Chapter 55

The Juet Acrobat Troupe stayed in Beribelom for a week and performed for five days.

They had originally planned for three days of performances, but they had no choice but to extend it to avoid any possible suspicion.

It was better to reduce any room for suspicion, even a little, since Inspection Commander Marcus Merius and his daughter came to watch the performances every day.

I also participated in the performances.

I performed tightrope walking with the twins Roten and Rite or tied up Henry Horbi and threw daggers.

Even though it had only been a little over a month since I had joined them, my acrobatics skills were quite proficient, so everyone praised me.

“Mister Henry, can I keep this dagger?”

“…Huh?”

I, who was cleaning up, asked Henry Horbi, who was standing next to me.

Though it was a dagger for acrobatics, it was a real sword with a sharp, blue blade.

Henry Horbi looked around and then nodded his head.

“…You can. But it's an item from our inventory, so the ledger will be empty……”

“Then you'll have to fill it in, won't you?”

“…I guess so?”

Henry Horbi walked away.

It seemed as if something was flowing from his eyes, but I paid it no mind.

After being intimidated once at the Beribelom checkpoint, Henry felt uncomfortable even making eye contact with me.

Since he considered me a big shot pretending to be a child, he couldn't help it.

‘Henry Horbi, he's more helpful than I thought.’

I let out a small laugh as I put the dagger in my pocket.

He was a talkative and frivolous man, but he was quick-witted.

He was also skilled at acting.

Vice-captain Helena and Henry Horbi helped me pretend to be a child, so none of the members suspected anything.

Having roughly finished cleaning up, I headed to a secluded spot behind the tent.

I wanted to move my body a little.

Even an eleven-year-old body would be better than not training at all.

“If we leave here, was it Osbelom?”

It was Beribelom's sister city.

I heard that in ancient times, Beribelom and Osbelom were once a single city-state.

As such, it wasn't a very long distance.

I could reach it in about four days.

“Osbelom, then Hannes, and then… Gentium.”

It was the point where I was supposed to part ways with the Juet Acrobat Troupe.

However, the distance from Hannes to Gentium was far.

Even traveling by carriage, it would take at least twenty days.

Still, I would probably be saying goodbye to the acrobat troupe in about two months.

‘After Gentium, I'll be alone again.’

It was a companionship meant to obscure the eyes of the Special Operations Unit anyway.

Since they were also my comrades from before my regression, I was not without a sense of regret, but I was in a hurry.

From Gentium, it entered completely into the southwest of the Empire.

The port city of Mekeros was not far either.

If I arrived in Mekeros and took a boat, it could be considered a successful escape.

From Mekeros, via Arete, and finally to the West.

‘Honestly, what a hassle all because of that Amethus bastard.’

Not attempting to cross the great mountain range, planning to take a boat from Mekeros, and joining the acrobat troupe, all of it was because of that Amethus bastard.

He had added precaution upon precaution.

And yet he was still clinging on like this.

‘But it's my victory.’

I opened my eyes sharply.

I knew Amethus.

I had known him from before my regression.

However, Amethus did not know me.

That's where the match was decided.

No matter how excellent his intuition, there was a stratagem in my head that he could not fully chase.

‘Never mind you from before my regression, but the current you is still young, Amethus Aretion.’

***

Mantera was a city not too far from Beribelom and had many good fruit wines.

Amethus and Shadi Shandor were tilting white wine there.

Amethus had intended to drink beer, but he could not overcome Shadi's insistence.

“Here are the Mantera records, Captain Amethus.”

Shadi Shandor handed over a stack of papers.

It was information collected by the Security Bureau's Special Operations Unit members at the Mantera checkpoint.

Amethus silently read through it.

He said nothing until Shadi had finished half a bottle of white wine.

The jade-eyed man put down the stack of papers.

Shadi noticed that he had examined all the documents and had not gained any particular results.

Though he was usually taciturn, he was exceptionally stern-faced, so she couldn't help but notice.

Nevertheless, she casually threw out a question.

“Did you find what you were looking for?”

“No.”

“So it was a wasted effort this time too.”

A hint of dissatisfaction was mixed in Shadi's voice as she stirred her fork.

They were eating a dish of freshwater fish called Ringpen, steamed with clams.

There were two people, but only three clams were added?

Shadi, who was roughly stirring the fish, quickly put a clam in her mouth.

It was the second one.

“Well, what can the Special Operations Unit do, after all. They're just inspecting without even knowing what they're looking for.”

