***
The entrance to Lergo Village.
Late at night, past midnight, Liselotte sat in the carriage and checked the letter Taebon had sent once again.
At dawn yesterday, she had received word from him in the name of the Magic Tower.
[This is Taebon.
The Tower Master is currently in tears, so I am writing in his stead.
Tomorrow at dawn, at the time when the moon touches the stars, we will meet at the entrance to Lergo Village.]
It was clearly paper of the same material as the one previously sent from the Magic Tower, but unlike before, there were no traces of tears to be found.
Looking at the time written like a cipher, Liselotte scrunched the bridge of her nose.
“If it hadn’t been for Hedmilton, I might have waited the entire dawn like an idiot.”
Liselotte quietly gazed at the scenery outside the carriage.
The Lergo Village visible beyond the window was modest yet bright.
Even at such a late hour, various spots were brightly lit by glowing magic stones, and the voices of people enjoying themselves noisily drifted faintly on the wind.
“It’s practically a festival atmosphere.”
Lergo Village seemed to have a well-developed night market.
Perhaps because it was close to the Magic Tower, magic tools weren’t an uncommon sight.
There were no high-priced magic tools, but it looked more than sufficient for living comfortably while enjoying life.
“I was told it was a small village. Unexpected.”
While she was quietly watching the scene, tap tap, someone knocked on the window.
“It’s almost time for the appointment.”
Eren, dressed more simply than usual, lightly nodded to let her know the time.
Since she had heard that the Tower Master liked people who looked neither overly dressed up nor completely plain, Liselotte was also wearing a lighter dress than usual.
She wore almost no jewelry, and the overall lightness felt so pronounced that it was slightly awkward.
Click. As the carriage door opened and she saw Eren extending his hand, she asked,
“Do you know what kind of person the Tower Master is?”
“I’ve heard he’s held the position of Tower Master for several hundred years. I don’t know his exact age. I think of him as a frail old man.”
The Magic Tower was a neutral zone, a place no region could interfere with.
And yet he had remained its master for several hundred years.
After getting down from the carriage with Eren’s escort, Ail approached holding documents.
“I hear that in Lergo Village, you can see the brightest moon around two in the morning. The villagers apparently call that moment ‘when the moon touches the stars’.”
At the entrance, Hedmilton was standing blankly, waiting to greet Commander Taebon.
Lifting her head to look at the sky, the moon appeared unusually large and bright.
As she was gazing at the sight in fascination, Eren’s voice rang out.
“Looks like they’ve arrived.”
Following his gaze and turning her head, a well-built man walked out from the village.
Seeing him, Hedmilton greeted him cheerfully in recognition.
“Commander! It’s been a while.”
“Yes. And where are they?”
“They’re over there.”
At Taebon’s rather taciturn question, Hedmilton promptly guided him.
Taebon, who had a long scar running from his jaw to his cheek, looked somewhat intimidating at first glance.
He was not physically as massive as the people of the North, but there was a strangely solid feeling about him that seemed to convey years of experience.
“I’m Taebon. I run a small mercenary group. I will guide you to the Magic Tower.”
After that, silence settled in.
They simply stood there without moving.
Keeping quiet and reading the room for thirty seconds.
Unable to wait any longer, Liselotte rolled her eyes and lightly nudged Hedmilton.
“When are we going?”
“Now.”
No sooner had he answered than a bright magic circle was rapidly inscribed beneath their feet.
Then—flash. Light filled her entire field of vision.
Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, Liselotte instinctively clung to Eren’s arm.
When she opened her eyes again, a dizzying room came into view.
Items that looked like magic tools, magic stones, and sheets of paper covered in illegible scrawls were scattered messily across the floor.
The high ceiling and the narrow arched windows ahead filled an entire wall.
Through the windows, the night view of Lergo Village spread out at a glance.
It looked as if a Milky Way were flowing across the night sky.
And standing before it all was a man with silver hair so long it brushed the floor, staring at them with eyes wet with tears.
Liselotte let out an exclamation of admiration without realizing it.
