“R-Rubellan, sir….”

The atmosphere in the castle was explosive, like a ticking time bomb. The one making the air unbearably heavy was Rubellan, who appeared deeply disturbed. Joseph, Esh, Chapir, and Yuswen, lined up before him, trembled with fear.

“Say that again.”

His monotone voice echoed throughout the room.

“L-Lady Rael has… d-disappeared.”

Joseph fidgeted nervously, sweating profusely. From the moment they noticed Rael’s presence had vanished from the castle, Joseph and the demons had already anticipated their future would be either a quick death or a painful one.

When monsters attacked, the castle demons had mobilized all their forces to drive them away. 

Though fortunate to have expelled them before Rubellan’s return, the moment they discovered Rael’s disappearance, their vision blurred with dread. They might have been better off dying at the hands of those crude monsters.

“She just… completely vanished without a trace….”

“…Ah.”

Rubellan’s reaction to Joseph’s report was calmer than expected. Joseph had thought he would wake up in the afterlife the moment the words left his mouth, so it was truly remarkable that he still had his life.

Perhaps his Demon King had foreseen this situation and taken precautions, or conversely, he might be in a state of rage beyond anything Joseph had ever witnessed before.

“I believe I told you all to guard her well.”

“Th-that… p-please kill me!”

Though Rubellan’s voice remained utterly impassive, Joseph instinctively recognized this was an extremely bad sign.

As Joseph and the other demons prostrated themselves, Rubellan pulled up the corners of his mouth artificially and said, “Kill you? I should let you live.”

“…You’re forgiving us?”

Esh, surprised by Rubellan’s response, cautiously asked.

“Of course.”

Confused by Rubellan’s incomprehensible reaction, the demons swallowed dryly.

“On one condition—find Rael and bring her back.”

“…You mean…?”

The gazes of Joseph, Esh, Chapir, and Yuswen tangled in confusion.

“If you want to live, run out right now and find her.”

The moment Rubellan’s eyes narrowed, Yuswen and Chapir burst through the door like the wind. They moved so quickly that ordinary human eyes couldn’t have tracked them.

Esh, who had been staring blankly at Rubellan, belatedly jumped to her feet.

“I will definitely find her!”

Lagging behind the other two and desperate, Esh used magical power—forbidden inside the castle—to vanish. Rubellan made no move to stop her.

With three demons gone, Joseph, who remained, cautiously fluttered his wings toward the door. All the while, he kept glancing nervously at Rubellan’s expression.

“Joseph.”

“Yes! Y-yes!”

Startled by the sudden call of his name, Joseph nearly plummeted to the ground, forgetting to flutter his wings.

“There’s only one reason I’m giving you all this chance.”

“W-what is it?”

“If you were all dead when she returns, she would surely be sad. So I decided to exercise a little patience.”

“Huh.”

Joseph involuntarily sucked in a breath.

“But what if Rael doesn’t return?”

“T-then….”

“Then I have no reason to keep you alive.”

Joseph tried desperately to calm his pounding heart. According to those words, he didn’t even have time to faint here.

“I wonder which will come first—my patience running out or you finding her. That’s quite curious.”

“…I’ll be going now.”

“Go. Quickly, preferably.”

With Rubellan’s final words, Joseph moved his wings desperately, barely remembering how he managed to leave.

When everyone had gone, Rubellan closed his eyes tightly. A flood of thoughts rushed in at once.

Why, how, where.

Among the chaotic thoughts invading his mind, he decided to focus solely on “where” for now. He feared that if he dwelled too deeply on the other questions, his boiling anger might somehow reach her.

Above all, once he solved where she had gone, he could hear the rest directly from her lips.

“…Magic Tower, Sanctuary, Uliked.”

Rubellan coldly narrowed down the places Rael might have gone.

Among them, the Magic Tower seemed unlikely given the betrayal she must be feeling, so he excluded it.

That left two places beyond the reach of his magical power: the Sanctuary, a remote island at the western edge of the empire, and Uliked Kingdom, a holy city protected by the goddess’s blessing.

“Uliked….”

But Uliked was quickly eliminated as well, for two reasons. First, Rael, who had never left the empire, would likely hesitate to journey to another kingdom. With her somewhat closed personality, she would probably choose her own country under similar conditions.

