The day of the appointment with Ivan.
Idel, leading a group of people, knocked on the door of the store and soon faced a familiar face, exchanging a kind greeting.
“Hi!”
Sigmund, absentmindedly nodding, frowned at her unusually soft voice.
“What is it?”
“What do you mean, what is it? I’m just greeting my best friend. How have you been? I’ve missed you!”
“….”
Sigmund didn’t respond to Idel’s words and instead looked around. Her smile, which grew brighter as his expression crumpled, made him feel uneasy.
And the moment he spotted the group of people behind her, Sigmund twisted his lips and crossed his arms.
“…Wow, you didn’t come alone… huh? What’s this? Are we, like, sharing friends now? Isn’t that a bit much?”
“Not at all! You’re the only friend I need. But there’s a reason for this.”
“I’m very curious about that.”
Just as Sigmund was silently cursing Idel with his eyes, a bright voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.
“Sorry if this is uncomfortable! I insisted on coming along. I’ve heard so much about you and was curious, plus, I didn’t want to miss out on this…”
Gianna, blushing with embarrassment, introduced herself while fidgeting with her fingers.
“Call me Gianna. I’m Idel’s ‘older sister’!”
“Idel? Ah… So you’re Del’s big sister. Well… nice to meet you.”
At that moment, Gianna’s previously gentle eyes widened.
“…Del?”
Did she just call Idel ‘Del’?
“Del…”
Gianna, hearing the nickname ‘Del’ for the first time, repeated it several times as if she couldn’t believe it, then shifted her gaze to the two.
The two, looking at each other alternately, were holding hands tightly and smiling, as if to prove their closeness.
‘…Idel looks happy.’
It felt strange. Gianna had never received such a smile from Idel before.
‘Idel’s family is me, not him.’
With that thought, Gianna stared intently at Sigmund. The emotions that suddenly bubbled up inside her felt foreign, causing her lips to tighten.
Meanwhile, Sigmund, sensing her gaze with a beast-like sensitivity, slightly furrowed his brow and rolled his eyes.
‘What’s this? It’s that girl from earlier, right?’
The girl who claimed to be Idel’s sister had an undeniably lovely appearance, but he had no interest in that.
What mattered was why she was staring at him like that.
Especially at his hands.
‘What? Is she telling me not to hold her sister’s hand?’
Now that he thought about it, she had emphasized the word “sister” a bit too much when they greeted each other.
Recalling that moment, Sigmund frowned slightly but tried to hide it.
‘Seriously…’
They say birds of the same feather flock together, but to bring along such a strange girl…
‘Is this some kind of rivalry?’
Is Idel packaging him as her ‘only friend’?
Sigmund really didn’t want that. In fact, he wanted to discard such titles from the start.
Frustrated by the discomfort caused by the customers, Sigmund glared at Idel, gritting his teeth.
‘It better be a good reason.’
If not, he would definitely tell his master to terminate the contract this time.
Meanwhile, Idel was exchanging friendly greetings with the store manager appointed by his master.
“Oh, Del! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you at the store! Did you come to hang out with Sigmund?”
“Yes! Well, actually, I also wanted to ask Sigmund for some help…! Is the magic teacher here today?”
“Hmm. I heard he was going to enchant some dolls today… I don’t know what it is, but how about you try to resolve it with Sigmund first?”
“Okay.”
“Haha! Good, good!”
He laughed heartily at Idel’s response and nodded toward Ivan and Diane.
“Feel free to relax, you two. If you need anything, just let Sigmund know.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“Well then, I have something to take care of, so I’ll be off! Sigmund, take good care of the store while I’m gone!”
Sigmund waved lightly without answering. As he watched the store’s door close, he turned to look at Idel.
“So?”
“Hmm?”
“What do you mean, ‘Hmm’? You said there was a reason. And you wanted to ask for help.”
“Oh, that.”
As Idel lightly crossed her arms and began to speak, a confident voice interjected between them. It was Gianna, who had been looking back and forth between them.
“Idel, wait a moment! I’ll explain it!”
“You?”
“Yeah! I’m her ‘big sister,’ after all.”
“Well… okay.”
If the explanation was lacking, she could just add to it.
Gianna beamed a bright smile at Idel’s consent and began to vividly explain the story she had heard, starting from the events at the café that Sigmund already knew about all the way to how Farell stormed into the count’s family.
“…So that’s what happened!”
“Oh, I see.”
“Your response seems a bit short… Are you surprised?”
“No, I’m fine.”
Unlike Gianna, who was flustered by Sigmund’s dry response, Sigmund was actually okay.
After all, in Raven’s Den, such absurd stories were quite common.
A woman ordering a poison ring to kill her husband. A son selling his family information for gambling. Even someone swapping out a newborn baby.
What was surprising was actually Ivan, the main character of the story.
‘He’s a journalist…?’
That awkwardly smiling man? Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered hearing something about it at the café, but honestly, he didn’t really believe it.
‘Well, it’s not my concern anyway.’
Quickly dismissing his thoughts, Sigmund rubbed the back of his neck and spoke up.
“So you really want to know if it’s possible to impregnate a man with black magic?”
“Something like that. Since you’re learning magic directly from the teacher, I figured you might be able to figure out something suspicious!”
“…Considering it’s the Raven’s Den, you think there might be forbidden magic books?”
“What are you talking about! It’s not like you’re learning some terrifying black magic, so how could there be such a book? We just don’t have any magicians among us, so we’re asking for your help!”
Idel, with a warm smile, moved closer to Sigmund and put her arm around his shoulder. Then she lowered her voice and quietly whispered to him.
“Dark magic can’t cause pregnancy, right? I’m curious about how one can deceive someone like that. Maybe some kind of… overlay method?”
“On what grounds? No, what does this have to do with our contract in the first place? It seems like you’re using me as a lackey under the guise of ‘friendship’…”
“No matter how I think about it, it seems similar to the curse my mom put on me. Not the brainwashing curse, but the one that deceives bloodlines.”
Idel, narrowing her eyes, tightened her grip on Sigmund’s shoulder.
“I have a feeling that if we catch this clue, we might find something related to my mom. That would help in breaking the curse too.”
“What? Right now, that’s…?”
“…Aren’t you two being a bit too affectionate whispering without me?”
At the sudden voice of the intruder nearby, Sigmund closed his mouth and distanced himself. His dissatisfaction about being assigned such trivial work because of that ‘feeling’ couldn’t come out.
With a short sigh to clear his emotions, Sigmund put his hands in his pockets and tilted his head skeptically.
“…Anyway, I’ll look through the magic books, but don’t get your hopes up. It’s not black magic under the control of the Empire; it’s ‘forbidden magic.’”
“Of course! They’ll understand too. Right?”
“Oh, of course. In fact, if it’s too difficult of a request, feel free to decline.”
At the serious gaze of the man, Sigmund was about to twitch his lips when…
“What’s so difficult about just rummaging through magic books…? That’s fine.”
A tired voice answered on behalf of Sigmund.
The person who answered was an old man Idel had never seen before, but she soon realized who he was.
He was Sigmund’s master and the actual owner of the shop, Vilred.
“Master?”
“Yes, while I was away for a bit, an interesting guest arrived. This must be some kind of fate. Sigmund, go get the magic books from the fourth shelf.”
Sigmund’s expression turned strange at his master’s unusually gentle voice.
‘Some kind of fate’—that wasn’t something he would normally say. In the bizarre situation, Sigmund unknowingly opened his mouth.
“Master, are you out of your… um!”
“Looks like Sigmund will have a hard time alone! I’ll go with him!”
“What? Ah, then, I’ll go too! I’ll go with you!”
