Chapter 49

After receiving Windel’s report on the situation at the Grand Ducal Castle, Caldeon prepared to return to the castle without a moment’s hesitation.

The joint alliance formation discussion, which was scheduled to last for two days, hadn’t even started, and Caldeon’s intention to return to the Grand Ducal Castle caused Roseanne to cry out in alarm.

“If you leave now, the matter of forming the alliance…!”

“Enria and Hayden almost died because of a dark wizard. Is that the problem right now?”

Caldeon, who had been on edge since receiving Windel’s report, cut Roseanne off and rebuked her fiercely.

At that, Roseanne’s face instantly turned white.

The preparation for the alliance formation discussion had been lengthy, and while she was waiting idly in the lounge, Caldeon had suddenly shot up. She had sensed something must have happened at the Grand Ducal Castle.

Roseanne could not hear the conversation he was having with the spirit, so she inferred the situation from Caldeon’s expression, worrying that it might be a major problem. She had asked him what was wrong when it seemed the conversation was over, but he didn’t answer her as he prepared to return to the Grand Ducal Castle.

She was about to say that returning without holding the alliance formation discussion was unacceptable, but the news that Enria and Hayden had almost been killed by a dark wizard was enough to make her face go utterly pale.

“Is Enria alright? And Hayden, is Hayden safe?!”

As Roseanne asked, her face turning increasingly ashen, Caldeon, who was waiting for the teleportation stone to activate, said to her, “They are safe for now. Anyway, I’m returning to the Grand Ducal Castle, so please take care of things here.”

“I’ll go with you…!”

“Your Ladyship must attend this damned meeting. Call Rahar or Tearen. They’ll speak well to His Majesty the Emperor.”

Having quickly said his piece, Caldeon vanished through the open gate of the activated teleportation stone.

Roseanne looked at the spot where Caldeon had disappeared, her face etched with worry.

***

Enria, sitting on the reception room sofa with Hayden held tightly in her arms, was startled when Caldeon, whom she hadn’t expected to return for two days, suddenly appeared before her, his eyes wide.

As soon as he entered the reception room, he approached Enria immediately to check on her condition.

Silri, Windel, and Graum were sitting nearby, and Hayden was nestled in her arms, yet Caldeon didn’t spare a glance for anyone else, staring intently only at Enria.

“Enria, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, not at all…”

“Daddy, daddy.”

No sooner had Enria finished her reply than Hayden, held in her arms, stretched out his two arms toward Caldeon, wiggling his bottom.

Even though Hayden called out to Caldeon as if asking for his attention, Caldeon only shifted his gaze from Enria to Hayden after fully confirming that she was completely unharmed.

“Yes, Hayden. Are you alright?”

He asked in a softer voice, lifting Hayden into his arms as the child reached out to him.

Hayden expressed his delight by pinching and pulling at Caldeon’s face and hair with his small hands.

Caldeon patiently allowed Hayden to handle his face without the slightest frown, and turned his eyes toward Graum.

“Have you dealt with all the poison?”

At Caldeon’s question, Graum nodded once and replied, “They didn’t plant poison only on the top floor where I was discovered. It seems they intended to plant it from the first floor to the very last.”

“And you were completely unaware while that person was doing such a thing in my castle?”

“What you wanted was to protect the Master of the Oracle, not to protect your castle.”

Graum, who quickly retorted to Caldeon’s remark, shrugged at the gaze of Silri directed at him.

Although he had spoken with a certain level of confidence, he still felt a bit awkward.

If he had placed a barrier over the entire castle from the beginning, he might have noticed the dark wizard’s intrusion. The fact that he only placed a barrier around the reception room where they were and along Enria’s expected path, just in case, was partly due to his own laziness.

Although he was fundamentally a meticulous and detailed person, there were rare times when he wanted to be indifferent to everything, and today happened to be one of them.

“What?”

Caldeon frowned instantly at Graum’s words, and Graum, conscious of Silri’s gaze, quickly continued, “Anyway, it’s been handled well, so let’s move past that. The problem is something else.”

“That’s right. He’s a dark wizard who can open a rift in space and time, so we need to have a definitely higher sense of crisis than before.”

Windel helped Graum by speaking up, and Silri also nodded and muttered, “The fact that he acted directly instead of making Panz move means that Panz might still be gathering strength.”

