The Saintess's Disappearance
After she left, Alice suddenly vanished right before my eyes. I frantically scanned the area, but there was no sign of her. Not even a trace of her presence could be detected. As I stood there in confusion, urgent footsteps approached from behind. It was Rita.
“What happened?!”
Rita’s face was etched with clear panic. From her reaction, it seemed she hadn’t overheard our conversation. Perhaps she had deliberately kept her distance.
…No. This wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
“…The Saint suddenly disappeared.”
“What in the world…”
Rita’s expression shifted rapidly—confusion, worry, surprise. Her eyes darted in every direction as she processed the flood of emotions. Then she regained her composure.
“…She probably didn’t go far.”
“That… makes sense.”
I agreed with her assessment. Once I calmed down and thought it through, I could roughly guess how Alice had disappeared from sight. It was most likely a short-range teleport. Ultra-long-distance teleportation required ancient artifacts like a Teleport Stone, but spatial movement itself wasn’t impossible. Covering short distances was something a skilled mage could achieve through personal ability alone.
Of course, it wasn’t nearly as simple as it sounded. Overcoming space was never an easy feat to begin with. To accomplish it with one’s own power demanded an exceptional level of magical prowess—far beyond what an average mage could even dream of.
Simply jumping a few meters required that much skill. Yet she had leaped a distance completely beyond my perception and detection range? It was undeniable proof that Alice’s abilities had reached an absurd level.
Still, I had no luxury to purely marvel or rejoice at the revelation. Finding the vanished Alice was far more urgent. The one saving grace that kept my sanity intact was the high probability that she hadn’t yet left the academy grounds. No matter how exceptional her skill, crossing the vast expanse of the academy in a single spatial jump would be impossible.
First, I needed to locate Alice. Just as I prepared to move—
“I have an idea where she might be.”
Rita’s voice stopped me. My head snapped toward her instantly.
“She’s probably returned to her lodging.”
…Indeed. That was possible. If Alice wasn’t planning to flee the area immediately, returning to her personal sanctuary—her lodging—was a reasonable possibility.
Nodding, I stepped forward.
“Then let’s head to the lodging.”
But the moment I tried to move—
“No. I’ll go to the lodging alone.”
Rita shook her head, blocking my path.
“It doesn’t seem like a good idea for the current Saint and Sir Kyle to meet right now.”
“……”
A surge of protest rose within me, but the words never left my lips. When I thought about it coldly, her statement wasn’t wrong.
I didn’t know the exact cause, but it was clear that I had triggered Alice’s sudden reaction. My words must have affected her in some way, causing her to behave differently than usual and ultimately flee. If I went to see her now, I would only intensify that turmoil. There was even a chance it could lead to something far worse.
Therefore, from a rational standpoint, Rita was right.
Having reached that conclusion, I…
“…Understood.”
I nodded and took a step back.
“I’m sorry.”
Rita bowed briefly before turning and breaking into a run. I watched her retreating figure in heavy silence, submerged in a deep sense of helplessness. I barely managed to suppress the urge to chase after Alice myself.
After sending Rita off, I returned to the dormitory. I paced the room restlessly, waiting for any possible contact from her.
Had she found Alice yet? If not, how much more time would it take? She would surely reach out the moment she located her, right?
These thoughts looped endlessly as I continued pacing without rest. Time slipped by. The orange sky darkened to black, then gradually lightened again. By the time the heavens had reclaimed their blue hue, Rita still hadn’t sent any word.
Without having slept a wink, I left the dormitory room and learned the news: during the night, Alice had left the academy.
Belka Anriel. She doesn’t stand out. Her presence is so faint it’s almost nonexistent. An impression that transcends plainness and borders on invisibility. A personality so frail it seems brittle. These elements combined ensure that no one ever pays her any attention.
That perception barely shifts even after people learn she operates a brokerage business targeting academy students. The fact that a significant number of students use her services and that her reputation is exceptionally good has little impact. It merely adds one more surprising detail to the list.
A quiet, plain, and fragile female student. That was the general impression of Belka Anriel.
However, almost no one knew that this was a carefully crafted facade.
Belka Anriel. Her true name was Belka Dustveil. She was the daughter of the Dustveil family, which ruled the empire’s vast underworld, and currently engaged in an active succession war for the position of next family head.
That was her real identity.
She had come to the academy to gather information among the promising talents who would one day lead the empire. The brokerage had been established for the same purpose—to increase contact points with students and extract even the smallest pieces of information from them.
Of course, truly critical information was rare among what could be gathered. Still, the value of even trivial details varied greatly depending on the individual. The talents assembled at the academy would one day wield enormous influence over the empire and the entire continent. Collecting information now, and perhaps forging certain relationships through it, would undoubtedly prove useful in the future.
Yet that alone was hardly enough justification for her to come here in person. There was one additional reason.
The conquest of Ardendis’s underworld.
Ardendis was a planned city. With the academy present, it received far more attention from the imperial government than other cities. Naturally, it had a large number of stationed guards. As a result, the underworld of Ardendis still had no ruler. It was simply too difficult an environment in which to deploy forces or engage in full-scale conflict.
Belka’s goal was to seize control of that underworld. Success would earn her high praise, and the territory she gained would become her unwavering support base.
In the end, it was all part of her moves in the succession struggle.
However, claiming Ardendis’s underworld was no easy task. Large-scale movements were difficult in this environment, and more importantly, numerous forces were already eyeing the same prize. The number of organizations within the empire alone was hard to count, and there were even external powers from beyond the empire’s borders.
Thanks to her exceptional capabilities, she had managed to build a faction and establish a foothold relatively quickly. Yet many steps still remained before she could achieve her objective.
…In any case.
Contrary to her outward appearance, her days were incredibly busy. She ran the brokerage on the surface, collected and managed information behind the scenes, and operated her organization in Ardendis. The workload was so heavy that even three bodies would not be enough.
Belka handled it all flawlessly.
Recently, however, her workload had increased even further. The reason was obvious. It stemmed from the man who had appeared before her one day—Kyle Berwen.
She had known of his existence beforehand. He was simply that famous. But even she had never anticipated becoming entangled with him.
What surprised her more was how vastly different the real Kyle Berwen was from the rumors. His speech, his gaze, his demeanor—all of it. But what differed most was his ability.
The fact that he knew her identity from the start was already incomprehensible. Information regarding Dustveil family members was strictly confidential. Belka herself had taken extreme measures to conceal her own information. As a result, no one outside the Dustveil family knew who she truly was.
Yet Kyle Berwen—of all people—knew an identity that should have remained hidden from everyone.
What irritated her even more was that she couldn’t begin to guess the source of that information. It couldn’t have come from the Berwen family. Her identity was not something even they could have uncovered.
Naturally, she had been wary of him. She had even considered eliminating him if necessary. However, she never acted on that impulse. Instead, she had formed a cooperative relationship with Kyle Berwen.
She supplied the information he needed, and in return, he lent his strength when required or provided her with crucially helpful information. Separate from any personal trust, their partnership ran smoothly.
And that partnership had caused Belka’s workload to grow significantly compared to before.
Yet it wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it was good. An increased workload meant her influence had grown by that much. It meant she was advancing steadily toward her goal. There was no reason to feel displeased.
In the midst of such a perfectly smooth situation, however, one irritating development had recently emerged.
“……”
Belka lifted her head and looked at the man standing before her. Kyle Berwen—the man staring blankly into space as if he had lost his soul.