Recently, Lysander had not been able to sleep well and had become extremely irritable.
‘I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to.’
There was so much work to be done and it was all so important that it was hard to clearly prioritize.
However, there was one thing that was clearly the most important thing, even if it could not be ranked.
It was what Enoch told him to do.
"If I catch my client, he'll love it, right?"
That's why Lysander put everything aside and came here.
A rural village on the border with the east, quite far from the capital, Nota
Funnily enough, he reached this point by chasing the trail of those who had requested him.
[t/n: the people who requested he break into Rosenta’s secret room.]
"I need to catch them as soon as possible, go back and get compliments, and finish developing my magical tools."
The private laboratory of the Marigold Marquisate.
Lysander hade come to the village while in the middle of developing magical tools there.
Of course, it was possible to conduct his experiments in the Magic Tower, but there was someone he had to go meet when the development of his tools was over.
"I'm sure he had blue magic all over him. It must be his magic, but what the hell is he hiding?"
A fierce smile grew on his face.
In fact, Lysander was not the type of person who was interested in what others did.
But that was only when it came to things that had nothing to do with him.
It was different when it involved Vivian.
"He’s one thing, Vivian in another."
Lysander's face, which had been drenched in fatigue, suddenly had a blush of color.
"Isn't that so? Duke Estella."
Gradually, his mouth became twisted.
It was then.
An old man appeared on the street of a quiet village.
He was warily glanced at Lysander, a stranger, with a cautious look.
"Whose are you?"
The old man quietly looked at Lysander for a moment.
Perhaps, because he judged him to be a gentle-looking man, he let his guard down in an instant.
He curiously approached Lysander and asked him a question.
"What is a young man doing in a rural village where only old people live...….”
"I'm looking for someone."
However, Lysander cut off the old man's words and quickly said what he had to say.
"Do you know an old woman with gray hair and brown eyes? She might be an aristocrat because she had a beautiful appearance for her age."
It was scant information.
The client came to the Magic Tower anonymously and gave him a large sum of money. Of course, he didn't know her name or where she lived.
So, Lysander had barely managed to find this place.
Most of the magicians of the Magic Tower were mobilized to investigate via old fashioned investigation methods.
Of course, Lysander tried using tracking magic, but it didn't do much good.
"Do you know anything?"
In any case, all Lysander knew was second-hand information, so he had no choice but to just ask around.
"Ahem."
Suddenly the old man meaningfully coughed.
He looked at the distant mountains for no reason, perhaps trying to save his words.
Lysander knew why the old man's attitude had changed.
However, he did not intend to apologize.
Rather, he knew how to get an answer in this situation.
Lysander took out a gold coin from his pocket and held it out in front of the old man's eyes.
"Here's 1 gold."
It was a huge sum for a commoner.
The old man’s mouth dropped open and he stretched out his hand as if possessed by something.
Lysander then flicked the coin up with his finger. The coin landed exactly on the old man's palm.
The old man's mouth opened straight away.
"Hmm. Brown eyes are so common, and most of the residents here are white-haired...….”
In fact, it was difficult for the old man to come up with relevant information.
Everyone's hair and eye color were similar. So he couldn't give an answer quickly.
The old man agonized for a long time.
As time wore on, Lysander's patience was getting closer and closer to it end.
"If you don't know...….”
"Ah!"
Suddenly, the old man tapped the ground hard with his cane. He was as excited as though he’d found the answer to a tough trivia question.
Something must have come to mind.
"Are you talking about the old woman who moved in a few years ago and has lived reclusively ever since?"
"Recently moved in?"
"Yeah. You see that luxury house on the hill over there?"
Lysander's gaze moved in the direction the old man was pointing.
There was a two-story mansion on the hill.
In fact, Lysander wouldn’t exactly consider it a luxury mansion by his standards, but it looked to be the most expensive in the town.
Lysander roughly nodded his head.
"She's a white-haired, brown-eyed woman who lives in that luxury house, and she never comes down here. Except for her, I know all of the people of this town...….”
