“Arsian is here?”
He must have come because of Rio, right?
Camilla, jumping to conclusions, immediately pushed herself up.
Rumors that the Duke of Sorpel was searching for a child had spread far and wide in just one day.
The House of Sephra would have heard as well, so it was obvious Arsian had learned that what happened to Rio was not an adoption but a kidnapping.
“He’s been shown to the parlor.”
“Got it.”
Letting out a short sigh, Camilla started walking toward where Arsian was waiting.
SLAM!
“Arsi—!”
She flung the parlor door open and stepped in—and then simply stared, her mouth falling open.
“Big Sis!”
It wasn’t just Arsian in there.
“Rio.”
The child running straight at her—was Rio himself.
****
“Ugh... mm.”
Pat pat.
Camilla lightly patted the chest of the whimpering child. Maybe it was because he’d been through so much in just one day; as soon as he was washed, he fell asleep.
She looked down at the sleeping child for a long time without a word.
It had been such a short time. They barely had any real connection—so when had she gotten this attached?
When she heard he had disappeared, she’d felt a kind of impatience she hadn’t felt in a long while.
“Good grief.”
This is why I hate the young and weak.
They get under your skin way too easily.
[Gyuu?]
King, the Guardian perched on her shoulder, lightly licked Camilla’s face as she sighed.
In the end, she let out a faint laugh and set King down beside the child.
“Keep watch.”
[Gyuu!]
Leaving King behind, answering brightly as if he understood, Camilla quietly stepped out of the room.
Clack.
“The brat asleep?”
“Yeah.”
As she came out, Arsian, who had been waiting outside the door, walked over. To get some air, Camilla headed out with him.
“What happened?”
A little later, sitting on a bench in the garden, Camilla threw the question at Arsian as he sat down beside her. There was so much she wanted to ask.
“How did you find Rio?”
She still hadn’t heard anything. Taking care of the child, who had gone through something terrible, had come first; she’d had no mind left to ask.
“I put a tracking spell on him.”
“A tracking spell?”
“Yeah.”
Why, though?
“You’re not going to tell me you knew something like this was going to happen, are you?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“I just [N O V E L I G H T] made a few preparations.”
Arsian explained lightly, as if it were nothing. It was something he had done after the fake Rania incident.
When he’d realized Camilla had vanished back then, he’d bitterly regretted not having put a tracking spell on her in advance.
She had made it back unharmed, but there was no law saying the same thing couldn’t happen again.
“You put a tracking spell on me too?”
“Yeah.”
While he was at it, he’d also put tracking spells on a few people around her.
“People around me? Just how many—”
“Pretty much just Laila.”
“Laila? Seriously?”
“She’s the only one who really counts as ‘someone around you,’ isn’t she?”
“......”
Annoying. Why is it that I never manage to argue back when he says things like this?
“There was no need to bother with your family. If anything, it’s the idiots trying to kidnap them that ought to be worried.”
No moron would lay a hand on the Master or the Magic Tower’s prized disciple.
“That may be true, but... why Rio?”
He wasn’t family, and he didn’t exactly have any special connection with Arsian, did he?
“Well, because you...”
“Me?”
“...Forget it.”
Arsian gave a small shake of his head. Did she really not realize what kind of eyes she’d been turning on Rio, on that kid?
Whenever they went to the orphanage, it was easy to see her gaze drifting over to Rio before she knew it.
That look in her eyes had been warm enough to make him jealous.
Outwardly, she grumbled, but she had never once refused even the smallest request the child made.
And after all that?
And she was asking why he did it for Rio? Had she already forgotten how she’d bolted home the moment she heard the boy had been adopted?
Arsian genuinely felt relieved he had put a tracking spell on Rio.
“Where were they taking the kid?”
“To an underground prison.”
“...A prison?”
The place the tracking spell had led him to was a fairly large underground prison.
“Rio wasn’t the only one there.”
Dozens of children of about the same age were locked up together in that underground prison.
“They’d all been adopted and then dragged there.”
“All of them?”
“Yeah.”
She’d more or less expected it, but were they really siphoning off children from the orphanages on a regular basis?
“Were there only children there?”
“There were a few guards.”
“And them?”
“They’re dead.”
“What?”
“Before you ask, I wasn’t the one who killed them.”
Arsian had already heard the rough outline from Camilla about the fake Rania and the organization she’d belonged to. About the ones who switched out souls.
So he’d planned to interrogate the ones who kidnapped the children properly—but before he could hear any answers, they had all taken their own lives.
“All I managed to get was that the place was a midpoint where they gathered the children.”
The underground prison Arsian found was not their final destination. When he realized that, he’d felt a flicker of regret.
Would it have been better to watch a bit longer and wait until the children reached the final location?
