[Mana +0.5]

‘Lynen’s went up by 0.01, but the Marquis is 0.5?’

Compared to others who increased by 1, it seemed rather insignificant.

‘How many hits will it take then?’

Calliphe frowned, feeling her mana drain with each strike against the Marquis.

[Mana +0.5]

[Mana +0.5]

While her mana steadily increased, something unexpected occurred.

Flash!

The Marquis’s tightly closed eyes suddenly flew open.

“Gasp!”

When she drew in a startled breath, his unfocused red eyes darted around before meeting hers.

Just when Calliphe, now covered in goosebumps, instinctively raised her fist—

“Young lady!? What are you doing right now?!”

Marcel, who had discovered Calliphe mere seconds before she could strike the Marquis, rushed over in haste.

“Vi-Vi-Vice Archmage. Th-this… no, this isn’t…”

“What? What isn’t?”

By the time Marcel looked at the Marquis, his eyes were already closed again.

“Young lady, how dare you refer to the Archmage as ‘this’! And did you actually hit him? His chest is red!”

“No, that’s, uh, I was giving him a massage.”

“One more massage like that and his ribs will break!”

She ended up getting thoroughly scolded.

Meanwhile, Lynen was desperately trying to turn Noah’s head away.

‘D*mn…’

Calliphe shot a secret glare at Marquis Offensa. Stupid old man.

‘Could it have been his body’s reflexive response to the sudden surge of mana?’

If so, she was certain.

Her ability worked on the Marquis. Very effectively, in fact.

‘The problem lies in how meager the mana increase is.’

Despite hitting him diligently until Marcel caught her, the increase only amounted to 6.

Even that would revert to its original state without periodic repetition.

In the end, she could draw only one conclusion.

“Vice Archmage.”

She interrupted Marcel’s scolding.

“I’d like to visit the Marquis frequently from now on.”

“To hit him again under the pretense of massage?”

Marcel’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“I was just clumsy with the massage. When I saw the Marquis, my filial piety suddenly welled up and my fists moved before I knew it, what could I do?”

“Are, are you arguing with me now?”

“How many times must I tell you it was a massage? To begin with, only a weakling like the Vice Archmage would consider this level of fist violence— mmph.”

Lynen’s hand quickly covered her disaster of a mouth.

He forced a polite smile.

“I’d like to make the same request, Vice Archmage. Marquis Offensa will soon be my family, so it’s only natural that we visit more often.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

When Lynen presented the request reasonably, Marcel couldn’t outright refuse.

Finally, after some consideration, he answered.

“…Visiting him is fine. Once a month should be acceptable.”

“Once a month?”

That would mean all the ability points she’d raised would be wasted.

“I want to visit more frequently.”

“You never once inquired about the Archmage’s well-being before. Why this sudden change, young lady?”

Marcel’s suspicious gaze returned. Calliphe quickly adopted a sorrowful expression.

“I want to show the filial piety I couldn’t before. Since I don’t have a grandfather, I keep thinking about all the times I upset him… If frequent visits are problematic, I can come alone discreetly.”

Actually, that would be preferable.

‘The Young Marquis might be monitoring me with his crows.’

Lynen had informed her on their visit to the Grand Temple.

The Young Marquis’s demon crow had been watching the temple. The real surveillance target was likely Calliphe, not the temple.

‘If he discovers I’m visiting Marquis Offensa frequently, who knows how he’ll react. I need to move with utmost secrecy.’

For that, Marcel the Vice Archmage’s cooperation was crucial.

Calliphe gathered all her politeness.

“Ple… ease.”

“No.”

Calliphe’s eyes shot up.

Noticing this, Lynen quickly covered Calliphe’s mouth. Her lips mumbled against his palm.

“…This is annoying.”

“You just cursed, didn’t you?”

“No I dibn’t (No I didn’t.)”

Indeed Graham’s granddaughter. Their temperaments matched perfectly at times like this. Marcel’s gaze turned toward them with what appeared to be resignation.

Still, he seemed unwilling to grant permission.

‘So the only option left is affection.’

Perhaps because the affection quest was complete, the affection status no longer appeared.

Still, she remembered raising it quite high. It was 55/100.

‘Would getting one or two more fairy mints work?’

A dried bundle of fairy mint had raised the affection by 30, after all.

But the system displayed a message seemingly in response to Calliphe’s question.

[The effect of identical affection items is greatly reduced.]

How stingy!

But this system resembled <Marino>. In the original work too, you needed to feed dozens or hundreds of the same item to raise affection significantly.

‘What was Marcel’s required affection for the Archmage ending again?’

To freely meet the Vice Archmage when visiting the Magic Tower, giving fairy mint would suffice.

But to make him support Noah becoming Archmage…

Calliphe recalled playing <Marino>.

[Mini event occurring…]

[You and Noah discovered a colony of wildflowers while walking through an unnamed forest.]

[Noah]

—Wow! Look at this. There are so many wildflowers. There must be hundreds of them.

—Come to think of it, I think the Vice Archmage likes these flowers… Should we take some as a gift?

▷ Protect nature. Take only a few flowers.

▷ Protect connections. Take all of them as a gift.

The correct answer was?

‘Take all of them as a gift…’

In other words, she needed to gift hundreds of fairy mint flowers to gain Marcel’s support.

Fairy mint that could no longer be obtained from the system.

There was no way to know the location of the fairy mint colony that appeared in the event either.

‘But I’ve thought of another way.’

This was why she had submitted an application for the harvest festival before coming here.

“Vice Archmage.”

“What now?”

“If I bring fairy mint seeds, will you grant my request?”

“…!”

Marcel, who had been rubbing his throbbing forehead, opened his eyes wide.

He considered she might be teasing, but Calliphe’s expression remained serious.

Marcel’s heart beat faster than during his first love.

‘With seeds, I can grow fairy mint myself.’

It wouldn’t be easy since this wasn’t the Elven Forest, but with Luminasil present, at least they wouldn’t die.

‘Then I won’t have to worry about obtaining fairy mint every time.’

No need to forcefully return home, no need to bow before the elves while sharing the Magic Tower’s achievements.

It felt like salvation itself.

Marcel swallowed hard.

“How do you plan to get that?”

“It’s a secret. So what’s your answer?”

“…But I can’t betray the Archmage—”

“Betray? A granddaughter is simply visiting her sick grandfather. I’m just asking you to keep my movements private. You know I’m currently being monitored by the Young Marquis and his supporters.”

Calliphe emphasized.

“I’m concerned that visiting the Marquis might be interpreted as having political motives.”

“…On the contrary, making your movements public would consolidate your support base more. It would demonstrate your clear intention for succession.”

“I don’t need that.”

Calliphe cut him off.

“I don’t want to use family matters.”

Why would she want to announce to the Young Marquis ‘Hey, I’m properly preparing to strike back at you!’?

Besides, she had zero interest in displaying warm family affection with Marquis Offensa.

That was her true intention, but Marcel interpreted it differently.

“Young lady… to care for the Marquis so purely.”

‘Right… I almost forgot again that though she’s prickly on the outside, she’s warm inside. Maybe she’s been worried about Graham more than anyone, even though she hasn’t visited.’

Marcel, thoroughly misunderstanding, nodded.

“I understand. If you really bring fairy mint seeds… I’ll cooperate according to your wishes. Secretly.”

Calliphe smiled with satisfaction.

“Don’t forget your promise.”