“Yes!”

“Yes!”

“Ready, I say!”

Rodi giggled at the sight of the three standing at attention in front of Jin.

***

Padrid, who had been busy with work, looked up at the sound of urgent footsteps approaching the general affairs office.

“Who on earth is running—”

Bang!

The door flung open without a knock.

The person who entered the general affairs office shouldn’t have been here at this time.

“Ekision, weren’t you supposed to be in Delpha?”

Delpha was a city to the west of the capital, belonging to the territory of Marquis Cecil.

He should have just arrived or not even arrived yet, having departed in the morning, but here he was.

And he seemed to have come in such a hurry that he was sweating, unlike his usual reputation as the epitome of neatness.

“Where did the Rookie go?”

Padrid looked at the clock.

“By now, they should have arrived at the item collection point. If they’re quick, they would have already departed for their destination. What’s the matter?”

It was clear from Ekision’s behavior alone that something had happened, but Padrid asked calmly to assess the situation.

A small curse escaped from Ekision’s lips.

“Miriam was found dead.”

Padrid jumped to his feet.

***

When they arrived at the location by carriage, someone was waiting for them right on time.

Rodi waited in the carriage with Meogly while Jin, Jo, and Serinea got out.

The carriage had stopped in the middle of a forest with few people around.

The reason was that although they had made the request, they couldn’t reveal the location of the laboratory to outsiders, so they asked them to come here to pick up the items.

Rodi peeked her head out of the carriage window.

She had thought that since they were magicians, they would be wearing thick, luxurious robes, but instead, they were dressed in clean white uniforms.

Unlike his neat clothes, the man with bushy brown hair and glasses so thick that his eyes looked half-small waited quietly for Rodi’s group.

Ekision had said that laboratory magicians don’t go outside much so their faces are as white as milk and to watch carefully, and she giggled secretly because his face really was as white as flour.

Rodi put her face closer to the window and concentrated on the sounds outside.

The man looked somewhat surprised at the number of people getting out of the carriage.

“Hello, I’m Camil. Ms. Miriam said one person would be coming, but that wasn’t the case?”

Rodi could see the man greeting Jin and offering a handshake.

“They’re just personnel to load the cargo, so don’t worry about it. I’m Jin Jein.”

“I see. Ah, this box contains the items I’ll be entrusting to you today. They’re protected by magic, so they should withstand a certain amount of shock.”

“That’s fortunate.”

“Please transport it to the Imperial Academy Research Institute written here. I’ve already contacted them, so someone should be waiting. Thank you in advance.”

After signing for the receipt, the man stepped back.

Rodi watched as they loaded the cargo and tilted her head in confusion.

“Huh?”

“Rookie. What’s wrong?”

Meogly asked Rodi, tilting his head.

Padrid had clearly said they were artificial hearts to be used in experimental subjects.

Ekision had even explained what the hearts looked like.

He had said that the box would be quite large because there were multiple artificial hearts and the storage method was complicated, but that wasn’t the issue.

The problem was what was inside.

In the elongated box, Rodi could clearly see a person sleeping.

Like in a coffin.

But Rodi couldn’t see them breathing, so she couldn’t tell if they were dead or alive.

Feeling a bit creeped out, Rodi tugged on Meogly’s clothes.

It didn’t seem right to just let this go.

“Meogly. Meogly.”

“Rookie, what’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

What did Horas do back then?

Rodi remembered what Horas had done when she suspected Percy at the banquet.

“Percy is left-handed. Well, even if you don’t know, they’ll figure it out, but if you give them just one clue that’s irritating enough, they’ll catch on. We haven’t been working together for just a day or two.”

Something irritating enough.

Rodi quickly racked her brain.

‘But will that work for me too?’

She wasn’t a long-time colleague.

But soon her worries disappeared.

‘What does that matter? The important thing is to try first.’

That thought dominated her mind.

The most important thing was to prevent this strange feeling from turning into danger.

Thankfully, she wasn’t alone in the carriage.

