Graham looked where Marcel pointed. Sure enough, he could see the back of a man’s head towering above the others.

Noah was following beside him.

Already knowing that Noah had gone to the north alone, Graham was indifferent.

“It’s a northern event, so it’s not strange for the Duke to be here. Though I didn’t expect him to participate directly among the common folk.”

“If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve been more thorough with my disguise.”

“Doesn’t matter. The people ahead won’t turn back anyway… Hmm?”

The people walking behind the Duke moved aside or passed ahead, revealing more of Lynen’s figure.

Thanks to that, they could see a young girl Lynen was holding with his other hand.

“Who’s that child?”

“I’ve never seen her before.”

She seemed somewhat familiar, but the two old men didn’t know any young children personally. Especially not one who appeared so close to Duke Ortega.

“Could she be another child the Duke is sponsoring?”

“First I’m hearing of it. But she does seem that way somehow.”

Graham’s mood soured.

‘It should be a rare time alone with Noah, but he has to look after another child too?’

While it was common for nobles to sponsor someone, he didn’t like having Noah’s attention divided.

But what bothered him most was something else.

‘Does Calliphe even know about this? That girl didn’t seem aware of any other sponsored child.’

Noah had also been a sponsored child before being adopted. Surely Duke Ortega wasn’t unilaterally pushing to adopt yet another child?

Just as Graham clicked his tongue with these complaints and worries, another irritating scene unfolded.

When the girl raised her hands toward the Duke and whined, he readily lifted and held the child in one arm.

Meanwhile, his actual son Noah was shaking his head and declining.

“No, this is…! Did you see that?”

“Hmm. That’s rather excessive kindness for a sponsored child.”

“To think the Duke was such a thoughtless man! Grr. Let’s follow them!”

“Yes.”

The two maintained a careful distance from Lynen’s group and began watching them with hawk-like eyes.

As they did so, more and more irritating behaviors started appearing.

* * *

At every flat section of the winding path, there were rest stops where vendors had set up stalls.

When Lynen reached the fourth rest stop, he set Calliphe down.

“Let’s rest here for a bit.”

“Okay.”

Noah, who was gradually getting tired, happily sat down in a chair.

While Lynen briefly left to buy snacks, Calliphe sat beside Noah.

“Are you okay? Do your legs hurt?”

“Mmm. I just need to rest a little. What about you, Fe-Ferica?”

“I’m fine since Lynen carried me.”

Actually, her shoulders were a bit stiff from staying still.

When Calliphe rolled her shoulders slightly, Noah quickly stood up and massaged her shoulders.

“Oh? Noah?”

“I-I’ll give you a massage.”

Even when told it wasn’t necessary, Noah was determined.

“The Saintess said she used to massage her parents like this when she was young… So I want to too…”

“I-I see.”

Calliphe felt her heart tickle somehow and accepted Noah’s massage with embarrassment.

“Come to think of it, it would’ve been nice if Imelen came too. Was Imelen very disappointed when you went to the Grand Temple before?”

“The Saintess caught a cold.”

“A cold?”

Calliphe’s brow twitched slightly. She had a hunch it wasn’t an ordinary cold.

She too was monitoring the symptoms of Imelen and similar patients.

In fact, the very first thing she’d ordered upon becoming Archmage was to research methods to reverse people who’d transformed into monsters.

Lynen was also collecting and providing information about the patients.

‘We’re trying various applications of holy power with the Grand Temple’s cooperation, but no matter what we do, there’s no effect.’

More precisely, the side effects were too severe.

Holy power and contaminated mana were opposing forces that destroyed each other.

What good would it do to turn someone back into a human if the price was death?

‘Allen usually tells me when Imelen is sick. But this time he said nothing.’

Perhaps Imelen’s symptoms had worsened more than before and he was too preoccupied. It seemed best to contact Allen as soon as they returned to the ducal castle.

“Oh, snacks!”

“Let’s each have one.”

Lynen returned carrying a bag of potatoes that smelled of butter.

The three sat together and filled their hungry stomachs. Because of her smaller mouth and hands, potato crumbs stuck to the corners of Calliphe’s mouth.

Noticing this, Noah quickly reached for his handkerchief but hesitated.

‘Dietrich said to let the Duke handle things like this, right?’

He recalled the advice from that person he still felt reluctant to call teacher.

Noah glanced around awkwardly and said,

“…Wow, an ant.”

Trying to act as naturally as possible like his attention was drawn elsewhere, he turned his back and moved away from the two.

Still, curiosity got the better of him and he peeked behind him.

“Hold still.”

Just then, Lynen was tenderly wiping the corners of Calliphe’s mouth.

