Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
The ticking of the second hand echoed through the room.
The fresh morning breeze stirred the curtains inside the pilgrims’ quarters.
'...What in the world.'
Mel, a cardinal of the order and one of Luciano’s subordinates, frowned deeply.
His gaze was fixed on the unbelievable scene unfolding right before his eyes.
"Uwaaaaaah, I don’t wannaaaa! Tie hates this!"
A body sprawled across the bed.
Tiny fists clenched tightly.
Even both legs kicked nonstop through the air.
"...Commander? We’re going to be late. Hey, we seriously have to go now!"
"I won’t go! Brother Bale is a poophead idiot! If there aren’t pink clothes, Tie’s not gooooing!"
In the end, a heavy sigh escaped Mel’s mouth.
'So this is what His Holiness meant?'
Last night.
He recalled the words Luciano had spoken to his closest subordinate.
'The King of the Dead has neither schemes nor plans.'
'......'
'She didn’t even possess the intelligence necessary for such things in the first place.'
At the time, Mel had not understood what Luciano meant.
Wasn’t the King of the Dead a being the order had monitored more closely than anyone else?
Astie was the mage who had appeared in the forest where the Great Spirit Lucarion vanished.
She displayed unprecedented magic, used dark spells, and raised the dead.
'There are far too many disturbing coincidences for this to be mere chance.'
That was why the order—and Mel himself—had spent all this time racking their brains.
If the King of the Dead and Agavert had behaved like an ordinary force, things never would have escalated this far.
They would have long ago found a suitable excuse and brought them to the Central Continent.
But wherever the King of the Dead went, she gathered allies around herself and rapidly climbed to the very peak of the continent.
Even for the order, it was not easy to casually summon people like that.
'At least the imperial family of Tallocium cooperated, allowing us to use the expedition as an excuse.'
'She was playing family with Valentis.'
What Mel heard from Luciano had shocked him.
The King of the Dead, whom they believed was hiding something enormous, turned out to be nothing more than a clueless four-year-old child.
"Alright, alright. Look, Aunt Ribia brought a pink princess dress. Happy now?!"
"Uwaaaaah! Don’t want it! The shoes are pink too! Piiiiiiink!"
In the end, Mel pressed a hand over one ear.
The priests standing behind him nervously stepped closer.
"It seems after telling His Holiness everything, Your Eminence, she finally relaxed."
A vein bulged on Mel’s temple.
It was good that Astie had confessed everything to Luciano.
But the truth had thrown the entire order into despair.
No, emptiness was probably the more accurate word.
The being who could have become Luciano’s greatest enemy was nothing more than such a tiny child...
'I intend to use this.'
Even in that situation, Luciano had immediately found a new direction.
'I think we should keep her in the Great Temple for now and begin preparations for the consecration.'
Preparations for consecration.
The process of cleansing the victim’s mind and body until they obediently submitted to experimentation.
'What about the rest of the King of the Dead’s subordinates?'
'I need the flesh, not the skin. The scraps can be discarded at the appropriate time.'
Mel immediately began making preparations.
In any case, completing the consecration process required at least several days.
He intended to start with the morning meal.
However—
"I won’t go! Tie’s not going!"
"Haah, I’m seriously going insane...!"
Watching the King of the Dead and her subordinates bickering in front of him, Mel felt a pressure tightening painfully in his chest.
"Your Eminence. What should we do?"
The priests beside him asked again.
But Mel could not answer immediately.
Had anyone ever caused such a pathetic scene inside the temple before?
No, absolutely not.
Everyone knew that behavior like this would immediately earn someone a trip to the execution platform.
'Though this creature truly seems not to know that.'
Mel rubbed his forehead.
Astie had already slid off the bed and was now sprawled across the floor like a starfish.
"I won’t go! Won’t go! Won’t go!"
At last, an irritated grinding sound escaped between Mel’s teeth.
For a brief moment, a dangerous thought crossed his mind.
What if he simply eliminated every member of Agavert right now and dragged the King of the Dead away by force?
But that was impossible.
