Given his reputation and abilities, he had always been embarrassed wherever he went because of his children’s lack of magical ability, but now he could breathe a sigh of relief.

Being able to achieve such results so quickly wasn’t dark magic truly a convenient method?

‘Now I just need to succeed with my second child, Malcom.’

As the blue bird circled in the air and perched on her shoulder, Natasha was completely captivated.

“With this, I’ll surely receive more attention than that Liria girl. I’ll be recognized by the Duke and receive an annex, too.”

“Yes, yes. Of course, that’s how it should be!”

Osdel had promised him the position of financial officer of Roberg when he became the head of the family in recognition of his contributions.

Currently, it was impossible to even dream of such a position since the children of Viscount Okims had the Duke’s trust and were in charge of Roberg’s finances.

For a while, he had been troubled by their persistent inspections, but lately, they seemed to have decreased.

Thanks to that, he was freely manipulating his territory and accumulating money rapidly.

Although he was offering half of the profits to Osdel, he didn’t find it wasteful at all.

Wasn’t this all an investment for the future?

Viscount Jade left his daughter’s room with a satisfied smile, picking up his communication device to contact Osdel.

“Yes, thanks to your great care, the results are excellent! Ha ha ha, ah, yes! Don’t worry. I’ll have my men clean up the abandoned factory in front of the Luka mine. I’m thinking of selling the decent ones to the slave ships as well.”

A servant who was sweeping and cleaning the stairs bowed to Viscount Jade.

As soon as the Viscount entered his study, the servant whose eyes had been gleaming quietly took the rag and bucket, went outside the mansion, walked straight into the bushes, and turned on a communication device to say:

“Eclipse Zero-Nine, requesting reconnaissance and rescue personnel deployment at the abandoned factory in front of Luka mine.”

***

Eclipse was a special intelligence organization hired for special inspections, mostly composed of people from the Okims family.

Duke Roberg knew this fact and trusted Okims even more.

About an hour after receiving the report from the spy who had infiltrated Viscount Jade’s household, it seemed that the action operatives had arrived at the abandoned factory.

Related reports came in one after another.

-Seventeen missing children were found and rescued from the abandoned factory in front of the mine and sent to the nearby village security team.

-Judging from the suspicious altar, animal carcasses, and bloodstains, there are signs that sacrifices were made.

“Good work. Please secure all evidence.”

Emmett frowned.

An altar and sacrifices suggested that someone had been using dark magic.

Dark magic that sacrificed living beings through animal offerings or human offerings was forbidden in the Empire.

Emmett took out a note he had kept in his drawer once more.

It was about a month ago.

On the evening of the day when Viscount Jade’s children had bullied Liria in the library.

“Shh. Read this when you’re alone!”

Liria had given him this note with her maple leaf-like hand and then scurried away.

Emmett, captivated by her small retreating figure, went to the bathroom and secretly unfolded the note.

It contained the following message written in firmly pressed handwriting:

「Hello, Counselor. It’s Liria!

Today, I heard something very strange while playing. They say Viscount Jade has lots of money in his safe and that people from his territory are being taken as slaves. But when there’s a public investigation, they hide all the evidence. What if you investigate Viscount Jade’s territory secretly instead of publicly?」

Without Liria’s note, it would have been impossible to discover the illegal circumstances in Jade’s territory that had been slipping away like loaches during every public inspection.

An ordinary child might have difficulty making accurate judgments after hearing such facts.

But Liria had made the wisest decision.

She had specifically chosen him, someone who could conduct territory inspections, to deliver this information.

Emmett momentarily thought that if he ever had a child, he would want a daughter like Miss Liria.

At that moment, the face of the most enviable man came to mind.

“I wonder what Lord Classid’s education secret is.”

***

Jiana and her subordinates, who had been staring at the luggage bag with vigilance, were speechless at the absurd situation.

“What is that?”

Something strange was visible through the gap of the opened bag.

A white handkerchief with lots of carrots drawn on it.

And a tiny baby’s hand waving it.

“…What kind of prank is this?”

“Is it a person or a ghost?”

As her subordinates swallowed nervously, wondering what it might be.

“I surrender, I surrender.”

Along with the unexpected voice of a child, the growling sound of a small animal was heard.

Jiana walked briskly toward the bag and snatched the handkerchief with suspicious eyes.

Her subordinates followed and stared at it.

“Chief, since it broke through our security, you should be careful.”

“It might be a plot by someone skilled trying to deceive us. We don’t know what kind of device it might be, so you should step back.”

Ignoring her subordinates’ opinions, Jiana sniffed it.

A strong smell of milk wafted out.

“It smells like milk.”

In response to Jiana’s muttering with a grimace, another voice flowed from inside the bag.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I spilled milk earlier and wiped it… I’m sorry. I’m a bit clumsy. Ehehe.”

“What’s your intention in coming here? Who made you do this?”

“Um… I already surrendered, so could you please open the bag now?”

At Liria’s request, two large subordinates gave suspicious looks.

“Chief, that might just be a voice coming from a communication device!”

“Let me open it instead!”

Pushing aside the two men who were trying to stop her, Jiana said.

“It’s fine. Who do you think I am?”

Jiana opened the bag with one finger.

And what came out of the bag was:

A little girl who looked about four years old.

A cute child with fluffy pink hair.

And an ugly ferret with eyes like watermelon seeds.

The two burly men clenched their fists.

“Huh… it really is a baby?”

“What a despicable bastard, using a child for something like this…”

Jiana folded her arms and looked down at the child in front of her.

“This isn’t even a chick that just hatched from an egg.”

That was Jiana’s first impression upon seeing Liria.

A moment later.

Liria passed through the detector by herself, proving that she wasn’t using suspicious magic or being eavesdropped on.

Even though she had shown that she was just a little girl with no malicious intent, the two large men still looked at Liria with eyes full of suspicion.

Perhaps because she had come without eating?

Soon, Liria’s stomach growled loudly.

Surprised and embarrassed, Liria even began to hiccup.

“Hic, cup.”

“…What now?”

“I’m hungry. Do you have any milk?”

At Liria’s request, a man with a gray ponytail poured milk into a huge beer mug and handed it to her.

It was enough to wash her face with.

Unable to say that she couldn’t drink it all, Liria lapped at the milk like a cat.

After wiping off the milk marks on her mouth, Liria observed Jiana, who was wary of her.

Wavy short hair the color of the sea.

Deep purple eyes that revealed nothing of her thoughts.

Refreshing features, tall height, and long, slender legs.

She resembled Leyman yet didn’t, and was very beautiful.

“…Hey, little miss.”

As if her patience was reaching its limit, she pulled up a chair to the table and sat down.

Liria was already prepared to answer Jiana’s questions.

‘How on earth did Roberg’s direct descendant know about this place and get in?’

With a bright smile, Liria cleared her throat once and said:

“You already know who I am, don’t you?”