By Zephyria 
“Could it be that they discriminate based on rank?”
Marianne is quite skilled even as a Baron’s Young Lady, and Benjamin is a Marquis’s Young Master, so they might meet their standards. No, but if you think about it that way, Hugh Benson also holds the title of Count now. His skills are also second to none.
I watched, blinking in confusion, when Marianne gestured for me to lower myself. I obediently bent down, allowing the child to whisper in my ear. The child whispered in a very small voice.
“Samantha unnie confessed to Hyoo Senior when they were at the Academy.”
“…What?”
“They said there were various things that happened with Bailey-gyeong too.”
“…What?”
That guy?
I recalled Hugh Benson, who was so skinny and always grumbling.
The guy in my memory glared at everyone as if he hated them all. I couldn’t understand how these robust, friendly-looking people had fallen head over heels for him.
No, that’s not right. Still, Hugh Benson is kind-hearted and responsible underneath. It seems the children who recognized that were easily charmed by him.
…But to have such personal feelings lead to a dispute over command of the unit? It was astonishing.
Samantha finished her prepared briefing.
However, her story contained not a single word about Hugh Benson or Elvin Brooks. As a Prince, he couldn’t show favoritism towards knights. Rubel didn’t ask about it.
Marianne, sensing his mood, quickly inserted herself between them and chattered.
“Hyoo Senior tends to be a bit too compassionate. When I arrived at Felix, he was busy training not only the knights but also the refugees who volunteered to kill zombies. He looked so busy that I suggested we come ahead to escort Your Highness ourselves.”
“…Hmm.”
“For some reason, the zombies have become stronger recently… Honestly, he also said he felt uneasy just leaving them behind, given that the Black magicians are from Sierren.”
Only then did I understand what they had been arguing about.
When faced with monsters and humans, a knight’s duty is to protect human lives. A Sword Master from Sierren could easily defeat a Steel Corpse. Hugh Benson, who had a difficult childhood in Owen, his compassion for the refugees of Felix was understandable.
But it was about the unauthorized use of knights dispatched to aid the Second Prince. It was only right that Samantha Andrei and the other knights, who were waiting for orders from Withrow, would object. Ruben grunted for a moment, and instead of judging whether it was right or wrong, he simply nodded once.
Marianne stepped forward to ask questions that Samantha might find difficult to pose.
“So, Your Highness, will you go directly from Bivan to Felix? Or will you search for ‘that thing’ first?”
“First, I must stop by the Bivan Capital to get entry permits for the knights.”
“Oh. You’re not going to Felix?”
“Is it right to let the Empire’s knights stay out for so long?”
Only I, who had read the child’s inner thoughts, felt a pang of guilt.
The best route for Ruben to return to the capital would be through the Kiadris Duchy from Bivan. Even if they assigned me some combat personnel, there would be enough to escort Ruben. If Wesley Kiadris himself didn’t chase after him, then perhaps…
Would it feel like carrying my heart outside my chest?
The thought of separating Ruben made me anxious again. Even while looking at Ruben standing beside me, I couldn’t fully suppress the tidal wave of unease and bit my tongue several times to control my expression.
“I have a reason to visit the Bivan Royal Castle anyway.”
“Ah, right. From Yulan…!”
Marianne, who was about to excitedly say something, suddenly closed her mouth.
It seemed they hadn’t told these people about the Divine object. After all, only Ruben and I, Ivan and Sienna among the entourage from Yulan knew about Rubel obtaining Yulan’s Divine object.
Marianne glanced at Mage Boulder next to her, rather than the knights beside her. He narrowed his round eyes and looked back at them, but no one answered.
Now I know that those with the surname Mage are even crazier magicians than other magicians. They are interested in nothing but research. So many of them forget the etiquette of the mortal world that it wouldn’t be strange if Mage Boulder stole the Divine object while Ruben slept.
“I’ll come to your room tonight.”
“…Room for what.”
Marianne’s cheeky remark was so outrageous that I chided her, but she quickly went to Rubel instead of me. Rubel, who didn’t openly embrace Marianne in front of other knights, looked like a kind older brother to me.
“Then, the tent. You’ll permit it, won’t you?”
“Haha, yes.”
“Yay!”
No one took issue with Marianne’s impudent attitude.
Rubel was also kind to the three knights. With a smile, he told them they must have worked hard and asked them to help for a few more days, kindly requesting them to stand guard. They all readily nodded. Now they would arrange their own shifts to guard the night.
