The Lure and the Destination 7

In a corner of the capital stood a mansion with lovely flowers planted around it. After breakfast at the home of Ben Draco, the heir of the renowned Draco family of mages in the Kingdom of Slibegrad, Paul brought him his letters as usual. But his expression was slightly stiff. It was unusual for Paul, and Ben asked, surprised.

"What's wrong?"

"Well—there was a letter from a rather irritating party."

At Paul's words, Ben's eyes widened even more. It was rare for Paul to show his displeasure so directly. Tilting his head, Ben accepted the letters and, seeing one of them, nodded in understanding and then frowned, just as Paul had. Petra, who had been eating breakfast at the same table, tilted her head and peeked at Ben's hands. The moment she saw the crest on the wax seal of the envelope, she looked thoroughly disgusted. In complete agreement with her feelings, Ben accepted a paper knife from Paul and opened the letter.

"—There's a key inside."

He had known from the feel of it that there was something other than paper inside, but he hadn't thought it would be a key. And he recognized the shape of the key. His bad feeling intensified, and Ben read the words written on the paper. It didn't take long to read the letter, which consisted of only two sentences. And Petra, who had been reading the letter over his shoulder, spat out a string of curses that were too foul to say out loud.

"May I see it as well?"

"Sure. It's nothing big. Just a notice that my probation is ending and a request to return to work as a general mage."

Suddenly, all expression vanished from Paul's face.

"—The people at the Ministry of Magic seem to have custom-made faces. They're so thick, they'd be useful for keeping warm."

"Your true feelings are showing, Paul. But I mostly agree with you."

Ben chuckled and gently chided Paul, but his eyes were shining coldly. He, too, was angry at the selfish demands of the Ministry of Magic.

The largest monster attack in history, which had occurred three years ago—from that day on, Ben's life had changed. He, who had been working as the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Magic, was suspected of tampering with the teleportation circle. Tampering with a teleportation circle was a serious crime, on par with high treason. Especially on that day, the Second Brigade of the Royal Knights was scheduled to use the teleportation circle to suppress the monster attack.

It was a situation where he could have been thought to have obstructed the suppression of a monster attack that could have destroyed the country. His house was searched, but thanks to Paul, no evidence of guilt was found, and he was able to avoid the worst-case scenario of being executed as a traitor. But in the end, Ben was stripped of his position as Deputy Director with magic-sealing shackles still on and was placed on indefinite probation. He didn't mind the probation itself. If it weren't for his family's obligations, he wouldn't have joined the Ministry of Magic in the first place. He was happy as long as he could research magic and curse-craft. But the magic-sealing shackles were a nuisance. The shackles would react if he used even a little magic. Therefore, he couldn't make progress in his research as he wanted, and the people around him couldn't use magic either.

Petra, who was on long-term leave due to poor health, was staying at Ben's house to ensure her safety, but she, too, couldn't conduct her beloved curse-craft research as long as she was in his house.

The two's mental state gradually worsened due to the endless inconvenience. The only reason they didn't completely break down was thanks to Paul, who helped them with their daily lives. And about two years ago, the situation had improved somewhat by wrapping the shackles in a cloth with a magic-canceling array on it. The people around him could now use simple magic that didn't consume much magical energy without any problem, and Ben himself could also handle a little magic.

And for about a year now, Belasta and Tania, who had seriously started studying and researching magic, had been frequently visiting the mansion to present their research results and ask for advice. So Ben and Petra had been in a good mood recently, but this letter could only be seen as making a fool of Ben. Petra grumbled in a bad mood.

"Why are they telling us to come back now? I haven't heard that the Deputy Director has changed."

When Ben was demoted from Deputy Director and placed on probation, the one who took his place was Thorn Greed, who had always been hostile to him. Their speculation had been that as long as he was the Deputy Director, the possibility of Ben returning to work was extremely low, but it seemed that speculation was wrong.

"Are they trying to push some troublesome task on us? I don't know if it's something they can't handle, or if they're planning to pin the blame on us and punish us this time."

"Huh? If you think about it normally, I think being put in magic-sealing shackles, demoted, and placed on indefinite probation is punishment enough."

