I’d returned to the palace with Lord Davier. As soon as we entered the audience chamber, Lord Nazel rushed over to me. It seemed that he had been waiting for me together with King Bertrand and Queen Latriche.
“I’m sorry I kept you waiting, Lord Nazel.” I was happy to see him, but I was a bit surprised to see him so uncharacteristically flustered.
“Aah, Agnes! I’m so glad you made it back safely. I was beside myself with worry!” Lord Nazel hugged me much tighter than usual. I also hugged his warm body back.
“I’m all right. How were things over here while I was away?”
“Apparently, the conflict between Myzahn and Polpystan has grown more violent, with Polpystan being in dire straits. According to the latest reports, there’s someone who can use magic like Robin’s. Many soldiers are left absent-minded, throwing the Polpystani forces into chaos...”
“Master Robin’s magic is faint mental recovery and psychosomatic purification, right?”
“Correct. It was originally a magic that could help people, but depending on how it’s used, it’s also a dangerous magic that can throw people into a daze or make them confess by asking them questions while their mind is unguarded. Nonetheless, Robin’s magic is extremely rare. You wouldn’t be likely to find a second person with it, so I doubt that some Myzahni has the same magic as Robin. I’m suspecting a different possibility.”
As if he’d read Lord Nazel’s mind, Lord Davier joined in.
“Are you thinking of the possibility of someone with duplication magic, Nazelbart? That’s also an awfully rare kind of magic, but it’s also considered among the more troublesome ones. Since it’s so rare, people who have it often become targeted, so they tend to hide it. It’s appeared in Desnimer royalty in the past, right?”
“Indeed. During Robin’s escape incident, a Myzahni may have gotten close to him without anyone noticing. If that person used duplication, they would have been able to copy Robin’s magic. But it’s been a really long time since someone with duplication magic appeared.” King Bertrand looked toward me and Defi, who’d also come with me. His Majesty knew that Defi had formerly worked as a spy, so he may have found Defi suspicious during this conflict.
I softly interjected.
“Excuse me, but I don’t think that Defi knows anything. If he did, he would have told me.”
Defi had once worked under Prince Rivage Myzahn, but he was keeping quiet about my magic. I trusted Defi and I believed we had a good relationship with him. I doubted that Defi had been intentionally keeping quiet about Master Robin’s magic being duplicated until now.
“I don’t know who duplicated Master Robin’s magic or when, but it wasn’t Defi or the other people who’d aided in his escape. None of them had high status, so it’s possible that they were intentionally kept in the dark,” I added.
Defi spoke after me.
“There’s a high chance that important information about magic is kept secret even from allies. There’s a risk of spies being captured like I was, so information is usually kept from them on purpose. Myzahn’s top brass is secretive, so back then, I was only given the necessary information to bring Robin back.”
Lord Nazel nodded. That was an acceptable reason for a country to keep secrets about magic.
The same is true about my magic too.
Finally, Lord Davier also spoke up in agreement.
“Let us trust Lady Agnes’s words. On the way here, I also talked to Defi himself, and I believe it’s clear that back in Myzahn, he stuck strictly to his role, following instructions and working without being informed of any secret details. That’s true for most spies.”
“Precisely,” Lord Nazel agreed too. “In the past, Robin exaggerated both his magic and quantity of mana. In order to justify their own actions, the former queen and princess deliberately didn’t publicize Robin’s true powers, instead spreading rumors about it being ‘sacred’ magic. Myzahn made its move believing that information. Every country would want saintlike powers.”
King Bertrand also joined in the conversation.
“To tell you the truth, Robin doesn’t actually have a lot of mana, and he wasn’t necessarily using his magic skillfully either. However, if someone with duplication magic appeared who could perfectly utilize that man’s magic, I believe they would be a threat.”
All three of them stayed silent with grave expressions on their faces. All of the trouble involving Master Robin’s escape had been kept to a minimum because he didn’t have all that much mana. His magic could cause no end of problems, but its effective duration and range were short.
“Just like Davier said, if we assume there’s someone with duplication magic, can we find out how many kinds of magic they can copy?” King Bertrand asked.
