After making me wait for a while and disappearing for quite some time, he returned with the familiar red leather book.

“Just two hours. Security has been tight lately, so I need to return the forbidden book to its original place quickly.”

“Is there a separate storage location?”

“The imperial palace library. I secretly took it from there before too.”

Ah, I see.

After thanking the crown prince, I sat on the sofa in his office and read the book.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

I kept turning the pages and finally stopped when I found the content I wanted.

[Great Demon Rudvalt enjoys making humans into lowly beings. He particularly delights in transforming them into lowly creatures without intelligence, and often casts related curses.

If you wish to break the curse of lowly creatures, you must make an antidote with the following ingredients.

Spring water from the Saha Mountains containing fairy’s breath, wings of a golden butterfly that holds sunlight, horns of a silver-shining stag, and a 150-year-old magic stone.

If even one of these is omitted, serious side effects may occur instead, so caution is required.]

I carefully compared the ingredients written in the book with the ingredients the tower master had used.

There was fairy’s spring water, golden butterfly wings, and stag horns.

But there was exactly one thing missing: a 150-year-old magic stone.

‘So this is why the side effects occurred.’

Having identified the cause, I returned the forbidden book and bid farewell to the crown prince.

“Thank you, Your Highness. Then I’ll be going now.”

“……You’re leaving just like that? Just like that?”

“Yes, I have urgent business.”

I had to complete the antidote within six days, so I needed to move quickly.

“Ha, it wasn’t an excuse to see me at all.”

Not hearing the crown prince’s muttering, I returned to the ducal residence.

Fortunately, when I checked earlier, the tower master had prepared the three ingredients generously, so there were extras.

This meant I only needed to obtain a 150-year-old magic stone, so I first searched through the mining records of my Sasha Magic Mine.

‘……Right, I knew it wouldn’t be there.’

If it were found already, the mission would be resolved too easily.

I also investigated other magic mines. However, due to the nature of magic stones being sold immediately upon mining, it was difficult to find magic stones that were not just 50 years old but 150 years old.

‘This is maddening.’

As I held my head in anguish, something warm and soft touched my legs.

Looking down, I saw Goldie rubbing his head against my leg.

“Oh my, my baby kitten. Did you come to see your sister?”

“Meow.”

“Aww, so cute.”

Perhaps because I knew he was completely in cat form now, he looked truly like Goldie rather than the tower master.

I quickly lifted Goldie up and stroked his head and back, then asked.

“Should sister play with you a bit?”

“Meow.”

“Yes, yes. Just a moment.”

I took out the toy I had bought for Goldie before.

When I waved the feathered stick around, Goldie’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. Then he charged toward the toy at full speed.

Watching him tap and gently catch it with his tiny front paws, I moved the stick, and Goldie quickly followed.

After playing like that for a while, I got tired and put down the toy and lay down.

Goldie approached me softly and raised his paw to press against my cheek.

‘How anxious must the tower master be right now? No, since he’s lost human reason, maybe he’s not thinking about anything.’

Looking at Goldie purring as I stroked his neck, I said.

“It’s okay, Goldie. I’ll definitely make an antidote for you. If you can’t return to being the tower master, I’ll raise you.”

Even though the tower master couldn’t understand human words right now, I wanted to reassure him in my own way.

When I poked his moist nose tip with my finger, Goldie, who couldn’t understand my words, tilted his head.

“Meow?”

That sight was truly adorable, but at the same time, I couldn’t help missing the tower master as a human.

“Sigh…… I miss the tower master. Please, I hope you return to being the tower master soon.”

For that to happen, I need to work hard, right?

I gathered my strength and started looking for a 150-year-old magic stone again. But when there was no progress at all, I decided to call a magic stone expert to ask.

“Did you call for me, Miss?”

That person was Michael, the mine manager of our Sasha Magic Mine.

“You said you’ve only worked in magic mines all this time, right? Then you must know quite a bit about magic stones?”

“Yes, if you ask me anything, I’ll do my best to answer.”

“Do 150-year-old magic stones exist in the world?”

Perhaps it was such an unexpected question that Michael blinked and then answered.

“There probably aren’t any among those already mined. But if they’ve been buried underground for a very long time without being discovered, there could very well be some.”

“Really? Then are there magic mines that haven’t mined magic stones for such a long time?”

“Yes…… I think there are.”

I jumped up excitedly at Michael’s affirmation.

“Where? Tell me right away!”

“Sasha Magic Mine.”

“Huh……?”

To me making a puzzled expression, he calmly explained.

“Since Barron Silver Mine was maintained for about 170 years and was recently revealed to be Sasha Magic Mine, wouldn’t there be magic stones that old among the unmined ones?”

“……That makes sense. Except for us, all existing magic mines have been around for less than a hundred years.”

We had the highest probability of possessing the oldest magic stones.

“Michael, how do you check the age of magic stones?”

“If you use a magic stone appraisal magical tool, it should show.”

“Good.”

I sent him away after giving him a task.

And I immediately called Carl.

“Bondservant, pack up. We have somewhere to go.”

“What kind of speech is that again? Where?”

“My magic mine.”

I replied cheerfully with a grin. I’m going to dig up a 150-year-old magic stone myself.

***

Sasha Magic Mine was located in the mountains about a day’s journey from the capital.

After getting off the carriage and walking up to the mine entrance, Michael was waiting for us with equipment.

This was thanks to my advance request for him to prepare so I could directly explore inside the mine.

“……Miss, are you really sure you’ll be alright?”

Michael asked worriedly as he handed me a magic stone detector and appraiser.

The detector would tell me where magic stones were located, and the appraiser would determine the condition of those magic stones.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”

I answered while confirming that both magical tools were working properly.

Carl shouldered a bag containing shovels and pickaxes to use for digging out magic stones.

“Even though it’s called a mine, it’s almost like a cave. The interior is very spacious, so be careful not to get lost.”

I waved at Michael, who was giving final warnings, and said.

“If we don’t come out by tomorrow, report it just in case.”

“Yes, understood.”

We turned our backs on him and slowly entered the dark mine.

Thanks to torches hung on the walls at intervals, the inside wasn’t as pitch black as I had thought.

Carl, who had taken the lead saying it might be dangerous, asked bluntly.

“Master, why are you personally taking on such dangerous work?”

“There are two reasons for that.”

I answered him seriously.

“First, I don’t have much patience right now.”

Three days had already passed out of the one-week deadline.

Now only four days remained, including today. It was too tight a schedule to sit still and wait for a 150-year-old magic stone to be dug up.

“Second, it felt wrong to just order other people to do dangerous work that requires going deep into the mine.”

Especially since when I hired Michael, I had loudly proclaimed that I prioritized human life above all else.

After making such claims, it would be awkward to quickly push other people into danger for a mission.

Carl, who had quietly listened to everything I said, turned his head to look back at me.

“Then what am I?”

“Hmm, someone I want to go to heaven with?”

“How absurd.”

He laughed as if dumbfounded and looked forward again.

Actually, it’s not like I wanted to bring Carl along either. As he said, it was dangerous work, so I would have preferred to be alone.

‘This guy. Doesn’t he keep saying he wants to be taken everywhere, yet now……’

Honestly, considering Carl’s personality, I thought he would stubbornly follow me or get angry later, so I just brought him along.

For a while, we walked in silence. Then Carl cleared his throat and casually opened his mouth.

“Well…… does that only apply to me?”