nobility
had created for her. She had run straight to the sword after nearly suffocating to death in the luxury and vanity of the
nobility, and she had never once had the leisure to take in her surroundings. This was Ianna’s first time seeing something
like this despite the fact that she had once lived in the capital for over a decade —and it made her feel so strange.

The streets were filled with such interesting things. And everyone looked so free, right down to the very last person. Ianna
bitterly realized that she had been a frog who stubbornly refused to leave the well she lived in. Ianna blinked.

“What will we be doing here?”

“Anything that you want to try.”

“……?”

Ianna looked to Arhad with a strange look on her face and he pushed the decision on her.

“There’s nothing that I want to try in particular. And besides, weren’t you the one who brought me here? We should do
what you want.”
“Is that how it is? Then we’ll just walk around, and you can let me know if there’s anything you want or want to eat. And tell
me if there’s something you want to try doing, too,”

Arhad said cheerfully as he explained that Founding Day was larger in scale than the school festival was, had more activities,
and had fewer people paying attention to them. Most of the people attending the school festival had been students, so they
were always recognized easily and attracted a lot of attention. There were still a few people sneaking glances at them here
and there because they stood out, but there were certainly fewer eyes on them then there had been during the school festival.

Then, Arhad had said that he wanted to let Ianna do what she wanted to do since he had dragged her outside against her will.
Ianna waved her hands.

“It wasn’t against my will. I would much rather walk around somewhere else with you than stay at the suffocating party.
Thank you for bringing me here. I have the chance to see more of the festivities thanks to you.”

Ianna looked around with open curiosity. She continued,

“You should do what you want instead of catering to me. It’s more than enough for me to simply follow you around and see
what’s going on. I’m having a lot of fun even now.”
“…….”

“So please just do as you’d like. You always adhere to my stubbornness, so for today we should do what you want to do —I
won’t stop you.”
Ianna decided that she would do as Arhad wanted. She felt as if it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to put aside her obstinacy for
just a day and let him do as he pleased. Arhad was staring down at her as she busily looked around, and a slight fever flushed
across his face.

“……I’m delighted. Then, shall we be off?”

There was just enough snow falling from the heavens that it excited people rather than ruin their fun. The children were
running around in excitement, as snow was a rare sight in the otherwise warm and affluent Theodore. The women huddled
even closer together to keep each other warm.

Ianna was busy looking around as she walked alongside Arhad. There were all sorts of activities taking place in the square.
People had gathered together and were dancing to the merry music, and lovers were playing couples’ games to celebrate the
holiday. People were ice fishing along the frozen river. There was a reason Founding Day was the biggest holiday of the year
in Roanne.

Ianna’s eyes stopped at a booth for darts that people were gathering around. To be more precise, she was not looking at the
game but at the stuffed animals that were set aside as prizes for winning it. Among them was a stuffed animal of an adorable
puppy with round eyes.

She didn’t usually let it show, but Ianna had a soft spot for cute things and she rather liked them a lot subconsciously. This
was the underlying reason as to why she was so weak against young people or animals who looked weak to her. She didn’t
buy a lot of cutesy things because she disliked spending money on unnecessary things or decorating her room, but her
preference for them was strong enough to pull her gaze.

Arhad saw that Ianna’s eyes had stopped there for longer than usual and led her there. Ianna was a little perplexed, as she
had been too busy looking around to notice that Arhad was paying attention to her each and every move.

“Here.”

The doll Ianna had been looking at was one of the bigger prizes. The first-place prize was a breed of horse with a luster to its
mane. Everyone else was eager to win the horse as they played darts, but Arhad missed his target on purpose even though he
was more than capable of winning the game easily if he had so chosen.

He looked extremely pleased with himself as he won the prize he was aiming for and pushed the stuffed puppy that Ianna
had been looking at into her arms. It was like he was offering his game to a lady after a hunt.

This was the first time Ianna had ever received a stuffed animal after growing up. She pouted, feeling like she had actually
become a child again, but she still thanked him and hugged the soft and fluffy pillow-sized stuffed animal to her chest. It felt
good to hug.

Arhad grinned before walking off again, and Ianna trailed behind him.

“Whoaaa!”

“Kill him! Stab him!”

“Finish him! Cut off his arm!”

A lot of martial arts tournaments, like the Youths Swordsmanship Tournament that Ianna had once participated in, took
place on Founding Day. Competitors were brandishing their weapons more fiercely today than usual, likely because of the
holiday, and spectators were crying out as they lost themselves in the madness of battle.

“The man wielding a greatsword over there is rather skilled. He might even be able to take down a royal knight in just one
blow.”

“He’s the ace of the battle arena. And he’s a talented individual that the people call the King of the Arena. He’s turned down
several offers from the nobility to work for them, as he prefers to live a bloody life here in the arena.”

A bunch of good-for-nothings walked up to them while they were talking.

“Hey, Miss. Aren’t you a pretty thing?”

The thugs liked to pick on targets like Ianna and Arhad for a variety of reasons. Not only had they not brought their swords
with them because of the party, but Ianna was so lovely with her sharp eyes mellowed by makeup that it made them drool.
They paid absolutely no attention to the cute stuffed animal she was holding.

And the sleek young man standing next to her was so good-looking that it made them want to pick a fight with him all the
more. Putting aside the fact that they disliked how handsome his face was, they were certain that he was a well-off
commoner because his clothes, which looked like they could belong to any ordinary commoner at a first glance, were of
extremely good make.

One of the thugs began whispering to Arhad.

“Why don’t you tag along quietly before we make a fool out of you in front of everyone here?”

The man stuck close to Arhad and pressed a dagger against his stomach. The light in Arhad’s eyes grew significantly colder as
he looked back at the thugs. Alcohol had negatively influenced their ability to make sound decisions, and they grinned
toothily —with a few teeth missing— because they thought that Arhad’s golden eyes were laced with fright.

Ianna looked to Arhad in worry. All they needed to do was to beat them up a bit —he wasn’t going to kill them, was he?

Then, the thugs proceeded to cross a line they should have never crossed because they had mistakenly judged that the look in
Ianna’s eyes was also terror.

“Hey, Little Missy. Don’t be scared. We’re real nice, you know?”

“We’ll let you taste something real fun between your legs tonight. Hehe.”

Arhad waited for them to finished before he obediently got up from his seat and followed after them. Ianna sighed and
tagged behind Arhad while still holding her stuffed puppy in her arms, surrounded by the throng of thugs. And the thugs
were turned into a bloody pulp after they had led the two into a back alley.

Craaash!
“Ack!”

Dirty hair was tangled between his fingers. The thug, whose head was caught tight in Arhad’s hand, had his face smashed
violently against the cold wall. Then, Arhad pressed his head against the coarse wall as if he meant to crush it.

Riiiip—
The thug screamed in agony as his flesh tore.
“Please……s-spare me…….”

Arhad let go of the man whose face was being torn apart when he fainted, and then he kicked the man who was struggling at
his feet while begging for his life in the stomach. The man vomited out the contents of his stomach.

“Eek. Ugh.”

“Aaack.”

The thugs only survived because some passersby had reported them. Arhad had been merciless, and no one knew if they
were dead or alive as they were carried away. The scene of the incident was covered with blood and scattered pieces of
broken teeth, and Arhad and Ianna had to explain the situation at a police station before they were free to leave.

Ianna sighed as she watched Arhad wash his hands clean and dry them with a handkerchief.

“Wasn’t that bit excessive?”

“I was planning to kill them, but I held back. The bastards should consider themselves lucky.”

They had begun browsing through the stalls selling things like glistening weapons, smelted ores, and cloth sheaths upon
leaving the police station. Still, today was Founding Day. There were more street vendors selling decorations, clothing,
flowers, souvenirs, and food than street vendors selling weapons.

“Do you like this, Seri? Want me to buy it for you?”

“Really? You’re the best!”

Men were flaunting their wealth in front of the women they wanted to gain favor from the way a male animal offered a
female their prey to show off how strong they were. Ianna had no interest in accessories. She was more interested in stores
that sold alcoholic beverages, like cocktails with a bit of alcohol in them.

They weren’t as luxurious as the drinks that nobles enjoyed at parties, but the people rather liked the sweet fruit juices made
by aging fresh fruit, and the piquant alcohol was a hit with the adults because they helped set the festive mood.

“Bleeeech.”

There were a few people who were being unsightly after having a bit too much to drink, but Ianna and Arhad were not among
their number. They were a cut more excited than they had been earlier as they walked around with a glass in their hands
each before they suddenly came across people they hadn’t expected to meet.

“Oh my.”

“Hey! Ain’t that Lil’ Ianna?”

It was Lalatua and Taro.

Lalatua drew a lot of attention to herself as she walked around in a fluffy fur jacket and a fancy dress that reached down to
her ankles. Taro did not hide how excited he was to see Ianna, but Lalatua scowled as soon as she saw Arhad and
sarcastically quipped,
“What’s this now? Aren’t you usually holed up in your stuffy tower like you don’t have any friends?”

“You gave me quite the surprise too, Princess —you’re usually slovenly and reeking of chemicals. And you’re even holding a
rose —it doesn’t suit you at all.”

Arhad quipped right back at her. Sparks of animosity ignited between them. Lalatua laughed daintily as she covered her
arching smile with her hand.

“I’m only here because Taro implored me to spend Founding Day with him. Goodness, it’s hard being so popular.”
Ianna tried to recall what Lalatua’s relationship with Arhad had been like in the past.

The continent had been divided in three between the Bahamut army, the Allied Forces, and a third party —and, while she
hadn’t been completely hostile to Bahamut, Lalatua had cooperated with the Allied Forces in stopping the Bahamut army as
a member of the third party.

“You are the only one who can stop Arhad, who is slowly going mad, the war, and the ravaging of the whole continent.”
“My beautiful duchess. It is highly likely that Arhad will abandon everything and withdraw the very moment he gets his hands on you.
He would rather conquer you, rather than any other country.”
“I see you really know nothing about him.”
 

Ianna had thought that Lalatua was an insane woman who liked to prattle nonsense. But now that she thought about it,
Lalatua had said nothing wrong. Ianna had known nothing about Arhad prior to her rebirth. She had known nothing —not
about the Demon’s fragments, not about his past, and not about his heart. She had simply been in a blind fury because of her
inferiority complex……. Ianna snuck a glance at Arhad, who was holding a glaring contest against Lalatua.

Lalatua was Heinrich’s disciple who had lived in the magic tower with him ever since she was young. And Heinrich had been
the very person who had helped create the circumstances behind Arhad’s birth even though the Bahamut imperial family did
not tolerate any impurities in their bloodline.

Ianna hadn’t cared much about the relationship between Lalatua and Arhad in the past, but they had apparently been
surprisingly deeply connected. Lalatua had bullied Arhad spitefully when they were children because she was jealous of the
attention that Heinrich paid to him, and they didn’t exactly seem to be on good terms even now……but in any event, she
knew more about Arhad than Ianna did. This had been true in the past as well.

‘Does that mean that Arhad would have really stopped the war if only I had bowed out and gone to him?’
The Bahamut Empire’s war of conquest. The Allied Force’s defeat was apparent for all to see several years after the war had
broken out, and the allied kingdoms were scrambling to get Arhad to accept their surrender, but Arhad had trampled over
them all like he was a madman crazy for blood. He had wielded his sword mercilessly, as if he had meant to kill off everyone
in the South. The war of conquest had been prolonged, and it had been coming to a close by the time Ianna had died.

‘But all that was just because of me?’

“Goodness……,”

Lalatua exclaimed with great pleasure after looking at Arhad’s arms and then at Taro’s. Taro was carrying multiple shopping
bags with both arms. Lalatua snorted and sneered as she looked to Arhad’s arms, which were rather empty in comparison.
She continued,

“Are you a man who can only buy a pretty girl like Little Ianna one mere stuffed puppy? How pathetic.”

“…….”
“Taro’s bought me everything I wanted. But you haven’t even given Little Ianna a single rose? What a lousy excuse of a man.”
Lalatua lifted her chin victoriously as she looked down haughtily at Arhad. Then, she narrowed her eyes like a vixen and
giggled when Arhad’s face grew stiff and frigid. She pulled at Taro’s arm like she was having great fun when Arhad finally
started emitting a little bit of bloodlust. Finally, she winked at Ianna.

“Enjoy Founding Day, Little Ianna. Let’s go, Taro.”

Ianna was a bit nervous and she looked to Arhad as Lalatua pressed all of his buttons before leaving with Taro. She hoped
that Lalatua hadn’t irritated him too much. Ianna wouldn’t be able to deal with it if Arhad really decided to start spending
money. Gingerly, Ianna said,
“There’s no need for you to heed what the Princess said. I don’t care for things like that.”

“Let’s go.”

The mood was serious. Lalatua had set Arhad’s rationality on fire —and it wasn’t any ordinary fire, but a full-blown
mountain fire. Arhad started buying anything that he deemed suitable for Ianna that he could get his hands on.

Ianna did not like dressing herself up. Accessories like bracelets or necklaces only got in the way of training. Neither did she
care much for clothes. They’d all get soaked in sweat anyway, so they really didn’t matter to her. But Ianna still had her
preferences, and the things that suited her tastes tended to draw her eyes even if only momentarily. And Arhad bought her
anything that her eyes landed on. The bags filled with random trinkets began increasing exponentially in size.

“That’s enough now…….”

“No.”

Ianna couldn’t tell Arhad to stop because she was the one who had initially told Arhad to do as he pleased, and, more
importantly, Ianna could only poke at her stuffed puppy without a word because he seemed like he was having great fun.
Ultimately, she decided to give up on thinking about Arhad’s insane expenditure altogether.
Arhad, who was apparently spending the money that he had missed out on spending during the school festival, was only
satisfied and stopped his indiscriminate buying when his arms were heavy with the bags he was holding. Ianna glanced at
the ridiculous number of bags he had on him.

“What are you even going to with all of these? Are you going to keep carrying them with you?”

“Of course not. Wait here for a moment.”

He left Ianna behind and vanished off into a back alley somewhere, and his arms were empty upon his return. He had
apparently teleported everything back to his manor.

“Feel free to come over anytime if you need any of that.”

“That was a pointless waste of money. I don’t particularly like dressing myself up like that.”

“I’m fully aware that I was wasting money……. I lost my mind for a moment because the Princess pissed me off. I should have
bought something more expensive if I was going to go on a shopping spree anyway.”

Ianna held out the stuffed puppy in her arms and shook it gently in front of Arhad.

“I am perfectly content with just this stuffed puppy. Anything else I buy would only take up space. But if you still insist on
buying me something…”
“Is there something you want?”
Ianna pointed Arhad to a stall selling hair accessories as he rejoiced.

“I go through a lot of hair ties while training.”

Ianna picked out a black ribbon hair tie that suited her tastes. But Arhad asked if she really only needed one and picked out a
few more that looked good on her before purchasing them.

“You’ve got yourself a great boyfriend, Miss!”

The storekeeper made a fuss as she handed Ianna the bag of hair ties. Ianna simply accepted it quietly, as she was too
exhausted by now to refute her and because she felt no need to correct someone whom she would likely never meet again.

“Thank you. I’ll be sure to use these well.”

Arhad was thoroughly pleased with Ianna’s words of gratitude.

They started walking again. Then, Ianna realized something strange as she walked along the streets while looking around.
There were hardly any women on the streets who had roses on them. Founding Day was a day for red roses. But the women
were holding flowers that were not red roses.

“I’m so disappointed in you! How could you do this to me?”

Ianna watched as one woman began grumbling and quarrelling. The woman was upset that the flower she had received
wasn’t a red rose.

“Roses are worth more than gold right now —gold, I tell you. My word, I can get my head around the fact that they might be a
little expensive because it’s hard to grow roses in the middle of winter. But why in the world would a single rose be worth one
whole gold? That’s a hundred times the usual price. Have the merchants lost their minds?”

“But the merchants looked pretty deadbeat too. One gold is actually on the cheaper side, or so I hear. They apparently have
to sell for more than that to actually make a profit.”

“I’ve heard that the royal palace hasn’t ordered that many roses either, I think? And that the palace ministers were hassling
the merchants that normally deliver them roses.”

“What the hell? Did all the roses get diseased or something?”

Those women who had received red roses where practically singing to themselves with their chests puffed out as they
garnered the envy of those women who had not. And Ianna realized that there was something strange about the situation.

‘Why hasn’t  Arhad given me a rose?’

He would have been more than happy to gift her a rose, especially considering how freely he had been spending his money,
and yet he didn’t seem to be interested in any flowers at all. Ianna was perplexed as she looked up to his profile.

‘Are flowers too ordinary for his tastes? How strange……oh.’

Ianna burst out in laughter. She had started taking him for granted because he was so good to her. She should be grateful
that he gave her anything at all —it wasn’t right to question why he wasn’t giving her more.

And Arhad had already given her plenty. It wasn’t her right to receive his goodwill, and it was wrong of her to take it for
granted. Ianna shook her head clear of her thoughts.
There was an event with lanterns scheduled for nine in the evening. It was an event where people sent off red and yellow
lanterns into the skies as they made their wishes for the new year.

A lot of people had already bought their lanterns and were sending them aloft by the time Arhad and Ianna visited the event.
There was a gentle breeze in the air, as if it was blessing the event. It was snowing a little, but it didn’t pose a problem.
Rather, the harmony between the falling snow and the rising lanterns created for a beautiful scene.

Arhad bought two lanterns and gave one to Ianna. Ianna looked up at the sky. Dozens, no, hundreds of lanterns were already
glowing as they embroidered the heavens.

The area became crowded as more and more people joined the event. There were so many people present that Ianna felt like
there would ultimately be thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands, of lanterns lighting up the sky like the sun.

This was the first time ever that Ianna had enjoyed Founding Day or had participated in the lantern event. Watching people
as they enjoyed the beautiful sky made her realize that she had truly been living while looking only at her sword.

Ianna and Arhad sent their lanterns up. They rose well and they joined everyone else’s as they floated into the sky. People
were making wishes as their lanterns rose.

Ianna didn’t really have anything she wanted to wish for because she was of the belief that it was better to accomplish what
you wanted through your own efforts rather than to trust blindly in superstition. But when she stole a glance at Arhad, she
found that he was muttering something to himself as he watched the lanterns rise.

‘May his wish come true.’

More people joined the event. Arhad grabbed onto Ianna’s wrist, afraid that he might lose her in the ever-growing crowd.

“We’ve done everything we came here to do, so let’s go.”

“To where? Are we returning to the party?”

“No —just come.”

Arhad led Ianna somewhere secluded. Where would they go if not to the party or to the rest of the festivities? Ianna was
curious, but she followed after Arhad without asking. He reached out to her when they had finally arrived somewhere where
they couldn’t feel the presence of other people.

“Hold on tight.”

He was apparently planning to teleport them again. Ianna took his hand gently, having learned after her first time that
teleporting with him wasn’t actually that big of a deal. But Arhad squeezed her hand tight instead.

Bang!
She felt a sudden wave of mana near her face. Ianna was perplexed, as she had felt a spell go off but nothing seemed
different.

“……Did you cast a spell on me? What kind of spell was it?”

“A spell that’s essential for where we’re about to go.”

A magic circle rose up from below. It began spinning. Then, it sucked their feet inside. It swallowed their legs, waists, torsos,
and finally their heads.
Hummmm!
A black magic circle appeared somewhere. Ianna and Arhad appeared from the center of the circle, and around them was a
completely different scenery than before.

“……!”

Ianna froze in place as soon as she realized what she was looking at. A cold wind was blowing up from below. The buildings
looked as small as her fingernails. She could not see any people. There was no ground at her feet.

They were standing in the middle of the sky. And they were so high up that the royal palace of Roanne looked tiny.

“What in the world……?!”

Ianna used her free hand to block the wind. The wind coming up from below was rather strong. This was why people
sometimes died while teleporting. They would end up somewhere completely unexpected if they made even one small
miscalculation while casting the spell.

Had Arhad miscalculated? Clearly, he must have. There was no reason why he would teleport them in the middle of the sky
when there was nothing wrong about the ground. Actually, Ianna should be relieved that they were at least in mid-air. They
would have perished for sure had they teleported in the deep sea or underground.

Ianna grew nervous as they began falling faster. They would need to time their landing perfectly. Ianna clamped down at her
skirt as it fluttered in the wind.

‘It’s hard to keep my balance because I’m wearing a dress.’

Just then, Arhad pulled Ianna closer by the hand.

“I’ll hold you up, so you don’t need to be so nervous. Just enjoy the scenery.”

It was only then that Ianna realized that he had teleported them to the sky on purpose.

And she could understand the gist of what kind of spell he had cast on her before because she could still breathe just fine and
blink her eyes without any trouble even though they were so high up that the clouds were below them. It was probably a type
of spell that shielded any impacts to her face.

“You should have warned me earlier!”

Ianna chided as a scene she hadn’t seen earlier entered her gaze from across the rushing winds.

It truly was a novel sight to see everything while falling from the skies. It was beautiful in a slightly different way than seeing
everything from a tall hill was. The lanterns rising up from the city were spread out against the dark sky like fireflies, and the
city itself, which she couldn’t cover fully even if she walked through it all day long, was small enough that she could hide it
from view with just one hand and was sparkling all over.

The lights grew larger as time passed, and the buildings, once as small as her fingernails, began gaining definition. It was a
curious sensation to feel her field of vision seemingly expand as they plummeted.

‘But where are we falling to?’

She could finally see the ground again after falling for some time. It came closer surprisingly quickly. Something crimson
fluttered up from the ground with the wind, but Ianna did not have the time to figure out what it was.
Ianna stiffened up, but Arhad pulled at her and secured her in his arms while carrying her like she was a princess. Ianna was
no longer able to brace herself for landing because of this, and she had no choice but to rely on Arhad to land them safely.
She shut her eyes tight as she braced herself for impact.

But they were gradually losing speed. The cold wind rushing up from below halted a moment later, and her hair, which had
been floating above her head, settled down as the heavy weight pulling them down lifted.

“Here.”

Arhad landed lightly without any impact whatsoever before he put Ianna down, and she blinked dizzily a few times as she
straightened herself out. Her brain felt numb, and her vision went white, as if she was a hospital patient with low blood
pressure trying to get up. She kept her eyes closed as she brushed down at the mess that was her hair, and she curtly
quipped,

“Any other woman would have slapped you in the face for doing what you just did. That, or she would have died from a heart
attack.”

“I only did it because it was you. So how was it —wasn’t it fun?”

“It was certainly curious. You always managed to surprise me, in more ways than one.”

Something fragile brushed past her cheek when the wind blew. It was soft, and it rested on her cheek and her hair for a
moment before readily falling away.

‘What is that?’
Ianna brushed away the hair that the wind had tossed over her face as she felt her body return to normal and slowly opened
her eyes. She was immediately met with a light so crimson that her eyes hurt. She was so surprised that she dropped her
hand as she was brushing down her hair.

The area had surely once been empty, but it was now covered in crimson roses that stretched as far as the eye could see. The
things that had been tickling her earlier were rose petals that had been carried away by the wind. There were petals dancing
away in the wind even still. The roses wavered in the wind.

“Congratulations for turning seventeen and for debuting.”

Ianna stared wide-eyed at the banquet of roses for a moment before she laughed out heartily —she had finally found her
answer as to why Arhad hadn’t given her any roses.

“I keep telling you to stop wasting money for no reason, and then you go and do this.”

“And I keep telling you that it isn’t a waste.”

“I’ve been hearing that roses were short in supply this year —was it because of you?”

“Probably, considering that I paid at a premium to gather them like hell.”

White snowflakes, frozen from the cold air, airily floated down. It wasn’t snowing that much, but it was still enough to make
the day feel cold. Ianna extended her hands. Small flakes fell on her hands and melted away.

The snow that had been falling a little at the party was falling here as well. It had begun piling up on the ground too, so
perhaps it had been snowing for a while now. Some of the white snow moistened the crimson rose petals as they landed,
while some of it began piling up on the flowers instead.
Ianna sat on her knees and touched the roses. And she realized that the flowers had no thorns. And…….

“I thought roses grew on bushes?”

“I had them all picked and replanted to look like a field of flowers after having their thorns removed, leaving only the flowers
and leaves behind.”

It was difficult for Ianna to imagine what the roses must have cost with the additional labor costs. Rather, she didn’t even
want to imagine it, because she was sure she would develop a headache if she tried. It was difficult to keep up with Arhad’s
financial sensibilities. And so, she decided to focus only on the picturesque scenery before her eyes that Arhad had prepared
for her.

Ianna looked around at her surroundings. This man really didn’t pull any punches when it came to the scale of his actions.
She spread out her arms and closed them again, and there was a heap of roses in her arms. She threw the roses in her arms
up in the air. The floating roses fluttered back down to the earth in the snowy night sky.

Ianna breathed out as she lowered her eyes. Her breath froze white from the cold. Arhad looked extremely expectant as he
asked,

“Do you like it?”

“You really…….”

Ianna laughed as if there was no helping it before she laid back against the mound of roses. It was cushiony, as all the thorns
had been removed, leaving only the flowers and leaves behind, and there were so many of them. The roses dyed her clothes
red, but Ianna paid it no heed.

The roses enveloped her body, and there were so many of them that she couldn’t touch all of them even if she rolled around
in them all day long. The man had prepared so many roses for her, so it would be a waste if she didn’t accept his sincerity
with her entire being. Her crimson hair scattered over the flowers. Ianna closed her eyes and brought a rose up to the tip of
her nose.

“I prefer the fragrance of real roses to the pungent smell of perfume. And I like this even more because the scent of wind has
been mixed into it.”

She felt like she had received enough flowers today for both her lifetimes combined.

Arhad looked down at Ianna with wavering eyes as she buried herself in the roses and lied there comfortably. Ianna
remained where she was and toyed with the roses caught in her fingers before she looked back up at him.

“Thank you. I find myself receiving so much when I’m with you. But I still think this is too much. How many times must I tell
you this?”

“You are worth it. This isn’t excessive. How many times must I tell you this?”
“…….”

“I still don’t think this is enough. It’ll never be enough no matter how much I give you. It wouldn’t be enough even if I picked
every rose in the world and gave it to you.”

Ianna looked away and steadied her breathing when Arhad refuted from the bottom of his heart. His concerns, his words,
and his actions toward her were always so excessive. Her hearted ached so much she imagined it might stop.
“……I…”

Ianna hugged more roses to herself and buried her face in the pile.

“What must I do for you when you see so much worth in me? Should I offer you my life?”

My power might be useless to you, since you were able to usurp the imperial throne even without me, since you were able to overthrow
the entire world even without me —no, even when I opposed you. Even my life might not be enough.
The more she thought about it and set aside her arrogance and pride, the more she started to think that she didn’t deserve
him. Why did he want her so much that he obsessed over a stubborn girl who could only see her sword and had even ruined
himself once because he couldn’t have her? Ianna hugged the roses tighter.

He was the high and mighty emperor of a vast empire, while she was just the lowly illegitimate daughter of a count. He was
so wealthy that he had more gold than could ever possibly be counted, while she had only her sword. Countless people
followed him, while countless people had scorned her. He was strong enough that he had defeated her every time, and she
had yet to beat him even once.

That was the kind of man Arhad was. That was the kind of woman Ianna was. And Arhad had wanted her ever since he had
first laid his eyes on her. No, perhaps he had started wanting her so long ago that she didn’t even know…….

But why?

Ianna wielded her sword to prove her worth. She wielded her sword because her sword was her life itself. And Arhad had
said that he had fallen for the sword that she was. He was strong enough to protect not only himself but also those around
him, and yet he desired someone as single-minded as herself.

And so, Ianna had gained yet another reason for wielding her sword. She wielded it so she could stay by Arhad’s side because
he desired her when she wielded her sword, and she wielded it so she could perhaps stop anything that might pose a danger
to him. Those were her goals.

“Enough with that nonsense about offering your life,”

Arhad coldly cut her off. He continued,

“And I’ve told you before. Don’t go anywhere, don’t look anywhere else, stay by my side with that sword of yours that you
love so much, and see the same things as I do. That’s all I need.”

His words were kind yet earnest. Ianna squeezed the roses tighter.

You look at me and you see me for who I am……. And I don’t want you to change. Ever.
Ianna’s eyes grew murky as they took in the roses’ crimson light.

My king.
Even if I must offer you my life, I want to stay by your side with my sword in hand forever. The relationship we share now is ideal and
amazing as it is —it doesn’t need to change. Yes, you have no reason to love me…….
Ianna breathed out steadily.

So don’t fall in love with me.

“And…”

Arhad reached out to her.

“All you need to do is dance with me one more time.”

Ianna looked from the flowers and at his hand. He continued,

“Like you said back at the terrace —it’s fine if we dance here since no one’s watching, right?”

“…….”

“It’ll be a while yet before we conquer Bahamut. I don’t know how long it’ll be until the day you mentioned comes. It might
come in five years, or it might come in ten. But it’s only now that you can debut while you’re seventeen, no?”

In conclusion, didn’t it simply mean that he just really wanted to dance right now? Arhad brought his hand closer to her,
slightly anxious, when she stared back at him blankly.

“May I have just this one dance, my Lady? ……Please.”

“……Ahaha!”

Ianna clutched at her forehead and burst out in laughter.

“Haha! Haha!”

Arhad never took back his hand even as Ianna laughed. So instead, Ianna raised up her own as Arhad uneasily looked down
at her.

“It would be my pleasure.”

She readily took hold of Arhad’s hand. Arhad was overjoyed, and he pulled her up as soon as she consented and her hand fell
on top of his. Ianna used the strength of his pull to stand up. Arhad squeezed Ianna’s hand in his and smiled.

Ianna was more excited to dance a slightly messy dance with Arhad to the tune of the faint music coming from the distance
and the song of the bugs in the grasses beneath the gentle glow of the moon than to dance a formal waltz with him beneath
the bright lights of the party.

The premonition that doing anything with Arhad, even if they weren’t clashing blades, was fun tickled her.

And Ianna did not think that it was a bad feeling at all.

Part 8
Arhad had received a report that Ianna was participating in the Youth’s Swordsmanship Tournament that was being held to
commemorate the founding of the kingdom when he was twenty-four —after he had graduated from the Institution but
before he had traveled to the North.

On a whim, he had decided to participate as well because it would be his last opportunity to see her before he left and
because he wanted to test out her sword for himself.

BREAK
“Ianna Roberstein wins!”
BREAK
Those who had run their mouths could only shut up, and a hot ecstasy had seeped into her entire being as she took victory
after victory. His heart had pounded, like the very first time he had ever held a sword, whenever he watched her enjoy herself
as she wielded her sword on the arena grounds.

Obviously, none of the participants had been a match for Arhad. He leisurely received their blows, and it was all over after
just one fierce blow back from him. They had understood the difference in skill between them and Arhad, and they had
readily accepted their defeat. How would Ianna react?

When he was finally faced against Ianna for the first time during the finals, Arhad had realized something.

‘The beast before my eyes is just like me.’

Everything else aside, Ianna was just as crazy for the sword as he was, and she possessed overflowing talent in it. Their gazes
drew a rigid line between them as they squared off against each other. Ianna’s crimson eyes reflected his figure.

‘Oh.’
Arhad clenched his teeth together as he fell into her eyes. He felt like he was burning. He was sweating, as if he was trapped
in the blazing fires of hell. He was suffocating, as if someone had seized his heart. Ianna’s ecstasy. Ianna’s joy. Arhad felt his
throat grow dry like a drought had taken over him as her feelings were conveyed to him.

It’s hot. I’m parched.

But his thirst was not one that could be satiated with water.

BREAK
“Hwoo…….”
BREAK
Arhad had been living unhindered like a still lake, and Ianna had been the first person to set his emotions ablaze. He wanted
the crimson woman before his eyes so badly it drove him insane.

His powerful desire to possess, which he was experiencing for the first time in his life and was pointed to only one being,
made him smile from the bottom of his heart. How was he to have known that his smile would leave behind a deep wound on
her pride?

That was when Arhad had started driving Ianna into a corner. At first, he had simply been toying with her to see how strong
she was. Arhad was a man and Ianna was a woman, there was an age gap of five years between them, and Arhad had been
wielding a sword for fifteen years while Ianna had only been wielding a sword for four —there was an eleven-year difference
in skill between them. Her defeat had only been a matter of course.

Ianna had knelt to pick up her sword after his victory, and Arhad had said to her,

BREAK
“Ianna Roberstein, was it? You’re a diamond in the rough for now, but you’ll definitely grow to be worthwhile in the future.”
BREAK
He had truly meant what he had said. The reckless genius before him and only taken up the sword recently, and she was like
a baby tiger who had just started growing out her fangs. She was a rookie who would be one of the first to die in a battlefield.
She was still lacking a lot, and she needed to train hard. Ianna started burning up in rage.

BREAK
“Shut it. The next time I see you I’ll be sure to make it so that you’ll never scoff at me with that mouth of yours again.”
BREAK
Her hands twitched as she grasped her sword, and she glared at Arhad as if he was the greatest enemy of her life. Arhad
rather liked her ferocity.

She was much more dashing when she was set ablaze like this, rather than when she was wearing the shell of a delicate girl,
or when she was crying after being bullied, or when she was empty after having killed off her emotions. Arhad burst out in
laughter.
BREAK
“Oh dear. I’m starting to look forward to it. I want to have a good relationship with you, but it looks like you don’t share the sentiment.”
“Is Arhad your real name? Where are you from? Are you a noble?”
BREAK
He looked down at Ianna with swaying eyes as she grumbled in her fury and thought,

I want you.
He didn’t know where this possessive desire had been hiding all his life, but it was peering out from his heart now.

I want you to stay by my side.

Greed and desire sputtered out from the ruined wastelands of his heart.

I want your vitality, your vigor, and your smile in my life.

Arhad reached out, unable to beat back his greed.

His fingers brushed carefully against Ianna’s cheek. He was electrified by the warmth that was conveyed to him through the
tips of his fingers. The contact made his heart beat even harder.

BREAK
“Now’s not the right time, so just call me Arhad Roygen for now.”
BREAK
His grew greedier, and his fingertips became his fingers, and his fingers became his palm as he slowly caressed her cheek.

BREAK
“I want a woman like you. All the more so now that we’ve fought each other. So, go ahead and try —try to break my sword the next time
we meet.”
BREAK
Train hard in your desire to break me. Make me your goal and train like hell until I come find you again. Fan your flames until the day
we meet once more. You must never forget me —the man who defeated you.
Arhad had thought that his feelings had stemmed from a simple greed for talent. It was too vehement to be a mere greed for
talent, but he was dull when it came to his emotions and he could not properly identify the feelings that had suddenly seized
his heart. He was only aware of his primitive desire to keep her by his side.

BREAK
“I will do my best to break this glare of yours,”
BREAK
Arhad had said as he promised Ianna that they would meet again. She would have grown to be an even better swordswoman
by the time he usurped the throne and matters had started to stabilize, and he decided that he would bring her to his side
once that happened.

He decided that he absolutely must take the throne now that he had begun wanting to recruit Ianna for her talent.
Arhad overthrew the nobility once he had arrived at the North, and he won over the sentiment of the exhausted people who
lived there. He had a peculiar charisma to him, and people were attracted to him like bees to honey.

He busily travelled around the North as he gathered the Demon’s fragments. He hunted down fragment owners one by one
and mercilessly burst open their hearts as he robbed them of the fragments they possessed.

He was curious as to what Ianna was doing in the meanwhile, but he didn’t do anything in particular to find out. Her brilliant
smile had imprisoned his mind and refused to let him go. He might not be able to stop himself from going to look for her if
he learned about what she was up to.

Her radiant smile. He thought about her smile, which had stolen away everything that he was, frequently, but he also didn’t
want to expose her to danger. He told himself that his real relationship with Ianna would only begin when he sought her out
after everything was over, and he devoted himself into his struggle for the throne.

BREAK
BREAK
Arhad had wandered the world in search for a rift into Pandemonium. He had carried the desire to seek out his first heart
ever since he had been in his mother’s womb. There were no problems in the way he was living now, but he wasn’t satisfied.
He absolutely needed his heart to complete what he lacked.

And finally, he had found a rift that was large enough for a grown man to lie down in. A blackish energy was crawling out
from the rift into Pandemonium, which had yet to be closed by a spartoi. His soul —the memories the fragments carried
began slowly filling up his head as his first heart exerted its influence over him.

He flew down into the rift.

Pandemonium had been known as the Demon’s den toward the end of the Holy Age, but the name had initially referred to
the Great Chaos, the origin of everything. In the current age, Pandemonium was an absolute area under the protection of
Laos’ divine power, and teleporting in its vicinity could spell death because it distorted the caster’s calculations. You could
only enter Pandemonium through a rift, and you had to protect your body with mana while passing through it.

Moreover, once inside the abyss, you either needed help from the world tree to get out or you needed to scale the walls
yourself until you left the area outside of Laos’ influence, and it was a space where time intersected into itself and halted —
and Arhad had entered the rift after resolving himself to crawl back out on his own.

He fell and fell and fell deeper underground until he finally arrived at the abyss a long time later.

Thump…… Thump…….
It was there that Arhad found his fragment of chaos, his heart, floating in the abyss, and it shook the entire space around it
as it welcomed its master. But he could not retrieve his chaos fragment because a piece of someone’s sword had been thrust
deeply through it and held it in place.

Arhad frowned as he observed his first heart. He could probably connect with it through magical means, but it would be
impossible to retrieve it completely. And he was presented with a choice. Was he satisfied with the heart he had now, or did
he obtain his risky and incomplete heart that could fully awaken his memories as the Demon?

Obviously, he had chosen the former.

Thump…… Thump…….
Arhad closed his eyes. His heart had begun dying the blackness of the space around him in a golden light. It began vibrating
from where it was touching it with his hands, and is began resonating with his second heart through the connection of his
hands. And so, his first and second hearts had become as one while still being two.

And he began vividly recalling his memories and emotions from the Holy Age…….

He was immediately exposed to the memories of his demise and all the malicious emotions that had been inscribed into his
soul. The memories within the fragments that he carried were comprised of his memories of when he was alone in
Pandemonium and his memories of killing the gods and coveting divine power in the latter half of the Holy Age.

And the emotions that had been inscribed into his soul alongside his memories were his hatred toward life, the craving, the
betrayal, the hatred, the despair, the sorrow…….

And if that hadn’t been enough, Arhad also absorbed the dense emotions that had been saturating Pandemonium as well.

Arhad had tenaciously climbed up the walls once everything was over. He had bled as his fingernails were torn off, and he
had nearly lost his grip and fallen on multiple occasions, but he was persistent in his intent and he climbed for a long time
before he finally broke free of Laos’ influence and barely managed to teleport himself back to the surface. He had collapsed
while clutching at his heart as soon as he escaped, and his breathing was ragged.
His eyes were bloodshot. His golden eyes were glistening like lightning. Why was it? A thirst for blood gripped his entire
being. He wanted to brandish his sword and behead his enemies, pierce their hearts, and taste the life that was melted into
the blood that sprayed out from them.

These were the instincts and desires that he would have to endure now that he had taken back the Demon’s heart.

And then, he recalled the radiant smile of a certain crimson woman.

Not all of his memories had returned to him. This was because there were still fragments scattered across the world that he
had yet to collect. His memories had been fragmented like a puzzle. But among all his memories, it was his memories of that
crimson woman that left the greatest impression on him. She had smiled at him, and she had fallen asleep with her head on
his shoulder.

But who……was she?

Arhad was engulfed by an enormous emotional agitation as soon as he thought about that woman. Affection, hatred, respect,
envy. Violent emotions, the likes of which he had never experienced as he lived as Arhad, were showered upon him all at
once. Conflicting emotions had clashed viciously within him, and it had nearly caused him to lose his mind.

Arhad clutched against the ground with a trembling hand as he pushed himself up. He grasped at his forehead, which he
thought might shatter, and steadied his breathing.

And just then, he recalled Ianna’s smile.

Surprisingly, the emotions that had been tormenting him all died down at once. The turbulent storm of his emotions died
down instantly and became as a still lake once more.

BREAK
BREAK
Arhad collected the Demon’s fragments one after another.

And gradually, ever so gradually, he began to remember more about a certain woman……of ‘Ro.’ Feelings so ardent that they
nearly made him lose control and shed tears strangled his heart. At the same time, however, he was also left with such hatred
that he was occasionally seized by bloodlust.

It only grew worse as he retrieved more fragments and recalled more of his memories. His cruel imaginations and desires
sharpened their fangs with each additional sacrifice, and the negative emotions began tormenting Arhad even more.

Arhad was lauded by his retainers as a perfect master in every aspect, but he started losing his composure from time to time
as the colossal pool of his emotions engulfed him. He found his hands stained red with the blood of his enemies every time it
happened. His retainers started to fear him, though they still respected him just as much as ever, as he started occasionally
carrying out massacres like he was the Demon itself.

I’m parched. I want more more more.

He only barely managed to stabilize himself whenever it happened by recalling a certain someone’s smile. But it had started
happening with increasing frequency, and, when Arhad had started to grow into a demon eviler than the demons of the
Bahamut imperial family, Heinrich, once Arhad’s greatest supporter, had tried to assassinate him only to have his Demon’s
fragment stolen and was killed at Arhad’s hands. Heinrich’s grandson, Herrace, who had given up on controlling mana and
had decided to live a normal life, had also died as a result.

BREAK
“I’ll kill you!”
BREAK
Lalatua El Mardial had rushed toward him with her eyes bloodshot with fury. And Taro, who loved her and always protected
her from close by, stopped Arhad from taking her head and had died as Arhad pierced him through his heart.

BREAK
“Taro…….”
BREAK
Lalatua had stared down at Taro’s corpse with empty eyes. Arhad had looked down at her, who was so devastated that even
her rage had evaporated, before he turned around and left. In any event, this had been destined to happen one day.

Heinrich had been fated to die at his hands someday, and his grandson, Herrace, had also been destined to die. It had
likewise been fated that Taro would die by his hands while protecting Lalatua, who had rushed at him in her rage.

Arhad had eventually killed off the entire Bahamut imperial family, and he had stolen back the fragments they had
possessed. And his second greatest supporter, Eiji, had said that he could finally be at peace now and took his own life after
confirming the deaths of the Bahamut imperial family with his own eyes.

BREAK
Arhad had become the emperor of the Bahamut Empire at twenty-nine.

Arhad Ro Ralzo Bahamut.

‘Ro’ was the name of the woman he had loved and hated like crazy as the Demon, and it was also an abbreviation of Roygen,
his name while he had still been the Demon.

He was both Arhad and Roygen, but he didn’t wish to prioritize his life as Roygen while he was living as Arhad. He had taken
‘Ro’ as a middle name in remembrance of times past.

The throne he had finally managed to win was a tomb built of blood, flesh, and bones, but the sacrifices had been stained
with glory. There was only one person in Arhad’s mind as he looked down at his people, who cheered as they bowed their
heads beneath his feet.

After assigning work to his subordinates, Arhad left the throne behind him as he left for the Kingdom of Roanne in search of
Ianna with Rikijen, who had come to him upon graduating from the Institution, in tow.

‘Oh.’
Ianna Roberstein. His heart skipped a beat as he spotted her composed countenance from afar. It had already been five
years, but he was still assaulted with the same pure feelings he had experienced when he had spied on her years ago.

Arhad had always yearned for Ianna’s smile even as he recovered his memories. Her smile was his sole means of stabilizing
himself.

His clumsy but pure feelings of wanting to see her smile and his warm but unfathomable feelings for her surged up from him
yet again. He did not know how to define what he was feeling. But he had his warm memories of Ro from the Demon’s
fragments. And Arhad remembered that he had once whispered of his love to Ro.

Love.

Arhad observed Ianna in secret. And her composed gait made her overlap with the Ro of his memories.

You’re rather strange. Are you related to that crimson woman, by any chance? Your surname is Roberstein. But, unlike with Ro, I only
feel warm when I think of you. I don’t care even if you’re related to her. The past is the past, and now is now. I want you to stay by my
side independent of my feelings toward Ro.
I fell for your sword, your smile —no…… I fell for you…….
Yes. I’m in love with you.
You.
Warmth began seeping out from Arhad’s heart, which had been slowly driving him insane, when he finally realized that the
feeling he was experiencing was love.

For the next year, Arhad had tried to appease her by offering her everything he had. He had meant to confess his overflowing
feelings for her once their relationship had stabilized somewhat. But Ianna had become the prince of Roanne’s knight during
the last five years, and she despised Arhad dreadfully for leaving her to stew in her defeat, envy, and shame. She had stopped
smiling because so many people had hurt her, and she was unwilling to have any sort of meaningful relationship with
anyone.

Ianna had never once tried to hear Arhad out, and her eyes were filled with only hostility whenever she looked to him. She
had only ever put her life on the line and rushed to battle him like she was some kind of evil spirit, and she was never so
much as delighted to fight him.

Arhad pined only for her smile, and he began to lose his composure as she kept attacking him. He started to feel anxious as
she only ever rejected him.

What did I do wrong? All I wanted was to have you, to watch over you. All I did was to treasure you and your sword.
Rikijen had slipped into Roanne’s power games and had succeeded in avenging his past by thoroughly destroying House
Owen, but Arhad had failed to fulfil his longing and had failed to appease Ianna at every turn. Rikijen started to hate Ianna
as he watched his liege, who used to be so calm and composed, cling to her so desperately.

BREAK
At thirty-three, after having failed to appease Ianna even after investing over three years into the endeavor, Arhad returned
to the empire and waged the war he had been planning after Prince Schneider succeeded in his revolt and usurped the
throne.

The goods for warfare and military might that the Bahamut imperial family had been accumulated had piled up to almost
explosive levels, and he needed to direct that energy at something. Additionally, he needed to trample over the entire world
and find his fragments, which were colored by madness, and he also needed to gather up more life to sustain his heart. The
war had been essential to him.

The war that Arhad had brought with him had caused blood to flow like rivers. The only person who could match his might
was Ianna, a duchess of Roanne in her own right.

Ianna had matured strikingly and was able to hold her ground in a battle with Arhad. Her talent was truly surprising,
considering that she had caught up to the eleven years of experience they had between them.

But she was always a level beneath him.

Arhad let her go free time and time again in anticipation of their next meeting even as Ianna grew more wicked as the days
went by. But it was also true that he himself was growing exhausted.

He had crushed and violated the entire continent as he murdered everyone who owned a Demon’s fragment. His soul grew
more complete with each fragment he recovered, and, as the true master of mana and practically the progenitor of the
dragons, he grew strong enough to surpass the dragons of the Age of Magic —and he even invaded the Great Forest of Shaob
to the East and collected the large fragment of the Demon that the elves had hidden there.

He had seen himself fighting against Ro, whom he had only loved in his memories until then, in the memories that he
recovered. Ro’s glare had pierced through him like needles of ice, and he had fallen into rage and despair.

And, when he retrieved his final fragment in the Karankell Rocky Mountains, the southernmost corner of the world……he
recovered his first and last memory. The face of the person who had pierced through his heart overlapped perfectly with Ro,
the woman he had loved.
A nauseating sense of betrayal and indignation had flared up within him. As did an intense sorrow.

Then, his memories of Ro overlapped with his memories of Ianna. After gathering all of the fragments and becoming the
complete Demon again, Arhad had somehow realized that Ianna was Roberstein. Had she been alive all this time?

His morbid possessive desire and love. It was the rebellious but vivid and burning and pure emotion he had felt while he had
first looked up at the sun. But his sun had mercilessly pierced through his heart. And his sun was Ianna as she stood before
him.

As he recovered more of his memories, Arhad lost the ability to tell whether the emotion he felt for Ianna was love, yearning,
or something else entirely. He had thought that he loved Ianna, but he also began hating her and wanting to kill her as she
overlapped with Ro.

He did not know if his feelings for her had been born from the Demon’s fragment or from his own emotions. Was it
obsession, love, or hatred? —he could not tell.

All he was sure of was that his possessive desire had only grown stronger with each fragment he collected. He wanted to keep
her by his side, even if he needed to break her limbs and chain her down to do so.

I love you. But why do you…?

Arhad regretted. He should have never recovered his memories if it was going to come to this. He shouldn’t have recovered
his heart either. For the first time ever, Arhad wanted to deny the fact that he was Roygen. But he was Roygen, so he
continued to identify Ianna as Ro. The whirlpool of emotions engulfing him was so intense that he almost wanted to strangle
himself to death. It was horrible.

What are you? You made me fall in love with you in my last life, and you’re still choking me with my love for you in this one too. What
are you to me?
He grew exhausted as Ianna only continued to reject him. He was exhausted by the vigor that surged within him whenever
he saw her, and he was exhausted at himself for driving himself insane as he tried to deny it. He was exhausted by the void
he could never seem to fill, and he was exhausted by the thirst that seemed to dry up his soul. The whispers of his retainers
as they implored him to just kill her was making a mess out of his mind.

BREAK
Arhad was going insane.

He had finally come to a decision when he was thirty-nine.

He had chosen to live only as the emperor. The sword piercing through his first heart would likely lose its effect if she died,
and he would be able to recover it in full. He had already gathered all of the fragments of his soul. He could finally be
complete once he took back his heart.

So he would kill her, burn her corpse so he wouldn’t have to look at her, and throw her ashes out to the sea. He would stop
longing for her, and he would let go of her completely. Then, the void he felt from never being able to have her would
disappear, and his thirst would probably go away as well. He would no longer need her once he was complete.

And so, after deciding to give up on her completely, Arhad killed Ianna while he was out of his right mind.

BREAK
BREAK
That woman, that woman, that woman, that woman, that woman!
He had overturned this world that Laos created as he recovered his ripped-up fragments one by one. And slowly, ever so
slowly, he had recovered himself piece by piece. With every fragment he found, with every piece that fit back together, as his
soul became whole again!
The thirst as he writhed atop the scorching desert heat, the irritated demands of his heart as it burned black, the fiery and
persistent possessive desire in want of that crimson glow! The crazy Demon howling in want as he reached out his rake-like
claws to grasp the crimson.

And the crimson woman who always coldly rejected him.

The damned woman who always loathed to stay by his side.

Yes, you rejected me. You slipped through my fingers and toyed with me endlessly as I frantically reached out for you, you planted the
seeds of hope within me as you told me you would never cast me aside —and yet you always, always rejected me, you betrayed me, you
left me, and you killed me. And you rejected me yet again, as if it was only natural, when time passed and our paths crossed again.
And so, that was why I had honestly meant for it to be the end.
The man’s, who had finally given up on everything and had broken apart the chains of his obsession with his own hands so
he could finally put everything to rest, vision trembled. All of his senses were jangling. The buzzing around him as people
pointed and sneered at a woman who was already dead. The crimson hair that was growing muddied as she sprawled across
the ground.

BREAK
“Hwoo, haaa…….”
BREAK
The man’s breath caught like he was struggling to breathe as a crimson mixture of blood and sweat dripped down from his
drenched forehead. His eyes were so unfocused now that the ferocity in them when he had mercilessly stabbed the woman in
the heart seemed almost like it had been a lie. Madness made a mess of his mind and squeezed at his lungs.

The corpse of the woman who had already stopped breathing, whose soul had already left, and who was laying across the
ground like a broken doll. The crimson woman who was covered by the dirty mud and had lost her shine.

I had thought that this sorry figure of yours would truly be the last.
BREAK
“I will cut off the hands of anyone who dares to touch her.”
BREAK
He furiously brushed aside his loyal subordinates as they tried to collect the woman’s corpse and held her body tighter.
Thankfully, the woman in his arms was still warm. But, in accordance to reason, she grew only colder as time passed.

It was only now, after the woman was dead, that she had finally become his as his greatest spoil of war. She only remained in
his arms as a doll of clay after the warm breath of her life, which he had so, so coveted, had escaped her. The blue veins in his
hands bulged as he held the woman’s corpse tighter.

BREAK
“This life……is over. But…….”
BREAK
Roberstein…….
BREAK
“In the next, I won’t be your enemy……but your……knight…….”
BREAK
Ianna……!
You would wield your sword, which you always wielded against me, for me?
The words that the damned woman had uttered with her very last breath after her heart had been pierced truly drove the
man insane.

You damned, despicable, ruinous woman!

The woman always tempted him, always betrayed him, and always gave him hope again, and as always, the foolish man
could do nothing as his heart began to uncharacteristically cling onto hope yet again.

BREAK
“……Arhad!”
BREAK
A familiar high-pitched voice.
BREAK
“What is it that you truly want? Just what is it?!”
BREAK
He looked up while still hugging the corpse of the woman he was holding close to him. He saw a familiar head of purple hair
fluttering in the air as she came toward him. His eyes glistened as he looked to the woman who was trembling as she
screamed at him.

BREAK
“Lalatua El Mardial…….”
“You……you…….”
BREAK
Tears spilled from Lalatua’s eyes.

BREAK
“You killed Herrace, you killed Teacher, you killed Taro……! You killed and killed everyone while using this damned war as your
excuse!”
BREAK
Standing expressionlessly beside her was Taro, the strongest and highest-grade chimera of her own creation. He had lost his
capacity for thought after death, and he had been degraded into chimera capable of doing only as Lalatua bid him. He still
expressed his blind love for Lalatua just as he had back when he had been alive, but he was ultimately a mere doll who could
no longer think for himself.

The Kingdom of Mardial, Heinrich, Herrace, Taro.

Lalatua had become the Mad Magician, crazy in her love for only magic, after Arhad had severed all of her personal
relationships, and she was a part of the third party who, alongside the other mythical races, worked to stop Arhad and the
Bahamut Empire. The Allied Forces had fallen now that Ianna, the only person who could stop Arhad, was dead, and the war
had ended with Bahamut’s overwhelming victory.

Lalatua trembled as she laughed like she had lost her mind.

BREAK
“You slaughtered everyone as you gathered all of the fragments. That’s how you became emperor, and that’s how you completed the
Demon inside of you……. But wasn’t that all for her?”
“…….”
“And now you’ve even gone ahead and killed the woman you were so obsessed with.
“You’re crazy!
“What are you going to do now?
“What are you going to do?! Are you satisfied?
“What do you even have left?
“Yeah —you have nothing, right?
“Are you going to destroy the world now?
“Are you going to become a real demon?
“Just die, Demon!
“You’ve gone completely insane!”
BREAK
Lalatua screamed in a fit of rage.

BREAK
“Shut up, witch! How dare you?!”
BREAK
Arhad’s retainers, who were relieved but still felt a bit complicated as the woman their emperor had so desired had become
but a corpse, yelled at the witch for her insolence.

BREAK
“She’s undoubtedly lost her mind. Please give us the order, Your Majesty. We will bring you her head. There is no longer any need to
show her mercy.”
“Enough.”
“Why not? Why don’t you just kill me too? Hmm? You killed everyone else, didn’t you? Everyone!”
BREAK
Lalatua’s normally white and vixen-like visage flushed crimson as she raged. Arhad stared at her in silence before he looked
down at touched Ianna’s lips, which still spilled her blood even though she was dead.

Her smile, which had been imprinted on his heart like a brand and messed with his mind all day long like turbulent waves.

He had never once forgotten her smile after seeing it for the first time when he was twenty-two. The fiery ardor and affection
that had shattered the mirror-like surface of his heart as if with a rock and had thrown him into a storm…….

But he had killed Ianna in a state of half-madness, perhaps because he was so overcome by his negative emotions that he no
longer knew if it still existed inside him anymore.
Arhad was complete now that he had gathered all of his fragments. He was practically a god in the Age of Magic now that he
had recovered all of his memories and emotions as the Demon, and he had usurped the imperial throne after eliminating any
enemy who could pose as a threat to him. And today, he had even completed his conquest of the continent. Everything had
been smoothly concluded, and all he had left was to bask in his days of glory.

But he felt so dreadfully lacking now that he had murdered Ianna.

Why was it? He had gathered every fragment of his soul, and all he had to do to become complete was to return to
Pandemonium and collect his heart……but the premonition that he would feel this sense of lacking for eternity tormented
him. The bloodied corpse sprawled in his arms made his insides churn.

Oh, I see.
He had only realized it after he had ended her life. He had been supposed to keep Ianna alive and by his side regardless of
what he felt about her. Whether that be hate, or love, or something else entirely.

The rough joints of his hands touched her cold corpse. She was no different from a doll of mud now that she had started to
decompose. The warmth he had so loved no longer dwelt inside this already-rotting lump of flesh. Arhad hugged the
woman’s corpse close as he closed his eyes.

……I can’t be complete without you.

He lowered his head to where the stench of blood was stemming from. And his rough and cold lips buried into the last
warmth that lingered on Ianna’s.

I see —you were my final fragment.

BREAK
And so, while clutching the woman’s stiff and cold corpse close to his chest, the man headed for the Lotso Mountains —the
center of the world…….

BREAK
~~*~~

BREAK
Arhad and Ianna were leaning against a tree as they gazed out at the field of roses after they had danced. Ianna blinked as
her vision grew blurry.

“I’m tired because today was so different from my usual daily routine. Well, maybe it’s also because I drank after having a lot
to pay close attention to…….”

Ianna rubbed at her eyes with her palms.

“Do you want to sleep a bit? I’ll wake you up before midnight.”

Ianna looked up at Arhad as he said that and she leaned entirely against the tree.
“I trust you, so maybe just a little…….”

It was ridiculous for her, a knight, to sleep in front of another, but she didn’t mind sleeping in front of Arhad. She had
already done it before, after all.

Ianna sighed quietly. The tree at her back was hard, and it wasn’t all that comfortable. But sleep still fell upon her. She
pressed against her eyes one more time. She wasn’t the type of person to get sleepy when someone else was with her. She was
only ever this defenseless when she was with Arhad.

“Thank you for today.”

Ianna’s head dropped lower after her short few words of gratitude, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep. Arhad stared at
Ianna as she slept and carefully brought her head to his shoulder.

“Phew…….”

He felt really good as soon as Ianna’s head touched his shoulder. He sat there for a moment before he closed his eyes,
sluggishly savoring the pleasant feeling, before he slowly opened his eyes again. A curious glow was flowing from his golden
eyes.

You’re still just a young girl, and you’re only a knight in my grasp. ……And yet…
He touched her, carefully so that she wouldn’t wake. She didn’t. He grew a little greedier and slowly caressed her cheek. He
knew that he was being uncouth, but he couldn’t help himself. Arhad kept his hand over the smooth skin of Ianna’s cheek as
he looked down at her with a fever in his eyes.

You’re always so warm, and I’ve always wanted you to lean on me. You told me you would protect me. And you couldn’t accept me and
betrayed me…….
I fell in love anew after I was born again as a blank page, but you always rejected me. You hated me, and you loathed me.
His love had turned into ambivalence, and his ambivalence had turned into hatred, but he had nearly been driven insane by
regret when he had pierced her through the heart —driven by a hatred so great and a bloodlust so dreadful he had wanted to
kill her.

And the moment I saw you again after I turned back time, my regret turned into a great obsession, anxiety, hatred, sorrow, rage,
desperation……into a myriad of stifling emotions.
But all my wicked feelings hid away with your each and every smile, and your each and every smile made me so uneasy that it nearly
drove me mad.
Arhad hesitated before he carefully pressed his lips against Ianna’s forehead. His dry lips were slowly moistened with
warmth as they touched her forehead and the crimson strands of hair that covered it.

Ianna was deep asleep and did not wake, and his lips grew bolder when he realized that her breathing had not disturbed.
Arhad lifted up Ianna’s head ever so slightly as his own head pulled down. And, like a thief tiptoeing in the night, he pressed
his lips against the vitality in Ianna’s as he stole her breath away.

“…….”

The heat he felt from her warm lips and the fragrance that he could smell with his nose slowly tickled his heart. Arhad knew
what the feeling that strangled his heart and made the edges of his eyes grow hot was.

He slowly moved his lips away and pulled Ianna tight into his arms. He buried his face against her hair and forced his ragged
breathing to steady.

You’re endearing. You’re always……so endearing to me.

It was already far too late to deny it.
No. He had simply thought that it had been hidden by his negative emotions and that it might have vanished, but the feeling
had always been breathing quietly in the depths of his heart.
I……love you.
Arhad closed his eyes as he collected his breathing.

I love you so much.

BREAK
BREAK
—“Debut” End

Chapter 18: Training

Ianna returned flawlessly to her everyday life after successfully making it through her debut a week prior. And then, she started learning
how to control divine power.

“You need to get accustomed to the rhythm of pulling the divine power clustered around your heart outside your body, putting to work,
and absorbing it back inside. I’m sure you’ll be able to master it soon enough with training, since you already know how to pull your
divine power outside your body. But there’s a critical issue that you need to be aware of before you start controlling divine power.”

Arhad laid out the issue before Ianna in a lengthy explanation.

“You can use the rest of the divine power in your body so long as you keep the requisite amount you need to function inside. So the first
thing you need to do to train is to analyze how divine power circulates throughout your body right down to the smallest detail whenever
you get the chance and familiarize yourself with its route. Next, you need to get a good grasp on how much divine power you have inside
your heart and how much of it you consume every second.”

There was no way for another to see or feel the divine power that was held inside someone’s heart. Divine power only became visible to
others when it was forcibly ripped out from the heart and pulled outside. In other words, only the owner of the heart could feel their
heart’s divine power. Arhad could not help her with this, and Ianna had to figure this part out for herself.

“Don’t you dare try to control divine power until you’ve completed your homework.”

Any divine power she lost control over before she learned how to recover it would simply vanish. Divine power possessed the trait of
life, unlike mana, which meant that her lifespan would decrease should that happen.

And so, Ianna had posed a question out of curiosity. She didn’t intend on losing her divine power, but couldn’t she simply steal more
from other living creatures like he had if she did? Arhad stared back at her in silence for a moment before he shook his head no.

Anyone who took to the idea of stealing divine power from others could not be called human. It was only right that all living beings only
lived through the course of their allotted lifespans, and it was for the best that they accomplished everything they could possibly
accomplish within the constraints of that time.

Moreover, divine power was colored by the unique color of an individual’s soul, and it was for the best that she didn’t steal divine power
because she could be influenced by the divine power’s original owner if she couldn’t dye divine power she had stolen in her own
color……or so Arhad had said.

“What does it mean to be influenced?”

“You might end up acting like the whoever originally colored that divine power. If you steal divine power from an orc, you might end up
subconsciously acting out an orc’s habits. Though there’s no problem if you dye the divine power completely in your own color, of
course.”

Ianna shuddered as she imagined herself acting like an orc.

Ianna took some time to observe the flow of her divine power and became very well-acquainted with it. She had barely been aware of its
presence before, but now she was conscious of it constantly as she lived her life, and she was now so familiar with the flow of her divine
power that she could probably chart its course on an anatomical diagram with her eyes closed. Then, she began studying how much of it
she consumed.

Her crimson blood broke off and carried away a tiny amount of her crimson divine power every time it penetrated and passed through
her heart. Then, it proceeded to circulate all throughout her body and transfer the divine power and vitality to her flesh. This was the
divine power that was used to maintain her body. And another tiny amount of divine power from her heart was also consumed apart from
what was being transferred to her body. This was the amount of divine power that was needed to keep her soul awake.

Then, Ianna checked for the precise volume of the slivers of divine power that was used up every second as she carried out a variety of
different activities —like when she was going about her day as normal, when she was running, when she was training in her sword, or
when she was fortifying her blade.

She carried out her homework faithfully, but there was just one problem she couldn’t solve no matter how she tried. She could not
determine how much divine power she had amassed around her heart. She could not grasp exactly how much of it there was.

The spirits had once told her that her heart was strange. Her divine power, which should have been wrapped naturally around her heart,
was being obstructed by something like a wall, and it was leaking out from the cracks. She finally understood what they had meant by
that. Her divine power was clumped around her heart, but it was being blocked by a transparent membrane of sorts and could not escape.
It was like her divine power was trapped inside a space surrounded by something that was akin to the thin membrane of a soap bubble.

No —she could not call it a membrane because she felt nothing of the sort. It felt like there was a layer of divine power blocking her
divine power. Should she say that it felt like she was blocking out herself?

Ianna could not assess how much divine power she had behind that membrane. Her divine power felt like a steel ball. It leaked out from
the many cracks in the membrane, and it stopped leaking out once there was a sufficient amount of it around her heart.

Ianna had gingerly told Arhad that she hadn’t been able to grasp how much divine power she had when Arhad had asked her how much
progress she had made as spring began.

“For now, it’s enough that you know how much divine power you consume. You just need to determine how much divine power you
need to maintain your body and leave that amount untouched, and you can use the rest. But keep trying to figure out how much divine
power you have in total, since it’s an integral part of understanding how strong you are. Let’s have you start practicing how to control
divine power today.”

And Ianna was still unable to control divine power properly even now as spring was ending.

~~*~~

Crunch.
A red apple was whittled away by Ianna’s lips. Fatigue was apparent on her face as she stood by the sink. She quickly finished off her
apple, which she had brought to replenish her stamina with, and tossed away the core that remained when Herrace came into her view
from afar as he stumbled while running over to her. It fell cleanly into the garbage can even though she hadn’t so much as looked at it.
Another student whistled and applauded her.

The warm breeze carried a humidity about it. The muggy air filled up her lungs and escaped. Her crimson hair danced as it was pulled
along by the wind. Herrace finally reached Ianna as an unspecified number of eyes turned to the billowing flames of her hair.

“Cough, hack…….”
“Your waist.”

A merciless command fell upon Herrace as sweat poured down his face like heavy rain. Herrace reflexively laid down on his back even
as he was panting for breath and arched his waist up so only his head and his feet touched the ground. Ianna put her full weight on his
stomach as if he was a chair.

“Ugh!”

Herrace tensed his abdominal muscles with everything he had, but he had already been exhausted even before he had started running,
and he failed to hold up Ianna’s weight and collapsed. Ianna didn’t feel much of the impact because she was cushioned by Herrace, but
Herrace quickly covered his mouth before he threw up when his stomach was suddenly crushed and squeezed.

He blushed red in embarrassment as Ianna clicked her tongue and got up, and he quickly stood up after her. Ianna hadn’t instructed him
to do it in particular, but he then started doing a hundred push-ups as if he had always been doing them every day.

Ianna began doing push-ups right next to him. Ianna had decided that she would carry out Herrace’s penalties alongside him —she was
also guilty by association— when she decided to train with him.

“Haah!”

Herrace would have rested in between exercises had he been training alone. But he grit his teeth and pushed through now that Ianna was
training with him. Their training was hellish in every sense of the word, and it not only pushed him beyond his body’s physical limits but
also required every last ounce of his willpower.

“We’ll take a ten-minute break.”

“Phew!”

Herrace threw away his dignity as a noble and sprawled out in the dirt like it was the greatest bed in the world as soon as the sweet words
reached his ears. His peers looked to him in pity, or perhaps in horror, as he lay there out of breath.

Ianna’s training regimen was so harsh that the number of people who trained as much as she did in the entirely of the Swordsmanship
Department could probably be counted on the fingers of just one hand. That was, at least, what people said so the upperclassmen could
save face —but it was still an undeniable fact. And yet Herrace, who was on the skinnier side in the Swordsmanship Department, had
started training with Ianna in mid-January.

At first, Herrace had started throwing up before he could complete even half of Ianna’s training. He had used to hurl before even
completing Ianna’s basic running exercises, and when he barely managed to keep his stomach down and finish running, he would not
only vomit when he got to the next exercise but he also occasionally passed out with his eyes rolling back. It had gotten to the point
where he had been saddled with the unfortunate nickname ‘Vomit Boy’ because so few people hadn’t seen him throwing up by now.
But humans were adaptable creatures, and they were also psychological creatures who could accomplish greater things the loftier their
goals were. They were also social creatures who could persevere for longer stretches of time when someone else worked with them.

Herrace trained like someone cornered at the edge of a cliff because his role model, Ianna, was beside him. He had been training with her
without missing a day for four months straight, and now, toward the end of May, there were even some days where he managed to get
through training without throwing up.
Shaaaa!
Ianna poured cold water of Herrace’s head to bring him back down to earth, and crouched down beside him and began massaging his
stiff calf muscles.

“Thank you…….”

Initially, he had been at a loss about the fact that a girl was touching him even if it was Ianna. But he felt like he was in heaven when he
finally had a sweet moment of rest and received Ianna’s refreshing massages after his dreadful training, which rendered him unable to
dare ask her to stop. By now, he only felt grateful for them.
 

“Repeat to yourself that you’re dead.”

 

That was what Ianna had told him while looking beautiful at her debut.

‘I’m dead.’
Herrace had told himself that he was dead dozens and hundreds of times by now. He even seriously thought that he might die from time
to time. He had wanted to give up several times too. There were even times when he had let his inner distress show and had said, “This is
so hard I might actually die.”

But Ianna had killed off his feeble defiance every time by indifferently asking back, “Then do you want to quit?” He didn’t want to
betray her goodwill and her trust when she was training right there next to him.

In addition, pain wasn’t the only thing he felt now. His heart pounded pleasantly now that it was beating with vitality because he had
pushed his body to the limit, instead of screaming as mana flooded into it. The sputtered breaths he spat out from his lips sounded
pleasant to his ears.

Herrace shielded his eyes with his hand as the sunlight, which grew hotter by the day, fell unto his lids. He saw the road that stretched
out before him in the shade of his hand. Was this how someone felt when they were possessed by a ghost? He felt like he could finally
make out the hazy path leading to the sword which he had not been able to find no matter how much he wandered now that he had finally
let go of mana, which had never fallen into his grasp to matter how many times he had reached out for it.

“Thank you for everything.”

“Work harder if you’re grateful.”

“I will. I won’t let your help go to waste, Little Ianna.”

People’s gazes grew softer as Ianna sat next to Herrace and took care of him.

“Hack.”
“Uggh.”

A few people started gasping and fell over next to where Herrace was. Ianna clicked her tongue and poured cold water on them using the
bucket that had been installed next to the sink. The students who had fallen over shouted loudly as the cool water hit their face.

“Thank you, Miss!”

Ianna had first-year juniors of her own now. Occasionally, there were a few who asked if they could train with her. They were all either
people who grew competitive upon seeing how much she had been able to accomplish last year or those who were envious of her. Ianna
let them do as they pleased, as she didn’t particularly care if they wanted to train with her.
Days, weeks, and months had passed……. Those who would drop out had dropped out by now, and only eight or nine students
remained. Ianna’s juniors had learned to be meek before her, as she normally spent her days occasionally beating the crap out of those
juniors who grew arrogant with her and still carried out her training as normal even after that.

At seventeen, she was of the age to experience a romance as sweet and fluffy as cotton candy and take interest in whatever gossip tickled
her ears. But there was no greater exception to the norm than Ianna.

Waking up, training, eating, studying, and going to bed. Hers was a very boring life from others’ point of view. Ianna seemed truly
boring, as she had hardly any social life, formed only a few personal relationships, and generally lived while only looking at her sword.

But she was also remarkable because  of how boring her life was. No ordinary person could have achieved her lifestyle. Everyone now
knew where Ianna’s mysterious strength had stemmed from. Her blinding talent, the effort she put in to supplement her talent, and her
passion, which allowed her to enjoy the fruits of both her talent and her effort. Ianna’s strength was the result of every element of her
person coming together in harmony, like how multiple instruments came together to form a beautiful tune.
It was said that men looked the coolest when they focused on their work, and Ianna’s peers knew best that the saying didn’t apply only to
men. Anyone was cool when they devoted themselves to something.

‘She’ll definitely become someone great in the future.’

‘Is there any way I can get closer to her?’
Her achievements from last year were one thing, but news that Prince Schneider had personally bestowed her with royal roses and a
dwarven sword on Founding Day had exploded within the capital. She was purported to be friends with two archmages, and she was also
known to be favored by Marquis Chaipan and the former Count Ashltondt, Professor Filliger.

Those who were desperate to get ahead in life wanted to forge a relationship with Ianna. Or else, they would have no reason to talk to her
once she had graduated. But there was no way for them to break into her shell. Ianna only spent time with the friends she had made at the
start of her school career, and she showed absolutely no interest in getting friendly with anyone else. She was not in any clubs, and
neither did she take any electives. She gained her knowledge from her major classes and from books, and she looked to her professors,
not her peers, when there was something she didn’t understand.

She was a soulless girl who had tossed dozens of love letters straight into the incinerator without writing even a single line back in reply.
Any love letters that were delivered to her after that were immediately thrown away, and anyone who confessed to her in person was
flatly turned down.

Some people started to curse her for treating people like trash, but Ianna ignored them. It remained an absolute fact that she had nothing
to regret because she never sought anything from others in the first place. Eventually, people grew tired of cursing her.

‘I envy him.’
Mixed into the looks of pity that people gave Herrace, Ianna’s friend, was an unjustifiable envy.

“P-p-please train me well.”

He was to spar against Ianna after their break was over. Herrace had tanned as of late, but he still looked pale as the blood drained from
his face.

“Ack!”

Herrace would have died several times over had Ianna been using a real sword. Pow pow. Herrace bitterly realized how accurate the
onomatopoeia was as he was beaten up. The outpour of her sword strokes mercilessly pushed through his openings and make him scream
and wail. He ended up making all sorts of sounds that he had never made before in his life as he screamed while training with Ianna.
But his openings slowly began closing up as the months passed. Herrace hadn’t noticed, but his sloppiness was tidying up as he wielded
his sword frantically in an effort to not get hit by Ianna’s sword. Moreover, sparring against a superior and Ianna’s advice had made him
realize many important things. Herrace was maturing rapidly as his violent training pushed him to his very limits.

But he still had so far to go. His head, neck, shoulders, stomach, waist, legs…… Herrace, who had only just recovered from his muscle
training, collapsed yet again as he was beaten black and blue.
“Bleeech.”

He ended up throwing up again today too. Ianna put away her sword and said, “Good work,” as she placed a water bottle next to Herrace
while he was retching before she swiftly left the scene.

“Man, that junior of ours just gets scarier by the day.”

“Don’t you think she’s gotten sharper as of late?”

As he heard people exclaim in wonder around him, Herrace thought,

‘Has she been in a bad mood?’

The power she put behind her wooden sword had recently started feeling like a heavy rock. His entire body ached as she beat him up
with it.

Crack.
Ianna loosened herself out as she stretched. And then, she gently closed her eyes. She used the entirety of her mind to imagine separating
herself like she was using a knife to debone meat —she stripped off her skin, she stripped off her muscles, she stripped off her fat, she
pulled out her innards, and she tore out her bones. Then, once she had stripped herself down to only her heart and her blood vessels, she
could vividly feel her divine power, which left her heart with every beat and melted into her blood, coursing through her veins.

Ianna guided her divine power to the tips of her finger. Her divine power leisurely flowed down the path and drew to her finger like it
had been drawn there by a magnet before a stream of blood spurted out from it.

Bzzzzz.
She started lacking sufficient divine power inside her body once that happened, and divine power began to be pried outside of her heart
from the cracks in the wall. Ianna kept her eyes closed because the process made her heart throb quite a bit, and she straightened out her
thoughts until her body returned to normal.

“Siiigh.”
She let out a quiet sigh as she stared at the crimson sphere at her fingertip. Just how long would it be until she could turn it into
fortification? It was a problem she could solve with consistent effort, but she grew irritated when it took longer than she had expected.

This was all because of mana.

It required incredible focus to pull away divine power from the heart, but Ianna had come to be able to pull her divine power outside of
her body as naturally as breathing now that she had trained for a few months. The problem lay in what came next. Mana swarmed her
divine power like a horde of hungry demons even when the divine power she brought out was the size of a pea. Divine power, with
additional mana attached to it, was such an enormous power that it was difficult to control. Moreover, her divine power would be
snatched away by the mana and dispersed into the air if her concentration faltered in even the slightest.

The damned mana just stopped listening to her altogether as soon as divine power came into the picture. It normally obeyed her like a
faithful dog without much effort on her part as soon as she thought even the simplest commands, like come here or go there, but it simply
wouldn’t work if divine power was involved. The mana was horribly persistent and stubborn as it clung to her and clung to her and clung
to her. It would drag itself away like a person with a limp if she strongly willed it to leave her, but it still felt sticky and awkward
nonetheless.

Ianna wanted to beat the crap out of the mana, had it been a living creature with a physical body. She could personally experience what
Herrace’s curse of mana was like.
 

[Whom will you Judge?]

 

Her vision suddenly flashed white. She always felt a strange impulse from her heart whenever she tried to control divine power. This
time was of no exception.

The impulse spread across her entire body like a powerful wave, just like it had on the day when she had ignorantly tried to control
divine power and ended up seriously injuring herself. It was like there was a large bell hanging from her heart that sounded all the way to
her head when it rang.

Still, it was possible for her to remain conscious despite the resulting shock if she took precautions against it from the very get go. And
she was accustomed to being wary about it by now.

And once she had the leeway for it, she grew curious. What was this impulse? Did it have something to do with Roberstein, the
‘Arbiter’?

But in any event, she didn’t feel inclined to answer it. Something horrible that she could never undo could result if she answered it out of
curiosity without even knowing what it really was. Her own safety was one thing, but the fact that it asked her whom she wanted to
‘Judge’ made it seem dangerous.

Her vision was restored after she ignored the impulse. Ianna drew back the crimson divine power at her fingertips.

“Urp.”

Ianna looked like she was about to hurl. She had only recently discovered that more divine power pooled around her heart whenever she
pulled her divine power outside her body to control it.

No matter how much divine power she tried to draw out, the maximum amount of divine power she could control was capped by how
much of it was pooled around her heart. But more divine power leaked out from the walls, in exactly the same amount she pulled outside
of her body, and pooled around her heart again as if the amount of divine power she had inside her maintained an equilibrium. So the
total amount of divine power inside her body increased whenever she reabsorbed her divine power again. This happened because the
walls were like a shell, and divine power could not go back inside them once it had leaked out. It was like a bakery that had baked
another loaf bread once the first had been sold, but the total number of loaves they had increased to two when the first loaf was returned.
They couldn’t turn the second piece of loaf back into flour once it had been baked, after all.

In any event, her heart pounded furiously whenever the amount of divine power she had inside her increased, as if the additional amount
placed a burden on it. Her body grew feverish and she felt like she might explode, and her head hurt so much she thought it might split
open. If she gave herself enough rest, however, and allowed her divine power to naturally circulate around her body, then her body
would acclimate to the new amount of divine power she carried and set it as the new standard for homeostasis. In other words, if she
drew as much divine power outside of her body as her limits allowed and put it back, then the total amount she could use next time
would increase.

She hadn’t noticed this at first because her divine power only increased marginally, but she realized the truth when she confirmed that
the amount of divine power she could handle had definitely increased. But there was surely a limit to how much she could make out of
this. After all, her divine power would stop increasing once the divine power stored behind the walls of her heart were emptied out.

Ianna practiced pulling out her divine power and reabsorbing it whenever she had the time to spare. But, while she was happy for it on
one hand, on the other she grew sordid that she did not know how much divine power she had clumped inside her heart.

Ianna leaned against a wall to recollect herself, and she slowly walked away once her body had more or less returned to normal.
Ianna’s daily schedule was as follows. She woke up early, stretched, trained furiously, and ate lunch with her friends. She would train for
a while after her meal as well and conclude her training by sparring with Arhad. After dinner, she either studied in the library with her
friends or did some reading, and then she would either research more swordplay or learn how to control divine power from Arhad.

Ianna also helped Arhad out when he was so busy that he didn’t have the time to help her train. Arhad was always busy, but there were
times when he even skipped classes because he had to work. And there were also times that he was so busy he didn’t have the time to
look after Ianna either.

Ianna had once trailed after him after having grown curious about what he did when he missed class. He would put on a mask and make
his way to a manor in an area where upper-class commoners resided, sit down at a desk piled up with a mountain of documents, and
begin furiously stamping them as he worked through the stacks. Ianna had known that he was involved in a lot of businesses, but this had
exceeded her every imagination.

There were three aides who assisted Arhad in that manor, and all three were just as obedient to Arhad as the woman Ianna had met in his
noble’s manor on her debut had been.

“I’ve distinguished myself in the Kingdom of Woodruff in the North and earned the peerage of a count in the Semastair territory. These
people are from those lands.”
 

The Semastair lands, located in the southeast of the Kingdom of Woodruff, was Arhad’s military headquarters. The Kingdom of
Woodruff had originally been a land where a lot of people had married a member of the mythical races, but the mythical blood had
dwindled and the people weren’t very different from other humans because it had been a while since the mythical races had withdrawn
into the four corners. Still, the people had inherited their forefathers’ hatred for the persecution they had received and hated Bahamut for
oppressing them even to this day. The people of Semastair were particularly defiant against Bahamut, and most of them supported
Arhad’s cause.

“The people of Woodruff hate the empire, but they also can’t do anything about it out in the open because they’re also afraid of it. They
followed me without question when I took the lead and pulled them out of that situation. The people here are my retainers. They’re all
highly intelligent.”
“How did you make them your retainers?”
“They vowed a secret oath to me in exchange for a guaranteed life of comfort for their families. And I have a lot of subordinates
elsewhere, too.”
 

Ianna had grown curious about how much influence and power Arhad had in general and had once asked him, “Would it be possible for
you to tell me your other identities and how much influence you have under each one?” to which he responded by handing her a
document containing everything she had been curious about a few days later without the slightest hesitation whatsoever.

Ianna was overwhelmed as she carefully read through the document while Arhad worked. It was one thing that he had a peerage or a
noble representative in every country that existed in the world, but he even meddled in the political affairs of each country by having
either official business relationships with the nobility or by being on friendly or hostile terms with them.

When put together, the total area of territory Arhad possessed was large enough to make up an entire country. He used his surprising
business acumen and investment plans to reinvest the food and resources that poured out from his lands right back into them, and in
doing so he garnered the support of the people who lived in them and also gained the ability to nurture talent as he pleased.

Wars broke out frequently in the South, whether it be between countries or between territories. Arhad would order his representatives to
start a war, proceed to fight in it while posing as his representative’s subordinate, carry out the military strategies he learned by the book,
and accumulate experience in warfare. Other nobles drooled over his affluent lands and tried to invade them frequently, but matters were
settled quickly if Arhad took the battlefield and lead his soldiers personally.
The people of his lands respected their lieges for managing their territory so well and paid their taxes readily. The sturdy public safety in
Arhad’s lands gave his people a chance to live in affluence instead of impoverishment, and they repaid their lieges by blossoming in
culture. And those lieges were Arhad’s subordinates who were obedient to him. In other words, everything belonged to Arhad.

And that wasn’t all —Arhad owned several famous companies, of course, and, while they weren’t as good as the Black Fox’s
intelligence operatives, Arhad also owned several cream-of-the-crop intelligence guilds and used them to seemingly exist in multiple
places at once.

“If you’d like, I can take you on a tour of the territories I possess over break or whenever you have time.”
 

Ianna realized just how truly remarkable Arhad was as she watched over him. She wanted to looked into his head and see how his brain
worked as he stamped his documents with a quick hand while wearing an expressionless look on his face. When she asked him if it was a
chore to do so much work, he had replied,

“I hate being bored. And I have a lot of greed for learning new things. So I find it rather entertaining to do work that allows me to gain
more knowledge and experience. Besides, I also have a clear goal in becoming the emperor…….”
 

Arhad had been polishing his foundation ever since he was young. He had secured a steady stream of funds so he could eliminate the
Bahamut imperial family and usurp the imperial throne and so he could upturn the world, and he had gathered people under his banner
one by one.

“We revere our Master.”

 

After speaking with the aides from Semastair, she learned that, while they were working with Arhad for their families, they were also
moved by his incredible talent and had honestly sworn their fealty to him as his faithful servants, and they also felt that serving him was
truly worth it.

It was not only the aides in the manor who felt this way. Arhad teleported often to take care of business elsewhere, and he had aides in all
of those places too. They were almost like parrots in how they said the same exact things as the aides from the first manor Ianna visited
had.

Arhad could not be a kind liege to everyone who served him. But he also knew to be generous to those who swore him their absolute
loyalty —so much so that they could not possibly even begin to think they were lacking anything they could need or want. Moreover, he
had faith in those he personally chose and entrusted them with work. His subordinates had been impressed and had willingly become his
faithful retainers.
Ianna could not help but think just one thing as she continued to read through the documents pertaining to Arhad and as she met more
people who revered him.

‘At this rate, he would have no problem establishing a whole new country of his own instead of usurping the Bahamut imperial throne.’
Bahamut and the Black Fox were closer to evil than they were to good. Bahamut was cruel to other countries and turned any people
whom they defeated but didn’t kill into slaves. There were a lot of people in the world who hated Bahamut, and there were multiple
problems with the empire. Wouldn’t it be better to simply establish a kingdom of his own? There was no need to take the trouble of
winning over the Bahamut nobility that way. Just looking at Arhad’s documents told her that he had more than enough bureaucrats and
military personnel to make it happen.
Still, Bahamut was unique in that she ignored the pressure she received from other countries and called herself an empire. That was more
than enough reason to usurp her throne. In addition, it would be easier to conquer the world if Arhad had Bahamut’s vast military might
in his grasp. Besides, he could not establish a new country in Bahamut’s place when he hadn’t even set foot into the empire yet.

In any event, Arhad was a very busy man. Starting from his sword training to the wide berth of his many fields of study, in addition to
his businesses from all across the world that he had to take care of —Ianna felt like she could finally see just how much inconvenience
Arhad had brought upon himself when he agreed to accompany her on their journey to the South. He had said that he had to leave
because he was busy, but he had pushed everything else aside to accompany her just because she had asked him to —and her request
hadn’t even been that urgent. Moreover, even now, he still put down anything he had been working on to have a leisurely cup of tea with
her if she visited.

Ianna’s heart squeezed a little when she realized that Arhad was purposefully letting some of his work go to waste just so he could spend
some time with her.

On one hand, it hurt her pride that Arhad continued to draw against her while they sparred even though he wasn’t putting all of his time
into sword training. And so, she had insisted that she would help him organize documents and information whenever she had the time.
He had been extremely happy for it.

Ianna was Arhad’s knight, so all she really had to do was to be a military asset to him. But Ianna wanted to know more about Arhad, so
she arbitrarily decided to work hard and memorize all there was to know about him. Moreover, she took rigorous notes on the specialties
and topography of the territories that Arhad owned and zealously committed her notes to memory. Arhad would glance at Ianna as she
worked and smile in great satisfaction.

Ianna grew closer to Arhad as time passed. She was melting into his daily life.

Stomp stomp.
Ianna entered Heinrich’s magic tower and descended down the stone stairway that stretched endlessly into the basement one step at a
time.

“You’re here?”

Arhad had been waiting for her in the training room at the basement of the magic tower. He had been training as he waited for her to
arrive, and he straightened himself out. He poured himself a cup of water from the teapot that had been sitting on top of the table to the
side of the room and drank it. Ianna watched silently as Arhad’s Adam’s apple moved up and down and smirked.

“You’re the teacher here, but it seems that I’ve made you wait for my arrival. I’ll be sure to correct that.”

“It’s fine —I don’t mind waiting for you since I rather enjoy it.”

Arhad readjusted his clothes and walked up to her. Ianna stared back at him with a faint smile on her lips. He always looked like he was
in a good mood. Perhaps work was going well for him these days.

“Let’s do a quick brush-up today and move on to practicing how to control divine power for real. Have you figured out how much divine
power you have inside your heart yet?”

“Hmmm……I have an idea, but I haven’t grasped it precisely yet.”

Ianna was agonizing over this issue. She was certain that the issues with her heart had something to do with the gods of the Holy Age.
But she could not decide whether she should tell Arhad about the gods. She would have to tell him everything about herself once she
brought it up. She would have to start with the problems that she became entangled with because of her mother, Lebony, and she might
even have to talk about the Holy Age in the long distant past.
It was only recently that Ianna realized that she and Arhad shared another relationship besides liege and knight. Arhad, who carried the
soul of the ancient Demon, and Ianna, who carried the soul of the god who had killed the Demon, were bound by a peculiar twist of fate.

“I love you.”
“……But I’m so exhausted.”
 

And the strange memory she had seen when Arhad had extorted life from the orc.

“I’m sorry for breaking my promise.”

 

Her stinging heart. The guilt and shame that seemed to devour her heart whole. The memory of tears pouring out from her eyes like
gushing water.

“Why……?”
 

The shadow of the person who had asked her why was still vivid in her eyes. Ianna was certain that this someone was none other than the
Demon. Ianna was hesitant to speak up because she didn’t know how telling Arhad about this would influence her relationship with him.

“All right. Keep looking into that —and how are you doing with controlling it?”

“It’s easy enough to pull my divine power outside, but the problem lies in what comes next. Mana clings to my divine power and won’t
let it go. It keeps trying to break free of my control and scatter my divine power into the air.”

“……You mean that the mana isn’t listening to you?”

Arhad put his hand over his mouth and fell into thought for a moment before putting his hand back down and looking to Ianna, who was
staring blankly back at him. Then, he broke out in a short peal of laugher, as if he had found his answer.

“Mana roams the world unconsciously and on instinct because the Demon is in a state of unconsciousness. It will be bewitched by and
fixate onto divine power frantically. But there’s probably another reason why the mana isn’t listening to you. And a very simple one, at
that.”

“Pardon? And what would that be?”

Arhad simply laughed in resignation and shrugged when Ianna’s eyes began glistening with intrigue.

“Who could say? I can tell you if you can’t figure it out yourself, but I think it’d be better for you if you managed it on your own. Try
and see if you can figure out what state of mind you’re in when mana listens to you best next time. There isn’t a time limit on this
assignment.”

Arhad unfolded his index and middle fingers when Ianna nodded with an ambivalent look on her face. He continued,
“There are two ways to control divine power that you can choose between, assuming that you’ve reached the point where you can control
both divine power and mana. You can either take away the mana and control only pure divine power, or, while it’ll lessen the purity of
the divine power you’re controlling, you can incorporate the mana into your divine power and control a colossal amount of power.
You’ll need to learn how to do both.”

“It isn’t possible for me to use both divine power and mana at the same time yet. And the first method seems difficult enough on its
own…….”

“I can help you with the first method. Draw out your divine power.”

Ianna obediently drew her divine power to her fingertips and pulled it out. A wind of mana began circling around her divine power,
which flared up like a blaze. Ianna looked to Arhad.

The wind had disheveled his black hair a little. Arhad reached out as a peculiar light entered his golden eyes. He gestured with his finger,
and all the mana surrounding them immediately drew away and coiled around them. Only her own divine power clung to Ianna now.
Ianna felt dejected and a little betrayed as she watched it happen.

“Mana won’t bother you anymore. Draw out as much divine power as you can.”

“Oh…….”

The maximum amount that she could draw out. Things became tumultuous enough already when she was handling only a fraction of her
divine power, so what would happen when she drew out all of it? Ianna hesitated because she wasn’t sure if she could take responsibility
for the consequences. She didn’t want Arhad to see her writhing in agony. That being said, she also didn’t want for him to tell her to stop
if she told him about the Holy Age. It was awkward, and she also felt powerless.

“What’s the matter? Is something wrong?”

Ianna, who hadn’t been able to come to a decision to begin with, closed her eyes when she saw Arhad worrying about her and ended up
making a mess out of things. She had drawn out her divine power recklessly the first time she had tried to control divine power too, and
she hadn’t died. The amount of divine power she had in her body hadn’t increased back then because her divine power had scattered into
the air, of course……but in any event, Ianna was confident that she wouldn’t drop dead. All she had to do was make sure she didn’t
show how much pain she was in.

Shaaaa!
Crimson divine power blazed up from Ianna’s entire being. She had pulled out quite a lot of divine power from inside the walls of her
heart while training, and there was more than enough of it to envelop her entire body and then some. Even Arhad was alarmed.

“……I remember you saying that you still had more than enough life even after letting the spirits eat away at your lifespan. You truly do
have a lot. Very well. Try creating a fortification now. It’s the same process as creating a fortification with mana. You can change the
density and length of your fortification as you wish.”

Ianna couldn’t reply. Divine power was gushing out from her heart like a deluge. Its flow was so strong that she felt like she would vomit
as soon as she opened her mouth —blood, gastric acid, organs, everything. But she didn’t let it show and, once her mind had settled
down somewhat, she drew her sword and began spreading her divine power over the blade.

Bzzzzz…….
While the methods were the same, it was actually easier to fortify her sword with divine power than it was to use mana, perhaps because
divine power was wholly her own power. Moreover, her fortification was denser and felt stronger than when she was using mana. Ianna
was experiencing firsthand what Arhad had meant when he said that divine power was stronger than mana.

Arhad applauded.
“Looks like you won’t even need to practice controlling divine power as long as mana isn’t getting in your way. But you should probably
train periodically anyway, at least until the end of the year, since you aren’t used to controlling divine power yet. You can absorb it back
now.”

Ianna grew nervous. Divine power had only just finished flowing through the membrane of her heart and settling into her body. And
there was just as much filling her heart again as she had taken outside her body. And there was no way that she would be able to pretend
that nothing was wrong because she had brought so much of it out.

She would had preferred not to cause him worry, but there was no way that he wouldn’t.

‘I should’ve just told him.’

Why did she only realize this now? She would have had to tell Arhad about the Holy Age and about her heart at some point anyway if
was truly thinking about sharing a future with him. But she had pushed things back just because she felt awkward about it…… Ianna
chastised herself.

“Arhad.”

“Hmm?”

“There’s a problem. I, well……I was thoughtless and I think I’ve made a mistake, and I’d rather tell you about it up front before you’re
taken by surprise.”

Arhad’s visage, which had been a little flush with warmth, immediately stiffened up when Ianna said there was a problem. He grabbed
Ianna by the arm as she hesitated.

“What problem? Don’t hide things from me.”

“You told me that divine power is clumped around the heart like mist.”

“Yes.”

“Is there something like a wall blocking it that prevents the mist-like divine power from leaking outside?”

“No? The heart just holds onto it. It’s like a ball of oil-soaked cloth that’s been set afire. There’s nothing there that you would call a
wall…….”

“This is something I’ve known for a while now……but my heart is a bit different from others’.”

“How so?”

“It’s more accurate to say that my divine power has been plugged inside my heart than to say that it’s clumped around it.”

“Plugged inside your heart?”

“The spirits have told me about it before too. They said that my heart isn’t holding onto my divine power —instead, there’s some kind of
membrane around my heart that blocks my divine power from escaping my heart. And divine power leaks out from that membrane……
and it’s only then that my heart can take hold of it, and that’s the only divine power I’m capable of using. I can’t use the divine power
that’s still inside the membrane.”

Arhad furrowed his brows as he listened to what Ianna was saying.

“There was something like that……? That’s strange…….”

“Is something wrong?”

“……No, I was just talking to myself. And?”

First, Ianna explained her situation without referencing the Holy Age. It was only natural that Arhad’s countenance had grown stiff.

“Ianna. I’m sure you know better than I do that you messed up. I know I said that I enjoyed it when you make mistakes, but that depends
on the type of mistake you made. I won’t tolerate any mistakes that put your safety at risk.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Arhad’s stiff expression melted into one of worry when he saw how uncharacteristically depressed Ianna looked. He continued,

“There’s nothing else we can do at this point. Just reabsorb it a little at a time. Keep your head on straight and start.”

“Ugh…….”

Her heart went on a rampage like a bomb about to explode when she began reabsorbing her divine power. Her heart jumped around
furiously and hit against her organs and ribcage. She felt like her blood was flowing in reverse, and she felt like someone was boiling
every last drop of blood there was in her body. She felt a feverish heat when she brought the back of her hand to her forehead. Her head
hurt so much she thought it might shatter. But she never dropped her focus and slowly, ever so slowly, sent more divine power to her
heart as soon as her body adjusted to the increased volume.

Arhad took hold of Ianna as she staggered and sat her down on the sofa. He watched over her carefully and he moved around mana to
slow her down whenever she suddenly grew pale and he thought she might be reabsorbing her divine power too quickly. Several hours
passed……and Ianna was stretched out on the sofa.

“Siiiigh……”
Her face was flushed red, as if she was a patient with the flu, and her body was drenched in sweat. She looked utterly exhausted, but she
had made it out of the woods. Arhad sat down next to the sofa and nagged at Ianna as he wiped away the sweat pouring down her face
with a cloth dipped in cold water.

“Are you stupid? You could have avoided this altogether if you’d just explained the situation to me first. You don’t do things like
this all the time, do you?”
“No, I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve only been controlling as much divine power as I knew I could manage, and I’ve been
increasing the total amount of divine power I had that way little by little. And more importantly, there’s still more about my heart that I
have to tell you about. I always get this strange impulse whenever I handle divine power.”

Ianna pressed down at her head —it still felt like it might shatter— as she rambled. She hurt all over, and she was exhausted and wanted
to sleep, but she through she would feel better if she told him everything now that she had already started.

“It asks me whom I want to Judge.”

Ianna recalled the firm voice that echoed out from her heart whenever she handled divine power. The voice asking her whom she would
Judge spread out from her heart like a ripple every time she tried to control her divine power. She never replied to it, as she felt that she
shouldn’t recklessly answer or even acknowledge it, but the voice always goaded her.

“I see.”

Arhad poured some water into the cup on the table. He continued,
“Don’t ever answer that voice. It’s a type of ‘ability’, but your heart won’t be able to withstand it and you might drop dead if things go
wrong. Don’t ever take an interest in it. Just ignore it completely.”

“But what is it?”

Arhad didn’t reply. But even still, Ianna suddenly realized what it was —she had vaguely found her answer in the stories that the spirits
had once told her. She looked directly at Arhad as her crimson lips parted.

“Is it my power?”

Arhad paused for a moment while he was drinking his water. His reaction was more than enough to tell Ianna that she was right.

“Did the spirits tell you about that?”

“They did, but…….”

Ianna hesitated for a moment before she continued,

“I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but my mother claimed to be the only god other than Laos who had survived the Holy Age.
And she told me about it first.”
Ianna snuck a glance at Arhad once she had said that. He did not seem to be treating her like a crazy wench who had lost her mind. He
simply looked deep in thought, and he sipped away at his water with his cup still at his lips.

“And Arhad… I think I might be related to the god who killed the Demon in the ancient past.”

Arhad’s throat stopped moving as he stopped drinking his water.

“……The god who killed the Demon?”

And so, Ianna began reciting her story, which she had never before told to another.

“My mother said that she was sealed away after receiving that god’s divine power and that she was only freed from her seal about twenty
years ago, and she met my father five years later. She said that she felt that god’s aura from the Roberstein lineage. I was born with blood
from both of them running through my veins, and……while I don’t know exactly how, I’m somehow related to that god.”

Ianna continued to sneak glances at Arhad even as she continued her tale.

“That’s why I want to know more about my body. If there’s a way for me to learn more about who that god was, then I have the right to
use it. Though I don’t know if you believe me or not…….”

“The Demon exists, so it’s entirely possible for the gods to exist too.”

Ianna, who had been looking gaunt because of her accumulated fatigue and anxiety, brightened up. She felt like her burdens had been
lessened now that she had told someone about the things she had been shouldering alone.

“But Ianna…,”

Arhad said with his voice trailing off.

“You said this was the god who killed the Demon? How do you know this? Did your mother tell you?”

“No, she didn’t. I’m only telling you this because you’re you, but I saw an illusion back when we traveled to the South —that is, when
you were acting strange and you burst open the monster’s heart.”

Ianna recollected the memory that still remained fresh in her mind.

“There was someone standing before me……and they were holding something that was thumping in their hand, and I was shouting at
them. It was a very bizarre illusion —no, a memory.”

Ianna then pondered over whether she should tell Arhad about the second illusion she had seen when she had confronted the relic. She
decided to tell him, since she was already telling him everything else anyway.

“And there was a relic of that god in the dwarves’ holy land. And I saw yet another illusion when I visited. I was killing someone. I was
piercing through someone’s heart with a sword…….”

Shatter!
The glass Arhad was holding broke in his hands. Ianna was shocked awake as she looked to where his hand was.

“What……?”

Arhad looked down on the wounds on his hand.

“I guess there must have been a fault in the glass.”

Fresh blood spilled down the curves of his hand. Ianna tried to get up, thinking that she shouldn’t be lying down, but Arhad pushed her
back down with his unwounded hand. He stopped the bleeding with the cloth he had been using to wipe down Ianna’s face as he slowly
said,

“I know a bit about the Holy Age because of the Demon’s fragments.”

Ianna was about to say something, but Arhad continued on in a withdrawn voice as if to stop her from speaking.

“But I’ve found no benefit to knowing about the Holy Age.”

Ianna decided to stay quiet and listen because there was something sorrowful in his face.

“Personally, I don’t think you need to be concerned about the Holy Age other than how it pertains to divine power. The only information
from the Holy Age that we need to know are how to collect the Demon’s fragments and how to control divine power —that’s it.”

“But I want to learn.”

“……If you learn more about the Holy Age, then you…”

Hesitantly, Arhad continued,

“…Will surely come to hate me.”

“I would hate you?”

Ianna immediately denied the notion. She continued,

“I would never. Aren’t they just stories from the past? How could such stories ever possibly have an effect on us?”

“The flow of the world is continuous. The world always maintains its equilibrium, and everything that happens is subject to the laws of
causality. In other words, you learning more about the Holy Age will become as cause that will bring about some manner of effect.”

Ianna closed her mouth. What was so important about a past that had happened so long ago it could no longer influence the present day?
But Arhad was being too sober for her to believe that he was simply joking.

“It’s possible to predict the consequences of a general cause, but we can’t predict the outcomes of matters that concern the gods because
we have no precedent for them. But even still, I expect that the consequences will be negative. If you have the god who killed the Demon
inside you, then I……I have the Demon who harbors hatred for that god inside me.”

Hatred. The two syllables of that word caused Ianna to forget everything she had been about to say.

“I would prefer it if you focused only on us as we are now and on matters that pertain to us.”

The look on Arhad’s face as he looked back at her was so desperate that it was almost odd. Slowly, he lowered his hands. He carefully
brushed back the tangled hair that was covering her face. He was acting like he was handling something that would break at even the
slightest impact. But then, a moment later, he grasped her hair tightly in his hand.

“I like you just as you are now.”

Ianna’s gaze dropped to the hand that Arhad was using to grasp her hair with. His hand seemed to slide down the length of her hair as he
brought it up. Ianna’s gaze followed it as he moved. He slowly picked up the ends of her hair when his fingers reached it. And he
brought the ends of her hair up to his dry lips.

“……I really, truly like you.”

Arhad’s lips pressed against Ianna’s hair. He had been closing his eyes, but he opened them again and their eyes locked together. His
golden eyes dyed crimson and glowed darkly as they reflected Ianna’s figure.

Ianna felt herself freeze up stiffly just then. Something was strange. She didn’t know what it was, but there was something different
about Arhad than before. The heat in his lips was contaminated by the madness in his eyes, and the contaminated heat throbbed as it
enveloped her entire being. Her heart lost its rhythm as she was confronted directly with an emotion that was alien to her.

“And so, I’m hoping that you won’t ever change.”

Slowly, Arhad let go of her hair. Ianna turned away from the suspicious sense she had that something was off and turned around to avoid
his gaze.

The Demon hated Roberstein. This fact suddenly made it hard for her to breathe. And so, she promised herself that she would never talk
to Arhad about the Holy Age again. She was certain that her heart would never change even if she learned about the Holy Age’s secrets,
but if the laws of causality he had mentioned truly existed…

‘Then I don’t know if Arhad might change.’

Ianna clamped her mouth shut. Her lips quivered as she held them between her teeth. It was unsightly. Ianna covered her eyes with the
back of her hand. It wasn’t like her to be so heavily influenced by another’s every word and action. It also wasn’t like her to be so afraid
of being abandoned by someone. But then, who was the ‘her’ who was here right now?

The present was undeniably here.

It had been easier to be the lone wolf she had been in the past than it was to be as unsightly as she was being in the present. But she
didn’t want to return to the past either.

Arhad’s large hand fell gently on her head. Her exhaustion rapidly returned beneath his hand as he stroked at her head. She said,

“I will never change. There is no way that stories from a past so long ago could change me. Will you?”

“Never.”

Ianna’s heart relaxed a little at the firmness of his reply.

“Me too. So I don’t think there’s any reason for us to be afraid of a distant past that has nothing to do with us……is what I would have
normally said to convince you otherwise, but I’ll do my best not to speak with you about this topic again moving forward. I……changed
because of you.”

The hand that had been tenderly stroking her head suddenly stopped moving.

“I acted stupidly and made a mistake today because I didn’t want to see you worry. I was planning to pretend that I was okay because it
was so obvious that you would. And, I know you told me that you didn’t mind if I was incompetent, but I want to be more able than any
other when I’m in front of you. I want to look good in your eyes.”

“…….”

“It’s also because it was you that I told you something that I’ve never told to anyone else. But if it’s something that might disrupt the
relationship that we share now then I won’t……oh……there was more that I needed to say…….”

Ianna’s words became incoherent as she trailed off. She was no longer able to carry out a normal conversation. Arhad covered Ianna’s
eyes with his hand.

“For now, just sleep.”

Ianna felt his warmth through his hand. She helplessly succumbed to the sleep’s call. Arhad slowly brought his hand off Ianna’s eyes
when her breathing slowed and steadied. He could see her entire face now. The arcs of her lashes and the swift lines of her nose. The
slight part of her restless lips. The lovely words that had spilled out alongside her warm breaths.

Arhad stared down at Ianna, who was so deeply asleep that he didn’t think she would wake even if he shook her.

You’re so defenseless.
It’s actually rather cruel.
He raised his hand to caress her cheek, and he ran his thumb across her crimson lips only to be startled by their heat and pull away. He
forced himself to look away. He felt like there would be no going back if he took another step, if he gave into his greed even just a little
more, so he brought over a blanket to cover her with and closed his eyes and he sat down next to her.

Roygen, the Golden Demon, desperately loved Roberstein, the Crimson God. And, as if fate itself had dictated it, Arhad, who had
forgotten everything, had fallen crazily in love with Ianna, who had also forgotten everything.

Which was why he didn’t want Ianna, or more specifically, he didn’t want Ianna, who was Roberstein’s soul, to remember why she had
come to detest the Demon and kill him. Ianna was perfect and complete in and of herself.
I don’t need Roberstein.
How nice would it be if everything about that woman could go extinct?
I want to erase her, as if she never existed in this world to begin with.
Ianna, Ianna, Ianna.
He didn’t need to be loved if Ianna loathed the concept of love itself. He was satisfied with the way things were now. He liked it so much
that he almost wished that time would stop.

And so, the clock lurking inside him had stopped.

—“Training” End

Chapter 19: The Black Fox (1)

Part 1
The Black Fox was the evilest organization in the world.

Their history began in the Kingdom of Sidian, a kingdom to the west of the Kingdom of Roanne, which stretched down from the center
of the continent to the south. The Kingdom of Sidian was only a kingdom in name, as the leader of the bandits there had simply
proclaimed himself as king, and it was more accurate to call it a lawless land. Drugs, gambling, slaves, prostitution, extortion,
assassination……all sorts of crimes were permitted there, and it was like a heaven for criminals.

The Black Fox, which had been established quietly in the Kingdom of Sidian a long time ago, had started to exert their influence and had
devoured the kingdom whole. The royal family of Sidian had desperately tried to resist, but the Black Fox had come out of seemingly
nowhere —had they crawled up from the earth or dropped out from the sky?— and its powerful members had mercilessly slain the royal
family as easily as adults cleaning up after children.

As a result, the Sidian throne was generally passed down between the executives of the Black Fox. But the Black Fox had started
reaching out towards other countries too, unsatisfied with just the Kingdom of Sidian, and none of those countries had been able to halt
its infiltration.

The reason why the Black Fox had been able to move about as easily as fish in water was because it had appeared at a time when the
entire continent was being ravaged by an era of bloody war. Countries brought their blades against each other in an attempt to gain more
territory, and their people, unable to endure their impoverished lifestyles, had sought out more decadent distractions. The Black Fox had
taken advantage of the times and had earned an astronomical amount of money by playing a hand in every crime that was known to man.
Accordingly, the number of members they had in their organization had skyrocketed as well. By the time the other countries had noticed
the Black Fox’s presence, they had already been spread thoroughly across each nation like seasoning on a slab of meat.

The Kingdom of Roanne had plundered Sidian’s borders and cut it off from the rest of the continent in an effort to stop the Black Fox
from springing up endlessly like weeds. But Sidian was only the Black Fox’s place of origin, nothing more and nothing less, and it had
been long since that another country in the South had been secretly taken over by the Black Fox and was being used as its main base of
operations. The Black Fox had already spread all throughout the continent and were a force that could not be ignored.

