Because of Professor Kirmin Ku’s sociable and perfectly normal appearance, Professor Garcia had forgotten that Professor Ku had been close friends with Professor Voladi since their school days.

Professor Garcia blamed themself.

To think that after spending so long at Einroguard, they were still this inexperienced.

'I forgot the most basic rule.'

Even someone who looked perfectly normal could harbor more than enough madness inside.

Because Professor Garcia was reflecting inwardly, they noticed the group of merchants approaching on horseback far too late.

Had Professor Garcia noticed sooner, they might at least have signaled, “Run!”

“Are you the people from Einroguard?!”

Naseda signaled to the accompanying soldiers and quickly jumped down from the horse.

Even such simple etiquette could show respect for the other party depending on how it was performed.

In fact, a fierce-looking coachman among the knights—the knights’ faces could not be seen because of their helmets—reacted with great satisfaction.

-That is correct. We are from Einroguard. And who are you?

“My name is Naseda. I came at the order of His Excellency Count Bouillon. It seems there has been a misunderstanding, so I came here to explain!”

“One.”

Lee Han muttered.

For a moment, Professor Garcia felt curious.

'What does he mean by one?'

-An explanation? Do you even know what sort of disrespect the soldiers serving your count committed?

The knights spat the words out as though the very idea were absurd.

In truth, the knights were not particularly angry.

There was definitely an element of putting on a sterner face because of the successor behind them.

If they acted too kindly here and said something like, “Oh, you came from that side? There seems to have been some misunderstanding between us...” they had a feeling a voice would fly from behind them asking, “Do you happen to worship an evil god?”

The knights’ prickly response flustered not only the merchants but even the soldiers.

'What is this? Why are they acting like that?'

'...Surely they did not come because they discovered the relief supplies were embezzled?'

“Two.”

Lee Han muttered again.

Professor Garcia’s curiosity grew, but so did a faint sense of concern.

'He is not counting how many people he is going to kill, is he...? Surely not. He is not Professor Bagreg...'

Naseda grew confused when the other side turned out to be more hostile than expected.

The soldiers might have been especially rude, but even taking that into account, once the checkpoint had been destroyed, what reason did the other side have to be so angry?

Still, for now, Naseda had to bow first.

If these people had come to inspect the storage of relief supplies, then disaster had already struck.

“H-Ha ha... Yes. Of course I know. How could I fail to know when the checkpoint was destroyed like that? The soldiers made a grave mistake. They will naturally be held responsible.”

-Hmph!

“His Excellency the count intends to come personally and explain. Would you be willing to wait for a short while at a nearby manor?”

“Three.”

“???”

By now, Professor Garcia was simply curious.

What in the world were those numbers?

The answer came immediately.

Lee Han shouted in a firm voice.

“They are clearly suspicious. Let us arrest them and investigate!”

“......”

So that was it!

Even as the knights fell upon the merchants with murderous force, Professor Garcia idly thought about something else.

Perhaps Professor Garcia was having such thoughts because they wanted to escape from the current situation.

“W-W-What?! What in the world are you doing...?!”

-Stay still, you evil-god-worshiping bastard!

“Evil-god worshiper? I... I have never even believed in a god...!”

The merchants and soldiers floundered under the completely unexpected surprise attack.

The fact that the reason was suspicion of evil-god worship only made them even more confused.

Could the count secretly have been worshiping an evil god?

'He is absolutely not that kind of person.'

'Would he not be the sort to steal even the money meant as an offering to an evil god?'

“Let go of me! Even if you came from Einroguard, do you think you can do something like this and remain unharmed?! His Excellency the count will file a formal complaint!”

Naseda shouted loudly for the moment.

Naseda had no idea what was happening, but had to endure somehow by borrowing the count’s name.

-Is that one actually an evil-god worshiper?

-Suddenly getting angry like that is suspicious.

The knights whispered among themselves.

They had arrested the group for fear that the successor might become angry, but now that they had actually caught them, something did seem suspicious.

The soldiers were one thing, but even the merchants were acting as though they had something to hide.

And that leader among the merchants was especially suspicious for suddenly changing attitude.

Did that not mean the earlier behavior had been an act?

“You bastard!”

Ibinta shouted loudly.

The pressure to do something while the knights were making themselves useful had become unbearable.

“Do you know who this person is?! This is someone from House Wardanaz!”

“?!!”

Naseda, who had been shouting, froze at those words.

Someone from House Wardanaz.

There was only one mage of House Wardanaz from Einroguard of roughly that age currently seen on the continent.

“...D-Do not lie! I heard that Wardanaz was a talent who would take responsibility for the Empire’s future!”

Merchants generally put considerable effort into gathering rumors from every corner of the vast Empire.

For people in their profession, understanding information in matters like this was more important than for anyone else.

And from that perspective, the mage of House Wardanaz currently attending Einroguard was an outstanding mage who would one day shoulder responsibility for the Empire.

Despite the young age, that mage had defeated several invaders from other dimensions who descended upon the continent and cooperated with mages from various Magic Towers to achieve remarkable magical accomplishments...

...So when Naseda first heard the rumors, Naseda had even thought, How unusual. The personality sounds completely different from the mages of House Wardanaz before this one.

But now that Naseda saw the mage in person, it seemed the rumors had been wrong instead.

Was this not simply someone exactly like the House Wardanaz of every previous rumor?

“...Ibinta. Let us not say unnecessary things.”

“Ah. Yes. I apologize.”

At Lee Han’s cold rebuke, Ibinta regretted it.

Ibinta should simply not have mentioned the house...!

