“...”
Kavala, who was drinking tea she had brewed herself in her office, did not respond.
Andrea was standing around the Kavala and shouting in frustration.
“I’m telling you, really? If Viscount Pelsus was murdered, it was definitely the Marquis of Rodrian’s doing!”
Kavala, who had been savoring her tea, quietly put down her teacup.
“Andrea.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Shut up. It’s noisy.”
“...!”
Andrea flinched. His face flushed bright red with shame.
Kavala paid no attention to his son and slowly emptied his teacup.
Kavala, who was drinking tea she had brewed herself in her office, did not respond.
Andrea was standing around the Kavala and shouting in frustration.
“I’m telling you, really? If Viscount Pelsus was murdered, it was definitely the Marquis of Rodrian’s doing!”
Kavala, who had been savoring her tea, quietly put down her teacup.
“Andrea.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Shut up. It’s noisy.”
“...!”
Andrea flinched. His face flushed bright red with shame.
Kavala paid no attention to his son and slowly emptied his teacup.
Kavala, who had enjoyed a leisurely time, even finishing his second cup of tea, looked much happier.
Andrea, who had been struggling to hold out while fighting against embarrassment, looked at Kavala with a very timid expression.
Kavala looked at Andrea with an elegant yet cold gaze.
“Andrea, where did you get these wild ideas from to bother your mother like this?”
“Huh, this isn’t just some wild imagination, it’s really...!”
Andrea wondered how he could make the story more provocative so that Kavala would listen to him.
But Kavala clicked her tongue as if she could clearly read Andrea's intentions.
“If I believed everything you said, how ridiculous would I look?”
She ordered her servant to bring Dnieper.
Dnieper, who has been busy searching for the lost treasures of Kavala, arrived at Kavala's office later than usual.
Meanwhile, Andrea had to wait helplessly, his spirits completely drained, next to Kavala, who was looking at the documents.
She was so upset that she could have just turned around and left, but Andrea stubbornly stayed.
'You will accept me when you know that what I say is true.'
Andrea, who wanted to escape from his mother's shadow, was psychologically unable to escape from his mother and constantly yearned for her approval.
He clenched his fist and turned the shame he received from Kavala into anger, aiming it at Chloe.
'Chloe, if only she had just done as I told her and married Viscount Pelsus, everything would have been fine! I would have been rich! It would have been good for everyone!'
Of course, Chloe wasn't included in that 'everyone'.
'If only it had been like that, my mother would have believed in me and accepted me!'
Whether or not she knew that Andrea was fuming with anger, Kavala gave a nonchalant order to Dnieper, who had entered the office.
"Dnieper, find out if Andrea's words are true. He's a braggart."
Kavala asked Andrea.
“Marquis Rodrian murdered Viscount Pelsus?”
Andrea looked at Kavala and Dnieper.
Andrea, who had been insisting that Viscount Pelsus had been murdered by Marquis Rodrian just moments before, became uncertain and slurred when the spotlight turned to him.
“No, what I mean is... I heard there’s been no contact since Viscount Pelsus went north. It coincides with the time Marquis Rodrian went north, so I guess that could be the case... Strictly speaking, Marquis Rodrian is Viscount Pelsus’s rival... so to avoid any future trouble...”
In the end, it was all about guesswork and imagination.
Moreover, how did Callius, who left for the North first, know that Viscount Pelsus, who left later, was in the North and planned to kill him?
Kavala sighed as if she had known this would happen, seeing Andrea spouting off incoherent words after laying out the mat.
Andrea flinched when he heard the sigh.
Kavala gestured for Dnieper to go out with a look of little anticipation.
"Anyway, find out. If there was some connection between Viscount Pelsus and Marquis Rodrian, and I haven't heard from him, then that means the messenger I sent with Chloe isn't doing his job properly."
“Yes, I will report back shortly.”
Dnieper left the office in a hurry.
Kavala looked back at the documents she was holding and asked Andrea.
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“Oh, no...”
“Then go out.”
"Yes..."
Andrea, his shoulders slumped, stumbled out.
Kavala, who had been looking at Andrea's back with her eyes slightly raised, shook her head as if she was displeased.
'If only that guy had been half as handsome as Dnieper. Who does he resemble to be so unattractive?'
She put down the papers as if she were frustrated.
At that moment, a map of the Arrental Empire lying under the documents caught her eye.
Kavala put away his papers and spread out a map of the empire across his desk.
It was the most recent map, still held only by the Emperor and Kavala, and unlike the old map, it had newly incorporated Ronheim and the territories near the border.
'Ronheim is far away.'
Kavala measured the distance between the capital city where he was and Ronheim.
'Being so far away, the arrogant Marquis Rodrian still thinks he's royalty of the Kingdom of Ronheim and can't come to his senses.'
Kavala wanted to pressure Callius into completely prostrating himself at her feet.
Even the southern principalities could easily be swept away if a war were waged, so they were all watching their reaction and bickering, but poor, tiny Ronheim was so close to their grasp that it was annoying.
'These guys use their remoteness as a weapon to completely defeat us.'