The Black Fox was reluctant to be public about its endeavors, but it dominated the underworld by carrying out businesses that profited
through unsavory means, and those nobles who tacitly colluded with them also helped fill their pockets. The Black Fox’s evildoings only
grew worse by the day now that it had both power and authority at its back. Its victims were unable to retaliate, as taking revenge only
brought about a crueler vengeance back upon them, and the nobles were only able to regulate things on the surface level —they were
never able to resolve the situation completely. People avoid shit because it’s dirty —but they simply lower their heads in resignation
when asked if they feared it too.
It was an evil organization that coexisted with hatred and fear.

In the year 1510, an organization called Camastros had risen up to oppose the Black Fox.

Camastros was an organization comprised of only the elite few when compared to the Black Fox, but it still had several hundred
members to its name. Camastros scouted out and recruited warriors, mages, merchants, nobles —anyone who could beat back the Black
Fox in any way, and the entire organization as a whole hated the Black Fox and was extremely violent toward only the Black Fox.

It raided the Black Fox’s bases and mercilessly massacred its members, man and woman alike. It was a terrifying group in the eyes of the
Black Fox’s members. Camastros’ leader was particularly scary. The Black Fox was like a small rodent, unable to even writhe, in the
talons of a fearsome kite when the final boss stood before it. His yellowy eyes, flashing like lightning behind his white mask on which
nothing was drawn, struck terror in the hearts of the Black Fox’s members. They couldn’t understand why they broke out in goosebumps
whenever they saw him, as if he was some terrifying monster with venom dribbling down from his fangs, when he was surely just as
human as they were.

The leader of Camastros had dozens of identities, from high-ranking nobles to the lowest of commoners, but no one knew who he really
was. His funds came from all throughout the continent, but no one knew that all those trails of money actually pointed to him. He
possessed dozens of militant organizations even aside from Camastros, and he had set up independent intelligence agencies that gave him
a firm grasp over information. He was like a ghost who held the entire world in the palm of his hand, and he only used his real name in
the Institution. Arhad, who would one day be Ianna’s king, was the very leader of Camastros.

“P-please spare…”

Ianna slit her enemy’s throat in one clean stroke before he could even finish begging for his life. Warm blood spurted out from the razor-
straight wound she had made and speckled her white mask.

The sensation of her blade burrowing through soft flesh and scratching the hard bone inside was a familiar sensation on the battlefield.
Sparring, where opponents weren’t allowed to actually injure each other fatally, was only meant for practice so people could get
accustomed to using their weapons. Weapons could only shine the brightest in a real fight. The true nature of all weapons, including
swords, was to be cruel as they slew their owners’ enemies.

This was a battlefield, where she must not be merciful so long as she was holding her sword and facing down her enemies. Murder was a
cruel tool that ought not to be abused when governing, but it was a necessary evil on the battlefield. In fact, the pitiful virtues called
mercy and sympathy were useless here. And more importantly, it was stupid to be hesitant when her goal was to eliminate the Black Fox.

Clatter!
Ianna sheathed her sword when she only saw fellow members of Camastros, wearing black robes and white masks, around her. The back
alleys were dim even during the day, and they seemed darker still —perhaps because it was night. The ground, upon which their black
robes slid over like the robes of reapers, was littered with the corpses of the Black Fox mob.

The Black Fox’s thugs had grown poor in quality when it sharply increased its numbers while expanding its influence across the
continent. After fighting them a few times, Ianna realized that she didn’t even need to fortify her blade when dealing with them. She
occasionally spotted a few of Keigus Dimitri’s chimeras every now and again, but the chimeras had been strengthened with Keigus’
blood and they were all but powerless now that Arhad had killed Keigus and taken his fragment.

The Black Fox’s influence dwindled as Camastros grew more familiar with the stench of blood.

“Disband!”

The members of Camastros scattered away and dispersed like ghosts once their work was finished, and Camastros’ clean-up crew took
over. They would either bury the corpses on a hill or burn them.

Ianna, too, melted into the darkness, quickly took off her mask and robes, and stuffed them inside the bag she had been carrying with her.
Then, she left ahead of Arhad and waited for him to rejoin her at the place where they had promised to rendezvous. They walked
leisurely through the heavy night air, as if they hadn’t been the very culprits who had drowned others in a sea of blood just earlier. Arhad
pat Ianna proudly on the shoulder.

“You’ve gotten better.”

Ianna smirked.

“Of course I’ve gotten better —I train all day and I get actual experience every week. Is this not true for you as well?”

If Ianna’s skills were improving, then so, too, was Arhad’s. This was why neither of them had managed to be victorious over the other
yet even though they had been sparring for an hour every day since Ianna had finished her first year at the Institution. They had decided
that victory meant one of them would have their blades pressed up against the other’s throat, but neither Ianna nor Arhad had managed
that quite yet.

Some people might have found their ceaseless draws tedious, but both Ianna and Arhad were having great fun. Sparring both delighted
them and brought them up to further heights.

“But what about Shawn?”

“He won’t make it today because he has important work to do.”

Shawn, who was Arhad’s partner, was usually always with Arhad, but he was absent today.

“The fighting will probably get harder after today. It’s good that you’re getting better so quickly, since there’ll probably be a lot of
casualties going forward. I hope you’ll be huge help to the organization.”

“Does the fact that the fighting is about to get harder have anything to do with the important work that Shawn’s doing?”

“Yes. The Black Fox secretly works for the Bahamut imperial family. And the imperial family summoned the Black Fox’s executives
today.”

The Black Fox was an international criminal organization, and even a crying child would cease crying at once upon hearing their name.
No one could have imagined who was lurking behind them.

1514, as warm spring had passed and time was running toward summer. At long last, the Bahamut imperial family, who held the highest
and noblest seats in the continent, had summoned the three humble bosses of the Black Fox to their empire.

~~*~~

The ashen stone walls stretched alongside the wide floor and the high ceiling. The blackish space was comprised only of straight lines
and was cut through by yet another straight line made by an overwhelmingly red carpet. The red carpet started at the entrance to the hall
and ended at the large seat of power atop the many steps leading up to it. There were two tall torches, blazing with scarlet flames, that
looked like they were composed of coiling snakes set up on either side of the throne.

There was a woman seated on the throne. She looked to be in her mid-thirties at most, but she exuded an air of a ruler that none could
dare approach.
“The tributes are growing smaller.”

Her black and crimson empire dress showed off her slender yet voluptuous figure. The blue diamond pin holding up the woman’s black
hair, as long and smooth as silk, glistened as frigidly as her temperament. She looked down arrogantly at the people beneath her.

“Tell me what’s happened, and don’t skip over a single detail.”

The frost in her voice stabbed at the three people kneeling before her like daggers. They had been teleported directly to Bahamut from
Roanne and weren’t in their best condition, but they didn’t dare mention it to the woman lording over them.

Shailince Bahamut.

The high-handed empress of the Bahamut imperial lineage was still aloof and beautiful despite being well over forty and quickly
approaching her fifties, and the years she had lived had only made her visage ripen like a matured flower. Members of the Bahamut
imperial family tended to age well. Even when they developed them, their wrinkles tended to smooth like earth filling the cracks in fine
china. The fact that they, unlike any other, remained young in appearance until the day that they died made ordinary people fear the
unknown.

Slither…….
A large snake crawled up Shailince’s pale skin and its triangular head stiffened as it glowered at the three people prostrating before her.
Deadly venom dripped from its fangs, as if it wanted to take a bite out of them and swallow them whole, and caused the floor to start
steaming when the droplets hit. Bruce, who was kneeling at the end of the line to the right, slammed his forehead down against the floor
as hard as he could.

“I did not think that the situation was worth reporting to the masters. Please kill me.”

“Do you really think I took the trouble to call you all the way here just to take your lives? What I want isn’t for you to tell me something
as utterly senseless as you offering me your lives. Eiji, why don’t you talk?”
Eiji forced his throat to stop closing in on itself when he heard the wrath in Shailince’s orders and calmly reported,

“A group called Camastros that was established out of nowhere roughly six years ago has been opposing us. Upon investigating where
they gathered the funds and personnel to rival us, it turns out that their recent efforts have been sponsored by the royal family of Roanne
—by Prince Schneider Lezè Roanne in particular. We believe that the prince’s aims are to drive the Black Fox out of his kingdom and
win the public sentiment. The military might that was dispatched from Bahamut was dispersed all throughout the continent; so,
regrettably, it has been difficult to deal with Camastros with our members alone.”

“We freed those vile silvery bastards free from their leashes, and now it’s gotten to their heads. And they don’t even realize that the only
thing that lies at the end of their path is ruin. I trust that we still have absolute control over the funds that are flowing in through Luria,
Payne?”

Payne, who was kneeling between Bruce and Eiji with his head bowed, answered Shailince’s question firmly.

“Yes. That woman is like a kite whose string will be severed if we withdraw the support we give her. Additionally, I have also secured
every weakness we can use to suppress the Roanne nobility.”

A sarcastic smile alighted Shailince’s lips as she sneered, though not at anyone in particular.

“The fools. They fail to realize that the Black Fox belongs to Bahamut and recklessly expose all their weaknesses to us.”

The Black Fox had been established when Bahamut was founded. The Black Fox’s first boss was the first emperor’s beloved pet, a black
fox-type beastman, and the faithful fox had gone south when the emperor had ordered for a powerful foothold to be established in the
South.
The emperor had supported his faithful fox with great military might and finances so the fox could act freely without any hindrance.
Foxes were generally the clever and scheming type, and, with the emperor’s full support, the Black Fox had quickly gained influence in
the Kingdom of Sidian. Then, the Black Fox had integrated all kinds of criminal activities within its organization, gathered up gold and
foodstuffs, and returned the support that Bahamut had given it twice-fold. That was how the Black Fox had begun.

“It would be spectacular if Luria’s son became king. Anyway, I heard that Keigus went to you last year. What is he doing? Do you mean
to tell me that you couldn’t resolve things even with his help?”

Payne looked troubled.

“That’s……we can’t get in contact with him. We ignored it at first because he’s cut off contact with us quite often previously, but it’s
been several months since we last heard from him and I am only reporting this because I don’t believe that his silence can be tolerated
any longer. Master, he’s been long overdue for the next dose of his drugs, and his chimeras can be killed with magic now.”

“Then you mean to say……?”

Shailince’s eyebrows slanted sharply.

“I believe that he is dead.”

Her slender finger tapped against her armrest.

“Keigus, who possessed a fragment, is dead? The bastard who hardly ever came out of his room and only ever ordered his chimeras
around? Unbelievable.”

Shailince raised her hand up from the armrest. Her blue diamond ring began glowing red as she poured mana into it, and an elderly
man’s husky voice sounded from it before long.

[You called, Your Majesty?]

The ring was an artefact with a communication spell cast upon it. Shailince spoke at her ring in displeasure.

“Wiffheimer. Have you heard from Keigus recently?”

[I haven’t heard from the bastard ever since he ran out after saying that there was independent research he wanted to conduct, but I will
try to contact him at once.]

A moment later, Wiffheimer said through the ring,

[He isn’t responding.]

“Is there any reason why he would betray us?”

[There is plenty. Those drunk on power loathe having someone above themselves. And, while Bahamut provides us the best environment
to conduct magical research in, we must also live in fear of having our fragments taken from us. But there is no reason
that Keigus should have betrayed us. The drugs are one thing, but he’s also rather spineless.]
“I received a report that claims his chimeras lost their ability to hinder mana.”

[Then he is dead.]
Wiffheimer’s cackling resounded from the ring. Shailince furrowed her brows.

“How strange. Keigus, who counted himself among the archmages, is dead? Was there a beneficiary of a fragment nearby? Like
someone from Camastros, perhaps?”

“It is difficult to say. It has been difficult to approach them, as none of our members have survived any of their raids. But we will do our
best to collect accurate information and report it back to you posthaste.”

“They’re posing quite the annoyance in these busy times. I will send you the Knights of Grundewalz.”

The three bosses flinched. Grundewalz. They ranked in the upper-middle ranks of the twenty knight orders serving in the imperial
palace. They were only in the upper-middle ranks, but they were still as strong as the royal guards of other countries, and, despite their
skills, the fact that they were being sent to support the Black Fox was unprecedented and the development was shocking.

After all, the Knights of Grundewalz were sometimes called Bahamut’s Sweepers because they cleaned up after any sort of dirty work if
the Bahamut imperial family ordered it of them. In other words, they were a knight order of incredible talent who could do the dirtiest
deeds without any hesitation whatsoever.

“I’ll also send you Margarita, the Black Witch. I don’t mind if you use them to overturn Roanne’s capital. I will also permit Luria and
her son to use them as well. But I will not have those bastards that call themselves Camastros get in our way any longer.”

“We hear and obey.”

“My generation is one of preparation.”

Shailince’s determined voice rang in their ears like thunder. She continued,

“My beloved children’s generation will overturn the world. There must be absolutely nothing lacking in your support of Taylon and
Isabella.”

“We will succeed without fail.”

“Very well. I will not rebuke you since even the likes of Keigus might have been felled by their hands. Go back and await your orders.”

“We adore you and your mercy, Your Majesty.”

Payne and Bruce had left, but Eiji followed after Shailince like a dutiful servant even though she hadn’t ordered him to. She threw open
the doors to her chambers. The room was constructed with white marble, a stark contrast to the blackness from before.

The walls and ceilings were painted with the gentle curves of art nouveau patterns, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the entire
room, which had been designed by an expert of the highest caliber, was a work of art in and of itself. But Eiji’s eyes were locked on
something else entirely.

The setting sun outside the window dyed the room crimson. Eiji’s eyes wavered for a moment as the red sun outside reflected in his
pupils. But his eyes quickly fell on Shailince’s back as if he was avoiding its rays. Shailince smiled deeply as she sank down into the sofa
and crossed her legs.

“It’s been too long, Eiji.”

“Yes, Master.”
There was a fever in Eiji’s cerulean eyes. He continued,

“I have always missed you, Master.”

“Is that so? In that case, I must reward you. Here, Eiji, lick.”

Shailince pointed her foot at him. Eiji got down on his hands and knees like a four-legged creature, pressed his lips against the tip of her
pointed shoe, and carefully took it off. Then, he wrapped his hands around her white foot like it was the most precious jewel in the
world. He licked her foot with ecstasy on his face, as if her foot was sweeter than the lips of any woman. He put his mouth to her foot as
if he was in love.

Shailince looked electrifyingly pleased as she gazed down at the top of Eiji’s head before she grabbed him by the hair. She stared down
haughtily into Eiji’s blue eyes as they reflected only her figure, and the edges of her lips curled up into a smile.

“I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that I’m the only reason you’re alive, right, Eiji?”

“But of course, Master. The grace Your Majesty showed me as you personally brought me out from the puddle of the traitors’ blood is
etched into my very bones. My life belongs to you, Master.”

“Indeed. Now, why don’t you pleasure me?”

“It is my honor.”

Eiji stood up as soon as the words had left his mouth and he propped up Shailince’s face as he buried his lips against her nape. He slowly
dragged his lips down as he undid her clothes. He brought her voluptuous breasts into his mouth and stroked her back as she moaned.

Eiji looked up as he pulled up Shailince’s dress and pulled her hair back to kiss her roughly on the lips. He grabbed her breasts and made
her arch her back.

Shailince’s slender fingers raked over his clothes. He was a young man with a great physique and, while he was slender, the gentle
silhouette of his musculature was visible even through his clothes. But he wasn’t as pleasing to the eye when his flesh was bare. His
entire back was covered with burns and scars that had been left by the whip.

“…….”

Eiji wiped his mouth with the back of his hand once he had left Shailince’s chambers a few hours later. He walked away quickly. He
went to the bathroom at the furthest corner of the imperial palace and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He couldn’t rid himself of his
nausea no matter how many times he rinsed his mouth and he grew pallid as he vomited.

“Siigh…….”
His face was stained heavily with an unbearable fury, hatred, and shame.

“Hi, Little Ianna!”

Eiji, who had been out sick for a few days, waved at Ianna as hard as he could as soon as he returned to the Institution. Ianna studied his
face. Eiji beamed back, as if he was asking her why she was staring at him like that.
“You look pale.”

“Hmm? Are you calling me a delicate pretty boy?”

“But you also seem to be feeling normal, seeing that you’re still sprouting nonsense.”

“Ahaha!”

Eiji burst out in laughter with great fun. Ianna looked perplexed as he, who had looked as dead as a corpse when he had greeted her just
now, laughed with such cheer. Immediately after, the smile vanished from his countenance and he sighed like he was sinking in to the
ground —it was almost like he was bipolar or something.

“As expected of you, Little Ianna. I really didn’t want to be found out. I look tired, don’t I? Argh……I’m exhausted, seriously. I’m so
annoyed.”
“About what?”

“About everything! I just want to quit everything and go on a trip or something! Actually, I wish the whole world would just come
crashing down! The world should just end!”

His words were biting even as he laughed vivaciously. His shoulders slumped again as Ianna continued to stare at him. He stopped
walking and slammed his head against the wall.

“Why is my life like this? Arghhh!”

“…….”

“Sorry.”

Eiji realized that he was venting at Ianna and apologized. He was whining, pleading with her to acknowledge how difficult things were
for him and that he was troubled even when he couldn’t tell her anything about the situation.

Who was he to vent at Ianna to begin with? She was still just a young girl of seventeen no matter how mature she might seem.

Eiji grumbled to himself by saying that it was all because Ianna was almost like a demon in how good she was at reading his mood.

“Would you like to drink until your nose gets crooked?”

“Hmm?”

Eiji asked when the words reached his ears while he was grumbling.

“The world might look like its crumbling down if you’re wasted.”

Eiji felt the consideration in her words. As always, she didn’t know what was going on and she couldn’t resolve anything, but she was
still offering to simply stay by his side regardless. She was curious, but she would wait quietly without any questions until he was ready
to talk.

 
“I believe that looking the other way when someone you’ve taken a liking to is trying to hide something is a virtue. I won’t care even if I
learn their secrets one day, so long as it isn’t something that harms me. And, even if that secret is something that could be dangerous to
me, if that person happens to be a trusted ally, I will accept the risks.”
 

Eiji was walking along a narrow path with cliffs to both sides. He would fall to his death at even the smallest mishap. He didn’t even
know what would be waiting for him at the end even if he did manage to cross it. He was the only person who could take that path, and
only he would end up dead if he slipped and fell.

Eiji looked frivolous on the outside, but he was constantly playing a game of tug-o-war between his sharp rationality and his raging
emotions on the inside, and he was always being wary of everyone. A spy’s work could not be carried out with a normal mind, and that
was especially true of someone like Eiji, who was in it for revenge.

Eiji could not predict where his path would take him.

What will be left of me once I’ve had my revenge? I might be so exhausted, so drained, that I might just fling myself off a cliff.
“Are we friends, Little Ianna?”

“That came out of nowhere.”

“Would you count me as your ally?”

“……Allies, enemies —how long do you intend to get hung up over this?”

“I was really touched back then, you know? Little Ianna, would you hold me back if I tried to jump off a cliff?”

“Of course I would. But I’d also beat the crap out of you if you were only messing around with me.”

“Would you fish me out if I was buried under a pile of shit?”

Ianna put on a sour face.

“……I would need a moment to think about that one……. But if you were in danger, then I would rescue you.”

“Should I just make myself your underling? I’d definitely be your ally then, right?”

“That’s enough of your nonsense. The thought of you being my subordinate makes my skin crawl. And quit going on about being allies
and whatnot.”

“You’re the one who brought it up first. What, are you only starting to get embarrassed about it now after all this time? Then again,
there was a lot of style in your words back then.”
“Quiet, you. And stop asking about the obvious.”

“The obvious?”

“Do you really think I’d keep exchanging words like this with someone I don’t even like? I consider you a dear friend of mine, so stop
asking me about it.”

Ianna’s ears flushed a little red as she said that. She continued,
“I will always take your side no matter what so long as you don’t betray me.”

The tip of Eiji’s nose tingled as he was moved to tears. Ianna might understand. She might still accept him even after she learned about
what kind of life he had lived.

He always hid himself behind the lie of being carefree. What would happen if he disclosed his secret to someone? Would they be able to
endure it? It was only obvious to Eiji that anyone he told would find it uncomfortable and distance themselves from him. Rather, even
before that, there was no way that he could possibly even disclose his extraordinary secrets to begin with. Arhad was the one person
whom he could speak to about everything, but he never knew what Arhad was thinking and Arhad was an apathetic man who never cared
much about others.

But Ianna was here too now. She was now a colleague who shared his goals and she was the type of girl who generally never so much as
blinked no matter what she was confronted with. Eiji, who had been observing her all this time, knew best that her attitude toward him
would never change even if he told her his secret.

Eiji had the sudden impulse to tell Ianna everything like a sinner confessing all his sins to a priest. He thought he would be able to find
salvation in someone who could accept him for everything that he was.

I should tell her when I get the chance. How hard could it be? —even someone like Arhad got caught by her and now she practically
drags him around on a leash. Eiji started to grin now that his mood was lifted.
“Little Ianna, can I hug you just once?”

“Did you somehow manage to get drunk already? I’ll pass.”

“Aww, c’mon.”

Eiji pretended to be depressed, but he broke out giggling when Ianna pat him on the back. She was hilarious. She had turned him down
verbally, but her hands were so kind. It was reassuring to have such an adorable girl on his side. He thought this about her even without
taking her strength into consideration. Ianna was so sturdy that it made him want to lean on her.

Eiji was determined to protect Ianna no matter what he would have to do if something happened to her. Of course, Arhad, who was
crazily obsessed about her, might take care of things first, but there were things that even Arhad couldn’t do too well. Like fabricating or
cutting off information. Such things were Eiji’s specialty, as he had grown up as the ‘boss of the Black Fox’s intelligence operations’
ever since he was young.

“Hehe.”

Eiji playfully made a fist and tapped it against the top of Ianna’s head. She frowned.

“You’re really being weird today…….”

Eiji grinned as he watched Ianna sulk a little while she slapped his hand away. He wanted to at least protect this light. Ianna was the one
person whom Eiji could be honest with even as he treaded on thin ice, the one person who made him feel so reassured even if all she did
was stand by his side.

Ianna gave one last sidelong glance at Eiji, who was truly acting odd today, before she walked ahead while only looking forward.

Summer was fast approaching, and the days were getting hotter. The sun showered its hot rays down to earth like an afternoon rain. After
her day was over, Ianna made her way to the library where she could finally breathe, as it was always air-conditioned by magic to help
preserve the books. She sat down where she always sat in the corner of the library that had been tacitly designated as her spot. As usual,
Rikijen, the future prime minister of Bahamut, was already there and had his head buried inside a book with a stack of papers beside him.
Ianna breathed out a noticeably easier breath before she plopped down next to him. Rikijen was so busy scrawling numbers and letters
across his papers that he didn’t even notice that Ianna had arrived.

Ianna draped an arm around the back of her chair and stared at what he was writing from afar. He was always doing homework on topics
like, ‘Describe the political and economic landscape of the Kingdoms of Sonia, Zalbates, Morian, Tirkal, and Begoisha in 1,000 words or
fewer, and summarize what diplomatic stances the Kingdom of Begoisha should take with the other countries in one sentence each while
citing three examples.’

Curiously enough, however, the sheet of paper Rikijen was looking at was filled with currency values and a chart listing a record of the
specialties of each region. No matter how Ianna looked at it, it looked similar to the company documents that she had read over Arhad’s
shoulder.

“Hmm? When did you get here?”

Rikijen only noticed Ianna’s presence when he made to stretch and readjusted his glasses.

“Just now. Is this homework?”

“No. It’s for my part-time job with the Vinister Company. Lord Arhad introduced me to the company, saying that those who do not work
shall not eat. I’ve been working with the company ever since I was young. I ran a lot of trivial errands for the company when I was
younger, and now I either organize documents for them or find calculation errors and report back on them. I also occasionally use a list
of regional specialties and export products to write up proposals for them. And I get to learn more about working by accompanying the
company owner when he’s making important business negotiations.”

The Vinister Company was one of the companies that Arhad had nurtured from the very beginning, and it was one of the companies that
were completely in his grasp. Rikijen continued,

“I’m going to work hard and become Lord Arhad’s subordinate without fail.”

“You like Arhad that much?”

“But of course. He’s my benefactor.”

“Because he rescued you from House Owen’s clutches?”

“That’s just how we first met. He’s done so much more for me than that. The work I’m doing now isn’t something that would normally
be tasked to an orphan, much less an orphan who’s still a student. Even I can tell that these documents are hugely important, and I’m still
lacking in a lot of ways.”
Rikijen waved documents in the air.

“I know that he’s someone important in the underworld. And I also have a rough idea of what he’s been doing. The only reason I’m able
to do this job is because he pulled a few strings.”

Ianna took the documents that Rikijen had been laboriously pouring over and read through them. Indeed, they were accounting
documents that only higher-ups in Arhad’s companies would be allowed to read.

Rikijen didn’t stop her. He knew that Arhad treasured her dearly, and he also knew that Ianna was walking the same path as himself.

“The truth……is that I’m being sponsored by him. He distracted House Owen until they forgot I existed, he set me up with a good job,
and, though he doesn’t go as far as to simply hand me my living expenses, he also freely supplies me with books and stationery.”

“He barely acknowledges your existence in the Institution.”

“We met under one of his other identities, so he prefers to not let the fact that we know each other be known in the Institution. We do
talk once in a while if we happen to meet up outside. I help him with his work sometimes too.”

“Arhad was the older boy who brought you to that bakery we visited before when you were crying, right?”

“You remembered that? I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I used to cry because I wanted to eat their bread often when I was younger even
though I needed to be in hiding, and Lord Arhad would take me there. I actually just wanted to visit the Mister and Missus, but he
probably pretended not to notice.”

‘Was Arhad pretending to ignore him so he could raise Rikijen up as a trustworthy subordinate?’
Arhad looked like he couldn’t care any less about Rikijen on the surface, but he was still making sure to take care of him behind the
scenes. And Rikijen knew that. Their bonds as liege and retainer had been firm in the past, and the ties that bound them were crawling up
like intertwining vines and growing thicker even now.

“I was just a poor commoner born to a florist with no vision of my own, and I was on the brink of being killed by thugs. It was Lord
Arhad who raised me to become who I am today. Whom else would I follow, if not him?”

Rikijen always looked at Arhad with envy in his eyes. He had lost his parents and siblings, and he had been about to lose even his own
life to the thugs when Arhad had chanced upon and rescued him. After watching Arhad slay without hesitation the agents of the powerful
people who had slaughtered his family, after Arhad had pulled him out of the sea of blood by hand, after Arhad had given him his quiet
protection……Rikijen had begun seeing Arhad as an older brother, as his future liege —no, as someone far greater to whom he would
offer his everything.

Ianna thought Rikijen was rather curious. He had been Arhad’s greatest retainer even in the past and had spent his entire life supporting
Arhad. The joy of offering one’s whole life to another was something that Ianna, who had only cared about herself even as she served her
own liege on the battlefield, had never known. She had always put herself first and foremost, so there was no way she could have ever
known how delightful it was to do something for another.

But Ianna wanted to try experiencing it at least once now that Arhad was etched inside her heart.

Ianna returned the documents and got up to look for something to do. She wandered about the library and came back with a stack of
books in her arms. They were all publications that had to do with swordplay and physical training.

Ianna sat back down and researched about swordplay as she took down memos and drew diagrams in her notebook. Once she had gotten
it all down in her head, she closed her eyes and imagined herself fighting an enemy.

She would go to the training hall later that afternoon to teach her body the new swordplay she had learned. She would practice the parts
that felt awkward to her and correct the parts that weren’t practical as she developed herself further. As a result, her swordplay, which
had originally depended solely on her instincts and physical prowess, would become both more systematic and more unpredictable. Her
freely flowing swordplay had become more complicated and difficult to fight against now that she had added a stiff density to her
attacks. At the moment, she was strong enough to beat even the best royal guards in Roanne with just her swordplay alone —she
wouldn’t even need to use mana.

It was always fun and exciting to brandish her sword. Swordplay was to Ianna as what dancing was to a dancer, what playing music was
to a musician, or what painting was to an artist. Feeling herself growing stronger only drove her forward. The sword always gave Ianna a
clear path in life.

Stronger, stronger, stronger.

Growing stronger was an ecstasy. There was no emotion that could beat it.

But no, there was. The thrill of fighting a match against that man. His greed as he coveted her strength. And his desperation as he did
everything in his power to have her.
“Oh, did you have any plans for summer break? —it’s almost here.”

“I’m thinking of traveling to the West,”

Ianna answered Rikijen’s question promptly. Most people would call her crazy for attempting to make a round trip to one of the four
corners in just two months, but Ianna had already been to the South with Chendelf and Mursi previously. She could run faster than a
horse if she imbued her legs with mana, so she could make the trip with time to spare if she was strict with herself. And so, she had
decided to visit the Girohai Desert over summer break.

Absilot had cajoled her to come visit over and over again until the day he had left the capital. On his last day he had even given her a
shining wooden badge to show the mercenary guild.

Absilot knew about the spirits’ secrets. Ianna wondered if he might know about the Holy Age as well. She was going to the desert
specifically to see him.

Ianna swept her hair back and crouched over the table. She wanted to learn more about her body. Ianna wanted to know why she couldn’t
draw out the divine power that was locked away inside her heart, what the walls that were blocking her divine power were, and what
Roberstein’s soul, which she apparently carried inside her body, was. She would need to use every bit of power inside her body if she
wanted to defeat Arhad.

She had been a little depressed for a while after that day because of the laws of causality that Arhad had mentioned, but her anxieties
cleared away as she made her resolve. The oath she had sworn to Arhad and her heart, which had grown sturdier after living alongside
Arhad in this life, would never change even if Roberstein was her past incarnation and still somehow held an influence over her.
And it was probably the same for Arhad. His greed was unfathomably deep, so there was no way he would ever stop wanting her. Ianna
was certain that, even if the laws of causality came into play, its effects would either manifest in something that wasn’t the relationship
they shared or would affect their relationship only for the better.

First, she would gain more insight into the matter without Arhad’s knowing, and she would only confess what she had done after she had
confirmed that nothing would harm their relationship. He’d probably tell her off for acting on her own at first, but their relationship
would surely be tempered into something stronger once the awkward remnants of the Holy Age had been settled.

She would need to tell Arhad that she planned on going on a trip over break soon. He probably wouldn’t like it, so she would need to
hide the fact that she was going to learn more about the secrets of the Holy Age.

And so, another meeting day for the executives of Camastros was creeping closer.

~~*~~

Part 2
“Ohoho!”

Laughter spilled out from the flock of women under the warm sunlight as the heavy fragrance of perfume wafted through the air. There
were choux pastries covered with soft whipped cream, cookies made from honey, and savory tea on the table. Greedy white hands were
reaching out to the glittering jewels inside a box.

“Your Highness, there are only five pearls of the highest grade that are produced from the Straights of Kirisher a year —isn’t this one of
them?”
The women were chattering away like birds with a certain voluptuous woman with bright red lipstick at their center. She stood out all the
more because she was wearing flashy clothes where the woman smiling pleasantly around her were dressed more plainly. It was as if she
was the only leading star of the show. The women dug through the jewelry box as they failed to hide their admiration at each and every
accessory they touched.

“Yes. The person who gifted it to me said that it was the best of the best and had the most beautiful luster to be seen in generations.”

“Wooow, it’s so beautiful that I don’t doubt it’s true. It’s only natural that Your Highness possesses something so rare and valuable.”

The woman addressed as ‘Your Highness’ puffed out her voluptuous chest. She bustled around and brushed at her golden dress, which
highlighted her figure despite how showy it was, as if she had spilled something on it and reorganized how the hem of her dress fell
down to the ground. The other women took note of this and turned their eyes to her dress.

“Oh, Your Highness. Might I dare ask if your dress was custom-tailored? It makes your beauty all the more apparent.”

“I am told that Madame Elicier is rather skilled at her craft.”

“You mean the Baroness Elicier? The baroness is certainly skilled……but fortune must surely smile upon her as well. I’m sure her
dresses will be on trend this year since you’re wearing them, Your Highness Luria.”
The women didn’t fail to notice how Luria stealthily showed off her fingers as she charmingly brushed back her chocolate-colored hair.
It was difficult to miss the giant jewel that was large enough to cover two of her fingers.

“Your Highness, that ring…….”

“Isn’t it lovely? His Majesty gifted it to me personally.”

The sun’s brilliant rays were refracted at multiple angles inside the delicate smooth surfaces that had been cut by a master jeweler. Its
shine was captivating as the light scattered and dispersed into a myriad of colors. It was an accessory so expensive that no commoner
would dare to even look at it. It was the reward Luria had received for presenting the aging king with a fantastical night.

“It’s always so touching to see how deeply His Majesty loves you, Your Highness.”

“I’m sure Her Highness already knows just how much His Majesty loves her, no? His Majesty loves her so much he might even be
willing to die for her. Hoho.”

“It’s so truly beautiful. It’s like there’s a rainbow trapped inside the jewel.”

“This ring belongs only to Her Highness. What other place could possibly suit it better than Her Highness’ fingers? I feel like the ring
itself would reject me if a woman such as I tried to even touch it.”

“Goodness, don’t be like that. You’re rather beautiful yourself, Madame Haylin. I do believe that this ring would look good on you…….
Would you like to try it on? It’ll be my gift to you.”

The madame who had been buttering up to Luria so hard she was practically drooling dropped open her mouth so wide it looked like she
was about to swallow the ring whole. She had been coveting it for a while. It was worth degrading herself to have it.

“Oh, Your Highness Luria. How could I dare possibly accept such a gift…….”

“But I cannot help but gift it to you now that I think that the ring might be worth more on your fingers than mine, Madame Haylin. Here,
try it on.”
“To think that Your Highness would be so generous.”

The main star of tea party, Luria, the first concubine to Roanne’s reigning king, Harios Maxium Roanne, took the giant diamond ring on
and off her fingers and savored in the luxury as coy and saccharine flattery reached her ears.

Flattery was a formless luxury, but if did it have a form, it would surely be a gift from a god of the highest rank. The women surrounding
Luria were also the types to sing praises of luxury, and they stared at Luria’s accessories like fat cats staring down prey.

Luria could do anything if it meant keeping her life of luxury forever. Her homeland no longer had any more expectations of her. After
all, she was already the mother of the man who would be the great Kingdom of Roanne’s next king —Crown Prince Fernando.

Which was why the second prince, Schneider, and his mother, Lezè, who tried to hinder her at every turn, were like thorns in her side.

“Schneider……. Lezè.”

Even as she was happily indulging in her luxury, just thinking about them made her so furious that she felt like her brain was being
crushed out of her skull. The women who had heard what she had mumbled closed their mouths as if they had been sewn shut. Luria’s
mood was as fickle as mountain weather, and their names were a taboo that could instantly turn Luria’s good cheer into hysteria.

There were three major powers in Roanne at the moment.

Muziniel and Linus’ faction, Luria and Fernando’s faction, and Lezè and Schneider’s faction. There was also a neutral faction.

The Queen consort, Muziniel, was a lady of high birth from House Winnifred. She had been courted passionately by the king a long time
ago before they had wed, and she couldn’t exactly be called a mummy of the highest quality yet because she was an elegant woman akin
to a bunch of white lilies. Her blood, mixed with the blood of the royal family of Roanne, which was said to carry beauty in its very
genes, had produced two princesses, Lyxillia and Angelina, who were the epitome of beauty.

Muziniel was beautiful, but she was also very feeble. She had never once complained even after Luria had stolen the king’s favor from
her. She had spent so many nights with the king, but she had conceived a silver child capable of inheriting the throne only after the king
had turned away from her, so she was no match for Luria. Besides, Muziniel had no ambitions in particular despite having come from
such a powerful house.

Rather, the person whom Luria hated dreadfully was the ambitious Lezè, another lady of high birth who had been from House Claude
before she had taken on the surname Roanne.

There was practically no difference in power between House Winnifred, a duchy, and House Claude, a march. Aside from House
Roberstein, which had abstained from the struggle for power in favor of guarding the frontier, the other Five Founding Houses —Houses
Tarwitt, Winnifred, Owen, and Claude— were evenly matched in power.

Muziniel was from House Winnifred and Lezè was from House Claude, but Luria was just a princess from a small and weak kingdom
who had been offered up to the current king.

She had had nothing to support herself with but her own beauty when she had first come to Roanne, and she had struggled so hard to
climb up to the position she found herself in now. She had endured so much persecution and so many insults. Luria grabbed the handle of
her teacup so hard she might have crushed it.

It should have been next to impossible for Luria, a princess from a small and weak country, to build up power. It had only been possible
because she had used every means at her disposal to win the favor of the aging king and because of her son, Fernando.
Her life had turned around completely after she had given birth to her son, Fernando, who had silver hair and silver eyes. Expensive gifts
had been showered upon her like waves, and people had begun whispering sweet words in her ear. ‘They,’ who had suddenly visited her
one day, were included in their number.

And yet, Lezè and Schneider had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and had placed a chokehold on her.

Schneider, in particular, was a thorn in her side. Not only did he have the support of his mother’s dignified maiden house, House Claude,
but he was also being supported by the powerful House Tarwitt through his betrothal to Lilith Tarwitt. Even House Solsavier, headed by
Schneider’s teacher Duke Shingardra Solsavier, acted as his powerful ally.

Countless nobles supported Schneider, and the people loved him as well. They loved and supported not Fernando, whom Luria had given
birth to, but Schneider.

And Lezè, the bitch who had given birth to that bastard. The bitch was more ambitious for power than Luria was for luxury. Lezè
Roanne, the insufferable bitch who always looked down on her like she was something vulgar!

“Goodness, how could that woman ever possibly stand against Your Highness? She’s just a stone-cold woman who couldn’t even win
His Majesty’s affections.”

The women sitting around Luria began clamoring one after another, starting with Countess Hartneki, Luria’s close aide.

“She’s always showing off. She treats others like they’re idiots just because she happens to be a bit well-read —it’s like she thinks she’s
a scholar or something. But all she really knows how to do is recite a few poems to His Majesty, tch.”
“Have you seen the dress she was wearing today? I nearly died trying not to laugh when I saw her. It was so plain and simple. And don’t
even get me started on her accessories. That ring she was wearing today, hoho. It was so crude it could have belonged to some country
bumpkin. She acts like she’s being thrifty, but I bet it’s actually because His Majesty never gives her anything.”
“She’s not thrifty, she’s loutish.”

“……I thought Her Highness Lezè’s dress was a masterpiece gifted to her by the best designer in Roanne —is it not?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“If you look closely at her dress, you’ll see that there are countless tiny jewels embedded into them, and they say that each one is worth
an entire year’s budget from your average noble’s territory. And I heard that her ring was dwarven made…….”

Luria’s eyes glistened viciously when one woman failed to read the situation and stated the things that she had known as fact.

“Luria, that brainless bitch, was insulting me behind my back with a few other ladies today, you say?”

“Yes, Your Highness. One lady misspoke and suffered burns when tea was thrown at her face.”

“Was it her first time being invited to Luria’s tea table? Tut tut.”
Lezè looked elegant, yet a cut coldhearted, as she listed to her bowing lady-in-waiting’s report.

Luria was a vile bitch who was eating away at the kingdom. She was a brainless bitch who strutted around like she was the first lady of
the kingdom when she was nothing more than a princess who had been offered to the king from a foreign kingdom like a sex slave. She
was a cockroach with nothing but luxuries in her head who was squandering away the royal coffers to buy herself more jewels and
dresses. Lezè considered Luria and little more than an insect.
The queen was too weak to oppose Luria, and Lezè had judged that there was a very real possibility that the damned bitch Luria might
devour the kingdom whole. Lezè was clever and ambitious —she had initially been preparing to enter into the political fray with Marquis
Claude behind her—, and though Luria had beaten her to the punch, she had become the king’s concubine and had given birth to
Schneider. Lezè had always aspired to be powerful in politics, and she had changed her goals and had decided to place her son on the
throne and make Roanne the most powerful kingdom the world had ever seen.

Lezè felt so proud whenever she saw Schneider. The son she had given birth to had every marking of a great king. He had wanted to be
king and lead the kingdom into a great revival ever since he was just a boy, and Lezè spared no effort in helping him make his dreams
come true. Schneider was bright and radiant, and the nobles and citizens who loved the kingdom chose to follow him like the way people
subconsciously reached out for the sun.

And yet, the reason why she couldn’t pull Luria’s son, Fernando, off the crown prince’s seat was because of Luria’s vast wealth —no
one knew where it even came from— and because of an ominous group of nobles who were fiercely loyal to her.

She could understand that those nobles who had things they needed to hide supported Luria because they would lose all their power and
authority if Schneider rose to the throne. But even a few nobles whom Lezè had thought were decent had sworn fealty to Fernando.

‘What is it? What is the source of her vast wealth? And why are those nobles so firmly loyal to Luria?’
Lezè tapped her finger against the table as she ruminated over questions that couldn’t be solved.

~~*~~

“The Knights of Grundewalz rank fifth among the twelve knight orders under the Bahamut imperial family’s direct command, putting
them in the upper-middle ranks.”

Shawn was conducting a briefing before the executives of Camastros. He was pointing to diagram of twelve levels drawn on a piece of
cloth. He was no longer hesitant to mention the Bahamut Empire now that Ianna had been made aware that Camastros was targeting the
imperial throne.

Shawn reported that Bahamut had finally noticed that the Black Fox was growing weaker and had taken action. They had sent out the
Knights of Grundewalz and the Witch Margarita. They were powerful enemies who had been dispatched to weed out Camastros.

“But their difficulty rank is low. The Bahamut Empire ranks their military assets not by a measure of skill but by how well they perform
and how much favor they have with the imperial family. Grundewalz falls behind in actual skill, but the knight order is vicious and will
take any risk necessary to accomplish their missions.”

There were a lot of rebellious factions inside Bahamut. The rebels were mostly comprised of minority groups who had lived in the North
before Bahamut had taken over, and there were also those who burned with vengeance because they had suffered harm, no matter how
small or how great, at the hands of the imperial family’s cruel reign.

“The Knights of Grundewalz always leave their targets in ruins, and they take all survivors as slaves. Anyone who revolts against
Bahamut are doomed to meet that end. And also…”

Shawn pointed to a circle that had been drawn next to the levels.

“Bahamut’s mages act as one group. It’s a group of powerful mages lead by the imperial family’s head mage, Wiffheimer Potestas. The
Witch Magarita is Wiffheimer’s third disciple, and she’s infamous in the North. She specializes in curses. Causing a plague is a piece of
cake for her. And she will be supporting Grudewalz from behind.”
“Our plan for the next year and six months is to borrow the Roanne prince’s name and harass the Black Fox enough to make them unveil
themselves on their own accord out of indignation.”

It was Arhad who had slowly added on to what Shawn was saying. He continued,

“Our first goal is to shake the foundations of the Bahamut Empire’s wealth, and the second is to make the empire bear her fangs against
the Kingdom of Roanne instead of us. Our third and ultimate goal is for Roanne to realize that the Black Fox is backed by Bahamut and
to stir up as much conflict within the kingdom as possible. We will then wrap up all of our preparations before that time and head to the
Kingdom of Woodruff. We’ll start organizing things little by little going forward.”

Arhad would graduate from the Institution when he turned twenty-three. And he would be twenty-four the year after that. He would be
the same age he had been when Ianna had first met him. She hadn’t known where Arhad had been after the Youths’ Swordsmanship
Tournament because he had been too busy vying for the imperial throne to pay attention to a young girl like her. Ianna flushed red with
shame when she recalled how childishly she had lost herself in rage because Arhad had not come back to seek her out. Just then, Van
raised his hand.

“Will we be meddling in Roanne’s politics?”

“Not directly no, but our actions are bound to affect the struggle between Fernando and Schneider. The Black Fox will ask Luria’s
faction to deal with Camastros, so they’ll naturally be coming into conflict with Prince Schneider. Be we will only focus on opposing the
Black Fox as a third party. The Kingdom of Roanne isn’t our nation, after all.”

Everyone agreed with Arhad’s composed explanation. Ianna nodded as well, unbeknownst to the fact that Arhad had snuck a brushing
glance at her direction.

“This sums up our plans for the next year and six months.”

“A year and six months…….”

It was both a long and short period of time. Everyone repeated the time limit to themselves as they kindled their motivation.

“We will weaken the Black Fox as much as we can while we’re still here, and then we’ll move to the Kingdom of Woodruff and prepare
for an all-out war against Bahamut. We have more than enough justification for it, since I’m a Bahamut prince. And Bahamut is a nation
where might makes right, so every knee will bend in the face of power.”

Arhad used magic to burn the cloth that Bahamut’s ranking system had been diagramed out on. The crimson flames erased the lines of
ink that symbolized Bahamut from the face of the world. Soot and ashes dropped to the floor as the flames slowly made their way across
the cloth.

“In any event, the Black Fox is our first order of business. We’ll start with Grundewalz and Margarita.”

The hundred members of the Knights of Grundewalz and the Witch Margarita had received long-term orders to eliminate Camastros, the
group that had been getting in the Black Fox’s way in the southern half of the continent, and were teleported direct there.

“Roanne…….”

Formido, the commander of the knight order, looked up and felt the sun’s rays as they fell on his face. The sunlight was beautiful as it
filtered through between the walls of the buildings.
They were only in the slums, but the warm air that enveloped the entirety of Roanne’s capital was fundamentally different from the bleak
and chilly air in the North. The weather here was perfect for fostering life, and the good-for-nothings in the South took it for granted
without ever realizing how blessed they were. They beat their bellies and griped about the most trivial things, and they didn’t know what
it meant to be desperate to survive.

“Damn it all.”

He looked around to find that the others were of a similar mindset.

Most of the Knights of Grundewalz were men in their forties. Bahamut’s war against the Kingdom of Roanne had paused twenty-two
years ago, and they had been starving youths too young to fight while the war was still being waged, and as grown men they had been
too busy prowling across the North like a pack of wildcats to ever come down to the South.

They had committed so many heinous deeds that some people in the North claimed that they had eaten human flesh, but they grew dizzy
and breathed raggedly as they felt how gentle, abundant, and warm nature could be for the first time in their lives.

Formido, however, was in his late forties and he, who had become a child soldier when he was fifteen, had participated in the war for
about three years. He had taken up a weapon to survive and to support his family. He had killed his enemies frantically. And he had
pined for the weather in the South even after returning to Bahamut and achieving merit after merit and finally becoming the commander
of an entire knight order. It was the memories of the South’s warmth, and not the stench of blood, that those who had fought in the war as
soldiers kept even to this day.

“Welcome,”

Payne, the black fox who was technically only one of the Black Fox’s three bosses and the head of the organization’s drug trading
operations but whose bloodline had been the Black Fox’s actual leader for generations, greeted them.

“It’s been a while,”

Formido said as he nodded back. Formido had met Payne for work a few times in the past. The Black Fox was one of Bahamut’s core
powers, and, though it was difficult to rank them on the hierarchy because they were separated from the other institutions and was a
special organization under the imperial family’s direct control, they needed to be shown the proper courtesy. Payne’s eyes then fell upon
the skinny woman standing next to him.

“It’s been a while since I saw you last too, Little Margarita.”

Margarita grinned and took a look around her surroundings.

“It has. But where is our adorable little Eiji?”

“He’s been attending the Institution as of late. He only shows up if we have a meeting or if he has work to do.”

The smile was instantly wiped off of Margarita’s face and her cheer was transformed into irritation.

“Arrogant little shit. You mean to say that he didn’t come by even though he knew I’d be here? Has it been too long? He’s supposed to
come and entertain me like he used to way back when.”
“That would be difficult, since the bastard’s a boss in his own right now.”

“Hmph.”

Formido ordered his men to follow as he let Payne guide them into a building and bared his teeth.
“Prepare us some beer and meat. And bring out some pretty girls too. I’ve been looking forward to how good these well-fed wenches in
the South really are.”

“Did you really need to ask? I’ve already prepared everything beforehand. The girls are in the middle of dressing up, so why not fill your
stomachs first?”

The building that Payne had brought them to had once been a large inn. Payne had bought out the entire building for Grundewalz’s use
because it had good accommodations.

Payne clapped twice as soon as he entered the main hall. Chefs pours out from the kitchens and placed so much fattened meat that
smelled delectable on the tables that the legs were starting to bow. The knights sat down wherever they wanted and drooled as they
stared at the food.

“Eat.”

The hungry knights immediately picked up a cask of wine in one hand and a stick of meat in the other as soon as their commander had
given them the order. They opened their mouths wide as they greedily bit into the greasy slabs of meat.

“This stuff’s to die for. Do all chefs down here cook like this?”

“It’ll be more than just the women who we’ll need to keep alive and drag back home with us.”

Formido sat down at a table with his retainer, Miloutè, to his right and Margarita to his left, and Payne sat down opposite of him. He held
his wooden mug, sloshing with beer, upside-down over his mouth. The cool beer traveled down his throat. Even the beer was good in the
South.

“So what exactly will we be doing here?”

“I’m sure the masters already told you the gist of it, but your ultimate goal is to wipe out Camastros. We estimate that there are about
three hundred of them in total. And they’re pretty strong. But I’m sure they’ll be no match for Grundewalz. Not their skills, not their
recklessness, and not their cruelty.”

“And? Do we just break into their hideout and go to town on them?”

“That won’t be possible. Our informant hasn’t been able to sniff out their whereabouts at all. Even when we do find some useful
information and conduct a raid, we end up taking more losses then they do because they’re too strong.”
“Are you sure your informant’s doing his job properly?”

“I tried looking into the matter using my own information lines, and I didn’t do any better. They’re pretty thorough.”

“Hmmm. And?”

“According to our informant, Camastros is a group that the second prince has been sponsoring for a while now for the sole purpose of
opposing us. Based on that information, we’ve decided on three goals. First, to get the second prince to stop supporting Camastros.
Second, to wipe out those Camastros insects once the second prince has stopped supporting them. And third, to ruin the second prince for
the concubine we’re supporting. We can’t possibly let him take the throne when he’s dared to raise a hand against us, now can we?
Besides, we need that concubine’s son to be king if we want to control Roanne as we please…….”

“Ahh. You’re talking too much. In conclusion, we just need to go where you point us and destroy everything in sight, right?”

“Yes. You guys are the perfect fit for the work we’ll have to do going forward. After all, you’re crueler and more brutal than any other.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”

Payne’s words were a compliment for the Knights of Grundewalz. They were the evilest of the wicked who favored infamy over honor.
They burnt down entire villages. They killed anyone, even women, children, and the elderly. They dug up the earth and buried people
alive……. They carried out the cruelest tasks to perfection so long as the imperial family had ordered it, and the dead wailed sorrowfully
in their wake.

“Kill any members of Camastros on sight and torment the people of Roanne for now. The people here have become complacent in these
peaceful times, so they’ll take on the foul mindset of not caring if a neighbor gets hurts as long as they themselves aren’t harmed. The
plan is to make them resent not the monster that quietly eats people but the people who stepped forward and tried to do something about
the monster.”

“I get it, so hurry up and bring out the girls already.”

Payne smirked and clapped his hands together as Formido waved his hand in annoyance.

“Kyah, you sirs are so handsome!”

“Where are you from? I’ve never seen such attractive men before in my life.”

Women opened the doors and ran into the men’s arms.

“It’ll be awkward for a fellow woman to be here, so why don’t you go upstairs and rest?”

Payne pushed an attractive man toward Margarita and gestured upstairs. Margarita coyly studied the man up and down before dragging
him upstairs and disappearing behind a door.

Then men were unable to hold themselves back because they were high on the Black Fox’s specially made drugs and aphrodisiacs. Nor
did they have any reason to in the first place.

The women were high-class hostesses whom Payne had paid handsomely in advance. It was their job to treat the men well. But the
women didn’t need the money to instinctively know that the men before them were big shots. And they also instinctively knew that they
were dangerous.

Which was why they simply accepted the men’s rough and sometimes even violent touches.

Payne cackled as he sat in the middle of the hall.

“Our plans can begin after the night is over.”

And the night was still yet young.

Unlike the hall downstairs, Margarita’s room was deathly quiet.

Not a single scream escaped her tightly shut door. All night long.

~~*~~
 

“Go home before it gets any later, Shinda,”

said a teacher to a student who was hard at work cooking with leftover materials from their practical exercise, with worry.

“I will, Professor. Please go on ahead.”

“It’s already nine. Get home soon —they say that there’s been a lot of suspicious activity as of late.”

“Yes, I will.”

Shinda’s tutor stopped several times to look back at Shinda for some reason before he finally turned around for good and left for his
lodgings.

Shinda was a student in the Institution’s Culinary Department. Her father had passed away, she had two starving younger twin sisters,
and her mother was sickly and barely managed to keep up with the housework. Shinda worked many part-time jobs because of her
family situation, and her professor took pity on her and gave her leftover ingredients from class for free —it would only rot if it was left
there anyway. Shinda was grateful for her professor’s consideration every day, and she had made it a habit to cook the ingredients in the
practice kitchens before bringing her cooking home.

“There we go.”

Shinda looked down smugly as she wrapped up the food he had cooked. Her friends had given her specially-made meat pies today. She
could already see her sisters, who liked meat pie, dancing with glee.

She looked out the window and quickly ran out of the practice kitchen with his food. The days had grown longer because it was summer,
but it was still dark outside. The magic lampposts were flickering, perhaps because the mana stones powering them were running dry.

Shinda looked back at the road she had just walked. The only other figure she saw on the road was her own shadow, with its hair tied up
in a ponytail just like hers was —she saw no one else. The public safety in the commoners’ district wasn’t as good as the nobles’ district,
so commoners tended to come home early and lock their doors. And people had been coming home even earlier as of late, perhaps
because there had been a lot of suspicious activity recently.

Shinda clutched her food close to her chest and did her best to keep her composure as she walked. All sorts of things crossed her mind
because it was too quiet until she finally recalled her professor’s worry.

“Get home soon —they say that there’s been a lot of suspicious activity as of late.”
 

“Meow.”

“Kyaah!”

She started and cowered even when a stray cat meowed.

Shinda quickly made her way back home. She was out of breath as she grabbed the doorknob. But something was amiss. Why was her
house so quiet?
Shinda’s household wasn’t in the best of circumstances, but it was always loud and filled with energy. She leaned her ear against the
door. She heard somethings splashing. It gave her a bad feeling. Shinda quivered as she slowly backed away from the door. But the door
swung open just then. Shinda froze in place when a ghost with a pale face and a blackish body appeared before her.

“Oh, what an adorable little wench.”

The black ghost who had come out of Shinda’s house was covered in blood. Shinda twitched as she looked behind the ghost. The entire
house was drenched in blood.

Shinda’s eyes rolled in their sockets as she looked back up at the ghost. It wasn’t a ghost, but a man wearing black robes and a white
mask. He was holding a large package, and Shinda didn’t want to even think about what was inside it. The man grinned from behind his
mask.

“Twin girls are quite popular, you see.”

The man had a Northern accent. But Shinda didn’t have the leisure to take note of it.

“Ugh……ah…….”

“Oh, but you’re not that bad your…….”

Shinda took a step back before she flung her food away and began running. She could not comprehend the situation. But she still knew
that she had to flee.

“Help……Please help……!”

But her running away had been rendered pointless when a large hand reached out and grabbed her hard by the ponytail.

“Have you heard? They say that Shinda from the Culinary Department’s gone missing.”

“Her mother’s passed away……and her twin sisters are missing too…….”

“Oh no.”

The unfortunate news about Shinda shook the entire Institution. Rape, robbery, abduction, arson, murder……. Crime had been
skyrocketing in Theodore as of late and even the newspapers were telling people not to leaves their homes at night, but the students at the
Institution hadn’t particularly felt any danger within the school grounds and were terrified now that something had happened to a fellow
student who had been perfectly fine just the day before. Those students whose families lived in the same district as Shinda stomped their
feet in worry.

“They haven’t caught the culprit. I heard that the palace sent out mages specialized in tracking because the crime was heinous, but they
haven’t caught the culprit yet —doesn’t that mean that the criminal is really dangerous?”

“Gosh, what’s with everything these days? I’m too scared to go outside. I can’t even go drinking. Things like this are still happening
even though the police increased their labor force.”
The situation was getting so bad that even the most uptight professors who usually told students to stop paying so much attention to the
rest of the world and focus on their studies were telling students to travel in groups out of worry. At this point, the citizens —and not
only the students— turned their minds to organized crime and naturally began to doubt the Black Fox.

“Is it the Black Fox? They’re the only people who did stuff like this as an organization.”

“But why are they acting out all of a sudden? Did they suddenly go crazy or something?”

There had been an arson not too long afterward. An inn, in which many guests had been sleeping inside, had gone up in flames and had
been reduced to ashes in but an instant, and there was a witness.

“They say that the culprit was wearing black robes and a white mask.”

“What the hell? It’d be terrifying to run into someone wearing that in the middle of the night.”

“And there were apparently several people dressed up like that.”

Three criminals had been caught and interrogated a few days later, and the results of the interrogation had made it to the headlines of the
newspapers. The three criminals had initially kept quiet at first, but they ultimately talked through the drool pooling out of their mouths
once they had been horribly tortured. They had confessed all the crimes they had committed thus far, as well as the crimes they had been
planning to commit in the future. Then, they cheered for the organization they were allegedly affiliated with before killing themselves.

And the name they had disclosed was Camastros.

“Camastros?”

“What’s that? Are they an anti-establishment organization? Some kind of new cult?”

“The newspapers called them a violent religious cult…….”

“Evil bastards.”

“I’ve heard about Camastros. They’re a group who’s been at odds with the Black Fox since a few years back —I used to think well of
them because there weren’t any bad rumors about them and because they were opposing the Black Fox, but I guess they weren’t any
better after all. I mean, the stuff they’ve been up to recently makes them even worse than the Black Fox.”

Everyone everywhere was talking about Camastros. White masks with black robes. Anyone with any interest in the underworld knew
that it was Camastros’ characteristic uniform.

There had been rumors here and there asking if perhaps Camastros was the culprit, but the news had made those rumors explode.
Camastros was an elite organization who used to only be known to those who were in the know, but now they had suddenly grown
infamous. No one knew what Camastros’ goals were, and the people’s first impression of them had a significant impact.

The Black Fox was a large criminal organization that had been around for a long time. There was already a lot of precedence proving
that anyone who laid a hand against the Black Fox would be brought to ruin, be they commoners, nobles, or even entire countries. The
people recognized the Black Fox as a monster that should never be provoked, and they gave up on opposing them by brainwashing
themselves into thinking that they were only avoiding the Black Fox because they were dirty. In contrast, they viewed Camastros as a
new organization that could still be touched. They people denounced Camastros and crossed their arms as they declared that its members
should be apprehended before the group become as a second Black Fox.
‘The Black Fox……. I see, so this is how they’ve decided to make their move.’
Ianna realized that Grundewalz and Margarita had started their assault as she picked up several conversations about Camastros while
walking down the corridor. It looked like they were trying to drag Camastros down into the same mud that they lived in by pinning their
own crimes on Camastros. And they’d probably be jubilant if this made Schneider stop working with Camastros.

But would things really go as they planned? Camastros had already predicted this scheme. The intelligence groups under Arhad’s control
had already begun working in secret. At the very least, Ianna was certain that Camastros would not simply suffer as meekly as the Black
Fox wanted them to.

~~*~~

“At this point, we can definitely conclude that this is the work of an organization. Is it the Black Fox?”

Schneider was in a foul mood as he waved the report in the air. He continued,

“This is the Black Fox’s work, unless I’ve completely misread the man. The leader of Camastros isn’t the type of man to lead an
organization who does things like this. This is probably the Black Fox’s attempt to slander Camastros for getting in their way.”

“It is surely as you say.”

The middle-aged man wearing purple robes nodded beside Schneider, who had immediately started laying out his thoughts as soon as the
purple-robed man had arrived.

“But I’ll take some damage too if this continues. I’ve been planning to publicly announce the fact that I’m sponsoring Camastros once
they started being active, but I don’t want my name to be seen in this light. What do you think will happen if the fact that I’m sponsoring
Camastros comes to light before these rumors are cleared up?”
“Your approval rating will drop.”

“Exactly. I wanted to win the people’s favor by solving our issue with the Black Fox, not lose it. Those Black Fox bastards truly are
annoying. Have you heard anything from Camastros, Duke Solsavier?”
House Solsavier had turned out excellent mages for generations. The Solsaviers were mages all the way down to their very bones, and
the royal family provided them with everything they needed for magic in exchange for their fealty because House Solsavier was not cut
out for managing territory.

The middle-aged man wearing purple robes who had met Arhad in person during the slave auction was Shingardra Solsavier. The duke
had been Schneider’s magic teacher since the prince was young, as he had also sworn his fealty to the prince.

“They just contacted me to say that they wanted to meet you in person, Your Highness. I was here to convey the message.”

“What? Right now? Then call them in at once. What are you doing?”

Shingardra pulled out a scroll from his pockets. A powerful gust of mana swirled around the scroll when he ripped it, and the magic
circle that had been drawn onto it floated in the air and grew bigger. Then, a single person jumped out from the magic circle when it was
about two meters long in diameter.

Shingardra was astonished. He had been alarmed when the leader of Camastros handed him several portal scrolls that could be connected
directly back to him like they were free because portal spells were extremely high-level spatial magic and were therefore incredibly
expensive. This either meant that Camastros was extremely wealthy or that they had an extremely powerful mage on their side, and
neither possibility could be easily ignored.
The man who had come out from the portal, Ro, Camastros’ leader, nodded once at Schneider before straightening himself out. The
intelligent light of his golden eyes shone through his mask.

“We can deal with the rumors that the Black Fox is spreading easily enough.”

Ro had been unfriendly ever since they had first met, and he was still unfriendly even now. Schneider raised an eyebrow at Ro because
he disliked the attitude Ro was giving him. Ro was technically being courteous, but there was an arrogance to his voice that made
Schneider feel like Ro was talking down to him. Ro continued,

“This is a good opportunity to spread Camastros’ name without much effort, since bad rumors spread faster than good ones. We can
overturn these rumors in one fell swoop. But we will need your cooperation for that, Your Highness.”

“Tch, you can’t even solve something like this on your own? Let me remind you that I can’t risk my reputation dropping while I’m still
in a tight race for the throne against Fernando.”
Ro replied brusquely when Schneider clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction and expressed his refusal.

“I am asking for your cooperation, my Prince, because the method that I’m proposing is far quicker and will be far more beneficial to
you. But Camastros can take care of things on our own end if you don’t wish to be involved.”

His words were thorny. Schneider’s lips twitched. He disliked Ro’s tone —Ro sounded like he was addressing someone pathetic, like the
people who pigged out while still in bed when others offered them food.

“Then what would you like my assistance with? I will hear you out, since you claim this will be beneficial to me.”

“We will hand over about twenty or so men who were impersonating us to you within a month. Please announce your relationship with
us as you execute them and draw your blade against the Black Fox. The best time to take advantage of the public sentiment is now, while
we’re at the forefront of everyone’s minds. No other time will be nearly as effective.”

“Hmm.”

“Additionally, we will also give you information that is sure to assist you greatly in your fight for the throne, as your official
announcement will essentially mean that your relationship with Camastros will go public.”

“Very well. Then I will do as you suggest. However…….”

Schneider folded his hands together and leaned back against his seat. Then, he haughtily looked up at Ro, who was likewise staring down
at him due to their difference in elevation. He continued,

“Are you certain that you won’t bleed the citizens dry like the Black Fox is? You’re not plotting to become the second Black Fox, now
are you?”

“We can get by well enough without having to go out of our way to bleed ordinary civilians dry. And there is especially little point in
tormenting them for no good reason.”

“In that case, I trust that you’ll have no complaints if I order my knights to cut down your members on the spot if they see them raising
their hands against civilians?”

“Do as you please. They would have already been rendered corpses at my own hands by then, because that would mean that they went
against my orders, but you may kill them if they have somehow managed to escape death. Extenuating circumstances may still arise,
however, so I’ll ask that you be flexible in such cases.”

“Hmmm…….”
“That was all I had to tell you. I will seek you out again at a suitable time once we’ve caught the bastards while we’re working. Then…”

Ro disappeared back into the portal once he had said his piece even though Schneider had not excused him yet. The portal spell was
sucked into itself after it had swallowed Ro and vanished. Schneider narrowed his eyes.

‘Impertinent bastard.’
Schneider disliked how unfriendly Ro was. He disliked Ro’s appearance as well. A mask and a robe. It reminded him of the 500,000-
gold man who had made him taste defeat for the first time during the school festival.

“Let us share our thoughts about that man, Duke. Do you feel anything about him as a mage? Tell me at once if you do.”

“It’s difficult to tell because of the mask and robes he’s wearing, but judging by his voice I would assume that he is in his mid to late-
forties……. But I cannot be certain of this, as he must be equipped with a voice-altering ring of some sort since his voice is different
from what I heard last time. The most important thing, however, is that he is extremely powerful —I’m sure you felt this as well, Your
Highness. Your instincts as a mage is as good as mine.”

“I am not as good as my teacher yet, Duke. In any event, is there no way to bring him under my banner?”

“Who could say? His unfriendly attitude tells me it might be impossible.”

Shingardra flashed a smile. If Schneider was a silver falcon, then the leader of Camastros was a golden eagle. They were both birds of
prey who would glower at the other but could never come under another’s banner. That was what Shingardra had felt when Ro had
confronted Schneider just earlier.

“We cannot discern where Camastros’ funds are coming from at all. Still, considering that he is strong enough to rival the Black Fox, we
can safely assume that he is also the leader of some other, official group apart from Camastros. To be honest, I find it difficult to believe
that he is cooperating with Your Highness only because he wants to destroy the Black Fox. There is something else that he is seeking
from your cooperation with him.”

“Considering how impertinent he’s being, I doubt that he means to continue a relationship with me once the Black Fox is out of the
picture. In other words, that means that there is nothing he wants from me in the future and that he only regards me as a temporary ally.
It’s highly likely that our connections will either be severed completely or that we’ll be hostile to each other in the future. In which case
it would mean that he dares to use me, Schneider, as a tool at the moment.”
“I am of the same opinion.”

“What could he possibly gain by eliminating the Black Fox……. A business? But if that was the case, it would be better for him to
maintain a relationship with me than not, no?”

“This is just a speculation, but is it not plausible that he’s the prince of a country that is at the Black Fox’s mercy? A prince who means
to return to his lands after eliminating the Black Fox while hiding behind Your Highness’ back and turning Roanne into a
battlefield……. His pride and unfriendliness would make sense, if this were the case.”

“A persuasive argument. I’ll keep it in mind. The man is impertinent even in my imaginations. And as for what we learned from our
conference today…”

The crimes had come up during today’s conference, and Schneider had clashed heavily against the ministers on Fernando’s faction
regarding the topic of Roanne’s national defense. Schneider scratched hard at his head. He continued,

“I find Bahamut’s continued silence extraordinarily suspicious. I hate to admit it, but, to put it calmly, they’re the strongest militant
nation on the continent and they’ve been trying to invade Roanne for centuries —they’ve been too quiet for the last twenty years! No
matter how hard I wrack my brains, it seems to me that they’re preparing for something big —they haven’t given up on the war and
neither do I think that they’ve come across some other sort of problem. My instincts tell me that danger is lurking nearby. Just what are
those idiots who keep blabbering away about how we’re spending too much money on our national defense thinking? Are they not
suspicious of Bahamut at all? Do you think I’m worrying too much, Duke?”
“Not at all. I would quite concur. We cannot know what sorts of schemes Bahamut is cooking up because we have no source of
information on them, and Prince Taylon Bahamut is almost thirty now, meaning he will no longer press on with zeal alone like young
men are wont to do in their twenties and will have gained a measure of composure —Prince Linus is too young to deal with him, and
Prince Fernando is too incompetent,”

Shingardra firmly replied. He continued,

“Only you are capable of protecting the Kingdom of Roanne, Your Highness.”

“I believe that as well. Who else could be king if not I? Saiwè’s circumstances are an unfortunate one. He has a good temperament and is
rather skilled, unlike his elder brother, but he alone took after his mother’s looks……. Tch. In any event, there are so many problems
cropping up that they’re giving me quite the headache. And my ability to act is far too restricted while my Lord Father still lives. All I
can do at the moment is to win the public sentiment and gather enough talent by my side in preparation for the future.”
Talent. Ianna’s image flashed across Schneider’s mind. He bit down hard at his lip. The girl who continued to reject him despite the gifts
and letters he sent haunted him.

Schneider generally let people go readily if they stubbornly continued to reject him. He assumed they must be fools for failing to seize
the opportunity to be one of his. So, why was it that he couldn’t take his eyes off of Ianna? The swordsmanship tournament had a winner
every year, she was nothing more than the illegitimate daughter of House Roberstein who was despised for her humble birth, and she was
simply a swordswoman whom many said would reach her limits one day.

It was true that he expected great things from Ianna, but why was it that she pulled at him more strongly than any other individual of
great talent? Schneider rested his head against his folded hands. Her crimson hair as it fluttered in the wind, the clear light in her crimson
eyes.

‘I don’t want to give up on her.’

But he had no cards to play. There was nothing Ianna needed from him. She showed no desire for material wealth or authoritative power.
Neither did she seem to have any love for the Kingdom of Roanne because she had been bullied so badly as a child. She was also young,
and she had been completely blinded by some unidentifiable man and had declared that she would follow only him without so much as a
glance at her other options —it was like she didn’t even register those other options in the first place.

Ianna was similar to the leader of Camastros. They both had nothing they wanted from Schneider. In other words, Schneider was not
present in her idea of the future.

And her not wanting anything from Schneider meant that he had no pretext to capture her with. He had tried to meet her again on
multiple occasions, but she had never once attended any of the tea parties he had invited her to. Neither did she attend any of the three
royal birthday parties that had taken place since Founding Day. All the invitations he had sent her had proven to no avail, as if she meant
to declare that her debut was to be the last time she would make an appearance in high society.

Schneider had even tried to ask Count Roberstein, who had been in the capital, for assistance because nothing else was working, but the
count had turned down his request with the stiffest look Schneider had ever seen the man wear.

“Please don’t ask me to force that child into anything against her wishes, Your Highness. I have no right to do that to her.”
 

House Roberstein’s territory was located in the countryside, and, though they had volunteered to stay on the frontier from their very
inception, they had many connections with the center regions of the kingdom even on top of being one of the Five Founding Houses,
making them a house that could not be ignored even in the capital. Their potential influence on the game of thrones could not be ignored.
They were also one of the wealthiest noble houses, as they had built up their fortune by producing and exporting weapons of exceptional
make. Moreover, they had been steadfast in their loyalty to the royal family ever since the kingdom had been founded, and Schneider
wanted very much for House Roberstein to take his side. Besides, Ianna was from House Roberstein too.

 
“And I would ask that you not force my daughter into acting against her wishes either, Your Highness.”
 

And yet, Count Cherno Roberstein was against Ianna becoming Schneider’s subordinate.

“Is that something you should be saying about your own daughter? It is an endless honor to work for me. And yet you would call it
forcing her to act against her wishes?”
“What else would you call it but coercion when someone from above your station continues to demand that you do something you don’t
wish to? I would prefer to let that child do as she pleases.”
“Hmph —are you not only saying this out of your own selfishness? Are you trying to kick her out of your household as quickly as
possible?”
“I am fully aware that I have been a fool. I am aware that I have committed a great wrong against that child, and neither can I deny that I
am awkward around her even now. But this is also why I cannot force my wishes and my household’s wishes upon that child.”
“…….”
“I cannot force that child into something contrary to her wishes, Your Highness. I will send her away quietly if she chooses to leave, and
I will do everything in my power to support her if she chooses to remain in my household.”
“You will regret it. You want me, a prince, to withdraw my interest? Do you truly understand how honorable it is to be desired by me?
Do you mean to say that you will simply watch and do nothing even as she tosses all riches and honor aside to chase after some
stranger?”
“A thousand pardons. But that is her decision to make.”
 

Cherno was stubborn and inflexible and refused to bend his will no matter how much Schneider grilled and coaxed him. The impertinent
count had even threatened him.

“I will take it to mean that Your Highness thinks very lightly of my house if you act recklessly toward that child.”
 

But Cherno had also said this,

“But you will have my praise if you can respect my daughter’s wishes, Your Highness Prince Schneider. A king who knows how to
respect others’ opinions even when he has everything and wields absolute power……. I would not mind serving such a king.”
 

Schneider could not deny the fact that a bead of sweat had rolled down his forehead just then. House Roberstein would willingly rally
under his banner if he left the count’s daughter alone. Schneider could not put any more pressure on Cherno now that the count had said
what he had.

“Sigh.”
Nothing was working. Schneider could not help but sigh. A bluish vein popped out on his temple.

‘I really should have called for a million gold back then.’

He strongly regretted the fact that he had failed to leave behind a bigger impression on her than that bastard had.

 
Part 3
That night, Ianna packed her robes and a bunch of bottles in her bag. She turned around to look at Priscilla, who was squirming in her
bed, before she left. Ianna recalled how Priscilla liked to habitually crawl outside at night to drink.

“Please stop going outside to drink.”

“Aww, I’ve been holding back, you know. The Institution’s protected by Lord Heinrich’s barrier, and it’s safe here because the Martial
Arts professors all live here too……. Besides, my bed is the safest place in the entire Institution. I’m as safe as I can possibly be right
now,”

Priscilla muttered with her covers pulled up all the way to her nose. Ianna still told Priscilla, who looked almost as if she planned to
spend the rest of her life in bed, to make sure to lock up the window and door before going to sleep as she swung the door wide open.

“You told me not to go out, Little Ianna, but aren’t you doing exactly what you told me not to do?”
Ianna turned back around to find that Priscilla had sat up in bed at some point and was looking back at her with her eyes filled to the brim
with worry. Priscilla continued,

“I know you’re strong, Little Ianna……but you never know what might happen. I heard that even strong knights have been attacked
while they were on patrol. They’re not your average thugs. Camastros —was that their name? You know about them too, right? You
shouldn’t be going out unless it’s urgent.”

“I have an appointment to make.”

Priscilla looked out the window when Ianna shook her head no. It was dark out. And she refused to put aside her worries until the bitter
end.

“You do? But it’s already nighttime……. In any case, be careful of people wearing black robes and white masks, okay?”

“Priscilla. Camastros isn’t that kind of organization.”

“Huh?”

Priscilla blinked.

“I know a bit about Camastros, and I can tell you for certain that the bastards committing these crimes are the Black Fox, not Camastros.
You’ll understand what I’m saying soon enough.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Those Black Fox bastards. They should all go to hell.”

Priscilla, who would believe it unconditionally even if Ianna had told her that the sun rose from the west, began cursing the Black Fox.
Ianna gave her one last warning before leaving the room. She endured another bout of concerned nagging from the guards at the
Institution gates before she finally made it outside.

Ianna walked into a visibly dark alley as soon as she exited the Institution grounds and was equipped with her Camastros gear when
stepped back out.

Thwack!
She nimbly scaled a wall like a stray cat and climbed up to the rooftops. Smoke was rising up from chimneys as people prepared dinner.
Ianna surveyed the ground below as she quickly leapt from roof to roof.

There were still people outside who falsely believed that they were completely safe from crime. There were a few who were in despair
and simply didn’t care even if anything should happen to them. There were also those who were afraid of getting assaulted but had no
choice but to work late into the evening. There were shops that had opened up now that it was nighttime because this was their normal
hours of operation. There were those with their eyes peeled open, confident that they would manage to catch the criminals, and also those
who decided to enjoy their evening, crime and criminals be damned.

Others yet had returned home and were spending a relaxing evening with their families. Some people were hungry and were eating a
warm meal, and some might have even fallen deeply asleep in their cozy beds by now.

The dizzying world was filled with all kinds of people. And there were criminals who couldn’t have cared any less about the people they
targeted…….

Anyone could be the victim of a crime. Evil drew its claws and picked its victims at random like criminals casting lots. There was surely
a crime happening in some corner of the world somewhere even now. The hundred or so cruel knights who recklessly carried out the
Black Fox’s will were a group of criminals that the average person could not possibly hope to stop.

Thud!
Ianna jumped from the roof of the tallest building in the area down to the back alleys and melted into the darkness. She stood with her
feet shoulder-width apart and closed her eyes as she drew in a deep breath so she could focus. She aroused the mana floating around
aimlessly in her surroundings. With Ianna at its center, the mana that she influenced gently began to stir. Their vibrations aroused the
other mana in the air, and that mana also began to hum faintly.

She felt a cluster of people’s presences. She ignored the presences of those who were simply walking along the roads. She was searching
for the people who were grouped together in the slums. She found one such group not too long into her search and immediately ran
toward them.

“P-please stop this!”

When she arrived, Ianna saw that two unidentified assailants had kicked down a third man and was trying to steal the wallet he was
clutching in his arms. Ianna narrowed her eyes and looked into their faces. They were starkly white even in the darkness. Both assailants
were wearing ugly white masks. She was lucky to have found two of them already.

“Please sirs, I need this money to feed my family. Please show me some mercy.”

“Shut up. That’s exactly why we’re robbing you.”

“Sob.”
The man burst into tears. His assailants stowed away his wallet in their own pockets before drawing the swords at their waists and
pointing them at the man.

“Do you wanna die? Shut your mouth if you want to keep your life.”

“Hic.”
One assailant snickered as the man stopped crying and trembled.

“But it’s too late. We’ll tear out all your organs and sell them for you.”

“Wait, someone’s here!”

his colleague standing next to him shouted sharply.

‘They found me even though I only let out a little bit of my presence.’
They were probably Bahamut knights. If that was the case, then how strong were they? Ianna walked out from the darkness and appeared
before them.

The men grew tense. They hadn’t noticed the bastard until he had already come so close. And the mysterious figure’s presence was still
faint, like a ghost’s, even though he was standing right there. The white mask that the bastard was wearing was smooth, unlike the crude
masks that had been distributed to them. The way the figure dragged across the ground, a contrast to how relatively animatedly they
themselves were moving, felt somehow chilling. They stared back at the bastard tensely when a husky voice called out to them.

“Why does the nightingale sing?”

“Kill him!”

The assailants threw away the wallet when Ianna posed her question and grabbed their swords tightly with both hands. It was clear to
them that she was a member of Camastros.

They had two courses of action to choose from should they run into a real member of Camastros: capture or murder. They were wolves
who had wandered through countless battlefields, but they had instinctively realized that there was no way that they could capture their
opponent alive. If the group who had started harassing the Black Fox were all as skilled as the bastard standing before them, then it was
no wonder that the Black Fox, which had been working in the South relatively without problem until recently, had requested for the
imperial family’s assistance.

One of the assailants fortified his blade as much as he could. He brought his sword down on his unmoving opponent like lightning,
hoping to bisect the bastard. There was no hesitance in his actions whatsoever even as he gushed with his intent to kill his opponent.
Ianna stared as she watched his sword follow through its course.

The world slowed down around her as she focused. A drop of water fell from one of the clotheslines strung across the rooftops, flattened
as it hit against the ground, and seemed to seep into the earth before it bounced back up as if it had been repelled. Sewer rats dragged
their feet along the earth as slowly as did sloths. The whispering wind was like an elderly servant carrying a pack on his back as he
enjoyed the sights along his slow walk. Even the man swinging his sword down at her seemed to be moving so slowly she almost
wondered if he was trying to prank her.

Ianna’s fortification extended past her blade like darting of a snake’s tongue. And it wriggled and surged like a striking snake.

Boooom!
The fortification that had been flung off from the man’s sword to where Ianna had been standing just an instant ago hit the wall and
gouged out a chunk of the building.

Swish—
The time that the assailants had thought it would take to reach their opponent was forcibly cut short. The snake who had raised her head
as she stared down at her prey had lunged. The snake’s head suddenly grew larger in the eyes of her prey. And so, Ianna approached one
of the men. Just then, her sword buried into him from a direction that he never could have even imagined.

Swoosh!
The man immediately held his sword upright to block her surprise attack, but his efforts were in vain and Ianna’s blade broke his sword
in two and severed his wrists like a woodcutter’s axe splitting wood.

“Ahhhh!”

The man screamed as he watched his hands, sent spinning from the momentum of the blow and flying into the air before they came back
crashing down, wriggling on the ground. Blood erupted from his severed veins like lava from a volcano. He simply screamed, unable to
do anything else, because his wounds hurt as if his blood really was lava and he was being burned. Ianna looked at his hands, which were
flopping on the ground like a dying fish because their nerves were still alive, and smirked.
“And you weren’t even wearing transfiguration rings…….”

Swish!
The other man ignored the tragedy of his colleague suddenly losing his hands and tried to stab Ianna from behind. Ianna stepped aside
and readily dodged him. The man opened his eyes wide —he hadn’t imagined that she would be able to evade his surprise attack. Ianna
raised her arm and grabbed him by the back of his neck when he stumbled from the force of his own thrust and kneed him hard in the
solar plexus.

“Kgh!”

She had kneed him so hard that gastric acid spilled from his lips. At the same time, Ianna moved her legs like a whip and kicked the man
hard across the face as he lost his balance and collapsed.

Pooow!
His wooden mask cracked as the hard tip of her foot collided against his mouth, and his white teeth scattered about alongside his mask’s
white splinters.

Craaash!
The man was sent flying and his back slammed against the wall. Cracks appeared on the sturdy brick wall like a spiderweb as it failed to
withstand the force behind his momentum. The man fell down like a puppet whose strings had been cut alongside some crumbs from the
wall. He spasmed as he frothed from the mouth, unable to endure the impact, while Ianna turned around and gently flicked her sword. At
the tip of her blade was the man whose hands had been cut off as he tried to flee.

“Aack!”

Blood spattered into the air as Ianna’s fortification sliced across his back. Ianna caught him by the robes as he tripped, dragged him
across the ground, and threw him on top of his unconscious colleague. There was no reason to drag things out for her own amusement.
She already enjoyed letting her sword dance with Arhad’s, and she was currently in the middle of carrying out a mission.

“Ugh……ahhh…….”

The victim simply sat in place and trembled, unable to bring himself to flee and unable to even pick up his wallet with the money he was
supposed to feed his family with. His crotch and the earth beneath him were moist and were starting to reek.

Ianna paid him no heed and took out a scroll from her pocket. A magic circle sprang out from the scroll as soon as she ripped it, and
Ianna grabbed the two men by the hair and threw them inside it like they were pieces of luggage. The magic circle absorbed the two men
like it was a living creature being fed and disappeared shortly thereafter.

Ianna stretched out her wrists and rolled her joints. The fifth strongest knight order under the imperial family’s direct command. They
had risen to that rank due to their propensity for cruelty, but the Bahamut Empire revered the military arts, so they must surely be an
organization of remarkable skill if they had ranked so highly. But they weren’t very difficult to deal with. Rather, Ianna thought that it
was actually too easy to deal with them. Had she grown stronger?

In any event, things might be easy for now, but she could never know when she might be faced with an enemy as strong as her. She had
taken the lesson to heart when she had underestimated Keigus Dimitri and had suffered for it, so she intended to always fight at her best
no matter who her enemy was.

Moreover, Ianna wanted to know how strong she currently was. She had no way of knowing how much her skills had grown at the
moment. She was seventeen now, and the seasons were changing from spring to summer —just as she was changing from a girl to a
grown woman. She had yet to reach the height and weight she had achieved in the past, and her overworked muscles still had yet to fully
ripen.
Her body had not fully matured yet either, and, while she was indeed growing stronger at a significantly faster pace than she had in the
past, she could not yet be sure if she was as strong as she had been when she had been the second strongest person on the continent —
second only to Arhad. She could not tell how she ranked in the world yet because she lacked practical experience battling against others.

She didn’t count the students in the Swordsmanship Department because they were too young, and she was reluctant to fight at her full
strength against the professors who sparred with their students from time to time. On that front, the warriors from Bahamut who were
soon to face her provided a good way for her to measure her current level of strength against because they were already officially ranked.

‘Does that mean I’m at least around fifth strongest in Bahamut……?’

“C-C-Cama…”

The man stiffened up like a frog sitting before a snake when Ianna’s frigid eyes fell upon him.

“Cama…stros…milord. P-p-please s-spare…….”

Ianna cleared away her thoughts and put away her bloodied sword as she turned to the frozen man who could barely manage to speak.

“We do not lay a finger against civilians.”

Tears of relief pooled in the man’s eyes when he heard what Ianna had said. They flowed down from his eyes and he hiccupped when he
realized he would live.

“H-hic, t-then, are you not with Camastros……?”

“No, I am. But we only fight the Black Fox. Do not be deceived. It is the Black Fox, not us, who have been committing all these crimes
as of late.”

Ianna cast one last look at the man who had slumped to the ground while sobbing before she melted into the night, which had grown
even darker now, and left the scene. She returned to the rooftops as she ran around in search of more prey. She would have to keep this
up for the next week.

If the Black Fox decided to dirty Camastros’ name and turn the people’s ire on them, then Camastros would use it to their benefit. They
would simply change their reputation like flipping over a hand now that Camastros’ name had spread far and wide.

The other members of Camastros were carrying out the same exact mission as Ianna. Rumors spread from ear to ear as quickly as a
panther racing across open fields. If they saved the Black Fox’s victims and told them the truth, then the victims would be quick to spit
out that truth to their closest friends and family. Their story would be credible, as they had actually experienced it directly, and their
loved ones would further spread their story to their acquaintances.

It was said that rumors took on lives of their own. The rumors would begin overlapping with each other and become more credible as
they saved more victims. And with additional support from Arhad’s informants, they could overturn the rumors in but an instant. All they
needed was a week.

They would save victims from Black Fox members who were impersonating Camastros and tell them the truth. And they would stash the
culprits somewhere using their portal scrolls so they could all be publicly executed.

Naturally, this was only possible because Camastros was stronger than the Knights of Grundewalz. Ianna began to grow suspicious.
Things were easy enough for her, but how were the other members of Camastros faring?
Their members were working in teams. Even the executives were acting in pairs —the spirit-user Giselle was paired with Caesar, the
martial arts master, and the archer Van was paired with Rust, a weapons expert. Gold, while a member of Camastros, was rear support —
more a manager for their funds and a researcher of magics and weapons than a combatant—, and Shawn had opted out of battle because
he was in charge of managing their information and acting as an advisor.
Ianna was a part of Giselle and Caesar’s team. She was supposed to partner up with Arhad because she was under his direct command,
but Arhad had stopped working for the moment. This was because he risked being discovered if Bahamut had dispatched a beneficiary of
the Demon’s fragments.

He disliked the idea of putting Ianna in harm’s way, but he also knew that he could not keep her snug and protected forever. She needed
more battle experience before they faced off against the Bahamut Empire for real. And so, instead of keeping Ianna close like a precious
treasure and souring her mood by limiting her independence, he had chosen to utilize her skills for maximum efficiency. He had told her
that he had faith in her skills and trusted her to act on Camastros’ behalf. There was little point in explaining just how happy Ianna had
been to hear it.

“Welcome back, Ann.”

Giselle greeted Ianna at the place where they had promised to rendezvous. The mute Caesar also nodded at her.

She didn’t let it show, but Ianna was glad to be in the same team as Caesar and Giselle. After all, they were both summoners capable of
calling on the spirits. Learning more about the spirits was like trying to pluck a star from the heavens, and it gave Ianna a good
opportunity to ask them about the spirits.

It pricked at her heart when she thought about Arhad, but there was nothing she could do about it. Ianna needed the spirits. She needed
them for herself, and she also needed them to share a genuine liege-and-knight relationship with Arhad. But for now, she needed to grow
closer to her colleagues because she was still awkward around them, and she needed to focus on the mission at hand.

Things started to take effect four days after Camastros had started actively working again. Rumors were spreading all throughout the
capital.

“I heard that it’s the Black Fox, not Camastros.”

“They say that Camastros was established to oppose the Black Fox.”

“And most of Camastros’ members have grudges against the Back Fox, or something like that?”

“Then again, it’s only natural that so many people would hate them, considering everything the Black Fox has been doing until now. It’s
no wonder that an organization like Camastros exists.”

“Gosh, they’re so cool. I hope things work out for them.”

Aside from the more recent rumors, Camastros had never laid their hands against ordinary civilians before. Rather, though it probably
wasn’t their intention, they had rescued people who were being persecuted by the Black Fox more often than not as the two organizations
exchanged blows.

The people who had been rescued from the Black Fox during the slave auction and those who had been helped out by Camastros in even
the smallest of ways had kept their mouths shut as the public opinion of Camastros dropped even though they had found the
circumstances strange. But they spoke of their stories freely now that Camastros had returned to the public’s favor. And so, Camastros’
public image had instantly turned for the positive.

There were still people who viewed them in a pessimistic light, of course. They wondered that, if the recent spike in crime was a result of
the two organizations clashing, then weren’t innocent bystanders getting hurt for no reason?
Those who liked the status quo disliked Camastros for provoking the Black Fox. The Black Fox had been notorious for ages —since
even before the eldest of elders were children and before even the elders’ grandfathers were children. The Black Fox was terrifying, and
people didn’t want the Black Fox to grow angry.

In addition, those who did business through the Black Fox or enjoyed the pleasantries the Black Fox had to offer took offense at
Camastros as well.

“Our target is Camastros, a group that refuses to make itself public.”

Steam billowed out from an expensive round cup.

“The civilians are cursing at us like they mean to take up their weapons to eliminate us at any moment now, but, save for the few who
forgot what fear is, most of them will be too scared to step up. Besides, they’ll resent Camastros more for disturbing the beehive if we
ramp up our activities because of them. Everyone knows that Camastros won’t harass civilians no matter how much the civilians resent
them. And once Camastros is out of the picture, they’ll all shut up and bow before our might again. They’ve been doing it for so long
already that they’re used to it, after all.”

Formido furrowed his brows at the horrid stench coming from the tea Payne was drinking, but Payne ignored him and gulped down his
poisonous tea. He continued,

“Every last rotten noble will oppose them without fail. They have a lot to hide, and they receive a lot of benefit from having us around,
you see. And there are also a few bastards who see us as a necessary evil. No other violent organization can form while we’re still
around, and they think all will be fine and dandy as long as they can keep us happy.”

“Hmmm.”

“So just keep doing as you have been. You don’t need to impersonate Camastros anymore, since that cat’s already out of the bag. Reduce
the number of casualties your order has been taking.”

“Does that mean we can wreak havoc in the capital? What if the royal family’s soldiers start moving?”

“We have connections to the royal family, so that won’t happen. Though I suppose it’s possible that the Second Prince Schneider might
start acting independently. In any event, this isn’t that big of a deal. Though……it’s true that I hadn’t planned for this.”

Payne narrowed his eyes and slammed his cup down so hard against his saucer that they clattered. He continued,

“I didn’t expect this. I was trying to get Schneider to wash his hands of Camastros after we dragged them down to our level, but the
rumors flipped in just a matter of days. Is Camastros stronger than I thought? I thought that you guys would be at least as strong as
Camastros, if not stronger, and that’s what I’d planned around.”

“We were never specialized to fight our enemies one-on-one to begin with. We typically use raids or surprise attacks, or sometimes we
strike the enemy from behind, regroup, and come back to finish them off. Didn’t you know this?”

“I didn’t think that one of the strongest knight orders among the many working under the empire would take so many losses.”

“It wasn’t until we faced them directly that we found out they were something special. I can see why they were giving the Black Fox
such a tough time. The bastards are a cut more skilled than we are. I’d say they’re about the same level as the Knights of Srinina, the
fourth-ranking knight order in our empire.”

He had already lost over twenty men in just a few days. Even Grundewalz was faring poorly against them.

“Arrrgh!”
Formido was tapping at the table when he turned to the door the scream had come from.

“Still, it’s not like we haven’t gained anything in return. Didn’t I bring back a few of them alive?”
“You did. As expected of one of the strongest knights in the empire. We’ve never managed to catch any of them alive before, but you’ve
succeeded in the task already.”

“It’s wasn’t that difficult —the Black Fox dispersed out, so they had no choice but to scatter too.”

Slam.
Margarita slammed the door open and walked out shortly after the scream had died down. The stench of blood wafted out from the room
behind her. She ripped off her bloodstained gloves in irritation and threw them on the floor. Then, she stomped her way over to where
Payne and Formido were sitting and plopped down on a chair next to them.

“One of the three died.”

“They’re precious resources —what did you kill him off for?”

“I had no choice. Torture wasn’t working —I tried prodding here and there but they seemed to be under a lot of taboos……. But there
are a few things I’ve learned. First, their masks don’t come off no matter what. You have to rip off their faces if you want to take their
masks off.”

“Were they imbued with magic? Can’t you just destroy them?”

“They seem to have been enchanted by an extremely skilled mage. It’s vexing, but I don’t think they can be destroyed.”

Payne furrowed his brow in disbelief.

“Even you can’t destroy them, Margarita?”

“I tried to destroy one of their masks because the bastard wouldn’t take it off himself, and it made my mana flow in reverse. And that’s
not all. I tried to cast a spell on him to make him talk, but I was heavily repelled. There was a psychic spell cast over his entire brain —it
resisted me and tried to protect him when I attempted to force through it, but then it destroyed his entire cerebral cortex when it reached
its limits. That’s why he died. Ugh, this hurts my pride.”

Margarita was one of the strongest mages in the empire. And yet, she had failed to destroy a spell that some other mage had cast.
Margarita shrugged. She continued,

“So, yeah. We should keep in mind that this mage might be a Demon’s fragment beneficiary.”

“Should we report back on this matter?”

“Let’s wait a bit longer for now. Wouldn’t you be the first to get killed off if we report back unconfirmed information to the masters?
Besides, I may not be an owner, but I am a shareholder……. I’ll see if I can figure something out. Please prepare me a lot of materials
for my experiments. Oh, and…”
A peculiar light flashed across Margarita’s eyes. She continued,

“Is Eiji doing his job properly? He’s an informant, but he’s barely sniffed out any intel on Camastros at all —shouldn’t he be disciplined
for that?”

“I told you before, but it’s difficult to pin the blame on him. And we’ve avoided disaster more than a few times because of the
information he’s brought back before too.”

“Hmph. I still don’t like it.”

Margarita crossed her legs and narrowed her eyes. She continued,

“He’s heard that I’m here and he still hasn’t come to see me even once, you know? My patience in starting to run dry.”
Payne smirked and sipped at his tea, which had cooled off considerably by now.

“I wouldn’t want to see you again either, were I in his shoes.”

 

~~*~~

After six days —the Black Fox had stopped impersonating Camastros in less than a week. Camastros had captured about thirty of their
number. They had stopped impersonating Camastros after that, but who knew what sorts of schemes they were planning next?

Ianna had grown closer to Giselle and Caesar over the past few days. She conversed a lot with Giselle in particular, and she found that
Giselle was a very cheerful person. Giselle, who had said that she enjoyed laying on grassy hills to look up at the stars, smelled fragrant
like the dawn, and walking with Giselle made Ianna feel like she was taking a walk in a lush forest. It was a very refreshing feeling.

“If you don’t mind, Giselle, may I ask you about the spirits? You’re free to refuse if my questions are overstepping any boundaries,”

Ianna asked gingerly now that they had some time to spare because the Knights of Grundewalz weren’t causing mayhem. Giselle stared
back at Ianna, taking note of how earnest she was. It didn’t seem like Ianna had any ill intentions behind her question. She didn’t see Ann
as a malicious person.

Giselle felt something strange whenever she was with Ianna. She was certain that Ianna was human, based on how Ianna talked, but
being with her made Giselle feel nostalgic, like she was being held in her mother’s embrace. It was a different feeling from being
reassured because her colleague was strong.

What a strange person. Giselle tilted her head to the side.

“I can tell you what I know. What are you curious about?”

“Is it possible for humans to summon a spirit?”

“Hmmm…….”

Giselle furrowed her brows. Ianna grew a little disappointed to see her frown. Giselle’s attitude made it seem like it would be impossible
for humans to summon the spirits. But Giselle’s response exceeded her expectations.

“Would you know about divine power by any chance? It……is possible for humans to summon a spirit, but it’s difficult to explain how
if you don’t know about divine power. I can’t tell you if you don’t know.”
“That’s not a problem. I know about it.”

Giselle was distancing herself from humanity. In other words, she was a member of the mythical races. But asking about each other’s
identity was forbidden within Camastros, so Ianna put aside her curiosity about Giselle and pulled her divine power into her finger.

A flame of crimson divine power blossomed from her thumb like a lit match. Giselle stared at her divine power in alarm. And she was
immediately captivated. It gave her relief, like she had found the light of a lighthouse while she had been roaming the dark and stormy
seas; it gave her warmth, like she had found a bonfire just before she froze to death; and it gave her comfort, like she was sitting around a
fireplace with her beloved family.

“And I also know how to control it.”

Giselle snapped back to her senses when Ianna spoke and shook her head. She had no idea why she was acting like this.

“That’s truly amazing. In that case, I’ll tell you. To start with the conclusion, humans are capable of summoning spirits as well. It’s
difficult for humans to control divine power because their hearts pull at their divine power so strongly. And humans have so little of it
that most don’t even realize it’s even there unless they have an incredibly strong degree of control over themselves. But anyone can call
on a spirit so long as they can control divine power and feel nature.”

“What does it mean to feel nature?”

“It means exactly that. Do you feel the cool breeze blowing around us as we speak?”

Giselle raised her hands and gently moved her fingers as if she was feeling the texture of the wind, and Ianna followed suit. The wind
was blowing directly at them, and it swirled around her fingers. Ianna nodded.

“That’s what it means to feel nature. Now, watch carefully. I’ll call forth a spirit shaped like a cloud as I imagine how the cool breeze
feels.”

Divine power extended out from Giselle’s fingertips. It spread out into the air before it began bunching the air together. Then, a spirit
shaped like a round and fluffy cloud appeared before her.

“I called forth a spirit while thinking about the cool breeze we just felt. This is a small and cute wind spirit who can cause a breeze to
blow even when there’s no wind.”

The cloud-shaped spirit spun circles around Giselle as it teased at her robes with a breeze.

“But nature can feel like all kinds of things. If I imagine how a typhoon with winds strong enough to rip out trees feels, then I can call
forth a wind spirit capable of causing a typhoon. If I imagine how the rich earth of fertile farmlands feels, then I can call forth an earth
spirit capable of enriching the earth.”

Giselle smiled from beneath her mask when Ianna nodded back in understanding.

“If you understand how nature feels, then you can draw your divine power outside your body as if you’re stuffing it back inside nature as
you imagine what kind of shape you want the spirit you summoned to take. Then, you’ll be able to summon any kind of spirit you’d
like.”

Ianna repeated what Giselle had told her multiple times to herself before she stowed the information away in her head.

“Any spirit I’d like……?”

Ianna looked a little embarrassed. She continued,

“I don’t know too many spirits —is there somewhere I can get that information?”

“Information?”

“An acquaintance of mine summoned a mole-shaped earth spirit named Tamatan and a fire spirit named Helghetti that looked like
embers. Those are the only two I know.”

Giselle burst out laughing.

“You are mistaken. Spirits are born the moment you summon them.”

“Pardon?”

“There are only four real spirits in the world. The Spirit Kings Innis, Towe, Kagomyne, and Shweia. The spirits I showed you how to
summon are simply a part of them. If you summon a spirit by feeling nature as I just taught you and give them a name, then that spirit
will remember the form and name you gave them. And they will be born as a new being. They are still a part of their respective spirit
king, but they are also new spirits who are like the spirit kings’ children. And the same spirit will be summoned the next time you call
their name.”
“Oh…….”

“I think Helghetti and Tamatan are spirits that were created by this acquaintance of yours. I’ve never heard of them before.”

The cloud-shaped spirit that had been circling around Giselle grew hazy, perhaps because it had consumed most of the divine power
Giselle had given it. Giselle waved back at it. The spirit circled around her hand one last time before it disappeared.

“Spirits vanish after their summoning is over if you don’t give them a name. It won’t remember you even if you summon another spirit
that looks exactly like it the next time you call one. It’s better to give your spirits a name if you want to be friends with them.”

“Can you summon spirits that were named by someone else?”

“Of course. There are some people who call on spirits that were created and named by their predecessors if they have a difficult time
training their imagination. But in any event, there are countless different spirits all throughout the world because this is how they are
called forth.”

“How mysterious.”

Giselle giggled brightly as if she was having fun talking about the spirits.

“Oh, and you can talk to the spirits too. Spirits grow more intelligent if you supply them more divine power, so you should give them
ample if you want to try talking to them.”

“Hmm……. Is there some kind of incantation you use when summoning a spirit?”

“Did you hear me say anything when I called the cloud spirit here just earlier? All you need is the will to call them. You can call them
silently, but some people say things like, “Appear!” or, “Come to me!” because it’s easier to express your will more strongly when you
say it out loud. Still, I would dissuade you from trying to summon a spirit if you’re a human, Ann.”

Giselle looked back at Ianna in all seriousness once she had stopped giggling. Then, she asked,

“I’m sure you can guess what my race is, yes?”

“……Yes.”

“Most humans can’t live for even a hundred years. But my lifespan is ten times that —a thousand years. Divine power can also be called
one’s lifespan, and that’s how much of it I have. The hearts of the mythical races have a much looser grip on divine power than human
hearts do, so it’s easier for me to handle my divine power as I please. And that’s why the mythical races are able to live alongside the
spirits. The divine power you showed me before……. That was about three days’ worth.”
Ianna’s hair stood on end. It was chilling to hear it expressed as such a concrete number. Giselle advised,

“I can understand why you might be curious. You know how to use divine power, Ann, so it’ll probably okay even you want to try
summoning a cute little spirit just once. But humans cannot live alongside the spirits. Please take this to heart, Ann.”
But Ianna had already made her resolve.

She went into the forest once she had parted ways with Giselle. There was no one out on a nighttime stroll these days because everything
was so chaotic. The chirping insects quieted as Ianna walked past them. The moon followed after her and lit up her path through the filter
of the leaves.

She stopped when she had reached a desolate place where she couldn’t feel the presence of life at all. Then, she got down to her knees
and placed her hands across the earth. She found herself a bit at a loss. Towe was a spirit king who was essentially everything the earth
was, so how should she call him?

‘Will this really work?’

Ianna rubbed her fingers across the dirt as she did her best to feel the earth. The dirt felt soft beneath her fingers. Ianna conjured the
image of the mud doll that Towe always took the form of as she gently poured out her divine power as if she was imbuing it into the dirt.

‘Come before me, Towe.’

The earth absorbed her divine power like it was soaking up water when Ianna manifested her will. Then, a similar phenomenon as to
when Finn summoned a spirit began to happen. The only difference was that the spirit didn’t enter her body and gnaw away at the divine
power in her heart.

[Ianna!]

Towe ran up to her as soon as he was summoned and hugged her knee tight. He was so affectionate, as if he had finally reunited with a
lover he had parted with.

[You finally called me again. But I strongly felt that you wanted to see me when I was summoned……by any chance, did you…?]

“I’m able to call you now.”

[You know how to use divine power now!]

Towe jumped around while flailing his stubby arms before he crumbled into dirt, unable to hold back his joy. He reformed his mud doll
body soon enough and tugged Ianna’s fingers tight in his arms.

[We always felt bad since it felt like we were stealing your divine power because we wanted to see you so much. It feels really good
when you give me divine power to call me with.]
Ianna choked with the realization that someone loved her so much as she saw how terribly overjoyed Towe was. Then, she grew curious
as to how the spirits saw her because they were so open about their affections for her. Ianna tapped against Towe’s head.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to call you —something came up.”

[It’s all right. Life is precious. We’re practically asleep when you don’t call for us, so don’t worry about us and call us when you need us.
But…Shweia was stirring up a fuss about why he’s the only one you haven’t called yet. If you know how to summon spirits now, it’d be
nice if you could call Shweia, who oversees the wind, at least once too.]

“All right. I’ll make sure to do that.”

[But why did you call me today?]

“Oh, I just wanted to see you since I’ve learned how to summon spirits……. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d manage to do it on my first
try. I don’t really have any special reason for calling you today.”

[I’m so happy!]
Towe jumped up and down on Ianna’s thighs. Ianna gently rubbed against his soft little head.

“Do you remember how I’d asked you to tell me stories about the Holy Age?”

[I do. But we didn’t have enough time to go over them.]

“I know how to call you guys now, so I’m planning to keep calling you whenever I can starting next month. I’d like to listen to your
stories when I do.”

It was the beginning of June. The Institution’s regular semester was coming to a close, and its summer session was about to begin. Ianna
was planning to go visit Absilot over the summer, but she wanted to listen to the spirits’ stories along the way.

Ianna had used to think that her previous incarnation didn’t mean much to her, but Roberstein’s existence had become more significant to
her ever since that day. Her previous incarnation was simply like an appendage to her, and yet she could not bring it up as freely as she
pleased.

[Do you mean we can keep meeting with you? I’m really happy. I’ll be sure to tell the others too.]

Ianna stared down at Towe silently as he held her hand and adorably moved around his little head. As befitting of a spirit of earth,
Towe’s temperament was as calm and understanding as the earth itself, from which all creation blossomed in life and to which all
creation would return into the embrace of when their lives came to an end. He was a colossal existence that contrasted with the
complicated world of man. The spirits had special vision —they did not see with the naked eye—, and they were able to evaluate
everything’s worth with their special vision. Ianna thought she would feel a little rueful if the spirits only loved her as much as they did
because of Roberstein’s influence.

“How do I appear to you, Towe?”

[Hmm?]

The hand that Towe was holding felt warm and snug. Ianna looked to Towe, who was quietly gazing back at her, and slowly continued,

“I am me. Nobody else.”

[Indeed.]

“I don’t wish to let myself be influenced by any external factors that I myself didn’t want for. I want to live my life in accordance to the
choices that I myself will make. But Roberstein……that god always makes me feel uncertain.”

Lebony had said that she had hated and despised her so because Ianna had stolen that god’s divine power from her. Ianna had
never wanted to be hated by Lebony. Ianna had tried to learn how to control divine power, only to learn that she couldn’t control it
normally because, unlike everyone else, she had some kind of wall around her heart. She had never wanted for this either. Ianna had tried
to learn more about Roberstein so she could solve these problems, but Arhad had been against the idea because the knowledge might
affect their relationship. This was also not something Ianna had wanted. The fact that she had been reborn into her current life was yet
another thing that Ianna had never wanted.
But she had not been devoured. Rather, she had heroically determined that she would be the one to completely devour Roberstein
instead. And yet……right now, Ianna felt like she would be a little sad —even if she pretended otherwise— if someone loved her not
because she was Ianna but because of Roberstein’s influence. She almost felt like she was putting the cart before the horse.
“Tell me what you see in me, Towe.”

Towe stared up at Ianna without a word for a moment before he slowly began to speak.
[You told me yourself that Roberstein may have been your past incarnation. And it’s true —you may have once been Roberstein in the
long distant past.]

“And?”

[At first, I was surprised but happy that your divine power tasted similar to Roberstein’s. But whenever we meet you now, the person we
pour our love out to is not Roberstein, who may have been your past, but you, who simply happens to have once been Roberstein.]
Towe pat against Ianna’s hand.

[Spirits can see through the true nature of everything that lives. Virtue and vice, purity and filth, strength and frailty……. We see only a
person’s true nature and we deal with them recklessly. We love you because you are the kind of person we love. We would not have
loved you if you were evil or weak. Roberstein has nothing to do with it.]

Towe jumped up and hugged Ianna tight when she didn’t respond.

[Roberstein is now simply another part of you. We love you, Ianna. We really love you.]
Ianna continued to sit still in silence. Towe hugged her gently with his tiny body as if he was comforting her. She had only met them a
few times now, but the spirits were all so bright and honest. So honest, in fact, that she could see right through them. And they loved her
innocently even when she hadn’t purposefully tried to win their love. They simply saw her for who she was.

And it truly made Ianna happy. A radiant and genuine smile graced her lips.

~~*~~

Part 4
The Black Fox had started committing crimes out in the open once the rumors had magnified, and it became impossible for them to
impersonate Camastros. They were committing crimes wantonly and for no reason, such as coming out of nowhere to wreak havoc on a
store, pulling random passersby off the streets and beating them to a bloody pulp, and kidnapping no small number of regular people
without warning. They did what they had always done in the dark of night. The only difference was that they didn’t call themselves the
Black Fox.

And so, the situation had grown more dire than it had been when they were impersonating Camastros. They were committing so many
crimes that even criminals who weren’t affiliated with the Black Fox had started committing crimes indiscriminately.

It was difficult to blindly curse the Black Fox now that the situation had devolved to this. Most of the crimes were committed by the
Black Fox, of course, but it would spell trouble if someone pinned the blame on the Black Fox and were proven wrong.

