A knight was rapidly crossing the gray brick bridge, employing wind magic for a swift journey. Seeing the small flag tied behind the armor from afar, the gatekeeper hurriedly opened the iron gate without further inspection, allowing the knight through.
The knight who had ridden his horse up to the main gate dismounted swiftly. Accompanied by the steward, he headed to the office.
Knock, knock.
“Your Grace, a message has arrived from Sir Bluash.”
Hearing the steward’s words, the Duke of Sabellisa, who had been sitting at his desk, stood up abruptly and moved towards the sofa. The knight, having entered, walked with precise steps to stand before the duke and saluted.
“I am Mars Toti, of the First Division. I bring a letter and a brief message from the commander.”
After handing over the sealed envelope, Mars began to speak.
“We have successfully made contact with His Highness the Crown Prince. He was in Caudatismum but has now moved towards the Shebusalatus Mountains.”
The Duke of Sabellisa, with trembling hands, opened the envelope. The letter contained more details than the words he had just heard.
“We’ve found him…”
Tears threatened to form in his eyes. He had finally learned of his nephew’s whereabouts after three years. As he read through the letter, the duke asked the standing knight.
“Is there someone outside the prince’s knight order moving with him?”
“Yes! Sylvia Arbor, known as a plant mage. She is currently taking care of the meals for His Highness and his knights as part of the Croban Mercenary Group.”
Hearing the knight’s words, the duke caught onto an odd phrase and asked.
“What do you mean she is known as a plant mage?”
“Yes, Your Grace. Rumors about her appearance have spread among the mercenaries. It’s not for a bounty, as far as we know.”
“She?”
“Yes! Sylvia Arbor is a woman, Your Grace.”
The Duke of Sabellisa was shocked to learn that Felix was moving with a woman. He had heard that, due to unpleasant memories with the current queen, Felix had been distancing himself from women, though this information was three years old.
Leaning on the armrest of the sofa and tapping his fingers, the Duke listened as Mars added more.
“Sir Bluash mentioned it was uncertain and thus did not write it in the letter, but if Your Grace is curious, he instructed me to convey it.”
“What is it?”
“What His Highness the Crown Prince thinks of the mage Sylvia Arbor.”
“Tell me more.”
Henry, as a knight who had fought alongside the duke in demon subjugation, knew the duke very well and was considered a trusted confidant. The reason for not writing it in a letter but instead conveying it verbally through a knight was that it was not certain and largely based on personal speculation.
“I departed immediately to deliver the letter, but during the situation in Caudatismum, a demon nearly invaded the walls.”
“How could a demon enter inside the walls?”
Originally, demons couldn’t approach near the walls. This was due to the barrier of the Black Dragon, known only to a few.
“I do not know the reason, but right after that incident, His Highness the Crown Prince quickly left the castle. And in his arms was her, unconscious.”
“So?”
“Sir Bluash spoke with the Crown Prince then, and His Highness and his knights immediately left the castle. Sir Bluash mentioned that the Crown Prince’s expression seemed to be one of considerable worry for her.”
“Hmm…”
Although the duke was concerned about having an unknown person so close, Felix was not the type to trust easily. If he kept someone close, there was a high likelihood of trustworthiness.
However, the circulating rumors about her appearance were quite troubling.
“Make sure you find out more about these rumors concerning her appearance.”
“Yes, I’ll see to it!”
Mars saluted and exited the office. The duke pondered over the location written in the letter for a while.
“Call for Cliff. As soon as possible.”
After Mars left, the duke ordered the butler who was present in the office.
With only a small elite force sent with Henry, they were significantly outnumbered. In case of an emergency, he had to protect Felix, even if it meant risking his life.
The butler bowed to his command, and the duke added,
“Prepare for deployment as well.”
***
When Sylvia and Felix descended from the tree, a horde of demons was approaching near the tent. It was the cockroach-shaped demon they had encountered once before.
“Kyaaaaa!”
Sylvia shrieked in horror at the sight of the cockroach demon flying towards her. Felix effortlessly slashed it with his sword, then lifted Sylvia onto his shoulder.
“Kyaaaaa!”
“Why are you scared? I’m here.”
Sylvia’s continuous screams seemed unsatisfactory to him, not understanding why she was frightened.
