Revelation
Revelation
The road to Ragnis's manor hadn't been particularly long, but during that time Seneran had chattered without a moment's rest, completely draining my soul.
"Is it true you beheaded fifty people at the Noble Temporary Detention Center because Margrave of Levien was insulted?"
"Is it true you cut down three hundred people at Count Envelde's mansion and killed the count himself in a single strike?"
"Is it true you faced off against Rudra's Young Lion and twenty of his subordinates all at once at the Imperial Academy for disrespecting Margrave of Levien?"
"Is it true you fought the Hero for two days and nights and came to a decisive conclusion?"
The problem was that every single one of those stories was slightly off-kilter, so I couldn't just let them slide and had to correct each one individually. How the hell was there not a single accurate rumor? I'd grumbled about that point while my mind was growing hazy, but Seneran had shown a reaction that wasn't particularly sympathetic.
"Still, this seems pretty tame compared to some? There was a kid who heard you're over two meters tall and swing a greatsword the size of your own body around."
"...I have nothing to say to that."
In the end, after exhausting myself correcting all manner of absurd rumors, what I saw upon arriving at Ragnis's residence was Asilie and the others standing outside the main gate, conversing with Renisa. It had been a rather strange sight. If Ragnis wasn't there, they should have just been there without issue, and if Ragnis was there, they should have been waiting inside the manor.
Fortunately, my confusion was quickly resolved.
"Ah, Sir Eldmia. It's been a while. Did your trip to your hometown go well?"
"It's been a while, Sir Renisa. I got tangled up in a bit of an incident, but I returned safely. How did you know?"
"I learned of it in the process of sending word to House Ogatorf by order of the Margrave. Though it seems we keep missing each other lately, just like today."
Renisa explained that ever since the Envelde incident, busy days had continued one after another. The main factor was apparently Sir Radnelbandes's lessons. If I hadn't met Seneran, it seemed I would have only been able to prepare the imprint contract after finishing off the cultists and returning.
"I told them I was being rude by waiting outside briefly so as not to miss Eldi, but they refused to leave a guest outside and kept me company instead."
Originally, the plan had been to bring them inside and treat them properly until I arrived, but it seemed Asilie's steadfast refusal had prevented that from happening. They could have just ignored her and gone in anyway, yet they'd shown consideration even to that extent. Truly a person of excellent character.
"If you'd like, shall I pass word to the Margrave? She will likely make time as soon as her lessons conclude."
"No, I had been seeking her help, but since another method has conveniently presented itself, it's fine. I'll visit on another occasion."
After we parted ways with pleasantries and laughter, putting distance between us and the Levien manor, Sen, who had been frantically rolling his eyes the whole time, looked back at Renisa disappearing into the manor and belatedly threw out a question.
"Good heavens. Eldmia? Just what kind of life have you been living? Are you seriously some kind of noble?"
"I've just been living diligently. Hey, Merdela. This is the person who'll engrave the imprint on you."
"Huh? Oh? Then why did we go to the Margrave's manor..."
"This person is also just a connection I happened to make today while living diligently. Seneran. You can engrave the imprint on her."
This time, even Asilie had no choice but to look at Seneran with the same gaze as the others. But the silence while everyone tried to process the situation didn't last long. Merdela, caught in obvious cognitive dissonance as she looked back and forth between me and Seneran, slowly opened her mouth.
"Seneran...? The Golden Mage Seneran?"
"Hello. That's me."
At that single remark, not only the others but even the cultist brat who'd been slung over the horse like a piece of luggage until now stared in visible shock.
◈
Calling them an unscratched lottery ticket felt a bit off, but describing Sen's group as tickets not yet fully scratched seemed fitting. I had no intention of imposing on Ogatorf Manor with them, so I moved to the inn where Gaendal's party had been staying before and secured rooms first.
It was a decision born from the hope that, with luck, I might run into Gaendal or any of them. They were among the few adventurers I genuinely wanted to maintain a good relationship with, so if the opportunity arose, I'd wanted to invite them along on this request and share at least a few crumbs. Regrettably, I couldn't meet them right away, but the innkeeper said they had a long-term reservation, so the opportunity still seemed to exist.
While I was at it, I ordered a meal we hadn't finished yet, and only then did the conversation properly begin.
"This is practically a slave contract. Were they after your life or something?"
"......"
"What? For real? You're a bigger person than I thought, huh? You let her live?"
