Around the same time, at the Zebbert ducal estate—

“Hm. So he’s a man presumed to be the youngest fairy’s birth father.”

Liam murmured.

“In that case, how should our family respond to this situation...?”

A large private sitting room.

In the middle stood a round table.

The family had gathered around it.

“I will now call this emergency strategy meeting to order.”

The Zebbert family meeting had begun.

“We should just keep him confined in the estate, the way Ruby wants.”

The one who spoke in a low voice, seated with one leg crossed, was Khalid. He had only just returned after taking Rubian out to the outskirts.

“Confinement? That part’s easy!”

Balrok shouted.

Before the old Duke, with his gleaming eyes, could start listing every imprisonment tool known to man, Khalid stopped him with a long sigh.

“...Ruby already explained this to you, didn’t she? We need to make it look like he’s being welcomed, more or less. Like that Casalia potato currently being kept in the Imperial Palace for weeks on end.”

Ah. That.

“Khalid’s right, Father.”

Rosetta agreed.

“That way he’ll stay shriveled up in place instead of getting any foolish ideas. We still don’t know what he’s really plotting, and Ruby’s coming-of-age ceremony is tomorrow. For the time being, we need to keep him well trained.”

Her tone was calm, but strangely chilly.

Just then, Boyd, who had been quietly listening, raised a hand a little.

“I have a question.”

“Yes, Boyd.”

Liam gave him permission to speak. Boyd’s violet eyes swept slowly around the room, then stopped on Khalid’s face.

“This is a family meeting, so why is Khalid here?”

He looked vaguely displeased.

Khalid, naturally, did not so much as blink.

Rosetta smiled gently and said, “Boyd, Khalid is family too.”

“Huh?”

“The truth is... Mother is going to adopt him soon.”

“Huh?”

“Right, Khaaaal—”

Bang!

The man who looked as though nothing in the world could shake him shoved his chair back and rose to his feet, his displeasure written all over his face.

It was exactly the expression of someone who wanted to snarl or pick a fight, but couldn’t do a thing because it was Rosetta saying it.

“...I’m busy, so I’ll be going. I need to feed the horse.”

Watching his broad, dependable back retreat, Rosetta covered her mouth and smiled in delight.

“How adorable.”

“I have another question!”

“Yes, Boyd. Excellent participation.”

Liam nodded.

“It’s about that mage who’s supposedly the birth father. Are we allowed to curse him out to his face? Birth father or not. It’s just... disgusting, the way he’s after our Ruby.”

Liam nearly nodded by reflex.

Naturally, Rosetta added, “Boyd, Khalid just said we’re supposed to make it look as though he’s being welcomed.”

“Then where am I supposed to vent this knot in my chest from feeling like someone’s trying to steal my little sister?”

“I feel the same way!”

Balrok banged a fist against his chest and roared.

“Boyd, you little runt! For once, you and your grandpa are in perfect harmony!”

“As if!”

“What was that?”

“—Like that’s a good thing!”

“Gwahahaha! Brat! Anyway, I happen to have just the method. I used to think about trying it whenever I felt like cursing that brat of a former Emperor...”

Boyd’s ears perked up.

“...What is it?”

In any case, the two of them—who inexplicably worked very well together in these sorts of matters—put their heads together and began whispering.

“Hm. There really isn’t much to discuss.”

Murmuring that, Rosetta idly twirled a lock of her pink hair around her finger, then turned suddenly to Liam.

“More importantly, Liam.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Have you written your graduation thesis?”

“......”

Liam calmly pushed up his glasses with both hands.

“Mother. I’ve wanted to say this for a while now... In the family meeting chamber, please wait until you’ve been granted the floor before speaking. Those are the rules. And since today is Friday, the chair is...”

His lenses flashed.

“Me.”

Rosetta’s smile deepened beautifully.

Then she rose, slowly and elegantly, like a painting come to life.

“Why are you suddenly picking up an arrow shaft...?”

Sensing danger, Liam cautiously edged back.

“Well... it seems the youngest fairy will probably be back soon...”

Whoosh.

The two of them vanished somewhere far away.

“Oh dear, oh dear.”

Balrok dabbed at his tears as he stared after their fading afterimages.

“He was a fine eldest-son runt.”

