One afternoon, not long after Andrew's gang was wiped out.
I left the room with Lamia and headed to the castle's underused annex.
Lamia spotted Alex, who was passing by us, and waved at him.
“Sir Alex, come with me.”
“Where are you going?”
"I'm busy?"
“That’s not it, but...”
“Then just follow me.”
This red-haired knight, who had a bad impression but was actually kind and affectionate, joined us without a word when Lamia simply opened her eyes without any explanation.
Not long after Alex joined, he turned the corner and ran into Luca.
“I see you’ve been working on your research all night.”
“Ah, Marchioness.”
Luca nodded to me, his hair spiky, either from being torn off or from a magpie nest that had formed while he was sleeping.
The bags under his eyes and his pale face were definitely from not getting enough sleep.
“Is there any way to design a magic circle?”
"Yes. The magical books sent from the Szeged upper class were a great help, and the framework is roughly complete."
Luca was designing a custom-made magic circle of the desired size and suited to the environment of Ronheim, referring to the magic books on magic circles related to movement that Montril, at the top of Szeged, had managed to obtain and sent to Ronheim.
“How is your magic recovery going?”
I made the promise out of kindness, even though I knew that his drug manufacturing, which used the Restio plant as its main ingredient, would be successful.
"If anything goes wrong, just let me know, Luca. Who knows, maybe my divine powers will help you too?"
Luca waved his hand with a moved face.
"No! I appreciate your words, but this is a problem I can handle. You shouldn't use that power for personal gain."
"It's personal. Luca is our core strength. You have no idea how reassuring it is to have you."
“I can’t believe you trusted me so much, even though I was released from the Magic Tower... I will dedicate myself to creating a perfect magic circle, Madame Marchioness.”
"Thank you."
I smiled at Luca, who was looking up at me.
Now I was quite used to that kind of look.
As I picked up where I had stopped, I heard Lamia whispering to Luca from behind.
“You follow me.”
"Where? I'm hungry. I'm going to go get some food. I was buried in a book all night and I'm on the verge of starvation."
“Oh, I told you to stop talking and just follow me.”
“Were we close when we were young? You say we’re related, but you’re being so informal.”
"Were we close? No way. I'm not with a punk who's 10 years older than me and pees his pants... Ugh!"
“I’m following you right now, can’t you see? Where are you going, anyway?”
“You’ll know when you go.”
Luca, who had joined us like that, spoke in an awkwardly loud voice as if making excuses to Lamia, who was right next to him.
"Well, and that was the one time I made a mistake because of the bathroom renovation! There was a reason for that, don't you remember?"
Since Lamia didn't even respond, I answered for Luca, worried that he would feel embarrassed.
“It’s okay, Luca. I understand.”
“Oh no! That’s not it...!”
I answered because he was speaking to me as if he wanted me to listen, but it seemed wiser to pretend not to hear, so I belatedly kept my mouth shut.
The place I went with the group that had doubled in size was in front of a door in the annex where Sernia was imprisoned.
I had come to keep my promise to Sernia to listen to her circumstances.
Only then did Alex and Luca understand why Lamia had asked them to join.
Lamia wasn't the only one who wondered what Sernia, who knew how to use black magic, might do to me.
The knight standing outside the door opened the door for us.
Sernia was standing at the door waiting for me, as if she had heard my voice.
She looked better than when she was in the dungeon, but she still had a pale face.
Sernia, who had confessed everything about Basto in front of everyone, was no longer under the influence of evil and was quite relieved.
“I came to listen to your story. Tell me about you and your brother.”
She must have really not expected me to come listen to her story, because she slightly raised her head from her bowed position and glanced at my face.
Then, as she lowered her eyes again, the corners of her eyes quickly became wet.
She suddenly knelt down in front of me with a loud thud.
“I know it’s shameless to say this, but please save my brother!”
“Tell me more.”
"My brother and I were students at the Black Magician Training Academy run by the Magic Tower. We were achieving excellent grades there, and Empress Kavala sponsored us."
“...”
"But one day, my younger brother fell seriously ill. He began to hover between life and death. In fact, black magic often involves spells that rely on vitality, so there were often students like my brother who died suddenly."
“Why did you stay at the Academy knowing the dangers?”
"We had no choice. We were orphans abandoned by our parents. As long as we worked hard at the academy, we wouldn't have to go hungry."
I could only sigh at the sad story.
Sernia continued speaking.
"I tried to keep my brother's illness a secret. Children like that are quarantined, and I'd never seen them return. I couldn't let him go, because I didn't know what had happened to them. I wanted to be by his side until the very end. That was all."
“...”
"But one day, Empress Kavala herself came to visit us. She already knew my brother was dying. She said she couldn't afford to lose such a talented student, so she offered to spare his life. But there was one condition."
