Knock, knock-
Despite the initial attack, their approach was peaceful after that. An intelligence agent knocked on the door. Ignoring the car body was all crumpled, it was rather polite.
“Professor. Please open the door.”
I lowered the window. The agent looked between Julie and me.
“What’s going on?”
The agent didn’t respond but looked to Julie.
“Are you Knight Yuri from Freyden?”
“…”
Julie looked at me without saying a word asking me how she should answer.
“Yes.”
I responded instead. The agent then nodded.
“You escaped from the painting prison. Please attend as a witness.”
The agent pulled out a letter from his pocket.
“This is a request for cooperation from all departments of the Empire other than the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Public Security. You are the key to solving the continent’s current problem—”
“She refuses.”
I answered the agent, glancing at him sideways. Then, the agent’s lips closed tight. His eyebrows twitched.
“May I ask why?”
“I will conduct my independent research.”
“…Independent research.”
“Yes. No matter what wizards in the Empire do to attack me, none have the credibility I do when it comes to the research and interpretation of magic.”
This was a fact that no one could deny until just ten days ago.
“I guess you haven’t heard the rumors floating around these days.”
However, the attacks from Floating Island jeopardized my position. It caused serious damage to Deculein as a wizard. I heard that even downgrading my rank was being considered.
“Do you believe in rumors, as someone of the intelligence agency?”
I sneered as I met the agent’s eyes.
“Rumors with high credibility become articles, and among that, there are some facts.”
“Well. Then.”
At the agent’s words, I pulled out a checkbook, and I scribbled a note of a few hundred thousand Elnes and handed it to him.
“Everyone gathered here will be able to have dinner on me. Take it with you.”
I waved it in front of him. The agent looked at the check calmly, but his face turned red.
“Knight Yuri.”
The agent looked to Julie again.
“We ask that you attend as a witness. The fate of the continent depends on you.”
He handed a small note to Julie, bearing a small wisp of the mana used to conceal it from me.
“…”
Julie didn’t say anything. The agent bowed his head and left. He didn’t go back the way he came, however. He’d probably keep chasing us from a reasonable distance.
“Let’s go.”
I looked at Ren in the driver’s seat. The car had already been restored thanks to the special effect of Midas’ Hand, the so-called self-healing effect.
“…Yes.”
The car proceeded through the forest roads around Hadekain again. The world was dark, but the scenery was beautiful, and the moonlight beaming down warmed my heart.
“Count.”
Ren said.
“Are you going to put all the Demon Blood in the canvas?”
I looked at Ren. As he gripped the handle tightly, veins bulging across his hands, he met my eyes in the mirror.
“Yes.”
“…Could you please tell me why? In this situation where there is a common enemy in the Altar—”
“You don’t need to know.”
I dismissed it. Ren bit his lip, and Julie’s eyes widened.
“Yes.”
Ren answered. He concentrated on driving again.
Sususu…
The car continued through the idyllic landscape. I felt a haze fall over me as I relaxed. To be precise, it felt good.
It was a feeling I couldn’t handle with my sense of reason. I quickly forgot about the attack, and I just wanted this moment to last a little longer.
“…”
I turned my gaze to the side. Keeping my head faced forward, only my eyes slipped over.
“…”
Julie was looking at me with innocent eyes. That sculpted form that Deculein couldn’t help but love…
The moment our eyes met, a small smile spread across her lips.
“What are you looking at?”
I realized why this mountain road felt so beautiful. It was thanks to her. Thanks to Julie.
However, even if this Julie wasn’t the one I knew, her by my side made the world more beautiful. At least, that was how the world seen with Deculein’s eyes became.
“No. It’s nothing.”
Julie smiled a little and shook her head. She spoke in a voice full of trust.
“Let’s go to the place you want.”
* * *
There were several facilities in Hadekain’s permanent residence. The Knights Order barracks, magical facilities, the official offices for each department, and the evidence storage. Hadekain even had independent police and a knighthood, so all evidence of the crimes they solved was kept there.
So, the canvas would be here too.
[Evidence Storage]
Without saying anything to Yeriel, we arrived at the evidence storage room. When the knights guarding the entrance saw me, they startled me and straightened up.
“…Count!”
I nodded.
“Open the door. I have something to see.”
“Yes! But, who is the one next to you, sir?!”
“She’s a witness.”
“Yes!”
They opened the door without further question. Julie and I went in together, following the passage down into the basement. Soon, two escort knights and the person in charge approached us.
“Where is the canvas?”
“It is in the deepest storage.”
“Is that so?”
I looked back to Julie. She was looking around with her eyes wide as saucers. With such an innocent look, not even a single doubt about me in them.
“It’s here.”
Meanwhile, we arrived at the lowest floor of the evidence storage room, in front of a magical vault locked with an iron gate.
“You can open it with the palm of your hand, sir.”
However, since my fingerprints were already entered, there was no need for a complicated process. The door reacted when I put my palm against it.
Clank-!
The iron door opened, and I glanced back at Julie, who was about to follow me in.
“Wait here.”
“Yes? Why?”
“I need to prepare.”
If I opened the canvas without thinking, there was a risk that even I would be dragged in. To put only Julie in, some adjustments to the technique would be necessary.
