“Now, from here to there. Let’s all hurry up.”

“Yes!”

Under Seren’s direction, the magicians began restoring the buildings.

Magic that returned objects to their original state required considerable magical power and formulas, so unless one was at Ariel’s or Agnes’s level, a magic circle was necessary.

The sight of dozens of black-robed magicians drawing magic circles in the air was something that even people who had been in the Imperial Palace for a long time, including the Emperor, had never seen before.

Boom-. The framework of the collapsed banquet hall reattached itself, and the scattered pieces that had turned to ash also found their original places.

“…Tower Master, you’ve arrived!”

After witnessing this scene, the Emperor came running, his cape fluttering.

Ariel, who had only been watching the magicians restore the building, raised his eyebrows when he saw the Emperor running toward him.

He had thought the Emperor wouldn’t come today. He had given him notice, so why had he come all the way here?

Moreover, the Emperor’s assistant and guard knights were trying to catch his arbitrarily fluttering cape as they followed, but the Emperor was faster.

…Hadn’t he said with his own mouth that he was aging?

As the Emperor reached him and caught his breath, Ariel spoke.

“Your Majesty. I believe I told you it would be better not to come as it’s dangerous.”

“…Even so, with the Tower providing such help, how could I not come?”

The Emperor averted his gaze with an embarrassed laugh.

Ariel looked him over.

Although he often showed an uneasy appearance in front of him, wasn’t his image externally one of a dignified Emperor?

But after this Imperial banquet incident, his atmosphere had changed strangely.

He seemed somehow relaxed.

“Ahem…”

The Emperor suddenly cleared his throat. As if announcing he was about to say something important.

Despite already being close to Ariel, he moved even closer, as if afraid someone might hear, while still avoiding eye contact and with reddening cheeks…

“Your Majesty. Could it be that you like me…?”

“…What nonsense!”

The Emperor shouted angrily.

It was the first time he had gotten angry at the Tower Master.

He thought that this man couldn’t distinguish situations and was making jokes, or rather, that he wasn’t in his right mind.

With a face reddened by anger, the Emperor faced Ariel, but…

Ariel showed no signs of joking.

Rather, he was staring at him with deepened blue eyes, as if he knew something.

Instantly, the anger dissipated from the Emperor. Sadness took its place.

“…Did you know what I was going to say?”

“Yes. You want me to restore the northern lands too, where the Second Prince has been exiled.”

“……”

The Emperor rubbed his face.

His wrinkled hands were not those of a majestic Emperor but of a father riddled with regret.

“That’s right. I brought that child to the Imperial Palace but gave him nothing… I’d like it to become a somewhat habitable place. It’s shameless of me, but would that be impossible?”

“I can do that much for you.”

It was a readily given answer for something asked so desperately.

“Th-Thank you. Thank you, Tower Master!”

The Emperor bowed deeply, not even realizing his cape was flipping over.

“Y-Your Majesty.”

The guard knights and servants standing behind hurriedly tried to stop him. The Emperor blocked them with his hand.

It was the best consideration he could show for Forcite.

After that, the Emperor no longer bothered Ariel.

With tear-reddened eyes threatening to overflow at any moment, he simply turned around and strode back to the Imperial Palace.

Then Agnes, who had been nowhere to be seen until now, appeared and stood beside Ariel.

“You’re thinking of helping that bastard when he deserves worse than death?”

“If I kill him, Merri would be upset.”

“But that guy likes Me… the Saint.”

“No. What the Prince likes is the Merrien, who is gentle and kind to everyone.”

Agnes’s eyes turned cold.

If told to go to the North right now and cut off the Second Prince’s head, he could do it.

Whether that guy liked Merrien’s shell or her core, what did it matter?

Anyway, his feelings for Merrien wouldn’t change.

If he killed him, Merrien might be sad for now…

When his thoughts reached that point, Agnes ground his teeth.

Then, pretending to be nonchalant, he spoke.

“Are you really going to rebuild all the way to the North?”

“It’s not like I’ll be doing it myself anyway.”

Ariel’s gaze fixed on the backs of the magicians who were busy drawing magic circles.

The magicians felt chills down their spines without knowing why.

“Why are you dragging out the magicians from the Tower to do all this when you could finish it with just a flick of your finger?”

Agnes mocked in a rough tone.

Perhaps because of his thoughts about the Second Prince, he was irritated and wanted to take it out on Ariel.

If Ariel would face the Second Prince with a chilling gaze and fight him right now, he would love to join in the fray.

No, he thought that would be even better.

“They need to get some outside air at least this way. I can’t let them die just doing research cooped up in the Tower all day.”

But Ariel wasn’t moved at all.

“…Isn’t that your doing?”

When Agnes looked at him with incredulous eyes, Ariel wistfully stroked the back of his hand.

“Above all, I can’t overwork my delicate and pretty hands.”

For Merri.

“……”

Agnes decided to pretend he hadn’t heard the last part.

“But Agnes. What are you doing here?”

“Huh?”

“You agreed to become a Tower magician, so why are you loitering around here?”

“Ah.”

“As a member of the Tower…”

“I’ll go right away, Tower Master.”

Seemingly quite sincere about wanting to be in the Tower, Agnes ran toward the magicians.

Watching his retreating figure, Ariel slowly shifted his gaze to his surroundings.

Seren giving directions with documents in hand. The Tower magicians sitting down, dripping with sweat from drawing magic circles.

When people watching from afar gave them applause of encouragement, they would be startled, bow their heads, and smile shyly.

“Is this what Father wanted?”

A relaxed smile spread across Ariel’s face at the sight.

***

While Ariel and the magicians were restoring buildings and streets, Merrien moved to the temple.

“…Saint, Saint Merrien!”

Children who had grown noticeably taller since she last saw them rushed to embrace Merrien.

“Now, children. I told you today is busy, right? No being clingy.”

“Yes…”

It was Charlotte’s role to detach them coldly at times like this.

The children moved to the garden with dejected expressions.

And Merrien sat in the chair prepared for her and rolled up her sleeves.

“There must be quite a few injured people, Charlotte.”

“Yes. It’s overwhelming.”

Merrien’s Adam’s apple moved with tension.

Now the temple was completely different from the temple that had been corrupted by the former High Priest in the past.

Thanks to Merrien and Charlotte, the Empire’s two Saints, even commoners could now comfortably come to the temple for healing.

This was possible because the temple received full support from both Duke Hartez’s and Duke Bernando’s families, and recently even from the Imperial family.

Not only in the capital but also in various other regions, temples had been established, increasing the spaces where people could receive healing through priests.

With magical beasts gone as well, the Empire had become quite peaceful.

“Next person. Please come in!”

But there were still those injured by magical beasts.

Merrien’s face hardened when she saw the condition of the patient who entered next.

Despite wearing patient clothes, every visible part from the face to the arms and legs was bruised and blue.

Merrien checked the examination chart in front of her. It said “7th day of treatment.”

“……”

She quietly swallowed.

Whenever she saw people like this, she couldn’t forgive Forcite.

No matter if he had been under mental control, what he had done left so much aftermath like this.

“I’ll heal you.”

As white light spread from Merrien’s fingers, a little life returned to the unfocused eyes of the patient.