Lynen, now wearing the Special Magic Department squad leader’s robe, deliberately smeared blood on it in several places.

This was to make it look like he had survived an attack.

‘They said this was a supply transport route, but I don’t see any supplies.’

Just as he was wondering about this.

While following the path to the rebel base that he had memorized beforehand, Lynen encountered armed individuals.

“Here he comes.”

About ten men spotted Lynen and approached with sinister grins.

‘Could they have already noticed something suspicious and come to eliminate me?’

He clicked his tongue inwardly. How frustrating that the infiltration mission might fail before it even began.

If that was the case, he’d have to assassinate them all. After all, he just needed to make sure there were no witnesses.

Lynen’s gaze gradually sharpened.

Finally, when they got closer.

‘I’ll strike first—’

“You’ve arrived, Squad Leader!”

The rough-looking men bowed deeply to Lynen.

“…Hmm?”

“We’ve been waiting for you. Oh, but you came alone? We sent some guys to escort you.”

“…We were ambushed by resistance fighters.”

Lynen quickly suppressed his k*lling intent and played along.

The startled men only then noticed that Lynen’s robe was soaked with blood. The black color of the garment had delayed their discovery.

“Th-this is insane! How dare they attack the revolutionary army. We apologize, Squad Leader. Thank goodness you’re safe.”

“Why didn’t you show up?”

“We’re sorry. It took longer than expected to obtain the magical tool you requested.”

The man who appeared to be the leader of the group handed Lynen a glove-shaped magical tool. It had bloodstains on it, suggesting it wasn’t acquired through legitimate means.

“They say this glove can detect the target’s magical power level.”

It was a kind of simple magical power verification tool.

‘Why would I need this?’

However, asking questions carelessly might arouse suspicion. He needed to keep his words to a minimum.

When Lynen remained silent, the men watched him nervously.

They could tell their important guest was in a very unpleasant mood after being attacked.

“Um… if you need to rest, we can change the plan. You could rest at the base first, and we can retrieve the supplies later.”

“Supplies.”

“Yes! Didn’t you say you wanted to hurry since we’re in the final stages of securing supplies? That’s why we were waiting so you could depart immediately upon arrival.”

“Depart.”

“Yes! We can leave right away. It’s an intelligence agency that publishes third-rate gossip, but they’ve been secretly providing information to the resistance. We plan to completely overturn the place.”

“Overturn?”

“Yes! Most of the gossip peddlers are children, so after you choose the ones you want, we’ll dispose of the rest along with the intelligence agency.”

“……”

For a moment, his k*lling intent surged, but Lynen suppressed it with a composed expression.

“Let’s go right now.”

“Ah, yes! We’ll escort you!”

※※※

Clatter, clatter.

Noah was rummaging through the underground storage room again today. He was searching for Porsche’s ring from the painting.

It had been going on for over a week now, and both Mihail and Imelen had grown tired and given up.

“This is the last storage room…”

Noah didn’t find this task enjoyable either. But with Calliphe and Lynen’s absence growing longer, he became more dedicated to finding the ring.

‘If I find the ring, they’ll come back quickly.’

He simply believed this in his heart. It was a mild form of self-suggestion, but it had helped him persevere for a week.

But he couldn’t go on any longer. After searching the box in front of him, there would be nothing left to look through.

“What are these books?”

Inside the box were black books without titles stacked together.

When he opened one, it was filled with difficult words. The only term he could barely read was “Black Magic.”

Having lost interest, Noah pushed aside the books and searched for other items.

Then he opened a small velvet box he discovered.

“…Huh?”

Inside was a ring with a silver frame and a large red ruby.

It was definitely the item from the painting.

“This is it!”

Excited, Noah jumped up and down.

It belonged to Calliphe’s mother. He was sure Calliphe would be thrilled!

But to show it to her…

“How can I go to the Black Hand by myself…?”

Hmm.

“Ah!”

Noah hurriedly ran up the basement stairs and dashed down the hallway.

Raul, who encountered him from the opposite direction, warned him with surprise.

“Young Master! You’ll fall if you run like that!”

“Mmm…!”

Whoosh. Barely acknowledging the warning, Noah darted into a room like a squirrel.

Raul smiled gently. The once timid young master now knew how to run around so energetically.

“But isn’t that Lady Offensa’s room?”

After pondering briefly, Raul shrugged and continued on his way.

After all, Lady Offensa had never forbidden Noah from entering her room, so it should be fine.

Inside Calliphe’s room, Noah looked around cautiously. His heart shrank with guilt for entering without permission.

‘I’ll definitely apologize later.’

With that resolution, Noah peeked at Calliphe’s vanity table.

On the vanity were neatly arranged necklaces, rings, and earrings that Calliphe usually wore.

One of them caught Noah’s eye.

“Found it.”

The diamond earring that Calliphe wore most frequently.

It was the magical tool used to summon Dovion.

When infiltrating the Black Hand, she had left it behind since she needed to wear earrings that obscured her appearance, like Lynen did.

Noah imitated how he had seen Calliphe operate it.

The diamond spun and emitted light in his small hand.

Flash—

Eventually, Dovion appeared, elegantly spinning while wearing his poncho.

“At the call of my benefactor, Dovion is he—Huh?”

“……”

Dovion was taken aback when he saw only Noah looking up at him with wide eyes, with no one else present.

“Young Master? Where is my benefactor?”

“Not yet here.”

“So you called me by yourself?”

Nod.

“Sigh.”

Dovion instantly erased his business smile and adopted the expression of an office worker who mistakenly came to work on a holiday.

“This is troublesome. I have a private life too, you know.”

“Mister, can you go see Calliphe? At the Black Hand.”

“That’s easy enough.”

“Th-then I have a favor to ask.”

“Oh, you do~ But?”

“Please take me with you to the Black Hand. To see Calliphe.”

“Don’t wanna~”

“Just once… It’ll be really quick.”

“No, no.”

“Please…”

“Young Master, do you have money?”

Noah searched his pockets. When he timidly opened his hand, there was a single small silver coin.

Dovion snorted.

“Can’t do favors without money.”

Noah grew anxious at this callous attitude. This man behaved differently when Calliphe wasn’t around.

What would Calliphe do in this situation?

‘Probably Calliphe… or Ferica would…’

Various images of Calliphe he had observed flashed through his mind.

And suddenly, a drastic method occurred to him.

‘B-but can I really do this? This is a bit, a bit…’

“Anyway, I’ll be going now. If you have any business, tell my benefactor when she returns.”

“…!”

Dovion was really about to leave. If he left now, he probably wouldn’t appear again even if Noah called.

‘I-I’m sorry, Calliphe!’

After mentally apologizing to Calliphe, Noah finally implemented the method he had thought of.

Slap!

He hit his own cheek.

“W-what are you doing?”

“I’ll tell on you.”

“Pardon?”

Slap! He hit his other cheek.

“I’ll say you hit me.”

“…?!”

Where did you learn such mischief?!

Dovion panicked and grabbed Noah’s hand as he was about to hit his cheek again.

“Whoa, stop, stop! Y-you think my benefactor would believe such a lie? She’s not a fool!”

But Noah seemed unconcerned.

“Yeah. But it’s okay. Want to know why?”

“W-why?”

His green eyes twinkled mischievously.

“Because Calliphe will ask me why I did it. Then you’ll get in much more trouble than me. You’ll lose more.”

“…!”

This kid whose blood hasn’t even dried behind his ears is already trying to take flesh and keep the bones!