“Well, we need to catch him!”

Rodi looked around.

“No. Finding and eliminating traitors is not our mission. Rather, if we rashly follow, we might fall into a trap.”

“Ah….”

“If necessary, we can request reinforcements, but not now.”

I see.

It was disappointing that he had escaped, but Jin was right.

“I seem to be late.”

The voice that had been heard from the communication device earlier was now heard nearby.

When she looked up, a man with neatly combed dark navy hair had approached.

He was a man with noticeably high and large nose and distinct facial features.

With his thick eyebrows and white skin, his impression was as refreshing as his gait.

He was clearly wearing a long coat-like robe that reached his calves, but perhaps because of its dark color, it looked like he was wearing steel knight’s armor.

His aura was that distinctive.

‘Where did he appear from?’

He hadn’t been there until just now, but he appeared with a pop as if he had fallen from the sky.

“It’s been a while, Mr. Jin Jein.”

The man smiled at Jin and offered a handshake.

“Yes, Duke. It’s been a while.”

After a brief greeting, Duke turned to look for the box.

“Ah, there it is.”

“How will you handle the fugitive?”

Ah. Duke flicked his finger.

“My colleague came with me, so we’ll catch him soon. I’m sorry for involving you in this troublesome matter. I’ll speak to Mr. Eclise directly.”

Jin nodded at the assurance of proper handling.

“It’s just a guess, but it seems the requested item has been switched.”

Listening to their conversation, Rodi, somehow feeling like she might be startled when they opened that box, quickly approached and grabbed Duke’s hand.

“Hmm?”

Duke turned with feigned surprise to look at Rodi.

“Excuse me.”

“Who is this little lady?”

It was a question that seemed to ask why there was a presence that didn’t fit with this request.

Rodi had heard this so often that she was already getting used to it.

Probably it would continue like this from now on.

“She’s a colleague performing the mission with us.”

“I’m Brodi.”

Duke’s eyebrows rose even higher.

He hesitated as if needing some understanding, then offered a handshake as he had done with Jin.

“Ah, I see. Excuse me. I’m Duke Evilun from the Magic Tower.”

Rodi, who was about to tip him off not to be surprised, took his large hand.

Duke smiled refreshingly as he held Rodi’s hand and shook it briefly.

Well, he’s an adult, so it should be fine, right?

Rodi changed her mind and scurried back to Bender.

“And Ms. Miriam couldn’t be contacted.”

At that, Duke scratched his forehead slightly with a somewhat troubled expression.

“That would be the case. Since she was found dead.”

At those words, Serinea, Jo, and Meogly drew in their breath.

Bender seemed fine, but Rodi couldn’t hide her surprised face.

Dead?

But the way he spoke so casually about it felt very strange and alien.

“Magicians are generally not emotional. Unusually so.”

Was this what Jin had meant?

Still, it seemed like he was talking about something completely different.

“It seems they were moving organizationally. Well, that’s something we have to deal with.”

After saying that, Duke placed his hand on the lock securing the requested item.

With a popping sound, the lock broke into pieces and fell with a clatter.

Duke, who had opened the lid halfway, let out a “Hmm” and closed it again.

Then, with the same smile as before, he looked at Rodi.

“Um, little lady over there… ah, Ms. Brodi.”

Rodi bristled at the word “little” but then smoothed her expression.

“What?”

“Would you please turn around for a moment? This doesn’t seem to be a situation suitable for a child to see.”

I’ve already seen it.

But unable to say the truth, she looked at Jin, who nodded for her to do as asked.

Rodi obediently turned around.

She heard the sound of the lid being fully opened.

“Oh, my goodness.”

Serinea’s surprised voice reached Rodi’s ears clearly.

Although she desperately wanted to turn around, Rodi decided to wait with Bender.

“Ah!”

Suddenly remembering something, Rodi approached Jin again.

“Jin.”

When Jin bent down to Rodi’s level, she quickly whispered in his ear.

