Ch#70
* * *
At the empire's border where the large magic stone had been sieged.
Aleric recalled Captain Tesetan's words as he grabbed an Orb.
‘I've changed my mind. Tell them we're going.’
‘......That's strange.’
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't understand.
When he had listed over ten rational reasons to respond to the mobilization order, the captain wouldn't budge an inch.
‘Not only Berugon trapped in the subspace?’
‘Pardon?’
‘I'm asking if that new mercenary group's captain is trapped there too.’
The moment he heard the Sovereign King was trapped, the captain changed plans immediately.
‘Prepare.’
‘......Pardon?’
‘We have to go. Prepare. We're leaving right now.’
The shift was so sudden that even Aleric, who rarely got flustered, was utterly baffled.
Of course, Libia was disappointed.
She trailed after Tesetan, pleading.
‘Captain, wouldn't it be better to just let the Sovereign King die? I thought Basto Paerics looked pretty good as a combatant for us.’
‘......’
‘Only if the Sovereign King dies and Agavert falls apart can we take Basto, right? Huh?’
But Tesetan gave no reply.
He just packed his weapons with a serious face, lost in thought.
Even now.
“Okay, everyone! Prepare the teleportation circle!”
“Grab all gear that needs maintenance, just in case!”
Aleric looked around at the bustling members and draped his cloak over his shoulders for now.
‘At least we won't get blamed by the Imperial Family or Church, so that's good.’
But whenever Tesetan acted so inscrutably, something always went wrong.
Meanwhile, Tesetan leaned against a split rock.
He unconsciously stroked the hilt of his sword, recalling recent memories.
‘Dad, Dad—!!’
He was thinking about a certain voice.
A voice that lingered even days later, refusing to fade.
‘Daddyyy—!’
It was from when they left Pearl City.
At first, he thought it was some kid standing alone at the port, crying sadly.
The voice was loud enough to pierce through the ship horns and waves, so he figured the kid had quite the lungs.
‘Wonder how they got separated from their parents.’
But something felt off.
The child screaming their throat raw seemed to be looking straight at him, not anyone else.
The way their lips pursed and shoulders trembled upon eye contact was still vivid.
‘......Who were they calling.’
Who exactly were they calling Dad?
His initial feeling was discomfort bordering on displeasure.
But it soon turned to bewilderment, leaving him baffled.
Tesetan generally felt no agitation toward people.
Being gripped by such a strange mood over one crying child felt alien to him.
So he turned away and never looked back at the port again.
He soon regretted that choice.
Long after the ship set sail, Tesetan kept thinking about the child and finally asked Aleric.
‘......You got a kid hidden away?’
‘What are you talking about all of a sudden?’
‘Just figured since it's not me, maybe you.’
‘Pardon?’
As expected, Aleric reacted as if he'd heard nonsense.
Tesetan stood at the stern, facing the wind, deep in thought.
Did the kid mistake him then?
Maybe their lost parent just resembled him or something.
That would mean the child was an orphan anyway.
Come to think of it, their face did look a bit grubby.
But even for an orphan, wasn't being all alone at the port a bit too dangerous?
What if they slipped and fell into the sea?
It was uncharacteristic worry and uncharacteristic anxiety.
Finally, after agonizing about ten thousand times, Tesetan reluctantly headed to the captain's quarters.
The ship's only communication orb was there.
He planned to contact the Imperial Family and ask them to send an urgent message to Pearl City's governor.
To clear out some kid loitering at the port.
Of course, contacting the Imperial Family—which he wasn't close to—for something like this felt excessive...
‘But I can't just leave them.’
What if the kid fell into the sea?
Upon arriving at the captain's quarters, the captain gladly handed over the communication orb.
Then he chattered on happily about meeting him.
‘Never thought I'd see Trebaga's captain this close in my lifetime. By the way, did you see that Sovereign King too?’
‘Sovereign King?’
‘Yeah. Apparently Agavert and the Sovereign King visited Pearl City. The necromancer mage. I only heard right before departure.’
Tesetan slowly set down the communication orb in his hand.
The captain chuckled and continued.
‘My youngest crew member, who I'd sent on an errand, saw the Sovereign King and said they looked exactly like a real child. Hard to believe it's disguise magic.’
‘......Is that so?’
‘Yes! About a head taller, with messy yellow hair. Wearing Agavert's unit uniform and running up a tab at the inn.’
Something flashed through Tesetan's mind.
The group of foreigners he'd encountered at the inn.
And what they were wearing...
The robe the child was wearing.
He let out a small chuckle.
‘......What a crazy bastard.’
As he left the captain's quarters and returned to the stern, he felt a stinging pain at the back of his head, as if he'd been struck.
At the same time, a strange curiosity arose.
‘Not an easy madman.’
Words he himself had said.
At Pearl City's pub, just a few days ago.
‘But why didn't I predict it?’
He already knew the Sovereign King wandered around as a four-year-old girl and was a massive weirdo.
‘Dad!’
But still.
‘Could it be that convincing?’
Tears streaming down cheeks.
A voice so heartbreaking it made the listener feel strange too.
Tesetan sneered and stared out at the vast sea.
A mage of the Sovereign King's caliber would surely know who he was.
So she knew and did it anyway.
Knew he was Trebaga's captain and did it on purpose.
‘......Unique way of psyching out the opponent.’
He recalled the precarious wobbling at the pier.
The sobbing and desperate cries of "Dad."
‘......Got me.’
Tesetan sneered and gripped the stern railing tightly without realizing.
And a few days later.
News of Agavert reached his ears again.
That they had sieged the first magic stone to rise at sea and headed to Popullosa Weapon District.
At the same time, new information began posting at reward offices across the empire.
Among hundreds of mercenary groups, Agavert had entered the rankings at 39th place.
Meaning their magic stone sieges were now being officially tallied, even if informally.
“Captain! Preparations complete.”
Tesetan snapped out of his thoughts at the report.
‘Wondered when I'd see them again.’
He hadn't expected it to be this soon.
“Let's go.”
A massive magic circle appeared before him as he stood.
Aleric approached and said,
“We've been delayed quite a bit. We'll need to visualize the subspace the moment we arrive.”
There are countless types of magic beasts in the world.
And among them, the most notoriously difficult were undoubtedly the ‘stealth-type magic beasts.’
Stealth-type beasts like Krazar attacked from invisible places.
Thus, visualizing their true form was paramount when facing them.
In fact, that was precisely why the Union had requested Tesetan's aid.
“Can you activate the ‘Insight Eye’ right away?”
“Possible.”
Mana and holy power began rampaging from Tesetan's sword as if waiting.
He possessed one of the world's rarest and most powerful abilities.
Its name was Insight Eye.
The third eye drawn forth by the waves of two opposing energies, the first swordsmanship Tesetan had honed since becoming a mercenary.
