Chapter 91………………………..

By the time the two of them arrived back at Owen’s mansion, time was already running short.

“[Kadiya! Sorry, but can you purify this person and watch over them for a moment? I’ll send friends soon to properly dispel the magic circle. These kids are just our faces right now. Please!]”

Kadiya was stunned by Sierra’s urgent words the moment she opened the door.

“[What?]”

But before she could answer, Sierra had already spun around and quickly moved away.

“Let’s run, Ashur!”

Grabbing Ashur’s hand, Sierra hurried toward the mage tower.

Fortunately, they reached the lab just before the camouflage magic wore off.

Alek, in Sierra’s form, was blushing deeply.

“Hey! Why are you guys so late? That was cutting it close!”

“Ah, sorry!”

Right after they switched back to their original appearances in a corner, Alek immediately dashed outside.

“Heheh.”

Only Theo remained, chuckling softly.

“What’s up with him?”

Even seeing Sierra’s puzzled expression, Theo couldn’t stop laughing.

“Heh. Alek has been making a fuss about needing to go to the bathroom all this time.”

“…Ah.”

They hadn’t considered that physiological factor.

‘I need to be careful when transforming into someone of the opposite sex.’

Adrian, who had transformed into his own appearance without hesitation, suddenly seemed like a very strange person.

“Hmm… this should be the last time, so good job.”

“Not at all. It’s almost resolved now, right?”

“Yeah. But there’s one more thing I want you to check…”

“What is it?”

Sierra took a blank sheet of paper and drew a magic circle.

“Want to take a look at this?”

“What? Weren’t you researching this already? Hmm… it’s a bit different?”

While Theo examined the magic circle, Sierra wrote Owen’s mansion address in a corner of the paper.

“If we can just check this quickly, it should be fine.”

“Ah, got it.”

• “So there’s something at this location? I’ll go right away.”

Theo accepted her request without hesitation.

He then brought over a piece of paper lying nearby and showed it to Sierra, who had just put down her pen.

“We just finished what we were struggling with.”

“…Really?”

Although they didn’t say it aloud, everyone present understood what was meant—everyone except the watchers.

The mages of the Duke’s house slouched on the sofa, exhausted from the long wait.

“Alright then, I guess it’s time to part ways for today.”

Sierra stared intently at the paper he had shown.

Seeing her nod, Theo lightly tapped the desk, and the paper quietly burned away on its own.

“That should be enough. Let’s meet again soon.”

“…Yeah. Thanks.”

Alek, who had just returned, felt disappointed noticing they were about to leave.

“You’re leaving now?”

“Yeah. You did well too, Alek.”

“…Alright. Keep in touch.”

Thanks to today’s events, the effectiveness of transformation magic had been proven.

Not only did Alek and Theo learn how to bypass restraints, but they also mastered a magic circle that allowed silent communication.

• “Be careful.”

They handed over a small magical tool for drawing the circle as a parting gesture.

Now all that remained was to wait for a chance to escape.

At the moment when things around them would briefly descend into chaos, the two planned to vanish instantly.

Alek and Theo went to the address Sierra had written.

She gave no further explanation, only telling them to find the back door.

Alek led the way and knocked on the door.

Theo, standing behind, felt uneasy at how quiet it was inside.

‘It can’t be… dangerous, right?’

Although he followed Sierra’s request without complaint, his instinctual worry persisted.

Creak—

There was no sign of life inside, yet the door slowly opened.

Seeing the inside, a chill ran down Theo’s spine.

“Alek, wait a moment…”

“Huh?”

But Alek, standing at the doorway without suspicion, was instantly pulled inside.

“Alek!”

Theo, trying to grab him, was dragged in as well.

Immediately after, the door slid shut.

“[Hmm, familiar faces.]”

A beautiful woman with ash-brown skin that blended with the darkness muttered in an unknown language.

Theo clenched his fists in tension.

Large, non-human shadows surrounded them.

“[Seems like they don’t understand? These must be the mages Sierra mentioned. Hah, I wondered if this was some kind of prank.]”

“[They’re not the type to play tricks in a situation like this.]”

The man with a faint smile and the woman who had greeted them earlier conversed, while the largest man merely nodded silently.

A gentler-looking man then approached and spoke.

“[Stop scaring them and step back. I’ll speak.]”

But the unfamiliar language and strange appearances remained the same.

Faces paler than even the kingdom’s citizens, green hair… like illustrations of fairies in storybooks.

Looking at them, Ashur immediately came to mind.

Non-humanly beautiful, unusual skin and hair color.

‘Ah, they’re from the northern forest.’

No further explanation was needed.

Theo finally let out a sigh of relief.

As he suspected, they were on Sierra’s side.

“Hello, sorry if we startled you. You’re Sierra’s fellow mages, right?”

The green-haired man extended his hand first.

Theo shook it, glancing sideways, but fortunately no one interrupted.

Alek eagerly shook hands too, clearly realizing who they were.

“You speak the kingdom’s language well too! Wow… you’re the people Sierra met in the northern forest, right? Whoa…”

Pulling Alek back before he could rattle off more, Theo stepped forward.

“I’m Theo. This is Alek.”

“Yes, call me Barel. These friends… well, conversation will be difficult anyway, so we’ll skip introductions.”

“Ah… yes.”

Somehow the cynical response made them glance again at the faces that looked like they had endured a lot in the kingdom.

“Follow me.”

Barel led them to a small room ahead.

Inside, someone was collapsed, bound tightly with rope.

“This is…?”

“Sierra didn’t tell you?”

“Ah, we didn’t have the chance to discuss it properly.”

“…Hmm. I’m not sure where they were brought from, but they’re under a strange curse.”

Barel lifted the ragged clothing to reveal the person’s back.

A familiar yet strange magic circle was drawn.

‘Ah, the one Sierra showed us earlier.’

It was the magic circle drawn along with the address she provided.

“We tried purifying it urgently, but it showed no signs of resolving, so we put them to rest. What do you think?”

Examining the sleeping person, they could see the magic circle’s effects.

“It looks like they tried to maximize aggression.”

Alek added to Theo’s observation.

“Yeah. Seems like a miserable failure, though.”

Apparently, the claims of success in the mage tower were only partially true.

If their announcements were accurate, failures like this shouldn’t exist.

‘No wonder they were hiding experiments. They wanted to conceal these failures.’

“Don’t you think so too, Theo? How are we supposed to fix this?”

“…Looks like another all-nighter. If we leave them like this, they’ll die soon.”

“I agree. Ugh… Sierra, really.”

Barel naturally joined their conversation.

“Will you be able to resolve it?”

“It’ll take some time, but yes.”

From that moment, Alek and Theo devoted themselves to interpreting the magic circle.

It was a day and a half later that the person, suffering from the failed magic circle’s side effects, was finally awakened.

“Ha… finally. Hey, could you give them some water?”

Rubbing his tired eyes, Theo spoke to Barel outside the room.

“Yes, just a moment.”

He moved as if he had been waiting.

At that moment, a strange sound came from nearby.

“Fire!”

“Fire?”

Alek, exhausted from staying up all night, pulled back the curtains.

“Fire? Nearby?”

Bang—!

An explosion could be heard.

“What’s happening?”

Barel hurriedly ran over to the two flustered men.

“Alek, Theo! Is there any way to contact Sierra separately?”

“No, that’s impossible right now… What happened?”

“[Damn it.]”

Barel muttered something incomprehensible and swiftly ran back.

The remaining two stared at each other in confusion.

“Did… something happen to Sierra?”