“Is anyone here?”
I have come to a small village nestled in the mountains. I visited a house located on the outskirts of this village.
This is the house where a woman named Iriya was born and raised. If she has fled abroad, she might have contacted her family by some means.
“…Um, who are you…?”
The person who appeared was a woman in her fifties, looking tired. She must be her mother.
“I am Ekvar . I was a colleague of Lady Iriya .”
“Ah, that child…”
She invited me in. The house wasn’t very spacious but was kept clean, and the furniture was reasonably well furnished. She had apparently been sending quite a bit of money to her family, so this was likely a result of that.
Her family consists only of her mother and a younger sister, who is three years younger. I had already confirmed this.
The reason she entered the royal court was because, at the age of twelve, she saved a local lord from a monster during an inspection. The lord was impressed by her magical talent and recommended her to a magical training facility under the royal court’s court mage in the capital. By the time she entered the facility at age thirteen, she was already so skilled in magic and magical item crafting that there was almost nothing left for her to learn. She focused on studying etiquette and within two years had risen to become an apprentice court mage.
However, this might have been a mistake. Many noble youths, jealous of her, were said to have opposed her. These fools, who had no skill themselves.
She was harshly treated, with some even striking her with a horsewhip for being rude in her manner of speaking.
If she had made a pact with a demon, it would have been better if the contractor had witnessed such things.
It’s not an easy death.
In such circumstances, she managed to gain more supporters, even while being sent on extermination missions. Her sincere and straightforward personality shone through.
One could almost believe that the members of the Second Knight’s Order were her followers, and the leader treated her as a reliable partner.
But most notably, there was Arens. For him, a nobleman, to treat a girl from such a remote mountain village, and one much younger than him, almost like an aide, was unusual. After seeing the authoritarian aristocrats of this country, it was hard to believe.
There were apparently some apprentices or lower-ranked candidates among the court mages who admired her. Perhaps they had interacted with her through extermination or magical technique instruction.
But a demon… According to Arens, it seems she learned magic and magical item crafting from a demon. And by the age of twelve, she was already highly skilled.
Which means… The contract with the demon must have been made when she was still a child. It’s hard to believe such young hands could wield advanced summoning magic.
The most likely conclusion drawn from this is…
In other words, she hasn’t summoned the demon she is currently contracted with.
For some reason—most likely, because she encountered a demon who had killed its summoner and was roaming free—she must have made a contract with it. It is said that demons cannot use their abilities in this world unless they are summoned and contracted with. The higher the rank, the more pronounced this seems to be.
It’s not uncommon for those who summon demons to be killed, and there have been cases where people met an uncontracted demon and ended up forming a contract with it.
Considering all this, it seems likely that the demon contracted with Iriya when she was a child in order to use its powers, and in return, it imparted knowledge to her, and for some reason, continues to protect her. It’s quite intriguing to think about the kind of contract she made as a child.
And if the demon is a high-ranking one, it would have certainly taught her summoning magic to have her command its subordinates.
Iriya ‘s mother brought out some tea.
I expressed my gratitude and took a sip from the steaming cup.
“Thank you for coming all the way out here. Just the other day, a very high-ranking person, someone who said they were the deputy leader of the Second Knight’s Order, came to visit…”
So he came, huh? He should’ve called me.
Is it expected that I should bear this heavy atmosphere alone? I’m not good at comforting people.
“No, this time, we should be the ones apologizing for not being able to protect our daughter…”
“I’ve already apologized to that person as well. It’s enough.”
Ah… this is tough. There’s still no news, then.
If I leave here without gaining anything, then I have no reason to stay any longer.
“Um, if it’s not too much trouble, could I perhaps see your daughter’s room?”
“…Eh? Why?”
“Actually, there’s something concerning about this mission. I was hoping to check if anything was left behind.”
“Yes… I haven’t touched anything yet, so feel free to look.”
Good, it looks like I might be able to investigate a bit.
Following her mother, who seemed puzzled, I entered her daughter’s room in the back. It wasn’t a very large room, just a bed, a bookshelf, and a small wardrobe. The wardrobe had no door, and a few clothes were visible. The room was surprisingly modest. There was a small wooden desk beside the bed, with one drawer slightly open. On the exposed bottom of the drawer, I could see some sort of scribbling.
