The pendant was beautiful. The golden thread twinkled, suspended in the aqua blue droplet with such a deep hue that it looked like it contained the whole sea. Upon returning to House Renard, we inspected the string and learned that it was part of a complex tool woven with light magic. Light magic couldn’t be used these days, so the artifact had to be ancient. And only those related to the royal family could be in possession of such precious items.
“I don’t think His Majesty would do anything so brash,” father said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “He also understands that Lune doesn’t wish to be engaged to his son, and has even sent me an official letter stating his wish for our relationship to remain as it is.”
That was reassuring. If the egg had been stolen on the king’s orders, I was worried that the Renard domain would fall into ruin even faster than in my past life.
“First of all, let’s try to figure out the egg’s location,” Liam said, spreading a map of the territory on the table.
We were in father’s office, having explained the situation to him. Lord Reineke and Marcel were here too, brainstorming the strategy for our task.
“The merfolk said it’s somewhere with no connection to the river,” Marcel groaned. He was still a newcomer to Renard, so he didn’t know the land very well.
I knew the territory on the map, but I hadn’t gone to distant places, as father and brother didn’t like me leaving the mansion in my previous life.
“If only we could use that golden string to search for the egg,” I whispered.
“You can,” Lord Reineke replied. “Put that pendant on the map.”
When I did, Lord Reineke pressed the pendant down with his paw, leaving a purple paw print beneath it. The paw print began walking around the map all on its own, carrying the pendant above it.
“What?! This is incredible!” I exclaimed, my tail wagging at this wondrous sight.
“This map reflects the magic of the real world, and the string is searching for its missing part.” Lord Reineke puffed out his fluffy chest proudly.
The purple paw print stopped atop a mountain’s peak.
“That’s our spot.”
“There’s a pond there that’s not connected to the river,” Liam pointed out.
Lord Reineke nodded.
“There is?” I asked.
“Yes, a large pond made by a dragon. Since ancient times, it’s been a place of worship for the woodcutters of Renard,” Liam explained patiently.
“Mount Sept? Hmm... Now that I think about it, I’ve been receiving a lot of hiking forms from travelers from the capital headed there,” father said, producing said forms. “It’s an obscure place for most tourists, so it stuck out to me.”
We looked through the documents, confirming that they were sent by travelers from the capital.
“They also hired guest porters and bearers,” Liam noted.
“What are those?” I asked.
“They carry things up the mountain. Guest porters carry people on their backs, while bearers carry luggage on their shoulders. Mount Sept is steep, so it’s a difficult climb for the average tourist.”
“I’d never even heard of those jobs before. You know so much!”
I gazed at my brother reverently.
I need to learn more about our domain!
“The arrival of these hikers overlaps with the time the merfolk incidents first began,” father said. “And they’re still in Renard. I’ll look into them.”
“Meanwhile, we’ll question the bearers about what they were asked to carry,” Liam added.
“I’m counting on you, Liam.” Father cast Liam an expectant look.
Liam nodded with determination.