“True, if it were that easy, others would have developed it too. But weren’t the undead almost completely exterminated? Besides, Grandma is here, so there’s no rush.”

“Still, mages seem to have impatient hearts.”

“That’s understandable. If not now, when would they receive knowledge from the Grand Mage who defeated dragons?”

“Right. Besides, you two were equally urgent, which was fortunate for the mage.”

“……”

She had barely changed the subject, but Grandma brought up the embarrassing topic again and teased Erica.

“……Let’s go quickly. I have lots to do when I get home.”

Erica hastily grabbed the packed luggage and linked arms with Grandma, urging her on. Grandma opened her mouth as if to tease more, then closed it again with a smile as if she’d had enough. Grandma closed her eyes gently with that smiling face.

“Teleport.”

Like yesterday, the feeling of her body becoming light began, and her vision changed rapidly. Her vision began to get dizzy again.

‘Ugh…… I’ll get motion sick again. Should I lie down for a bit when I get home before going to pick up the kids?’

She was thinking this when she blinked once.

“No!”

Grandma suddenly cried out in a panicked voice.

‘Huh?’

Startled, she opened her eyes to see the colors passing before her eyes were completely different from yesterday. The moment she thought ‘Why is it so dark and gloomy?’, thump, her feet landed on hard ground.

Just as Erica, who almost fell, grabbed Grandma, Grandma stretched her hand forward and urgently cast a spell.

“Shield!”

Shield? Deploying a defensive barrier. Are we in a dangerous situation right now?

Erica looked around with panicked eyes. Then she became even more panicked.

‘What is this?’

Expensive marble was laid beneath her feet. Not only was the costly flooring material that you’d only see in palaces or grand mansions unexpected. A magic circle whose meaning Erica couldn’t understand was drawn on the floor.

‘What happened? Where is this?’

Erica, who raised her head, felt fear unusually for her. Erica was standing in the middle of a room with high ceilings and magnificent columns lined up. Dozens of armed soldiers and robed mages surrounded her and Grandma Greta.

Erica’s gaze turned to the men in luxurious clothing. They seemed to be the leaders, but they were all unfamiliar faces.

“Grand Mage Margareta.”

The oldest man among them spoke.

“Welcome to my royal palace.”

Royal palace?

“I am Marquis Draven.”

……That bastard?

Only then did Erica realize. We’ve been kidnapped.

* * *

Long-distance teleport is dangerous. You can be interfered with midway and end up in the wrong place or be intercepted and kidnapped.

However, there were almost no mages in this world capable enough to manipulate teleport like that.

‘So you used teleport without worry. Not knowing I was here.’

Magnus glared at Grand Mage Margareta, who had humiliated him several years ago, with a twisted smile. For him, today he had finally repaid that humiliation.

Unfortunately, he still hadn’t been able to decipher Grand Mage Margareta’s undead destruction magic formula. So there was no way he could have developed countermeasures.

“Are you still a Grand Mage like Margareta after doing this? What exactly can you do!”

The marquis, who had completely forgotten everything Magnus had done for him until now, even said such things. Actually, receiving criticism every time something failed was familiar.

If before he couldn’t leave because the marquis was the only one who fully supported his dark magic research, now he couldn’t abandon the marquis and run away because he had become a wanted fugitive pursued by the Grand Temple.

“Then how about having the person who devised this formula interpret it?”

The method Magnus came up with after racking his brains was to kidnap the Grand Mage. Rather than struggling with incomprehensible formulas, researching dark magic to intercept long-distance teleport was much easier and faster. Conveniently, a spy planted in the princess faction’s army command had already gathered all the information needed to intercept the teleport.

“Grand Mage Margareta.”

Including the identity of the mage who devised the undead destruction method.

“So it was the legendary Grand Mage who swept away my undead legion.”

Marquis Draven sneered at the old mage who had deployed thick defensive barriers immediately upon being summoned and was glaring with eyes blazing as if ready to fight at any moment.

“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to kill you. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already. But……”

The moment the marquis’s gaze slid sideways, his twisted smile became slightly distorted.

“……What is that?”

The woman standing next to the Grand Mage was someone he had never seen before.

* * *

“Dad, Mom and Grandma still aren’t home!”

Upon receiving the message, Roderick abandoned everything and flew home across the mountain range.

“Dad, what happened to Mom?”

“Dad doesn’t know where Mom is either?”

When Roderick said he didn’t know either, the children started crying. Roderick, who was comforting the crying children, was just as panicked.

‘What could have happened?’

Was there somewhere they might have stopped by? Did they go pick herbs on the way?

But if that were the case, Grandma Greta would surely have contacted the children beforehand to tell them, but no one had received any contact.

Grandma, where on earth are you?

Roderick asked through the communication parchment scroll that Grandma Greta had given the children, but the words disappeared as soon as he wrote them.

Disabled status. Something must have happened.

The color drained from Roderick’s face as ominous thoughts began. He left the children with Iriel and immediately returned to the camp to inform Duke Pendrel of this fact. At the duke’s summons, a servant who had attended to Margareta and Erica gave a report.

“After the army departed this morning, the two ladies packed their luggage and left. They didn’t say anything about going elsewhere. They traveled by teleport.”

“Can’t we track them?”

At Roderick’s question, the chief mage looked troubled.

“It would have been possible immediately after casting teleport, but now too much time has passed, so it’s impossible.”

Grasping at straws, he also asked the holy knights who could track mana, but they were helpless too.

“Is it possible for teleport to fail sometimes?”

At Roderick’s question, the chief mage nodded.

“What happens if it fails?”

“The body gets separated and dies, or…… even if you survive, you lose body parts or your mind becomes unsound…… Landing in the wrong place is actually quite lucky.”

The more the chief mage’s explanation continued, the paler Roderick’s expression became. The chief mage, who belatedly realized his answer had been tactlessly honest, tried to reassure Roderick.

“However, you can consider the possibility of the Grand Mage making such a basic mistake to be almost nonexistent. So please don’t worry.”

But that didn’t make the worry disappear.

‘Then where on earth did they disappear to?’

He spent several days like a madman searching for traces without clues, hoping they were just safe.

“Your Grace, an envoy from Marquis Draven has arrived!”

On the third day after Erica and Grandma Greta disappeared, he got an answer about their whereabouts.

Grand Mage Margareta has surrendered and sworn to become a loyal servant of His Majesty the King. The rebels should also follow Grand Mage Margareta’s example and repent of their sins and surrender before it’s too late. We will spare only your lives.

This is the last opportunity. There will be no mercy for those who cannot abandon their rebellious intentions.

“Surrender. It must be kidnapping.”

Not a single person believed the marquis’s claim that Grand Mage Margareta had defected.

“At least he won’t kill her.”

“If it’s Grand Mage Margareta, they would covet her too, so they’ll keep her alive and try to win her over.”

“That’s fortunate for now.”

While people were relieved to learn that the Grand Mage was alive, Roderick despaired. There was no mention at all of what happened to Erica.

Roderick roughly rubbed his haggard face from the past few days and headed outside the command barracks. Hildeon, who couldn’t help but know why Roderick looked unwell, followed him and offered comfort.

“Since there’s no mention, she must be safe.”

“I want to believe that too, but……”