She worried about how Panz, who might grow stronger, and the dark wizard, who was already strong enough to open a rift in space and time, might endanger Enria and Hayden.

Graum nodded at her concern and said, “If the dark wizard spreads a plague and causes disasters to gather human souls to give to Panz, Panz will become even stronger than he is now.”

“In that case, even if our strengths and yours are combined, we won’t be able to defeat him.”

As Silri muttered with a hardened face, Graum nodded once again.

Evil that is strengthened by using forbidden power, as original evil always is, has the power to drive good to the brink, so there was bound to be a great crisis in responding to Panz and the dark wizard.

“Ultimately, all we can do is help humans avoid losing their lives to the dark wizard.”

“We also have to prepare for the dark wizard threatening Enria in his own way, as he did today.”

Windel and Graum nodded in agreement with Silri’s words.

At that moment, Caldeon, who was listening to their conversation while still having his hair grabbed by Hayden, called Graum.

“Graum, don’t rest for a single day, maintain a barrier around Enria and prevent the dark wizard’s intrusion. And you, tell Rahar’s Earth Spirit as well. It will be too much for you alone.”

As he spoke to Graum and immediately turned to Silri, Graum countered Caldeon with a slightly aggrieved look.

“It’s not too much at all. And I haven’t rested for a single day yet.”

“You must not apply your occasional negligence to Enria. Even a small mistake can put my woman in danger…”

“Are you worrying about that, knowing me? I will not repeat the same mistake twice.”

When Graum cut off Caldeon’s words with a firm voice, Caldeon stared intently at him, then finally nodded once and said, “I know that well enough. Anyway, until we eliminate that damn fire spirit, the dark wizard, and those tower fellows entirely, everyone needs to stay vigilant.”

Graum, Windel, and Silri nodded simultaneously at his words.

“I’ll return to the spirit village to tell them about today’s events and come up with countermeasures. Graum, Windel, come to the spirit village with your colleagues. It seems like we need to put our heads together and talk.”

Silri, who had addressed Graum and Windel, suddenly saw Enria’s eyes meet hers and shook her head once, saying, “Ah.”

“Wait, perhaps not. The dark wizard whose plan failed might try something else right away, so maybe it’s better for you to stay here?”

“That’s a problem you don’t need to worry about, as Caldeon is here.”

“Ah, you don’t have to go back to the Imperial Palace?”

At Graum’s words, Enria looked at Caldeon and asked, and Caldeon nodded once toward her.

“I’ve sent someone in my place, so it’s fine.”

He added that even if he couldn’t find a replacement, he had no intention of calmly participating in some trifling discussion at the Imperial Palace while Enria was in danger, naturally treating the crucial formation of the empire’s alliance as an unimportant trifle.

Silri shook her head a couple of times at Caldeon as if to say he was incorrigible. She turned to leave for the spirit village and said, “Let’s keep our wits about us and see this through. It is right for us to protect the Master of the Oracle with our own hands.”

***

“Spirit users…?”

Groen’s eyes widened.

He was unable to shake off his bewildered expression because of Pahomel, who had just told him to gather the Magic Tower’s wizards and go on a spirit user hunt.

Pahomel nodded and instructed all wizards, except those involved in magic research, to participate in the battle. Confusion spread across Groen’s face at the next instruction: that they should devote their efforts to killing all the spirits summoned by the spirit users and collecting their souls.

“The souls of spirits… you mean?”

His question clearly contained doubt about what the spirit souls would be used for.

Since Groen had no idea that Pahomel was a dark wizard, he didn’t know that Pahomel intended to collect the spirits’ souls and feed them to Panz. Even if he did know, he couldn’t possibly imagine the future Pahomel was planning, as he had never heard of a spirit whose strength was increased by consuming the souls of a race that should be even more forbidden than the forbidden itself.

Pahomel felt that he could give a hint to the fake son who would become his pawn and obey his every word in the future. He also had the desire to boast about the magnificent plan that had sprung from his own mind, as he himself thought there could be no more perfect plan. Humans were a species that was always thirsty for recognition.

Pahomel looked at Groen, who was still staring at him with a bewildered expression, and said, “I will strengthen Panz’s power.”

At that, Groen’s already bewildered expression deepened, and his eyes slowly began to widen.