Kavala pointed to the areas with moving magic circles and then pointed her finger at a certain spot in the Ronheim territory.
“It would be perfect if we could create a moving magic circle here...”
The best location to place a moving magic circle.
Kavala had no idea that this was where the gold mine that Callius had promised to give to Chloe was located.
And she could hardly have imagined that at this very moment, in this very place, Chloe and Callius would be plotting to destroy her.
Callius, who said he would show me something cool, put me on a horse and took me somewhere.
It was a pure white snow field surrounded by steep cliffs.
“Where am I?”
“This is the Garden of the Moon where Leknes flowers bloom.”
Callius smiled mischievously.
I understood what he was saying right away.
That was the code I wrote in the letter I sent him to meet him at the Valentine's Day event.
“So this is the gold mine!”
I spun around in place and looked around.
It was a very different landscape from what I had imagined.
I didn't know there would be this much snow, and I didn't know it would be such an empty field.
'I vaguely imagined it to be a cave full of gold.'
Actually, I didn't know much about gold mines.
In my past life, I only heard bits and pieces of Andrea and several nobles planning to use this place as a base to attack Callius.
Callius asked.
"What are you going to do with this place? As you know, developing this place won't yield any significant gold."
"I never intended to develop this place into a mine. I told you, I was going to make a flower garden here."
“Were you serious...?”
"Yes!"
I answered ambitiously.
“If I had sold this mine to Count Elbern as Callius had planned, he wouldn’t have developed it into a mine.”
Callius seemed puzzled by how I knew all that, but instead of asking, he asked me what I thought.
“Then what do you think he did?”
“There must have been something more profitable than developing the mine: installing a moving magic circle.”
“A moving magic circle?”
I looked around once more.
“Imagine. What if we set up a teleportation circle in this open space and built a military fortress on that cliff?”
“It will be difficult to capture the fortress.”
"That's right. Even with just a few archers skilled in ranged attacks, the enemy will have a hard time getting past here."
Callius acknowledged my words, but his response was lukewarm.
"I understand that the Magic Tower prohibits the private use of magicians' powers. This place doesn't meet the conditions for setting up a teleportation circle, so the Magic Tower won't grant permission."
“I’m sorry to say this, Callius, but that’s naive thinking.”
"Yes?"
“Do you still think that the Magic Tower is an independent organization, independent of any interests within the continent?”
“The Magic Tower has been around for hundreds of years...”
“Ronheim, which had held back Arrental’s forces for hundreds of years, also suffered defeat in our generation.”
“...”
“The world is changing.”
Although I only knew the future ten years ahead, I knew how much the world would change in the future.
"The Magic Tower will no longer be able to fully control individual wizards. It has lost its authority and prestige. It is splitting apart from within."
“How do you know all that?”
Callius, who had been holding back on the question until now despite being curious, could no longer hold back and asked.
I shook my head quietly.
“I can’t tell you that. But I can prove to you that what I’m saying is true.”
“How do you say that?”
“Let’s prove it by installing a mobile magic circle here that is not under the surveillance of the magic tower.”
Andrea, who had been struggling to hold out while fighting against embarrassment, looked at Kavala with a very timid expression.
Kavala looked at Andrea with an elegant yet cold gaze.
“Andrea, where did you get these wild ideas from to bother your mother like this?”
“Huh, this isn’t just some wild imagination, it’s really...!”
Andrea wondered how he could make the story more provocative so that Kavala would listen to him.
But Kavala clicked her tongue as if she could clearly read Andrea's intentions.
“If I believed everything you said, how ridiculous would I look?”
She ordered her servant to bring Dnieper.
Dnieper, who has been busy searching for the lost treasures of Kavala, arrived at Kavala's office later than usual.
Meanwhile, Andrea had to wait helplessly, his spirits completely drained, next to Kavala, who was looking at the documents.
She was so upset that she could have just turned around and left, but Andrea stubbornly stayed.
'You will accept me when you know that what I say is true.'
Andrea, who wanted to escape from his mother's shadow, was psychologically unable to escape from his mother and constantly yearned for her approval.
He clenched his fist and turned the shame he received from Kavala into anger, aiming it at Chloe.
'Chloe, if only she had just done as I told her and married Viscount Pelsus, everything would have been fine! I would have been rich! It would have been good for everyone!'
Of course, Chloe wasn't included in that 'everyone'.
'If only it had been like that, my mother would have believed in me and accepted me!'
Whether or not she knew that Andrea was fuming with anger, Kavala gave a nonchalant order to Dnieper, who had entered the office.
"Dnieper, find out if Andrea's words are true. He's a braggart."
Kavala asked Andrea.
“Marquis Rodrian murdered Viscount Pelsus?”
Andrea looked at Kavala and Dnieper.
Andrea, who had been insisting that Viscount Pelsus had been murdered by Marquis Rodrian just moments before, became uncertain and slurred when the spotlight turned to him.
