A few days ago.
That evening, when the familiar bugs were slaughtered, the employees seemed to be scared for the first time in a long time.
After hurrying back to the mansion with Barden from the Nasiel district, I was in a low mood!
I looked too stiff like Yvonne did in the past.
"Why are you doing that?"
"What mistake did we make...?'
I felt sorry for them when they saw me standing in the hall, but honestly, I didn't have time to take care of the employees' feelings now.
"Hey, Princess, oh, are you here?"
Carol, who had become close to me lately, was the only one who approached me and called me cautiously.
"Yes, I'm here."
"Yes, please give it to me."
Carol took my thin cardigan and took care of me.
At that time, as the matter was serious, I immediately contacted my father and made eye contact with Barden, who had returned alone.
"What?"
It came close to me, pulled one side of its mouth up, and patted me on the shoulder.
"Hey, why are you so scared? Are you surprised to see a familiar horse for the first time?"
'This bastard. Are you kidding me now?'
But what he said was true, so I kept my mouth shut and glared at him.
Carol answered.
"What?! Are you scared, Little Duke? Our Princess can't do that!"
'...Oh, that's amazing.'
I admired Carol very much.
A maid who dares to be against the small Duke of this family!
I don't know if Carol's wall is strong, or if it's because she really has blind faith in Yvonne's magical skills.
'But, Carol... I'm actually scared, right? Hahaha'
But in the midst of all this, I couldn't say the right thing, and I had to protect my maid, Carol, from the Little Duke, so I hurriedly stepped in.
"Carol is right, brother. How could I be afraid of that familiar horse?"
...By expressing a very bitter sense of self-deprecation.
I deliberately raised my chin slightly and gave it an arrogant look.
I said it while calming down my trembling hands as much as possible, but fortunately, I didn't seem to get caught.
Barden glanced me up and down and grumbled.
"Hmm, that's true. Is there anything you're afraid of?"
"That's right!! What kind of person is our Princess!"
Carol immediately trembles and rejoices, and Barden agrees.
'Carol... Stop dropping the bomb.'
Carol's shame was becoming more and more shameless.
Carol gradually changes from the image I felt at first.
"Then what's wrong?"
As he stared at me, Barden, who frowned slightly, persistently asked why.
'It's persistent.'
I looked at Barden with a pathetic look in my eyes and opened my mouth.
"Oh no... Do you ask because you don't know? It's because I'm worried about the safety of my brother, who carries a familiar bug on his shoulder like that and doesn't notice it at all."
"...Damn."
It hit the bone well with the stone fastball I was throwing.
I smiled as I looked at Barden's delicate back as he ran up the stairs with an abusive word.
'Well, that's true, too.'
I was really worried because I didn't know what kind of danger such a dull Barden would be in in the future.
I don't want Barden to get hurt.
Barden Argenthoz.
His mouth is very harsh, but his physical strength and mind are weak.
A somewhat unusual person who likes to joke with sloppy and shriveled jokes.
Now I think of him as an older brother rather than a shooter.
It was as if the Duke of Argenthoz had recently felt like a real father.
'Is it okay to do this...'
Even though he wasn't really my flesh and blood, I shook my head at the strange sense of anticipation that kept blooming.
Well, anyway, this is not important now.
The first thing to do is to deal with this serious situation that is just around the corner.
I went back to my room, washed up briefly, and changed into a dress for indoor use.
Then, after receiving a call from Barden, I hurried down to the hall to greet my father, who had returned home straight from the mage tower.
"Are you here?"
"You're here, father."
The face of Duke Argenthoz, who looked at Barden and me alternately in the hall of the main building, was full of sorrow.
"...Yes. Let's go straight to the conference room."
Following the Duke of Argenthoz, who was in the lead, Barden and I immediately sat around the large conference room used to discuss family affairs.
'Wow.'
This place had a very wide ceiling and was full of artifacts with defensive magic, making it truly a fortress of the heavenly sea.
However, I could not afford to admire the conference room of the Argenthoz mansion.
We were all silent as we sat around in a large space.
There was only silence.
'Why was the familiar attached to Barden's shoulder?'
I looked at the wide table.
In the middle of the table where the three of us were sitting. I hit it with my hand earlier. There was a catchy, familiar bug.
Its name is 'Kalan'.
No matter how you look at it, it looks like just an ordinary disgusting bug, but that's the terrifying worker.
The more I thought about it, the more I got goosebumps.
And I was tired of my ignorance, thinking it was an ordinary bug and beating it up without hesitation.
'Ugh.'
"I don't think so."
While trembling with chills, Barden broke the heavy silence that had fallen in the conference room.
