Silent Witch

As a high-ranking wind spirit, Lynn's flight spell works by moving a semi-spherical barrier she created. To put it another way, it's like riding in a small invisible carriage, which's why it can move several people at once.

And now, sitting on one knee in such semi-spherical barrier that moving through the sky was Louis Miller, silently reading a book.

At first glance, he may look like a strange person reading a book hovering in midair while moving at high speed, but there's no one using flight spell in the vicinity, and fortunately, only the birds in the sky were watching this scene.

It would take several hours to reach their destination, even with Lynn's flight spell. The ever-busy Louis didn't like to waste time, so he used the travel time to read.

"You sure read some imposing book, Sir Louis. Whom do you intend to curse and kill?"

While keeping her body facing forward to maintain the flight barrier, Lynn turned her head around to look at Louis. Lynn may have been trying to imitate human gestures, but to Louis, it looked like an owl turning its head. To put it simply, it was uncanny.

"This is not some sort of spellbook. And keep in mind that I don't curse people I don't like, I beat them up directly."

"That book doesn't seem to be written in this country's language."

"It's a book written by the Empire, after all."

After saying that, Louis flipped through the pages.

What he was reading now was a book concerning medical spell, a subject that was banned and restricted in this country. This book was also not allowed to be taken out by the general public, but he had taken it out with the authority of the Seven Sages.

"Lynn, I assume you have seen with your own eyes the assassin who broke into the chess tournament."

"Indeed."

"Did the assassin who was pretending to be Eugene Pittman use any kind of illusion?"

Lynn was silent for a moment as she thought about it, and then did the dexterous trick of shaking her head in a position with her head still turned back.

"No, that assassin might be a magician, but he didn't use any kind of illusion."

The guards who had arrested the assassins had also confirmed this, so there was no doubt about it.

After all, using an illusion spell to create some deceptive image in the surrounding was very inefficient, in terms of mana usage. Louis himself may be able to maintain the illusion for a few tens of seconds, but to constantly maintain the illusion for several hours is first and foremost impossible with the amount mana humans have.

The only beings who were capable of impersonating others through illusion are those high-ranking water spirits who were good at this kind of spell. And the assassin who killed Eugene Pittman was not a spirit, but a human.

As Louis held the page he was reading with his fingers and fixed his misaligned monocle, he muttered to himself.

"The way that man impersonated Eugene Pittman… it was neither an impersonator nor a disguise. It wasn't any kind of illusion as well. The only thing I can think of is… body manipulation spell."

Body manipulation spell refers to the art of pouring mana into a person's body to strengthen or change the body.

Originally, the purpose of this spell was to heal damaged bodies, such as returning altered organs to their normal form, but if it could transform damaged organs and skin, it would not be impossible to change the shape of a face.

However, body manipulation spell is considered forbidden magic——except in one country.

"Body manipulation spell has been lifted as part of medical magic in the Empire. If that's the case, there's a good chance that the assassin… is someone from the Empire."

Casey Groove's attempted assassination of the second prince using the [Conch Flame] was related to the Randall Kingdom, a small country between the Ridill Kingdom and the Empire. And the assassin at the chess tournament had shown him the tail of the shadow of the Empire.

These two incidents that occurred in such a short period of time caused Louis to develop certain concerns. And to ascertain it, he had come all the way to the frigid north.

The scenery spread out below was speckled with white. A chilly wind may still be blowing in the capital, but in this area, snow has already begun to fall. And in the middle of the snow-covered mountains, far from human habitation, laid an old monastery on slightly open land.

"Sir Louis, I've come up with an innovative landing method unique to this land, may I try it?"

Hearing that suggestion from the beautiful maid, Louis frowned before glaring at Lynn.

"You want to release your flight spell in midair and use the snow as a cushion to land on?"

"It's as you say."

"Are you a child who gets excited by snow? Stick to the safe landing."

"Oh, that's a shame."

Lynn responded with an impassive expression that didn't look the least bit disappointed, and slowly lowered her altitude.