“What were the conditions?”
“Follow the Princess to Ronheim and carry out the mission given by the Empress.”
Sernia fell to the floor and began to sob.
“If I just carry out my mission well... She promised to let me see my healthy brother when I return to Arrental... The Empress is taking my brother with her. Please... Please help me see my brother again! I will do anything...!”
Only then did I understand why Kavala had assigned me untrained maids.
A person who knows how to use black magic and can send and receive messages secretly, but who also has a desperate weakness and can be expected to be loyal, but at the same time...
"Someone you can easily throw away. That's what she needed."
I lowered my posture to meet Sernia's eye level.
"I'll send someone to find your brother. If Kavala took him, he's likely at the Marquis Blanco residence. Let's first check to see if he's safe..."
But then Luca, who had not moved an inch until then, suddenly cut me off firmly.
“I’m sorry, Madame Marchioness, but the child is probably dead.”
“...!”
Sernia opened her eyes wide and looked up at Luca.
“T, that’s...! No! What are you talking about!”
In fact, I also put more weight on the idea that Sernia's younger brother might have died.
It seems that Kavala had originally intended to use Sernia and then abandon her, rather than save Sernia's younger sister.
Still, I said I would look into it just in case, but I wondered why Luca was speaking with such certainty.
Luca sighed deeply and scratched his head nervously.
"The Black Magician Training Academy is actually nothing more than an institution for the Kavala to experiment with black magic. It's a biological experimentation facility."
“What did you just say...?”
I thought I just misheard something.
But Luca kept spewing out words that were hard to believe.
“The Dark Magician Training Academy is an institution that conducts biological experiments on humans, especially young girls and women.”
It was such a horrible thing, I lost my mind.
Sernia, who had studied at the Black Magician Training Academy, shook her head, making a sound that was neither crying nor laughing.
“Wow, who the hell is that guy to be talking such nonsense...”
"Does this sound like nonsense? Why do you think Kavala would sponsor and educate orphans like you there? Do you think only the isolated children died? There aren't any graduates there. Not a single one."
"Lie...!"
"I wish it were all a lie. I wish it were all a lie that my beloved disciple entered the temple as a student there on Magic Tower Lord's recommendation and died, and that I, upon learning of that truth, tried to uncover the truth about the temple and ended up beating Magic Tower."
Luca gritted his teeth to suppress his anger.
I left the room with Lamia and headed to the castle's underused annex.
Lamia spotted Alex, who was passing by us, and waved at him.
“Sir Alex, come with me.”
“Where are you going?”
"I'm busy?"
“That’s not it, but...”
“Then just follow me.”
This red-haired knight, who had a bad impression but was actually kind and affectionate, joined us without a word when Lamia simply opened her eyes without any explanation.
Not long after Alex joined, he turned the corner and ran into Luca.
“I see you’ve been working on your research all night.”
“Ah, Marchioness.”
Luca nodded to me, his hair spiky, either from being torn off or from a magpie nest that had formed while he was sleeping.
The bags under his eyes and his pale face were definitely from not getting enough sleep.
“Is there any way to design a magic circle?”
"Yes. The magical books sent from the Szeged upper class were a great help, and the framework is roughly complete."
Luca was designing a custom-made magic circle of the desired size and suited to the environment of Ronheim, referring to the magic books on magic circles related to movement that Montril, at the top of Szeged, had managed to obtain and sent to Ronheim.
“How is your magic recovery going?”
I made the promise out of kindness, even though I knew that his drug manufacturing, which used the Restio plant as its main ingredient, would be successful.
"If anything goes wrong, just let me know, Luca. Who knows, maybe my divine powers will help you too?"
Luca waved his hand with a moved face.
"No! I appreciate your words, but this is a problem I can handle. You shouldn't use that power for personal gain."
"It's personal. Luca is our core strength. You have no idea how reassuring it is to have you."
“I can’t believe you trusted me so much, even though I was released from the Magic Tower... I will dedicate myself to creating a perfect magic circle, Madame Marchioness.”
"Thank you."
I smiled at Luca, who was looking up at me.
Now I was quite used to that kind of look.
As I picked up where I had stopped, I heard Lamia whispering to Luca from behind.
“You follow me.”
"Where? I'm hungry. I'm going to go get some food. I was buried in a book all night and I'm on the verge of starvation."
“Oh, I told you to stop talking and just follow me.”
“Were we close when we were young? You say we’re related, but you’re being so informal.”
"Were we close? No way. I'm not with a punk who's 10 years older than me and pees his pants... Ugh!"
“I’m following you right now, can’t you see? Where are you going, anyway?”
“You’ll know when you go.”