Ah, this is a secret script… What on earth is this girl doing? I’ll have to make sure to erase this later. If it’s found, her whole family could be arrested.
By the way, my original mission also includes preventing the leakage of forbidden knowledge, so I do have some knowledge about it. If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t be able to see through it. However, my magical skills aren’t that great, so while I know about it, I’m unable to use it effectively myself.
Though I was astonished, I shifted my gaze to the wall and noticed something pinned to the board. It was her note, a postcard with a landscape, and then…
I stared at something that seemed familiar.
A uniquely designed magic circle, enclosed in an equilateral triangle, with powerful names written inside. And then, the diagram above it, with characters around the circle. The critical part—where the letters should have been within the magic circle—was simply a round hole, left blank. But this…
It’s a communication magic! It’s used by only a few of us who perform special operations, and neither she nor the head of the court mages should know about it. We developed it with some researchers because we couldn’t trust those guys! The circle inside the triangle, with a circle within, is an application of the magic mirror technique that connects to another world. She must have come up with the same idea.
I… I can’t believe it. A prodigy who completed this on her own…
“Mother! May I remove this?”
I hastily called out to the mother, who had exited the room for a moment.
“Is anyone in my sister’s room?”
It seems her younger sister had returned. This was a good opportunity, so I gathered both of them into the room.
“…Do you know when she wrote this?”
Both of them hummed and exchanged looks.
“Wasn’t it… at the end of last year when she returned? It was fairly recent.”
“I see, I understand. To avoid causing trouble, I’ll get straight to the point. There’s a high chance she’s still alive.”
“…Huh? What do you mean? My sister died on a mission, and her body was never found…”
She stopped mid-sentence, then suddenly raised her face.
“This conversation must be kept completely confidential… please ensure that no one suspects she is alive.”
After giving that warning, I began to explain.
“This is a technique that we have independently developed and kept secret… It closely resembles communication magic. No, it’s safe to say it achieves the same effect. In other words, she left this behind to contact this house, somewhere, without anyone knowing.”
I stood up holding the paper and pointed to the scribbles in the drawer of the desk.
“Furthermore, this is a secret script. It represents travel. By matching it to the blank space here, it is designed to activate. In other words, this magic can only be used in this house unless someone knows these characters. She must have been extremely cautious about her whereabouts being discovered.”
“…So… my daughter is…”
The mother’s voice trembled as her eyes widened.
“She’s alive. And she will likely contact us through this communication magic.”
Relieved, the mother and daughter embraced, shedding tears. It’s good that they’re happy, but I still need them to hear the rest of the explanation.
“If it’s the way we do it, it will appear in the form of a letter. Keep it in a safe place. And it must not be known to anyone. Only a few people know about this technique, and while most people won’t recognize it if they see it, just knowing about it could make you liable for a crime.”
“Is… is that so!?”
Both of them were shocked. I can understand why. No one would expect someone to casually leave such an advanced piece of technology out like that. She must have thought it was her last work and kept it as a memento, but without realizing that this wouldn’t activate. At least she could have taken some precautions to ensure it wasn’t seen.
“I can’t believe she developed this on her own… It’s unbelievable…”
“Now that I think about it, my sister was so happy, saying she discovered something great.”
“…This isn’t really about that sort of thing.”
Such a lighthearted remark… After all, we men who were hugging each other in joy, thinking we’d be free from interference, must have looked foolish.
It’s a bit heartbreaking… but now that the path forward is clear, I suppose that’s good enough.
“I’ll be staying in this village for a while, so if there’s any contact, please let me know. I’ll need to go out and search.”
“…But, that’s…”
They must be uneasy about me going out to find someone who ran away. If I don’t explain properly, they’ll likely try to hide any contact.
“I won’t forcibly bring her back. I need to confirm the situation and hear her story.”
I paused for a moment before lowering my voice.
“There are some suspicions regarding the head of the court mages, and this investigation is part of that. This is a mission directly assigned by the Crown Prince.”