In front of the monastery, a young sister was shoveling snow with a shovel in her hand. The sister was not surprised to see Louis coming down from the sky. She just held her hands over her eyes to look at Louis and Lynn.

Landing quietly on the snow, Louis stared back at the sister who was looking at him, then gave her a "now, that's a surprise" response with a thin smile.

"I thought you were a very composed sister who wasn't surprised to see flight magic, but… it was you, huh."

"I guess compared to the shock of crashing into the ground while spinning, it's kind of cute."

Having said that, the daughter of Count Bright, Casey Groove, thrust her shovel into the snow at her feet.

＊ ＊ ＊

The elderly sister in charge of the monastery ordered Casey to show Louis and the others around and then retreated into the chapel, wanting nothing to do with them.

For these women who live away from the world, visitors from the outside—especially a man like Louis—are probably not welcomed.

The same seemed to be true for Casey, as she began to talk after having guided Louis and Lynn into the parlor without offering them any tea.

"So, what do you want from me? I think I've told you pretty much everything I can."

Louis responded to Casey's brusque attitude with a mature smile.

"There's something I wanted to ascertain."

"Our people had nothing to do with that assassination attempt. It was something my father and I did on our own."

"You could believe whatever you think, at least… although your father seems to think otherwise."

Casey's mouth quivered at Louis' indirect remark. Louis took out a wrapped cloth from his pocket and gently unfolded it on the table. What laid within the cloth were the remnants of red stones of various sizes.

"Do you recognize what this is?"

"…the remnants of the [Conch Flame] I used."

Instead of correcting her, Louis smiled and continued with his words.

"Your father claimed to have bought it from a traveling peddler, but I suspect that someone from the Randall Kingdom gave it to your father."

"…are you saying that the people of Randall had instigated my father?"

"Do you have any idea how much the [Conch Flame] costs? Forgive me, but it's not something the not-so-wealthy Count Bright can easily afford."

Magical tools can be very costly. And with a high level of perfection at that, it's not something that the Count Bright household can easily get their hands on. When there are so many cheaper ways to assassinate someone, why did Count Bright choose the [Conch Flame]? It's more plausible to believe that someone gave Count Bright the [Conch Flame] and instigated him to do so.

Casey was probably thinking about this possibility too. As she bit her lip with a grim face and tried her best to contain her agitation so that she would not say anything that could be used against her father.

Looking at the resilient figure, Louis picked up one of the pieces of red stone and held it up to the light.

"The ruby used in this [Conch Flame] is extremely pure. I had it authenticated by an expert, and he said that it must have come from Glocken."

"…Glocken?"

"You haven't heard of it? It's a mine in the southeastern part of the Empire. The amount of ore mined is not very large, but it yields high-quality rubies that are ideal for making magical tools… but the Empire exports very little of the ore from the said mine, so it's difficult to find on the market."

Louis put the red stone back on the table with a clatter. The ringing sound echoed rather loudly in the serene monastery. Louis narrowed his gray-purple eyes and looked at Casey.

"The [Conch Flame] that Count Bright entrusted to you is made in the Empire. Do you know what this implies?"

Casey immediately turned pale at those words. Clever girl.

With that single statement, she speculated one frightening possibility.

If the person who gave Count Bright the [Conch Flame] was assumed to be someone from Randall, the next question would be where did the Randall person get the Empire's Conch Flame?

This brought her to one hypothesis. And that was…

"It's possible that the Randall Kingdom and the Empire are working together behind the scenes."

A war between the Ridill Kingdom and the allied forces of the Empire and the Randall Kingdom could very well happen in the future. Casey must have finally understood this realization, as she clenched her fists tightly in her lap, but then opened her mouth with her head lowered.

"…As far as I know, I've never seen anyone from the Empire entering or leaving my hometown. The only people who frequented my household were Randall nobles whose names even I knew."

"Have you ever seen of your father sending letters to the Empire?"