Petra bit back at Ben's statement. Ben chuckled and said, "You're right," and nodded. But given Thorn Greed's personality, it wouldn't be strange if he wanted to completely destroy Ben. Ben had ignored him and paid him no mind, but even that attitude seemed to infuriate him.

Ben casually picked up the key that was lying on the table. He was supposed to be a "criminal whose suspicion of treason has not yet been cleared" to the Ministry of Magic. It was unnatural for them to order him to remove the magic-sealing shackles he was wearing in a place where there were no mages. But there was nothing suspicious about the letter or the key. They were probably serious about telling Ben to remove the magic-sealing shackles himself.

A deep sigh escaped Ben's lips unconsciously. The future of the Ministry of Magic was so bleak, he wanted to hold his head in his hands. But it was not his concern now, Ben shook his head and changed his mindset.

"If I got this notice, then Myulurainen probably got a message to return to work too, right?"

"What—?"

Ben chuckled at Petra, who didn't hide her disgust. Paul also showed a slight smile, but he immediately said, "Please wait a moment," and left the room.

Petra's house was on the outskirts of the capital. But since the monster attack incident, she had not returned home. Paul went to get her necessary things in disguise, and he regularly went to check the letters that were delivered to her.

A little while later, Paul returned. In his hand was a single envelope.

"I just went there last night. This is it."

Petra's expression turned grim as she accepted the envelope that was handed to her. The envelope had the exact same wax seal as the letter Ben had received.

With a disgusted look on her face, Petra accepted the paper knife from Ben and opened the letter. On the single piece of paper inside, a very short sentence was written, and Petra muttered, "I knew it," with a sigh. Ben took the paper from Petra and glanced at it, then handed it to Paul with an exasperated look on his face. And Paul, too, shrugged his shoulders as if to say, "What a pain."

"They must be at their wit's end. I don't know what's going on, though."

"I don't have a good feeling about this at all."

The letter addressed to Petra also recommended that she return to work. They probably suspected that she was actually in perfect health, even though she was on leave with a doctor's note. It was casually mentioned that if she did not return to work, she would be advised to resign, and in that case, necessary measures would be taken to prevent her from taking out classified information from the Ministry of Magic. It was clear that they were thinking of something nasty—for example, erasing her memories or physically restraining her.

"They talk big for people who don't give you any other choice."

Neither Ben nor Paul reprimanded Petra for spitting out her displeasure. They both felt the same way.

Ben was silent for a while, thinking, but then he suddenly reached out and took the key from the table. Petra blinked, and when she saw him bring the key to his wrist, she panicked. She grabbed his right hand and said in a rare, flustered tone.

"Wait, are you going to take it off?"

"Yeah. There's no other choice, right? It's better to be able to protect myself in an emergency without these shackles. It's a win-win situation."

Ben's calm reply made it seem as if he had instantly sublimated his earlier anger. But Petra knew that there was still a raging emotion inside him.

"Yeah, I guess so. But are you going to meekly do what they say when you don't know what the Ministry of Magic is thinking?"

"That's why I'm showing them my obedience. It's better to make them think I have no intention of rebelling. I need to save my strength for when it really matters."

Ben's cheerful reply was, in a sense, very reasonable. His tone brooked no argument, and Petra fell silent, the strength draining from the hand that was holding his right hand. Ben smiled sweetly and then quickly removed the magic-sealing shackles from both his arms. He seemed to feel strange with his arms free for the first time in a long time, and he rotated them and rubbed his wrists for a while before nodding.

"It's better without the shackles. I feel like my health will improve. I can feel the magical energy circulating properly in my body. These shackles really need some improvement."

Because of the magic-sealing shackles, he had been feeling sluggish for a long time. Ben had developed the shackles, but even in the experiments he had conducted before putting them into full use, he had never worn them for as long as three years. As a result, he had noticed that his physical condition had been getting worse after about six months. It seemed that the flow of magical energy in his body was being hindered. Of course, it was the magic-sealing shackles that were obstructing the circulation of magical energy in his body. As the name suggests, it sealed not "magical energy" but "the activation of magic," but it still interfered with the magical energy of the person wearing it to some extent. Especially for a person with a large amount of magical energy like Ben, the obstruction of the circulation of magical energy in his body by the magic-sealing shackles was enough to affect even his physical condition.