***

Count Bouillon had sent his reliable right hand, but for some reason he still felt uneasy.

“Come to think of it, why did the Einroguard mages visit this place?”

“Perhaps they were headed for the city of Vepaim. Crossing by the bridge would shorten the route, and the area near Vepaim has suffered severe damage recently, so it is highly likely that the city summoned mages.”

“Then why did they react so violently?”

“The foolish soldiers must have made a mistake. You know how greedy they are.”

The count did not pay the soldiers high wages.

Because of that, it had become customary for the soldiers managing the checkpoint to secure their own income.

Since they were that kind of soldiers, it was only natural that they became friendly when given bribes and rude when they were not.

“Is that so? Those idiots. They should simply have spoken politely and sent them back. What were they thinking...?”

Bang!

“?”

At the distant thunderous noise, the count inside the study furrowed his brow.

“What was that sound?”

“It seems there may have been a carriage accident outside.”

“Idiots! They should drive properly.”

Kwang!

Another thunderous noise rang out.

This time, it even sounded closer than before.

The count’s and the chief steward’s faces stiffened.

Kwaaang!

-Aaagh! We are not evil-god worshipers! We truly are not! We really have nothing to do with any evil god...

The chief steward hurried to the window and looked outside.

Then the chief steward disappeared beyond the window.

“?!?!?”

Startled, the count leaned out to see what had happened.

The chief steward, bound in translucent chains, was being dragged down below.

It was a truly bizarre sight.

“Ugh!”

And naturally, the count was dragged out as well.

The Death Knights were simply seizing anyone they saw and dragging them outside.

“What is the meaning of this?! Do you know who I am?!”

-Say it later. Drag everyone out! Where do you think you are running?!

Several servants, thinking some sort of attack had occurred, tried to flee but returned to their original places.

It was as though an invisible maze of illusions had been spread around the manor.

Count Bouillon, dragged outside, was forced to kneel in the front garden along with everyone else from the manor.

The count refused to give up and shouted.

“Do you know who I am?!”

“You are loud. Be quiet.”

Lee Han warned the count in an irritated voice.

Lee Han was concentrating on whether anyone might be escaping from the manor, and the constant whining beside him was getting on his nerves.

“I am Count Bouil—”

Thud!

Naseda and the merchants, who had been captured earlier, recoiled in horror when Lee Han immediately knocked the count unconscious with a water-orb shot.

The way Lee Han simply used force without even listening truly made him look like a madman.

'He really is House Wardanaz itself...!'

“If the count is an evil-god worshiper, then you bastards as well...”

“W-We truly are not! We merely embezzled the supplies and sold them for our own profit!”

The merchants shouted through tears.

It was the first time they had ever experienced a situation where telling the truth still failed to earn belief.

But Lee Han did not withdraw the suspicious look.

Was it not possible that the count, or one of the retainers under the count, was an evil-god worshiper?

Even if the merchants truly had nothing to do with it, they were still worth investigating.

-We have captured everyone.

“...Embezzling the supplies really is all they did, right?”

“That is probably the case. Well, did they not bring it upon themselves?”

Professor Kirmin Ku shrugged.

As Professor Ku had said earlier, the person who hovered around in front of someone already angry was the one at fault.

Moreover, after hearing the merchants’ testimony, Professor Ku did not feel particularly sympathetic.

Had the count not abused personal authority to secretly embezzle and sell relief supplies?

Sometimes fate acted correctly.

Perhaps fate had borrowed Wardanaz’s hand to strike the count down.

“......”

Professor Garcia stared intently at Professor Kirmin Ku.

This did not seem like the time to make such a profound observation about the disciple’s condition...

'Should I really have come with someone else?'

The knights were too sycophantic to be any help, and even Professor Kirmin Ku, whom Professor Garcia had trusted, was treating the friend’s disciple far too indulgently, perhaps out of pity.

A short while later.

The knights returned after rapidly completing various activities, including searching, interrogating, and investigating.

-For now, we found nothing inside the manor. They embezzled supplies and abused their authority, but there is no evidence that they colluded with evil-god worshipers.

-The testimony is the same. The count habitually accumulated wealth through underhanded means, but apparently never met with evil-god worshipers. They say the count usually associated only with merchants...

“Th-That is correct! Please believe us!”

“We truly focused only on money. We had no interest whatsoever in evil-god faith!”

Thanks to the merchants shouting beside him, the count regained consciousness, grasped the situation, and opened and closed his mouth.

He could not imagine why suspicion of evil-god worship had fallen upon him.

“Tsk.”

Lee Han clicked his tongue in displeasure.

They had acted suspiciously, so Lee Han had hoped to catch at least one of them, but they were merely ordinary petty criminals.

Without realizing it, the count stared at the mage who was said to come from House Wardanaz.

Of course, hearing an explanation would not change the current situation.

The count might not have worshiped an evil god, but the embezzlement of the relief supplies, the one thing he had most wanted to hide, had already been exposed.

Even so, Count Bouillon wanted to hear something.

Otherwise, he felt as though he would never be able to sleep at night.

Had all of this not happened because of that damned suspicion of evil-god worship?

If they simply said they had come because they suspected embezzlement of relief supplies, then at least his mind might feel at ease.

'Say something. Say anything at all!'

“You should not have acted suspiciously.”

With those words, Lee Han abruptly walked away.

Lee Han offered no explanation and did not say what reason had caused any of this.

The knights glanced around and quietly followed after Lee Han.

“......”

“......”

At that moment, the count and the merchants remaining there made a vow.

For the rest of their lives, they would never approach any place where the blood of House Wardanaz could be found!

'That insane house...!'