Getting up and silently listening to her chattering like before.

The father who used to just place his large hand on her head.

She had desperately prayed to meet him again.

Even though she was managing well on her own without her father.

Still, she had hoped a little.

Tears that had been held back began to fall drop by drop from Liria’s large eyes.

“Hic.”

She wanted to cry out loud, but somehow couldn’t.

It felt like her sadness would only grow if she did.

Liria’s small shoulders trembled slightly as she sobbed.

That’s when it happened.

Plop.

Kiki, who was in the basket, opened the lid and poked his head out.

“Kiki? Were you feeling stuffy?”

Scurrying toward Liria, Kiki burrowed into her arms.

As if hugging and comforting her.

Sniff.

Wiping her nose as she cried, Liria spoke slowly.

“No, I’m fine. I’ll definitely find the key to healing Father.”

“Peet.”

“You’ll help me too, right?”

Kiki nodded his head vigorously, then looked around for a moment before closing his eyes as if concentrating. The way his whiskers twitched was cute.

Then Kiki pointed to the camomile flowers in the vase with a small gesture.

Wiping her tears, Liria tilted her head.

“…Hm? What about the camomile?”

This time, the creature tugged at Liria’s collar and climbed laboriously onto the table.

But because the table legs were too smooth, he slipped right back down.

“You want to go there?”

Finally understanding Kiki’s intention, she placed him on her hand and took him to where the camomile vase was.

“Here, what are you curious about?”

Then Kiki sniffed the camomile fragrance and took one flower in his mouth.

No, he slightly chewed on the petals.

“…You eat plants too?”

She never expected to see a ferret eating vegetation.

Watching the creature’s strange behavior with blurry eyes, Liria soon understood the reason.

Tap tap.

Kiki ran back to Liria and pretended to place his palm against hers.

“This is the hand gesture from when we made the contract?”

Liria instinctively followed Kiki’s actions.

Then she felt a clear and holy energy in the flow of mana that Kiki was sending.

Liria’s eyes widened.

“Huh? This is definitely a power different from mana.”

Kiki circled around the camomile, wagging his tail.

“I see. This power was residing in the camomile?”

There are generally two ways to keep flowers from wilting.

One is preservation.

The other is life extension.

Preservation magic is commonly used magic.

But in the latter case, it was closer to healing manifested by holy power rather than magic.

If there was a special power residing in the camomile, it would be Melissa’s power.

That is, her holy power.

Earlier, Melissa had prayed with her hands together over the camomile.

It seemed her holy power had been imbued into the camomile then.

In the original story, Tiana had also used holy power to extend the life of a child who had little time left to live.

“…Melissa used holy power to extend the life of the camomile flowers.”

“Peet!”

Kiki nodded in response.

“But why does it matter that Melissa has holy power? She’s a former saint, so that’s not strange.”

Kiki, as if frustrated, hit his chest. Then he began drawing a circle with his hand again.

“Oh, you want me to use mana to summon the key?”

For now, Liria thought there must be a reason for Kiki’s behavior. She did as instructed and summoned the book and key.

Flaaaaash!

“No way.”

Liria couldn’t believe the scene unfolding before her eyes.

When the camomile flower touched the Key of Power, the key suddenly bounced away with a startling jump.

At the same time, the pages of the magic book turned, and text appeared.

[A faint holy power is sensed from this object.

Go to a sacred place and use a sacred object to obtain a new key.]

“Oh, so I can get hints for a new key by touching the Key of Power like this!”

Now I understand a bit about how this works.

Let’s see.

Liria read the text that appeared in the book carefully, mulling it over.

“Holy power refers to sacred energy.”

Liria’s head was spinning.

A sacred place would be a temple.

Then there should be many sacred objects at the temple.

The temple would be filled with objects containing holy power.

“Alright, I need to go to the temple first.”

Liria hugged Kiki tightly and exclaimed excitedly.

“I need to obtain a new key!”

As she left her father’s bedroom, Liria looked at his face again and reaffirmed.

“Father, we’ll meet soon.”

***

Dark night.

The candle on the candlestick flickered precariously.

Bang!

Bang bang!

At the sound of rough knocking on the door, a man with a fierce expression who had been dozing off jumped to his feet.

Then he ran barefoot to open the door.

“…M-master! You’ve come. What brings you all the way here.”

This cramped mountain lodge, separated from the duke’s castle by a hill, was quite suitable for hunting wild animals, but it was a rough place for a noble lord to visit in person.

His master, wearing a black hood, asked in a low voice.

“Where is he?”

“He’s probably climbed a tree and fallen asleep.”

“…Tsk, are you really planning to raise him like a nephew?”

Swish.

From the long shadow behind him, a hand shot out.

“…Gack, n-no, not at all.”

Because of the shadow hand gripping his neck, he flailed in mid-air.

Soon, a metal restraint dropped onto the floor.

“…The next time I come, this should be on his ankle. No matter what, I plan to complete the experimental laboratory by next year. Wait until then.”

When the shadow hand released his neck, the man fell to the floor.

Thud!

“I-I’ll keep that in mind!”

When the man raised his head after prostrating himself toward his master, there was already no figure in that spot.

***

“It’s not allowed, young lady.”

“Why isn’t it allowed?”

Although she had concluded that she needed to go to the temple, she had already hit a wall.

Slick, oily brown hair.

High-end horn-rimmed glasses worn for show.

Juan, who managed the schedules of all heir children, was saying it was absolutely not allowed.

Other children could freely go out with their parents’ permission.

But not Liria.

“But my nanny, who is my guardian now, has given permission! Why isn’t that enough?”

“Young lady, your nanny is only a nominal guardian, with authority to care for you but not to manage your outings. Besides, the outside world is very, extremely dangerous for a baby as young as you!”