When we received word that Prince Kyle was back, Albert, Yuri, and I went to his room. We stopped in front of the guards standing to either side of the door, who announced us before a chamberlain let us in.
Prince Kyle was waiting for us in a suite that looked like a living room. The room was appointed with Zaideran furniture, just like the dining hall.
Prince Kyle had already changed clothes and had a quick dinner. He stood from the chair he had been lounging in.
“It’s so late,” I said. “We’re glad you’re back.”
Prince Kyle looked surprised to hear me say this, but he immediately recovered himself to say, “Thank you. Please, have a seat.”
As we sat down, the chamberlain poured us each a cup of tea. Once finished, he took his leave. It was just the four of us left. It seemed everyone else had cleared the room in anticipation of our arrival.
We had been served the kind of herbal tea we were all accustomed to drinking. Maybe he hadn’t served us black tea because it was evening? I inhaled the familiar fragrance as Prince Kyle began to tell us what had happened.
Prince Ten’yuu’s investigation had led to a discovery: The borders had been closed due to some kind of incident. And it wasn’t just the one we’d entered from; the ports in the neighboring towns were closed as well. Furthermore, they might be closing even more ports come tomorrow.
“And we still don’t know what exactly this incident was?” Yuri asked.
“We don’t. Prince Ten’yuu is still looking into it, but he believes someone higher up may have ordered those involved to keep quiet.”
It appeared Prince Kyle wasn’t trying to keep anything from us—he simply didn’t know. And since his fellow prince had as yet been unable to uncover any details, he suspected there were special orders to keep something under wraps.
“It must have been pretty terrible then, if they’re going to close more ports and still keep the details secret.”
“I agree. I don’t have definite proof, but word of mouth suggests there was a theft.”
“A theft, you say? Then they closed the borders as a precaution so that whatever was stolen can’t be smuggled out?” Albert surmised.
“Yes, and I believe they’re trying to limit the thief’s movement within the country as well,” Prince Kyle said.
“That would explain why they would extend the range.”
You could give all the gag orders you wanted, but there were always rumors. It seemed some people just couldn’t keep quiet, no matter what world you lived in. We weren’t sure what had been stolen or where it had been stolen from, but judging from the large-scale response, it was likely pretty valuable.
Does restricting movement within their borders make the investigation easier? If they have to cover a large area, then they’ll have to muster a ton of people.
“And we still don’t even know what’s been stolen?” I asked.
“I’m afraid not. We’re still trying to ascertain that.” Judging from his tone, multiple theories had been presented.
I must have looked like I was still curious about just what we were talking about here, so Prince Kyle told me that—based on rumors his people in the delegation had heard—it was possibly a famous jewel or some legendary weapon.
If some renowned artifact had been taken, I could understand why they would conduct such a large-scale operation, especially since the owners of such things were usually nobles. If the object had been stolen from a heavily guarded manor, the owner would lose their people’s respect if they failed to retrieve it.
“One rumor suggests it was a valuable medicine.”
“You mean like a potion?”
“Yes. One that could cure any illness…” Prince Kyle trailed off.
Huh. Why does that sound so familiar? I felt a twinge of déjà vu.
The subtle change in the prince’s expression suggested I wasn’t the only one. I glanced to my side to find Albert wearing the same look. He was totally thinking what I was thinking.
“One that can cure any illness? Almost sounds like the panacea,” Yuri said casually.
Yep. Same page.
Prince Kyle and Albert were right there with me, judging by their twin grimaces, as if they had eaten something bitter.
Prince Kyle cleared his throat. “At any rate, all we know is that these closures are reactions to another incident, but we don’t know anything further.”
He was right. Everything about this was unclear, from the object that had been taken to the theft itself. Prince Ten’yuu was going to keep looking into it, so we just had to wait for him to share more.
“By the way, has there been any progress on identifying who sent the letter?” Yuri asked when the conversation came to a pause. He meant the letter that had been sent to Salutania.
Prince Kyle’s expression remained unchanged as he gave an answer: They had done as much digging as they could, and there were two things they could say with confidence.
First, it was highly unlikely that anyone in his delegation had sent that letter. They couldn’t yet state this definitively because they hadn’t confirmed with everyone, but they had asked the person whose name was listed as the sender, and he claimed he was uninvolved.