“……”

His tone was clearly biting.

The Special Operations Unit was a highly selective and skilled force.

Though not as much as knights, their pride was considerable.

To mobilize such people suddenly and tell them to just inspect without even telling them what they were looking for, their complaints must be immense.

And all the dissatisfaction was the responsibility of the Special Operations Unit Captain, Shadi Shandor, and this hardship had been going on for several weeks.

Even Amethus couldn't help but feel sorry.

“……”

After much thought, Amethus picked up his fork and moved the last clam to Shadi Shandor's plate.

She almost burst out laughing.

To be so flustered out of apology that he would offer the last clam.

It was excessively cute for the actions of a man who, at merely twenty-five, had nearly caught up to the Ten Great Generals.

Shadi was the one who finally put back her pouting lips.

Her frustration remained, but her mood had softened a little.

She returned the last clam to Amethus.

In truth, she was already quite full.

“You should go to the next city, Captain.”

“I should.”

“Derkus, or Beribelom?”

“…Well.”

Amethus could not give a clear answer.

Shadi let out a small sigh.

It was more concern than anger.

She knew Amethus.

A man so fierce that he was sharp.

His swordsmanship was one thing, but above all, his intuition was.

He was a man who somehow always reached the answer.

However, the process of reaching the answer was not smooth.

It had always been that way.

It was just not easily visible.

Only Shadi Shandor, who had always watched his days as a security knight from his side, knew.

“……”

The man soon fell into thought.

Shadi, as if used to it, stared blankly at Amethus.

He was a sharp man, but in front of her, he often showed such a relaxed appearance.

Shadi Shandor, more than anything, was pleased by that and unconsciously looked into his jade-green eyes.

It was a truly mysterious color, no matter how many times she looked.

“Shadi Shandor.”

Shadi lowered her eyes.

It was because Amethus had suddenly raised his head.

What, all of a sudden.

She felt embarrassed, thinking she had stared too intently.

She mumbled with a grumbling voice.

“…What is it? You lowered your voice.”

“I need your Ars.”

“……”

Amethus's voice was calm and Shadi Shandor's pupils also sank deep.

There was no room for emotions like embarrassment to seep in.

She swept her curly gray hair behind her ear.

“…My Ars is……”

Her sand-colored pupils were unwavering.

“…Very unique and it requires a great price.”

She stared intently at Amethus.

His jade-green eyes were even more unwavering than hers.

“Of course, you already know, and yet you still need it, right?”

“Yes.”

“Huhu……”

Shadi bowed her head.

He was a heartless man.

He must know her feelings, and so he was demanding it, knowing she couldn't refuse.

To suddenly appear without a word after leaving the Security Bureau and then just thrust a request at her…….

“…Alright.”

But she didn't dislike it.

No, rather… laughter escaped.

Ah, foolish Shadi.

To think that him appearing again, even abruptly, to ask her a favor, would make her this happy.

Truly foolish, Shadi Shandor.

“I'll see you at dawn again, Captain.”

Her Ars required a lot of effort.

Regardless of the price, there was a lot to prepare.

She had to hurry from now on.

“I'll have the preparations finished by then.”

***

The dawn moonlight was unusually dry.

Shadi Shandor met Amethus on a hillside a little distance from the Mantera city wall.

Shadi, inside the tent, was dressed in long, loose-fitting clothes she had brought from her hometown.

The tent was cramped.

It was cozy enough with just a few small candles.

Amethus sat facing her.

It was quiet.

It felt as if he could even hear the sound of the candlelight flickering.

“The name of my Ars is ‘Rami Labuhr’. If directly translated into the imperial language, it would be something like ‘Sand Question’.”

Amethus nodded his head.

“It summons the spirit of sand, and asks one question. That is all its power.”

The recital continued.

It was not to inform Amethus.

This was more like a ritual.

“Summoning the spirit requires a price. Just by summoning it, I will be blind for 33 days.”

“……”

“If I ask a question that cannot be answered, for example, if the premise itself is wrong, the spirit cannot answer. In such a case—I will simply be blind for a month.”

Shadi Shandor gave a faint smile.

The moonlight seeping through the tent flap streamed over her curly gray hair and shattered between her eyelashes.

“But if I ask the right question, the spirit of sand will surely bring an answer.”

She drew a line on the ground with her finger.

It seemed she had written something, but Amethus couldn't understand it, as it was in her hometown's language.

