“What are you plotting?”
The Royal Mage Corps were, in a sense, the guardians of the nation, second only to the Court Mages. No, it was the Royal Mage Corps who worked day and night to protect the country and its people, more so than the Court Mages whose movements were restricted.
The Knights were also guardians and the swords of the nation, but Olivier hoped that only the Royal Mage Corps would be taking such actions.
“We acted for the sake of magicians, for this country.”
The female member, tasked with guard duty, answered Olivier’s question curtly.
“For magicians? For the country?”
The woman showed no signs of elaborating, apparently not intending to provide details.
Although Olivier wanted to draw out more information, he judged it to be difficult.
In an instant, a roar and screams were heard from outside the mansion. Olivier and the others recognized the roaring sound, like that of a maddened beast.
“It appears Jared Murphy has arrived.”
The mansion shook with the roar, suggesting a battle involving magic. However, Olivier felt a sense of unease at the complete lack of panic among the female guards. It felt as if Jared’s actions were within their expected framework.
The noise stopped, and silence fell.
After a moment, the sound of footsteps echoed on the floor, and the dining hall door opened.
“Jared!”
“Welcome back, Olivier.”
Seeing his fiancé, unharmed and dressed the same as when he left the mansion, Olivier felt a great sense of relief. His family seemed to feel the same, exhaling deeply.
“That was magnificent, Jared. I never imagined you could defeat twenty elite soldiers without a scratch.”
“If you want to defeat me, bring another hundred. Though reinforcements will likely come, I intend to free Olivier and the others before they arrive.”
“That cannot be. Because—”
With a *snap*, the female member, her black hair swaying, snapped her fingers, and a new person appeared in the dining hall.
“Ernesta?”
Jared called out the name of one of his secretaries. However, something was wrong. Her expression was devoid of emotion, her eyes vacant. It was as if she couldn’t hear them, not even glancing in their direction.
“What did you do to her?”
“—Pffft, pfffff, ah, I can’t anymoreeee, I’m at my limit.”
Jared glared at her, demanding an answer, but the woman let out a laugh. Her tone, however, was different from before, sweet and mocking. Jared, intending to incapacitate the woman, who had transformed as if she were a different person. But—
“If you touch meeee, your aging fiancé might dieeee?”
The female member pointed at Olivier, who couldn’t even cry out, a knife at his neck, and laughed.
“—So, that’s how it is.”
“Of course. I specifically came all the way to Duke R’s territory for this, and attacked this woman. It was amusing to see how foolish you all looked, completely unaware.”
“You were the one who did something to Ernesta that night!”
Lily, who had been worried about her friend, raised her voice, but the woman paid no attention. Lily’s anger flared at her attitude, but she couldn’t do anything.
“Non-magicians, don’t speak to me as an equal. I’ll kill this woman, okay?”
“Gah…”
“It’s so unpleasant, you know? Apologize.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Hehehe, fine, I’ll forgive you.”
The female member laughed cheerfully, her voice like spun sugar. Lily, biting her lip in frustration, felt even more anger at the sight, but she couldn’t do anything with the knife at Olivier’s neck.
“Alright. I won’t resist anymore. So please, put the knife down.”
“What shall I doooo? Actually, I want to tease you a little more, but I still have other things to doooo, so fine.”
She snapped her fingers, and Ernesta moved the knife away from Olivier’s neck, stepping back. It goes without saying that everyone let out a sigh of relief.
“What is your goal? What did you do to Ernesta?”
“So many questions. But, for your sake, since you can only do that much, I’ll answer.”
The woman chuckled, clearly amused.
“Ernesta has become my puppet. Do you know about curse techniques? I amplified the negative emotions sleeping within this woman, magnified them, and mixed them all up. Normally, the mind would break, but I don’t do such boring things, so you can rest assured.”
*To think she would do such a thing,* Olivier glared. Curse techniques were Almeida’s specialty. Without her here, dispelling it would be difficult. Jared was solely focused on offense and couldn’t do anything like dispelling magic. This was unavoidable, due to the compatibility of a person’s magic.
“Why did you target me? What do you want to achieve by taking hostages?”
“I don’t know much about it myself, but they say you’re an obstacle to taking over the country.”
“—Country, takeover, you say?”
“Huh? Was that wrong? Treason? Subversion of the state? The words don’t matter, but essentially—my Father is trying to create a country by magicians, for magicians.”
The scale of the conversation was overwhelming. It was astonishing that the Royal Mage Corps would be involved in such a terrorist act.
“Who is your Father? He’s the mastermind, isn’t he?”
The female member twisted her face into a smile at Jared’s question—
“My Father is—Leonard Gallagher. The Commander of the Royal Mage Corps, and the strongest magician in this country.”
She uttered an unbelievable name.
