In the quiet and dark room, the sound of ice clinking against a glass could be heard.
Within it was strong whiskey, and Robert stared intently at the glass.
"What on earth were you trying to do, Levian?"
Robert swirled the glass with alcohol in hand, pondering deeply.
The stories he had heard upon his arrival at the Railer territory.
What had Levian heard from Beatrice to make such a choice?
Was it because of the sacrifices at Ephomos?
Or because he was involved in necromancy?
Could it have been atonement for such matters?
If it were atonement, there were plenty of other choices.
He could have offered support to those who were banished from Ephomos or use the name of a great wizard to overthrow families like the Astria or the Fred.
But Levian had not done so.
What was his intention in creating such a spellbook?
There were other questions too.
'Heh, you might just be the most exceptional of my disciples. I have high expectations for you.'
Levian often said this out of habit.
'A disciple is like a child to their teacher, even more so for an old man like myself.'
The same Levian had exiled him from the empire.
When he had lost his son, Levian had seemed like an enemy.
But upon reflection, there seemed to be no reason for that.
Robert just needed someone to blame.
The thought that it was all his own fault was unbearable.
But knowing the truth brought a sense of self-loathing.
Levian had exiled Robert to save him, even going as far as doing things he would not normally do.
"What am I, of all people, to say."
Bringing the glass to his lips, Robert let out a sigh.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})The next morning, we packed our belongings and prepared to leave the estate.
Having gathered the necessary information from the Railer territory, there was no reason to stay.
Luna's parents came out to the mansion's front to see us off.
"Dad, Mom. I'll be going now!"
"Take care, Luna. Write to us often."
"We'll be on our way."
"May your paths be filled with light."
Luna's mother said with a smile, bidding us farewell.
As we all began to board the carriage, an interruption came.
"Hem hem... Rudy Astria?"
Luna's father cleared his throat, approaching me.
"I apologize for the misunderstanding the other day."
"No, it's fine,"
I said with an awkward laugh.
"Still, I've taken a liking to you."
"I also..."
"I'd like to meet you next time as a prospective son-in-law!"
"...What?"
Luna's father stood there, stern-faced, giving a thumbs-up.
"Oh, no."
"Rudy Astria, get in the carriage."
Robert called to me from behind.
"Right, we'll meet again soon, prospective son-in-law."
"Rudy Astria."
"Ah... no."
Unable to say anything else to Luna's father due to Robert's summons, I returned to the carriage.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Inside, it was just Luna and Robert, as it had been when I first arrived.
Luna cocked her head in curiosity as I entered the carriage.
"What did Dad say?"
"...Nothing. It wasn't important."
As I tried to brush it off, Luna squinted her eyes at me.
"Hmm..."
"It really was nothing..."
Seeing that I insisted, Luna broke into a smile and spoke.
"Okay! I'll trust you!"
While it wasn't something I couldn't talk about, I suspected bringing it up would lead to comments like 'Even my parents approve!' and the like.
Better to leave it unsaid.
Looking to change the subject, I turned to Robert.
"Professor, where are you planning to go now?"
We were supposed to be returning to the Gotram territory, where the Mercenary Guild and Jack were.
However, I had told Jack I would return in about five days, and it hadn't been that long yet.
"We'll just go to Gotram territory. There's nothing else to do, is there?"
"I suppose not."
"Once there, we can live it up on that fellow's money. After all, it's practically money I made."
"Ahaha..."
And so, we set off for Gotram territory.
"Hmm..."
"Is this the place?"
Rie frowned as she looked at the building.
The mercenary guild, which had also been used as a pub, had its doors firmly closed.
Luna tilted her head and spoke up, puzzled.
"Uh... did they close up for the day because of some business?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Would someone close down a guild just because they have personal matters to attend to...?"
I said to Luna.
Even if one is the head of the guild, it would be unlikely for them to shut down the entire establishment.
"It's more likely that something has happened, right?"
Astina surveyed the surroundings calmly.