There had been one knight who had dragged a member of the Black Fox to the police station as the suspect for a crime. But the prison in
the police station cellars had been opened within a day of the Black Fox member’s arrest, and all the criminals inside had escaped. And
the knight’s household had fallen to ruin in but an instant.

“We will punish the bastards who treat our innocent members as criminals!”
 

was what the members of the Black Fox were saying.

The citizens were growing more anxious as the situation worsened and they looked to the kingdom to do something, but, strangely
enough, the Roanne military had yet to budge.

“We must take the opportunity to eliminate every last one of them!”

“They are making light of Roanne!”

Multiple opinions denouncing the Black Fox and stating that they must be subdued had been filed over the past few days in the cabinet
meetings. Those nobles who had hated the Black Fox to begin with stuck adamantly to the opinion that all criminals should be arrested
for being members of the Black Fox, with or without evidence, in one fell swoop because the crime rate had spiked so sharply.

‘Did those Black Fox bastards lose their minds?’

‘What the hell are they doing?’
Those nobles who were colluding with the Black Fox could not hide their discomfort as they, who had used to keep to the shadows,
suddenly began operating in broad daylight like they were high on drugs or something. The Black Fox was both a secret source of money
and a convenient chess piece to resolve dirty matters with. They were also an excellent source of entertainment. Like women, drugs, or
gambling.

Luria was one of those nobles.

“What the hell have you been doing these days?”

Luria failed to hold back her uneasiness before the fat man in blue robes with his hood covering his head.

Luria was the third princess of the Kingdom of Begoisha. The Kingdom of Begoisha was a small buffer state in the southeast that was
surrounded by Tirkal, Sonya, Zalbates, and Morian. She was a kingdom in name, but was practically as a colony to the four countries
surrounding her because she had to pay tribute to all four. As the humble third princess of a small and weak kingdom, Luria had been
constantly humiliated and disgraced by the royalty and nobility of the surrounding four kingdoms.

‘Just you wait!’

Luria wanted to take vengeance on those who had humiliated her. But it was impossible for her to achieve her vengeance alone. She was
not clever, nor was she charismatic enough to draw people to her. The only thing she had was her bewitching appearance. And the king
of Begoisha had offered her to the king of Roanne as soon as the aging king had taken an interest in her.

The king had started taking an interest in younger women over his aging queen, and Luria had been but one of his many playthings.
Luria had nearly fallen into depression, but she had quickly snapped back to her senses. She was spiteful in her greed and selfishness.

And a certain organization had taken notice of that and had approached her —the Black Fox.

The Black Fox had taught her how to seduce the king, had helped make her more beautiful, and had given her everything she lacked, like
power and money. She had then become the king’s favorite concubine, had given birth to the crown prince, and had received gifts from
the king that were so expensive they made her heart tremble.

Luria was where she was now precisely because of the Black Fox’s assistance. She was wholly reliant on the Black Fox, and she was
always terrified that they might abandon her. And she grew so anxious that she didn’t know what to do with herself, like now, whenever
they were acting strangely. This would continue until her son, Fernando, took the throne. Which was why Luria wanted to make
Fernando king as quickly as possible.

“We will promise you, so please just accept our gifts for now, Your Highness.”

The fat man pushed a jewelry box at her. Luria’s gaze was drawn to it. The smooth surfaces of the jewels inside glistened like a meteor
shower when he opened the box with his hefty hand. He continued,
“It’s a diamond necklace with a pink diamond as its centerpiece. It is dwarven-made.”

Luria stared greedily at the sparkling jewelry before she returned to her senses and glared at the man.

“Do I look like I’d be interested in jewels right now? Do you know how much trouble I’ve been going through to stop Schneider and his
clique from dispatching the military to rip out these recent crimes from their roots?”
“You are admirable, Your Highness. Please continue to work hard for us.”

“I’m telling to you tell me why the hell you’re making such a mess of things right now! And give me some justification for stopping
Schneider!”

Luria shouted as she slammed down at the table. She continued,

“It makes me uneasy that I don’t know why you’re doing this. Don’t you know that I’ll lose the public’s favor if my faction stops the
military from being dispatched while you’re acting up like this?”

“Please don’t pay the insects any heed. Things will go back to normal once we solve our little problem with Camastros.”

Luria scowled.

“What even is Camastros?”
“We’ve taken quite a few losses thanks to Camastros. Our profits have decreased by almost a fifth.”

“A fifth?”

A fifth wasn’t very much in Luria’s mind. Were they making such a big deal out of thing because of something so small? The man
clicked his tongue and continued his explanation when Luria clamped her mouth shut and didn’t say a word.

“Do you know what the Black Fox’s annual profits are? It’s more than three years’ worth of Roanne’s national budget. A fifth of that is a
sizeable amount.”

Luria dropped her jaw in shock. Three years’ worth of Roanne’s budget —the man before her was uttering nonsense. The man sneered at
her stupidity for a moment before he bowed to her from the waist.

“Are you aware of how far-reaching our businesses are, Your Highness? We mainly operate in the shadows, but we also have a hand in
some of the more profitable businesses, like weapons dealing. And we operate world-wide.”

“…….”

“But those bastards started to get in our way a few years ago. All of the bases and markets they’ve raided were destroyed, and our regular
members began deserting when they started killing off our executives. And other bastards crawled into our market space when our
business operations were paralyzed. Do you understand what this means? Camastros is sabotaging us intentionally, and the bastards who
are taking over our markets are either Camastros’ supporters or Camastros themselves.

The man audibly ground his teeth together.

“We earn much more from Roanne than we do from anywhere else. We must not lose our grip on Roanne. But the bastards have made
Roanne their stronghold, and they’ve been causing us quite the headache. They must have excellent sources of information, considering
that they’ve been destroying our bases one after another, and they’ve been keeping our workers from working properly.”

“Can’t you deal with them on your end?”

“They’re like rats in how good they are at hit-and-run tactics……and it’s come to the point where we have no choice but to turn to you,
Your Highness, the nobles under your banner, and the general public.”

“…….”

Luria may be wicked, but she knew fully well that it was not to her advantage to keep the Black Fox on her side. There were many
nobles in Roanne who despised the Black Fox, and one small misstep could cause them all to turn their backs on her.

“Allow me to tell you why we have no choice but to ask you to step up, Your Highness Luria.”

The man hammered his point home when Luria simply frowned but didn’t say a word.

“Camastros is being sponsored by Prince Schneider.”

Luria’s hands quivered. The man continued,

“Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

“Are you saying that the bastard knows that I’m working with you people? Is he sponsoring Camastros because he’s trying to undermine
my influence?!”
“That, I couldn’t say. But it will affect you too, Your Highness Luria, if we continue to suffer losses because of them.”
“Then what would you have me do?”

Now they were talking. The man smirked from beneath his robes.
“The notoriety we’ve been building up for ages isn’t simply for show. Please use that to your advantage. And please have the other
nobles who are conspiring with you assist you on the matter.”

“What are you trying to say? Are you in your right mind? You wish to eliminate Camastros?”

Schneider slammed his hands down on the conference table as he stood up. The eight-year-old Prince Linus took fright as Schneider
expressed his wrath from directly next to him. Unlike Linus, Fernando, who was sitting directly next to the king, ignored Schneider
outright and apathetically continued,

“You are the one who is speaking out of turn. You don’t have proof that the Black Fox was impersonating Camastros, and neither do you
have any proof that it was the Black Fox that made the situation what it is today. Can you not see how irresponsible it is to recklessly
confront an organization as large as the Black Fox without any proof?”
“Do you mean to say that this isn’t the Black Fox’s work?”
“We must not ignore the possibility that it might not be.”

Schneider irritably handed the documents strewn in front of him off to a servant who had been on standby. The servant took the
documents and handed them to Fernando. Fernando looked through the documents and frowned.

“I’ve apprehended around fifteen confirmed culprits and searched their bodies. They all had black fox tattoos on them, meaning that they
were members of the Black Fox. And they were all arrested for different incidents. Isn’t this more than enough to prove that the Black
Fox is masterminding the situation?”

Fernando groaned.
“If it truly is the Black Fox as you say, then why do you think that they’ve been making such a fuss as of late? They used to keep quiet
and only harass a few citizens —is it not because Camastros provoked them that they’re acting up? The Black Fox may be infamous for
their vengeance, but they never laid a hand against our police knights until Camastros showed up. They never wanted to clash against the
kingdom.”
“And?”

“But the knights who arrested the bastards recently all died violent and unnatural deaths.”

“So what?”

Schneider quipped back constantly as if he didn’t understand what Fernando was getting at, causing the crown prince to snap and
irritably say,

“The Black Fox will quiet down if we get rid of Camastros. The Black Fox has been around for centuries, but they’ve always co-existed
with other countries just fine until now.”

“Then, does Your Highness mean to say that you’ll simply sit back and watch while a criminal organization commits crimes in our
kingdom? That would be no different from actively working with them.”

Fernando cleared his throat.

“We won’t be working with them —we would be making compromises with the reality of the situation. The Black Fox has always
existed everywhere. We can’t even estimate how powerful they truly are. I would rather we not meddle with active bombs. The bastards
will keep quiet if we do too.”

“Why don’t you try saying something sensible for a change? Do you really think they’ve been keeping quiet?”
Schneider glared daggers at Fernando.

“Are you saying that you don’t know how much of Roanne’s wealth they’ve been smuggling away all this time? Are you saying that you
don’t know how badly they’re affecting the people’s lives with their drug dealing and human trafficking? Are you truly saying that you
don’t know how horribly they’ve been crushing our people underfoot and how many of our people bear terrible grudges against them?”
“…….”

“Camastros is the only anti-Black Fox organization that had been actively opposing them despite everything. And you’re saying that you
would not only fail to help foster this sapling of hope that’s finally taken root —but that you’d even trample it underfoot? The status quo
dictates that the Black Fox is given free reign to do as they please, and it is actually abnormal for Camastros to oppose them. I’m sure
you’re only saying what you’ve said because you aren’t aware of just how much the Black Fox’s operations have been hindered by
Camastros.”
“Hindered? You think the Black Fox is being hindered right now?”
“Even a rat will bite the cat before it when it’s life is in danger. The Black Fox would have ordinarily confronted Camastros directly and
settled things on their own terms, so why is it that you think they’ve starting to try to influence the public sentiment? It’s because
Camastros is that much of a threat to them.”
“Then what would you have us do? Would you rather we let Camastros and the Black Fox fight it out amongst themselves? Even when
our people are suffering as we speak?”
“It should be obvious that the royal family should dispatch the military to eliminate the Black Fox at once. This is our best opportunity to
chase them out of Roanne altogether.”

“You are suggesting that we make complete enemies out of the Black Fox. I never knew you were so ignorant of world affairs, tut tut.”
Fernando tired of debating with Schneider and leaned back against his chair. Schneider was a progressive, while Fernando was
conservative. Schneider was the type to take big risks to win big gains, whereas Fernando was the type to accept smaller gains in
exchange for fewer risks. The two of them had always been destined to clash like oil and water.

Also, Fernando was in a position where he must neither take the Black Fox’s side nor allow them to come to any more harm. The Black
Fox had been working with Luria since even before Fernando had been born. They were like his own skeleton, as they were the ones
who had made everything that he was possible to begin with.
“Other organizations weren’t able to commit organized crime while the Black Fox dominated the underworld. They haven’t been
completely useless.”

“So do you mean to say that we should leave them be because they are a necessary evil? That we should eliminate Camastros, the group
that is trying to take out the cancer that is the Black Fox, instead? How does that even make any sense? I cannot possibly allow today’s
agenda to pass.”

Two long ivory tables had been laid out side-by-side, and the king was staring down at both of them from his seat on the throne. Sitting
at the head of the table to the right was Fernando, the crown prince, and sitting at the head of the table to the left were the other two
princes, Schneider and Linus. Sitting between both tables were the three dukes, Marquises Claude and Owen, who both worked in the
capital, ten counts with large territories, and a few viscounts who were powerful enough to sit in the cabinet.

Harios, the king who had been watching over his sons’ dispute, finally spoke up.

“There is reason to your words, Schneider, but what Fernando is saying isn’t nonsense either. It is true that the Black Fox has never
caused a problem this large until now. And, while they are indeed a criminal organization, they are also a legitimate business. They are
unrivaled in weapons dealing, so we cannot recklessly make enemies of them.”

Schneider’s eyes sharpened. The king had completely lost his former glory. His father, who had once spearheaded the war against
Bahamut for several years before achieving a ceasefire twenty-two years ago, now spent all his time in the arms of vulgar women.

Schneider’s darkening gaze travelled down the king’s visibly sickly countenance before trailing farther down and stopping at the layer of
fat bulging over of the king’s belt. Where had the man who had once been called the Valiant Silver Lion gone? Did all men end up like
this when they aged?

“Still, it is also true that we cannot simply sit still and do nothing while these ruffians make a mess of our kingdom. It would harm
Roanne’s national dignity. What do my ministers think of this?”

Schneider glared at the nobles who had been as silent as mice until now.

“Please allow me to express my humble opinion, Your Royal Highness the Second Prince. Please consider this matter in a more realistic
light.”

Marquis Owen bowed toward Schneider. Marquis Owen was the representative of the nobles in Luria’s faction.

“Then what would you say is realistic?”

“I am sure that you know best that the Black Fox is powerful enough to be considered a large country of its own, Your Highness. They
will survive in other countries even if we chase them out of Roanne. But doing so would foster a grudge against Roanne in them. I
believe that it is unwise to provoke them unless we are strong enough to rip out the roots they have planted all across the continent.”

“I would agree. While I am certain that our kingdom’s knights would be able to resolve the situation at once, we would then have to
worry about how the Black Fox will retaliate. Every precedent suggests that the Black Fox always seeks vengeance against those who
harm them.”

“What reason is there that the entire kingdom must rise to the occasion? It would like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. It
is Camastros that brought about this situation, so it should fall upon Camastros to take responsibility for it.”
“No country in the world sanctions the Black Fox directly. There existed a few in the past, of course, but they have all fallen to ruin.”

Several nobles concurred with Fernando and Marquis Owen. Watching them made Schneider realize that there were more nobles who
were content with the status quo and rotten nobles who were benefitting from the Black Fox than he had originally thought. The Black
Fox had simply infiltrated that deeply into the kingdom.

Schneider made sure to remember every noble who had come to the Black Fox’s defense.
“Please heed our counsel. We are all of the same opinion, no? Please reconsider and force Camastros to disband.”

Marquis Claude, who was sitting opposite of Marquis Owen, narrowed his eyes when the latter boastfully straightened out his shoulders.

“Why does it almost sound as if you’re trying to defend the Black Fox, Marquis Owen?”

“Perish the thought.”

“I hear that your second son, whom you treasure as if he was a lump of gold, has been running amok as of late,”

said Marquis Claude with heavy sarcasm, prompting Marquis Owen to sharply furrow his brows.

“Why are you bringing up my son in a cabinet meeting?”

“Because the young man seems to be running around with only the wrong crowds. The rumors say that he’s rather friendly with the
Black Fox —or have you not heard? Why don’t you manage your own son properly first? It is difficult to believe it when you claim that
you are not defending the Black Fox when your own son’s actions cry otherwise.”

“Marquis Claude, are you dragging my son’s private life —rumors of his private life!— into a cabinet meeting right now?”
“I am simply demonstrating why your words aren’t credible, my good Marquis.”

House Claude and House Owen were mutual enemies. They clashed over every little thing on an ordinary basis, and they were taking the
chance to dish it out against each other as members of Schneider’s and Fernando’s respective factions. They both settled down when
Schneider growled at the two of them.

“Enough, both of you. Marquis Owen.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Even if the Black Fox put pressure on us from outside our borders, we can always block them out. Is Roanne not a kingdom strong
enough to do that?”

His predicament showed on Marquis Owen’s face.

“I only meant to avoid needless sacrifices, Your Highness…….”

“We have no future if we cannot rise up to the challenge. I dismiss your opinion, Marquis.”

“I whole-heartedly agree with your opinion, Your Highness.”

One certain hot-tempered count stood up and strongly laid out his own opinion.

“What are the bastards doing now as we speak? We let them be, and now they’re making light of Roanne. Is it not possible that they are
plotting to overthrow the entire kingdom?”

“Mind your tongue. How could you call this a plot to overthrow the kingdom? And in front of His Majesty no less?”

“Perhaps it’s an overstatement to say that they are plotting to overthrow the kingdom, but it is clear that they are determined to turn
Roanne on her head. We must drive them out from Roanne before the bastards make things worse.”
Duke Sam, who had been sitting quietly in his seat of honor until then, took Schneider’s side.

“To be frank, it is true that the Black Fox is a rather offensive group.”

“The people are suffering. And to my understanding, more people are expressing their discontent and asking why the kingdom isn’t
doing anything with each passing day.”

The king looked between Fernando, who was glaring at Duke Sam with a gloomy look in his eyes, and Schneider, who was huffing, in
turns before nodding.

“Mm. Even you’re speaking out like this, Duke Sam. In that case, I suppose there is little choice.”
“I am against this, Lord Father,”

Fernando complained with a heavy scowl on his face. Schneider glowered at him for trying to spoil his victory.

“Your Highness, have you forgotten that His Majesty is not your father but your king during cabinet meetings? Besides, did you dare just
interrupt His Majesty before he speaks?”

Fernando bit down at his lip when the king expressed a moment of displeasure.

“……A thousand pardons.”

“Mind yourself next time. And Schneider…”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I will permit you to take command of the army. However, you will be solely responsible for this matter.”

“Meaning?”

“I will only permit you to send soldiers under your personal banner out on missions. I will also allow other nobles to support you with
their personal troops. Every merit the military achieves under your command will be as your own, but it will also be your responsibility
if the Black Fox causes more problems and brings harm to the kingdom. Will you subdue the Black Fox even still?”

A subtle look crossed Schneider’s mien while Fernando’s frown smoothed out. Had Luria convinced the king to make this choice? Or
had the king made the decision himself?

It was impossible for Schneider to dodge this. But Schneider rose up to the challenge without hesitation when the king laid out his
choices like he was trying to test the prince.

It was a chance for him to monopolize the merits. He could potentially gain the public’s overwhelming support, and he could also profit
immensely by picking up after the Black Fox’s public businesses once he had driven them out of the kingdom. It would be a huge step
toward the throne. Schneider nodded with confidence. He would usher a bright future unto the kingdom and bring salvation to her
people.

“I will.”

“You are aware that my birthday comes in two months’ time?”

“But of course.”
“I would have a joyous birthday celebration. Can you wrap up this matter within a month?”

“It will be impossible to subdue the Black Fox completely in just a month. But I will put an end to this current spike in crime without fail
and have the people praise how great Roanne truly is.”

“Very well. Do as you will.”

~~*~~

“What’s going on?”

There was an execution being carried out at the center of the plaza. Many people gathered, intrigued by the sudden event. Twenty-six
grown men staggered as they made their way up to the executioner. There was an intimidating line of knights equipped with armor that
glistened frigidly under the light standing near the criminals.

Just how notorious were those criminals? Then, Schneider appeared before the masses from afar while wearing ceremonial clothes while
the people clamored amongst themselves.

“It’s His Royal Highness the Second Prince!”

“My word, did the prince really come in person? Were those criminals tried for high treason?”

Schneider stood up on the platform and retrieved a loudspeaker artefact from a servant and brought it up to his lips.

“Are you curious as to who these criminals are?”

The people stared at his lips as they eagerly awaited his next words. Schneider chose his words carefully before he resolutely said,

“These men are members of the Black Fox. We will execute these men, and we will punish the villains of the Black Fox who have been
committing crime after crime with reckless abandon.”

Several members of the crowd gasped.

“But it will not be the Kingdom of Roanne’s entire military that takes action —only my knights and the knights of those nobles under my
command will rise up, and I will personally assume all responsibility for this matter. We will focus on stamping out crime over the
course of the next month, and every criminal found for violent crimes will be given the death penalty under common law. I, Schneider,
personally declare that all criminals will be punished regardless of their station.”
Prince Schneider had declared total war against evil. The people were excited and began stirring up a fuss. Criminals had been having a
heyday as of late, and the royal family had ultimately stepped forward to put an end to them. And it was Prince Schneider, whom the
people loved and wanted most as their next king, no less.

Schneider slowly surveyed the crowd at his feet.

“We will continue our crackdown even after the month has passed, and we will rip out the Black Fox’s crimes from their very roots. You
are all people of the great Kingdom of Roanne. For how much longer will you tremble in fear before the Black Fox and cowardly look
away from their violence? Take heart and rise as citizens of Roanne. I will be your strength.”
Schneider’s powerful voice shook the people’s hearts. His words made the people recall how the Black Fox had imposingly strut about
the streets and how they had been unable to do anything but avoid the despicable bastards until now, and they sympathized with
Schneider’s proclamation.

Right, those evil bastards. Let’s take the chance to get rid of them once and for all, the Prince will personally rise up for us, we’ve
suffered so much at their hands and it’s high time we paid them back for it. The task is impossible for any one person alone, but if we all
work together……. Everyone in the crowd was seized by a hint of thrill and the sense of justice. They felt as if they had each become as
brave soldiers.
But there were still those who did not fit in with the crowd whose complexions had darkened with worry. The timid worried that the
Black Fox would ramp up its activities because of this, Schneider’s supporters worried that Schneider would lose this chance to become
king if things went poorly, and those related to the Black Fox worried for their future.

“In addition, Camastros, which has been the subject of many recent rumors, is an organization that was established to oppose the Black
Fox, and it is a trustworthy organization under my personal sponsorship, so I ask that you not spread any false rumors regarding them.”

The audience wowed as many people expressed their admiration. Schneider turned his back to the crown to cast a frigid glare down on
the kneeling criminals. They were gagged with white scraps of cloth that were now drenched in their drool. They were all writhing in
their discomfort with bloodshot eyes.

“These men here will set the first example.”

Then, Schneider coldly ordered,

“Execute them.”

Schneider’s knights drew their swords upon his command, and the criminals erupted in screams and scarlet blood shortly thereafter.

Ianna had been watching the execution with Arhad. Schneider had asked Camastros to hand over the knights of Grundewalz they had
captured, and he had given them the death penalty as soon as they had.

“The Black Fox missed their mark. Prince Schneider is furious with those who would undermine Roanne —he is never one to yield to
them,”

Ianna muttered without much thought. Prince Schneider had been a seasoned politician who was overflowing with patriotism in her past,
and he had despised the Black Fox. She had only known him five years later, but she saw the same man in him now whom she had
known in the past.

Arhad, who had been observing the Knights of Grundewalz’s execution, slowly turned around to look at Ianna, who’s gaze had migrated
from the criminals to Schneider at some point. The light in Arhad’s eyes darkened.

“You say that as if you know Schneider well.”

Ianna realized her mistake but didn’t let it show as she made up an excuse for her prior words.

“That’s what everyone says. He is regarded as a righteous and capable prince. Fernando is the current crown prince, but they say that it is
Prince Schneider who will one day be crowned king.”
“He most likely will be, so long as nothing too out of the ordinary happens. I don’t exactly want to praise him, but Schneider is
undoubtably an outstanding prince. He has an eye for talent, he’s skilled at politics, and the public adores him. And the people in power
who follow him are on a qualitatively different level from those who follow Fernando. And he has a lot of pride in Roanne as a member
of the royal family. He is more than qualified to sit as the king of a powerful nation. His only faults are that he is too young to have
gained much expertise in politics and that he has too much innocent greed.”

Ianna was taken aback when Arhad praised Schneider so highly. Arhad greatly disliked Schneider. He had disliked Schneider in her last
life, and he disliked Schneider in this one as well. But it looked like he still evaluated the prince highly nevertheless. He continued,

“Fernando and Luria are nothing more than the Black Fox’s puppets, and the Black Fox is as Bahamut’s hands and feet. Schneider’s true
opponent is Bahamut……so he will see a lot of bloodshed as he vies for the throne.”

“What will happen if the fact that the Black Fox is backed by Bahamut is revealed?”

“Roanne harbors a deep grudge against Bahamut, so Fernando and Luria would fall to ruin rather quickly……. But we can’t let that
happen. We need them at each other’s throats until both sides are in shambles.”

If things went according to plan, Camastros would make a mess out of Roanne and settle all of their matters in the South by the time
Ianna was nineteen before heading off to the North. Things had probably played out in much the same way in the past. What had
happened after that again? Ianna lost herself in thought. It had been seventeen years since she had been reborn. Save for the most vivid
ones, most of her memories of her past life were fading away. But even still, the truth that her laboriously-recalled memories pointed to
gave her chills. The two princes’ struggle for the throne would last a decade, exhausting Roanne in the process, and Arhad, who would
have conquered Bahamut by then, would point his sword at the rest of the continent.

‘Was everything a part of Arhad’s plans?’

Arhad placed his hand on top of Ianna’s head as she lost herself in thought. Ianna snapped back to her senses and looked up at him, and,
as if he was trying to hypnotize her, Arhad earnestly repeated,

“And that’s why you mustn’t go to Schneider. He’s doomed to fall to ruin anyway.”

He moved his hand and began stroking Ianna’s head.

“I already told you I wouldn’t.”

Ianna’s lips twitched. The man before her was evil in the eyes of any citizen of Roanne. The fact that the Black Fox belonged to
Bahamut would be revealed eventually, but Arhad was planning to watch from the sidelines while Roanne and the Black Fox fought each
other to his heart’s content before striking them both from behind. It was rather underhanded, actually, but Ianna decided to write it off as
clever now that she was on his side.

“…….”

Ianna blinked her eyes and stared quietly as Arhad rubbed her head, but she began to close her eyes in drowsiness before she realized
what she was doing. She snapped back to her senses soon enough. She had grown so accustomed to him petting her head as of late that
she hardly even registered it anymore.

Ianna opened her eyes and looked up only to find Arhad looking back at her as if he found her adorable. She found his behavior peculiar.
He treated her like a child rather often as of late. She was five years younger than him, of course, so it wasn’t too out of the ordinary……
but she found it strange and suspicious that he was so obstinate about treating her like a child when he really didn’t have to.
Should I brush him off? Ianna thought before she decided to wait until Arhad was satisfied and brought his hand back down of his own
accord. Ridiculously enough, she didn’t necessarily dislike being treated like a child. She actually didn’t mind it. Arhad was like a plushy
and comfortable sofa. In other words, she didn’t mind relying on him. She had never thought that she needed someone like this in her life
before, but she found that she rather liked it now that she had one. It was ridiculous just imaging it, and she would never actually do it,
but Ianna almost felt as if she might not mind acting like a child sometimes.
Just when had she gotten so comfortable with Arhad? Was it after she had sobbed her heart out in his arms during the school festival? Or
was it after he had nagged at her for avoiding him after making a mistake because of Keigus Dimitri? Or perhaps it was because he
always asked her to rely on him more?

She didn’t know. But in any event, she now found his antics of acting as her protector rather agreeable, though she had found them
disagreeable at first. Arhad was slowly becoming as her refuge, like the way a drop of ink slowly dispersed in water. He made her feel as
if she could be at ease when she was with him.

“…….”

Ianna did not generally experience many emotions, so they tended to show on her face when she did feel something. They were normally
negative emotions, like absurdity, displeasure, or bloodlust, but they were occasionally positive as well. Ianna didn’t know this, but her
sharp eyes and eyebrows would droop down ever so slightly whenever she experienced something positive. Just like now.

Something fervent flared in Arhad’s pupils as they took in the way Ianna expressed her pleasure like a tamed cat before it quickly hid
back inside again. He cast a quick glance at Schneider and the execution before he stroked Ianna’s head again and, in all seriousness,
said,

“Make sure you always remember that I’m the best, that I’m the only one who’s fully prepared to do anything to keep you by my side.
You will never know any master better than me.”

“…….”

Ianna brazenly scowled at him for the absurdity of it all, but on the inside, she rather liked the fact that he now had the composure to go
out of his way to say things like this. This was much nicer than having to watch him be anxious. It looked like the fact that she had told
him not to worry every time he grew anxious, that she had told him she liked him, and that she did not wish to leave him had taken
effect.

“And be sure to keep this in mind too. It sours my mood when Schneider pesters you or when you act like you know him well.”

Ianna grew slightly disconcerted as she wondered —if perhaps the reason why Arhad hated Schneider so much wasn’t because he was an
enemy prince but because of her. She was starting to grow narcissistic because of Arhad.
“To be honest, my mood soured just earlier too, but I held back because you’re here with me. I’ll trust that you won’t go to him now.”

Ianna felt Arhad relying on her as he said not that he trusted her, but that he will trust her. Did he mean to say that he would try relaxing
a little about the matter now? Ianna rather liked his change in attitude. Her amusement shone brightly in her eyes.
“I quite like that. But what would have happened if you didn’t hold back?”
“I would have overthrown everything and murdered Schneider where he stands.”

It was quite the scary statement. Ianna looked around, afraid that someone might have overheard, but everyone around them was too
focused on the execution and was chatting animatedly with other people. It was so noisy that there was next to no chance that anyone had
heard him. Ianna turned her gaze back to Arhad only to be startled.

“Just thinking about it……makes me furious.”

Ianna didn’t know what he was thinking about as he mumbled to himself, but his pupils were slightly out of focus as he looked back at
her and there was an overwhelming bloodlust muddled in his downcast eyes. Ianna placed her own hand on top of Arhad’s, which was
still on her head, before she could stop herself. It was only then that Arhad returned to his senses and the light in his eyes cleared up
again. Arhad grinned.

“Whoops. My mind wandered for a moment,”

Arhad whispered as he took his hand off of Ianna’s head.

It was obvious that his bloodlust had been directed at Schneider. Was he trying too hard to keep his composure? If that was the case, then
he still had far to go. Ianna looked to Arhad with subdued eyes. Just when would Arhad finally be able to relax? Would the day ever truly
come?

Arhad looked guilty and changed the topic as he felt Ianna staring piercingly back at him.

“Founding Day, the king’s birthday, and Thanksgiving —were those the days you were supposed to go to the palace? The king’s
birthday is coming up soon. Make sure you don’t exchange too deep a conversation with Schneider when you attend the party.”
“I’m glad you brought it up. Please don’t come this time —I’m being serious.”

Arhad didn’t reply.

“Don’t come. I told you before during my debut,”

Ianna reemphasized. Arhad sighed.

“You truly are rather mean. But all right.”

Ianna then seized her chance after Arhad had folded over one matter.

“And also……I’ve been meaning to tell you that I’m planning to go on a trip next month.”

“A trip?”

“Prince Schneider said that he would wrap up this incident before the king’s birthday, and that also happens to be around when the
summer session starts at school. I would like to go on a trip alone for about two months over break. May I?”

“Where to?”

“Anywhere. Somewhere with a nice view, perhaps…….”

Ianna felt uneasy. She was deceiving someone for the first time in her life. She tried her best to keep her facial expressions under control.
Arhad didn’t notice, however, and he seemed to be thinking intently over something instead of doubting her as he said,

“I’d like to go…….”

“No.”

“……With you, but I can’t. I don’t know what might happen during those two months. I was only able to accompany you to the South
because that was before things really got rolling. But you’re being rather cold, you know?”

Ianna was immensely relieved that Arhad had other matters to take care of. He stared at her.

“Did you need the time to organize your thoughts?”

His question implied a lot. Ianna didn’t answer.

“Very well. I’ll grant you the last bit of time you’ll ever have away from me,”
Arhad said readily.

“You’ll let me go?”

“Yes. But once you’re back…”

Arhad placed his hand on Ianna’s cheek and caressed it as if to express how adorable he found her. He smiled when Ianna squinted her
eye on the same side of her face that his hand was touching.

“……You’ll never be able to leave my side again.”

—“The Black Fox (1)” End

Chapter 20: The Black Fox (2)

Trigger Warning: Mentions of sexual assault

Part 1
Eiji stopped in front of the door and steadied his breathing before swinging it wide open with a nonchalant look on his face.

“Yo.”

Payne, Bruce, Formido, and Miloutè turned to look at Eiji when he stepped into the room. A crooked look crossed Payne’s visage.

“You never came no matter how much we called you, so what brings you here today?”

“What else am I supposed to do when the situation is what it is? Everything’s going to hell, so I at least need to know what you all are
thinking, don’t I?”

Swing.
Margarita was stepping out from the torture chamber when she saw Eiji and opened her eyes wide.

“Oh my goodness! Eiji!”

She was reeking of blood. Eiji’s eyes clouded over for a moment when he saw the unconscious and mangled men behind her, but he
quickly resumed an air of indifference. He then turned his eyes to Margarita, who was beaming.

“……It’s been a while, Margarita.”

“Goodness, you’re so cold. Call me Marie like you used to before. Or are you too embarrassed now that you’re all grown up? But, didn’t
you miss me at all? How come you never came to see me?”

Margarita looked down at Eiji as she giggled with her hand in front of her lips. Was this woman being serious? Eiji apathetically spat
out,

“I was busy.”

Margarita furrowed her brows ever so slightly before she smoothed them out again.

“Were you now? In that case, you must have come today because you had the time to spare, yes? Do stay for a while.”
Stay for a while……. Eiji hadn’t seen Margarita in some time, but the witch was still the same as ever. What was she planning to do to
him that she wanted him to stay? She was one of his personal nightmares, and just standing in front of her like this made him recall
horrible memories. Eiji’s calm cerulean eyes took in Margarita’s figure.
He didn’t know what she had done, but she hadn’t changed at all since the last time he had seen her eight years ago. Rather, she had
never changed ever since the day he first met her —it was like her very being was immutable.

Eiji felt conflicted. On one hand, he felt like he could kill her now that he had matured while she hadn’t changed one bit, but on the
other, she was so unchanged that he was afraid that he would be ruined at her hands yet again if he dared try.

She was like a bramble of withered thorns. He had thought that he would die from the pain whenever he was pricked by her sharp thorns
back then, but now she was so small and unseemly that he almost thought he could simply snap her neck in two. And yet, he was still
afraid.

Eiji only just managed to keep himself from trembling disgracefully and forced himself to keep up his pretense of composure as he stood
his ground.

“Perhaps. Though I’d rather not.”

Margarita’s lips pursed into a straight line as a frigid look crossed her entire mien.

“You’ve grown up a lot, little kitten. Did you just talk back at me?”

“You no longer have the right to coerce me into anything. I don’t need to take orders from anyone anymore, save for the masters. I’m
sure you haven’t deluded yourself into thinking we were still in the past, right? My dear, clever Marie?”

Slap!
Margarita slapped Eiji hard across the face without even the slightest warning. She had hit him so hard that his once pale complexion had
immediately turned scarlet. Her sharp fingernails had etched crimson scratches on his cheeks. The edges of Margarita’s lips curled into a
sneer, satisfied by the state Eiji’s cheek was in, as she said,

“You cheeky little thing. Do you really think your humble origins will change no matter how far up the ladder you climb?”

“My humble origins…….”

Eiji smirked and spat out the blood that pooled in his mouth when the insides of his mouth had torn. He leaned his weight on one leg as
he looked down at Margarita, who was far shorter than him now. He continued,

“But even you have to admit that I’ve climbed quite far —and that’s why you stopped after only slapping me.”
Margarita narrowed her eyes. Finally, Payne decided to intervene.

“That’s enough. Eiji speaks the truth.”

“He’s right, Lady Margarita. The little shit’s been cheeky with me too. Do you really think I’d leave that piece of shit be if he didn’t have
the masters’ favor?”
said Bruce as he sat next to Payne with his stomach bulging.

Eiji had been born a slave. And he was also the last descendent of the Roygen Clan, the very same bloodline as the bastard child who had
stolen the blood of Bahamut, to boot. Which was why Eiji had been born the lowliest of slaves and why he had grown up miserably
while being insulted and scorned at by others.

But he had always been highly intelligent ever since he was born, and he had an excellent talent for controlling mana, perhaps because he
benefited from sharing a Demon’s fragment. Eventually, he had beaten back all adversity and had become one of the three bosses of the
Black Fox, an independent organization. His ability to handle information was amazing, and he was the best informant the Black Fox had
ever seen. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he held every piece of information in the world in his hands. Moreover, the second
of the Black Fox’s four masters held a special favor for him.

“Tch. Slave bastard…….”
Bruce, who was currently in charge of the Black Fox’s slave trade operations, had once been in charge of torturing slaves in the prison
camps, and he was one of the people who had tortured Eiji viciously in the past. Which was why Bruce greatly disliked their current
situation, where Eiji was of the same station as himself and quipped back at everything he said.

Eiji shamelessly flipped the bird at Bruce.

“Go fuck yourself if you don’t like it. Anyway, this isn’t why you called me here, right?”

“Sit,”

Payne said curtly, prompting Eiji to trudge on over and sit down at the table. Margarita snorted as she glared at the back of his head
before following suit. Payne laced his fingers together as he turned to Eiji and said,

“You were right when you said that Schneider was sponsoring Camastros.”

“And?”

“Originally, we were only going to have Schneider wash his hands of Camastros, but he’s too young to know how terrifying the world is
yet. And so, we’ve decided to go with plan B.”

“I told Luria to make Schneider responsible for everything if she couldn’t stop the military from being dispatched. Her performance must
be something to die for. Considering that the king himself is acting exactly as we want him to.”

Payne looked to Formido, who was guzzling down wine, while Bruce was jabbering away about something vulgar. Formido slammed his
wineglass down on the table.

“So, what’s it gonna be? Isn’t it harder to harass the civilians now?”

“We can’t keep doing hit-and-run tactics now that Schneider’s faction has made their move. We have to put pressure on his funds and
start plotting against him. Schneider’s responsible for everything now, so we need to stir up enough problems to cast him down to hell.”

Bruce grunted as he crossed his arms.

“Why not just poison him? Isn’t that the simplest way to get things done?”

“We’ve been trying to get Luria’s faction to poison him for a while now. But Schneider has some doctor bastard on his side who gets rid
of all the poison before it even gets to him. Tasteless and odorless poisons haven’t worked either.”
“Hmmm. If even you, one of the highest authorities on poison in the continent, are saying that, then…….”
“Well, I could poison him if I wanted to, but the truth is that I don’t intend to assassinate him just yet. Our ultimate goal is to completely
ruin the Kingdom of Roanne before His Imperial Highness Prince Taylon takes the throne. Camastros threw a bit of a wrench into our
plans, but we still need Schneider. But in any event, I’m at my wit’s end because we have so little intel on Camastros. Eiji, tell me
everything you know about Camastros.”
Eiji pretended to organize his thoughts as he sat before them. In his head he had already separated out the information he could give them
to maintain their trust in him as one of the Black Fox’s three bosses from the information he absolutely could not disclose as a Camastros
spy.

“The members of Camastros all wear a mask that will never come off unless they take it off themselves, and they have a spell cast on
their brains that’ll kill them if they try to reveal any information. I was fortunate enough to confirm this with a few members of
Camastros that I happened to capture, and I came here today to report it.”

“Margarita’s experiments yielded the same results. And to be exact —the spell doesn’t kill them, it destroys their cerebral cortex. The
spell also protects their brains from other magic. We don’t know who the caster is, but the spell is so powerful that even Margarita can’t
destroy it.”

“Oh yeah? Moving on, then. I have a theory that the bastards tell each other apart by the symbols drawn on their masks. And they’ve
recently made up a secret code amongst themselves in response to our impersonating them. And……they’re very quick to respond to
whatever we do, and I can’t tell how much intel they have on us. Or actually, they probably already know everything about us, I think?”

Payne’s face stiffened up.

“How?”

“It’s been almost a year now, but…….”

Eiji shot a glance at Bruce. Bruce was glaring at him to keep quiet, but Eiji ignored him outright. The Bahamut imperial family had
started to personally intervene, so it didn’t matter to him if he revealed their secret anymore.

“There was a Camastros spy among our ranks. Mack, an executive who used to work under Bruce. The bastard was our second highest
executive in Roanne with regards to slave trade, right?”

“Hey!”

Baaam!
Payne slammed his fist down against the table as Bruce yelled at Eiji in indignation. Bruce flinched when Eiji nonchalantly stuck a finger
in his ear. There was fire in Payne’s eyes —a stark contrast from his normal composure.

“Are you two out of your minds? You didn’t try to hide this, did you? Why are you only telling me about this now, Eiji?”
“He’d already up and left by the time I noticed and tried to interrogate him. And I couldn’t find him to matter how far and wide I
searched. It looks like he’s pretty determined to stay hidden. I kept my mouth shut for good old Mr. Bruce here, since I thought it
wouldn’t matter so long as we got rid of Camastros, and I’m only telling you now because I don’t think it’ll be possible for him to avoid
his responsibilities now that the situation has gotten so bad. Wouldn’t you agree, my dear Mr. Bruce?”
“You……you…….”

Bruce turned scarlet, unable to refute Eiji’s sarcasm.

“I am going to report this to the masters, Bruce. Don’t even dream about escaping your punishment.”

Bruce looked miserable as he dropped his head. Payne clutched his head as he felt a headache forthcoming and a grave look crossed his
face. He continued,
“The bastards’ actions make sense now, if that’s the case. Their movements were so ridiculously precise, but now I see that it was
because they had an informant on their side. But in any event, Mack is from the Bahamut Empire, so I know him too. If he was a spy,
then there’s no telling how many more spies we have in our ranks. And if Camastros learns that the Black Fox belongs to Bahamut……
no, they probably know already.”
Payne spoke through clenched teeth.

“We’ll have to erase them without fail.”

“What a mess. You guys are on the brink of utter chaos. Was the Black Fox always like this?”

Payne frowned and sighed as Formido sneered from beside him.

“In any event, we have no choice but to confront Camastros directly now. I’ll defer to your judgment on this matter, Formido.”

“…….”

“The truth of the situation is that Camastros is stronger than you guys and they also have the advantage in numbers —so I don’t know
what to expect. We technically have more members……so, what should we do? Should we ask the higher ups for more support?”

Formido’s pride was wounded when Payne determined that Camastros was stronger than Grundewalz. They hadn’t confronted each other
directly yet, and neither had they used their secret weapon. Formido shook his head.

“No, we’ll try to work things out ourselves first. You said that Camastros has about three hundred members, right, informant?”

“That’s the estimation I reached by distinguishing between the symbols on their masks that our survivors saw. There could be more,
since there were times when we’ve had no survivors after they one-sidedly massacred our bases, and there could be fewer, if they change
up the symbols on their masks from time to time.”

Formido intoned and fell into a thought for a moment before he finally nodded.

“We’ll try to figure something out for now. We’ll ask for additional support only if we fail after trying a few things first.”

“Any good ideas?”

Formido pulled out a small steel ball from his pocket.

“That’s……?”

“It’s a special bomb we ordered from the best explosives manufacturer out there. A little something that our order has been making good
use of up in the North.”

Eiji stared intently at the steel ball. The others did as well, prompting Formido to swell up in smug pride.

“We’ll use these to wreak utter havoc on them.”

~~*~~
 

The number of knights patrolling the streets increased explosively. They wore glistening metal armor, as if they were operating during
wartime, as they walked the streets of the capital —no, of all of Roanne. And they weren’t any ordinary knights, either, but knights
belonging to orders directly under the prince’s command or those who had been dispatched by the nobles who supported the prince. Most
people had never seen such elite knights so frequently before, so they ogled and stirred up a fuss whenever they saw the knights passing
by on high alert.

People among the masses even began dealing with the Black Fox under the shroud of anonymity now that the prince had declared a war
on crime. Bounty hunters ramped up their activities like crazy because the kingdom was offering rewards for captured criminals,
especially members of the Black Fox. A much-awaited refreshing breeze had blown through the Kingdom of Roanne ever since the
Black Fox had started causing chaos.

The Black Fox had completely disappeared after the royal family had made their move. And that wasn’t all —common criminals had
gone into hiding too. Anyone who committed a crime was dragged away by the knights, and those who committed violent crimes never
came back. The knights treated criminals worse than animals. Criminals were branded to show that they were impossible to rehabilitate
—it was as if they were trying to wipe out crime altogether.

It was normal for there to be a drastic increase in public safety before and after a holiday festival. But the public safety in Roanne was
amazing at the moment because the kingdom was also taking measures to oppose the Black Fox.

“I’m only going to have faith in Prince Schneider now!”

“Who else in the royal family would do so much for the public welfare?”

There were a few people who thought that Schneider was going too far, but most people had been suffering at the Black Fox’s hands and
they cheered for Schneider’s bold measures and celebrated his borderline-insane sense of righteousness.

“I heard that there were even some nobles who wanted to let the Black Fox do as they please and get rid of Camastros instead?”

“Where’d you hear that from?”

“I have friends who work at a noble’s manor. I overheard them calling their master a parasite who’s gnawing away at the kingdom.”

The clashing opinions that had been voiced at the cabinet began leaking out to the streets as well.

“Those rotten bastards…….”

“Lord Schneider is the only man we can trust.”

Fernando had not had much of the public’s love to begin with, and the gap between him and Schneider only grew wider still as
Schneider’s approval rating skyrocketed. It was also only natural that Camastros’, which Schneider was sponsoring, approval rating had
increased as well.

“I-I’m with the Black……!”

Pooow!
Ianna punched the man in the face instead of telling him to shut up, and she then began dragging the unconscious man around by the
collar. She draped a spare cloak over his female victim, who was sobbing with her clothes in tatters, before making her way to the police
station. She flung the man on the floor as soon as she stepped inside the police station and turned to a stunned guard and said,

“He is here for sexual assault.”

The knight took one look at the white mask on Ianna’s face before audibly expressing his astonishment.

“Camastros has been catching many criminals as of late. Thank you for everything you do to better the public safety.”

There had been a lot of people in white masks hauling criminals to police stations. Their number included both real members of
Camastros and other skilled individuals who were only impersonating them.

There were still a few people masquerading around as members of Camastros while committing crimes, but it didn’t really matter
because they would be dragged to meet their fate regardless. Moreover, Camastros’ public image had been cleaned up after the prince
had made his declaration, so the people only thought that someone was trying to frame Camastros again even if they heard that a member
of Camastros had committed a crime.

“U-ugh…”

The man sprawled out on the floor woke up. The woman standing next to Ianna, who had been looking relieved until then, flinched and
hid behind her savior when the man started shouting at her —perhaps he wasn’t fully awake and hadn’t grasped the situation yet.

“I’ll remember what you look like, you bitch…….”

Ianna, who had initially been curious as to what he had been about to say, drew back her foot a little before whipping it forward like she
was kicking a ball.

Pooooow!
Craaack.
The tip of her boot smashed into the man’s face, and he passed out again while frothing from the pain of having all his teeth broken and
his jaw dislocated. Ianna drew back her foot when the man began twitching, and she wiped the saliva on her boot off on his clothes.
Then, she walked over to where his lower body was and stomped her heel down at a certain vital point as if she was simply crushing a
cockroach.

“Ugh!”

The unconscious man gasped as he sat back up for a moment before falling back down again.

“…….”

They had ruptured. They had most definitely ruptured. The boisterous police station fell into deathly silence as the knights witnessed
Camastros’ brutal actions. The blood drained from people’s faces as they stared at the man’s now-flattened nether regions. Ianna turned
back to the knight she had been talking to and bid him farewell.

“Well then. I will leave his punishment to you.”

Arhad had permitted Camastros to act in public, so they were now able to act aggressively, unlike before. Which was why people
occasionally spotted members of Camastros walking down the roads. And most people saw them in a positive light.

The Camastros executives were scheduled to hold a meeting today. Shawn apparently had an important announcement to make, which
likely meant that the time to leisurely capture criminals was over and that they would be given a special mission instead. Ianna quickly
walked to the hideout where the meeting was to be held.

“The Black Fox has been operating only in the shadows recently, and they have all but washed their hands of the violent crimes that
they’re usually known for,”

Shawn said with a grave look on his face as he waved around a stack of paper. He continued,
“But that doesn’t mean they’ve given up on dealing with us. The bastards are only keeping quiet because they want us and the prince to
lower our guards while the Knights of Grundewalz do their work…….”

Shawn picked up a box from below and carefully placed it on top of the table. He opened it up as everyone looked to it with great
interest. There was a small steel ball inside.

“The bastards have been going around installing bombs.”

“That’s a bomb?”

asked Gold, who was staring holes into the steel ball.

“It is indeed. But it isn’t the kind that explodes immediately, but a special kind that can be configured to explode anytime in the future.
And it has yet another special feature. It can be set off remotely even if the timer hasn’t run out yet.”

“Sigh, the world really has advanced. To think that people could even create bombs like that. And it’s not like they’re setting the timer
using the length of a wick…….”
Shawn grunted.

“The bastards are installing these things all over the Kingdom of Roanne. I couldn’t locate exactly where the bombs are because the
bastards are rather skilled and difficult to tail. Still, I’m managed to shadow one of them personally. And this is what I found.”

Shawn picked up the steel ball with a gloved hand. It only looked like a steel ball from the front —it had a button on the top and a mass
of countless steel threads sticking out of its bottom like a centipede’s legs that tangled into each other like a plant’s roots. And those
roots were attached to a piece of stone that looked like it had once been a part of a wall.

“It originally looks like a normal steel ball. But the bomb digs its roots into other objects like this if you press the button here. It is
impossible to remove the bomb from whatever it’s been attached to unless you destroy the latter. The bomb will explode if you try to
detach it by force. I had to break off a part of the wall it was attached on too. And this bomb is still active. It can explode at any given
moment.”

Van, who had been silently listening to Shawn’s explanation, asked,

“Why did the bastards install these bombs?”

“Likely either to deal with us or to set them off all at once and throw Theodore into utter chaos.”

“That’s rather extreme. Schneider would immediately lose the king’s favor if these bombs went off on the king’s birthday.”

“That’s probably their goal. So, how shall we respond?”

“First, we need to remove the bombs. They’ll still spell trouble for us if they’re installed all over the place to be used as traps even if
they aren’t for the king’s birthday. If we went somewhere where the bombs had been installed without our knowledge and they were to
explode…….”
“We can stop any ordinary bomb so long as we’re prepared to counter them.”

“The problem lies in the fact that these probably aren’t any ordinary bombs.”

“Couldn’t we collect some of these bombs and run a few tests to gauge how powerful they are?”
The bomb had been passed to Gold while the executives were exchanging opinions, and his fingers stopped at a certain place while he
studied it soberly.

“S.S…….”

Gold slowly ran his fingers over the bomb as he quivered. The other executives took note of his strange behavior.

“Is something wrong?”

Gold stared silently down at the bomb. He hesitated for a moment before he made up his mind and said,

“We are forbidden to disclose information about our pasts in Camastros, but I would like to tell you all something because this bomb is
related to my personal circumstances. May I, Ro?”

Arhad nodded when Gold asked for his permission. Gold did not act as sleazy as he normally did as he ran his fingers across the bomb
and earnestly said,

“The initials S.S. are engraved into the bomb. Shion Sabelix. She is someone I am looking for.”

Rust tilted his head to the side.

“Sabelix? Feel like I’ve heard that name before…”

“House Sabelix was once famous for researching and manufacturing explosives.”

“Ah. I remember it now. Sabelix was the bombs manufacturer who made all the bombs favored by bomb-users until a few years ago.”

“Yes. And it no longer exists. The house fell to ruin a few years back.”

Gold sighed as he began talking about himself. He continued,

“I am the younger of the two siblings born to House Sabelix.”

Gold had left his household and started his own independent company because he was more interested in business than he was in making
bombs, and his elder sister, Shion, had succeeded the house after their parents had died of old age.

The siblings had been very close, and they had also needed each other. Shion researched and developed bombs, and Gold oversaw House
Sabelix’s general affairs while also putting his keen acumen to use and distributing House Sabelix’s bombs all across the world —and
making astronomical figures in the process.

There had been a lot that Gold needed to attend to as a merchant, so he generally kept in contact with Shion through letters. They
exchanged letters at least once a week, but Shion’s letters had suddenly stopped coming while Gold had been far away for work.

Gold had thought that it wasn’t a big deal at first. But he had started growing suspicious when her silence lasted for over a month. House
Sabelix had collapsed by the time Gold had gone back to check in on it, and Shion was nowhere to be found.

“I tried to ask around for my sister’s whereabouts in secret, but I couldn’t find her at all.”
Gold spun the bomb on top of his thumb before he suddenly snatched it back into his palm. The other executives were alarmed and stood
from their seats as they watched him be so rough with the bomb, but Gold remained calm.

“I searched for traces of my sister while buying every type of bomb in the world that I could get my hands on. But I couldn’t find her
anywhere. I’ve been looking for her for years, but I was never able to figure out where she was.”

Gold gulped and swallowed his saliva, as if his throat was burning, before he continued,

“But I suddenly found a trace of my sister just as I was about to give up and accept the fact that she was probably dead. I heard that the
Bahamut Empire’s soldiers had used incredibly potent explosives while sweeping through a village and annihilating everyone who lived
there, and I found a dud with the initials S.S. carved into it when I visited the aftermath to investigate.”

“So there’s a high possibility your sister is alive,”

Van commented gingerly, prompting Gold to nod back vigorously.

“My hope was rekindled, and I tried to track down the empire soldiers who had used the bombs, but I couldn’t because no witnesses had
been left alive. I always visited the aftermath of any sites that Bahamut soldiers had blown up in the North afterward, and I always found
at least one dud with the initials S.S. carved into them. I saw the initials as my sister’s cry for help.”

The executives were intrigued as they listened to his story.

“But it was impossible for me to investigate the Bahamut Empire alone. Then, one day, Lord Shawn found me and invited me to join
Camastros. I joined on the condition that we would find my sister and whomever was using her bombs.”

“But we couldn’t,”

Shawn said with a sigh. He continued,

“I have a tight grasp on all the information regarding the South, but the truth is that I know little of what’s happening in the North. I’m
not completely ignorant of the things that happen in the North, of course, and I can obtain most of the information I need, but there are
two groups of people whom I can’t deliberately approach to pry out information from. The imperial family, and the organizations under
the imperial family’s command who report directly back to them.”

Shawn had tried to figure out who had ruined House Sabelix and which knight order had destroyed the villages that Gold had told him
about ever since the latter had joined their ranks. He had gone to the secretaries who organized the reports that knight orders submitted to
them and browsed through their reports, but he hadn’t found anything about House Sabelix or the villages in any of their libraries. In
other words, this meant that the knight order that destroyed the villages had been one of the twelve knight orders that reported directly to
the imperial family. And that was all the information Shawn had been able to uncover.

And now, Gold had found yet another trace of Shion today. He gulped.

“The reason I’m telling you this……is because I’m convinced that my sister is being detained by these bastards and is being forced to
produce bombs for them. This bomb……I’m certain that it was my sister who created it. And I’m not saying this just because of these
initials. If you look here, you can see that our house crest has been etched onto the bomb. It’s the three concentric circles encircling her
initials. See for yourselves.”

The other executives studied the bomb carefully when Gold handed it over. The crest Gold had referenced was indeed etched onto a
small area on the bottom of the bomb.

“This is the secret stamp House Sabelix used on all of our confidential information. I am certain that my sister is using it in hopes that I
will find her.”
The bombs used by the Knights of Grundewalz carried Shion’s stamp on them. And the Knights of Grundewalz was also one of the
twelve knight orders stationed at the imperial palace. The pieces were coming together. Gold grit his teeth. The bomb came back to Gold
once all the other executives had finished studying it.

“I have little interest in the making of bombs, but I am still a member of House Sabelix. I will figure out how to deactivate these bombs
if you give me enough time. And, there’s another request that I would like to make of you all…….”

“What is it?”

“Please capture the commander of Grundewalz, Formido, and his vice-commander, Miloutè, alive if you see them. They are my only
clues to finding my sister. Though I understand if you have no other choice…….”

The other executives turned to Arhad. Only he had the right to decide on this matter. And Arhad accepted Gold’s request.

“We will need Formido alive regardless of the danger. And Shion, the maker of these bombs, will likely be a huge help to us in the
future.”

The other executives nodded as Arhad promised Shion’s rescue, and Gold bowed deeply from his waist in gratitude. Rust, who had been
sitting next to Gold, cackled as he pat Gold on the back.

“And here I’d thought that you drew a circle on your mask because you like money, Lord Gold —who knew that you’d have a story
like this behind it?”
“I’d thought you were just a miserly old man.”

The executives sitting around the table seemed to have grown closer than before. There had always been a sense of distance between
them because they did not know about each other’s personal circumstances, but the sympathy they gained after learning about Gold’s
personal matters had brought them closer together.

Gold relaxed his stiffened frame and smirked.

“I like money too, of course. I’m a merchant after all. My beloved house’s crest is a circle, bombs, which symbolize my life, can be
drawn as circles, my precious money is also circular —it’s only natural that I would like circles. And for reference, my company’s logo
also has three circles. I’ve been rather active in the East while hiding the fact that I’m from House Sabelix.”

“……Circles? No way…”

All of the executives, save for those who were completely ignorant to the ways of the world, immediately thought of one certain huge
company with three circles that overlapped about one-third into each other for its logo. They looked to Gold in awe. Only Giselle and
Caesar blinked in confusion. Gold laughed.

“And that’s all I have to say. I suppose I’ll be the first to die should any one of us get ourselves captured now that you all know who I
am.”

“Haha, you needn’t worry about that. There’s no way that any of us will get ourselves caught. But who would have thought that you
were that rich, Lord Gold? We’ll beat the bastards up when we find them and throw them at your door, so please be sure to pay us
handsomely for our efforts.”
“Just name your price.”

Shawn clapped his hands together and brought the mood back down.

“All right. We’ll move onto the rest of our agenda now.”
Shawn took out a rolled-up sheet of paper from his pockets and unfurled it on the table when the executives refocused their attentions. It
was a military map that depicted the capital’s urban district in great detail. Ianna clicked her tongue. Roanne’s security must be an abject
mess if their military secrets could be leaked so easily.

“We’ll split up the capital into districts. I don’t know how many bombs have been installed, but we should still search carefully and
remove as many as we can. And we’ll also have to make sure that the bastards with Grundewalz don’t catch on to what we’re doing.
Only Grundewalz, Margarita, and the top brass of the Black Fox know about the bombs, so I can’t go around planting suspicion among
their ranks. There’s only so much I can do to make up stories on the spot.”

Everyone agreed to what Shawn had said.

“But is blindly searching for the bombs on foot the only thing we can do? And is breaking off a piece of what the bombs have been
installed onto the only way we can remove them? It’ll be a pain if they were to suddenly go off on us.”

Just thinking about it made them gloomy. The capital was huge, so how were they supposed to find all the bombs if they didn’t even
know where they had been installed? Gold carefully studied the bombs before he said,

“Bombs are generally divided into magical bombs and normal bombs, and this one seems to belong to the former, judging by the fact
that it has no wick. Magical bombs need to be injected with mana much like any other artefact does, so they should be easier to find than
normal bombs.”

“Oh?”

“Please feel for the arrangement of the mana that’s been cast on this bomb and memorize it. We should be able to find the bombs easily
enough if you search for its aura. And they’re actually quite easy to remove too —there are three methods that will work for any bomb of
a magical nature.”

Gold’s methods were as follows. First, to throw the bomb high into the air as soon as it was found and attack it so it exploded in midair;
second, to cancel the explosion spell cast on the bomb by destroying the arrangement of mana just like you would when cancelling any
type of spell; and third, to wrap the bomb with mana from your surroundings and activate the explosion spell so that the blast was
absorbed into the mana.

“The only catch is that you must have a very strong control over mana in order to use the second and third methods. It’s not that I doubt
any of you, but I would recommend the first method just in case. I will try to figure out a way to remove the bombs without setting them
off.”

‘Hmmm…….’
Ianna was interested in the second and third methods that Gold had mentioned. They sounded like a great way to practice controlling
divine power. And they also presented her with the chance to see just how different divine power was to mana and to see how powerful
divine power was in practice.

“Finally, we are also planning for something incredibly important. We will eliminate both Grundewalz and Margarita in one fell swoop
while they’re trying to catch us off guard and are busy installing the bombs.”

“In one fell swoop?”

“We’ll raid their base.”

Shawn slammed down at the table and vigorously continued,

“We have already gained everything we needed from Grundewalz. Schneider has declared war on the Black Fox, the Bahamut imperial
family acknowledged Schneider, not us, as their enemy, the people know who we are, and they are incredibly hostile to the Black Fox.
We will now begin assertively weakening the Black Fox while using Schneider’s name. All we need to do after is to watch as Roanne
and Bahamut destroy each other.”

Giselle raised her hand and asked,

“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to let Grundewalz have their way with Roanne?”

“Grundewalz is only the first of our many enemies. It’ll put us at a disadvantage if we let things drag on. And we also need to rescue
Shion Sabelix and reinforce our rear support as quickly as possible.”

A chilling light glistened in Shawn’s eyes.

“We’ll take action two days before the king’s birthday, when the bastards finish installing all their bombs. They’ll be drunk out of their
minds that day, so we’ll take the chance to slaughter them all and await our next enemies.”

The weather grew hotter as the days passed. The blazing sun rose higher in the sky, and there was nary a cloud to be seen.

“Hey, be careful while you’re moving that!”

“Hey hey hey, I said be careful!”

A clattering wagon left behind a trail as its wheels rolled over the road. The well-maintained road was filled with similar such lines made
by the wagons and carriages that traversed it. The roses, which had caused a ruckus during Founding Day, had blossomed in abundance
once more and were decorating the streets with their crimson. Flags bearing the crest of Roanne’s royal family with silver tassels at the
ends hung from every house and fluttered in the hot wind.

In front of the imposing bronze statue of the king, Harios Maxium Roanne, in the plaza was a fountain conjuring up a small rainbow. A
bard was sitting at the fountain with a bunch of children while wholeheartedly singing a beautiful tune extolling the king’s many
achievements. The children were listening carefully to the bard’s song, and a fuzzy look filled their faces as they imagined themselves
acting out the king’s heroic tale.

Theodore was so lively as she prepared for the upcoming festivities that one might even question if the Black Fox had ever indeed cast a
gloom over the capital to begin with. The king’s birthday, one of Roanne’s three biggest holidays, came at the end of June. And yet,
there were still people roaming about the shadows despite the festive cheer.

‘Found one.’
Ianna spotted a bomb that had been embedded into a shadowed wall like a doorknob. This was the sixth bomb she had found ever since
she had begun her search.

Ianna was using the bombs to test how powerful her divine power was. She had tried using fortification made from divine power to
forcefully interrupt the arrangement of the mana imbued inside the explosion spell. And, as Arhad had told her, mana was no match for
divine power.

She had only been able to stare blankly the first time because the mana had been disrupted too easily. But then she wondered if it had
only been so easy because she had poured too much divine power into her sword because she had been nervous. She had gradually
decreased the amount of divine power she used, but the mana arrangement was broken easily even when she had taken the risk and had
barely used any fortification at all during her fifth attempt. The explosion spell had been loaded into the bomb and was not being cast
directly by a mage, but divine power was still able to destroy the arrangement far too readily. And so, she had decided to conclude that
particular experiment and decided to set off the bomb and see how powerful divine power was instead.

Fweeeee…….
The wind whistled and the mana formed a fierce twister as it gathered in her palm. Her robes fluttered, and the dirt around her was
kicked into the air.

Slowly, Ianna opened her eyes. Blazing from her entire right arm was her divine power, which was brighter than the flames of the sun
and more destructive than the fires of hell. It was as large as a fully mature tiger.

Ianna used her other hand to unfasten a throwing knife from her belt and threw it at the bomb.

Booom!
Her knife pieced the bomb squarely through the middle even though it had been made of metal. Immediately, she witnessed mana from
the surrounding air draw into the bomb, entwine together, and form into an arrangement. Ianna narrowed her eyes. The explosion, which
should have been instantaneous, looked as slow as the heat haze coming off the summer streets now that she had heightened her senses to
their very peak.

Ianna maneuvered her divine power around the explosion just as she would command her troops to encircle an enemy. Her divine power
sprang out from her arm like a tiger lunging for its prey and enshrouded the bomb completely.

The blast had been rendered powerless inside its hold. The explosion was crushed meekly like a feeble creature under her divine power’s
claws, and the blast, which should had destroyed at least two buildings, was pointlessly absorbed into her divine power. Her divine
power was like an unmoving bolder. And next. Ianna used her divine power to put pressure on the bomb like she was callously crushing
a butterfly between her palms.

Cruuuunch.
The bomb, which had originally been the size of her palm, was contorted by her divine power until it was no bigger than the marbles that
children liked to play with. Ianna furrowed her brows slightly as she realized just how ridiculously powerful divine power was.

‘Even the blast of a bomb that could destroy two whole buildings wasn’t a match for it. I need something stronger to test it out against.’
Ianna called her divine power back inside her body now that her rather bland experiments were over. The divine power, which had been
lingering around the marble, rushed back into her arms like a puppy who had found its owner. Ianna coughed. It made her nauseous as
the incredible power returned inside her heart.

Thud.
The tiny steel ball fell to the ground as Ianna retrieved her divine power, and it burrowed into the earth as it kicked up a cloud of dirt.
Ianna walked up to it and picked it up. The bomb had only been reduced in size and had grown denser —it was still just as heavy as ever
—, and it was far heavier than its tiny frame suggested.

‘This might actually be pretty useful.’

She might actually be able to piece through a person if she threw heavy steel marble at them. Ianna stowed it inside her robes.

‘In any case, what’s that state of mind that Arhad was referring to?’
The state of mind she had to be in to pry mana off her divine power. Ianna still hadn’t found an answer to the question. She had tried
sweet-talking the mana and she had tried growing angry with it, but the mana had remained ever steadfast.

Perhaps Arhad had been mistaken? Mana seemed to simply covet divine power, and she could not help but wonder if the only reason
why the mana didn’t listen to her was because she was not skilled enough at controlling it to pry it away from her divine power. Ianna let
out a deep sigh.

~~*~~
 

Part 2
“Camastros seems to have figured out that we’ve been setting up bombs,”

Formido grumbled without bothering to hide how sour his mood was. He continued,

“It hasn’t even been that long since we started.”

There was a chilling light in Formido’s eyes as he surveyed the people sitting around the table.

“Are you sure that information hasn’t leaked from anywhere?”

“That’s highly unlikely,”

Payne denied while shrugging, but Formido’s response was rather serious.

“The only people who know about the bombs are me, Grundewalz, Margarita, and you three, the bosses of the Black Fox. It’s fishy no
matter how hard I think about it.”

Formido glanced at Eiji as he stated his suspicions. Payne was the Black Fox’s actual boss in all but name, so there was little reason why
he would try to sabotage it. Bruce was greedy and there was a lot he gained from the Black Fox, and he was one of the people who hated
Camastros the most. And there was no reason for Formido to be doubtful of Margarita, who, like himself, had received orders to destroy
Camastros. Which only left Eiji, who had once been a slave.

Eiji smirked in the absurdity of it all by the time everyone had taken note of Formido’s rather candid behavior.

“You aren’t trying to single me out, now are you?”

“I never said you did anything —is there something you’re trying to hide?”

“You keep looking at me in a way that’s seriously ticking me off.”

“It is possible that you might turn on Bahamut and the Black Fox since you suffered a lot at the hands of both, no? You’re the only one
here whom everyone was hostile to when we first met.”
“This is the first time I’ve ever been accused of something so preposterous ever since I became the boss of the Black Fox’s intelligence
operations. Are you calling Payne and Bruce stupid for trusting me to do my job all this time?”

Payne smirked.

“This bastard here is pretty extreme in his wish to survive……so there’s next to no chance that he’s betrayed us.”

“Exactly.”

“Hmmm…….”

Formido still looked dubious even though Payne and Bruce had both denied his claims.

“The Black Fox would have been long gone already if I felt like betraying us.”
Eiji laced his fingers together and leaned back against his seat. Formido’s suspicious gaze never left his face. Eiji continued,
“It’s true that I hate everyone here. I had to suffer so much shit that I don’t even want to think about anymore at the hands of everyone
here since the day I was born until the day I became an informant for the Black Fox. But just means that I hate all of you bastards —it
doesn’t mean that I’m stupid enough that I can’t separate work from my private affairs.”

“…….”

“I desperately expanded the Black Fox’s intelligence operations, the only thing that’s ever been handed to me, ever since I earned my
freedom. And I’ve been rewarded for my efforts several times too. The Black Fox is practically my life —and you’re trying suggest that
I’ve been leaking information to ruin it?”

Eiji glared at Formido. Formido could not help but clear his throat when Eiji’s blazing blue eyes fell on him. Eiji continued,

“These two bastards here know that I’m devoted to the imperial family, and the imperial family acknowledges it too. I’ve been serving
our masters faithfully all this time, and I’ve been taking Payne’s drugs, which are specifically meant to keep people from betraying us,
for several years now. Besides, the masters promised that they would only kill the bastard who stole their blood if I found him —they
promised to let me live. I was moved by their mercy, and I vowed to offer up my everything for the Bahamut’s revival. Would I really
betray us? I, who knows exactly how terrifying the imperial family is from all the years I’ve spent as a slave?”
“……I suppose not.”

Eiji slammed his fist down at the table and kept the attention on himself when Formido began to back down.

“Why don’t you crack down on your own knights’ loose tongues instead of worrying about me?”
Eiji sneered at Formido. He continued,

“I hear that several of yours never came back —have you never considered that the information might have been tortured out of them?
All things considered, I think it’s highly likely that a few members of Grundewalz might have leaked the fact that we’ve been installing
bombs.”

“What did you say?”

“It didn’t take me much prodding for me to get intel out from your knights when they were drunk. So who knows how easily they start
talking once they were tortured……? I really have to hand Camastros my respect. They never opened their mouths no matter how
horribly Margarita’s tortured them.”

“Are you fucking done?”

“Enough! Both of you.”

Payne, who wasn’t in the best of moods himself, somehow ended up having to mediate between two people whose tempers were worse
than his own as he calmed the situation down. He continued,

“There’s no point in us bickering amongst ourselves. In any event, the fact is that the bastards at Camastros have found out that we’ve
been setting up bombs.”

“Now what do we do?”

“We will finish setting up the bombs as planned, and then we’ll stand-by at our hideout and start working in full-swing on the king’s
birthday, when Schneider’s guard will be down the most.”

Everything’s going as planned, Eiji thought as he slowly gathered his breath. He may have become accustomed to acting brazenly in his
capacity as a spy, but there were still times like these where his heart would beat furiously in nervousness. He slowed his breathing in a
show of indifference. Exactly, keep lowering your guards like that. We’ll take care of you in one fell swoop.
“Hmmm…….”

And, Eiji never noticed that Margarita, who had not spoken a single word yet, had kept her narrowed eyes fixated on his face this entire
time.

~~*~~

In the smallest but most beautiful garden in one of the many palaces in Roanne’s royal castle. The streams of water spurting out from the
marble fountain spread out and gently watered the sculpted roses. The garden was filled with only the most expensive and most beautiful
flowers, which were arranged in a harmony with the trees attended to devotedly by the gardeners —the king cherished the garden’s
mistress and spared no expense in maintaining it.

Sitting deep inside the garden with a three-tiered tray filled with sweet cookies and cake and her precious personal tea set before her was
a certain silvery girl.

She stared blankly at the flower petals dancing in the garden as she felt the cool breeze of her lady-in-waiting fanning her.

‘How is she so lovely?’

The lady-in-waiting gulped as she looked to the girl she was tending to. The gentle tresses of her silvery hair fell past her waist and
glistened beneath the sun. The lovely features of her slender face seemed almost miraculous. If people could be compared to jewels, then
this girl was a radiant diamond sitting among the fakes. What man would fail to give her his love if she wanted it? The melancholy of her
sapphire eyes made even the lady-in-waiting’s heart hurt. Any man who turned this girl down must certainly have something wrong with
his personality.

‘I want to see him again.’

Unbeknownst to what her lady-in-waiting was thinking, the girl, Angelina Muziniel Roanne, was thinking back about a certain man from
her debut whom she could not forget even if she tried.

The fragrance he had given off —she didn’t know if it was cologne or his natural scent— was so different from that of other males who
simply scattered their scent around to mark their territories. His large and sturdy frame was large enough that she could fit into his arms
and then some, and the proud and bold lines of his face were more virile than any other while still gracing a certain aristocratic beauty to
them. His hair was pitch-black, as if it could swallow the silver light of her own hair whole, and his eyes, which his hair fell upon, had
looked dangerous as though he had borne a languid light in them and had felt so mysterious.

There had been a moment when she had thought he was scary, of course. That light in his eyes when he had turned down her offer to
invite him into her palace. It had been so scary that she had thought she might choke to death for a moment. But the fear had turned into
the tingle of dangerous charm as the days had passed.

‘He’s so wonderful.’
Her face flushed and her body shivered whenever she thought about him. She even felt like a part of her body was growing hot. If she
could describe him in just one word, he was sexy.

‘Arhad Callisto.’
She had only danced with him just once that day six months ago, and yet his name and face were still vivid in her mind.

Angelina had wanted to talk with him some more on the day of her debut, but he had left the party immediately after their dance was
over and had not returned. Most of the nobles in the capital had attended her birthday celebrations in March, but he hadn’t come. Nor had
he attended any other party since…….
‘How come he doesn’t see me in the same way that other men do?’
The other unmarried men who had danced with her had circled around her like bees to honey as they tried to win her heart. They sent her
flowers, jewels, and accessories every day. But Arhad, the man in her heart, had not sent her anything at all.

Heartbroken, Angelina had tried to forget him.

Right, he used to be a humble commoner, and he’s only the adopted son of a nouveau riche viscount. And neither is he exceptionally
skilled. He can’t even control mana. He’s just handsome, that’s all. My Lord Father loves me and I have everything in the world —so
he’s not a suitable match for me.
Angelina had told herself as she tried to forget him, but his face would flash across her mind and dominate her thoughts whenever she let
her guard down. Just like now.

‘Surely, he’ll attend my Lord Father’s birthday celebrations, right? —every noble is required to attend unless they have extenuating
circumstances.’
Angelina was eagerly awaiting the king’s birthday, when she was sure to be able to see him again, even as she told herself that she
wasn’t interested in him and that she should forget about him. She bashfully picked up the novel that she had set down upon the table.

Rick placed his lips on the back of Selenas’ hand. Selenas’ long eyelashes fluttered in thrill as she felt his moist yet hot lips press down
on her white hand. When his lips left her hand, Rick pulled her toward him by the hand as if he was in a hurry.
“I love you, Selenas —pray grant me the right to stand at your side.”
“I have been waiting for those words.”
Selenas’ eyes, as deep as the ocean, shook like the waves. She continued,
“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to hear them. I love you, Rick.”
Selenas was helpless as she was pulled into Rick’s embrace. They stared into each other for so long that the man’s desires enshrouded
the woman’s slender frame. Rick’s lips stole Selenas’, and his rough hand travelled up her skirt…….
 

Angelina’s face flushed as red as a beet as she quickly slammed the book shut.

It was often in romance novels that a certain nobleman, who was generally cold and indifferent to others, would initially be cold to the
female protagonist before slowly falling deeply in love with her and being kind and gentle to only her. This trope had likely been born
from women’s desires to monopolize the men they loved. Angelina had to agree. It was sweet just to imagine Arhad acting like that to
her.

The romance novel Angelina had been reading for fun began to spread into her fantasies. The man who was exactly like the perfectly
handsome male lead in her stories. The man who was perfect for filling up her delusions. She had heard that he was attending the
Institution, which meant that she could technically seek him out if she so wished. But she was too shy. And neither did she know what
they would even talk about even if she did seek him out.
“Your Highness, Her Royal Highness Princess Lyxillia is here to visit.”

“My sister? Tell her to come in.”

Angelina returned to her senses when the lady-in-waiting had announced her full-blooded sister’s arrival.

“Hello, Angelina.”

“Come on in.”

Lyxillia sat down slowly after the lady-in-waiting had prepared her a chair across the table from Angelina. Elegance oozed from her very
being as she kept her back straight even while sitting in the comfortable chair, and she carefully drew up the hem of her skirt.
The first princess, Lyxillia Muziniel Roanne, had taken after the queen and was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes. She
was six years older than Angelina, and she was betrothed to the heir to House Menistry. Countless kings and princes of other kingdoms
had asked for her hand in marriage, but Lyxillia had found them all lacking in comparison to the higher-ranking nobles of Roanne and
had insisted on marrying into House Menistry. She could not possibly leave behind her delicate mother and younger siblings, Angelina
and Linus, and leave for another country when their lives were endangered by the struggle for the throne. The heir to House Menistry
was a good man, and he was also a powerful ally.

“I’ve come across some good tea as of late —would you care for a cup, dearest Sister?”

“I have full confidence in your tastes. Oh, and have you decided on a dress to wear to our Lord Father’s birthday celebrations? Madames
Sherry and Quarter were at each other’s throats.”

“I’ve decided on Madame Quarter’s dress because I wanted to wear baby blue.”

“I knew it. Both dresses were lovely, but I thought that one suited you better.”

“Right?”

Angelina and Lyxillia exchanged in friendly conversation. They were very close, and their conversation flowed gently from start to
finish. But it was only natural that there was at least one aspect of each other that they didn’t like no matter how close the sisters were.

“Oh, and Angelina. I want to introduce you to a wonderful gentleman who would be a good husband for you. What are your opinions of
Sir Harchen from House Roberstein?”

“Roberstein……?”

“House Roberstein is still neutral. And they would make a powerful ally for Linus.”

Angelina fumbled with the hem of her dress in the lieu of a reply. Lyxillia, who had been waiting on a response, sighed and looked to the
book on the table that Angelina had forgotten to put away. Angelina blushed furiously red as she quickly snatched up her romance novel
and hid it behind her back.

“Why hide it? I won’t stop you from reading your romance novels. But, surely you haven’t deluded yourself into thinking that the
romance you read about in books actually reflects reality, now have you? You haven’t forgotten the distinction between fiction and
reality?”
“…….”

Lyxillia stared openly at Angelina, who was hanging her head low.

“You still haven’t forgotten about that man?”

Angelina still didn’t answer her sister’s questions. Lyxillia gracefully furrowed her brows as she scolded her immature sister.

“I know that he was handsome. Even I was surprised when I saw him, and I only saw him from afar. But he only has his face going for
him —he’s still nothing but a piece of deadweight who cannot control mana.”
“Sister.”

“Angelina. Remember your place. Your mother was born from House Winifried, and your father is the noblest king Roanne has ever
known. And yet you would take the adopted son of an upstart viscount as your partner? Does that even make sense to you? Have you lost
your mind?”

“…….”
“Never forget, Angelina. It is our duty to live our lives for Linus and the Kingdom of Roanne. And besides, I hear that he’s never
contacted you even once after dancing with you, no? It’s admirable. I must praise him for that. He has no interest in you, and it seems
that he knows where he stands.”

“Sister!”

Angelina’s chair dragged against the ground as she let out a sharp cry. She had stood up with her eyes on the verge of tears as she glared
down at the cold expression on her sister’s face. She continued,

“I know that I must not act rashly due to my station, Sister, but I hate it. I want to experience true love.”

“You really…….”

“And it’s not like I said I wanted to marry him or anything. I might just have a crush on him because he’s so handsome, no? I’ve never
met a man so handsome before in my life.”

The man named Arhad Callisto seemed to shine like a dark light among the nobility. He was a monotonous spot of black who had fallen
onto the showy white. A black dragon who declared his presence among the flock of white doves. The golden moon shining gloriously
among the stars in the dark of night. The way his golden eyes had stared down at her with such indifference had shaken Angelina’s heart.
It was the vast mystery surrounding his being, rather than his good looks, that caused her to shiver.

But perhaps that was just a delusion and she really was only moved by his looks. He truly was handsome. And she had never before met
a man so resolute. After all, men were always tender with her and they circled her so incessantly that she was sick and tired of them.
“You……sigh. You’re still so young —what use is there in me rebuking you? It would only serve to make you rebel more. Do as you
please.”
Angelina opened her eyes wide upon hearing her sister’s unexpected words, and the edges of Lyxillia’s lips curled up as if she was
having great fun. Lyxillia continued,

“But that man looked like a stone statue who wouldn’t so much as blink even if you threw yourself at him, you know? To think that there
would be a man who wasn’t swayed by your looks. I’ve always found it so curious that men were swayed by beautiful women even
when they already had lovers. Does he know his place, or is he simply too deeply in love with another?”

“……Deeply in love?”

“I looked into him.”

She had looked into him. The innocent Angelina, who had meekly sat around in her garden and fantasied about him as she waited for
him to attend another party, was shocked. Lyxillia continued,

“Why so surprised? It’s only natural that I investigate the man who’s made my younger sister lose her mind. But in any event…”

Angelina’s ears perked as she listened to her sister speak about Arhad.

“That man is apparently very close to Lady Ianna Roberstein. There were a lot of pinkish rumors floating around about them in the
Institution last year.”

Ianna Roberstein.

Angelina recalled Ianna, who had debuted at the same party as her. Angelina normally didn’t recall people’s faces very well because
there was always so many people loitering around her, but she remembered Ianna clearly because Ianna had made such a strong
impression on her. Angelina’s silver hair and blue eyes gave off an impression of purity but where very subdued in color, whereas
Ianna’s crimson hair and eyes had been extremely vivid.
‘She was rather pretty, though not as beautiful as me.’
It was only after Angelina had recalled the pretty girl that she realized that Arhad had always been by her side. Arhad had been with
Ianna when Angelina had first met him, and now that she thought about it, his gaze had only ever been locked onto Ianna’s crimson
colors before, during, and even after he had danced with Angelina.

Angelina’s heart ached.

‘Oh.’
She gently placed a hand at her heart as she experienced this pain for the first time. Her heart repeatedly squeezed and released, and it
made it difficult for her to breathe. Lyxillia took no notice of Angelina’s behavior as she leisure brought her teacup to her lips.

“Unfortunately, though, it was confirmed that they aren’t lovers, but simply close as senior and junior.”

Angelina’s heart relaxed a little upon hearing Lyxillia continue. She breathed out a quivering sigh.

“Well, try your best, Angelina. Your circumstances are something you’ll have to acknowledge for yourself. And it doesn’t seem like
you’ll heed my counsel even if I gave it,”

Lyxillia said apathetically as she studied her sister. Angelina was holding her romance novel tight in her hands.

It wasn’t that Lyxillia meant to irresponsibly let Angelina do whatever she wanted. It was simply that, judging by that man’s behavior,
Lyxillia saw no need to nag at Angelina and risk souring their sisterly relationship.

‘That man is in love with Ianna Roberstein.’

Upon investigating, the seasoned Lyxillia had determined that he was desperately in love with Ianna. His attitude toward Angelina
suggested that he wasn’t the type to be swayed by good looks, and he also seemed to be keenly aware of his station. He would turn
Angelina down of his own accord. And so, Lyxillia leisurely sipped at her tea.

“Your Highness…….”

Angelina brought her pointer finger to her pink lips and whispered, Shh—.
“Don’t call me Your Highness. And don’t address me as Princess either.”

Angelina was wearing a robe as she and her escort, a royal knight under her direct command, visited the Institution.

She had snuck outside the palace before. But only because she had felt suffocated and trapped inside the palace walls —not because she
specifically wanted to meet anyone in particular. Angelina reflected on herself as she recalled how Lyxillia had said that she had done
some investigating. She should have learned more about him if she was interested in him, rather than simply wait until he approached her
first.

“Groan.”
There was anxiety written clearly on the knight’s face, but he ultimately had no choice but to obediently follow after his cute little
princess. He was ever-vigilant of his surroundings too, of course.

Angelina looked around until she found a kind-looking girl and walked up to her.

“Excuse me…”
“Yes?”

“Would you happen to know of a man named Arhad? I hear that he is very skilled at handling the sword.”

The girl immediately forgot to be wary of Angelina when she heard the princess’ lovely voice, which reminded her of a bead of dew
rolling down a leaf.

“Lord Arhad from the Swordsmanship Department? Everyone knows him. He’s the best-looking guy in the Institution.”

Angelina’s heart began thumping furiously.

“I have some business with him…… Could you please tell me where the Swordsmanship Department building is?”

“There are several……. It’ll be difficult to explain with words, and I’m a bit busy at the moment. How about you go to the main building
and ask for a map?”

Angelina went to the main building to obtain a map just as the girl had suggested and used it to find her way to Arhad. She asked after
him and tried to follow his tracks, and then someone appeared before her path as suddenly as if he had suddenly sprung up from the earth
itself.

“Kyah!”

The royal knight immediately pushed her back and drew his sword when Angelina screamed. He glared, thinking that the newcomer was
an unidentified assailant, but the so-called assailant in question remained relaxed.

“Hello there, Miss?”

The green-haired young man waved as he grinned. He continued,

“You know… Can I ask why you’ve been looking for Sir Arhad? I don’t think you’re a student here.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Hey, I think I asked first, didn’t I? You two are the suspicious ones here. Why are you trying to look into our department’s best-looking
guy? You a stalker?”
“How dare you!”

“Sir!”

Angelina’s sapphire eyes met the young man’s cerulean ones as she tried to calm down her knight, who had flown into a rage when his
liege had been belittled and called a stalker. The young man’s eyes immediately studied her face under her hood.

“Oh, um, well…”

Angelina mumbled, embarrassed, but the young man simply smiled for some reason.

“Hmmm……. Oh, I get it. Are you a noble……lady with a crush on Sir Arhad? Is that why you’re stalking him like this? Like a little
duckling?”
Angelina’s face flushed beet red beneath her hood. Her knight failed to hold back his indignation at the common-born young man who
teased the princess for crushing on and stalking a lower-ranking noble who attended the Institution.

“How dare you insult Her Highness…….”

“Sir, that’s enough!”

“Yeah, sorry, my bad. You’re looking for Sir Arhad, right? Follow me. I’ll take you to him as an apology.”

“What are you plotting?”

“I’m in the Swordsmanship Department too, and I know Sir Arhad personally. I was going to take you guys to him since it didn’t seem
like you were here to do anything bad, but……you can refuse if you don’t want to come, you know?”

The young man laughed strangely before he gestured to the both of them. He didn’t appear to be lying. And so, Angelina dragged her
knight along by the hem of his clothes as she cautiously followed behind the young man.

They arrived at an open field that was steaming hot from the heat. Angelina flinched as she heard two pieces of wood beating against
each other so loudly that her ears hurt. She thought that the racket might even tear the sky in two.

“Excuse me, where is Sir Arhad……?”

She tried to ask after Arhad again, but the young man had vanished. Angelina gulped and peered out from behind her uptight royal
knight.

She was greeted with the sight of the countless sparring arenas in a field. Male students, either with their tops off or only wearing thin
shirts, were glaring at each other as they fought. Their wooden swords were held at ready, clashing against each other, dropping to the
ground, rushing toward each other, avoided, slashed, thrust, and blocked. In one corner, some students were bashing away at a wooden
dummy as if it was their mortal enemy.

Angelina held her robes to her nose before she could stop herself. It was rough and barbaric. It was so hot out that it was difficult to
breathe, and the stench of dirt and sweat was mixed into the air.

Angelina had only ever seen jewels, dresses, cookies, tea, books, and flowers in the palace, and this was the first time she had ever seen
anything so uncivilized. The students looked terrifying to her as they glared at each other as if with the intent to kill while they sparred.

“Woooow!”

“I’m so nervous I can barely keep my eyes open.”

“Cough, cough! I’m only looking, and I’m finding it hard to breathe.”

“Hey, shut up you rascals. I can’t focus!”

There was one arena that was particularly loud. People had flocked to the area like a cloud and were cheering as they observed. Angelina
squinted as she looked up at the elevated arena. She was sure that the students were cheering at empty space, and she was certain that
something was surely there because people kept looking in that direction, but her eyes could not see a thing. All she heard was the loud
racket of impact.

Just then, the royal knight, who had also been looking in the same direction, clapped in awe.

“Amazing. They’re far too skilled to be students.”

“Can you see what’s going on over there, Sir?”

“They’re moving so quickly that even I would lose sight of them if I let down my guard. My word, are they truly students? They’re not
instructors?”
“I can’t see anything.”

Smaaaaack!
A loud strike resounded and erupted in the air as Angelina grumbled. The two people who had been sparring on the arena were standing
face-to-face and had stopped moving with their wooden swords pointed at each other.

“Oh.”

And it was only then that Angelina finally saw the man she had been searching for in her dreams. His thick arms, which stretched out
from his shoulders, the masculine curves of his muscles, which were clearly visible because his clothes were drenched in sweat, and the
hot sweat rolling down the smooth lines of his chin…….

His damp black hair scattered in the wind. His lips were pursed, and his lowered eyes were glaring at his opponent as if he meant to
devour her alive. Angelina trembled.

“Time’s up. Another tie!”

“They tied again? How many times has it been now?”

“They’re amazing, seriously.”

“Let’s just go and die. They’re younger than us.”

“Sir Arhad!”

The green-haired young man who had guided Angelina there was right at the center of the scene. Arhad looked to the young man when
the latter called. Arhad scowled when the young man beckoned him closer and slowly leaned his ear toward the young man. The young
man pointed at Angelina before whispering something to Arhad, and Arhad’s gaze fell squarely upon her.

‘Oh.’
His gaze seemed to penetrate through her. Angelina’s breathing grew ragged. Her face flushed as brightly as a rose.

‘I’m sure of it. I fell for that man at first sight.’

Angelina was certain of her feelings. She had read countless romance novels, but she had thought that falling in love at first sight was
something that seldom happened in reality. Her emotions ran wild as she read her novels, but she had done her best to separate the
female protagonists of her novels from herself. She needed to marry well for her younger brother Linus’ sake, and the reality of her
situation was that she needed to be someone who could support her brother steadily…….

But then she had really fallen in love at first sight. She wanted to lock that man’s gaze on her forever. She wanted to hear him call her
name. She wanted to have fun while conversing with him, and she wanted him to escort her as they attended parties together.

It was only now that she thought she could truly understand why other noble girls liked to gossip so much about falling in love at first
sight. She didn’t mind if people called her shallow for only caring about appearances. Besides, who didn’t take the other party’s looks
into consideration if you fell in love with them at first sight? It was feminine instinct to be attracted to strong and handsome men.
“Is something wrong?”

Someone called out to Arhad just then. It was the person whom he had been sparring with. The person who alone received his gaze. And
Angelina was alarmed when she saw who it was.

‘Ianna Roberstein…….’
Angelina had grown curious after hearing what Lyxillia had told her and had looked into Ianna before visiting the Institution. She had
been interested in Ianna even before Lyxillia had spoken about her. Angelina had simply thought that Ianna was just the young lady of
House Roberstein at their debut. House Roberstein was a distinguished house, but the capital was teeming with such distinguished
nobles, and Angelina, one of the highest-ranking among them all, had no reason to have to care about Ianna, who was ultimately just
another noble from the countryside. Moreover, Angelina had only ever been surrounded by people who spoke good things with her, so
she had never once heard about Ianna, who was completely surrounded by bad rumors, before in her life.

Which was why she had learned only recently. That Ianna was the daughter of a mistress who had bought her position by committing
fraud, that Ianna was scorned by the people of the Roberstein lands, and that Ianna had murdered her own grandfather…….

Ianna wouldn’t have even been worth her notice if that had been all there was, but she had also heard that Ianna had won the Institution’s
swordsmanship tournament, that Ianna was peculiar but had many powerful friends, that her Lord Brother Schneider had taken an
interest in her, and that Arhad had gifted her a very expensive bouquet —and the rumors concerned Angelina greatly.

“A thousand pardons. I find it difficult to speak about another behind his back.”
 

Ianna had been so stern as she told Angelina to ask Arhad in person when she had asked Ianna to tell her more about him. Back then,
Angelina had simply assumed that Ianna hadn’t wanted to speak about another behind their back, but now she couldn’t help but wonder.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Arhad took his expressionless gaze off of Angelina and immediately turned tenderly to Ianna when she called out to him —it was almost
as if he had never been looking at Angelina in the first place.

“You’ve been improving very quickly.”

Ianna smiled prettily, happy to have Arhad praise her.

“Have I? I’m glad to hear it. But it almost seems like you’re trying to praise yourself when you praise me.”
“I’m rather shameless, so I want to praise you regardless.”

His friendly jest. His quiet laughter. The curve of his lips. Angelina concentrated on everything about him. Arhad tussled Ianna’s hair as
if in pride. And Ianna simply accepted his affectionate touch.

‘I’m so jealous.’
She had decided to write off her fear of him as a mere delusion, since Arhad, who had been so scary to her, was being so kind to Ianna.
He had only been stiff at the debutante, as if he didn’t even know how to be gentle in the first place.

‘I envy her.’
Did they really only act so naturally with each other because they were senior and junior? Ianna was receiving his goodwill as if it was
only natural, as if it meant nothing to her at all. It displeased Angelina greatly, but her heart still stung horribly out of envy.

Angelina couldn’t understand. Why didn’t he like her like all the other men did? Was it really only because of their difference in station
that he didn’t even think of her? The other thing she couldn’t understand was that, a hundred out of a hundred other lower-ranking nobles
would have looked to her with only overflowing goodwill in their eyes. But Arhad had not. He looked to only Ianna with the same kind
of eyes that other men directed at Angelina.

Angelina clutched at her dress. She was accustomed to being at the center of everyone’s attention. It was so natural for her, which was
why she felt like she had been robbed.
‘How am I any lesser than her?’
Ianna was pretty, but Angelina did not think Ianna was as pretty as herself —she was called the most beautiful girl in the entire kingdom,
after all. And nothing needed to even be said about the fact that Angelina had more wealth and power. Besides, Angelina was even gifted
in singing and dancing. It wasn’t just for show that she alone was her father’s, the king’s, favorite among his many children. And she was
so skilled at the needle that even butterflies would land on the flowers she had embroidered.

Ianna was obviously better than her with the sword, since Angelina had never even held one before, but swordsmanship did not factor
into the common norms of feminine beauty. Ianna was a maverick in that sense.

‘Is it because she’s known him longer?’

But Ianna, too, had only known Arhad for a little over a year. And they were in different class years and did not take classes together,
though Angelina had heard that they did see each other sometimes while training.

Even still, time was the only thing that Ianna had over her. Would Arhad look at her in the same way after a year too?

Angelina was sure that he would. She was better than Ianna, after all, no matter how she looked at it. Angelina recalled what Lyxillia had
said as her heart, which had been flaring up in envy, settled down in her sense of superiority.

“Unfortunately, though, it was confirmed that they aren’t lovers, but simply close as senior and junior.”
 

Lyxillia wasn’t someone who said things without reason. Which meant that Angelina had no reason to be envious of Ianna. Rather, Ianna
could even be helpful to Angelina, since she was on good terms with Arhad.
What young lady of Roanne’s nobility would turn her down if she, a princess, wanted to be friends? Ianna might even be moved with
gratitude. It was only then that Angelina could smile prettily.

She had found something that she truly wanted. The girl’s sapphire eyes sparkled. As a lover, as a knight, as a servant……she didn’t care
how. She just wanted him by her side.

~~*~~

Part 3
In the dark of night three days before the king’s birthday. Numerous people were having sex in the building that Grundewalz was staying
at. They had finished setting up the bombs just a few days prior and were ordered to stand by until the king’s birthday, and they were
currently drowning themselves in a sea of pleasure. They were drunk on blood, drunk on alcohol, drunk on drugs, and drunk on women.
They had put reality behind to lose themselves in pleasure, and they were little better than beasts.

Their numbers had decreased since they had first arrived, but that was something that always happened. The empty spots would be
refilled with greedy and devoted squires once they returned to Bahamut’s capital. Which was why the knights of Grundewalz were not
very friendly with their colleagues. Every man was for himself. If they died, then that was that. And their commander, Formido, was a
retainer of merit who had fostered that attitude in his order.

Formido. He had been a very poor commoner prior to becoming a knight. He and his entire family had walked around with their round
bellies —they were as skinny as sticks otherwise. And it wasn’t only Formido and his family who had looked like this —this was true of
all of the poor in the North. Everyone hugged their stomachs and starved, especially as the bitterly cold winter approached and all the
crops froze.
Formido hadn’t wanted to die. He had grit his teeth and vowed that he would never die such a wretched death as he watched his family
grow weak and starve to death one after another.

He had eaten dried grass and had barely survived by the time he made it to the city slums, where he had learned all sorts of atrocities
before showing talent in the sword and joining the Bahamut army. He had slowly raised his skill until he had climbed all the way into the
ranks of the imperial palace’s first knight order, the Knights of Pakalatua.

It was more accurate to say that he was desperately polishing his skills rather than to say that he was loyal to the imperial family. He got
more food to eat the better his skills were. And then, the position of commander of the Knights of Grundewalz, a group of foul-tempered
bastards, had opened up. Grundewalz assumed a lot of dirty work and clean-up duties. It might have been a demotion to those who cared
about honor, but to Formido, assuming the position had been the best raise he could have ever asked for. He had not fit in well with the
Knights of Pakalatua because of a certain reason, and the work that Grundewalz undertook provided him the perfect means of bettering
his skill.

He received the imperial family’s attention and was rewarded handsomely as he took his knights and cruelly crushed those who rebelled
against his masters. And so, Formido had put his past behind him and had achieved success after success as a knight commander.

‘And yet…….’
Formido drank as he looked out the window.

“What shitty weather.”

Another man got up from a gasping woman and looked out the window as well upon hearing what Formido had suddenly murmured.

“What are you talking about? It’s the perfect weather for killing. And it’s loads better than the shitty weather back up North.”

The turning point of Formido’s life was when his family had starved to death. This was why he hated Roanne’s weather. Crops like
wheat grew in abundance and appetizing fruits dangled alluringly in weather this warm. He seethed in anger at those who were born into
this natural blessing, and it also made him remember him past.

Formido smirked. He had forgotten about his past for so long —so why was he losing himself in his thoughts out of the blue? He had felt
like rubbish ever since he had stepped foot in Roanne. He truly despised Roanne’s weather for constantly reminding him of how he had
starved when he was younger.

“Where is Lady Margarita?”

“Isn’t she always holed up in her room?”

“I haven’t seen her around at all these days —she hasn’t been alone in her room indulging in her hobbies all this time, has she?”

Formido clicked his tongue and cursed at Margarita quietly. She had not helped them at all while they had been hard at work. The only
thing she had done was to torture the members of Camastros they had captured for no real reason.

But he could not confront her too recklessly. She was a disciple of Wiffheimer’s, a mage who stood at the peak of magic. She was also
so skilled that she had been elevated to the station of marquise in her own right, even as a woman. Which was why he had had no choice
but to hand over ten of his precious bombs when she had asked.

In any event, the bomb-making wench he had captured a few years back had truly proven herself useful. She had rebelled something
horrible at first and had used her bombs to devastate everything around her, and she had only started listening after he had threatened to
murder her younger brother. The bombs, manufactured by the best bombmaker on the continent, were useful and had increased his
performance rating drastically.
Which was why this time would be no different. Camastros may have figured out that they were setting up bombs and they may have
started to try to remove them, but the fact that chaos was about to descend upon Theodore was practically set in stone. They had set not
merely dozens, but hundreds, of bombs, and they had so many different types of bombs thrown into the mix that anyone who learned
about them would surely drop their jaw in shock.

“You’re aware of where the bombs were set, right, Miloutè?”

“Of course.”

Miloutè’s, Formido’s vice-commander who was sitting opposite of him, lips curled into a vulgar smile. Formido stared openly back at
him.

He had known Miloutè for a long time. Miloutè was clever and had concocted many brilliant plans that had helped them accomplish
many merits, he carried out every order faithfully to the letter no matter what it was, and he never refused to do even the dirtiest deeds,
like abandoning his own colleagues to ensure his own survival. It had also been Miloutè who had abducted the bomb-making wench and
had suggested they force her to make bombs for them. He was closely tied to Formido in terms of skill, and he also carried a similar
amount of leverage within Grundewalz. Miloutè was the textbook schemer, and the only reason why Formido was made commander was
because Formido was better at warfare.

‘Hmm?’
Formido suddenly felt like something was off and placed the wineglass he had been about to drink from back down onto the table.

‘One……two……? No. There’s more…….’

His concentration was affected because he was drunk, and the presences themselves were so faint that he hadn’t been able to perceive
them until now. But the presences increased exponentially now that they had gotten his attention. Formido felt like a bucket of sand had
been dumped over his head.

Crunch…….
Next, his keen hearing picked up the sound of someone stepping across the ground outside. And then…….

“……!”

Every hair on his body stood at end.

“Everyone beneath the tables!”

Formido shouted as he grabbed the dazed Miloutè by the collar and shoved him under the table.

Swiiish!
A crescent of crimson fortification flew past them at waist-height and passed through the wall on the other side. It had happened in but
an instant.

“What the?”

Those who hadn’t ducked in time had only felt a part of their bodies prickle a bit.

Rumbleeee…….
The building began shaking like there was an earthquake before sliding down diagonally from where the fortification had cut through it
like it was slipping down a slide.

Crash.
People crumbled as did the building. The sudden disaster that had struck the building caused men and women alike to start screaming.
“Kyaaah!”

“Ahh! My arm!”

“Aaaack!”

A lot of the knights had been too high on drugs and alcohol to obey their commander, and most of them were lying sprawled about with
their upper halves disconnected from their lower halves. There were also knights who had tried to dodge but had still lost a body part
because they had not quickly enough. The survivors immediately tried to clear away the wreckage and evacuate the building.

“The fuck! What in the……!”

Someone who had exited the building while cursing had their head cut cleanly off their body and was sent flying backward. Formido
punched away the flying head and he grasped the situation unfolding before him and froze. He saw that Camastros had encircled the
entire building on the other side of the spraying blood.

“You dirty bastards!”

One of Formido’s men started cursing and drew his sword as he rushed out from behind. But one of the many Camastros members
immediately kicked hard off the ground and instantaneously drew his sword. His sword drew an arc of light in the air as it moved as
swiftly as a sickle.

Slash!
The knight had read the situation and had tried to block the oncoming trail of light, but to no avail. The sword evaded the obstacle in its
path and weaved like a lightning bolt to strike him in the larynx.

His flesh was crushed before it gave way and began splitting like the meat of a pig being butchered. His exposed white bones had tried to
keep the sword from invading, but its struggles were in vain. His bones broke apart with a crunch and allowed the blade access to the soft
muscle behind them. Crimson droplets of his blood scattered like raindrops bouncing up from the ground.

Bang!
It had all happened in just the blink of an eye. His head had been sent flying bones and all. The man’s body crumbled as it erupted in a
fountain of blood. The robed figured avoided the blood like he was germophobic and immediately took the head of yet another man who
had been standing in front of him. The knights of Grundewalz were utterly helpless before his ridiculous speed.

Formido weakened and hid his presence as he glared at his enemy.

‘He’s incredibly skilled. Is that the bastard who shot off the fortification?!’
The other members who had been encircling the building also rushed in when the first robed member began his massacre. The
defenseless knights of Grundewalz, who were both high and drunk, took fright as the robed figures closed the distance between them like
metal taking to magnets.

“Ahhhhhh!”

One man screamed and took out a bomb from his pocket. But then, he began acting strangely. His vision flipped over. He couldn’t move
his limps as he wanted to.

“Huh……?”

He could not stop the blade that was slicing through the darkness. His head had already fallen to the ground —that was why his vision
had flipped—, and the very last thing he saw was a pair of eyes glowing in bloodlust behind a mask. Blood filled the man’s eyes as his
vision finally went black.
Shhhh!
A giant flare enveloped him and burned him whole. He was reduced to ashes and the eerie dust of bone in just a matter of seconds.
Formido broke out in goosebumps all over as he watched.

‘Damn it…….’
Formido did his best to calm down as his men were slain by the dozens all around him and he covered his body with mana. The best way
to protect himself from magic and fortification was to counterattack and wrap himself with mana.

“What do we do, Commander?”

“Are we going to die miserably like this? Is there any way we can break through?”

The Knights of Grundewalz were cornered mice. His men were despairing as the wall of Camastros members closed in on them. There
were only about forty to fifty still standing. And what about Margarita, who was supposed to have been upstairs? She hadn’t come out
yet, so she had probably either fled or died.

‘Shit, she’s useless until the bitter end.’

Formido tried to squeeze out a plan as his men cried out to him in despair.

“You lot, buy me some time!”

Formido ran inside the building. It looked horrendous. The wreckage, the corpses, the severed limbs, and the dark red viscera that
splattered over everything like a continuous line of vomit.

Formido looked down before he could stop himself when something flopped by his feet. It was the wriggling hand of one of his
subordinates, still holding onto a cup of wine, who had been laughing and drinking just minutes ago.

“Ugh.”

Formido was used to seeing such cruelty, but he grew selfishly nauseated now that it was his own men falling victim it. Those who had
survived were screaming for their lives, but Formido stepped over them as he headed for a certain place.

‘I will take revenge for you!’

Payne had taught him about a secret emergency exit. Formido had meant to escape alone while his men kept the foes at bay. However.

“Which bastard was it?!”

he screamed in fury. Only a few senior members of the order knew about the exit, and not only had it been opened, but the tunnel had
also been caved in. It had even been set ablaze. Formido fortified his blade and tried to move away the wreckage, but the collapsed
tunnel simply continued to cave in on itself even further. The screams and the clash of metal against metal from outside grew only
louder.

He could readily identify the culprit. His vice-commander, Miloutè, whom he had shoved under the table, was missing in action. The
bastard would have been stuck right behind him if he had been present, but he wasn’t. He had a keen sense for danger, so it was obvious
that he had slipped out through the emergency exit.

‘Miloutè, you dirty bastard!’

Formido cursed him. Then, he felt something hot behind him and spun around only to freeze in place. The building was filled with fire.
He quickly ran out from the building and looked back at it in despair. The mage who had burned his subordinate whole before had
apparently set the building aflame too —perhaps they were hungry for slaughter.
But something was strange. He could see one of Grundewalz’s mages doing their best to put the fire out using water spells, but the fire
never diminished. And the flames almost look like a bird. The bird flew circles around the building and set its feathers ablaze as if it did
not intend to leave until the entire place had been reduced to ashes.

A swordsman who had broken clean through the building, and a mage who used mysterious spells. The members of Camastros they had
kidnapped earlier had been skilled, but not this skilled. He didn’t know what their rank in Camastros was, but he knew he had to prepare
for the worst —that there may be at least three or four more individuals of that level present.
Moreover, even a quick glance had told him that there were easily over a hundred members of Camastros present. Their first raid had
resulted in tremendous casualties. Their raid had been conducted at the most optimal time for the most optimal effect, and Grundewalz
had been blindsided. Formido watched over the situation for just a little bit longer before he yelled,

“Figure out how to survive on your own! That’s the only way. Break through, run, and survive!”

That was all he could say. It would only lead to more deaths if he tried to look after the others. And Formido was busy enough trying to
save his own skin.

He hesitated for a moment and pretended to step back before breaking out into a sprint toward a certain place that he had been eyeing
before —the area in Camastros’ circle with the fewest members. Some of his men decided that following him would give them the
highest chance of survivability and left their enemies behind as they desperately chased after him.

“If you have bombs, then throw them at will! Prepare to die now that it’s come to this and get rid of anyone who stands in your way!”

Buzz—
Formido drew his greatsword and fortified it. The members of Camastros in the area they had rushed toward raised their blades. But they
were all sent flying, slammed against a wall, and tumbled to the ground when Formido brandished his fortification.

The Knights of Pakalatua, the first knight order under the imperial family’s direct command, was composed of only the most skilled
warriors in the Bahamut Empire. And Formido had once been a part of it. He was strong enough that he had captured around ten
members of Camastros alone and had sent them to be tortured.

And he was in such a crisis in the moment that he was demonstrating his full might as he focused only on surviving. He cut down his
enemies as he saw them, and his men followed after him as they threw bombs around everywhere.

“So it was you.”

A voice sounded in Formido’s ears like thunder just as he was about to break through. The voice approached him quickly while emitting
a blood-curdling aura, and it sounded so clearly even amongst the clashing of steel that it could have been stabbing his eardrums with a
needle. Formido was startled by how quickly the enemy was approaching him, and he spun around as he beat back the oncoming sword.

Clang!
His sword had been flung away. His hands were numb all the way down to his arms. Formido grit his teeth. It was the same bastard who
had sent his fortification flying earlier.

A white mask that bore no pattern.

‘Is he the leader of Camastros?’

A pair of golden eyes looked to Formido from behind his mask.

“Are you Formido?”

“Die, you bastard!”

One of Formido’s men, who had been standing beside him, raised his sword and tried to kill the robed figure while he and Formido
squared off.