"I think the familiar horse that remained on the battlefield followed me. Still, didn't I go there again recently to write a report?"
Barden thought quite a bit and gave his opinion carefully.
As he said, Barden had been on a business trip to investigate the scene of the last battle.
I sat still, closed my mouth, and looked at Barden.
'Is that so?'
Monsters are usually known as the devil's subordinates, but demons do not dare to control monsters one by one.
Instead, the warlock steps in and incites the monsters.
Warlocks are people who have contracts with demons, and they always intervene in the war against monsters.
Among the warlocks who receive demonic magic and use magic, the outstanding ones sometimes use 'familiars' who are born in darkness.
Familiars are a definite type of darkness that is distinct from monsters.
I know a little about it because I saw it in 'the original work.'
Among Yvonne's memories, there are faint memories related to magic, but the parts I read in the original work before were still memorable, even if they were magic.
'Hmm.'
As I was groping my memory, I felt something strange.
The familiars sprayed by the warlock during the war are still left, and they followed Barden, who happened to visit the battlefield and entered the capital.
'I don't think so.'
I looked at the Duke of Argenthoz suspiciously, and when his eyes met mine, he nodded and opened his mouth.
"Barden. It makes sense in terms of timing, but it won't be the case."
"...Why not?"
To Barden, who was asking a question cautiously, the Duke of Argenthoz slowly explained, touching his chin.
"Familiars are difficult to deal with. Normally, it's not enough. Moves according to the orders of powerful warlocks. Not only the magic power, but also the life of the warlock is guaranteed."
'Until the end of life?'
I became so reluctant that I frowned without realizing it.
The warlock risked his life to use his familiar?
Have you ever seen such extreme people who don't know if their lives are worth it?
'Tsk.'
As I tongue inward, Barden twitched his mouth in a trembling voice.
"So, this familiar..."
"Yes. As such, the relationship between warlocks and familiars is tight and close. A familiar can never survive far away from its master, the warlock."
"Oh my God. So does that mean that the warlock, the master of this dead familiar, is here, in the capital?"
In response to Barden's question, the Duke nodded slightly with a dark expression.
'Warlock? And... I'm going crazy.'
Even though it was the middle of summer now. I suddenly felt a chill down my spine as if it were winter.
It was more terrifying than the appearance of a ghost.
Very few people in the empire know information about warlocks.
Warlocks are perceived by many as fear itself.
However, since I read the original work, I only know a little bit of knowledge, and even ordinary wizards don't know much about black magic.
This is because information about what kind of existence warlocks are and what kind of magic they perform is taboo in the Empire.
Isn't it worth knowing just by looking at the laws of the empire that bind you just by owning a book related to black magic?
'The Duke is a magician, so he knows the information about the warlock well.'
Capital.
So, there is a warlock living near this Argenthoz mansion where I live.
'What is this... It's steamy.'
Anxiety suddenly crept in, and cold sweat formed down the back of my throat.
I rested on my lap, my fingers pressed together on my lap, and I fidgeted and glanced at Duke.
'What should I do? Let's ask my father if that strange black haze that stuck to my shadow the other day is also familiar. He may be familiar with the familiars that cling to the shadow.'
However, contrary to what I thought, the words didn't come out of my mouth at all.
My tongue became stiff and stiff, and my head turned white.
'I have to ask...'
The person who knows the most about warlocks and familiars in this empire is the Duke of Argenthoz, the Lord of the Tower.
'Even though he is my father and therefore the easiest to get information from, I... I'm so scared.'
I bit my lip so hard that it hurt.
Originally, Yvonne is the final dark side and villain who awakens as an archmage while dabbling in black magic in the original work.
Why did a warlock who wielded a familiar appear in the capital like this?
Maybe it's because Yvonne is going to become an anti-warlock in the future.
It was an assumption, but it was highly likely.
'What if that happens?'
The Duke and Barden, who are barely getting along, will be wary of me, suspicious, and cold to me again.
Or they'll kill me. I was so afraid of that.
'Please. I can't do that!'
"...Yvonne?"
I was immersed in all sorts of worries, and I replied angrily at the sound of the Duke of Argenthoz calling.
"Yes? Yes."
"Why are you doing that?"
"Oh, no. I'm sorry. I think about something else. Can you tell me again?"
I hurriedly managed my expression and calmly asked.
The Duke of Argenthoz stared at me intently, then squinted and asked again.
"So, I asked you how you killed that familiar. Barden said you didn't use magic."
I was stared at by the Duke's suspicion, and I froze as if I were frozen.
'What should I do? Fallback... How to...?! What do you say?'
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