It was to meet the frontier sorcerer that Ter Giuo had mentioned, the one the real Eloa may have met.

While we had been at the Count’s estate, Siobhan had headed to the frontier. He was to find the sorcerer who had had dealings with a noble there, and we were to meet at a prearranged location.

Since sorcery itself was taboo, there was no suitable place to meet a sorcerer away from prying eyes.

The thought that came to mind was the inside of the carriage.

After a few more jolts, the carriage gradually came to a stop at the agreed-upon location.

It was time to meet the sorcerer I had been so curious about.

A needless nervousness made me swallow dryly, and I kept repeating the same gestures over and over.

As though noticing my behavior, his gaze was directed out the window, yet his gentle voice was aimed at me.

“Are you nervous?”

“…Honestly, a little.”

“I will be right here.”

Whenever I talked with Eden, I felt my tension ease. Not just this time, but whenever I found myself in a nervous situation, he was always there beside me.

“Thank you, as always.”

At my brief expression of gratitude, he only shrugged his shoulders. That gesture felt as though it was saying it was nothing at all.

Before the now-stopped carriage, a familiar head of brown hair came into view.

Only when the door was properly opened did I see the sorcerer held in Siobhan’s grip. The gaunt frame called to mind a tree branch snapped by a winter wind.

A smudged face was visible beneath a long, unkempt mane of hair. A tall frame that could match Siobhan, yet looking small due to the thinness, and various other features blended together so that it was impossible to even tell whether this person was a woman or a man.

Eden, who had been quietly observing the sorcerer held in Siobhan’s grip, opened his mouth.

“Let them go.”

“They will run.”

No sooner had Siobhan’s words ended than the sorcerer jutted out their lips and complained.

“Ugh, this is exactly why knights have no flexibility. I am not going to run. You have caught me so many times already, and if I run again, then I am that bug crawling over there!”

“You are perfectly capable of it. I will bring them inside the carriage.”

Wow, Siobhan speaking informally.

Zero flexibility, wooden Siobhan speaking informally was even more striking than I had imagined.

“I will conduct the conversation alone.”

“Will you be all right?”

“If anything happens, the two of you will come in, will you not?”

“……”

“So I will be fine.”

The first impression had already struck me as anything but ordinary, and hearing Siobhan say the sorcerer had tried to run only added to my nerves.

“Hello.”

“Not doing well.”

“I understand, since you were brought here by force.”

“I will curse you.”

“If you curse me, the two people outside will not let you off.”

“Ugh…”

“As long as you answer what I ask, there will be no problem.”

“Well, if it is not a bodyguard and a princess!”

It was close to a threat, but I did not mind. If I could keep this sorcerer in line with a threat rather than suffer because of them, then so be it.

The sorcerer, who had only now looked at me properly, suddenly swept their hair back roughly.

“What is this!”

“Pardon?”

With the hair swept aside, both of the sorcerer’s eyes were now clearly visible. One was an ordinary black eye, but the eye that had been hidden beneath the hair was a vivid, glowing green.

The sorcerer grabbed my shoulders and began looking me over from every angle. A glance out the window showed the two outside looking as though they might burst in at any moment.

“What has been done to your body!”

The tone that had begun with surprise had turned into a shout before I knew it.

“There is a spell cast on your body, and the magic power is running wild alongside it.”

“Is that not supposed to happen?”

“The nature of sorcery and magic power are complete opposites. And yet those two opposites are inside the same body together!”

Ah…

It must be because of the constitution that absorbs magic power.

“Can the spell that has been cast be undone?”

At my words, the sorcerer stared at me intently for a long moment before raising a hand.

“You would at least know the rule about undoing spells.”

“…Only the one who cast the spell can undo it.”

“That is right. But this spell was not cast by me.”

“Is there a way for someone other than the caster to undo it?”

“Well, you would have to risk your life, at the very least.”

Life.

The sorcerer’s hand, which had been moving over my body for quite some time, came to a stop.

“There is something I want to try for a moment.”

“What are you…”

“It might sting a little.”

Before any words could come out, a bright light enveloped my body.

And then,

Bang!

Pushed by an unknown force, I was slammed hard against the backrest. Since I had been seated, it was only this much for me, but the sorcerer was sent flying clean out of the carriage.

“Loa!”

At the loud sound, Eden rushed over without hesitation.

You said it would sting a little! This is not a little sting!

The impact had been hard enough that pain shot through my shoulder.

The sorcerer who had been sent flying outside was caught once again in Siobhan’s grip. Having no way of knowing what had happened inside the carriage, the two of them were simply ready to deal with the sorcerer then and there.

Siobhan’s blade had already turned toward the sorcerer, and it was clear that one word from Eden would send it swinging without hesitation.

“Wait! Sir Sio, just a moment!”

Leaving Eden, who had come close to me, behind, I stepped toward Siobhan.

I at least need to know what was done to me before anyone gets killed.

“So what did you do?”

“Ugh… it is hopeless!”

The sorcerer, who had paused to think for a moment at my question, cried out.

“Your body is hopeless! The magic power and the spell are already colliding and eating each other away!”

It was Eden who spoke after hearing those words.

He had come close before I realized it, and he was now standing behind me with his arm around my waist.

“If either the magic power or the spell wins out?”

“Whether you force one to win by pouring more in, you will die, and if left as it is, you will die too.”

What…?

“Explain it so it can be understood.”

At Eden’s addition, the sorcerer’s mouth moved without pause.

“The magic power and the spell inside that body are at their limit. Since they are in equal amounts, they are fighting each other to win.”

“……”

“Even if you try to make the magic power win by adding more, it will exceed the limit and the body will be unable to take it, so you will die. And if left as it is, you will die from the collision between the magic power and the spell!”

“What do you mean…”

“A body with no solution! Even I have not seen this in forty years!”

“The method.”

“The only method is to undo the spell.”

“That is why we brought you here. To have you undo it.”

“I am not the one who cast it, so trying to undo it would only get your princess killed for nothing.”

Had the word death always been this easy to say?

The word death coming out so freely made it feel unreal, as though it were someone else’s story.

“But I may be able to find out who cast it. In exchange…”

“……”

“Pay up! Nothing in this world is free. You have to pay for the information I just found out too!”

So this was a capitalist sorcerer.

“Bring them to the ducal estate.”

Everyone except the sorcerer nodded at my words.

“What? What would I go there for! Just standing near that silver-haired one makes me feel like my energy is being drained and I am about to collapse!”

“Is it because of Eden’s magic power?”

“Yes! That wretched magic power!”

Since Eden was someone who could use magic power without a magic stone, it was understandable that the sorcerer would struggle.

“If you undo the spell cast on Loa, I will pay you enough to spend the rest of your life doing nothing but playing.”

“So the princess’s name is Loa?”

“I am not a princess, I am a young lady. And what is your name?”

“……”

“I cannot keep calling you ‘sorcerer’ forever, and even less so inside the ducal estate or within the city.”

“Dibweshi Rusa Plnarineth.”

What, what?

What kind of person has a name like that?

“I have lived eighty years longer than you, so please refrain from addressing me informally.”

“I will call you Rusa.”

“……”

“That is all right, is it not, Rusa?”

“Hmph.”

It was not the sorcerer the real Eloa had met, but it was a meeting from which much had been gained.

And so, with the sorcerer now joining us, I had thought things would go smoothly, but before long I realized what a great mistake that had been.

“Loa, let us go now.”

“Just let me get this.”

After saying farewell to the servants of the ducal estate, we boarded the large carriage.

***