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CHAPTER 75…………
“Come to think of it, you haven’t been visiting Lady Obel lately, have you?”
Meanwhile, at the Ivory Tower.
Bruno spoke in a subtle tone to Magnus, who had been sulking and locking himself in his office these days.
“Hmph. Who is this Lady Obel you speak of?”
He’s really sulking…
One day he doted on her like she was his only granddaughter, and a few days later, he flipped his attitude over like turning his palm.
Truly, he was a superior who acted far younger than his age.
“As I grow older, I must’ve been mistaken. I don’t know this Lady Obel either.”
“Exactly! Ever since she brought in that slave, she’s been putting off meeting me, acting like she doesn’t need my teaching anymore, scheming something with Duke Brimstone without telling me anything, boasting that she’d sell a mine to him at a high price—and then actually pulling it off! I don’t know such a presumptuous child who excludes me from everything! How could I possibly know her!”
You seem to know her better than anyone.
But Bruno didn’t voice his thoughts.
“Hmph, so now I’m not needed anymore, is that it.”
With arms crossed and grumbling, Magnus looked just like a sulky ten-year-old.
To sum up his words:
Linaria won’t meet with me.
But Bruno had some good news for him.
“A letter has arrived from the Lady Obel, whom neither of us knows. In fact, it’s been here for some time, but since you don’t know this Lady Obel, I hesitated to deliver it.”
“……”
“It was delayed because we had to go through the formal process of verifying it wasn’t a seditious letter.”
That was a lie.
In truth, the moment anyone even mentioned the ‘O’ in ‘Obel,’ Magnus would glare with sharp eyes, and it terrified everyone.
So the task of delivering the letter kept getting passed around until now.
“If a letter arrives, you should give it to me immediately! Kids these days waste work hours slacking off and only think about pocketing their salaries!”
Magnus snatched the letter from Bruno’s hands.
“You young folks were the same in my day too! Nothing ever changes!”
Grumbling like a child opening presents, Magnus tore the letter open.
—Lately the head chef has been making lots of snacks, but there’s no one to eat them, so we don’t know what to do.
Right now I have a plate full of madeleines in front of me, and of course you were the first person who came to mind. They’re your favorite snack, after all.
“Hmph, as expected, she misses me when I’m not around.”
Up until then, Magnus’s grin reached his ears.
But then—
He froze.
“What is it? Is this unknown young lady asking you to explain some difficult formula?”
“No. I’d rather it had been something like that.”
Magnus swallowed heavily.
“Linaria… Why do you keep getting involved with dangerous things?”
“Is the young lady in danger?”
“Dangerous? Extremely. She could even lose her life.”
The slave was one thing, but she had gone and gotten herself entangled in something she absolutely shouldn’t touch.
Magnus glared at the letters carved into the page.
—…Due to certain circumstances, I met Duke Ignas directly.
He looked like a child whose growth had stopped completely.
He could never be called twenty years old.
They say it might be some rare illness, but Tower Master, would you know anything about this?
“Bruno, prepare a few things! Right now! Hurry as if your crooked spine will finally straighten!”
Linaria hadn’t written out all the details, but she must have approached Duke Ignas directly to have learned this.
If she continued to have contact with him, she could easily end up caught in a disaster and killed.
“The cursed Ignas lot. Always meddling in nonsense.”
Magnus muttered grimly, almost like cursing, and rose from his seat.
In doing so, he knocked over the glass cup on his desk.
Crash!
The glass shattered into pieces on the floor.
“Master! Are you alright?”
“An ill omen…”
Magnus squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.
For now, all he could do was pray for Linaria’s safety.
Linaria’s body was thrown into the air.
And—
“Kaas.”
Kaas, who was below her, caught her just in time.
Thanks to him, not only Linaria but the child as well remained unharmed.
“That was reckless.”
She heard his voice behind her, deeper than usual.
“You almost died.”
She turned her head.
His face was pale with fright.
For someone who rarely showed emotion, it was a surprising expression.
“But thanks to you, I’m fine.”
“If I had been even a moment too late? That child… wasn’t even your concern.”