“Something’s wrong.”

Meogly, who had been protecting Rodi all along but didn’t know what to do with her, like looking at a small chick, had a surprised expression.

“Rookie, what do you mean?”

Ugh, this is frustrating.

This was her first time dealing with something like this, and until now, she had no reason or need to tell others.

So she felt frustrated for the first time, not knowing how to cryptically convey the message to the other person.

This is urgent…!

“Um…! If you delay loading the cargo, I’ll let you touch my cheek three times. When Jin gives the order, you need to catch that man. But you have to get down quietly!”

Deciding to act directly rather than explain, Rodi whispered quickly and softly to Meogly just before opening the door.

She couldn’t be sure if that man with his eyes almost completely covered by his bangs was safe or not.

“Rookie, what on earth are you talking about…!”

Before even hearing Meogly’s response, she flung open the carriage door and jumped out.

Meogly, who had reached out with a surprised face, soon glanced in the direction where the commotion had started as he began loading the cargo.

After a moment of hesitation, he quietly followed Rodi out of the carriage and crouched down.

Rodi looked at Meogly once and then hurriedly ran off.

“Jin!”

Rodi quickly ran and grabbed Jin’s clothes.

“Rodi.”

Jin, who had been greeting the man named Camil and supervising the loading, turned to Rodi.

Rodi made an expression full of dissatisfaction.

“What happened?”

“The brooch you pinned here earlier, Meogly keeps trying to switch it with mine and took it away.”

Brooch?

Jin, who had no memory of giving anything, looked down at Rodi.

Rodi was pointing near her heart with a face that looked truly wronged.

As if asking him to scold Meogly right away.

While doing so, she kept scratching Jin’s palm with the tip of her small finger.

“……”

Drawing a circle precisely.

No matter how young Rodi was, she had never let emotions interfere with work before.

At most, she would help by tidying up or running errands.

Moreover, it was unthinkable that she would call Jin for such a trivial matter.

This was a fact that at least the senior staff who spent time with Rodi at Cheiles would know.

So naturally, Jin found it strange that Rodi was suddenly throwing a tantrum.

Even as he thought this, Rodi was quickly drawing circles on Jin’s hand.

Was it a simple urging, or an affirmative O?

Or was it zero (0), meaning empty?

‘Switched?’

For now.

“I understand what you’re saying, Rodi.”

As Camil approached asking what was wrong, Jin instantly stood in front of Rodi protectively.

“Who is this child? This is not the time, we need to depart quickly. It’s still in the development stage, so the charged magic power needs to be maintained consistently.”

Jin looked up.

Camil began to protest to Jin, seemingly displeased about the delay caused by Rodi.

“Ah, she’s a colleague assigned to this mission.”

Camil’s eyebrows wrinkled visibly.

“What? A child this young is a colleague… I was told Cheiles was reliable, but is this okay?”

Jin placed his hand on Rodi’s shoulder protectively and smiled gently.

“The requested items will arrive safely and on time no matter what, so don’t worry.”

Camil stepped back slightly and relaxed his face, seeing that Jin wasn’t going to pay attention to whatever he said.

“Hmm, that’s good then. Since it’s an item that needs to arrive quickly, I’m being sensitive. I’m sorry if I was sharp.”

“That can happen.”

“Still, it’s really important, so I’d like you to depart right away. No, don’t hold it like that!”

No sooner had he apologized than Camil shouted in horror, seeing Meogly interfering with Serinea and Jo.

He kept preventing them from loading it onto the carriage, saying the level wasn’t right.

As it was, the weight was quite heavy, more than expected, and Serinea and Jo were struggling.

In the midst of this, Serinea even kicked at Meogly for interfering with unnecessary talk, telling him to get out of the way.

In this precarious situation, Camil ran to where the three were.

While everyone’s attention was momentarily diverted, Rodi pulled Jin’s hand and whispered quickly.

“It’s been switched. There’s no item in there, Jin.”