IEGM 08

Chapter 8

Because he had run all the way from Enrilsian Palace to the Empress’s Palace and looked completely disheveled, even Cain believed the excuse without much suspicion.

‘I thought he’d at least check whether the brainwashing had been undone.’

Maybe because I was still young, Cain didn’t seem particularly wary of me aside from preventing contact with other nobles.

He probably held the shallow assumption that a mentally unstable child could do nothing except ask others for help.

I decided to make full use of their carelessness.

‘Since I’ve made up my mind, maybe I should try that today?’

Contacting Ishtar was important if I wanted to escape the Serentia family, but before that, there were several preparations I needed to make.

Today, I planned to investigate a method of weakening the brainwashing cast on Ansharie.

‘Thanks to Lira, I learned that the mental magic cast over the recovery room can be dispelled… but that ability only works while Lira is physically there.’

I needed another method.

Not that I expected to discover anything immediately today.

To enter the recovery room, I first had to open that massive iron door.

So for now, I would simply examine the door itself.

In the middle of the night, while most of the servants were asleep.

Operation Dawn Escape!

“Lira, from now on you absolutely must not make any noise. Got it?”

“Kyuu.”

Matching my whispered voice, Lira let out a tiny cry as well.

‘Whew… don’t panic.’

Taking a deep breath, I carefully opened the bedroom door and stepped outside.

The corridor, cloaked in darkness, was completely silent.

‘As expected, no one patrols at this hour.’

It might seem like I was acting impulsively right now, but in truth, I had been investigating this carefully for a long time.

Ever since the day I decided I had to escape.

‘I intentionally left my door slightly open so I could check when the servants doing night patrols passed by my room.’

Most servants would notice the open door and quietly close it before leaving.

A few less observant ones walked past without noticing at all, but in the dead silence of dawn, their footsteps echoed loudly enough for me to determine exactly when they passed.

‘It was certainly an educational experience learning how hard it is for a child’s body to stay awake all night.’

Because magic training never stopped, the early days—when I stayed awake recklessly—were miserable.

I had to fall asleep briefly right after dinner, wake around midnight to observe the patrol schedule, then sleep again near dawn.

Only after gathering enough data and spotting patterns was I finally able to sleep properly.

‘Statistically, the servants patrol every hour after dinner… but between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., nobody passes through.’

And right now, it was 2 a.m.

Good. Let’s go!

I had come out barefoot to avoid making noise, and since it wasn’t winter, moving around wasn’t too difficult.

‘First… should I run?’

I technically had around three hours, but there was no telling what variables might appear, so I decided to save time wherever possible. Hugging Lira tightly, I immediately sprinted forward.

After quickly descending the stairs until I reached an area with no sign of people, I soon arrived at the basement.

‘This is where it really begins.’

Since I couldn’t turn on the magic lights while sneaking around, I moved quickly through the pitch-black darkness with one hand against the wall.

Only when I reached the end of the corridor did the texture beneath my fingertips change.

I had finally reached the iron door.

‘Whew. No one should suddenly appear… but I can’t let my guard down completely.’

Checking the servants’ patrol schedule wasn’t the only thing I investigated late at night.

I had also confirmed whether anyone ever wandered through the basement.

Using Lira.

‘Honestly, the fact that familiars linked by mana can share senses with their master is such a lifesaver.’

Shared senses.

An ability that consumed a certain amount of mana, allowing a master and familiar to share sensory perception.

After discovering there were no servant patrols between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., the first thing I did was share vision with Lira and thoroughly inspect the other floors and the basement beforehand.

I had checked multiple times, so I was certain there were no guards in the basement.

‘Should I thank Cain for this?’

After all, I only learned that familiars possessed such basic abilities from the Basic Magic Textbook I studied during the theory lessons Cain forced on me endlessly.

Shaking away the pointless thought, I pulled out Ishtar’s staff from my clothes.

It was merely an ordinary magical artifact unless infused with Ishtar’s mana, but if mana was poured into it, it emitted a faint glow—that was why I brought it.

‘A candle would be too bright. The light might leak all the way to the staircase.’

The dim light meant the investigation would take longer, but since I only planned to roughly inspect the structure of the iron door tonight, this was enough.

‘Just what mechanism opens this thing?’

Relying on the faint light emitted by the brooch, I felt around the iron door.

There was no handle.

It didn’t slide sideways either.

And yet Cain had opened it.