Second, if someone discovered she was carrying a demon’s child, Uliked would be too dangerous. The power of the pope and temples extended strongly there, and she would know that one wrong move could mean death for both her and the child.

“Sanctuary.”

If he had to choose, the Sanctuary would be ideal.

“……”

With his mind made up, it was time for his body to move. Yet strangely, despite his urgency, he hesitated to head toward the Sanctuary. Intuition, perhaps. A peculiar sense of discomfort lingered in his chest, suggesting he was heading in the wrong direction.

However sudden the situation, he disliked how events were unfolding. Usually, when his sixth sense sent red flags like this, it always indicated a poor choice. Rubellan typically trusted his instincts.

But now he was half-crazed. There was no time to reconsider. Only the thought of quickly finding Rael pushed away his uneasy feelings and filled his mind.

Finally, Rubellan rose from his seat.

A momentary decision became the beginning of a long journey.

* * *

“Tower Master!”

Making a commotion with hurried footsteps, a mage entered the office of the Magic Tower Master, the highest authority in the Tower.

“What is it?”

The Tower Master made no effort to hide his displeasure at the senior mage’s uncharacteristically frivolous behavior.

“Have you heard?”

“Heard what?”

The mage caught his breath and placed both hands on the desk. Though the Tower Master’s forehead wrinkled deeply at this disrespectful action, the mage had more pressing concerns.

“Another high-ranking demon has appeared in the empire recently.”

“Another?”

The Tower Master’s expression softened slightly, apparently finding the news quite interesting. This made sense, as the recent consecutive appearances of high-ranking demons had allowed them to make certain inferences.

“They were searching for something again, weren’t they? No, searching for someone.”

“Yes.”

“And it started in Yumiel.”

“That’s right.”

“Was it Yumiel this time too?”

“Yes. This time it was a nearby temple.”

“I see.”

A sardonic smile spread across the Tower Master’s face. Their actions suggested they were looking for someone, and Yumiel Village, where it all began, happened to be the hometown of someone he knew.

The Tower Master, already aware that Rael—whom he had personally sent to the Demon King’s Castle—came from there, began thinking rapidly.

“It seems that child is still alive.”

“That….”

The mage was one of the few who knew about the Tower’s secret plans. He swallowed the words he was about to utter, feeling uncomfortable.

“Yes. If they’re searching for a human… we might have good news soon.”

“But Tower Master….”

“What is it?”

The mage, who had been listening to the Tower Master, carefully expressed his concern.

“Even if she’s alive and the operation succeeded, will she cooperate with us?”

The mage had always wondered. Would Rael, who had been forced into the Demon King’s Castle without explanation, take their side? It was natural to suspect she might harbor resentment and seek revenge against the Tower.

“We’ll make her cooperate.”

“Do you really think she succeeded in conceiving a child?”

“Even if not, there’s nothing to regret. The fact that she survived that place will provide us with valuable information, and now that the Demon King knows she’s more special than ordinary humans, her value to us is limitless.”

The mage shuddered slightly at the phrase “value to us.” No matter that this was his superior, he couldn’t help feeling physiological fear when faced with such inhumanity.

“I didn’t expect her to survive.”

He was the kind of person who could send her into mortal danger knowing full well what might happen, without changing his expression.

“Wasn’t this the situation you anticipated?”

“Well… while investigating her background, I found several interesting circumstances. I did have some expectations… but this might bring even better news than I thought.”

The Tower Master’s eyes gleamed with greed and anticipation.

“We have a new task.”

The Tower Master stroked his chin as he addressed the mage.

“What task?”

“We need to find her.”

“You mean Rael?”

“Yes. We must find and bring her back before those demons do.”

“But even those powerful demons seem to be struggling….”

The mage spoke with a troubled expression. How could humans accomplish more quickly what demons with unimaginable magical power were struggling with?

“They’re struggling because they aren’t human. Let’s approach this in a human way.”

“By ‘human way,’ you mean…?”

“Let’s focus on where a distressed human might seek refuge. Demons don’t understand human cause and effect relationships. That’s why they’re coming up empty-handed.”

Afterward, the Tower Master quietly summoned several mages and gave them secret instructions.