Second, it was highly likely that the seal was genuine. However, they couldn’t yet say this for sure either, since the seal was missing. As for why it was missing, its owner—the sender of the letter—had lost it.
Seals in this world were similar to ID cards in the world I came from. This fellow had lost his, at which point it had been used to impersonate him on a letter sent by someone else. It went without saying that someone who lost something like that in my original world would be penalized. I assumed that the owner of the seal would be penalized too.
On top of that, when he realized he had lost the seal, he hadn’t reported the loss but kept it to himself as he searched. However, he still hadn’t found the missing seal.
“And he’s searched everywhere he can think of, right?” I asked.
“Yes. After hearing his testimony, we had others search those places as well, but they found nothing either.”
The fact that additional searchers had faced similar dead ends meant it was entirely possible that someone else had fully taken the seal to use on that letter.
“Perhaps they stole the seal expressly to forge that letter.” Yuri said what I had been thinking.
It had to be.
Prince Kyle was of a similar mind. His expression was tense as he said, “At present, that seems highly probable.”
This sounded like it was going to be a huge problem.
First, we couldn’t leave because the borders were closed, and now, because of a letter, we couldn’t leave the manor either. We didn’t even know which problem was likely to be solved first, but it sounded like for the time being, we would be stuck inside.
Not to mention, a certain someone wouldn’t be happy to sit around quietly.
I glanced at the grand magus, who seemed to be pondering the situation.
“I’d like to get to the bottom of the matter of the letter, at the very least,” he said.
Prince Kyle turned to him with interest. “That would be ideal. Do you have any ideas?”
Yuri spoke slowly, as if to help him put his own thoughts into order: “First, I would like to pin down the sender’s likely motive.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Judging from the contents of the letter, either they were seeking someone capable of using healing magic or they wanted the panacea. Once we figure out which, we can determine our next action.”
“And I suppose it would be easier to protect their target once we’re sure what it is.”
This was what we had discussed over brunch. However, Prince Kyle was more focused on protection than Yuri had been.
“But we don’t even know the identity of the sender. How do you plan to find out what they’re after?” Prince Kyle asked.
“What if we split up the potential targets and keep an eye out for unusual changes in their separate vicinities?”
Yuri was more intent on taking the offensive than I’d thought. His suggestion was essentially for us to go out and investigate ourselves rather than wait around for information to come to us.
In all probability, he just wanted to get this problem taken care of so he could go out into the city. This suggestion frankly sounded like an excuse to venture out in itself.
“And even if we detect activity around both potential objectives, we might be able to determine which is the target based on the differences,” said Prince Kyle. “This is a solid idea, but I don’t think we have enough guards to cover them separately.”
“Never mind this concern with quantity. In times of few resources, you ought to focus on quality,” Yuri said with his right index finger raised. He went on to say that, in his opinion, we should leave the panacea in the manor while we allowed the users of healing magic out into the city.
He added that we should leave some of the guards we had brought with us stationed at the manor, to accompany those who were already posted there. However, he said, we should post our most competent guards with the healer mages. This was essential, because it would communicate clearly which of our people could use healing magic.
Albert and Prince Kyle were both well aware that I counted among those mages, so they frowned and were about to object when Yuri said, “If they’re after a mage, then I am certainly their number one target.”
The other two shut their mouths in tandem.
Oh, right. We were keeping my identity a secret—one of the stipulations for my being allowed to go abroad at all. Therefore, no one in Zaidera knew that Salutania’s Saint was here. Officially, only the grand magus of the Royal Magi Assembly and the panacea had been dispatched in response to that letter. The rest of us were Yuri’s attendants and guards. Everyone from Salutania on deck knew who I was, but no one else had the slightest notion.
Additionally, the grand magus was famously Salutania’s most powerful mage. No one would imagine one of his attendants was also an adept of powerful healing magic.
Having guessed what Yuri was getting at, Albert admonished him. “Even if they’re not after you specifically, I cannot permit you to go out alone.”
“But of course. I intended to take my attendant and guard with me. That’s right. My very qualified guard.” It seemed that Yuri hadn’t forgotten that he was also supposed to be my guard, because his phrasing made it clear that he was planning to take both of us.
They continued going back and forth about this for some time, but in the end, Yuri won. And so, after hashing out the details, we put the grand magus’s plan to the test.