“She’s late.”
A significant amount of time had passed since the sun set. It was pitch black outside. I was alone with Regulus in the parlor of the Robur residence, a fact I found quite irritating. Perhaps because I’d relieved the stress about Heinz, the subsequent work had progressed quite smoothly, and I’d been able to set out for home by evening. Thinking my sister should be returning from church any moment, I’d taken a sip of the hojicha tea John had brewed me, and paused to take a breather. But Regulus was the only one who’d returned, riding back to the mansion alone.
What the hell was going on? Why had my sister gone missing at the church?! Was the church in the forest or the mountains?! Had Regulus left Miss Faltan behind?! What kind of situation was this?! I didn’t understand a thing.
“Calm down,” Regulus told me. “Miss Faltan is probably just enjoying the opportunity to fangirl a bit too much.”
Time to what? “Fangirl”?! My sister used that term sometimes too—in fact, she’d been giggling about it with Miss Faltan during dinner last night—but I wouldn’t ask! I had the feeling that asking would somehow mean losing something...
Still, I didn’t like the smug look that flashed across Regulus’s normally expressionless face. He couldn’t possibly have learned that expression somewhere... No, surely the first prince wouldn’t do such a thing.
“She’s Miss Faltan,” he said. “Someone who can passionately debate her fangirling with the lady. It’s no wonder she’s enjoying her detour.”
“But isn’t that a failure in her choice of companion?” I protested, but I knew it was no good. This guy was a first-love fool who’d twisted his feelings for my sister. His choice of companion alone showed he’d been poisoned by her.
“No, that’s not the case. No one is better suited for undercover work than Miss Faltan. Not only are her senses heightened by the sacred beast’s blessing, she can also make her presence nearly imperceptible. Above all, she holds Lady Robur in the highest regard and is utterly devoted to her. She will definitely find the lady a suitable conduit of fangirling.”
“Again... ‘Fangirling’...and a conduit no less...”
Regulus seemed to be evaluating her seriously, but I couldn’t tell if that was good or bad.
“Ahem.” I cleared my throat casually, regaining my composure. Engaging in first-love nonsense wouldn’t improve the situation. “The magical device you gave Miss Faltan...it works properly, right?”
“Yes. Unless immense magical power is compressed and released in an instant, the magic circuits shouldn’t break easily.”
“Hey, you didn’t make it just so my sister could casually summon you, did you?” Lately, I’d noticed a flutter in the expression of this emotionless first-love fool. I’d become especially aware of it after that magic spell incident on the rooftop. Was this related to my eye condition, or was it just an older brother’s intuition?
“I’ve modified an emergency evacuation magic device that’s normally issued to the Knights for use with VIPs. It’s definitely sturdy.”
Busted! Don’t look away like that! Don’t pretend you didn’t hear my question at this distance! I thought.
“Once it’s activated, this magic stone hidden in my pocket will resonate, teleporting us near to the staff Miss Faltan carries. After that, a magic circle will appear at the feet of whoever was holding the staff when it was activated, and anyone within that circle will be teleported to my private chambers in the castle.”
“If you’re giving that to my sister, make sure the destination is our mansion,” I snapped. “Still, I’m surprised such a magical device even exists. Even the Knights’ evacuation devices are the kind that activate at the cost of a knight’s life.”
“I made it. Using feathers from the sacred beast Vamillia.”
“You didn’t actually peel them from the harisen, though, surely?”
“Those harisen are the only place one could find sacred beast feathers, surely?”
The sheer audacity of a first-love fool was terrifying. The nerve to take the feathers of a national treasure-level creature—artifacts you’d never get your hands on again—just to satisfy some whim. How could he act like it was perfectly normal?
“How could you use such a precious sacred beast material...”
“Well, it is precious, but like other monster materials, it’s a consumable, right? The moment I peeled it off, though, it turned to ash.”
“Huh?”
“Honestly, I don’t know if it was because a magic circuit had been drawn on it beforehand, or because someone other than Lady Robur, its rightful owner, was trying to use the feather for another purpose without the sacred beast’s permission. The whole thing turned to ash. But the Knight Commander hid it before His Majesty the King could confiscate it. In the end I borrowed a feather by cutting the old newspaper off the end of the harisen with the feather still stuck to it. When I incorporated it into a magical device along with the newspaper, it worked.”
“You didn’t take it from the Knight Commander without permission, did you?”
“Do you think he’d just let me cut it up? I cut it off evenly, so I’m sure he won’t notice.”
“I heard nothing about this.” This was dangerous territory, and I didn’t want to wade any deeper into it. I had deliberately not mentioned the harisen either, but it looked like absolutely no one had reported the artifact’s existence to His Majesty the King. I couldn’t talk about it, but was it really okay for the commanders of the Mage Corps and the Knights to keep it a secret?
As I was inwardly grabbing my head in frustration, Regulus stood up without warning from where he was sitting across the table and grabbed my collar.
“Hey, what the—” Before I could finish speaking, my vision began to warp and distort. Could it be that I needed contact with Regulus, who held the paired magic stone, in order to teleport to my sister?! I privately scolded myself for not getting a proper explanation from him, then braced for an emergency or dangerous teleport.
“Of course you’d interrupt us.” Suddenly, I heard my sister’s voice from somewhere nearby. There was an unfamiliar coldness to it, tinged with something like mocking laughter.
“Huh?!” I gasped. I sounded rather stupid.
Meanwhile, the first-love fool stood there with a somewhat dazed expression. “So you finally activated it, huh?” he said deliberately and calmly, stating the obvious. What kind of performance was this?
The next thing I knew, the pope, with his long, pure white hair, stood before me. I could sense irritation in his expression. And behind him stood Jabi, clad in that familiar robe, the same figure I’d faced in the boys’ dormitory long ago. The only visible part of her, her mouth, was tightly pursed; her gaze seemed fixed intently on a wall made of frozen earth.
The position of that wall was far too unnatural. Someone—no, this magic residue belonged to Miss Faltan. The wall’s surface was slightly damp and gouged. It seemed to have been used as a shield against water-based magic attacks.
“Then I’ll leave the rest to you two!” Just as expected. From beyond the wall came my sister’s usual voice, the bold declaration of a master of escape.
“Leave it to us,” Regulus replied.
“Don’t just leave it to us!” I protested. “At least explain the situation!”
The first-love fool glanced at me and chuckled softly. He probably thought I was being petty!
Even as we argued, though, my sister’s presence vanished. Once she was gone, the first-love fool started scheming again—and I knew it couldn’t be anything good. I could sense it intuitively from the dark aura radiating off him: He was probably scheming to delay my sister’s teleport next time, so he could create his own moment to shine and drag me into it as his sidekick.
I subtly took a step back. My face twitched involuntarily. “I’m not getting dragged into your dirty tricks.”
“Why... No, I don’t understand what you mean, but sometimes giving up is the best choice.”
Wait, it seemed like he was trying to say he did understand... More importantly, was he only intent on dragging me in?