Murmur murmur-.

With Raeyan’s appearance, a momentary commotion swept through the stands. It was the same for those watching silently in the square.

The missing Raeyan Vietan had returned!

This fact spread quickly like a ripple from mouth to mouth among the people.

The host who was narrating the situation exclaimed in an excited voice.

“His Grace Duke Raeyan Vietan has replaced Young Master Jansi Perdia…! Huh?”

Before his words could finish, an even greater commotion engulfed the stands.

Elodie had embraced Raeyan.

That incredible scene was being broadcast live!

At that moment, three people stood up abruptly in the stands.

“That bastard-!”

The enraged Duke Perdia.

“…Elodie!”

The shocked Duke Severes.

“Tsk, that guy, not knowing how to behave…! Ugh!”

Lastly, it was Isis in the form of a child, clicking his tongue like an old man.

The screens were broadcasting various parts of the magic tower battle, but people’s gazes were fixed solely on the screen showing the western tower’s side where Raeyan Vietan had appeared.

Elodie, who drew attention wherever she went and enchanted people with whatever she did, was undoubtedly a Perdia.

Themis watched Elodie on the screen with a chuckle.

“Our Lili is quite popular.”

Even though she was battered by relentless attacks, Elodie’s appearance as she gave her all was lovely.

When you looked away for a moment and turned back, she had grown surprisingly.

Just how much more would she grow and surprise us?

Themis looked up at her husband, who was trembling with shock and anger.

Even when Jansi went berserk and Elodie was in crisis, being overwhelmed by her opponent, he endured by just frowning and clenching his fists.

It seemed he couldn’t just stand by and watch Elodie’s love life.

As for Themis, she didn’t care who Elodie’s partner was as long as Elodie was happy.

Of course, with the precondition that whoever it was had to pass her test.

Themis had good observational skills.

While only three people stood up abruptly, she noticed several others in the stands who were greatly agitated.

For example, First Prince Adenmir, or Duke Leon Kreundel.

Seeing nearby nobles discreetly moving their seats while watching Sylvester’s reaction, Themis tried to calm him.

“Please calm down and sit, Your Grace.”

“…That mercenary bastard.”

“You should watch your language. He’s not a mercenary anymore, is he?”

“….”

Silence was as good as agreement.

As Themis said, if Ian proved to be a descendant of Vietan, he could rebuild the fallen Vietan.

After all, Ian had accomplished numerous feats under the Emperor’s orders.

‘Raeyan Vietan…’

Sylvester furrowed his brow as he mulled over that name.

Come to think of it, when he first brought that guy into the mansion, Elodie had called out ‘Raeyan’.

He realized why he felt a sense of déjà vu then.

He thought he had heard the name somewhere.

‘Right. It was the name of Vietan’s last heir.’

As the head of one of the four great families, he roughly knew the history of fallen houses, and he had come across it in records back then.

There’s no way someone from that time could still be alive. Then, could he be a descendant?

‘I’ll need to look into this.’

He had already conducted a background check when hiring him as Elodie’s bodyguard, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy besides his known past.

If the identity of that person was a descendant of Vietan, it was necessary to investigate again.

Especially since he was close to Elodie, it couldn’t be left alone.

Meanwhile, Milo, who had woken up from his drowsy state due to the noisy commotion, looked around with half-open eyes.

“…?”

People’s gazes were focused on one place.

As Milo turned his head in that direction, a pink scene filled the screen.

“Oh, it’s the captain…”

Blinking at the sight of Raeyan, who had been substituted as a replacement force, Milo recalled.

During the middle of the magic tower battle, Milo remembered having a conversation with Raeyan who had contacted him through a magical communication device while he was dozing off earlier.

“Captain? You’re back…?”

[I’ll take over.]

“Ah… Okay.”

‘It was troublesome, but that’s good.’

And then Milo had dozed off again.

It seems the contact he received while half-asleep wasn’t a dream but reality.

“Is that the power of Vietan…!”

“Even the great Perdia is no match for him, is she?”

As the battle unfolded.

People were thrilled by Raeyan’s spectacular power.

With the appearance of just one person, the tide of the magic tower battle, which had been pushed to a defensive position, completely turned.

***

Elodie unwrapped her arms from around Raeyan and stepped back two paces.

She glanced at the two magicians who were looking on with surprised eyes, then looked up at Raeyan as he turned around.

“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“…Pardon?”

“You came too late.”

Ah, Raeyan let out a short exclamation and looked at Elodie. He gazed for a long time at her face, which seemed both worried and upset.

His lips quivered as he hesitantly said,

“…I’m sorry.”

“I haven’t forgiven you yet. We’ll talk later.”

The situation wasn’t leisurely enough for a long conversation.

Yet, the reason she embraced Raeyan was…

‘Raeyan might be a liar, but I’m not.’

She was just keeping her promise. She had promised to embrace him without words when they met again.

As Elodie tried to compose her battered body, Raeyan took off his cloak and wrapped it around her.

At that moment, a magician launched a lightning spell, but it was instantly swallowed by darkness.

The magicians were shocked.

“He blocked the attack without even looking…?”

“Is that even possible?!”

Raeyan, who had blocked the incoming spell with his back turned, was truly a monster in terms of his senses.

Elodie faced Raeyan while pulling the cloak tighter around herself.

“First, we need to win this magic tower battle.”

There wasn’t time to explain the reasons. But Raeyan followed Elodie’s order without questioning anything.

“Please rest. I’ll end this quickly.”

Raeyan turned around and looked indifferently at the magicians.

As he took a step forward, the two magicians, overwhelmed by his presence, stepped back with a start.

