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Lysian went to the port’s back alley.

Despite the time being the height of day, the alley was completely covered in darkness. There were no souls in sight whether it was a human or a rat. It was a place that would make one feel uneasy and uncomfortable but Lysian strode confidently until he reached the dead end.

If someone had seen Lysian, they would probably be mistaken, thinking that he was lost and wandering around. However, Lysian was not flustered as he calmly took out a silver coin out of his pockets and placed it in the gap between the wall that blocked him.

Thud, thud, thud―

Heavy thudding sounds came from the wall after it had swallowed the silver coin. Then, a secret passage to a basement appeared right in front of him. Lysian stepped forward and entered without any hesitation.

“Long time no see, Lysian-nim. You look more and more alike as the days go by.”

A gloomy voice resonated loudly in the darkness as it greeted Lysian. However, Lysian did not answer and just reached his hand out.

“What happened to my order?”

A pale hand stretched out and politely held out a white envelope towards Lysian.

“Just like you have instructed, we have collected all of the information about the ‘Successors of Truth’. The Morcatium Imperial Family had destroyed them a long time ago but they still remained in existence.”

Lysian opened the envelope as he created a butterfly to light up the place. Then, he read the contents of the document. His eyes widened before narrowing once again. The envelope and the document burned down and turned to ashes that fell down on the floor after he finished reading the contents.

“Did you get what you wanted?”

“Right.”

Lysian turned back as if his business was over and walked back to where he came from. However, the gloomy voice stopped him.

“Lysian-nim, we’re already done preparing.”

“……”

“Please, you can order us anytime.”

Lysian did not answer as he pressed his robe down further and left the place.

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Lestia gripped her fingers and wiggled them nervously all day long.

‘…He promised that he would come, but why is he so late? Lysian-nim is not someone who will speak nonsense.’

It was already dark outside but Lysian was still not coming.

‘I was clearly busy all day long but strangely enough I did not realize the time went by that fast.’

Lestia paced back and forth nervously from the door to the window. She tiptoed and looked out of the window.

‘Here. I think I will be able to see the road outside of the gate well.’

She wanted to check if Lysian had arrived and how far he had traveled. But there was no one on the road.

Lestia sighed briefly before turning towards the beach. The white sand of the beach still glistened and shone even under the night sky. So, whenever Lestia couldn’t sleep, she would always hang out by her window and look at the beach. But this time, she saw something strange on the beach.

“That… What’s that?”

When she looked closely, she saw a man lying down with a long robe covering his whole body.

“My goodness! Don’t tell me! Is that Lysian-nim?!”

Lestia ran out of her room while shouting Lysian’s name unconsciously.

“My lady! What seems to be the problem?”

Her escorts were surprised by her sudden outburst as they chased after her running figure.

“It seems like Lysian-nim is lying on the beach!”

“Yes?”

“What to do?! I hope his mana did not go out of control again?”

“That! I will go and report to the duke, just in case.”

One of the escort knights ran to where Gerard was while the other two followed Lestia.

“What do we do? My goodness!”

Lestia ran to the gate with her hands gripping her skirt tightly.

“My lady! You will fall if you run like that! Please be careful.”

The escort knights carefully called out to her but Lestia ran without any care.

Someone grabbed Lestia’s wrist when she rushed over to the gate. Lestia thought that it was one of the escort knights worrying about her.

“I’m alright! Don’t worry about me! I can jump around like this!”

Then, she tried to shake off the hand on her wrist. However, the person who grabbed Lestia’s wrist tightened their grip on her. Lestia had no choice but to look at the person that was blocking her from moving forward.

“Hey. What’s going on this late at night? It’s too noisy for just coming out to meet me.”

It was a familiar voice and a familiar pair of golden eyes. Unexpectedly, it was Lysian who stopped her. Lestia was shocked.

“Huh? Lysian-nim? I definitely saw you lying on the beach…?”

Lysian frowned at her words.

“What nonsense are you saying? You, do you think I’m too weak? Do I look like someone who will fall down anywhere like that?”

“That…”

Lestia suddenly felt troubled. She could still remember how worried she was wondering if something would go wrong with Lysian during the outbreak of fire in the mansion. Because of that, anxiety that something would go wrong with Lysian remained with her.

Lestia sneakily checked Lysian’s fingers. Seeing that the blue mana neutralizer stone ring was still in his hand made her realize that Lysian was not in any danger. In fact, it seemed like she was the one who was in more danger since Lysian looked a bit angry.

“That… because a person wearing a long robe is passed out on the beach.”

Still, Lestia sighed in relief after seeing that Lysian was safe.

“A person is lying down on the beach?”

“Yes. It’s a relief that it’s not Lysian-nim. Ah! But I think we have to take a look just in case.”

Lestia rushed to the beach.

Lysian mumbled ‘Uselessly kind.’ before following suit.

Just like Lestia said, there was really someone wearing a long robe collapsed on the beach. It was a woman with a large suitcase beside her. Seeing her, Lestia immediately rushed over.

“Excuse me! Are you alright?!”

“Ugh…”

“I think she’s conscious.”

Lysian helped the collapsed woman sit down.

The hood of the long robe that covered her body fell off as abundant and flowy brown hair poured down.

“Ahhh… I don’t know who you are, but thank you. The teleportation magic went awry and I fell into this rigid place. Ugh. It hurts.”

The woman opened her eyes with a groan.

“Woow…”

Lestia let out an exclamation when she saw the woman in front of her.

The woman possesed considerable beauty with shocking charm. However, she had paid more attention to her eyes than her beautiful features. This was because her eyes were shining iridescently, like an opal shining under the light. She also felt the mana in her eyes. Lestia was convinced that she was a wizard.

She took a deep breath before asking Lestia, who was staring at her in a daze.

“Excuse me, little lady. Ah? You’re a kid, right? I have bad eyesight. Anyway, I’m sorry. But is this Duke Verchester’s territory?”

Her gaze was strange. The woman was looking at Lestia but her focus was strangely off.

“Ah. Yes. That’s right. This is Duke Verchester’s territory.”

“That’s a relief. But, I think I feel that I fell somewhere rigid. Excuse me, I’m sorry but can you please take me to the ducal family?”

“Yes?”

“If Katrina Lockevest comes, the duke will give plenty of gold coins.”

Katrina Lockevest.

It was the name of the wizard, the wizard who could see the truth, that Gerard wanted to invite.

“Ah! You…”

But before Lestia could greet her…

“Oh. But that boy behind me… Who are you? Isn’t your mana really mysterious? It feels familiar to me.”

Katrina grabbed Lysian’s arm. She turned to him with her opal eyes and stared. Katrina’s pupils narrowed sharply before turning into a darker iridescent color. They looked similar to the eyes of a cat’s at that very moment.

“Tell me, boy. Who are you? Aren’t you curious about who you are?”

Her incomprehensible question resonated in Lestia’s ears and the beach.

But Lysian did not answer her. Instead, he lowered the tip of his robe down to his chin before throwing Katrina down on the ground and turning back.

“Kyack!”

When the person supporting her disappeared, Katrina fell down on the hard and gritty sandy beach once again.

“Lysian-nim?”

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