“Wow, he’s incredibly beautiful…”
With a slender build, the man had long eyelashes and violet eyes.
His skin was smooth as well, and at a glance, he was so beautiful that she almost thought he might be an angel.
The moment his eyes met Liselotte’s.
He suddenly burst into tears, looking utterly pitiful.
“Sniff… There are so many people… You didn’t say anything about this, Taebon.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than magic circles spread beneath the feet of Ail, Hedmilton, and Eren.
Whoosh—unlike Eren, who quickly grabbed Liselotte by the waist and dodged, the two aides found themselves trapped in a cage-like prison set in the corner of the room.
Startled, Liselotte raised one hand and cried out.
“They are my and His Highness the Grand Duke’s aides. We didn’t come here to harm you!”
Even in the midst of this, Hedmilton settled himself inside the cage with a bright, carefree expression.
He even rummaged at his waist to take out the bread he had prepared in advance, chewing as he blinked.
“It’s fine. We negotiated in a cage last time too, so I’m used to it.”
Ail, who had quickly grasped the situation, also smiled broadly as usual.
“As long as His Highness is free, that is all that matters. Please call us when you need us.”
They even had the leisure to reach out to each other inside the cage and pass bread back and forth.
Taebon took this situation as a matter of course.
“So that’s how it is. Shall we talk?”
She had thought he was no ordinary person, but to this extent—
Unable to help herself, she nodded amid the tension, and Taebon, as if accustomed to this, gently admonished Virki.
“Virki. You should greet them. You’re making Her Highness uncomfortable.”
Virki turned his head toward her with a pure, delicate look.
Wiping away the tears that kept rolling down like dew with his robe sleeve, he whimpered.
“Sniff… you just keep nagging, Taebon… If you were going to run away from the East, you should have done it earlier…”
So that was why the letter had been so smudged with tear stains.
The reason it had been hard to find Taebon’s residence seemed to be that the Magic Tower had erased the traces.
Unable to stand it any longer, Eren asked Taebon bluntly.
“With things like this, can we even have a conversation?”
“Waaah, sniff… How can you say something like that to me…!”
No sooner had Eren finished speaking than tears poured from Virki’s eyes like a waterfall.
As if this were everyday business, Taebon replied calmly.
“It would be better to speak gently. He’s someone who takes great emotional wounds.”
Liselotte put on as bright and gentle a smile as she could.
Only then did Virki blink his tear-soaked eyes and look at her.
After checking even her attire, he asked in a watery voice.
“Are you not going to order me around and act rude? Come to think of it, your clothes are a bit different from the other nobles’.”
‘Hedmilton, you were right!’
Perhaps because the effect of dressing as modestly as possible had worked, Virki slowly let down his guard.
But he still looked at Eren with teary eyes, as if frightened.
As a result, Eren’s grim expression grew even sharper.
As Liselotte stepped in front of Eren, blocking him with her whole body, he quietly asked,
“Do you think that makes me invisible?”
“At least it helps dispersing your gaze downward.”
Clenching her teeth behind a smiling face, Liselotte whispered, then, as if nothing had happened, gently asked Virki again.
“We agreed to discuss your contract in our letters. Do you remember?”
“Ah, I remember. Taebon read it and then told me about it.”
It seemed the claim that he didn’t even read letters himself was true.
She broke into a bright smile and raised her voice by a tone to appear gentle.
“I heard it was a contract that would be terminated if Commander Taebon left. Did a problem come up?”
Virki, covering half his face with his long sleeve, stared fixedly at Liselotte with moist eyes, then muttered in a small voice.
“When it was renewed, a clause I’d never seen before was added to the contract…”
“What kind of nonsense is th—”
Just as she was about to let loose a harsh remark, she caught sight of Virki’s tearful eyes and quickly spread a bright smile.
“My goodness, those awful Gloria people!”
‘Haha, this feels like dealing with a child.’
Perhaps because the gentle words had an effect, Virki finally wiped his wet eyes with his sleeve, swiping at them repeatedly.
E
