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Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 1

CHAPTER 3: THE SEARCH

「Pardon the intrusion…. 」

「Hellfire」 Margret, the contracted Mage of the Earl of Artuk entered the office of her Lord, Vilar, and stepped forward to the front of the desk at which he was currently working.

「What is it? 」

Villar lifted his head and smiled at Margaret

「Wehave just received an urgent message from Siluca. It says that the members of the heavy knights of Waldrind have secretly entered our territory and are hunting the Werewolves. 」

「Hou? 」

Villar narrowed his eyes.

「Do you know what their intentions behind doing so might be? 」

「I do not know. Right now I cannot possibly think of any reason for them to be doing such a thing, but it is entirely possible that they might be working for a very special purpose, or that the are conducting a secret operation on behalf of Waldrind. 」
「I never thought that the proud heavy knights of Waldrind would challenge us in a guerrilla warfare while knowing that we are so good at it. If they have a purpose for doing that, then I would definitely love to know what that purpose is, I would definitely like to know. Tell Siluca to seal the borders immediately and to patrol the highways along with the soldiers… Oh, that’s right, and also order Theo to act as my representative. 」

When she received her orders, Margaret’s expression became quite complicated.

「Is there some sort of a problem? 」

「No, it is just that… that Siluca Meletes had the exact same proposal as you, Lord Vilar, and she has already implemented it, and contacted us simply so that she could confirm it with you. 」

Hearing Margret’s reply, Villar let out a laugh that sounded like he was really enjoying himself.

「Even though it’s a time-sensitive situation, it is still quite a bold move, even more so since she must be aware that if they will do poorly and misrepresent my name, they are going to be severely punished as a result. 」

「I am truly sorry for her misbehavior. I will be sure to scold Siluca severely when she comes back. 」

「No, there is no need for that. I will leave this matter to Theo and Siluca since they are already on site. Just make sure to inform her that they should not ignore progress reports, because I am very much interested in seeing how the situation is going to develop. 」
「Of course, my Lord. 」
Margret bowed and returned from Vilar’s office to the Magic Division’s office. There are three Mages waiting for her there, and when Margaret returned, they all looked at her anxiously.

「What did Lord Vilar say? 」

Laura asked.

「If she is going to be accused of dogmatic judgement and summoned back because of it, they we could all laugh at her for it. 」

Helga said calmly.

「If it is Lord Villar we are talking about, then I am sure that he is going to confront Siluca Meletes about her actions. I am looking forward to it. 」

Colleen pricked her lips.

「Whatever is going to happen, it is going to be far from ratification. 」

Margaret sighed.

「Before I tell you about the actions taken by Siluca Meletes, know that Lord Vilar has given the exact same orders. 」
Of course, Margaret has done so intentionally. That is because she knew that if she told them that it was Siluca who acted on her own, the other Mages would have probably thought that it was an insult to Vilar and they would blame Siluca for it.

However, it turned out that such worries were entirely unnecessary.

(Siluca must already know what the Count is like and what he is thinking.)

Although Villar can be said to be a Lord who has a rather unique sense of aestethics, he is fundamentally a rational and agile individual. In that sense, it could probably be said that Vilar Constance and Siluca Meletes have surprisingly a lot in common.

It’s been more than five years since the contract between Vilar and Margaret has been signed, but throughout all these years Margaret has never seen Vilar getting genuinely angry at any of his contracted Mages. However, if Vilar sees that the contracted Mage is not living up to his expectations of if their evaluation is going to be exceptionally poor, he will never hesitate to dismiss such a Mage without a second thought. That’s why there are only five people in the Magic Division close to him, including Siluca. His other contracted Mages have been dispatched to the more rural areas of Artuk, and it is more than probable that they will not be called back by hi until the day when their contracts with him are going to be terminated comes around.

(Even so… )

Even if it was a time-sensitive situation, if Siluca contacted them with her magic wand and waited for an official order, that would mean only a slight delay for her, nothing more.

(Do not tell me she actually could not wait that long.)

Margaret got angry and pulled out her wand and synchronized it with Siluca’s magic wand.

「… Siluca speaking. 」

A voice came straight from the magic wand.

「Was there any change to the orders? 」

「No, there was no such thing. Lord Vilar says that he is leaving the matter of resolving this incident in your and Knight Theo’s hands, but he also stressed that you absolutely must mot forget about making regular progress reports and keeping in touch. 」

「Understood. I will let you know immediately if there is going to be any progress, and please forgive me for arbitrarily going off with my own course of action like that. Be sure to thank Lord Vilar in my name, okay? 」

「So you understand that the actions that you took were arbitrary? 」

「Of course. That being said, I decided that I should show my willingness to act on my own without waiting for orders to be handed out. Luckily enough, the queen of the Werewolves has accepted our offer of cooperation without any major issues. 」

「I see, so that is what this was all about. 」

Margaret felt her anger subside. If Siluca has taken action explicitly to stop the Werewolves from going on a rampage in their pursue of vengeance against the heavy knights of Waldrind, then it was pretty much unavoidable.

「Flexibility is important, but please make sure that you do not overdo it. 」

Margaret agreed with her chosen course of action, but even such things should be done in moderation, or else you will become a nail that will have to be hit on the head.

「Thank you, Lady Margaret. I will be sure to engrave those words upon my heart thoroughly. 」

Siluca’s mysterious voice faded away as the synchronization of her magic wand has been cut off.

Margaret stared at the magic wand in her hand for a while in silence.

「That girl is really impertinent… 」

Laura murmured with her eyes half-closed. She was also straining her ears in order to hear as much as she possibly could from the conversation between Margaret and Siluca.

「Exactly. Even during her time at the Magic University, if she learned the basics of any given Faculty, she would be able to apply it in practice in her own way, and then she would proceed to another Faculty after completing just the lowest degree from the previous one. It is almost as if she was spitting in the faces of all of us who actually took the time to complete the Faculties and get our undergraduate degrees. 」

Helga clicks her tongue in dissatisfaction.

「She must have done something really cunning if she managed to wrap not only her own Lord, but also a personal Chamberlain around her little finger. 」

「I am glad that this Lord of hers is such a dull and uninteresting person. He could never hope to be as beautiful as Lord Alexis! 」

After Laura said that, she stared at the void for a while as if she became enchanted by her own thoughts. During 「The Tragedy of the Grand Cathedral」, when she laid eyes on Alexis Ducet, Marine Kraische’s groom, that was the moment when he stole her heart without ever giving it back.

「Even so, I didn’t expect her to get involved in an incident when she was only supposed to visit Artuk’s V.I.P’s as a messenger and introduce herself to them.

「Talk about a bad time to get herself mixed up in something, right? 」

Helga smiled wryly, and Colleen nodded at her affirmatively.

「I am not jealous of her. Not one bit. 」

Laura scoffed through her nose.