LPSB 25

chapter 25

Late that evening, I slipped out of the mansion with Izael.

Finding the auction house wasn’t difficult. Armed guards stood watch in front of the massive entrance.

They were carefully checking the identification of everyone who came to the auction house.

Only then did I realize my mistake.

I had been so focused on catching the culprit that I had forgotten the most important thing.

Izael was fourteen, and I was fifteen.

We weren’t old enough to enter an auction house without an accompanying adult.

Should I ask Hiser for help, even now?

I turned toward Izael absentmindedly and nearly burst out laughing.

He, too, seemed to have only just realized the problem and was wearing a flustered expression.

Of course, the moment he noticed me looking at him, he immediately erased any trace of it.

As I stared at the guards, who looked as though they had no intention of leaving their posts, something suddenly came to mind.

Wait a second… come to think of it…

This auction house had appeared in the original novel.

Parmion Auction House.

The largest auction house in the capital, Arpen, and a place constantly crowded with nobles searching for artworks and treasures.

This was also where Izael and the protagonist encountered each other for the second time.

A dragon’s heart was put up for auction, and the two fought over it.

The result?

They completely destroyed the enormous auction house.

Of course, that wouldn’t happen until far in the future, so it wasn’t important right now.

What mattered was the method Izael had used to sneak in back then.

There was a secret door!

Praising my own memory, I spoke to Izael.

“Follow me.”

But instead of moving, he merely raised one eyebrow suspiciously.

Faced with that doubtful look, I lowered my voice.

“I know a way to get inside.”

The place I led him to was a narrow alley behind the auction house.

Recalling the descriptions from the novel, I followed the alley.

Despite his complicated expression, Izael followed behind me faithfully.

At the far end of an alley far removed from the main entrance, I discovered a staircase leading underground and a door.

The moment I saw it, I had to fight back a cheer.

I felt like a child who had found a hidden treasure island by following a secret map.

Filled with excitement, I rushed forward to open the door—

And froze.

There was no handle.

A realization struck me like lightning.

This secret door could never be opened from the outside.

It only worked as an exit.

Entering through it was impossible.

Parmion Auction House frequently hosted illegal auctions.

Secret auctions attended only by the most influential nobles and wealthy magnates.

This door had been prepared by the auction house owner as an escape route for those distinguished guests.

The only reason Izael had been able to enter through it in the original story was because of his extraordinary magical talent.

I’m screwed.

I had run into a wall I hadn’t anticipated.

I couldn’t use magic.

And the current Izael didn’t even know he had talent for magic yet—he was still learning swordsmanship.

I wanted to grab my own hair in frustration.

Do I really have no choice but to call Hiser or Aka?

Just as that thought crossed my mind, unfamiliar footsteps reached my ears.

Turning toward the sound, I saw two guards approaching the alley.

They hadn’t spotted us yet.

But it seemed only a matter of time.

Wow. We’re really doomed.

There wasn’t a single place to hide.

At this rate, we’d be discovered and thrown out immediately.

I was panicking and pacing in place when Izael, who had been silently observing from behind, suddenly stepped closer.

He moved until he was standing almost against my back.

Then he stretched out a hand.

With a few swift movements of his fingertips, he drew something above the door.

I stared blankly at his hand.

The black image that appeared, engraved with an intricate pattern, was none other than a magic circle.

The moment it emitted light, the door opened.

…Huh?

I could only stare at the door opening as though it were a lie.

Before I could even process what had happened—

Izael grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside.

Caught off balance, I stumbled.

A firm arm wrapped around my waist to steady me.

The scent of flowers dried in sunlight brushed against my nose.

Izael’s face was close enough for me to feel his breath.

Supporting me as though he were embracing me, he met my gaze.

I could see my own reflection clearly in his vivid violet eyes.

The door that had swallowed us shut smoothly behind us.

Click.

The sound felt like my heart stopping.

The distance between us was far too close.

“…!”

Before I could even scream, Izael covered my mouth with his free hand.

Voices came from the other side of the door.

“What was that? I could’ve sworn I heard something.”

“You’re imagining things.”

It was definitely the two guards from before.

I widened my eyes and held my breath.

The cool sensation of his palm against my lips made my skin tingle.

