Asha shouted at the top of her lungs.
“No! No! I said that’s not how you do it, didn’t I? Hold the end gently and keep the magic from shaking... Haaaah, non-mages.”
On the bridge leading to Sapphire Hall.
The servants were hard at work repairing the broken bridge.
Asha Drukan watched the small rowboats moving back and forth across the lake with her heart in her throat.
They were bringing in new boxes of magic tools to replace the celebratory crackers that had all gone off.
How could the Imperial Palace people be so careless?
If they exploded again, Duke Zebbert might explode her head next!
Oh, though of course he just left.
The duke had appeared with a grim face and had just taken a boat with the Emperor toward the main palace.
“Ah, be careful there. Please!”
Asha watched the situation with bulging eyes, then disappeared, saying she was going to check the bridge repairs.
Once the stationed mage who had been shrieking like a skittish water deer left, a servant carrying a magic-tool box finally lost his temper.
“Hey. Why do you keep wobbling? If you drop another magic-tool box, we’re in real trouble!”
“Ah, sorry about that.”
The servant with the thick beard apologized, lowering his brows.
“But you... were you really selected as one of the serving staff for this banquet?”
“Ah. To tell you the truth, no. I brought a boat over, then saw you looked short-handed, so I was helping.”
“So you’re a boatman.”
“Well...”
They carried the magic-tool box to the place the stationed mage had designated. The servant dusted off his hands and offered a piece of advice.
“I appreciate the thought, but you’d better head back now. His Majesty the Emperor put a lot of effort into this party, so the head servant is terribly on edge. He probably won’t be pleased to see a servant who wasn’t selected working here.”
“Ah, I’ll do that.”
The boatman stroked his beard, gave a mild smile, and turned away.
“Come on, let’s move the next one! Are the repairs on the bridge side almost done? Why are you all so slow?”
Leaving the servant’s words behind him, the boatman leisurely moved off.
Hidden inside his clothes was the fireworks magic tool he had secretly stolen a moment ago.
If fired toward the sky, it would become splendid fireworks.
But if fired at something else...
It would become a small bomb.
“A servant attending one of the nobles has been bought off. He’ll set off the magic-tool box while pretending it was an accident and destroy the bridge leading to Sapphire Hall.”
“......”
“Then people will have no choice but to come and go by boat. When that happens, you, the boatman, will watch for your chance and...”
The First Prince’s voice as he looked at him rang in his ears like an auditory hallucination.
“Prick the Fourth Prince with this needle and overturn the boat.”
The tip of the needle the First Prince had handed him gleamed. When he sniffed it, it seemed to be coated in a paralytic poison.
“You mean... you want me to attack a member of the Imperial family when we’re alone on the boat?”
“Just brush against him while pretending to hand him something! Or approach him while pretending to fall!”
“Ah...”
“That fox bastard seems to be digging into my affairs and pulling tricks behind my back... This should quiet him down for a while. I’m not going to just sit there and take it.”
While Licht appeared to be bedridden after falling into the water, the First Prince planned to resolve the problems right in front of him and devise a scheme for his counterattack.
“How should I overturn the boat?”
“Steal a fireworks magic tool and set it off. If there’s a problem with the bridge anyway, they’ll be loading magic tools onto the boats to transport them, so it won’t be strange if one or two were lying on the floor.”
If he did that, evidence like the poisoned needle would also be buried forever beneath the lake.
Then I just swim away and escape the Imperial Palace.
The boatman thought of the enormous pouch of gold coins the First Prince had given him. His heart pounded unbearably.
The problem is how to get the Fourth Prince onto a boat.
The banquet was still in full swing.
And since the second part of the ball was about to begin, Licht would not show himself for some time.
Just as he thought he would have to keep a close eye on the situation and lie low—
“Hey. Are you the boatman? The Fourth Prince is looking for you.”
“What?”
His eyes went round.
“It seems he has urgent business back at the main palace. Get ready.”
“Ah, a-all right!”
This was his chance.
The boatman hurried off to prepare the boat.
Before long, Licht appeared.
Is that a maid?
