Chapter 7
“Your Highness, look out!”
At a knight’s shout, Lirenzo looked up.
“…!”
A massive fireball was hurtling straight toward him.
Gritting his teeth, Lirenzo yanked his sword from deep within a monster’s torso and threw himself to the side.
BOOM!
With an earth-shattering explosion, the ground where he had been standing only moments before was blasted into a deep crater.
Still stunned, Lirenzo struggled to get back on his feet before the commander of the Imperial Knights, Karis, rushed over.
“Your Highness! Are you all right?!”
Helping Lirenzo stand, Karis exploded in anger.
“That crazy Tower Master has completely lost it! He’s throwing bombardments around without even looking!”
“I’m alive, aren’t I? That’s all that matters. Stop making such a fuss.”
A faint smile tugged at Lirenzo’s sturdy lips.
Karis had no intention of indulging his superior’s jokes.
“How can you joke at a time like this? Is the Tower Master protesting because we dragged him out here against his will or something? Your Highness, please go do something about him. If this keeps up, he’ll end up killing one of our own men!”
At those words, Lirenzo looked toward the hill where Roakin stood.
Even he had noticed that the Master of the Mage Tower was acting strangely today.
Normally, Roakin was the embodiment of efficiency.
He read the flow of battle instantly and used only the precise amount of power necessary at exactly the right moment to turn the tide.
But today…
He couldn’t seem to focus at all.
His attention was clearly elsewhere.
His attacks were completely erratic, and he was unleashing excessive, merciless firepower even against insignificant low-ranking monsters.
Just now, Lirenzo himself had nearly become collateral damage.
…What’s wrong with him?
Watching Roakin standing there absentmindedly, while the marshland below had been transformed into something resembling the fires of hell, concern appeared on Lirenzo’s face.
“I have to admit… something is definitely off. I’ll go speak with him. Karis, finish things up here.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
After giving his loyal knight a reassuring pat on the shoulder, Lirenzo headed toward his unusually distracted mage friend.
“I’ve been watching for a while now. You don’t seem focused on the battle at all. Is something wrong?”
“Not particularly.”
Roakin wasn’t in the mood for idle conversation.
He answered curtly and looked straight ahead.
As reality slowly settled back in, the gruesome landscape beneath his feet came into focus.
The ground was soaked in sticky, dark-red blood.
The valley had been scorched so thoroughly that not even weeds remained.
Black smoke billowed upward as monster corpses burned.
The stench of monster blood filled the air.
It was a nauseating, acrid smell that Roakin despised no matter how many times he encountered it.
His brows furrowed.
“Are you sure nothing’s wrong? If that’s true, then are you saying that indiscriminate fire bombardment earlier was done with a clear head?”
“It ended the battle faster, didn’t it?”
“Maybe so, but methods like that are unacceptable. During an extermination mission, eliminating monsters isn’t our highest priority. What’s most important is making sure our soldiers return home alive.”
“Then how long do you intend to drag this out?”
“If everything proceeds according to schedule… another three or four days.”
“Too long.”
Roakin tilted his head back, trying to suppress his irritation.
His disheveled black hair fluttered in the sparse breeze.
…Damn that contract.
After peace negotiations ended the war between humans and mages, the Mage Tower—the headquarters of magekind—had come under the Empire’s jurisdiction.
The Tower had demanded broad autonomy.
In exchange for accepting responsibility to protect humanity by assisting in monster extermination, the Empire had granted those demands.
The periodic Valdeas Mountains expedition was one of the Empire’s most important missions, carried out under imperial decree.
Abandoning the mission without permission meant disciplinary punishment.
Of course…
Roakin wasn’t staying because he feared punishment.
He had no idea when Serphine Mirabel might disappear.
Being tied down by troublesome obligations right now was the last thing he wanted.
If the worst happened and he ended up imprisoned in the underground cells of Alcasa for several days…
He might just smash that contract with the Imperial Family to pieces himself.
“Is there some urgent matter waiting for you?”
“And if there is? You wouldn’t let me leave anyway, so why keep asking?”
“So I was right.”
Watching Roakin radiate irritation, Lirenzo fell into thought.
He had realized Roakin’s reckless attacks were all intended to finish the mission as quickly as possible so he could return.
Even as Crown Prince, he couldn’t simply dismiss the Tower Master—their greatest combat asset—from duty.
But if things continued like this…
Karis was probably right.
Instead of monsters, Roakin might accidentally kill one of the knights.
“…Can you make it back by tomorrow morning?”
The day’s operation was already winding down.
Glancing toward the camp where soldiers were pitching tents for the night, Lirenzo continued.
“If you’re standing right here again by tomorrow morning… then I’ll know nothing about what happened tonight.”
For the first time all day, focus returned to Roakin’s dull eyes.
