IQBSA 07

Chapter 07

“Dodge!”

At a knight’s shout, Lirenzo looked up.

“……!”

A mass of flame was flying towards him from above.

Lirenzo gritted his teeth, pulled out the sword he had driven deep into the monster’s body, and threw himself to the side.

*Kwa-boom!*

With a tremendous explosion, the ground he had been standing on just moments before was gouged out deeply.

As Lirenzo stood dazed, unable to easily get up, Knight Commander Karis rushed over.

“Your Highness! Are you alright!”

Karis helped Lirenzo up, fuming with rage.

“That crazy Tower Master! He’s really just blasting away indiscriminately without even looking properly!”

“We’re not dead, so it’s fine. Stop making such a fuss.”

A gentle smile touched Lirenzo’s strong-looking lips.

Karis seemed unwilling to go along with his superior’s nonchalant attitude and exploded in anger.

“How can you joke at a time like this? Anyway, is that Tower Master trying to protest because we dragged him out here? Why is he acting like that? Your Highness, go over there and do something about him. At this rate, someone’s going to get killed!”

At those words, Lirenzo looked up at the hill where Roakin was standing.

He, too, felt that today, Tower Master Roakin Arjen was acting strangely.

Normally, Roakin was a man who pursued extreme efficiency.

He would read the flow of battle quickly and apply his power at the right time and place to turn the tide.

But today, he couldn’t seem to focus at all; it was as if his mind was elsewhere.

His attack patterns were completely haphazard, and he was unleashing excessively brutal attacks even on low-level minor monsters.

Just a moment ago, Lirenzo himself had nearly been caught in the crossfire.

‘…Why is he acting like that?’

Looking at Roakin, who stood blankly as if in a trance, and the swamp below, which had been transformed into a hellish pit of fire, Lirenzo’s face showed concern.

“From what I can see, he’s definitely… acting strangely. I’ll go talk to him, so Karis, you handle things here.”

“Understood.”

Lirenzo gave the shoulder of his loyal knight a light pat and began walking.

Towards his wizard friend, who was in an unusually strange state today.

“I’ve been watching you for a while, and it seems like you can’t concentrate on the battle at all. Is there some kind of problem?”

“Not really.”

Not in the mood to exchange idle chatter and joke around, Roakin cut the conversation short and turned his gaze forward.

As his sense of reality returned, the horrific scene on the ground beneath his feet began to come into focus.

The ground, completely soaked in sticky, dark red blood; the desolate valley where even the weeds were gone; the black smoke rising as monster corpses burned…

The stench of monster blood permeated the air.

Roakin frowned at the acrid smell, which was unpleasant no matter how many times he smelled it.

“Are you sure nothing’s wrong? Then you mean you unleashed that flame bombardment earlier with a sound mind?”

“As long as it ended quickly because of it, isn’t that what matters?”

“Result-wise, yes, but I can’t tolerate dangerous methods like that. In a subjugation mission, what’s more important than killing monsters is ensuring the soldiers survive safely.”

“So how long were we supposed to drag this out?”

“If we proceed as scheduled, it would easily take three or four days.”

“Too long.”

Roakin tilted his head back as if trying to suppress his irritation.

His disheveled black hair fluttered in the sparse wind.

‘…Damn contract.’

As the war between humans and wizards ended with a peace treaty, the Magic Tower, the headquarters of the wizard clan, came under the jurisdiction of the Empire.

The Tower wanted broader autonomy than other vassal states, and the Empire accepted the Tower’s demands in exchange for the obligation to cooperate in eliminating monsters and protecting humans.

The regular survey of the Baldeas Mountain Range was a major mission carried out by imperial command.

Leaving here on a whim could result in censure.

Of course, it wasn’t that Roakin was afraid of that and staying put obediently.

He didn’t know when Serpine Mirabel would disappear, so it would be problematic to be tied down by troublesome matters for a while.

In the worst case, if he were to be imprisoned in the Alka underground prison for a few days…

He might feel like breaking the contract with the Imperial Family and everything else and getting out of there.

“Do you have some other urgent business?”

“What if I do? Since you’re not going to let me go anyway, why keep asking?”

“I see. Just as I thought.”

Seeing Roakin radiating dissatisfaction, Lirenzo fell into thought.

He had realized that Roakin’s aggressive attacks were intended to finish the mission quickly and return.

Even as the Crown Prince, he couldn’t arbitrarily exclude the Tower Master, the subjugation force’s greatest asset, from the mission.

But if left as is, he also thought that, as Karis said, it wouldn’t be surprising if a knight, not a monster, ended up dead.

“Can you be back by tomorrow morning?”

After all, today’s operation seemed to be wrapping up roughly.

Glancing down at the troops setting up outdoor sleeping tents, Lirenzo continued.

“As long as you’re still in this spot by tomorrow morning, I’ll consider it as me not knowing anything.”

At that moment, focus clearly returned to Roakin’s previously hazy eyes.