“Camil had a blue scroll paper in the pocket on the right side of his chest. It looked similar to the magic teleportation scroll you showed me earlier.”

Thanks to having carefully observed the scroll paper that Jin had briefly shown her before departure, saying it was good to prepare such things for emergencies, she was able to quickly inform him.

“A blue one, you say?”

The fact is that teleportation scrolls differ in color depending on the distance, materials, and formulas used.

When Rodi nodded, Jin straightened up.

“Then the place he escaped to must not be far.”

***

Cheiles’ mission was terminated there, and they safely returned to headquarters.

They could no longer move the requested item.

Instead of artificial hearts, there was a person from the Magic Tower inside the box.

He was said to be a colleague who had worked with Camil under the original magician named Miriam.

In conclusion, it seemed Camil was a traitor.

He had done something unforgivable in order to divert the artificial hearts.

No less than two magicians had died.

However, Camil had worked at the Magic Tower for more than three years, and there had been no problems during that not-so-short time.

Because of this, Duke said he couldn’t be certain whether Camil, whom he had never met in person, was truly a traitor.

There was a possibility that it was someone else using Camil’s appearance, and they would need to catch the person who escaped today to confirm.

He offered to compensate Cheiles for the damages incurred.

Duke, who had brought this up to Jin, suddenly looked unhappy even as he coolly assessed the situation, having just lost two magicians.

When he first appeared, he had a smiling face, but by the time Rodi was about to leave, his dark expression was clearly visible.

However Duke simply dismissed it by saying, “Things have become troublesome.”

Having just returned, Rodi was slurping cool apple juice that Padrid had personally brought to the general affairs office, saying she had done well.

“Rookie…!”

While she was playing, making slurping sounds through the straw as she had almost finished drinking, the door burst open.

Ekision, with an urgent voice, was looking for Rodi.

“Ekision!”

Rodi spat out the straw and stretched out both arms in welcome.

Upon finding Rodi, Ekision took a deep breath and wiped his chest in relief.

As if all his energy had drained, he leaned against the door with a thud.

His hair was disheveled as if struck by lightning.

“Ah, I was afraid something terrible had happened.”

Ekision, straightening himself up again, immediately approached Rodi.

“Why?”

Rodi asked, her cheeks suddenly pinched.

“Because I was worried someone might have taken our rookie. Damn, I looked for you for a long time, not knowing our paths had crossed.”

Only then did Ekision brush back his disheveled hair in an attempt to tidy it.

“Did you know about it?”

Jin asked Ekision.

“Yeah. I told Padrid. I left right away, but you weren’t there.”

“Ah, I didn’t know you were coming. Thanks to Rodi spotting it first, we wrapped things up smoothly.”

“The rookie did?”

Rodi nodded confidently.

“Yes! I saw it first. That the contents of the box had been switched. But we couldn’t catch the culprit.”

When Rodi spoke with great disappointment, Ekision let out a hollow laugh.

“You did well. I was scolded because I thought you might have gotten into danger because I told you to go along.”

“It wasn’t dangerous at all. Everyone was really cool.”

Ekision chuckled and patted Rodi’s head, then plopped down beside her.

“Ah, I’m tired.”

Ekision leaned back against the backrest, looking up at the ceiling, his body going limp with exhaustion.

“Did you run here?”

“Of course. I was so worried about our rookie that I ran like my feet were on fire.”

That’s really far.

Even riding in a carriage took quite a while.

On the way back, Duke had used his magic to bring them here in an instant.

“After packing two teleportation scrolls, don’t try to deceive us. Rookie, don’t be fooled.”

Padrid entered and scolded Ekision.

“Ah, that’s mean. I still ran from the entrance to here.”

Rodi looked at Ekision and then down at her empty cup.

If she had known, she would have drunk more slowly.

Even from the entrance to here looked quite tiring.

“Should I bring you some apple juice?”

Ekision chuckled and shook his head.

“No. Why, is it not enough?”

“No, I was going to give it to you.”

Feeling a twinge in his heart, waves of emotion flowed through Ekision’s eyes.