— Don’t be sarcastic. Let me borrow your help.

The fire fairy with a red glow who appeared at Wilty’s call snorted.

— Do you think I’ll help you?

— You owed me a favor last time. Pay it back like this.

The red fairy seemed to flare up at Wilty’s words and spewed fire from its entire body.

As I expected, that fairy was indeed related to fire.

— What favor! I was having fun when you came and splashed water!

— Then why were you playing like that on the mountain? I could have exposed who your partner was in that situation? My partner let it slide quietly, but if not, your partner would have gone to jail at minimum, you know?

The red fairy sighed at those words.

As the fairy sighed, flames spewed from its mouth.

— My partner wouldn’t end up in a place like jail… Hah. So, what do you want me to help with?

— Go to your partner and ask them to find our location.

The red fairy looked at me and Wilty with a displeased expression, then came right up to my face.

— You, your name is Rowenloa Masipacius, right?

I looked at the fairy with surprised eyes upon hearing its words.

How does it know my name?

— Wondering how I know your name? That’s because he keeps talking about you… No, that’s not it. It’s because you disturbed me while I was playing last time, so I know your name.

Hearing those words, I could be certain.

Ah, this is the one who caused the fire on the mountain that I put out last time.

“What’s your name?”

This time, I asked the fairy for its name instead.

But the red fairy just crossed its arms and snorted, refusing to answer my question.

“If you don’t tell me your name, I’m going to call you Red Booger from now on.”

The red fairy spewed fire from its entire body again as if angered by my words, and Wilty laughed hysterically, clutching his stomach, finding my words funny.

— Red Booger for Fire Fairy Pain!

Ah, so it’s Pain.

“Pain, I don’t know who your master is… but if you’re going to help, could you do it quickly? The sun is setting and it’s getting cold.”

Pain looked at me and Wilty with the same displeased gaze, then turned away from us with a “tch” sound.

And soon, Pain began to fade away.

— He’s gone back to his partner. That guy was happy about contracting with someone in a high position in the Gellions Empire, so they’ll probably come looking soon? So don’t worry, get up and find something to make a fire with.

As Wilty clapped his hands once with a loud sound, I returned to reality as if being ejected from my unconscious state.

“Ugh, I really can’t tell if he’s kind or mean.”

I was about to make a fire as Wilty suggested, but thinking I might be discovered by the kidnappers, I entered a small cave nearby.

Then I lit a fire at the entrance to conceal the smoke.

How much time had passed? When I opened my eyes, having momentarily closed them from fatigue, a dark night had fallen.

As I jumped up from my seat in surprise, trying to assess the situation, that’s when it happened.

Rustle—

I heard the sound of someone stepping on branches near the cave, approaching me.

I quickly extinguished the fire and held my breath, but I couldn’t hide the traces of the smoke rising in puffs.

As the footsteps grew closer, it happened.

“Who’s there?”

I heard a familiar voice that I seemed to have heard somewhere before.

“Ah, that……”

And then I began to hear the flustered voices of the kidnappers.

“This land is private property. Trespassing is illegal, as it should have been clearly written at the entrance to the mountain.”

The kidnappers could be heard urgently whispering among themselves upon hearing those words.

“Boss, the client said this mountain would be fine because it’s rarely visited by people…ugh.”

It seemed Terit had been hit by Gelean for saying something unnecessary.

“I apologize, we were looking for a child who seems to have gotten lost here.”

In response to Gelean’s attempt to smooth over the situation, the man with the familiar voice replied,

“If by ‘child’ you mean… a rather short woman?”

“Ah, yes. If you’ve seen her somewhere……”

“She was heading down the mountain earlier. I remember clearly because she looked terrible.”

The three kidnappers clicked their tongues upon hearing those words.

“Now that you know your acquaintance has left the mountain, you have no reason to stay here any longer.”

“Ahaha, that’s true. I apologize.”