“No, what I mean is... I heard there’s been no contact since Viscount Pelsus went north. It coincides with the time Marquis Rodrian went north, so I guess that could be the case... Strictly speaking, Marquis Rodrian is Viscount Pelsus’s rival... so to avoid any future trouble...”
In the end, it was all about guesswork and imagination.
Moreover, how did Callius, who left for the North first, know that Viscount Pelsus, who left later, was in the North and planned to kill him?
Kavala sighed as if she had known this would happen, seeing Andrea spouting off incoherent words after laying out the mat.
Andrea flinched when he heard the sigh.
Kavala gestured for Dnieper to go out with a look of little anticipation.
"Anyway, find out. If there was some connection between Viscount Pelsus and Marquis Rodrian, and I haven't heard from him, then that means the messenger I sent with Chloe isn't doing his job properly."
“Yes, I will report back shortly.”
Dnieper left the office in a hurry.
Kavala looked back at the documents she was holding and asked Andrea.
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“Oh, no...”
“Then go out.”
"Yes..."
Andrea, his shoulders slumped, stumbled out.
Kavala, who had been looking at Andrea's back with her eyes slightly raised, shook her head as if she was displeased.
'If only that guy had been half as handsome as Dnieper. Who does he resemble to be so unattractive?'
She put down the papers as if she were frustrated.
At that moment, a map of the Arrental Empire lying under the documents caught her eye.
Kavala put away his papers and spread out a map of the empire across his desk.
It was the most recent map, still held only by the Emperor and Kavala, and unlike the old map, it had newly incorporated Ronheim and the territories near the border.
'Ronheim is far away.'
Kavala measured the distance between the capital city where he was and Ronheim.
'Being so far away, the arrogant Marquis Rodrian still thinks he's royalty of the Kingdom of Ronheim and can't come to his senses.'
Kavala wanted to pressure Callius into completely prostrating himself at her feet.
Even the southern principalities could easily be swept away if a war were waged, so they were all watching their reaction and bickering, but poor, tiny Ronheim was so close to their grasp that it was annoying.
'These guys use their remoteness as a weapon to completely defeat us.'
Kavala pointed to the areas with moving magic circles and then pointed her finger at a certain spot in the Ronheim territory.
“It would be perfect if we could create a moving magic circle here...”
The best location to place a moving magic circle.
Kavala had no idea that this was where the gold mine that Callius had promised to give to Chloe was located.
And she could hardly have imagined that at this very moment, in this very place, Chloe and Callius would be plotting to destroy her.
***
Callius, who said he would show me something cool, put me on a horse and took me somewhere.
It was a pure white snow field surrounded by steep cliffs.
“Where am I?”
“This is the Garden of the Moon where Leknes flowers bloom.”
Callius smiled mischievously.
I understood what he was saying right away.
That was the code I wrote in the letter I sent him to meet him at the Valentine's Day event.
“So this is the gold mine!”
I spun around in place and looked around.
It was a very different landscape from what I had imagined.
I didn't know there would be this much snow, and I didn't know it would be such an empty field.
'I vaguely imagined it to be a cave full of gold.'
Actually, I didn't know much about gold mines.
In my past life, I only heard bits and pieces of Andrea and several nobles planning to use this place as a base to attack Callius.
Callius asked.
"What are you going to do with this place? As you know, developing this place won't yield any significant gold."
"I never intended to develop this place into a mine. I told you, I was going to make a flower garden here."
“Were you serious...?”
"Yes!"
I answered ambitiously.
“If I had sold this mine to Count Elbern as Callius had planned, he wouldn’t have developed it into a mine.”
Callius seemed puzzled by how I knew all that, but instead of asking, he asked me what I thought.
“Then what do you think he did?”
“There must have been something more profitable than developing the mine: installing a moving magic circle.”
“A moving magic circle?”
I looked around once more.
“Imagine. What if we set up a teleportation circle in this open space and built a military fortress on that cliff?”
“It will be difficult to capture the fortress.”
"That's right. Even with just a few archers skilled in ranged attacks, the enemy will have a hard time getting past here."
Callius acknowledged my words, but his response was lukewarm.
"I understand that the Magic Tower prohibits the private use of magicians' powers. This place doesn't meet the conditions for setting up a teleportation circle, so the Magic Tower won't grant permission."
“I’m sorry to say this, Callius, but that’s naive thinking.”
"Yes?"
“Do you still think that the Magic Tower is an independent organization, independent of any interests within the continent?”
“The Magic Tower has been around for hundreds of years...”
“Ronheim, which had held back Arrental’s forces for hundreds of years, also suffered defeat in our generation.”
“...”
“The world is changing.”
Although I only knew the future ten years ahead, I knew how much the world would change in the future.
"The Magic Tower will no longer be able to fully control individual wizards. It has lost its authority and prestige. It is splitting apart from within."
“How do you know all that?”
Callius, who had been holding back on the question until now despite being curious, could no longer hold back and asked.
I shook my head quietly.
“I can’t tell you that. But I can prove to you that what I’m saying is true.”
“How do you say that?”
“Let’s prove it by installing a mobile magic circle here that is not under the surveillance of the magic tower.”
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