Chapter 6
However, if she had intended to scam Lea from the start, she wouldn’t have brought up things like medicine or newly developed healing arts—nor thrown around absurd notions like magic or a great mage as bait.
Lea steadied her breathing calmly. This was the moment she needed to stay sharp.
“…What if I can’t become a great mage? Will I have to keep relying on your help? That would mean you’d be holding my life in your hands.”
“There’s no way you won’t succeed. And as for your life…,”
After a brief hesitation, Helix spoke coldly.
“…you have nothing left to lose anyway, do you?”
Lea bit her lip. He was right. If Helix had left her alone, she would have died regardless.
Taking her silence as agreement, Helix made his proposal.
“Miss Lea, make a contract with me and become a mage.”
“…Then what do you gain from this?”
“I hear you are the daughter of a ducal house.”
Helix continued,
“The one who fed you dragon mana won’t be left alone. Allow me to join in the search for that culprit.”
“Why?”
“I am searching for traces of dragons. With the power of a ducal family, things will move much faster.”
“Why are you looking for dragon traces?”
“I have debts that must be repaid.”
His voice was as cold as frost, yet filled with genuine resentment.
Lea unconsciously rubbed her arms, feeling a chill.
Even adapting and surviving after being transported into another world was no easy task—yet now magic and dragons were being thrown into the mix.
As if sensing her concerns, Helix added,
“Miss Lea, if you become a mage…”
He whispered,
“…you can live a very long life.”
Lea’s voice trembled without her realizing.
“…Healthy?”
“Of course.”
The answer was already decided.
She had already died once—who could say she wouldn’t die again? But she had far too many attachments to give up this life so easily.
“…I’ll do it!”
❀ ❀ ❀
Helix reconfirmed Lea’s intention.
“Will you truly enter into a contract between a guardian and a mage?”
“I told you—I will.”
“…You must not betray me.”
“…Just how have you been living your life up until now?”
Helix replied bitterly.
“That is simply the nature of a guardian’s ability.”
The power to control mana.
At a time when mana filled all things in the world, it was essentially an ability that could make anything possible with mere intent.
When a guardian supplied mana to a mage, they could cast magic on the level of a great mage, and even incurable illnesses could be treated through the circulation of mana.
After hearing Helix’s explanation, Lea muttered,
“…A cheat skill?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
She quickly changed the subject.
“In any case, the more of your guardian abilities you regain, the healthier you can make me too, right?”
“That’s right. If you grow as a mage and help me recover my abilities, it will benefit both of us.”
There was indeed no reason not to do it.
Lea drew up a contract.
They would share information with each other.
Helix would do his utmost to support Lea’s health and magical training.
Lea would provide Helix with information about dragons and assist him as much as possible in recovering his guardian abilities.
Neither party would force the other into dangerous situations.
If either side violated these terms, the contract could be terminated upon request, even without the other’s consent.
Helix nodded.
The dragon mana that Lea had absorbed—by tracking it together, they would likely uncover traces of the dragon.
“Tracing those clues and following them will require her cooperation.”
He had no intention of dragging Lea into anything beyond that.
His grievances with the dragon were his own burden. Once he regained his strength, he intended to deal with it alone.
“To face a dragon, you’d need to be at least on the level of a great mage. It’s unlikely this young lady could reach that level in a short time anyway.”
Helix took out a small gem, about the size of two knuckles.
“Place your hand on this and reaffirm the contract.”
Lea placed her hand first, and Helix placed his over hers.
“…We enter into this contract.”
Crack!
As the contract was acknowledged, the gem split cleanly in half.
“It’s successful.”
Helix handed one half to Lea.
“This is a token binding our mana together through the contract.”
She held the gem up to the light. It was a luminous jewel, reminiscent of a diamond or opal.
“This is a mana stone. Its color changes depending on the wearer’s mana or condition,” Helix explained. By each keeping one half, they could also monitor each other’s condition.
“So I should keep it with me at all times?”
“Yes, it’s best to wear it constantly.”
Lea clutched the gem tightly in her hand, feeling it respond to her mana.
How fascinating.
Holding something like this made the magical contract feel real.
“Then I’ll be in your care. I’m Lea.”
“Lea.”
Helix repeated her name once, then asked,
“So not ‘young lady,’ just Lea?”
“If we’re equals in this contract, then it’s one-on-one—no need for status distinctions.”
“I like that.”
Helix smiled faintly.
“Lea, you should call me Helix as well.”
“Alright.”
“Then, Lea—”
Helix continued,
“Shall we begin your magic lessons now?”
❀ ❀ ❀
Meanwhile, far from the Hel Mountain Range, in the capital of the Oken Empire, Orken—
In the middle of the night, within the grand imperial palace overlooking Orken, two beings awoke simultaneously.
