Chapter – 10
“Honestly… I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do…”
Bel Dio handed me a set of new identity papers, worry etched across his face.
I paid him no mind and carefully read the documents.
[Name: Liliere Simon
Age: 20
Appearance: Brown hair, brown eyes
Traits: Newly graduated stable mage from the Academy, no family, timid personality, almost no social connections.]
The “real” Liliere Simon had been sent to study abroad on the Eastern Continent to keep her quiet while I assumed her identity.
Yet Bel still looked worried.
“I think it might be safer to enter under your own name, Siena. Just hide your abilities appropriately.”
“No. Not under the Vuetri family name.”
Our Vuetri family has long been the head of the nobility faction, constantly at odds with the Emperor. If I displayed my talents and applied as a Vuetri, I’d risk being rejected outright.
It’s also absurd in the first place for the head of the Vuetri family to apply to the Knight Corps.
Bel sighed and asked cautiously,
“So… you’re going to submit your resume now? To the Imperial Knight Corps?”
“No. That’s something amateurs do. A master creates the event.”
Someday, a stable mage named “Liliere Simon” would suddenly appear from the sky. And there would immediately be a reason why the Imperial Palace would have to hire her.
I slipped my magical tools into my pocket and smiled slyly.
I entered Shadow Street shortly after a new rift had opened.
The old shops still retained the same atmosphere from when I first met Poopu, but this time, the streets were crowded with knights.
It must be because of the minor rift that had appeared. I smiled.
‘Perfect timing.’
Finally, at noon, the clock tower chimed.
I listened closely, scanning my surroundings, when I heard footsteps approaching the tower.
A man with blood-red eyes appeared.
The air around him boiled as if it were alive.
Looking closer, veins throbbed at his temples, and he barely managed to moan through his teeth—a textbook example of someone on the verge of going berserk.
“What…?”
“Is he… going berserk?”
“Where’s the stable mage!”
“He… he hasn’t been assigned here yet…”
“Damn it! Call headquarters now!”
People around them began evacuating as the knights scrambled.
Amid the chaos, I calmly stepped forward.
Yes. Today, I would stabilize the berserk knight here.
The story of a knight going berserk at this very location had once caused the entire empire to be in an uproar.
I’d save people, make a lasting impression on the knights, and use that as leverage to enter the Imperial Palace.
If I submitted a resume and waited for a proper interview, it would take time—time I didn’t have.
“Ah, hello!”
“Ugh… Hngh…”
The man staggered, trying to push me away, as if to say, go away.
Everyone cautiously backed away, sensing he might go berserk at any moment.
“Don’t worry! I’m a stable mage. I’ll handle this berserk situation!”
“That’s not possible! You don’t even know if your affinity matches his! You could be in danger!”
A knight shouted. Normally, he would be right—affinities must match to stabilize someone.
‘Not for me, though.’
But I was tired of letting my abilities be exploited.
I whimpered theatrically,
“But what if it does match? I want to try!”
“What kind of… sacrificial heroism is that…!”
The knights groaned, but I placed my hand on the dying knight’s chest, right near his heart.
“Ugh…”
To stabilize someone, a stable mage must touch them.
I gently laid my hand on him, gathering energy in my fingertips.
A soft, silver thread of light appeared, swirling in the air around a spherical orb forming near his heart.
I intentionally grimaced, then clutched the orb tightly.
The crowd gasped.
“My god… is he… dying? He’s killing him!”
No, he’s not.
“How do we pray for the deceased…? Ahh…”
Stop acting like he’s already dead.
I wiped my hand lightly and placed it back near his heart, pretending to struggle.
Slowly, the stabilizing magic spread outward.
When a person at risk of berserk behavior is stabilized, their deepest traumas begin to reveal themselves.
One by one, his hidden memories poured into my mind.
“Master… I want to save them… even if it costs my life…”
I clenched the orb in my hand once more, compressing the red energy within.
Pop! Crack!
The orb collapsed with a loud noise.
“Cough…!”
The man clutched his chest and collapsed.
But I knew—his breathing had become far more comfortable than before.
Looking at the knight asleep on the floor, I smiled.
I lightly brushed my hand and scanned the surroundings.
A man in the ornate Knight Corps uniform gasped and hurried toward me.
“Did you just stabilize Sir Rend from going berserk?”
“Yes.”
“Excuse me… who are you?”
“Oh my.”
I gave a deliberately artificial expression, looked compassionately at the man sleeping on the ground, and smiled.
“Hello, I’m a stable mage. My name is Liliere Simon.”
No fool would miss a stable mage walking in on her own. Especially after demonstrating her ability so openly.
And as I expected,
“Liliere Simon…! I would love to repay you!”
I beamed at him.
Now, it was time for the real job: securing my position.
Meanwhile, Aldehyde was also on Shadow Street.
He sat atop the highest point, the clock tower, pondering.
In his arms was a teddy bear.
“Bear… where’s my sister?”
“….”
He hugged the soft toy tightly and murmured affectionately.
“I want to see my sister…”
While the knights cleaned up the closed rift, Aldehyde caressed the black teddy and studied a map.
“After handling this, 79 remain.”
Once peace returned, he could finally see his sister. Just thinking about teasing her made his heart swell.
Time passed. The sky darkened with clouds, and evening began to fall.
“Maybe I should go now.”
Just as he thought the rifts were gone, his unusually sharp hearing picked up a faint sound.
His eyes snapped open.
“Sir Rend!”
“Get a hold of yourself! At this rate, everyone dies!”
“Crrghhh…!”
The market district erupted into chaos.
Aldehyde faced Sir Rend, a promising young knight of the Corps, in the midst of a berserk episode.
No one could save him—stabilizing someone with such power required at least an intermediate-level stable mage.
‘Then… I have to kill him gently without hurting him?’
But then something astonishing happened.
“Don’t worry! I’m a stable mage. I’ll handle this berserk situation!”
A petite woman appeared, moving like a flying squirrel, stabilizing Rend.
Small frame, delicate features.
Aldehyde instinctively followed her.
At the same time, he sensed something strange—the magical waves of her stabilization were the same as those produced by the gray-robed woman a few days ago over the rift.
That wave matched the power she now emitted.
“Found you… gray robe.”
Aldehyde’s gaze sharpened with interest.
At that moment, the woman tilted her head toward the knight with her eyes closed.
The berserk state completely subsided.
Rend, now awake, smiled clearly at her.
Aldehyde’s eyes followed the woman like a squirrel chasing a nut.
“Could it be… my sister?”
Yet the first time he met her, the mark on her wrist—the one etched into his memory—showed no change.
Still, his heart beat slightly faster than usual.
He leapt from the tower.
Even if there was only a 0.01% chance she was his sister, even if she were some illusion, he had no reason to hesitate.
He had to meet her.