Swiiish— Pow!
But an arrow had come flying out of nowhere and had struck his subordinate through the temple. The arrow burrowed into the wall on
the other side, and his dead subordinate’s head hung from it like a target apple. His body collapsed and dangled from his head. Another
subordinate, who had also been about to lunge, hesitated as he watched, and yet another arrow came flying. It was aimed at the hesitant
man this time.

Formido glared at the arrow. It had been fortified. He beat back at the arrow hard with his sword before it could reach his subordinate.
The resulting numbness in his hands told him that the archer was no ordinary man either.

No more arrows came flying their way after that. It looked like the archer had decided to wait in ambush and shoot through anyone who
tried to interrupt the robed figure.

Formido’s men were flustered and unsure of what to do. Formido himself was tense as he stiffened up and glared at the enemy before
him. He didn’t want to, but it looked like he would have to resort to his last-ditch effort.

Controlling divine power.

The secret art of the imperial family that must never be leaked and was only passed down to the top three knight orders of the empire,
including the Knights of Pakalatua! It was a dangerous power, but it was several times stronger than mana, and the ability to control
divine power separated normal people from the transcendent. It was only possible to handle divine power if you had a mastery over life,
knew yourself better than any other, and had absolute faith in your skills. The highest-ranking knights of Bahamut were all superhumans
who had reached a level of transcendence. Humans only lived for a mere few decades, so they either had to get more of what they lacked
by taking drugs that increased the amount of divine power they had or steal it from another.

The leader of Camastros was an incredible bastard. He seemed powerful enough to crush mountains and his fortification had been sharp
enough that it seemed to cut through everything, and Formido wasn’t sure if he would be able to beat him even if he used divine power.
Which was why he was absolutely certain that he had no chance if he didn’t at least try.

Divine power began seeping out from Formido’s hands. His divine power was the color of sewage, like several colors had been mixed
into it, unlike Ianna’s, whose divine power was a primary color.

“Oh?”

Ianna expressed her astonishment at the unexpected situation as her eyes widened behind her mask. Had Formido learned how to control
divine power on his own? Ianna moistened her lips. Formido was sharpened like the edge of a well-maintained blade. He was
qualitatively different from the Black Fox small fry, who had gone down readily, or even his own men.

‘I see. Is he someone I can fight seriously?’

Ianna was wearing Arhad’s white mask and rings in his stead. It was possible that they might come across a beneficiary of a Demon’s
fragment now that they were standing against the imperial family. Arhad had decided to leave the frontlines so his Demon’s fragment
would not be discovered by the imperial family. The imperial family would drop everything and come to steal it if they realized that the
people hindering them owned a fragment.

Ianna was Arhad’s double. This way, the imperial family would never know that Camastros’ leader owned a Demon’s fragment even if
they received reports about him.

That was the rationale, at least, but Ianna enjoyed acting as Arhad’s double regardless. She could fight real battles —something she
hadn’t been able to do while attending the Institution— as she posed as the strongest man in the underworld, and she could wield her
sword to her heart’s content. And now, something even more entertaining was about to unfold…….

‘I love this…….’
The savage beast slumbering inside her was beginning to wake. It had been sleeping, buried beneath the peace, but she slowly revived
her bloodthirst, honed by the many battlefields she had wandered in her past, as she slaughtered the Black Fox. It had left such deep
effects on her that she felt nothing even as the feeling of rending and rending, of killing and killing remained in her hands, and it made
her forget that it was morally wrong to slay people as naturally as if she was felling an enemy on the battlefields.

This was a battlefield, and it was kill or be killed.

Fwoosh—
A crimson aura covered Ianna’s sword. A piercing bloodlust ate away at the air around her. Everyone else around her found it difficult to
breathe, as if hundreds of blades were being levelled at them.

Formido’s eyes nearly popped out from his head when he saw that the aura covering her sword had come not from the mana in the air
around them, but from her hands.

“Do you think such petty tricks will work on Lord Formido?”

his men shouted, mistaking the aura for fire magic. They stepped in front of Formido like they always did.

Formido wanted to tell his men to shut up. That wasn’t mana, but the ultimate peak of sword fortification.

Formido had been a rank-and-file member of Pakalatua. His divine power was strong, but he was too obsessed with life and was too
nervous about using divine power, which was basically his lifeforce, to handle it properly, so he had not been treated well in the order.
Which was why he had been happy to be the commander of Grundewalz and escape the pressure of having to use divine power. It was
more than enough just to rely on mana, which he could use freely without feeling burdened by it.

‘Ugh…….’
He had seen the knights of Pakalatua using divine power in the past. And so, he had determined that the leader of Camastros was far
stronger than them. Formido was drenched in a cold sweat.

“Eyaaah!”

He ran at Ianna, unable to withstand the pressure. Ianna’s gaze never left Formido, who had lost his composure and rushed her. She
slowly moved into a posture to thrust and gently bent her knees. Formido kicked off against the earth and brought his sword up high. He
was planning to attack from above.

Then, Ianna moved her sword to Formido’s left up from below, as if her thrust had only been a feint. Formido reacted to her attack by
stepping back, and Ianna quickly took a step forward and thrust her sword out toward him.

Craaaaaaash!
A giant shockwave erupted as the two blades, fortified with divine power, clashed. The shockwave affected the both of them as well.
Formido felt dizzy, like his divine power was about to scatter, whereas Ianna was completely fine —though she learned that it produced
a shockwave when divine powers seeped with bloodlust clashed as the wind from the blast whipped against her face.

Ianna ignored the shook wave and grabbed Formido by the collar as she tripped him.

“Hmmm……. Goodness, who would have thought that they would have found even this base and raid it?”
A single broom was flying high above the sky. There was a peculiar smile on Margarita’s face as she lay askew across it.
She narrowed her eyes as she looked down at the scene below, which was a sea of blood and looked like a bomb of crimson paint had
exploded there. She had been making herself scarce while observing the base because Eiji had been acting oddly that day, and now this
had happened.

“I wonder why his heartrate sped up so much while he was explaining that he hadn’t betrayed us? Was he simply enraged that people
were suspecting him? Was I simply mistaken, little kitten?”

Margarita had the bad habit of enjoying the changes in people’s expressions and emotions as she controlled their hearts as she pleased
through her curses or by torturing them. Margarita was the highest authority in curses and perception magic, and she had once been Eiji’s
torturer in the past.

“I-it hurts…….”
“Please stop. Please, I’m begging you.”
“Please, I’ll do anything, so please. Please…”
 

Margarita had repetitively tortured and healed Eiji ever since he had been a baby. Eiji had been a special child who had hogged her love
and attention, and he was dancing in the palm of her hand even still.

Margarita beamed from atop her broomstick. You will  never escape me, Eiji. Even if you rebelled.
“Shall I wait and see for now?”

She looked down at just one spot from high above. She was staring down at one certain uncouth member of Camastros who was slaying
his foes left and right.

‘He’s very strong. Is he the leader of Camastros? But he’s not a beneficiary of a Demon’s fragment. I can’t feel a fragment’s presence
even though he’s using mana. Which means he’s just simply that strong……. I suppose the masters won’t feel the need to step forward
then.’
“Is it because he’s so strong that my heart is pounding so? Badump badump.”

Margarita watched as Formido struggled desperately.

‘I have no obligation to save him. I might get killed myself if I stepped in.’
But in any event, she had reaped an unexpectedly bountiful harvest. Eiji was acting suspiciously, and the leader of Camastros was
ridiculously strong. And yet, he surprisingly wasn’t a beneficiary of a Demon’s fragment? Margarita giggled as she zoomed away on her
broomstick.

‘He’s a monster……. A monster. Where the hell did he even come……!’

Formido squinted as his eyes smarted from the blast of wind that had burst out from their clashing fortifications. The leader of Camastros
was, in one word, a monster. He felt like a giant even though his frame was smaller than Formido’s. Formido reproached himself for
being negligent in his training for the past few years.

He would block Formido at every turn whenever Formido tried to target his openings, but he had not tried to fatally wound Formido yet.
If Formido increased the amount of divine power he was using to try and end their match in one blow, then his opponent, too, would
leisurely increase his own divine power and keep fighting with him evenly. It felt like his opponent was purposefully matching his level
of skill.
It was almost like he could kill Formido in an instant if he wanted to but was simply entertaining him, like he was toying with Formido,
like he was using Formido as a lab rat to carry out all sorts of experiments on, and like he never intended to kill Formido in the first
place…….

‘He’s not planning to catch me alive, is he?’

And then what? Formido broke out in goosebumps as he recalled what he himself had done to the members of Camastros he had
captured. Ianna smiled in satisfaction as he gradually lost himself to fear.

‘Fortification made from divine power is much stronger than fortification made from mana.’
There was no way that she would lose to Arhad if she kept improving her control over divine power at this rate. Her divine power
belonged wholly to her and obeyed her every command to the letter, and Arhad could not interfere with her control. She was his equal
now that she wasn’t handicapped any longer.

His equal —the words thrilled her with an electrifying delight. Now, she could put her faith in her talent and devote herself to her
swordplay.
Ianna was amused as she watched Formido’s swordplay fall apart in his increasing anxiety. To think that there were people in Bahamut
who knew how to control divine power. It meant that being able to do it herself would help her immensely in future battles.

Ianna wanted to use Formido to learn more about how skilled Bahamut was at controlling divine power, but she gave up on the notion.
She could not put her personal curiosity over her mission, and so she decided to stop studying her opponent and end things here.

She unfastened her scabbard from her waist at the speed of light while Formido was focused on her fortification.

Craack!
Formido’s head went blank from the powerful impact. Ianna’s scabbard had given him a concussion when it smacked against his temple.

Pooow! Crunch.
Ianna’s fist shot out and broke Formido’s sturdy ribs when he reeled. His ribcage folded into itself, and the pointed shards of his bones
tore through his muscles as they had burst apart inside him. Gastric acid flew out from his mouth as he suffered the completely
unexpected impact. The divine power wrapped around his sword bobbed up and down as his concentration broke.

Smack!
Ianna butt her head into his face. His head flung back as he felt the unbearable pain of his nose breaking and his teeth falling out. He only
barely managed to stay conscious as he straightened out his bloody face and frantically looked around. He ignored the fact that his vision
was blurry from the pain because he couldn’t find the bastard anywhere.

‘Where will he attack from next? From the front? From behind? The left? The right? Where? Where is he?’
“Below……!”

Formido looked down when he heard his men cry out to him from afar. A long leg swept at him and a heel connected squarely against
his temple. He felt something crack as his vision went white, and he staggered.

Ianna had picked up a fist-sized piece of debris from the ruined building as she kicked and she then proceeded to cram it inside
Formido’s mouth.

Cruuunch!
“Kgh!”

All his remaining teeth broke, and he couldn’t breathe. Formido could take it no longer. He was drooling bloody phlegm and his eyes
rolled back as he passed out.

“Ahhhh…….”
The remaining knights of Grundewalz, who had once eliminated even the most powerful enemies by striking them from behind and had
slaughtered the weak, wondered if they might be hallucinating from the drugs they had taken as their commander was rendered
unconscious without so much as being able to touch his opponent even once.

Camastros surrounded them as they stood in stunned silence.

“Aaack!”

One of their number lost his mind and tried to break through with his sword, but to no avail. He had become a pincushion for swords,
spears, and arrows by the time he had collapsed to the ground. The surviving knights took fright as they watched, rendered completely
unable to even struggle. They quickly fell to their knees.

“Spare us!”

They sought humanly mercy from Camastros. Ianna turned to Giselle, Caesar, Van, and Rust, who were standing nearby, and asked,

“What should we do?”

“We must kill them all.”

“What reason do we have to spare them?”

“We should take around five of them alive with us, just in case.”

The voices spelling their death were very calm. They were not pacifists who believed that everyone could live happily together. Neither
were they merciful to enemies who had been trying to kill them. They were a group of people who had lost something precious to
Bahamut, who harbored the twisted desire to stand against an enemy as great as Bahamut……and who had gathered together for the sole
purpose of opposing Bahamut.

Ianna left the rest of Camastros to deal with everything else, and she pulled out a warp scroll from her pocket, tore it, and threw it on top
of Formido’s unconscious figure. He vanished from before her eyes. The people back at their base would deal with him now.

“We couldn’t find Margarita’s corpse,”

Giselle said to Ianna urgently. She continued,

“I asked the spirits to only burn the bodies and to leave the heads untouched, and Margarita’s corpse was nowhere to be found. You don’t
think she’s escaped, do you?”

“Didn’t we already block off the secret escape route in advance? We carried out our mission exactly as we were ordered.”

“We also cast a net of mana over the entire building and killed everyone who tried to escape. No one made it through.”

Giselle’s wind spirits came flying back to her. They seemed to whisper something in her ear before they vanished. Giselle turned to her
waiting comrades and stiffly said,

“The spirits also say that no one has escaped.”

“She didn’t teleport either. We would have felt a giant wave of mana if she had.”
Ianna listened to what the others were saying for a moment before she spoke up.

“We did not sense her escaping. Which means that she wasn’t in the building to begin with……and today of all days. What a pain in the
ass.”

“Should we stay and ambush her when she gets back?”

“It’s likely that she will flee because the entire area reeks of blood……but a few of us should stay behind anyway. More importantly,
Giselle, did you manage to protect our captured members from the shockwave?”

“Yes. I asked the spirits to.”

The members of Camastros, who had been clearing out the dead from the building ruins, brought out the bodies of their colleagues who
had been captured a while back. Their bodies openly showed the torture they had been put through. Giselle walked up to them and gently
touched the victims before shaking her head.

“They’re all dead.”

Giselle tore another warp scroll and sent the victims back to their base before she quietly muttered,

“May your souls find rest at God Laos’ side.”

It felt a little sticky because Margarita had gotten away, but their mission had come to a close. The executives checked their teams before
they disbanded. Fortunately, no one from Camastros had died today. There were members who had been seriously wounded by Formido,
but they were only a few. The executives then returned to their base to meet, and they disbanded the other members of Camastros who
had collected all the heads of the dead and sent them back to the base.

“Phew…….”

One member of Camastros sighed as he walked down an alley. His heart was thumping furiously.

“Wow, what the hell. We really fell apart,”

he muttered despondently.

He would have been more likely to be discovered if his colleagues started fleeing as well, so he had collapsed the secret escape route and
had made a run for it. But then he had been forced to stop when the tunnel had been collapsed part-way through. And, fortunately
enough, the first thing he had seen after he had dug through the ground to escape suffocating to death was the back of a member of
Camastros’ head who was searching the ruined building.

“How did I even make it this far? I swear, the heavens must be on my side.”

He took off the mask that reeked of blood. He was Miloutè, the vice-commander of Grundewalz. And the mask he had taken off was
covered by the skin of the person he had taken it from.

~~*~~

 
Formido found himself in the dark and bound tightly to the only chair in the room.

Splaaash!
Formido, who had been limp and thoroughly covered in wounds, returned to his senses upon the sudden baptism of water.

“……!”

He was overcome by incredibly agony as soon as he woke. It was only natural that his entire body ached, but his head also hurt so badly
he thought it might split open.

The debris was still burrowed into his mouth. The broken fragments of his teeth scratched his throat as they went down every time he
swallowed. Formido thought he’d pass out from the pain yet again.

“Ughh…….”

Gold, who had poured the water, laughed as he watched Formido groan in agony. Gold was wearing gloves on both of his hands. He
pushed his hand inside Formido’s mouth and pulled out the debris.

“Ughhhh.”

A mix of debris, red blood, sticky saliva, and broken teeth tumbled out from his mouth. The debris twisted his jaw as it dislodged.
Formido thought he would rather die than feel the pain he was feeling now. But he no longer had the teeth to bite his tongue with even if
he wanted to commit suicide, and he laughed feebly as he mumbled,

“……Fuck……. Is this why I’ve been feeling like shit ever since I first stepped foot inside Roanne? And I keep thinking about the
past……. Spit.”
His speech slurred together, perhaps because all of his teeth were broken. Gold rolled his wrists as he said,

“Shion Sabelix.”

Formido opened his eyes wide when he heard the familiar name. Gold’s lips curled up into a wide smile behind his mask. He continued,

“Tell me where my sister is.”

“I……I see……. You’re Niall Sabelix!”

Formido tried to grit his teeth, but all he managed was to make his gums bleed.

Niall Sabelix. The younger sibling of House Sabelix. The owner of the Circlesita Company, a large company that worked in the weapons
market that had three circles for its logo. The bastard had been useful in blackmailing Shion Sabelix into making bombs for them after
they had kidnapped her.

Formido had initially planned on killing Niall if the latter tried to get revenge, but Grundewalz had left no traces of themselves behind
and Niall had been searching in all the wrong places in vain, so they had simply decided to let him be a few years back. To think that he
had joined Camastros ever since.

Formido snickered, on the brink of madness, as he realized that there was no chance that he would ever leave this place alive.

“You think I’ll tell you……? You’ll kill me as soon as I do! But I might tell you if you promise to let me live. Think you can do that?”
“…….”

“You’re just gonna kill me, right? Damned bastard. Snicker, that bitch Shion’s as good as dead. I told the person feeding her to kill her if
I ever broke off con…….”
Pooow!
Formido’s head whipped sharply to the side before he could even finish. A smear of blood was left on Gold’s gloves.

Pow, pow, pow!

Gold’s eyes lost their focus as he beat Formido with the intent to kill. He had ultimately lost his ability to reason before the man who had
taken away his sister, his only surviving blood relative who had also been like a mother to him after their parents had passed away when
he was young. Gold mercilessly pounded his knuckles against Formido, determined to render the latter into a bloody paste.

“Hey, I understand where you’re coming from, but hold back a little. He might actually die.”

Gold regained his senses when his colleague called out to him from behind and looked down at his throbbing fists before clenching his
teeth.

“The only thing I regret about becoming a merchant is that I didn’t learn to be proficient in the martial arts and I can’t beat you to the
brink of death right now.”

“Hee, heehee……. I won’t ever tell you…….”

Pooow!
Gold socked Formido across the cheek.

“You can go ahead and keep your mouth shut. Lord Hill, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Hill, who had been standing behind him, slowly walked up. Formido stared at Hill, who was smiling gently behind his mask, through his
swollen eyes. Hill reached out to him.

“Now, tell me everything you know.”

Buzz.
An intricate magic circle appeared in front of Hill’s hand. Mana arranged itself in a beautiful and calculated manner inside the circular
mold. Hill pointed at Formido, and the magic circle began spinning around him. Then, Formido’s eyes immediately rolled back.

“Ugh……. Uh…….”

“Where is Shion Sabelix?”

“T-the……North……next to the Tolsikè Forest…….”

Hill had cast a confession spell.

Part 4
Gold personally burned Formido alive once he had learned of his sister’s whereabouts and immediately left to go and find her.

Three days had passed since. They never found Margarita.

They did not know where Margarita was. They had collected as many heads as they had been expecting to collect, so they decided that
they no longer had to worry about Grundewalz. All they had to do now was to capture Margarita, but the situation was vexing.

Today was the king’s birthday. Shawn had said that the Black Fox’s real boss, Payne, had Margarita under his protection. Payne had
been boiling with rage, unsure of how to report the fact that Grundewalz had been annihilated so absurdly easily to the imperial family,
and had declared that he absolutely wouldn’t let Camastros live any longer. Payne had also declared that he would make plans and act
independently with Margarita, so Shawn no longer had any insight on his schemes.

To be honest, Ianna was more curious about Shawn’s position in the Black Fox than she was in the Black Fox’s schemes. How high up
the ladder was he that he had been able to leak so much valuable information so readily? And why had he betrayed them when he was so
high up? It took more than an ordinary amount of courage to be a spy. It was the same thing as walking across a tightrope in the midst of
tempestuous winds.

Shawn……and Eiji. Ianna grew more concerned about Shawn as Eiji’s playful silhouette continued to overlap with his. She was the type
of person to ignored another’s secrets and bury her personal curiosity regarding them, but secrets ceased to be when circumstantial
evidence piled up and the truth was unveiled. She could not help but worry that a close friend might be fighting alone in a place where he
could lose his head at any given moment. Though she wasn’t certain that Eiji was Shawn…….

“Oh my goodness, it’s her.”

“Goodness…….”

Ianna was attending the king’s birthday party. She was planning to slip away as soon as the king had made his entrance and announced
the start of the party. People looked to her in distaste as she sipped away at her wine, partnerless, as she waited for the king’s arrival.

Ianna had received several dozen boxes worth of invitations to various parties. Every invitation that had been sent to House Roberstein
on her behalf had been returned graciously with the suggestion that the letters be sent to her directly, so those nobles who wished to
speak with her had started sending their invitations directly to the Institution. But Ianna had ignored all of them and hadn’t replied to a
single one. Not only that, but she had gathered up all the letters and incinerated all of them. It was quite rude and disgraceful of her.

No one could insult her for her origins because Cherno had threatened to bring his wrath down upon anyone who scorned her outright,
but a lot of people held her in contempt for being haughty. Some nobles acted as if she didn’t exist after having been humiliated because
she never replied to their invitations. Ianna rather liked their attitude.

“I thought they would come together…….”

“Do you think he turned her down?”

Ianna’s keen hearing caught their whispers. She tightened her grip on her wineglass.

It was well-known that Ianna was on very good terms with Arhad of House Callisto. The viscount who had seen them together on the
balcony on the day of Ianna’s debut had told his friends what he had witnessed. The story had only spread from there, and the rumors
surfaced and spread like fish swimming in water now that Ianna had finally attended a party.

Those who cared immensely about the love lives of others immediately began wagging their tongue about Arhad and Ianna —both of
whom had striking appearances. What was Arhad doing with Ianna in his arms that day? ……they asked.

‘Me, in a relationship with Arhad…….’

It wasn’t true at all. It was true that they had acted so she could chase away the annoying men, but they truly, truly weren’t in any kind of
romantic relationship.
She might have been a tad embarrassed had Arhad been here with her. She was glad that she had managed to keep him from coming.
Perhaps Arhad wouldn’t have cared. After all, he was the one who had suggested they do what they did that day to get rid of the
annoying bastards. He probably would have laughed in good humor and told her to let the others misunderstand as they pleased. Why
was it that Ianna thought that he would shamelessly enjoy the fuss they had caused, much less be embarrassed by it……?
“Um, Lady Roberstein?”
Someone called out to Ianna as she closed her eyes and savored the wine. Ianna opened her eyes and looked to where the voice had come
from. And she startled a little upon seeing who it was.

It was Princess Angelina. Her shaking hands were clutching tight to her dress as she continued,

“May I ask what exactly your relationship with Sir Arhad is?”

Angelina was quivering like she would burst into tears at any moment. Ianna stared at her without a word as other nobles leaned in to
hear her answer.

Rumors that the princess had a crush on Arhad Callisto had spread even if she had pretended otherwise. Why else would she be asking
after him?

Generally, royalty had to marry powerful political allies to unite their houses, but the Kingdom of Roanne was so powerful that her royal
family did not need to be careful around her nobility. Which was why the royal family of Roanne had relatively more freedom in their
choice for marriage. There was a vast difference in their stations, but a marriage between them wasn’t out of the question altogether, so
the nobles took great interest in the puppy love of the sixteen-year-old young lady.

Arhad had a marvelous appearance, like he was the male lead of a romance novel. And reality was starting to play out just like one such
work of fiction. There was even a romantic rival. The senior and junior with pink rumors floating about them that culminated with the
balcony incident, and the beautiful princess who had fallen in love a step too late…… But Ianna and Arhad had never called themselves
lovers. So, how would Ianna reply?

“…….”

Ianna placed her wineglass down on the table.

‘Our relationship? Why is the Princess asking me this……?’

Ianna realized immediately. The princess had fallen head over heels for Arhad at the debut. Ianna furrowed her brows.

It didn’t matter to her if Arhad found himself a woman. He would be the emperor of a great empire one day, and it was a ruler’s duty to
leave behind heirs. It wouldn’t matter even if he had multiple women. The only catch was that Ianna would not tolerate a woman who
didn’t suit him to stand by his side. And her evaluation of Angelina was so poor it was almost ruthless.

Angelina was a bitch……. A bitch who had been married off to another country and had been childish and immature until the bitter end.
She was a sheltered flower who only had her face going for her who had taken fright as soon as Arhad and the Bahamut Empire, which
he ruled, had started invading and had run to Schneider and begged him to save her, to help her.

It was almost ironic to see her crushing on Arhad and clinging to him like this. Had she been like this in the past too……?

“Why aren’t you answering?”

‘What to do?’
Ianna pondered. She knew that the nobles were listening in on their conversation regardless of what she felt about Angelina. And her
answer would heavily influence the other parties she would have to attend in the future.

‘Why on earth do I have to worry about something like  this?’

Ianna sighed to herself. She was exhausted. This wasn’t the first time she had been asked something like this. People thought what they
wanted to think even though she had denied the rumors hundreds of times, and Ianna had caught onto this particular habit of theirs rather
early on. They had already deluded themselves, and not many would believe her even if she denied the rumors.

“…….”
Ianna carefully contemplated her two choices.

To make yet another exhausting denial, or to lie and affirm.

The questions would continue if she denied the rumors, and the men would continue trying to flirt with her. And Angelina would start
pestering Arhad. But people would stop asking questions if she lied and affirmed. And the number of bastards pestering her would
sharply diminish as well. Ianna was tired of the love letters, whether they had been sent by those who wanted to climb the social ladder
or those who had confessed because they were genuinely interested in her, and the number of men approaching her was starting to grate
on her nerves.

‘And Angelina will probably lose interest in Arhad too.’

Ianna could not even imagine Angelina standing by Arhad’s side. Her patience bottomed out as she imagined Angelina pestering Arhad
while being surrounded by a bunch of like-minded women. And so, without much further thought, Ianna said,
“We’re still only getting to know each other…”

The nervous Angelina flinched.

“…But we have started dating.”

After thinking about it from several different angles, Ianna had decided that affirming the rumors was her best course of action. Who
cared what other people thought, so long as she and Arhad knew the truth?

Ianna inwardly offered Arhad an apology. But he had been the one who had brought upon this situation by pulling her into a hug when
others were watching, so it was only right that he bore the consequences that followed. Besides, Arhad would probably take great delight
in the situation —he wouldn’t ever be embarrassed.
She felt a little sorry for interfering with Arhad’s love life when she didn’t even know when it would begin, but all she had to do was
confess that everything was just a lie if he ever found himself a lover.

Indeed. The person who would one day become his first and foremost priority.

“……!”

Her heart ached for a moment. It was almost as if something had squeezed it physically. Her breath caught. The sudden surge of the
mysterious and deafening emotion made Ianna bite down at her lip.

‘……What is this?’
The complicated emotions left Ianna in a daze as she was suddenly onslaught by a flare of anger and uneasiness.

‘Why am I feeling this way?’

She could not understand. She hated herself for feeling this way. She must not feel this way. Ianna grew frustrated and tried to turn
around and leave for the garden.
“Sniff, sniffle.”
And then, an accident occurred. Angelina had burst into tears.

“Oh my!”

“Princess!”

Noblewomen flocked to the princess’ side. They were trying to console her. Angelina was now sobbing into her hands. Ianna stood in a
daze at first, a little bewildered, before she furrowed her brow.

“You’re too much.”

“Indeed. That was cowardly of you.”

One woman began criticizing Ianna. And then, another woman agreed. What were these women blabbering on about now? Ianna
couldn’t comprehend, so she asked,
“Did I do something wrong?”

“Everyone knows that the Princess has a crush on Sir Callisto, whom she met at her debut. And it’s well-known that you have been
denying any rumors about you and the gentleman being in any sort of relationship. So how could you pretend like you and he were only
junior and senior with nothing else going on and then suddenly say that you’re dating when the Princess asked —it’s almost like you
were trying to rub it in……. You deceived the Princess. And it was cowardly.”

“She was probably trying to brag about it.”

Ianna only just managed to keep herself from telling them to shut their mouths. Who were they to grumble and interfere, regardless of
what her relationship with Arhad was? Why did she need to be criticized? Ianna immediately grew bitter and asked Angelina,
“Then what would you have me do?”

Angelina raised her head from her hands when she heard Ianna’s question. Her eyes were filled with tears, but a stubborn light still shone
in them. Her heart was decided. She had never failed to get what she wanted. And so, Angelina said,

“Please break up with him. You aren’t serious with him yet, right?”

And that was enough. Indifferently, Ianna replied,

“Why should I?”

“Pardon?”

“Why should I break up with him?”

“That’s…”

“Because you happen to like him, Princess?”

Angelina flushed red and was rendered speechless. Ianna continued,

“Why do you claim that everyone knows how the Princess feels? I did not. I have no interest in such pointless gossip. I don’t feel the
need to waste my time worrying about the affairs of someone I don’t even know very well. And even if I knew how the Princess felt,
what would that change?”
The women whom Ianna’s words had turned into time-wasting gossipers flew into a rage.

“Look here! You’re being arrogant!”

Ianna looked directly at the woman who had shouted. The woman flinched.

“Arrogant? —but I only spoke the truth. And what does it matter to you that I’m dating? And why must I break up with someone I’m
already dating just because another happens to have taken a liking to him as well? Why? Why don’t you just establish a law? If a third
party happens to fall in love with someone already in a relationship, the lovers must break up at once, or something of that sort.”

“She’s the princess!”
Ianna did have issues with her current station, but none of it technically mattered to her. Nothing would matter once she left the kingdom,
and everything would be over once she left House Roberstein anyway. The Institution was affiliated with the Kingdom of Roanne in
name, but it had been led by famous mages and was in actually operating as an independent body, and one could attend the Institution
without being a citizen of the kingdom. Angelina was too feeble to attempt anything of the sort, but Ianna could simply kill off any
assassins anyone sent her way.

And more importantly, if you liked someone, then you were supposed to appeal to them directly and try to win their heart —so why was
she threatening the person her crush was dating to break up with him? One should win their crush’s heart for themselves, and it was
unseemly to try to pressure their crush’s actual lover.

Moreover, Ianna hated it when people tried to get between lovers who had been getting along just fine to try and pull them apart. So
many people had suffered because of Lebony, and Ianna herself had been scarred so deeply.
Ianna was starting to feel nauseated as she looked at Angelina. And she saw Angelina slightly shaking her head without knowing what
she was doing.

As a princess, she had probably never been denied anything in her life. So she probably thought it was only natural that she got what she
wanted. Ianna narrowed her eyes and laughed kindly.

“Oh, is that so? Does the law state that everyone must bow their head and agree to every little thing this princess of yours says?”

The women covered their mouths, astonished by what Ianna had said.

“Look at how she quips back.”

“You have a horrible personality!”

“Why don’t you tell me yourself, Princess? Have I done something wrong?”

Ianna ignored the other women. Her frigid eyes cast their light on only Angelina. Tears poured from the princess’ eyes yet again.

“I-I’m leaving.”

“Princess!”

Angelina fled from the party. The women glared at Ianna one last time before scattering. Ianna grinned before turning around and
walking away. The nobles, who had been watching as Ianna never budged even as the other women, including the princess herself, stood
against her, took note of the fact that she had quite the personality as they gathered more information about her.

“Sigh.”
Ianna sauntered up to a sofa in the corner of the hall and sank down into it. She was starting to feel listless. There was a heavy scowl on
her face. She was sure that people must surely see her as some kind of villainess. But that didn’t matter to her. More important, however,
was…….

‘My feelings.’
Ianna already knew what it was she had momentarily felt when she thought about Arhad having someone whom he considered as more
important than herself. It was sorrow.

Ianna lost herself in thought.

Why had she felt sorrowful? Arhad would have to put his wife as his topmost priority should he ever wed. That was only natural. Ianna
might be his knight, but any wife would be concerned about a woman who was close to her husband. There was no way that Arhad
would ever stop wanting Ianna, which meant that it was Ianna who would have to distance herself from him first.

And, just then, Ianna realized that she had been mistaken about something.
‘I thought that I would always be his number one no matter what.’
Which was why she had thought she wouldn’t care even if Arhad found himself a woman. She was being so selfish and arrogant.

‘No, that’s wrong.’

Arhad was the type who would rather die than do something he loathed, so if he were to marry a woman, then it would mean that he truly
loved her a lot. And then, Ianna would no longer be his number one.

Throb…….
She felt that sorrow again.

Her insides churned.

“…….”

Ianna’s face stiffened as she realized just how serious her condition was. Had she grown too accustomed to the fact that Arhad always
desired her and had taken him for granted? Had she always been this obsessed with him?

Ianna lost herself in her own feelings.

How had Arhad been like in the past? She could not recall any woman standing beside him no matter how hard she tried to remember.
Arhad had never taken an empress until the day he had murdered her. He had never even had a lover or a mistress, much less an empress.

Had he wed after she had died? He had said he would burn her corpse —so had he burned her corpse and married another woman? And
her worries weren’t only limited to women. Had he forgotten about her as he cherished his other subordinates? Had he taken an interest
in anyone else after her?

Ianna could not imagine an Arhad who was not looking at her. For the life of her, Ianna could not imagine Arhad turning his eyes to
another.

Nor would she ever need to. He would never do that.

It didn’t matter how many girls adored him. It didn’t matter how many subordinates wanted him to use them. He only ever looked to
Ianna.

“…….”

But she would have to start imagining it now. She would watch over his future by his side, after all. Ianna leaned against the sofa and fell
into a daze as she pondered.

Arhad marrying another…….

……She hated it.

‘What am I even thinking right now? Am I drunk on wine? I shouldn’t be like this.’
Ianna tried to regain her composure. Arhad would wed the woman he liked, and she would simply walk a step behind him. She would
watch over their love and their children as she maintained their relationship as liege and knight.

She hated it.

But reality had hit her like lightning, and Ianna’s thoughts kept taking a strange turn. Her contradictory thoughts clashed against each
other. She needed to make a decision, and quickly.
If only Arhad would never wed.
If only we could stay like this forever.
“…….”

Her egocentric thoughts seized her. Ianna realized how horribly selfish she was being and covered her eyes.

She felt like she had become a child throwing a tantrum so her mother wouldn’t be taken away. She felt like she had become a young
child who wanted to monopolize her mother’s gaze, to chase her mother around while begging for affection, to hold her mother tight,
loath to let go.

Just like the childhood she regretted…….

She instantly felt disgusted. Ianna bit down at her lip, finding herself incredibly foolish for become so obsessed about another.

“Are you tired?”

Someone called out to her, but Ianna ignored them.

‘I’d really like it if no one irritated me right now.’

Ianna decided to go back and cool her head as soon as the party was over. She was certain that Angelina had made her lose her right
mind.

But then the person who had called out to her sat down beside her. Ianna brought down her hand when she felt the sofa sink down next to
her and immediately straightened up in alarm. Saiwè Luria Roanne. The third prince was sitting with her.

“Your Royal Highness Prince Saiwè.”

“Please remain at ease.”

Ianna stared at the grinning Saiwè with confusion written plainly on her face.

‘Why does he keep talking to me and paying heed to me?’

But she couldn’t have cared any less. She had tensed up for a moment upon Saiwè’s arrival, but it was a fact that she was tired and she
didn’t really want to entertain this prince whom she wasn’t even interested in, so she decided to wrap up their conversation quickly and
leave. Which was why she simply said, “Thank you,” with insincerity and rested against the sofa in a show of exhaustion.

Saiwè ignored Ianna’s discourtesy and spun his wineglass around before bringing it to his lips.

“Do you dislike parties? This is the first time I’ve seen you since your debut.”

“I don’t dislike them, but I don’t particularly like them either.”

“I must agree. But I had no choice but to attend —I’ve skipped out on so many parties that I’d start hearing nasty things if I skipped the
king’s birthday party as well. Still, I am glad to have attended today, my Lady, because I was able to see you.”

Ianna started to truly wonder why the prince was acting like this once Saiwè had said his piece. She disliked beating around the bush, so
she got directly to the point.

“What is it that you want from me?”

“Pardon?”

“I am curious as to what you are trying to have me do. I have never met you prior to Founding Day, Your Royal Highness Prince Saiwè.
You said you were interested in my swordplay. But is that truly the only reason why you wanted to get to know me? To be blunt, I am
quite disconcerted by the fact that you have taken an interest in me, Your Highness, and I find it rather burdensome.”

She was being incredibly rude. So rude, in fact, that anyone else would have immediately lost what goodwill they had for her —but she
had done it on purpose. She would find it unpleasant if the prince had approached her with hidden motives and she didn’t want him to
approach her anymore, and neither did she want anything to do with the royal family even if he had only genuinely wanted to get to
know her, and she thought it was for the best if she could drive the prince away.
“Haha. Well, we actually have met before. And I happened to take rather kindly to you……. I’m sure you’ll reconsider your opinion of
me too, my Lady, when you realize what I’m talking about.”
They had met before? Where? When? And she would reconsider her opinion? Ianna turned the gears in her head. Saiwè grinned when he
saw Ianna fall into silent contemplation and continued,

“Would you like a hint?”

“I do not recall ever meeting you before, Your Highness.”

“Hoho. We’ve most certainly met, but it’s only natural that you don’t remember because only I recognized you at the time. But in any
event, I would like to get to know you better, my Lady. So please don’t cast me aside.”

They had met before, but only he had recognized her? Did that mean that Ianna had taken no interest in him at the time? He was being
very ambiguous. Saiwè tilted his head slightly to the side as he watched Ianna ponder.
“I hear that Sir Arhad is your lover.”

Ianna immediately snapped back to her senses. Saiwè continued,

“It’s a blessing to be in love with someone. I will be rooting for your love, my Lady.”

Love. Oh, I see. Ianna had publicly declared that she was dating Arhad, so she would have to hear the word incessantly from now on. Her
expression grew grave. Saiwè continued,
“Sir Arhad must love you a lot, doesn’t he?”

Perhaps she had thought too lightly of the situation. She had only said it in a fit of rage because she had been so annoyed, but now she
would have to keep lying and say that she and Arhad were lovers whenever the topic came up. She had thought that people would shut
up once she had affirmed the rumors, but that had not been the case. Humans were creatures who pestered others without end —when
one curiosity was satisfied, another would soon take its place.

“……We aren’t that serious yet.”

Her conscience prickled every time she tried to speak on the matter. She had forgotten to take her own temperament into consideration.
Her guilty conscience was one thing, but…….

Love.

The word gave her goosebumps. The idea that she had made a huge mistake struck her head. She had dug her own grave. It may have
been a lie, but she herself had pushed the emotion onto Arhad and herself. Just what on earth had she been thinking? And why hadn’t she
felt repulsed when she had said it? Her repulsion wrapped around her like vines now that she acknowledged it. With mixed feelings,
Ianna said,

“We are simply fond of each other. I feel a little awkward now that people seem to think we’re passionately in love.”
“Is that so? Well, I suppose it can be nice to take things slow. They say that fiery passion only lasts for but a few years anyhow. And that
it is a feeling that changes readily.”

Saiwè had said he would root for them, but it almost sounded like he was criticizing them instead. He continued,

“The heart can fall apart in but an instant at even the slightest of chances. And all the quicker if money and power had a hand in it.”

He looked rather exhausted.

“It is a light and fragile emotion as easily broken as glass.”

Ianna was pessimistic in a different sense from how openly Saiwè was expressing his views on love. Ianna was intrigued. Surprisingly,
she suddenly thought that Saiwè was someone she could actually converse with.

“Is there a reason why you think this way?”

Saiwè chucked quietly when he heard her question. He stared deeper into the amethyst wine sloshing in his glass.

“How much do you know about the royal family?”

Ianna knew a bit. She had offered her life to the royal family in the past, after all. Schneider had shared every secret with her that she had
been curious about. Schneider trusted her without end, and he probably would have shared all sorts of secrets with her if she only asked.
It was simply that Ianna hadn’t asked many questions in the first place because she hadn’t cared, so she didn’t actually know all that
much. Saiwè continued,

“Do you, perchance, know anything about me —Saiwè Luria Roanne? I won’t mind anything you say, so please be honest and tell me
everything you know.”

She had come this far already, so Ianna decided to try talking with him.

“You are the second son of Her Highness Luria, who was once the third princess of the Kingdom of Begoisha. You have little interest in
power, and you generally spend your time enjoying your reading or your archery.”

“That’s fairly accurate. But the truth is that I do have a bit of interest in power. And I don’t indulge in my hobbies only because I enjoy
them. I am keeping my head down low as I study and master everything I can in preparation for my future.”
As a prince, his was a dream worth having. He had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he stood at the peak of power. It was
only natural for him to look down upon others, and he even had an opportunity to climb even higher and sit on the throne of the most
powerful kingdom there was. And yet, Saiwè had done nothing. He barely interacted with the nobles, and more importantly, neither his
hair nor his eyes were silver.

“I hold a lot of pride in myself. But there are three things that crush my pride underfoot.”

Saiwè tapped his index finger repeatedly against his cheek as he rested his chin in his hand. He continued,

“They tear down at my pride from its very roots. And yet, I cannot eliminate them……it’s truly vexing.”

Ianna stared openly as Saiwè calmly continued his story. Saiwè beamed.

“Which is why I am thinking of abandoning everything altogether. I want to go far away, just like a flying arrow.”
There was no need for Ianna to know about the third prince’s personal affairs. Still, she vaguely realized that his future disappearance
may not have been an accident. Saiwè disappearance. He had probably been involved in his own disappearance.

“It feels like it would be discourteous to ask any further into this matter, Your Highness. And perhaps dangerous.”

“I like how clever you are, my Lady. It’s why I am able to tell you this when I cannot speak of it to any other.”

“But what does this conversation have anything to do with what we were speaking about before? —we were speaking about how quickly
love can change.”

“Love…”

Saiwè lamented. He continued,

“Love was the start of my tragedy. The souring of love……. Love that has tasted power, wealth, and luxury…….”

It was almost like a riddle. Ianna began to grow a little interested in Saiwè, perhaps because their conversation felt like a game of twenty
questions or perhaps because they were speaking so pessimistically about love. Saiwè smirked when he saw Ianna eagerly awaiting his
next words, unlike how insincere she had been when they first started conversing.

“Your life is very exciting, Lady Ianna.”

“Pardon? What are you……?”

Ianna asked back when the question was suddenly shot at her while the conversation had been flowing so smoothly. Saiwè was a prince
who liked to set his own pace.

“You overcame the flaws of your origins with your abilities alone. It was no ordinary feat. I’d like to emulate what you’ve done.”

“It was not so impressive as you suggest.”

“I pray that your love will not bend because of someone who was born into power like Angelina. Please prove to me just how great love
can be.”

But just as Ianna groaned while feeling the forthcoming headache.

Booooom!
Her head immediately shot up as she heard the deafening roar splitting through the air.

“Kyaah!”

“W-what’s going on?! Ahh!”

The party hall floor began to rumble. The tremors grew bigger and bigger until the entire hall was shaking.

Booom!
The explosions sounded ever so familiar.

“Bombs……,”
Someone muttered the exact same thing that Ianna did. She turned around. Her eyes met Saiwè’s.

Boooom!
“Ahhhh!”

The chain of explosions grew closer and closer until it finally thundered from the basement beneath the hall. People screamed and clung
to the walls as the floor shook. The delectable dishes that had been on the table fell to the ground and lost their luster, and the
wineglasses shattered and sent shards flying everywhere.

Those nobles who could use magic or kept magical artefacts on their person wanted to protect themselves, but they couldn’t because the
entire palace was affected by a powerful magic disrupter.

Magic was an invaluable tool for everyday life, but it could also be a perilous weapon. Its potential was infinite, and creative uses for it
were being researched all throughout the world. Which was why royalty, who stood high above all others and had many enemies to their
name, needed to always be wary of it. After all, they could be assassinated by some peculiar spell on any given day. And so, the royal
palace in which the royal family of Roanne resided was protected by a magic disrupter. Only the royal family could cast magic from
inside its effects.

Roanne was a militant nation. The knights who protected the royal family were the cream of the crop. They were stationed all over the
royal castle and protected the royal family with strict rigor. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the royal palace, where magic could not
be used and was protected extensively by the royal knights, was the safest place to be in all of Roanne. Moreover, today was the king’s
birthday, and it was unlikely for any problems to crop up because security had been ramped up for the festivities. Which is why the
nobles panicked when the center hall, located at the heart of the impregnable fortress that was the royal castle, began shaking from the
explosions.

“Ahhh!”

The nobles had grabbed onto curtains or anything that was secured to the walls as they waited for their king, who was sitting on the
throne behind the veil, to take action. Schneider, who had been chatting with the king throughout the duration of the party, and leapt up
and dashed forward with a grave look on his visage. He ordered his knights, who had run into the party hall and lined up before him, to
confirm the situation.

His knights immediately ran outside, and the tremors gradually ebbed away. The anxious nobles thought that the situation was getting
under control now that Schneider had stepped forward and they sighed in relief as they trusted the prince to resolve everything. But the
explosions, though they grew farther away, never ceased.

Ianna and Saiwè were both still sitting on the sofa like nothing was wrong.

“…….”

Ianna had felt something strange when her eyes had met Saiwè’s and never took his eyes off him as he looked out at the window behind
the sofa.

“Shall we go to where the noises are coming from? Perhaps a few ruffians have invaded the palace. I would enlist your assistance, my
Lady.”

Saiwè slowly stood up, ignoring the minor tremors, and stretched out his hand.

Piiing—
Two of the rings he was wearing suddenly flashed brightly. Then, the air in front of him seemed to sunder. He pushed his hand through
the torn space and pulled out a bow and arrow. The rings he had been wearing had been equipped with a spell that disabled the disruptor
and a spatial magic spell.
“A bow…….”

Ianna realized what the déjà vu that had been tickling her stemmed from as soon as she saw Saiwè take up his bow. She only knew one
archer. Ianna pursed her lips before she asked him,

“Why does the nightingale sing?”

If he truly was who she thought he was, then he would know what she was asking, and if he didn’t, then he would sneer at her for
suddenly spouting nonsense.

“Because it seeks for love.”

That was the answer. The expression on Ianna’s face cooled as she called him by his codename.

“Van.”

“Ah, did you finally notice, Ann?”

He had confirmed her suspicions. He was Van —the executive of Camastros with three lines, the three arrows he must shoot, drawn on
his mask. It was only then that Ianna realized just how big a hint he had given her. And she also realized that he had already known who
she was.

‘Is this all right? It’s forbidden for members of Camastros to disclose personal information.’
Ianna grew uneasy.

“How did you know who I was? For starters, am I correct in assuming that you figured me out on Founding Day?”

“Yes. I knew who you were at first sight. If I was to explain how…….”

Saiwè grinned. He continued,

“It was your body, I suppose?”

“…….”

“Ah, please don’t look at me like I’m being vulgar. Shall we head outside for now?”

Saiwè opened the window wide. Then, he promptly disappeared. Nobody noticed when Saiwè, the disregarded prince, jumped out the
window and into the winds outside from a quiet corner of the party hall while the rest of the hall was in chaos.

Ianna surveyed her surroundings before grabbing hold of the hem of her dress and jumping out the window after him. Saiwè had been
waiting for her down below, and he opened up space again to pull out a set of comfortable clothes and a single sword. He handed them to
her.

The clothes were too big and the sword was very embellished, perhaps because they belonged to Saiwè. Ianna did not turn down his
goodwill because she was in no position to, and she walked over into the forest that surrounded the party hall to change.

“You took your robes off back when you got chimera blood all over you.”
Ianna paused for a moment when she heard Saiwè start speaking in an easygoing manner while she was changing.

“I captured your appearance with my eyes that day, my Lady. Swordswomen are rare to begin with, and not just any woman would have
the same build and figure as do you.”

Ianna let out a deep sigh. Her head hurt. Just how much longer must she suffer because of the chimera incident? It was vexing. Saiwè
then threw her a robe when she had finished changing and had walked back out, and he continued,

“Everything else came naturally.”

“What do you mean?”

Saiwè paused for a beat and stopped looking as relaxed as he had been until now. Then, he secretively whispered,

“The 500,000-gold man who completely crushed Schneider. The man who bought you a bouquet worth eighty-nine gold.”

Ianna stiffened up.

“Camastros’ very own Ro dotes on you like you’re the most precious treasure in the world. His golden eyes. And the fact that you are his
lover…….”

The expression was wiped from Ianna’s face.

“What is your intent in telling me this?”

She could pretend that he was wrong. Or, she could open her eyes wide in feigned surprise. But someone who started doubting would
always harbor that doubt in a corner of their heart even if another denied the truth. And that doubt would be as a dagger sleeping in its
sheath. A dagger that could fly out from its sheath and stab someone in the heart at any given moment……. And besides, Saiwè was
already certain he was correct.

‘Have I messed up again?’

The repulsive feelings that flooded her heart ebbed away like the tide as her eyes took in the person standing before her. Ianna’s eyes lost
their light. The proof of her mistake was standing right there. Ianna drew her sword slightly out from its sheath.

“Do you wish to die?”

“Goodness, are you planning to assassinate royalty?”

“There is nothing stopping me. I will eliminate anything that poses a threat to him.”

Saiwè crossed his arms as he voiced his amazement.

“Setting aside my royal station, I am still an executive member of Camastros. Would you kill me even still?”

“That you know the truth is far more problematic than the death of an executive —that is what I have judged. Aren’t you taking me a
little too lightly? I am being serious. I will let Ro make the final call, so why don’t we go to him at once?”

Ianna scowled as her head throbbed. She had always been nervous that Bahamut, the Black Fox, or even Schneider would find out the
truth, but she had been wary of entirely the wrong people.
She could not predict what sort of variables Saiwè might introduce. But she was reluctant to recklessly slay a Camastros executive. Ianna
wanted to take Saiwè to Arhad, since Arhad had told her to tell him if something happened instead of worrying about it on her own.

“Oh dear, but Ro is so very frightening. Hoho. I might actually end up dead.”

“Don’t even think about leaving my sight until we see him.”

“Very well. But I would like to keep conversing with you and ask you to guarantee my life until we do. It would also be nice if you
would be as kind as to protect me from Ro as well.”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. Right now, my head is filled only with the thought that I should kill you immediately.”

Pft— Saiwè suddenly burst out in laughter as he covered his mouth. Ianna wondered if the prince had lost his mind. Why was he
laughing in front of someone who had declared she would murder him? He shook his head when Ianna stared at him with a bitter look on
her face.
“Haha. My apologies. You were just so unhesitant. I’ve truly taken a shine to you.”

“Am I speaking to someone who has lost his mind?”

“Oh dear, I assure you that I’m quite sane. Besides, I’m not that stupid, Ann. Nor am I suicidal.”

“I will cut straight to the point. My actions will be contingent upon what you say.”

“Aren’t you curious as to why I gave you a sword and am fearlessly running my mouth exposing all these secrets to you while standing
within your range?”

“…….”

“You’re curious, yes? I’ll explain myself as we walk. Now, shall we be off?”

Saiwè smirked before he turned around and began walking away at leisure. It was true that she was curious. Just what was this sly dog of
a prince thinking that he was acting like this? Ianna glared at the back of Saiwè head before following after him with one hand resting on
her hilt so she could kill him at any given moment.

“This is my first time meeting a fellow member of Camastros without my mask on,”

Saiwè said as he walked slowly.

“To be honest, I was always nervous. I knew about Ro’s station, but everything else was shrouded in secrets. And so, it gave me a
measure of relief when I uncovered your identity. But I felt a bit awkward about knowing who you were when you didn’t know me. I
wanted you to realize who I was. And…”

Saiwè suddenly stopped in his tracks and spun around.

“I gave you that sword because I wanted you to trust me. So could you please put your sword back in its sheath? Your bloodlust is so
dense it’s making my head hurt. You can kill me at any time without having to push me away like this, no?”
“I am not one to be careless. So please, do continue.”

Saiwè took a step closer to Ianna, who did not lower her guard. He stood directly in front of Ianna, who was glaring at him sharply as she
tried to uncover his secret designs.
“You needn’t worry, Ann. I need Ro. And very, very much so. Ro is necessary for my future.”
Saiwè placed his hand over the hilt of the sword Ianna was holding. He continued,

“Besides, I admire his strength. I had never thought even in my wildest dreams that he could be so young, but it makes me like him all
the more. Because it means that the golden age he will usher in will last for many long years.”

She would kill him as soon as he tried anything funny, and Saiwè did not avoid her watchful gaze. He tilted his head to the side as he
looked down at her and openly displayed his sincerity. His amethyst eyes bubbled with ambition.

“…….”

Ianna’s bloodlust dulled. Saiwè looked sincere in her eyes. There was no reason for the words he uttered to be a lie when his eyes were
like this. Nor did he have any reason to lie about anything that would be exposed as soon as they met up with Arhad in the first place.

“I’m still quite competent, all things despite, so Ro has promised me many things.”

“……Such as?”

“I will follow him and become a Bahamut noble. He also proposed that he would make me the king of my own kingdom if I continued to
raise my merits, but I do not want for that. I’m rather tired of being royalty, and, as I told you earlier, I greatly admire his strength.”

Clatter.
The blade Ianna had drawn was returned to its sheath. Saiwè smiled with his eyes and took his hand off of it. Ianna felt strange as she
watched him turn back around and begin walking again.

A Bahamut noble……. She couldn’t help but wonder if Saiwè had been one of the nobles who had pointed fingers at her as she died. But
why would a Roanne prince want to follow the emperor of Bahamut and become a Bahamut noble? As a prince, he could have enjoyed a
life of incomparable wealth and luxury right here in Roanne.

Ianna decided to walk at Saiwè side instead of following behind him as she asked,

“Wouldn’t it be better to stay in Roanne and become an archduke?”

A prince with no right to the throne would automatically become an archduke. Archdukes were not as powerful as the king, but they
were still high enough in station that everyone save for royalty had to bow before them. She didn’t see why Saiwè had to purposefully
put himself in harm’s way when the station of archduke had already been promised to him.

Saiwè’s reply was immediate.

“I detest Roanne.”

His words made Ianna remember how he had acted when she had first sat in on Camastros’ meetings. Saiwè —Van— had displayed a
great loathing for the kingdom back then as well. He continued,

“I wish to leave this place. I feel like I’ll suffocate and my flesh will rot if I stay here. I wish to leave for lands where no one knows me
and stand on my own two feet. I wish to stand not as an archduke, a station promised to me as a matter of course just because I am
royalty, but in a station I have achieved with my own power. And following Ro is the best way to make that happen.”

He felt like his flesh would rot……. Did he truly hate the royal family of Roanne that much? Ianna wasn’t fully sure because she herself
was not royalty, but felt it was more than plausible. She, too, would be resentful if her life was swayed this way and that and the future
she truly wanted was cut off from her just because of the circumstances of her birth. Saiwè beamed when he saw her nodding.
“Which is why I cannot be discourteous to you, his lover. Do you understand me now? I need to make myself favorable to you.”
“…….”

“It seems like Angelina has taken an interest in Ro, but I find that very offensive. I do not wish for Roanne’s royal family to have any
place in my future. I could not bear it if Angelina, a Roanne princess, became the most powerful woman of my country.”

Ianna clutched at her head. She had most definitely messed up, no matter how she thought about it. A Camastros executive? Things had
become incredibly complicated. And yet, it would be ridiculous of her to tell the truth in this situation.

Ianna reflected on her actions. She would immediately explain the situation as soon as she met up with Arhad, and she was determined to
ask him to formally dump her. And……she also resolved to cast away any strange fixations she had for him.

“You would put me in an awkward situation if you treated me that way. We’re not……we haven’t been dating that seriously. We’ve
even had a bad argument recently, and we might break up soon.”

“Haha!”

Saiwè suddenly burst out in laughter.

“I let it slide earlier……but please allow me to pose a serious question. Do you truly believe that?”

“And if I do?”

“Pft. Putting Ro’s feelings aside, I know that you were upset with Angelina earlier. I was watching, you see. Didn’t you dislike Angelina
because she had a crush on Ro? That means you have feelings for him.”
“That’s…….”

Ianna bit down at her lip —she had wanted to deny it, but she couldn’t because it was true that she had been upset. She continued,

“I was not upset because of the reason you are suggesting.”

“Is that so?”

“It is.”

“But I’m rather certain of this. The two of you will get married one day.”

“……Enough of this.”

“Yes, of course.”

Saiwè raised his hands as he continued chuckling. Ianna shot him a glare. He was a very sly man.
Booom! Boom!
It had been quiet while they were walking, but bombs began exploding in succession and sounding against their eardrums again. Ianna
scowled and rubbed at her numbed ears.

“These explosions sound familiar —it must be the Black Fox, yes?”

“Of course it’s those bastards. They have many informants planted in the castle.”
“How many bombs do you think they’ve installed here? Should we be taking action?”

“I don’t care if Roanne suffers. She’s too busy worrying about who will sit on the throne without even realizing that the Black Fox is
eating her alive…….”

Sarcastically, Saiwè continued,

“The bombs will likely stop soon, since even the Black Fox couldn’t have installed an infinite number of them in the royal castle. Let’s
ignore them and just go find Ro.”

~~*~~

Part 5
“The king told Schneider that he wanted a happy birthday celebration. And he ordered Schneider to put an end to our crimes when he
declared that he would subjugate us.”

They were in a good cheer as they watched the stacks of smoke rising up from the royal palace from a rooftop far away.

“The king will be furious to see that this was the result. You were very helpful in setting up those bombs, Sir Miloutè.”

“You needn’t worry about me.”

Miloutè stroked his stubbly chin. He continued,

“I set them up just in case our battles became drawn-out, but I never thought that the bombs I installed in the palace would be used so
soon. Well, not that we’ve used all of them yet.”
“You did well to survive. You’re the only surviving member of the Knights of Grundewalz, but I will personally make sure to report
back to our masters and tell them about your accomplishments. You are sure to be rewarded.”

“I would be very grateful for that. I was fortunate to survive by finding myself a blundering idiot.”

“Hey, Payne,”

said Margarita petulantly as she flew next to Payne and Miloutè on her broomstick.

“I still think Eiji’s suspicious no matter how much I think about it, you know?”

“Why are you so quick to pick on him?”

“Formido was suspicious about Eiji too. And I still think that Eiji’s been leaking information.”

“You’d do well to remember that Eiji is one of the three bosses of the Black Fox now, Margarita. Doubting one of the leaders of an
organization directly under the imperial family’s command is no different than slandering our masters themselves —you do know this,
right?”
“Gosh, and now you’re putting me on the spot. Ugh, damnit.”
Margarita flattened herself against her broomstick and continued,

“Ohoho……. I’m pretty annoyed and things have gotten to this point anyway —should I just cast a curse on them while we’re at it?
A very potent one…….”
Margarita flew high into the sky. She stopped high in the air as she gazed down at the royal castle with her drowsy eyes.

Buzzzz…….
Rusty blackish-green mana, like sewage had been mixed into its color, began circling around her. It spun around her like a whirlwind
before spreading out like a cloud of dust after an explosion. The greenish toxic smoke drew a large magic circle beneath her broomstick.
Intricate geometric figures twisted and twined into each other as they completed the circle.

Payne and Miloutè narrowed their eyes and moved away from her when they felt the toxic aura. Payne yelled,

“What kind of curse are you casting? It’ll spell trouble if you use a curse severe enough to make the kingdom decide to subjugate us.
We’re not trying to face them head-on.”

There existed an infinite variety of curses. Humans had harbored the desire to curse those they hated since times immemorial, and the
miracles of magic made it possible to carry out those desires. Curses were an independent branch of spellcraft. It was a branch of black
magic, which was prejudiced against and unaccepted by society, but its might could not be ignored.

“Hmmm. It’ll only give them a bit of psychological pain. And from delusions of their own making.”

The completed magic circle shone powerfully as its spell was made manifest. And then, the circle vanished without a trace, as if it had
only been an illusion to begin with.

Nothing changed in the castle. Miloutè and Payne, who were not very familiar with magic, tilted their heads to the side in puzzlement,
but subtle changes were taking place all throughout the castle where their eyes could not reach.

“…….”

Ianna was suddenly thrust into a situation that she could not comprehend. She was sure that she had been walking with Saiwè just
moments ago, but he had suddenly vanished and the space around her was distorting bizarrely. Everything was hazy, as if she was
growing sleepy. She tried to get her senses together by slapping herself on the cheeks, but her body refused to move as she wanted it to.
Her head throbbed. Ianna squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

‘……What was I doing again?’

She forgot what she had been doing by the time she next opened her eyes.

“…….”

Birds chirped as they flew past her. The breeze was clear, and there were green leaves dangling from the trees. Ianna squinted at the
warm sunlight and lowered her gaze.

She saw her hands. They were very small. She looked back up again. The house crest drawn onto the flag fluttering above her head was
ever so familiar to her. And then, she saw something crimson glittering from the distance. Ianna subconsciously began chasing after the
crimson light —a certain gorgeously dressed woman.

“Stop following me!”

But Ianna continued to chase after her anyway. The woman spun around and glared when Ianna tottered up to her.

“You annoying little bitch!”

Ianna blinked.

“I never should have given birth to you. You useless, disgusting little wench. Just looking at you makes me mad. You’re detestable.
You’re sickening! Stop loitering in front of my eyes for no good reason and go back to your room!”

Ianna stopped in her tracks. It didn’t hurt even though the woman was saying this to her. And more importantly…….

“I know you’re dead. I killed you myself.”

Lebony. Space collapsed when Ianna felt something was off and tilted her head to the side. Everything crumbled down, as if it had all
been just a hallucination to begin with, before it reorganized into another space.

This new space gave her the same sense of déjà vu the other one had. A bookshelf lined with books, a desk in front of a large window
with tall candles, ink, and a quill pen resting on top of it, and a bottle of wine and broken glasses lying in the corner —a stark contrast to
everything else. The owner of the room was present as well.

The man sitting at the desk with his back to the window was ever so familiar to her. The light pouring out from the window shadowed
his face. A thin book came flying at Ianna’s forehead as soon as she squinted from the light that was spreading out from behind him. The
man started shouting loudly as soon as Ianna covered her head where the book had hit her.

“Sarachè died because of you! You, all because of you…… Who do you think you are, you wench? —and she was so kind to you…….”

The man sauntered over and grabbed Ianna by the hair. Dubiously, Ianna muttered,

“But this never happened anymore.”

Sarachè never died after I was reborn, and you, Cherno, have no reason to be so violent with me. And neither do I have any reason to
simply tolerate your behavior. And then space collapsed again.
Darkness fell upon her. The cycling of spaces, the gap between them —it was there that Ianna returned to her senses.

‘This is magic.’
When had she fallen prey to the spell? Was it a psychic spell? How did she escape it? The magic continued to assault her psyche. It
continued to try and ensnare her in delusions even as she contemplated. Ianna continued shaking her head as she tried to wake herself up.

It wasn’t Saiwè, was it? Ianna was anxiously trying her best to break free when she suddenly saw a familiar and very welcome figure in
the distance. It was Arhad, who was facing away from her. She was immediately and immensely relieved. His very presence reassured
her in the middle of the crisis. He always gave her his overflowing trust. Ianna immediately began running and didn’t stop until she was
right behind him.

“Arhad. Just now…….”

She tried to grab hold of him. But she stiffened up as soon as Arhad turned around. His features normally loosened up when he looked to
her, but now he looked just as cold —no, colder— than he did when he was looking to others.

He was always honest about his feelings when he was with her. Was he angry? But he always made it obvious when he was upset. And
yet, she couldn’t read any emotion from him now.

“…….”
Ianna took a step away from him. A pungent feeling overtook her entire being. What was happening again? All of her thoughts were
wiped from her mind. What had she been about to say again? She was simply bewildered by how strangely Arhad was acting.

“I’m thinking of letting you go.”

Ianna couldn’t understand. Her eyes lost focus as she looked back at him.

“Your sword holds no worth to me anymore.”

And his words pierced her heart.

“And I don’t want you any longer.”

Her pupils were shaking.

“This is it.”

He had always longed for her, and he had always approached her no matter how much she had pushed and pushed him away —there was
no reason for him to be acting like this. And yet, here he was. It even seemed like he would say that. And he was the only person whom
Ianna never wanted to hear it from.
“I don’t need you anymore.”

Ahh, the emptiness.

The feeling of the wounds she had wanted to forget.

Ianna’s hands dropped down.

Arhad gazed down at her with a frigid air about him for a moment before he walked away without ever looking back. Ianna simply stood
blankly in place. She watched his retreating figure for a moment before she lowered her head. She lowered her eyes and stared only at
the ground.

‘What……just happened?’
It had been so long since Arhad had walked so far away, and yet her feet refused to budge. It was like the squirming darkness beneath her
was holding her feet in place. Her feet were pointed toward Arhad, but the darkness seemed to be trying to turn her in the opposite
direction.

‘If that’s what you think, then I…’

If Arhad was going to abandon her, then she, too, would stop wasting her emotions on him. Everything would be over once she walked
the other way.

The defense mechanisms of Ianna’s heart were still active. Which was why she turned around. The darkness praised her as it pushed her
onward. And yet.

‘Why am I like this? Why am I……?’

She hated it.

She truly hated it. Her heart had started hurting as soon as Arhad had said those words. She found it difficult to breathe even now.
Eventually, Ianna stopped walking.
She had stopped clinging to other people for affection and had grown stronger after killing her weak younger self and burying the little
girl in her heart —was that not the case? Had she not matured at all?

No. She had matured, she most definitely had……. But she was so sorrowful…….

It hurts…….
Ianna took a ragged breath. She bit down at her lip. Wasn’t it natural for her to hate some things since she was only human? Ianna
already liked Arhad, who poured out his goodwill to her endlessly. He had been overflowing in his fondness of her. He was her king.
Someone who unconditionally took her side. It was only natural for her to hate losing someone like that.

One-sided feelings. She had experienced them to the point of exhaustion, and she never wanted to experience something so horrible ever
again. Which was why she never tried to initiate any relationships. She never wanted to feel this way again.

Which was why Ianna denied it. Arhad couldn’t do this. There was no reason that he would.
That fact that she was under a spell slipped through her disturbed thoughts and entered her mind again just then. Ianna whipped back
around. She spun around her body and ran after Arhad. She caught up to him in a breath and grabbed him by the arm. He was truly, truly
expressionless when he turned around as she pulled.

This was apparently what others had meant when they said that Arhad was apathetic. But this was the first time Ianna had ever seen him
like this. She felt so horribly dejected by the absence of his ever-present fondness.

“There is no reason for you to act like this toward me.”

Arhad stared at her for a moment before he smirked.

“And why not? It’s hilarious that you’re so certain.”

“This is a spell?”

“What makes you think that magic is involved? Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think I’m only acting like this because I’m under a spell?
How arrogant of you.”

Ianna moved her mouth but didn’t answer. Her reality centered around him again as soon as he denied that magic was involved.

The wind was cold, and her hair was getting tangled into a mess. Stars were lighting up the black sky. The green grasses under her feet
were swaying in the wind. It was the hill she took walks on often with Arhad as they chatted. It was so similar, so realistic, that her sense
of reality shattered yet again. This was real.

“Why are you acting like this so suddenly?”

“There’s no such thing as sudden when it comes to people’s hearts.”

“But you must surely have a reason for acting this way.”

“Then I’ll tell you, since you want to hear it so badly. I found you burdensome for being so selfish and only thinking about yourself, and
I began hating you. I’m tired of you.”

Arhad brushed Ianna’s hand off his arm. Ianna clenched her now-empty hand.

“……Didn’t you need my sword?”

“There are many swords other than yours at my disposal.”

He was right. He had conquered the continent in the past even when she was still his enemy.

“You told me that you wanted to keep me by your side.”

“And I grew tired of it.”

He was right. Their relationship would end, just like this, as soon as Arhad tired of her. Their relationship had started with the emotions
he had poured out to her, and it would end as soon as he stopped feeling them. The fact that her own feelings for him had grown deeper
had no bearing on the matter.

‘Will things really end so easily?’

Ianna hated for her feelings to become unilateral. No, that wasn’t it. Ianna shook her head furiously. She hated having one-sided feelings,
but what she hated more was for Arhad to stop wanting her.

Her lips quivered. Her pride, fear, and repulsion stripped away, and she spat out the words that had come from the deepest depths of her
heart and being.

“But……I still want to be with you.”

“I don’t.”

The look on Arhad’s face never changed. Ianna recalled how happy Arhad had been back when she had said those embarrassing words to
him when he was anxious —how his complexion had lit up with joy with each and every word. Where did you go? Ianna grabbed at his
clothes once again. He continued,
“Stop pestering me.”

“…….”

“It’s pathetic to see you like this. Let go.”

Ianna had to agree. She hated herself for acting like this. But her hand never fell away, as if it had been glued to him. Arhad continued,

“You weren’t like this before. You can live your life however you want now. You don’t need to be tied down to me anymore. Just do as
you always have been. You need only care about yourself. It’s easy, right?”

Just as I’ve always been? I’ve never not been tied to you. I spent my entire previous life trying to defeat you, and I have lived this life
working to be your knight because you wanted me so badly. So, what do you mean when you tell me to live just as I’ve always been?
Ianna mumbled,

“There’s no reason for you to act like this. You must always desire me.”

“Why? Did you think you’d be my number one forever? Why are you so certain of this? Human emotions are fickle…….”

It was like the devil himself was whispering in her ear. Arhad slowly lowered his face until he was right before her nose. His lips curled
up into a smile. He continued,

“It’s not that you think there’s no reason for me to act like this —you just don’t want me to. That’s how you really feel……am I wrong?”
Ianna’s lips trembled.

“You’re right. I hate this.”

Her eyes blurred. Ianna clutched Arhad’s clothes tight. So that he could never leave.

“I hate this. Please don’t be like this.”

Tears fell from her eyes.

“I hate this…….”

“Get a hold of yourself!”

The space around her shattered as a single shout shook the world around her. The world turned white. And Arhad’s frigid visage grew
hazy.

Ianna stared blankly ahead.

“Are you all right?”

Arhad was still in front of her. Arhad, who had been so heartlessly trying to pry her fingers off just earlier, was holding her tightly by the
shoulders. He looked truly worried as he looked back at her.

“Why are you crying? What are you so afraid of? You wouldn’t return to your senses even after I lifted the spell…….”

“What just…….”

“It was magic. Everything you just saw never really happened. It was all simply a delusion of your own making.”

Arhad wrapped his hands around Ianna’s face and wiped away her falling tears. He was being so kind that it threw her mind into chaos.
He continued,

“Did you see illusions of your past? I thought you got over your past —was I wrong?”

“What kind of spell was it?”

Arhad sighed.

“It was a psychic spell that gives shape to the things that you fear most and makes you hallucinate them. It digs through your memories
and drags up your worst memories, and it combs though your soul and sniffs out the very thing you fear most. And it plays them out for
you as illusions. You can break free from the spell if you’re certain that what you’re seeing isn’t real, and even the slightest doubts can
help wake you up.”

“…….”

“It’s a kind of curse that leaves behind its illusions as vivid memories even after you’ve broken free from the spell. It’s a very high-
leveled spell. Margarita, the Black Witch, is unrivaled when it comes to curses.”
Ianna had nothing to say. She dropped her head. And just as she fully understood what Arhad had said……the expression wiped from
her face and her fingernails scraped against the dirt as she curled up her hands over the earth.

‘I……of all people…….’

Ianna trembled in fury, but Arhad, who had been watching over her, misunderstood why she was trembling. He had seen her clutching
against the earth while sobbing like a child, and he was terribly worried for her. He stroked her hair gently as he gingerly asked,

“What did you see? It’s all right. You don’t need to be afraid. It wasn’t real —it was just an illusion. The spell exposed your heart,
twisted your fears, and made you hallucinate. Don’t lose sight of the difference between what’s real and what’s not, Ianna.”

Arhad’s words didn’t comfort her at all. Rather, they felt like daggers stabbing at her heart. Her fears. She had known that she harbored
those fears, but to think that they had been so serious.

Ianna was vehemently enraged at herself now that she had returned to her senses. She had noticed her feelings at the party today —her
infantile, obsessive, and unbecomingly immature feelings of wanting Arhad to never desire anyone other than herself— and now that this
had happened on top of that, she could not help but feel nauseated as she wondered if she had returned to being the weak little girl who
had chased after her parents while craving for love.

She had clung to him while crying. Just like she had when she was younger.

The fact that she liked Arhad had nothing to do with it —she simply hated herself for being this way. It made her head hurt. She detested
it. It was nauseating. She was overcome with an unbearable repulsion when she felt like Arhad’s hands, wrapped around her face, were
making her weak.

She felt like everything about her person that she had built up until now had shattered to pieces and crumbled. And there was something
inside her aching heart as it beat —the little girl whom she’d thought she had killed.

Smack!
Ianna furiously brushed Arhad’s hands away.

“……Ianna?”

“Please don’t touch me.”

She had not matured. She had not shaken completely free of her past hurt. She had not washed it all away as she cried in Arhad’s arms.
But if not, if she had not……then did it meant that the little girl was still alive, still living, and still craving for unconditional love, this
time from Arhad?

“Why are you……acting like this?”

Arhad’s expression clouded over. She shouldn’t do this, she knew she shouldn’t be acting like this, but Ianna was so furious at herself
that she could not help but tremble.

“Urp.”

She covered her mouth with her hands. She was so disgusted by herself that she wanted to vomit. She said,

“I……I hate myself for being like this. I hate myself so much. Why did I have to see those illusions? Why do I have to feel this way?”

“You…….”
Arhad reached out for her again, but Ianna smacked him away as she screamed,

“Don’t touch me!”

“Ianna!”

He forcefully pulled her in as she pushed him away. Ianna saw him through the mess of her hair. There was a terrifying look on Arhad’s
face. He continued,

“Don’t keep pushing me away —talk to me. I won’t understand anything if all you do is push me away. You should know by now that
this is a bad habit of yours!”
His golden eyes were glowing mercilessly in the dark.

“What did you see that tormented you so? What are you so afraid of? Your family? Just tell me. I’ll rip off their limbs and cut off their
heads! Stop trying to suffer through everything alone! Do you know how wretched I feel when you reject me so one-sidedly and I don’t
even know why?!”

Ianna calmed down a little as she watched Arhad’s fury erupt like a blaze like it always did when she rejected him. Comically enough,
she was glad to see him so angry. It reassured her. He was the same as he had ever been.

“Nothing you saw was real. It was all just an illusion. Can you not understand this?!”

“Because of you.”

“What?”

Ianna bit down at her lip.

“Because of you……I…….”

Ianna could not finish. She felt so insanely childish. She recalled how wretched she had felt when she had been one-sidedly rejected in
her delusions. It was a feeling that she had long since forgotten after growing older.

“Did I do something to you in your illusion?”

Ianna stared at Arhad in his obvious bewilderment. Had he always felt like this, both in the past and even now……? She felt guilty
toward the past Arhad once again. How did you endure this for over a decade without giving up and  still  keep reaching out for me……?
Get a hold of yourself. The past him no longer exists.
“…….”

Ianna clenched her hands into fists. She had fully calmed down at last. She was embarrassed to have made such a mess of herself in front
of Arhad. She had told herself multiple times that it was magic even as she hallucinated, and yet she had been so shocked when Arhad,
whom she had thought would always take her side, rejected her that she had failed to break free of the illusion. Slowly, Ianna hung her
head.

‘To corner people this far……that spell truly is the worst.’

Ianna slapped herself on the cheeks before wiping away her tears against her sleeve. Arhad, who had been looking into her reddened eyes
as he waited for her to answer, took her silence as a confirmation as sighed.

“Sigh…….”
Arhad put a hand against his aching head as he stood up. He continued,
“What did I do in your illusion? Tell me what I did that made you so angry.”

“Why do you wish to know?”

“You’re asking something so obvious. I’ll make sure I never do it.”

Ianna simply stared back at Arhad instead of answering his question. He looked a little awkward as he brought his hand back down and
carefully posed a question when he saw how strangely Ianna was acting.

“Did I defeat you? That’s not exactly something I can control.”

Ianna burst out in laughter even though the situation hardly called for it. Arhad looked to her dubiously as she suddenly burst out in
laughter when she had been gloomy just moments ago. Ianna closed her eyes.

……That was more a memory than a nightmare.

She opened her eyes again. She looked directly up at Arhad as he looked back at her in worry.

“No. I will most definitely emerge victorious against you, so I would have simply taken it for a silly dream if I had hallucinated that.”

“Most definitely? Is that what you think?”

Arhad relaxed as little when he saw that Ianna was starting to feel better. Which was why he joked as he helped her back to her feet. He
continued,

“If that wasn’t it, then don’t worry. No matter what it was that I did in your illusion, the real me will never do the same thing.”

“Hah!”

Ianna laughed crookedly. The way Arhad had said it so calmly was funny to her. She continued,

“How are you so certain of that when you don’t even know what you did?”

“That’s why I’m telling you. It doesn’t matter what I did —I will never do it in reality.”

Ianna startled as their eyes met.

She knew now. Arhad was so deeply sincere when he made this face, when his eyes looked like this, when his voice sounded like this,
that it prickled at her heart. Ianna moved her lips only to close them again. And as always, with that solemn look on his face that Ianna
could only interpret as his sincerity now, he said,

“I promise.”

He promised —she heard the short, two-syllable word so loud and clear. Words were simply sounds until they became as a refreshing
breeze when they were filled with sincerity. And the breeze threw open the doors of her heart and made a mess of her mind. It cast away
all the darkness in her heart and settled inside as a brilliant light.

Arhad slowly raised his hand. His hand approached her slowly. She stared back, wondering what he was up to, when his hand climbed
above her head.

Bonk!
He tapped against the crown of her head. Ianna blinked —the attack had truly come as a surprise. It didn’t hurt, but the unexpected
contact cleared her head of any complicated thoughts.

“So forget about the illusions that you saw. All right? It’s just a waste of your emotions. Goodness, why were you crying over something
so pointless? You’ve become quite the crybaby, I see.”

Arhad drew back his hand as he laughed like there was no helping it. Ianna stood still for a moment before wordlessly reaching up to her
head. She had thought that her head and heart might explode, but they had both immediately cleared away. She found it so curious that
she was feeling so refreshed just because Arhad had said a few words, had taken a few actions.

But to call her a crybaby. Ianna was about to retort, but she closed her mouth as she realized that she didn’t have much ground to argue.
She had cried because of emotional agitation exactly five times in this life. First, when she was young and couldn’t understand that she
had been reborn; second, when she had shed a single tear because of Lebony; third, during the incident with Keigus; fourth, during the
school festival; and this was the fifth.

She had cried in front of Arhad thrice. Why did her tears flow so readily when she was with this man……?

Arhad thought she was turning melancholy again as she fell into thought, so he explained the nature of the spell to her again.

“This spell severely amplifies all of your negative feelings. Even the most positive people with the strongest willpower are rendered
helpless if they’re caught unaware. There’s a reason why Margarita is considered one of the vilest people in the North. You don’t need to
reproach or hate yourself no matter what it was that you saw or felt.”

But Ianna could not concur. The magic might have amplified her fears, but it only worked because the basis for her fears had already
been inside her heart in the first place. In other words, there was fear inside her heart.

Margarita’s spell dug through negative emotions, experiences, and thoughts before finding the victim’s deepest fears and materializing
them as illusions. Lebony, Cherno……she had hallucinated Arhad after seeing memories of her parents rejecting her, abusing her, and
treating her as worthless.

‘And now I know for certain.’

Today, Ianna had fully recognized the fears and the hurt that had been hiding in her heart.

There was a little girl living inside her heart. She was the past Ianna who wanted to be loved, who had no confidence in herself as a
person, and who was terribly afraid of being abandoned. This was also likely why she had been afraid when Arhad had said he wanted
her for who she was at her debut.

Ianna looked back at herself.

It was only natural for others to want her ‘sword’. Her sword was the strongest. It radiated with absolute worth, and none could dare
throw it away or ignore it.

Arhad had once said that he wanted the ‘sword that Ianna was.’ It was the highest compliment he could have ever given her. Ianna had
been thrilled to hear that someone had wanted her in addition to her sword. It had made her so happy.

But then, he had said that he wanted only ‘Ianna’ during her debut. He had disregarded her sword and was focused solely on her person.
And Ianna had grown anxious because it was the first time anyone had only wanted ‘Ianna’. She would never be cast aside if he wanted
her because she was capable, because she would always be capable, but she had no confidence that he wouldn’t abandon her if all he
wanted was the person named Ianna. She had only ever been rejected no matter how hard she had tried, so she could not see the worth in
her value as a person.

“Sigh.”
Ianna sighed deeply as she brushed back her hair. She wondered if she had subconsciously looked away from the truth so that she
wouldn’t be hurt.

Ianna reflected on her actions and thought about what she should do moving forward.

She disliked the fact that she was looking to Arhad to give her the love that she should have received from her parents, but she could not
deny that which actually existed inside her forever. Besides, it was illogical that she, who should be supporting this anxious man and
giving him her faith, herself was anxious.

Which only meant that she must acknowledge it and overcome it.

Destroying that which she had been turning away from through acknowledgement and acceptance could become as a stepping stone for
her maturation.

Ianna wanted to use the realizations she had made today as an opportunity to overcome her wounds and mature. She had a good feeling
about it, especially considering how nice and refreshed she was feeling now that she had honestly acknowledged everything.

She wanted to overcome her wounds, and she wanted to use the realizations she had made today as an opportunity to mature. So, how
would she make that happen? She fell into contemplation.

“So, what did I do? To think that I’d make you cry……. What did you see?”

Ianna broke out of her reverie. She started worrying about the situation now that she had come back down to earth. Ianna looked around
at her surroundings. Saiwè, who had been walking with her, had disappeared. The hairs on her arm immediately raised.

“I’d like to confirm the situation first. We can talk about me later.”

“Knowing what you saw in your illusion is more important to me than resolving the situation at hand is.”

“We can talk about that later. I wasn’t able to resist that spell at all. If I fell victim to that spell, then other people would have too —it
wasn’t cast over the entire castle, was it?”
“It was. So, what did you see?”

The situation was truly grave. She could vividly see people floundering as they struggled with their illusions. But Arhad was persistent.
Ianna could clearly see that satisfying his curiosity was a higher priority to him than was resolving the situation.

Ianna pursed her lips as she thought for a moment. She was wondering if it would be all right for her to show Arhad this fear, which she
had been harboring for such a long time, and her strange and obsessive emotions when the edges of Arhad’s lips curled up into a smile.

“I was bewildered at first, but I’m actually rather pleased right now.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I mean that I like the fact that I have something to do with your worst fears. It means that I’m someone important to you. And that’s
why I’m curious as to what on earth I did in your illusions. I really want to know……but the situation is what it is.”

The strange feeling suddenly turned fuzzy. He continued,

“Give me your hand.”

“…….”

Ianna obediently placed her hand in the hand that Arhad had reached out toward her.

“Fine, I’m relieved now. I’ll give you some time. But you have to tell me once we resolve the situation.”
Arhad grinned as he squeezed Ianna’s hand tight. Ianna stared silently back at him. Was he still concerned about the fact that she had
pushed him away even as he said this? She had pushed him away earlier because her mind had been in chaos, but Ianna did not dislike
his hand. She had grown accustomed to it. She had grown accustomed to it the way an abandoned cat bristled up at first but gently grew
milder when it was showered with love and affection.
And so, she wondered. That perhaps her overcoming her wounds needed to start with an honest confession. She had to fully
acknowledge her shortcomings and bring them to light. She already knew from experience that they would simply fester inside her if she
let them be. Before she could stop herself, Ianna asked,

“You…”

“Hmm?”

“How would you feel if I suddenly told you I was getting married?”

“…….”

Arhad pursed his lips. The pleasure was wiped off his face so quickly it was rather alarming. Even the air around him took on a chill as
his mood quickly froze over. Ianna began rubbing at her arms. Arhad asked in reply,

“……And whom exactly are you thinking of marrying?”

“I am asking you without a specific partner in mind.”

“But you would still have someone you’re considering since you asked.”

“I don’t. But in any event, that’s not what’s important. So, how would you react?”

Arhad stared stubbornly back at her. Arhad didn’t reply and remained silent as he looked like he was trying to figure out what she was
thinking, so she tried to ask again. But just then, he crossed his arms and started laughing.

“I would congratulate you, of course. I would wish you both happiness.”

“But how would you feel?”

“I would be happy too. Isn’t that only natural?”

“Yes, it’s only natural you would feel that way. Since you’re in your right mind.”

Ianna nodded when the smile on Arhad’s face grew more twisted.

“I don’t know —would you really say I’m in my right mind if I congratulated you at some bastard’s funeral and wished for his happiness
in the afterlife? Though I’d be glad if you did, of course.”

Ianna was dumbstruck.

“Why a funeral and not a wedding?”

“Since I would have murdered him, obviously.”

She couldn’t even tell him to stop joking because he had said it so matter-of-factly. She had asked him how he would feel if she ever got
married, but he hadn’t simply said that he would hate it but had even openly declared that he would murder her husband-to-be —was he
sane? Arhad tilted his head to the side as Ianna searched for the words to reply with. Arhad continued,

“Did I murder the person you were about to marry in your illusion? Sorry, but that was a premonition, not an illusion. Don’t even dream
about getting married.”

Ianna was a bit bewildered. She hadn’t exactly wanted a positive answer, per se, but she hadn’t imagined that his answer would
be this negative either. She knew that he always emotional about her even though he was normally so rational, but she didn’t think that
he would be emotional in this kind of situation too.
She had thought that they would feel similarly on the matter, but Arhad’s reaction was much more severe. If Ianna only passively wanted
to always be his first priority, then Arhad took it to another, scarier, level.

But why was it? —was it because she had never intended to get married in the first place? She wasn’t particularly resistant to the idea.
She simply found it strange. Would Arhad be able to tell her way? Ianna asked,

“But why? Why would you kill my husband-to-be? You already have my sword, do you not? Must you truly go that far?”

“I’ll say it again. I’m extremely possessive. If there’s something I want, then I’ll only be satisfied if I have everything that has to do with
it in my possession. If it’s a person that I want, then I need to have their entire life in my hands. So that they can focus only on me. I
don’t care what I have to do to make it happen.”

Arhad sounded extraordinarily destructive, extremely selfish, and heavily obsessive. He would take their entire life in his hands like
spider who caught a butterfly in his web and was spinning his thread around its body……. Ianna tilted her head to the side.

“So you won’t even let me get married? Are you like this to your other subordinates too?”

“You still don’t get it……?”

Arhad laughed soundlessly. He continued,

“You are the only person who ignites my greed. Everyone else is just an extra puzzle piece —I don’t care whether they’re there or not. I
can replace them anytime I wished.”
Arhad reached out and rearranged Ianna’s disheveled robes as she stared openly up at him. She looked down a little at his hands as he
tied the string by her neck. A few strands of her crimson hair had fallen over them, and her warm breath was enveloping them. Arhad’s
hands tensed. A very dark and very feverish desire flared in his eyes while Ianna’s attention was drawn to his hands.

“I want to keep you and your sword as close to me as I possibly can and watch over you.”

His desires immediately hid away when her crimson eyes looked back up at him. Gently, Arhad chuckled. He continued,

“That’s all I want from you. I don’t wish for anything more.”

Arhad let go and drew his hands back. Ianna touched the knot he had tied.

“Simply put, I want to maintain the status quo. I will eliminate any variable that may sway you. Having a husband would change the
person you are now. I’d probably murder him before he even brought up the topic of marriage.”

Ianna followed after him as Arhad turned around and began walking.

“Do you think I’m crazy?”

“…….”

“But I’m sure you wouldn’t say that you were completely unaware. You’re prudent, so you probably swore me your oath only after
examining me from multiple angles. You should know best that I am different from everyone else.”

Arhad’s back reflected in Ianna’s eyes.

“You swore that you would be as my sword, and I won’t let you take back your oath even if you regret making it. You’re the one who
approached me first. And I will never let you go. It doesn’t matter if you wish to take up another master or get married…….”
He didn’t say anything for a while after that. Why was it? She didn’t feel revolted at all even though he was speaking so harshly. Never
mind revolted —she was so relieved to hear him reconfirm the fact that he would never let her go that it was almost shocking. She could
not help but want to resolve the matter in her heart right here and now. And so, once again, Ianna asked,

“In that case, do you ever plan on getting married?”

“Me?”

“Whoops.”

A familiar voice sounded as a shadow suddenly jumped down before them. Ianna’s gaze pulled forward. It continued,

“It was a little difficult to speak up, and I’m truly, truly sorry for interrupting. But the situation was getting rather urgent.”

The shadow pulled back his hood. It was Saiwè, whom Ianna had lost sight of, and he looked extremely apologetic. Ianna quickly
stepped in front of Arhad and guarded against him. Saiwè beamed at her before earnestly saying,

“I think we’ll really have to do something about this, Ro. I don’t know if they were trying to commit suicide or not, but several people
have even bitten their tongues.”

Saiwè addressed Arhad as Ro. Ianna tensed up and looked at Arhad from the corner of her eye as he pat her on the shoulder.

“I said I’d hear the details later, but I’ve already been told that Van has figured out who we are. I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled about it,
but it isn’t a bad thing either, so don’t worry too much about it. Van can’t betray me because he has too much riding on my shoulders.”

Ianna’s wariness immediately dissipated into relief when she heard what Arhad had to say.

“If that’s what you say, then I’m sure everything will be all right. I was afraid that he had either escaped or was directly responsible for
the situation himself because I didn’t see him anywhere.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I awoke rather quickly, and Ro ordered me to get a read on the situation. You still don’t trust me at all.”

Or so Saiwè said as he shrugged, but he didn’t look very displeased at all. This time, Ianna turned to Arhad.

“But why are you here in the first place?”

“I was in the tower as usual, and I came because I felt a huge wave of mana. The aftereffects of the wide curse that Margarita cast was
truly something else.”

“The royal castle has a magic disrupter. So how was she able to cast magic on it from outside?”

“Margarita is a shareholder. You’ve heard of Dorcianni, right?”

Of course she had heard that name before. She was rumored to be the youngest and loveliest of the Ten Archmages.

“Margarita is Dorcianni’s cousin. Dorcianni is an owner of a fragment, which Margarita shares from her. Mana submits to those who
benefit from the fragments. Basically, fragment beneficiaries can break through barriers whenever they so wished.”

Which meant that Margarita could bypass barriers just as Keigus’ blood could pierce through Maimaiyè’s shield.

“Let’s head toward the castle for now. Van, bring out some robes and masks.”

Van obediently opened up his subspace and pulled out a colorful set of festival masks and robes. He then knelt down on one knee and
looked up at Arhad.

“Please allow me to greet you formally, Ro……Arhad. I pray that you’ll continue to look after me well.”

Arhad retrieved the items he had requested as he coldly said,

“Van, I will trust that you only brought about this situation because you never intend to betray me. I kill any who uncovers my identity as
a rule, but I’ll let you keep your life because you’re still useful to me. I will have you cooperate more closely with me moving forward.”

Saiwè immediately brightened up.

“Of course.”

“But do keep in mind that I find it very offensive that you’ve troubled Ianna and put her in this situation.”

Arhad looked down frigidly at Saiwè. Mana clotted together around him and became a bloodlust as sharp as a blade. He continued,

“I will let you off just this once, but I will have your head the very moment you ever try to use Ianna for your personal gain.”

Saiwè only grew more sincere as his body began stinging from the bloodlust. Ro was truly so surprisingly powerful. Saiwè himself was
rather confident in his magical and martial prowess, but he knew that he could never defeat the man before him. His spine was tingling as
he bowed his head.

“I will take it to heart. I will always do my best to be of help to you —I will never bring you harm. But Ro, why would I dare try to use
your lover if I was in my right mind……?”

“……My lover?”

Arhad’s bloodlust, which had been putting pressure on Saiwè, immediately dispersed. Ianna, who had been standing by behind them,
stiffened up. Her head hurt as she realized that she was about to reap what she had sown. Arhad turned back to look at her when Ianna
warned Saiwè with a rigid look on her face.

“Stop spouting nonsense. We aren’t in a relationship. Don’t say things that aren’t even…….”

“My Lady —Ann, I mean—, you publicly declared that the two of you were dating at the party. Was that not true?”

“…….”

Arhad was speechless. Ianna was nervous as their eyes met again.
“Ianna.”

Arhad called her name as he stared openly back at her.

‘He wants me to explain myself, I’m sure.’

Ianna repeatedly opened and closed her mouth as she tried to think. She would have told Arhad everything had they been alone, would
have explained everything that had gone through her mind, but Saiwè was present at the moment. The edges of Ianna’s eyes slowly
creeped up. Saiwè —she wanted to punch the man in the face, who cared that he was a prince?

But no, even if it meant that Saiwè would take her for a weird woman who spread around lies, she would have to explain the truth and
ask Arhad to publicly dump her. And so, she resolutely began saying,

“Actually, I…….”

Ianna suddenly found her mouth physically blocked as she was about to confess the truth. It had been so unexpected that all she could do
was blink. He had been so fast that it had taken Ianna a moment to recollect herself before she realized that Arhad’s hand was on her
face. She glared at him in discontent, but Arhad turned to Saiwè instead.

“You tell me what happened, Van.”

“Hmm……. Angelina asked Ann what her relationship with you was, and Ann grew so angry when Angelina started going off about
how much she liked you that she publicly declared that the two of you were dating in front of the other nobles.”

You asshole. Ianna glared sharply at Saiwè. He had summarized everything while knowing nothing, and the truth was being distorted.
Saiwè stole a glance at her and grinned.

“I thought you said that the two of had started dating?”

That bastard —he’s not doing this on purpose, is he?

She would suddenly become a child who had thrown a jealous tantrum if she let this be.

Ianna tried to remove Arhad’s hand so she could explain the real truth and sock Saiwè in the face, but she found that she couldn’t. Arhad
pressed against her harder when she tried to pry him off, and it had gotten to the point that her face hurt quite a bit.
‘What on earth is he thinking?’
Arhad clearly had no intention of letting her speak. He looked very absorbed in his thoughts as he pursed his lips together without any
expression on his face.

……He wasn’t angry, was he? Ianna decided to be docile until Arhad decided to remove his hand. His hand did relax a little. But he was
still covering her face so that she couldn’t speak, and displeasure slowly spread across Ianna’s mien.

Saiwè, who had been watching over the two of them, spoke up and said,

“Judging by the mood in the air……was it not true?”

Ianna tried to nod vehemently, but she couldn’t. Arhad had suddenly squeezed her face again. He wasn’t just keeping her from speaking
—he was keeping her from expressing any kind of opinion at all.

Arhad turned to Ianna instead of answering Saiwè’s question. Ianna flinched when their eyes met so suddenly. And her face and ears
started flushing red in embarrassment as she received his unfathomable gaze.

She had been absurd. How overconfident had she been when she thought that Arhad wouldn’t mind her lying? She might have even
ruined his mood. But he would at least need to let her talk if he wanted her to resolve the situation.
Ianna felt so ashamed as she tried to pry Arhad’s hand off her face, but it wouldn’t budge. She could not help but find fault in their
difference in sex whenever he acted like this. There was nothing Ianna could do when Arhad decided to be stubborn with his brute
strength. And it wasn’t as if she could just stab him with her sword either.

“…….”

Arhad looked quietly at Ianna, who was groaning as she tried to pry him off with all her might. He stared at her ever so fixedly as she
was held captive in his hand.

‘What are you playing at?’

She was starting to grow angry. Ianna wondered if she should kick him in the shin before she lost herself in her anger and bit down at his
hand. Arhad’s hand flinched. She had bitten him pretty hard, so it probably hurt quite a bit, and yet his hand never left her face. But
perhaps it had at least brought him back to his senses, as he slowly and finally opened his mouth.

“No, it’s true.”

Ianna opened her eyes wide. He continued,

“I was simply disconcerted because of the sudden turn in the situation.”

Arhad brought down his hand, but he then wrapped his arm around Ianna’s waist and pulled her in before she could even say anything.
Ianna froze up because she truly had not expected him to do that. Arhad looked sincere as he looked down at her. It was almost as if he
was asking her why she was bewildered about something that was only natural.

“But why did you tell them?”

Ianna, who had never been pulled so close to a man by the waist like this before, froze stiff. Arhad had hugged her normally several
times, but he had never pulled her in by the waist like she was a lady before.

“……That’s…”

Apparently, Arhad had decided to play along with her lie. Ianna forgot even her anger and was simply at a loss now that things had
ended up like this. Arhad observed her reactions. A smile formed on his face as Ianna, who normally would have pushed him away and
asked what on earth he was doing, was bewildered into staying quiet.

“I rather like this.”

“……What do you mean?”

“Now I can be with you in public. I was holding back because you wanted to keep our relationship a secret, but since you disclosed it
yourself……it means that we can be public about our relationship, right? But what made you change your mind all of a sudden?”
She had wondered if he might be angry, but, as it turned out, he was actually greatly pleased with the situation, just as she had originally
anticipated. Was this a relief, or was this a misfortune? She had originally meant to tell the truth, but now things would just get even
more awkward if she did. And what would become of Arhad when she immediately said that she had been lying while he was trying to
play along? Arhad would become a liar too. He would lose face in front of his subordinate. Ianna hesitated for a moment because her
feelings had grown complicated before she shamelessly said,

“Viscount Shon saw everything that day when he saw us on the balcony, and you said that you would take responsibility for it. People
began pestering me as the rumors spread, and I grew tired of denying them. And besides, I was worried that Angelina might chase you
around and bother you if I simply let her be…….”

“Oh?”
Saiwè voiced his marvel. Ianna glared at him. She would beat the crap out of him one day. Just thinking about what the asshole had made
her suffer today horrified her.

Arhad pulled her closer inside his arms while Ianna was raging against Saiwè. Ianna was alarmed. She would have normally pushed him
away, but she was caught in the lie of being his lover and simply froze up without being able to do anything about it.

“Is that so? This is quite the merry turn of events.”

Ianna returned to her senses and looked up to glared back at him, but she was suddenly overcome with a wave of awkwardness. She had
never seen him from up so close and at this angle before. Their eyes met immediately because Arhad, too, was looking down at her.

“How so?”

Arhad looked like he was having fun. Or rather, he looked like he was having tremendous fun. He looked so, so pleased with himself that
Ianna couldn’t help but wonder if he had ever truly been expressionless just earlier. He seemed to be having so much fun that he almost
looked like a young boy. This was the first time Ianna had ever seen him make this face. Was this situation really that funny to him?
Ianna didn’t know what it was that pleased him so greatly, but her head was starting to hurt more.
‘He’s not planning to seriously start pretending we’re lovers, is he?’
“You used to always back down. Thank you for making the decision.”

Back down from what? And what decision? Ianna grew disconcerted by the lies that kept leaking out from Arhad’s mouth. It was only
after he began taking an aggressive stance that it suddenly hit Ianna that things were going very, very wrong. She grew anxious that the
lies might disrupt the good relationship they shared currently.
Ianna began to grow so uncomfortable with the situation that she almost wanted to turn back time. She wanted to take back her lies at
once. It was only then that she realized what a fool she had been. It hadn’t been just once or twice that she had made light of a situation
only for it to come back at bite her, and she had let it happen yet again. She really shouldn’t have lied —she must have been crazy back
then.

“Hmmm…….”

Saiwè tilted his head to the side as he observed them.

As he’d expected, there was a huge difference in their feelings regardless of whether they were actually dating or not. They weren’t
serious? Ianna wasn’t serious, perhaps, but the other party most certainly was. Saiwè judged that the sheer volume of emotion that Arhad
poured out to her was anything but normal. Ro, the leader of Camastros whom Saiwè had known for several years now, had never once
betrayed even the slightest emotion.

‘But in any event, does this mean that I’ve scored a few points?’
Saiwè quietly clicked his tongue.

“I know that you two love each other to death, but I think we might have to do something about the situation before you decide to
express any more of your affections. I couldn’t care less about what happens to the bastards of the kingdom, but we still need Schneider
and his faction to stand strong, no?”
Ianna returned to her senses and pushed Arhad away. Arhad simply allowed her to do it.

“Let’s go.”

I’ll need to ask him to dump me as soon as this is over, Ianna thought as she bit down at her lip.
 

~~*~~

 
Part 6
“Sniff, sniff……go away, just go away…….”
“Ahhhhhh!”

The party hall was in utter chaos. A few people had woken from the spell, but most were still crying, screaming, and agonized. Some
people were bleeding from their mouths, having bitten their own tongues, and more than are few had inflicted themselves with wounds.

“…….”

Schneider was one of the people who had broken free. He had quickly woken from his hallucinations of his own power. But most people
had not. They were suffering, unable to escape their delusions. Count Monovican, who was standing next to him, anxiously asked,

“What on earth is going on, Your Highness?”

“I don’t know.”

That was all that Schneider could say. Even his brilliant mind could not make heads or tails of the situation unfolding before him.

“Wasn’t there a barrier that disrupted magic cast over the entire castle? Could this be the work of poison?”

“No, this is magic. I’m sure of it.”

“Was the barrier dispelled?”

“No, it couldn’t have been. The barrier contains the essence of Zicara Valgenta, who loved the queen. And no one today can match
Zicara Valgenta’s magic. Besides, the barrier is still covering the castle.”

“But then how could someone who wasn’t royalty cast a spell from here? What if……?”

“Hold your tongue, Count. No one in the royal family knows how to cast a spell like this. And it’s not possible that someone else used
one of our rings. The rings only obey those with royal blood running through their veins. The more pressing issue is that the mana
covering the victim’s heads won’t budge even when I try to dispel it.”

Schneider was a powerful mage. Not only had he strongly inherited the blood of Queen Roanne de Roanne, but he had also been
personally taught by Duke Shingardra Solsavier, an archmage. Which was why he truly could not comprehend the situation. Mana
wasn’t responding to him at all, and this had never happened ever since he had first starting learning how to control it.

But he knew what the situation implied. It meant that a mage more powerful that Zicara Valgenta had appeared and had ignored the
barrier while casting a curse over the entire palace.

“This is a first. Where is Duke Solsavier?”

“He realized how grave the situation was and went to enlist Mage Heinrich for help.”

But more serious matter was that the mana wasn’t even listening to Shingardra, an archmage. Just how powerful was this enemy mage?
Schneider frowned. He looked down at the ruined party hall with mixed feelings. It would be impossible to regain control of the hall. Not
everyone had been able to break free from their illusions.

Schneider had simply seen Fernando become king and bring him to the gallows. He had immediately denied the hallucination and had
quickly broken free of the spell. But the delusion had been so vivid that it still lingered in a corner of his mind and made him
uncomfortable. A grave look crossed Schneider’s face.
‘If this spell makes people hallucinate the worst thing that could ever happen to them, then there’ll still be problems even after the
situation’s been resolved.’
The illusion would linger in people’s heads and continue harassing them, just as his own illusion was.

Schneider took a look around his surroundings. Hardly anyone had woken up. The royal family and a few high-ranking nobles had been
conducting an emergency meeting about the bombs behind a curtain, but they were all currently flailing in their illusions. He had run out
from the curtains to see that the other nobles were obviously faring no better and that his fiancé, Lilith, and his younger sister, Angelina,
were collapsed with a flock of other women. Schneider’s silver eyes continued to comb the hall in search of one certain figure.

‘……Where is Lady Roberstein?’

He knew that she was attending the party, but he couldn’t find her anywhere. It was highly likely that the daring young lady who had
even turned down the prince’s offer to join him like a blade had broken free of the spell. Then, where did she go? Had she gone home,
like a few other nobles had, once she had regained her senses?

It was also possible that she had been on a walk and had collapsed somewhere outside when the calamity had struck, but Schneider
decided that it was unlikely. He hoped that she had woken up and returned home unharmed. This magic was dreadful, after all.

Schneider had been standing around, unable to find a solution for the situation, when three people suddenly walked into the hall. One of
them was familiar to him, while the other two were wearing robes and masks.

“Saiwè!”

Saiwè, who had been conversing with his companions as he walked in, turned around when Schneider called. Saiwè shrugged and left his
companions as he walked up to his brother.

Schneider cast a glance at the two figures. They were wearing thick robes and masks that covered half their faces, just like Camastros
did, but their outfits were much more colorful than the organization’s. Schneider pat his brother on the shoulder when Saiwè walked up
to him.

“Thank goodness. You were safe. But where did you go in the middle of this situation? And who are those two mysterious people?”

“I went ahead and tried to find a solution of my own. And I have asked these two good people to resolve everything for us.”

“What?”

Schneider opened his eyes wide upon hearing Saiwè’s unexpected words, and disbelief crossed his face.

“I’m one thing, but even my Teacher could not resolve this situation. So how do you propose that these two people will?”
“I know that you will pester me to no end, Brother, if I don’t convince you otherwise, so please allow me to provide a simple
explanation. These two are members of the mythical races, and they are also good friends of mine.”

The mythical races……. Schneider looked to the two masked figures with mixed feelings. He had met a few members of the mythical
races before. He had seen beastmen slaves and houseguests who lived in some nobles’ manors, and he had also met the dwarf who
accompanied Maimayè.

Beastmen were relatively more active, since Absilot, the Mercenary King, guaranteed them their rights. But even they were shroud in
secrecy —not to say anything about the other mythical races.

“They were visiting for the festivities, and they lamented over the situation and agreed to lend us their assistance. But only on the
condition that their identities are not revealed. I trust that you will understand why they wish for this, my Brother.”
It was only natural for members of the mythical races to loath being discovered. Not only were they very different from humanity, but
there were also a lot of people who were greedy to get their hands on the rare peoples. But who would have thought that they could
resolve a situation that not only he, but even his teacher, hadn’t been able to resolve? Schneider could not help but start feeling a little
greedy himself.

“And how do you even know them?”

“Who can say? Is there a reason I must tell you? And even if there was, I would rather not.”

Saiwè shrugged and refused to answer. Schneider felt strange as he observed his younger brother. He was certain that Saiwè had once
chased him around saying, “Lord Brother, Lord Brother,” when they were younger, but things had grown awkward between them at
some point. And he had stopped being able to tell what Saiwè was thinking as their relationship changed.

Saiwè would never have a right to the throne, on account of the dark brown hair and amethyst eyes he had inherited from Luria, but he
had never seemed displeased or feeling inferior because of this. He was practically a saint compared to the how their royal ancestors had
suffered of inferiority complexes.

The king was generally disinterested in his children, his mother, Luria, was too busy looking after Fernando to care much for him, and
the nobles, too, were too busy vying for power as they split into three factions that they did not pay much attention to Saiwè, who was far
removed from the center of power, unless they had daughters.

It was well-known that Saiwè was quiet and enjoyed reading and archery, but no one actually knew how he chose to spend his time. The
servants always said that he was alone in his chambers, but Schneider would often miss him if he tried to visit out of curiosity. But
Schneider had always brushed it off, thinking that Saiwè was either at the library or had gone outside. And yet, he was friends with the
mythical races?

Schneider could not help but wonder what Saiwè was usually up to. But now was not the time to satiate his curiosity. Schneider turned
away from his brother and looked on with great interest at how the mythical races planned to resolve the situation.

“How do we sort this out?”

Ianna asked while lowering the pitch of her voice. She was wearing neither the ring that altered her voice nor the ring that changed her
appearance. The same was true of Arhad, who had rushed outside in his worry for her. They had planned with Saiwè and had decided to
follow through with the plan they had concocted, but anything could change and they could be discovered at any moment.

“We’ll have to dispel the magic,”

Arhad replied as if it was nothing to worry about.

“So how? If Margarita’s a shareholder, then the mana won’t listen to any normal person. It would be possible for you, of course, but she
might notice you if you force the mana to listen to you.”
“So you do it.”
“……Me?”

Ianna dithered. She continued,

“I only know the basics of magic. And I don’t know anything at all about dispelling psychic magic. Besides, the mana won’t listen to me
to begin with since Margarita’s a fragment shareholder. It didn’t listen to me during the incident with Keigus either.”
“Who can say? Ianna, have you found an answer to the homework I gave you?”

If he was referring to her homework, then she had no choice but to figure out why the mana wasn’t listening to her. It had been sudden,
but Ianna didn’t question him and sullenly replied,

“No, not yet…….”

“I suppose it might have been a bit difficult. Then again, it might have never even crossed your mind because it only applies to you.
We’re in the middle of a crisis and we need your help, so let’s work on the problem together.”

Ianna’s eyes sparkled. Arhad continued,

“Just as you said, mana won’t listen to any ordinary person because Margarita’s influence is too strong. But you’re a different story.
Mana has no choice but to listen to you if you want it to.”
Arhad calmly strung together his words. But Ianna didn’t understand, so she asked,

“But why?”

“Because mana…….”

Arhad laughed soundlessly.

“……Loves you.”

Love? Ianna muttered the word to herself. There was no word that could suit her any less. She had never once received it, after all, and
neither did she have any plans to. And so, she asked,

“Why would you say that?”

