At Raysendella’s words, a flush momentarily came over Ciello’s face. However, Estribal remained firm.
“That’s the work of the Liberation Force.”
Ciello’s expression turned gloomy again. Her face was an open book.
‘I see why he said the plan and decision don’t match. He’s not entirely wrong.’
Raysendella secretly clicked her tongue and commanded.
“First, understood. Then let’s start with practice. Come in.”
At Raysendella’s words, four guards came in and changed the position of the statue. The elder looked at the wall clock and spoke.
“The time is now eleven in the evening. Can we go out now?”
“Then I’ll go down here.”
Ciello headed straight for the window. Since entering the castle, Estribal, who had been avoiding speaking directly to Ciello, opened his mouth towards Ciello for the first time.
“Ciello. There’s no need to go down through the window. Just go out through the main gate and climb up the window…”
“You have to loosen up your body at times like this, you know.”
But Ciello, half-listening to his words, lightly hopped over the window sill.
“Ciello… Ah…”
Deep wrinkles formed between Estribal’s eyebrows. He quickly approached the window and looked down.
“Let’s start right away!”
Fortunately, Ciello, who had lightly landed on the ground, waved her hand cheerfully under the moonlight. Noah, who had somehow approached Estribal, spoke with a strange face.
“Why is she in such a hurry today? What’s going on?”
“You’re the one who always starts talking to me first.”
Estribal responded with a face that had returned to being expressionless and turned his body. Noah clicked his tongue.
“Ah, I’m the fool for asking.”
Noah grumbled and left the room with the others, closing the door. Ciello, who confirmed that all the doors were locked, lightly stretched.
“Let’s see…This height is nothing.”
Ciello dusted off her hands and began to climb the wall. In the dark night, Ciello, who was climbing the wall relying on the faint moonlight, was almost as fast as walking up the wall. It was enough to make Noah exclaim, “Is she really not a spider?”
Normally, it would be safer to tie a rope and climb, but there was no reason to be scared because the most reliable safety device was at Ciello’s fingertips.
Without hesitation, Ciello stepped on the wall and climbed up to the height of the second floor, gripped the window sill with both hands, and pushed down with the strength of her arms. Ciello’s body flew up.
“Phew. Up to here is easy.”
Although she was prepared to immediately rewind time in case of a mistake to avoid injury, fortunately, Ciello landed lightly on the window sill.
Standing on the window sill, Ciello took out a pick from her waist and gently twisted the lock between the window sills. With a click, the window opened. Opening locks was not Ciello’s specialty, but it was not a very difficult task as she had been given enough practice time along with the blueprint. Now it was time to turn back time.
“Think of it as touching the air, like this…”
There was no need to go into the room. All she had to do was touch the space and snap her fingers. Ciello, remembering the method Serpiente had taught her in advance, reached out one hand to the open window gap.
“Wow. This is something.”
Ciello swallowed. To snap her fingers, she had to take her other hand off the wall. At this height, having both hands in the air was more nerve-wracking than she thought. Ciello started talking to herself, a habit she had when she needed to calm down.
“Hey. I’ve walked tightropes in the circus. This is nothing.”
Ciello balanced precariously and took her hand off the other side. But as soon as she thought of the word ‘circus’, the incident that had happened earlier flashed through Ciello’s mind.
[How much we missed you when we lost you at the circus…]
Ciello’s heart pounded. Anyone who saw her would doubt her behavior, but her face looked like hers.
They might be swindlers. But she herself had grown up as a petty thief. If this is also like parents, who can say for sure that those swindlers aren’t her parents.
“No, I need to focus.”
Ciello shook her head with effort. Then her thoughts moved to the next moment.
Estribal’s arm that held her. The firm and broad chest that touched the tip of her fingers, the rapid heartbeat beneath it, the flushed face. Those things whirled around in Ciello’s head.
“Ah, really!”
With a feeling of ‘whatever’, Ciello hurriedly snapped her fingers. In an instant, a sharp light wrapped around the room like packaging. It was as Serpiente had said.
****
“Did I… succeed?”
Ciello sighed with relief, holding onto the window sill.
“It’s over. You can come in now!”
Ciello shouted confidently and climbed over the window into the room. But the snake-shaped statue that should have been in the room was all gone.
“Huh? What?”
Ciello widened her eyes in surprise. The people outside who were anxiously waiting for Ciello also looked around the room with puzzled faces.
“What happened?”
“Where did everything go? What’s this?”