“Especially if I'm looking for something… it will guide me wherever it is on the continent.”

“……”

“Now, Captain. Are you ready with your question?”

“Of course.”

The jade-eyed man nodded his head.

“Then……”

Shadi Shandor bowed her head.

Her demeanor was tinged with a certain reverence.

“…I will summon the spirit.”

An unintelligible incantation flowed out.

Her clan had maintained a relationship with the spirit of sand for generations.

Though now, she was the only one left of her clan.

Her lips twisted bitterly, but she continued to move them.

The incantation continued.

The candlelight flickered.

There was no wind.

Soon, Shadi Shandor's two eyes began to crumble from the surface.

Her sand-colored pupils truly turned into sand and flowed down to the floor.

Amethus watched all of this silently.

Shadi's two eye sockets were empty.

Her eyeballs had flowed down and become a pile of sand.

The incantation continued.

‘Rami Labuhr’.

Asking the spirit of sand.

A strange light flashed in her empty eye sockets, and the pile of sand that had been her eyeballs spread wide.

The sand spread.

It settled low, following a circular ripple.

Circle and circle, curve and curve.

Dozens of trajectories intertwined and then became one.

A mandala.

The breath the spirit left on matter.

Above the dust formation, the ripple, and the circle.

The now-blind Shadi faced the spirit.

[---?]

There was a resonance.

Though it couldn't be heard, he knew something was speaking.

It was the spirit's voice.

It was heard only by Shadi Shandor.

“Yes, that's right. I am the last daughter of Shandor.”

[------.]

“It just turned out that way.”

She began to converse with the spirit of sand.

Every time the spirit said something, ripples formed on the sand, drawing various shapes.

[-- ---.]

“Captain Amethus, it asks what you want.”

“I am looking for a person.”

“He says he is looking for a person.”

The spirit answered.

[----? ---, ---.]

“It asks if the person is alive or dead.”

“…Alive.”

“He says he is alive.”

Amethus's voice contained a slight anxiety.

If the Fifth Prince Zionis were dead, the spirit of sand would not answer.

In that case, Shadi Shandor would have become blind for 33 days for no reason.

[-- ----. ---.]

“It asks what kind of person he is.”

“A boy. Eleven years old, blonde hair and blue eyes.”

“An eleven-year-old boy, with blonde hair and blue eyes, he says……”

Shadi raised her head.

Though her eye sockets were empty, she looked straight at Amethus.

‘Don't tell me……’

She was the Special Operations Unit Captain of the Security Bureau.

If it was an eleven-year-old boy with blonde hair and blue eyes that Amethus would be looking for, there was only one.

[--.]

“…His name?”

“…Zionis. The fifth prince of Cordis.”

“……!!!”

Shadi's mouth fell open, unable to convey the words to the spirit.

Now, finally, she understood.

Why Amethus had been so secretive, why he had been so fervent in his search.

If the Fifth Prince Zionis were alive, it was not an excessive measure at all.

Shadi slowly parted her lips and conveyed the words to the spirit.

“…His name is, Zionis. The fifth prince of Cordis.”

[Very well, last daughter of Shandor.]

The spirit of sand said.

This time, Amethus clearly heard it too.

The presence of the spirit disappeared in an instant.

Amethus could only wait.

Staring at the pile of sand.

“……”

“……”

They already knew about the Ars called ‘Sand Question’.

If Zionis was alive, the sand would rise.

If not, this sand would melt into the ground and disappear.

And so, silence.

Not long, but hard to endure.

Soon, the sand began to rustle.

“…Ah.”

The jade-eyed man let out a gasp.

He looked up, his mouth hanging open in a daze.

The pile of sand was soaring as if being sucked into the sky.

“Truly……”

The soaring pile of sand then rode a gust of wind and danced above their heads.

It looked as if it were gesturing to them to follow.

It was proof that he had chosen the right path.

“…He was alive, the Fifth Prince.”

“Did it soar?”

“Yes.”

Amethus gripped his double-edged sword.

“My intuition was right.”

“As always?”

“Yes, again……”

He helped the now-blind Shadi Shandor to her feet.

Shadi entrusted her body to his hand without hesitation.

In truth, she felt herself clinging to his chest a bit excessively, and it would be a lie to say there was no ulterior motive.

“Where is the sand wind blowing?”

“South.”

The moonlight was fierce.

However, the jade-green eyes were even more menacing.

“To Beribelom.”

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