Chapter 28
The night Sische left.
I opened the birdcage and let Blanche out.
“Go to Nastan.”
<Is that an order, my king?>
“Yes, it’s an order.”
Blanche hesitated, circling around me as if displeased with the command to go far away.
<Cruel, my king. You only wish to send me away.>
Even with a bird’s face, I could sense his sulky mood.
“Be grateful I’m not ordering you beyond the Barrier.”
Instead of heading toward Nastan, he perched on top of the cage and preened his feathers with his beak.
It was his way of protesting that he didn’t want to leave.
I sighed and began to persuade him.
“This is important. You need to go and make sure the excavation there is proceeding properly.”
Blanche tilted his head as though he couldn’t understand.
<Why? Does my king desire ancient relics?>
Relics that might give me hints about my master.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.
“……There’s something I absolutely need to know. To find that out, I have to obtain the ancient relics of Liam.”
<Hmm, I see.>
Blanche pondered my earnest words for a moment, then spread his two wings wide and lifted into the air.
It seemed I’d finally convinced him.
<I shall head straight to Nastan, my king.>
“My order is—”
<I won’t forget. Trust me, my king.>
His bold assurance somehow made me even more uneasy, but at this point Blanche was the only one I could rely on.
I went to the window and opened it; with a flap of his wings, Blanche disappeared into the distance.
I watched his fading figure for a moment before closing the window.
I waited nervously for news of the excavation in Nastan.
I wasn’t the only one listening for updates.
Not only the Ashinoff branch family staying in the winter estate, but scholars across the continent were said to be watching the outcome closely.
Yet days passed without any proper news.
“They said they assembled a team of mages, not ordinary laborers, so the results should come quickly,” I thought.
The lack of updates suggested that they still hadn’t found the ruins from the coordinates Lucas had deciphered.
There was no word from Blanche, either.
“Could the coordinates woven into the tapestry have been fake?”
Perhaps someone who knew the ancient language was playing a prank.
“I’d better recalculate everything.”
Lucas shut himself in his room with a grave expression, stacking thick books and repeatedly checking the calculations to ensure he’d made no mistakes.
Meanwhile, the tenth day Sische had promised drew rapidly near.
The Senate’s deadline for the trial it had given me was also approaching.
Because of this, the branch families supporting Lucas were delighted.
Rumors reached me that they were mocking me, saying the first success was just luck and the second would reveal my true lack of skill.
When Baratheon heard those rumors, he fumed, “How dare those branch-liners!”
He looked ready to storm the annex and cause a scene.
But I didn’t care much about the Senate’s evaluation.
I had already earned a profit of 14 billion gold—an undeniable achievement.
Even if the Nastan excavation failed, the money I’d spent was only 5 thousand gold, a trivial amount that wouldn’t affect the bigger picture.
What truly mattered to me was the possible information about Kiladrian recorded in Liam’s history.
“To think I’d one day consider 5 thousand gold a small sum… I really have grown.”
There was a time when even a single silver coin made me tremble.
While the winter estate bustled with various concerns, the morning of the promised tenth day finally arrived.
I opened the window, letting the warm sunlight start my day with freshness.
The clear, cloudless sky seemed to hint at a bright future.
“Huh?”
Just as I was feeling drowsy enough to crawl back into bed, I spotted a familiar shape in the distance.
“Blanche.”
The bluebird was flapping vigorously toward the open window.
Once inside, Blanche confirmed no one else was present and returned to his original form.
“……Huh?”
But his body, which had previously looked about Sische or Baratheon’s age, had reverted to that of a small child.
“Why do you look like that?”
“I exhausted the power I’d barely gathered in Nastan. This is the result.”
Did that mean something had happened that required great power?
“What happened?”
A bad feeling made me ask, but before I could hear an answer, he changed back into a bird.
Someone was coming toward my room.
“Now that I think about it, it’s about the time Marina comes to wake me.”
Sure enough, the door opened carefully and Marina stepped in.
She looked quite surprised to find me standing by the window.
I usually slept in late until the sun was high.
“You’re already up?”
“I just couldn’t sleep.”
“Oh my. Is it because young master Sische promised to return today?”
Marina drooped her lips as she approached.
News of the Nastan troubles had spread through the estate, so she must have thought worry kept me awake.
“By the way, that bird is back too.”
She smiled at Blanche on the windowsill.
“Hello there.”
Marina believed that when I opened the cage, the bluebird freely roamed and always returned.
She often exclaimed that the bird was unusually clever, maybe even a mystical creature.
A mystical creature indeed—he’s a former Demon King.
I watched Blanche lift his chin proudly at her greeting and sighed inwardly.
“He came back this morning,” I said.
“Really? They say bluebirds bring good news… I have a good feeling.”
Though she said that, worry clouded her face.
“Marina must be hoping I’ll become the heir,” I thought.
After all, there’s a world of difference between serving the granddaughter of a grand duke and serving the future sub-duke.
A servant’s standing depends entirely on the master they serve.
The higher I climb, the higher Marina’s status will rise.
Though I plan to ruin this family eventually.
Feeling guilty, I looked at Marina, who knew nothing of my intentions yet devoted herself to caring for me.
When I destroy the Ashinoff family, Marina will be left jobless.
I’ll just have to take her with me.
I’ll need staff in whatever new home I build.
“Would you like to wash first, or shall I prepare breakfast?”
“Breakfast first, then I’ll wash.”
“Understood. I’ll prepare it now.”
Marina bowed deeply and left the room.
Now only Blanche and I remained.
I turned back to him for the answer I hadn’t heard.
But for some reason, Blanche avoided my gaze.
“What? Why?”
At that moment, I sensed a powerful presence behind me.
Startled, I spun around to see golden light rippling through empty space.
The air distorted, and through the shimmering gold stepped a familiar figure.
“…Sische?”
“Been keeping count?”
Speaking curtly as usual, Sische walked toward me—then suddenly staggered and grabbed the wall.
Alarmed, I rushed to his side. His face was deathly pale.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ugh. Don’t talk. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
Sische clamped a hand over his mouth, breathing hard.
Now I noticed it wasn’t just his face; dark circles under his eyes made him look ready to collapse.
“Why…?”
“Teleporting three times in a row… feels like dying. Ugh. Seriously gonna puke…”
“Three times?”
Teleportation was one of the most difficult high-level spells.
Few mages could use it at all, and there were strict limits on distance and number of people per jump.
“Why push yourself so hard?”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t make the deadline. What else could I do?”
“A day or two late wouldn’t have mattered.”
“You weren’t waiting?”
Though barely able to stay upright, Sische sank to the floor, leaning against the wall and looking up at me.
“I was waiting, but…”
“Heh, I bet it wasn’t really for me, though.”
He gave a short laugh and rummaged in his coat, then held out a black coin.
“Here. Found this on the way.”
“What is it?”
“An artifact of the Ancient Magic Kingdom.”
“What? This?”
I quickly took the coin.
Examining it closely, I found intricate and complex magical formulas engraved all over its tiny surface.
The craftsmanship was beyond the reach of modern magical knowledge.
It was indeed a relic of the Ancient Magic Kingdom.
Which meant—
“There really was a ruin there?”