After some time, the voices of the three seemed to fade away until they could no longer be heard.

But the sound of footsteps approaching the cave was still present.

The footsteps seemed to get closer and closer, then stopped in front of the cave.

“…Rowenloa?”

I opened my eyes, which I had been squeezing shut, at the voice calling my name.

In front of my eyes stood a man with his face thoroughly concealed by a cloak and cloth.

“…Kresen?”

Wait, hold on….

The fire fairy’s partner is Kresen?

So it was Kresen who set fire to the mountain?

While I was rolling my eyes intensely in confusion, he spoke.

“What are you doing here, Rowenloa?”

“…What do you mean, what am I doing here? Didn’t you come knowing I was here?”

“No… this is land owned by the imperial family. Usually people are prohibited from entering, but I came to check after hearing that intruders had entered……”

What? He didn’t come knowing I was here?

Did Pain’s partner order Kresen to come this way?

“But you said a woman went down the mountain……”

“Ah. That… there was a report that the informant was a woman. If they were looking for the witness who reported them, I sent them down the mountain with a lie to find that woman. There are imperial knights guarding the bottom of the mountain anyway.”

“Huh? What? So by now, those men are……”

“Probably captured by the imperial knights. So, what brings you here?”

I let out a deep sigh of relief, both from not being caught by them and from knowing they had been captured by the imperial palace.

Kresen extended his hand to me, and I took it and stood up, but my legs gave way and I staggered.

In the end, Kresen carried me in his arms and began heading down the mountain.

“So, what were you doing here?”

“Ah… actually, I’m the informant.”

I couldn’t tell what Kresen’s expression was.

It had always been that way.

He had a cunning personality that could see right through me while never revealing himself.

That’s why he was like a secret friend I could talk to more comfortably.

“Those three men kidnapped me earlier. I was hiding after giving them the slip.”

I played the recording of their voices that I had made earlier.

After hearing everything from why they kidnapped me to the contents of the contract they tried to force me to seal, Kresen’s demeanor changed sharply.

He gritted his teeth as if enraged, then clenched his jaw so tightly that the veins in his neck stood out.

“We’ll make sure to investigate this thoroughly.”

There were no imperial knights at the place where Kresen took me down the mountain.

When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, he said,

“The knights are probably heading to the imperial palace with those three by now. I think I need to go straight to the imperial palace today as well.”

Kresen carefully set me down on the ground, and perhaps because my body had recovered significantly while being carried by him, I now had enough strength to walk a little.

“I’ve called for a carriage. When I leave, take that carriage back to the residence. It’s getting late.”

With that, he turned away from me and seemed to be preparing to return to the imperial palace.

Feeling bad that I hadn’t thanked him, I carefully called out to him.

“Um, Kresen.”

At the moment he turned around at my call…

Suddenly, a wind of tremendous velocity engulfed us, and as he turned, the wind took away his cloak and cloth.

And I could see his face in the slowly descending moonlight.

“You’re… His Highness the Crown Prince…?”

Kresen, no, the crown prince, made a flustered expression and then quickly pulled his cloak back on.

As a long silence flowed between the two of us, suddenly my head began to ring with a humming sound.

— Rowenloa! Are you really safe?

It was Wilty.

— Pain was making such a big deal about it. Saying his partner personally went to save you and that you should be grateful?

‘Personally… came to save me? Are you sure about that?’

— I just heard it directly from Pain, so of course I’m sure. Why, is there a problem?

‘…No.’

After hearing that, I had to look away from the crown prince.

Pain’s partner was Detrian Crescent, the crown prince of this empire.

So… the person who set fire to the mountain was Detrian Crescent.

Kresen’s identity was Detrian Crescent.

The identity of the secret friend I had been opening my heart to all this time was the crown prince of this empire.

The crown prince pressed his cloak down firmly and instantly disappeared from before me, and I could only stare blankly at the place he had left.

Soon after, a carriage sent from the imperial palace arrived.