The corners of Lysander’s mouth kept twitching.
Lysander turned away from the old man after realizing that he didn't need to listen to more.
The old man exclaimed in surprise.
"Hey, you! Don't just stop listening to me!"
Lysander didn't look back at his cries.
Lysander simply walked towards the two-story mansion on the hill, which the old man had informed him about.
***
At first, he openly called out from outside the mansion.
But no one came out.
Eventually, Lysander magically climbed over the wall and managed to sneak into the mansion.
He crouched down, stealthily walked like a thief, and cautiously took in his surroundings.
But his alertness was fleeting.
The cold air and quietness that filled the mansion told him that it was empty.
“……There's no one here."
Lysander's waist, which was bent as he crouched, stretched out.
He recited a spell without hesitation.
"Explore."
Since coming here, he’d been trying to refrain from using magic as much as possible.
This was because, when using magic, there was a disadvantage in that it was much harder to perceive one’s surroundings.
However, it didn’t hurt to make sure there was no one there.
"Hmm."
Lysander's eyes flashed.
“……there’s no one."
It only lasted for a brief moment. The pink mana, remnants of his magic, began to disappear from around his eyes.
"I can walk around as much as I like."
Lysander stretched his arms as high as he could.
Then, he strolled around the mansion without hesitation.
"It's all empty."
All the rooms on the first floor were completely unfurnished.
There was no hint of the warmth of a person.
There was nothing more to see. Lysander went straight up to the second floor and opened the doors one by one.
"Oh. The second floor is a little different."
He thought to himself that it looked like the set of a theater, rather than the home of a person.
However, human traces were vaguely apparent on the second floor.
For example, a bed with a blanket, or a messy table and drawers.
"There seems to be a lot of things here."
He entered the room where there seemed to be to most information.
Actually, there were a lot of things there.
Among them, there was something in particular that caught his eye.
A small picture frame on a chest of drawers.
A picture was in the frame and it showed a face very clearly, as if it had been taken with a magic tool.
A woman, who looked like the client’s granddaughter, was standing there with her.
"I'll have to take it."
There was no reason to hesitate. He quickly packed the frame.
Then he looked around again.
The next thing that caught his eye was a messy table.
"A letter?"
The letter was full of useless content.
How the garden was doing, how the pests were being managed.
[t/n: These are the letters between Anna and Emma. Anna, when she was reading her grandmother's letter, commented that Emma hated gardening.]
As for the letter, his interest quickly faded. It was just normal content.
"Is this some kind of hideout?"
No matter how much furniture there was, it didn't feel like it was a place where people lived.
It seemed like a temporary shelter.
“……I'll have to resume the search."
While this could have been a hassle, as he already had a lot of work to do, but he wasn’t too worried.
‘I can leave the rest of the work to the other mages anyway.’
"At times like this, delegation is key."
Lysander snorted.
***
For the first time, Rosenta used the new secret space created for him by Enoch.
From the outside, it looked like a normal wall.
It was definitely hidden by magic.
Enoch was so proud that, if someone discovered it and tried to break in, flames would erupt immediately.
"I like it."
It was convenient to be able to sneak in and out as much as he wanted without worrying about the eyes of others.
She sighed with satisfaction.
[t/n: it’s not super obvious but, Rosenta has switched genders and the new secret space Enoch created seems to have an exit to outside the castle.]
She checked the hood of her robe for the last time and then took a step forward.
However, she felt a presence following her like a chick.
It was obvious who it was without even looking back.
"Enoch, go back quickly."
"It's dangerous to walk around alone, so I...….”
Rosa turned around immediately.
She reached out to Enoch without hearing another word.
After grabbing the collar of his shirt, she pulled it roughly so that Enoch's body would lean down in front of her.
"I guess I’m someone unable to protect themselves in your eyes."
"Of course not."
In response to Enoch's relaxed reply, she let go of his collar.
"Then don't follow me."
It wasn’t like she was going to the back alleys.
She was going to stand in the middle of the square so that Theodore's soldiers could easily find her.
"Wait here for me."