As soon as the magic tower battle ended, everyone gathered in their respective camps.

Fortunately, the two opposing magicians who had targeted the flag were able to walk back to their fortress on their own feet.

As soon as he returned to the camp, Carlot’s eyes nearly rolled back when he saw Elodie covered in wounds.

“What? Who did this to you?”

He cupped Elodie’s cheeks roughly while growling.

For the sake of her younger brother’s humanity, Elodie kindly pointed out,

“Carl. Stop growling. You’re human.”

“Don’t change the subject, sister. Who was it?!”

“It’s not like someone did this. This happens in battles.”

“Ha, what was my brother doing while you ended up like this?!”

Carlot looked around wildly, intending to confront Jansi for neglecting his duty to protect Elodie.

What caught Carlot’s eye was the sight of his older brother lying on the ground, dirtied by the debris of the collapsed castle.

“Huh?”

Is his brother… sleeping?

Elodie, who could read what Carlot was thinking just from his expression, let out a deep sigh.

“He’s not sleeping, he’s unconscious.”

“Brother fainted? Our brother?”

It was an innocent question from someone who had never once considered the possibility of Jansi being defeated by anyone.

To Carlot, Jansi Perdia was someone as strong as their father, Sylvester Perdia.

Seeing this firm belief, Elodie smiled bitterly.

‘This is why Jansi is so obsessed with not revealing his weaknesses.’

The natural expectation that the heir of Perdia should excel in all areas had driven Jansi Perdia to the extreme.

Even lying in a dirty place, Jansi’s closed eyes looked flawless.

Elodie was already worried about how much self-loathing he would suffer when he woke up.

Meanwhile, Carlot couldn’t hide his anger and acted as if he was about to rush to the opposite fortress.

“They even touched my brother? I won’t let this slide. Was it those guys? Those magicians?”

If Carlot caused trouble here, it would become even more troublesome.

Elodie used all her strength to pretend to be in pain, holding her forehead.

“Ouch…”

But when Raeyan, who had been standing apart, startled and tried to approach her, she quickly signaled with her eyes.

Raeyan stopped abruptly, understanding the signal.

“Gasp, sister! Are you okay?”

Carlot fell for Elodie’s act far too easily.

“No. Can you support me, Carl? The wounds hurt so much, haha…”

“Got it! Lean on me.”

Carlot was so happy to have something he could do for Elodie that he completely forgot about the ones who had hurt her.

Elodie secretly smiled as she looked up at Carlot, who was supporting her with a broad grin.

‘He’s so simple, it’s cute.’

Anyway, they now had to gather everyone and return to the spectator seats for the result announcement.

Since letting Carlot loose might cause some incident, Elodie decided to take charge of him herself, leaving only Jansi.

“Stephen. Can I ask you to take care of Brother Jansi?”

For a moment, the color drained from Stephen’s face.

“…I won’t be annihilated, right?”

“It’s okay. He can’t use his power while unconscious.”

“I’m trusting only you, Miss.”

Trusting? You trust me?

Stephen kept asking as he hesitantly reached out towards Jansi.

But as he was clearly too afraid of Jansi to make contact easily, someone else stepped forward, unable to watch any longer.

“Geez. You’re such a coward! Move aside, Stephen!”

“Hey, Urania. What, what are you doing?”

“We need to transport the patient. You’re being such a slowpoke, so I’m going to do it!”

“Ha! You’re so quick to grab a man’s body… I’ll do it, so don’t touch him!”

Stephen’s face turned bright red as he suddenly hoisted Jansi onto his back as if he had never hesitated.

Then he strode past Urania and out of the fortress.

“Well, I never! You dare to show off your strength in front of me? When you’re weaker than me!”

Urania glared at the back of Stephen’s head as if her pride had been hurt.

‘Hooh…’

Elodie’s eyes narrowed meaningfully as she watched the scene.

***

A little later, on the way out of the fortress.

Raeyan, who had been staring at Elodie the whole time, met her eyes.

After a moment, Elodie tapped her lips with her index finger and mouthed words.

‘I will.’

I will.

‘Come to you later.’

Come to you later…

Instead of answering, Raeyan nodded slightly.

He breathed slowly and closed and opened his eyes slowly.

He was used to waiting.

It was far better to wait for someone who would surely come than to wander aimlessly without knowing when they might meet.

That time would be a sufficiently sweet pain.

***

Belissa’s gaze, heading towards the spectator seats, turned to the opposite fortress.

As her steps slowed a bit, a magician from the South Tower walking behind her urged Belissa on.

“Lady Belissa.”

“……”

“Lady Belissa! What are you doing? Please hurry.”

“Ah, I’m coming.”

The gazes of the magicians looking at her were sharp.

Belissa walked among them, smiling brightly as if nothing was wrong.

***

Since the monster subjugation battle ended without either side capturing the other’s flag, the results were not immediately available.

The outcome would be determined after tallying the scores for monsters defeated by each magic tower.

There was a little time while the counting was being done.

As soon as my group and I entered the spectator seats, Perdia’s servants who were waiting in advance quickly transported Jansi to a carriage.

However, for some reason, as soon as we entered the spectator seats, everyone’s gaze was directed only at me.

More precisely, they alternated between looking at me and Raeyan.

Feeling uncomfortable under the burdensome gazes, I cleared my throat and sat down.

Of course, I had some idea why.

‘It must be because I hugged Raeyan.’

But no matter how much I might shout that it was because of a promise I made with Raeyan, no one would care.

