“It seems that Mother and Father liked Harnen more than they expected.”
“Yeah.”
Kaien and Philome exchanged words, left alone together.
Earlier that day, after Harnen attached the spirit scrolls to the well and produced drinking water, Natasha took him to Theodore’s office.
Thus, only Liazell, Kaien, and Philome remained.
They were engaged in such deep conversation that they even decided to skip dinner and told the others to eat separately.
Even after the three finished dinner, they still hadn’t come out of the office.
“Liazell, have you explored the entire castle?”
“Yes. I also greeted the locals. Interestingly, they all seemed to know Mom and Dad!”
Liazell replied, her eyes sparkling.
Whenever Liazell walked around the castle, everyone would murmur her parents’ names upon seeing her.
Kaien realized that the locals Liazell mentioned were his parents’ subordinates. They would have recognized her immediately.
“I guess I really resemble Mom and Dad a lot. Do you think so too, Uncle and Philome?”
Liazell asked, holding her cheeks with both hands, which were just starting to plump up.
Philome, who had seen portraits of Liazell’s parents, nodded and gently patted her small head.
“Yes, you really do resemble them. Right, Duke?”
“You resemble them a lot.”
“Hehe. Really?”
Since it was the answer she wanted, Liazell broke into a happy smile.
Philome handed Liazell a warm glass of milk and asked Kaien, “By the way, when are you planning to go see the monster’s corpse?”
“I’ll go see it later.”
Theodore had brought the monster’s corpse to the castle just in case. Since it had awakened from a long slumber of several hundred years, he wanted to check if anything had changed since then.
“I was going to ask earlier but forgot—how was the snowfield?”
“It was just like last year.”
The snowfield was a place where not a single small life could be felt. It was calm, quiet, and desolate, covered endlessly in pure white snow.
“Did you feel any magical or other powers?”
Philome asked cautiously.
“Philome, what do you mean by that?”
Since hearing about the monster’s awakening, Philome had been harboring the same suspicion.
“…There wasn’t any external power, right?”
What if someone had deliberately awakened the monster?
No matter how much things had changed from the original story, Philome, as a reincarnator, could not ignore the original plot.
In the original story, the monster had remained asleep. But suddenly, it had awakened.
This was one of the biggest deviations after Kaien not falling in love with Nadia at first sight.
‘Let’s say Kaien loved me first and that’s why he didn’t fall for Nadia.’
Then what about the monster?
There was nothing that could explain why the monster had awakened differently from the original.
Thus, Philome’s suspicion was very valid.
“External power, huh…”
Kaien glanced at Liazell, who had her nose buried in her glass of milk.
Sensing that it wasn’t something to discuss in front of Liazell, Philome immediately called for Sophia.
“Lady Liazell, you must be tired, right? Let’s hurry and wash up so you can go to bed.”
Before that, Philome had made contact with Liazell by hugging her.
Only after Liazell left did Kaien continue speaking.
“Your prediction was correct.”
“…Was there really any trace left?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps my father has a rough idea, but there’s a strange power in the snowfield that I can’t quite describe.”
“Is it not magic?”
“Yeah, it’s definitely not magic.”
Kaien shook his head firmly.
If it had been magic, he would have noticed it immediately.
“It’s some… unsettling power. I can’t say for sure since it’s my first time feeling it, but it’s clear that the monster was deliberately awakened by someone.”
The unsettling feeling and the fact that it was the first time Kaien had experienced such power made Philome think of something.
“Duke.”
Philome cautiously spoke up.
“To what extent is the probability of it being the power of sorcery?”
“…”
Kaien blinked in surprise at Philome’s words.
Then, after a moment, he finally responded.
“…High, quite high.”
Philome’s suggestion was quite plausible.
Kaien had never properly felt the power of sorcery. However, from what he had heard, it was a power created by siphoning life, so it was said to feel extremely unsettling and chilling.
When Kaien had gone to the snowfield, he had felt a chill and an instinctive sense of rejection right away.
The snowfield was not a pleasant place to begin with, as the monster lay sleeping just beneath the thick layer of snow.
However, there was a different kind of discomfort lingering in the snowfield compared to last winter. Kaien thought it was strange but assumed he was just being overly sensitive and interpreting it too intensely.
“It seems we need to do more than just station a guard in the snowfield; we need to conduct a search.”
Kaien murmured as he came to a realization.
“I think I’ll be busy starting tomorrow, Philome.”
“It can’t be helped. I’m fine, so please focus on the snowfield. Are you going to see the monster’s corpse now?”
“Yeah. If I feel the same unsettling power from the monster as I did in the snowfield, it will confirm that it’s the work of a sorcery user.”
“But has there been a mass slaughter recently? Or perhaps kidnappings? No matter how skilled a sorcery user is, it wouldn’t be easy to awaken a monster that the saint put to sleep.”
“The reason I hadn’t thought of a sorcerer until I heard your words is exactly that. There hasn’t been any mass slaughter or kidnappings this year.”
If such events had occurred, he would have been keeping a closer watch on sorcerers than usual.
However, there had been no incidents in recent years that could be suspected as the work of a sorcerer.
“I’ll contact Sebastian to look into this matter.”
Since Gio had come down with him, Sebastian was the only one who could handle such tasks in the capital.
Curious about what had happened, Philome nodded.
“Yes, please go quickly.”
“And just in case, don’t go to the basement. Got it? You might be affected by sorcery.”
Since she had no intention of joining him to see the monster’s corpse anyway, Philome quickly replied.
“I understand, so don’t worry and go.”
As Kaien left, Philome let out a light sigh and drank some slightly cooled milk.
She felt physically exhausted from moving around, but her mind was still alert, so she planned to stay a bit longer before returning to her room.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and a disheveled Harnen entered.
“Harnen, did you finish your discussion well?”
“Boss, I feel like I’m going to die.”
Harnen collapsed onto the sofa with a fatigued expression. However, he didn’t seem entirely exhausted.
He continued speaking with a strangely animated expression.
“Still, talking like this feels really good. It’s a satisfying feeling.”
“You’ve worked hard. What did you discuss?”
Philome asked directly, knowing that he had come to talk about something important instead of going straight to his room.
Harnen, slowly lifting his weary body, replied, “First of all, they said they would regularly purchase the water spirit scroll from me.”
Here’s what they had discussed.
When Natasha used Harnen’s spirit scroll, she told Theodore what had happened. As soon as Theodore heard everything, he drafted a contract right there.
It contained the agreement to regularly purchase his water spirit scroll.
“Did you sign the contract?”
Philome asked excitedly, and Harnen pulled the contract from his pocket.
“Not yet.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“The master of Menen is you, boss. I’m just an employee. You should review the contract and sign it yourself!”
Philome’s eyes widened in surprise.
She never imagined Harnen would think that way.
“Did you think I was just calling you ‘boss’ for fun?”
Seeing Philome’s expression, Harnen awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his neck.
“I truly owe a great debt to the boss. Once a boss, always a boss. I’ve never once used that title jokingly.”
“Harnen… have you matured since coming to the North? Did the cold wind affect your head or something?”
“Hey! Are you trying to spoil the moment?!”
Harnen jumped up and shouted.
Philome burst into laughter at his reaction.
“I’m just joking. I believe what you said.”
“Anyway, we didn’t talk about the contract for long. I told them I would show it to you and then we could discuss it more tomorrow.”
“So, what did you talk about?”
“I talked about the spirit scrolls. I didn’t know, but Liazell’s mother was a spirit user. So, they both seem to know a bit about spirit users.”
Philome then realized why Harnen had been so lively, like a puppy that had just gotten a new toy.
thanks for the chapter