For Sale. Fallen Lady. Never Used.

The reinforcements that arrived were nothing short of extravagant.

Not only had they scraped together several Aura Experts at the rank of knight commanders and elite Aura Users.

But the Magic Tower had also sent two upper-level Magic Tower Lords and several intermediate magicians as part of their staff.

It was clear that the United Divine Orders had also gathered as many combatants as they could muster.

Well, considering that they were planning a full-on war with the Greenskin army, which had spread beyond just filling one city, this much was to be expected.

…Though by the time they arrived, the situation had already been resolved, with the clean-up nearly complete.

Those who had come, ready for battle, could not hide their stunned expressions at the sight of monster corpses scattered everywhere and the aftermath of widespread destruction spells.

They didn’t know whether to be glad or just exasperated.

After hearing the story that the situation had almost gone south, but thanks to us, things had turned around, they looked at us in disbelief.

The reaction from the magicians, in particular, was quite intense.

Judging by the different colors and patterns of their robes, they must have come from different Magic Towers, but all their questions were the same.

How on earth did you manage to cast such high-level magic with such reckless abandon?

Iris, who was once a Magic Tower Lord but was now my slave, seemed uncomfortable and quietly hid behind the always grumbling Iona.

Iona, meanwhile, merely shrugged at the magicians and pointed at me.

In the end, when I told them I had received help from the Chairman, they nodded as if they finally understood.

Though I was in semi-forced seclusion, it seemed my title as the Archmage of the Hero’s Party hadn’t faded yet.

However, when I mentioned that I had borrowed the staff from the Chairman, everyone’s attention started to focus on me.

Just as a knight wouldn’t easily hand over their sword to someone else, a magician also wouldn’t casually lend out their staff, the item most closely tied to them. ŕ𝔞ΝꝊʙƐṥ

Even if it was bound so that no one else could use it.

Yet, the fact that it was lent out meant one of two things: either the Chairman intended to make me her successor, or, at the very least, she thought very highly of me.

After Theodore Lindelheit’s death, the only remaining Archmage’s actions would naturally draw attention.

Feeling the prying eyes around me, I let out an inward sigh.

---

“Let’s run.”

“…Huh?”

“You? What are you suddenly talking about?”

Carla and Elisha, who had been peacefully grooming each other’s hair after another exhausting day, blinked their red and blue eyes in confusion.

This time, I spoke a little louder, so that the lounging Iona on the bed and the dozing Iris in the rocking chair could hear.

“I said, let’s run. There are still some monster corpses we haven’t dealt with, but there are other magicians here besides us. Let’s just say goodbye to Helena, the Pope, or Sir Gilbert, and teleport out of here.”

“I’ll follow you wherever you want to go, Master…”

“Yes, I don’t mind leaving right away. But… could you explain why?”

“…Honestly, I’m just incredibly tired.”

Although the magicians understood how we managed to unleash such firepower in this battle, they wouldn’t stop asking me all sorts of questions afterward.

How had I, who had only learned magic recently, managed to reach the level of a seasoned intermediate magician? Was it possible for outsiders to learn Lindelheit’s family secrets? They even asked when I could visit their Magic Tower to have a long discussion about the combat applications of magic, something I had apparently sparked interest in recently.

Even though Iona had stepped in to mediate somewhat, the level of interest they showed was overwhelming.

“Well… I managed to tolerate it until that point.”

Barely escaping the magicians, I was then faced with the priests of the United Divine Orders.

With eyes shining full of goodwill, they approached me with their questions. I couldn’t just brush them off, especially since I needed to keep the Divine Orders on my side.

Their questions were equally mind-boggling.

Questions about the relationship between faith and divine power, whether I had drawn upon divine blessings, whether humans could wield holy power, and even out-of-the-blue proselytizing that started with “You seem like a person of good character.”

Unlike magic, which I at least had some knowledge of, I had no idea how to answer the priests’ questions.

As a result, I ended up exhausted in a completely different way.

“In the end, I managed to make my escape by telling them I was too tired to continue and that we could talk next time.”

“So now you want to run because you’re just tired of all this?”