“You’re stronger. There’s no need to be afraid.”
As Felix said this, he leapt into the air with wind magic.
“Whoa!”
Sylvia clutched at his clothes to stabilize herself, her eyes wide open.
“Siri, look closely. You see them coming from there, right? There must be a mother demon in that direction.”
“Uh, uh.”
At the mention of a mother demon, Sylvia shuddered, rubbing her arms at the goosebumps.
“Try to catch it like you’re cooking. I’ll watch over you.”
Felix realized she had less knowledge about magic than he thought and decided to teach her.
He planned to protect her, of course, but thought it best if she could fend for herself in case they were separated and something happened, like before.
If she could protect herself, it would reduce the chances of her dying, offering him a bit of relief.
“Cooking makes delicious things! That thing is disgusting!”
Despite hanging onto his shoulder and whining, Felix sternly corrected her.
“How is dissecting meat any different?”
Whenever they caught a wild boar, the members would bring it back. Sylvia had stopped them from cooking it whole and had personally divided the meat into cuts. The sight had once made the members gag. Felix couldn’t understand the difference between a demon and a wild boar.
“A wild boar is for eating!”
Catching onto her firm stance, Felix spoke in a subtle tone.
“Do you know why the mercenary group hunts demons?”
“Because the country pays for it when we bring back demons…”
“Yes, that’s right. Then, how do we differentiate between higher and lower demons?”
“Uh… I don’t know?”
Floating in mid-air, Felix looked down at Sylvia, explaining while ignoring his struggling knight order below.
“A demon’s corpse produces an essence, like a gem. The higher the demon, the more transparent it is. You bring that back to the empire for handling.”
“Wow! I see.”
Sylvia’s teal eyes sparkled with curiosity as Felix continued.
“That essence has special abilities. While hunting demons is one purpose, the empire seems to attract more mercenary groups by collecting these essences.”
“Special abilities?”
Watching her wide-eyed curiosity, Felix explained,
“Gems are just conduits for engraving magic circles.”
“I know that.”
“But the Black Dragon’s gem I gave you is different, right?”
Speaking gently, as if teaching a child, made Sylvia’s cheeks flush. Felix poked her rosy cheeks with his finger.
“The Black Dragon’s gem contains mana. Essences can contain mana as well, though not as much.”
The uses for an essence containing mana were limitless. For instance, the wind magic barrier along the road from Carpasinus to Alburn was activated by burying essences charged with wind mana in the ground.
The same technique was used by Felix to create a barrier by the lake, though the Black Dragon’s gem was of a higher tier.
Hearing his explanation, Sylvia looked wide-eyed and then glanced down at the demons opposing the Croban Mercenary Group below.
In that brief moment, various utilizations of essence flashed through Sylvia’s head. Ideas like an electric range made by combining essence and gems, or an automatically rotating skewer grill, and other such minor uses roamed freely in her mind until Sylvia’s eyes sparkled.
Sylvia straightened her bent back and sent her magical power into the wind magic circle.
“Where is the essence located, though?”
Felix answered Sylvia, who asked because she thought it would be good to know, with a voice tinged with laughter.
“In the head.”
As soon as his words ended, Sylvia simultaneously lifted the demons with wind magic. She then disposed of them by grinding everything except for the heads of the demons, which emitted a strange scream, as if discarding them.
The Croban mercenary group had been capturing one demon at a time when they saw the demons being shredded overhead and retracted their thought that Felix was about to show his skills.
Hubert gagged at the sight of the shredded demons overhead, and Jordan threw up.
Sylvia collected only the heads of the demons and meticulously controlled the wind magic as if searching for essence, then completely burned them with fire magic. Having cleanly eliminated the demons and confirmed the remaining essence in the air, Sylvia smiled brightly at Felix.
“This should do it, right!”
Hearing her cheerful voice, Felix also smiled brightly, when Eryngium muttered from inside her robe.
[How cruel…]
Seeing Sylvia startled and pausing at the fairy’s words, Felix quietly blew Eryngium away with wind magic.
[Feeelix!]
Then he spoke to Sylvia with a bright voice.
“Shall we try once more?”
The demons were endlessly approaching.
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