Chapter 111

At the calm question, Aisha’s face visibly turned pale.

“...Yes.”

“You didn’t tell me because...”

“Because I thought you’d be hurt....”

Half of the time he had once loved enough to stake his life on had been a lie.

It was an emotion Calypse had already experienced because of Ariana, but when the image of his eldest son smiling at him surfaced unconsciously, his chest tightened.

Calypse spent a long time choosing his words.

Then, so Aisha would not be frightened, he reached out as gently as possible, stroked her round cheek, and asked,

“Lucas is an ordinary child, right?”

“Yes. He really loves House Kreutz and Father.”

Lucas had admired House Kreutz so deeply from childhood that Ariana had been unable to brainwash him.

It was a fact only Aisha, who knew the original story, was aware of.

“I see.”

At least one of them had been real.

And so was the child in his arms now.

“Then that’s enough. Cedric... once this situation is over, I’ll...”

His lips closed before he could finish.

Find him? And then what? What will I do once I find him?

Am I going to stand there helplessly again, just like when I met Ariana and couldn’t do anything?

It felt as though a massive lump of poison were lodged in his throat.

Trying to clear away the distracting thoughts, Calypse deliberately changed the subject.

What he needed to focus on now was this war and his daughter.

“Anyway, Aisha. Do you know where that potion is?”

“It’s at the Kreutz ducal castle. We need to take the portal, but...”

“We can just go. What’s the problem?”

Calypse looked puzzled when the child, who had been so proactive until now, suddenly seemed hesitant.

Aisha carefully asked,

“I was wondering if it’s okay for me to go alone. Don’t you need to hurry back?”

Ah.

Of course that wasn’t acceptable.

But if he went all the way to the ducal castle with Aisha, there was no telling what might happen here while he was gone.

After thinking for a moment, Calypse remembered someone.

“Then I’ll ask someone else to take you.”

“Someone else...?”

Perfect timing.

Calypse’s gaze shifted toward the open window, and the child who had been staring blankly at him turned her head as well.

Then—

“Give me my daughter!”

An old man who stood nearly a head taller than the other knights stormed through the castle gates with a thunderous roar.

One of Argen’s knights was sent flying, unable to withstand his strength.

“Where is Queen Grace?!”

At the booming voice that sounded more like a furious command, one knight hurried over to him.

They had reportedly succeeded in reaching the Queen’s palace, and now Marquis Schletz and his knights had pushed onward with their momentum all the way to the King’s palace where Argen was.

“Q-Queen Grace is currently in a standoff with King Argen’s side. Duke Kreutz also seems to be there.”

“What? A standoff?! Why?!”

“W-Well... we succeeded in retaking the Queen’s palace, but during the process, k-knights on Argen’s side abducted Queen Grace...”

“Aaaaargh!”

The father who had only just learned his daughter had been abducted roared with rage.

Looking down at the scene, Calypse asked,

“Wouldn’t that old man be more dependable than Father?”

“Yesno.”

“Hm?”

“Yes. No. Yes. N-no.”

Aisha stumbled over her words.

Calypse looked puzzled for a moment, but when he saw the child opening and closing her mouth with a slightly dazed expression before obediently nodding, he nodded back.

***

A short while later.

“Aaaaaah!”

Swing, swing—

Every time the enormous old man took a step, I flapped wildly from where I was dangling off his arm.

“Out of the way! The evidence that can save my daughter is right here!”

“Aaagh!”

Apparently interpreting a small child’s scream as an excited cheer, Marquis Schletz simply kept walking with a delighted expression.

Compared to being held by Father, this was much more dangerous, much more uncomfortable, and much more terrifying, but...

We reached the portal quickly without anyone getting in our way.

***

Meanwhile, at that same time.

The north.

The Fourth Castle, the one farthest from the main castle of the Kreutz ducal estate.

Its underground prison could easily hold a hundred grown men, but nobles who were difficult to incarcerate were placed in rooms on the ground floor.

After receiving Calypse’s message, Knox opened the door to one such room.

“...Assistant Knox?”

The boy sitting on the bed anxiously rose to his feet.

It was a comfortable room with a thick carpet, warm bedding, and a tea table.

Even so, Tex looked haggard, as though he had been trembling in an ice-cold room.

Of course someone who had lived as the only son of a marquis could hardly be satisfied with such surroundings.

That was the entire point of the room.

“Can you use ice power?”

Knox went straight to the point without so much as a greeting.

Tex asked nervously,

“...Why? If I have a power... will you let me go?”

“No.”

“.......”

“I asked whether you have it.”

When Knox raised his gaze and met his eyes—

“.......”

For some reason, Tex could not answer. He shrank back and lowered his gaze.

That tells me roughly what I need to know.

Knox’s eyes narrowed as he observed him sharply.