“Do you mean that?”
“I am the Crown Prince of the Empire. Why would I lie?”
“I’ll stop calling you soft.”
“…What an honor.”
Lirenzo answered dryly.
But before he even finished speaking, Roakin had already disappeared into the distance.
Lirenzo watched his retreating figure with suspicion.
Roakin Arzen.
A mage blessed with overwhelming magical power.
Ever since childhood, no one had been able to match him.
Immediately after graduating from the Academy, he had been appointed Master of the Mage Tower.
He’d been only eighteen years old.
Even among mages, where absolute strength ruled above all else, it had been unprecedented.
It was no exaggeration that people called him the reincarnation of the legendary archmage Igfrid Arzen.
And yet…
For someone who had spent his entire life effortlessly standing at the very top…
Roakin always seemed unbearably bored.
He was indifferent to everything, as though nothing in the world could interest him.
…What’s gotten into him?
Seeing his friend display such enthusiasm for the first time left Lirenzo genuinely bewildered.
Unaware of his friend’s confusion, Roakin disappeared into the darkness far beyond the military camp.
The moment Roakin returned to the Mage Tower, he went straight to look for Serphine.
Instead…
He found an empty secretary’s office.
Her belongings were gone.
The room was spotless, stripped of every trace that someone had once lived there.
“…Already?”
It felt as though someone had struck him in the back of the head.
He even searched the storage room tucked into one corner of the office.
No Serphine.
Roakin immediately stormed into the room below, where Eliser lived.
“Eliser. Where’s Serphine?”
Completely absorbed in tinkering with something, Eliser looked up in surprise.
“Huh? Tower Master? Why are you here? Weren’t you in Valdeas?”
“We’ll talk about that later. Where is Serphine Mirabel?”
“Why are you asking me? She’s probably in her room.”
“I’m asking because she isn’t.”
“I don’t know…”
Expecting Eliser Hilbris to know had been a mistake from the beginning.
Leaving his room, Roakin searched the Mage Tower from top to bottom.
Every place Serphine could possibly be.
If anyone discovered he’d abandoned his mission, it would become a serious problem.
But right now…
Roakin didn’t have the luxury of worrying about that.
“Lady Serphine? I haven’t seen her.”
“Maybe she went home?”
Serphine had no family.
The Mage Tower was the only home she had.
If they didn’t even know something that basic…
There was no point asking anything else.
“…Forget it.”
Roakin gave up questioning the people of the Tower.
Utterly useless.
Not just Eliser—
Not a single person in the Mage Tower knew where Serphine had gone.
In fact…
They hadn’t even realized she’d disappeared at all.
Even the usual nuisances who constantly hovered around her were equally clueless.
Finding nothing, Roakin returned to his own room and slumped heavily into a chair.
Running a weary hand over his face…
Something on his desk caught his eye.
A letter?
Certain that Serphine had left it, he immediately opened it.
I’m taking a vacation for a while. Please don’t look for me. — Serphine
“…A vacation?”
Where?
Why?
Why would she suddenly go on vacation?
Just as panic began setting in…
Someone finally offered him a lifeline.
“Meow.”
With elegant, unhurried steps, Lucifer approached.
Roakin scooped the black cat into his arms.
“Lucifer… do you know where Serphine Mirabel went?”
“Meeeow.”
As though understanding him, Lucifer answered.
Then…
Those bright golden eyes shining from his jet-black fur met Roakin’s gaze.
Through the cat’s mysterious eyes…
A memory flowed directly into his mind.
A secluded house hidden among the dense branches of a forest.
“…The Laberia Forest?”
Lucifer quietly closed his eyes and began squirming, asking to be put down.
As though his job was finished.
“Good cat.”
So that was why muddy paw prints had been all over the room.
He’d followed Serphine.
Among everyone in the Mage Tower…
The only truly useful one wasn’t a single absentminded mage.
It was one cat.
Setting the struggling familiar down, Roakin filled its food bowl to the brim.
Lucifer merely nudged the bowl with one paw before turning his head away haughtily.
“Even if you’re upset, eat something. I’ll bring Serphine back.”
The cat flopped onto its cushion, weakly thumping its tail against the floor as if urging him to hurry.
At this rate, he cares more about someone else than his own master.
Roakin wasn’t even sure whose familiar Lucifer really was anymore.
The cat’s attitude toward him grew more disrespectful by the day.
Still…
This time, Lucifer had earned his reward.
Summoning a teleportation circle, Roakin pictured the Laberia Forest in his mind.
The place where Serphine Mirabel was waiting.
A lone house appeared among the densely packed trees.
Roakin slowly surveyed its exterior with obvious displeasure.
“So… you really disappeared again.”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
Though his expression appeared calm, his hurried footsteps betrayed his impatience as he walked toward Serphine’s house.
