TYHL 144

~Chapter 144~

“Sir?”

“Tie him up for now. The wizards are moving.”

Far away, the wizards were burning the black monster bodies.

“They might have noticed something. We should pull back,” the blue-haired knight said calmly. But Leviathan didn’t move.

At that moment, Allen felt a chill go down his spine.

The relaxed look on the Duke’s face was gone. When Allen peeked at him, Leviathan looked scary, almost like a demon.

“…Sir, you shouldn’t fight them right now.”

“…”

“You promised His Majesty the Emperor. You said you wouldn’t clash with the wizards. Just finding out their goal is a big win.”

“So maybe I should kill them now,” Leviathan answered in a low, dark voice.

“They want to start another war here. That terrible hell, all over again.”

“But…”

“Haha. Wow. Everyone’s so serious? But look at that.”

Allen put down his telescope and spoke.

“The ruins’ door is gone! Looks like those wizards hid the entrance.”

“…”

“From my experience, unless you’re the same kind of wizard, it’ll take weeks, maybe months, to find it.”

Months…

Leviathan mumbled.

In the end, they had to fall back.

Right away, Leviathan sent a messenger hawk to the palace for more surveillance. The emperor ordered Leviathan to come back, saying the rest would be handled at the palace.

So now,

On the way back to the empire.

‘Man, I almost got stuck in a fight between giants.’

Finishing his memories, Allen trailed behind on his horse and thought,

‘He hates wizards even more than I thought. Those eyes…’

Khalid, you punk…

Are you okay? What happens if that Duke finds out you and the princess are wizards?

‘Anyway, I have to send a message to the kid.’

Allen glanced at the knights around him and sighed.

‘If I don’t report the Magic King’s movement, he’ll flip out…’

He shivered, remembering Khalid’s snake popping out of the darkness.

‘Let’s think…’

At that moment, he heard the sound of a metal locket closing.

“Alright, we’re about to speed up now.”

Leviathan, who just finished looking at the portrait, tilted his face and said,

“Will you tell me who’s behind you, or will you stay quiet forever? Decide now.”

Damn, my life.

What should I do… While he was thinking, he looked at the golden locket in the Duke’s hand.

He peeked over and saw it was a family portrait.

‘This is all or nothing.’

“Aha! Sir! I can tell you this!”

Allen shouted loudly, on purpose.

“You have a cute daughter, right? There’s a macaron shop that kids her age love! My network says it’s a must-have item for dads coming home from a trip—top 3 best gifts…”

“What nonsense is this?” Yujen smacked Allen on the head.

Ugh, maybe that wasn’t it.

But then, the Duke turned to Allen.

“Is it close?”

“Huh?”

“The macarons. I don’t have much time.”

“Oh, yes! It’s in the village at the foot of the mountain!”

The Duke pointed with his sharp chin.

“Lead the way.”

“Really?”

This actually worked?

Allen felt awkward, but took the chance and led the way.

Once they left the forest path and entered the village, there were lots of people.

It really was a famous shop—people crowded everywhere.

Since it was hard to ride horses, they headed to a stable nearby.

‘Now’s my chance.’

As soon as the rope tying him to the horse loosened,

Allen used all his strength to run away.

“Hey! That guy!”

He quickly disappeared into the crowd, changing his coat, hat, scarf—whatever he could snatch.

He was good at sneaky tricks, thank goodness.

Soon,

He pretended to look at a street stand and checked—no one was chasing him.

‘Whew, that was scary!’

I really almost died.

He breathed in relief and ducked into a dark alley.

‘By the way, the princess is cute.’

He remembered the face he saw in Leviathan’s locket. Even if it was just a rough charcoal drawing, her round face stood out.

‘Khalid, you punk.’

So that’s why he hid her like a treasure?

‘At least I saw her face!’

Allen grinned and hurried along. Then he pulled out some paper and quickly scribbled a letter.

“He ran away, as expected,” Leon said.

Leviathan just stretched his neck.

“Took him long enough. I was waiting to see when he’d try to escape… Yujen.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Follow him and make sure to see where he sends his message.”

Yujen nodded, grabbed his bow, and disappeared like the wind.

They had let Allen go on purpose, so they wouldn’t lose him.

“Whoever his client is, it must be someone important. That guy is the leader of the empire’s biggest mercenary group, after all…” Leon said.

Lately, things had been strangely quiet.

Leviathan listened silently, then finally spoke.

He’d been thinking about something the whole ride.

“Rubian…”

It was sudden. Leon looked surprised.

“Rubian sometimes plays hide and seek with Void and Liam in the castle.”

“Sometimes she crawls under my desk in the office and always says the same thing.”

Leviathan looked at Leon.

“She says, ‘Watch the window and tell me if you see Liam or Void coming.’”

Leon finally understood what Leviathan meant.

“If someone feels the need to keep watch, it means they see someone as an enemy… or as someone to run from.”

Leviathan finished his thought.

“Someone running from the Magic King.”

There was only one person Leviathan knew who was running from the Magic King.

‘They said she was caught last spring, but…’

The more time passed, the more he doubted it.

No one knew how or where they caught that young wizard.

‘What if saying she was caught was just a trick? What if she’s still on the run?’

The doubt that had been like a thin mist became solid as soon as he saw Allen’s face.

Once he thought about the possibility, he couldn’t stop.

Now Leviathan was half-sure.

The young wizard who ran from the kingdom.

‘Was it that wizard who hired the mercenary?’

If so, it made sense that Allen wouldn’t talk. A powerful wizard could put any kind of binding on him.

“That could be true,” Leon nodded, like he read Leviathan’s thoughts.

He suddenly thought of something and added,

“If that young wizard really is her, sir… what will you do when you find her?”

“I don’t know…”

Leviathan ran a hand through his hair.

Honestly, he hadn’t thought about it.

Telling them to chase Allen was almost instinct.

He took a long breath and looked up at the sky.

“First…”

“I think I’d want to feed her.”

The wide autumn sky looked just like his precious child’s eyes.

“She’s only ten years old.”

Somehow, looking at the sky made him feel like he was meeting her eyes, and he couldn’t look away.

A little later,

Yujen brought Allen’s message.

Leviathan took the letter and read it.

“Acorn!”

I quickly picked up a squirrel’s snack from the ground and put it in my pocket.

“Another acorn here!”

The academy had so many hazel trees. It was really a good year!

I’ll use some for crafts class.

‘But that application…’

I picked up good acorns while walking along the path.

‘The handwriting looked familiar.’

One of the applications on Professor Yuliophe’s desk.

Something about that handwriting kept bothering me.

“Hmmm.”

I felt like a detective, lining up all the clues I had.

The strange maid.

High-level wizards sent to the Delkan ruins.

And that application’s handwriting…

‘Could it be… Number 2?’

I stopped picking acorns.

“No, no way. That can’t be…”

I laughed and shook my head.

“They wouldn’t be dumb enough.”

Why would a secret tracker apply for a job openly?

Unless… they never went outside the palace and didn’t know how things worked.

“…”

…But that’s true. Number 2 only worked inside the palace.

So they probably weren’t sent to the Delkan ruins either.

‘…The restoration workers are coming tomorrow, right?’

Sigh.

Now I was almost sure Number 2 had come to find me.