The damage from the war would be greater than expected.
A deep furrow appeared between the Emperor’s brows.
“Is that really true, Duke?”
“Any knight or mage who has reached a certain level should be able to recognize it. There, for instance. The Captain of the Imperial Guard should be capable of it.”
The eyebrows of the Captain of the Imperial Guard, who stood beside the Emperor, twitched at being singled out.
Nathan continued casually.
“In any case, I think an investigation is necessary in several respects. Above all, I heard that public sentiment toward Olsher in the Borza Kingdom isn’t particularly favorable—”
He stared pointedly at Marquis Tauren, the Minister of Intelligence.
“I don’t believe I’ve heard any recent reports concerning this. If we truly intend to go to war, the Intelligence Department needs to be thoroughly reviewed beforehand. There may be a problem with the intelligence network in the northern region.”
“……!”
Just as all sorts of silence settled over the grand council chamber—
“Your Grace.”
“……”
Nathan turned at the quiet voice coming from behind him.
Vale cautiously approached and handed him a note.
「The target has begun moving. She is currently heading toward the outer city.」
“……”
Judging by the handwriting, it was Lou.
Right now, Lou would be…
‘Still following her.’
Nathan slowly blinked twice before quietly clenching the note in his hand.
Even when he tried to believe her.
There was always another twist.
Of course, this could be another misunderstanding as well, but he needed to find out.
On the night of an attempted assassination of the Emperor.
With all the high-ranking nobles gathered in the grand council chamber at this hour before dawn, a noble young lady moving around secretly was suspicious in itself.
Perhaps she had learned some special information again.
Or—
‘Perhaps this time, I might finally find out why she looks at me that way.’
“What is the matter, Duke?”
Before he knew it, the gazes of the Emperor and every noble in the room had turned toward him.
Nathan rose from his seat and spoke.
“Your Majesty. I apologize, but I believe I need to leave for a moment.”
“……!”
As the startled nobles looked back and forth between the Emperor and Nathan, the Emperor remained silent for a moment before granting his permission.
“Do so.”
“Thank you.”
After giving a brief bow, Nathan left the grand council chamber.
Outside, the deputy commander, the knights, and a carriage were already waiting.
“Her location?”
“She is currently heading toward the magic district in the outer city.”
“The magic district?”
It was an unexpected destination.
Just a little farther from there was the back alley district, where all sorts of dirty business flourished.
Nathan’s expression hardened slightly as he took one of the horses out of the carriage.
Vale briefly wore an expression that seemed to say, As expected.
The other knights, however, looked up at Nathan in confusion.
“Your Grace?”
“I’ll go ahead. If you’re coming, follow as you see fit.”
Nathan immediately mounted the horse and galloped away.
His aide, Vale, followed right behind him.
It was certainly the kind of movement one would expect from a man who had once served as a squad leader in the Red Hawk Mercenary Group, where such situations were commonplace.
Behind them, the deputy commander and escort captain, Sir Blake, along with the bewildered knights, hurriedly followed.
If they had not been knights of the Valencia family, they could never have dreamed of racing through the Imperial Palace in the middle of the night.
***
As Becky had said, the magic district in the outer city was still doing business even at dawn.
Since Becky had been given an entire pouch of gold coins, the magical tools she managed to obtain were not much inferior in quality to those sold in the shops of the inner city.
On each crystal, filled with mana, was an engraving indicating the magic imbued within it.
Becky also handed Rachel another pouch containing the things she had bought separately.
“These have defensive and offensive magic on them. I bought them just in case, so please take them with you, my lady.”
“Thank you, Becky.”
Of course, if she ever reached the point where she actually had to use these, it meant that something had already gone terribly wrong, so they probably wouldn’t be of much use.
Still, Rachel accepted them without a word.
They were already very close to the Tauren estate.
Sir Hoffman, the escort captain, quietly approached the carriage window and spoke.
“My lady, we’re almost at our destination.”
“Please let me off before the walls come into view.”
“…Understood.”
The carriage stopped briefly in an alley just before the Tauren estate.