Seneran, who had been quite surprised seeing Merdela instantly deflate, looked at me as if dumbfounded. Naturally, I had no intention of being remembered as a sucker under the name of magnanimity, so I pointed at Sen with my chin and corrected Seneran's misunderstanding.
"If she hadn't staked her family name, she wouldn't be here."
"Whoa, seriously? She did that for you? Impressive. That means you lot have been living pretty diligently yourselves. Well, you make mistakes as you go through life, don't you?"
Seneran carried on the conversation nonchalantly, yet she'd accurately grasped the point, treating it as nothing significant and speaking lightly. But it felt less like she was dismissing it because it was someone else's problem, and more like she truly perceived it as just one of countless events flowing past, which gave me an incredibly peculiar feeling.
Is this person actually incredibly old? There's something unusual about her mindset.
Well, even if she was only doing me this favor with the aim of maintaining future cooperative relations, there was no need to bring up age and risk getting on her bad side. I decided to focus on this experience I was having for the first time in my life.
"Alright. Confirmation complete."
Seneran, who had been diligently examining the contract written on the parchment while busily moving her fingers in the air, nodded lightly and handed the parchment to Merdela.
"Shall we give it a try then? Merdela, was it? Read it."
"R-read it?"
"Yeah. You don't need to read it out loud. Your consciousness just needs to become aware of it."
From my position of knowing nothing, I had no idea what she meant, but Merdela, the person in question, seemed to have understood with just that explanation. She began reading the contents written on the parchment in a small voice.
And in response, where Seneran had been tracing her fingers in the air, something like a magic circle began to emerge and glow with a faint blue light.
"Oh."
When I examined it using Magic Sight, I could see that the Mana flowing from Seneran's fingertips was being supplied to the magic circle like fuel. But that was only for a moment. Unbeknownst to her, she began to gradually cut off her own Mana, refining it from the Magic Power within my body bit by bit.
Through that process, the Mana flowing from the magic circle streamed into Merdela. To be precise, it flowed into her left wrist, leaving a mark like a tattoo.
It was an incredibly fascinating sight. Not just for me, who could see the flow of Magic Power, but even for those who couldn't. That series of processes continued until the moment Merdela finished reading the parchment, and the instant she lowered it, the magic circle vanished and it was over.
Seneran was the first to speak.
"The contract was clean, but the restrictions applied when you violate the conditions won't be clean at all, so it'd be wise to keep that contract on you at all times and memorize it. It'd be a shame to die by accident, wouldn't it?"
"Do such cases happen often?"
"You'd be surprised to know how many academic papers are published on the subject of incidents and accidents caused by imprint contracts. Cases where people fail to realize what kind of contract they made, or how sloppily they engraved it, and then just drop dead are not as rare as you'd think. Considering those cases, at least these conditions were in proper contract form. Not that it matters much to me, of course."
Brushing off her hands casually, Seneran turned her eyes, once again filled with madness, toward me and spoke.
"Now. Shall we proceed with our contract?"
"...I told you on the way here. I won't have time until after I've killed every last one of those cultists."
"I heard you just fine. I'm including that too. I'm coming along."
"Excuse me?"
She truly was a person I couldn't get a handle on at all. I'd wondered what the hell she was talking about, but the argument that came from her mouth was unexpectedly reasonable.
"You're charging into the cultists' main base because you're confident, but variables always exist, don't they? If you die due to one of those variables, then all I've done today is unpaid labor. To prevent such an unfortunate event, adding my combat power to your journey to increase the probability of a safe return is an extremely rational decision, is it not?"
"...And if you die due to that extreme variable as well?"
"I'd rather die than have the possibility of research blocked off."
Madness. That was genuine, absolute madness. I found myself shuddering involuntarily and pressed closer to Asilie's side.
Asilie had already caught on to how the situation was unfolding and remained quietly still without a word, but Sen and the rest wore expressions that clearly said they couldn't comprehend how things were developing at all, looking at me with gazes that covertly demanded an explanation.
Naturally, I had no explanation to offer to these not-yet-fully-scratched lottery tickets.
I wrapped up the conversation by accepting Seneran's proposal, then unilaterally notified them to mind their own business.
Still, since they'd be entangled in my request from now on, I told them I'd set aside a portion of the compensation from the Holy Light Cross Order later, as well as covering their meals and lodging. Just as I was about to start eating, a familiar voice came from behind.
"Huh? Eldmia, is that you?"
Behind Yekaterina, who always called out to me in a cheerful voice, Gaendal, Gin, and Rellie appeared.