Luca, who had joined us like that, spoke in an awkwardly loud voice as if making excuses to Lamia, who was right next to him.
"Well, and that was the one time I made a mistake because of the bathroom renovation! There was a reason for that, don't you remember?"
Since Lamia didn't even respond, I answered for Luca, worried that he would feel embarrassed.
“It’s okay, Luca. I understand.”
“Oh no! That’s not it...!”
I answered because he was speaking to me as if he wanted me to listen, but it seemed wiser to pretend not to hear, so I belatedly kept my mouth shut.
The place I went with the group that had doubled in size was in front of a door in the annex where Sernia was imprisoned.
I had come to keep my promise to Sernia to listen to her circumstances.
Only then did Alex and Luca understand why Lamia had asked them to join.
Lamia wasn't the only one who wondered what Sernia, who knew how to use black magic, might do to me.
The knight standing outside the door opened the door for us.
Sernia was standing at the door waiting for me, as if she had heard my voice.
She looked better than when she was in the dungeon, but she still had a pale face.
Sernia, who had confessed everything about Basto in front of everyone, was no longer under the influence of evil and was quite relieved.
“I came to listen to your story. Tell me about you and your brother.”
She must have really not expected me to come listen to her story, because she slightly raised her head from her bowed position and glanced at my face.
Then, as she lowered her eyes again, the corners of her eyes quickly became wet.
She suddenly knelt down in front of me with a loud thud.
“I know it’s shameless to say this, but please save my brother!”
“Tell me more.”
"My brother and I were students at the Black Magician Training Academy run by the Magic Tower. We were achieving excellent grades there, and Empress Kavala sponsored us."
“...”
"But one day, my younger brother fell seriously ill. He began to hover between life and death. In fact, black magic often involves spells that rely on vitality, so there were often students like my brother who died suddenly."
“Why did you stay at the Academy knowing the dangers?”
"We had no choice. We were orphans abandoned by our parents. As long as we worked hard at the academy, we wouldn't have to go hungry."
I could only sigh at the sad story.
Sernia continued speaking.
"I tried to keep my brother's illness a secret. Children like that are quarantined, and I'd never seen them return. I couldn't let him go, because I didn't know what had happened to them. I wanted to be by his side until the very end. That was all."
“...”
"But one day, Empress Kavala herself came to visit us. She already knew my brother was dying. She said she couldn't afford to lose such a talented student, so she offered to spare his life. But there was one condition."
“What were the conditions?”
“Follow the Princess to Ronheim and carry out the mission given by the Empress.”
Sernia fell to the floor and began to sob.
“If I just carry out my mission well... She promised to let me see my healthy brother when I return to Arrental... The Empress is taking my brother with her. Please... Please help me see my brother again! I will do anything...!”
Only then did I understand why Kavala had assigned me untrained maids.
A person who knows how to use black magic and can send and receive messages secretly, but who also has a desperate weakness and can be expected to be loyal, but at the same time...
"Someone you can easily throw away. That's what she needed."
I lowered my posture to meet Sernia's eye level.
"I'll send someone to find your brother. If Kavala took him, he's likely at the Marquis Blanco residence. Let's first check to see if he's safe..."
But then Luca, who had not moved an inch until then, suddenly cut me off firmly.
“I’m sorry, Madame Marchioness, but the child is probably dead.”
“...!”
Sernia opened her eyes wide and looked up at Luca.
“T, that’s...! No! What are you talking about!”
In fact, I also put more weight on the idea that Sernia's younger brother might have died.
It seems that Kavala had originally intended to use Sernia and then abandon her, rather than save Sernia's younger sister.
Still, I said I would look into it just in case, but I wondered why Luca was speaking with such certainty.
Luca sighed deeply and scratched his head nervously.
"The Black Magician Training Academy is actually nothing more than an institution for the Kavala to experiment with black magic. It's a biological experimentation facility."
“What did you just say...?”
I thought I just misheard something.
But Luca kept spewing out words that were hard to believe.
“The Dark Magician Training Academy is an institution that conducts biological experiments on humans, especially young girls and women.”
It was such a horrible thing, I lost my mind.
Sernia, who had studied at the Black Magician Training Academy, shook her head, making a sound that was neither crying nor laughing.
“Wow, who the hell is that guy to be talking such nonsense...”
"Does this sound like nonsense? Why do you think Kavala would sponsor and educate orphans like you there? Do you think only the isolated children died? There aren't any graduates there. Not a single one."
"Lie...!"
"I wish it were all a lie. I wish it were all a lie that my beloved disciple entered the temple as a student there on Magic Tower Lord's recommendation and died, and that I, upon learning of that truth, tried to uncover the truth about the temple and ended up beating Magic Tower."
Luca gritted his teeth to suppress his anger.
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