“Maybe… Anyway, it’s almost time to switch shifts with the guards at the front.”

“Let’s go already.”

Their conversation gradually faded into the distance.

Only after complete silence returned did Izael remove his hand.

Coming back to my senses, I hurriedly jumped away from him.

My head was spinning as I tried to understand what had just happened.

The symbol drawn above the door had been a black magic circle—something practically synonymous with Izael himself.

There was no way I had mistaken it.

Even if he had somehow learned magic, there was no way he should already be capable of casting something that complex.

Staring at him as though looking into a mirror, I asked blankly,

“What… exactly are you?”

I was the person who had read every special side story featuring Izael until the pages practically wore out.

I was confident that I knew his life—especially his past—better than anyone.

He didn’t seriously begin pursuing the path of a mage until after he was expelled from the Felicita Marquisate.

Izael had always possessed exceptional potential.

Once he realized his talent, his magical abilities improved at an astonishing rate.

Even before his coming-of-age ceremony, he had already surpassed most professional mages.

And yet here was fourteen-year-old Izael using the exact same magic as his adult self.

Even someone like me, who knew little about magic, could tell that was absurd.

In the past, I would have simply marveled at how amazing my favorite character was.

But now things were different.

A sudden worry struck me.

What if something had changed because I had started interfering?

At my question, Izael looked genuinely surprised for a moment.

Then he let out a short laugh.

It wasn’t mocking.

If anything, it sounded more like a laugh of resignation.

“You’re the one asking me that?”

“What?”

“How exactly did you know there was a door here?”

“…”

The arrow had suddenly been turned back on me.

Only then did I realize my mistake.

I had come straight to the secret entrance as though it were perfectly natural.

From Izael’s perspective, that had to look suspicious.

Naturally, I couldn’t tell him the truth.

“I read a novel where the future you entered through this door.”

If I said that, he’d think I’d lost my mind.

What excuse could I use?

After hesitating for a moment, I hurriedly improvised.

“The Marquis… I mean, Father told me about it before.”

One corner of Izael’s mouth lifted.

“…Is that so?”

He clearly didn’t believe me.

Still, perhaps because I had used Marquis Felicita as a shield, he didn’t press the matter further.

The marquis’s name really was useful at times like this.

I returned to the main topic.

“You, on the other hand… Since when could you use magic like that?”

“I learned from Lord Hiser.”

Izael answered calmly.

Hiser…?

Because I had been keeping my distance after seeing that infamous “Wait for the Paid Chapter” scene, I had never once watched Izael’s swordsmanship training myself.

Everything I knew came from Hiser’s reports.

“For a human, he’s surprisingly stubborn.”

Even when Hiser intentionally increased the training intensity, Izael had gritted his teeth and endured it.

But Hiser had never mentioned anything about magic lessons.

If Hiser had secretly been teaching him magic all this time…

Then, unlike in the original story, it wasn’t impossible that his magical growth had accelerated significantly.

Even so, one question remained.

“Is Hiser the only one who knows?”

Izael gave a short nod.

I stared at him for a moment before speaking again.

“You… don’t use magic in front of other people from now on.”

I had a good reason for saying that.

For the current Izael, it was far better if nobody discovered he could use magic.

Mages were incredibly rare in this world.

Most people admired them.

And because there were so few, every nation was desperate to recruit them.

But if people learned that Izael possessed talent of this magnitude, things would become complicated.

Although he was currently receiving support from the marquis’s family, that support was only temporary.

At the end of the day, Izael was still a commoner.

Without a powerful family to protect him, being dragged into political struggles and power games was practically inevitable.

And once the Imperial Family became involved, his fate would be all but decided.

He would spend his life exhausting his magic solely for the Empire, gradually wearing himself away.

There was a reason Imperial Court Mages were often called slaves of the Empire.

The Mage Tower had originally been established to protect the freedom and rights of mages.

However, with the position of Tower Master vacant, the Mage Tower could no longer properly fulfill its purpose.

The blame lay with the corrupt elders who had allowed it to decay from within.

I wasn’t sure how Izael interpreted my words.

The faint smile lingering on his face disappeared instantly.

As he stared at me, his eyes seemed to tremble ever so slightly.

“Are you… worried about me?”