“Do you mean that sincerely?”

“Would the Crown Prince of the Empire speak falsely?”

“I won’t tease you for being weak-willed anymore.”

“…I’m honored, I suppose.”

Lirenzo said with a slightly reluctant tone, but Roakin was already far away before he could hear the answer.

Lirenzo followed Roakin’s retreating figure with suspicious eyes.

Roakin Arjen.

A blessed wizard born with immense magical power.

As soon as he got a bit clever, no one could match him, and upon graduating from the academy, he was immediately appointed Tower Master.

At the time, Roakin was only 18, an unprecedented event even in the demon realm, where the law of absolute power ruled.

It was no exaggeration to say he was hailed as the reincarnation of the legendary wizard, Igfreed Arjen.

But Roakin, who had run the path of the best all his life without any major difficulties, seemed somehow bored.

He was indifferent to everything, with an aloof attitude as if nothing interested him.

‘…What’s gotten into him?’

Lirenzo was deeply puzzled by his friend’s unprecedented display of enthusiasm.

Unaware of these questions, Roakin disappeared into the darkness far from the tents.

Upon arriving at the Magic Tower, Roakin immediately looked for Serpine.

However, what he found was an empty secretary’s office.

A clean room, devoid of personal belongings and the feeling of daily life, awaited him.

“…Already?”

He felt as if he’d been hit on the back of the head.

He even checked the storage room in the corner of the secretary’s office, but Serpine wasn’t there.

Roakin burst into Eliser’s room on the floor below and asked.

“Eliser. Where did Serpine go?”

Eliser, who had been engrossed in tinkering with something, her head buried in it, saw Roakin and opened her eyes wide in disbelief.

“Huh? Why are you here, Tower Master? Weren’t you supposed to go to Baldeas?”

“We can talk about that later. Where is Serpine Mirabel?”

“Why are you asking me that? She’s probably in her room.”

“That’s why I’m asking. She’s not there.”

“Hmm, well…?”

It was a mistake to expect Eliser Hilbriss to know in the first place.

Roakin left Eliser’s room and scoured the Magic Tower like a man possessed.

Every place Serpine might be.

He couldn’t afford to let others know he had left his post, but Roakin didn’t have the time to worry about that now.

“Lady Serpine? I haven’t seen her.”

“Maybe she went home?”

Serpine had no family and no home to return to other than the Tower.

They didn’t even know such basic things, so what more could he ask?

“…Never mind.”

Roakin gave up asking the people in the Tower any more questions.

‘Utterly useless, the lot of them.’

Not just Eliser, but not a single person in the Tower knew where Serpine was.

No, not just her whereabouts – they hadn’t even noticed she was gone in the first place.

It was simply absurd that the same was true for the suspicious characters who always clung to Serpine’s side and bothered her.

Arriving at his room empty-handed, Roakin slumped helplessly into a chair.

As he was distractedly running his hand down his face, he noticed something carefully placed on the table.

‘A letter?’

Instinctively knowing Serpine had left it, Roakin urgently opened the letter.

—

[I am taking a leave of absence for a while. Please do not look for me. – Serpine.]

—

“A leave of absence?”

Where to? Why?

Where did this sudden leave of absence come from?

Just as Roakin, in a state of panic, was about to lose it, someone finally extended a helping hand.

*Meow—*

Roakin scooped up Lucifer, who approached him with elegant, languid steps, in an instant.

“Lucifer. Do you know? Where Serpine Mirabel disappeared to?”

*Meeeeeow.*

As if understanding him, Lucifer let out a cry.

Soon, its bright yellow eyes, gleaming like lanterns amidst the mass of black fur, turned towards Roakin.

A memory of a house hidden among dense branches was transmitted to him through the cat’s mysterious gaze.

“The Laberia Forest?”

Lucifer closed its eyes gently and struggled, indicating it wanted to be put down.

As if this was all it needed to do.

“Good boy.”

No wonder there were muddy cat paw prints all over the room…

It must have followed Serpine.

The only useful thing in the entire Magic Tower was a single cat, not some clever wizard.

Roakin put down the squirming Lucifer and filled its bowl to the brim with food.

But Lucifer gave the bowl a tap and haughtily turned its head away.

“Even if you’re in a bad mood, eat a little. I’ll bring Serpine back.”

Lucifer slumped weakly on the cushion, thumping its tail as if to say ‘hurry back’.

‘There it is, caring more about others than its own master.’

Whose familiar is it anyway?

Although its behavior towards its master was becoming more insolent by the day, Roakin decided to generously overlook it this time, acknowledging its contribution.

Roakin activated a magic circle and pictured the Laberia Forest in his mind.

The place where Serpine Mirabel would be.

A single house came into view through the thickly overgrown trees.

Roakin surveyed the exterior of the house with a displeased look.

“She actually disappeared again.”

Roakin let out a hollow laugh.

His steps, which seemed relaxed at first glance but couldn’t hide his impatience, headed towards Serpine’s house.