Chapter 35
The Imperial Chancellor, Duke Verkart, was looking at the tablet placed in front of him.
It was a communication tablet, specially made to respond only to the Duke’s face. Of course, it wasn’t perfect—last time it had reacted to Airix’s face as well.
Letters began to appear one by one on the tablet made of darkness.
Reporting in. This is Gatra.
“Go ahead.”
Lord Airix is safe. He is not injured.
“That’s good.”
More words continued to appear.
The criminals who tried to kidnap the young lord—one has died, and the rest were found badly injured.
Ah, those guys.
They were the ones originally thrown in as bait—an excuse to send the legion again.
“Did Airix take care of them?”
According to the young lord, he only struck them lightly. He says he never inflicted fatal harm.
“Then who did?”
They say he died on his own.
That’s absurd.
Who would believe that?
The young lord’s friend said the same. That it was an accident.
That was even more surprising. He wondered if he had misheard.
“He has a friend?”
As far as the Duke knew, Airix only had distant classmates—barely on greeting terms. He was always alone.
“I’d like to hear more about this friend, Sir Gatra. How exactly did they become friends?”
According to what Zephyr observed, they appeared to meet for the first time in the train dining car. However, since Zephyr was watching, they may have said that deliberately.
“Same school?”
Yes. He said the person is a senior. Could this be someone Your Excellency placed?
“That’s possible. What’s the name?”
Elpini. The passenger list shows the name Elpini Sienira. Departure point: Sanzna, one of the western-line stations.
A completely unfamiliar name.
He had never even been near the remote region of Sanzna, and he didn’t recognize either the name Elpini or the surname Sienira.
“Not from the legion. I’ve never heard the name.”
I also judged that it’s unlikely to be from the legion. The passenger was in a first-class compartment.
First-class meant a wealthy student, perhaps.
If someone bought a first-class ticket just to send a child back to school at the start of term, their family was certainly not ordinary.
“If it’s first-class, there should be both the buyer’s name and the passenger’s name. The parents must have purchased it—can’t we identify them from that?”
We couldn’t.
“Why?”
The compartment was purchased a year ago.
“Then you should still be able to find it.”
Unfortunately, there was an accident where the documents were stored. They said records from a year ago weren’t considered necessary, so they weren’t restored.
When coincidences stack up, suspicion is only natural.
This new friend of his son might be quite unusual.
Where did this one come from?
Previously, it had been the Order. Before that, cultists. Before that, someone close to the Emperor. Even the Crown Prince had tried once—though it hadn’t seemed serious enough to worry about. If Airix were a daughter, he would have doubted the Crown Prince’s intentions.
No—he should be suspicious even if he’s a son. To deal with the Crown Prince, prejudice had to be discarded. He had momentarily forgotten that.
“I’ll ask Airix directly.”
Understood.
“Good work, Gatra. As always, dependable and capable.”
Not at all. This time, I practically did nothing. Everything resolved itself.
Yes—indeed.
The “Bird of Pola” used by the Order was actually an artificial magical beast created by their researchers. Those fake birds merely located targets according to an input list.
Because they had added traits of contaminated-type magical beasts, they were extremely unstable. Replication was fast, but if one malfunctioned, all of them would collapse at once.
The Duke already knew about that fatal flaw. So when he obtained information that the Order planned to release those birds in the Great Canyon, he was certain an accident would occur.
Magical beasts lived in the canyon—among them contaminated types. Naturally, they would react. When contaminated types clashed, they went several times more insane, attacking and tearing apart everything. The Order had no ability to handle such a situation.
That was why he sent Gatra. Someone of Gatra’s level would be needed to clean up the aftermath.
It could have been a perfect stage.
The Order fails to handle the disaster, and a mage under the Duke’s influence resolves it—while the Order becomes the culprit.
But before Gatra even arrived, everything vanished. Completely—like dust.
There was no one in the Order capable of that.
Either an extraordinary individual intervened, or it was a natural phenomenon.
Which was it?
“You may rest now. I’ll rely on you again.”
Yes, Your Excellency.
The connection ended, and the tablet returned to pure black.
The Duke pushed it aside and leaned back in his chair.
Whether coincidence or miracle, his plan had failed.
What a shame. This time, he had nearly gained entry into the Order.
He could have seen their true form—so carefully hidden. It had been risky, but worth it. Only by taking such risks could he discover their real power structure.
Yet it still failed.
“What a pity.”
However, the Duke was someone who used time efficiently.
Since it failed, there was no point dwelling on it. He would think about the next move.
For now… he would think about Airix’s friend.
“Elpini…”
He would have to meet them.
He needed to learn where they belonged, who sent them—or whether they truly were just Airix’s friend.
If someone had sent them, he needed to understand their intentions.
And if they really were just a friend…
“Perhaps I should throw a celebration party.”
The party’s name: ‘Our child finally made a friend!’
“……”
“……”
Airix was still wearing the women’s robe provided in the cabin.
This time it wasn’t the Empress’s robe—likely one belonging to a maid.
The robe had changed because the Empress’s robe had been torn. He had debated whether to remain without it, but fortunately Maimon found another robe in the servants’ quarters and brought it back. It was quite large and actually fit Airix better than the Empress’s robe.
Still, there was a problem—the original owner was shorter than the Empress, so the robe ended above Airix’s knees. He had to be very careful about how he moved.
“They said it can’t be repaired.”
Airix spoke while holding up his clothes, returned exactly as they were.
“They can’t even wash them.”
Indeed.
His clothes couldn’t even be repaired, let alone cleaned.
These luxury garments, made by an expensive tailor in the capital, were far beyond what a train repair worker dared to touch.
The repairman had given up, saying it was beyond his skill.
In the end, the clothes were returned in the same ragged state.
Now Airix didn’t even have anything to wear when getting off the train.
“You can just buy something as soon as we arrive.”
“But I don’t even have clothes to wear while going to buy them.”
I looked at Zephyr, but he ignored me.
Kind-hearted Maimon offered his own clothes and took off his outerwear, but Airix shook his head.
“Your clothes are too small.”
“Then send Maimon to buy some.”
Airix glanced at me and spoke quietly.
“If it were you, would you send Maimon?”
“…No.”
Airix turned to Zephyr. Zephyr raised his hand firmly.
“I am one of His Excellency’s secretaries, not the young lord’s attendant. I have neither the obligation nor the inclination to bring him clothes.”
In other words, he neither could nor wanted to.
Meanwhile, the destination was getting closer.
The destination was the capital—the largest and most splendid city in the empire, one of the greatest cities in the world. Walking out dressed like that would attract everyone’s attention.
I stood up and began searching through Elpini’s clothing bag.
“What are you doing?”
“Seeing if there’s something usable.”
“How could I wear a senior’s clothes?”
Airix sounded incredulous. Fair point—Airix was three times Elpini’s size.
“I noticed something earlier. Wait… Ah, found it.”
I pulled out the clothing. It was loose and sack-like, with a hood—something resembling a monk’s robe.
Airix eyed it suspiciously.
“Why does the senior even have something like this? It looks like what monastery workers wear when organizing hay.”
I wouldn’t know. Elpini would—but Elpini had disappeared without leaving any memories.
“Just try it. It’s the best option right now.”
“So I look like a monk?”
“Better than looking like a pervert in that robe.”