Mage Boulder quickly offered to stand guard as well, sitting by the campfire with a goblin beside him. It was obvious he wanted to ask about the zombies. Since the knights would have to get used to him anyway, I didn’t stop him.
While we were talking, the workers had prepared excellent sleeping arrangements.
And so, Ivan, Marianne, and Benjamin, a total of five people, entered the tent that Rubel and I would use.
Marianne’s Silence Magic was of little use with higher-circle members present. So I cast an Aura Barrier to block the sound.
As soon as that happened, Marianne pressed her cheeks with both hands, making a fish-like face.
“Um, I think I know why Mikael wasn’t visible to the Sun God.”
“…Yes?”
“You look strange to me too, right now. You’ve become like a lump of Mana, not a person. Why has your stored Mana increased so much? Your Highness’s has also increased significantly, but… it doesn’t seem to be as much as Mikael’s.”
“…It doesn’t seem that much.”
“No, it is. I saw both of you continuously until we were about to be separated in Indus Canyon. Compared to then and now, it’s really strange. Back then, you just seemed like a super strong Sword Master, but now you’re like a large monster. What happened to make you so… Ah, is it this? You were in the canyon for a long time, weren’t you? Perhaps it’s because you’ve been continuously absorbing the concentrated essence of Contaminated Mana?”
Come to think of it, Mage Boulder had said something similar.
Did he say I possessed Mana comparable to a Wyvern? I trailed off, bewildered.
“This time… I guess my skills improved a bit.”
“Your swordsmanship? Or the amount of internal energy?”
“…It’s not that the amount of internal energy increased. If the size of my Dantian had grown, I would have known immediately. It’s not that, it’s just… a sensation that the energy I draw in has increased? But each time, there were many spirits around or the Mana Density was high…”
“It didn’t feel like Mikael’s skill?”
“Yes.”
“Ughhhhh… Why is this? It’s truly fascinating.”
Ivan, seeing that, added a question.
“Is it something so peculiar that magicians can tell just by looking?”
“First of all, containing Mana within the human body is itself a very peculiar thing. Mikael’s Dantian is inside his body, right? Moreover, it was a form where calm and pure Mana flowed continuously, so it was normally visible only with intense concentration. But now, you can tell just by looking that something is different.”
“Different how?”
“Large monsters are also huge in size. Like 10 meters, 30 meters. So the surrounding Mana doesn’t swirl like a vortex, but it’s just fixed… Right now, that amount of Mana is circling around Mikael. It feels like the surrounding Mana is being sucked into Mikael, or Mikael is absorbing the surrounding Mana… It’s like that.”
“…Hooh…”
Although it was a curious and puzzling matter, since we couldn’t find an answer immediately, I didn’t press further.
How many things do I need to think about right now? When it comes to Mana theory, we couldn’t go beyond the level of undergraduates even if we put our heads together. It would be better for Marianne to ponder it alone later and give us the answer. I immediately changed the subject.
“Go ahead and say what you were trying to say earlier.”
“Ah, right. The Divine object! You’re going to the Bivan Royal Castle to find the Divine object, right?”
Marianne quickly turned her attention to Rubel. Ruben, who had been listening with a serious expression, nodded.
“Yes.”
“What about Yulan? Did you find Yulan’s too?”
Rubel took out the black flute he had kept in his pocket and placed it on the low table. The eyes of the group, who were sitting around it, all fixed on the flute. Ivan grunted softly and scratched his cheek, while Marianne, gripping the edge of the table, blinked rapidly seven times.
“…Is this it?”
“Yes. This is Yulan’s Divine object… It was a Divine object that, when the Yulan Royalty blew into it, emitted Divine Power in concentric circles and produced a special lullaby. It was used to pressure the legendary Sea Turtle to maintain its state and to prevent the rampage of ancient spirits.”
“…Huh? Sea Turtle?”
Rubel and Ivan briefly explained what they had experienced in Yulan.
Meanwhile, a curious feeling arose, and I tried holding the flute. My fingertips felt strangely warm, but that was all. I couldn’t find anything special. The mouthpiece was narrow and the body was long, but the holes drilled for fingering were not uniform.
Rubel placed his hand over my clumsy one and showed me how to hold it. It was a method of covering three holes with the left hand and two holes with the right. As Rubel’s cold fingertips brushed over the back of my hand several times, he didn’t stop explaining.
Rubel, who was telling the story of how the Fifth Prince Elijah Merlin Yulan’s body twisted every time he played the flute, sighed and leaned his cheek on my shoulder. I flinched involuntarily and glanced at my friends, but none of them paid any mind.