The gleam in his red eyes was like that of the Grim Reaper.

The female magician hurriedly cast a defensive spell while vigorously shaking her companion’s sleeve.

“Qu-Quick, use your power!”

“Wait. I need to concentrate!”

It seemed that Elodie Severes had done something to block their power earlier.

It could be assumed that she had used her father’s ability, as it was said that the head of the Severes family could nullify the opponent’s power.

If so, now that she wasn’t attacking Elodie, Raeyan’s power should work normally.

The male magician focused his mind and activated his power.

As expected, the power hit!

“It worked!”

Now all he had to do was wait for the opponent to lose control due to the amplified power.

But… something was strange.

Far from losing control, Raeyan walked towards them with an even more menacing aura.

“It’s useless.”

With just a gesture from Raeyan, the defensive magic was dispelled without any effect.

“Only my power is amplified.”

“…Impossible.”

The man’s power shone brighter the stronger the person he faced.

After all, the stronger the power, the harder it is to control.

Of course, this excluded family heads like Richard Severes or Sylvester Perdia, who were skilled in using their powers.

But the red-eyed man before them was far too young to be compared to the two family heads.

Even the great Jansi Perdia couldn’t handle his own ability and lost control.

Yet this man, possessing an even stronger power, handled the amplified strength as if it were his own.

This meant that Raeyan was as strong as or even stronger than the two family heads.

‘We can’t win. Then…’

The moment the male magician’s gaze turned towards Elodie, Raeyan’s expression hardened.

“How dare you.”

Raeyan, speaking with an angry voice, bound the shadows of the two magicians.

“My body, it won’t move!”

“Eek!”

The moment they made eye contact with Raeyan, the two felt an urge to faint.

It was the most menacing gaze they had ever seen in their lives.

His anger was already boiling over from seeing Elodie injured so much.

The fact that he stopped at just binding them showed tremendous restraint.

Darkness extending from the shadows tied up the two magicians like ropes.

After thoroughly covering their mouths to prevent any rash actions, Raeyan turned to Elodie.

“How should we deal with them?”

“Wouldn’t it be fine to just keep them under surveillance like this?”

“…Is that enough?”

At that moment, Elodie saw the two bound magicians trembling.

“Anyone watching might think Raeyan is the villain.”

“Mmph, mmmmph!”

They struggled, perhaps afraid of retaliation.

“Don’t worry. We won’t attack you.”

There was no need to use force since they had already been immobilized.

Moreover, even if they really wanted to retaliate, it would be impossible with the broadcasting magic tools floating around.

Of course, Raeyan didn’t seem to think that way.

But he couldn’t go against Elodie’s wishes.

“Understood.”

Raeyan turned his gaze away from the two magicians and approached Elodie.

He wanted to end this magic tower battle at once and treat Elodie, but the situation wasn’t good.

Jansi was lying unconscious, and likewise, Elodie was also unable to fight.

Raeyan couldn’t go to the opposing side leaving only the helpless Elodie behind.

Raeyan approached Elodie, who was folding clothes to use as a pillow under Jansi’s head and began to speak.

“The reason I was absent-“

“Shh.”

Elodie put her index finger to her lips and nodded toward the broadcasting magic tools floating in the air.

Let’s talk when we’re alone.

Understanding her intention, Raeyan nodded slightly and asked a different question.

“Is it okay to just stay like this?”

“It’s fine. Everything is going according to plan.”

From the beginning, Elodie and Jansi’s role was to protect their base and not let the flag be taken.

Despite some conflicts, they had achieved their primary objective.

Now all that was left was to trust Carlot and the two mercenary friends.

***

“Ah, that’s satisfying!”

Crack.

As soon as the monsters fell into the cracks in the ground, Carlot closed the fissures.

Stephen, who had been dealing with monsters and saw this scene clearly, frowned.

“Ugh, that’s horrible.”

“Why? It’s fun!”

Urania laughed heartily as she fired her bow.

“I really don’t think we match, Urania.”

“Who said we did?”

Despite the grumbling, the two’s teamwork was perfect.

Stephen, who was advantageous in close combat, would attack the monsters with his dagger, restricting their movements, while Urania would shoot through their heads from a distance, killing them instantly.

Although they couldn’t compare to Carlot, who was eliminating monsters with large-scale powers, the number of monsters they had taken down was quite substantial.

Urania’s eyes sparkled as she declared confidently.

“This way, we’ll definitely win.”

“I wonder if Lady Lili is alright?”

“With the Perdia’s first young master there, what is there to worry about?”

“True.”

Not knowing the situation at their base at all, they didn’t worry about it one bit.

Jansi was too powerful to worry about.

As they continued to eliminate monsters like this, they inevitably encountered the opposing team in the middle, between the two towers.

There were two people scoring points by eliminating monsters.

One was a highly skilled magician, and the other was Belissa Kreundel, who used her power to replicate the magician’s spells, doubling the attacks.

Their offensive was just as aggressive as Carlot’s.

“We can’t let our guard down.”

They had been casually eliminating monsters, thinking they would win easily, but now they felt a sense of crisis that this wouldn’t do.

After all, there were quite a number of monster corpses behind just the two of them.

“Let’s quickly score some points!”

Carlot urged the two as he cut down a monster that was charging at them.

…

The horn sounded long.

It signaled the end of the monster subjugation battle.

The existence of Raeyan Vietan, who was deployed midway, was perfectly imprinted in the minds of not only the nobles but also the imperial citizens watching in the square.

Moreover, his subtle relationship with Elodie Severes as well.