“You’re right. She wasn’t. But I helped simply because I could.”
There was no grand meaning behind it.
Linaria set the child down.
“Are you alright?”
“Y-yes…”
She forgot she was dressed as a maid and spoke casually.
The child, still startled, just mouthed wordlessly before finally stammering a reply.
It seemed she hadn’t caught Kaas’s earlier words—that he didn’t need to save her.
Better that way. Hearing it would’ve left a scar.
“Go back to your parents.”
“But…”
“You almost tumbled down the stairs and died. You know how dangerous that was, don’t you?”
“Y-yes…”
“And it wasn’t your fault, so don’t blame yourself.”
“Th-thank you.”
The girl bowed deeply, not even knowing what she was saying, then hurried down the stairs as if fleeing.
Once the child was out of sight, Kaas silently ascended the staircase.
“Wh-what, it’s just a servant.”
The children, who had been peering down to see if someone had actually fallen, flinched at the unexpected sight.
And as Kaas drew nearer, his imposing presence overwhelmed them.
“Servants can’t use divine beast powers!”
But they quickly regained their arrogance.
“Kneel!”
Kaas didn’t obey.
He simply kept walking toward them.
“D-didn’t you hear me?! I told you to kneel! A noble is ordering you!”
But when Kaas’s eyes, filled with grim fury, met one boy’s, the boy flinched.
“L-last chance! If you don’t obey, I’ll use Leviathan’s power on you—!”
Flames erupted around the children.
The fire spread rapidly, surrounding and threatening them. Startled, they scrambled to use water powers to douse it.
“Th-this makes no sense!”
But instead of subsiding, the flames only grew fiercer.
Normally, water easily suppressed fire. That was how divine beast affinities worked.
And yet the blaze raged all the stronger.
When the children tried to flee, fire lashed out to block their path.
“Only the head of house should be able to wield power like this! But my mother said the head of Ignas is a fool!”
They were shocked to see divine power wielded so freely.
“Kaas, that’s enough.”
The children were sweating buckets. Linaria tugged on Kaas’s sleeve, thinking this was a good point to stop.
But Kaas shook his head.
“I started it, but this… is no longer under my control.”
For a moment, she thought he was lying.
The only one who should be able to wield greater power than Kaas was the head of house himself.
Rustle, rustle—
Sensing a presence, Linaria turned her head—and saw a familiar boy.
“Duke Ignas.”
It was Noah.
He looked much the same as when they last parted, still shabby.
The cloth Linaria had once draped over him was still hanging from his shoulders like a tattered cloak.
What was once white was now frayed, burned, and ragged.
“Dangerous.”
Despite his frail appearance, he was the source of the fire that would not die out.
Kaas tried to pull Linaria behind him.
“Can’t we at least get the children out of here?”
At Kaas’s gesture, a gap opened in the flames surrounding the children.
Seizing the chance, they screamed and fled.
Linaria carefully approached Noah, who simply stood there watching it all with indifferent eyes.
After all, he was the very reason she had infiltrated this mansion disguised as a maid.
“My lord, so you’ve come out.”
“I heard someone calling me.”
Somehow, Noah’s presence was entirely different from when they first met.
Did August get it wrong?
If the divine power being wielded now was all Noah’s, then August’s claim was false.
Noah’s potential was by no means small—he could hold his own against any other duke.
But where’s the divine beast?
Linaria had learned that divine beasts lingered near the head or heir of a house. If she stayed close to Noah, she should be able to glean some information.
Like the stroke of luck with Brimstone.
But neither at their first meeting nor now had Ignas’s divine beast appeared.
Divine Beast Brimstone clearly led me toward Ignas’s location…
Suddenly it struck her: “Ignas” referred not only to the duke, but also to the divine beast itself.
She felt she was missing something important when—
“Careful.”
Sparks flew.
Thanks to Kaas shielding her, she was unhurt, but the situation was perilous.
Noah is heading in the same direction the children fled.
Wherever he stepped, flames sprang up like footprints.
And the fire born of divine power seemed completely beyond control.