At Ben's words, which were so typical of him, as he would become so engrossed in anything related to magic that he would forget to eat or sleep, Paul let out a wry smile. He was certainly happy to see his master's demeanor, which he had hardly been able to see for the past three years, but he did not say so. He silently collected the letters from Ben and Petra.

"Ben-sama will follow the notice from the Ministry of Magic. What will you do, Petra-sama?"

Suddenly, Petra's expression became as if she had swallowed a bitter bug. She was silent for a while, but then she answered in a low growl.

"————If Ben's going back, I'm going back too."

"Very well. Then I will write a reply for both of you. When shall I send it?"

It was Ben, not Petra, who answered that question.

"It doesn't have to be right away. It would be annoying if they thought we were eagerly waiting."

"In that case, let's do it in a week. I will make some adjustments so that your return to work is scheduled for about a month from now, if that is acceptable."

Neither Petra nor Ben asked how he would make those adjustments. Knowing Paul, he would surely handle it well, even if the other party was the Ministry of Magic. They didn't need to know the details. So Ben simply nodded and expressed his gratitude.

"That's fine. I'm grateful to have such a reliable butler."

But unfortunately, Ben's gratitude did not seem to get through to Paul. Paul, who raised an eyebrow as if to say he was being insincere, said coolly.

"You don't have to say things you don't mean. Just adding it to my salary will be enough."

Ben put on a tragic expression and pretended to hold his head in his hands. He knew from their long association that Paul's words were half a joke, but the other half was serious. He was aware that he owed Paul so much that he couldn't hold his head up high. But that didn't mean he could easily raise his salary. It was unavoidable that his tone became accusatory.

"Wow, that's a harsh thing to say. You know I haven't been getting a salary from the Ministry of Magic for the past three years."

"There's no harm in having a little bit of gratitude for an ideal butler who doesn't abandon his master even when he's in a difficult situation."

Paul said coolly, smiled for a moment, and then bowed and left the room. He was probably going to write a reply to the Ministry of Magic and make arrangements so that Ben and Petra could return to work in about a month.

Ben and Petra stood up. Now that the magic-sealing shackles were off, they knew what they had to do.

With light steps, the two went upstairs and headed to Ben's office. It was well-stocked with the books and tools necessary for research in magic and curse-craft.

"Belasta and Tania are coming this afternoon, right?"

It was Petra who spoke. Ben nodded at her as she gathered the scattered books on the table into one place.

"Yeah. I got a letter from them saying they made a new magic circle and want me to take a look. I was just going to look, but now that the shackles are off, I might be able to help with the experiment too. What about you, Myulurainen? Want to join?"

"I should, right? The twins and I are the only ones who have seen the magic that Belasta is trying to recreate in person."

The youngest twins, Belasta and Tania, who had just turned ten this year, showed a talent for magic that was superior to that of other children their age. Ben had also been hailed as a genius, but Belasta and Tania had a different kind of talent. Each of them showed an ability in their respective fields of expertise that made grown-ups groan. Ben would probably lose to them when they got older, but for now, he was ahead enough to give them advice thanks to his age. And Petra, too, interacted with the twins as an advisor.

Ben readily agreed to Petra's proposal. His cheeks relaxed slightly, as if he were happy.

"It would be a great help if you could join. It's easier for me to understand if I see it with my own eyes, but it's a pretty tall order to try to imagine it from the twins' stories."

"They're only ten—I admit their vocabulary is a bit limited."

Petra shrugged her shoulders and calmly assessed the twins' language skills. Belasta and Tania were both excellent mage-in-training, but perhaps because they were only ten, they seemed to have trouble putting their thoughts into words accurately. In that respect, they were similar to Ben, so maybe it was not their age but their bloodline.

In any case, Ben and Petra would have to work carefully from the beginning to clarify what Belasta and Tania wanted to do and the purpose of the experiment.

The two, filled with trepidation about what kind of experiment the twins would bring with them this afternoon, began to clean up the room in silence.

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ToC

Chapter 160