“You can tell just by looking at how mana normally behaves around you. What else could it be, if not love?”

Normally. Then again, it was true that mana was unusually clingy with her. She had thought more than a few times that the mana, which
seemed to be arrogant and haughty with everyone else, seemed to fuss over her like a puppy.
Was that why? Did mana truly love her? Ianna was a little convinced. To be honest, she felt a little strange to find that something had
loved her all this time without her knowing.

“I’d be a little troubled if you underestimated how rabidly mana loves you. It’s also why it clings so adherently to your divine power and
is loath to pull away. But mana is lacking, and it will ignore itself and offer its everything to you if you treat it tenderly. Try calling to it
affectionately instead of controlling it coercively like you would an object.”

Ianna didn’t know what it was that Arhad knew that made him say this, but she tried to guess at the reason anyway. Why did mana like
her so much? Mana was the Demon’s power. The Demon had lived in the Holy Age. In that case, did it have to do something with
Roberstein’s soul?

“And in this situation, it’ll be more efficient to use divine power instead of trying to move the mana from its arrangement.”

“Divine power? How do I do that?”

“How do you think I dispelled the spell from you?”

“……Now that I think about it, you didn’t use mana when you dispelled it, did you?”

“Of course not. I used a few purification scrolls I received from the elves.”

“Elven purification scrolls?”

This was new. Arhad answered when Ianna asked.

“Scrolls that contain the pure divine power of the elves. The scrolls have the ability to dispel magic.”

“How on earth did you get your hands on those?”

A twisted smile alighted Arhad’s face.

“I have a bit of a relationship with a high elf elder. This isn’t the best time or place for a lengthy explanation, so we can save that for
later. But in any event, you can dispel magic with divine power too. And you’re a very special case. It won’t take much of your divine
power to make a difference. So why not give it a try?”

Ianna decided that she would. She trusted Arhad wholeheartedly, after all.

“How do I do it?”

“Magic is made manifest by an arrangement of mana. You need to undo the arrangement in order to dispel it. The arrangements of mana
should be squeezing at the victims’ heads at the moment, so all you need to do is undo them. Wrap your divine power around the
arrangements of mana, will the mana to scatter, and give action to your will by snapping your fingers or clapping your hands to make the
arrangement collapse. And don’t forget to reabsorb your divine power afterward.”

Ianna slowly drew out her divine power once she digested what he had said.

Buzzz…….
She felt the mana recoil, like it always did, when her crimson divine power came out into the world. All the mana in the hall was
observing Ianna’s divine power —observing Ianna. It almost felt like it would rush toward her like a wave at any given moment.

She had always thought that her excellent ability to control mana had simply been a blessing. She had thought that it was simply because
of her talent that mana never disobeyed her will.

‘Mana loves me…….’

Ianna did not refuse the absolute love she received from this nonhuman existence. She felt her heart grow fonder of the mana for
treasuring her so.

The mana, which had been rushing toward her divine power voraciously, hesitated and faltered before it finally settled down, as if it had
noticed her change of heart, as soon as she thought this. Ianna found its strange behavior rather curious. It had really done as Arhad had
said it would.

Her crimson divine power condensed and spread all across the party hall, unhindered by the mana. It mixed into the docile mana and
slipped between the latter’s cracks. And just as her divine power dominated the entire hall.

‘Scatter.’
Clap! —Ianna clapped her hands together as she was shrouded in her blazing crimson divine power. The arrangement of mana that had
been torturing everyone in the hall broke apart and scattered like a shower of light when she enacted this small action.
 
 

“Cough!”
“Margarita?”

Margarita suddenly vomited blood and fell off her broomstick. Miloutè and Payne were bewildered to see her condition change so
suddenly when she had been perfectly fine just seconds ago.

“I……I…….”

Margarita clenched her hands into fists as she prostrated on the ground. Payne reached out toward her, but she smacked him away. She
quivered as she vomited yet another mouthful of blood. It hurt. It hurt like hell. She felt like her heart and her head were tearing apart.

“My magic…was…dispelled…….”

“Your magic? Was it a Demon’s fragment?”

“No…it wasn’t…but…….”

It was definitely not the Demon. Not only had her heart not beat as quickly as it did when she met another fragment beneficiary, but even
other beneficiaries could not undo each other’s magic so one-sidedly. And, though it vexed her to admit it, her cousin Dorcianni’s
fragment was powerful. Only the imperial family and her teacher, Wiffheimer, carried fragments that were anywhere as close to as
powerful as hers.

“That bastard…….”

Her heart had pounded just as her spell was undone. She had felt this feeling before. Margarita clenched her teeth together and muttered,

“……The leader of Camastros.”

Arhad leaned against the wall from afar and watched……as the mana obeyed Ianna like an obedient puppy and scattered, and at Ianna’s
profile as she delighted in the fact that the mana had listened to her.

‘Lovers…….’
He could not know what Ianna had been thinking until she explained herself properly. Perhaps she truly had just been annoyed, like what
she had claimed earlier. But Ianna of all people, who hated lying, had put the label of love that she so loathed over their relationship —
even if it had been because she was annoyed and concerned that Angelina might chase him around and hinder his work. What inside her
heart had changed during the party? Arhad scratched at his lips with his thumb.
‘What to do……?’
He was suddenly faced with a choice. To be honest, Arhad was not confident that he could suppress his feelings if Ianna could not
tolerate them. Was she not afraid? What made her so confident? It was probably because she didn’t know. There was no reason that she
would —he had always carefully hidden away the monster inside him.

He would not be able to stop once he started, so it was better not to start at all if he would have to stop. This was simultaneously both the
greatest opportunity he would ever have and a cliff that could push him to his ruin.

Arhad was already satisfied even now.

……But was he truly?

He could maintain their good relationship if he settled for the status quo. It was a close call, but it would be possible so long as he
continued to hide away his feelings.

……But would he really be satisfied with that?

Or would he brandish his sword in conquest again in the future?

There was one clock that was still halted. It was the clock of his heart, which he had intentionally paused.

Tick.
Creak, creak —but the clock sounded sharply of friction as the second hand ticked and immediately began moving. The second hand
made its way around in a circle. Violent emotions filled his eyes as time flowed. Arhad slowly parted his lips.
“Ianna.”

Ianna heard him call out to her quietly even as people began groaning as they woke up, and her ears twitched as she turned to him.

‘Do I try and keep your light in my arms forever?’

The desire that he had been working so, so hard to suppress caught a glimpse of her. And then, it spoke.

‘Be honest.’
Could he truly be satisfied just by appreciating her like a work of art on exhibition that he wasn’t allowed to touch?

He had never meant to reveal his feelings for her. He knew that Ianna didn’t want that kind of relationship, and he was satisfied with
what he already had. He wasn’t actually satisfied, but he had decided to be satisfied……. He had tried not to touch her. He had tried,
but…….

You’ve already kissed her.

He had already put his lips on hers in his insane love for her that he could not control.

That night. And with more affection than a million roses could ever convey.

Arhad looked down at his hand, which Ianna had bitten. He could still vividly see the bitemark and the few droplets of blood that had
formed around it.

Didn’t you want to kiss her face as you held her in your hand? You even felt thrilled as she bit you because you felt her soft lips and
teeth.
You adored her so much when you thought she might have been jealous over you, shuddered in delight as you imagined her being
possessive about you, and you just barely managed to keep yourself from pulling her in for a kiss…….
Will you be able to endure this for the rest of your life? This greed?
Arhad slowly brought his palm to his mouth without ever letting his gaze break away from Ianna. He stared openly back at her as she
looked to him and pressed her bite marks against his lips.

There was no reason to think so deeply about it. The truth was that his heart, which he had been suppressing, had poured out the very
moment he had physically stopped Ianna from confessing the truth and had taken part in her lie. He could not restrain his heart again
now that they had entered a relationship, even if it was only a lie.

‘Are you really satisfied just to watch over that woman?’

Ianna tottered over to him and smiled.

“Did you see? It really worked. The mana listened to me.”

‘You love her.’

Arhad did not reply. He stared silently down at Ianna as her expression began turning strange.

Then, he said,

“That’s only obvious.”

Because I’m in love with you…….

 

Who could stop time once it began to flow?

~~*~~

That was all Arhad said. Ianna stood dumbfounded as she watched him act so strangely and asked him if he was all right, but all he did
was to reach out and grab her arm. He pulled her close and placed her by his side, and it was only then that, in a slightly hoarse voice, he
said,

“Look in front of you.”

Ianna, who had been looking at Arhad, turned around.

“T-this is…….”

“Sniff, sniff, sniff.”
People were a right mess as they woke up one after another. Most had been sobbing, and their moistened cheeks were deathly pale. Some
had even inflicted harm upon themselves and, in the worst cases, were oozing with blood. Ianna wondered what kinds of illusions they
had seen as they quietly observed the ruined party.

“Some people fear specific situation most in the depths of their heart. And it’s next to impossible to fully free themselves of their fear.
The only way to truly overcome such fears is to be absolutely certain that it will never come to pass. But most people never even realize
that such fears exist in their heart to begin with……. They avoid things that make them uneasy. And that’s exactly what Margarita’s spell
targeted.”

Margarita’s spell had serious effects on most people. They had been forced to confront the depths of their own hearts and acknowledge
the fears that lurked within. Acknowledgment gave some people the opportunity to overcome their fears, but others would suffer from
the effects of the curse for the rest of their lives.

“It’s a malicious spell that digs into the deepest depths of people’s hearts which even they aren’t aware of and vividly imprints their
greatest fears upon their minds. Who knows how this incident will shape their lives?”

They saw Schneider quickly walking up to them from afar. Arhad pulled Ianna closer.

“Let’s go. We don’t need to worry about the rest. Margarita lifted the rest of the spell. Psychic spells must be cast continuously, and it
leaves a huge impact on the caster if they’re forcibly dispelled……she would have felt that she was in danger.”

Ianna, who had been looking at Schneider, turned around and quickly left the party hall when Arhad gestured that they should leave
soon. Arhad stole one last glance back before following after her. He hid her light behind his darkness so that no one else could see her.
They vanished quickly from the party hall.

“…….”

Schneider, who had tried to catch hold of them, stopped walking when his feet lost their intended destination. He fell into a daze.

That crimson light had been scorching hot, and yet it had also given him a sense of comfortable relief.

Its powerful aura had enshrouded the entire hall and dispelled the curse.

It hadn’t been mana, which was similar to an inanimate object. Neither had it been colored mana. It had been heavier, had been tear-
inducing, and had almost felt like salvation…….

And yet, curiously enough, he thought that he had felt that special feeling before.

Schneider was smart, and he carefully combed through his memories before he quickly remembered. It had felt exactly like the aura he
had felt when he had visited the gravestone in the basement of the Great Temple of Laos as a child. And he had felt that tingling aura
again when he had seen the royal family’s treasure located at the heart of the royal palace and sealed away in a secret chamber —a
certain shard of metal that Queen Roanne de Roanne was said to have received from the God Laos himself and was called the treasure
that protected Roanne.

In a corner of his heart, he couldn’t help but wonder if it had been the mythical races who had caused this incident, which even his
teacher could not resolve, in the first place, but all his doubts had evaporated the moment he had seen that aura and felt it with his entire
being. Someone who could use that power would never cast such a curse on others.

‘Where they truly of the mythical races? Just what kinds of power do the mythical races have?’
Schneider caught sight of Saiwè, who had been on his way toward the exit, and quickly grabbed hold of him.

“Saiwè!”

“The condition was that you wouldn’t ask about them. Please let go.”

“But…”

“You were the only person whom I disclosed their identities to, Lord Brother. Since you’re the most decent person in the royal family. I
trusted that you would not let the truth about them be known.”

Saiwè brushed Schneider’s hand away and coldly continued,

“But I won’t stay quiet forever if you keep pestering me like this. I dislike people who bother me. I detest those who violate my privacy
and lay a hand against my people. If you keeping acting this way, Lord Brother……then I might even take my mother’s side.”

Schneider could not ask after the mythical races any longer now that Saiwè had refused him so adamantly. Saiwè brushed of his clothes
where Schneider had grabbed him as if it was dirty as he said,

“Please don’t provoke me while I’m still being quiet. I lent you my assistance this one time because the circumstances were extreme, but
it will not happen again.”

And that was all Saiwè said before he left the party hall. Schneider stood in place for a moment before he bit down at his lip and turned
back. Everyone was waiting for his orders.
Today really wasn’t his day. Schneider began cleaning up the ruined party hall.

“…….”

Saiwè had left the hall so quickly that no one could follow after him, and he slowed down only after he had gained a lot of distance. And
then, he finally stopped. He turned around and looked at the royal castle, which was still gorgeously brilliant even though its interior was
a mess, with a dark light in his eyes.

Saiwè recalled the illusion he had seen.

He had seen his own past in his illusion. The death of a certain man and his confession of the truth. The man’s secret diary.

Saiwè had been a brilliant boy with a lot of pride, self-esteem, honor, and self-respect. But his honor had been dropped into a pile of shit
and flushed down the sewers that day. The hopeless days that had followed had been shown to him all at once like a revolving lantern.
And he had also been shown the dreadful but unrealistic future that he had imagined and feared back then.

He was being stoned by everyone. They were pointing fingers at him and jeering at him. Spit had been flying out from their dirty
mouths. They asked him how dare he call himself a part of the esteemed royal family; how dare he, the bastard son of a vulgar woman
who had been sacrificed by a weaker kingdom, think he deserved their respect? He was just the by-product of a money-crazed wench as
she made a mess of her life, so how dare he live a life of luxury with the taxes they paid?

Saiwè placed a hand on his head, where a rock had hit him in his illusions. He almost deluded himself into thinking that it really ached.

“That illusion really soured my mood.”

He laughed a twisted laugh.

~~*~~

Part 7
Ianna and Arhad threw away their robes and masks once they had left the reaches of the royal castle’s barrier. They saw people enjoying
the festivities as they entered town.

Ianna surveyed her surroundings. There was still a cheery mood in town, unlike the palace, which was almost in mourning now that the
incident was over. Today was the king’s birthday, one of the three biggest holidays in Roanne, after all. The people in the palace were
only just beginning to wake up and settle down, and the people in the streets were still singing and dancing as they praised the king’s
reign, ignorant to everything that had just happened.

It was only after Ianna had taken off her robe and stepped into the light that Arhad frowned upon seeing what she was wearing.

“Your clothes……aren’t they Saiwè’s?”

“Yes. I borrowed them since it’s difficult to move around in a dress.”

Ianna glanced sideways at Arhad as she spoke. He didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.

“Burp, I’m getting drunk.”

A drunkard staggered by them just then and nearly bumped into Ianna as he tripped, prompting Arhad to pull her away by the shoulder.
The drunkard crashed to the ground and began groaning. Arhad could have helped the man back up too, but he simply gazed down at
him like the man was just a mere object before he dragged Ianna off to somewhere.
“Welcome.”

They arrived at an expensive-looking boutique. The stores hadn’t closed yet, perhaps due to the holiday season. Arhad rummaged
through the clothes hanging on the racks before he pulled out a luxurious yet simple dress and held it up. He paid the clerk without
bothering to ask after the price tag and immediately pushed it toward Ianna.

Ianna obediently took the dress into the fitting room. She didn’t look that great wearing Saiwè’s clothes because they were far too big for
her, and more importantly, she didn’t want Arhad to be in a foul mood. She could guess why he was feeling that way, though she wasn’t
too sure of the specifics. The possessiveness and obsession Arhad had for her went far beyond reason.

“I’m extremely possessive. If there’s something I want, then I’ll only be satisfied if I have everything that has to do with it in my
possession. If it’s a person that I want, then I need to have their entire life in my hands. So that they can focus only on me. I don’t care
what I have to do to make it happen.”
 

He had surpassed her every imagination. He wanted to monopolize her not as a warrior skilled at the sword or even as a woman, but
simply as a single being. Which was probably why he disliked the fact that she was wearing Saiwè’s clothes.

Ianna knew she should feel stifled when Arhad acted like this, but she didn’t feel that way at all. Perhaps it was because she had already
decided to offer him her life, or perhaps it was because she truly liked Arhad as a person.

His greed squeezed at her heart and gave her a measure of relief. It almost made her drowsy. It wasn’t bad……rather, it was actually
quite nice, but Ianna simply felt awkward and found herself strange for feeling this way. She felt a little ashamed of herself. And yet, she
did not want to push Arhad away. Rather, she wanted him to continue treating her like this.

‘A grave sickness.’
Ianna finished changing and looked into the mirror in front of her as she brushed her hair back. It was only then that she noticed.

‘My makeup…….’
Her face was a mess because she had been crying. She covered her face as she went back outside because she was a bit embarrassed. It
was only after he saw her wearing the dress he had chosen for her that Arhad’s spirits seemed to lift. But he grew confused when Ianna
kept covering her face and asked,

“Why are you covering your face?”

“I’m a bit of a mess.”

“…….”

Arhad looked quietly down at Ianna in her embarrassment. Her ears, which she could not hide behind her hands, were bright red. He
waited for her to finish washing her face and stared at her freshly-cleaned and slightly damp visage for a moment before he beamed.

“Do you want to head back for the dorms now, or do you want to wind down a little first?”

Ianna pondered. Her mind was still a bit of a mess, if she were to be honest. She still felt a little uneasy, and she hadn’t had much time to
organize her thoughts as of late because so much had been happening at once. There was a lot that she had done in Arhad’s absence, and
she felt like she had rushed a lot of them because she had not had the chance to sit down and talk to him properly in a while.
She had always had that in times like these. A certain something popped into her mind and began to tempt her. She grew parched. Ianna
nodded and said,
“Shall we go for a drink? But nowhere too expensive.”

“Sure,”

Arhad agreed immediately. Then, they made their way to a famous outdoors tavern in the capital. It was crowded when they got there.

“My apologies. The wait is over an hour long.”

Arhad then showed the troubled waiter a certain card, and the look on the waiter’s face changed instantly. He promptly bowed at a right
angle from his waist and led them to the third floor. They arrived at a balcony with just one table from which they could oversee the
scenery. Quietly, Ianna asked,

“What is this?”

“I own this tavern. I showed him my VIP card.”

“…….”

Several bottles of extremely expensive wine were placed on the table as soon as they sat down, and a colorful spread of appetizers were
placed between them. Arhad set the menu down next to Ianna and said,

“Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to eat.”

Ianna opened the menu and looked up how expensive the wine and appetizers on the table were.

Flip.
She took one look at the prices and quietly closed the menu. She felt her sense of money growing warped. Ianna brought up a pretty-
looking piece of fruit to her mouth without a word.

Arhad chucked as he watched Ianna, who normally would have instantly begun griping about the prices, quietly eat her fruit —perhaps
she had grown accustomed to his spending habits now. He opened up a bottle of wine and poured Ianna and himself a glass each. Then,
he raised his glass. Ianna raised hers as well when he gestured to her with it.

Clink—
They tapped their glasses together, and Ianna simply drank for a while without saying anything. She felt her thoughts, which had been
tangled like a ball of yarn that a cat had been playing with, unravel with each glass she drank. Arhad filled her glass up again every time
she emptied it.

She eventually emptied a bottle, and then two. Arhad observed her as he drank with her and, just as her face was beginning to flush,
asked,

“What was it that you asked me back then?”

Ianna’s hands stopped moving just as she was about to bring her glass back to her lips. She immediately understood what his sudden
question had implied. But she didn’t really want to hear the answer anymore. The surge of courage she had felt back then had dissipated
into embarrassment like vivid colors fading with time. The desire to dodge the question, to hide away her uneasiness, gnawed at her.
Ianna shook her head.

“It wasn’t anything important. You can ignore it.”

“You asked me if I had any plans for marriage.”

“…….”

Why did he ask the question if he already knew the answer to begin with? He remembered what she had asked, but perhaps he had
wanted to confirm it. Ianna had little choice but to affirm, since there was no way she could write it off if he remembered.

“I did.”

Ianna looked up at the sky. The sun had long since vanished beyond the horizon, and only the moon and the stars, glowing in the
darkness, decorated the night sky. But the surface was still bright from the lights that people had lit.

She felt her temper flare, perhaps because she was tipsy. She wanted to spit out all the words she was keeping bottled up inside. To let
everything out before the night was over since she was already here. Ianna placed her glass back down on the table and asked,

“Are you planning on getting married someday?”

“No.”

His prompt reply made Ianna recall her past. Would his answer remain unchanged even twenty years down the road? Arhad had not been
married at the time of her death. But then, why hadn’t he?

“Why not?”

“It’s too much effort.”

“Perhaps, but you’ll be an emperor one day. You’ll have a duty to leave behind heirs. So why would you say that?”

“Heirs……I have no use for heirs. I can simply hand over the throne to whomever is best suited for the job. Having to lie with a woman I
don’t even like and bear a child to continue my bloodline……would be the worst. I’d rather end my lineage with my generation.”

What a strange man. But then again, Ianna had heard that some men didn’t like children. Arhad didn’t quiet seem to fit that bill, but
Ianna decided to ignore it for now.

“Then, putting the question of marriage aside, wouldn’t you need a woman?”

Arhad pursed his lips and stared plainly into her. Ianna didn’t look embarrassed at all as she looked back at him. There was absolutely no
desire in the clear light of her eyes. Arhad sighed.

“Why would you ask me something like that?”

“I was only curious. I’m told that it’s only natural for men to want to lie with women.”

She knew that Arhad had never been married. But she couldn’t remember if he had never had any lovers. She had only ever taken an
interest in their war and in his sword.

“Not in particular.”
Was there something wrong with him as a man? Ianna placed her elbows on the table and rested her face in her hands as she stared
openly into him.

Ianna seriously considered that there might be something wrong with him. His heart, his mind —there were so many things wrong with
the man that she couldn’t necessarily rule it out. Arhad’s lips twisted.

“You look like you’re thinking about something incredibly rude right now.”

“I was not. I was only wondering if you might be……ill, or something.”

“That’s exactly what I meant by something rude.”

Arhad brought his glass up to his lips as he continued,

“I would obviously want to hold someone I loved. But I wouldn’t feel anything for any other woman’s naked body. I could have my pick
of any woman if I so wanted. Women would come running into my arms as soon as I reached out……. But I don’t, because I’m not
interested.”

Then again, he was so wealthy that he had said that he owned this tavern as if it had meant nothing to him at all, so amazingly capable
that no one else could measure up to him, so lofty in station that he was an imperial prince of Bahamut, and so attractive that even
Angelina, who was lauded as the most beautiful girl in the kingdom, was crushing on him —no woman in the world would refuse to
sleep with him if he wanted to seduce them.

“How curious. I heard that men sometimes get aroused regardless of their intentions.”

“That isn’t true for me.”

“But why not? Aren’t you a little too lacking in desire for a man?”

“Why on earth is this the topic of our conversation?”

Arhad dodged the question by acting displeased, but Ianna quietly waited for his answer. He could not for the life of him figure out why
Ianna was asking him this. And with her eyes so pure, as if there was nothing that she wanted from him.

“Sigh…….”
Arhad sighed. He slowly spun his glass, with a ball of ice inside, around and watched as his wine revolved around the cold ice. He said,

“Everything that exists in the world adapts and adjusts to its environment as time passes. The same is true of emotions as well. I’ve been
driven insane by such overwhelming emotions for so long that I’ve grown accustomed to them, and other, blander emotions fail to
stimulate me. And any emotions that aren’t directed to the target of my emotions aren’t even worth mention.”

“……?”

“Lust is a bland emotion. Especially in comparison to my greed for you.”

Ianna parted her lips and pressed them close again. Had her mind gone lax because she was drunk? His words sounded so sweet to her
ears. Hearing Arhad sincerely confess his feelings to her made her start feeling stupid for hallucinating him abandoning her.

There was no reason that this man would ever abandon her. There was absolutely no reason for her to be anxious —so what on earth had
she been so afraid of? This man would never let her go. He would grab hold of her again and again if she ever tried to leave him, and he
would bring her right back to his side. He would embrace her unconditionally even if she was being childish. He would embrace her
unconditionally no matter what she did. He would never get married, and he would never be as greedy for another subordinate as he was
for her. She would never find herself an ally as reliable as him.
She hated her childish self for being weak.

“Is that so? I’m glad to hear it.”

So, wasn’t it all right to let Arhad see her weak self? Only Arhad. After all, he would never cast her aside. Which was why Ianna had
completely let go of her normally sharpened self without even realizing it. She didn’t laugh out loud, but she smiled sheepishly like a
child asking to be loved.

Arhad opened his eyes wide when he saw Ianna beaming at him, and he quickly turned away as his face flushed crimson.

“And that’s why you may never leave me for another. Understand?”

In any event, he had meant that he could control his lust as easily as he pleased if he wasn’t in love with the other party. He was different
from the countless lewd men Ianna had encountered while leading her army in the past.

She found Arhad stranger and more curious the better she got to know him. Ianna closed her eyes and repeated what a strange man he
was in her mind, and she was about to bring her glass to her lips again when Arhad said,

“You seem to have plans for marriage, though.”

Ianna opened her eyes and looked up at him when he spoke, only to find that he was in a very poor mood. He continued,

“But you can’t. I will never allow it. If you absolutely must get married, then you can just marry me.”
“……I beg your pardon?”

It had come out of nowhere. Ianna studied Arhad to determine how serious he was being. He was so severely obsessed with her that it
was difficult to tell whether he had been serious or not.

Ianna pondered. Arhad had said that he would only sleep with someone he loved, but Ianna wondered if he would ever even meet this
person at this rate. Was she doing a disservice to him?

But Arhad would never let her go, and she didn’t want to leave him because of his love either. Did that mean that she really should just
marry him one day? Should she stand next to him, a man, and be as not only his sword but his woman as well?

Even if they wouldn’t be in a romantic relationship.

Ianna’s thoughts were veering off in a bizarre direction that she would have never entertained had she not been tipsy, but Arhad
misunderstood her gaze as contemptuous and raised his hands in surrender.

“I was only joking, so don’t look at me like that. All I’m saying is that I won’t let you leave me.”

Pft —Ianna burst out in laughter. She shook her head as Arhad looked back at her dubiously. The wine had made her thoughts take a turn
for the strange.
“I know. And like I said before —I didn’t ask because I was planning to marry.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“I was thinking about you, not me.”

Ianna hesitated. She didn’t want to obsess over him, didn’t want to cling to him —but would her king who was always looking to only
her brush away her childish antics? How wonderful would it be if he didn’t? She was certain that Arhad would not. Ianna continued,
“I……would hate it if you abandoned me to marry another.”

“………?”

Arhad could not comprehend what she was saying. She had been concise and he understood her vocabulary, but his brain stopped
working for a moment because could not imagine that her words might actually mean what he thought they meant.

“I would hate it if I became second to another in your heart. I would truly hate it for your attention to be divided because you got
married.”

It was easy to keep talking once the dam had broken. Ianna’s words flowed freely one after another. She continued,

“I lied and told everyone that we were dating because they were annoying me with their constant questions and because I wanted to stop
immature children like Angelina from buzzing around you and getting in the way of your work. And I regretted it later. I was acting far
too emotionally. And yet…”

She could not keep the wave of emotion she had acknowledged only after the fact locked inside herself forever.

“I would lie all over again as I am right now. You always yearn for me, but I would have to leave your side if you found yourself a lover,
and I would hate that. I would hate it. I couldn’t help but question if I was normal for feeling this way. And that’s why I asked you how
you would feel if I were to get married.”

Arhad looked awkward as he tried to distinguish whether what he was hearing right now was true or false, a dream or reality. Ianna let
out a sigh and looked to him with a slightly more sober look in her eyes. She felt so refreshed now that she had gotten it off her chest.
Which meant that it was now time to tell him that.
“I first hallucinated my parents pushing me away and hurting me like the always had. They told me they didn’t want to see me, they
asked me who did I think I was, and they called me useless……but I overcame that. And I knew that I was under the effects of a spell.”

“…….”

“But what I saw next was you heartlessly casting me aside and leaving me. You told me that you didn’t need me anymore, that you
didn’t want me anymore, and you pushed me away. And I cried about how much I hated it as I clung to you in tears.”

Ianna sipped her wine in silence and she fell into earnest contemplation. She quite liked it when Arhad pat her head. And when he
hugged her. And when he laughed.

“You pay so much attention to me and pour so much goodwill unto me that I take it for granted, and you always tell me that you would
do anything for me…….”

And she hated it a little when she thought about him acting the same way to another.

“I think I’ve been seeking the unconditional love and affection that I never received from my parents as a child.”

Ianna slowly lowered her gaze and looked down at her empty wineglass —she was starting to find it difficult to look at Arhad for some
reason. She didn’t know if it was because she was drunk or if it was because she was embarrassed, but her face was scarlet in her
reflection in the glass.

“You always pay so much attention to me and pour out so much goodwill unto me that it’s almost excessive, you tell me that everything
will be all right and you hold me when I make mistakes, you get angry on my behalf when something infuriating happens……and you
always take my side no matter what, no? I thought it was similar to how a parent loves their child.”
Ianna brought down her hand, which she had been resting her chin against, and began touching her glass. The cold glass biting against
her sensitive fingertips made her realize that she was blushing furiously in embarrassment, but she ignored it.

“I have never received such unconditional love and attention before. And that’s why I was so awkward about it. Like whenever you
stroked my hair or pulled me in for a hug. But…”

She had already come this far, so she decided to be honest about everything and acknowledge it all.

“I was awkward about it, and I never let it show, but I think I always liked it. ……No, I do like it.”
She had always thought that she didn’t dislike it when he treated her like a child and pat her head like he found her adorable or when he
held her in his arms as she crumbled, unable to withstand her own emotions, but the truth was that she had actually rather liked it. It
always made her feel safe and comfortable when he acted like that. She could no longer deny the subtly warm and ticklish feelings that
filled her chest.

“Don’t I always tell you? I am standing at your side not because you want me to, but because I want to. I asked you at my debut too.
Please don’t cast me aside.”
Ianna closed her mouth after she had spoken. She squeezed the glass in her hands. She genuinely felt like she had grown weak. She was
starting to want to deny herself, and she wanted to stop talking because a nasty sense of repulsion was starting to flare up inside her. But
she wanted to beat back her repulsion and say everything that she had meant to say, and so she pried her stubbornly closed mouth back
open.

“I want you to cherish me most and want me and pay attention to me……as if I was a young child. I probably see you as a parent…….”

Ianna paused for a moment. It sounded strange, now that she was saying it out loud. She didn’t exactly see him as a parent. She turned
the gears in her head for a bit and contemplated, but she simply continued on because she couldn’t reach an answer.

“Not exactly as a parent, but something similar —I probably see you as an absolute figure in my life.”

She had told him everything. She had exposed to him everything that was inside her heart. It was so refreshing. Ianna breathed out a sigh
and snuck a glance up at Arhad with only her eyes. Their eyes met immediately, likely because he had been looking to her this entire
time. He was resting his chin against his hands, and he was truly looking squarely back at her.

Ianna was puzzled. Based off her experience, her words should have made Arhad happy, comically enough, and he should have been
blushing crimson by now and then some. But the expression on his face had never changed. And he didn’t say a word —not one word
about how happy he was to hear it or even a joke about becoming a parent.

“Arhad?”

“…….”

He didn’t answer. Ianna wondered if he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. She ignored him and poured herself a glass of wine. She
especially wanted to drink today. Arhad, who had been staring at her, finally spoke up while she was serving herself.

“Everything you said just now —was it all true?”

The first thing he did was to verify the truth. Ianna grew a little defiant.

“And if it’s wasn’t?”

“You’ll really hear it from me if you tell me that was all just a joke.”

Arhad was carrying a strange air about him. This mysterious, unfathomable sensation kept poking at Ianna’s senses. But in any case, it
didn’t seem like he had said it in jest. Ianna was puzzled —just what exactly was he trying to confirm?— as she replied,
“I was being sincere.”

The look on Arhad’s face still didn’t change even after she had said that. He stopped talking again, as if he had fallen into thought. Ianna
observed him quietly. It was difficult to guess what he was thinking. Arhad slowly spun around his glass as he mumbled,
“A parent……. You think I love you like a parent loves their child?”

“Not exactly……but I apologize if I offended you.”

“Nonsense. I wasn’t offended. Truly.”

Arhad accepted everything, just as she knew he would. She had known this, and yet she felt the anxiety making a mess of her heart
completely vanish. Ianna didn’t say anything. But she looked much more relaxed than before as she nodded.

Arhad, who had been staring openly at her, stopped spinning his glass and put it down on the table. He seemed to have finished thinking,
and he looked Ianna directly in the eyes as the edges of his lips curled into a smile.

“I’m overjoyed to know that you like it when I act that way.”

There was a slight flush to his face, like always. His was an honest smile that didn’t hide how delighted he was. Ianna was certain of this,
so why…?

Ianna tensed up inadvertently as a chill ran down her back. Something was different. She didn’t feel like her life was in danger, but she
instinctively felt that she was in peril. She felt like something was closing in tight around her, something she couldn’t describe with
words but could neither fight off nor flee from.

‘Is it because of the wine?’

Ianna shook her head as she wrote it off as her imagination running wild.

“It’s good, since it’ll only get worse from now.”

“What do you mean it’ll only get worse?”

Ianna was completely at ease, in any event, and she grew curious about what he was saying. Arhad simply shrugged and took the bottle
of wine that Ianna had been holding.

“I meant that I’ll start looking after you even more moving forward. I don’t mind how you decide to interpret it. After hearing what you
had to say, I think you were pretty close.”

Arhad poured some wine into Ianna’s empty glass. Ianna stared at the highly alcoholic drink filling her glass as she said,

“To be honest, I hate myself for being like this. You are my master, whom I should be protecting, but I won’t be of any help to you if I’m
like this.”

It was a good thing that Saiwè was an ally —things would have been disastrous had he been an enemy. Part of the reason why Saiwè had
figured out the truth was because of how much money Arhad had spent on her, but the bigger reasons were because she had taken off her
robe and exposed her figure during the chimera incident and because she had declared that she and Arhad were lovers.

Ianna broke out in goosebumps when she realized that she was the reason Arhad had been exposed. Arhad, who had been watching as
she shuddered slightly, shook his head no.
“Don’t I always tell you? You help me just by being here. I almost rather that you were powerless. I wish you would rely on me more. I
want you to tell me when you make a mistake instead of suffering on your own. The things that you told me made me really happy. I
really like the new attitude you’ve taken on. And…”

Arhad raised his glass and gestured at her. Ianna raised her own glass and tapped it against his. A clear sound resounded between them.
Arhad continued,

“You aren’t a child. You know how to think for yourself and assert your opinions. You have the ability to take responsibility for your
actions, and neither are you so weak that you need to be protected. No one would call you a child. You’ve already grown up. Besides,
you barely rely on me at all. And you’re so extremely obstinate that you always choose to do exactly what I tell you not to —so what are
you even saying?”

Arhad brought his glass to his lips as he crossly spat out,

“Everyone feels that way about another person in one way or another. Sometimes that other person is a parent, like you said, but it can
also be a child, a friend, a teacher, or a lover. In any case, you can’t call someone childish just for wanting another to unconditionally
take their side and pay attention to them. You  are still young in my eyes, of course, but you wouldn’t be drinking with me like this if you
were truly a child.”
Arhad was right, as he always was. Ianna quietly chewed over his words before she responded,

“In that case, what is it that I see in you that makes me feel this way? I know. It’s not a parent. Is it a good friend? Or perhaps a master
who favors me?”

“…….”

Arhad stared at her quietly before he closed his eyes.

“Who can say? Human emotions are diverse, and everyone defines what they feel differently. That’s something you’ll have to define for
yourself.”

Arhad was right. Ianna nodded and let out a long sigh of relief. She felt refreshed. It really was best to just be honest. But there was still
one more problem she had to solve.

“Oh, and about us dating.”

“Pft!”

Arhad suddenly laughed while drinking his wine. Why was he laughing? Was it because he found her absurd, or was it because he was
having fun? Ianna paused for a moment, but Arhad nodded at her to continue.

“I’m sorry. But my feelings are one thing, and this is another. I was planning on telling people that you dumped me tomorrow.”

“Why?”

Arhad asked back as if nothing was wrong.

“I was acting too emotionally. The fact that I lied keeps hanging over me. And the fact that I would have to continue this lie pricks at my
conscience. And besides, I dislike relationships like this.”

She felt so uncomfortable now that she thought about it that she wanted to be dumped right this instant. She didn’t want to lie, and
neither did she want to put herself in a relationship like this. Especially with Arhad. Her head began to hurt. She wanted to kick herself
for lying so thoughtlessly back then.
Arhad looked into the discomfort on Ianna’s face, as if he was trying to read her heart, before quietly saying,

“I’d prefer to keep up the lie, if you’re all right with that.”

“Pardon?”

“You dislike it when men approach you, and I dislike it when women approach me. That lie is a convenient way to solve both problems.”

“…….”

“I was just about to take action anyway because Angelina’s interest in me was staring to get offensive, but don’t you think she’ll back off
more readily if rumors about us dating begins to spread? Or maybe I should just kill her and get it over with?”

Ianna always felt disconcerted whenever Arhad said something like this. He always reasoned that he could simply kill off someone who
became a problem as if that was only the logical conclusion.

Ianna put her sword to people and eliminated them if they got in her way too, but only as a last resort. Arhad, on the other hand, seemed
to view murder as his first option. Keigus, Schneider……his inclination only grew worse whenever she was involved.

“You mustn’t. The consequences would be severe.”

“Then there’s no helping it. Let’s keep up this lie.”

“…….”

“Besides, you started it, Ianna, so I should be the one who gets to end it. Why must I only get the short end of the stick? I alone would
end up being the bad guy who dumped you……it’s unfair.”
He technically hadn’t said anything wrong. She had only started the lie because she had known that he would find great fun in it. But she
had ignored his opinion, and she was still ignoring his opinion and trying to end it unilaterally even now.

Ianna hesitated. She recalled how the Arhad in her illusion had coldly said that he had started hating her because she was always so
selfish. He would never say that in reality, but……it still concerned her a little. Arhad smirked and folded his hands as he saw her sneak
glances at him.

“Also, I think this situation is fun. It’ll be a great source of entertainment in my otherwise boring life.”

“I don’t find this entertaining at all. There’s nothing I can say for myself because I was the one who started this, but I still don’t want to
keep it up. Can’t you please be a little more understanding? I’m sure there’ll be another way to deal with the princess.”
“No.”

Arhad rejected Ianna’s reluctance. He continued,

“You’ll come to realize that this isn’t as big a deal as you’re making it out to be once you’ve experienced it for yourself. I even think
you’ll starting finding it fun too.”

“I highly doubt that.”

“You don’t plan on ever being romantically involved anyway, right?”

“Yes.”
“The same is true for me. And besides, both of us would hate it if you or I found someone else.”

“……That’s true,”

Ianna quietly concurred. It was why she had thought of something insane earlier —when she had wondered if she should just marry him.
And now, she admitted it readily. She would hate it for Arhad to find someone else whom he might cherish more dearly than her.

“Neither of us will ever be in a relationship at this rate. But I do think it’d be nice to at least experience it once. So, why don’t we play a
game?”

“A game?”

Ianna asked upon hearing the foreign word. Arhad explained himself gently, as if he was trying to persuade a petulant child.

“It’s not as if our relationship will change. Right?”

“It won’t.”

Ianna’s answer was firm. She would not change so long as Arhad continued to want her. And there was no reason that he would ever
stop wanting her.

“So why don’t we try pretending to be in a different kind of relationship, just for fun? There’s no problem in that, right?”

A game that didn’t matter whether things were real or false……. Their relationship wouldn’t change, and not much else would either.
Ianna felt a bit less reluctant now that she saw things in a new light. She let herself be persuaded, just a little.

Arhad dragged his chair against the floor and stood up as the expression on Ianna’s face changed ever so subtly.

“It’s not like things will change all that much just because we’re dating. It simply means that we can make intimate contact, like me
stroking your hair or hugging you as you mentioned earlier, more often. Lovers do that too, after all. And you said that you didn’t mind
it.”

Those were things that Arhad did normally and in perfect nonchalance. And Ianna herself had just confessed that she rather liked it. She
was persuaded a little more.

Arhad pulled his chair up next to Ianna’s and sat down. He poured more wine in her glass. The wine fell in an elegant arc as it filled her
once-empty glass to the brim without missing a single drop.

“We go out together fairly often already, but we might do so more frequently moving forward. And we’ll also sit close together like this
more often too.”

“…….”

……It actually wasn’t all that bad. Her reluctance was slowly fading away, and her silence was starting to lean closer to acceptance.
Ianna picked up her glass without a word.

“But…”
Arhad reached out and wrapped his arm around Ianna’s shoulders. Ianna flinched because she had never experienced this action before.
The wine in her glass nearly sloshed out as she startled. Ianna turned her head. They were so close that they could feel each other’s
breaths, and their eyes met. Arhad continued,

“I might wrap my arms around your shoulder like this. Or I might wrap my arms around your waist like I did in front of Saiwè, and I
might do it especially often. Lovers typically act like that, after all.”

“…….”

“You don’t like it?”

Ianna fell into thought with Arhad’s arm still wrapped around her shoulder. She didn’t know if she was simply drunk or if she truly felt
this way……but her heart was pounding and, while she didn’t know if she liked it, she certainly didn’t hate it. She would have already
brushed him off and then some if she hated it.

She still felt awkward, of course, since she had never imagined that she would get tangled in a romantic relationship with Arhad. But
perhaps it was because she didn’t hate it that she did not reject him strongly as she would have before.

She was definitely drunk. And……it was probably because she was intoxicated that Arhad seemed so different from usual right now. He
never changed. His brilliant golden eyes were just the same as ever as they shone darkly with his possessive desire to monopolize her. So
it must be because of the wine that he seemed so different.
But in any event, she didn’t hate it. Ianna shook her head. And she turned away from Arhad before she knew it and looked down at her
glass. Arhad stared blankly back at her as she toyed with her glass before he squeezed her shoulders and slowly drew away.

“Then, it’s fine, isn’t it?”

“……Is it?”

“It is. This’ll be useful in multiple ways, like giving me just cause when I stop other bastards from approaching you. And we should take
it a step further if we’re going to go this far anyway. Let’s say that we plan on getting married and following the guy who bid 500,000
gold on you during the school festival.”

Ianna started to doubt Arhad’s sanity. She wondered if the wine had interrupted his ability to think properly.

“Are you in your right mind?”

“I am perfectly sane.”

“Anyone sharp enough will be able to connect the dots and realize that you and the man who bid 500,000 gold on me are one and the
same.”

“Is that the only problem? Getting married is okay?”

“…….”

Ianna had been glaring at Arhad as he grumbled, but she ultimately gave up. She stopped glaring and let out a sigh.

“……Please stop with the spiteful jesting. If we’re going to do this, then we should at least do it properly so people don’t start thinking
we’re weird if we get found out. And we’ll only be keeping up the act in front of others, yes?”
Arhad’s face flushed a little when Ianna finally assented. But Ianna, who was still feeling uneasy about the entire deal, failed to take
notice. There was a smile etched on Arhad’s lips.

“Of course. Oh, but let me add just one more thing. We’ll say that I asked you out.”
Ianna cast a glance at him. She wondered if there was a reason why he wanted to say that.

“Why?”

“Then do you want to say that you asked me out instead?”

She felt repulsed as soon as she heard him propose it. She asked him out? It didn’t suit her at all, she never intended to do such a thing,
and she would never have any reason to. She did not have the confidence to lie about that. She might even quit the whole act altogether if
Arhad made her pretend that she had asked him out first.
“……No.”

“Then let’s just say that I asked you and leave it at that. Let’s do our best together, Ianna.”

Arhad extended his hand to her. Ianna stared at it sullenly for a moment before she sighed and shook it.

It was only the next day that Ianna realized she had made the entirely wrong decision.

“…….”

She was frozen stiff.

“Holy crap.”

“What? What? Whaaat?”

Such was the situation. Ianna was walking out from her dorms to train like she always did. She had slept in a little because she had been
drinking the night before and was a little tired, but Arhad had been waiting in front of her dormitory building for whatever the reason.
The other girls were openly staring at him. Ianna stopped and stared blankly as she tried to figure out why he was here before she walked
up to him.

“Why are you……?”

She was about to ask him why he was here when Arhad suddenly pulled her close. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and
seductively whispered in her ear,

“Why were you so late?”

“…….”

Ianna stiffened up. Arhad’s female fans were staring fixedly at them. Such was the current situation.

Unable to understand what was going on, Ianna quietly asked,

“What are you doing?”

“Pretending to be your lover, just like we decided yesterday,”

was what Arhad had actually whispered in her ear, but to everyone else it looked like he was whispering sweet nothings. After all, the
look on his face suggested that he was a man who had fallen head over heels in love, though Ianna couldn’t tell because she was
currently being held in his arms. He was squeezing her tight, as if he loved the woman in his arms so much that he couldn’t hold himself
back, and the slight flush on his face suggested that he liked her so much there was nothing he could do about it —and he left no room
for doubt.

Ianna and Arhad, who had always had pinkish rumors floating around them, had finally started dating!

But all of his female fans’ hearts still skipped a beat anyway because Arhad was being too attractive.

“…….”

Arhad relaxed his grip around her a little as Ianna was rendered speechless in her daze. She glared at him incredulously when she finally
came to her senses, and Arhad simply smiled as if he couldn’t help himself because he found even her glare so endearing.

“I really like you, Ianna.”

Ianna felt her entire body grow rigid.

—“The Black Fox (2)” End

—To be continued in Volume 6

Chapter 21: Transition

Part 1
The rumors started as excited students witnessed Ianna and Arhad make their way to class and
eventually spread to every corner of the Institution. Bored youths who were done with finals and
waiting for vacation to start took interest in the gossip about the pink light of romance between two
of the Institution’s hottest celebrities.

“So it finally happened.”

“I always knew it would.”

“I’ve known ever since he got her the flowers during the school festival.”

“Did you know that he was apparently Lady Ianna’s first dance at her debut too?”
“Sir Arhad probably asked her out first, right?”

“Obviously.”

Most people reacted like they had always known Ianna and Arhad would end up dating. They had all
been a little surprised to hear that Ianna’s wall, which was like an impregnable fortress, had
collapsed, but they were all convinced after taking into consideration the fact that Arhad had been the
one to accomplish it.
Everyone wanted to get to know Arhad better but he was always difficult to approach because he
always seemed to draw a line between himself and others, but it had been long since heavily rumored
that he had a huge crush on Ianna because he would brighten up and grow flustered like an obedient
hunting dog only when he was with her.

Almost as if to prove the point, he looked so deeply in love with Ianna as they walked to class
together that he didn’t seem to register anyone else beside her.

He showered her with his deep affections by saying that he liked her, that he loved her —it was as if
the dam had finally burst and water was gushing out.

He had definitely acted like that as he wooed her too. Besides, who could possibly turn down a man
as well-off as Arhad when he wooed them in his lovesickness? Even Ianna, a steel fortress, had
crumbled before his allure.

Ianna was sitting in a lecture hall with her books open in front of her. Arhad had escorted her to her
lecture as smoothly as flowing waters, even though she had never once told him her schedule, and
had disappeared only after promising that he would see her again soon.

“Why not just be honest about it to begin with? Hmm? I heard all about what happened at the party
yesterday. How long has it been? My gosh, you never even seemed like you were dating……to think
that you’d managed to deceive my eyes!”
It wasn’t Arhad but Eiji, whom Ianna had classes with, who was bothering her with a slight flush of
excitement on his face.

“…….”

Ianna did not answer any of Eiji’s onslaught of questions. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to but that
she simply had nothing to tell him. Eiji took hold of her and gently began shaking her, but she kept
her mouth clamped tightly shut.

Arhad had said that not much would change. Which was why she had thought it would be all right to
consent to continuing this fraud. Their romantic relationship was just a lie and nothing had actually
changed between them, and so she had thought that nothing would feel out of the ordinary.

And yet.
‘Something’s strange…….’
But she could not name exactly what it was that she found strange if anybody asked. She simply felt
like something was amiss.

“I really like you, Ianna.”

 

He had said that he liked her from time to time previously as well. And nothing had changed —
neither his words nor his attitude.

……And yet, something still felt different to her.

And there was no reason that she would still be drunk from yesterday.

‘I’m probably just imagining things.’

Class had started at some point, and Ianna shook her head as she looked to blackboard that her
professor had nearly filled.

‘……But will he really keep acting like that?’

She thought she was simply imagining things, but it made her a little uneasy that she still couldn’t
deny it clearly.

‘Right. He’s definitely acting differently from usual.’

Her heart dropped heavily like a sack of sand as she recalled how strangely nervous she had felt.

It was absurd, but her heart had pounded even though all they done was to walk side by side. It was a
completely ordinary action that she normally wouldn’t have thought anything about, and yet she had
been a little nervous. And she was nervous even still as she tried to predict what Arhad would do
next. Ianna could not discern where this wicked anxiety was stemming from.

‘Damn it all,’
Ianna cursed to herself. It displeased her that she couldn’t understand why she was like this. Ianna
hoped that the strange aura around Arhad that made her heart uneasy would have gone away by the
time she saw him again as she took up her pen and began writing. But her nib stopped before she
could complete a single sentence.

It had truly been a while since Ianna had last been unable to concentrate in class because of another.

Ianna’s mind floated in and out of class, and she simply kept sitting in a blank daze, lost in her
thoughts, even after the lecture was over.
Eiji kept chattering at her while Ianna simply stared down at her books without saying a word when
she suddenly felt something tap against her head. Ianna looked up as she returned to her senses only
to find Arhad patting her on the head.

“Why didn’t you answer when I called?”

Clatter!
Ianna startled and pushed back against her seat.

“When……did you get here?”

“Just now. I’ve been calling you for a while, but you wouldn’t answer.”

He had been pretending to be a commoner at the Institution until recently, though he was acting as
the adopted son of Viscount Callisto now. He still acted the part of a kind senior before other people,
because he could not overstep the boundaries between commoners and the nobility —much less treat
her as his subordinate.

And so, Ianna had grown accustomed to his kindness.

But the fact that they were not simply senior and junior anymore made Ianna’s heart uneasy.

“…….”

“Come here.”

Arhad held out his hand. Ianna anxiously leaned back against her chair for a while before standing up
and walking next to him because she did not know what else she was supposed to do. Arhad brought
his arm across her shoulder and pulled her closer.

Ianna held her breath without realizing it and an awkward expression crossed her face as she looked
up at Arhad.

“Must we……do this too?”

“We’ve already started, so we might as well see it to the end,”

Arhad whispered back. Eiji let out a strange noise and squirmed when he saw them standing so close
together.

“…….”
The students who had been staring at them ever since Arhad had walked into the lecture hall felt
strange as they watched Ianna stay meekly in his arms.

Ianna had always seemed so aloof, as if she was perfectly content to be alone, and she was difficult to
talk to. And she was often so cold that people couldn’t help but wonder if it was even possible to
share any emotions with her.

And yet her crimson hair was captured in a man’s sturdy arm and was sticking out here and there,
and she was quiet as said arm was wrapped around her. It was only then that people realized that she
was just another normal girl who knew how to love.

‘But how did he even woo her in the first place?’

‘Attractive guys really can get away with anything, huh.’
‘Damn it all.’
Ianna’s friends had gathered for lunch, and they naturally came face to face with Arhad too as he
guarded his place by her side. Arhad beamed as he greeted them.

“Hello. May I join you for lunch today?”

“Oh hey, you’re that good-lookin’ senior from before. Hey there. Yer always welcome to eat with us,
and I heard the news!”

Taro suddenly took Arhad’s hand. He continued,

“Please tell me yer secrets —how did ya manage to melt that pretty lump of ice……?”

“I used the standard tactics. Though there was a bit of scheming involved, I suppose.”

Ianna stood by sullenly as she grumbled to herself about how good the sly man was at lying. Arhad
continued,

“I’m sure you’ll be able to win Princess Lalatua’s heart one day if you keep working hard, Little
Taro.”

“Ack, ya really think so? Damn, I really like this guy. I wholeheartedly approve of him, Lil’ Ianna!”

They talked about all sorts of things as they ate. And finally, Ianna’s friends asked Arhad to stop
speaking so politely to them. He was a fifth-year on top of being older than them, and they would
find it more comfortable if Ianna’s lover addressed them more casually too.

“You’re Ianna’s friends……so I was hoping to get to know you better too. Let me know if you ever
run into any trouble, and I hope you’ll always remain on good terms with Ianna.”
“Bleeeeeeech. Look at that lovey-dovey look on his face.”

Eiji made an ugly face as he rubbed his arms as if he had suddenly gotten the chills. He continued,

“Doesn’t this make you some kind of criminal, Sir? She might be awesome, pretty, cute, and lovable,
but the princess of our Swordsmanship Department is still a whole five years younger than
you…….”

“Do you want to die?”

Eiji shut his mouth when Ianna mumbled at him frigidly, but he opened it again quickly enough.

“You see? I’m her gofer at best, so don’t you worry about me.”

“This is great —I’ve always thought the two of you would look great together.”

“I’m so jealous.”

Herrace nodded with a slight flush to his face while Taro was teary-eyed in his envy.

“…….”

Ianna wore a serious look on her face all throughout lunch.

‘Why is everyone accepting it like it’s only natural?’

Her friends had not been surprised at all to hear that she and Arhad were lovers. She had thought they
would be, but they congratulated her and told her that they looked good together instead.

People had always thought that they had been lovers, and Ianna had always ignored their
misunderstandings.

It was only now that Ianna seriously tried to figure out what had caused the misunderstandings,
which she had been ignoring completely until now. She quietly recalled how she and Arhad acted
around each other.

But no matter how hard she thought about it, they had simply been as a senior and junior on close
terms.

They had never exchanged any words of love.

Nor had they kissed like lovers or slept together.

And the hugging? Friends did that too.

The fact that they had danced together? Even political enemies danced with each other in high
society.

Ianna was simply very fond of Arhad as a person —as someone who would unconditionally take her
side. And she also felt competitive toward him because he was an excellent rival, and that was all.
She had never had any reason to hide her feelings before others, and so she had not.

Ianna’s lips twisted.

‘If these feelings count as love and the relationship we share is supposedly a romantic one, then
everyone in the world must be in love with each other. Oh, lo and behold.’
She could not figure out what had caused the misunderstandings for the life of her.

It was the delusions of the meddlesome masses who wanted to connect any man and woman together
romantically even if they were only friends.

Ianna’s head cooled once she had reached her cynical conclusion.

‘There are a lot of fools in the world who waste their time on things that don’t have anything to do
with themselves. And they like to go ahead and selfishly make determinations based on their
personal feelings.’
They were egoists who insisted they were right even if they weren’t and did everything in their
power to make their opinions the truth.

Indeed.

They had always been this way.

People had always blindly assumed that Ianna was as easy as her mother had been even though she
had never once done anything to whittle herself down and cheapen her worth. They were no different
from the savages who branded innocent virgins as witches and tied them to stakes in the middle of
the square to throw rocks at them.

Which was why Ianna never listened to anyone else when it came to matters that she thought was
wrong. She covered her ears and ignored them. And it was only right for her to do the same now.

“Sir, you’re a cradle snatcher, a criminal. A brute,”

Eiji continued teasing. His teasing made Ianna’s already chilly mood even more of a mess. Arhad
smirked as he rolled his spaghetti around his fork and, as if he couldn’t have cared any less, replied,
“I haven’t done anything to warrant being call a brute yet.”

“Pff.”
Ianna nearly spat out the food she had been chewing on.

Indeed.

She was only reaping what she herself had sown.

She had been preparing herself a delicious feast, but she ultimately ended up spoon-feeding it to the
people who had been crying out in hunger.

……It was true that she had only lied because she would have hated it for some unattractive woman
to get in the way of Arhad’s ambitions, but the biggest reason why she had agreed to keep up the lie
was because she could not tolerate the idea that some other woman might become Arhad’s lover and
hog him for herself.

Ianna wanted to be Arhad’s first and foremost priority forever. She never wanted to step down from
her position of being number one.

And it was these very feelings that had brought about this insane situation.

She would have never agreed to be Arhad’s lover, even if only as a lie, if not for these feelings.

‘…….Perhaps it’s my heart that’s the issue here, not other people’s delusions.’
Ianna overturned her prior conclusion and fell into serious contemplation.

‘So then, what is it?’

She had thought that she was being childish, but she didn’t exactly see Arhad as a parent. And no
subordinate would have such shameful feelings toward their liege. And it was still subtly different
from not wanting her rival to neglect his sword because he was too engrossed in a woman…….

Arhad brought her a glass of water, wondering if she had swallowed the wrong way, when Ianna
coughed loudly and didn’t finish the rest of her meal.

Ianna, who had been staring pointedly at her dish in silence as she pondered, accepted the cup from
him and began guzzling down the water. She thought her head might explode from all of her
complicated thoughts. She didn’t want to think about anything. She emptied her cup as fiercely as if
it was her head.

Eiji impishly continued prodding at Arhad.

“Are you sure you aren’t putting too much pressure on her? Little Ianna’s usually so extremely
obsessed about chewing carefully that there’s no way that she would ever swallow the wrong way,
and she normally sips her water smoothly too —she seems extremely uncomfortable, you know?”
Arhad smirked and replied,

“It’s none of your business. She’s only being embarrassed.”

Ianna nearly spat out her water mid-gulp.

“Wow, would you listen to this guy? Sorry I can’t save you, Little Ianna. But you actually like it and
just aren’t letting it show, right?”
“……I’d really like it for you to shut up a bit, Eiji.”
“No way. This is so much fun!”

Eiji looked quite pleased with himself as he continued his teasing. Ianna considered punching him as
a vein popped out on her temple, but she decided to keep quiet.

“Have you finished scheduling for your trip, Ianna?”

Arhad changed the topic as Ianna floundered in her frustration and awkwardness.

Ianna felt like she could finally breathe again when he gave her something else to think about.

“I’ve decided on the route I plan to take.”

She almost felt refreshed as she did her best to push the complicated and ambiguous thoughts out of
her mind and her clearly defined plans flowed smoothly from her mouth. She looked significantly
more comfortable as she continued,

“I’m thinking of using my trip as a chance to study about another region.”

She had not had the time to relax in her last life, and she had not had any time for herself in this life
either. She had wandered the world in search of powerful enemies once in her past life, but that had
been a part of her training as a warrior.

She had visited the South last summer, but that was only to bring Chendelf back home.

And so, this would be her first ever vacation.

She couldn’t say it was only a vacation, of course, since her main focus was to find out more about
Roberstein’s secrets, but she figured it should be fine to be a little more lenient and call it a vacation
anyway since her itinerary was unhurried and she planned on visiting a few historical sites along the
way.
“Hmm? You’re going on a trip?”

Eiji asked with his eyes wide open.

“Yes.”

“Alone?”

“Of course. Who else would I go with?”

“And Sir Arhad’s just letting you go? I know that Little Ianna’s strong and honest, Sir, but isn’t it too
risky to send her off alone? You should be going with her without any hesitation.”

“Is that so? There’s a lot I need to do over break……should I simply push it all aside?”

Eiji, who had spoken without much thought, suddenly shot up from his seat like he had been struck
by lightning when he heard what Arhad had mumbled. He sat back down with his lips quivering
when the rest of the group stared at him, wondering what the hell he was doing.

“Uh, my leg suddenly started cramping up. Yeah. And Sir? You should obviously put your work first
if you’re busy. Especially if it’s important work. I understand that you might want to express your
overflowing love for Little Ianna by prioritizing love over work, but that’s only attractive when it’s
done in moderation. It’ll only be burdensome if you overdo it…….”

Eiji’s ramblings —why was he so bewildered?— made Ianna recall all the unsolvable questions that
she had pushed aside. Ianna yanked him back into his seat.

“Enough of that —why don’t you tell me a few things I want to know about my destination instead?”

“Sure! Where are you planning to go, Little Ianna? This big brother of yours will put together a list
of all the best tourist attractions for you!”

“I’m planning to pass through Sidian and Jinzai and go all the way to Toraca. I want to visit the
West.”

“The deserts are worth the visit, but it’ll be tough during the summer, you know.”

“Huh? Wanna come with me then?”

Arhad had not opposed her choice of destination. It was actually Taro who had proposed something
completely out of the blue. He continued,
“I go back home every break. And my home’s west of Toraca, yeah? How ‘bout we go together? Oh,
but you can say no if ya had other plans, of course!”

Ianna gave it some thought.

She had planned to call upon the spirit kings and learn more about the Holy Age and take the time to
reflect on herself, so she would have preferred to be alone.

But she also wondered if it could be helpful to travel with Taro, Absilot’s son. Absilot had seemed to
know a lot about the spirits, so it was likely that his son, Taro, would know a few things as well.

Besides, while they were close friends, Ianna didn’t know much about Taro other than the fact that he
adored Lalatua. Ianna had a hunch that her ties with Taro would last for a long time —a sentiment
she shared regarding Eiji and Herrace. So it wasn’t necessarily a bad option to take the chance to get
to know Taro better.

Ianna had made up her mind back when she had self-reflected, and so, she said,

“That’s not a bad idea. Let’s do that. But there are a few things I wanted to do alone, so I’d prefer
that we came back separately.”

“Oh nice! Let’s do that!”

Ianna snuck a quick glance at Arhad after having made her decision on the spot. She was afraid she
might have soured his mood by agreeing to let her friend accompany her so readily when she had so
vehemently insisted on going alone when Arhad had wanted to do the same.

“……Hmm…”

Arhad’s eyebrows were raised in surprise, but Ianna was relieved to find that he didn’t look
displeased. Rather, it was Eiji who began telling her off.
“Hey. You can’t do that. You’re not single anymore.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Hmm? Which part of it was ridiculous?”

Pow!
Ianna punched him for feigning ignorance before she starting discussing her route with Taro.

“It’s a straight line through Sidian and Jinzai, yeah? I like it! What d’ya think about huntin’ a few
monsters while we’re runnin’? And we can catch a few bandits too! Damn, this should be real fun if
the two of us are a team, Lil’ Ianna!”
“We can do that if we run into anything along the way.”

“Yer the best, Lil’ Ianna……!”

Taro’s proposal gave Ianna yet another idea. Since they were planning it anyway……

“You should come with us, Herrace.”

“Huh? Me?”

Herrace, who had been listening in on their conversation with great interest, pointed to himself in
surprise as Ianna nodded.

Herrace’s face flushed with excitement. A trip with his friends? His heart starting pounding just
thinking about it.

“I’d have to ask my father…….”

“Tell him that you’re going sword training with Taro and me. He should allow it then. And don’t
bring any guards or servants with you. This is for training —it’s not just any ordinary trip. And be
sure to prepare to be on a tight schedule if you’re coming along.”

“Gaaasp!”
Taro clutched his chest. He continued,

“Lil’ Ianna……how’d ya know that I absolutely love stuff like this……? Life’s about survivin’! And
friendship blossoms in the wilderness! And as our friendship grows, so will we!”
Herrace looked slightly afraid but excited nevertheless as Taro slung his arm across his shoulders.

“Let’s go, Herrace! Off to the world of survival!”

“O……okay! I’ll go!”

Herrace raised his hands up.

Ianna ignored the both of them as they continued to make a fuss and picked up her spoon to continue
her meal.

“What about me?”

Eiji, who had been constantly bringing the conversation back to the topic of Ianna’s relationship with
Arhad as if he was having great fun in teasing her about it, grumbled wistfully. Ianna waved him
away. He continued,
“Hey, are you bullying me?”

“I know you’ll be busy with work. I can’t take you seriously when I know that you can’t even come
in the first place.”

“Tch. You could’ve at least asked, you know?”

“Wanna come with?”

“Forget it. Do you even know how capable I am? Things’ll start falling apart if I’m not here. But
anyway, I’ll put together some helpful information into a pamphlet for you tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to go out of your way if you’re busy…….”

“It’s my way of congratulating you for not being single anymore, so just take it. Ah, that fact that our
Little Ianna knows love now brings a tear to my eye!”

Eiji was poking fun at her until the bitter end. Ianna didn’t know why he was so excited about
something that had nothing to do with him, but he continued to sing praises of her love even as her
fist met his head several times over.

‘That damn thing called love,’

Ianna muttered to herself in disgust. She was certain that what she was feeling was not love.

‘But if not, then what it is?’

But the repeating question brought her back to the very first hypothesis that she had discarded
because she had been absolutely sure that it couldn’t possibly be true.

‘I’m certain that I’m not in love with Arhad…….’

Ianna was wracked by a certain serious misgiving the very moment she personally linked her feelings
to the possibility of love instead of hearing others blabbering way about it.

‘What is love?’
She could not easily answer the question. She was sure that she had a very strong opinion of love and
that she had been repulsed by it just earlier……but what was it?

The question stopped preoccupying her mind only after lunch was over. Arhad had forced the
question out of her head when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into himself.

The thickness of his arm around her shoulders or his fragrance tickling her nose —the smallest things
were conveyed to her so vividly. His large hand holding her shoulder felt so peculiarly hot.

Ianna understood plainly that it wasn’t because it was summer or because Arhad had a naturally high
body temperature, but because she simply happened to perceive it that way.
Indeed. All of her senses were on edge.

Ianna began doubting herself once she realized this. It wasn’t that Arhad was acting strange or that he
had changed something —she had to wonder if she was simply being nervous now that she was
hyper-aware of his every action because they were pretending to be “lovers.”

“Well, I’d like to spend some time with her alone now.”

“Cough, aren’t you being a little too open about it?”

Ianna did not want to think any further into her strangeness. These strange thoughts had been
tangling and tangling up in her head since this morning, and she no longer knew what was what. And
so, she simply decided to give up on thinking altogether.

Arhad brought Ianna up to his room in the tower for the remainder of the time they had before class.
As he closed the door, he said,

“It’s fun, no?”

Ianna felt the tension leave her body and collapsed onto the sofa now that he had declared a pause in
their façade. She simultaneously felt both relieved and listless.

“……No. Not really,”

Ianna replied disingenuously, prompting Arhad to chuckle. His expression was bright, as if he was
having great fun in everything about the situation. Ianna continued,

“It’s so hectic. I want to kick myself for agreeing to this last night.”

“I brought you here because you seemed exhausted.”

Arhad was boiling water and picking out fragrant tea leaves just as he always did. The gentle scent of
tea began wafting around the room.

The heavy scent of tea blossomed and tickled Ianna’s nose as Arhad set the teapot down on the table.
Ianna had closed her eyes, utterly exhausted, and she slowly opened them again as she smelled the
tea.

‘This tea is good for digestion……’

Her stomach wasn’t feeling great because she hadn’t quite been able to tell if the food was going in
her mouth or her nose as she was eating. How did Arhad know that he had brewed her this tea?

Arhad stared openly at Ianna, who was looking down at the teapot.
“I was a bit surprised to hear you say you wanted to go on a trip with your friends.”

Ianna startled and studied his eyes.

“I was planning on going alone, but Taro’s suggestion made me realize that it wasn’t a horrible idea
to use this as an opportunity to get to know my friends better. And I thought it would be a great
opportunity for Herrace.”

“There are a lot of monsters and bandits in the West, especially in comparison to the South, so it’s a
good way to gain actual battle experience. But have you always treasured your friends so much,
Ianna? To the point that you were willing to change your plans? —you were very adamant about
going alone.”

Arhad’s weighted question made Ianna forget the exhaustion she had suffered this morning and
immediately tense up. She had even forgotten about the questions she had been contemplating.

He hadn’t even liked the fact that she had borrowed Saiwè’s clothes, even though there hadn’t really
been much else she could have done in the situation. Thinking about the big picture made her realize
that Arhad might even begin acting hostile to her friends, whom he hadn’t really cared much about
before.

She would hate that.

They were the only friends she had ever known in both this life and her last. She wanted Arhad to be
good to them too.

But Arhad had his own opinions. He might always take her side, but that didn’t naturally mean that
he would also like the same people she did. And in this case, she had decided to go on a trip with her
friends even after she had turned Arhad down……would he dislike that?

Ianna tried to look at it from another perspective. She would probably dislike it too if Arhad put her
second and cherished another instead.

Which was why she acknowledged the fact that she had no right to complain even if Arhad disliked
her friends. Though she would still be a little sad.

Ianna toyed with her teacup as she wondered if she had decided about going on the trip too readily
and began blaming herself.

“……They are good friends. And I only have a few of them.”

“No wonder why you care so much about them. Go and have fun.”
Ianna blinked when she heard Arhad’s cheery response. She was relieved, but she was also dubious.
Which was why she could not help but ask,

“You’re all right with Herrace and Taro? And Eiji too?”

“I am.”

It had been a rather ambiguous question, but Arhad immediately understood what it was that she was
asking. He leisurely continued,

“You seem to have misunderstood —I want the entirely of your life, but it’s not that I want to take
away the things you cherish. I’m all right with anyone as long as they don’t fetter you. I think it’ll be
good for you to experience more things. Try encountering a lot more emotions and forging a lot of
new relationships. Having friends is a great way of accomplishing both.”

This was likely why Arhad was all right with the people who surrounded Ianna even though he was
hostile to Schneider.

Then again, he would have taken measures early on and by any means necessary if he had wanted to
monopolize her instead of simply wanting the entirely of her life.

“Still, I’d very much prefer that you didn’t choose them over me……should they ever decide to
become my enemy one day.”

“It’s only obvious that I wouldn’t.”

Arhad was her master, and her life belonged to him.

There was no reason for her friends to turn against Arhad, but she would be their enemies as well if
they ever decided to become Arhad’s enemy.

It was comical…… She would only be sad if Arhad decided that he disliked them first, but she felt
like she would start hating her friends if they decided they disliked Arhad first.
She could not help but feel a little guilty toward her friends because her priorities were so clear.

“I’m glad to hear it. Drink your tea. It should have cooled to the perfect temperature by now.”

Ianna raised up her teacup at Arhad’s invitation. He was right. The cup’s temperature she felt through
her fingers was just right —neither so hot that she didn’t want to touch it nor too cold that she was
reluctant to drink it.

Ianna brought the teacup to her lips. As always, the tea sliding in between her slightly parted lips was
both delicious and refreshing.
The gentle fragrance of the tea that would help her digest.

The heat that enveloped her body in a smug warmth.

The tea put her at ease and warmed up her entire body, starting with her heart.

Arhad was always being considerate of her, just like with this cup of tea. He always tried to
understand her better, always tried to be considerate of her circumstances, and always tried to
prioritize her feelings. Even today, he had stopped their façade at just the right time once he saw how
exhausted she was.

He only stopped being considerate when she rejected him. That was the one thing he never tolerated.

And Ianna was changing. The longer she spent with Arhad, the more she could not help but feel like
she would simply be all right with, much less actively reject, anything that he did.

She was becoming more forgiving and more lenient about his behavior that she almost wondered if
her personal opinions were starting to disappear. Ianna could feel herself changing.

“You said that you would depart ten days after the closing ceremony, right?”

“Yes.”

“In that case, we should go on a date this weekend.”

“Pardon?”

The tea sloshed in her cup as she startled.

Perhaps she wasn’t quite all right with everything just yet.

“……A……date?”

Ianna was still trying to comprehend the unfamiliar term that Arhad had so boldly spoken, but Arhad
only looked back at her as if he was asking her why she was so surprised.

“Isn’t it compulsory for lovers to go on dates?”

“That’s…well…”

Was it?

But what did one even do on a date?

Ianna’s brain was already so used to not thinking about things like that at all. She knew the definition
of the word —to go out and have fun with one’s lover—, but she had no idea why it was called a
‘date’ or any idea how it was any different from going out and having fun with one’s friends.

Especially since she had ever only gone out to drink with her friends and had never gone out for the
specific purpose of having fun —her head went blank.

“I don’t know what a date is. But more importantly, is it truly something we must do? I thought we
were only pretending to be lovers when other people were around?”
“We did, but where’s the fun in that? Our main focus was to stop people of the other sex from
approaching us, but having fun was one of the other big goals I wanted to accomplish when I decided
to start this relationship. We’ll never get to experience it for the rest of our lives if we don’t do it now
anyway, so why not give it a go?”

Arhad smiled a good-natured smile, as if he had absolutely no other hidden intentions at all. He
continued,

“There’ll be a mountain of things we’ll have to get done after you get back from your trip, and we
won’t have any time to relax until after we conquer Bahamut. We should enjoy ourselves while we
can.”

“…….”

Arhad waved his finger in front of Ianna’s eyes to recapture her attention when she stiffened up again
upon hearing what he had said.

“Don’t think too hard into this, Ianna. You only need to act like you always do.”

“Like I always do……?”

“Exactly. Just relax, like how you’re relaxing right now. I had a lot of fun watching you today……
but you seem to have been quite burdened. You even gave yourself indigestion.”

Ianna looked down at her teacup. Arhad had already known everything. He had only known to give
her tea that was good for digestion because he had been observing her carefully even as he was
enjoying himself while pretending to be her lover.

Ianna’s mind had been all over the place, but Arhad had been composed enough to keep watch over
her. Ianna suddenly found herself a bit pathetic. She felt foolish for being overly-aware of their
relationship and feeling awkward about it when he didn’t seem to mind it at all.

That’s right —who cares about this fake relationship?

All she had to do was follow his lead and not make a huge deal out of it.
She was more than capable of that, considering her temperament.

So why……?

“Actually, I plan on going on this date to put your heart more at ease. You’ll feel much better once
we do.”

“Why would I feel more at ease after going on a date?”

“You’ll see after we do.”

Ianna bit down at her lip, and Arhad, who had been watching her, quietly added,

“Accomplishing our goals and having fun are one thing, Ianna, but I didn’t stubbornly insist on this
relationship just to torture you. I told you before. I want you to experience more emotions and forge
more relationships. Do you know why?”

“……No, I don’t.”

“You know yourself extremely well, but it’s so difficult for you to sort through how other people
make you feel. Especially when it comes to positive feelings……. You weren’t even able to organize
how you felt about me yesterday.”

It was true. It was because she had never experienced anything like that in her past life……not her
parent’s love, not her friends’ affection, not her teachers’ benevolence, nor her subordinates’ respect.
She had not been able to experience any of it as a child. And she had closed off her heart as she got
older and had stubbornly refused to experience any of it then. And now, all of those feelings felt
rather distant to her.

“I am aware that I’m quite dull when it comes to emotion. I am especially awkward with emotions
like goodwill. I find it much easier to cast people away. It’s probably because I don’t have much
experience interacting with people in positive ways.”

“But you have a lot of people around you who care about you now. And you’ve learned to accept the
fact that they like and care about you instead of simply pushing them away, no?”

“…….”

“You’re slowly learning how to deal with these emotions.”

It was true. She still felt awkward about the fact that she was getting along with so many people from
time to time, but she didn’t hate it……no, that wasn’t correct. To say that she didn’t hate it didn’t
accurately depict the state of her heart.
Ianna was not good at expressing it when she liked something, and neither did she feel that way very
often. She usually tended to leave some space in her heart by telling herself that she simply didn’t
dislike something. She was always prepared for her relationships to sour even if she liked someone,
and so she had set up walls around her heart so she could cut off those feelings at a moment’s notice.

But Ianna had learned to let down those walls a little as of late. Perhaps she had gained some courage
because she knew that Arhad would never leave her side, because she knew that Arhad would hold
her up even if she got hurt and hurt all over again and collapsed.

Which was why she could be more assertive about it now.

Positive emotions were filling her life up in abundance. And she was slowly learning how to deal
with them.

“Yes, I concur.”

“But you still have far to go. You still only see romantic love in a negative light, much like how you
used to feel awkward about receiving goodwill and brush it away. Even though you’ve never
experienced it yet.”

Ianna felt like she had been hit on the back of her head. Arhad continued,

“I can’t do everything for you since we aren’t ‘really’ dating, of course, but I think it’d be nice if you
could experience it for yourself.”

There was something willful about what he was saying, but……Ianna was still convinced
nevertheless.

“Besides, Ianna, I don’t plan on discontinuing our relationship until I grow tired of it. You seemed to
want to drop everything and run away today, but I think going on a date will prove helpful to you.
Don’t you think it might be better to pretend you were convinced and play along?”

“Why……are you suggesting I want to run away?”

Ianna responded after she understood a few things and had organized her thoughts. Run away? The
words hurt her pride quite a bit. She had never fled from anything before in her life. Ianna stared
back at Arhad as if they were having a staring contest when Arhad asked,

“Am I wrong?”

“…….”

It was true that she had wanted to get up and leave several times during lunch today.
But that was that.

She had been persuaded into understanding a few things on top of already finding herself pathetic for
being so shaken, and all of it was starting to prick at her pride now that she had also been provoked.

She almost felt as if she’d lost.

And so, Ianna ended up agreeing to Arhad’s proposal out of sheer stubbornness.

“I knew itttt! Congrats, Little Ianna!”

Ianna had suffered everyone staring at her all day long and had returned to her dorm after classes
were over only to find Priscilla squirming inside. Ianna flopped down on her bed and sounded
resigned as she replied,

“……Yes, it happened.”

“I knew that Little Arhad would get to you one of these days! How did he ask you out? Did he
confess his love for you? Was it hot? Did he pin you against a wall? Or push you down? Kyaah!”
Ianna didn’t even want to imagine how far Priscilla thought her relationship with Arhad had gone.
And, to say that he had pushed her down?
“He did nothing of the sort.”

“Hmm? Tell me. I promise I won’t tell anyone else.”

Ianna wanted so strongly to just tell her the truth, but she grew stubborn again upon remembering
how calm Arhad had been about the matter. And so, she instead said,

“He just said…that he liked me…….”

But she got goosebumps as she tried to speak and could barely finish her sentence.

“Little Arhad wouldn’t have confessed to you like any ordinary person. So that definitely wasn’t
everything he said! Aww, can’t you just tell me?”

What was Ianna supposed to tell her when it hadn’t even happened?

“……Please mind your own business.”

“Tch, you want to keep the memory to yourselves, is that how it is? Fine. But!”
Priscilla made a fist. She continued,

“I’m still a lot older than you and I’m a master at dating. So ask me anytime if you’re unsure about
anything. I’m a bit worried about you because you’re so innocent, Little Ianna. I still think it’s
something of a miracle that you even accepted Little Arhad’s confession in the first place.”
Priscilla finally quieted down after that, and it was only then that Ianna could finally lose herself in
her thoughts at last. She buried her face into her pillow.

‘Love…….’
Ianna had an incredibly negative opinion about romantic love.

Obsession and destruction.

The loss of self.

The heart-rending agony.

Her mother had shown her all of this in person.

Which was why Ianna never wanted to be loved or be in love.

Lebony’s love had been one-sided, of course, and Ianna knew that love wasn’t a wholly negative
emotion since she had seen the love between the couple at Elona’s Paradise and between the count
and countess Roberstein now that Lebony was out of the picture, but she still didn’t want to
experience it for herself.

People were fickle, and she could never know when they would change. Just imagining herself acting
as disgraceful as Lebony had if her love were to ever become unilateral sickened her. Ianna cared too
much about herself to simply entrust herself in the hands of love and accept all the risks that came
with it.

Most importantly, she no longer wanted to be hurt by others. That was how she honestly felt.

Indeed.

She had only ever been pessimistic about it —but as Arhad had pointed out, she had never
experienced it for herself.

She knew nothing about love, and she could not answer the questions she had about it.
She pretended that she did and blindly rejected it at every turn, but there was no way that someone
who had never accepted nor felt love would know what it was. She had simply made a judgment
based on the results she had witnessed.

Which was why she knew nothing about how lovers were supposed to act or what kinds of feelings
they were supposed to share. And so, it wasn’t right for her to scorn others for deluding themselves
into thinking that she and Arhad were lovers.

But in that case, why did people think that she and Arhad loved each other? As far as Ianna knew, the
only difference between lovers and friends was they lovers were very deeply fond of each other and
did things like kissing and other sexual acts.

‘I have never wanted to sleep with Arhad.’

She didn’t even know what wanting to sleep with someone was supposed to feel like, since she had
never felt that way before in her life.

And it was only now that she wondered if there was more to love than lust.

And goodwill. There were so many different types of goodwill, and Ianna, who was clumsy with all
of them, was uncomfortable because she didn’t understand what this supposed ‘deep fondness’ that
was allegedly the basis for love was supposed to be. After all, she herself held an unfathomably deep
fondness for Arhad too.

‘……What is love?’
Ianna turned her head to look at Priscilla, who was having fun while reading in bed.

‘She said that I should ask her anytime if I’m unsure about anything, right?’
She had never imagined that she would be going to Priscilla of all people for counsel…….
Ianna decided that she would feel better asking someone about it rather than struggling on her own.

“Priscilla, what is love?”

“Huh? Love? Aha!”

Priscilla returned the question at first, as she hadn’t immediately understood when Ianna had dropped
the bomb, but she quickly threw away the book she had been reading and jumped up. Ianna looked
away in embarrassment when Priscilla looked back at her in disbelief, but she continued mumbling,

“……What does it mean to be romantically involved? And what are you supposed to do on a date?”

“Kyah, Little Ianna! You’re asking me such adorable questions! You’re so cute!”

Ianna’s expression turned for the strange as Priscilla screamed and stomped her feet.
Adorable questions……cute……. What on earth was going on in this woman’s head? Ianna was
starting to question how Priscilla viewed her. Priscilla clasped her hands together with a sparkle in
her eye.

“Love is when you like someone so, so much it drives you crazy.”

“That’s so vague that it’s difficult to comprehend. I want to know what people are supposed to feel
when they are in love.”

Priscilla intoned as she tilted her head to the side.

“It’s not really a feeling that you can describe so precisely. But from my experience, ahem, you like
the other person so much that just being with them makes you feel all happy and sweet inside. You
want to see them again even if you only parted just minutes ago. And you want to do everything
together.”
“…….”

“And you want to surprise them with a gift and see how happy they get, and you want to do anything
they ask of you. Also!”

Priscilla shrieked quietly and hugged her pillow. She continued,

“You want to pull them into a tight hug when you love them so much that you just can’t help it. You
want to touch them and kiss them, and you might even want to share a bed with them. Physical
contact is really nice, you know. Hehe.”

Priscilled huffed and crossed her arms after putting her pillow back down.

“But not everything about it is nice. Love can make you stingy, you see.”

Priscilla nodded to herself.

“You start feeling childish and want them to put you first even if they have other important business
to take care of, you get frustrated when you see them having fun with some other bitch, you get sad
when they don’t understand where you’re coming from, and you get angry when you wish they’d be
more considerate of you…….”

Then, Priscilla beamed.

“But I still think that being in love just means you like someone a lot.”

Ianna furrowed her brows and replied,

“Can’t you feel the same way about a friend?”

“You can feel that way about a friend too, of course. You go from being friends to being lovers if one
of you confesses and the other party accepts that confession.”

“I find this difficult to understand. Love and friendship are two different emotions.”

“Oh my, Little Ianna. Love isn’t all that different from friendship. No matter what kind of goodwill,
all forms of it will eventually culminate! Peak! Climax! ……and that’s what love is. Your goodwill
develops and develops until it reaches the end, and that’s when it becomes love. And that’s why
everyone perceives loves differently. The only thing in common is that everyone just likes the other
person a whole lot.”

“…….”

“In conclusion, loving someone just means that you like that person more than anyone else in the
world. And entering a romantic relationship with someone means that you get to monopolize each
other. You become special to each other, and you promise that you’ll be each other’s first and
foremost priority. Was that helpful?”

“……I think I understand the gist of it, for now.”

It was difficult to actually imagine, but Ianna felt as though she at least understood what love was
suppose to be, at least to some degree. And she realized that Priscilla’s description of love wasn’t
wholly dissimilar to how she felt about Arhad.

Love was the culmination of goodwill…….

If this was true, then she had no choice but to admit that the goodwill she felt for Arhad overlapped
with her concept of love, at least somewhat.

She did not think that her goodwill was love.

But she recognized that it might become love one day if her goodwill continued to deepen.

Which was why it was correct to say that it wasn’t love yet.

“And I’ve told you before, but dating isn’t really all that big of a deal! It really isn’t. You just want to
do stuff together with the person you like. That’s really all there is to it, you know? Going out on a
date is no different than going out to have fun.”

Priscilla hopped down from her bed. She sat down next to Ianna, who was lost in her thoughts, and
pat at Ianna’s back with both of her hands as if she was nagging the younger girl.
“If you’re asking about going on a date, Little Ianna, does that mean that Little Arhad asked you out
to one? When is it? Hmm? I’ll dress you up real pretty! And I’ll pick out the cutest outfit for you!”

~~*~~

Part 2
Time passed quickly. Surprisingly, a week had been just enough time to let Ianna adjust to her new
relationship status. She hadn’t adjusted to it completely yet, of course, but she had at least grown
accustomed to it.

It had accomplished their main goal of preventing other people from approaching them so perfectly
that it was almost shocking. Ianna had been getting at least two boxes of love letters every day, but
now they had stopped entirely.

And today was the day that she had promised to go on a date with Arhad.

Ianna still didn’t quite understand what a date was yet, so she had tried to leave early while wearing
the clothes that she usually wore. But Priscilla, who normally liked to sleep in, heard Ianna moving
about their room and nearly passed out when she woke up to see what Ianna was wearing. She leapt
out of bed and dug through her wardrobe like a madwoman before pulling out a few pieces and
thrusting them at Ianna’s direction.

Ianna was bewildered, but she agreed to wear what Priscilla had strongly recommended to her
because Priscilla had more experience in the subject and Ianna felt indebted to her for Priscilla’s
counsel from the other day.

The outfit was just pretty enough that Ianna wasn’t reluctant to wear it. The summer blouse was
simple and only the sleeves, which fell just above Ianna’s forearms, and collar were different in
color.

The dark green skirt that came to Ianna’s shins made her look like a fresh summer rose when
matched together with her otherwise crimson image.

Priscilla even did Ianna’s makeup before sending the latter off with tears in her eyes like a mother
sending her daughter off to get married.

“Don’t you worry about a thing. Little Arhad will figure out everything else. Just go and have fun.
Oh, but what’s with that belt?! Leave your sword at home!”
Ianna, who had been about to leave with a longsword strapped to the belt at her waist, stopped when
Priscilla dissuaded her. She was uncomfortable about leaving her sword behind unless she had
absolutely no other choice, but her discomfort disappeared when she remembered that she would still
have Arhad by her side.

‘……This is ridiculous.’
Ianna realized that she had at some point developed the faith that Arhad would be able to figure
things out no matter what happened. Where had the Ianna who had been so anxious to leave her
sword behind for even a short while at the Temple of Laos just a year and a half ago gone?

Ianna left her room as Priscilla saw her off. There were a lot of girls wearing normal clothes who had
been about to go out for the weekend in the hallway.

“Wow.”

They saw Ianna and opened their eyes wide. They had heard that she had been incredibly lovely at
the fashion show, but not many people cared about Ianna’s appearance because she did not normally
dress herself up at all.

But her appearance was striking today. She was not the Swordsmanship Department student who
wore her training clothes and a single sword at her waist like a savage beast, but a lovely seventeen-
year-old girl who looked as pretty as a rose.

‘She’s so pretty. Sniff.’
‘And she’s coordinated everything so well too…….’
‘Where did she get her clothes?’
‘Is she going on a date with Lord Arhad? She absolutely is.’
‘Even she changed after falling in love. Look at how she’s dressed up for a date.’
Ianna made her way to Heinrich’s magic tower without ever realizing what other people were
thinking about her.

They still weren’t supposed to meet up for a while yet, and they weren’t even supposed to meet up at
the magic tower, but Ianna didn’t have anything else to do that morning and figured that she might as
well read next to him as he got ready.

“Ack.”

“Hey, look over there.”

Ianna walked quickly, tired of the stares that hadn’t stopped once during her entire transit, and
quickly arrived at the magic tower.

“Ahh, Miss. Please let me go. I’m getting dizzy!”

She heard a familiar voice sound just as she was about to climb the magic tower stairs —Arhad’s
room was near the very top.

“Say that again, Herrace. What? Little Ianna’s dating whom?”

“I’m telling you the truth. You’re the only one who didn’t know, Miss. Ack! Please don’t drop me!
Eek!”

Herrace and Lalatua were making a ruckus inside of Heinrich’s tower. Lalatua was levitating Herrace
in between the spiraling staircase and was spinning him around.

“I heard such nonsensical rumors floating around when I left my laboratory……oh, Little Ianna.”

The happy look on Lalatua’s face only lasted for a moment after she had greeted Ianna warmly, and
she quickly looked to Ianna in disbelief. She continued,

“Is it true that you’re dating Little Arhad? Herrace was saying nonsense.”

Ianna could no longer refute the question. But she didn’t quite feel like actively affirming it either, so
she simply looked back at Lalatua without a word.

“Oh my gosh…….”

Lalatua let out a very long sigh before she promptly took Ianna by the shoulders and ever so wistfully
tried to persuade her.

“Why would someone as capable as you do something so worthless? This is a disaster to the world of
swordsmanship. You’re wasting your time. You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor by breaking up
with him at once, Little Ianna. Why do girls always go so crazy about him? —all he has going for
him are his looks and his money. But you’re special, so you must have a special reason for doing
this, right? What do you even see in him? Did he threaten you into this? He must have, right? He’s a
terrifying monster, after…….”
“That’s enough of your nonsense.”

Arhad, who had walked out of his room once he realized that Ianna was here, cut Lalatua off.

Ianna looked up at him. His clothes were tidy, but his hair was still a mess. Arhad stared openly at
Ianna at first, but he smiled a little when their eyes met and slowly invited her to come upstairs.

Lalatua visibly scowled and sarcastically quibbled,

“Oh my, why are you speaking so casually out of the blue?”

“I’ve been trying to treat you like a proper princess until now, but I’ll burn off your hair like I did
when we were younger if you don’t shut your mouth.”
Herrace, whom Lalatua had let down behind her at some point, startled when Arhad spoke so harshly
at the princess whom even professors could not easily chastise. He shut his eyes tight, having
predicted that Lalatua would shoot an icicle to bruise Arhad’s handsome face sooner rather than later.

“…….”

But he didn’t hear anything happen. Herrace cracked open his eyes in doubt only to be promptly
shocked. Lalatua, who normally would have counterattacked and then some by now, was only
glaring back at Arhad in shame.

Ultimately, Lalatua could not punish him for his rudeness. Instead, she grabbed Ianna by the arm as
the latter tried to walk past her and pointed at Arhad like a child tattling on her bully.

“See, Little Ianna?! He’s such a wicked man! He would even burn a young maiden’s hair…….”

“I wouldn’t care if every woman in the world had their hair burnt away, so long as Ianna’s hair was
safe.”

Lalatua dropped her jaw when she heard his indifferent response.

“W-w-w-were you always this sort of man?”

“What is that even supposed to mean? A man need only look after his own woman. And besides, I
have no use for you, Princess.”

“Goodness! Whoever said I wanted to be useful to you? You must have eaten a hundred sticks of
butter after you started dating. Hmph!”
Lalatua said before she whipped her head to the side. Arhad’s lips twisted.

“It makes no difference to you whether I’ve eaten a hundred sticks of butter or even a thousand, no?
I’ve always tolerated your behavior on the dean’s account, and I still plan to continue tolerating you.
But I won’t stay quiet if you keep blabbering nonsense at Ianna and influence our current relationship
in any way…… Remember this.”

“…….”

‘Wow…….’
Herrace, who was standing with his hands over his mouth like a shrimp caught between the clash of
two giants, was shocked as he witnessed Lalatua get crushed so thoroughly by Arhad.

Lalatua was always haughty, as if she stood on top of everyone else, and she was almost like an
outlaw in how she always did as she pleased with people. There was no way that someone as feeble
as Herrace could defy her, not when no one else could.
And so, he could not help regard Arhad as someone amazing for putting Lalatua in her place and
refusing to let her even budge.

He had heard from Heinrich not too long ago that Arhad and Lalatua were childhood friends who had
grown up together, but that wouldn’t have given Arhad any leverage over Lalatua in their
relationship. Herrace had grown up with Lalatua as well, but there was absolutely nothing he could
do to oppose her.

In conclusion, that meant that Arhad’s personality was something special.

Herrace had always thought his senior was cool, based on his generally mature conduct and the fact
that he was skilled enough to spar with Ianna to a draw, but he began respecting Arhad in his heart
after watching Arhad take a stand against Lalatua. That was simply how much Lalatua scared him.

“……Hmph!”

Lalatua squeezed Ianna’s arm tighter. She continued,

“This won’t do. I simply cannot allow that man to roam about freely like this. You know what, Little
Ianna? I was mistaken. You need to keep a tight grip on his leash. He’s a wild dog who listens only
to you. Whom else would that monster crawl his way back to? The power of love must truly be
amazing indeed.”

Ianna, who had been spacing out a bit, failed to connect what Lalatua was saying to what she had
meant.

Why was Lalatua linking the fact that Arhad listened to Ianna to love —Ianna could not understand
the algorithm behind Lalatua’s logic.

Just what was love that it was being used to explain every act of goodwill?

……Oh, love is supposed to be the culmination of goodwill, right?

People were interpreting Arhad’s every trivial word and action as an expression of love.

“I see now. I just need to keep myself in Little Ianna’s good graces. Even he can’t do anything to me
if Little Ianna likes me, no? Hoho.”
“It’s only obvious that you should be nice to Ianna. Just know that you won’t have a future if you
harass her out of your spite for me. And let go of her right now. I’m going to count from three. Three,
two…….”

“All right! I get it! Love is amazing!”

Arhad stopped pressuring Lalatua after that.

“Let’s go.”

He began climbing upstairs again with Ianna in tow when she finally came to his side. The look on
Ianna’s face stiffened ever so slightly as she climbed up after him.

She had most certainly grown accustomed to their relationship.

People had stopped staring by now, and it posed no hinderance to her everyday life.

But Ianna still grew anxious when she acted like Arhad’s lover, like with Lalatua just now, though
she kept up the act regardless.

At first, she had thought that the anxiety had stemmed from the fact that she was a little sad that
Arhad hadn’t seemed to change even though she was hyper-aware of their new relationship.
But she thought differently now.

Now, she fully understood that Arhad was dealing with his own fair share of problems.

“Go on in,”

Arhad said as he opened the door for her.

Ianna walked inside without a word after sneaking a glance at Arhad, who looked so bright and
cheery now that it couldn’t even begin to be compared to the frigid expression he had shown Lalatua.
Arhad had Ianna sit down on the sofa, brewed her some tea, and brought out some cookies.

“Why are you here? There’s still time before when we were supposed to meet up. I’ll be right back,
so wait here for a bit.”

“It wasn’t the best time to start training, but I didn’t exactly want to sit around and do nothing either.
I thought I might come here and read before we left, since we were planning to meet up later anyway
—am I being a nuisance?”

Ianna asked as she looked up at Arhad. He stared back at her for a moment before stroking her hair,
which Priscilla had done for her.

“Not at all. I’m happy that you wanted to spend your free time with me. There were a few things that
I had to finish up, but I’ll be done with everything soon, so wait here.”

Arhad’s hand never left Ianna’s head even as he told her to wait for him. Ianna turned to the
bookshelf, having thought that he would leave soon, only to be puzzled when he continued to stroke
her hair.
She turned back to him when she slowly, slowly……felt his hand come down toward her cheek and
ear. His eyes looked somewhat unfocused for some reason when she looked into them.

“Oh.”

It was only then that Arhad pulled away. He took a step back while still holding out his hand, and he
looked like he had bitten into bitter chocolate as he said,

“You were just too pretty. Wait here.”

Ianna sank down into the sofa —it was her designated spot now— once Arhad had left the room.

“…….”

His behavior had hardly changed at all. For example, he had opened the door for her, brewed her tea,
and petted her head just now.

He had always been considerate of her and never hid his fondness for her in his actions. He had
constantly petted her head, and he had pulled her into his arms when he couldn’t beat back his
emotions.

He was still the same as ever. And yet……he also seemed somehow different.

But how so?

He was doing the exact same things, but he was treating her as if she was truly his lover. He acted as
if he liked her so much he didn’t know what to do with himself, and he was so blatant about his
fondness of her that even Ianna, as dense as she was about these things, could perceive it.

Ianna had only ever observed the emotion from afar, and she had never thought in her wildest dreams
that it would ever have anything to do with her.

I like you —he had only said the words out loud in front of her dormitory on the first day, and he
hadn’t said it since. But it still felt like he was saying it constantly even if he never put it to words.
“……Sigh.”
Ianna had stopped breathing as soon as her eyes had met Arhad’s. She could not breathe because he
had looked to her as if she was a precious jewel, as if his affections for her were on the brink of
overflowing. Her cheeks and ears flushed red now that she could breathe again.

‘How serious about this game is he that he acts this way not only in front of others but normally
too……?’
Arhad was pouring so much effort into something utterly pointless, and his acting skills were on
point. All he had to do was call Ianna his lover and go about the rest of his life, but he had
completely changed his attitude as well.
The affections conveyed in his behavior felt so real, even though Ianna knew that they were only a
lie. And she found it difficult to breathe when his affections were directed so squarely at her.

Ianna had always lived while believing that those destructive yet feverish feelings would never be
directed at her. She had been determined to reject them even if they ever did, and she had planned on
running only forward while polishing only herself.

But now, she was receiving ‘love,’ even though it was technically a lie, from Arhad, who was both
her greatest rival in the world and the man who would day be her master.

This was the first time in her life that someone had ever looked at only her with such special feelings,
that she had accepted it without the protection of the walls around her heart, and it wasn’t even as
liege and knight or from one person to another……but as a man and a woman.

Their unchanging relationship, their unchanging feelings —but Ianna’s heart raced faster than it ever
had before as the goodwill he always showered her with was slowly transformed into affection.

Ianna thought that this change had stemmed from her rejection of love and the anxiety she felt at this
new situation. But there was something that Ianna could not understand, could not explain, even
outside of that.

If that was all she felt, then she should have only felt awful, like if she was wearing clothes that
weren’t the right size……but there was something positive that she couldn’t quite name underneath
those feelings.
‘I’m confusing myself.’
She buried her face in her hands. She could not understand herself.

Ianna was so caught up in her thoughts that she simply sat there in a daze without so much as even
picking up a book, and Arhad had returned as quickly as he had promised to. And the mess that his
hair had been had been tidied up as well.

“Let’s go.”

Arhad reached out to her. Ianna stared at it for a moment before placing her hand on top of his. A
week’s worth of constant repetition had ingrained into her that this meant he wanted to hold her
hand.

Perhaps it was because she had held his hand so many times by now, but it didn’t make her feel as
awkward or as dizzy as when he pulled her in and hugged her shoulders.

Arhad tugged, and Ianna was pulled up like she was a very light child. Pulled by his hand, Ianna
stepped outside the room that she was as familiar with as if it were her own.

 
 

Ianna squeezed Arhad’s hand as they left the Institution grounds while everyone was staring at them.

“I truly don’t know what I’m doing. What will we do today?”

“We’re just going to wander around. I didn’t plan for anything much. We’ll just be exploring the
city, like we did during the school festival and Founding Day, and we’ll just enjoy the view as if we
were only on a walk.”

“Is that truly all we’re doing?”

“Yes. But let’s start with lunch for now.”

Arhad brought Ianna to a famous seafood restaurant in the capital. It was so famous and popular that
rumors said one had to book a reservation at least a month in advance.

The first floor of the restaurant could be used for both commoners and the nobility, while the second
floor was reserved only for the nobility. And the third floor consisted of private rooms that could
only be reserved for exorbitant sums of money.

Surprisingly, they were sat at a table on the first floor. But before Ianna could question it, Arhad
quickly explained,

“You seemed to be burdened by my spending habits. We can still order expensive food from here, so
don’t be disappointed and order anything you’d like.”

Ianna was not disappointed at all. She had been a little surprised, but she preferred to be seated in
places like this and spend an appropriate amount of money on food instead of spending lavishly for
pointless luxuries.

And, in her current state of mind, she preferred to be somewhere boisterous rather than be in a
private room alone with him.

“But if you’d like, we can go up to the third floor at once.”

“No, I’m perfectly happy to be here. But I thought that you had to make reservations for this place
well in advance?”

“There’s nothing that can’t be solved with money. I’ll make sure you only live in luxury from now
on.”

“No thank you. My life cannot possibly get more luxurious than it already is.”
They were served appetizers even though they had only just sat down. The cold shrimp and fresh
vegetables in the cocktail shrimp salad went incredibly well with the sour dressing, and the crab meat
was a perfect harmony with the savory cream of the crab soup.

“I was thinking we could go and buy the things you’ll need for your trip after our meal —what do
you think?”

Ianna thought it was a great idea, since she knew she would have to buy supplies soon anyway.

But Ianna couldn’t help but doubt. Was this really what people did on dates? She had planned to do
anything that Arhad suggested because she didn’t know any better anyway, but she had been slightly
nervous regardless. But things were playing out so normally that her taut nerves were beginning to
unwind.

“There’s a lot to see in the desert. But there’s also a lot that you’ll need to prepare. I’m sure you
already know that there isn’t much water there because the entire region’s dominated by fire energy.
I don’t know if you’re planning on bringing anything else, but you should probably bring an artefact
that can supply you with water with you. I’ll give you one, so don’t worry about it —and we can buy
everything else today.”

“Will I really need that artefact? Taro said that we’d be fine with only one canteen of water, which
we can replenish at the oases along the way.”

“Taro was born in the desert, so he’s been built to be perfectly fine in the heat even if he doesn’t
drink a lot of water. He was probably speaking to his personal standards, so you shouldn’t trust him
too much about that. There’s probably more distance between each oasis than you’re thinking. And
the heat will be beyond your expectations. You might be able to hold out on your own even without
the extra water, but you should always prepare for the worst-case scenario.”

“But doesn’t the water produced by an artefact disappear quickly anyway?”

“It’s possible to manufacture an artefact that produces permanent water. I have one such artefact in
my possession.”

Based on everything Ianna had learned thus far, it was impossible to use magic to create anything
permanent, and only something created by the spirits’ powers would remain in the world
permanently.

“Does it use divine power?”

“It does. It’s something that was created by elven divine power and spiritual arts. I hear that the
artefacts were originally made to water precious saplings in the Great Forest of Shaob, and you need
to refill it with divine power after you’ve used it ten times. I’m giving you one so that you don’t
recklessly call on the spirits just because you don’t have enough water.”
Ianna simply nodded —she could not find it in herself to refuse after everything he had said, and her
conscience also prickled.

“Good. Now let’s talk a little more about your trip. You’ll have to cross Sidian, the kingdom of
bandits, to go West. Be careful. Sidian is the Black Fox’s stronghold, and all of Sidian’s people,
including the king, commit crimes as naturally as breathing.

“The king of Sidian is a member of the Black Fox?”

“Yes. Only the bosses of the Black Fox and the highest-ranking executives beneath them know about
this, and only Shawn, Hill, and I know about this even within Camastros, but Payne, the actual boss
of the Black Fox, is also the king of Sidian. He’s a black fox beastman, and everyone in his lineage
has always been both the king of Sidian and the boss of the Black Fox.”

Arhad told her about the Black Fox’s history.

The Black Fox’s first boss was said to have been the first emperor of Bahamut’s pet fox, and he was
said to have been incredibly intelligent. The emperor of Bahamut was said to have sent his fox down
to gather information and secure funding so he could subjugate the South.

The fox had chosen Sidian as his foothold into the South, instigated a rebellion with Bahamut
knights, and crowned himself the king of Sidian.

Ianna looked around, worried that he was telling her this in such a public place, only to find that
absolutely no one was paying attention to them. She wondered why for a moment before she realized
that there was a spell preventing any sound from leaving its area of effect.

“So, don’t even think about causing any problems in Sidian and pass through it as quickly as
possible.”

“I understand. More importantly, you shouldn’t be so reckless about using magic. When did you cast
this?”

“It’s fine —I used a scroll.”

Arhad waved a little when he saw a waiter walking up with the dish they had ordered. The magic was
dispelled as he did. The dish was boiled lobster with butter.

Arhad took Ianna’s knife before she could pick it up and deshelled it for her. He looked like he was
having fun as he did the cumbersome work.

Ianna suddenly recalled how he had cut up her steak for her during their travels South as she watched
him. He had looked just as excited back then too.
It was only Ianna’s thoughts that differed between back then and now.

Back then, she had wondered if he simply liked cutting up meat, but now she could not help but
wonder…….

‘Does he just like being able to do something for me?’

“Here, eat.”

She seemed to have reached the truth. He had seemed to be having so much fun while he
cut her portion, but he looked like he couldn’t have cared any less as he cut his own.
Ianna ignored the slight tickle in her heart as she picked up her fork. She could tell that the lobster
was fresh just by the color of its boiled shell. This restaurant wasn’t popular just for show.

“You must enjoy seafood.”

They always ate seafood when Arhad took her out to eat. Ianna rather liked seafood too, so she was
happy to share something in common with him. Ianna pushed some lobster meat and salad into her
mouth when Arhad replied,

“You like it too.”
“……?”

Ianna, who had been savoring her food, suddenly grew puzzled and studied Arhad as he watched her
eat with great pleasure.

“I do, but……have I ever told you that I did?”

“At the school festival, during your auction.”

When had she said that? Ianna combed through her memories and recalled how she had answered the
emcee’s questions as quickly as she could to get her introductions over with.

[What kinds of foods do you like?]

“If I had to choose, I guess I like seafood, which is difficult to find in Roanne because the entire
kingdom is inland, and good wine.”
 

‘Wait, that’s not why we’ve always been eating seafood, right……?’
Ianna continued eating without another word because she was feeling a little bashful. Arhad, who had
managed to stir Ianna’s heart without even trying, continued,
“Jinzai hates Sidian because Sidian invades them so frequently. Its sole religion is the Faith of Laos,
so they also regard Sidian as a country of heathens because there are a lot of folk beliefs in Sidian.
You need to pay a huge toll and have proof of your identity in order to pass between the Sidian-Jinzai
border, and the border closes fairly regularly too. Which is why a lot of people from Roanne choose
to cut through the Lotso Mountains in the north and go directly to Jinzai instead of cutting through
Sidian. But there are a lot of bandits and monsters lying in wait in the Lotso Mountains…… You
should take some time to think about your route before you decide on one.”

“I was planning to travel to Toraca in a straight line through Sidian and Jinzai. Taro said there’s a
shortcut he always takes.”

“That so? Then you’ll just have to be careful about the Black Fox.”

They finished their main dish as they spoke some more about the Black Fox and were presented with
dessert consisting of tomatoes and cheese slices. Arhad continued,

“Toraca is a moderate country. I would recommend that you only visit the historical sites in Toraca if
you want to go sightseeing. Neither Sidian nor Jinzai are very welcoming of foreigners……and you
might even be able to see some beastmen, who are the most open of the mythical races.”

“Do the beastmen live in Toraca as well?”

“Most still live in the Girohai Desert, but a select few trade with humans. Oh, and this is something I
prepared today because I heard you were going West…”

Arhad brought something out from his pocket. It was a sturdily sealed envelope. He continued,

“The reason why the Black Fox can’t expand outside of Sidian is because Roanne is blocking their
routes east and south and because Toraca and Soo, their neighbor to the south, is helping Jinzai keep
them from expanding out west. And Absilot plays a huge part in that. Which is why I’m planning to
ask him for his cooperation.”

“His cooperation?”

Ianna carefully received the envelope Arhad was holding out to her.

“The Black Fox is more or less content for now. Both Sidian and the countries southeast of Roanne
are under the Black Fox’s control, so they’ve already been successful in preparing themselves a
foothold to invade the rest of the continent from.”

“Southeast of Roanne?”

“The Black Fox controls their distribution network, so the kingdoms southeast of here are heavily
dependent on them. The ruling classes there have been rotting away because the Black Fox has been
working on them for a while now, and the countries are so weak that they’ll crumble at even the
slightest impact. One of the kingdoms in the south, Zurga, is already completely under their control.”

“So they plan on putting pressure on Roanne from both the west and the south.”

Time passed quickly as they conversed, and Ianna’s heart gained a measure of peace. And she found
herself completely at ease as they finished their meal and started shopping for her trip. She dissuaded
Arhad from paying for her and payed for her purchases and their delivery before she comfortably
asked,

“What do we do now?”

The sun was still up in the sky, and there was still a lot of time left in the day. Arhad pulled out a
watch from his pocket and checked the time as he said,

“What do you think about taking a walk by the wildflowers near the river and taking a cruise to enjoy
the night view later?”

“That sounds nice.”

“But put this on first.”

Arhad pressed something on top of Ianna’s head. It was a white broad-brimmed hat decorated with a
red ribbon. The slightly stinging sunlight falling on her face was replaced by shade. Ianna raised up
the hat as she said,

“When did you……?”