One in a lavish room at the center of the palace.
The other in a forgotten underground prison hidden deep within the palace.
“…This is…”
The man seated in the luxurious room reached out mentally to his sworn partner.
[Did you feel that?]
[Yes.]
The man rose from his bed and paced around the spacious room.
His sleek, youthful body, loosely draped in fine nightwear, his black hair and eyes—traits unique to the Oken imperial line—radiated an overwhelming presence that belied his age.
[It’s mana. A flow of mana.]
He was certain. His partner asked in surprise,
[Mana?]
[Yes. But it’s not dragon mana.]
[…If it’s not dragon mana, then there’s another kind of mana?]
His partner’s voice trembled with surprise.
[It’s different. I’m not sure how powerful it is… but—]
The man with black hair and eyes closed them briefly, then opened them again. His black pupils shimmered and swiftly turned golden.
His senses expanded, capturing the signals with precision.
To the west. To the north.
He focused further.
[…The Hel Mountain Range.]
He identified the location and let out a low groan inwardly.
[There are traces of scattered dragon mana. I also sense something familiar stirring.]
[Then…]
[It means the dragon’s seal in the Hel Mountain Range has been broken, and something has awakened.]
It was an anomaly he had never witnessed before. The man quickly opened his eyes.
Before his golden eyes reverted back to black, he issued an order:
“Summon the imperial magicians.”
❀ ❀ ❀
In the capital of the Peyron Kingdom—
After receiving a letter from the attending physician while Lea was unconscious, the Pierrot Ducal House was thrown into chaos.
“Lea collapsed after eating poisoned cookies?”
The duke immediately tried to dispatch dozens of doctors to the north, while the duchess exacerbated the situation by purchasing all kinds of medicinal herbs. While the retainers struggled to restrain them, the eldest son, Rikael, sent out agents to investigate the culprit.
However, the second son, Luyan, could do nothing.
“If I find the culprit, I’ll kill them myself!”
Luyan Pierrot, the greatest swordsman in the Peyron Kingdom.
He was more than capable of making that statement a reality, which is why the rest of the household kept things quiet. Fully aware of the situation, Luyan was nearly driven mad with frustration.
“Damn it… They keep calling me the ‘Sword of Pierrot’ and praising me, but what’s the point if I can’t even deal with whoever harmed Lea?”
Thinking of his younger sister’s situation made his blood boil, yet there was nothing he could do.
After smashing training dummies in the practice grounds and running himself into exhaustion, Luyan headed to a tavern to drink.
“…Haa.”
He claimed an entire luxurious sofa to himself and sipped his drink.
Just the fact that his precious younger sister Lea was away from home was already distressing—but news like this pushed him to the brink.
Who was Lea?
She was the sun of the Pierrot family.
Beautiful and playful, she seemed like a carefree noble lady, but her family knew she always tried her best to appear cheerful to ease their worries.
“In truth, she’s more perceptive than anyone.”
Even while suffering herself, she would smile brightly to comfort their parents, and whenever he and his older brother started going off track, she would act like a nagging—no, like a grandmother—pretending, “How can you act like this in front of your sick younger sister who might die any moment? Cough cough!” and pull them back into line.
And yet such a Lea had been poisoned.
Luyan frowned deeply, holding his glass.
“This is all because we let those pests run wild. When that ‘Peyrily Lily’ nonsense nickname first started spreading, we should’ve crushed every loudmouth who spread it.”
The Pierrot Ducal House had once thought this way:
No one would dare touch Lea directly, as she was the cherished daughter of the ducal family. Since she rarely participated in high society, having a famous nickname wasn’t necessarily a bad thing—it would act as a kind of armor in areas where the ducal house couldn’t intervene directly.
But the “Peyrily” nickname grew in popularity, spawning fan clubs and even stalkers… and now someone had gone as far as poisoning the sweets Lea loved.
“If this was a family matter, they wouldn’t target Lea, who isn’t even in line for succession. This must be the work of a stalker.”
Luyan’s eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
“Those filthy cockroach bastards… they had the nerve to set their sights on my sister’s beauty…”
As he brooded, radiating a dangerous aura, a strong floral scent drifted through the air.
“…Hm?”
It was the scent of lilies. Luyan instinctively turned toward the source, frowning. A group of nobles stood together, each wearing lilies pinned to their collars.
“Are those Peyrily fan club members?”
Others in the tavern seemed to think the same. Someone asked the group,
“Lilies… are those the symbol of Peyrily fans?”
“What an impolite thing to say.”
One of the nobles wearing a lily smirked.
“Quite the opposite, actually. It’s more of a mockery.”
“A mockery?”
“Yes. A satire of the Peyrily trend.”
