As they continued to talk, the villagers realized that none of them had a clear grasp of what Wayne’s face looked like. Lacey wasn’t sure if she should explain this and kept her mouth shut, but nonetheless they were gradually approaching the truth.
“Big sis Lacey is the Dawn Witch...so maybe he’s...”
They had basically gotten it.
The villagers looked even more startled than they had been when they’d learned that Lacey was the Dawn Witch, and they all cried out in unison. Lacey didn’t know what to say to them. This time, she was really in a pickle.
∗ ∗ ∗
“Blast that...that wench!”
Around that time, Lomigos’s short limbs were frantically digging in his stirrups and tugging the reins. He was quite heavyset for his size, but his horse had managed to make it to the dim forest as dusk set in, and his soldiers had followed after him.
Lacey, the Dawn Witch.
At a glance, she had seemed to be a perfectly average girl, excepting the anachronistic staff she was carrying. Yet upon coming face-to-face with her, Lomigos had broken into a cold sweat that was still dripping even once he’d left her presence. If nothing else, his ability to kiss up to his superiors was rivaled by none. That was also why he was extraordinarily adept at discerning who he shouldn’t disobey.
So what if she’s the country’s greatest mage?!
Even so, though he understood this, his pride refused to stand for it. She was a girl, and what was more, she wasn’t even a noble—she was a commoner child. He’d even heard that she was an orphan. She was the embodiment of everything he scorned. The farther his horse ran, the more Lomigos’s memory reshaped itself into something more acceptable. He convinced himself that he hadn’t run away from Plume Village with his tail between his legs—he’d simply rushed off to make preparations.
“Curses! Can’t this lazy horse run any faster?!”
“L-Lord Lomigos, what do you intend to—”
“You imbecile! Do I even need to say?! The Dawn Witch may have an impressive title, but she’s nothing but a little girl. We’ll return to my manor immediately and send all the soldiers to raid Plume Village!”
“B-But milord!”
Lomigos ignored the soldier’s pleas and spoke in a low growl. “I’ll gain their allegiance by force and make her thoroughly regret having ever opposed me!” he snarled, shaking with rage as he pressed on past the irksome trees in the way.
Just then, Lomigos suddenly spotted a plain-looking man standing in his path. He was probably a traveler.
“Out of my way!”
He had intended to trample the man to death, but his horse bent back in resistance. It was lifting up its front hooves and rearing as if it didn’t want to go any farther. It was acting entirely useless. Strangely enough, all the horses of the soldiers accompanying him came to an abrupt halt as well.
“Wh-What the— Keep going, damn you!” Lomigos’s eyes contorted with animosity. It was as if even his horse were mocking him.
The traveler, who lacked any notable characteristics to an almost unnatural degree, simply watched. After furiously reprimanding his horse, Lomigos shouted at him in irritation. “Move it! Unless you have a death wish!”
“That’s quite a rude greeting.” In stark contrast to Lomigos’s behavior, the traveler responded serenely. Something about him seemed very off.
He spoke almost as if he knew Lomigos, but the noble didn’t recognize this man at all. Regardless of how few notable features he had, Lomigos had a good memory of people. That was how he had recognized Lacey despite having only met her once before.
“Who is this man?” he ground his teeth, his anger mounting all the more.
“Oh, I guess I didn’t disengage my magic.”
The very moment after the man swiped his palm over his face, Lomigos and his soldiers’ eyes popped wide open. They were trembling in a different way than before. The man’s appearance had changed in the blink of an eye. No, to be accurate, they were just able to see him properly now.
The man was acutely familiar to Lomigos.
“W-Wayne Cielanic?!” he gaped, then quickly corrected himself. “A-Ahem, I mean, the venerable hero?!”
Changing the way he addressed him at this point didn’t make a difference to Wayne’s expression. He had a terribly icy look on his face, striking sheer dread into Lomigos’s heart.
Wayne calmly spoke to Lomigos and the soldiers behind him. “I told you before that if you assume that what you want is the same as what everyone else wants, it’ll eventually lead to your downfall, Count Lomigos. From now on, keep your hands off of that village and Lacey.”
“Wh-Wh-Wha— Aaagh!”
Lomigos was so shocked that he fell off his horse. Luckily, since he fell on his rear, a thick layer of fat prevented serious injury, but he wasn’t concerned about that—instead, he was thinking as fast as he could.
Wayne had been using concealment magic. It was a kind of magic that distorted the viewer’s perception of the user into the most plain-looking appearance they could imagine.
He was wearing normal traveler’s attire, but Wayne had the natural bearing of a hero. Even when he was just standing there, he had such a massive presence that it weighed down on everyone else.
Lomigos’s horse hadn’t just been loath to go farther—it had been afraid of Wayne. The same went for the retinue of soldiers, and even Lomigos himself.
Lomigos stood up and grasped for the reins, but the horse had abandoned him and run off.
Lomigos’s mouth gaped and he fell back on his rear end again, getting his clothes covered with mud. His face gradually grew red and he angrily shouted out without any thought to relative status or circumstances.
“Y-You have no right to say that! You may be the hero, and that Lacey girl may have been your old companion, but that doesn’t give you any right to tell me what to do! I’m going to use that village to make my comeback in high society! All the nobles want to monopolize those Aster goods!”
“All the nobles?” Wayne looked at him with a scornful look, as if he didn’t understand. Actually, perhaps it was a look of pity.
Lomigos burst into an angry sweat, his fury escalating to a fever pitch, and tried to stand up so he could bellow even more. It was then that Wayne took a letter out of his breast pocket and tossed it down in front of Lomigos.
“Special delivery from Duke Fylachtó to you. Give it a good look. Plume Village is under the duke’s protection from now on. He already knows about the Aster goods too. You’re butting in where you don’t belong.”
The wax seal pressed into the envelope was unmistakably the duke’s.
“Wh-What’s the meaning of this?”
“It means that there are other nobles besides you who wrongly think they should have total control over commoners.”
Lomigos checked the contents of the letter and discovered that Wayne was telling the truth. He couldn’t accept this. But he had no other choice. He thumped his fist against the ground, causing it to sting with pain.
No, I refuse to give up. According to this letter, only Plume Village is under the duke’s protection. The Dawn Witch isn’t included. If I find the right buyer, I can sell information about that wench settling down in that dingy village for a high price...!
“And just in case...” Just as Lomigos’s lips had curved into a secret grin, Wayne soberly added to his statement. “The letter only states Plume Village, but the duke is aware that the Dawn Witch lives in Plume Village. You know what that means. Understand that if any rumors about the Dawn Witch start to spread in the capital, your welfare will be in jeopardy.”
Lomigos shook. He’d been completely seen through. But in mere moments, he would be struck with even greater fear.
As Lomigos sat on the ground and looked up at Wayne, he observed an entirely different look on the man’s face.