“While you were arranging everything to be delivered.”

She had been wondering what he was holding behind his back, and he had apparently been hiding
this from her. A cool breeze blew past them even though it was summer, perhaps because they were
near a river. The blue waters, green grasses, and colorful flowers. The amazing scenery seemed to
refresh her heart.

“It’s very lovely.”

Ianna crouched down where many different varieties of wildflowers were in bloom and looked down
at them. Going on such a relaxing stroll had lifted her spirits. She continued,

“I’ve never been out like this with anyone before.”

She went out with her friends quite often, but only ever to eat or drink. She had done everything else
alone. She went shopping alone, browsed books in the bookstore alone, and picked out nice courses
to take walks on alone too.

She was accustomed to acting alone, and she had never before done such normal, everyday things
with another.

It was rather fun. In a different sense then when she had done things alone. Eating delicious food,
buying nice things, taking in amazing scenery —it gave her a different kind of satisfaction now that
she had done these things with someone she was fond of.

But she still thought she wouldn’t have really cared if she had been with anyone else.

She liked it only because she was with Arhad.

They walked along the riverside for a while longer and boarded the cruise ship when it became dark.
She looked around only to find that all the passengers had arrived in pairs —one man and one
woman each. Ianna wondered if they were all lovers, and it was only then that she understood why
people had misunderstood about her and Arhad so frequently. They were always together, so they
must have seemed like lovers too.

They carried a glass of wine each as they observed the river’s quiet flow. Ianna felt at peace. She was
on a date, but everything had been so normal that she hadn’t felt very burdened by it.

No —she was having fun now that someone she was fond of had joined in on her everyday activities.

‘He wasn’t lying when he said I’d feel better after going on a date.’
Ianna leaned against the railing as she observed the other couples. Watching other lovers enjoying
the view on the cruise ship assured her that what she and Arhad had done today was, in fact, a date.

To think that people would do such ordinary things together just because they were lovers and call it
a date —the world was a peculiar place indeed.

But she probably would have still been nervous if Arhad had brought her here first. She would have
been too distracted by the fact that so many couples were stuck together and whispering their love to
each other that she would have failed to understand what a date really was.

Arhad had talked about her trip first and had transitioned everything naturally from there. She had
been relieved thanks to this, and she had been able to enjoy the rest of her day.

Was this also Arhad’s way of being considerate for her?

Ianna’s facial muscles relaxed.

Her heart grew calm whenever she was wrapped inside the dark of night. And Arhad was like a
personification of the night.

Ianna was comfortably enjoying the view when Arhad asked her,

“Why do you have such a negative view on love?”

“……When I was younger…”

Ianna answered honestly. She could tell Arhad anything. She continued,

“My mother begged for love so constantly it was disgraceful. A harmonious household fell apart
because of my mother’s love, and there was never a day that I, her daughter, didn’t end up in tears
because of it.”

Ianna did not look at Arhad, who was staring back at her, and continued her tale as she looked out at
the sparkling river before her.

“Everything else was ruined too, and my mother herself was always tormented over the fact that her
love was never rewarded. She destroyed her life, and she ultimately threw it away. All because her
love was one-sided.”

Ianna did not look at Arhad, who was staring back at her, and continued her tale as she looked out at
the sparkling river before her.

“People with unrequited love aren’t okay even if they pretend to be. Moreover, love isn’t eternal, and
when one party falls out of love, the other is forced to keep loving them one-sidedly even if they
never wanted to.”

Ianna turned around to look directly back at Arhad.

“I don’t wish to put myself in a relationship that’ll only make my heart ache if the other party doesn’t
reciprocate. I want to avoid the situation where my feelings may become one-sided altogether. I
believe it’s better to never start a relationship if there’s even the smallest possibility that it might
come to an end. And that is why I don’t think very highly of love.”

Ianna bit down at her lip before she decided to expose everything she was carrying inside.

“It’s not just love —I feel the same way about goodwill. I will not approach someone with goodwill
and initiate a relationship with them first. I will return goodwill in kind if someone is good to me
first, and I will cut off our ties at once should they ever leave me.”
Arhad looked down at Ianna with a calm light in his eyes. Ianna quietly looked back at him for a
moment before she continued,

“I no longer wish to get hurt. And that it why I find it difficult to sincerely like another. I would not
betray them so long as they didn’t leave me first……but that is all.”

His hair, as black as the night itself, rustled in the wind. The wind picked up her crimson hair and
waved it gently as well. The wind felt cool even though it was summer, perhaps because the sun had
gone down.

The cool breeze brushed past not only her skin but also her stifled heart as it unraveled the tangled
mess inside.

“Ianna.”

Arhad called her name after a moment of silence.

“You always seem so confident about everything else, but you never seem to have any confidence in
yourself. Love aside —why are you so pessimistic about personal relationships? Why do you have so
little confidence in yourself?”

he asked bitterly as he looked Ianna directly in the eyes. He was right, but Ianna didn’t reply because
she didn’t want to. Arhad looked down at her for a moment before he spat out,

“Ianna. Listen to me. You are someone invaluable to me.”

Ianna’s eyes shook.

“Even without your sword, even if you make mistakes, even if you’re cruel to me —yes, I hate to
even imagine it, but even if you pushed me away and hated me…… I will always need you, and this
will never change.”

Calmly, Arhad continued,

“So stop putting yourself down just because you were hurt by obnoxious bastards as a child. And
stop thinking that every relationship will end in failure. You have me, don’t you? Our bonds will last
forever so long as you don’t cast me aside. I promise you that we won’t ever end on a sour note.”

Arhad leaned against the railing and playfully added,

“So, you’re free to like me as much as you please. Besides, didn’t you already tell me that you liked
me? Didn’t you ask me to treasure you most? Were you not being sincere when you said that?”
Ianna shook her head no.

“……I said that only because I know what kind of person you are.”

A faint smile appeared on Arhad’s face when he heard her reply.

“Right? And, though it irritates me to admit it, there are a lot of other people who like you too. You
have so many bonds that will only keep being good —no, they’ll get even better— for you if you
decide to be sincere with them. And you already knew this, didn’t you?”

He was spot-on. She had a lot of good people beside her, and she had long since considered that it
might be all right to like them sincerely too.

And, just as she’d surmised before, all of this was only possible because she had Arhad. In the
unlikely event that everyone else betrayed her, Arhad alone would still be by her side.

Arhad turned around to look out at the scenery when Ianna nodded.

“And besides, who cares if you get a little hurt? You’re strong enough now that you won’t collapse
even if you do get hurt. It’ll sting, sure, but you won’t shatter. So don’t be afraid to reach out to
others first. I’ll be right behind if you things ever get too hard. I will always keep you by my side in
some way, shape, or form. I will never leave you.”

Had this man read her mind?

“So keep liking me, understand?”

Ianna turned around without replying and looked out at the scenery alongside him.

Everything had been unraveled. And only one strand of string was left now that it had been
untangled. The one truth that she could never deny, the final conclusion remaining in her heart,
soothed her.

Ianna didn’t know how much time had passed before she spoke up again.

“Everything we did today was a part of our date, right? Because we’re allegedly lovers?”

“I suppose.”

“It wasn’t all that different from simply hanging out together.”

“Right?”
“Does this still count as dating?”

“It does.”

“Lovers don’t really do anything out of the ordinary, I see.”

“Exactly. You just do all of these ordinary things together. You see and feel nice things together……
and more importantly, you find it comforting and fun just to be with each other.”

Arhad was saying something strange. What he was saying could apply between friends as well.
These were things that people could do without having to be lovers. But in that case, why was Arhad
so adamant about keeping up their relationship?

“So, do you find this fun?”

“Is it not?”

“In that case, when will this relationship end? When we graduate from the Institution?”

“…….”

Arhad slowly brought the glass he had been holding up to his lips. He took a sip of wine before he
spoke again.

“It won’t end until I tire of it.”

“Is that so?”

It probably won’t be horrible.

Ianna’s head cleared completely.

She decided to take on a more positive outlook. Everything had already been decided upon anyway,
and nothing would change even if she contemplated over it so hard that her head burst open.

She remembered why she had lied in the first place. The flirtatious men had been getting on her
nerves, she had been frustrated by the people who assumed that she and Arhad were dating and
questioned her about their relationship, she wanted to stop women whom she didn’t think suited
Arhad from approaching him, she wanted to maintain her position as his first and foremost priority,
and she had wanted to grow closer to him. With all this in consideration, she realized that it would be
better for them to stay in this fake relationship.

More importantly, she realized that she hadn’t hated going on a date with him today. They had
already come this far, so they might as well see it through until the end.
Arhad would break things off when the time was right, and so, Ianna decided not to worry over the
matter anymore.

Dating.

“There’s a lot that I don’t know about love or dating. But if this is what dating is like, then surely
they aren’t so bad.”

“What do you……?”

Ianna placed her glass on the railing, stretched out her arms, and wrapped them around Arhad. Arhad
had always been the one to pull her into his embrace, and this was the first time she had hugged him
first. She didn’t notice how he had stiffened up as she focused solely on what she felt.

It was comfortable.

It made her realize that it might not be so bad to hug him first from time to time.

“…….”

His familiar arms immediately wrapped around her back. His arms were strong as he bound her
completely. She could not see the look on his face, but she was certain that he was not repulsed by
her.

She had known that Arhad would never hate it if she hugged him, but she was still relieved
regardless because now she felt like she had his full permission to hug him, and she closed her eyes
like a cat in her owner’s embrace.

“……What’s this?”

In response to his quiet and buried question, Ianna mumbled,

“My mother loved the count, but the count never loved her back. She never had the chance to do
anything like this with him, and neither have I ever seen her do anything like this with any other. And
that’s why I blindly saw all love in a negative light. I could not understand why she continued to love
him. ……But now I can’t help but wonder if all she had ever wanted was something small and
ordinary like this.”

“…….”

“Priscilla told me that love is the culmination and peak of goodwill. And so, I will be honest. My
feelings for you are close to love…….”
Ianna took a deep breath and poured out everything that was in her heart.

“……And I may even fall in love with you one day.”

This was the truth that she had reached in her heart after agonizing and agonizing over it for a week.
If love was the culmination of goodwill, then her feelings were not love, but they may become love
one day. It was highly possible that she would fall in love with this man as they continued to spend
more time together.

Though she didn’t quite know what love was.

She organized her thoughts after spelling out the truth, and she only came back to her senses once she
found it difficult to breathe. Arhad had squeezed her tight. It hurt, but Ianna did not refuse him as she
stayed quietly in his arms and continued to think.

What was this man thinking now that he had heard her thoughts? Did he find this fun? Did he find
this curious?

Comically enough, she never once considered that he might dislike this or find it burdensome. She
could not know how he was feeling because she could not look inside his head, but she knew that he
was abnormally fond of her. He was a bottomless pit that she could never hope to fill even if she
poured all of her feeling out to him.

Even if her feelings eventually transitioned into love.

“……And?”

she heard Arhad say after an unspecified amount of time. She wondered if he was asking her what
she meant to do about it. It was a valid question. Ianna braced herself. There was a reason why she
had exposed her whole heart to him like this.

Things would start being real now.

“But I don’t want to be in love. So please only keep treating me like this while I am only your
pretend lover. I will not fall in love with you. So please, don’t fall in love with me either.”

She had thought about their relationship over the past week. And as a result, she concluded that they
were close. It was true of Arhad. And it was true of herself.

Love.

She knew now that it wasn’t a horrible thing.

But she was still loath to put herself at its mercy. Love was still a foreign concept to her. She could
not know how she would change once she had fallen in love.

Everything she had built up until now could come crashing down.

She might change into a feeble girl who could do nothing but look to Arhad.

She did not have her sword at her side even now.

The sword was her everything, and it was also the shield that protected her. And yet, she had left it
behind solely because she knew that Arhad would be with her.

She was already like this even without being in love, so what would happen if she ever did fall in
love?
She didn’t want to imagine it.

Ianna thought that Arhad would listen now that she was being sincere with him. She was fully
satisfied with their relationship as it already was.

“……Love is the culmination of goodwill, was it?”

Arhad, who had been listening to Ianna speak without offering his own opinions, finally spoke up.
He continued,

“Your roommate was half-right and half-wrong. In one sense, love and goodwill are two totally
separate things.”

“……?”

Arhad let go of Ianna’s back and brought his hands to her shoulders as he gently pulled her away.
Ianna looked up at him and flinched.

She felt like she was peering into an unfathomably deep abyss. His gentle golden eyes reflected a
goodwill so dense that it bordered madness. The moon looked brighter in the darkness, and Ianna felt
like her figure was trapped inside it as she saw herself reflected in his eyes.

A sudden question popped into her mind just then.

If love was the peak of goodwill, then where did love start for Arhad? Could he see the end of the
goodwill he felt for her?

Ianna had spoken aloud her thoughts and firmly cut things off because she had seen the goodwill
Arhad had for her reach the borderline that separated it from love.
But, hadn’t she always thought that his goodwill seemed to have no end? As if she was falling deeper
into an infinitely endless abyss? The contradictory feelings made Ianna’s expression turn awkward.

“Everyone would love if it was as comfortable as simple goodwill. Your roommate was correct in
saying that goodwill eventually culminates into love. But…”

Arhad squeezed tightly as he kept his hold on Ianna’s shoulders. He continued,

“The limits cease to be once love takes hold. And the only thing left beyond that is a cliff that has no
end. Love is the paper-thin difference between destruction and ecstasy, and it is the most extreme of
all emotions.”

The definition of love, which Ianna had only just begun to see in a positive light, grew hazy to her
again. And then, it boiled down to one thing. Her thoughts changed completely as she reached the
most plausible definition.

The contradictory feelings she had about Arhad disappeared, and only one doubt was left in her
mind.

No way……
Ianna suddenly questioned a hypothesis that she had truly never even considered before. She felt a
fever start by her ears as she continued to stare into Arhad’s eyes.

She had thought she had grown accustomed to the air Arhad always gave off about him, but she
could never acclimate to it fully, and she started growing nervous before she realized it herself. The
fever that originated from his strong hands washed away the peace and refreshment she had been
feeling, and she quickly grew hot, as if she had been dyed in the heat.

“But don’t you want to know? It’s a destructive yet ardent feeling. I do. I want to know just how mad
love can drive a person.”

Arhad brought his face closer to hers. Ianna paled because there was nowhere for her to escape, and
she squeezed her eyes shut tight.

Ianna opened her eyes when nothing had happened even after she had closed them for a while, and
she felt a sudden heat on her forehead the very moment that she did. The lips pressed heavily against
her forehead drew away just as her shoulders, still in his hands, started to hurt, and they whispered,

“……That’s just what I think.”

Ianna reached up and touched her forehead where his lips had been before she realized what she was
doing. Arhad let go of her shoulders and took a step back. Ianna stepped back as well.

“Have fun on your trip.”

……That was just what you think?
Ianna bit down at her lip.

No.
You’re lying.
There was no way that the words he had spoken while looking like he was holding something back
and with such rabid madness in his eyes had been sincere.

That fever, that affection, which Arhad had demonstrated too readily ever since this bizarre
relationship had begun that was too weighted to be a mere act. Arhad’s abnormal goodwill, which
Ianna had never seen the ends of, hid its indistinct form from her.

You…
You haven’t crossed the line already, have you?
Ianna recalled the many times she had seen Arhad act unfathomably once the question had seized her
mind.

He had seemed somehow suppressed, and yet he was difficult to confront head-on……the fever he
had displayed then overlapped with his figure before her.

Ianna surmised that he had been acting so mysteriously during those times because he had failed to
hide his affections and let them slip out from his hold.

“…….”

Ianna could not speak. Their eyes met yet again as Ianna found herself at a loss for words and at a
loss for what to do. She heard his voice as he continued to stare openly into her.

“You didn’t like it?”

Ianna blankly wondered what he was asking her about until she distinctly recalled the burning
sensation she had felt on her forehead. It was only then that Ianna became cognizant of the fact that
her hands were still on her forehead. And it was only then that she realized what he had just done.
Ianna’s face blushed furiously red.

“……It……wasn’t bad.”

The strange and new feeling only made her want to flee.

This was her reward for the love she had never been able to receive as a child. The peculiar
satisfaction of knowing that his unchanging affections would always be pointed to her.

And she tingled upon receiving the emotion for the first time in her life.
 

—“Transition” End

Chapter 22: Sidian

Part 1
Herrace was now eighteen. House Bendham was a military house with a long history, and it
traditionally allowed men of age to leave for training whenever they so wished. The viscount
contemplated over the idea when Herrace had asked if he could go on a training trip with his friends.
He had seen Herrace struggle with his unusual illness ever since the boy had been younger, and the
viscount could not help but worry over his son.

And his first destination was Sidian, a lawless place of horrible public safety that was infamously
called a heaven for criminals.

But Herrace seemed to want to go rather badly. The viscount wanted to give Herrace his permission
when he saw his normally timid son who had trouble expressing himself suddenly voice his opinions
loud and clear. Besides, the viscount had always had high expectations of Herrace, and he could not
help but swell in pride as he watched his son still try his best.

He had agonized over the decision for a while and had only made up his mind after consulting with
his father-in-law.

“It’ll be all right if Little Ianna and Little Taro will be accompanying him. Those two are
exceptionally skilled.”
 

And so, Viscount Bendham permitted Herrace to leave for his very first training trip with Taro and
Ianna. Herrace, who had never left Theodore, never mind Roanne, was bubbling with excitement as
soon as he walked out of his house’s gates with his bag slung across his back.

But only at first, of course.

“Ahhhhhh!”
Herrace screamed. His sudden scream had been brought about by the outlaws attacking him before
his very eyes. He felt faint as the bandits ran toward him with the intent to kill.

This had already happened several times over.

He had known about Sidian’s notoriety, but this was still too much. They would finish off one group
of bandits, only to be ambushed yet again after walking for just a little while longer. He felt like they
had somehow become the most wanted criminals in Sidian.

“Kehehehe!”

The twenty or so bandits, equipped with a variety of weapons, snickered. A few of them even dug
their heels into their agitated camels’ sides and charged directly at them.

“Hand over everything you’ve got, Roanne pigs!”

one bandit shouted greedily as he rushed at Taro. Taro’s lips twisted behind his mantle, which
covered most of his face and left only his eyes and nose visible.

“Are ya fuckin’ blind? Do I look like a pig to ya?”

Taro made a fist and sent it flying at the bandit. But the bandit’s dagger dug into his arm before his
fist could reach the bandit’s face.

Ting!
The blade flung away as if it had run into steel. The astonished bandit opened his eyes wide. Taro
barred his teeth before the bandit’s face and laughed.

“Why don’t’cha just get rid of yer eyes if they’re that useless?”

Pooow!
A refreshing noise sounded as the bandit was sent flying.

Thud.
The bandit, whose face had been caved in around the eyes, sprawled out against the ground and
spasmed. He stopped moving altogether a moment later.

‘A-a corpse!’
Herrace, who had been blocking another bandit’s attacks from nearby, shrieked and was pushed
backward.

Pow! Pow!
He looked to where the corpse had come flying from only to find Taro beating up a bunch of bandits.
Taro, who was normally laughing with a simple look on his face, seemed so unfamiliar to Herrace as
he condemned their attackers with a chilling light in his eyes. Taro looked like this every time they
were attacked, and Herrace still could not get used to it.

Squish.
Herrace stepped on something as he backed away and was promptly stupefied when he looked down.
Three severed fingers were tumbling across the ground.

Sprawled out in front of him were things that had once been humanoid in shape, and Ianna was
wiping off the blood from her blade in the middle of the carnage. She was composed, as if the
gruesome scene had nothing to do with her.

The blood drained from Herrace’s face. Both Ianna and Taro had changed so much. Where had his
close friends from the Institution gone that such bloodthirsty veterans were standing in their place?

Ianna’s eyes met his when she looked up. There was no hostility in her crimson eyes as she looked to
him, but Herrace was still frightened to death nevertheless.

“Behind you.”

He thought her lips had moved ever so slightly behind the veil she was wearing. Herrace spun around
and brandished his sword as soon as he understood what her simple words had meant. A bandit had
tried to ambush him, and his chain sickle tangled into Herrace’s sword.

“Die!”

The bandit had realized that he could not escape the brutal youths’ clutches as he watched Taro and
Ianna eliminate his colleagues one after another. They were simply being killed without once being
offered the chance to be spared on the condition that they immediately backed away.

They were your stereotypical group of bandits who would immediately fall to the ground to plead for
their lives if their opponents were strong —in other words, they acted strong before the weak and
weak before the strong. The bandit had survived countless brushes with death that way.

Indeed. Most people had allowed them at least one chance at mercy.

But these inhumane brats would not even allow them to beg for their lives. The bandit returned to his
senses and realized that he, who was attacking a weaker opponent, was the only one left standing.

Then, he promptly gave up on his survival. And he was filled with the malice to take at least the
weakest bastard with him as he died.

“Die, you little bitch!”

“Ack!”

Herrace screamed. He had grown up in the capital of Roanne, where the public safety was great, and
in the Bendham manor, which was protected by powerful knights —there was no reason that he
would have ever experienced bloodlust before.

Travis hated him, but he had only ever pointed his sharp hatred at Herrace —never his bloodlust.
Herrace had sparred against countless students in the Swordsmanship Department too, but he had
simply seen it as another form of training because his life had never been on the line.

This trip, the first time in his life that he had ever been made to so graphically experience what
bloodlust was, had placed Herrace squarely in the middle of life and death before he even had the
time to be afraid and forced him to swing his sword.

“Damn, yer real strong, Lil’ Ianna, ain’t ya? No wonder Pops took such a likin’ to ya. And I like ya
too, of course!”
Taro, who had finished off the rest of the bandits at some point, brushed off the blood on his clothes
and walked up to Ianna. He was holding the reins of a camel that had lost its master. Taro laughed as
Ianna threw a glance at the nervous camel. He continued,

“Camel’s pretty good —wanna have some for dinner? It’s best when salted and grilled!”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Ianna looked behind Taro. All the bandits had some part of their body caved in. Then, she looked to
Taro’s back. They had been attacked multiple times since their trip had started, but Taro’s greatsword
was still resting quietly on his back. Ianna continued,

“This has been on my mind for a while, but you don’t use your sword very often.”

Taro scratched at his head.

“Mm, my main weapon’s my body, to be honest. I chose the sword ‘cause Pops told us to specialize
in at least one thing other than martial arts. So……fightin’ barehanded comes as naturally to me as
breathin’, and the sword’s only something I took up for fun, and I just end up usin’ my body without
realizin’ when I’m excited. Oh, but don’t tell the others in the Swordsmanship Department. And
don’t be cross with me either.”

“Why would I be cross with you? It’s nice to see you work so hard at both. Does everyone in your
family learn martial arts?”

Taro shook his head.

“Not exactly —our bodies are just naturally weapons ‘cause we’re all carnivores. We instinctively
know how to use our bodies.”

“Carnivores……?”

“Huh? Opps.”

Taro gasped and covered his mouth with his hands.

Ianna stared back at him in open curiosity, and Taro contemplated for a moment before he resolutely
brought his hands back down. He cleared his throat loudly before he continued,

“Maybe our ancestors blessed us or something, but everyone in our clan’s been good at fightin’ since
birth. If people can be divided up into herbivores and carnivores, we’re an example of the latter and
we specialize in huntin’.”

“Ack!”

Their conversation was cut short by a single scream. They saw Herrace drop his sword.

Herrace bit down hard at his lip.

‘I messed up!’
The bandit’s chain had wrapped around his blade, and Herrace had readily let go of his sword when
the bandit pulled.

Herrace was a remarkable swordsman, but he could not display his skills properly because he did not
have much actual battle experience and could not defeat a seasoned veteran. It was true that this was
his first time facing an opponent with a chain sickle too, but the bigger problem was his inexperience.

“Um, uhh…….”

Taro bent his knees and prepared to jump in as soon as he sensed that Herrace was in danger, but a
flash of light poured out from Ianna’s scabbard first. It had been created as Ianna whipped out her
sword and re-sheathed it so quickly that even Taro, with his excellent dynamic vision, could not see
it.

Slam!
The burst of light reached the bandit instantaneously. Ianna’s fortification tore off the bandit’s head
and wrist and sent them both flying off into the distance. Herrace saw the shocking sight of a
person’s head separating from his body directly in front of his eyes. The resulting explosion of blood
spattered on Herrace’s face.
Pow! Pow!
The bandit’s head and hand, which was still holding his chain sickle, fell and buried into a pile of
sand off in the distance.

“I told you to never let go of your sword even if your palms get torn. And we practiced so much at
the Institution too…….”

Plop.
Ianna had walked up to Herrace and was admonishing him, but his body suddenly lurched and
crumbled to the ground.

“Huh, did he just pass out?”

Taro slapped Herrace gently on the cheeks and poured water from his water bottle on him, but the
ashen-faced Herrace did not stir. Taro placed his fingers on Herrace’s throat to check his pulse, afraid
that he might have died from fright. It was weak, but his pulse was still there. Taro clicked his
tongue.

“Our Herrace……really is a young master, ain’t he? I was wonderin’ why he was gettin’ so quiet, but
he must’ve just been stressed out.”

He threw Herrace across his shoulder and continued,

“I think Herrace might benefit the most from our trip, yeah? There’s a lot he’ll learn from this. I can
see why ya insisted on bringin’ him along, Lil’ Ianna. Ya said not to go easy on the bandits that
attacked us before we crossed the border ‘cause ya wanted Herrace to get some actual experience,
right? He’s way too gentle. I didn’t think much of it then ‘cause it’s just normal to me to have to fight
whenever I go through Sidian, but now I see what ya were gettin’ at.”
“We should help him while we still can. We spend a lot of time with him in the Institution for now,
but we won’t be able to help as much once we’ve graduated.”

Taro rolled his eyes as he replied,

“That’s true, but —why’re ya talkin’ like yer goin’ somewhere far away, Lil’ Ianna? Ya sound like
we might not be able to see each other later.”

Taro had very sharp instincts. Ianna believed……that she would not be able to be with them like this
a year and a half down the road.

Ianna planned to complete her studies in the Institution by next year and head up north to the
Kingdom of Woodruff to conquer the Bahamut Empire. She planned on erasing all of her personal
information and vanishing until they had succeeded.
Arhad was currently twenty-three. He would be twenty-four next year. He had been crowned
emperor at twenty-nine in the past. Which meant that she probably would not be able to see her
friends for at least five years or so.

She wanted to spend more time with them like this and deepen their bonds. She did not want their
ties to disappear in the five years she couldn’t see them.

“All we’ll have left is our personal dreams of the future once we stop attending the Institution
together. It’s only natural that we’ll scatter like the winds in order to walk our own paths.”

Which was why she wanted to solve Herrace’s problem before that time came. That was what Ianna
thought as she brought her hand away from Herrace’s head. She then began walking away from the
area, which reeked of blood, and Taro followed behind her.

“I guess that’s true…….”

Taro fell into a gloomy silence for a while. Then, he said,

“I’m plannin’ on travelin’ around Toraca once I graduate.”

“What about Princess Lalatua?”

It was only natural for Ianna to think about them together. Taro had been head over heels for Lalatua
ever since they had first met during their entrance exams. Her question was only natural, since she
could not imagine a Taro who did not chase after Lalatua.

“Hmmm…….”

Ianna imagined he’d say something self-confident like, “I’ll take her with me as my bride!” and grew
disconcerted when he sighed and hemmed and hawed instead.

“I know I’m always chargin’ at her like a bull on the outside, but I’ve actually been thinkin’ for a
while on the inside, yeah? Be honest —I’m little more than Lady Lalatua’s servant, right?”

“…….”

She had thought that Taro had lost his right mind due to his crush on Lalatua, but he apparently had a
clear grasp on his situation.

“I really like Lady Lalatua, and there’s a part of me that wants to stay here with her. But I’ve been
thinkin’ as I chased after her for this past year and a half, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to beat
magic. And Lady Lalatua’s other half is magic.”
Ianna nodded before she could stop herself. She barely remembered much about her past life
anymore because it had grown so hazy, but she remembered that Lalatua had been so crazy about
magic and her experiments that she had been called the Mad Magician. Taro continued,

“Mm, ya see, the thing is… I have to go back to my clan when I turn twenty-five no matter and carry
out a clan ritual. And that ritual takes about a year. Which means that Lady Lalatua’ll be absorbed in
nothing but her magic for an entire year. She might even like the fact that I won’t be around to annoy
her. She’ll prob’ly forget about me completely. And thinkin’ about that makes me sad. It’s not that I
really expected to get anything out of this, but I can’t help but wonder if I’ll have nothing to show
after tryin’ to woo her for years. I almost feel like there’s no point. So I think I’m gonna give up if I
can’t win Lady Lalatua’s heart by the time I’m twenty-five. Maybe even earlier if things get too hard
for me.”
“Really……?”

Despite what Taro was saying, he had been chasing after Lalatua many years into the future. And
Ianna was sure that Lalatua must have cared about Taro in her own way, considering that she had
dragged him along while calling him her pet tiger.

After all, now that Ianna thought about it……Taro had been the only person at Lalatua’s side back
then.

She didn’t know exactly what kinds of feelings they had shared, but she was certain that Taro had
successfully breached the walls that the selfish and self-centered Lalatua had put up around her heart.
Ianna might not have known, but it was entirely possible that they had even been in love.

“Personally, I think that Princess Lalatua cares about you in her own way. So I think it’s still too
early for you to give up just yet. Why don’t you keep trying to win her over with everything you have
until you finally decide to give up for real?”

“Hmm?”

Taro opened his eyes wide and grinned upon hearing what Ianna had said. He continued,

“What’s this now? Didn’t ya say not to woo her with everything I’ve got just last year, Lil’ Ianna?”
Now that she thought about it, Ianna recalled having a similar yet different conversation with Taro
last year during the underclassmen’s swordsmanship competition.

“Did ya change yer mind?”

She had. Taro had said that he thought he could offer Lalatua his everything if it meant that she
would love him back, and Ianna had advised him against it.

 
“The future is uncertain. It’s foolish to try so hard when you can’t be sure if she’ll like you back.”
 

She was fairly certain she had said something along those lines.

Ianna fell into thought upon realizing that she had changed. She had once thought that it was futile to
put a lot of effort into personal relationships, but not anymore. She had a better example in Arhad
now.

“That the power of love?”

Ianna, who had started thinking about Arhad without even realizing it, quickened her pace when
Taro’s teasing remark hit the nail on the head. Taro chuckled upon watching Ianna be so clumsy —a
rare sight.

“I’m suddenly feeling confident again now that yer cheerin’ me on, ya know that, Lil’ Ianna? I
thought you’d be single forever, but you ended up fallin’ for Sir Arhad too, yeah? Which means
there’s still hope for me!”
Ianna had nothing to say. She simply started uncharacteristically touching at the hair that had fallen
free from her ponytail.

……And so, she had been made to think about Arhad, whom she had only just managed to forget
about, once again because of today’s attack.

Deserts filled with reddish-brown sand began cropping up here and there ever since they had reached
the western-most edges of Roanne. The mainland of the continent had once been teeming with life in
the past, as if it had meant to draw a distinct boundary between it and the four corners.

And so, these deserts had once been overflowing with the green of life. Part of the reason why the
lands had become as difficult-to-inhabit desert was because of the dry climate and little rainfall, but
the bigger reason stemmed from human greed.

Man had allowed his livestock to eat the grasses unchecked so they could be fattened and had cut
down the trees, which had once grown as far as the eye could see, to build houses, use as firewood,
and make paper and the like without realizing how precious the resources were.

The flora were the basis and the foundation of the world. All the ponds and lakes in the area had
dried up because humans had haphazardly eliminated the flora and reduced the amount of water they
carried in their roots.
Plants could not grow if there was no water, so the vicious circle had continued spiraling until all the
flora had disappeared and the earth was exposed to the scorching sunlight. The earth drew hotter
because there were no more leaves to shield it from the scorching sunlight, and all the animals that
had once lived there had fled, unable to endure the heat. The earth had turned to sand once all life
had vanished from it, and the once beautiful and marvelous land had become as a land of death.

In essence, the deserts had by and largely been brought about by human greed.

The number and size of the deserts near the heart of the continent were a measure of human greed.
And Sidian, located to the west of Roanne, was half-covered by deserts. They had started cropping
up one at a time until they grew larger and began swallowing the country whole.

Ianna took in the scenery around her as she passed through. The deserts had been created due to
terrible factors, but the scenery itself was quite breathtaking. It was only in the deserts that one could
see the long shadows that camels cast along the sands from a distance.

Ianna stopped in her tracks as she was looking around. She saw a cluster of cacti and a signpost that
had been weathered by sandstorms.

“It’s a town. Shall we stop here for today, Taro?”

“Sure! I’m gettin’ hungry too, so let’s go. I’d feel bad eatin’ the camel without Herrace, so let’s sell it
off in town and buy something else to eat.”

They decided to grab an inn for the night since Herrace, who was still passed out, did not seemed like
he would wake anytime soon and the day was coming to an end. It was difficult to camp out in the
wild in the desert because the temperature fluctuated so drastically between day and night.

Taro and Ianna would be fine, of course, but Herrace had grown up in a wealthy environment and
had never gone camping before, so it was plainly obvious that he would get sick if his first
experience sleeping outside was in the cold.

“Welcome.”

Sidian was the hotbed of crime, but there were still inns that operated inside the country. They still
had their fair share of problems, of course, since not only were the innkeepers massive rip-offs but
guests could also get mugged in the middle of the night because most of the guests were criminals.

Which was why a lot of people preferred to camp outside in the desert. Those who did choose to rest
at inns did so because they tired of constantly eating dried rations and sleeping on the hard ground.
“It’s five gold a night.”

The innkeeper brought them to a room that looked like a warehouse and charged an unreasonable fee.
It was then that Taro decided to pick a fight. The innkeeper quarreled with Taro for a while before
calling forward a large-bodied man and told them to bury their three guests. Taro beat the both of
them black and blue before they offered a better room for a better price.

Ianna was stupefied by Taro’s thuggish behavior and asked him what the hell he thought he was
doing, but Taro simply shrugged and told her that finding a room without a fight in Sidian was a
pointless waste of money. Innkeepers initially charged ridiculous prices and brought them down only
by a little when a customer complained, and they beat customers to the ground if they continued
complaining. They would only offer a reasonable price in return for keeping their lives if they judged
that the customer was stronger than them.

This was the kind of country that Sidian was. It was a lawless place where anyone was free to
commit even blatant highway robbery and get away with it as long as they were strong enough. Drug
dealing, human trafficking……such things happened freely in the open, and even murder posed no
problem here. People simply ignored it outright even when outsiders suddenly broke off contact and
vanished off the face of the earth —and those who disappeared were quickly forgotten.

This land was the epitome of immorality where the law of the jungle prevailed above all else.

Criminals from all over the world gathered in Sidian, and the number of people who were naturalized
as citizens only grew and never decreased.

The royal family of Sidian cared little about the public safety and only mobilized its soldiers to
punish stateless squatters who had never been formally naturalized for evading taxes. One had no
choice but to be naturalized and pay taxes to the crown if they wanted to live in Sidian. The royal
family’s soldiers were incredibly strong, and the people had to pay large fortunes just to live on the
land while the kingdom did nothing for them in return.

It had been one day since they had left the fertile and livable lands of Roanne and four days since
their trip had begun.

Ianna lied in bed for a while before she began rummaging through her things. She pulled out a small
notebook and recorded everything that had happened today in it for a bit before she paused and
searched through her bag again to pull out a small object.

‘This is a communication artefact…….’

 

“Contact me at once if anything happens. And I’d be happy if you contacted me even if nothing
happened too.”
 

It was something Arhad had tossed her way alongside the water-generating artefact before she had
left. Ianna lied flat on her bed as she studied the artefact with a puzzled look on her face.
‘A puppy-shaped plush toy with communication magic inscribed on it……I think?’
It was an adorable plush puppy that had been stuffed to the brim with cotton. She could carry it
around in her pocket because it was only the size of her pinkie. Ianna wondered why on earth Arhad
had turned a plush toy into an artefact. It didn’t take her long to think up of a precedent.

‘He’s taken me to a seafood restaurant every time we ate out just because I said that I liked seafood
once.’
Did that mean that he had created this plush puppy artefact because he had determined that she liked
things like this?

‘Have I ever acted like I liked this stuff before?’

Ianna thought back on anything in her past that had to do with puppy-shaped dolls. Arhad had once
gone out of his way to win a stuffed puppy during the Founding Day festival just because her eyes
had lingered on it for a while.

‘Just because of that?’

She wracked her brains for a little while longer before she remembered that she had thoughtlessly
told Arhad that she treasured the stuffed animal and kept it by her bedside a few days later. He had
immediately offered to fill her entire room with stuffed animals, but she had refused and told him
that she was already satisfied with the one she already had.

Ianna could almost see why he would think that she had a thing for puppy-shaped dolls.

‘Does this really work……?’

She was about to inject mana into the artefact without much thought, but then she realized that it
would contact Arhad as soon as she supplied it with mana. Ianna grew alarmed and dropped the
plush toy.

Plop.
The plush made a cute noise when it fell on her face.

“…….”

Ianna kept still without moving the plush off her face. It covered her eyes, but it did not cover the
slight flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. The plush tumbled down the curves of her face shortly
thereafter and settled down next to her head.

Ianna sat up and clutched at her aching forehead. She thought it was fortunate that she had planned
out her trip well ahead in advance. It had become extremely awkward to look Arhad in the eyes after
she had made her shocking realization.

She had been able to pretend that everything was fine only because she had an escape in her trip.
Acting like she was fine would have been out of the question had it not been for her trip. Her
complicated thoughts would have been plainly visible on her face because she was not the type to lie
easily, and Arhad, being as sharp as he was, would have noticed she was acting strange.
“…….”

Ianna had doubted her realization multiple times ever since that day.

‘Sure, I’m mistaken.’

‘I’m definitely deluding myself. How unsightly of me.’
Ianna had not been able to erase her doubts, and she doubted and denied her realization yet again
today.

‘I could be wrong. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.’

And, as she always did after doubting, Ianna once again carefully went over each and every example
of how Arhad always treated her.

Arhad liked her terribly. Ianna had tried to remove herself and think things through objectively, but
this much was as true as fact. He also always seemed to enjoy doing things with her, was always
excited to do things for her, and always wanted to be the most important person in her life.

He hated it when she didn’t rely on him, and he raged like a madman and clutched onto her at even
her smallest rejections. And even then, he lamented as if he had suffered deep wounds.

And yet, his anger immediately lifted at even the tiniest goodwill in her words to him and he could
not contain his joy.

“……Sigh.”
Ianna bowed her head low after thinking through all that.

She tried to doubt it, but retracing his words and actions always cemented her realization as true in
her heart. The newly simplified definition of love in her heart was justified by Arhad’s dreadfully
deep goodwill for her. His every action until now fit so surprisingly well within the scope of this
simple word called love.

‘You defined this thing called love for me, but it’s no different from the feelings you’ve been
demonstrating for me. I always reach this conclusion no matter how hard I think about it.’
Ianna had countless threads of thought that all led to the realization that Arhad was in love with her.
In order to disprove this, she had to prove a separate hypothesis that stated that he was not in love
with her. And yet, she could not prove this.
Ianna stared blankly into empty space for a moment before grabbing the sword she had left standing
next to her bed. Her sword had drawn a lot of blood today, and she wanted to discipline her mind by
cleaning it.

Normally, she would have used the time she had taken while pondering over everything to simply
use the communication artefact and ask Arhad if he loved her. Or rather, she would have asked him
as soon as the thought had entered her mind.
But Ianna had not voiced her question to him. She would never be able to go back if he confirmed
her suspicions. She needed time to organize her thoughts before she actually asked him.

In truth, she was already certain. She always denied and doubted it……but that was only because she
wanted to find even the slightest possibility that she was wrong.

Ianna looked to her newly cleaned sword. She had worked hard to clean it, and it no longer bore even
a single smudge. The clean sight of the sword glistening with a chilling light was like her own
conclusions, which she had cleaned and polished while doubting and doubting them.

Ianna returned her sword to its sheath and walked up to the window. She sat on the windowsill and
looked outside with her arms crossed.

Perhaps it was because they looked similar, or perhaps it was because they created a similar mood in
the air, but the night automatically reminded her of Arhad now. The yellow moon, as golden as
Arhad’s eyes, had risen in the deep darkness of the sky, and it alone made itself plainly visible as it
shined within the darkness.

Ianna finally understood, and she decided to acknowledge what she had realized. And she could
finally formulate everything into one proper sentence.

Arhad was in love with her.

She had not been able to identify the emotions he poured out to her because she had not known what
love was until recently.

But she had realized that Arhad loved her as soon as she learned how to define it.

There was no longer any more room for doubt. She did not know exactly when it had started, but it
was clear to Ianna that Arhad had loved her for a long time —perhaps even since they had first met.

And so, it was a waste of time to keep doubting it like this.

‘Arhad loves me…….’

Her conclusion was an important turning point in Ianna’s life, which she would have to spend by
Arhad’s side. She had to carefully consider what it was that he wanted and decide how she would act
around him moving forward. Calmly, Ianna thought.

“In one sense, love and goodwill are two totally separate things.”
 
‘Why did he go out of his way to correct me?’
 

“But don’t you want to know? It’s a destructive yet ardent feeling. I do. I want to know just how mad
love can drive a person.”
 

‘You asked me if I wanted to know. If I was curious. Did you ask this because you wanted me to
figure out that you love me? Do you want to alter our relationship? But then, what exactly is it that
you want to do with me if I accept your love? Are you trying to sleep with me?’
It was possible. But the love that Arhad held for her was far too deep and wide to be reduced to
something so simple and vulgar. There was also something warm covering her heart.

He had actually even tried to hide his feelings.

“……That’s just what I think.”

 

And he had looked like he was trying to suppress something, as was usual.

“…….”

Ianna rested her cheek against her raised knee and stared blankly at the moon.

‘Now that I think about it, I’ve already asked him if he loved me before.’
Toward the end of last year, she had tried to prove that people had been wrong to assume that they
were in love with each other. Arhad had spat out his tea and dropped his book when she asked —
something otherwise uncharacteristic of him.

Ianna had thought that Arhad had simply found the question absurd, but she now realized that his
reaction had been far too extreme for that. Now that she thought about it again, she realized that she
had been mistaken.

‘He wasn’t dumbfounded, he was flustered.’

And, how had Arhad responded again?

“I see you as a remarkable swordswoman……whom I want to watch over and keep by my side.”
 
‘He never denied it.’
Arhad had deftly avoided denying that he was in love, but he had never affirmed it either. He had
always hidden away his feelings so carefully, and he had never once let them show.

He had repetitively said things like, “I like the relationship we share now,” and, “I don’t ever want
you to change,” and he, like Ianna, had never seemed to want their relationship to alter.

……But why would he want that if he was in love with her?

Wouldn’t people normally confess to the other party and want to be their lover? Just like the
countless other men who had sent her love letters filled with compliments and flowery language.

Every last love letter had been written because someone had wanted to establish a romantic
relationship with her. But Arhad had never once seemed to want the same in the long time they had
spent together.

Ianna was bewildered as she carefully combed through her memories until she recalled something
that Priscilla had once said —something that she had initially ignored because she had thought it
wasn’t worth considering.

“You’re like a piece of hard bread, Little Ianna, so you probably looked really displeased when you
asked him. You probably looked like you were so displeased that you’d rather die than be in love,
like how you were with me.”
“Do you really think Little Arhad would be able to be honest with you if you were acting like that?”
 

Ianna suddenly realized that, just as Priscilla had said, it was highly possible that Arhad had acted
like that because Ianna had been so obviously displeased by the idea right from the very beginning.

Ianna had not wanted their stable relationship to change in any way, and she had never hidden her
negative impressions about this thing called love that people kept talking about from Arhad. Because
she had thought that there was no reason for him to love her……because she wished for him not to.

Perhaps that was why Arhad had cut off his feelings and had settled for the good relationship they
shared currently.

In other words, he had hidden away his love in response to her attitude. But he had seized the chance
when she had self-destructively declared that they were lovers in public. And he had kept a fierce
grip on the chance to openly display his affections for her, even if under the guise of a pretense, and
refused to let go of it even when Ianna had asked him to. He had justified himself by telling her that
it was fine since it was all fake anyway. He could openly express his feelings while pretending it was
all just an act.
This was also why Ianna had felt like something was different even though he was just as fond of her
as he had before. Before their pretend relationship had started, Arhad had forcibly suppressed his
love for her and masqueraded it around as goodwill.

But now he could express his feelings for what they were without restricting himself.

Love was the culmination of goodwill. They were not very far removed from one another, but they
become two completely separate emotions once someone crossed the boundary between them. Love
was a form of goodwill that was a cut higher, a cut more serious. It was no wonder why they seemed
so different.

……Had he wanted to express it so badly, even if it meant pretending it was just an act? Had he been
hiding it and pretending it wasn’t there when in actually he had wanted to let her know so badly it
was driving him insane? Was that why he seemed like he was suppressing something inside himself
so often?

Ianna pursed her lips.

‘Foolish man…….’
She always thought this, but just what was she to him that he desired her so? Even she agreed that
she was extremely self-centered, clumsy, and difficult from multiple senses of each word, so why did
he like her so much……?
And?
What am I supposed to do now?
I told him not to fall in love with me, but he already has —so do I have to reject his affections and
turn him down?
Ianna found herself ridiculous for pondering over this. She already knew that she couldn’t.

So, what was she supposed to do? He had already long since crossed the line. And if Arhad’s every
word and action until now had stemmed from his secret love for her, then Ianna could never reject his
feelings.

“It’s good, since it’ll only get worse from now.”

 

That was what Arhad had said on the night that Margarita had cursed the palace —the night that their
fake relationship had begun— after Ianna had confessed that she rather liked it when Arhad looked
after her.

Ianna’s heart stirred.

‘He was already overdoing it to begin with……. What am I going to do about how awkward this is?’
She felt like she was looking into a mirror while wearing clothes that were much too large for her.
The clothes were too big for her to tell if they looked good on her or not, but neither did she want to
simply take it off and cram it in the trashcan.

She was awkward about the entire notion of love, but that did not mean that she was wholly
unwilling to accept Arhad’s. The fact that someone she was fond of cherished her and longed for her
ardently made her cheeks flush in embarrassment, but it also made her happy.

And more importantly, there was a very suspicious sense of thrill hiding in one corner of her heart.
Ianna did not turn away from the fact that she had heated up and that a sense of anticipation had
settled inside her heart the very moment she had realized that Arhad loved her.

……She found herself ridiculous for feeling this way after having rejected love for so long. It was
ridiculous that the only reason she didn’t feel repulsed because it was Arhad who loved her, and it
was comical that knowing this didn’t make her feel bad.
‘I’m sure I’ll feel better soon.’
She had been awkward about receiving goodwill at first too, but she had grown accustomed to it as
time had passed.

The night was growing deeper. She would be exhausted tomorrow if she didn’t get some sleep soon.
Ianna got up from the windowsill and closed the window to shut out the cold wind. She then
collapsed onto the foreign bed that smelled like sand —an unfamiliar scent.

“…….”

Ianna cracked her eyes opened and looked at the cute plush puppy’s beady black eyes. She reached
out and poked its tiny head with her finger.

She started laughing before she could stop herself when she thought about how that large man must
have held up this tiny, fist-sized plush.

She felt like she became the most precious person in the whole world when she watched Arhad’s
antics. He was so excessive that she almost felt like all the hatred she had received in the past had
been the price she paid for his love and his acceptance of everything she was.

But beyond whether it was excessive or lacking, Ianna was honestly happy. Did everyone who
received love feel this way?

Even what small amount of reluctance that had remained in Ianna’s heart vanished in the presence of
her joy.

‘……All right. So be it. It’s not like I dislike it, so I’ll feign ignorance and do as he wants for now.’
It had never been her preference to agonize over something to begin with. Ianna decided to let the
situation play out naturally, like how water flows from high to low altitude.
She had no idea what was what, so she simply decided to keep still. Arhad wanted her, so he would
surely do something first. There was no need for her to step up —all she had to do was respond to
what he did and act and answer as her heart dictated.

And, who could say? At this rate, she might just fall in love with him too. She thought of love as
clothes that didn’t quite fit for now, but she might end up treasuring it above all else one day.

Perhaps she might even forget her fear of change and end up wanting to love him too.

It was selfish of her to think this way, but she was glad that he had fallen in love with her first.

Ianna squeezed the plush puppy tight. If she didn’t contact him first, would he contact her out of
worry? What should she say if he contacted her?

Ianna discovered that she was quietly curious and anticipant about what Arhad would say to her and
how he would act around her now.

And she was made to be vividly aware of the fact that she had been reborn and was living life anew,
and that there now existed a completely new path before them that she had never even imagined.

The path before her was dark and she could not predict where it would lead her, but the fact that the
darkness, so like Arhad himself, would always guide her down the right path set her heart aflutter.

Ianna finally finished organizing her thoughts and chose a course of action. She would acknowledge
and accept everything. And she did not forget that there was one thing that she must always keep in
mind. She might fall in love and change ever so slightly because of it, but she would never forget her
dignity. Ianna had faith that this was possible for her as she closed her eyes.

Part 2
Ianna and her friends ran through Sidian the next day and the day after that. Most bandits began
covering their tracks as news that a trio wearing black chadors were slaughtering or maiming those
who attacked them began to spread. And the larger bandit groups, to which some of the bandits they
had wiped out had belonged, began observing them spitefully.

“This is my first time just runnin’ through this place so recklessly. Is this gonna be okay?”

“Didn’t you suggest that we do this? You wanted to wipe them out and move on. And here I thought
you were rather confident about it.”
“Anything goes in Sidian, so it don’t really matter what ya do here. It just pricks at my conscience a
bit ‘cause this is my first time making such a fuss. But then again, there ain’t no reason why
it wouldn’t be okay, right? Besides, everyone needs to challenge something new from time to time!
Haha, I’ll have something to brag to my brothers about, I tell ya!”
Ianna and Taro were at peace, uncaring about the unknown. Herrace, however, had dark circles under
his eyes and he looked around himself anxiously.

Ianna shrugged.

“You say it’s okay, but we’re still technically in danger. The fact that fewer bandits are attacking us
probably means that they’ve taken notice of us. Some of the bastards might even be digging up
information about us. Though it’ll all be in vain, of course…….”

Ianna was right on her money. A few bandit groups had, in fact, tried to investigate them, but they
had not uncovered any information of value. They were a trio composed of one visibly large man, a
swordswoman, and a swordsman. They had managed to keep their identities so thoroughly hidden
because they were still students.

The sun’s rays grew hotter the farther west they traveled. There were countless people covered from
head to toe in black chadors. And there were countless people who covered up more completely than
they had in order to aid their secret designs.

This was why cultural norms in Sidian dictated that one could only prove their identity not by
appearance but by showing an ID card or a seal and why people only communicated with those they
trusted.

Ianna, Taro, and Herrace were concealing their identities with their black chadors as they stirred up a
fuss in the country.

Not only did they look culturally appropriate, but their enemies could not identify them by their eyes
alone. It didn’t matter how many enemies they made with how they looked at the moment.

Moreover, Ianna and her friends were careful, and they rarely came into contact with any normal
people who could sell information about them. They had only rested and eaten at inns for the first
stretch of their trip. They had started hunting animals for food and camping outside once Herrace had
started acclimating to the desert climate. And so, no one could get any information about them.

The trio’s enemies had tried to tail them in secret and learn more about them that way, but that
proved impossible because Ianna and Taro were thorough and massacred their shadows too.

“But, just as we heard back at the inn, the people of Sidian seem to bear a grudge against anyone who
comes from Roanne…… We never bothered to hide our tracks, so they might figure out that we
came from Roanne to the east. There’s hardly a one-in-a-million chance that they’ll catch on to us,
but we should still pass by quickly just in case.”

The true rulers of Sidian, the Black Fox, was currently extremely hostile to Roanne.
The people in Sidian had no idea that their king was the Black Fox’s boss, but they were fond of the
Black Fox and supported the organization. They acknowledged that the Black Fox was the very roots
of their economy.

This was why travelers from Roanne and even those who had been naturalized into Sidian but had
originally come from Roanne kept their heads low. The people of Sidian were openly hostile to them.

Arhad, too, had cautioned Ianna to pass through Sidian as quietly as possible.

They were already half-way through Sidian. They were moving quickly now that fewer bandits were
attacking them, and they should be able to cross the Jinzai border in four or five days at this rate.

Herrace, who had grown nervous after hearing what Ianna had said, gingerly asked,

“Um, Little Ianna, Sir Taro? If we want to pass through Sidian as quickly as possible, can’t we just
ignore the bandits who attack us?”

His anxiety was one thing, but Herrace was also sick of the stench of blood. Ianna stopped in her
tracks and stared at him.

She sighed as she recognized the revulsion that he had tried to pass off as anxiety with his haggard
appearance.

“Herrace, the reason why we’re dealing with everyone who picks a fight with us in the first place is
so that you can gain more actual experience.”

There was hardly any reason for him to find himself in danger in Theodore, so it was difficult for him
to experience a true battle filled with bloodlust. This was why the upperclassmen curriculum at the
Swordsmanship Department including going out to the frontier for practical training.

Sidian was a lawless land and the kingdom of bandits, making it second only to the battlefields in
terms of gaining practical experience. This was why Ianna had brought Herrace along with her. She
continued,

“It doesn’t matter to Taro and me whether we ignore them or not.”

She did not know much about Taro’s past, but he clearly had plenty of battle experience and Ianna
did not need to worry about him. There was no reason for her or Taro to go out of their way to stir up
a fuss as they passed through Sidian.

“We’re doing this for your sake, but you…….”

Comically enough, Herrace had not been able to kill anyone yet despite the countless battles they had
fought. He had only left shallow wounds on his enemies, and he hadn’t even cut off a limb or any
other body part yet.
Herrace looked like he was about to cry.

“I……I just can’t…”

Herrace’s mind was seized by the thought that his opponent could end up dead or disabled every time
his blade touched his opponent’s flesh. And his enemies tried to take his life every time he stayed his
blade because he felt like his humanity was about to be obliterated. He was practically offering his
enemies his head on a silver platter.

Even Herrace knew that he should be ashamed of himself, but he could not help the fact that he was
reluctant to bring his sword against another person’s body. Ending someone’s life was much scarier
than he had originally thought. And his conscience paralyzed him.

“Please, Little Ianna…….”

Herrace quivered as he spoke, but Ianna shook her head.

“No. I’ve told you before. A sword is fundamentally a tool meant for murder. And you’re not
wielding your sword just for sport like some nobles do or because you want to be a swordsmanship
instructor in some village somewhere.”

“That’s true, but still…….”

Ianna decided that she needed to get a clearer picture of Herrace’s state of mind as he dawdled and
evaded the question, so she crossed her arms and glared at him.

“Stop being so wishy-washy. I was turning a blind eye to your sorry behavior, but now I see you’ve
only grown more relaxed about acting this way. Very well then, shall I lay it out for you straight? I
am truly in awe of your never-ending mercy, Young Master Herrace.”

Herrace stiffened up when he heard the sarcasm in Ianna’s words. She continued,

“It wasn’t just once or twice that you weren’t committed to the strokes of your sword even when
your enemies were after your life. Just how many times have Taro and I saved you now? You’ve
already died dozens of times.”

“…….”

“If you’re ever attacked while you’re on your own, don’t waste your precious life by fighting like a
fool —just crawl between your enemy’s legs and beg for your life. Offer them your money, or your
family, or anything else you have while you’re at it.”

“Whoa, hey, Lil’ Ianna. That’s a bit harsh,”

Taro said and grabbed Ianna by the shoulder as she seemed to be picking a fight with Herrace.
Herrace clenched his hands into tight fists and spat out everything that had been piling up inside.

“But they’re still people. I don’t want to hurt them. They’re not monsters, and we can just subdue
them and send them off with a strong warning…….”

“Are you saying you’re strong enough to do that? You’ve already let them cut you with their blades
multiple times over.”

Herrace found himself at a loss for words and closed his mouth as Ianna’s frigid words fell on him
like a cane to his calves. She continued,

“The choice to kill or spare their enemies is a choice afforded only to the strong. Besides, it was Taro
and me who killed those bastards. It wasn’t you. You’re still weak, and you still need to fight your
enemies like you mean to really kill them. You don’t want to hurt people? It’s far more difficult to
subdue someone than it is to kill them. Do you think this is just practice and that everything is over
once someone ‘wins’ or ‘loses’?”

“…….”

“Do you think monsters are your only enemies? Then what about the bandits? People can be your
enemies and try to kill you too. Are you so relaxed because Taro and I will clean up after you even if
you don’t kill anyone? How does it feel playing all good and innocent while we do your dirty work?”
Ianna’s sharp words brought tears to Herrace’s eyes as they openly stabbed at his heart. There was
nothing he could say for himself, since everything she was saying was true.

The trip had been arduous. He had been working himself to death in the Swordsmanship Department
for so long that his body had grown accustomed to the toil and he could endure being on a tight
schedule all day long for a few days. But his heart was suffering. He didn’t want to ruin Ianna’s
mood, and he wanted so badly to just give up on his brutal trip and return home.

Ianna, who seemed to have read his thoughts, cornered him further.

“Do you want to go back? I won’t stop you. But you’ll have to go alone. And I won’t ever train with
you again.”

The blood drained from Herrace’s face. Ianna continued,

“I have absolutely no intention of helping someone who doesn’t give it his all. It’s only possible for
someone to exceed their limits if they’re already trying their best to go further —it’s not possible for
someone who’s already settled within their limits.”

“…….”
“You say that you want to learn how to control the mana that rushes at you like a pack of starving
demons trying to eat away your life, and yet you’re too weak-willed to deal with even a single one of
the bandits who were trying to kill you. This is your last chance, Herrace. I’m not asking you to kill
them. Just render your enemy unable to move a part of their body —I don’t care if you have to stab
them through the stomach or if you cut off an arm. If you can’t even do that, then I will write you off
as hopeless and give up on you.”

Herrace’s role model had chopped his pride and self-esteem to pieces and had told him that this
would be his very last chance.

The horrible thought that Ianna, who had always done her best to help him, might give up on him
made Herrace tremble.

Ianna’s help was his final chance. If Ianna gave up on him, then it would spell his death as a
swordsman.

Ianna’s help or a bandit’s life.

If he absolutely had to choose, then he would obviously choose to throw away the latter. Herrace was
weak-hearted, but a thread of spite skewered him from head to toe and took root within him when he
was cornered with no place to run. Herrace straightened himself out.

“All right. I’ll cut them down next time.”

Yet another battle broke out while they were still in the heart of Sidian and not too long after Ianna
had called Herrace out, and Herrace worked hard. He stopped hesitating and, while he had not been
able to take a life, he had cut off a bandit’s hand. Herrace’s eyes glazed over like a dead fish’s after
he had fully separated one part of a person’s body from the rest for the first time in his life.

The bandit whom Herrace had maimed ran away, but Ianna simply let him go. Herrace kneeled over
as soon as the fight was over and vomited. Ianna pat him on the shoulder as he emptied out the
contents of his stomach.

“You did well.”

“Little Ianna…….”

Ianna had praised him, but Herrace was not happy to hear it. He had cut off the bandit’s hand because
he felt like he was being cornered to the very edge of a cliff, but still could not help but wonder
just why he had to do this in his heart.
He understood that it was in a sword’s nature to cut things.

Ianna had told him that he needed an ambition powerful enough to allow him to readily do these
cruel things if he wanted to be a true swordsman.
Ashen-faced, Herrace thought,

‘I enjoy wielding my sword. The only thing I’ve ever had in my life this far was my sword, and I
always want it to be this way. And I wanted people to acknowledge me for my swordplay.’
But was he able to take someone’s life for this goal? Herrace could not answer.

That night, Ianna and Taro bought entire barrels of beer and had Herrace, who looked like his head
might explode from his complicated thoughts, drink.

Herrace did not really enjoy drinking, but he drank a lot that night. His mind was paralyzed with each
gulp he took, and he felt like his distress was fading at least a little.

His fading distress was one thing, however, and his drunkenness was another thing entirely.

“I’m scared……. I’m so scared. I never wanted to hurt anyone……. So why do I have to, Little
Ianna? Hmm?”

Herrace clung onto Ianna had sobbed. Taro, who had been trying to console Herrace at first, had
drunk an entire barrel of beer himself and had long since knocked himself out, and only Ianna, whose
anger had frightened Herrace earlier during the day, was left to hear him out.

Herrace clung to her and sobbed as if he had never been too gloomy to talk to her in the first place.

Ianna looked bitter. Herrace looked so unseemly right now that it was difficult to look him in the
eyes.

She had rebuked him harshly earlier, but she understood that Herrace was kind at heart and that it
was difficult for him to bring himself to hurt someone. Putting his talent aside, his disposition was
not suited for being a swordsman.

“If you don’t want to hurt your opponent, then you can focus on blocking or subduing them most of
the time so long as you can make sure that you won’t be foolish and are able to cut them down if you
absolutely have to.”

Depending on their preference, most swordsmen had either an offensive or defensive style of
fighting. Herrace leaned heavily toward a defensive style, especially considering his personality.
What Ianna had mentioned was a way for him to focus on using his sword defensively.

But she could not decide everything for him if she truly wanted to do what was best for his future.
Herrace had to anguish and agonize and find his own path. All she could do was offer him her
counsel from his side.

“But you have to be significantly stronger than your opponent to do that. And if you want to grow
stronger, then you have to have a lot of actual experience.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”

Herrace understood Ianna’s blade-like words with his emptied head and nodded. Tears were falling
from his swollen eyes.

“Learning how to hurt someone is something absolutely essential for an immature swordsman.
You’re immature, and you’ll have to keep cutting people down for a long while yet.”

“Sob. I know, but I don’t want to hurt people. Waah. There’s a ghost missing a hand over there!”
Ianna sighed. He wouldn’t be able to comprehend anything she said to him in his current state. For
now, it was enough that she had gotten him drunk, stopped his shame in its tracks, and prevented him
from burrowing himself deeper into his rut.

Ianna planned to push Herrace even harder so that he would have to cut people down without having
the time to really think about it and eventually grow accustomed to it as she pried him off.

Pow.
She hit the noisy Herrace on the back of his neck and made him pass out before laying him down
next to Taro, and she covered her friends with blankets before she sat down in front of the fire. Her
friends were deeply asleep, so she would have to keep watch.

Ianna rested her chin in her hands as she stared at her soundly sleeping friends. She was forging a
bond with her friends that was different from the bonds they had forged at the Institution as they
shared the scorching heat of the sun and the brilliant radiance of the moon above the swelling
reddish-brown sands of the desert.

Once again, she felt that she had changed. She would have never travelled with others in the past.
She would have never even dreamed of trusting her back to another, wanting to aid and protect
another, or sleeping soundly and unguarded while trusting another to keep watch.

She had been wearing an armor of thorns that prevent people from approaching her so that she
wouldn’t get hurt, and yet, here she was —without her armor and her heart bare before her friends.
She had faith in the fact that they would never betray her.

She was certain that her friends would understand and even encourage her if she went to Bahamut.

And the only reason that she was able to change was because he was there —someone standing
behind her who would catch her should she ever be betrayed by those she trusted and collapsed.
……Her thoughts always seemed to end with him these days.
Ianna found this absurd and shook her head and stared at the campfire for a moment before she
pulled over her bag, which had been strewn about nearby, and rummaged through it. She pulled out
the plush puppy.

‘He hasn’t contacted me yet.’

Was he waiting for her to contact him first? She was sure that he would want to contact her.

Truly, Ianna always thought she was being terribly arrogant for always imagining things like this as
if it was completely natural, and yet, comically enough, her imaginations were correct almost all the
time.

Tap. Taap.
Ianna threw the plush into the air and caught it a few times as she contemplated.

Her contemplation didn’t take very long. To be honest, she was waiting for him to contact her too.
Putting aside the matter of their relationship and his feelings, she wanted to know how he was doing,
and she wanted to tell him how she was doing.

And it suited her nature more to act first than to simply stay quiet and wait. And so, Ianna poured
some mana into the plush.

[Ianna?]

Was it because it was in her nature to strike while the iron was hot before any stray thoughts could
squeeze in, or was it because the tipsiness had finally gotten to her head? Ianna only realized how
late it was when she heard his slightly hoarse voice.

It was good and all that her call went through, but Ianna forgot to speak for a moment because she
was embarrassed about her discourtesy when she then heard him speak in a slightly clearer tone.

[I was waiting for you,]

Arhad said cheerfully as if she hadn’t been rude at all.

[I’m glad I always kept the artefact with me, since I didn’t know when you would contact me.]

“…….”

Her face, which had already been warm from the alcohol, grew even hotter. The thought that he
would be waiting for her to contact him and the fact that it was true made Ianna’s heart grow
strangely warm and ticklish.

[Ianna? Hey.]

Ianna slowly brought up her knees and rested her cheek against them. Arhad continued calling her
name as she kept her eyes lowered and toyed with the plush that was tightly in her grasp.

[Ianna!]
Hearing his voice without having the person in front of her was a very new experience.

Ianna realized that she had never paid any special attention to his voice before and simply listened
without replying as he continued to repeat her name.

The quiet spread of his voice was memorable. It was somewhat coarse, perhaps because it was late at
night, but his voice had a very nice timber to it. Ianna felt like she could understand a little as to why
some people blushed red just from hearing his voice.

And……hearing his voice from nearby almost made her feel as if there was no need for her to keep
watch, as if she could simply fall asleep. It also had the queer effect of putting her mind at ease and
making her body relax.

You’re strange.
You’re truly so strange…….
Ianna started feeling sleepy for some reason.

[Why aren’t you answering?]

Arhad stopped calling her name and voiced a question when she had failed to respond over ten times.

[……Did the artefact break? But that shouldn’t be the case…]

Then, he began mumbling to himself.

[Did she leave a mana stone near it? Or maybe she injected it mana subconsciously while she was
asleep? And here I was getting all excited. This is too much.]

“Pft.”

Ianna, who had been listening to Arhad’s mumblings with bated breath, brought her hands up to her
mouth as a laugh burst out from her.

[……Ianna?]

Arhad called her name again, perhaps because he had heard. But his voice sounded serious this time.

[Ianna. Give me your coordinates right now. Wait, no. I don’t need coordinates —tell me where you
are generally and whether you see any landmarks around you. Are you unable to talk?]

She heard the sound of wooden furniture creaking as he spoke. It sounded like he had suddenly
jumped out of bed. She had tried to keep herself from laughing, but it looked like he had misheard
and thought that she was trying to force herself to keep quiet instead.
Ianna stole at glance at Taro and Herrace, who were still sound asleep, and spoke quietly because she
was afraid they might wake.

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

[That’s fine —what’s your status right now?]

She could viscerally feel how tense he was. It was funny to her how someone as capable as Arhad
had misunderstood the situation just because he couldn’t see her in person. Nonchalantly, Ianna
replied,

“We’re camping outside, and Taro and Herrace are asleep.”

She held back her laughter and feigned ignorance even though she was fully aware that he had
misunderstood. She wanted to tease him a bit. She felt like a mischievous child.

[……What the hell?]

Arhad’s reply came a bit late. Her ridiculous response had dispirited him, and his voice was slowed
and dubious.

[Why didn’t you respond at first?]

There was a bit of indignation in his voice this time. Ianna didn’t feel the need to make excuses for
herself, and so she replied with candor.

“It was nice to listen to your voice.”

[…….]

Arhad fell into a moment of silence before he gingerly replied,

[……Are you drunk?]

“I did drink, but I am not drunk.”

[No. You’re definitely drunk.]

“I am not so intoxicated yet that I would senselessly lie about what I’m thinking.”
[Is that so? But to hear you say that it was nice to listen to my voice……. Hmm……well, that’s fine.
In that case, listen to it more often going forward. I’ll forgive you for making me anxious by not
responding since you said something so commendable.]

There was joy coloring his voice, as if he had never been angry to begin with. Ianna felt the abrupt
change and buried her head a little into her knees.

How powerful was this weapon called love that this amazing man was fretting like a hostage with a
blade at his throat? Would she be able to experience the same feelings that Arhad was too? Would
she be able to remain herself even as she experienced them?

She could already see Arhad being swayed by her each and every word.

And it was funny. She felt like she wouldn’t mind being swayed by Arhad, just a little. After all, if
she was having fun and being happy about how Arhad was being swayed by her, then surely Arhad
would be happy too.

[But why did you call? There wasn’t an accident, was there?]

Did he think that she would only contact him if something happened?

Just like how he had used to think that she would only visit the tower where he lived if she had
business with him.

“Nothing happened —I was simply curious as to how you were doing. And I thought you might be
curious as to how I was doing too. Was I wrong?”

[How surprising. Did you read my mind?]

“No, it was merely a guess.”

[Well, you’re right. I’ve been dying to know how you were doing. But to be honest, I didn’t think
you’d contact me unless something happened. You’ve been finding it difficult to be around me as of
late. I was a bit pessimistic and thought you wouldn’t contact me even once and simply show up
when classes began.]

“There’s no need for that, now is there? I’ll be contacting you from time to time, and you can contact
me whenever you wish as well.”

[Truly?]

He sounded dubious, but he suddenly exclaimed, “Ah,” to himself before chuckling quietly.
[I’m happy to hear you say that.]

Ianna thought she could see him laughing in front of her.

[But I think you’ll find it rather troubling if I call you whenever I’m curious about what you’re up to.
I’m always interested in everything you do. You’ll need to supply your artefact with mana
continuously all month long if you want to satisfy me.]

Ianna tried to ascertain whether his gravely straightforward words were in jest or if he was being
serious, and she promptly realized that there was no point. This was Arhad, so he was always being
serious when he said something like that.

[But if you really meant it when you said I could contact you…….]

Arhad fell silent again after saying that.

If he contacted her, then he contacted her —what else did he need? Ianna was curious as to what he
had been about to say and urged him to continue.

“And if I meant it?”

[Then maybe I will from time to time, when I really can’t endure it.]

“Endure what?”

[Your absence.]

Ianna quietly leaned her ear in toward the sound of his voice.

[My mood keeps alternating between extremes because I haven’t been able to see you. I can’t even
work properly……oh.]

Arhad, who had been speaking gloomily, suddenly stopped and groaned, apparently having
interpreted Ianna’s silence in some manner.

[I don’t mean to burden you by saying this. I’ve told you before. This trip is the last vacation I’ll ever
give you, Ianna. You’ll have to guard me by my side for the rest of your life once you get back, so
don’t worry about me enjoy your freedom while you still can. Have enough fun on this trip so you
don’t regret it later.]

I wonder……. Ianna’s features crinkled as she smiled.

He said this, but he still seemed to regard her as some sort of wild animal who was trying to leave
him.
“It’s all right. You’re free to contact me without having to worry about that.”

[I’m not kidding. I’m giving you your last bit of freedom before I ensnare you completely, you
know?]

“May I be frank?”

[About what? Go ahead.]

“I’ve been waiting for you to contact me all this time. I’ve always kept the plush puppy next to me
while I slept.”

Ianna found it easier to speak because she couldn’t see Arhad’s face. Or perhaps she found it easier
because she had finished organizing her thoughts. She continued,

“We’ve only been apart for a few days, but I’ve been curious to hear from you. I’ve been feeling
empty because I haven’t been able to talk with you.”

It was true. It had already become natural for her to have him by her side, and she had already been
accustomed to spending time with him. She had been delighted to accept his collar, given to her
under the guise of their liege-and-knight relationship……and to be freed from it felt not like
liberation, but plunder.

Ianna had been alarmed to find herself feeling this way during her trip, but she accepted her feelings
because the other party was Arhad. She wished for the ties that bound her to him to be as strong as
steel chains, and she was rather tolerant of his obsession.

[……You can be very unreasonable from time to time.]

“What did I do?”

She had thought that he would like it, but he apparently found her unreasonable. Ianna tilted her head
to the side.

[And the fact that you’re asking that is also unreasonable.]

“I was only expressing my fondness of you. Just as you always do to me. So why does that make me
unreasonable?”

[That wasn’t the problem. It was that you said this only a few days into your trip. You make me want
to overturn my resolve and take you back. And it drives me crazy that I can’t.]

“Haha!”
Ianna laughed. She normally only chuckled quietly or curled her lips into a smile, so the fact that she
had laughed out loud meant that she was truly delighted.

Ianna laughed for a while before she steadied her breathing and brushed back the hair that had fallen
in front of her face.

What a funny man. Not because he was comical, but because he could make her laugh.

[Stop laughing,]

Arhad said petulantly.

“I can’t even laugh when I want to?”

[You sounded so delighted just now, but I hate that I can only hear your voice. I limited the artefact
to only audio communication on purpose, but I should have included visual capabilities too.]

Why did he go out of his way to limit the artefact to audio communication? Ianna felt like she could
guess the answer without having to ask. He had probably meant to be considerate of her, since she
had been awkward about talking to him face-to-face, or perhaps he might have wanted to lessen his
own loneliness.

Still, whatever Arhad’s intentions might have been, Ianna liked the artefact very much. The fact that
it allowed her to concentrate on his voice gave it a different kind of charm.

[In any event, I’m curious about what’s happened on your trip so far. Won’t you tell me?]

Ianna told Arhad about what she had been up to, what the situation was like, and how far she had
traveled in meticulous detail, and Arhad was satisfied.

[Sidian is a country where you can do things like that. And I commend you for getting the weak-
willed Herrace Bendham to actually hurt someone. But it’ll probably be better that you moderate
yourself a bit, even if it’s for his training. You know that there are a lot of members of the Black Fox
in Sidian, right? The Black Fox will step up if you provoke them too much. You might be covering
yourselves up, but you should still take care not to be identified since there are no absolutes when it
comes to people.]
Ianna agreed and looked up at the sky. She hadn’t thought that they had spoken for very long, but the
moon and stars had already shifted considerably.

“I’m sorry. I called you so thoughtlessly even though it was already late……I must have woken you,
haven’t I?”

[No. I was reading because I couldn’t sleep. And I close my book as soon as you called. You don’t
need to concern yourself with the time when you contact me.]
Arhad emphasized the point yet again. Ianna flashed a grin. He continued,

[I hate to say this, but let’s stop here. I shouldn’t hinder your trip. And get some shut-eye —I’m sure
you must be tired too.]

“I will. Good night.”

That was all Ianna said before she cut off the flow of mana pouring into the artefact. She placed the
plush toy next to her, and she found it curious how it made her feel like Arhad was right there with
her —perhaps because it was a means by which she could contact him anytime. She found herself
relying on him again.

……Reliance. It made her feel like she was growing weaker for some reason.

In the past, no, even until just a short while ago, the thought of being reliant on another had revolted
her, but now she seemed to overuse the term when it came to Arhad.

Arhad had changed her. Ianna did not dislike the change, but she was still afraid because she did not
know how much she would keep changing.

‘I should be more careful.’

Ianna reflected on herself as she sat her sword in her arms, and she closed her eyes without ever
letting her guard down.

~~*~~

“Cut off everything from wrist down this time, and not just the hand.”

Ianna continued to push Herrace toward a psychological cliff without giving him any time to rest the
next day while he was still hungover. And the next, and the next.

Herrace threw up several times. Ianna could not help but wonder if Herrace would end up being
known as ‘Vomit Boy’ all over again in the desert, just like what had happened in the Institution, but
he hurled less frequently as the days passed.

He looked seriously depressed for a few days before he ultimately started looking like he didn’t
register his hands as his own and wielded his sword like his enemies were not as human as he was.
He looked like he was possessed.
Taro saw him and grew worried.

“Uh, hey, ain’t this kinda dangerous? He looks like he’s lost his soul or like he doesn’t know what
he’s cutting away at anymore. Shouldn’t we let him rest a bit……?”

“No, he needs to keep at it until he gets used to it. We can’t give him the leeway to think about
something else until he finally gets used to actually cutting down a life.”

“But what are we gonna do if we traumatize him by forcin’ him to do something he doesn’t wanna?”

“Forcing? What kind of bastard willingly cuts another person down right from the very beginning?
People kill because the situation was forced upon them —half because of their own intentions and
half because of another’s. Anyone who kills willingly right from the beginning is a crazy bastard
who’s lacking a part of their humanity. Any everyone gets psychologically scarred after taking a life
for the first time. They just grow used to it as they keep doing it.”

“That’s true, but……ya really are ruthless, Lil’ Ianna.”

If Ianna was ruthless, then Herrace was a sugar cookie who crumbled easily.

Throughout the entire second half of her past life, Ianna had beat aside sniveling soldiers on the
battlefields overflowing with blood and madness as she raced headfirst to her death.

It was either kill or be killed on the battlefield. Having the leisure to get lost in your thoughts in a
desperately dangerous situation where survival was everyone’s upmost priority was a luxury. No one
had the time to waste over guilt like Herrace did.

Ianna had upturned entire battlefields and smacked allied soldiers across the backs of their heads or
even personally slit their throats to set an example if she saw them hesitating nearby. But this wasn’t
a battlefield, and she could not treat Herrace that way.

“It’s important to rest and repent, of course. You have to decide for yourself how much a life is worth
to you.”

Murder was an experience that anyone who wished to live with a weapon had to overcome.

The process of asking yourself if you could murder, if you could set aside your morality, your respect
for others’ lives, and your altruism for the sake of your personal ambitions and repenting over your
sins was necessary if you didn’t wish to become a simple butcher.

“But like I said before, our first priority should be to get him used to it. Having the time to think
about something before doing it is something only a pampered young master can do, and it isn’t
effective. It’s far more efficient to have him do something he can’t take back first and let him
contemplate over it afterward. Besides, we’ll reach the Sidian-Jinzai border soon, and we won’t be
able to do battle as freely once we get to Jinzai. We need to push him as far as possible before then.”

“There’s nothing I can say to that ‘cause I know yer right. But, would ya have really stopped trainin’
with Herrace……if he couldn’t do it?”

“But of course. I don’t make empty promises. If he couldn’t act even after being pushed that far, then
it would have only meant that he had no hope to begin with.”
And so, Ianna and her friends continued with their forced march through Sidian even after Herrace’s
incomplete awakening. It was a mercilessly endless repetition of battle and rest.

It was due to this that Herrace surprisingly, to the point that his initial fluster was put to shame, grew
accustomed to the violence and had become able to cut off limbs without much thought. He was still
as hesitant to actually kill as ever, but he had made remarkable progress. Though his decaying state
of mind was another story, of course.

“Ack!”

The repeating cycle shattered when Herrace screamed upon sighting a bizarrely arranged corpse.

“W-w-what is that?”

Ianna and Taro furrowed their brows when they looked to where Herrace was pointing to with a
trembling finger. There was a human corpse that had been thrown on top of a large rock next to the
road they had been traveling on like trash.

Sidian was a frightening country that could make even the most ordinary people inhumane. Murder
was a frequent occurrence in the heaven of criminals, and one could see corpses half-buried in the
sand along any ordinary road.

And everyone simply ignored them and walked by because paying heed to the abandoned corpses
was both a waste of time and a waste of mental resources.

Ianna and her friends would have normally acted if they were witness to crime, but they simply
ignored whatever they saw in Sidian and simply walked past with no hesitation whatsoever.

And even still, one corpse tumbling over the sands had stopped them dead in their tracks. There was
something off about it. There was no such thing as a pretty corpse unless the person had passed away
quietly in their sleep, but this was new to even Ianna —which was nothing to say of Herrace, who
had only just gotten accustomed to many corpses he saw in these lands rife with the sight of blood
and bones.
“……That…used to be human, right?”

“Yes.”
It had definitely been human once, judging by the vivid remains of bone and muscle.

But it was just so bizarre.

Ianna walked up to the corpse and studied it.

The corpse’s skin was like tree bark. There was obviously no water, but there wasn’t even a single
drop of blood in sight.

A corpse that was completely dried up and had not a single drop of moisture in it would be reduced
to dust and merge into the sand if you hit it hard enough. The blood dried on the corpse’s flesh was
the only proof left that it, too, had once had warm blood flowing through its veins.

A lot of the corpses they had seen in the desert had looked like mummies because the dryness of the
climate had evaporated what moisture they carried. But even then, this corpse almost looked like it
had been molded from uneven mud.
Moreover, it was difficult to understand why the corpse’s blood vessels, even its most minute
capillaries, were swollen to the point that they were bulging above the corpse’s skin. They looked
like they were on the brink of bursting open, and they looked grotesque.

And there was one last peculiarity about the corpse. There was a gaping hole in the left side of the
corpse’s chest where its heart was supposed to be.

‘Was the primary cause of death the destruction of the heart? But what’s with the blood vessels?’
Ianna carefully reached out and poked one of the protruding vessels, and it crumbled as something —
was it dirt or dead skin?— broke off from it. Ianna drew her hand back with a puzzled look on her
face.

‘……I’m feeling a sense of déjà vu.’

Dust, blood vessels, and the heart.

It bothered her, almost like there was a foreign substance invading her mind, that these three things
had come together.

“Ack!”

Herrace, who had been carefully walking backwards to get away from the corpse, screamed and fell
on his bottom when he saw what was behind the rock. Ianna tore her eyes off the corpse and turned
back.

“What is it?”

“L-l-little Ianna… There are more corpses just like that one. Look over there. Blech.”
Herrace covered his mouth with his hands and ran off to somewhere. Ianna walked around the rock,
slightly nervous as she heard him empty the contents of his stomach, and immediately stiffened up.
There were dozens of corpses just like the first sprawled out along the ground. A desolate and sandy
wind blew across the gruesome scene, and she could not feel any signs of life from it.

“Hmm……. They might’ve closed the border at this rate.”

Taro, who was looking at the same scene from behind Ianna, groaned and said something puzzling.

“Why?”

“Ya don’t know what this is?”

“I don’t. But you seem to —can you tell me? And why would they close the border?”

“It’s one of the most infamous ghost stories out here in the western deserts……then again, I guess ya
might not know if ya don’t care too much about the West. They call this phenomenon the ‘Ghosts’
Banquet.’”

Taro pointed to the corpses and continued,

“All their blood vessels are poppin’ out, they’re missin’ their hearts, and they look like dirt that’s
about to crumble, yeah? Corpses like these ain’t that unusual out here in the desert. They tend to crop
up from time to time. The ‘Ghost’ part comes from the fact that whoever did this leaves no traces
behind like this was actually done by ghosts or something. And when there’s a bunch of corpses laid
out like this, we call it the ‘Ghosts’ Banquet.’”

Taro crossed his arms and scowled heavily. He continued,

“A long time ago, they used to think this was done by a horde of monsters that liked human blood.
But nowadays a lotta people seriously think that it’s the work of real ghosts.”

“Do people really think that ghosts are involved? It obviously looks like someone kidnapped a bunch
of people for some specific reason, drained them of their blood, processed them, and threw the
corpses away like this.”

There used to exist old legends about a certain countess who had bathed in the blood of countless
virgin maidens to preserve her youth.

Did there truly exist a deed that could not been done by human hands when such bizarre people lived
in the world?
“They say that the Ghosts’ Banquet’s been happening for nearly two-hundred years
now. Someone would’ve spotted them during those two-hundred years if it was monsters doin’ this.
People have been investigatin’ this for decades, and they turned up with nothing. And it’s been goin’
on for too long to have been the work of one person. Be they human or a member of the mythical
races, who can live for centuries.”
“So you’re saying that it was literally the work of a ghost, the work of some bastard who was so
thorough about their work that they might as well be a ghost, or a group of them.”

Ianna searched though the corpses one after another before she found yet another peculiarity. They
were all wearing looks of agony. Terror, hatred, pain, despair —the dreadful emotions they had been
put through was readily apparent on their faces even in death.

Ianna had seen expressions like these before. They were common to places that maximized human
pain, like torture chambers or battlefields.

“It’s practically just a ghost story by now, so ya don’t need to worry about it too much. Besides, it’s
prob’ly better that we leave soon. You’ll have bad dreams after seein’ stuff like this. And we need to
hurry, since Jinzai might close the border if they hear there was a Ghosts’ Banquet.”

Taro pulled Ianna away as he shuddered. Ianna, who had been awkwardly staring at the mountain of
corpses, turned her gaze away from them. And then, she noticed something strange about what Taro
had said.

“What does this have anything to do with Jinzai?”

“There’re a lotta religious zealots for God Laos in Jinzai. They firmly believe that the Ghosts’
Banquet’s the work of the Demon. The close up the border whenever there’s a Banquet ‘cause they
think it’s bad luck.”

“That’s a bit troubling.”

Roanne was at the center of the continent, and trying to make a round trip to the outer rims of the
continent put them on a tight schedule no matter how quickly they traveled. They were already so
close to the border, so having to switch routes and head to the Lotso Mountains would mean a lot of
wasted time.

Ianna went off to find Herrace, who had wandered away so his friends wouldn’t see him throwing up.

But there was someone suspicious patting him on the back.

Ianna immediately vanished as soon as she saw. She had instantly closed the distance and had her
sword pointed at the suspicious person’s throat.

She pressed her blade against their neck.

“Step back.”

“Ack!”

The figure took fright, only having noticed her sword when its cold blade was pressed against their
neck, and took their hands off Herrace. Ianna raised her sword a little higher.

“Needless kindness in Sidian is no different from a forewarning of crime. State your business in one
sentence. You have five seconds. Five…….”

“We were simply helping this young man clean up because he was throwing up so violently. Please
relax!”

“We?”

“Lady Saki!”

“Get away from her, you bastard!”

Ianna looked up. There was a group of people holding weapons running closer while shouting from a
distance. She turned to Herrace, whose face was bright red as he wiped at his mouth.

“Did she do anything to you?”

“That’s…she was patting me on the back when I finally came back to my senses…”

Herrace was so embarrassed that he looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole.

Ianna scrutinized Saki. Like Ianna and her friends, the woman called Saki was also covering up her
appearance.

But there was something kind about her exposed eyes and voice that made strangers want to lower
their guard around her. Ianna quietly looked into her gentle features before she sheathed her sword.

“My apologies.”

Ianna helped Herrace, who was at a loss for what to do, back up. Meanwhile, the rest of Saki’s group
surrounded them stormily, as though they would stab their weapons at Ianna at a moment’s notice.

One man was emitting a particularly strong bloodlust as he took a step forward.

“How dare you!”

“Enough, Giel! It was my fault for doing something like this in Sidian.”
“But…….”

Giel’s breath was ragged as he bared his hostility toward Ianna.

“You are no match for them. Stand back.”

“Let’s go.”

Ianna tried to take Herrace and leave —she couldn’t have cared any less about the strangers. Herrace
was ashamed of the mess he had left behind, but then he tilted his head to the side in confusion
because he felt so strangely refreshed.

“Huh……?”

He had been exhausted and nauseated as of late, and his feet had dragged beneath him. He had only
just been managing to keep up with Taro and Ianna, and yet his footsteps felt so light now.

Then, Saki said to him,

“I took a few measures while patting your back, young man. You must have been rather
uncomfortable, but I think you’ll feel better now.”

“You should realize how lucky you are! Do you even know who she…….”

“Didn’t I say that was enough? I’ve repeated myself thrice now, Giel. You know what’ll happen if I
have to repeat myself again, yes?”

Giel shut his mouth. Then, Saki turned to Ianna, who was staring back at her, and continued,

“Lady Swordswoman. Your friend here was extremely weakened. I don’t know how long you’ve
been travelling, but his body has been overtaxed for quite some time now. He will collapse and grow
ill if you push him any further than this. This isn’t my advice —it’s my warning to you.”

“Are you a doctor? I will keep that in mind.”

Herrace’s face was growing scarlet. They hadn’t even gotten halfway through their trip yet.

“N-no, it’s fine, it’s just because I’m weak…….”

“Don’t fault yourself, my friend. When a problem arises within a group, it means that its leader has
made a mistake,”
Saki responded firmly. Herrace felt so guilty he wanted to die. Taro and Ianna were completely fine.
It was his fault that he was weak in body and mind, and yet Saki was blaming Ianna. Saki continued,
“Allow me to add one more thing, Lady Swordswoman. When you are walking alongside others, you
must match your pace with not the strongest, but the weakest of your group.”

“……Wise words. I shall endeavor to remember them.”

Ianna reflected a little. This was training, and not just an ordinary trip, but there was no reason to
justify herself to Saki. It was true that she had pushed Herrace harshly because they were short on
time, even after considering the purpose of their trip.

Ianna determined that Saki was not an enemy and took on a politer tone.

“Thank you for treating my friend. Let’s go.”

“I bid you a pleasant journey. May God Laos’ blessing be with you.”

Ianna bowed in farewell and left with Herrace in tow. Saki blessed their journey as she waved at
them.

Saki lowered her hand as Ianna and Herrace grew distant. Her weighty gaze followed Ianna’s
retreating figure.

~~*~~

 Part 3
Herrace drooped his shoulders and kept sneaking glances at Ianna as he trudged along.

“I’m sorry you had to hear that…….”

“Hmm?”

Ianna, who had been walking forward without much thought, turned her head in
bafflement. Herrace grew shy when Ianna’s gaze fell upon him and he wriggled his fingers
nervously.

“It was my fault, but she misunderstood and scolded you, Little Ianna. When it was my fault
for being foolish…… I’ll work harder. And next time, I’ll k-kill an enemy for sure.”
Herrace had already repeated this over ten times. But he had never once been able to carry
through with the act as of yet. His face flushed scarlet as he grew ashamed of the words he
had stammered. He continued,
“I’m not a liar, but it’s really not easy. But I’m really trying, so please don’t think I’m
pathetic, Little Ianna…….”

“Herrace.”

Ianna turned around. Herrace startled and stopped in his tracks, prompting Ianna to walk
up to him and grab him by the arm. She continued,

“I know I keep pushing you, but I don’t think someone’s pathetic for not being able to do
something if they’re still trying.”

Herrace’s desire to be acknowledged by others was incredibly strong, perhaps because he

had grown up being pitied by others and being cursed at by Travis ever since he was a child.

To the point that he had said he wielded his sword because he wanted to be acknowledged
when Ianna had asked.

And Ianna was aware of the fact that Herrace was relying on her. He hadn’t been able to kill
yet, but Herrace had never harmed even an animal until now and had only been able to hurt
people only because Ianna had pressed him so hard that he could barely breathe, much less
think.

“Really? Thank goodness. I’m going to work really hard, I promise.”

Ianna saw how emaciated Herrace looked as he sighed in relief.

His once-fair skin was terribly haggard, he had visibly lost weight, and his eyes were sunken
and reminded her of a dead fish —as if to prove that Saki hadn’t been saying empty words
when she had said that he would collapse and take ill if he kept overworking himself.

Ianna had thoughtlessly ignored Herrace’s condition because she had thought it was only
natural that he would be tired, but it was strange now that she considered it more carefully.

‘He should have acclimated enough to kill by now.’

Humans were adaptable creatures. Even people who grew out of breath just by walking over
a small hill could one day climb up to the peak of the Lotso Mountains if they consistently
hiked and trained their bodies and adapted.

And Herrace was no different.

He was not only learning how to end a life as he battled all day long, but he was also
watching Ianna and Taro kill, and he should have gained a measure of mental fortitude by
now because he had seen corpses sprawled across the ground multiple times. And yet he still
couldn’t bring himself to kill.
He wasn’t simply being gutless —he was stubbornly insisting that he wouldn’t kill. This
pointless insistence —whether it stemmed from his obstinacy or his morality— refused to
bend, like a centuries-old tree, and continued to torment him. Ianna had known he was
extremely stubborn and persistent about this, a contrast to his usual mild demeanor, but
now she was almost awed.
At this point, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was something wrong with her education
policy —which she had once thought was an absolute truth.

Perhaps it didn’t quite work so well when it came to Herrace.

But it was far too late to figure out the issues with her policy now. She still had no doubt that
the experiences Herrace was gaining now would be beneficial to him in his life as a
swordsman.

‘I’ll just watch over him for now.’

Ianna said,

“To be honest, I feel like I’ve accomplished my goal in bringing you along on this trip just on
account of the fact that you were able to hurt someone. I don’t want to ignore what that
woman said because she seemed to be a doctor, so why don’t we start taking it a little
easier?”

“Oh, okay!”

Herrace immediately brightened up. Was he truly that happy? Ianna thought him a funny
fellow as she turned back forward.
Taro was chewing on some jerky as he leaned against the rock. He hadn’t thought that
things would be a big deal, so he had thought that Ianna was more than enough to take care
of everything. Which was why he hadn’t joined them despite the small uproar and had
simply waited for his friends to return.

“Something happen?”

Taro brushed off his hands and stepped away from the rock when Ianna and Herrace
approached.

“Nothing much…….”

Ianna shot a glance behind herself as she was explaining what had happened to Taro. The
group, who had gathered when she attacked, had vanished and were now investigating the
Ghosts’ Banquet before she had even noticed. And it was only now that she noticed that they
had set up tents in the distance. Ianna made a face.

‘I never sensed their presence.’

Her attention might have been drawn to the corpses, but there was something strange about
the fact that she had failed to notice such a large group of people. Ianna narrowed her eyes
as she observed them.

‘What strange people.’

They were like the air itself in that they both seemed to and did not seem to be there —they
gave off a strange feeling at made it only seem natural that they existed. She felt like she was
looking at a bunch of trees and grasses in the middle of a thicket.

Taro voiced his admiration.

“Gutsy bastards.”

“How so? Because they’re touching the corpses?”

“Nah, for a different reason. They’re probably one of the groups investigatin’ the Ghosts and
whatnot. The Ghosts’ Banquet is such a weird phenomenon that it’s hard to believe that it
was done by people, so a lotta people like psychic researchers, monster scholars, priests……
or even doctors who think this might be some kinda mysterious disease come to study them,
and a whole lotta them tend to go missin’. A high-rankin’ clergy from Jinzai’s Great Temple
came to purify the land once, ‘cause they thought it was the Demon’s work, and I hear that
the whole group disappeared without a trace.”

Ianna looked back at the corpses as she listened to what Taro was saying. She was starting to
feel uncomfortable again. He continued,

“There’s been a lotta problems at the national level ‘cause the Ghosts’ Banquets have so
many casualties……and the royals of Sidian’s even recommended against investigatin’ them,
maybe ‘cause it’s been such a thorn in their sides. They won’t stop ya if ya insist, but it’s
apparently been decades since they warned that they wouldn’t take any responsibility if
something happens to ya.”

Ianna thought hard about where her discomfort was stemming from, and she ultimately
pursed her lips as she recalled a certain someone.

“Anyways, I’m startin’ to get nervous about the Jinzai border if there’s even a Ghost
investigation team here……let’s hurry. I’m startin’ to feel horrible.”

Taro dragged Ianna and Herrace along by the wrists. A wind blew from where the Ghosts’
Banquet was as Ianna passed by its victims and made her nose sting.

There was a pile of corpses in her immediate vicinity, and yet the wind smelled only of the
sun’s hot rays. There was something about the way that the desert wind didn’t adhere to
reason that made her feel terrible.
‘How frightening.’
Dead beings gave off foul odors as they rotted and returned to the earth, whether they be
people, animals, or monsters……it was the reason that all life adhered to.

But she could not smell the stench of rot here. It was almost as if it was stripping away from
the truth that those corpses had once been living beings.

Ianna skimmed over the corpses as bits and pieces of them were crumbling away in the
desert winds.

Arhad.
All of her thoughts seemed to lead her to Arhad these days. But there was a reason why she
thought of him after thinking about the cause behind this phenomenon.

‘The heart.’
The heart was no longer just another organ to Ianna.

The heart was someone’s core, which possessed both their divine power and their soul.

Which was why she recalled how Arhad had pierced through the orc’s chest and burst open
its heart to steal its divine power.

And she also recalled how Keigus’s blood vessels had swelled up and how he had been
instantly turned to black smoke-like dust and scattered in the wind when Arhad had stolen
his soul.

But the Ghosts’ Banquet had been happening for over two-hundred years, so the
phenomenon could not be Arhad’s work. And yet, it could still be connected to why he had
done what he had.

Perhaps……there were others out there who stole divine power or souls like Arhad did.

Ianna had only learned of such acts through Arhad, but the mysteries behind his methods
may have been passed down in secret.

But if that was the case, then were they doing it to survive, like Arhad did, or did they have
some other reason?

‘I might also just be deluding myself. And I dislike conspiracy theories.’

Ianna tried to relate their reasons more deeply with divine power’s trait of life, but she
stopped soon enough because it made her feel unpleasant.
She also wondered if she should contact Arhad and ask, but she gave up on the notion
because he always looked reluctant and stiffened up whenever the topic was brought up in
conversation —even though she had told him that she understood.

Taro had been right to worry.

They had reached Lampinion, the border city at the edge of Sidian, only to find that the tall
ramparts and cast-iron gates that surrounded the Jinzai border, which had been open for
the past several months, were completely closed.

Armed soldiers were walking on top of the ramparts, creating for a forbidding atmosphere.
They made it very clear that they would not allow even an ant to cross over into Jinzai.

Jinzai had always opened and closed her borders at a moment’s notice, much to the anxiety
of any illegal aliens, but her borders had been open for at least a full year because the Sidian
royal family had not been provoking them as of late.

So, had something happened? Those who had been passing through Sidian because they had
trusted that they would be able to get into Jinzai were dumbstruck by these unexpected
events.

“Oh dear. I still have to make the delivery date…….”

“This is so annoying —why the hell did they close the border?”

Everyone who had just arrived today was standing before the tightly-shut gates, which had
closed four days ago, while complaining loudly.

“I hear there was a Ghosts’ Banquet nearby. And it was apparently unprecedentedly large.”

“Oh, I saw that too. I hurried over because it was so horrible.”

“So it’s because of the Ghosts this time. Sigh. I should’ve gone through the Lotso
Mountains.”
Ianna and her friends sighed as they stared vacantly at the border from afar.

“Four days ago……how regrettable. All we can do now is go up to the Lotso Mountains.”

Taro scratched at his head in irritation.

“Ugh, but I hear that the other route’s gonna have a ton of people on it if one route’s closed.
We’re gonna be arriving a lot later than planned. It’s one thing that we’ll have to make our
way back, but we ain’t gonna be able to move quickly since the Lotso Mountains’ll be
crowded as hell.”
Ianna shrugged and replied,

“We can also take paths that people don’t normally take. The Lotso Mountains are vast, after
all.”

“Any roads in the Lotso Mountains are narrow and were made ‘cause a lot of people walked
on them over time. Going off the beaten path means that we’ll see a lotta venomous insects,
and it won’t be easy to walk ‘cause all the trees and grasses and stuff’ll be overgrown. And,
do ya remember why people choose to go through Sidian instead of the Lotso Mountain to
begin with, even though it means dealin’ with the bandits? It’s ‘cause of the monsters.”

Straying even slightly from the narrow roads meant stepping into monster territory. There
were still some monsters that invaded the roads and attacked, of course, but most respected
human territory and simply watched as people passed by. They were waiting for people to
leave their territory and become as willing prey.

“It’s one thing that we’ll have to go slow ‘cause the roads are narrow……but the bigger
problem are the monsters that appear in the central regions of the mountains. They’re
calamities, I tell ya. Weaker monsters can be taken care of, even if it might mean a few
casualties, but those bastards are like walkin’ natural disasters. Ughhh.”
Just as Taro had pointed out, the high-leveled monsters that inhabited the central regions of
the Lotso Monsters could pose a problem.

They were so extraordinary that it was almost difficult to classify them simply as monsters.
They had been sighted continuously for centuries —no one knew how old they were—, and a
few high-leveled monsters had even been named by people from ages past.

And they knew that they were apex predators. They were calamities that ignored not only
human territory but also that of other monsters as they hunted wherever they pleased.

But Ianna had hunted several of them before. She had not personally gone into the Lotso
Mountains to hunt them, but had rather been forced into the task because Arhad had sent
monster armies into Roanne, but the fact still remained that she had returned several of
them to the earth. And they had truly been some of her best battle opponents.

Ianna started to grow competitive and wanted to try fighting strong enemies who were not
Arhad. But she could not simply go recklessly on her way because she was not alone at the
moment and there were a lot of other variables she had to consider, and so she decided to
abandon the competitiveness that was tickling at her.
“All right. We’ll be set back by quite a bit, so let’s prioritize getting to Toraca over training
going forward. We’ll reach Lotso before everyone else so we can move a bit quicker using the
roads.”

“I can agree to that.”

Ianna looked up at the sky. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon long ago. They had been
planning to stay in the city for the night to begin with, since the border on the opposite side
of the city closed at six every evening. Ianna jerked her head toward the streets.

“We’ll call it a night here —let’s go find some food first before figuring out where we’ll
sleep.”

But this proved to be no easy feat.

More and more people who had been unable to foresee the border closing began pouring
into Lampinion. Every traveler who had arrived in the last four days was staying at the inns
while trying to salvage their ruined plans.

And so, though there were a lot of inns in Lampinion, hardly any of them had any rooms
left. Counters were jampacked with people who were trying to bribe innkeepers for rooms. It
was even starting to cost more than the price of gold to stay in a shed for a night, but,
comically enough, people paid for it and even sheds were quickly running out of space.

After their meal, Ianna and her friends keenly realized that they would have no choice but to
camp outside within the city.

But the situation was so dire that they hardly had anywhere to set up camp even on the
streets, which was nothing to say of nicer spots like under the bridges. They could not find a
good spot no matter how long they roamed around. Herrace pat at his aching thighs as he,
in a somewhat fed-up manner, said,

“It looks like there were a lot of people heading toward Jinzai. Is it because it’s vacation
season?”

“There’s that too, but water’s in high demand in the desert durin’ the summer, so we always
get a whole bunch of merchants. Water’s worth its weight in gold, after all.”

Just as Taro had pointed out, there were a lot of merchant-owned wagons parked along the
streets, and there were a lot of sharp-eyed and nervous merchants keeping watch over them.

“At this rate, I would think that they would at least open the city gates so people could set up
camp outside the city.”
Taro tilted his head to the side.

“Ya think? Actually, yer right —normally, Lampinion does keep the gates open for a few days
after they close the border. So why aren’t they open now? Should we try askin’?”
They asked a stranger passing by, and it was apparently because they had spotted an
unexpected sandstorm outside the city that they had closed the city gates today even though
they had been open yesterday and the day before.

They stayed in the alleyways between buildings for a little while, but it was so dirty that they
didn’t want to stay for too long.

Putting aside the filth that was strewn about the dirt and the building walls, there were also
naked people tangled into each other while moaning and people who were drooling with
blank looks in their eyes, likely because they were high……perhaps it was because they made
it difficult for other people to be around them, as if they meant to declare that the alleyways
were their territory, but no one went to the alleyways no matter how crowded the streets
became.
“Oh, over there!”

Ianna and her friends, who had been roaming all over the city, finally found a spot to settle
down. It was cramped enough that they would have to sleep while sitting, and there was a
foul odor in the air —perhaps the people around them hadn’t bathed recently—, but they
were still grateful to have found it nonetheless. Ianna threw her bag against the wall.

“We might not be able to sleep tonight.”

“Why not? I think it should be better than usual, at least,”

Herrace replied as he spread out their blankets with practiced ease. It had been nearly two
weeks since their trip had begun, and even Young Master Herrace, who had grown up in an
affluent environment, had gotten used to camping by now. Aside from the issue of killing, he
was actually extraordinarily good at adapting.

“Ack!”

Ianna pinched Herrace, who had been enjoying the prospect of getting to rest, by the ear
and dragged him back up.

“Don’t space out when you’re out travelling. Especially if you’re somewhere as chaotic as
Sidian —you’ll find a knife in your back if you get sloppy.”

“Did something happen?”

Ianna put Herrace, who had let fall a single tear from the pain and was finally starting to be
wary of his surroundings, behind her and called out to Taro, who was stretching.
“Did you know? I felt it as soon as we entered the city……we’ve had eyes on us this whole
time.”
“I know, right? But I can’t figure out why.”

This trip had taught Ianna that Taro was truly extraordinarily skilled for his age. He had
only started being able to control mana just recently, but his senses were certainly on the
sharper side.

He was actually sharper than most wild animals.

‘Is it because he’s the Mercenary King’s son?’

Taro groaned in contemplation, but he simply wrapped more clothes around his body and
plopped down.

“It ain’t like they’re comin’ at us or anything. And I don’t know how I feel about catchin’
them either ‘cause there’re so many eyes around. Let’s just ignore the bastards
until they start something first. But we should cover our faces better just in case.”
“Let stop addressing each other by our real names too.”

Ianna agreed before pulling out her own blankets from her bag and sitting down next to
Taro.

“You mean people are watching us? And you and Lit……the Boss can feel that, Sir?”
Herrace simply called Ianna ‘Boss’ because he hadn’t been able to think up of a better name,
but it didn’t feel awkward at all. And he stared at the both of them as if they weren’t human.
Taro grinned and said,

“It’s instinct. I’m told this’s a type of talent too, so ya can sharpen up yer senses pretty nice if
ya train hard enough.”

Herrace tried to feel around for a ‘gaze,’ but failed. He might be able to sense someone
approaching, but a gaze? It was difficult for him to even imagine.

He clenched his hands into fists and resolved himself to work harder as he looked to the two
people much further up the path than him in turns.

“Shall we discuss our plans going forward?”

Herrace pulled out a map from his bag when Ianna brought up the topic. Taro pointed to
where they currently were, and he dragged his finger up a straight line to the entrance to the
Lotso Mountains, which was marked with an ‘X’ because they had thought they wouldn’t be
heading that way.

“For starters, we should leave as soon as the city gates open up tomorrow and make our way
here ASAP. We’re still takin’ the roads in Lotso, yeah?”
“How about we decide after seeing how many people there are? I can handle most monsters,
so we should leave the roads if they’re too crowded.”

“What if a high-class monster shows up?”

“I’ll make sure the two of you survive even if I have to act as bait, so don’t worry.”

“Wow……. Don’t say things like that.”

“Welp. Should be fine, since high-class monsters ain’t the kind of bastards that show up too
often! Alright! Let’s go monster huntin’!”

“M-m-nonsters…….”

Taro was excited, and Herrace was trembling a little at the thought of having to face
monsters, which he had never encountered before in his life. He promptly pulled out a book
from his bag and began reading through it vigorously, like a student cramming the night
before an exam.

The title, ‘A Field Guide for Monsters’ was scrawled along the book in rustic penmanship.
Ianna stared at Herrace’s book and the illustrations and descriptions of monsters inside it,
and she suddenly spoke aloud a thought that had flashed through her mind.
“Now that I think about it, I have yet to see a monster around. And I don’t think there was
anything cautioning against monsters when I was reading up about Sidian either. Are there
no monster habitats here? I’m sure there were plenty of monsters who lived in the desert.”

“Sidian’s pretty famous for not havin’ monsters. Strange, ain’t it? I’ve never seen a single
monster here either. It’s like they were all wiped out or something.”

“Do they subjugate monsters periodically here like we do in Roanne?”

“Haven’t really heard nothing about subjugations.”

Time passed quickly as they chatted, and the night gradually grew darker. The boisterous
city was shrouded in silence, and people’s movements slowly dulled as they fell asleep.

Herrace and Taro fell asleep as soon as they settled in, and Ianna, too, dozed off lightly.

There were, however, people on edge who were moving slowly but with an air about them
that stood out in the night.

“…….”
Ianna, who had been closing her eyes with her sword in her arms, immediately moved her
hand to the hilt of her blade. She slowly opened her eyes to find that people were slowly
surrounding them. The campfires around them cast frightening shadows over their faces.

“Move it, you filthy pigs!”

“Not a squeak from any of you, got that? You’ll croak if you so much as make a sound.”

They were the epitome of rude, and they kicked at and stepped on people who had been
asleep as they made their way to Ianna’s group. They were obviously bad people, even at a
first glance.

“Hey.”

“Mm…….”

Ianna shook her friends awake, and they both woke up quickly because they were only
sleeping lightly due to the discomfort. And they immediately returned to their full senses as
soon as they saw the group of rough-looking men approaching them nearby.

A dozen or so men had fully surrounded their camp. One man with a large scar on his cheek,
as if he had been cut by a blade, stepped forward.

He pulled out a cigar from his pocket and put it in his mouth. Another man who had been
standing close to him ran out like an arrow lit the cigar in a servile manner.

“Phew.”

The man breathed out smoke and looked to Herrace, Ianna, and Taro in order. The light in
his eyes were particularly treacherous when they passed over Ianna. Then, he held out his
cigar between his thumb and middle finger, as if he was striking a pose, and spat out phlegm
by Taro’s feet.

