Trying to sound casual, Vivian asked the question.
Kade stepped out from the shadows cast by the backlight, his expression openly displeased.
“Who said I was running away? It’s just better not to cross paths with someone I can’t kill immediately.”
“A person? That was a person?”
The being that had frightened even magical beasts badly enough to make them flee from the road—was human?
“If even you can’t deal with them, isn’t that dangerous? We should notify the city guard and the Imperial Palace. Right—the Grand Duke of Melgot should be informed too.”
Perhaps the remark pricked his pride.
Kade lowered his gaze to her and said,
“It’s not that they’re stronger than me and impossible to kill. It’s not because I’m outmatched.”
“Then why...?”
“Informing the Palace or the Grand Duke of Melgot would be pointless. The person on the surface is the Grand Duke of Melgot.”
The Grand Duke of Melgot.
In other words, the Second Princess.
Vivian stared at him.
He just used the phrase ‘someone I can’t kill immediately’ to describe a member of the Imperial Family?
The relationship between the Magic Tower and the Imperial Palace might be strained, but how could he say something like that so casually in front of a government official?
She mulled over his words.
Does he hate the Imperial Family enough to want them dead, but can’t actually kill them because they’re royalty, so he avoids meeting them altogether?
It was a truly astonishing way of thinking.
“Kade. Do you even know what insulting the Imperial Family means?”
“Did I look like I didn’t?”
He pulled a bloodstained invitation from inside his coat and waved it.
“...”
A vivid memory surfaced of what he had done to the Third Princess at the banquet earlier that day.
If anything, Kade understood the concept of insulting royalty better than anyone.
And he was fully capable of putting it into practice.
In other words, he was a complete menace.
Perhaps her thoughts were written plainly across her face, because Kade let out a short laugh.
“Didn’t you see the magical beasts running away too? As far as making people uncomfortable goes, that one’s worse than a sea monster.”
“The Grand Duke went out to sea with a monster subjugation fleet too. They say magical beasts are afraid of the scent of monster blood.”
“Yeah. Maybe that’s why.”
The way he said it sent a chill down Vivian’s spine.
It was the same look he had worn when he tried to burn alive the bat-type magical beasts that had swarmed the Magic Tower.
He didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding his hostility toward the Grand Duke of Melgot.
And yet it was different from the look he had given the Third Princess.
Maybe he wasn’t rejecting my official documents simply because I happened to be the messenger.
Maybe it was because they were related to the Grand Duke of Melgot.
What exactly happened between them?
She was curious, but asking about something so personal felt wrong.
After all, she and Kade weren’t anything to each other anymore.
The fact that they were sharing the same inn room at all was strange enough.
“What was the real reason you brought me here in your carriage?” she asked. “I still don’t think I’ve gotten an answer.”
One of Kade’s eyebrows arched as if her question made no sense.
“You said you’d wait.”
“...What?”
“Never mind. It’s late. Get some rest.”
A faintly disappointed look crossed his face before he vanished.
“...What was that supposed to mean?”
Standing there blankly, Vivian suddenly felt heat rush into her cheeks. She hurried to throw open the window.
W-What is he talking about? Anyone hearing that would think I’d been desperately waiting for him!
True, she had said she would wait.
But she had meant it in a purely professional sense.
She certainly hadn’t meant that she wanted to sit face-to-face with him and spend time together.
Did I say it in a way that could be misunderstood? I thought I sounded perfectly straightforward. Didn’t I?
Even the cold night air failed to cool her burning face.
What if he thinks I still have feelings for him?
Trying to explain that she didn’t would only make it seem like she cared even more.
Suddenly, the thought of going back to the Magic Tower became unbearable.
If she could avoid it, she would rather work overtime.
While listening to Ben’s report, Kade perched himself on the edge of his desk.
“The subjugation team?”
“They still need more time to recover. It was a harsher campaign than usual…”
Ben trailed off, cautiously watching Kade’s reaction.
Even shortening the interval between monster hunts was exhausting for the mages.
Had the monsters appeared on land, things would have been easier.
