‘…I might as well lend a hand.’
Mona’s nod of agreement had little to do with being swept along by the crowd.
She merely wanted the installation of the teleportation magic circle wrapped up as soon as possible, so she could catch a glimpse inside the Land of Chaos even a moment sooner.
Once the expedition members offered to help, Noel led them to a weathered vacant lot behind the lord’s castle.
With a light flick of his fingers, Noel drew back the cloth covering the stone slate.
A massive, intricate magic circle structured with geometric patterns lay bare before Mona’s eyes.
Taking in the interlocking layers of emblems and the complex design, she could only marvel in disbelief.
‘This is going to take way more grunt work than I thought.’
Unlike Mona, who broke into a private cold sweat, the other expedition members voiced their unreserved admiration.
Palmin leaped at the chance to flatter him.
Noel replied modestly, adding,
Palmin rolled up his sleeves, stepping forward with eagerness. His whole body itched to watch that presumptuous monster researcher humiliate herself as soon as humanly possible.
The moment Noel finished speaking, Palmin picked up the magic-circle hammer and chisel stored in the corner.
Taking his cue, the other expedition members picked up tools and began finding their spots.
‘Heh, I’ll show them what I’m made of.’
Though Palmin belonged to the Department of Magical Formulas, he had carved magic circuits onto stone slates many times.
Magic and magic circles were inseparable, after all.
‘And every single time, people praised my skill.’
Deliberately taking up a position near Mona, Palmin flashed a smug grin.
Standing beside someone incompetent was the best way to make one’s own talent shine.
‘Looks like she doesn’t even know how to handle the tools.’
Mocking Mona inwardly as she stared in bewilderment at the hammer and chisel designed to channel mana, Palmin swung his hammer.
Clang!
With the crisp chime of the chisel striking the slate, stone began peeling away along the sketched guidelines.
‘Well? How’s that?’
Engraving the circuits with practiced ease, Palmin shot Mona a triumphant glance.
‘Huh…?!’
An unbelievable sight unfolded before his eyes.
Tap, clack—
To a rhythmic beat, the chisel moved as fluidly as running water.
In the blink of an eye, Mona was carving complex geometric figures that Palmin had not even dared touch yet.
‘Wh-what?! How is she that good?’
Regardless of whether Palmin was horrified or not, Mona was lost in nostalgia.
‘Circuit tools have gotten so convenient these days. Back in my day, we had nothing like this.’
During Mona’s childhood, there were no hammers and chisels that automatically regulated an even flow of mana.
Whenever monsters wrecked the magic circle in front of her grandmother’s house, Mona had been forced to carve circuits while manually controlling her mana output.
Buoyed by her grandmother’s praise, memories of working on magic circles like child’s play came rushing back.
Her grandmother, a fellow monster researcher, lived right next to the eastern demonic realm, meaning the magic circle was routinely destroyed.
Thinking back on it now, it had been a never-ending chore.
‘I wonder if that goblin runt that kept stealing my sweet potatoes is doing well…’
While Mona worked away, lost in that train of thought,
a low, gentle voice spoke from behind.
“?”
She stopped her work and turned around.
‘…It’s Noel Lotus.’
Looking up at the direct scion of an illustrious ducal house, Mona asked, puzzled,
Instead of answering, he arched his eyes in a soft smile.
It was the very smile the highborn ladies of high society praised endlessly for its elegance and charm.
While not breathtakingly handsome like Rihart, he was undeniably good-looking—a thought that struck even Mona, who cared little for other people's appearances.
…Still, why was he smiling?
Heaving herself up, Mona followed Noel with a bewildered expression.
To her shock, where he led her was the dead center of the magic circle, packed with its most labyrinthine patterns.
Her expression nearly dropped.
Damn it.
Had he noticed she had purposely positioned herself near the edges where the geometric shapes were simple?
Noel Lotus…
His presence and voice were as gentle as honey, but underneath lay a surprisingly strict and sharp temperament.
Swallowing dryly, Mona answered as steadily as she could, then squatted back down to carve the circle.
Yet Noel called her again.
He was even nitpicking.
‘I’ve drawn the short straw again, haven't I.’
What good were modern tools when the shapes were dizzyingly difficult?
‘Is this my year of terrible luck?’
Swallowing her bitterness, Mona worked on through a cold sweat.
Meanwhile, watching Mona get handpicked by Noel, Palmin chewed on his handkerchief in bitter jealousy.
‘What in the world is going on now?!’
His shock at how suspiciously proficient she was at slate engraving had barely faded.
Sir Rihart hadn’t been enough—now Lord Noel was addressing her by name!
Who was Noel Lotus?
The unmatched prodigy who had risen to head a laboratory on the seventh floor of the Magic Tower at just twenty-six years old.
How thrilled Palmin had been upon learning Noel was on the same expedition team!
Mages dying to exchange a single word with him were a dime a dozen, and Palmin was no exception.
Yet behind Noel’s gentlemanly manners lay a subtle detachment, making him difficult to approach.
‘And Lord Noel actually spoke to her first?!’
Ugh… his stomach seized.
Knowing that he had personally handed a backwater monster researcher the chance to make an invaluable connection churned his insides.
The sheer, tearing ache of his jealousy nearly had him rolling across the magic circle.
***
‘Hm.’
Arms crossed, Noel watched the delicate movements of the woman’s hands with keen interest.
…Mona Bellose, was it?
The way she handled the magical circuits with seasoned precision was deeply impressive.
Enough to make him want to recruit her as an intern for his seventh-floor lab right this second.
Yet something else had truly caught his eye.
‘It seems this woman understands the operating principles of this magic circle, at least in broad strokes…?’
Bringing her close to observe her work had only made him more certain.
Judging by the depth of her incisions and the order in which she traced the patterns, she clearly possessed an understanding of magic circles.
Hands could not move that way without knowing how mana flowed through the circuit.
‘…Yet wasn’t she from the Department of Monster Studies?’
How could a monster researcher understand the mechanics of a teleportation magic circle built upon diverse formulas and complex geometry?
Was it merely coincidence?
‘Granted, some people are born with an innate sense for the flow of mana.’
While he was watching Mona Bellose at work with lingering curiosity,
she abruptly froze, tilting her head.
At the call, Mona looked up, her silver eyes gleaming past her disheveled bangs.
“…”
Faced with Noel’s nitpicking once more, Mona felt a pang of indignation.
‘I really wasn’t slacking off this time.’
To explain why she had paused, Mona hesitated before speaking up.
Looking at the emblem Mona pointed out, Noel’s golden eyes flashed with a sudden, razor-sharp light.