“Hey, you three are the trio who’ve been pretty famous as of late, right? It’s a yes or no
question.”

“And who the hell are you, huh? We aren’t. Did ya get the wrong people? Why’re ya bein’ so
violent outa nowhere……?”

Taro replied nonchalantly as he rubbed his eyes.

“You son of a bitch! It was a yes or no question! We should rip open this arrogant punk’s
stomach, Sir Malkun. Just leave it to me!”
The man who had lit the cigar pulled out a dagger and gripped it so hard it looked like he
would stab Taro as soon as he got the order.

“That’s enough.”

The first man, Malkun, tapped the other man on the head before glaring down haughtily at
Taro, who was wearing a sly look on his face. He continued,

“We got the wrong people? Hmm, sure, maybe we did.”

Malkun bared his yellowed teeth and started to snicker.

“But in any case, we still have some business with you, you know? Why don’t you follow
along quietly, unless you want to get beat up out here in the open?”

Malkun looked like he had picked a fight with them because he was certain that they were
the trio who had been carrying out mass slaughters of the bandits outside of Lampinion. It
looked like the group was here for revenge, judging by the fact that each and every one of
them was carrying sharpened tools.

‘Were these bastards also watching us?’

Ianna exchanged looks with Taro and Herrace. They blinked to show that they were willing
to go along with whatever Ianna decided.

Ianna scanned her surroundings. People were looking at them because the ruffians had
picked a fight with them out of nowhere. There were even royal soldiers, who had been
patrolling the area in tedium, watching and snickering while expecting an entertaining
show.

She didn’t want to cause a ruckus when there were so many people around. And so, she
simply waved her hand as if she found everything annoying.

“I’ll let you off this once, so stop pestering us and leave.”

“Oho, do you make the decisions here, bitch?”

Malkun’s words grew vulgar when he started talking to Ianna instead. He was obvious
making light of her.

Malkun studied Ianna’s eyes and her covered features first before moving to the rest of her
figure, peering out from beneath her chador, like a snake before he licked his lips.

“Looks like you’re either a noble or the young miss of a well-do-to household,
huh? Snicker……you’re not so bad on the eyes either —looks like I’ll be able to have a taste of
some nice-smelling flesh for once.”
Malkum wasn’t shy about his lechery. Taro and Herrace’s mood immediately soured and
they glared back, only to be cursed out for their glaring. Malkun gestured to Ianna, who still
hadn’t budged from her seated position, and continued,

“Let me spell things out for you —you don’t get to decide on anything. We’re the kings of
Lampinion. So why don’t you get up already?”
“And who the hell are you?”

“……You’re supposed to come with us quietly when we tell you to, bitch —how dare you ask
questions like a cheeky little brat?!”

Malkun sauntered over and raised his hand to hit Ianna across the cheek. The scabbard in
Ianna’s hand moved at the speed of light as soon as he entered her range.

Pooow!
“Kgh!”

The scabbard struck Malkun squarely in the pit of the stomach, and he doubled over in
incredible pain as he suddenly found it difficult to breathe. Ianna brought her scabbard
away from his stomach and hit him across the shins next.

“Urk!”

Malkum lost his commanding pose and collapsed before her in an unseemly manner. The
other men grew alarmed and scuttered over because he had been done in with such
ridiculous ease.

“Sir!”

“How dare you, you wench!”

The others rushed toward her with their blades raised, but Ianna, who had drawn her own
sword at some point, pressed her blade against Malkum’s, who was obviously their leader,
throat. The others saw and stopped in the tracks, steadied themselves from pitching
forward, and hesitantly began stepping back.

“Answer my questions and spare me the nonsense. This bastard’s head will roll if I hear an
answer I don’t like. Now, let me ask you again. Who the hell are you?”

The sycophant who had lit Malkum’s cigar earlier startled when Ianna started pressing her
sword closer to Malkum and shrieked,

“W-we’re the Golden Gale! And that man is our leader’s younger brother! Let him go
already, you crazy bitch!”
The bastard was certain that the cowardly girl would release Malkun at once after she had
learned who they were. But the crazy girl simply continued to ask questions without so
much as flinching.

“And why did you pick a fight with us today?”

“We started losing a lot of money because the three of you killed off too many of our
members. We already know everything, so it doesn’t matter even if the big guy tries to lie!”

Apparently, many of the bandits they had killed had belonged to an organization called the
Golden Gale. Ianna determined that there was no need to make a fool of herself by lying to
people who were already certain that they were the culprits.

“So what? How did you know we were here?”

“We tracked down the route you bastards took as you brutalized our members, and we knew
that it would lead you here. That’s why we’ve been on the lookout for people in groups of
three at the gates since a couple days back! Do you know how stressed out we were because
we were afraid you might have turned back because Jinzai closed the border?!”

“Why would I care about that? And my last question —we surely aren’t the only group of
three in this crowd, so how did you know it was us?”

“The biggest clue was that you were all wearing chadors. A big guy with a greatsword on his
back, a weak little rookie, and a girl with a sword at her waist! That’s you guys! Alright? Now
let him go before you regret it!”

Ianna pondered for a moment after the man had finished his piece. The bandits’
organization must have been rather large for them to be so open about flexing their power.

But these points were not worthy of Ianna’s consideration, of course. Whether she would
regret something or not was utter bullshit —they had already confronted each other, so she
had planned to take care of them after having them answer her questions. If Lampinion was
truly their territory, as they suggested, then it would be a bother regardless of whether she
took care of them or not because she and her friends had to spend the night here anyway,
and so Ianna decided that she would simply take care of the ruffians.

“Lil’……Hey.”

Taro, who had almost accidently let slip Ianna’s name, immediately shut his mouth and
before starting again somewhat awkwardly. Ianna shot a glance at him, only to find that he
was shaking his head while looking like he was developing a headache. He continued,

“Things might get a bit troublesome if ya kill off people from the Golden Gale.”
There was apparently a good reason why Taro thought that.

Ianna looked down at Malkum, who was grumbling in rage as Ianna held him hostage, for a
moment before slowly lowering her sword.

“We only killed your members because they attacked us first. We were going to stop killing
bandits anyway since we’re about to get busy, so don’t provoke us.”
Malkum quickly scurried back over to his side as soon as he was released and loudly yelled,

“That was a dirty sneak attack! And do you really think you can just get away with letting me
go after learning about who we are —is this some kind of bluff?!”

Malkum felt a prickling sting at his throat. His face twisted into something ugly when he
placed his hand at his throat only to find that he was bleeding when he drew it back.

“There’s no use in begging now, you arrogant little bitch. I’ll break all four of your limbs and
enjoy the show as you beg for your life before I leave you hanging on the ramparts!”

“Please leave it to me, Sir. I’ll make the bitch lick your feet!”

“No, please let me do it!”

Ianna began whispering to something to Taro and Herrace while the ruffians were stirring
up a fuss. The dirt and gravel around her started vibrating and rolling around everywhere.

Boooom!
The ruffians felt like a giant had stepped on them when Ianna unleashed her bloodlust. All
the mana in the wide space around them had gathered and pressed down upon them.

“Kgh!”

Nearly all of the bastards sank down at once when they were suddenly faced with the
unfamiliar pressure. Ianna had limited the effects to the ruffians, but the onlookers in their
immediate vicinity paled as they also felt the impact.

“What the hell……?!”

Perhaps because he truly had just been caught off guard earlier and actually did have some
skill, since he was technically the leader of the group, Malkum alone remained standing
upright on his quivering legs. Ianna stared frigidly at the bewilderment written on his face.
“This is your final chance, insects. Get lost. It’s a yes or no question.”

The ruffians could hardly budge. Or rather, they could move if they wanted to, but they felt
like sharp threads had been wrapped around their bodies and they would be torn to pieces if
they moved so much as a muscle and therefore could not even flinch.
Mulkum, who had failed to understand that this was simply the effect of Ianna’s bloodlust,
screamed,

“Y-you were a mage?!”

“Is that your answer?”

He took fright when Ianna sauntered up to him.

“We’re the Golden Gale! My brother’s our leader, and I’m the acting leader!”

The girl ignored him and walked up to him.

Why was it? She had initially seemed like any other girl, but now she looked like the grim
reaper carrying a large scythe to lop his head off with.

Malkum fell down to his knees.

“Okay —we’ll scram, so let us go!”

The reports had said that the girl in the trio was remarkably skilled, but he had thought little
of it —just how skilled could a wench possibly be?

This was also why he had picked a fight mostly with the biggest guy in the trio.

Even when he had learned that the girl was the decisionmaker of the group, he had simply
figured that she was some noble who had hired the other two. And he had simply thought
that she had been lucky to score a hit on him just earlier.

He could not acknowledge the fact that he had let a mere wench beat him so easily, not
when he had lived his whole life by the sword. But he was forced to realize that she was no
ordinary girl now that something intangible was pressing down hard against him.

Also, the way she still refused to bend after hearing that they were the Golden Gale made
him wonder if she either had some powerful backing or if she was someone of skill whom
another organization of bandits had sent to screw them over.

‘First, I’ll need to head back to our base and revise our plans. They’re not the kind of people who’ll
simply follow us just because we told them to. The bastards are already caught up in our net, so we
just need to plan ahead.’
He would lose face because he had bragged to their leader about how he would capture the
trio and bring them back at once, but survival came first. Malkum, who had been spinning
the gears in his head, startled when he realized that Ianna had walked up to him and was
glaring down at him from up close.
“Go.”

The pressure let up as soon as the word left her mouth. The group of men who had come
looking for Ianna’s group in such an imposing manner earlier were now fleeing for their
lives.

“We should leave too.”

Taro and Herrace, who had already finished packing, slung their bags across their shoulders
as soon as the ruffians vanished from view. Taro bent his knees and tensed up his thighs and
calves before he extended them and leapt up high in the air.

Thwack!
Taro had jumped up to a window on the second story of the building by using his muscular
strength alone.

Just how on earth had his body been built?

Ianna was quietly impressed as she watched him and reinforced her own legs with mana.

Taro had broken into a scarily fast sprint as soon as he had climbed up to the roof, and
Ianna, too, scaled the wall and ran after him. People were staring at them, but now wasn’t
the time to care about that.

Ianan caught up to Taro quickly enough and fell in-line with him.

“This was rather simple.”

Taro and Herrace had been packing their things while Ianna intimidated the ruffians and
kept them busy. They had decided to figure out what to do next after they had escaped,
regardless of whether or not the ruffians had folded to Ianna’s threat.

It had been an extraordinarily simple plan. Moreover, they even saved face because the
ruffians had backed away first, which made things infinitely easier.

“……This whole trip’s been one surprise after another. I think I’ve figured out why Pops
keeps singin’ yer praises, Lil’……uh, Boss.”

Apparently, Ianna’s designated nickname was officially ‘Boss.’ Taro continued,

“I was on pins and needles too, ya know? And out lil’ sidekick here was straight-up
quiverin’……might’ve even crapped his pants, yeah?”
“Who? Me? No way! I was just surprised —I didn’t do anything that rude!”

Herrace protested as Taro carried him like a piece of luggage.

“Enough. More importantly, why would taking care of those bastards have been a bad idea?”

Ianna asked after stopping Taro from teasing Herrace any further.

“The Golden Gale. Them’s one of the ten bandit groups in Sidian…… It’s fine to deal with
them outside the city, but it’ll cause some problems if we deal with them inside the city.”
Every major bandit group in Sidian had a foothold in one of her cities, and the royal family’s
army was also stationed within the cities.

And the royal army had a lot of power and authority. The reason why Sidian had survived all
this time despite being hated by her neighbors was because each soldier in the royal army
was a match for a hundred men.

But their power and authority did not stem only from the simple fact that they were strong.

“And where else does their power come from? It’s ‘cause they have orders to kill.”

The royal family kept its silence regardless of the crimes committed within the kingdom’s
borders except when the crimes pertained to taxes, warfare, or treason.

And the king had long since declared that anyone who raises a hand against the royal army
would be considered a traitor and that the royal army would be allowed kill any such people
on sight.

If a royal soldier requested for someone to be killed, then the liege lord of the affiliated city
would automatically be required to chase down and kill the target even if it meant chasing
them to the very depths of hell.

Liege lords normally did not have any authority over the royal army, but they were allowed
to command royal soldiers in this one instance, and they could also ask royal soldiers
stationed in other cities or even the capital for assistance.

Who could survive when they were caught up in such nefarious schemes? And yet, all of
Sidian crawled on their knees before the royal army.

The problem lied in the fact that the royal army was often being bribed and entertained by
large bandit groups, who were also the city’s most influential voters.

The royal soldiers were faithful retainers to the king, and therefore could not offer up false
reports. But they could dress up as civilians, pick a fight, and take a hit. Their target would
have technically raised a hand against the royal army and would therefore be qualified for
treason.
Taro said that there were several such instances of that happening.

And the liege lord of Lampinion was the leader of the Golden Gale.

“……I understand. So that’s why you stopped me.”

“Ugh, things just had to go to shit right near the end of our trip! Those damned Ghosts sure
made us unlucky!”
Taro yelled. Ianna tilted her head to the side.

“I heard that the bandits in Sidian didn’t care too much about getting their blood spilt, since
it happens every day……but I suppose we must have caused these Golden Gale bastards a lot
of casualties.”

“……Yeah, now that I think about it. We came all the way here from Roanne in practically a
straight line, yeah?”

“Indeed. It was the shortest distance.”

“So many people travel on the route we took that the bandits call it the Silk Road, and
there’s a lotta fightin’ between the groups to make it a part of their territory, yeah? So the
owner of the Silk Road changes up an awful lot……and I think the Golden Gale won it over
pretty recently. They’re one of the stronger bandit groups, if ya leave out the Black Fox,
which holes itself up in the capital, so it’d make sense.”

“They must have taken a tremendous loss because of us if you’re right.”

“Ugh, what a pain in the ass! Nothing would’ve happened if we’d just been able to get to
Jinzai today! And it’s not like we can just up and leave the city either, since there’s
apparently a sandstorm comin’ up on the horizon!”

“Let’s hide ourselves near the gates for now and leave as soon as the sandstorm blows over.”

“Yeah. Anyways, let’s get there real quick and hole up somewhere.”

“Um… Do you think that the sandstorm is real?”

Herrace, who had been quiet until then, gingerly spoke up. He continued,

“Malkun’s subordinate said that they’ve been on the lookout for us on the ramparts for the
past few days. If the liege lord of Lampinion is the leader of the Golden Gale, then isn’t it
possible that they used a sandstorm as an excuse to close the gates and trap us inside the
city? There wasn’t even a trace of a sandstorm until we passed the city gates.”

Ianna and Taro stopped in their tracks and exchanged looks.

“……It sounds plausible?”

“Hey, just when did ya get so smart all of a sudden? Did something change ‘cause yer head’s
upside down right now?”

“Ack!”

Taro started spanking Herrace across the bottom in praise. Herrace struggled and told him
to stop before simply hanging limp.

“I might be wrong, though…….”

“No, it’s plausible. We should check.”

“I’m sure it’s all just bullshit that their leader made up. Let’s go!”

Part 4
“Damn it.”

They had run to the gates as quickly as they could, but checking the weather outside had
proved difficult.

They didn’t know if it was because the Golden Gale had predicted that they would try to
escape or if it was because Jinzai had closed her borders, but security was incredibly tight. A
great number of soldiers —Ianna and her friends didn’t know if they belonged to the royal
army or the liege lord’s army— were crowded together, and taking down one would only
bring the rest on their tail.

Quietly, Herrace asked,

“No one in Sidian knows what we look like. Can’t we just take a few guards out and pass
through the sandstorm as quickly as we can? Staying in the city scares me more than the
sandstorm does.”

With all sincerity, Taro whispered back,

“I propose brute force if we’re gonna break through.”

“…….”

Ianna and her friends had no choice but to wait until the gates opened again. And, once
again, it was so crowded that they could not even find a place to sit down. It was already
difficult enough to navigate the streets, but they couldn’t even ask people to step aside
because everyone was sleeping.

They naturally found themselves in the back alleys, where there were fewer people.
Darkness fell unto the alleys both night and day, and the people there, too, acted no
different than they had during the day.

They walked in a line with Taro in front, Ianna, a woman, in the middle, and Herrace at the
back.

“Ugh, ughhh.”

Herrace was terrified as he looked to where the strange noises were coming from with great
caution. He had thought this earlier during the day as well, but this was truly a terrible
place. It was difficult for Herrace, who had only seen nice things as he lived in Roanne, to
accept this place, where the depravity of mankind was displayed out in the open.

“Mister…….”

“Eek!”

Herrace jumped in alarm and nearly fainted when a fumbling hand crawled up over him.
Taro and Ianna turned around. A skinny girl with unfocused eyes was groping Herrace.

“Wow, you’re really good-looking, Mister……. Won’t you buy me for a night? I’ll make it
cheap. Okay?”

“N-no thank you!”

“Then at least give me some money. Please.”

The girl clung tight to Herrace and began rummaging through his pockets. Her touch was so
desperate that Herrace could not help but stand still and stiffen up.

The girl was very young, but she looked like was heavily addicted to drugs.
Herrace suddenly grew dizzy, as if all the stress he had built up until now had tumbled out
all at once.

‘Sidian……I hate this place…….’

He hated the fact that people murdered each other like it was only natural, and he hated the
fact that such a young girl was a drug addict.

Herrace loathed Sidian. He pushed the girl away, having thought of her as Sidian itself in the
heat of the moment, and she fell haplessly to the ground.
“Oh…….”

Herrace returned to his senses and was at a loss to do because he felt so guilty over what he
had done, but the girl groaned and crawled along the ground with a demonic look on her
face.

“How dare you, a fucking pale-faced little nerd, push me? How dare you look down at me
like I’m dirty when you probably have a fucking tiny dick? Just you wait, I’m gonna tell on
you to my big brother!”
Herrace was shocked stiff yet again for a different reason when bloodlust suddenly pierced
through the girl as she screamed at him. She fainted, while frothing at the mouth, without
finishing what she was about to say.

Taro pat Herrace across the shoulder.

“It’s alright, ya were a pretty normal size when I saw…”

“We don’t have time to be joking around. The little wench brought more attention to us.”

Just as Ianna had pointed out, disgruntled eyes were peering down at them from every
window along the building walls. There were thick shadows over the people’s faces as they
observed Ianna and her friends in their gloom.

“Let’s get out of here as soon as possible.”

Taro and Ianna were walking away, but Herrace rummaged through his bag with a
quivering hand.

“I’m sorry…….”

He placed a few gold coins in the girl’s pockets. He hoped that the money could be used to
pay for what he had done to her. And then, he quickly ran after Ianna and Taro as if he was
running away from the girl.

“Some of those bastards from before might have recognized us. What should we do?”
“Should we raid one of their houses? We’ll beat the crap outa the homeowner and knock
them out, and then we can wait there ‘till the sun comes up!”

“Good idea.”

Herrace’s friends had been in the middle of plotting a crime by the time he had finally
caught up to them while huffing and puffing.

He followed behind them dejectedly, hating and being disappointed in himself for not
wanting to, and for not being able to, join in on their conversation as if he alone was clean
and innocent.

“Over there!”

“Move —move, you pieces of trash. No, wait. Hey you, where did the trio wearing chadors
go?”
Suddenly, their surroundings grew noisy with the sounds of shouting and footsteps as
people began searching for them.

“Just when did those bastards manage to make it all the way to the gates?”

“We only just managed to drag them inside Lampinion —don’t you dare let them slip away.
If you do, our boss is going to keel over from his high blood pressure.”

A dizzying assortment of footsteps mixing into each other, as if they had scattered and were
running amok, resounded from all around Ianna and her friends like a spider’s web.

The back alleys were like a maze, and they did not know where there should go to avoid the
bastards.

“Let’s go to the rooftops.”

But just as Taro was about to sling Harrace over his shoulder again before jumping up to the
roof.

“Hey, just what did you guys even do?”

A man suddenly appeared before them and called out to them.

“Whoa!”

Taro startled and sent his fist flying before he could stop himself. The man dodged by swiftly
turning his head to the side. Taro continued,
“The hell are you?!”
“How ignorant. Do you always talk with your fists first? In any event, you must’ve hurt them
quite a bit, seeing how the Yellow Farts are running around looking for you guys like
headless chickens —good job.”

“The Yellow Farts?”

“I’m referring to the Golden Gale.”

“Pft.”
Taro covered his mouth to hold back his burst of laughter. Taro’s fighting spirit had
evaporated, so Ianna brushed him aside and glared at the stranger in his stead.

“And who are……oh. Are you perchance……?”

Ianna’s words trailed away as she recognized the familiar voice and the light in the man’s
eyes. The man shrugged.

“Lady Saki wished to see you, so I’m here to escort you to her.”

He was the man called Giel, whom Ianna and Herrace had met at the scene of the Ghosts’
Banquet. He continued,

“Stick close, and come quietly.”

Giel brought his thumb to his lips and began walking away at a brisk pace. Ianna and her
friends decided to follow him, since they had determined that Saki was not an enemy a few
days ago.

‘How strange.’
Ianna narrowed her eyes when she felt something strange coming from Giel.

But no —to be precise, it was incorrect to say that she felt something strange coming from
him.
Alarmingly, she could not feel his presence at all.

She had noted it when they had first met too, but he barely had any presence even though it
didn’t appear as if he was trying to hide it in particular. Ianna felt as if she was simply
looking at a part of the air itself with her eyes.

They hadn’t been walking for long when Giel stopped in front of a certain building. He
scaled the wall like a shadow melting into the darkness and entered through a window on
the second story. Ianna and her friends exchanged looks and climbed in after him.
“Welcome.”

They were greeted by a woman, whom they presumed was Saki, as soon as they made it
inside. She was not wearing any stifling outer garments to cover up her appearance. She was
sitting in front of the table with her face exposed comfortably out in the open.

Saki had a very peculiar appearance.

She had pure white hair and pumpkin-colored eyes, and her skin was so untanned despite
the fact that she had been travelling around the desert that she almost gave off the illusion
that she was glowing faintly in the darkness. It was like looking at the light of a small candle.

The other strange part about her was that she appeared rather young. She looked like she
was in her mid-twenties, but anyone would have believed it if she said she was in her early
twenties instead.

“Were you being chased? Please rest yourselves here to your heart’s content. The Golden
Gale will not be able to find you here.”

Saki greeted Ianna and her friends warmly. Ianna had been staring blankly at her queer
appearance, and she immediately snapped back to her senses.

“……I’m grateful for your kindness, but why are you offering it?”

Ianna shook Taro and Herrace, who were both still dazed, back to their senses before taking
a step forward. All of the men around Saki drew their weapons and stood on guard against
Ianna. Ianna continued,

“We were told that you wished to see us. I would like to know why you helped us at the risk
of earning the ire of the Golden Gale, who rule this city. And also…”

Ianna asked Saki, who was observing her attentively, the question that she had begun
wondering ever since she had seen Giel again.

“We walked the shortest path here without rest after parting ways with you, and we only just
made it inside the city before the gates closed. So, how is it that you’re here?”
Giel blocked Ianna’s path and snarled,

“You wench, you’re still so rude even after we saved you.”

“My gratitude is one thing, but I am asking only the obvious questions.”

Ianna glared at Giel. Giel was not one to stand down and glared back at her.
“The Lady Swordsman’s doubts are reasonable,”

Saki had Giel stand back with a gentle smile on her face. Saki looked once at Ianna and once
at Taro and Herrace before gesturing to the empty seats at the table before her. She
continued,

“I would have offered to let you rest first, but it looks like you won’t be able to rest
comfortably until your doubts are assuaged. Our discussions might take a while, so please
take a seat.”

Ianna was about to take up on Saki’s offer and sit down, but she promptly startled upon
noticing that someone had been sitting quietly next to Saki. The tall robed man had been
sitting there ever since Ianna had first entered the room, and yet she hadn’t noticed his
presence at all.

She could raise her caution higher and it still wouldn’t be enough. And yet, it still wasn’t
easy. Ianna’s visage stiffened something fierce.

‘They’re throwing my senses off. Who on earth are they?’

Ianna was being wary of the man sitting next to Saki as she, Taro, and Herrace sat down,
and Saki bowed her head to them in greeting.

“I apologize for the delay in introducing myself. My name is Saki Celtz Shizenmore. I am a
doctor.”

Saki Celtz. Ianna didn’t recognize her full name, but it still sounded familiar to her. And it
wasn’t only Ianna who felt this way —Taro and Herrace shared the sentiment.

Was she so famous a doctor that they had heard of her in passing?

That was what Ianna had been thinking when Herrace suddenly realized something and
spoke aloud his doubts.

“Saki Celtz……isn’t that the archmage who specializes in healing magic?”

“Yes, that is also one of the hats I wear,”

Saki acknowledged with great nonchalance.

Heinrich, Maimayè, Ensheila, Dorcianni, Wiffheimer……like the others, she, too, was one of
the ten greatest mages in the world.

She was a specialist in healing magic, a branch of bio magic that only a select few could
manifest.
There was hardly anything known about Saki otherwise.

Countless sick people had tried to meet with her, but meeting with her was said to be as
difficult as finding a grain of gold among sandy shores. She was famous for wandering the
world while hiding her identity and helping any patients she happened to chance across.

“…….”

The fact that the mysterious and famous Saki Celtz was sitting right before their eyes
rendered Ianna and her friends speechless.

Ianna muttered,

“Saki Celtz……then what does Shizenmore, your last name, refer to?”

“Shizenmore is my baptismal name. I am a cardinal of the Great Temple in the Kingdom of

Jinzai. And these good people are holy knights of the temple.”

Cardinal was a very high station. It was similar to that of a duke’s. Which was nothing to say
of the fact that Saki was a cardinal in a kingdom of religious zealots —she must surely be one
of the God Laos’ most ardent believers. Saki continued,

“I have other identities too. However, I am a doctor at heart. I simply happened to collect
many other identities as I helped those who were sick and in need.”

Herrace, who had been staring blankly into Saki’s face, suddenly spurted out,

“……Um, but I heard that Lady Saki Celtz was acknowledged as an archmage several decades
ago?”

Saki chuckled gently with her youthful mien.

“I might look like this, but I am an old granny in my eighties.”

Surprised, Taro asked,

“A mythical race?”

“I am merely human. I simply retained my youth, perhaps because of God Laos’ grace.”

She was old enough that she should have been covered in wrinkles, but her appearance had
frozen in her twenties.
It was only natural that what Saki had said had naturally reminded Ianna and her friends
about the legends of Queen Roanne de Roanne, who was said to have won Laos’ favor and
had retained her youth until the god had disappeared.

‘Is there a connection? Is it divine power? It’s possible to retain one’s youth if divine power is at
play.’
Ianna stared openly at Saki and thought intently before the light of doubt colored her eyes
yet again.

“Can you prove that you’re Saki Celtz?”

“How dare you doubt Lady Saki’s words?!”

Giel was apparently a zealous follower of Saki’s, and he seemed like he would draw his
sword against Ianna as soon as she said anything even slightly insolent toward the
archmage. He had been like any ordinary person who liked to joke around when he had
come alone to pick Ianna and her friends up, but he was like a dog with his fangs bared
when he was near Saki.

It was only natural that Ianna was put off at how he quipped back at everything she said.

“Stop picking a fight with me when I’m only asking for the obvious. It would be foolish to
believe it when a youthful-looking woman whom we met only by chance claims to be Saki
Celtz. And, mind your tongue. You keeping running your mouth about how we dare do this
and that, but we are not beneath you.”
Ianna quietly began pointing her bloodlust at Giel. Giel paused for a moment when he felt it,
but he quickly sharpened his glare. Ianna continued,

“We had absolutely no interest in you people. But it was your master who wished to see us.
Am I wrong? If there was a reason why you brought us here after meeting us only once
before, then it is only proper that you assuage our doubts before you address that reason.”
“You……!”

Ianna ignored Giel and turned to Saki.

“Saki Celtz —if you cannot answer my question to my satisfaction, then I will temporarily
consider you an enemy with underlying motives.”

“You’re quite thorough. How would you like me to prove myself?”

Ianna pulled out a dagger from her pocket when Saki asked with intrigue. The knights
around them grew alarmed and tried to rush in, but Saki stayed them with a wave of her
hand.

Pshh!
Ianna pulled up her sleeve and scratched her blade against her own arm. Blood began to
pour from the wound, neither too deep nor too shallow, she had drawn in her once-smooth
flesh. Taro, who had been sitting next to her, was appalled and promptly took the dagger
away from her. Ianna stared back at him, wondering why he had done that, and she waved
her hand to calm him before pushing her arm toward Saki.

“Please heal me with healing magic, your forte.”

“I see! This truly is the most efficient way for me to prove myself.”

“Lady Saki! There is no need for you to be so humble…….”

Giel was astonished when Saki chuckled in consent and tried to dissuade her.

“Shut your mouth and stand back, Giel. You have overstepped your bounds.”

Giel stepped back with his head hanging low like a whining dog when the smile was wiped
off of Saki’s face and she rebuked him coolly. There was most certainly a rigid hierarchy
between them.

Saki took hold of Ianna’s arm.

“I will begin now.”

Ianna was looking between Saki and her wound in turns. The woman probably was Saki
Celtz, judging by how her companions were acting. Which mean that the healing magic she
was about to manifest was also probably the real deal.
Ianna had heard that healing magic was being researched at the temple, but she had never
seen it with her own eyes. She focused on the movement of the mana around Saki.

But the mana simply recoiled, and it did not move itself into any particular arrangement.
She felt the change happening from within Saki, and not from the outside.
Power rushed into Saki and Ianna’s hand, which Saki was holding.

Fwoosh!
A sanctified white light began pouring out from Saki’s hands. It was almost like the white
light of the sun, which warmed up all of creation. Ianna thought she might go blind as she
scrutinized the feeling.

‘This is…….’
Divine power. And a very pure one, at that…….

The holy aura poured into Ianna’s wound. And the once-deep wound began to close up. Her
newly formed flesh stitched itself seamlessly into the preexisting skin around it.
Shaaaa…….
The white light disappeared, and Saki opened her eyes. Everyone else was blankly
ruminating over her miracle when Saki asked,

“How was it?”

Ianna touched at her wound. There was no pain, and neither was there a scar.

“It was marvelous. However…”

“However?”

“I could not call it magic. This was a sacrifice.”

Saki opened her eyes wide before she smiled meaningfully.

“So you did know? Magic that assists in the healing process is one thing, but true healing
magic is realistically impossible. After all, it belongs to ‘God’s territory.’ We call the power
you witnessed just now ‘holy power.’”
“Holy power…….”

“Those who do not understand how the miracle works mistakes this power for magic and
idolize me. Sometimes, I am embarrassed to be called an archmage.”

Ianna drew her hand out of Saki’s.

“Not everyone can receive the honor of being called an archmage. I have heard that Saki
Celtz is not only an authority on healing magic but an authority on bio magic as well. There
is no need for you to be so modest.”

“Hoho. Does this mean you believe me now?”

“But of course.”

Regardless of whether she was truly Saki Celtz or not, Ianna concluded that there was no
way that someone who could use such a sacred aura could be evil. She looked to Saki, who
was sitting calmly with a gentle smile on her face.

Saki had called it holy power, but it had undoubtedly been divine power. And Saki Celtz
knew how to control it.

But then, Ianna had another question.

How had Saki healed the wound so instantaneously with only her divine power and without
any help from the spirits?

Ianna had once tried testing to see what would happen if she focused divine power on a
wound, on the basis that divine power carried the trait of life.

But she could not heal the wound immediately no matter how much divine power she
poured into it. It had simply healed a little faster than normal, perhaps because the divine
power had elevated her natural recovery rate.

She theorized that the fact that Saki had generated different results lay in the color of her
divine power.

People who could control divine power were few and far between, and they were not trusting
enough of each other to discuss such a secretive topic yet. Which is why Ianna wanted to
have a conversation with Saki, who was not only favorable toward her but also appeared to
have uncommon knowledge.

But that was simply Ianna’s personal curiosity —it had nothing to do with the matter at
hand—, and so she decided to shelve her thoughts for now.

“Please answer the rest of my questions.”

“I picked out a few knights and left the Ghosts’ Banquet immediately on the day we met you.
We followed behind you, and we made it to the city before the gates were closed.”

“……You followed us? You seem to have taken quite an interest in us, even though we only
met very briefly.”

Saki chuckled gently as she looked to Ianna and her friends.

“Before I begin my story, would you please allow this gentleman here and myself to touch
your hands?”

“……?”

It was a bizarre request. Ianna and her friends exchanged looks before extending their
hands because they had no reason to refuse. Ianna observed not Saki, whom she had a
general idea of by now, but the yet-to-be identified man.

Were believers from the Temple of Jinzai like this?

The man’s only defining characteristic was his height, and he had so little presence as he sat
guard next to Saki that he felt like an old tree in the middle of the woods.
Who was he? He probably wasn’t anyone ordinary.

Saki and the man touched Ianna’s, Taro’s, and Herrace’s hand in turns as they carefully
assessed them for something.

Just then, the man grabbed Ianna’s hand tight.

“Saki, it’s her.”

“Right?”

His voice was very clear. It was like magic, and his voice alone seemed to turn the dim room
into a lush forest, to flow like a clean wind through the musty air. His whisper was like a
bird warbling a spell.

Ianna had heard this mysterious echo before.

She was certain of his identity —or rather, his race— even despite her doubts, and Ianna
flinched and tried to pull her hand back, but his dry hand was stronger than it looked and
would not let her go. Saki continued,

“Is it possible?”

“I believe it should be.”

“If you believe it’s possible, Vita, then I’m sure it must be.”

Saki and the man, who shared a brief and incomprehensible conversation while the man
was still holding Ianna’s hand, both turned to look at Ianna. Quietly, Saki asked,

“May we ask you for your name and station, Lady Swordswoman?”

“……I must politely decline. I understand that I must come off as rude because you have told
us your name, but unlike you, it is much too risky for us to disclose ourselves. You are the
elusive archmage Saki Celtz, but we are not.”
“I understand. But please do tell us who you are whenever you are ready, Lady
Swordswoman. We will be waiting eagerly.”

Saki’s words suggested that she wanted her newfound bond with Ianna to last for a long
time.

Ianna was perplexed as Saki, who had been kind to begin with, became even more amiable,
and she looked down at her hand, which the man was still holding.
‘Did he do something?’
She had not found anything particularly unpleasant. He was simply holding her hand. She
asked him to let go, since it was somewhat awkward to stay like that, and the man squeezed
her hand once before slowly drawing away.

Ianna rubbed her hand as she asked,

“Why did you touch our hands?”

“To feel. I wished to confirm what I had felt. I chased after you because of what I had felt,
Lady Swordswoman. I will explain more about it as we discuss.”

Saki straightened herself out and bowed her head. She continued,

“I would like to ask you for your assistance.”

“……For our assistance?”

Ianna wondered what help Saki could possibly need from them —they had slaughtered
everyone who attacked them as they made their way through Sidian, had made an enemy
out of the Golden Gale, and were currently being pursued—, but she decided to hear Saki
out for now.

“I first met you and your friends at the Ghosts’ Banquet. I have been investigating the
Ghosts for many years now. I had always been curious about the phenomenon, but I only
started investigating in earnest after receiving a certain drug as a reward from a king I had
once healed.”

Saki gestured to one of the knights, and he rummaged through the drawers behind him and
brought her a box. Saki took the box from him and set it down on the table. She continued,

“This drug has been circulating in secret meetings between high-ranking figures, and its
effects have been proven to grant youth and longevity.”

Saki opened the box. Ianna’s visage stiffened when she saw what was inside.

“This, is ‘Life.’”

It was a very unpleasant shade of black.

Its color was one thing, but the drug also somehow felt viler than the muck down the sewage
drain. It was foolish to feel that way about a simple liquid, but even the mere thought of
having to drink it made Ianna nauseous.
But Ianna’s stomach wasn’t so weak that her face would stiffen up so much just because she
found something nauseating.

‘That glass bottle…….’

She was familiar with its shape.

She had pulled out the medicine bottle that the robed man —whom she was certain had
been Arhad— had given her during the minotaur incident and toyed with it whenever it
crossed her mind, and as a result she was so familiar with its shape that she could draw it
with her eyes closed. She was alarmed when the bottle that Saki had taken out of the box
was so similar in shape —it was almost as if Saki had taken it directly out from her
memories.

Ianna could feel divine power from the drug now that she could control it. It probably
worked similarly to Arhad’s medicine, which had been made from divine power and a
variety of herbs.

‘But it’s not Arhad’s medicine.’

The liquid before her now was something else.

Her reasoning was too subjective for her to be certain of this, but that was how she felt.
Arhad’s medicine was not nearly as revolting as this drug.

‘But why do the bottles look exactly the same?’

Saki picked up the bottle while Ianna was pondering over the riddle she couldn’t solve. The
drug dangled in the air between Saki’s fingertips as if she was handling filth.

“The king who gifted this to me had assumed, from my appearance, that I had taken a dose
of Life. Many people consume this drug, but it’s difficult to buy with even millions of gold
because it is so limited in supply. The king gave this to me in an attempt to buy my favor.
How does this drug make you feel?”

“Um, it’s a bit unpleasant…….”

“Think I’d throw up if I drank it.”

“It repulses me.”

Saki nodded as the three of them replied in turns.

“Indeed. Everyone is repulsed by Life at first. I was violently disgusted by this drug when I
first laid eyes upon it. I determined that this drug was abnormal in more ways than one, so I
obtained a few more samples and began researching it. To state my conclusions simply, Life
is a drug that was created from hallucinogens, narcotics, and substances that help maintain
the physical appearance —all of which only someone with an extremely high-leveled
knowledge of drug synthesis would know how to use—, mixed with a high concentration of
corrupted holy power and trapped inside a bottle that had been specially treated with
magic.”

“Um, what exactly is holy power?”

Saki answered gently when Herrace asked gingerly.

“It is the basis for all life. Every living creature is born with the God Laos’ holy power in
their hearts. The power is pure white at first but takes on its own color as time passes, and it
is consumed as the lifeforce that every living creature requires to live by. It exists
in your heart as well, my friend.”
“Are you referring to divine power?”

“Goodness! You know about divine power?”

Saki asked Herrace in surprise, only for him to tell her that the other two knew about it as
well.

“According to what you’ve said, holy power and divine power are fundamentally the same
thing, but holy power is the basis of divine power. After all, the color of someone’s divine
power depends on the person.”

“That’s correct. I had guessed that the Lady Swordswoman might know about divine power,
but to think that the two of you knew as well……. You must all be much more incredible than
I had originally thought. This will make things much easier to explain. In any event, Life is
similar to mana stones. Just like how mana stones carry mana despite being rocks, Life is an
herb-based liquid drug that carries divine power. The bottle protects the divine power and
keeps mana from coming into contact with it by completely separating its insides from the
world outside.”

Saki let out a deep breath.

“There are many ways for divine power to be used throughout the course of your life.
Maintaining your physical body, your lifespan……the rate at which your divine power is
consumed is your constitution, which is determined when you are born, though it can be
altered ever so slightly through acquired means. Consuming Life, however, temporarily
decreases the rate at which you consume divine power to maintain your body drastically.
The high concentration of divine power in the drug is more than enough to satisfy what little
you’ll need to maintain your body, and the rest can be used to directly prolong your lifespan.
It’s an elixir of life in every sense of the term.”

“You make it sound like a good thing. But what did you mean by corrupted divine power?”
“And that’s the problem: how the drug is manufactured, and the ingredients used in the
process. Where do you think the divine power needed to create Life comes from?”
“No way…….”

“In terms of human lives, you would need at least five victims to create one dose of this
drug.”

The blood drained from Herrace’s face. Taro and Ianna looked similarly uncomfortable.
Saki continued,

“Divine power can sometimes carry human emotions. And there are some truly terrible
emotions seeped into this drug. I do not know how to drain divine power from a living
being, but I think I can guess how cruel the process is. The looks on the faces of the Ghosts’
victims make it readily obvious. Do you see why you feel so repulsed by this drug now?”

“That’s……. So you’re suggesting the Ghosts’ Banquet is a man-made phenomenon that is

used to manufacture Life? But I heard that the Ghosts’ Banquet is a legend that has been
passed down for over two hundred years. Is there any special reason why you think that the
Ghosts’ Banquet, of all the strange phenomena in the world, is a byproduct of the process to
manufacture Life?”

“My analysis of Life showed that it was mixed from a variety of high-grade drugs that you
can only find in Sidian. And the Ghosts’ Banquet phenomenon stood out to me. The legends
were probably created by the criminals to hide the truth from the public. The rumors were
likely influenced by a combination of Sidian’s special characteristics, the geographical
constraints, and the fact that Jinzai is a heavily religious state.”

Sidian was a lawless kingdom, so no one really cared about the corpses that were found
there. People would simply shrug and carry on with their day even if an evil mage
experimented on large populations of people and left their corpses out to rot.

Moreover, corpses crumbled into dust within two weeks if they were robbed of divine power,
making the desert the ideal place to dispose of them —and Sidian had a lot of desert.

No one lived in the vast deserts, and the corpses that people actually found on the road were
only the tip of the iceberg. The culprits could have hidden countless corpses all across the
desert, but the people had only found just enough to create an urban legend —they hadn’t
found enough for it to become a social problem.

“There are surely so many corpses that we haven’t found yet that we likely couldn’t count
them even if we tried. They crumble to dust and become as one with the desert.”

Anyone who investigated the Ghosts tended to go missing, and Sidian had chosen to ignore
the matter. And Jinzai was practically frothing at the mouth while calling it the Demon’s
work.
There was a reason why normal people shunned the topic and assumed it was merely a
legend.

“Why didn’t you make this knowledge public and apprehend the Ghosts? Saki Celtz’s name
would have more than enough authority to do that.”

“To begin with, I don’t have any proof that the Ghosts’ Banquet is behind the manufacturing
of Life……and the users of Life are loath to answer any questions about their suppliers. The
suppliers are extremely unwilling to risk exposing their personal information, and their
identities are often hidden under three, or even four, layers. And they’ve also threatened
Life users by saying that they would stop supplying the drug if their identities were ever
leaked. Besides, the people who use Life are generally so powerful that even I would
conversely find myself in trouble if I ever unmasked their suppliers…….”
Ultimately, this meant that the Ghosts were people in positions of power who coveted
eternal youth. By the time Saki had finished talking about the Ghosts’ Banquet, Ianna asked,

“So, what is it that you wanted us to help you with?”

“We’ve discovered one of the Ghosts’ ‘factories’ a few months ago after many years of
investigation and many sacrifices made along the way.”

The realization hit Ianna and her friends hard, as they had learned that the legends that had
been passed down for centuries had simply been yet another form of human greed in the
matter of minutes.

The light in Saki’s eyes darkened in a solemn manner. She continued,

“It is not very far from here —from Lampinion. I would like to ask you for your assistance in
infiltrating the factory. You were never hesitant about dealing with the bandits, so I know
for a fact that you three are highly skilled. I am asking you to lend your aid to our cause.”

Saki bowed to the three of them before she then turned the entirely of her attention to
Ianna.

“And especially you, Lady Swordswoman —we will most certainly need your assistance. I
believe that our meeting was fate guided by God Laos’ hand. I even believe that you might be
an apostle sent to us by God Laos himself. It will not take long, so I beg that you give us
some of your time.”
Ianna could not hide the bitter look on her face.

“Why are you going so far to ask this of me?”

“Because you are the only person who is capable of breaking through the defensive magic
that has been cast over the place. Vita, please bring that out.”
Vita, the man sitting next to Saki, pulled a pouch out from his pocket and set it on the table.
Saki undid the string and upended the entire thing, only to reveal a lump of ordinary-
looking sand.

“What is this?”

“This is the sand that was made when the corpse you touched at the Ghosts’ Banquet
crumbled, Lady Swordswoman.”

Ianna recalled how she had touched the corpse ever so slightly as she checked it out. But
why had that led to her forging a relationship with Saki? Saki lowered her eyes when Ianna
tilted her head to the side, prompting the archmage to continue.

“Normally, the victims turn into dead soil at this stage. It rejects the energy of life that the
sun pours out, and it becomes as a wasteland in which not even a single blade of grass can
grow. Nothing can grow on land where victims of the Ghosts’ Banquet have decomposed.
Have you ever come across a monster in Sidian’s deserts? You haven’t, right?”

……Did that strange characteristic have something to do with the Ghosts’ Banquet too?

Ianna paled as Saki continued,

“There is a folklore that states that you must not touch the corpses of a Ghosts’ Banquet and
simply leave them to the elements because you will be cursed if you do. It is considered a
superstition, but it is by no means incorrect.”

“…….”

“There exists a concept called Idea. It refers to a very poignant thought, will, or emotion……
and powerful Ideas linger behind in a corpse even after the person who manifested it has
passed away. Generally, these Ideas don’t disappear unless they have been completely
resolved or a long time has passed and they fade away. If you destroy a corpse with a
lingering Idea, then that Idea will transfer over to you like a curse.”

Saki stared deeply into Ianna, who was listening intently.

“Perhaps it’s because the Ghosts’ victims were made to suffer through terribly negative
emotions before they died and their emotions became a curse, but their corpses, and the dirt
that their corpses crumble into, are filled with cruel Ideas. And yet……the corpse that you
touched, Lady Swordswoman, crumbled completely into sand not long after you left.”

Ianna recoiled.

“I did not handle it callously enough for it to crumble. Did the curse transfer to me?”
“It is preposterous to call it a curse. You saved that person, Lady Swordswoman.”
Saki touched the soil.

“There is no Idea in this soil. It is ordinary soil, and it is able to receive energy from the sun.
The corpse that you touched was able to return to nature, as if it had found repose.”

Saki swept the soil back inside the pouch as she continued,

“Countless threads of fate are tangled and tangled into this world. The threads of fate are
simple things that tie together even if they only brush past each other. The victim’s Idea
vanished, as if they no longer had any regrets in this world, simply because their thread of
fate just so happened to have brushed against yours, Lady Swordswoman. That was only
possible because the victim found you powerful enough and trustworthy enough to absolve
them of their grudges.”

Saki offered up a prayer as she brought her hands together.

“And when many threads of fate gather, God Laos leads them toward their destiny. And God
Laos sent you to us while we were searching for a way to infiltrate the Ghosts’ factory. You
have already been touched by countless threads of fate, my Lady Swordswoman.”

Quietly, Saki smiled.

“And perhaps that is why? I had this peculiar feeling that I must not let go of you the very
moment I first laid my eyes on you. And I still feel the same way about you even now.”
Saki’s words were fatalistic, perhaps because a priest was still a priest even if she was also an
intellectual doctor.

“You are very strong, Lady Swordswoman. And you are able to dispel magic. Am I wrong?”

Saki smiled when Ianna did not refute her claims.

“The factory is located underground in this neighborhood, and we are planning to infiltrate
it in a few days’ time. But the building’s security is far too tight. But that’s not the problem —
the true problem is that the exterior of the building is covered in a plethora of spells. They
must have been cast by an extraordinarily skilled mage, as even I, someone who knows a
thing or two about magic, could not break through them. Nor can I break through the
single-layer barrier surrounding the factory. We were strolling around the Banquet, unable
to figure out how to break through, when we met you, Lady Swordswoman.”

Saki looked Ianna, who was still somewhat bewildered, in the eyes before bowing her head
down low.

“I would like to ask you to break through the defensive spells cast around the factory just
once. I, Saki Celtz Shizenmore, will never forget the kindness you have shown me.”
Ianna was slightly disconcerted by the unconditional trust that Saki showed for her.

The truth was that it shouldn’t be too difficult.

The spells might have been cast by a skilled mage, but Ianna was certain that she would
probably be able to dispel them.

Mana loved her, after all. Margarita, a Demon’s fragment beneficiary, had been able to
break through the powerful barrier surrounding the Roanne royal palace, but Ianna had
dispelled even Margarita’s magic before.

Which was why she could not pointlessly say that it was impossible.

But Saki Celtz Shizenmore, an important figure, was lowering her head and making this
request of her even without knowing any of this. Saki had full confidence in the abstract
notion of fate.

‘……Does your intuition change if you’re a cardinal?’

Ianna pondered for a moment before turning to Taro and Herrace.

“What do you guys think?”

Part 5
“Do whatever yer heart tells ya. I’ll follow along and help as much as I can,”

Taro grinned as he crossed his fingers behind his head.

“Man~, I’ve been havin’ so much fun these days. I haven’t had the time to be bored ever
since I started travelin’ with ya, Boss. Never thought in my wildest dreams that them Ghosts
would be a problem.”

Taro seemed rather interested in the issue. The Ghosts’ Banquet had been considered a
legend for centuries, and he himself had believed in the legends, and yet it was apparently
the work of some shameless bastard —he could not help but think that they must be some
incredible bastards indeed to have deceived so many people even as the world was going to
the dogs.

He had the twisted desire to confirm the deceit with his own eyes, but the power to decide
lay with Ianna.

Taro cast a sideways glance at her.

He had thought that she was simply a skilled swordswoman and a reliable peer, but he had
learned better while watching her from up close during their trip.

There was something about Ianna that made her different from normal humans, even apart
from her skills, personality, and experience —all of which were unbefitting of her young age.

‘Hmmm……. No wonder Pops was so interested in her…….’

Taro was nodding away as Herrace answered meekly even though he had paled upon
recalling the victims at the Ghosts’ Banquet.

“I’m here because I planned to follow you to begin with, Boss. These people need you, so
please do as you wish. I only hope that I won’t be a burden to you……no, I’ll do my best not
to be.”

Ultimately, they would defer to Ianna’s judgment.

Besides, they knew that Ianna had excellent leadership skills and they had let Ianna decide
almost everything about this trip ever since they had first set out, so they didn’t really care
either way.

Ianna looked to Herrace and wondered if he would truly be all right for a moment before
determining that this could be an invaluable experience and that he shouldn’t be in too
much danger if she and Taro were with him.

“How long will this take? We were in a hurry.”

“It will take at least four days to get there if we gather my subordinates, who are scattered
throughout the region, along the way. But one night will be enough to get the actual work
done. If you are reluctant to join the infiltration, then I do not mind if you only dispel the
magic.”

“Now that you mention it, what is your purpose for infiltrating the factory? Destroying just
one will not change much if there are many.”

“We hope to acquire more samples of Life, learn how it is made, and find evidence of the
culprit. And, if possible, we hope to rescue anyone who is being held captive inside the
factory as well. As you suggest, it will not be possible to resolve the Ghosts’ Banquet using
short-term measures. But my life’s mission is to eliminate the Ghosts and purify the earth.
Successfully completing this plan means that I will be able to set up the groundwork for
accomplishing my mission.”

“Very well. We will accompany you until you’ve accomplished your goals and have
successfully escaped.”

“Ah! Thank you.”

Ultimately, Ianna assented. She was rather intrigued by the Ghosts.

Then, she brought up their issues with the Golden Gale, and Saki took full responsibility
over the matter and guaranteed that they would be able to leave Lampinion.

Saki led Ianna and her friends out the room.

“Please allow me to thank you again, for I know that the decision must not have been easy to
make. This building was purchased by Jinzai, and Sidian will not be able to touch it. We are
planning to leave Lampinion when the gates open, so please rest here until then.”

Saki escorted Taro and Herrace to one room before leading Ianna to her own clean room.

Just as Ianna bowed in thanks and was about to close the door, Saki interjected and said,

“Could we discuss a little bit more an hour from now? Vita, whom you met earlier, will be
joining us. He is vital to this plan. And I will personally vouch for his identity.”

Ianna welcomed the proposition.

Ianna had been wanting to speak with Saki and Vita, since they were both such interesting
figures, and Ianna had something that she wanted to ask Saki separately, so she was glad
that Saki had asked first.

“Very well.”

Saki smiled in good cheer.

“Thank you. I will be back in a bit. Please rest until then.”

Thud.
Ianna took off the stuffy chador after closing the door and making sure that there were no
eyes on her.

She felt sweaty and gross and strongly wished to wash herself clean, but Sidian was
backwards and did not have many public facilities like inns, so people had to find secluded
rivers or lakes if they wanted to bathe. Ianna realized once again how nice life at the
Institution was.

And public facilities weren’t even the biggest problem —she couldn’t even wander around
outside.
She could call the spirit king of water and ask him to tell her more about the Holy Age while
also asking him to provide water to wash herself with, but she didn’t because there were too
many people keeping tabs on her. She also had the watering pot artefact that Arhad had
given her, but that was for emergency use only.
‘I’ll just bear with it.’
Ianna plopped down on the bed only to sit up immediately afterward. She pulled out her
plush puppy from her bag, which she had thrown against the bed, and sat it in front of her
before she crossed her arms.

‘Should I tell him about this, or should I not?’

To be honest, she wanted to tell Arhad and take the opportunity to learn more about his
heart condition and the medicine he took.

The Ghosts’ Banquet, for whatever the reason, held many similarities to how Arhad had
killed the orc previously. She was sure that she would uncover something if she dug around
the factory under the pretense of helping Saki.

But the problem lied in Arhad.

Though he would answer like he usually did, Arhad always seemed reluctant and
equivocated like he was trying to hide something whenever Ianna asked him about his heart
condition. He was keeping something from her.

And so, Ianna had the premonition that he would nag her relentlessly if she learned
something through this incident.

He might even try to stop her. They might even fight and harbor ill feelings over it.

And if they started bickering and arguing over this, then even the fact that Ianna had met
the robed Arhad before she had been admitted into the Institution might also come out of
the woodworks. That would also be a pain.

It was something that they would have to resolve one day, and she could contact him and
ask him about it immediately if she so wished……but, for whatever the reason, she was
disinclined.

Ianna, who had been keeping still while stewing in her complicated thoughts, shook her
head clear. She thought back on why she had decided to go on this trip to begin with.

She wanted to learn more about the Holy Age. She wanted to resolve any potential seeds of
discord that existed between herself and Arhad, like the matter between the Demon and
Roberstein, and stand next to him as his perfect partner.

And she had hidden her intentions from him.

Going along with Saki’s plan played a part in Ianna’s personal goals.

‘I’ll just take action for now.’

Ianna finished contemplating and lied down and closed her eyes to rest, and she heard
someone knock on her door before long.

Ianna got up from bed and put her chador back on before opening the door. Saki and Vita
were standing on the other side.

“Is now a good time for you?”

“Yes, please come on in.”

Saki and Vita walked slowly inside the room when Ianna let them in. There were only two
chairs accompanying the table in the room, so Ianna let the two of them take them and sat
on the bed. Saki tied up her tangled hair as she sighed.

“Whew. Those rascals —I’m grateful that they’re guarding me, but sometimes I feel like I’m
suffocating when I’m with them.”
Saki looked much more comfortable than she had been earlier. The newly relaxed and
unreserved air about her helped put Ianna at ease as well.

“So, what did you wish to discuss with me?”

Ianna was more curious as to what Saki and Vita had to say than she was eager to have them
assuage her doubts about them.

Saki called out to Vita, who was sitting beside her and had been staring at Ianna ever since
he had entered the room.

“Vita.”

“Yes.”

Vita pulled back the hood that had been hiding his entire face with his slender hands. Ianna
could not take her eyes off his beautiful face.

He had golden hair, so golden that they could have been formed of the sun’s rays, and snow-
white skin. His eyes seemed to be as blue as the sky itself. The lines of his face were gentle
and slender, as if they were tearing down the boundary between him and the world around
him.

It was like looking at a part of nature itself.

Ianna looked to Vita’s ears.

‘I knew it…….’
They were long.

Vita quietly introduced himself.

“My name is Vistomanta. I am an elf from the eastern forests. Please call me Vita. I’m sure
you must be bewildered, but there is no need for you to feel burdened by me —please just
treat me as you have been treating Saki.”

Elves looked no different from humans apart from their slender frames and mysterious
features. Ianna, who had been a little anxious even though she had tried not to show it,
relaxed.

‘Dwarves, beastmen, elves —they aren’t any different from humans. They might be mythical races,
but that’s all there is to it.’
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Vita.”

Saki and Vita opened their eyes wide in surprise when Ianna controlled her facial
expressions and greeted him normally.

“You don’t seem very surprised.”

“I had already assumed you might be an elf.”

“Goodness, have you met an elf before?”

“This is my first time meeting a real one, but I have met one before indirectly.”

Finn may be a halfling, but he was still technically half elf. But, while it might have been a
different story if she was certain that there was no risk at all, Ianna did not want to mention
him when she was already hiding her own identity.

‘Neither do I know what a pure elf would think about a half-elf when they’re said to detest
humans…….’
Ianna felt Vita’s quiet but persistent gaze on her as she pushed against the edge of the bed to
straighten herself out. Ianna, too, stared openly back at him in turn as she thought.

‘This elf has been staring at me like this since the very beginning. I wonder why?’
The only part of her that he could see beneath her chador was her eyes, and yet his gaze
seemed to pierce through her skin.
“You speak in riddles. But I feel as though your identity might be more surprising than even
Vita’s, Lady Swordswoman.”
“Then I must continue hiding it, if only out of embarrassment. My station is truly a humble
one.”

“One’s station is merely a shell. The identity to which I am referring would be your true
nature……. I eagerly await the day that we can converse with each other freely, my Lady
Swordswoman.”

Saki giggled like a child and openly expressed her fondness for Ianna. She then gestured to
Vita, who had been sitting without so much as budging, as if he was a lone tree. She
continued,

“Vita will tell you more about the magic surrounding the factory. Actually, I called him here
to ask him to dispel it for us, but it proved impossible. I was so surprised. After all, Vita is an
incredibly skilled diviner.”

Ianna posed a question, as she had never heard the term before.

“A diviner……?”

“Oh, you don’t know? Diviners are people who use divine arts, an ability distinct from magic
that uses divine power. All abilities pertaining to life, like the healing powers I demonstrated
earlier, are generally considered divine arts. Using divine power to dispel magic is also
considered a divine art. A very few priests, myself included, know how to use them.”

“Hmm…”

Ianna keenly realized how truly ignorant she had been in her past life as she listed to Saki.

Archmages, high-ranking priests, the mythical races, knights of Bahamut…….

There were so many people who knew about divine power, and yet she, who had once been
extolled as the second strongest person in the world, had not known.

She did not regret it, but she acknowledged that she had been so trapped in her own little
world and so heavily focused on only her sword that she had never made any room for other
useful information.

Ianna was a little embarrassed.

“I understand. So, what kind of spells were used around the factory?”
“Illusion, Barrier, and Alarm, as far as defensive spells go. Illusion hides the factory, Barrier
stops intruders from entering, and Alarm announces the presence of anyone who had
infiltrated inside. There are also various traps and offensive spells cast over it.”

Saki sighed as she finished her piece, and Vita took over.

“I don’t know who the caster was, but they are surely extraordinary. The high levels of the
spells they cast are one thing……but the way they arranged the mana, the foundation of their
magic, is another story entirely. Magic is like a mirage, and it vanishes as soon as there is
even the slightest disruption in the arrangement of mana. Normally, I can dispel magic ten
times out of ten. But the magic around the factory feels as solid as a rock. It was so
extraordinary that I suffered internal injuries from the rebound when I tried to dispel it.”

“For reference, Vita is capable of dispelling my own spells.”

Spells that even Vita, someone who could dispel an archmage’s magic, could not dispel…….
Hearing this made Ianna begin to doubt whether she could truly do this or not.

She had forgotten to ask Arhad about the details, but she recalled that he had once used
something he had called an elven purification scroll. It was merely a piece of paper, and yet
it had been able to dispel Margarita’s, a shareholder of a Demon’s fragment, magic.

Which meant that elves must surely be that powerful.

But if Vita, an elf whom Saki had personally praised as a skilled diviner, had not been able to
dispel the magic……then there was a chance that it was connected to a Demon’s fragment.
The caster could possibly be an owner, and not just a shareholder.

‘If a Demon’s fragment is involved…….’

Several things didn’t sit too well with Ianna as she opened her mouth.

“At the very least, I know how to dispel magic and I have done it before. I don’t know if I
would call it fate, but I accepted your request because I was interested in the phenomenon
and because I thought I would fit your conditions……but hearing what you have to say
makes me question if this is truly something I am capable of doing.”

“No, it is possible.”

“It is possible. But we could also confirm it if you still remain doubtful, Lady Swordsman. If
it’s not too rude to ask, could you please show us your divine power?”

“Goodness, Vita. Don’t make excuses. You simply want to see it for yourself.”

“I cannot deny that. But Saki, is it not the same for you?”
“Of course it is. I’m glad that you asked first, because I didn’t know how to.”

Ianna felt strange yet again as Saki and Vita seemed to assume that she would definitely be
able to dispel the magic, but she felt like they would use something unrealistic, like fate or a
feeling or what have you, again as their justification, and so she simply drew her divine
power to her finger without another word.

Buzz.
Her divine power set off like a flame.

The mana rushed toward her voraciously in a craze, but it paused, like it had during the
incident with Margarita, and slowly began circling around her divine power obediently
when she quietly asked it to settle down.

“Please feel free to speak up if anything concerns you,”

Ianna added, worried, but Saki and Vita simply stared at her burning crimson divine power
without a word, as if they were in a trance.

“Oh……my word,”

Saki finally mumbled a while later just as Ianna was starting to grow disconcerted. She
continued,

“Are you related to God Laos by any chance, Lady Swordswoman?”

“Pardon? No. Not at all. God Laos has hidden himself from the world for so long that people
have even started wondering if he ever truly existed to begin with……but why are you asking
me this?”

“Is that so? No, I’m sure you’re right. But I wonder why it feels this way? Yes, indeed.
Actually, I couldn’t tell you earlier because there were too many people, but…….”

The intelligent light in Saki’s eyes blurred. She continued,

“I feel very strange when I look at you, Lady Swordswoman. And that feeling only grew
stronger when I saw your divine power with my own eyes.”

Saki’s and Vita’s main reason for visiting Ianna was to confirm what they had felt.

Saki clasped her hands together and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath.
“It is a very sturdy and warm feeling, like someone is holding me close and telling me
everything will be all right when I’m exhausted, like I could trust it completely without any
worries. I almost feel like I’ve become a child again, even though I’ve lived so many years
that it wouldn’t be strange for me to have departed to God Laos’ side by now. Do you feel the
same way, Vita?”

Vita nodded weightily and crinkled his nose.

“Indeed……I wanted to cry when I first laid my eyes upon you. I felt like I’d finally met
someone I’ve missed terribly.”

Ianna had heard something similar before.

She had heard it before from Finn, a half-elf, Chendelf, a dwarf, and she was hearing it again
now from Saki, a cardinal of the Church of Laos, and Vita, a pure-blooded elf.

And they all shared something in common.

They had either been born with a lot of Laos’ divine power as a member of the mythical
races or was a priest who served him —in other words, they all had some kind of relation to
Laos.

Anyone who didn’t find this strange would be a fool.

Ianna had only been focusing on the relationship between Roberstein and the Demon, but
now she realized that there might have been a deep relationship between Roberstein and
Laos, the creator of the world, too.

‘But I feel like I’ve heard it from somewhere else too……when was it again?’
Saki pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away her tears as Ianna lost herself in thought.

“Goodness, please excuse me. It’s very curious that I feel this way even though you have no
relation to God Laos. I felt this way when I saw the holy relic stored in the temple as well……
as if I was standing before God Laos himself.”

Ianna’s thoughts screeched to a halt.

“Holy relic?”

“Yes. The Temple of Laos at Jinzai has a sacred tree branch that is used as a symbolic
gesture when a new high priest or king ascends to their station. Otherwise, it is kept secure.
It is filled with sacred divine power.”

“Oh…….”
Saki’s words reminded Ianna of where she had heard of it previously. The way Saki had
described seeing her was similar to how Priest Pianca,1 an Institution professor, had
described seeing the gravestone that was kept in the Great Temple at Roanne.
She had forgotten about it because the holy relic was only accessible to the highest-ranking
of priests who dedicated their whole hearts and bodies to the Faith and because, unlike the
sword fragment from the South, Ianna had thought that the gravestone had nothing to do
with her.

But now, Ianna felt like she had been hit on the back of her head.

‘The holy relics feel similar to me……. I’d thought that the holy relics were simply relics from the
Holy Age that were imbued with Laos’ divine power, but it looks like they might actually have a
connection to Roberstein.’
Saki grinned, having failed to notice Ianna’s bewilderment.

“I think it will be simple for you to break through the spells around the factory even just by
seeing how the mana is moving. Thank you, God Laos. I look forward to working with you,
Lady Swordswoman.”

“And I as well. Also, there was something else that I wanted to ask you.”

“What is it? Please ask away.”

It was possible that the holy relic of Jinzai functioned similarly to the gravestone in the
Great Temple at Roanne. And, unlike before, when Ianna had no connections to the Faith of
Laos, Saki Celtz Shizenmore, a cardinal of the Great Temple at Jinzai, was currently
showing extremely goodwill toward her.

“Is there a chance I might be able to see the holy relic?”

“Hmm……?”

Saki blinked in surprise.

“It’s within my power to let you do so, as, while the holy relic is precious, even normal
citizens can see it at least once during their lifetimes during a coronation —but may I ask
why you wish to?”

Ianna was happy for Saki’s positive response, but she kept her mouth closed because she
didn’t know how to explain herself, and Saki saw how troubled she was and simply shook
her head. Saki continued,

“You needn’t say anything if it is difficult for you to answer. If you give me a date, I can
prepare an opportunity for you to see the relic once this is over.”
“Thank you.”

Ianna bowed her head low. She pondered for a moment with her head still bowed before she
pulled down at her chador.

It was rude to keep hiding her identity when the other party was already willing to do so
much for her. She figured it should be all right if Saki and Vita were the only ones to know
what she looked like.

A vivid crimson filled the room as her eyes, once covered by the chador, shone and her hair
spilled out like billowing waves.

“My name is Ianna. I am currently a citizen of Roanne.”

“Oh…….”

Saki and Vita fell into yet another trance.

Vita’s eyelashes quivered and he lowered his eyes as if he was blinded —a complete contrast
to how persistently and piercingly he had been staring at her before— and said,

“……You’re like the sun itself. Were you a member of the mythical races?”

He asked Ianna the same question that she and her friends had asked Saki when they first
met the archmage.

Ianna smirked, finding it funny that it was an elf asking her this, as she replied,
“I am merely human. And I am only seventeen.”

“What? Seventeen? I thought you altered your voice or that you simply had a very youthful-
sounding one. My word. What was I doing at your age again?”

Saki made a fuss for a bit, unable to hide her utter astonishment, before she smiled brightly
upon seeing Ianna’s face without anything to hinder it.

“Since you’ve taken off your chador, Lady Ianna, I take it that this means you trust us? It
overjoys me to have grown closer to you. Oh, but we shouldn’t call you by your real name
outside.”

“Please just call me Ann……a while we’re here.”

She had inadvertently used her Camastros codename, but she bit her tongue and added on
an extra syllable at the end.
She had disclosed her name and appearance, but she must not allow herself to be connected
to Camastros.

“All right. Once again, I look forward to working with you, Lady Anna.”

“And I as well. But anyway, Saki, now that I’ve disclosed myself to you, there were a few
more questions that I had wanted to ask…….”

“Ask away.”

“I’ve heard that God Laos’ divine power is pure white. You called it holy power earlier.”

Pure white had been designated as Laos’ unique color since times immemorial. The color
white was praised as the ultimate color of purity and the basis of all creation. Ianna
continued,

“And the divine power you used was also pure white. That……were you using some special
method to use God Laos’ power, or was that the color of your own divine power?”

“How could a mere human dare presume to use God Laos’ divine power? It is the latter, of
course. A faithful believer’s soul takes on God Laos’ color. In a sense, it is only natural that
we become similar to him, as we obey his thoughts and his will and even model ourselves
after his conduct.”

“I see. And also, normally, pouring divine power on a wound only quickens the rate of
recovery —but it doesn’t heal it instantly like what you did. Could you tell me how you did
that?”

“It is not something I discuss in public, but I have no reason to hide it from you, Lady
Swordswoman. One’s healing powers grow stronger the closer their divine power is in color
to white. All of creation was born from God Laos’ holy power, and even our flesh was created
by the spirits by using that same holy power. This is why it isn’t incorrect to say that all
things were created by God Laos, and those whose divine power is closer in color to white
are much more suited for life-related abilities. This is also likely why my appearance has
remained so youthful.”

Ianna thought of Chendelf when she heard what Saki had said.

Chendelf’s hands had been made with Ianna’s divine power, and he had been able to touch
Roberstein’s metal, which no one else had been able to touch. Perhaps this was similar.
‘But in that case, it also means that Chendelf’s hands will heal faster using my divine power.’
Saki watched quietly as Ianna nodded in understanding, and her face flushed ever so slightly
pink as she smiled.
“Still, I would ask that you didn’t repeat what I just said before the priests of Jinzai. It’s safe
to say this to the people around me, since they are my followers and have tight lips, but most
priests believe that divine power is the gods’ territory. And my healing arts are generally
regarded as magic. Only a very few people are able to control divine power, and only they
know that I can use it.”

Saki was very intellectual and logical despite being a cardinal, perhaps because she was also
an archmage and a doctor.

She had undoubtedly researched divine power for a very long time.

“Why do you not spread around your knowledge? More people would believe in God Laos if
you did.”

“Divine power is the power of life, and one must not use it carelessly. These are things that
people must learn for themselves once they become able to control it. Besides, it might make
many priests feel deprived, and it might also be used by the Ghosts for nefarious purposes.”

Ianna agreed.

“And Saki……there’s also something I’d like to request of you.”

“Please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Ianna contemplated for a moment before she said,

“If we happen to find many samples of Life in the factory, may I have a bottle?”

Saki pursed her lips and stared into Ianna.

“It is an evil drug that was concocted by sacrificing many victims. I don’t believe that you
will use it, but may I ask why you want one?”

“I have a personal interest in it. There is nothing more I can tell you on this matter.”

“……Life is a very dangerous substance for multiple reasons. There is something I didn’t tell
you earlier because I was worried you might take offense.”

Saki took a deep breath and continued,

“Unless they have a very strong sense of identity, those who take this drug for a long time
tend to have their dispositions change for the worse, and, in the worst cases, they go insane.
No one can remain sane after taking a drug that’s been polluted with so many emotions.
And it can affect you just by being nearby. Do you still wish to take one?”

“I’m sure that the soil you showed me earlier proves that I will be all right.”

“Indeed. In that case, please do as you wish, Lady Ianna. However, I would ask that you
hand over the samples to me and seek me out if you need them for anything if there are
fewer than five. I need a lot of samples, as I am trying to find a way to treat those who have
taken it.”

Ianna looked back at her in disbelief.

“But why……? They are simply reaping what they themselves have sown. It wouldn’t be an
exaggeration to say that they all might as well be Ghosts themselves. They are criminals, and
there is no merit to them. Why would you try to help them?”

“Because I am a doctor. As the head of Shalino, the international doctors’ association, I

cannot see an ‘illness’ and simply ignore it.”

An archmage, a cardinal, and even the head of a doctors’ organization……. Saki was truly an
amazing person. Saki continued,

“Besides, most users of Life are people in leadership positions, and things will be harder for
those beneath them if they are not in their right mind. I must restore my patients even if
only for their sakes.”
Ianna nodded back in understanding.

“Lady Ianna.”

Vita, who had been listening in on their conversation, suddenly called out to Ianna. Ianna
replied, “Yes?” and turned to look at him as he resolutely said,

“If you have the time someday, would you please visit our village?”

“Vita?”

Saki called out to him in shock.

Generally speaking, it was impossible for a human to visit a village inhabited by the mythical
races. Moreover, unlike the dwarves who occasionally traded weapons and daily necessities
with humans, elves were self-sufficient and extremely exclusionary, and it was next to
impossible to even see one outside their villages.

Ianna was stunned.

“Why would you ask me that?”

Vita’s ears twitched, perhaps because he was nervous.

“We are in need of your help. And there is also another thing that I would ask you to take a
look at.”

“……My help?”

There was something that an elf whom she had only met today needed her help with? Ianna
could barely make any sense of what he was saying.

Saki stared blankly at Vita in alarm. Ianna continued,

“And what would you need my help with?”

“I don’t have the authority to speak of the details……but I assure you that it is not something
that will pose a detriment to you, Lady Ianna. So please, hear out my request.”

“Very well.”

Ianna marveled at this sudden stroke of luck as she consented.

Not only was it highly possible that there was another relic of the Holy Age in the elves’
villages but having ties to the elves might even let her be helpful to Finn, a half-elf, one day.
She didn’t know what the elves needed help with, but helping them could only be a benefit
to her —it would never be a loss.

“Oh, thank you.”

Vita smiled cheerfully with a slight blush on his cheeks. He jumped up and rummaged
around his pockets before walking up to Ianna and presenting a wooden bird carving to her.

“This is a whistle. I will come to meet you at once whenever you go deep inside the Great
Forest of Shaob and blow it.”

“My goodness, Vita. I’ve known you for decades. And you’re inviting her to your village?
Lady Ianna must truly be someone special.”
“I like you, Saki, but the others will grow angry with you just for being human. But you
would be able to come too if you were accompanied by Lady Ianna. They will not turn you
away simply for being human if you’re with her, and I’m sure the others in the village will
treat you warmly once they’ve had the chance to learn more about you.”
“Truly?”

Saki, who had been giving Vita the side-eye, opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“Lady Ianna…….”

Then, she turned to Ianna with a pitiable look in her eyes. Ianna was certain that Saki would
never be a burden, so she promised to call for Saki should she ever visit the elven woods —
though she did not know when that would be.

Saki was overjoyed and vowed that she would give Ianna an artefact by which Ianna could
contact her directly before they parted ways.

“Phew…….”

She was thirsty because she had been talking for a while. Ianna decided to ask Saki for some
water while she was still here.

“Is there any water here by any chance, Saki? I’d like quite a lot, because I want to wash up,
but I’d be fine with just some to drink if there isn’t much. And I’ll pay for it, of course.”

“What are you talking about? —we have an elf here with us. We can just have him make the
water. Vita.”
“Sharpie.”

Vita immediately summoned a water spirit before Ianna could say anything otherwise.
Droplets of water bubbled and gathered together to form the shape of a starfish. Unlike the
lump of water that Finn always summoned, the water spirit that Vita summoned was much
more detailed.

Sharpie, the starfish spirit, spun circles in front of Vita. Vita smiled and turned to Ianna.

“How much water do you need, La…….”

Something completely unexpected happened just then.

Poow!
Sharpie shot out at an incredible speed and buried into Ianna’s chest like a dagger.

The sudden attack caused Vita and Saki to stiffen up in shock, and the spirit sucked divine
power out from Ianna’s heart before she had the chance to regulate its flow.

Pop!
The spirit was no longer Sharpie by the time it came back out of Ianna’s heart.

Innis fluttered up and down like crazy as he shouted,

[IannaIannaIannaaaaaaa!]

Part 6
“…….”

“…….”

[Ahhhhh, I missed you so much! —why haven’t you called me? Huh? You’ve only been
calling Slowpoke. I can do all sorts of things to make you happy, like this, and that!]

Inna acrobatically plopped here and there before Ianna snatched him up at the speed of
light like she would if she was catching a fish. Innis obediently stayed in her grasp instead of
escaping by turning into water. Ianna brought him up to her face so that their eyes were
level.

“You make things difficult for me if you keep acting like this, Innis.”

[Are you angry? I just wanted to see you so badly. I wanted to jump over as soon as I saw
you. But I won’t do that anymore. So don’t be mad, okay? And I’ll tell the others not to do
whatever they want either!]

Ianna waved around his tail in a cutesy manner.

Ianna let him go with a deep sigh, and Innis splashed his tail and started spinning circles
around her.

[I love you, I love you! I love you so much!]

Ianna ignored Innis, who looked like he was so happy he might lose his mind, and turned to
Saki and Vita.

“…….”

“…….”

“……Um, Lady Ianna, that spirit… Surely it isn’t…”

They had already realized, by the immense pressure pressing down on the entire room that
belied his small and adorable form, that the spirit playing cutesy with Ianna was no ordinary
one. They had dubiously guessed Innis’ identity upon hearing his name, but the truth ran so
contradictory to their notion of common sense that they could not help but doubt it.

“This is Innis, the Spirit King of Water.”

Ianna was honest with them, since there was no point in trying to hide anything from them
anymore.

They were staring blankly as they followed Innis with their eyes, and Innis, who had only
just taken notice of them, swam up to them.

[Hmm, you’re Vita, the high elf who calls this body and plays with me from time to time!
And you’re Saki, Laos’ follower, and you call me only when you need me!]

“Oh my goodness.”

Vita seemed to have been rendered mute in the presence of the spirit king, the heart and the
true form of all water spirits, and simply opened and closed his mouth in silence, whereas
Saki paled and sat back down in her chair.

Innis whipped around his small tail as if in intimidation.

[Be good to Ianna, you two! I’ll be watching, so you’ll be sorry if you mess with mm, mmm.]

Ianna grabbed Innis’ head with both hands and covered his mouth. The spirits’ voices
resounded directly inside people’s heads instead of being captured by their hearing, but
Innis expressed his will through his mouth, so he could not speak now that Ianna was
covering it. But he still wriggled happily in her touch nevertheless.

Saki recovered her senses first, and, in a dazed voice, she said,

“I see……so someone as remarkable as Lady Ianna is even able to summon the spirit kings.
But, how is this possible? The spirit kings require so much divine power……and Lady Ianna
is human…….”

Saki’s voice, which was normally sagacious and articulate regardless of the situation,
became threadbare.

It was because she was upturning all the knowledge she had stored in her brain. Then, she
raised her hands in surrender.
“Hmm, I have no idea what is going on anymore. This is not something I can comprehend
with the knowledge that I currently have. I knew it —you truly are more remarkable than the
elves, Lady Ianna. I almost want to study you. Pull yourself together, Vita.”
“I am humbled by your presence, oh Spirit King of Water.”

[Look, Ianna. This is how awesome I am!]

Innis swaggered and slipped out from Ianna’s hands by turning into water, and then he
started poking Vita, whose face had turned beet red, in the head. His actions were very
intimate.

[Hmm, but you don’t need to be so formal, Vita. I’m still Sharpie. I’m just a little smarter
than Sharpie! So you can talk to me like you normally do.]

Innis’ form collapsed and he turned into a lump of water, and then he promptly took on
Sharpie’s form again.

[Vita called me, right? I’m grateful that you gave me the chance to see Ianna, but why did
you summon me?]

“Lady Ianna said she needed some water…….”

Vita seemed to stumble over his words, unable to make heads or tails about how he should
react.

[Ianna needs water?!]

Innis started spinning incredibly fast in obvious cheer, as if he was so happy that he couldn’t
contain himself.

[Okay, then I’ll fill this whoooole room to the brim with water!]

“No!”

Ianna snatched Innis up again before he could do anything and communicated to him
precisely how much water she actually needed.

“I only need enough water for me to drink and wash up in.”

[Huh? Really? Okay. I can put the water for you to drink in that kettle over there, but where
should I put the water for you to wash up in? How about I just wash you instead?]

“……You can do that?”

[Of course I can. I’ll be done in a jiffy!]

Innis’ form collapsed again, and this time he started growing bigger. The mass of water
poured itself over Ianna’s head without reserve once it had reached a certain size.

She had been about to ask him how he was planning to wash her, but he simply poured
himself on her before she had the chance.

‘I feel like I’m standing under a waterfall.’

Then, Ianna felt so refreshed that she almost felt silly for wondering if he could really wash
her properly. There was vitality mixed into the water, and she felt all her fatigue be washed
away.

Her baptism of water was concluded in under a minute. Innis and his water parted cleanly
away from her, and Ianna was left completely soft and dry.

[I washed everything clean away —including the bad things inside your body, and not just
what was on the outside. And I washed your clothes too. I did good, right?]

“This is great. You’re amazing.”

Ianna praised him sincerely. She felt refreshed all the way down to her bones, as if her prior
discomfort was now entire worlds away. This was much nicer than having to take the time to
clean every nook and cranny herself.

[You praised me! I love you, I love you so much! Let me know anytime if there’s anything
you need, Ianna!]

Ianna toyed with Innis as she thought,

‘……The spirits are so devoted to me. I almost feel the need to apologize to them. And
yet, they’re the ones who get so happy…….’
She pitied them for devoting themselves to her and craving her love even as she found them
dear.

Ianna figured that she might as well refill her water canteen while he was here and pulled it
out from her bag. Innis created a generous amount of clean water for her.

Perhaps it was because he was having so much fun after having been summoned as his true
form in the first time in a while, Innis washed Saki and Vita, watered the plants decorating
the room, and spun circles around them before he stopped in front of Ianna’s bag.

[Huh? What’s this?! I can feel a container that has my power in it?]
Innis prodded at Ianna’s bag with great curiosity, and Ianna rummaged through it before
pulling out the object which he had specified.

It was the water creation artefact, shaped like a water pot, that Arhad had given her.

“Lady Ianna, that’s…?”

Vita looked surprised upon recognizing what it was.

“An acquaintance gifted it to me. I’m told it’s a special artefact created by divine power and
spiritual arts.”

“That’s correct. That water pot……it’s a very precious item, but this acquaintance of yours
wouldn’t be an elf because you said that I was the first elf you met. Did a man named Mursi
give this to you?”

Ianna, who had been watching over Innis as he studied the water pot, snapped her head up.

“I am acquainted with Mr. Mursi, but……how do you know him, Vita?”

“He is a very famous human among us elves. Though he didn’t stay with us for long, he is
one of the very few humans we have ever traded with, and, though she was from another
village, even my village made a fuss for a while about how amazing he was to have managed
to woo one of our own. I don’t know if Paella, the elf who followed Mursi out of her village,
is doing well. Perhaps they even have a child by now.”
Ianna tried sounding Vita out, since he was much calmer about the topic than she had
expected him to be.

“A child born between an elf and a human would be a half-elf…… What do elves normally
think of such children?”

“We are not very fond of them. Humans have enslaved many of our kind in the past, and
countless half-elves were born as a result of rape. They are living embodiments of the shame
we elves suffered in our history. But we also do not hate a child just for having been born.
Especially if they were born out of genuine love. After all, that is what God Laos
teaches…….”

It was a surprisingly mild outlook. If this was what the elves thought, then Ianna thought it
might be all right to take Finn along when she visited them.

Finn was an outcast in human society, whether by his own will or because of the way others
acted around him. The child was surely lonely, even if he pretended otherwise. Finn was so
happy whenever Ianna visited that he could hardly contain himself, and he grew ever so
gloomy whenever she left.
‘He has to be careful about his identity in human society, but maybe he won’t have to with the
elves?’
In the meanwhile, Innis had finished studying the water pot and was wriggling his tail and
fins.

[This only has a little of my power, so you’ll only be able to make a small amount of water
with it, you know? I’ll pack this to the brim with my power! So use it whenever you’re feeling
thirsty!]

Innis rushed inside the water pot. The water pot shook a bit, as if Innis was splashing
around inside, before he quickly came back out.

[Charging complete!]

Innis spun around excitedly before plopping down on Ianna’s shoulder. She felt like there
was jelly sitting on her.

Ianna stroked Innis. His squishy and elastic texture felt weirdly pleasant.

“I’ve learned how to control divine power and I can summon you guys whenever I want to,
so I’ll call you again when I have the time. Can you go back to the spiritual plane for now?”

[Hmm? Okay!]

Ianna had been worried about what she would do if Innis was reluctant or sad to leave, but
his reply was rather delighted and suggested that he had no lingering regrets.

[I was so happy to be able to help you for the first time in a while. I’ll be waiting for the day I
can see you again!]

That was all Innis said before he de-summoned himself. Ianna let out a deep breath before
she could stop herself.

‘It’s always so hectic whenever Innis is around.’

But her mood had most certainly lifted. Watching him act like a puppy who hadn’t seen his
owner in a long time and be over the moon about it made her feel happy too.

“We should get going as well.”

“Today was one surprise after another.”

Saki and Vita bid Ianna goodbye once Innis had left.
They still looked somewhat stunned, but they no longer seemed confused —perhaps because
they had convinced themselves that anything was possible when it came to Ianna. After all,
she had been a mysterious individual even before she had summoned a spirit king.
Ianna asked them not to let any information about herself leave this room, and they nodded
back resolutely as if it was only natural.

“Phew.”

Ianna lay down on the bed with her heart at ease after she had seen Saki and Vita out of the
room.

A lot had happened today. She was tired, but she was pleased to have made good use of her
time.

‘I feel so refreshed.’
With pleasant feelings, Ianna closed her eyes.

Two days passed.

Saki had heard news that the leader of the Golden Gale had been grilling his men during
those two days. The city gates had opened too, as the people who had been suddenly trapped
within its walls had been complaining lividly and the people who had been outside trying to
come in were grumbling in droves as well.

“The people trying to come inside the city say that the skies are clear and there’s hardly any
wind at all —there was no sandstorm, and their journey Lampinion had been as smooth as
ships sailing the open seas. Evidently, the sandstorm was a lie they were using to try and
capture you,”

said Giel, who had just come back from gathering information in the streets. He was a
normally friendly guy who even liked to joke around whenever Saki wasn’t involved. He
continued,

“There’s no reason for me to be concerned about you as long as you aren’t rude to Lady Saki.
I’m prepared to lay down my life for her if I have to.”

And so, on the fourth day. The Ghosts investigation team was preparing to leave the
building early in the evening. Taro could not hide his worry.

“Well, I’m pretty big and all. I’m pretty sure I’ll stand out.”
“You likely will. But it’s all right. Please go and lie down in that cart over there.”

Taro obediently went to lie down in the cart like Saki had told him to, and other people
stacked several pieces of luggage up around him and secured a large piece of cloth over it.
Then, Vita stood in front of the cart and began mumbling incomprehensible words.

A gentle stream of divine power flowed out from him and, surprisingly enough, the entire
cart lost its presence. Ianna, who had been curious about this ever since they had first met,
asked Saki how it worked, to which the latter smiled and replied,

“A vague presence that feels as though it is only natural that it is there……. God Laos created
everything in this world. In other words, the world is God Laos himself, and it is not an
exaggeration to say that our lives are in God Laos’ hands and that we can feel him at all
times. Perhaps that is why you feel this way about us, since we have taken after God Laos.”

The gates were crammed with bandits and royal soldiers who looked like they were affiliated
with the Golden Gale.

It was obvious that they were trying to catch Ianna and her friends at the gates instead of
running around the vast city and checking the faces of every single person within its walls.

Perhaps that was why they were conducting an unprecedentedly thorough inspection at the
gates. Inspections were not common in Sidian, and, while they could technically protest it,
the royal soldiers had sharp glints in their eyes and were arresting anyone who allegedly
disturbed the peace, and so the passersby had little choice but to consent to the inspection
even as they grumbled.
It was taking a while to leave the city because of the inspections. Just the line of people
waiting to leave was already several dozen meters long.

It had apparently been even more crowded yesterday, when the gates had opened, and
Ianna did not want to even imagine how bad it had been.

It was almost their turn. Ianna and Herrace were wearing Jinzai habits and were waiting
patiently with their heads lowered —they looked the very picture of faithful believers who
followed Saki.

“Halt! We will check your faces and your luggage!”

Giel stepped forward as the gate guards barked at them. He looked visibly displeased as he
shouted back,

“Are you blocking the path of Jinzai priests right now?”

“Goodness, dear priests. Have you rested well?”

People grew flustered upon learning that they were priests. Sidian was a nation of bandits
and was filled with a colorful assortment of folk beliefs, but there were a lot of people who
were influenced by their neighboring countries and believed in God Laos, and such people
revered the Faith’s priests. Lampinion had a lot to lose if Jinzai closed her border any longer
because the priests had spoken ill of Sidian, so even the Golden Gale had to fawn over them.

Giel began stringing his words along like an onslaught of sharpened arrows.

“We are God Laos’ faithful servants and God Laos’ hands, and binding our feet is no
different from going against God Laos’s will. God Laos has taken pity on those in foreign
lands and our priests are trying to do his will and bring salvation to them, and yet not only
have you delayed us by closing the gates for two days but now you even insist on checking
our faces and luggage. Is this Sidian’s attempt to make light of Jinzai?”

It was widely known that the priests of Jinzai were secretive and were reluctant to expose
their faces. Moreover, only high-ranking priests carried out God Laos’ will.

The situation grew tense as, while perhaps other cities in Sidian might not have known
either of these things, there was no reason why anyone in Lampinion, which was directly
next to the Jinzai border, would not.

“Enough, Brother. We must not force others to be considerate of us. These good people are
only doing their jobs.”

Saki’s poised and pleasant voice spread through the area.

The softness of her voice calmed people down, and it also had the strange effect of causing
people to reflect on their mistakes.

“Thank you for working so hard on this hot day, dear Brothers and Sisters. We are in a hurry
to go and carry out God Laos’ will.”

Saki took out a badge from her pocket. Those who recognized what it was flinched.

A golden sun, which symbolized Jinzai, was inscribed on her badge, and it signified that its
owner was of a very prestigious station in Jinzai. Jinzai’s fury would fall like madness upon
anyone who harmed someone carrying that badge.

This was common sense to anyone living in Lampinion, a city that priests frequented
because it was a border city.

In a relaxed manner, Saki continued,

“We are carrying something valuable in our cart that cannot be exposed to the air…… Oh
merciful Brothers and Sisters, I implore you to show us your consideration and let us pass.”

“P-please be on your way.”

“Thank you. May Laos’ blessings be with you all. I pray that fortune will smile upon you all
today.”

The bandits, whom could not be called good people even as empty words, seemed moved as
Saki blessed them even still.

“…….”

Ianna snuck a quick glance at the city gates once they had slipped out.

“We are going to inspect your things. You there, hurry up and untie your luggage!”

Slipping out had been easier than picking up a spoon to enjoy a feast that had been prepared
beforehand.

~~*~~

Saki led the group as they left Lampinion’s sphere of influence. People continued to join
them in groups of three or four throughout the day, and a few hours later, there were about
thirty people in the group by five or six in the evening.

Some of the newcomers had very faint presences, like Saki, perhaps because they were also
members of the Church, but most of them felt normal.

Many of the newcomers were warriors who were armed from head to toe, and they felt too
much like skilled veterans who had seen their fair share of battles to be believers of the
Faith, who were supposed to be against fighting.

“Are they all members of the Faith?”

“No. The few from Jinzai are my followers who place their upmost trust in me, and the rest
are affiliated with Shalino.”

Shalino, the doctors’ association.

Publicly, it was known as group of skilled doctors who had founded the organization to serve
the people, but it was actually closer to a secret society that had many warriors in its ranks.

Saki had introduced the association as a group of people who went about solving deaths that
went against the providence of God.

“The Church of Laos at Jinzai cannot investigate the Ghosts officially. And so, we have no
choice but to act privately.”

“I heard that Jinzai closes its borders whenever there’s been a Ghosts’ Banquet because it’s
supposedly bad luck —is the Church avoiding the Ghosts?”

“It is the opposite. There are many people who believe what you’ve just said, Lady Anna, but
the truth is that we close our border because the royal family of Sidian protests our
dispatching of investigation teams in a diplomatic manner. Jinzai has always been disgusted
by the Ghosts’ Banquets, as people believe that they are the work of the Demon, who covets
life, and Jinzai once tried to dispatch the strongest knights of our Church, the Anti-Demon
Knights, as soon as it was first confirmed that a high-ranking priest had fallen victim to the
Ghosts. We had vowed to find the truth behind the Ghosts, but Sidian refused us and
declared that all religious actions on a national scale would be interpreted as a military
invasion of the kingdom. Jinzai criticized them for not only failing to aid us but even getting
in the way of our efforts to make the world a more peaceful place, but I suppose that from
Sidian’s perspective it was burdensome to have a foreign country’s warriors pour into their
lands for a military-minded purpose, even if it was to investigate the Ghosts.”
Saki shook her head. She continued,

“And so, it is impossible for us to act on a national scale under Jinzai’s banner. But
we can still act in small numbers. There are many members of the Church who have secretly
volunteered to help investigate the Ghosts’ Banquet. That is why I have brought those
believers whom I trust here with me, and also why I asked members from Shalino to
participate.”
“Will everyone here infiltrate the factory? We don’t know what we’ll find inside, so it might
be better for only a few skilled people to infiltrate while the rest waits outside. We might
suffer unnecessary casualties, and information might be spilled if someone is taken
hostage.”

“I’ve already selected only the most skilled to infiltrate the factory. The others are preparing
for the worst and are preparing us a route out of Sidian as we speak.”

Ianna chatted with Saki from time to time as they walked and walked. They had walked for
quite a while, and the unending sea of sand burned into Ianna’s retinas as if it was only
natural.

Sidian wasn’t only composed of deserts, but they had only been walking with sand beneath
their feet, slowing their steps, ever since they had left Lampinion.
And yet, Ianna stopped in her tracks before she realized what she was doing just as the sun
was sinking below the horizon and its last rays died the skies red.

She got the queer feeling that she was stepping over a bloody corpse.

The Ghosts’ victims crumbled into sand and turned the entire land around them into a land
of death.

And she could not help but perceive the sandy path they were taking as the road heading to
the Ghosts’ factory.

“Halt.”

Eventually, they arrived at their final meeting spot, marked by a white flag covered with a
thick layer of sand. The area would have normally been empty and deserted, but at the
moment it was filled with people who had arrived using other routes and had set up tents as
they awaited Saki’s arrival.

“I see that everyone has gathered.”

There were about fifty people in total. After a short rest, Saki stood before the group and
conducted a quick briefing of their plans.

They did not know how the factory looked like on the inside, so they could only make simple
plans —to seize samples of Life and to escape with the Ghosts’ victims.

They would carry out their plans at two in the morning.

Everyone was given free time until then, and Ianna went to speak with Taro and Herrace
right off the bat.

“You look after Herrace, Taro. If we happen to get split up, we’ll leave Sidian and meet up at
the northern border of Toraca. And we’ll act independently if we haven’t met up again after
two days have passed at the border.”

“Got it. Keep yer head on straight, Herrace.”

“I will! I promise I won’t be a burden!”

They decided on a set of guidelines to follow should the unexpected occur. After dinner,
which Saki provided, was concluded, they all split off and spent the remainder of their free
time however they wanted.
Ianna found a spot that was removed from everyone else and sat down with her back
leaning against a rock.

A part of the reason why she had consented to Saki’s request was because she was curious to
learn more about Arhad’s medicine……but actually……she had yet ‘another objective.’

There were more than a few problems that could derive from her secondary objective, and
so she decided to prepare herself a safety net of sorts.

Ianna pulled her bag down from her shoulder and pulled out a single ring. It was her
Camastros ring, which altered her vocal cords and changed the color of her appearance.2 She
had brought the ring with her just in case, since it was imperative that she kept her identity
a secret, and she decided to use it.
Then, she pulled out her notebook and a pen to write out everything that could happen
when she entered the underground factory and focused on finding solutions for each
situation.

Saki had arranged to teleport everyone outside of Sidian in the event of an emergency, but
Ianna thought more into that as well since she didn’t think it would be enough.

Ianna pondered after having written things down in her notebook for some time and placed
her hand down against the earth. She only needed to talk for a moment, so she only poured
a very miniscule amount of divine power into the earth as she whispered,

“Towe.”

She had grown somewhat accustomed to controlling her divine power, so it flowed into the
ground very naturally as it called forth a certain being.

Pshhh.
A small clump of dirt beneath Ianna’s palm wriggled and began to take shape. It completed
shaping itself into a very familiar form, and two small arms hugged at Ianna’s fingers.

[Ianna!]

“It’s been a while, Towe.”

[It has. It was only but a moment considering how long I’ve been alive, but it was still a long
time to be apart from you. Thank you for calling me! ……Hmm?]

Towe flinched and suddenly began looking around at his surroundings.

[This place feels terrible. It’s filled with dirt that’s lost all its life……I almost feel like I’m
looking at the Demon’s physical body. I want to wipe it all away, but I’m loath to touch it
because there are very powerful grudges lingering on this land. Where is this place? It looks
like we’re near the Girohai Desert, but…….]

It looked like Towe was feelings traces of the Ghosts.

Ianna provided him with a brief explanation on the Ghosts. Towe fell silent for a moment
upon listening before he awkwardly said,

[I see there are bastards going around breaking the laws that Laos had set and are doing the
same things that people did back during the Holy Age. No, they’re even worse if they’re
processing the divine power into a drug and selling it. They’re no better than the actual
Demon himself.]

Towe kicked against the ground in indignation before letting out a deep breath. Technically,
he had spat out an outpour of tiny pebbles instead of taking a literal breath, but his actions
expressed his displeasure well enough.

Towe looked up and looked directly at Ianna.

[You seem to have called Innis not too long ago —did you need my help on something
related to the earth? If you wish for it, I can upturn this entire place and make new land to
replace it. Or did you want to learn more about the Holy Age?]

Ianna asked Towe all sorts of questions as she recited things that she had written down in
her notebook, and Towe affirmed all of them without the slightest hesitation.

[I am earth itself. Nothing is impossible for me if it concerns the earth. And it’s the same for
the others too. But there’s a limit to how much of my powers I can manifest in this tiny
body. I would need to return to my ‘true form’ if I want to use my powers properly.]

His true form. He was probably referring to the form that the dwarves had made a statue
after in their village.

Ianna recalled what the statue had looked like for a moment and nodded.

“I’ll call you if I need you.”

She almost heard Arhad nagging at her for a moment.

But, no matter how hard she thought about it, she felt like she would be all right even if she
called the spirits as frequently as she pleased.

She knew how much divine power she consumed every second now that she was training
how Arhad had taught her to.
She had divided the total amount of divine power she had outside of the invisible wall
around her heart by the amount she consumed every second to calculate her life span, only
to find that, so long as there was nothing wrong with her heart, she had enough divine
power to live impossibly long for a human, though her lifespan would not be as long as an
elf’s.

And, while the divine power pooled outside her heart was one thing, she could not even
begin to estimate how much divine power she had inside the walls around her heart.

She had been training consistently to bring out all of her divine power outside her heart, but
her divine power seemed to have no end.

She had even tried handling a large amount at once and, as if her divine power was infinite,
and a constant storm of divine power had flowed out from her heart like a tsunami.

Ianna already had so much divine power outside her heart, and yet its flow never seemed to
end, and she almost wondered if she had something like a fragment of chaos inside her
heart that was constantly generating divine power.

In any event, the conclusion she had reached after clashing with Arhad about the matter and
agonizing over it all this time was that, although the spirits shaved away her life, it was a
great power that, alongside her divine power, she absolutely must familiarize herself with so
long as she could endure it. After all, it was one of the talents she had been blessed with, like
swordplay and divine power.

‘And I’m sure that it’ll be helpful to Arhad one day.’

Arhad had successfully taken the imperial throne even without her.

If he didn’t need her help, then perhaps it was enough to simply stay by his side and make
him happy in this life —something he stated so frequently he was practically brainwashing
her with his words.

But that wasn’t the kind of life that Ianna wanted.

She wanted to grow stronger and stronger until she finally reached the peak.

She wanted to win her complete victory over Arhad.

And she wanted to become someone immensely useful to Arhad. Whether by her swordplay,
her divine power, or by using the spiritual arts —she would be truly happy if she could make
his path even just a little easier.

And, how was she to know? It was always possible that he could come across an enemy
whom he found difficult to overcome with human strength alone.
If such a thing should ever come to pass, then Ianna wanted to be as his strength. The spirits
were near-miraculous beings, and they had power over abilities that were generally branded
as impossible —such as regenerating entire limbs that had been severed.

Which meant that she needed to experience summoning a spirit king’s true form at least
once.

[Really? Oh, I know that I told you that it might be possible for you before, but I had always
thought that it would be impossible to manifest our real forms in the physical plane after the
Holy Age Ended…….]

Towe’s body exploded and crumbled, unable to hide his joy. Ianna stroked the resulting
crumbs.

[Let me know anytime should you need my power. I will do my very best to help you. You
probably won’t ever need my true form, but……ahh, just imagining it feels like a happy
dream!]

Towe was overjoyed, and so Ianna decided try summoning his true from if something
completely unexpected happened and if things took a turn for the worst tonight —there were
many risky elements at play, after all—, but there was just one thing tugging at her heart,
prompting her to ask,

“There’s something I’ve been wondering about, Towe…… You manifest your powers using
the divine power that I give you. And you told me before that people’s divine power has a
‘taste’ that’s inherently unique to them, right?”

[Yes.]

“In that case, would it still feel like me when you use your powers?”

[Hmm. It would feel like you if I didn’t go out of my way to bring your divine power under
my dominion. Just like how the living beings created from Laos’ divine powers feel like
Laos, or like how Chendelf’s hands, made by your divine power, feel like you.]

“And if you bring my divine power under your complete control?”

[Then any earth produced would be wholly and completely earth. Though I don’t feel the
need to go out of my way to do it, since it would consume a considerable amount of
willpower.]

But this was necessary for Ianna, who absolutely could not have her identity revealed.
A Demon’s fragment shareholder’s spells could be dispelled with just an elven scroll. But
Ianna also had to pay attention to the fact that a power dwelling within an object was far
weaker than if the caster had cast it directly.

But what if there was someone who could cast a spell so powerful that even an elf could not
dispel it directly?

‘They would probably be an owner of a Demon’s fragment.’

Ianna had immediately thought of the Demon’s fragments when she heard Saki’s story.

And she had also thought about the ties between Sidian and the Black Fox.

‘It might even be a mage affiliated with either the Black Fox or Bahamut, like Keigus Dimitri.’
The thick layers of rage within Ianna’s heart began to surface as she thought of Keigus
Dimitri, who had once tormented her so.

‘Keigus Dimitri…….’
Not only had he caused her to lose her ability to reason for a moment, but Arhad had been
the one to finish him off because Ianna had not been able to face him by using mana alone,
and the experience lingered in her heart as resentment.

She had truly reflected a lot after that.

On how, in her indolence, she had not fought at her best against her enemies and had been
slovenly about following through. On how feeble her willpower had been and how lacking
her skill.

She would have never gotten the bastard’s blood on her hair if she had been doing her
upmost in the first place. She would have noticed the blood on her hair and cut it off
immediately if she had been thorough. She would have never been seized by the shame she
felt at making a mistake and act so stupidly afterward if her willpower had been stronger.
She would have been able to murder the bastard as soon as they had met, regardless of
whether or not he possessed a Demon’s fragment, if she had been more skilled.

If her swordplay had reached the peak of swordsmanship, then she would have been able to
take his head even without having to control mana.

‘This is a separate issue from the fact that I trusted Arhad and relied on him back then.’
She did not let it show because she was ashamed, but the experience had colored Ianna
greatly.

Keigus Dimitri, the mage who owned a Demon’s fragment, was already dead, but he had
died hundreds of more times in Ianna’s mind. And she continued to kill him again in more
varied ways as she trained harder and made rapid progress with her swordplay, as she grew
better at controlling both mana and divine power.
She had long since determined that she could kill him now with just her sword alone.

She always resolved herself anew.

That she would take their head and avenge herself if she ever came across a mage who
owned a Demon’s fragment.

For that was the only way by which she could break free of the fetters called Keigus Dimitri
and take another step forward.

‘But Arhad needs to collect the Demon’s fragments, so I shouldn’t go off on my own and recklessly
murder prominent figures from Bahamut without consulting him first. And there’s a chance that the
Ghosts might not have anything to do with the Demon’s fragments. There’s a chance I might not
meet a beneficiary tonight.’
Her burning rage mixed into her cold rationality and simmered down to one conclusion.

If the mage who had cast the spells over the factory was an owner of a Demon’s fragment, if
they were from the Black Fox, and if they showed up before her…….

She would absolutely cut off at least one part of their body with just her swordplay alone.

“I would strongly prefer that you use your powers only after dying my divine power in your
own color from now on, Towe.”

Towe intoned when Ianna made her stern request.

[It would be another story were it anyone else asking, but that’s difficult to do
with your divine power. The color dying your divine power is too strong and can’t be easily
erased. It would still have traces of your hue even if I dyed it in my own color.]
“That makes me a bit uncomfortable. Is there really no other way?”

[There’s one —it’s simple, but also very difficult. You would need to relinquish control over
your divine power.]

“What do you mean?”

[The concentration of one’s color matches the strength of one’s ego. And one’s ego is one’s
will to exist. Erasing your own color essentially means giving up on life. That’s the kind of
mentality you would require to erase your color.]

“…….”

[It will not be easy.]

Ianna understood and nodded with a solemn look on her face.

But then, she noticed that something was odd. If she willingly consumed divine power to
call the spirits, then didn’t it also mean that she was willing to give up some of her life? If
she considered this more carefully…….

“I think I might be able to do it.”

Ianna closed her eyes and concentrated on her heartbeat. Her divine power lingering
around her heart drew outside her body in accordance to her will. The tiny amount of divine
power she had drawn out was crimson in color.

Ianna strongly repeated to herself,

‘I want to give up on this much of my life.’

But its color only faded a little when all she did was think this. There was no way that her
subconscious instinct as a living being would allow her color to vanish, so long as she wasn’t
suicidal or willing to sacrifice herself.

But then, why was she still able to give her divine power to the spirits in the first place?

The answer was obvious. She needed to give her life away for her own sake, and not for any
other’s. The divine power gathered at the tip of her finger began to change. It indecisively
flickered between being more or less saturated, unable to decide on just one of the two.

‘I must give this up.’

‘Why?’ —the question resounded back in her soul.
‘Because I need Towe’s complete power. And so, I absolutely must give up on this much life and give
it to Towe.’
The color vanished from her divine power like a flame going out as soon as she thought of a
clear objective. Then, the now-translucent divine power obeyed the last will she had
imprinted on it and flowered toward Towe. The divine power dyed an earthly brown as soon
as it touched Towe and was completely absorbed into him.

[Oh……?]

Towe intoned as he tasted his own flavor so clearly for the first time in ages. He gently
touched Ianna’s finger as she observed him with her eyes wide open.

[That was perfect. I see there was no point in me worrying about it.]

“Will I be able to completely hide my identity now?”

[When you’re using your power, yes. But there is nothing you can do about the feeling that
you give off directly.]

Ianna spent a while practicing transferring her divine power to Towe without letting any
excess leak out from her. She hadn’t had even an idea of how to start at first, but she could
do it now that she had trained with Arhad and was familiar with controlling her divine
power.

“Watch carefully, Towe.”

Ianna focused her mind of the feeling that naturally flowed out from her. Now that she
thought about it, Finn, Chendelf, Saki, Vita, and Keigus had all said that they felt something
from her. They were probably referring to the same feeling she was focusing on now.

“What about now?”

She asked after hiding her presence like she did when she was tailing someone, and Towe
replied that her feeling had faded somewhat. Her goal had been to feel like an inanimate
object, so perhaps she had succeeded in part.

This was a problem that she absolutely must resolve for the future, even if not for raiding
the Ghosts’ factory tonight. She was planning to keep acting as a body double for Camastros’
leader in order to confuse their enemies, but the feeling she gave off might make it possible
for their enemies to realize that ‘Ann’ and ‘Ianna’ were one and the same.

According to Arhad’s plans, she would need to keep acting as Camastros’ ‘Ann’ at least until
she graduated from the Institution. In other words, she would need to be able to kill off
whatever feeling it was that she gave off when she was not acting as Ann and had to
demonstrate the entirety of her skills.

That in and of itself would not be a problem. But if she had to demonstrate her abilities
outside of her capacity as Ann like now…….

‘Then I can only use my swordplay.’

Indeed. Swordplay was the only means by which she could erase her presence like a ghost
and attack while keeping her identity a secret.

Ultimately, she had returned to her roots.

Mana and divine power were incredible abilities, but even they had their limits. Mana was
the Demon’s power and therefore could not be completely hers, whereas divine power was
her life itself and she could not use it recklessly —and she could not use either if she needed
to hide her identity.
In other words, the only existence in which she could pour out her everything whenever and
wherever she was, was her sword.

Ianna hugged her sword, which had been lying by her side, closer to her. Her sword felt
precious to her anew.

‘I feel like I’ve been neglecting my sword a bit as I learned how to control my divine power.’
Ianna had learned the basics of controlling her divine power during the first semester of her
second year at school, so she resolved herself to redouble her training in swordplay when
she got back —and simultaneously, she was glad to have run into this incident with the
Ghosts’ factory because she had gained a lot from it, both mentally and physically.

[In that case, I’ll let the others know about this too. I’ll be waiting for you to call me again.]

Towe was unsummoned as he consumed all of the divine power Ianna had given him.

And it was nearly two in the morning.

“We will commence our operation in twenty minutes!”