'Too dangerous.'
Only the King of the Dead herself could use the King of the Dead’s spells.
In other words, no mage with a similar attribute existed anywhere in the world.
Whenever one encountered an unprecedented power, caution was mandatory.
And the remnants of the World Tree had not yet been fully eliminated. Luciano had ordered them not to ignore even the smallest risk.
'So what do we do now...'
As he stood there thinking.
The largest member of Agavert approached Mel.
It was Basto Paerix.
"It seems the commander didn’t sleep well last night. Sometimes she gets like this when she’s tired."
Mel exhaled heavily before snapping back sharply.
"His Holiness is already waiting in the dining hall. Was making him wait not enough? Must you now force him to leave entirely?"
"That sounds a little harsh. We don’t want to fight with Papa either. No matter what, we came here to seize the Central Continent’s magic crystal, and we’ll need to cooperate for a while. Why would we deliberately show this kind of disrespect?"
"Then why—!"
"Because there’s nothing we can do either. If you’re so determined, try persuading the commander yourself."
Mel fell silent, unable to answer.
Basto shrugged and jerked his chin behind him.
"Our commander hid her real age the entire time she worked as a mercenary. That means she spent all that time pretending to be an adult. Now she’s finally found a place where she can relax. Isn’t it natural for her to get a little spoiled?"
After letting out a deep sigh, Basto continued.
"I think she’s simply exhausted. Until she gets proper sleep, she’ll keep whining like this."
Mel squeezed his eyes shut tightly.
He looked as though he wanted to say something, but in the end only muttered:
"Gods..."
Then he turned around.
"...Very well. Then the meeting will be postponed until tonight’s banquet. You should all be grateful for His Holiness’s mercy."
The priests hurried after Mel as he stormed out of the room.
The door shut behind them, and for a while footsteps could still be heard moving down the hallway and stairs.
Only after the entrance door to the pilgrims’ quarters finally closed—
"Uweeeeh... ugh."
Tie, lying sprawled on the floor, slowly pushed herself up.
The squad members who had just been pretending to calm her immediately rushed to the window.
"Mel headed toward the main building. The other two priests went toward the opposite side of the pilgrims’ quarters."
Perhaps the tension had finally eased, because Bale collapsed exhausted into the chair beside the bed.
Tie instantly stopped crying and climbed back onto the mattress.
After personally checking the situation outside the window, the little girl slowly turned around.
Then she raised a thumbs-up high into the air.
"Yaaay, it worked!"
At the sight, Basto could only laugh helplessly.
Tie let out a tired,
"Ahyohyo..."
Then flopped face-first onto the blanket.
"Throwing tantrums is exhausting after all..."
Bale stared at her like he could not believe what he was seeing.
"You’ve got talent, brat. I knew it was all an act, but I still nearly died from how draining it was!"
Tie awkwardly scratched her head.
Soon, Lucarion, Marbas, and Pupu popped out of her little backpack.
"Kkyuut! Kkyuu!"
Pupu happily rubbed its head against Tie’s cheek as if praising her.
Tie smiled proudly while petting Pupu’s head before her eyes suddenly widened.
"Right! I wonder if Papa’s doing okay over there?"
At the moment, Tesetan was inside the building where the Holy Knights were staying.
He had gone to share the updated details of their plan.
That morning, right after the priests came to invite them to breakfast—
Tie had immediately run into the next room and told Papa everything she had seen the previous night.
The underground maze beneath the fountain.
And Elloa’s warning to be careful with the food.
After talking things through, father and daughter reached the same conclusion.
'Luciano is planning something.'
And it was directly connected to meals like breakfast and banquets.
But there was another problem.
'If we keep refusing, Luciano will also realize something’s wrong.'
They could not reject Luciano’s invitations forever.
Father and daughter had racked their brains trying to come up with a solution.
And at that moment—
'How about we go back there again tonight?'
Lucarion cut in.
'Let’s take some of that drug from the storage room.'
'The drug?'
'Yeah. If we analyze the ingredients, we might be able to create an antidote.'