Unfortunately, sea monsters emerged from the ocean.
Maintaining flight magic above the waves while simultaneously casting combat spells consumed not only tremendous amounts of mana, but also immense concentration and mental stamina.
Even during breaks, unless they encountered a small island or a ship, they had to remain suspended in the air.
Getting proper sleep was impossible.
They had to continue fighting until the hunt was over without ever truly resting.
Normally these expeditions take four or five days.
This time we finished in three.
The reduction was unprecedented.
The mages had initially been delighted at the prospect of returning to the Tower sooner.
By the end, however, many of them would have gladly chosen unconsciousness.
The moment they arrived back at the Tower, they collapsed.
Several were still sleeping soundly in their quarters.
Ben himself had only recently woken up and was far from fully alert.
That made Kade’s behavior all the more unbelievable.
He had returned from the expedition, attended the Third Princess’s banquet that same evening, and was already reviewing Tower affairs the very next day.
The banquet was unavoidable...
But I never want to go through a schedule like that again.
As Ben grimaced at the memory, a strange realization struck him.
Wait.
Wasn’t the pace of the expedition unusually fast even before Lana arrived with the invitation?
He could still vividly remember the Tower Master racing ahead so quickly that even the support forces struggled to keep up.
Of course, Ben had no intention of asking.
He must have needed a new outlet for his frustrations after getting bored of intimidating government officials.
These days Kade was at least willing to talk.
Before they left the Tower, he had been almost impossible to deal with.
Ben doubted that ruthless, razor-sharp temperament had disappeared.
“How much leave can we give the subjugation team?” Kade asked.
“If you want to grant extended leave, we can’t let everyone rest at once. But dividing them into three groups and rotating vacations should be possible.”
“There won’t be any need to go out to sea for the next month.”
“That’s true, but the barrier still…”
Ben became even more cautious.
Kade frowned and let out a bitter laugh.
His gaze drifted toward the magical barrier surrounding the Tower beyond the window.
Then he infused it with mana.
Keeeeee—
A sharp ringing sound filled the air as mana flowed into the barrier.
For a moment, it seemed as though the barrier might strengthen.
Then part of Kade’s mana rebounded and was rejected.
As if he had expected it, Kade showed no surprise.
Only Ben looked increasingly anxious.
Ever since the previous Tower Master’s death, the cracked barrier had refused to heal.
As things stood, personnel were still needed to guard the barrier stones and prevent the Tower’s defenses from collapsing entirely.
Ben had a fair idea how matters had reached this point.
“The matter I told you to investigate?”
“We still don’t have definitive proof, but we found more witnesses who saw a carriage bearing the Imperial crest on the day the mages died.”
The problem was the lack of hard evidence.
The previous Tower Master’s death was the only one widely known throughout the Empire.
But several other mages had died around the same time.
And every one of those deaths contained something suspicious.
The Imperial Family is definitely involved.
But suspicion alone isn’t enough.
Rumor had it that the Palace had tried desperately to make the Second Princess, the Grand Duke of Melgot, the new Tower Master.
Had the former Tower Master’s will not been discovered at the last moment, they likely would have succeeded.
Kade was deep in thought when Ben finally steeled himself and spoke.
“The barrier won’t collapse anytime soon.”
“...”
Kade looked at him as if asking where that had come from.
Flustered, Ben pointed toward the window.
“Y-You kept looking outside, so I thought…”
“Was I?”
Kade adjusted his clothes and dismissed him.
After Ben left, Kade remained alone.
Yet his gaze stayed fixed outside the window.
Not coming today?
She said she’d wait.
After checking the time, he clicked his tongue.
Even so, he continued staring out the window for a long while.
Vivian never appeared.
She didn’t come the next day either.
Or the day after that.
Isn’t she supposed to be working?
When she wanted my seal, she wouldn’t stop pestering me. Has she already given up?
The mages spent several days walking on eggshells around their suddenly foul-tempered Tower Master, having no idea why he was in such a mood.
That lasted until Vivian finally stepped through the gates of the Magic Tower—
looking utterly exhausted from days of nonstop overtime work.