Ianna fished through her bag and held her puppy plush in both her hands.

Holding something that he, who always told her how awesome and amazing she was, had
given her gave her confidence. The shadow of anxiety vanished from her and she gained a
measure of composure.

Part 7
The place they reached after following the path the stars had drawn in the sky was an empty
wilderness. Most people had hidden themselves behind the rocks that littered the path every
now and again, and only a small group of highly skilled individuals, including Saki and
Ianna, continued on while pretending to be mere passersby.

Saki, who had been observing the skies, brought her gaze back down to earth and pointed to
a specific location. And illusion spell would activate as soon as they passed through the place
she had marked.

There were three layers of magic.

In order from the outside in, they were Illusion, Alarm, and Barrier.

Illusion concealed away the factory while simultaneously paralyzing people’s sense of
direction and naturally turning them away.
If people resisted the Illusion spell and continued toward the factory, they would soon reach
the Alarm spell, which notified the Ghosts of intruders, and the bastards protecting the
factory would attack them.

And finally, Barrier was a powerful defensive spell that prevented all intruders from
breaking in.

The three spells were as sturdy as a wall of tightly packed bricks and could only be resisted
by using divine arts. Countless high-ranking holy knights had laid down their lives to learn
more about this place, and all the information they had won had made its way to Saki’s
hands.

Ianna stepped forward and scrutinized the flow of mana. She did not feel any specific
arrangement of mana, perhaps because a mage had used a spell to hide it. But she soon
found a very sturdy arrangement of mana before her as she kept concentrating.

Ianna lost herself in thought as she felt the mana twining around her fingers.

‘Can I do this without using divine power?’

She almost felt like she could.

Ianna thought back on how Arhad had said that mana loved her and could not refuse her if
she asked it sincerely.

‘Scatter.’
She felt the steadfast arrangement of mana recoil. But it did not succumb to her will quite
yet.

‘Please scatter.’
The mana felt uneasy, perhaps because she wasn’t ordering it around, but it did not leave its
arrangement.

If the mana was a person, then it probably would have been staring earnestly at Ianna by
now. But it was an invisible energy, so Ianna could only grumble as she continued to send
her thoughts toward it.

‘Won’t you listen to my request?’

Then, she put in a bit of affection in the will she conveyed.

‘I thought you loved me.’

Shaaaaaa!
The mana seemed to stiffen up for a moment before it suddenly undid the arrangement it
was in.
The mana, which had been maintaining the illusion here for quite some time now, returned
to nature like a powerful gust of wind blowing out from the inside of the spell.

Ianna felt satisfied by how the mana was acting for some reason as she looked forward.
There was a shabby building standing tall at the center of the field, and it was large enough
that entire carts and wagons could probably fit through its doors.

It was the entrance to the underground factory.

“Intruders!”

A group of a dozen or so warriors who had been guarding the entrance shouted as some of
them rushed toward Ianna and her group with their weapons drawn while the others
hurried inside.

Those inside an illusion spell could see the people outside, and the guards normally spent
their time cracking jokes and making fun of those who were under the effects of the spell for
wandering in and out of its confines like dunces.

And so, they had realized that something extraordinary was happening when the illusion
spell, which had held steady for over two hundred years, vanished completely.

Ianna turned to Saki and said,

“We should take the shortest route possible now.”

“It didn’t take you very long to undo the spell. We will take care of them, so please focus on
dispelling the rest, Lady Anna.”

Saki signaled to her men hidden behind them as she nodded to Ianna.

Slam!
Ianna kicked hard against the ground and broke out into a run, and Saki’s people came out
of hiding and ran after her.

The guards’ eyes grew bloodshot as they ran directly toward the group while shouting,

“How dare you step foot into this place?!”

“Die!”

Their attacked focused on Ianna, who was at the forefront of her group, just as the two sides
were about to clash.
Ianna’s image grew hazy as she evaded their attacks, and she was behind the attackers when
she next appeared. The bastards hesitated when their target seemed to vanish before their
very eyes, and Ianna took the chance to run far ahead.

Then, they collided directly into Saki and her men, who had been following behind Ianna.

Buzzz.
Ianna put the shouting, screaming, and clashing of steel behind her as she gathered divine
power in her palms.

She had successfully dispelled the magic without using divine power, and she would have
preferred to keep doing it that way, but it took quite a while to coax the mana into listening
to her. The arrangement for the alarm spell was studier than the arrangement for the
illusion spell and seemed like it would take a long time to unravel.

There was no need for her to cram her divine power in between the arrangement of mana.
Magic was powerful, but it was also an incomplete power that would fall apart as soon as
even the smallest hole was pricked in it. Her divine power was simply a medium to help
convey her will.

Ianna spread her hands as soon as she arrived near the border of the alarm spell.

‘Scatter!’
Clap!
Shaaaa!
The divine power she had gathered in her hands sent out a shockwave that conveyed her will
when she clapped her hands together, and the alarm spell burst apart just like the illusion
spell had.

“Move faster!”

“Shit, who the fuck are they?!”

Only the barrier spell was left to dispel now, but people were pouring out from the factory
entrance.

Perhaps it was because they had never imagined that they would ever be attacked, much less
in the middle of the night, but the bastards each had confusion and bewilderment written
plainly on their faces. But one of them, who looked to be their leader, spat calmly in his
hands and readjusted his grip on his sword.

“These bastards must have come here looking for a place to die. Do you even know what
kind of place this is?”
They were wearing civilian clothes, but they did not seem to be mere bandits. They were
very well-trained.

Moreover, Ianna had fought numerous bandits until now, and she had even thought that
some of them had been considerably skilled. But even the most skilled bandit she had fought
wouldn’t have stood a chance against the weakest guard she was standing against now.

“We’ll take him on.”

Saki and Vita, who had been running alongside Ianna, stepped forward.

Buzzzz!
A glowing magic circle appeared in front of Saki. She did not even need to take the time to
draw it.

Pew! Ping! Pow! Pow pow!

“It’s a mage!”

Small but undeniably powerful magic missiles shot out from the magic circle and beat down
at the enemy. The bastards could no longer advance, as they were either too busy hitting
back at the magic missiles or sent flying backwards by them.

Buzzz!
Another magic circle formed to their left and began shooting out more magic missiles. The
magic missiles naturally pushed them to the right, and every newcomer pouring out from
the factory entrance also ran to their right to avoid the onslaught.

Ianna used the opening to move away from the bastards and approach the building from the
left, and yet another magic circle appeared next to Saki.

The magic circle glowed and slow began revolving, and a large black sphere appeared in the
midst of the scattered enemy forces. The black sphere pulled their enemies closer with an
enormous gravitational force, and the enemies were dragged closer until they were stuck to
the sphere.

Swish!
Vita threw a rope. A wind spirit shaped like a winged fairy took hold of the rope, tied the
bastards who had been pulled toward the black hole and their apparent leader together, and
began dragging them away.

“Kgh!”

“Ahh! Save us!”

The wind spirit brought the bastards high in the sky before flying off somewhere at the
speed of sound. It had taken them to a hideout that Vita had designated beforehand.

They only needed a few people to pry out information from —they had no use for the rest.
Yet another magic circle spread out with the black sphere at its center. Saki was quadra-
casting —there was no telling how sharp her mind was.

Rumble rumble…….
The spells that Saki had cast were high-leveled spatial magics called Black Hole and Gravity
respectively, and they created an invisible pathway called a wormhole when they
overlapped.

The black hole sucked in the gravitational forces given off by the gravity spell, and the
people adhered to the sphere vanished as they were drawn in.

They would travel through the wormhole and exit through a white hole that had been
created somewhere at random. They would survive if they were lucky, but their chances
were slim. Normally, wormholes tended to connect underground, in outer space, or in the
middle of the ocean.

Ianna had dispelled the barrier as Saki and Vita took care of the attackers. She had already
dispelled it once, but the spell had quickly manifest itself again. In other words, the spell
hadn’t been cast and maintained by a mage but was likely drawing power from mana stones
to manifest.

Ianna traced the flow of mana and found a spot that seemed to be created a current. She
stretched out her hands. The mana that burst out from her hand beat precisely against that
spot.

Thwack!
There was a large stone slate in the middle of the sand as it split away like an opening book.
Six mana stones, each as large as a person, were arranged in a large circle, and a large and
complex magic circle had been drawn in between them.

The magic circle was drawing mana from the giant mana stones to manifest the barrier. In
other words, the circle would be rendered useless if the mana stones were shattered.

Mana stones were rocks with mana floating inside them. The mana made them very sturdy,
but it also made them unstable like magic. When the current of mana inside them was
unbalanced, the side with less mana became very brittle.

Ianna did not even need to use divine power.

Swish.
Ianna drew her sword. Then, she brandished it.
Her blade sliced through the powerful gust of wind the mana was whipping up and hit
against the weakest portion of a mana stone.

Crack!
The mana stone applauded her performance by shattering.

The barrier grew weaker as Ianna destroyed the other mana stones one after another,
reducing them to little more than trash, before it vanished completely.

Once the wind of mana had died down, Ianna brandished her sword against the stone slate
and carved out countless scars on its surface, rendering it useless.

Ianna took one satisfactory look at the magic circle that she had thoroughly ruined before
turning back to where Saki was.

Illusion, Alarm, and Barrier had all been dispelled, and she had created a path for them to
infiltrate the factory with.

No fewer than six people felt the aftereffects when she undid the spells.

The fighting outside ended quickly once the magics had been dispelled.

A few people remained to keep watch and clean up, and everyone else walked into the now-
empty building doors.

The entrance to the factory.

They found a ramp as soon as they stepped foot inside.

As they had expected, the passageway was wide and high enough to let carts and wagons
through with room to spare, but rails had been installed in the middle of the passage to
allow a large cart with levers on it to travel above and below them. There were cruel
bloodstains splattered all over the cart, as it had likely been used to transport victims.

Whoooosh…….
A few people gulped as they gazed down into the passageway. It was impossible to see what
was ahead, perhaps because there was no lighting along the walls. Everything was pitch-
black.
The stench of blood and the foul odor of rotting corpses made people feel like they were
staring into the gaping maw of a monster about to devour its prey.

Saki climbed into the cart with the mages and priests —the slowest of their group— and
began fiddling with the lever. Metal grated against metal as the cart creaked, and Saki waved
as it finally began to move.

“We’re breaking through. Vita!”

Vita, who had been standing next to Saki, readily shot out and dashed into the pitch-black
darkness that no one could see into. Others gained courage upon seeing his long legs move
as if he knew neither fear nor hesitation and ran after him.

The cart moved quickly along the rails. Ianna heard Saki call out to her as she ran alongside
the cart.

“Thank you so much for helping us, Lady Anna. As planned, we will fight any enemies we
might face moving forward. But please lend us a hand if things start growing perilous for
us.”

Ianna nodded. She was only interested in any mages who might be benefitting from a
Demon’s fragment. There was no need for her to waste her strength on small fry.

Crackle!
They had been running down the passageway after Vita, who was running as quietly as if he
was running on soft grasses, but a sudden bolt of lightning illuminated the halls before them
while sounding as if a thunderbolt had hit a tree.

Buzz—
Vita flourished his hands, covered in his indigo divine power.

Bang!
The powerful offensive spell dispersed in but an instant. Then, Vita scrunched his nose and
summoned an eagle-shaped spirit while saying,

“There are toxins in the air, so please don’t breathe it in.”

A whirlwind stirred up by the wind spirit as it flapped its wings raged before them for a
moment before swiftly flowing out toward the entrance.

Bang! Baang!
More spells and toxins poured out on them as they continued down, but Vita took care of
everything with relative ease.
It was no wonder why Saki had trusted him enough to bring along.

Ianna, who had been watching him from behind, was impressed as she quietly set her
fighting spirit ablaze.

‘Spells that even someone as skilled as Vita couldn’t dispel……I’m sure of it.’

They cleared the passageway quickly, as Vita had eliminated all the dangers himself, and
arrived at a large set of doors blocking their path forward. Five out-of-breath mages were
glowering at them in front of the doors.

“These bastards came prepared. Hold out until the reinforcements arrive!”

The mages began blabbering away with unfamiliar Northern words mixed into their speech.
Vita whispered to Saki when the cart had stopped.

“The mage who cast the spells outside the factory isn’t here.”

“Then they aren’t our enemies.”

One of the ashen-faced mages cried out to them.

“I don’t know how you bastards found this place, but you’ve dug your own graves. Get lost
before you truly regret it!”

The other mages began mumbling as they calculated their spells. Strange things began
happening to the bodies of Saki’s allies a moment after the first mage had shouted at them.

“Ack!”

Some of Saki’s allies grew rigid and lost the ability to move, sank down as their arms or legs
dropped out from their sockets, and others developed a red spot on their skin that itched so
much they thought it might kill them —but Saki simply snorted as they suffered from the
physical pain.

“Have these mages been researching bio magic? To think they would play petty tricks with
bio magic in front of me.”
Saki focused and brought the tips of two of her fingers together. A magic circle with a
pattern that looked like it had been tangled with bone and muscle appeared before her.

Saki’s pumpkin-colored eyes glistened as the mages’ eyes dribbled down from their sockets
like melting ice.

“Ahhhh……!”
Saki’s magic circle altered ever so slightly as they clutched at their eyes.

Drip, driiip.
Their entire bodies poured to the floor like jelly this time. Their bones and organs scattered
everywhere, and their arms and legs protruded out from wherever they fell, and the mages’
new, inhuman forms solidified as Saki undid her magic circle.

The mages gurgled pitifully, unable to die even after having been reduced to such grotesque
forms.

Saki stared down at them quietly and clicked her tongue before bringing her hands together.

“I see that I have not been training in my asceticism enough, judging by how my past self
still shows from time to time. Please forgive me for destroying your beautiful creations, Lord
Laos.”

Vita, who had dispelled the magic cast on their allies and restored them to their original
forms while Saki was taking care of the mages, stepped up to the firmly closed doors.

He tried to open them with brute force, but then he stepped back and contemplated for a
moment when they didn’t budge and called upon the wind spirit again without any
hesitation, as if he had been planning to call it to begin with.

Craaaaaash!
The doors were blown away with a deafening roar. People screamed as the doors hit them.
And all sorts of stenches and sounds poured into the passageway from the behind the doors.

The stench of sewage, rot, and blood.

The sounds of screaming, suffering, and weeping.

Saki grasped the situation as soon as she stepped inside and raised her hand.

“……Rescue squad!”

The large space, which was circular save for the passage they had come from, the six
passages the led elsewhere, and the large set of doors on the other side that opened into yet
another wide passageway —eight offshoots in total—, was a prison surrounded by rusty iron
bars along the walls.

People in appalling conditions had been crammed inside smaller cells like objects. They
looked toward Saki in alarm, but they soon turned back in resignation to the tightly shut
doors at the end of the hall and the dozen or so warriors standing near them.
Those doors were their final stop. The prison was filled with traces that people had been
dragged out from their cells toward the doors.

“Prepare a broad-scale Teleport, and infiltration squad —fight them and break through!”

Saki’s people began moving in perfect order upon hearing her orders, and one of the
warriors standing guard by the doors glowered at her.

“I don’t know where you bugs crawled in from, but I can see that you’ve gone mad and want
to die. But this is as far as you’ll go. Leave.”

Saki took a step forward after he had finished speaking.

“I don’t know how skilled you purport to be, but I can see that you’re no better than trash.
Get out of our way.”

“I can’t do that.”

Claaang!
The warriors standing in front of the doors all drew their weapons. Saki’s people had already
had their weapons drawn and were already pointing them at their enemies. The warriors
grit their teeth audibly.

“You bastards are already as good as dead. But we cannot allow ourselves to die here with
you.”

His words were filled with confidence and suggested that their future of death had already
been determined. But their confidence had not stemmed from themselves. Was it Saki’s
imagination that he seemed to refer to a non-present third party who would be responsible
for their deaths? She felt like something was a little off.

Saki muttered,

“……Are they referring to the mage who cast the spells on the factory?”

Ianna, who was standing toward the back of their group, concurred.

“Die!”

Meanwhile, the warriors rushed at them. Saki’s group and the warriors clashed vehemently.
The warriors here were a cut more skilled than the bastards who had attacked them at the
factory entrance. They were of a similar level to Saki’s men, whom she had hand-picked
specifically for this mission.

Ianna placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, wondering if she should join, when someone
grabbed the hem of her shirt.

“B-Boss…….”

Herrace, who had been assigned to the relatively safer rescue squad with Taro, had walked
up to Ianna at some point. He pointed to somewhere as he continued with a tremble in his
voice.

“Over there……from the back alleys…….”

He was pointing to a girl sitting in a blank gloom behind iron bars.

Ianna, who had a quick eye for things, understood immediately. It was the drug addict girl
who had screamed at Herrace when they had been walking through the slum-like back alleys
of Lampinion.

‘It’ll spell trouble if she gets involved.’

The people behind the Ghosts would chase after them like mad if they learned that the trio
from Lampinion had infiltrated the factory. It was only a guess, but Ianna was fairly certain
that the Ghosts were the Black Fox’s doing —and nothing would be worse than if they Black
Fox decided to come after them.

“Listen up. We absolutely cannot let anyone know that we met that girl at Lampinion. Make
sure you’re far away from her cell while you’re helping out with the rescue squad.”

“O-okay. I’ll stick to the other side of the room.”

Saki’s men had nearly finished clearing a path to the door while Ianna and Herrace were
talking.

“You……insects!”

One of the Ghosts’ warriors saw this and raised his fighting spirit as his eyes dyed red.

“No, you idiot! You can’t control it yet!”

“Shut up! Who cares about how we die? If I have to die, then I’m at least going to take one of
these fuckers down with me!”
One of his colleagues caught wind of what he was about to do and tried to stop him, but it
was already too late. Mana began to swirl around him. An energy that wasn’t mana began to
cover his sword.

It was divine power. It was divine power, but it was a revolting color, as if all sorts of things
had been mixed into it. And Ianna remembered that she had seen a similar color before.

‘Formido.’
One of the twelve knight orders of the Bahamut imperial palace.

The commander of the Knights of Grundewalz, who was dead now.

His sword, covered in divine power, reached the chest of the person who had been fighting
him. Vita jumped in before the sword could cut deep into the person’s chest and split it open
and beat the blade back.

“You’re all dead meat……nothing’s going to stop me now.”

Vita glared not at the panting and cursing man, but at the divine power wrapped around his
sword.

“……You’re using Life to fortify your sword, human.”

Vita flared with a powerful rage.

He knew that good humans existed. But he still found most humans despicable save for a
select few.

They were like mayflies who lived but very short lives.

They were greedy and foolish…… They were evil beings no different from the Demon itself.

‘Why did God Laos create these humans and love them above all else?’
Vita’s rage drew out his bloodlust, which was rare to see from him.

Clang!
Vita drew the dagger that had been sheathed at his waist. Unlike the warrior’s, the divine
power covering his blade was bright and clear. Vita, who had beaten back the warrior’s
blackish blade, cut off his opponent’s hand without a moment’s hesitation.

“……!”
Then, he cut the warrior’s carotid artery as the latter screamed in pain. Vita stepped over the
collapsed man and summoned the eagle-shaped wind spirit. The spirit raised razor-like
blades of wind to cut down the remaining warriors and beat against the closed doors with a
squall.

Craaaaaaash!
The doors broke and blasted away just like last time. The fierce wounds that Vita had laid on
his enemies proved fatal, and the scales of the once-even battle tipped sharply to one side.

Ianna, who had been lost in thought as she watched Vita fight, kicked off hard against the
floor as soon as the space opened up and dashed through the doors.

She had predicted it to some extent, because the reek of blood had burst toward them as
soon as the doors had been blasted away, but what she saw inside was truly so gruesome
that words could not do the scene justice.

“Ugh……ughh…….”

Corpses, like the ones she had seen at the Ghosts’ Banquet, were stacked up like luggage in
carts off to one corner of the chamber, and people, who were on their way to becoming more
corpses, were groaning as they sat on strangely-shaped chairs that were set up all
throughout.

There were shackles with steel spikes on the arms and legs of the chairs, and those who had
been fettered by them did not move at all. There was a peculiar machine next to each chair,
and hoses dangled out from each of them and plugged into the seated victims’ hearts.

The hoses drew blood directly from the victims’ hearts. The blood passed through the
machines that could recognize the flow of mana, and most of it was dumped into buckets
like mere waste. And yet, a stage liquid was being created within the machines and dribbled
down into familiarly-shaped bottles.

And next to the machines were boxes filled with small heaps of precious Life.

Ianna could not help but recall the theory she had assumed while listening to what Vita had
told her previously as she saw the scene before her.

‘They might be sending these drugs to Bahamut. To raise up knights like Formido who know how to
control divine power…….’
“Y-y-you bastards are all as good as dead now!”

“The masters won’t let you live!”

She had been so focused on the machines themselves that she had ignored the people
standing behind every one of them, and she looked up subconsciously upon hearing the
frightened voice only to have her eyes fixated on how peculiar they looked.

They looked similar to humans, but they were not fully human and had fox-like ears and
tails.

They were beastmen.

“He, hehe……. Petty humans……. It’s too late to beg for your lives now.”

One of them giggled and picked up one of the hearts that had been piled up next to the
buckets of blood. He opened his mouth and chowed down on the heart with his sharp teeth
like it was a snack and smirked with his bloodied lips when he was done.

“They’ll kill the whole lot of you when they come……. And we’ll make sure to eat up your
delicious hearts when you’re dead…….”

He didn’t seem to be in his right mind.

Ianna ignored them and walked ahead —she felt like she might make a negative judgment
about the beastmen race as a whole if she paid them any head— and picked up one of the
boxes of Life.

One of the beastmen who had been pacing around nearby ran up to her.

“Put that down, you cheeky human!”

Ianna’s fist went flying toward the bastard’s face when he opened his mouth as if he meant
to bite her arm off.

Poow!
Tumble!
She had punched him so hard that his face might fracture, and he tumbled across the floor
and into a machine on the other side of the chamber.

“Trash.”

Ianna looked wintry as she brushed off her wrist. She continued,

“How dare you try to put your dirty mouth on me?”

The bastard staggered up and his eyes were slightly unfocused as he mumbled,
“You’re just a human…….”

“Shut up before I break your mouth.”

Ianna forced the beastman into silence, opened the bag she had been carrying, and shoved
the bottles of Life inside. There was still Life left in the box even after she had filled her bag
until it was bursting at the seams. And there were still more boxes of Life scattered along the
floor.

“This was beyond by expectations,”

said Saki, who had followed in after Ianna and had quickly estimated how many bottles of
Life there were, as the blood drained from her face. She ordered her people to begin
confiscating the Life, and she went around breaking down the machines and helped put the
dying victims to rest.

It was difficult to even imagine how much terror and despair they must have felt as they
could do nothing but watch as their lives was drained from them.

Their tear-stained faces were so ashen and they looked like they no longer had the spare
strength to speak, and their shallow breathing heralded death —there was no hope for them.

Meanwhile, Ianna was observing the beastmen, who had stopped operating the machines
and were huddling in one corner of the chamber.

Their fox-like ears and tails were black. She had only heard of beastmen before —she had
not met one yet—, but they appeared to be black fox-types.

The chief of the black fox clan was Payne, the leader of the Black Fox. And so, she was now
certain. The Black Fox was behind the Ghosts’ Banquets.

This was only her guess, but Life had only been sold to high-ranking figures to make easy
money and to cover up the true purpose of Life —which was to ship off to Bahamut so they
could nurture powerful soldiers.

That being said, there was so much Life here and it had been manufactured for so long, so
where had it all gone to?

Saki finished sending off the people who had been fastened to the chairs in peace before
ordering her subordinates to bring one of the machines that manufactured Life with them.
Then, she walked up to the beastmen and asked,

“Is this the only factory?”

“Factory? Are you talking about places like this? Of course not.”

The beastmen answered her readily and honestly. But rather than being afraid of the
infiltrators, they seemed to simply not feel the need to mind their words because they were
certain that the infiltrators would be dead soon anyway.

“How many lives are required to create one bottle of Life?”

“About five, if they’re lower-grade?”

“These machines are pieces of trash, I see!”

“Hey, those things are expensive! Do you know how hard we worked to help the masters
make those?!”

The beastmen began squawking in displeasure when one of the people on the infiltration
squad kicked a machine, unable to hold back his fury.

“To think that beastmen were behind the Ghosts’ Banquets,”

Vita said frigidly as he covered his eyes. He continued,

“The beastmen whom I know would never do something this evil. For what reason are you
hurting these humans down in these cellars?”

One of the beastmen tilted his head to the side, baffled.

“Reason? Evil? We don’t care about any of that. We are simply doing anything we can to
help our masters.”

Another beastman bit into the heart he had been holding as he added,

“You’re calling us evil? I suppose. But does good and evil really exist in a world where you
either eat or be eaten? Isn’t strength the only thing that matters?”

“Exactly. The masters and strong and merciful. We’re weak, and they protect us. They let us
eat the delicious hearts and blood that pile up as we work. How could we possibly eat this
many hearts if we live outside while pretending to be good? We’d never have enough —we’d
be clutching our stomachs as we starve—, and we’d get crushed by someone stronger.”

“We’re sick and tired of that. Ah, we haven’t seen the masters in so long —I miss them.”

The masters.
Who were these masters whom they were so blindly loyal to?

Ianna had a bad feeling about all of this.

“We’re just about finished over there. And the Teleport spell is almost complete.”

One of the people who had been in charge of rescuing the victims in the other room walked
in and reported to Saki just as the infiltration squad was almost done packing away the
samples of Life. Saki turned to Ianna.

“We should leave this place soon. If these bastards are being honest, then the mage who cast
the spells around the factory will be here soon, and I am beginning to have a bad
premonition about staying any longer.”

Ianna concurred with Saki’s pessimistic outlook. Saki continued,

“Tie some of them up, Vita, and let’s get out of here.”

They decided to take a few of the beastmen back with them and leave the rest. Vita took out
some rope and tied up a few beastmen without a word. They did not struggle against him at
all. And their relaxed attitude made everything only feel more ominous.

The infiltration squad left the beastmen behind and were about to quickly leave the
chamber, but the beastmen, who had simply huddled up in a corner and watched no matter
what they did, suddenly began chasing after them.

“What’s this? Are you running away?”

“Now you’re afraid?”
“Don’t go. You need to get punished by the masters!”

The beastman whom Ianna had punched earlier tried to jump her as she reached the exit.

“I won’t let you go, human!”

“Hey, Bo…….”

Just then, Taro walked through the exit as if he had been waiting there. He caught sight of
the beastman who had been able to swoop down on Ianna.

And the beastman instantly froze solid.

“…….”
“…….”

But that wasn’t all —every beastmen behind him froze up as well. Their ears and tails
bristled up as they stared fixedly at Taro for some reason.

Taro muttered,

“Don’t tell me these bastards are…….”

Ianna, who could not comprehend what was going on, looked between Taro and the
beastmen in turns. It was difficult to tell because his face was covered, but Ianna was fairly
certain that he was glaring back at them.

“So they are. Hey.”

A blue flame flared up from his robes as Taro glowered. He continued,

“Where do ya traitorous bastards think yer goin’?”

Ianna’s gaze fixed on Taro as she heard the strange nuance in his words and felt the brutal
feeling it was giving off.

The hostility and bloodlust he was emitting was no joke.

He felt like a completely different person from the Taro she had met at the Institution, who
was carefree and swung around his fists and sword like he was having great fun. She had
never seen him be so terribly hostile before. It was almost like he could kill with his glare
alone.

“I’ve heard about you lot so many times since I was born that I think my ears are startin’ to
go numb, yeah? I thought you were all supposed to be holin’ up somewhere in the North.
But now yer all huddled up over here. So, what gives?”

The black foxes, who had not been scared of even Ianna, flinched and shrank back.

“I-i-it’s a predator…….”

“A predator…….”

‘This ‘predator’ that the beastmen are referring to…….’

Ianna’s observing gaze brushed past Taro. Taro seemed to chew over his words as he glared
at the beastman, and he spat out,

“Why don’t ya all just shut the hell up before I decide to rip apart the whole lot of ya?”
“…….”

“…….”

The impertinent foxes immediately shut their mouths. Taro pat Ianna on the back.

“Now, now. Let’s go, Boss.”

“By any chance, are you……?”

Ianna’s voice trailed off, unable to finish her sentence, as they left the frozen foxes behind
them, and Taro smiled awkwardly in response.

“Hmm… Yer just as quick on the uptake as ever, Boss…… Yer probably thinkin’ along the
right track. But we can talk later, yeah?”

Ianna, who had been staring openly back at him, nodded.

People were busily preparing a teleportation spell outside the chamber. Everyone behind
bars had been rescued and were escaping toward the factory entrance that Saki and the
others had come from.

The people whom Saki had left outside the entrance were supposed to be preparing for their
escape.

Things were going slow because there were so many people, but they could not take the
other passages to escape. No one knew where they led.

The people who escaped in an orderly fashion under Saki’s subordinate’s orders did not
appear happy. They still seemed to be filled not with hope, but with bottomless anxiety.

And the reason for that was readily apparent.

“According to the survivors, a lot of people who appear to be with the royal army come by
here frequently. And the people who were guarding the room with the beastmen were
apparently royal soldiers.”

The royal army. In Sidian, the army was like the king himself.

People whom no one must raise a hand against had been killed, and the survivors were
seized with the fear that they would be executed even if they escaped from this place.

“So Sidian’s royal family had a hand in the Ghosts’ Banquets.”

“They are truly vile. They weren’t simply pretending to ignore the Ghosts, just like how they
stay silent no matter what atrocities happen within their borders, but they were
manipulating the public sentiment while feigning ignorance behind the scenes.”

“I expected as much from the king of Sidian. I had thought that he would stay quietly holed
up in his capital and maintain his dignity, but he was committing the most wicked of
atrocities all this time.”

Saki clicked her tongue and concurred as her men censured the king.

“Not only did we obtain proof, but now we’ll be able to win the support of those who oppose
Sidian.”

Taro brought over Herrace, who had been hovering around the area, while Ianna was
waiting Saki’s conversation to conclude. Herrace had been unable to take his eyes off the
drug addict girl, who was tottering at the end of the line of survivors.

“You didn’t come into contact with her, did you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why do you keep staring at her?”

“……Because I’m worried. I can’t help but wonder if she was captured after we knocked her
out.”

“It’s likely, given the timing.”

He didn’t let it show, but Herrace was feeling guilty over it.

“I really hope she survives.”

Ianna walked up to Saki with Taro and Herrace in tow.

“Is the teleportation spell not ready yet?”

The teleportation spell Saki had prepared connected to her personal residence near Toraca
and the Lotso Mountains, and Ianna and her friends had agreed to use it as well. They had
caused a huge mess in Sidian and wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

“It’s almost complete. Oh, yes. I should give these to you while we still have time.”
Saki rummaged through her pockets and pulled out two badges and handed them to Ianna.
One of them was the badge with the sun that she had used at the gates as they exited
Lampinion.

“This……isn’t this the badge that signifies that the owner is someone important in Jinzai?”

It even had the name Shizenmore etched onto it now that she had taken a closer look.

“Someone important to me is also important to Jinzai. The people of Jinzai will treat you
well if you give them my name and show them this badge. I can get a new one whenever I
please, so please take this one, Lady Anna. The other badge is the badge of Shalino.”

The Shalino badge had a star etched onto it that was composed of two triangles —one
upright and one inverted. Saki continued,

“It’s a communication artefact that connects directly to me. Please contact me whenever you
wish. And, most doctors of decent skill will know what Shalino’s emblem looks like. Shalino
plays a huge influence in the medical world, so any doctor will treat you well if you show
them this.”

They were both amazing items. Ianna accepted the badges gratefully and stood back as she
waited for the teleportation spell to be completed.

It was unfortunate that she hadn’t been able to meet the Bahamut mage, but her ill
premonition told her to put her personal grudges aside.

Though she would still do what she had initially resolved to do if she should meet the mage,
of course.

Finally, the teleportation spell was ready. The magic circle was set up to erase itself without
a trace once it had cast Teleport once.

Saki looked relaxed now that she thought that things were almost over.

“We should go now. Let us activate the spell.”

The mages working under Saki began injecting mana into the magic circle, and Saki, too,
reached out a hand toward it.

Part 8
But just then.
Boooooooooom!
A deafening roar suddenly split the air in the chamber where the beastmen were, and a
tremendous gust of mana rushed out from it. Simultaneously, the mana that had been
flowing into the Teleport magic circle faltered.

Whooooosh…….
The mana began sucking into one direction immediately afterward. Saki and Vita promptly
began supplying the magic circle with divine power instead when it was nearly erased
because the density of the mana around it dropped drastically.

“…….”

“W-what in the……?”

They felt a colossal presence.

Everyone saw something strange happening when they looked back.

The beastmen in the dark chamber were all kneeling with their heads bowed down as if they
were worshiping a god.

And at their center, they could see a woman with black hair as smooth and silk that was
glistening like snake scales.

“……!”

Chills ran down Ianna’s back as soon as the woman’s figure entered her eyes.

Was that woman truly a Demon’s fragment owner like Keigus was?

It couldn’t possibly be the case. This woman was on a completely different level.

Ianna’s skin grew taught from anxiety.

She immediately hid her presence as soon as she had seen her. She knew that she
absolutely must not let that woman feel her aura.
“We have to hurry, Saki,”

Ianna urged Saki as she glared at the woman, who still had her back to them as she listened
to the beastmen’s report.

Saki and Vita were also frozen stiff with anxiety as they continued to pour divine power into
the Teleport spell. They were impatient and understood that they needed to leave before the
woman who had suddenly entered the scene disrupted their spell. A very ominous and
wicked aura was flowing out from the chamber where the woman was.

Tap, tap.
But the woman slowly turned around and began walking out of the chamber before the
teleportation spell was complete.

“Oh……?”

A few people could not help but voice their surprise, having completely forgotten what kind
of situation they were in.

The woman was so beautiful as she slowly stepped out from the darkness that it would not
have been an understatement to call her the most beautiful woman in the world.

Her skin was as white and as unblemished as virgin snow, and her scarlet lips blossomed
like a single crimson flower. The lines of her face were lovely, and her eyes were captivating.

Hers was a capricious beauty akin to dangerous magics, unlike Angelina, the greatest beauty
of Roanne who was likened to an innocent angel.

Her voluptuous breasts and the slender curves of her waist shook even the priests who had
practiced celibacy all their lives.

But Ianna was paying attention to something else.

Her nails, which were dyed crimson like blood, the feeling that her entire being emitted, and
her black hair and eyes……her eyes flickered with a whimsical light.

“How surprising.”

Everyone awoke from their stupor as the woman’s dainty lips began to move. Alarms
sounded in their heads and cold sweat ran down their backs.

“Which one of you rats dared to undo our spells?”

Craaaaaash!
Pow!
Pooow!
A powerful force pressed down on them as a colossal stream of mana whirled around the
woman. A few people were sent flying back, as if they had been hit by a gigantic hammer,
and splattered as soon as they hit the wall behind them.

The woman smiled sullenly, like she was having great fun, as she crushed people like mud
with the pressure she generated from mana alone.
“Step forward before I tear off all your limbs.”

An evil aura raged around her. People tried to protect themselves by controlling the mana
around them.

“Futile.”

The mana that people had been wrapping themselves in suddenly grew as sharp as blades
with a wave of her hand.

Shreeed! Slice!
“Ahh!”

Their fates were split into two in but an instant. Those who had sensed the danger and had
liberated the mana they were controlling had survived, but those who had failed to do so
had been shredded by the mana and died in an eruption of blood.

But even those who had narrowly avoided her ridiculous counterattack were not safe quite
yet. The mana swirling around them was completely under the woman’s domination, and it
was no different from a storm of shapeless blades as it attacked them.

“H-how is this……?”

People were shocked. Everyone who had infiltrated the factory had been confident in their
skills. They had never before felt the difference in power between themselves and an enemy
so starkly.

And yet, they felt so utterly powerless before this woman. They trembled in fear, feeling like
naked sheep laid before a monster armed to the teeth with vicious weapons.

Everyone who lived in the Age of Magic was accustomed to mana. Moreover, it was difficult
to steal the mana under another’s control even in a fight between highly skilled opponents.
And yet, this beautiful woman was doing exactly just that.

It was as if she was simply taking back the power that had been lent to them. As if it was
only natural because the mana belonged to her.

In the moment, everyone in the factory was made to realize that mana belonged not to the
Creator, but to a certain special existence.

Mana belonged to some powerful existence, like the woman before them, and the people of
the Age of Magic were simply borrowing it —it was a doubled-edged blade that could be
turned against them at any moment.
But then, something curious happened. Just like how people sometimes showed their true
potential when they were placed in great peril, the innate energy deep within a few people’s
hearts instinctively flowed out and began protecting them the moment it felt the mana’s
betrayal.

And only a few people noticed this change.

The woman brushed back her hair as she grinned.

“Hmmm. A few of you bastards seem like you might even be useful. Is the culprit among
you?”

A dangerous smile graced the woman’s lips as she took a step forward with a hand over her
chest. She continued,

“Ahh, I feel horrible and great at the same time. I feel both sticky and sweet. Who dares to
make me feel this way……but this really is the best, you know? I feel like I’m about to have
fun for the first time in a truly long while.”
A whip had appeared in the woman’s hand at some point.

“I’ve decided how I want to get rid of you. I’ll tear off your limbs so you can’t rebel and
throw you in a cage. I’ll stuff you while you’re still alive so I can savor you for a long time.
That way, my Lord Brother and Lady Mother can enjoy you too.”

The woman spat out her vicious words in a beautiful singsong voice.

“Stop hiding and come out now. Won’t you?”

Ianna clutched tight at her robes and glared at her.

Black hair and black eyes…….

It couldn’t be, it couldn’t be, but there was no mistaking her appearance. And the woman had
a Northern accent as she blabbered away.
Ianna pointed her sword at the woman, but she kept her presence concealed without
stepping forward.

If that woman was truly one of the people Ianna was thinking about, then she absolutely
must not raise a hand against her here. She absolutely must not let that woman guess at her
secrets and learn her identity. That would be the absolute worst-case scenario. Her only
answer was to flee this place as quickly as possible.

“How much longer will it take, Saki?”

Saki broke out in a cold sweat and answered that it was almost ready when Ianna whispered
to her. The gears in Ianna’s head churned before they pointed to Vita. Ianna was directly
behind him, and she whispered,

“Vita, will you be able to stand in place and hide me behind you while distracting her?”

Vita nodded because he knew that Ianna was extremely reluctant to let her identity be
exposed.

“That won’t be a problem. But why……?”

“I will deal with that woman and buy us some time. But I absolutely cannot let her catch
wind of my power. Please pretend that it’s you fighting her no matter what happens.”
The woman glanced at them and leisurely shrugged her shoulders.

“You’ll regret it if you’re only stubbornly resisting because you’re trusting that teleportation
spell powered by divine power to save you. I’ll mess with the coordinates and send you
flying off to the middle of space.”

“Do you think we’d let you?!”

Vita shouted with Ianna still behind him.

He was able to successfully hide her behind himself because he was tall and wearing robes.

He had summoned wind and water spirts that were circling around him at some point. They
were powerful spirits that Ianna had never seen before.

Howlll…….
The spirits inflated themselves and emitted so much power that they seemed to shake the
very air around them as they guarded the magic circle and kept the woman in check. The
woman narrowed her eyes as she watched the spirits grow hostile toward her even though
Vita had not ordered them to do so.

“Goodness, some horrible bastards decided to show up. Are you an elf? Are you the one who
undid the spells?”

With a tense voice, Vita replied,

“I am. Are you……the ‘Demon?’”

“Hmmm. So you even know about that?”

The woman surveyed her frozen surroundings as she continued,
“No wonder. I thought it was curious that I didn’t sense a fragment here, but the spells were
apparently undone by a high-ranking high elf. Still…….”

Goodness, the woman said as she brought a hand to her lips.

“Do you truly think that a few trifling spirits can truly be a match for me?”
Craaaaaash!
The spirits’ power and mana clashed viciously no sooner than the words had left her mouth.
The water spirit poured a colossal wave of water over her. But the woman created a fire to
evaporate it all.

The wind spirit stirred up a powerful whirlwind that shook the entire building as it rushed
toward the woman, but it dispersed helplessly after a few gestures of her hand.

“Kyaaah!”

Cracks formed along the ceiling and pebbles and sand fell down as the two powerful forces
clashed. And people stopped moving forward, perhaps because something had happened
near the entrance.

Or rather, they were actually coming back down.

“I-it’s the royal army!”

“Save us, ahh!”

It was easy to assume what was happening just by listening to their screaming. They didn’t
know when they had arrived, but the royal army of Sidian had blocked the entrance and
were pushing people back down into the basement.

They heard urgent footsteps and shouting not only from the entrance they had come from,
but from the other passages as well.

It wasn’t long before people with the emblem of Sidian’s royal family on the left side of their
chests began showing up from the entrance.

“Block them!”

“Destroy the magic circle!”

Some of them blocked the exit and killed anyone who tried to escape instead of joining in on
the fight between Vita and the woman, while the rest rushed toward Saki and her men, who
were guarding the magic circle, with their weapons drawn.

“Pant……pant…….”
The blood was draining from Vita’s face as the arduous battle prolonged, but the woman
looked just as relaxed as she had always been.

“Are you sure you undid our spells? You’re a bit too weak.”

She sighed and scanned her surroundings.

The elf was certainly the strongest rat present, but he was not strong enough to have undid
the spells.

Then, had someone used a special method to undo the spells remotely instead? Or perhaps
the magic circles had worn away with time.

In any event, there had been no point in teleporting multiple times just to get here —
especially when the spell put a strain on her body. The woman was beginning to look bored.

Saki had completed the teleportation spell while the woman was toying with Vita with her
fearsome control over mana. As if the words were being squeezed out of her, Saki shouted,

“I’m activating the spell!”

Buzzzzzzz!
Everyone began gathering inside the magic circle as it began to glow.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The woman smirked as she watched as she tightened her grip on her whip. The mana
wrapped around her was instantly dyed black.

“I’m bored now. I’m going to kill all of you.”

She brandished her whip viciously.

Pow! Bababam! Booom!

The whip drew an arc and hit sharply against the floor after it had dispelled the spirits. The
resulting roar as it met the ground was unbelievably thunderous. The ground was unearthed
by just one hit and sent dirt scattering everywhere. The woman brandished her whip yet
again.

Just as her whip tore through the air, the walls, and any unlucky soul who hadn’t moved out
of its way in time and was about to swallow Vita and the teleportation magic circle, Ianna,
who had been hidden behind Vita all this time, clutched at the back of his robes and
muttered something. It took less than a blink of an eye for divine power to seep out from her
heart and be granted to a certain great being.
Pop.
Towe, who had been keeping an eye on the situation from the spiritual plane through the
spirits that Vita had summoned, poured out his strength before Vita as soon as he was
summoned.

Craaaash!
“Hmm?”

The woman’s relaxed visage stiffened for the first time as the giant wall of metal Towe
created stopped her whip. Her gaze moved between Vita and Towe’s small frame in turns as
she looked to them in disbelief. Towe glared back at her.

[I feel something dirty.]

Towe was a being from the spiritual plane, so he could read what Ianna’s soul was asking of
him from the astral plane even if she didn’t verbalize her request.

[I will need my true form to hold it down. Will you permit this?]

Obviously, she would.

All Ianna did was nod ever so slightly as she stayed in Vita’s shadow, but Towe understood
her thoughts even without having to look at her.

And Ianna nearly blacked out as soon as she had given him her consent.

Her body began to suffer from overload as a vast amount of divine power was exhausted
from her and quickly began to refill itself. She felt faint as a bloody liquid surged up her
throat.

Booooom!
Towe seemed to spread out into the ground and vanish as the earth began to tremble. And
then, the ceiling suddenly opened up like a window.

Dawn had come at some point, and its dim light poured down into the basement. All the
earth that had made up the underground facility crumbled down and began transforming
into a certain shape before people could even register the sudden outpour of light.

The earth formed itself into two gigantic hands.

Craaash!
“Kgh!”
The hands grabbed the immobile woman and melted like mud before dragging her
underground before she had the chance to resist. Then, rocks showered down from the earth
and hit only Ianna’s enemies.

[This…….]

Crash! Craaash!
The woman, who hadn’t died even after she was buried alive, resisted and struggled against
the earth. Most of the divine power that Towe had been supplied was consumed as he
stopped her from struggling. She was so strong that he had to use his entire might just to
keep her in his grasp.

The woman felt disgusting, just like how the Demon from the Holy Age had felt in the past.
He was not only surprised to learn that humans who felt this dirty existed in this era but as
also astonished by her power.

She was as strong as some of the stronger gods from the Holy Age. To think that there
existed humans who were as powerful as the gods had been.

The earth shook in response to Towe’s bewilderment.

[Hurry and go, I won’t be able to hold her for long!]

Crash! Craaash!
The woman’s struggles were one thing, but Towe was also unable to manifest his full
strength because he was being influenced by Ianna, who had nearly lost her grip on her
consciousness after having summoned his true form for the first time.

“Pull yourself together, Lady Anna!”

Vita held Ianna up and tried to bring her to the teleportation spell. But Ianna could not
teleport.

Poow!
A white hand had shot out from the mud and grabbed her by the ankle.

Crunch…….
The woman’s crimson nails cracked as they dug into Ianna’s ankle, as if she would never let
Ianna go.

Ianna’s ankle throbbed as if she had been snared in a trap.

‘I need to pull myself together.’

Ianna straightened out her staggering body with superhuman concentration as soon as she
felt the pain.

“Hurry!”

Her vision cleared up when she heard Saki scream and she took in the situation unfolding
around her. First and foremost, she looked to the hand clutching at her ankle.

Bang! Bang!
Then, she saw Vita repeatedly stabbing his dagger at the woman’s wrist. Perhaps she had
reinforced it with mana, as her wrist sounded like metal clashing against metal when his
dagger fell upon it and did not sever.

“No!”

Ianna’s senses shook as the space around her distorted.

Saki shrieked like she was screaming her death throes, and Ianna instinctively understood
that she would not be able to teleport if she did not enter the circle now.

She decided quickly.

“Don’t come!”

Ianna shouted back at Taro, Herrace, Saki, and a few others who had been about to leave the
magic circle to help her and reached out to grab Vita by the collar.

“……!”

Her Herculean strength lifted Vita off his feet and threw him over the people who had been
about to make their way to her.

Buzzzzz!
The glow from the magic circle swallowed everyone who had been standing on top of it just
as Ianna threw Vita inside.

And nothing was left once the light had disappeared.

Ianna gathered her breath as she surveyed her surroundings. No civilians had survived after
the woman had brandished her whip horizontally. Only the most skilled among the royal
army were still left standing as they stood atop the bisected corpses.

In other words, she was surrounded by enemies who were keeping her in check.
“…….”

Ianna lowered her gaze. The woman’s hand was still clutching her ankle so hard she might
crush it.

She was certain that the woman was a big shot whom she hadn’t dreamed of ever
encountering at this point in time.

But, even if the woman was someone incredible, did that mean that Ianna could do nothing
again as yet another Demon’s fragment owner dragged her down by the ankle?

No!
Ianna’s eyes glistened sharply.

Baaang!
Ianna drew her sword and stabbed furiously at the hand holding her ankle. But her blade
only collided bluntly against the woman’s reinforced wrist.

Get off!
But, unbelievably, the mana protecting the woman’s hand slowly began dispersing as
Ianna’s hostility and bloodlust showered upon it. Ianna brandished her sword fiercely yet
again.

Pow!
There was nothing fortifying her sword, but it still skewered the woman’s wrist like a
harpoon stabbing into a fish.

Blood spurted up like a fountain as Ianna drew back her sword.

Poow!
She felt the woman’s hand spasm and loosen its grip when she stabbed it again.

Poooow!
The woman’s hand fell away from her ankle, but Ianna stabbed it again and cut it cleanly off
the rest of the woman’s body.

Thud!
Ianna ignored her heart, which felt like it was about to burst, and kicked hard against the
earth to jump up as soon as the severed hand tumbled to the ground. She kicked off against
the walls to leap up and up toward the open ceiling.

The wind wrapped around her body. Ianna let her divine power flow out as she felt the
breeze blow past her arms and legs. She felt like she would die if she did not. Not because
she had used too much of her divine power, but because she had so much of it inside her
that she thought she might explode.

But it was too much of a waste to simply lose it. And so, Ianna used the last drop of her
rationality to call forth a certain being.

‘Shweia.’
Her body grew lighter not too long after she had released some of her divine power. She
almost felt like the wind was supporting her heavy body from below. And it was neither the
rancor of blood nor the acrid smell of earth that tickled her nose, but clean, refreshing air.

She heard a coy voice sound from directly next to her.

[Hmph. Now you finally call me?]

Ianna turned her bleary eyes to the side. A small and cute bird was flying beside her.

[I’ve been waiting for so long. I was planning on being mean to you while I sulked, but I see
that now isn’t the time or place for that.]
Ianna had already cleared the ceiling and was falling back down to the earth by the time that
Shweia appeared.

Thud!
“Ugh…….”

Ianna coughed and she tumbled outside the building.

Rumble rumble…….
The earth immediately began shaking like there was an earthquake. Then, Shweia spread
out his wings, wrapped them around Ianna, and flew up into the sky with her in tow. Ianna’s
body floated in the air like she was being carried by the wind.

Ianna let her body hang as she stared blankly down at the earth below. A yellow wave of
sand was rippling through the area.

Craaash!
The tidal wave of sand poured into the underground factory through its open ceiling.

The hole that led into the Ghosts’ factory was covered by the earth, not unlike the way the
earth covered the dead, and turned it into a colossal grave. The racket that had been
disturbing the dawn quieted in but an instant.

Fweeee…….
The silence that accompanied the wind paid tribute as the dawn’s light kissed the earth.
[I’ll hold onto her, so hurry up and go!]

Towe sounded uncharacteristically urgent as he transmitted his will. He was still working
desperately to keep hold of the woman.

Shweia asked,

[Where do you want to go?]

Ianna never said anything in reply, but Shweia read the answer that was communicated by
her soul and began flapping his wings next to Ianna’s shoulder.

Ianna’s body floated up like a ship in water for a moment before shooting off like an arrow
shortly thereafter and heading off to somewhere in a straight line.

“Urk!”

The wind carrying Ianna only stopped when she had reached her limits and began vomiting
blood. Shweia looked for somewhere secluded before slowing down until they came to a
complete stop. They were surrounded by a dense cluster of small and large rocky
mountains, and even Sidian had declared the area as a wasteland.

[Let’s take a short rest here.]

Thud!
Ianna clutched at her heart and collapsed as soon as her feet touched the ground. She
clawed blindly at her clothes. Her heart hurt as it thumped furiously. She thought it might
explode if she so much as breathed the wrong way.

“Ugh, ughh…….”

Shweia, the spirit king of wind, landed gently on Ianna’s shoulder as she suffered and
gingerly flapped his wings to help her breathe.

[Was it too much for you to summon our true forms? Slowpoke thought you would be okay,
but perhaps the jerk was wrong.]

Ianna took in deep breaths with Shweia’s help.

Divine power had exploded out from her heart as soon as she had felt a vast quantity of
divine power be consumed when she summoned the spirit king’s true form. It was the worst
overload to her body she had ever experienced ever since she had started training to control
divine power.
Divine power was traveling through her blood vessels and carrying vitality to every nook and
cranny of her body, but her limbs refused to move properly because she had exceeded her
limit.

[Hmmm, Slowpoke seems awfully guilty right now. He said he had to use an outrageous
amount of divine power because that woman was stronger than he had ever imagined she
could be.]

That woman.
Ianna snapped back to her senses as soon as she thought about the woman who was still
alive, as if it was only natural, even after she had been buried alive and her wrist had been
severed with a spray of blood. Now wasn’t the time to be leisurely taking a break.

Ianna staggered as she got back up.

“I…have to hurry and get out of Sidian…….”

[No. You wanted to go to the Lotso Mountains, right? You would have to go alone because
we can’t use our powers in the Lotso Mountains, but you’ll be eaten by monsters if you go
there in this state.]

“…….”

[So get your body back in shape first. Towe is about to be unsummoned, but I can stay here
in the physical plane until I’ve used up all the divine power you gave me, so I’ll protect you
while you’re resting. I promise.]

Shweia’s voice soothed Ianna’s tense consciousness as it whispered gently into her ear. She
lost her ability to reason, which she had been forcing herself to keep, as the need for rest
assaulted her.

Ianna passed out, and Shweia covered her with a gentle breeze. And, not too long afterward,
Towe, who had been keeping hold of the woman, was unsummoned.

~~*~~

The Third Factory had not only crumbled apart but was completely blocked off. No one had
survived. Everyone inside the factory had been buried alive.

“Hmmm…….”
But the woman was still safe and sound. She had been completely swallowed by the earth,
but she had never really needed to breathe to begin with. She was simply being held captive
by the great power of nature and needed only to stay there and wait until the power
restraining her disappeared.

‘I was completely had.’

She did not appear enraged even as she clutched her severed wrist. She had stopped
resisting and was simply thinking about the person who had cut off her hand with a hair-
raising flush on her face.

Who was that elf?

‘A spirit king? But how? And how did he cut off my hand?’
Tingle…….
Her heart was thumping unpleasantly. A biting pain, the likes of which she had never
experienced before in her life, had taken hold of her heart as soon as the bastard had shown
the true extent of his abilities.

Just about then, the woman felt the giant power of nature fettering her vanish.

Poooow!
The once-quiet earth exploded. The woman jumped airily up to the open ceiling.

Pshhhh…….
She walked out as the dust settled down around her. Her black eyes glistened eerily from
within the pale cloud of dust.

Her disrupted senses had felt a profound and mysterious presence that she could not
describe accurately with words during that instantaneous moment when the spirit king had
been summoned. She had felt extremely excited when she traced that feeling and reached
out to dig her fingernail into the bastard’s ankle and when the bastard unmasked his
presence to attack her.

Her heart had raced. She hated that she couldn’t explain the change that had happened to
her, but the sensation had also been so sweet and thrilling that it washed her displeasure
away.

The woman licked her tongue over her crimson lips.

‘……I want you.’

What did you do to me? Cheeky bastard.
She activated the magic inscribed into the ring she was wearing on her pinky.

[I humbly greet the Fourth Master.]

A certain man’s servile voice resounded from the ring.

[To think that you would personally descend to this place, Master……I cannot bear to lift my
head in my sorrow that my shortcomings were the cause. If you hand the bastards over to
the royal soldiers I sent over, I will pry all the information you need out from them and
report back to you.]

The woman’s lips twitched when the man asked her to transfer the infiltrators to him.

“Where are you right now, Payne?”

[I am in the chemical laboratory in the royal palace of Sidian.]

“Come here at once. I failed to capture the culprits. Send word all across the kingdom that
those who escaped from the Third Factory are traitors —I don’t care if you do it by magic or
by signal fire. Put the biggest rewards that you can give on their heads. And reward anyone
who has any clues as to who those bastards are generously. Find them and capture them —I
don’t care about how!”

[……I hear and obey.]

Payne’s reply had been slightly delayed. He had been so shocked to hear that one of his
masters had failed at her tasked that he had temporarily forgotten how to speak. He had
numerous questions, but Payne ultimately decided to obey her orders first.

Once she had gotten off the line with Payne, the woman used her ring to call someone else.
This time, a husky voice sounded from the ring.

[Oh, Your Imperial Highness the Princess. Has everything been resolved nicely? What kind
of person was it?]

“Come here right now, Wiffheimer.”

[……I beg your pardon? You wish me to go to you personally?]

“Yes!”

The woman’s eyes shone with a bleak yet strangely obsessive light. She continued,

“There’s a bastard who we have to capture right now.”

A power comparable to the Demon’s fragments her lineage had been collecting for centuries.
And ‘something’ apart from their power that made her heart race.
What was it?

Just what on earth was it?

She didn’t care whether the bastard was a man or a woman.

Be they a monster, one of the mythical races, or human —it didn’t matter.

‘I want you so bad…….’

The woman looked raptured for a moment before she immediately began fretting again.

I have to catch you soon.

I have to hold you in my grasp before you can hide yourself away.
I have to make sure you can’t escape me.
I’ll break off your arms and legs, throw you in a black mire and dirty you,
and slap you, and wound you, and strangle you,
even if it means I have to climb on top of you as you struggle to survive and hold you down for the
rest of my life……,
I have to keep you by my side no matter what. I have to make it so that you can never escape me…….
Just where on earth was this insane and uncontrollable possessive desire flowing from?

It stemmed from a source very, very deep within —so deep that even she could not possibly
fathom…….

“Come here, right this instant!”

ordered Isabella, the one and only imperial princess of the Bahamut Empire.

~~*~~

It was already morning by the time she opened her eyes.

“Ugh…”

Ianna jumped up as soon as she returned to her senses. Her entire body ached and
throbbed, but that wouldn’t pose a problem. She wiped away the sweat drenching her
forehead with the back of her hand and surveyed her surroundings in a half-conscious state.

“This is…….”
The earth was dry, but there was a lake —something that she had barely seen as she had
made her way through Sidian—, and a few trees shaded her from the sun’s hot rays as she
lay near the water. She had passed out under the leaves’ shade and had only awoken just
now.

‘How long have I been asleep……? And where am I?’

Ianna sat in a blank daze for a moment before she shook her head and decided to grasp her
situation first. In order to do so, she would have to call Shweia, who had been with her when
she had passed out.

Ianna steadied her breathing as she closed her eyes.

The air existed everywhere. It was the source of both the gentle mountain breezes and the
fierce hurricanes that destroyed everything in its path. She called to the great king who
could reach the very edges of the azure skies.

Fwooosh…….
The air began sucking into one point in front of her. She found it difficult to breathe for a
moment as the air pressure suddenly lowered drastically, but she opened her eyes when she
started feeling more refreshed than how she felt when she breathed in the crisp morning air.

[Good morning.]

Shweia, a small and translucent yellow-green bird, appeared while fluttering his wings. He
flitted down to Ianna’s thigh and straightened out his wings as he coyly asked,

[How are you feeling?]

“I cannot say that I’m feeling well, but I at least feel better than I did before I fainted.]

It was only her second time summoning Shweia and her first time having a proper
conversation with the spirit king, and Ianna spoke politely because she felt like, unlike the
other spirit kings, Shweia was putting some distance between them. Then, Shweia dropped
his coy act and began flapping his wings while pouting.

[Why are you being so formal?! Just speak to me normally like you do with the others!
Okay? I was already sad because you summoned me so late, so isn’t it a bit too much to treat
me differently too?]

She had misunderstood him. He was no different from the others.

“All right, I’m sorry.”

[Hmph. You don’t need to feel that bad about it……no wait, actually, call me more often if
you’re really sorry. I’m really capable, you know?]
Shweia returned to his original uppity tone. He continued,

[Let me introduce myself properly. I’m Shweia, the spirit king of wind. I’ve been speaking
with the others, so I know all about you.]

“All right, Shweia. I’m Ianna, and I’ll be in your care.”

[Mhmm.]

Shweia preened his feathered as he masked his joy.

“Would you happen to know how long I’ve been asleep?”

[I was carrying you for about two hours and it’s been about an hour since I was
unsummoned……so about three hours?]

It hadn’t been very long since she had passed out. Ianna had been worried that an entire day
might have passed while she was unconscious, since she had been in such a poor state when
she passed out, and she was glad that it was not the case.

Ianna’s hands moved jerkily as she rummaged through the bag she was carrying. Her bag
was packed to the brim with samples of Life that she had taken from the factory. Each
sample was worth at least a thousand gold according to Saki, but what was most important
to Ianna at the moment was the map she had tucked away in a corner.

Ianna pulled out the map and opened it.

“Do you know how to read a map, Shweia?”

[A map?]

Shweia studied the map and tilted his head to the side. He continued,

[Are you referring to a scaled-down drawing of the world?]

“Yes. I want to know where I am right now —would you be able to tell me?”

[Of course. I can fly freely through the skies, after all. Hold on a moment,]

Shweia said as he changed forms, floated up, and shot toward the skies like a gale.
Ianna, who had returned fully to her senses as she conversed with Shweia, grew parched.
She had the water pot that Innis had charged up in her bag, but she decided to simply drink
from the lake right next to her instead because she didn’t want to waste the spirit’s power.
She had also taken the opportunity to wash her soiled hands and face when Shweia
returned.

[We’re around here.]

Shweia pointed to a spot on the map with his beak.

Ianna didn’t know where exactly the Ghosts’ factory had been, but she was currently to the
northeast of Lampinion, close to the Lotso Mountains.

She had sub-consciously thought of the Lotso Mountains when Shweia had asked her where
she wanted to go before she had passed out. She had stopped herself from even thinking
about Roanne, lest she was tracked and her secrets were leaked, and she had been reluctant
to go towards Jinzai because she didn’t want to do anything that might hurt Saki and her
people.

And so, she had ultimately decided to head toward the Lotso Mountains, which were not
owned by any country.

[But more importantly, we have a problem.]

Ianna faltered.

“……What do you mean?”

[You have a tracker on you.]

Ianna had expected as much.

[You’re probably being tracked by the broken fingernail pieces that were embedded into
your ankle.]

“……!”

[You started being tracked a few minutes before I was unsummoned —though I did pull out
a few pieces that I could see from the outside and scattered them all over the place. But I
was in charge of maintaining the harmony between the bodies of living beings and nature —
I didn’t have much to do with actual bodies themselves— so I couldn’t pull out the pieces
that were entrenched more deeply inside. Neither did I have the time to try. I tried waking
you before I had to leave, but you wouldn’t wake up. I made a barrier of wind around you
before left, but it’s grown weaker since time has passed. That’s probably how they tracked
you.]

She had apparently been extremely exhausted. She certainly felt better than she had before
she had fainted, but now she had another problem to deal with.

“So then…….”

[I saw an encirclement when I looked down from above.]

Ianna groaned and clutched at her head. To think that she could be tracked by broken
fingernail pieces. She almost wanted to figure how that that even made sense, but magic had
limitless potential, and it was certainly plausible considering the fact that countless spells
existed in the world. Besides, she had been tracked previously by Keigus Dimitri’s blood too.

Moreover, she assumed that the woman was ‘Isabella Bahamut,’ the imperial princess of
Bahamut, who stood superior to Keigus Dimitri. The only reason why the princess hadn’t
demonstrated the full brunt of her abilities was because she had let her guard down, and,
while Ianna wasn’t entirely certain whether the woman had been the princess herself or a
mage under the princess’ command, there was no doubt that Bahamut had many people on
their side who could use extraordinary skills.

Ianna placed her hand on her chin with a grave look on her mien.

“Since they haven’t caught me, does that mean they haven’t pinpointed my location yet?”

[I think so. I think they can only track what direction you went.]

That was a relief.

[But in any event, you’ll need Towe and Innis’ help to get rid of the nail pieces and heal you,
since they’re able to manipulate bodies.]

First things first, Ianna would have to treat her wound.

[Ianna!]

[Whimper, you were okay!]

Towe and Innis rushed into Ianna’s arms as soon as they were summoned. She was pushing
herself by calling three spirits kings at once, but it wouldn’t pose a problem. She felt like this
incident had not only increased the total amount of divine power she had at her disposal but
also vastly increased her body’s durability.

And so, she figured that she might as well call Kagomyne too.
[Aha, you called me too! I’m so happy!]

Kagomyne jumped into Ianna’s arms with his tail wagging as soon as he was summoned.
The four spirits began bickering as they expressed their joy within Ianna’s embrace.

[How long has it been all four of us were in the physical plane together?]

[What do you mean how long? —we barely ever gathered together like this even during the
Holy Age.]

Then, they all turned to Ianna at once. Ianna could not help but smile despite the danger she
was in. Watching the guileless spirits always brightened her mood.

Towe and Innis placed their hands on Ianna’s ankle and melted into it. Her once-wounded
ankle tickled as it healed. They threw the remaining pieces of the fingernail outside Ianna’s
body, and Shweia took them in his beak and took to the sky.

[I’ll scatter them again.]

Innis poured clean water over Ianna’s head to wash away her fatigue and refresh her while
Shweia was gone.

[I want to do something for you too since I’m here. Oh!]

Kagomyne’s eyes suddenly glistened as he fidgeted, and he jumped up and drove his nose
against Ianna’s bag. The bag fell over sideways, and a heap of drug bottles poured out from
it.

Ianna stared at him quietly, wondering what he was up to, when Kagomyne began wagging
his tail.

[Do you want me to purify these, Ianna?]

“Purify?”

[I can burn away Ideas with a pure flame. The Ideas here are incredibly potent, but they can
be purified since the they’re small and the Ideas are weaker than my ego! This is something
only I can do!]

Ianna pondered for a moment before she asked Kagomyne to purify all the bottles save for
one. Kagomyne piled the bottles up in the shape of an altar before standing his tail erect and
flattening his body.
Then, the pile of drug bottles burst into flame. The pure flame heated up the liquids inside
without melting the glass bottles.

Shaaaa…….
A black aura seeped out from the bottles. Then, it turned into a brilliant light, as if it had
never been black to begin with, as soon as it mixed into the flames and scattered like
sunlight. The sight of it was beautiful, though it also felt somewhat sorrowful.

Only a clear liquid was left behind in the bottles once Kagomyne’s flames had disappeared.
Kagomyne was in a great cheer as he pushed the bottles back in her bag, believing that he
had done her a great service. Shweia came back as he did.

[The group split up. Over half of them went to where I scattered the nail pieces, but there
are still a lot of them coming this way. And that horrible-feeling woman is one of them.
What should we do, Ianna?]

[Be wary of that woman. I was only able to grab her so easily last time because she was
caught off guard.]

Ianna wondered what she should do. She thought of Arhad for a moment, but she quickly
shook her head no. Arhad wouldn’t be able to do much in this situation either. Even if he
could, he would not be able to come to her in person. The Demon’s fragments would
resonate if he did, and Isabella would learn about his existence.

Arhad must not have anything to do with this incident.

“Shweia, can we escape if you take me and fly high up in the sky?”

[It’s worth trying. I don’t know how far that woman’s senses reach, but magic probably plays
a key role in it. But there was an elderly man with the woman who feels similar to her, and
you might get shot down.]

“It’s better than staying on the ground.”

[I’ll do everything I can, if that’s what you want to do.]

“All right. Then, please carry me to the entrance to the Lotso Mountains. I’ll figure things
out on my own from there. You said that your powers didn’t work in the Lotso
Mountains……right?”

[Mhmm. We don’t know why, but we can’t use our powers in the Lotso Mountains —it might
be because of the Demon’s aura or it might be due to the Ideas there……the toxic feeling
there is too strong, and we’re the Demon’s natural enemy, so it’s difficult for us to be there.
I’m sorry we can’t help you until the end.]
The spirits looked to Ianna with worry in their eyes. Ianna felt her heart squeeze as she
looked back at them.

“……I’m already more than grateful for all the help you’ve given me. I always feel this way,
but I want you to know that I was only able to do a lot of things I could because you guys
were here with me, and I’ve also received a lot from you guys too.”

And the most precious gift that she had received from the spirits was neither their
miraculous power nor their mythological knowledge. It was their warm love for her.

Ianna truly adored them.

How could she not love them back when they had liked her as soon as they first met her and
asked for nothing in return?

Ianna hugged the spirits tight.

“I truly……like you guys.”

And so, she decided to express her feelings honestly. Ianna generally didn’t express her like
or dislike of others, but she took courage in the fact that the spirits had no reason to reject
her.

[Mmmm.]

[Ianna said she likes us! Is this a dream or is this reality?]

[I love you more! I love you more, Ianna!]

[Hehe. Hmph. All right. I’ll work harder!]

The spirits buried themselves deeper in Ianna’s embrace as they each expressed their joy.
Ianna smiled. Their reactions had not betrayed her expectations.

She had rested enough, and it was time to start moving now. Shweia said they should go and
tried to sit on her shoulder, but Ianna asked him to wait a moment and began shaking out
her bag.

She had decided something as she saw Kagomyne’s miracle.

Dribble.
Ianna immediately poured out the contents of the bottles without a moment’s hesitation.
The dead deserved to return to the earth to rest regardless of whether they had been good or
evil in life. Such was the providence of the world. But those who had died in the Ghosts’
factory hadn’t been able to do that.

She could not put everyone to rest.

But, shouldn’t she still at least return the dead that she carried with her to providence?

Towe watched her and used the divine power she had poured into the earth to create fertile
soil. Shweia vanished for a moment and came back to scatter flower seeds in it. Innis
sprinkled them with clean water. And Kagomyne created a warm light to incubate the soil.

Things began changing before Ianna’s very eyes.

Young sprouts pushed out from the soil and covered the earth. Their fresh stems shot up,
and their plentiful leaves settled in place. One bud formed at the end of a stem and
blossomed into a flower. Then another, and another……until countless flowers bloomed and
colored the once-barren earth beautifully.

Ianna and the spirits watched in silence as the scene played out before them.

Quietly, Shweia said,

[This land has been blessed.]

“It’s all thanks to you guys. I’m so glad I have you with me.”

Ianna turned her back on the land once she had returned the dead to providence. It was
time to focus on her own situation now.

~~*~~

Part 9
“Ahh…….”

Isabella stretched as she stood atop a tall rock.

“Where on earth are you? I’d really like it if you could just fall into my grasp already.”
She extended her senses to their very limits as she scanned her surroundings.

It was an advanced technique that searched for signs of life using the five senses and reading
the fluctuation of mana in the air. Living beings that needed to breathe normally could not
escape this technique, but someone skilled could hide their presence from it.

But that was only the case when an ordinary person scanned with their senses.

Bahamut.

The Bahamut lineage had always been the strongest of the strong ever since their progenitor
had started the bloodline in times immemorial and became the first person ever to begin
gathering the Demon’s fragments. Only a very, very few had ever been able to escape the
Bahamut lineage’s senses.

And yet, Isabella Bahamut could not locate the impertinent enemy who had cut off her hand
with her senses. She did not know how incredibly skilled he was, but the level of his
presence had been fainter that of even a bug’s and she could not get an accurate read on
him.

It was impossible to track him normally, and she would have almost definitely lost him had
she not desperately dug her nails in his ankle a few hours prior. And the mere thought of
letting him escape made her dizzy.

Putting her strange arousal for the bastard aside, the fact that someone so skilled that he
could vanish from her perception was walking the earth made Isabella shudder.

‘I absolutely must capture him without fail. It would have been one thing if he stayed holed up in
the four corners like the dragons or the mythical races, but someone with a sense of justice strong
enough to meddle with the manufacturing of Life will certainly get in the way of our plans.’
Isabella grew nervous and shot a sidelong glance at the elderly man standing behind her.

“Are you sure he’s here? How many times have we missed him already? Are you sure you’re
doing your best?”

If it had been anyone other than this elderly man who was in charge of tracking down the
bastard, she would have already ripped out their throat for the crime of causing her delay.
The elderly man furrowed his brows.

“I informed you earlier that all the pieces of your nails that we found in the past two hours
were false leads and that there is good reason to believe that the culprit is hiding under the
spirits’ protection. And I also informed you that the spirits were likely unsummoned about
an hour ago, and that we were able to track a large number of pieces of your nails at once.”
“You did.”

“I believe the spirits interfered yet again. The pieces were scattered about again, and their
presence vanished from the place we thought we would find them. Either he used the spirits’
power to heal his ankle and eradicate the pieces, or he is using a piece to throw us off his
trail……but we cannot predict what he has done, and it has become difficult to pinpoint his
location. Now is not the time to track him with magic, but the time to begin searching for
him in person.”

“Ugh, how annoying. Truly, I’ve hated the spirits from the very beginning, and I’ll hate them
until the bitter end.”

“In any event…”

The elderly man expressed his displeasure. The fierce look on his face grew even more
ferocious. He continued,

“Is tracking down this bastard truly worth our time? I am a very busy man…….”
He was being courteous with his words, but it was obvious that he was not fully deferential
to Isabella. Ianna scoffed at his displeasure.

He was an archmage, one of the most monstrously intelligent people in the world, with
countless disciples behind him, and even Isabella, who was so powerful she need not fear
anything the world could ever possibly throw at her, pardoned his impudence and even
respected him.

He was Wiffheimer Potestas, a renowned mage in his own right, who was the chief of the
Bahamut imperial family’s court mages and one of the people who cooperated with the
imperial family and shared their dream of world domination.

“And you think I’m not? That bastard felt strange, Wiffheimer. He felt very, very mysterious
and eerie, but he also made me excited. I’ve never felt that way before in my life. You’ll
thank me when you see him in person. Have more faith in your greatest disciple.”
He was also Isabella’s teacher in magic.

“Hmmm…….”

Wiffheimer stroked his short beard as he looked to the rapture on Isabella’s visage in
disbelief.

“Unlike you, Your Highness, I don’t feel……. But…”

He slammed the end of the cane he was holding against the ground. He continued,
“I do find it intriguing that he was able to break the spells that the imperial family and I had
been maintaining and that he was even able to cut off your hand, especially when he doesn’t
even possess a fragment of the Demon. Let us capture him without fail since we’ve already
come so far. Can you not track him down using the strange feeling you felt from him, Your
Highness? Like the way you would trace the resonance emitted between fragments.”

Isabella shook her head in irritation.

“No.”

She had been organizing her thoughts as she tracked the bastard over the past few hours,
and two of the things she had learned about him was that she could only feel the mysterious
feeling she felt from him if he was nearby and that it grew very faint if he decided to hide his
presence.

This was why she hadn’t perceived the feeling at first in the underground factory and had
nearly killed him.

“I can locate a Demon’s fragment as long as it’s in the area. But he’s different from the
fragments. And yet he still manages to drive me crazy.”

Isabella’s lips twisted into a frown. She continued,

“Goodness, his body must be anything but normal if he was able to summon a spirit king —
he’s certainly quite tenacious. Just wait until I catch him. I’m going to drag him straight to
my palace. Then, I’ll cut off his hands and feet so he can’t go anywhere and I’ll keep him
locked up……wait.”

Isabella suddenly stopped talking and dashed in a certain direction.

Bam bam bam bam!

The dirt exploded and stirred up a storm every time her feet touched the ground. She was
shooting forward at the speed of light. Wiffheimer, too, chased after her by casting Blink.

“There’s something shooting through the sky at a tremendous speed. The mages who had
been searching from the skies are moving in pursuit.”

[I think it’s him, Teacher. There’s a robed figure using the wind spirit’s power to fly through
the sky.]

And urgent voice responded as Wiffheimer’s ring flickered. Wiffheimer closed his eyes as he
extended his senses in a straight line.
“His coordinates are -14978, -14132……and he seems to be heading for the entrance to the
Lotso Mountains. He’s traveling in a straight line. Your Highness, please take his speed and
the time it takes to cast Teleport into consideration and teleport to -7241, -321, 697 in three
minutes.”

Wiffheimer quickly concluded his analysis and reported back to Isabella, and the princess
activated the communication magic imbued in her ring.

“Payne, the bastard is planning to escape Sidian through the sky and is moving toward the
Lotso Mountains. Move all your soldiers to the border with the Lotso Mountains and form a
line of defense. Close off all of Sidian’s borders and keep watch over the skies so that we’ll
know as soon as he tries to go anywhere. And report back to me as soon as you find him.”

[I’ve already closed the borders, but I will send along more soldiers just in case. And I will
keep an eye on the sky as you have commanded.]

“Good. Wiffheimer, I’ll keep chasing him, so you go to the Lotso Mountais and prepare a
trap to catch him.”

A teleportation magic circle appeared beneath Wiffheimer.

“I will do as you say. Though I’m sure my efforts will be in vain if you should catch him
before then, Your Highness…….”

Wiffheimer looked to Isabella’s hand, which gave off the aura of extremely dense mana. He
continued,

“How is your hand? Do you not regret it?”

“Not at all.”

“To think that you would create a synthetic one when you could have simply reattached your
original hand…….”

“I like it more because it’s made from mana. I can transform it however I wish. And I can
restore it instantly if it ever gets cut off again.”

Isabella’s fingernails grew longer and shorter. She made a tight fist as she looked at her new
hand.

“This is enough talk. Focusing your efforts on capturing the bastard.”

“Understood. But first, please give me the authority to command Payne and the Sidian royal
army.”
“Payne, follow Wiffheimer’s instructions from now on.”

[I hear and I obey.]

Wiffheimer and his magic circle vanished not too long afterward.

Buzzzz…….
Another colossal magic circle appeared in front of Isabella and began sucking in mana. Her
joints cracked as she loosened out her body.

“I’ll catch you without fail this time.”

The teleportation magic circle flashed. And Isabella was drawn into its giant light.

~~*~~

Ianna was flying toward the Lotso Mountains in the gale’s embrace when Shweia suddenly
called out to her in a heavy voice.

[That woman is chasing after us.]

“Will she catch up?”

[No. Unless she teleports, that is.]

“In that case, she’ll probably teleport. Can you go any faster?”

[I would need a lot of your divine power.]

“Please go as fast as you can —you can use as much divine power as you need. And change
directions constantly since they’ll be teleporting.”

[Will you be alright? It might make you dizzy.]

“It’s better than getting caught.”

[All right.]
Shweia accepted more divine power and began carrying out Ianna’s request as soon as
Ianna had permitted it. Shweia was protecting her with a barrier of wind, but Ianna still
huddled into herself a little because it was cold and the wind and the cloth covering her nose
and mouth made it difficult to breath.

Something began vibrating under her clothes just then. Ianna checked to see what it was to
find out that it was the artefact that Saki had given her. The artefact that Ianna had
pocketed without much thought had been activated.

Ianna injected it with mana, and Saki’s tearful voice cut through space to reach out to her.

[Lady Anna!]

“Saki.”

[You were safe. Thank goodness……. I kept calling you, but you didn’t answer…… What is
happening to you right now?]

“I’m being chased,”

Ianna said calmly, promptly Saki to hurriedly reply,

[I will help you. Where are you?]

“I’m travelling toward the Lotso Mountains with the spirits’ powers. I don’t think I’ll be able
to avoid a confrontation with my pursuers. But…….”

Ianna steadied her breathing and continued in simple terms.

“You are no match for them. It won’t make a difference no matter how many hundreds or
even thousands of people you send. You would only be getting in my way. I will figure out an
escape on my own. Goodbye.”

[Lady An……!]

Ianna cut off their communication.

Saki and her people had no chance of beating the Bahamut imperial family, whose
incredible military might had been the talk of legends since times immemorial. They would
not only be defeated —it was certain they would be annihilated. Ianna did not need their
help, as it would only lead to more losses.

And, shortly thereafter.

She felt a giant movement in the flow of mana from afar. A magic circle expanded out like an
umbrella being opened, and a familiar woman shot out from it.

With a flush on her face, Isabella screamed,

“I found you!”

Ianna looked back at Isabella. Isabella was chasing after her by using Blink from the place
she had been teleported to.

Ianna returned her attention forward. She had almost reached the Lotso Mountains, but she
was afraid that Isabella would catch her by using Blink.

“Avoid the flow of mana as you move, Shweia.”

[I will. But I’m already starting to grow weaker……. I won’t be able to block it if that woman
attacks. And there’s a chance I might get unsummoned abruptly, though I’ll still take you as
far as I can. We’re almost there, so I’ll start descending.]

Ianna looked down as she listened to Shweia’s warnings. Soldiers donned with the royal
army’s uniform were crawling over the earth like a swarm of ants.

“You aren’t that high elf from before. Are you another elf?”

Ianna heard Isabella’s seductive and coquettish voice from close by. She felt the air tear
apart as tough leather shot out toward her. Ianna immediately drew her sword to block it.

Her sword did not clash against the whip. Instead, the whip wrapped around her blade and
restrained it.

Isabella smiled beautifully as she said,

“I caught you.”

Ianna calmly pulled back at her sword. Isabella’s eyes opened wide in surprise as she felt
herself be pulled forward.

“Oh my?”

Are you going to let me catch you?

But Ianna spun around and created a powerful centrifugal force before Isabella could say
the words. Then, she grabbed the whip with a gloved hand as soon as Isabella had lost her
balance. She pulled the whip taut.
Swoosh!
Ianna turned back around and tensed her forearms as she threw the whip over her shoulder.
Isabella, who was still holding onto the whip even though she had lost her balance, was
thrown into the air in an arc.

Then, Ianna pulled down at the whip as hard as she could, and both Isabella and the whip
came crashing down. Isabella tried to straighten herself out, but she was rendered helpless
as the wind’s powerful strength doubled down on her.

Ianna cut the whip along its ‘Line’ before she too was pulled down with it. The whip had
been made from the tough leather of a monster and was reinforced with mana, but cutting it
there had rendered all of its enhancements futile.

Isabella fell down toward the soldiers below like a shooting star.

Craaaaash!
There was a thunderous noise and a cloud of dust rose up as if there had been an explosion.
A crater was formed as Isabella crashed down to earth, and the soldiers were caught up in it.

Splat, splaaat…….
“What the?!”

“Ahhhh!”

Ianna jumped over the thick wall of soldiers and asked Shweia to put her down while the
army was distracted by Isabella, who was screaming out in pain.

[I wish you luck.]

Shweia immediately put her down and placed a kiss of blessing on her forehead before he
was unsummoned.

Ianna vanished into the Lotso Mountains’ overgrown sea of trees like a ghost.

“Why you……!”

Isabella, who was covered from head to toe in the blood and gore of the soldiers whom she
had crushed as she landed, jumped up. Her eyes grew bloodshot as she watched Ianna run
into the Lotso Mountains.

“W-what just happened?”

“That wench —find out who she is at once!”

Not only the royal army’s soldiers but also soldiers belonging to each respective city’s liege
lords had been dragged out under the excuse of capturing a traitor at the border.

The city army soldiers grew wary of the gorgeous woman who had suddenly created a crater
in their midst.

But the royal soldiers froze stiff as they stood at attention. The royal army consisted of
Bahamut soldiers who had been trained and dispatched from the empire. They had seen the
beautiful princess before from afar, and they recognized her.

Isabella looked surprisingly like a madwoman with her disheveled hair and glistening eyes,
but no one dared to say to it out loud.

“Capture him, all of you! Whomever catches him alive will be rewarded ten million gold!”

Isabella shouted into her ring before taking after Ianna like lightning. The soldiers she had
left behind stood with their mouths agape.

“T-t-ten million gold?”

“Gold, not silver?”

“Did we hear incorrectly……? Surely, she said a million, not ten, right? And even one million
gold is a lot.”
“More importantly, who was that woman? Is she the king’s mistress or something?”

Meanwhile, commanding officers ranking centurion or higher received orders from their
king from their own communication rings and began shouting at their soldiers and telling
them to move.

“It’s true!”

“She’s really offering ten million gold!”

“Ten million gold just for capturing one guy!”

“Are you serious? Damn, that’s awesome. Let’s hurry!”

Ianna noticed that Isabella was quickly chasing after her and reinforced her legs with as
much mana as she could while the armies blazed with their newly-ignited fighting spirit and
spilled into the Lotso Mountains like a bag of rice that had been cut open and emptied out.

Ianna ran toward the Lotso Mountains’ roads.

The roads were jam-packed with people, likely because the border between Lampinion and
Jinzai was closed. There were still a lot of people even though the entrance to the Lotso
Mountains had been blocked off several hours prior as Sidian mobilized to capture Ianna.

Ianna shoved her hand inside her bag. She had brought an incredibly plain mask with her
just in case. She secured it on her face as she kicked off against the earth.

Thud thud thud!

“Whoa!”

“Oof!”

Tree roots, wagons, horses, branches, people’s heads —she stepped over all sorts of things as
she sped forward.

Craaaash!
There was a deafening roar followed immediately by people’s screams.

Ianna looked back to find that Isabella’s whip was whisking around like a giant black snake.
People were bursting apart, getting limbs torn off, or sent flying into monsters’ territory as
the whip struck them. The monsters that had been eyeing the roads ate the people that went
flying toward them, wondering what stroke of luck had brought them their meals.

Isabella continued her massacre without a care as she screamed,

“Stop! I’ll kill everyone here if you don’t stop!”

Ianna clicked her tongue.

‘She’s blinded to everything else.’

Ianna had come here not only because she wanted to avoid high-leveled monsters but also
because she had thought that Isabella would hold back if there was a lot of people around,
but she had been wrong. Then again, what reason would the Bahamut imperial family have
to mind the eyes of people when they already had immense wealth, power, and authority?
Who would censure them no matter how many people they killed?

‘But the Ghosts’ factory must’ve been pretty important if the princess herself is chasing me so
frantically. Then again, I suppose it was pretty important if they were using the drugs to produced
powerful knights.’
Ianna, who hadn’t noticed Isabella’s strange fixation with her yet, dodged a bolt of lightning
that had come flying at her and threw her body toward the woods.

Now wasn’t the time to entertain any stray thoughts. She needed to focus of getting out of
this situation safely.
She decided to go through with a rather ‘extreme’ last-ditch plan if she could not
successfully shake off her pursuers. This plan wasn’t to expose her ability to control divine
power, but to turn away from her destination, Toraca, and head toward the very center of
the world instead of one of the four corners.

She needed to go there at some point, in any case.

She would go to the very heart of the Lotso Mountains —the territory belonging to
‘Kandemayon,’ the Chaos Dragon.

Dragons were unfathomable creatures. This was true of everyone, even the imperial princess
of Bahamut. Even Isabella probably could not act so viciously before Kandemayon, the ruler
of the Lotso Mountains.

And as for why she had decided to do something as crazy as put her trust in the dragon who
had killed every intruder so far with a its breath?

It wasn’t that there didn’t exist a chance that she might die a pathetic death at the dragon’s
hands, but Ianna was fairly certain that the dragon would not kill her.
The dragons protected the mythical races and guarded the gods’ secrets. There was no
reason why they would kill her, who had once been a god named Roberstein, before they
shared at least one conversation with her.

Ultimately, Ianna left the roads and ran into monster territory. Overgrown leaves sliced her
flesh as Ianna ran through the dense forestry.

“Graaaaaawr!”

Monsters came running toward her from every direction, having smelled the delicious scent
of life.

The first monsters to rush at her with their teeth bared were krads, low-class bipedal
monsters with dog-like heads. They had dog-like heads, but the teeth peering out from the
lips were like the fangs of savage beasts. They even carried around disfigured, axe-like
weapons, and they were so hated that they were often called the outlaws of the mountains
outside of the Lotso Mountains.

Ianna spotted an opening in between the pack that was swarming her, lowered her body for
a moment, and immediately shot through it like lightning. Then, she kicked off again from
one of the krads’ backs.

Bang!
“Yelp!”
It had been but a simple movement, but the krad lurched forward belly-first due to the
power in Ianna’s kick, and Ianna used the resulting recoil to shoot away even faster.
Smaaaack!
Isabella, who had followed Ianna into the woods and was close behind, used her whip to
bisect the krad that had come flying at her.

Stomp.
“Whimper…….”
The krads, who had rushed toward their new foe, opened their mouths as soon as Isabella
had caught their eyes. Then, they whimpered like kicked dogs and began trembling so
fiercely they might have been having seizures. Simultaneously, their groins grew moist and
began giving off an acidic stench.

Isabella ignored the krads that had planted themselves on the ground instead of running at
her and continued to chase solely after Ianna.

Next were orcs, which had pig-like heads. They were high orcs, red orcs with sharp horns on
their backs and shoulders and an evolved subspecies of high-leveled orcs that were much
stronger than their lower-leveled and normal cousins. Some of them could even use magic.

“Croak……!”
And yet, they fared no better than the krads. They approached Ianna while licking their
chops, but they paled so quickly that their skin stopped being red as soon as they saw
Isabella behind her.

“Screech!”
The same phenomenon repeated over and over again. Monsters tried to attack Ianna, saw
Isabella, and either froze stiff or ran away. Small monsters, mid-sized monsters……it didn’t
matter how strong or weak they were.

Ianna recalled what had happened with Arhad in the South as the phenomenon continued
repeating. And she arrived at a single conclusion. The monsters were afraid because of the
‘Demon’s fragment.’ It was said that monsters were born because they had been exposed to
the Demon’s miasma, so perhaps they were being influenced by that.

Baaang!
Ianna beat back hard at the spell that had come flying at her.

The dozens of ice crystals, each enforced to their maximum limits, clanged as they struck the
trees and froze them solid the moment they hit.

Intrigue colored Isabella’s eyes as she watched from behind.

‘That wasn’t any ordinary spell, so how was he able to beat it back so easily?’
She licked her lips.
The spells were one thing, but the mana refused to listen to her even though she had been
trying to disperse the mana reinforcing the bastard’s legs for some time now. He wasn’t even
exercising that tight a grip over it —it was almost as it the mana itself was willfully clinging
to him and throwing a tantrum because it didn’t want to let go.

How is his affinity so high when he doesn’t even have a Demon’s fragment?
And there’s also the fact that he’s able to summon the spirit kings…….
What a mysterious and exciting bastard.
“I’ll keep chasing you until you pass out from exhaustion!”

Isabella forgot even the fury she had felt when she had first stepped into the Lotso
Mountains and chased after Ianna with great fun. It wasn’t easy, but she felt like she had
become a huntress chasing after an amazing prey who was truly worth the time she was
spending, and it thrilled her.

It was rare for her to be able to feel like this. The entire world was in her grasp, and she was
always left bored because of this —it was rare for her to be able to feel excited over
something.

Which was why Isabella pushed aside her eagerness to catch Ianna quickly and simply
enjoyed the hunt. It wouldn’t be long until they reached Wiffheimer’s trap anyway, and
there was no reason for Isabella to fret because Ianna was smoothly making her way over to
where Wiffheimer was waiting.

And they arrived soon enough. Ianna’s footsteps faltered for the first time today because the
scene spreading out before her eyes were so utterly absurd.

Tingling bloodlust prickled her skin. Ianna tensed up as she surveyed her enemies.

‘This is…….’
“Grrrr.”

They were high-class monsters, judging by their size and the presence they were giving off.

They each resembled a deer, beetle, or snake, but they had evolved so much and looked so
bizarre that they could no longer be called the creatures they had originally been based off
of.

‘How are they all here in one place?’

It was said that high-class monsters fought each other viciously if they met. Which was why
they determined their own territories and rarely ventured outside them, but there were over
three of them gathered here in one place. And they weren’t fighting each other at all —they
were all glaring at Ianna together as if in harmony. They were hostile only to her.
Ianna looked to the monsters’ feet. There was a sea of small- and mid-sized monsters all
panting heavily as they observed her.

“Are you the remarkable bastard who called forth the spirit kings and cut off the dear lady’s
hand?”

Ianna whipped her head around when she heard a husky voice.

There, she found a snake-like monster of the highest class, so infamous that it had been
given its own name —Basilisk—, glowering at her with its head raised high. The Basilisk was
so notorious that even Ianna knew of it.

“Sssss.”

Saliva drizzled down from the Basilisk’s mouth. The deadly venom it carried melted the
grass and earth below into a dead sludge.

A scarlet light dwelt in the Basilisk’s eyes as it took in Ianna’s figure. Ianna had seen such
eyes before long ago.

‘The monsters that spilled down from the Lotso Mountains.’

She had seen the very same eyes from the monsters that had poured out from the Lotso
Mountains when war had broken out between Bahamut and Roanne. And she had witnessed
it from afar. As the monsters had listened to Arhad’s commands.

“I see. He truly does feel quite peculiar.”

She heard the husky voice again. Ianna looked up to stare at the top of the Basilisk’s head,
which seemed to kiss the sky itself. There was an elderly man standing there haughtily. His
eyes narrowed as he looked down at Ianna. He continued,

“I almost want to run a few experiments on him.”

“No, you can’t. Hardly any of your test subjects have ever survived your experiments.”

Isabella organized her thoughts as she walked ever so leisurely after Ianna. The monsters
paid her no heed. Neither did they seize up in terror at the mere sight of her, as the others
had until now.

In the past, Ianna had thought that the monsters were simply obeying Arhad’s commands
because the mages under his banner had been controlling their minds with magic, but
another worry budded in her now that she knew so much more.
‘Perhaps they’re not only terrified by the Demon, but also willing to obey the Demon’s orders. Does
that mean that even the Basilisk can’t defy the Demon’s power?’
The elderly man raised his hand as Ianna sought an answer. She immediately fled the scene
as she was assaulted by a sense of danger.

Clatter clatter!
Chains made from mana struck against the ground. The elderly man mumbled,

“Dizziness, Slide, Shock, Bind.”

Sturdy arrangements of mana fell upon Ianna with every simplistic word that left his mouth.
His casting had been so swift that most people would have been caught in his spells before
they could even begin to resist, but Ianna was just barely able to dodge them by the skin of
her teeth.

Ianna understood that she was in peril and that she would truly get caught if things
continued this way. Which was why she decided to test something out. She glared at the
mana as if she was asking, Are you really going to do this to me?
And the mana recoiled and dispersed like a tangled mass of string unraveling one strand at a
time.

“……!”

The elderly man’s —Wiffheimer’s— eyes opened wide and took on a strange light.

The bastard must have done something when he had looked at the mana, because
Wiffheimer’s chest had stung for a moment and the mana had promptly dispersed.

It was alarming to him that the spells he had personally cast had been erased so thoroughly.
Wiffheimer had received his Demon’s fragment when he was very young and had never
experienced anything like this before, and he was deeply intrigued by his prey.

“Hmmm…….”

His displeasure at the fact that Isabella had dragged him out here evaporated
instantaneously. His burning passion for research, which bordered madness and had not
only made him the strongest mage alive but had even called a fragment of the Demon to
him, had dimmed quietly when he had grown so powerful that none could dare defy him
and was now beginning to blaze again within the old man’s heart.

And when the flames and reached its zenith, Wiffheimer laughed.

He recognized that the passion for research that he was feeling now was one of the strongest
desires he had ever felt in his life.
Had his bizarrely strong desire to do research come about simply because the bastard had
dispelled his magic? Isabella, who was perpetually bored, was so excited and fixated, and
Wiffheimer himself was being shaken by the bastard and burning in his desire to do
research even though the elderly mage was generally level-headed……was that normal?

No, it wasn’t.

But then, why was this happening?

Who was that bastard?

Wiffheimer wanted to study the cause behind this strange phenomenon. He wanted to
throw the bastard down on his lab bench, dissect him, and figure out who he was post-haste.

“Hey, relax yourself. I will not tolerate that look in your eyes.”

Isabella clicked her tongue as she witnessed the glint in the elderly man’s eyes. She
continued,

“I found this curio first. I initially wanted to monopolize him for myself, but I had no choice
but to call you only because the circumstances were what they were. I will not permit you to
lay your hands on him as you please.”
“In which case, I will seek permission before I begin. Are you not curious, Your Highness?
Why does he make us feel so strange? These feelings have nothing to do with our personal
wills, in my humble opinion. They are feelings born from the fragments dwelling in the both
of us.”

“Hmm?”

Isabella was inclined to agree as she tilted her head to the side. Ianna, who had been
listening to what the mage had been saying, heard the title, “Your Highness,” and confirmed
her suspicions as to the woman’s identity.

“Though he does not possess a fragment of the Demon, it is highly likely that he is still
related to the Demon in some manner. I simply wish to know what that relation is. Besides,
I have no intention of killing him either and will be holding back. So, pray don’t fret.”

“I’m rather curious myself. But Wiffheimer, I will only let you do as you please after my
mother and brother have seen him first.”
“I thought you wished to monopolize him?”

“They’re different from you. We share the same fragments, after all.”
They ignored Ianna entirely, believing her to be a fish already caught in their net, and were
already discussing how they would deal with her afterward. Ianna found it ridiculous as she
listened to them speak so freely, not even bothering to conceal their identities before prey
they thought they had already caught, and she was able to identify the mage as well. The
elderly man was Wiffheimer Potestas, the strongest mage in all of Bahamut.

To think that she would run into not one but two of the final bosses. Just thinking about
how she was to settle this incredulous matter made Ianna’s head hurt, but that was a
problem she would have to agonize over later —for now, escaping came first.

She tried to hide her presence, but they had apparently perceived the same things from her
that Keigus Dimitri had once felt. It was unfortunate, but there was nothing she could do
about it at this point. There was little point in crying over spilt milk.

Her future actions would be restricted —be that as it may, but it also meant that she had no
more reason to hide her strength. All she had to do was ensure that she didn’t dye the mana
around her crimson or use her crimson divine power. Even just that little extra leniency
made Ianna feel like a liberated wild beast.

Ianna, who had been purposefully slowing down as Isabella and Wiffheimer conversed,
suddenly shot out like lightning toward an area where the monsters weren’t as densely
packed together.

“You!”

Neither Isabella nor Wiffheimer missed her abrupt action. They immediately began
showering Ianna with all sorts of restriction and curse spells with their alarming reflexes
and casting speed.

Ianna, who had reached the monsters before the spells hit her, grabbed a goblin by the arm
and hurled it behind her.

Boooom! Boom!
“Screech!”
The goblin, who was subject to a vast variety of spells, shuddered while drooling for a
moment before it collapsed to the ground.

Then, Ianna began demonstrating her natural abilities.

Claaaaang—!
Her sword cried sharply as it scraped against her scabbard when she drew it. The space
immediately in front of Ianna was rent as the chilling sound echoed around her. Even the
monsters forgot how to breathe for a moment as the wound made in space seemed to suck
in even time itself.
Swiiiiish!
And a sword’s fortification burrowed deeply into the opening that was created.

The fortification bisected the monsters horizontally as their minds were still paralyzed, and
their crimson blood exploded everywhere.

Splaaash!
Ianna ran between them like the wind and was covered in their blood. She began slashing
away at the obstacles hindering her path.

“Kwoooh!”

There was an ogre, brandishing its club as it ran toward her, that was at least three times
larger than Ianna. The ogre brought its club down upon her vertically. The wind whistled.
Ianna spotted an opening created by the wind, the ogre, and its club.

Ianna grabbed her sword with both hands and brandished her sword down vertically against
the ogre’s club. Her sword split the club in two and even bisected the ogre’s arm.

“Graaah!”

The ogre screamed in pain. The resulting soundwave, and the ogre’s struggling as it clutched
at its arm and stomped around, created yet another opening.

Swish!
Ianna’s flattened blade whisked through the ogre’s knee. Blood spurted out from the ogre’s
severed leg like a fountain, and its colossal frame came crumbling down. Ianna was hacking
away at yet another monster even before the ogre finished collapsing.

Her memories of dropping down right in the middle of enemy camps on the battlefield and
rending and rending her enemies in a half-crazed state flooded her mind. It was kill or be
killed —and the situation dragged her back to her best state.

Pow! Slash!
She tore through flesh and gouged through bone to advance onward.

“Haah…….”
Ianna straightened out her breathing.

She focused and focused yet again. Her sixth sense was awakened as her other five senses
were heightened to the upmost extremes, and she could begin to feel the Lines again.

Her opponent’s movements, body temperature, breathing, blood flow, and external factors
of the environment such as the wind, the sunlight, and the density of the mana in the air —
seeing the Lines meant that Ianna could read all of these things at once and create a deadly
‘window.’

This window was extremely narrow and closed so quickly that it was difficult to react to in
time even if she felt it, but she could pulverize any enemy so long as she did. Just like how
she had cut apart Isabella’s whip before they had entered the woods.

Cutting the Line was both a battle sense and a battle technique, and in the past it had been
what had allowed her to be the second strongest person in the world. She had never
managed to cut Arhad down, but she had been able to cut down everything else in the world
save for him.

Cutting the Line required incredible senses and exceptional physical prowess. The elements
she had once explained to Rikijen when she had saved a young child from a racing carriage
had merely been things that she needed to consider when preparing to cut a Line.
She had overtaxed her already extraordinary senses time and time again just to train up this
battle sense. She trained in the Swordsmanship Department’s training grounds by striking
at precisely one spot of a training dummy with her wooden sword, and she had ultimately
done all of that just to polish this one technique.

She had only reached this level in her early thirties in her previous life. She had reached this
level so early in this life not only because she had started training at a young age and had
been consistent in her practice but also because she was even training how to control divine
power.

Which was why she had been confident that she could deal with a fragment beneficiary with
just her swordplay alone, but to think that she would meet the Bahamut princess and the
head mage of Bahamut already…….

Slaaash!
A whip, significantly stronger than the attack of any monster, came flying at her from
behind.

Craaaash!
Ianna evaded it by jumping forward. The whip smacked against the ground, and the earth
upheaved like a bomb had gone off there.

Bang!
But the whip shot into the air like a flag being tossed around by a hurricane’s winds and
attacked Ianna yet again. A shower of obstruction spells accompanied it.

Ianna never let her guard down as she beat back the whip and every single spell inside the
cloud of dust surrounding her. The whip tried to wrap itself around both Ianna and her
sword, but Ianna’s ironclad defense prevented it from succeeding. The whip and spells that
Ianna beat back struck the monsters around her instead.
She finally found the whip’s Line again after it had attacked her least a few dozen times. Her
blade, which had been lying in wait, immediately seized the opening and cut it.

Riiiip!
She split the whip like a snake’s tongue. But that had only been the beginning, and the tear
travelled down all the way to the whip’s handle in but an instant.

“Ohoho!”

Isabella burst out in laughter just as the force behind Ianna’s counterattack was about to
reach her hand and leave a scar.

She flung aside her now-useless whip. Her gloomy gaze astutely captured Ianna’s
movements from within the cloud of dust.

“I’d thought that you were only carrying around a sword for self-defense, but it seems like
you were a swordsman and not a spirt user? Goodness…….”

Isabella’s vision began to grow dim.

She grew limp, almost as if she was sleepwalking, and reached with a fist as if there was
something in front of her. Her fist began to disappear just as her arm was halfway extended.
Half of her arm had vanished, as if she had reached into a separate space, by the time her
arm was fully extended.

Isabelle pulled out her arm shortly thereafter. In her hands were a pair of daggers with
blades that looked plainly malefic even at a first glance.

“I was only using a whip because I didn’t want to get the blood of weaklings on my hands.”

My real weapon of choice is a sword, you know? And it looks like you favor a sword too, right?
Isabella’s surroundings began dying black as she giggled. The mana around her had fallen
completely under her domination.

Isabella’s mana was cold. It was muddied by the widespread death and evil it had digested.
The mana’s flow let out a melancholy wail as it sought new victims. And it reached out for
Ianna, who was still twirling around inside the dust.

“……I want you even more now. I’ll never let you go.”

The monsters felt her change and lamented.

“I’m done playing, Wiffheimer. Hand me your control over the Basilisk, and use the other
two to block off his escape routes. And prepare a teleportation spell that’ll take us directly to
the imperial palace in the meanwhile.”
“I hear and obey.”

Wiffheimer consented obediently and jumped down from the Basilisk’s head. He floated
lightly back down to earth and slammed down his cane.

Buzzzz…….
Mana swirled into his cane in the shape of a helix. Then, it began drawing out geometrical
patters from where his cane met the ground like ivy twining into itself as it climbed up and
over a wall.

Teleport was one of the most difficult spatial magics that existed, and it not only required
complex arrangements of mana even to travel just a short distance but also placed a heavy
burden on the caster’s body.

It was common practice to teleport multiple times in shorter distances to simplify the
required mana arrangements and lessen the burden on the caster when teleporting great
distances, like what Wiffheimer had done when he had first teleported from the imperial
palace so far away.

On the other hand, taking out the stops in the middle and teleporting such a great distance
in one go required the caster to simultaneously cast another spell to lessen the toil it would
take on their body, so even a renowned mage like Wiffheimer required significant time to
cast it.

Isabella leapt on top of the Basilisk’s body.

“Sssssss!”

The Basilisk, which had been on standby while it observed the situation, finally began to
move. It moved as quickly as lightning despite its gigantic frame. Ianna jumped up on
instinct as she grew dizzy upon feeling like a mountain was moving on the other side of the
dust.

Slaaaam!
The Basilisk’s head instantly charged beneath Ianna’s feet. Its colossal frame dug a canal
across the earth as it shot forward. None of the monsters crushed beneath its weight had
survived intact.

Ianna was forced to parry Isabella’s attack as soon as she had landed on top of the Basilisk.

Claang! Ting!
Isabella had ambushed her twice. Ianna blocked the first attack with her sword and
narrowly stopped the second dagger, charging toward her side, with her scabbard.

Swiish!
Isabella’s blades drew close like they meant to scratch Ianna’s throat. Her black eyes and the
smile lingering on her lips were oozing with possessive desire and madness.

Ultimately, Ianna had no choice but to fight back here and now. Ianna’s eyes flashed with
ferocious resolve as she glared back at Isabella.

Craaaash!
Two giant powers clashed atop the squirming Basilisk. Ianna blocked the whirling storm of
Isabella’s attacks and aimed to strike back at the princess’ blind spots.

Ianna grit her teeth when Isabella caught her sword. Normally, people’s attacks grew weaker
when they graced a dual-bladed style, because their strength and focus was divided between
both weapons, but such was not the case for Isabella. Both of her daggers were
overwhelmingly powerful —Ianna felt like she was fight two-on-one.

Moreover, though she had seen the Lines easily enough when fighting the monsters, she
could hardly see any on Isabella at all. It wasn’t as if there were no Lines at all, but they
moved around dizzyingly and were difficult to pinpoint with precision.
Most importantly, Isabella did not give her enough time to take advantage of the Lines.
Ianna almost felt like she was fighting the Arhad of the past.

‘Is she at a similar level as Arhad? No. She might actually be……a little stronger.’
Arhad had always said that it wasn’t time yet. That he wasn’t yet ready to face the Bahamut
imperial family.

Ianna could not properly use mana or her divine power at the moment, but she was wielding
her swordplay to its fullest extent. And Isabella was a match for her even still. And that was
before Ianna even added the fact that Isabella was holding back because she wanted to
capture her alive into consideration…….

Clang!
Their blades tangled, and Ianna and Isabella ended up facing off so closely against each
other that their breaths mingled. A giddy look crossed Isabella’s face.

“I like you even more now that you’re so close. Really, who are you?”
Ianna quietly glared back at Isabella. She realized that it probably wasn’t because of the
factory that the princess had personally chased after her all this way.

Why was this woman being so obsessed over her?

Wiffheimer and Keigus too……but why?

Was it due to the Demon’s fragments, just as Wiffheimer had suggested earlier?

But if it was really true that the Demon’s fragments created feelings of obsession for her…
Then what about Arhad……?

‘I need to stop thinking about this.’

Ianna ceased her pointless thinking.

Pooow!
“Kgh!”

Then, she abruptly raised her leg and kicked Isabella’s knee aside with all her might as the
latter focused on their crossing blades. Ianna vanished in the brief instant that Isabella had
staggered from the unexpected attack and lost her balance.

She only appeared again between the two high-class monsters guarding the area. And she
vanished yet again before the monsters could even acknowledge her presence.

Her speed was something to be feared.

“…….”

Isabella studied the route that Ianna was racing down with wavering eyes. Mana gathered
around her and began arranging itself into the arrangement for Blink. Isabella vanished.

Crash!
Isabella reappeared directly in front of Ianna and grabbed the latter’s arm, causing both of
them to come tumbling down. Then, she used Blink again to teleport back to where
Wiffheimer was still preparing his spells.

“You’re coming with me. I’ll take you home and give you lots of my lo……hmm? Shit!”
Isabella, who had been panting with jubilee as she strung together her words suddenly
exclaimed in anger. She was only holding a robe in her arms. Ianna had twisted her body out
of Isabella’s clutches in just that short window of time.

“Pant, pant!”
Ianna picked up her bag, which she had reflexively tossed ahead just before Isabella had
caught her, and ran toward not the Kingdom of Toraca but the heart of the Lotso
Mountains. She quickly put on her spare set of robes before accelerating even faster.

The only option she had remaining was to run to Kandemayon’s territory.

“You little rat!”

She heard shrieking from afar. And then, Isabella began tailing her yet again. The princess
seemed truly irritated, as she was several times faster than she had been before.
Ianna grit her teeth and ran as fast as she could. Isabella’s speed matched hers. But just as
their game of tag was about to begin in earnest.

A black dot suddenly appeared from the heavens.

It flew leisurely through the azure skies before covering not only the area where Ianna was
but the whole of the Lotso Mountains in a shadow as it flew in front of the sun.

Ianna, Isabella, Wiffheimer, the monsters, the soldiers of Sidian, the people traveling
through Lotso Mountain roads……everyone in the Lotso Mountains naturally looked up
when suddenly confronted with the strange and sudden onslaught of night. And they all saw
a rather peculiar spot in the sun.

“What is that?”