Once they stepped onto a comparatively brighter street, Haven asked.

“More than anything, how are you here? You entered the palace.”

“Ah…… well……”

Ella mixed lies and truth cleverly and told him what had happened.

When she mentioned that a secret passage in the palace chapel connected to a ruined building nearby, Haven seemed mildly surprised.

“How did you…… know about that?”

“Let’s just say it’s a secret passed down only to saintesses.”

Ella gave a faint smile.

“So you came here for the toho leaves?”

“Yes, that’s right. But the shop was closed.”

Ella didn’t mention what the leaves were for. If Haven knew about the side effects, he would worry, and that was obvious.

“I know someone who has toho leaves.”

“Here?”

“A mage who has worked for me for some time.”

“A…… mage?”

Ella asked again, and Haven nodded slowly.

In the Becarto Empire, a mage was as good as a calamity. Perceived as dangerous, they were not only avoided but looked down upon and excluded as a matter of course.

Because of this, even those whose magical ability manifested would spend their lives hiding it, or emigrate to countries like the Kar Kingdom where mages were treated somewhat better.

And yet magical tools made by mages were traded covertly all the while.

How hypocritical.

The duplicity of this wretched Becarto showed itself here without fail.

Suppressing the revulsion rising in her, Ella made her request to Haven.

“Then could I meet them? It’s something I really need.”

“Of course. I was supposed to meet them today, so they should be waiting.”

Haven extended his hand to her.

“Shall we go?”

Ella smiled in answer and took his hand.

***

Meivia couldn’t take her eyes off the person who had arrived with Haven.

Ella was moving her gaze around the space packed with magical tools and spell books, absorbed in looking at everything with curiosity.

Haven’s red eyes were busy following Ella’s every move. His gaze was full of tender affection.

“We can talk about my symptoms later.”

“Yes……”

Meivia, reading the peculiar atmosphere between the two, pressed her lips together and moved only her eyes.

‘He could make a face like that?’

He had always been a superior without expression. He occasionally frowned, but she had never seen him smile.

And yet here he was, smiling.

Like a man hopelessly in love.

Meivia sidled over and stood close beside Haven.

“Is she someone you care for?”

“……”

“You don’t need to say it, it’s written all over you, Haven.”

Haven composed his loosened expression and cleared his throat.

He’s flustered.

Meivia rubbed at the corner of her twitching mouth and asked again.

“Is your companion a woman or a man?”

“Obviously a woman, isn’t she?”

Haven looked at Meivia as though the question were strange.

‘Well……’

She was dressed as a man, but her natural appearance couldn’t be hidden. At best she looked like a pretty boy who hadn’t yet gone through puberty.

But setting that aside.

Meivia’s eyes suddenly narrowed.

“That’s true, but…… hmm.”

“What is it?”

Her expression was full of puzzlement. It was because the source of the familiar energy she had been sensing since earlier was Ella.

‘I’ve never felt anything this strong…… it’s almost primordial.’

This energy was mana.

The most fundamental power needed to become a mage.

It was an energy that could be felt in nature as well, but what one was born with mattered more, and it was no exaggeration to say that determined one’s capacity as a mage.

Meivia herself had been born with strong mana, but it was nothing compared to what she was sensing from Ella right now.

With energy this powerful, there was no way she wouldn’t have noticed.

Mages were the most sensitive to mana of anyone.

“Is she perhaps a late-manifesting mage like myself?”

“A mage?”

Haven’s voice went cold.

“I ask because the mana flowing through her body is quite extraordinary.”

The expression drained from his face.

“……Mana?”

“Yes. And it’s an exceptionally powerful mana unlike anything I’ve seen before.”

Haven’s eyes went wide and turned toward Ella. She was wandering in front of a bookshelf packed with spell books.

Both of their gazes fixed on Ella.

“You must be mistaken. That can’t be right.”

“I’m certain. The energy flowing through her body is unmistakably……”

Meivia raised her fingertips and traced the air as though sensing Ella’s energy.

“Powerful mana.”

***

In the underground archive of the Deloa Guild.

