Aileen silently glared at Commander Lutus.
He, who always maintained a neat appearance befitting the Commander of the Royal Guard, was dressed now as though he had stepped out for a casual stroll.
Even the bread bag in one hand supported that impression.
Anyone who saw him might think he was a local stopping by the bakery on the way home from work.
But Aileen wasn’t fooled by appearances.
‘The Commander of the Royal Guard, who never leaves the imperial castle, here in Rederbelk? And dressed like this?’
The very fact that he’d changed into casual clothes was almost laughable.
Lutus Wardot’s build was so imposing that he stood out no matter what he wore.
In fact, even passersby on the street kept sneaking glances at him, as if sensing an indefinable aura of intimidation.
‘He’s not even trying to hide.’
If he wished, Commander Lutus could make his presence vanish completely even in a crowd.
It was precisely because he could do that, despite such a physique, that he had reached the pinnacle among knights.
With an affable smile, Lutus spoke.
“What a coincidence. I never imagined I’d run into Your Highness in a place like this.”
“Commander Lutus. What brings you here?”
“Hm. There are quite a few eyes watching us. Would you care to speak in a quiet café inside?”
At his suggestion, Aileen gave a light nod—
but she did not let her guard down.
Lutus was a man who served the Empire, but he was not under her command.
Strictly speaking, he was a free man—someone who could refuse even the Emperor’s orders if he chose.
Even so, he acted for the sake of the Empire.
Aileen knew his loyalty to the Empire was genuine, but she still found him deeply unsettling.
‘If I think about it... he’s connected to the second one.’
With that thought, she headed toward the back of the café.
Passius followed her inside to provide protection.
Creak.
When Lutus sat, the chair let out a sound.
Seeing that, Lutus chuckled.
“I should tell the owner to get sturdier chairs.”
“What chair in the world could handle your size?”
“Haha. I must be out of touch with civilian life, having stayed in the imperial castle so long.”
“So,”
Aileen got straight to the point.
“What brings you here? Don’t tell me my father sent you?”
“What do you mean by that? I told you, I happened to be passing by.”
“It seems you still remember me as a clueless little child.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, but Lutus kept smiling.
“How could I be so disrespectful?”
“Or are you asking me to believe that? It’s hardly reasonable to call meeting here a coincidence.”
“My, that’s curious. I think Princess Erendir would have believed me.”
At that, a faint crease formed on Aileen’s brow.
“I care for and love my younger sister dearly, but I don’t particularly enjoy being treated the same way as her.”
Passius rolled his eyes and shot Aileen a sidelong glance, as if to say, Then do you really care for her at all?
But Aileen meant it.
She adored her sister, but comparing herself to her scatterbrained sibling crossed a line.
Lutus let out a dry laugh at her bluntness, then wiped the smile from his face.
“For the record, meeting you here really is a coincidence.”
“A coincidence?”
“I’m aware that you’ve recently been spending time with some suspicious individuals.”
Aileen’s lips curled slightly at his pointed remark.
“But that’s your freedom, and I have no business interfering. However, if the people you’ve been meeting are those whose identities are hard to pin down in the Empire, I can’t simply ignore it.”
His reason for coming to Royal Street was simple.
“I came to confirm something. To see for myself whether they are a threat to the Empire or not.”
Lutus was not the type to blindly believe a report.
He needed to see things with his own eyes before making a judgment.
Perhaps it was that mindset and drive that had brought him to his current position.
At the mention of him taking action, Aileen felt a flicker of unease—though she showed none outwardly.
Lutus Wardot was here to find Ludger.
To meet the owner of Royal Street—and he also knew about Owens.
If those two met, what would happen?
No matter how she turned it over in her mind, she couldn’t imagine it ending peacefully.
At the very least, there would be a violent clash. And from there, the outcome would be unpredictable.
Ludger and his subordinates were strong, but they couldn’t match Lutus.
“You don’t need to make any judgment. I’m handling this matter well.”
She stressed that they were under her influence, but the man in question clearly didn’t believe her.
“Surely Your Highness knows my temperament by now. I judge only what I have seen with my own eyes.”
“...So you don’t believe me?”
“I take Your Highness’s words deeply to heart. And that’s why I must confirm them myself.”
Aileen started to say more but stopped.
Anything she said now would only deepen his suspicion.
Satisfied with her silence, Lutus nodded.
“Then I’ll take my leave. Don’t stay out too long, Your Highness, and return early.”
With that, he left the café.
Not a sound accompanied his footsteps.
“What will you do?”
Passius watched him go.
If they didn’t stop him now, Ludger’s group could end up in a serious fight.
“If I ordered you to stop him, could you?”
“...I wonder.”
Though he said that, Passius had known his answer for a while.
He couldn’t win.
No matter what he tried, he couldn’t imagine a future where he defeated Lutus.
So much for thinking I’d made progress this time.
Lutus still felt like an insurmountable wall.
More than that, there had been the way Lutus glanced at him while speaking to Aileen.