Though it was something that could be finished quickly, he was being extremely slow about it. Yet Calliphe showed no complaints and even asked,

“…Ahem. Did I get any elsewhere?”

“Let me take a look.”

He examined her cheeks where potato crumbs couldn’t possibly be, and suddenly tied up her hair.

Just ordinary actions of an adult carefully looking after a child.

Yet even Noah could clearly see the warm, fuzzy atmosphere blooming between the two.

Noah turned his head again, pretending to observe insects on the ground, and smiled contentedly to himself.

He felt proud that he’d become quite accustomed to situations like this.

However, this scene looked very different to the two old men.

“Th-that Duke has lost his mind! Is a grown man making advances on a child right now!?”

Graham’s face alternated between pale and flushed. Marcel shook his head, saying that couldn’t be.

“Good heavens, that can’t be! He just seems to be taking good care of the child, doesn’t he? Look carefully!”

Graham hesitated.

But his reason, which had been thinking ’Is that so?’, flipped the moment he spotted Noah crouched alone off to the side.

“If nothing strange is going on, why is that child pitifully being left out alone! If it were a child meeting his father after a long time, he should be clinging to him all day!”

“Don’t judge hastily—let’s keep watching! Graham!”

Marcel called out in a lowered voice.

Meanwhile, Calliphe’s group, having finished their snacks, was cleaning up and standing.

Noah said, “It would’ve been nice if the Saintess came too.”

“She caught a cold. She couldn’t have come anyway even if we’d told her. She’s a child who hates being a burden.”

“Right. Instead, think about what souvenir we should give her. You should get plenty of gifts for your friends too, Noah.”

Lynen, having finished tidying up, took Noah and Calliphe’s hands again with a slight smile.

“Shall we continue our family outing?”

“Yeah…!”

Noah nodded happily at the word ‘family.’

Watching them climb the mountain path again, Graham and Marcel’s jaws dropped.

The conversation they’d secretly overheard came through in fragments, shocking the two old men.

“…should come too…”

“Anyway… being a burden…”

“As a souvenir… plenty…”

The two hastily used magic to eavesdrop on the conversation more clearly. Just then, Lynen was saying,

“Shall we continue our family outing?”

A family outing.

So that little girl was family too? Since when? By whose decision?

Graham’s expression became blank.

“Calliphe… While our Calliphe works hard in the capital, her so-called husband has been playing family with an outside child(?).”

“…Noah seems to have already known about that girl’s existence.”

“Our Calliphe wanted to come here too but held back and only sent Noah. If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve let her come too.”

Then she would’ve known about that girl’s existence and wouldn’t have been excluded as someone ‘sufficient as a souvenir.’

Thinking of Calliphe overworking herself alone without knowing any of this, Graham and Marcel’s hearts ached.

They regretted treating it lightly whenever Calliphe complained about having too much work, saying everyone went through the same process.

“…Graham. It seems we’ve been pushing Calliphe too hard.”

Graham, who’d been keeping his mouth shut uncomfortably, stood up abruptly.

“Why is that our fault!”

“Isn’t it?”

“…Even if it is, fundamentally that Duke is the one at fault!”

After thinking briefly, Marcel nodded with an angry expression.

“True, the statement about having a family outing with someone else instead of Calliphe is extremely inconsiderate. We must definitely confront him.”

“Absolutely!”

They had to set things right on behalf of poor Calliphe. The two old men’s eyes blazed with fire.

“If we rush at him now, he’ll just make excuses, so let’s hide ourselves more thoroughly until we catch him red-handed.”

“Understood.”

The two followed Lynen’s group even more secretly.

Now about half the distance to the shrine of the wish-granting magical spirit remained.

They would surely catch him in the act during that time… or so they thought.

“Hmm?”

The sky darkened, then heavy snow began falling, and soon a blizzard poured down.

“Everyone get into the shelters!”

Event safety managers stationed throughout called out.

“Tsk. Northern weather is so fickle.”

“Spring in the north is practically winter for capital residents. It’s essentially always winter, isn’t it? Let’s go inside too.”

Graham and Marcel followed into the shelter where Lynen’s group had entered.

The shelter was spacious enough to accommodate dozens of people. Thanks to this, the two could continue watching Lynen’s group without running into them.

At dawn, after the blizzard that had fallen until night made the temporary suspension of the event certain.

Creak…

“What’s he doing?”

Graham, who’d been in his room, pressed his face close to the window.

He could see a figure that appeared to be Lynen urgently heading somewhere, pushing through snow that sank up to his knees.

He was carrying that girl they’d seen during the day in his arms.

“Where are just the two of them going?”

Startled, Graham and Marcel hurried to follow.