The prince was with a woman wearing a maid’s cloak pulled over herself. It bothered him a little that Licht was not alone, but the boatman smiled ingratiatingly and untied the anchor rope.
She’s no knight. A small, scrawny woman like that...
If anything happened, he could overpower her by force. He did not even consider her a variable.
*****
“Where’s my dad?”
At my urgent question, Licht did not press me further and guided me out of the banquet hall. On the way, he did not forget to acquire a cloak that seemed to belong to a maid and hand it to me.
“Duke Zebbert has headed to the main palace. An urgent report came for my father.”
“An urgent report?”
“It seems something happened in the south. He only just left by boat, so he shouldn’t have gone far. If we hurry, we can catch up.”
Licht wrapped the cloak carefully around me.
“If you, the star of the day, leave your seat, you’ll draw attention. For now, you’d better hide yourself with this.”
“I need to go to the main palace at once. His Majesty just moved there as well, correct?”
“Yes, yes.”
At the prince’s words, the boatman bowed his head and answered.
With the cloak pulled over me, I stood still, pretending to be Licht’s maid. I felt the boatman glance at me, but when Licht stood as if to shield me, he could not pay any more attention.
“Please take this boat.”
The boatman gestured toward the gangplank leading to the boat.
I saw one of the nobles’ pleasure boats, richly decorated and laid with soft silk coverings.
“My apologies. It was being used until just now to move magic-tool boxes in a hurry, so the arrangements are somewhat lacking. There was no time to find and launch another cargo boat...”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Then we will depart.”
“Hurry.”
Creak, creak. The boat moved, cutting through the current.
Over the lake, dark beneath the night shadows, the magic tools Asha had floated were suspended at regular intervals like sky lanterns.
The path of light embroidered across the black lake was quite a sight, but I had no room to care about that now.
I’m going to confirm it with my own eyes.
The truth of this potion.
Only after the cold river wind hit me did I remember that Rosetta Mom and Grandpa were also in the banquet hall.
When I thought about it, there had been no need to chase after Dad this desperately...
“......”
When I looked back slightly, Sapphire Hall was already far away. I stared blankly at the boatman, who was rowing with all his might.
That was when it happened.
I heard a crackling signal. Only then did I remember Khalid’s existence, and with a somewhat chagrined face, I touched my earlobe.
[ Ruby. ]
Khal? Sorry, I was so out of it...
[ Sorry. I’m with Duke Zebbert. ]
Before I could finish, Khalid added in a somewhat urgent tone.
What?
He spoke briefly and quickly.
[ Magical beasts appeared in the south. But they say the energy around them is strange. ]
Strange how?
[ They said there were traces on the fallen magical-beast corpses that looked like dark creatures. ]
What?
It felt as if cold water had been poured over me from head to toe.
Dark creatures? Did that mean the Mage King had succeeded in summoning dark mages?
I lost the ability to speak and only moved my lips. As if soothing me, Khalid continued in a low voice.
[ Ruby, calm down. They’re not saying dark creatures have appeared. Either way, I need to confirm this myself. ]
Only then did I understand.
The reason Dad had left the banquet hall in such a rush without even telling me.
[ I’m telling you because I was afraid you might hear some baseless rumor and get anxious. Actually, the duke insisted over and over that I should tell you after the banquet ended... Huh? ]
Khal, who had been speaking in a low murmur, suddenly stopped.
What is it?
At the sudden wave of unease that swept over me, I pressed my earlobe harder and waited for Khal’s answer.
“Rubian, is something wrong?”
Sitting beside me, Licht examined me in a worried voice.
At that moment, the boat lurched heavily once.
It was because the boatman rowing at the stern had slipped for an instant.
“Ah! My apologies. It’s dark, so my foot slipped...”
The boatman apologized repeatedly and began rowing again. It had only been a slight wobble, not a serious problem.
Licht, who had been staring straight ahead with sunken eyes, moved me farther inside to protect me, then quietly gripped his sword.
Khal? I asked what’s going on.
[ Ah, Duke Zebbert... ]
At that moment, I saw a light rapidly approaching from the direction of our destination, where the main palace stood. My eyes widened.
[ He suddenly turned back. ]