Chapter 42
I blinked as I stared at Dazar, who had suddenly appeared right beside me.
I tried not to show it, but I was extremely startled. My heart was pounding wildly in my chest. Suppressing the shock, I glared at him.
“What was that about, showing up out of nowhere?”
“What do you think? You weren’t coming back, so I came to get you.”
Did he put some kind of tracking barrier on me or something?
How else would he know exactly where I was…?
‘Ah. Right. That kind of thing wouldn’t work on me anyway.’
My gaze dropped on its own.
Axion was sleeping peacefully, breathing softly. Because he had cried earlier, the skin beneath his eyes was faintly red.
‘Did he do something to Axion?’
A surge of irritation welled up.
He messed with Axion without my permission?
“How did you get here?”
“I’ll explain on the way. Let’s leave first.”
Dazar, who had been sitting with one leg cocked casually over the other, sprang to his feet.
Screeech—the chair scraped roughly backward.
“We’ve just reunited after so long. Do you really need to leave without even greeting me, Dazar?”
At that moment, Morokanil—who had been sitting calmly across from us—spoke in an unhurried voice.
Unlike me, he didn’t look surprised at all, as if he had already known Dazar would appear.
“Tearing open space in the capital, where both the temple and the imperial palace stand… That’s an extremely dangerous act.”
“So? It’s not forbidden.”
“It’s only permitted in emergencies.”
“Ah, sorry. This was an emergency. The person I live with suddenly went missing.”
Dazar shot back with a crooked expression.
A crease formed across Morokanil’s gentle face.
“Live with…?”
Morokanil’s gaze shifted toward me.
Apparently displeased by that, Dazar stepped in front of me, blocking his view.
“Oh? Is our kind Morokanil worried I’ll get sanctioned by the temple? Don’t worry. You didn’t even notice space being torn until after I showed up, right? The others probably haven’t realized anything yet.”
“…You’re as arrogant as ever.”
“And you’re still as disgustingly fake-polite as always.”
Watching the exchange between the two of them, I realized two things.
First: tearing space apart is a sacred magic forbidden except in emergencies, and violating that likely results in restrictions imposed by the temple on Transcendents.
Second: Dazar and Morokanil have terrible chemistry.
‘Weren’t they both Transcendents…?’
They even seemed to have lived as Transcendents together in their past lives. That should make their bond even deeper.
I shrugged as I looked back and forth between the two men, who were glaring at each other like growling beasts.
Whether they got along or not wasn’t my concern.
Axion was all I cared about.
‘First thing when we get back, I need to remove whatever he put on Axion.’
It was probably some kind of tracking spell.
“Um—”
I tried to speak, but Dazar beat me to it.
“So your wandering itch flared up again? I was wondering why you were sticking around the capital. Looks like you’re cooking up something weird again.”
“You usually treat me like a roadside pebble, yet it turns out you’re quite interested in me. Understandable, I suppose.”
Dazar’s eyes narrowed. Morokanil lifted one corner of his lips.
For the first time, a faint sneer crossed his otherwise gentle face.
“I’m the only one in this world who knows your secret.”
“…Hah. Sounds like that goes both ways.”
No.
I wasn’t interested in their sweet little shared secrets.
I just wanted to go home.
“Hey. Excuse me. Hello?”
I adjusted Axion in my arms and stepped between them.
Both men, who had been locked in an intense staring contest, turned their eyes toward me at once.
Wow. That’s intense.
“I get that you two are close and want to chat, but could you consider the third party here?”
“……”
“……”
At the word close, both of them frowned simultaneously, but I ignored it and kept walking.
“If you want to continue bonding, I’ll take my leave. Goodbye.”
I quickly grabbed the bottle of milk prepared for Axion and left the room.
After passing through the extravagant hallway and exiting the tea house, I found Dazar beside me, sulking—somehow having followed me out.
“Why’d you leave me behind?”
“Leave what behind?”
“Me.”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.
“Why should I take you with me? You’re the one who put some weird tracking thing on a baby without permission.”
“…Ah. That.”
Dazar looked faintly guilty.
I turned my back on him and started walking. Evening was settling in, and the air had grown chilly.