Seated deep in a wingback chair, guild master Cedric Deloa was still in heavy makeup and a dress.

He removed the black lace gloves and lit a cigarette.

Having received a report from the guild’s mercenary commander, Cedric tapped the ash and spoke.

“So before anyone could even step in, those men were all dealt with, and the two of them headed toward the goods shop alley on the third block?”

“Yes, Cedric. Just in case, I stationed two watchers to keep an eye on them until they come out.”

“Hmm……”

Cedric narrowed his eyes. It was a habit of his whenever he was deep in thought.

Recalling the beauty whose disguise hadn’t hidden a thing, Cedric drew a long pull from the cigarette.

“That woman…… she seems strangely familiar……”

Baulos, the deputy master beside Cedric, cut in.

“Are you certain she’s a woman? She looked like a man to me.”

“If that woman looked like a man to you, you still have a long way to go, Baulos.”

Cigarette in his mouth, Cedric gave a quiet laugh.

“But could the mana stone vein be real? A high-purity mana stone vein…… isn’t that unprecedented in the Empire?”

“Well……”

“She didn’t look like she was lying……”

“Heh, could you see that from behind the mirror?”

“You were right there in front of her, Cedric, so you’d know better than I would.”

Cedric only gave a cryptic smile and didn’t bother to respond.

In truth, under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have entertained this at all.

Even accounting for his own preference for beautiful and striking things, the woman had been full of suspicious qualities.

The clothes she wore were of fine material, but not the kind worn by high nobility. More the sort a wealthy merchant might wear.

‘Especially those silver buttons……’

The swan motif finely engraved on the buttons was the kind used only on offerings presented to the Grand Temple to pray for good fortune.

‘Someone from the temple?’

Her pale, refined face had an air of nobility about it. But the clear blue of her eyes resembled something from the depths of an abyss.

They were full of the darkness seen in those who had suppressed and suppressed their emotions for a very long time.

With her name and origins unknown, there was no reason to trust her.

And a mana stone vein, of all things.

‘And yet there’s something strangely credible about her……’

The captivating quality of the woman’s presence wouldn’t leave him. Like someone armed with a charm spell, she had made it impossible to look away.

Thud.

Before the cigarette ash could fall to the floor, Baulos held out an ashtray.

“I keep telling you to quit smoking.”

“Stop nagging.”

“And change out of those clothes while you’re at it.”

“Why? They’re pretty.”

“……”

Cedric shrugged as if to ask what the problem was.

Baulos shook his head with an expression of genuine incomprehension.

“I mean, there’s no reason to stay like that even when it’s just the two of us.”

He had had years to get used to his superior’s eccentricities, but the goosebumps every time he saw it were unavoidable.

Since it was impossible to tell man from woman, sometimes catching a glimpse from behind made his heart skip against his will.

For someone with a perfectly ordinary sense of self, this version of Cedric was simply too much to handle.

“Aren’t you used to it by now?”

“At least do something about your voice!”

“Why would I bother changing my voice when it’s just us?”

“……Pardon?”

Just don’t do it at all then.

Baulos barely managed to swallow the words.

Cedric fingered the emerald choker he had been wearing until a moment ago and frowned.

“And this choker is suffocating. They said it had a voice-altering spell on it…… practically zero practicality. I should look into a magic potion instead.”

“Rather than that, it would be better to just not……”

“Leaving something pretty unused is a crime. And it’s perfect for disguising my identity.”

“Then just……”

“Just what?”

“……”

Baulos wanted to shout that he should use an appearance-altering spell, but his better judgment barely held him back.

He knew that when Cedric got angry, no one could stop him, so he chose to hold his tongue here.

Well, five years of saying the same thing every day and it went in one ear and out the other.

“Never mind……”

Stopping here was better for his mental health.

Cedric stubbed out the cigarette and rose from his seat.

“I should look into whether anyone matching that woman’s description is at the temple.”

“Is that necessary? She said she’d come back.”

“She’s the first person in a long time to stir my curiosity. Surely that’s worth a little effort.”

Cedric raised a hand and the mercenary commander standing at the entrance approached.