He knew I’d grown stronger.
Fight someone who could read him that clearly?
That would be suicide.
“Still, if you gave the order, I’d obey. That’s why I exist.”
“...Hmph.”
Aileen scoffed—not because of his flattery, but to dissuade him from attempting to stop Lutus.
“No need to worry. There’s nothing we can do here anyway.”
“In that case...”
“For now, we watch.”
“Are you sure?”
“And if I’m not? That man isn’t someone who’ll go down easily.”
Above all, her instincts told her—
Nothing catastrophic would happen this time.
Aileen trusted her instincts.
Or maybe she just wanted to.
* * *
Phantos, sent out by Ludger, walked alone down an alley.
It was an empty, quiet area slated for redevelopment.
After his spar with Passius, something had lodged itself in his mind, and this was a good place to work it out.
It was like something tickling at the edge of his thoughts.
If he could grasp it, he knew he’d become stronger than before.
But how to grasp it—that was the question.
Just then, his head turned sharply.
Something’s there.
Something that made every hair on his body stand on end.
It was somewhere in Royal Street.
Phantos's body heated, blood rushing faster through his veins. A low growl escaped his throat before he realized it.
It wasn’t the simple fighting spirit of finding a worthy opponent.
It was more like when he’d faced Ludger with crimson eyes—
a mix of competitive thrill, fear, and dread of the unknown.
Phantos chose to accept it rather than deny it.
By clashing with it, he could become stronger.
The problem was—what was this powerful presence trying to do?
As he wondered, it moved.
Fast.
It was heading straight for his alley.
The overwhelming presence closed the distance instantly, arriving before he could react.
“Well, now.”
A breeze blew.
And then, faster than the wind, someone appeared.
Lutus Wardot glanced around before focusing on Phantos, his eyes showing mild surprise.
“I felt a dangerous beast’s presence from afar. I thought it might be the monster that vanished from Jevaudan. But it’s just a beastkin?”
“...”
“No, not just any beastkin. I’ve never heard anyone say I look small, but here we are. What do [N O V E L I G H T] you eat to get that big?”
After his playful banter, Lutus’s gaze sharpened.
“A beastkin of your caliber doesn’t just happen to be wandering an alley like this.”
Every hair on Phantos's body stood on end.
His ears pricked, muscles tensed.
Meanwhile, Lutus stroked his chin, thinking aloud.
“You must be directly connected to the person who built this street.”
In that case, the answer was clear.
“I’d like to ask where your base is, but...”
Lutus smirked.
“You clearly have no intention of telling me.”
The next instant—
Boom!
The ground exploded as Phantos launched himself at Lutus.
* * *
“An unusual mana, you say.”
At Ludger’s question, Grander gave him a faintly approving look.
“So you’ve at least picked up a few things somewhere.”
“I learned of it during the trip to the Kasarr Basin. They said that in the distant past, people were more blessed with mana than they are now.”
“And you’re asking me because I might know something?”
“As far as I know, there’s no one alive who’s lived as long as you have, Master.”
At that, Grander made a strange face, then lightly walked over and sat down atop Hans.
Hans flinched at her sudden move, but didn’t budge—he had no idea what she might do if he tried.
Enjoying the feel of the spirit beast’s soft fur, Grander settled herself before speaking.
“Chasing the traces of that mana—are you still holding on to the past?”
“...”
Ludger didn’t answer.
But that was enough for Grander, who shook her head as if in exasperation.
“Your stubbornness hasn’t changed one bit. You wouldn’t listen even if I tried to stop you.”
“So, do you know?”
“Even now, unusual mana exists. Black mages have it, and the spells you label as ‘special’ do too. Do they look like something you could just teach and learn?”
“Meaning, in the past, there was even more unusual mana than now.”
“Yes. It’s such a distant memory now that I can’t recall precisely, but there were far more blessings back then.”
Blessings.
The word stuck with Ludger.
“So not anymore.”
“You know it yourself. Magic has become more calculated and revolutionary, but in turn, the ancient mystery and miracles of mana have faded.”
“You think that’s decline?”
“Not decline—progress is still progress. But, my student, progress must never go in only one direction. Once other paths disappear, even if you later realize it was a mistake and look back, you can never return to what was lost.”
At those words, Hans was quietly impressed.
He had thought she was nothing but selfish, irritable, and lazy.
But speaking with Ludger now, Grander radiated the air of a sage from an ancient tale.
Perhaps this was her true self.
“In that sense, the world today is... alien.”
“In what way?”
“In the past—yes, in the past I remember—the world was not so one-dimensional. It was diverse. An age of legends and myths beyond what people today could even imagine.”
Her voice was tinged with nostalgia, as if recalling a long-lost time.
“But at some point, the world collapsed and changed.”
“What happened?”
“Stars once called gods fell, and beings once called sapient were turned into monsters and driven beyond the mountains.”
Grander called that time—
“The dawn of the Age of Man.”