“Exactly! I’ll just come up with some excuse, like an urgent matter, and we can get out of here.”

Carla gave me a curious look, Elisha let out a deep sigh, and Iona burst into laughter.

I hurriedly added, “There really is something urgent!”

“What? I heard you’re headed straight to the Imperial Palace from the Academy… Is this ‘urgent matter’ some kind of rebellion you plan to start while the troops are away? You’d have a hard time with that Sword Master around.”

“It’s not like that at all…”

Iona, who had been laughing for a while, continued with her dangerous jokes.

Meanwhile, Iris remained sound asleep despite the noise around her, even drooling a bit.

Did she really like the rocking chair that much…?

After cleaning her up and closing her gaping mouth, I finally broached the main topic.

“It’s true that we need to get to the Imperial Palace as soon as possible. If we just teleport there out of nowhere, even the Empress of Levantin, who has access to all the Empire’s intelligence, will be caught off guard.”

“…Huh? Wait a second, why is the Empress being mentioned here?”

“Well, because she’s one of the cultists.”

“……”

“By the way, the Cardinal of Boiling Silence. Even without a Sword Master, it would be difficult to deal with her secretly.”

Though the church was not known for direct combat abilities, a cardinal could still hold their own against a high-level magician or Aura Expert.

There wasn’t a huge difference in combat power, and on top of that, she was an expert in stealth and infiltration. A frontal assault at an unexpected moment would be far better than sneaking around.

The advantage of the Empress’s position was that she could know everything about the Levantin Empire while seated. The downside was that she couldn’t move from that position.

In other words, she could neither hide nor escape. That’s what we planned to exploit.

“I just came up with this plan, so I’ve only hinted to Carla. I haven’t told anyone else yet. As for Iris… well, I’ll explain it to her when she wakes up.”

When I lightly placed my finger on her soft lips, Iris instinctively began to suck on it.

Without bothering to pull my finger away, I briefly explained the plan for the Empress raid.

Everyone seemed to accept the idea, though they felt there were still details to refine, so we started exchanging opinions.

Amid the heated discussion, I suddenly remembered something I had momentarily forgotten.

“Ah, there’s somewhere I need to stop by before we head to the Imperial Palace.”

“Oh? Didn’t you say it was urgent?”

“It is… but the place is along the route we’ll be teleporting through anyway. It shouldn’t take long. If it does, we can always delay it for later.”

“Heheheh. I don’t know where you plan to stop, Yandel, but it must be more important than this operation, right?”

“Maybe.”

I shrugged lightly, and Carla cautiously raised her hand to ask.

“I’m curious… where exactly do you plan to go, Master?”

“Have you heard of Fafnir?”

“Of course! I read about him in fairy tales when I was a child. The illustrations of the greedy dragon, Fafnir, were so adorable… Wait, hold on a second. Don’t tell me…”

“Yep. We’re going to Fafnir’s lair.”

“A dragon’s lair…!”

Carla was so startled that she unintentionally shouted. The others, while expressing their surprise differently, were no less shocked.

“Don’t get too excited. Ever since Fafnir died, the place has been completely looted. There’s nothing left. But… there’s something I have to do there.”

“It must be something important to you, Master.”

“Yes.”

Previously, when I acquired the Mana Affinity trait, I received a notification about fulfilling a special condition.

Such messages don’t appear lightly. The rewards are usually significant.

I don’t know why I’m being told to go to Fafnir’s lair, but if there’s something to be gained there, it’s best to go and get it.

The Empress—no, the Cardinal of Boiling Silence, Fiona—won’t just surrender her life because her identity has been revealed.

Even if the plan goes smoothly, there will be a battle. And if the plan fails, there will still be a fight.

If things go well, I can hope for the help of the Sword Master… but our opponent is a cardinal who’s a master of assassination and infiltration.

I could be taken out in the blink of an eye. So, it’s best to gather whatever strength I can before we go.

As I nodded to myself, the women who had heard my story were whispering among themselves.

“This is about that, right?”

“Yes, probably.”

“Yandel’s hometown…”

Ah. That background story, too.

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