*****

The mage arrived at the estate together with the Duke and Rubian.

And promptly became confused.

What are all these... glamorous servants?

Before the grand ducal estate stood a long line of people.

Apparently word had already reached them, because every servant in the estate had come out to welcome him.

Why are they welcoming me? I’m fake.

He kept repeating the same sentence in his head as he walked numbly forward.

Even after rationalizing to himself that things were proceeding according to plan, something felt off.

If things went bad, he would have to run, and he kept looking for an opportunity—but the Duke was right beside him, with the princess and the dark-blue-haired knight next to him, and directly behind him stood some man radiating an overwhelming presence. It was hard even to dart his eyes around too much.

And that man behind us... is he a mage?

He could feel dense magic from him.

It almost feels like the princess’s magic.

He was only a low-ranking mage, so his ability to sense magic was not particularly sharp.

“Well then, get some rest first! I’m actually very busy because I’m throwing a rather large birthday party tomorrow. Khalid, let’s go!”

Rubian spoke brightly and skipped into the estate.

“Take any room you like. Everyone will show you in kindly.”

The Duke also gave his shoulder a brief pat and slipped inside.

The escort knight and the dark-blue-haired knight did the same.

“This way, Mage.”

Feeling almost bewitched, the mage climbed the stairs on stiff legs.

For a moment, his attention was stolen by the grand, magnificent lobby.

Then—

“Oh my. So you’re the one.”

A breathtaking beauty approached him with a smile.

“D-Duchess, I greet—”

“Oh, enough with the formalities. You’re our Ruby’s birth-whatever, after all.”

“Then... may I ask why you’re shaving arrow shafts...?”

“Oh, it’s just my hobby.”

The Duchess scrunched her nose slightly, then suddenly raised the arrow to aim.

“Like this!”

Fweeeet—thunk!

“Eek!”

“I shoot around the house from time to time. Whenever I feel stressed. You’re the same way too, aren’t you, Mage?”

Who in the world shoots arrows around the house as a hobby?

“N-no, but why are you aiming at a person?!”

“A person? Whatever do you mean? Do I look like that uncivilized a woman? I was aiming at the ornament behind you.”

Rosetta drew the bowstring again.

The mage bolted at once.

But the tip of the arrow followed him.

“Eek!”

“Hm? Why does my arrow keep following you? Does it want to go through something?”

He wanted to tell her that her arrow was the thing following him, but he was genuinely afraid his forehead would be pierced, so the words would not come.

“Ah, well, sometimes they do accidentally fly toward people... but surely you can dodge, can’t you? Our Ruby can dodge with her eyes closed. And since you’re a fellow mage, I’m sure you can do even better.”

For one terrible moment, the man genuinely wondered whether there was something wrong with him for being unable to dodge a flying arrow.

The maids and female attendants all giggled.

“Oh, Lady Rosetta, honestly!”

Before he could become a human target and get skewered, he hurried up the first staircase he saw.

From behind him came a soft voice.

“Then rest well!”

There’s something...

The Duchess is not right in the head.

Thinking that, and still searching for an escape route, he suddenly heard a low voice from the end of the corridor.

“Grandfather, this is the sheet music I’ve been into lately.”

A rougher voice followed.

“An art book, then a poetry collection, and now a music score? Hmph! Let me see!”

“There’s one note here I keep getting confused about.”

A grandfather and grandson approached side by side, looking over the same sheet.

The mage recognized them at once.

“Tsk tsk. So your musical sense is even worse than your grandpa’s! This here is do-re—”

The old Duke lifted only his eyelids and stared straight at the frozen mage.

“Mi!”

What was he doing?

“Mi! It’s mi!”

“Ah! Mi!”

The second young master did the same, staring straight ahead and shouting it.

Then Balrok pointed at the mage as if he had only just noticed him.

“Oh? Judging by the look of it, that must be the mage presumed to be our Ruby’s birth! father!”

The young master glanced at the score.

And shouted,

“Mi!”

“Birth father!”

“......”

What was this feeling?

Why did it feel like he was being cursed right to his face?

Caught in an endless loop of mi! and birth father!, the mage swallowed the strange wave of emotion rising in him.

It looked very much as though, if he stayed there, they would keep trailing after him forever while pretending not to, so he bit his lip and fled to the third floor.