In the chaotic atmosphere, Estribal pointed to the clock with his chin.
“It seems that time has gone back too much.”
The clock hand had moved far ahead, pointing at four o’clock. It was about the time when he was arguing with those who claimed to be her parents.
“How could this…”
Ciello stared at the clock with a pale face. Noah also asked with a dumbfounded expression.
“Hey, do we not know when this is supposed to go?”
“No, we can definitely control the moving point…”
The elder muttered, stroking her chin.
“Surely at that time, we hadn’t brought the statue yet. Then…”
Raysendella instructed the guards.
“Go down to the warehouse where the statue was placed.”
A moment later, the guards came up, sweating profusely, pulling a cart containing the stone statue.
“As you said, both statues were in the storage room.”
“Should I be amazed by this…”
Raysendella shook her head, tapping her forehead. The elder patted Ciello’s shoulder.
“Don’t go down, try again outside.”
“Yes…”
Ciello tried a few more times at the door as the elder said, but the result was a mess. She couldn’t turn back even 5 minutes, then went back a few hours ago. In the end, the time in the room went back several years, and the situation became completely chaotic.
“We’ve prepared a few more fakes, but what should we do…”
Raysendella sighed. The others also stared blankly at the empty room tangled with cobwebs.
“Well, if we can move time this much, we might be able to fix the princess’s leg.”
Noah tried to console Ciello, but Raysendella shook her head with a face that said it was nonsense.
“It’s regrettable, but isn’t the situation completely uncontrollable? If we try too hard and go back to the moment we got hurt, who would I blame.”
The elder spoke, looking at Ciello with worried eyes.
“If this goes on, we might have a big accident. The scale has grown, but it seems that the skill is worse than before. What happened?”
“I don’t know either…”
Ciello hung her head in gloom. The elder’s voice was gentle, but to Ciello, it sounded like a reprimand. Estribal carefully let out a sigh.
“According to recent literature, when a non-formal magician accidentally wields the power of spirits, they can’t receive the help of magic circles or spells, so the result depends entirely on the caster’s mind…”
So, the result might be unstable. Estribal swallowed his words, but everyone in the room could guess what he meant.
“Yeah, you were a bit off today. What’s going on? Guest?”
“No, it’s just…”
Even at Noah’s question, Ciello trailed off. Raysendella sighed at her demeanor.
“I don’t know what happened, but we can’t proceed with the plan in this situation.”
“No, I can do well…!”
“Shh. Ciello.”
At the elder’s restraint, Ciello bit her lip. Raysendella continued speaking.
“First, think about proceeding with the plan without Ciello’s ability, and if it’s difficult, consider other directions. In the worst case…”
Raysendella paused for a moment before finishing her sentence.
“We might have to give up on the founding ceremony.”
Everyone fell silent. The trick to attack the emperor’s position had turned into a boomerang. Raysendella straightened up in the rapidly cooling atmosphere and added firmly.
“Of course, giving up on the founding ceremony doesn’t mean I’m giving up on this country, or even you Peregrines.”
“That’s right. Even if it’s not this time, the opportunity will definitely come!”
At Noah’s encouragement, the frozen atmosphere thawed a bit. But Ciello was still drooping her shoulders as if she was deflated. The elder spoke soothingly.
“It’s late. You guys should go first.”
“But, I’ll try one more time!”
Ciello took a step forward. But the elder shook her head.
“Don’t push yourself, Ciello. Impatience is poison.”
“Yeah, you’ll feel better after a good rest.”
Noah patted Ciello’s shoulder. This time, even Estribal couldn’t stop Noah’s comfort and turned his gaze with a complicated expression.
****
The two people who were pushed out of the castle headed towards the temporary transfer gate installed in Raysendella’s sponsorship. It was a very simple teleportation magic where they stand on the magic circle and turn the scale, just like when they visited,
“…Ciello, are you going to leave the Duke here?”
The distance between the two was still awkwardly floating.
“Hey, I don’t know what’s going on, but hold on tight. And don’t fall again.”
Unable to bear it, the elder and Noah each said a word. But Ciello’s fingers were still fiddling with Estribal’s sleeve. Estribal looked at those fingers and sighed, saying,
“Now I also have to visit your hideout often. It would be bothersome for Ciello to accompany me every time. Since things have come to this, lend me your magical tools as well.”
“Hmm, if you’re a Peregrine, we’ll give you as much as you want…”
The elder looked up and down at Estribal with a strange smile.
