I awoke the next day feeling refreshed. I didn’t want anything to happen to the other girls while they slept, so I had moved them from the mess hall to an empty bedroom on the women’s floor. There just so happened to be one with enough beds for all of us to sleep in. As for our seniors, they must’ve found their way back to their own rooms at some point.
“Hmm... It’s going to be a bit difficult for us to carry out our undercover investigation after what happened yesterday, but I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I muttered.
Last night, Char and the others had returned to their rooms as well. Thibault aside, I knew for a fact that the others would be able to handle any trouble that came their way with their own skills.
“The weather is beautiful today.” I opened the window and leaped off the sill, landing softly in the barracks’ front yard. The crisp morning air filled my lungs.
But then, I heard an unfamiliar voice call out to me from behind. “Hey, you. You’re a mage, aren’t you?”
Turning around, I saw the young knight with the dark red hair standing in the shade of a tree with his arms crossed.
Did he see me jump out of the window?
There was a little plaza in front of the barracks, with a few trees growing here and there. As he’d been standing in the shadows, I hadn’t noticed him.
I fixed my gaze on the new recruit.
He’s the one who scored first at the entrance exam, right? What was his name again...? Ves, I think?
After debating what to say for a bit, I eventually opened my mouth. “Whatever do you mean?” I asked, feigning ignorance.
“Don’t play dumb. You cast that spell to make me fall asleep yesterday, didn’t you? And you turned all the wine into grape juice.”
It seemed he knew exactly what I had been up to at the party. Someone who couldn’t use magic wouldn’t have noticed any of it. That could only mean one thing.
“You’re a mage too, then? You said that you were a lumberjack yesterday.”
“You also lied about your family’s farm, didn’t you? And your friends definitely aren’t hunters either.”
He had seen right through us. It seemed he truly was a mage—and a skilled one at that, considering he was able to distinguish my spells despite the current state of the world.
“Yes, you’re right. But why confront me? What is your goal?” I asked.
A small smile curled on his lips. Whatever he said, I really hoped it wouldn’t get in the way of our investigation. We were already in a bit of a pickle after the previous night’s events.
But the words that left his mouth weren’t what I expected at all. “I want you to join forces with me.”
I was so confused by his response that the only thing I could say was “What...?”
“Based on what I saw you do yesterday, I think you’re someone I can trust, so I’m going to tell you what I’m doing here,” Ves started without a hint of hesitation in his tone. “There’s something that’s been weighing on my mind, so I’ve decided to infiltrate the knights. I don’t want to get involved in useless fights or else things will get annoying.”
“You’ve...infiltrated the knights?”
I would’ve never anticipated anyone else doing the same thing as us.
“That guy with the glasses seemed a little panicked yesterday, so I take it you’re trying to keep things on the down-low too, right?” Ves asked.
“We are.”
For someone who didn’t want to attract attention, Thibault certainly stood out with all his panicking...
“Me too. So I would like for you to let me tag along with your group for a while. I plan on leaving the Royal Knights and traveling to the continent when I’m done, and I assume you don’t intend to stay here longer than necessary either.”
I nodded. “We don’t. We’re just here to investigate something.”
“Oh, I see. Because the Royal Knights get access to the inside of the royal palace, is that it?”
“Pretty much.”
I was a little wary of him, yet he began telling me his own motivations, completely nonchalant.
He said, “I want to know what those guys from the Faith who came to the palace are scheming. I don’t know what’s happening, but bishops and priests have started flocking to Hanche these days. I don’t want them here.”
“I see.”
“You’re a fellow mana wielder, so I’m sure you understand. If this place becomes the Faith’s new base of operations, we’ll struggle even more to live our lives peacefully.”
“That’s a good point...”
The Motar Faith was a religion that persecuted mages, so those with mana would be forced to live in discomfort if it grew too powerful.
“My village is located in Hanche, and everyone there has mana. They’re all old, though, so I’d like for us to avoid having to move to another country, if I can help it. So the best course of action would be to chase the Faith out of here. Right?”
His reasoning made sense.
“That’s fair. The Faith doesn’t technically exist anymore, though. It’s been dissolved.”
“Huh...? What do you mean?” Ves asked, flabbergasted.
“Right. You said that you’re from Hanche, so you wouldn’t have heard the news yet.”
Despite not knowing the Faith had been dissolved, he had still noticed something was wrong and had joined the knights to investigate that matter. It was a near-impossible task to take on alone, but since he could apparently use magic, he must’ve thought he had a fighting chance. He likely hadn’t imagined the Royal Knights would be in such a horrible state, though.
“I’m from the continent. The Motar Faith doesn’t exist anymore, yet people here still believe that it does. This must be why all those bishops and priests have been ‘flocking to Hanche,’ as you put it.”
“Is that what you came to investigate?” Ves asked.
“Something along those lines, yes. I plan to leave when I’m done. Don’t worry—I have no intention of getting in the way of your investigation. As for whether we can work together or not, I need to consult Char and the others before making any decisions.”