[King Argen claims he reproduced ice power using magic. Question Tex about the source of the power.]

Calypse had not believed the shocking claim that King Argen had created ice power, and Knox had been suspicious as well.

There clearly seemed to be some connection between that and a power user appearing in a branch line.

“I... don’t have a power.”

“Right. I thought so. What, did you use magic to create some kind of illusion? You would’ve needed to draw a magical formula. When did you pull something like that at the ducal castle?”

“I didn’t use magic. I drank a potion.”

“What?”

Tex spoke while trembling. ℯℯ𝘭.

Knox raised one eyebrow as though he had misheard him.

“A-A potion.”

“A potion?”

“Yes....”

“...You drank a potion and then you could use a power?”

Was it some kind of magic potion?

But a potion with an effect like that?

He had never heard of such a thing.

“Y-Yes. H-Hic.”

Unable to withstand the pressure, the boy burst into tears.

He had already been confined here for months.

He resented being here because of his father’s crimes, and he missed his mother.

Knox did not particularly care.

He coldly asked his next question.

“So you originally had no power at all?”

“...Y-Yes.... If I d-drank that potion, I could use ice power for several days. That’s how I pretended to be a power user.”

After speaking without any lies, the boy sniffled again.

Knox watched him, then rubbed his forehead, his head aching.

I knew it. There was no way ice power users would suddenly start appearing this easily.

He had thought something was strange from the moment the unexpected emergency message arrived.

Creating a power with magic? The people who fell for something like that are unbelievable too.

Power was called a gift from the gods.

No matter how exceptional a mage was, they could not even create an ice cube without drawing a formula, yet someone claimed they could permanently grant a power.

Of course he had been suspicious.

And sure enough, something had been concealed.

So taking a drug allows someone to manifest a power for a limited time.

After thinking for a while, Knox adjusted his monocle and stood.

For now, he needed to report this to Calypse.

They would have to continue investigating where the drug was and how it had been made.

“Understood for now. Good work.”

He was about to leave the room when—

“What happens to me now?”

Tex’s tearful question came from behind him.

An ordinary person might have felt sorry for the boy, but Knox had never been the type to grow particularly attached to people in the first place, so he answered without much thought.

“What do you mean, what happens? You impersonated an ice power user, so you’ll have to serve a sentence for impersonation.”

He was planning to close the door and leave before the boy could start whining again.

“...What if I testify at the trial?”

“Hm?”

Tex suddenly grabbed his sleeve.

“You said there’s no evidence! If I testify, will you reduce my sentence?”

The boy, who had been on the verge of tears, soon shrieked again, begging to at least be allowed to see his mother.

“...Well, whether it’s a witness or anything else, having something would be better than nothing... but things outside are such a mess right now that I don’t know if we can even put you through the portal...”

That was when—

“Knox!”

A knight suddenly threw open the door and rushed inside.

“The p-portal has suddenly activated.”

“What? Isn’t the capital under wartime conditions right now?”

Who would come north at a time this urgent?

“That’s why we’ve taken defensive positions, but... I think you should come check as well.”

One problem after another.

“For now... keep watch here.”

“Yes!”

Knox removed his monocle, left Tex with the knight, and hurried toward the portal.

Sure enough, just as the knight had said, blue light began wavering around the distant portal as though something were being detected.

Soon, the light gathered into an enormous, hulking silhouette.

...A snowman?

It was so huge that it reminded him of a legendary monster.

Knox narrowed his eyes and kept walking toward it.

“Where is it?! We need to expose the vile crime of the bastard who cast dark magic on my daughter—!”

At the unexpected roar, blood trickled from Knox’s ear.

That voice...

Marquis Schletz?

“Why is he...”

Stunned by the Marquis’s sudden appearance, Knox hastily stuffed a handkerchief against his ear and stared with his mouth hanging open.

“Over there! We need to get inside the main castle!”

Aisha, perched high on the Marquis’s shoulder, pointed toward the main castle with a valiant expression.

“That way? Fine! We’re going there, so everyone move aside—!”

Marquis Schletz unleashed another furious roar and began charging toward the castle with thunderous steps.

And a short while later—

“Everyone move!!”

Less than five minutes later, the old man came charging back out of the castle with the child slung over his shoulder.

“Aaagh—.”

Something was clutched in Aisha’s arms as she bounced around with a short scream.

A blue potion.

...A potion?

Knox was quick-witted.

If they had taken the portal all the way here despite the capital being in a state of war, then that potion had to be extremely important.

And if there was any potion worth retrieving at a time like this...

“Bring Tex.”

“Yes.”

Knox urgently ordered the knight, then threw his entire body in front of Marquis Schletz to block his path.

“Marquis. If you’re taking the potion, take the witness too.”

There was nothing to lose by trying.