Axion might get cold—I needed to get back to the mansion quickly.
“Give him to me.”
Dazar suddenly reached toward Axion in my arms.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you think? You’ve been holding him all day—he must be heavy. Even Vanilla’s tiny but weighs like a rock.”
I stared at his long, elegant fingers stretched out in front of me, then snorted and turned my head away.
“No thanks. As you know, I’ve got arms of steel.”
“Don’t be like that.”
Dazar sighed softly and snapped his fingers.
Axion gently floated up from my arms and drifted into Dazar’s, landing smoothly.
Because the movement was so quiet and stable, Axion continued sleeping soundly.
“Hey—! You just took Axion again without permission—”
“Alright, alright. I’ll remove it. That’s fine, right?”
Dazar replied quickly.
“I didn’t do it on purpose. I had no choice if I wanted to hide what’s in his heart.”
I didn’t know how that connected, but Dazar looked genuinely wronged.
“I didn’t expect to run into Morokanil either. But none of them noticed, right?”
He was talking about Axion’s heart.
Now that I thought about it… just as Dazar had said earlier, no one at the temple had reacted strangely to Axion.
“Yes. They didn’t.”
“Then why were you sitting in a tea house with that guy—”
“Oh! Right!”
Oh no.
I stopped abruptly.
With my hands now free, I quickly reached inside my coat. I felt the pouch tucked into the inner pocket.
The pouch containing Morokanil’s stone.
“You made me forget!”
“What did I do?”
“You give this back next time. You’re both Transcendents, so you’ll see him again, right?”
As I tried to hand him the pouch, Dazar recoiled in horror and stumbled backward.
“No. Absolutely not. I’m never seeing that guy again for the rest of my life.”
“……”
After hastily distancing himself, he turned and walked ahead at a rapid pace.
Watching his back, I let out a long sigh.
When on earth am I supposed to return this?
* * *
After the two of them left the tea house, some time passed before Morokanil also departed.
“Until next time, Lord Morokanil.”
The waiter who exclusively attended him saw him off.
“Thank you again today.”
At Morokanil’s reply, the waiter bowed even deeper, clearly moved.
Leaving him behind, Morokanil headed toward a place he hadn’t been able to visit earlier because of Silia.
Jingle.
“Hello.”
“……”
It was the shop beside the alley where he had met Silia.
The place she had visited while looking for him—
‘Give Me Three Seconds and I’ll Poison Them’.
The interior was as strange as ever.
Used to receiving no response to his greeting, Morokanil tapped his staff against the floor and walked confidently inside.
When he stopped in front of the counter—
Thud.
Something slid out from beneath the door on the other side.
Morokanil unfolded the paper calmly.
—Again?
“Yes. Today as well. Please handle the remaining reservations too.”
—I’m sick of it. I thought maybe something had changed since the next reservation looked interesting.
Morokanil laughed warmly.
“Please bear with me. I’m compensating you generously.”
—Hmph. Fine. Now go.
Morokanil smiled as he opened the carelessly tossed note and placed a pouch of coins on the counter.
The shop was fully booked.
Every reservation had been made by him.
And every single one requested the same thing.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Morokanil picked up the stone on the counter and left the shop.
“Where should I leave it today?”
Imbuing an object with divine power was incredibly difficult, but this stone was saturated with his power.
That was only possible because the shop owner was a dwarf.
“Where should I place it to find her?”
Carrying the stone, Morokanil walked wherever his steps took him.
Since beginning his second life, his days had been devoted entirely to finding one person.
“I wish she’d bring this stone back soon.”
He murmured softly, a faint smile on his lips.
The reason the other Transcendents thought he was a strange wanderer with an odd hobby lay in this stone.
A divine spell had been cast on it—one that caused anyone who possessed it to forget who its owner was.
He deliberately left it behind in public places for people to find.
It was undeniably strange behavior.
But there was one truth no one else knew.
Somewhere in this world existed a person unaffected by any power of this world.
One single person.
The one Morokanil was searching for.
Her.
And only he knew this.
No—more precisely, only he remembered it.
Because someone else had already forgotten.
“This time, the one who stands beside her…”
Morokanil whispered softly.
“…will be me.”