Rachel pulled her hood low and checked her appearance once more before stepping out of the carriage.
In fact, if it weren’t for the veil covering her face, she would have looked much like a maid from a noble household.
“My lady, please be careful.”
“Mm.”
Becky, who was clinging to the carriage window, looked as though she was barely holding back everything else she wanted to say.
Rachel looked up at the escort knights, who once again seemed to have lost their words, and then spoke to Sir Hoffman.
“Go.”
“…We’re departing.”
The carriage slowly moved away.
Rachel followed the darkened street toward the Tauren estate.
Because security in the capital had been tightened following the attempted assassination of the Emperor, the Capital Defense Knights carrying torches were patrolling the streets more frequently than usual.
As a result, Rachel walked more slowly and cautiously than she normally would.
Soon, she arrived at the Tauren estate.
Like the residences of other nobles, its walls were extremely high.
Rachel looked up at the wall, which appeared to be nearly twice her height, and took out a crystal imbued with flight magic.
“Ah.”
Should she use detection magic first?
No.
She should probably use concealment first.
Then she could use detection magic to check whether anyone was nearby before using flight magic to get over the wall—
‘But don’t they usually put alarm magic on the walls at night to guard against assassins climbing over?’
“……”
After hesitating for a moment, Rachel was just about to take out the crystal imbued with alarm-disabling magic when—
“What are you doing here?”
“……!”
Rustle—
The pouch fell from Rachel’s hand as she nearly jumped out of her skin.
The person who had appeared behind her was Nathan Valencia.
His black hair was slightly disheveled, and his breathing was uneven.
His cold, reddish gaze fell toward the ground.
As he examined the colorful magical tools scattered across the ground, one of his eyebrows twitched slightly.
Concealment, alarm disabling, flight, detection magic, and so on.
“……”
He seemed to recognize the combination of magical tools that only a thief would use.
Rachel’s face turned deathly pale.
“I-I, this is…”
Her vision went black.
It had only been a few hours since she had managed to dispel his suspicions.
And now this.
For the first time, Rachel thought that this might actually cause trouble for her new life.
She was dressed suspiciously, carrying these kinds of magical tools, and standing in front of another noble family’s estate.
And this was happening on the very night an attempt had been made on the Emperor’s life.
“It’s a misunderstanding. I-I wasn’t trying to do anything bad, I just—”
“Shh.”
The man gestured for her to lower her voice before picking up one of the scattered magical tools.
It was a crystal imbued with concealment magic.
Vrrr—
The crystal glowed briefly, and the concealment magic spread out.
It was a narrow space with a radius of less than two meters, but it was large enough to hide the two of them.
Almost immediately, the Capital Defense Knights appeared on the road directly in front of them.
“……!”
While Rachel froze in surprise, Nathan bent down and gathered up the magical tools she had dropped.
It was an extraordinary feat only possible because the concealment magic hid not only their forms, but also their sounds.
Still bewildered, Rachel accepted the pouch he held out to her and looked up at Nathan.
“What were you going to say after that?”
“Pardon?”
“‘It’s a misunderstanding. I wasn’t trying to do anything bad…’ What comes after that?”
“……!”
Rachel stammered out an answer.
“The truth is, Marquis Tauren is the mastermind behind this whole situation. He’s been diverting the gold that was supposed to go to the Borza Kingdom and secretly raising the prices of food and lumber without His Majesty’s knowledge so he could make excessive profits from trade. The evidence is here, in a secret vault, so I came to retrieve it.”
“……”
He wore a somewhat complicated expression for a moment.
Then, after confirming the symbol of the Tauren family hanging on the wall, he bent down and met her gaze.
“I’m only asking this just in case, but—”
His red lips moved slowly.
“…Don’t tell me you came all the way here alone? Without even bringing a single knight to help you?”
“…Even so, I’m climbing over another family’s walls. Wouldn’t it be a little strange to bring knights along for something like this?”
“……”
For a moment, he wore an expression that clearly said he had a great many things to say.
His lips parted slightly.
Then the man’s gaze dropped once more to the pouch containing the magical tools, and his face twisted.
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