‘Sigh. Fine. Misunderstand all you want.’

Since I’ve already had as many scandals as possible, adding one or two more wouldn’t make much of a difference.

While waiting listlessly for the announcement of results, I cast a glance in Belissa’s direction.

She stood encircled by South Tower mages, deep in discussion.

From the moment she first appeared until now, her behavior had been consistently suspicious.

Though she hadn’t done anything overtly harmful, her connection to Gabe Jenade alone was enough to make her presence both suspicious and unsettling.

The fact that she had made a contract with the sin of the Angellus family was also concerning.

Amidst these various worries, the tally results of the monster subjugation battle were finally out.

A man in charge of the proceedings came forward and took out a voice amplification magic tool.

“Thank you for your patience. Finally, the results of the magic tower battle for the research rights of the large rift in the Black Ravine are out!”

“Stop dragging it out and announce it quickly.”

The Prime Minister urged the MC, clearing his throat.

At that moment, Urania whispered to me, informing me about the situation in the square.

“Did you know, Lady Lili? They say people in the square are betting on this magic tower battle. The amount of money wagered is enormous. Of course, the nobles are too high and mighty to do such things.”

“Which side did you bet on, Urania?”

“Our side, of course!”

Urania answered with confidence. I smiled calmly, but inwardly I was anxious.

We couldn’t be careless since we didn’t know how the opposing magicians had dealt with the monsters.

Soon, the MC pulled out the paper with the results written on it.

“The magic tower that won this battle is…!”

As he took a deep breath, people held their breaths waiting for the result.

Amidst only the noisy sound of the transmission magic tools floating in the air.

Then the result was announced.

“The West Tower!”

Our victory.

“Wah! We won. We won, Lady Lili!”

Urania screamed and hugged me tightly.

I thought we had a chance since Carlot was with us, but it felt somewhat surreal that we actually won.

“Sister. What did I tell you? I said we’d win, right?”

Carlot said in a proud voice, raising his head high.

“Hehe, my contribution in subduing the two rampaging ones was the greatest, right?”

Stephen smiled faintly, perhaps because he had worked hard during the magic tower battle.

Of course, if Raeyan hadn’t appeared, we would have lost our flag and been defeated, so his contribution was the greatest, but I didn’t bother to say it out loud.

“Everyone worked hard. I didn’t expect you all to help this much……”

“You asked, sister, so of course we had to do our best.”

Following Carlot’s words, Urania shouted with a bright smile.

“It was fun!”

“If it’s fun twice, we might end up dead.”

Even Stephen, making unnecessary grumpy remarks, it was a perfect combination.

I let out a sigh of relief and burst into a small laugh.

After many twists and turns, we safely protected the large rift.

Since we even won the magic tower battle, the South Tower won’t be able to approach using rift research as an excuse anymore.

……But why do I have a feeling that this isn’t the end?

‘It’s probably just needless worry.’

Anyway, as I was fully enjoying the feeling of victory, Isis approached us.

Earlier he was in his child form, but now he was back to his original appearance.

Perhaps because the West Tower Master, who rarely shows himself, had appeared, I could feel people’s attention focused here.

I pretended to be nonchalant and spoke first.

“Your clothes are very elastic, Master Isis.”

“It’s clothing that changes size according to the wearer’s build. It’s specially made.”

The clothes themselves were magic tools with spells cast on them, and I couldn’t even imagine how expensive they might be.

By the way, I couldn’t understand why he was in his adult form with so many people around.

I lowered my voice so that the people around couldn’t hear and whispered to Isis.

“But Master Isis. Didn’t you dislike being in this form because it’s hard to control your magical power?”

Compared to my whispering, Isis’s answer was loud.

“That’s true, but you like this face, don’t you?”

“What? Me?”

As I, the person in question, widened my eyes at this fact I was hearing for the first time, Isis added one more thing.

“And you only deal with me when I’m in this form.”

“Wh-when did I ever?”

This Tower Master is saying something that could cause big trouble!

Isis was saying things that could be misunderstood if someone heard them, without any concern.

As I gaped in disbelief, Isis chuckled.

“See? I guess you don’t prefer the little one after all?”

“If I preferred the little one, that would be even worse!”

Finally realizing that Isis was teasing me, I made a sulky face.

“Let’s stop the jokes here.”

Isis’s expression, which had been playful all along, turned serious.

“Anyway, thank you for winning the magic tower battle.”

“Since we worked hard to win, please work hard on your research too, Master Isis.”

“Of course I will.”

As this warm conversation continued, someone approached my side.

It was Duke Perdia, the owner of the intense gaze that had been watching me and Isis since earlier.

The Duke blocked my way with a grim face.

“Stop it. Stop flirting with Elodie.”

Isis immediately retorted.

“How amusing. What right do you have to interfere when you’re neither her biological father nor anything else? Shouldn’t a passing stranger just mind his own business?”

At the words ‘neither biological father nor anything else’, the Duke’s eyebrow twitched momentarily.

“You’d better watch your mouth, Isis.”

“Try and stop me if you can.”

“You think I can’t?”

“I’m not the young child I used to be either.”

“Bring it on. I’ll take you on.”

“Please, both of you, stop……”

As I was sweating profusely between the Tower Master and the Duke engaged in their childish argument, it happened.

A shadow fell over my head, and then a familiar scent wafted strongly.

“Then I, as Elodie’s biological father and only legitimate guardian, will take her. Well then, good work.”

“……?”

“……!”

Leaving the two arguing behind…