But when he saw Rio trembling in terror and crying, he hadn’t been able to think of anything else.
As soon as he subdued the enemies, he picked up the crying child.
“Big Brother! Uu... uwaaah!”
At first, the boy’s whole body had just shaken at the sudden situation, but the moment he recognized Arsian’s face, he clung around his neck and burst into loud sobs.
He hadn’t found the enemies’ main base, but seeing Rio like that, he’d felt he’d done the right thing by stepping in immediately.
“What about the other kids?”
“They’re being dealt with right now.”
After seeing all the kidnappers take their own lives, Arsian had gone straight to the nearest watch post and reported it.
With the heir of the House of Sephra personally involved, the watch had dropped everything else to focus on this case.
“They’ll all be sent back to where they came from soon.”
The moment he’d confirmed the children were being moved to a safe place, he’d rushed here with Rio.
“Haah.”
A long breath slipped out of Camilla after she heard everything.
“A tracking spell, huh.”
At the small voice of hers, muttered almost to herself, Arsian flinched without meaning to.
It bothered him a little that he’d cast magic on others however he pleased without asking.
“About that, the reason I didn’t tell you beforehand was...”
“Arsian.”
“Fine! I’ll erase all the tracking spells I put on anyone else. But the one on you—”
“Thank you.”
“...Huh?”
“You worked hard.”
If Arsian hadn’t put a tracking spell on Rio, what on earth would they have done? Just imagining it made her feel faint.
If not for him, she would still be stomping her feet right now, searching for Rio.
Maybe...
Maybe she never would have seen the child again. Maybe she would have ended up facing a child with some other spirit inside his body, like Rania and Dennis.
Just the thought of it was horrifying.
“Haah.”
Nothing else mattered. She didn’t care that they hadn’t found the enemies’ main base; she wasn’t even remotely curious who those people were.
Right now, the single fact that the child—Rio—had come back safely was enough.
“Everyone else will hear about it soon.”
Looking awkward at being thanked, he changed the subject.
“The investigation into the ones who kidnapped the children will keep going.”
“Yeah.”
“The adoption procedures are going to get a lot stricter, too.”
“Right.”
“Their goal—”
Slide.
Arsian’s words cut off for a moment at the small weight that suddenly settled on his shoulder.
“......”
No wonder her voice had sounded a little drowsy just now.
Arsian let out a short sigh as he looked at her—she’d fallen asleep, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“Ha.”
She really can sleep anywhere.
Should I take her back to her room?
Arsian stared silently for a moment at her soft, even breathing, then shifted just a little lower so she could rest against him more comfortably.
This much of a reward should be fine.
He decided he would just enjoy this time for a little while.
*****
“So the House of Sephra has moved.”
“The one who rescued the children this time is the son of the Duke of Sephra.”
In a space steeped in thick darkness, there was only a single faint light.
A man knelt toward the voice coming from within that darkness, his forehead dipping repeatedly toward the floor.
Priest Daniel—everything he had led recently had gone wrong, and cold sweat was running down his entire body.
“One of the children had a tracking spell on them.”
“So someone out there has an inkling of our movements.”
“I am sorry.”
The voice from within the darkness was still so calm that no emotion could be felt from it at all, but Daniel bowed his head even lower.
“It will be harder to secure materials.”
“It would seem so...”
Because of this incident, the adoption procedures for orphanage children had become extremely strict.
Under the leadership of the three ducal houses, a sweeping investigation into all orphanages had begun, and everyone was currently holding their breath.
“I hear the infiltration into the House of Sorpel failed as well.”
“My apologies.”
At the mention of Rania, Priest Daniel’s face went even paler.
It was something they had prepared for a long time. For it to end in such a pathetic way left even him dumbfounded.
He had picked someone from among the believers who was fairly skilled at handling people and put them into that body...
Tsk.
And she had been found out immediately.
Without properly receiving his permission, she had acted alone, seized Camilla, and then ruined everything by pretending to be her.
She had probably grown impatient after so many failures. It seemed like she had wanted to achieve something on her own and jumped into it, but it had been the height of foolishness.
“Everyone would do well to keep their heads down for a while.”
“But...”
“If there are no loose tails to be caught, things will quiet down soon enough.”
“The believers’ backlash will be great.”
“Hmmm.”
“Especially the backlash from those who are about to receive a new life...”
“If they want to live, tell them to secure their own materials. The Order will no longer procure materials for them.”
“Understood.”
Daniel bowed low once again, and soon, no more voice came from within the darkness.
*****
“Are you really sure about this?”
The Duke of Sorpel asked, sounding worried.
“About what?”
“That child.”
Only then did Camilla realize what he was talking about.
“Of all places, his house?”
He kept clicking his tongue over and over as he spoke.
