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“Eh? Suddenly Frederick?”

Camila, who was busy starting a fire, tilted her head in confusion. Given the severe coldwave causing fatalities, people like her, capable of sparking a flame with a bit of effort, were welcomed anywhere in the Northern Regions.

Her alabaster hands swayed gently in the air as a haze began to rise.

Whoosh! Flames burst forth like petals. As the workers around the cavern glanced over at the two, Camila’s face gradually turned an unexpected shade of crimson.

“Hmmm….”

Francesca, who had been standing idly and observing the underground cavern, broke the silence.

“Hero. Do you not feel anything?”

“Eh? Feel what?”

“Yes. Like a sudden chill or a bloated sensation, something like that.”

Camila, distributing the spark to the workers, fell deep into thought. With her arms crossed and casually resting one ankle on the other, she hummed softly, tilting her head to one side with a peculiar expression.

“Now that you mention it, I’ve been feeling a strange vibe for a while.”

“A chilling feeling.”

“Like someone is definitely watching me? You know, that urge to get away from your spot.”

“……”

Upon hearing the response, Francesca cast a glance at the collapsed drainage and then turned her body to trudge away from the scene.

Camila cocked her head and hurriedly followed behind her.

—

Episode 12 – The Strongest Magician in History

“Oh dear. Is it already this late…?”

At the time when the sun was setting toward the west, I sat in the office, reviewing documents, and momentarily set my pen down to gaze out the window at the scenery.

My stiff neck and slumped shoulders. As I rolled my aching wrists, a memory of an uncle I used to see frequently long ago suddenly came to mind.

He’d pack his wallet-sized smartphone case with cards and business cards, sitting in his office with a golf ball massager hanging from his neck. Back then, I couldn’t understand what was so great about it. Nowadays, I often find myself thinking that maybe I should get a massage device.

“Am I getting old…?”

“At 28, you’ve eaten your fair share. Isn’t it about time to worry about high blood pressure?”

“Shut it, Jake.”

Jake, with a look that was hard to believe belonged to a civil servant, approached with a file of documents, smirking. It was the day’s approval paperwork.

I snatched the papers from his hand, glaring at him, and picked up a pen.

“Nothing out of the ordinary today?”

“Oh, plenty happened.”

“What kind of things? Magic Tower? Cult? Or the Empire?”

“It’s the Magicians of the Magic Tower causing a fuss. Take a look at this page.”

—

The report, likely drafted by Pippin and Charnoy, contained information regarding the movements of the Magic Tower’s magicians.

Despite the author’s name being listed as ‘Pippin’, I suspected Charnoy must have collaborated on the report—a hunch that didn’t stem from thin air.

“Hey, who doodled a sunflower on the report?”

“…Ah.”

I pointed at the sunflower drawing on the back page of the report while looking at Jake. The drawings resembled something a five-year-old, with the help of a kindergarten teacher, might scrawl out on paper.

“That’s ridiculous….”

“My apologies. I’ll be more careful next time.”

“Whatever, it’s not worth making a fuss over.”

While the report contained a vast amount of intel, the collated materials were neatly organized.

The recent incidents had agitated the magicians of the Magic Tower. According to the intelligence networks in the Northern Regions and the reports collected by the Information Officer of the Magic Tower, there were serious concerns among the magicians active in the North and high-ranking officials of the Magic Tower regarding the Duke’s approval of the Inquisition’s investigations.

Additionally, the report contained a list of supplies the Magic Tower had prepared to support the Empire and the Cult’s investigative activities and even a list of Magic Tower officials opposed to such support. Not to mention, the former was information I had acquired through Francesca.

“Hmm….”

Looks like the magicians are feeling the heat lately. I had thought all the murder cases were the Cult’s doing, but it turns out the Necromancer was the real culprit all along.

If I were a magician, it would certainly be heart-wrenching, but alas, I am not a magician.

Which means, it’s no concern of mine whether the Magic Tower goes under or survives.

I scribbled my name in the signature space and handed the file back to Jake.

“The Magic Tower will soon have the Oracle come in for internal matters, and the situation concerning the field has been settled with Francesca and Evangelos working together, so that’s done. I know what’s going on with the Cult…. How’s the Military Government Headquarters doing these days?”

“Busy. Everyone’s in a frenzy getting ready to hunt demons.”