The moment his hand touched the door, it moved automatically.

‘It can’t be fingerprint recognition. Magic?’

I had been examining the door from every angle for quite some time when suddenly Lira rammed into me.

“Ah—!”

It didn’t hurt, but I was so startled I nearly screamed, hurriedly clapping both hands over my mouth.

Thankfully, no sound escaped.

But because I panicked and stepped backward, my back struck the cold iron door.

‘What is she doing all of a sudden?’

Before I could figure out why she was behaving so strangely, Lira lunged toward me again.

Unable to dodge in time, I instinctively blocked the fluffy body slam with my arm, accidentally dropping Ishtar’s staff onto the floor.

Luckily, thick carpet covered the basement corridor, so it didn’t make much noise.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I bent down to pick up the brooch, but Lira moved faster.

She pressed one paw firmly onto Ishtar’s staff lying on the floor.

“Lira, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”

“Kyuu.”

It was one incomprehensible action after another.

‘I can tell she’s trying to communicate something to me…’

When communicating with Lira, I could easily understand simple emotions or thoughts, but anything resembling knowledge felt blocked by a wall.

So I decided to interpret things exactly as they appeared and asked cautiously,

“You want me to grab this?”

“Kiing.”

The moment I pointed at Ishtar’s staff, Lira shook her head vigorously and tapped the iron door with her paw instead.

“The iron door?”

I seriously pondered what Lira was trying to tell me.

‘Touching Ishtar’s staff and then touching the iron door… what could that mean?’

Then suddenly, a possibility flashed through my mind.

“You mean I should pour mana into the iron door?”

“Nng.”

Apparently delighted that I guessed correctly, Lira nodded energetically and let out a tiny cry.

Picking up the brooch at my feet, I slowly stretched my left hand toward the iron door.

‘Let’s just try it.’

Just like I had done with Ishtar’s staff, I carefully infused mana into the iron door.

And unbelievably—

the door opened.

In the silence of midnight, the creaking sound of the door opening echoed like thunder.

‘Crap. What if someone heard that?’

Even though part of me had expected the possibility that the door might open, seeing it actually happen made my heart pound violently.

I feared someone might come investigate the noise—or worse, that opening the recovery room door might send some kind of signal to Marquis Serentia or Cain.

‘If I get caught, I’m done for!’

Panicking, I tucked Lira under my arm and hurried into the recovery room.

I decided it would be safer to hide beneath the bed inside the room rather than remain exposed in the empty corridor.

A moment later, the iron door shut on its own.

Just as I was about to crawl beneath the bed, I suddenly felt my mind growing hazy.

Only then did I notice the eerie purple candles flickering in the darkness.

‘Ah, right. The mental magic!’

In the chaos of the situation, I had forgotten.

This room constantly maintained active mental magic.

“Lira, can you put out the candles again like before?”

“Kiing. Kyaang!”

As if saying of course, Lira quickly extinguished the candles.

The fog clouding my mind immediately cleared.

“Good job.”

“Kiing. Nng.”

When I praised her quietly, Lira puffed out her chest proudly as though to say it was nothing.

‘Somehow, I feel safe whenever Lira’s with me.’

As I stroked Lira’s head, I gradually calmed down.

The heart that had been pounding like I’d just sprinted at full speed slowly returned to normal.

Once I settled down, I realized it would be better to confirm whether anyone was coming instead of immediately hiding.

‘If it’s not the Marquis or Cain, they won’t even be able to open the iron door anyway.’

Back in Ishtar’s ancient era, when magical civilization flourished, mages were so common that every noble household kept personal magicians.

But after the collapse of magical civilization, mages became increasingly isolated.

They gathered within the Mage Tower, cut off communication with the outside world, and over time, mages themselves became exceedingly rare.

In the current era, the only mages were those belonging to the Mage Tower and the Serentia family.

Of course, dark mages like Cain still existed in the shadows, but they were extremely few.

In other words, ordinary servants possessed no mana and therefore could not open the iron door.

‘No one’s coming.’

I sharpened every sense and listened toward the corridor for a long while, but there was no sign of anyone.

Only after I became convinced it was safe did I turn on the magic lamp.

Click.

‘It’s exactly the same as a few days ago.’

Letting out a deep breath, I scanned the room—

and saw someone lying on the bed.

It was Ansharie, eyes closed as though dead.

‘Lira already dispelled the mental magic, so then why…?’