“According to historical records, past duplication magic users could copy at most three kinds of magic. If three really is the number, then aside from the user’s own duplication magic...we have Robin’s two kinds of magic, as well as one more duplicated from someone else. Since they expressly duplicated it, it’s most likely a convenient, powerful magic. That said, we can’t rule out the possibility that they can duplicate more than three kinds,” Lord Davier replied.
“That’s a problem. We’re currently gathering information, but we haven’t received any noteworthy reports.”
“Is this everything we need to discuss?” I asked, looking up at Lord Nazel.
He walked up to me, knitting his brows, and spoke gently. His handsome countenance always took my breath away.
“His Majesty also wants to send reinforcements, but I’m staunchly against going.”
“That’s...a conundrum.”
King Bertrand had likely been unable to withstand Queen Latriche’s pressure. And so, he must have consulted Lord Nazel about dispatching troops from Sutrena, since it was the closest to Polpystan. Lord Nazel was naturally opposed to it, so it seems that they’d argued back and forth. I could somewhat deduce what had taken place.
I’m certainly worried about Prince Valen and his people, but we can’t interfere carelessly and sow the seeds of trouble. This is a difficult position to be in.
Under the circumstances, we also needed to reinforce Sutrena’s defenses. Given our positions as the Margrave and Margravine of Sutrena, Lord Nazel and I had to first think about our own territory. But those same positions meant that if King Bertrand gave an order, we had to obey him.
After thinking deeply for some time, I spoke.
“We just need to help Polpystan, which is being pushed back, and put a stop to the fighting. Once Myzahn has lost its will to attack...”
Queen Latriche, who’d been quiet all this time, leaned forward.
“No, I won’t be satisfied until we’ve thoroughly crushed Myzahn!”
How extreme... Polpystanis held intense enmity for Myzahn. I’d once met Duke Masroono; he was also quite radical. Defi had shrunk into himself.
“Calm down, Latriche.”
“But Bert, my homeland is struggling as we speak.”
“I know. It’s our problem too. The matter of Robin’s magic is Desnim’s responsibility. That’s why I...”
Lord Nazel spoke first as King Bertrand hesitated.
“I don’t want to get involved in a foreign conflict. But as you know, Myzahn schemed behind the scenes, using the Shipish Company’s Bill to try and get close to our head handmaiden. That was a provocation against Sutrena. I’m extremely displeased about it.”
“Mm-hmm...”
Through Bill the merchant, Myzahn had tried to get a hold of Kelly, the person closest to Lord Nazel and me. We couldn’t easily forgive the forceful method they’d used to try and approach Kelly.
Do they take a woman’s marriage for some kind of tool? Now I was fuming again.
“It’s outrageous that they tried to use Kelly. I was astonished when I heard about it,” Queen Latriche said in a low voice. Kelly had formerly served King Bertrand and Queen Latriche, so they both knew her well and held her dear.
King Bertrand looked forward with a thoughtful expression.
“In any case, we can’t leave things like this. You might be reluctant to do this, but...Nazelbart Florescruz, Margrave of Sutrena, I order you to dispatch troops to Polpystan.”
Lord Nazel stared fixedly at King Bertrand. He had a doll-like face that didn’t let anyone read his expression.
“Understood.” That was the only answer he could give. I couldn’t say anything here.
Lord Davier looked like this didn’t concern him.
“Of course, I don’t intend to force everything onto you. I’ll go too.” King Bertrand stood up.
“I don’t think there’s any need for the king to personally head to the front lines,” Lord Nazel commented sensibly.
King Bertrand responded by shaking his head from side to side.
“I’m only going because it will be the easiest that way. Military expeditions come with many expenses, you know... If we simply needed military strength, I could have sent Leonardo.”
I wasn’t familiar with the details, but Prince Leonardo’s magic was apparently suited for combat. King Bertrand’s magic, on the other hand, was storage. He’d said that his magic was at an intermediate level, but it could actually store quite a number of goods. He’d stored all kinds of things in the past, like manabeasts, furniture, and even Queen Latriche.
“Oh, so you meant to come as a substitute for our carriages,” Lord Nazel said.
King Bertrand didn’t say a word in response. Lord Nazel looked much angrier than usual, surely because of multiple causes. I could tell that much even though I’d only joined the conversation halfway through.