The Imperial Ministry of Defense was dead set on eradicating demons. From one perspective, the Ministry was more proactive than even the Cult in taking action.

Resources, manpower, finances, intelligence, and more. The military was pouring every resource it had into the North.

They were even stretching out to foreign nations, aiming to put an end to the disputes with the magical realms in time for the national founding day festivities, so it was no wonder they were in such a frenzy with certain nuisances popping up.

Gathered.

This was the anticipated outcome up to this point. But the content contained in the report was wildly off from my expectations.

“Turn the troops from the center into a rear reserve? No, weren’t they sent to catch demons? Why did they end up in the reserves then?”

“It’s according to Commander Mikhail’s orders.”

“Commander Mikhail?”

“It seems that he’s organizing forces into reserves as much as possible in preparation for any potential issues that may arise either on the front lines or in the rear during demon subjugation. With the recent incidents and last time’s rift attack, we really can’t know when or where something might pop up, can we?”

“Umm…”

It was certainly a reasonable decision.

I scratched my chin with my fingers and nodded.

“Well, if more monsters popped up and there were no troops to respond, that wouldn’t do…”

“Though I’ve heard there are dissenting voices within the military, it seems Commander Mikhail wants to resolve the situation with as little damage as possible.”

“Well, that’s a problem for the Imperial Army to sort out. Anything else?”

“Today, that’s all… Oh, wait.”

As Jake was about to gather the documents as if the report had ended, he suddenly clapped his hands as if recalling something.

“Manager, about that team that was to be dispatched to the Northern Regions.”

“Huh? Oh, I know. Why?”

“Yesterday, I briefly contacted the embassy, and they confirmed that the infiltration was successful.”

“Is that so? That’s a relief.”

“With time constraints and a backlog of tasks, they won’t be able to operate immediately, but it seems they’ll begin their proper duties around New Year’s.”

The operations team that Clevenz mentioned, who were coming from somewhere.

I had no clue who they were or what operation they were assigned, but it was clear that they were keeping an eye on the officials from the Magic Tower Secretariat.

I pulled my sleeves back from inside my coat and casually stated.

“Don’t worry about their matters. They probably won’t even meet us.”

“That’s true. Oh, but Manager, are there any teams going overseas with pets?”

“Pets? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

“While communicating with that team yesterday, I suddenly heard a cat sound through the radio. The meowing was really peculiar, you know?”

“What kind of sound was it?”

Jake tilted his head. He smacked his lips, pondering how to imitate the sound, then suddenly opened his mouth and said.

“Meow.”

It was an odd sound I had never heard before.

What a strange meow.

“Is it a stray cat?”

“Well, it seems so from my perspective.”

*

As people age, they tend to resist change.

Considering that humans are animals that adapt to anything, this is clearly a strange phenomenon, but from a psychological perspective, it doesn’t seem odd at all.

We often say we should actively pursue change, yet in reality, not many people enjoy it.

Change is essentially the act of transforming something, stepping away from the existing life.

Giving up stability always comes with anxiety. Fear and terror are among humanity’s greatest fears. Thus, there aren’t many people who like change.

From that perspective, it’s easy to explain my slightly gloomy mood as well.

In the corridor of the Cathedral, bathed in scarlet sunset. The marble columns gleaming with radiant light.

When I first saw it, I felt a bit uplifted, as if I were facing a relic. However, having spent some time in the cathedral, the initial thrill I felt had long since faded.

Yet, at this moment, that was not the case.

“……”

I crossed the sparsely populated corridor of the cathedral and suddenly paused in my steps.

With the setting sun to my left, I realized that the direction I was headed was closer to the north. The sun from my perspective wasn’t exactly to my left but further back, so it would be more accurate to say I was heading northeast.

The northeastern part of the Cathedral of Saint Basil. A remote place rarely visited even by priests and monks.

In that place, only an old wooden confession booth sat alone.

I opened the door and sat down on the chair. The discomfort from the hard seat was keenly felt, but I didn’t have the luxury to think about that now.

-Creak.

The wooden window of the confession booth opened with a loud sound. Against the backdrop of the soft crimson sunset streaming through the slats of the wooden frame, there sat Lucia with eyes as blue as the sea.

The saint beyond the lattice greeted me with a gentle smile.

“I’ve been waiting.”

 

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