“Yes. If that’s what you want, I’ll wait.”
“Okay.”
I stepped through the iron gate. Julie’s gaze followed. Was it because of that?
After a sudden thought, I looked back.
“…Hmm? What’s wrong, Professor?”
What she just said to me, no, the name she called me by now, the title of professor, which had long been a thing of the past…
…Was it simply my misunderstanding?
Slam-!
As I pondered, the iron door closed, and the light was turned on. A space wider than a sports ground greeted me, with only one single piece of white canvas laid out.
I quietly looked around this wasteful space and observed the flow of mana that the canvas radiated with my Vision.
* * *
Left alone, Julie looked around. However, this iron gate occupied almost all the space in this dark basement, so there wasn’t much to see.
“Hmm….”
Instead, she pulled out a note. It was the paper that the intelligence agent handed over.
[Deculein is dangerous. He’s cooperating with this painting prison from which you escaped, and you’re in danger too. Deculein will take you near the canvas. There, he will try to imprison you again. Get out of there right now. Again, Deculein is dangerous. But we are on your side…]
After reading it, it crumbled into dust. Julie gently nodded.
—What do you think~?
A voice came from somewhere above her. Julie raised her head.
“That’s true~. It’s not a lie~.”
Standing with her feet on the ceiling, Ganesha smiled down at her. Julie asked.
“You mean the note?”
“Yes, ~.”
“…Hmm. Is that so?”
Julie let out a small groan and softly mumbled.
“Yes, I think so too. The Professor seems to be trying to put me back into the canvas.”
Thud-
“Right? Then come with us now. Soon we’ll occupy this place~.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yeah. My adventure team and all the intelligence agency is here. By the way, even Vice-Captain Isaac.”
If those three got together right now, Lia, Leo, Carlos, and Isaac, there would be no escaping. All because of the witness named Julie.
Ganesha smirked.
“But, how did you come out~?”
“What do you mean? From inside the painting prison?”
“Yes, ~.”
Looking at Ganesha with a smile, Julie responded.
“I didn’t.”
“Yeah?”
“This is a secret to the Professor, but I am a doll.”
A doll. Ganesha hesitated for a moment, but then she snapped her fingers.
“…Oh, you connected only your consciousness to a doll from that prison, right?”
“It’s similar, but no.”
But Julie shook her head. Ganesha squinted.
“I never went into that prison.”
She had never been inside the painting prison. Therefore, she never came out.
“What…?”
To the bewildered Ganesha, Julie explained as if it were too natural.
“I’m Julie, Captain Ganesha.”
* * *
“…Is it about ten days?”
I analyzed Epherene’s canvas and grasped the will of the mana emitted from it.
Ten days left. In ten days, this canvas would absorb everyone on this continent. All lives would be imprisoned inside the painting. To be precise, they would be preserved. During those ten days, my goal was to spread as many canvases as possible across the continent.
To prevent this one from being destroyed, prevent its magic from being destroyed, and oppose the Floating Island and the Altar.
Swooosh—!
A sharp flash of lightning surged through my heart.
Crack—
The Snowflake Obsidian reacted before me to freeze the beam. I defended against the attack, but the load on my body was extreme. The opponent was just that strong.
“…Isaac.”
Isaac, the vice commander of the Imperial Knights. He was dressed in a robe, looking at me from the shadows.
“Deculein.”
He imbued his sword with mana.
“You are trying to destroy the continent and Empire now.”
“…”
“Is it because of your ex-fiancée? Or is it because of Julie?”
I activated the Snowflake Obsidian. Isaac looked at it and laughed.
“Did you decide to hate the continent after losing your love? Is it only because of that that you want to betray Her Majesty and destroy the continent?”
Whooooosh…
Isaac’s sword energy drew a line through the air as he took his stance.
“I cannot tolerate you behaving like this.”
Isaac considered me a traitor of the highest treason. He was sure I was a villain who deserved to die. If so, now was the time to tie the knot on the main quest.
“…Ugh!”
Isaac took a breath. At the same time, his sword stretched out. In a moment that couldn’t be expressed in time, the sword and the mana it contained shot out like a snake.
It was caught in the pure white air rushing in from elsewhere and froze.
“…?”
Isaac’s eyes widened.
Snap—
I snapped my fingers. Then, the canvas activated, pulling Isaac in.
“Aaaaaah-!”
Isaac disappeared into the blank paper. I watched the intruder leave, then looked back to confirm the person’s identity who blocked Isaac’s sword.
“…Professor.”
She was the one who called me Professor. The knight who called me Professor. The woman who called me Professor.
Therefore, she was the one I loved.
“…Julie.”
She smiled.
“Yes. Is that the canvas?”
She pointed to the paper that Isaac was sucked into.
I nodded.
“…Is that so? If that’s the case, then maybe I’m in there. Now, they will be looking at us with my eyes.”
Julie said. Hearing that, I knew who she was.
There was no need for Understanding.
“…You.”
“Yes. It’s me.”
Deculein’s heart reacted. To be specific, it sank.
“Professor.”
Professor… I remained silent.
“Now, I have borrowed a doll’s body, and the medium connecting my consciousness is the diary.”
The diary Julie had written before she threw away all her memories. Now those memories were returning…