D-do the bedrooms happen to be up here?

At some point he had ended up alone.

The third floor was dark all over.

Apparently this really was the level where the bedrooms and guest rooms were.

“And who might you be?”

Step. Step.

At that moment, someone approached with a low voice.

The face revealed in the dim light was pale all over.

And then there were the cold gleam of his glasses.

Slide.

The man who had approached pushed them up.

With his middle finger.

Something about that felt odd, but the mage still spoke politely.

“The Duke said I may use any room I like. I think I’ll stay on this floor.”

“Ah. I’ll guide you.”

“Thank you!”

Whew... finally.

A sane person.

Looking more closely, his hair was black, and his eyes were violet—

Ah.

It was Liam Zebbert.

He had heard the young master was a bit eccentric, but compared with everyone else he had met so far, Liam looked like the most reasonable person in the estate.

The mage followed Liam down the corridor.

He walked.

And walked.

And kept walking.

“Excuse me, but when exactly are we going to arrive—”

“Oh, I’m not sure. The day after tomorrow, perhaps?”

“What?”

What was that? Was he making fun of him?

Starting to feel both frightened and aggrieved, the mage abruptly pointed at the nearest door in sight.

“I’ll just take that room!”

Bang.

“...Oh.”

He went rigid.

The moment the door opened, stuffed magical beasts and grotesque creatures filled the room.

“M-monsters...”

“Ah, guests really do have a knack for finding their way here. Thank you for escorting yourself all the way to my research office...”

“Eek—h-help!”

Swoosh.

Left behind, Liam blinked slowly at the place where the mage had vanished.

“Why run when someone is thanking you?”

And with deliberate care, he pushed up his glasses again.

With the beautifully extended middle finger.

“As expected, what rotten luck.”

He was definitely the enemy.

“Gah—haaah, haaah...”

In the end, the man fled to the stables.

I’d rather sleep in the stable!

But as he walked through the neatly arranged stalls, his steps stopped dead.

His gaze had been caught by a beautiful white horse in the distance.

And by the man standing glued to that white horse, stroking it with the utmost devotion.

The mage approached him and spoke.

“Excuse me, are you perhaps already—”

“Sounds like a horse thief.”

Looking closely, it was the dark-blue-haired man he had seen in front of the estate earlier.

His name was... Sir Khalid, I think.

The name he had overheard on the way back came to him at once.

With a face that handsome, neither the name nor the face seemed likely to be forgotten easily.

“I’m not a horse thief!”

“Then why are you stealing looks at Khalid?”

“......”

A grown man referring to himself in the third person...

The mage was confused.

Was every last person in this place insane?

“I-I’ll be going, then...”

“Correct.”

Did he just hear my thoughts?!

“Aaaaah! Why are there rats all of a sudden?!”

The [N O V E L I G H T] air rippled violently once, and then a swarm of black rats came pouring in from somewhere.

The mage fled again in complete panic.

Sniffling.

I want to go home.

In the end, he collapsed beneath a stump in the wide training ground, wiping at his tears.

“My, you’ve had a rough time of it. This house does have a bit of an entry barrier.”

The mage’s shoulders jerked.

What now?

What this time?

He looked up to find a man with an eyepatch over one eye.

He was chewing idly on a blade of grass, and his expression was at least somewhat friendly.

“I joined this place later myself, you see... I got a little hazing too.”

He introduced himself as Allen.

“No, I never said I was trying to join anything...”

I didn’t ask to come here.

They called me her real father out of nowhere and dragged me along...

I never said I wanted to be part of this group...

Still, it was oddly comforting to know that at least one other human being had once been in a similar situation.

“Do you see that maid over there?”

The man tipped his chin in a certain direction.

“Huh? Yes...”

A woman in a maid’s uniform, busily sweeping near the front entrance of the estate.

She was a little large, but perhaps that was why she also seemed very competent.

“Her name is Hazel. She’s got an extremely kind personality, so go explain your situation to her. She’ll probably treat you well.”

“Th-thank you.”

The mage got to his feet.

At least the servants in this place seemed relatively kind.

That was what he thought.

And so he did not notice the quiet exchange of glances between a former mercenary and a current one.

Fresh meat coming your way.

Send him over.

The silent handoff between professionals in the same line of work...