‘Do all the noble ladies in the capital learn this?’

Dora, who had never heard of such a thing, stared intently at Hailey, who was writing effortlessly as if possessed by something, her eyes sparkling.

“Now, Dora. Come here and take a look at this. What do you think? Tell me honestly, without holding back.”

Hailey handed over the document she had been working on for over an hour to Dora, her eyes twinkling.

‘I must show this to the Lord.’

Dora thought.

Among the numerous advisors and administrators who had passed through Winchester, there were those of minor noble birth, and many brilliant individuals who had studied at the capital’s academy under the Grand Duchy’s scholarship system. He would bet that they were as smart as any of the royal court’s officials.

However, none of them could have produced such a beautiful and excellent document in just an hour like this young madam had.

“The contents of these ten pages are all included here. On this single sheet.”

“That’s right. You should be able to understand it without my explanation, but just in case, I’ve written down how to read the table at the bottom.”

“I may not be in a position to comment, young madam, but this is excellent enough to be used even for affairs in the territory.”

“Oh my. You don’t need to flatter me so much, Dora.”

“It’s not like that. It’s truly marvelous, young madam!”

Dora felt like carrying the young madam on her back and running a lap around the inner castle.

‘Where on earth did such a fortunate young madam come from?’

Dora’s anxiety about the new masters completely vanished because of this document.

This person would excel at anything she did.

Somehow, Dora had a good feeling about this young madam from the first day. As expected, Dora’s intuition was not wrong.

Dora was certain that not only her document creation skills but also those deft hand movements and intelligent gaze would bring many changes to the inner castle. And in a very good direction.

“I’d like to organize the rest of the documents like this too. Not just the budget, but also the winter preparations and inner castle maintenance issues. It might take me a bit too long to do it alone, could I get help from the Lord’s advisors or administrators?”

“I’ll take responsibility for that and speak to the Lord about supplementing the personnel, young madam!”

“Thank you, Dora.”

Hailey, who thought she had just taken the first step in what should naturally be done, had no idea how great an ally she had just gained.

* * *

Although no strange incidents had occurred to Theo since the court case, Axel and Hailey reported to the Grand Duke about the issue of Theo’s magical power that had been consistently raised since their time in the capital.

As befits the master of Winchester, known as the paradise for mages, the Grand Duke didn’t dismiss the words of the two as nonsense.

“Couldn’t the royal mages have done a magical power measurement?”

Khalid answered that part.

“It’s not that they couldn’t measure it, but to be precise, they gave the answer that it was ‘unmeasurable’.”

“What do you mean by ‘unmeasurable’?”

“This document is the opinion report written by the royal mage.”

The Grand Duke received the document from Khalid and read it.

Before coming here, Theo had undergone a total of three magical power measurement tests.

“To summarize briefly, at first, no magical power was detected at all. The second time, magical power was sensed but then suddenly cut off midway. So, on a different day, when we tried for the third time, we received the opinion that the magical power sensed exceeded the measurable range.”

For those with strong innate magical power, the results were consistent when measured. Only in cases where the magical power was very minimal did it sometimes appear and then disappear, or not be sensed at all.

Looking at just the first and second results, one might conclude that Theo’s magical power was minimal, but Axel, believing that Theo’s magical power he had observed so far was by no means minimal, proceeded with the final test.

The result of the last test was ‘Unmeasurable’.

In the end, the royal mage concluded that they couldn’t make a judgment about Theo’s magical power.

The Grand Duke, with eyes widened in surprise, scanned the opinion report once more.

“What’s your opinion? Have you seen it directly?”

The Grand Duke put down the report and asked Axel. He was asking for evidence from Axel, who was certain that Theo had magical power and had used magic.

“I saw the child use magic during the trial. He opened a metal box nearly 3 meters away.”

“How can you be sure the child opened it?”

“There was a young child trapped inside. It seems everyone was preoccupied with looking at the box, but I was watching the little one. I saw him staring intently at the box without blinking even once.”

“Were there no other mages that day?”

“I can speak to that part. As it was a trial that attracted much public attention, everyone entering was thoroughly checked at least three times, so it’s certain. As you know, Zenovia’s law excludes mages, so there’s no room for doubt on that point.”

Khalid added the last words on behalf of Axel.

In principle, mages are not allowed to enter trials. This was due to concerns that mages could manipulate the trials.

Because of this law, mages from Winchester couldn’t even receive trials in the mainland of Zenovia, even if they faced unjust situations.

The only mage allowed entry that day was a technician to adjust the chair Theo would sit on, and he promptly left early in the trial.

Originally, if magical power had been detected in Theo, he wouldn’t have been allowed to enter the trial at all.

The Grand Duke pressed his throbbing forehead as if he had a headache.

“This has become troublesome.”

“Why? With that level of magical power, we just need to teach and nurture him well. He could become an excellent battle mage. If we teach him swordsmanship too, he could sweep away all those thorns in our side. It’s an incredible blessing for Winchester.”

At Axel’s sudden boasting about his child, even the Grand Duke was dumbfounded, and Hailey was shocked by the terrifying future plans Axel had arbitrarily concluded as a contract father.

Khalid turned his head to suppress a laugh at Axel’s unchanged shamelessness and lack of tact even after coming to Winchester.

“Just because one overflows with magical power doesn’t mean they can use magic they’ve never learned without incantations.”

“But aren’t there archmages here in Winchester who can use magic without incantations?”

“Even they reach that level through years of training. Or they might receive help from magic stones, but there’s no way he would have been exposed to such things.”

Mages were human too. They merely inherited the blood of mages, but they were still just as human as anyone else.

It was not common even among mages for someone to be able to use magic they had never learned, without incantations, and without even realizing it themselves.

It was known to be possible only beyond the realm that humans could reach.

Hailey had expected that coming to Winchester, known as the paradise for mages, would resolve Theo’s issue favorably.

But seeing the Grand Duke’s unfavorable expression, she grew increasingly anxious.

“Even among mages, this is not a good sign. However, it’s not a problem we can just leave as is, so I will first call for an archmage. Until then, make sure this conversation doesn’t leak outside this room. Be careful with your words even in front of the servants.”

The child was only five years old. Even if it wasn’t a good sign, they needed to guide him in a positive direction somehow.

That was necessary both for the Grand Duke and for the child’s sake.

“Is there nothing known about the child’s biological father?”

“No. But since my sister attended the academy in Vasa, I think it might be someone she met there.”

“We have people investigating the academy.”

The Grand Duke’s expression grew heavier after hearing Hailey and Khalid’s words.

“There are mages in Vasa too, this is quite troublesome.”

“Are there still mages remaining in Vasa?”

“How do you think they suppressed mages without the help of mages? There were traitors. Those who stood at the forefront of torturing and cursing mages, siding with the Emperor of the Charenne Empire more than anyone else.”

“But I thought Winchester and Oterre had captured and punished all of them.”

“They had to write it that way in the history books to make this kingdom look greater, Oterre was being greedy.”

Axel had received new history books from the advisors here, in addition to Winchester’s territory-related work.

He was told they were important books for understanding Winchester and was asked to read them, but he hadn’t even opened them yet, trying to adapt to the immediate territorial work he had to do.

As Axel fell silent, feeling a bit stung, Khalid, who had been quietly listening, glanced at Hailey once and then asked.

“Forgive my impertinence, but are you perhaps thinking that young master Theo’s biological father might be a dark mage?”

“There were rumors that the dark mages that Winchester and Oterre failed to capture at that time disappeared and have been hiding in the current Vasa region, so I can’t rule out that possibility.”

As soon as she heard those words, Hailey’s face turned pale.