Is this going to be another discussion about Maria, or a gushing report of their burgeoning love?
When it came to discussions of love, Cyrus—who typically played the part of a hardworking, somewhat strict department head—had no one to talk to besides me. So, from time to time, he would ask to escort me to my carriage and, on our way there, tell me things like, “I had a long chat with Miss Maria,” or “I got to walk with her side by side.” His reports of romance always made me think that, in the world of my past life, an elementary schooler probably would have gotten further by now.
He did share his potatoes with me, and I got to hear some information about fertilizer, so, well, I guess I’ll hear what he has to say, was more or less how I felt when I said okay to him. But Cyrus did not have his usual topics in mind today.
“I just wanted to ask you about Maria’s recent delivery of vegetables to the orphanage. Apparently, a strange man came up to talk to her.”
“Well, that was probably just because Maria is cute, right? That sort of thing happens quite a lot.” After all, Maria was the kind of beauty who would make anyone look twice. I had seen guys like that approach Maria before, when we were walking together.
“No, Maria seems to be fairly used to that kind of thing, and knows how to deal with it. There was something about this man that just felt strange.”
“Felt strange?”
“She apparently experienced the same kind of uneasy feeling that she gets when faced with Dark Magic. But once she lightly turned down the man’s advances, he immediately left. She watched him walk away, but was unable to see any signs of Dark Magic...”
As a Wielder of Light, Maria was able to see Dark Magic. If Maria couldn’t see any Dark Magic, then there couldn’t have been any there. Although, I was still concerned to hear that he had given her the same uneasy feeling.
Also, the bodyguards Cyrus had sent to keep an eye on Maria in secret (Wait, there were bodyguards there?!) had also witnessed the moment the man approached her, but hadn’t noticed anything strange about him.
“Just to be safe, Maria came to me to report the encounter. But since there was no definitive threat, I hesitated to take action.”
“Action? Are you thinking of looking for the man?”
“That’s right. This is Maria Campbell we’re talking about. If she felt something was off with the man, we should track him down. But Maria didn’t remember his face clearly, and the bodyguards only observed him from a distance. If we’re going to search for him, it won’t be easy.”
This somehow sounds like a more serious situation than I thought. But...
“Why did you come to talk to me about this? Do you think I should help guard Maria when I’m with her, like when we work on the covenants together?” I asked, thinking this sounded likely enough. But Cyrus blinked in surprise, then shook his head vigorously.
Oh, was I wrong? Just when I thought I’d managed to read between the lines for once.
“No, I’m not looking for your help guarding Maria. I’d just like you to be careful as well.”
“Why do I need to be careful?”
“If the Wielders of Darkness are taking action against Maria, you might be a target as well. Maria may be a powerful Wielder of Light, but you possess Dark Magic, which puts you in an unusual position,” said Cyrus with a serious look on his face. I remembered that Jeffrey had previously told me much the same thing at the palace.
A fearsome opponent, whose true identity they still can’t discern, may target me.
I was sure that Cyrus hadn’t yet managed to find out that much about our foes, but he probably still had a feeling that something bad might happen. As far as I was concerned, he was just my somewhat wimpy farming buddy, but now I remembered that he was actually a very capable person.
“Thank you very much for your concern. I’ll be careful,” I said.
“Good,” said Cyrus with a nod. Then, after watching me board my carriage, he turned and walked away.
After sitting down in my carriage seat, I sighed.
Don’t tell me Maria might be in danger too.
Though Maria was a Wielder of Light, Light Magic was mostly used to heal people, and had no offensive spells, so self-defense would be difficult for her. Still, it sounded like she had bodyguards, even if she herself hadn’t agreed to the arrangement... But when it came to Dark Magic, which was capable of controlling people’s minds, she still couldn’t be said to be absolutely safe. I’d faced off against Sarah—a user of Dark Magic—myself, so I was all the more worried.
I prayed that the man Maria had met, who gave her the same uneasy feeling that Dark Magic did, wasn’t related to the organization of Dark Magic users.
★★★★★★
I submitted the information I’d been able to gather—in my capacity as Cezar Dahl, Prince of Ethenell—to the people who worked in the highest echelon of Sorcié’s government. Naturally, I included a request to receive some consideration in return. It was not long before the information I provided was used as evidence in the arrest of the noblemen behind the conspiracy. Apparently, Sorcié’s top officials were thrown into disarray by the arrest of such high-ranking nobles.
Even so, as one of the contributors to the investigation, I received a certain amount of information from them in return. The noblemen under arrest had been interrogated, but none of their testimonies seemed to add up. As I read the report, it became apparent that none of them had acted of their own accord, but had instead followed someone else’s orders. While I was thinking over this, I was interrupted.
“Cezar, we might be in trouble,” said Janne, returning to our quarters in a panic.