"No."

"…I see."

It would have been nice to get some evidence of the connection to the Empire here, but from her testimony, that was not going to be that easy.

If the Empire and Randall were somehow tied together, the Empire, with its overwhelming national power, would obviously be the "master" of the master-slave alliance. There was also a possibility that the nobles at the far end of Randall were unaware of the relationship between their country and the Empire.

There's no end to the "what ifs," but it's always better to remain cautious of the shadow of the Empire.

"I guess there's no more information I can squeeze out of you. Since there seems to be no sign of tea being served, I guess I will take my leave soon."

As Louis rose from his chair, Casey gave him a short word of "wait" to stop him.

Louis turned his disinterested eyes to Casey. He was a fairly busy person and disliked wasting his time. And he didn't think he could have anything more meaningful to say to this girl.

"…is Monica doing well?"

Sure enough, what Casey mentioned was not something worthwhile for Louis.

"That's a topic that's less important than the weather if I would say. Well, she's been caught up in a fight with an assassin recently, but still living vigorously, more or less."

Casey gulped, widened her eyes at the mention of having fought an assassin.

"…I still can't believe it, honestly. I can't believe Monica is the Seven Sages. I mean, she just seemed like a normal girl."

"[SIlent Witch] is a normal girl?"

Louis couldn't help but chuckle.

Even after seeing Monica used no-chant magic, Casey still didn't have a clear understanding of Monica.

Louis sat back in his chair and gave a cruelly beautiful sneer.

"Do you remember the "Black Dragon of Wogan" incident six months ago?"

"…yeah, Silent Witch… I mean Monica had chased away the Black Dragon that appeared in Count Kerbeck's territory."

Count Kerbeck's territory and Count Bright's territory are relatively close to each other, so that incident was probably no stranger to her. Even more so when the Black Dragon was an existence that gave despair to her people.

The flames breathed out by the Black Dragon, or [Black Flame], were unusual flames that burn away even magical barriers. Even for Louis, who's also known as the Dragon Slayer, dealing with that incident was not a simple matter.

"I was the one who dragged Miss [Silent Witch] to defeat the Black Dragon. You see, that little girl was whimpering and saying, ‘scary, scary…' when I did so."

Casey looked at Louis in astonishment as he blithely confessed his outrageous deed.

"Don't you feel that way too? Yeah, I have some fears, too, you know. But what do you think Monica Everett, the Silent Witch, was afraid of?"

At that time, in a sobbing voice, Monica said to Louis:

"—"Those people of Dragon Knights so scary! Surrounded by so many people I don't know, so scary!" is what she said. That little girl was never even a little bit afraid of the Black Dragon. She, the [Silent Witch] of the Seven Sages, was afraid of the Dragon Knights—humans who came to defeat it."

It's quite funny, isn't it? Louis whispered, but Casey seemed stunned into silence.

Looking at her reaction, Louis cast a pitying glance at Casey.

"She fears and hates humans from the bottom of her heart… and that's why she can be as cruel as it takes. She's more twisted and heartless than you think."

That's why Louis chose Monica as his helper in the mission to escort the second prince.

"Don't expect her to have any sympathy for you."

Louis told him sarcastically, and Casey stood up from her chair with a clatter. Then stormed out of the room, before quickly returning with a mug and a small package in her hand.

Casey slammed the mug of tea down in front of Louis and pushed the paper package to him.

"I've been hesitating whether to give this to her or not, but your words have made up my mind… please give this to Monica. You don't have to mention my name."

Louis didn't ask about her consent but when he looked at the contents of the paper package, his eyes widened. Casey must have been very upset with what Louis had said since she's been glaring at Louis with sharp eyes.

…It would be easier if you hated her.

What a foolish and soft-hearted girl.

Louis let out a sigh in secret and tucked the paper package into his pocket. He then sipped his mug of tea with an elegant gesture and said.

"I suppose I'll do enough work for this cup of tea… by the way, do you have any sugar or jam?"