He silently examined the Easton estate, keeping his senses sharp.
So they had placed seventh-tier magic on it.
Even the deputy commander of the Imperial Mage Corps, who was said to be an eighth-tier mage, seemed to have struggled to remove it. Quite a dense amount of mana still lingered around the estate.
Still, it looks like the barrier was removed properly.
He was checking the entire Easton estate just in case when—
“Duke Valencia?”
“…….”
Nathan paused at the familiar voice and turned around. He had sensed a group approaching along this road, but he hadn’t expected it to be her.
It seemed they were coming from the Ingrave estate, as several servants and a few luggage carriages accompanied them. Rachel Ingrave stepped down from her carriage and approached him.
“What brings you all the way here?”
“……I was just passing by.”
“Ah……?”
Her sky-blue eyes seemed to accept his answer, yet they held a subtle hint of doubt. As he gazed at her face, which he hadn’t seen in a while, Nathan quickly checked the estate.
Amid the mana that seemed to belong to the imperial deputy commander, he could also sense a vast and immense amount of mana that he suspected belonged to the Archmage.
The magic circle was being dismantled and slowly fading away, but its power was truly worthy of an Archmage.
……But is it just my imagination, or does something about it feel familiar?
Nathan frowned without realizing it, but when he saw Rachel hesitate, he consciously relaxed his expression. Then he changed the subject.
“You don’t need to look at me like that. I heard an Archmage I’d never seen before had come to the capital, so I stopped by to check.”
“Ah…….”
“I’ll be going now.”
Nathan passed by her. A quiet voice followed him from behind.
“Take care on your way.”
“…….”
Without realizing it, he tightened his grip on the reins.
At first, he had thought he was angry because she had dared to deceive him.
After his suspicions were cleared, all he could think about was how to set things right again. There had been a time when he thought that sense of duty was all he felt toward her.
But now—
Clank—
“…….”
The main gate opened, and she entered the estate. He found himself watching to make sure she had gone inside, then pressed a hand to his forehead.
He had told himself he came to check on the traces left by the Archmage who had appeared in the capital.
But he knew the truth well enough. In the end, hadn’t he come all this way just to make sure she was safe?
—She’s someone I dislike.
Even after hearing her say something like that, he was still worried that she might be in danger when he wasn’t around to see it.
“What a fool.”
It seemed he would have to swing his sword all night for the first time in a while. If he cleared his mind and pushed his body to its limits, these pointless thoughts would disappear.
And the strange pounding in his heart would settle down again, too.
***
Rachel watched Nathan Valencia grow distant for a while before climbing back into her carriage.
Did he notice something?
Could he have realized her <Regression> ability?
“…….”
Worried, Rachel watched Nathan disappear into the distance before slowly turning away.
She had already dealt with Nathan once, so things were unlikely to become a problem again.
The real problem is the Emperor.
—Remember what I told you.
“…….”
The fact that she had directly rejected him without incurring his anger was a good outcome.
Of course, as long as the Emperor before her was the same person as the Emperor before her regression, she couldn’t give him the answer he wanted.
“As long as he doesn’t try to force me to become the Empress…….”
She should be able to find a way to deal with everything else somehow.
For now, her priority was to restore order to the estate now that the barrier had been removed.
***
The moment Sein entered Aisha’s room, he was greeted by a pile of documents.
“What has this idiot been doing in my house?!”
Sein calmly answered as the papers flew straight toward his face, suspending them in midair.
“Well, I guess I should have expected this. That young lady seems pretty capable.”
“Ha! It’s not that she’s capable. I heard she moved her base of operations to the Ingrave estate the very day you left after placing the barrier! What? Does an Archmage have their own methods? And you got caught on the very first day? If you’re going to be that careless, then don’t stay at my house! What will His Majesty think of me?!”
“…….”
At her continued scolding, Sein’s expression twisted slightly despite himself. Rachel hadn’t even stayed at the Easton estate from the very first day he had placed the barrier?
“Haha, you two are really making a fool out of me. Nathan Valencia may be a swordsman who has reached the highest level, but the acting Marquis Ingrave is just an ordinary noble with no power at all.”
“What does Nathan Valencia have to do with this?”
Sein smiled and waved his hand. The papers that had been flying through the air neatly gathered together and settled on the table. Sitting on the sofa opposite Aisha, Sein spoke casually.
“I had an unpleasant encounter with that mercenary king bastard before. He probably doesn’t know about it, though. Anyway, I want revenge, so I’ll be away for a while. Rather than taking out my anger on him little by little, I plan to finish him off in one go.”
Aisha’s eyes widened.
“Then what about Rachel Ingrave? No, you should at least leave me a way to approach His Majesty before you go. His Majesty is still refusing my requests for an audience!”
“…….”
For a moment, Sein looked annoyed.
But he quickly regained control of his expression and smiled. It was a good thing he’d gone to the mountain behind the capital and unleashed a few spells before coming here. Otherwise, he might not have let even Aisha get away with this.
No, was that no longer true, even for Aisha?
Sein watched her soul with <Insight>. It showed no sign of turning black, no matter how much he looked. He twisted his lips into a smile.
“Shall I train you in magic, as you asked? If you push yourself, you should be able to reach the seventh tier pretty quickly.”
“……!”
Aisha’s eyes widened. After calming down a little, she asked,
“How? You said last time that it would take four years to become an Archmage safely.”
“That was the safe way. This way is a shortcut.”
Normally, he wouldn’t have allowed Aisha to rush her way to the highest tier. But—
Do I really need to care that much about the Aisha of today?
Unless her white soul turned black, that was.
Now that a small part of her soul had darkened and she was no different from other people, she was simply someone to observe. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Isn’t that dangerous? If my tier rises too quickly—”
“If you become a top-tier mage in just a month or two, even the Emperor won’t be able to ignore you.”
“……!”
Aisha gritted her teeth. Yes, this was why she had called Sein in the first place.
She was a little suspicious of how Sein had suddenly changed his mind after repeatedly telling her not to rush her way up the tiers.
I want to see him.
It had already been several weeks since she last saw the Emperor. Aisha couldn’t bear it any longer.
“Do it. If you really can raise me to the seventh tier within two months, I’ll repay you handsomely, too. Master.”
“Good. Shall we start right now?”
Aisha immediately told her personal maid, Sisi, to bring her training clothes. Sein leaned back leisurely on the sofa and wiggled his foot.
In truth, even he didn’t know how long it would take to break the dragon’s seal.
So he thought it might be a good chance to use Aisha to strike back at someone.
Sein smiled as he watched the mana within Aisha, still wavering unstably.
“All done. Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Sein followed Aisha as she walked ahead. He was looking forward to what would happen.
***
While the high-ranking mages affiliated with the Ingrave family installed a new barrier around the estate—
“Sister. Let’s live together for a while.”
Illya moved into the Easton estate. After she had been caught up in one major incident after another and now even the barrier around her estate had developed a problem, he seemed genuinely worried about his sister.
Did he notice my <Regression>?
Rachel carefully observed her younger brother whenever they met.
“Why are you looking at me like that, Sister?”
“……It’s nothing.”
She couldn’t see anything particularly unusual about him.
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