The passersby looked at us standing in front of the guild with curious gazes.
Rie looked around at the onlookers and then approached a lady.
"Hello there."
"Oh, yes... But who might you be...?"
"We're just people who have some business in the territory. I'm curious, do you know why the mercenary guild is in such a state?"
Rie asked with a friendly smile.
The lady hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Thi... the head of the guild has caused some trouble, I heard. The Lord took him away this morning."
"The lord? But why is the guild's door closed?"
"I'm not sure myself... Maybe the guild committed some sort of crime?"
"The guild..."
As Rie was having this conversation, the surrounding people's attention focused even more intensely on us.
Robert, observing the situation, guided us.
"For now, let's go inside and think."
We found an inconspicuous inn and entered a room.
"What's going on?"
Rie said, her expression clouded with concern.
"We don't know. But wasn't he only getting information? How could they respond so quickly?"
The task Robert had entrusted to Jack was to gather information on Ephomos.
It was a matter of finding the necessary information.
Jack was a veteran who had climbed his way up to the head of the mercenary guild after spending a long time on the battlefield.
Could such a person be caught only within a few days of gathering information?
It was puzzling.
One might consider that some mishap could happen, but for the other party to notice so quickly and capture him seemed too odd.
Jack was not a figure under surveillance, merely a mercenary guild head.
Essentially, his position was no different from that of a street gang leader.
Robert pondered for a moment before speaking.
"There could be a few reasons."
"Reasons?"
"One possibility is that the fellow dug around in something sensitive enough to provoke a swift response. However, I consider this unlikely. Jack is savvy enough to avoid such blunders."
"Hmm..."
It was unlikely he was foolish enough to get caught for something trivial.
If he had truly been a fool, he never would have risen to the position of guild head.
Luna cocked her head in curiosity.
"Does that mean the lord of the territory has noticed something?"
"It may not necessarily be the territory lord who has found out,"
"Then, the empire?"
"No."
I spoke with certainty.
It was unlikely for the empire to respond so quickly, especially to an incident in a distant territory—I was confident about that.
Could it mean that the territory lord had unilaterally captured the mercenary guild head?
That didn't make sense either.
The mercenary guild head was said to be a figure not even a territory lord could easily meddle with.
Moreover, since even the empire had little details about Ephomos, it was difficult to figure out what information Jack was digging up.
Of course, if he searched the Astria family mansion, where information about Ephomos was hidden, they would obviously notice.
He would probably be caught on the spot.
The claim that the territory lord had captured him was thus disproven for such reasons.
Robert spoke softly.
"It must be the Rebels."
I agreed with him.
The information we had been trying to find was about Ephomos.
And the reason we were trying to find it was also because of the Rebels.
That person who had come to the academy, the one who used necromancy.
We were gathering information to find out more about him.
Considering those involved in the outer territories with Ephomos and those who could respond quickly, the Rebels were the only plausible group.
We were well aware that the Rebels were joining forces with the nobles on the outskirts.
It was a similar incident to what had happened during our first year at the academy.
"But even if they're the enemy..."
Rie said as she flopped onto the couch.
"What do we do now? Attack the lord?"
Astina shook her head.
"We don't have enough justification for that. On the contrary, we might be the ones who end up getting attacked. There's also no evidence linking this territory's lord to the Rebels, is there?"
"That's why we're deciding what to do now."
"We rescue Jack. We need to know what information he's managed to gather."
Robert rose from his seat and said,
"So, how do you propose we do this?"
"They say he was taken this morning, and if we delay, we don't know what will happen to him. Therefore, we ambush tonight."
Luna's eyes widened at these words.
"...An ambush!"
Luna, who exclaimed with sparkling eyes, quickly covered her mouth with her hands.
"...It's nothing."
Does she like this kind of thing...?
Robert turned his head with an impassive expression and looked at us.
"First, let's go buy robes to disguise ourselves. Since we're attacking at night, everyone should get some rest now."
"Understood."
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