After camping continuously, the inn room I finally got to stay in was useless.
Because after subduing the assassins, while I was pondering how to deal with them, the sun had already risen.
I couldn't even properly use the bed, barely ate any food, and quickly left the place.
For now, I decided to send the captured assassins to the Temple. The official charge was attempting to assassinate Samuel, a Holy Knight.
"I will call the Holy Knights."
"It would be faster if you take them."
"Then will you wait for me?"
Wait, my foot. Assassins came looking for me, so I need to get out of here immediately.
Samuel probably didn't ask expecting me to actually wait. Rather, he was curious whether there would still be a place for him by my side when he returned.
I gave him the answer he wanted to hear.
"Anyway, you can find me wherever I am. Hand them over to the Temple and come back. I won't stop you from rejoining."
Samuel looked quite displeased, but eventually decided to follow my wishes. Not that he had any choice but to comply...
From what I heard, there seemed to be a Temple prison nearby. Samuel left early in the morning, taking the assassins with him in a row.
However, he left one behind to investigate the backers, and that was the one now before my eyes.
'It's fortunate this is a small village.'
If it had been a city, it would have been difficult to find such a secluded spot. I glanced at the village hidden by the bushes, then turned my gaze back.
The assassin was buried in the ground with only his head sticking out. Having undergone harsh training as an assassin, he now looked utterly exhausted, barely managing to breathe.
"Xenon, he's still alive, right?"
"With this level of magical resistance, he cannot deflect my magic."
Xenon had just demonstrated several spells to subdue the assassin without killing him.
"..."
Seeing this, I couldn't help but admire his unexpectedly clean and powerful magic.
Honestly, when I heard he was the Magic Tower Lord's disciple, I worried about the Tower's future, but it seems they don't choose just anyone as successor.
It seems skill is the top priority for becoming Tower Lord. A weak temperament can apparently be covered up with ability.
"But he looks like he could die at any moment."
"I have the ability to keep him awake for hours in this state, so you need not worry."
As I looked at the assassin with concern, Xenon pressed his lips together and raised his chin slightly.
"He is alive. Ask him whatever you're curious about."
Seeing Xenon trying so hard to act composed, I chuckled and gazed at the assassin.
'How did assassins latch onto me when I'm using appearance-altering magic to change my looks?'
The answer to that question was easy to find. Because Xenon's magic worked so well on the assassin.
The link they used to find me was, therefore, the Dullahan.
"Ah, Cheche..."
They seemed to have associated the Dullahan with me, and went to find Cheche to obtain information about our group who had recently listened to her words seriously.
Cheche must have also provided my description.
After that, they probably spread rumors that the Dullahan had appeared to lure me out. Though I didn't come to this village because of that rumor.
'That troublesome hunter, she really had to trip me up like this.'
I roughly swept back my bangs and looked down at the assassin before me.
"I didn't expect another person to appear who would listen to her words."
Xenon, who had his hand on the assassin's crown, muttered in irritation.
When Cheche's story came out of the assassin's mouth, he openly grimaced.
"That hunter spread rumors everywhere about seeing the Dullahan, so it couldn't be helped."
"We should have silenced her before coming."
Xenon's words, popping out instantly, were quite fierce. Admiring inwardly, I replied in an indifferent voice.
"You know how to say such scary things too?"
"You didn't think I only know how to use illusion magic, did you?"
If he only knew illusion magic, how could he become a Magic Tower Lord's successor?
I shook my head with a smile and muttered in a voice mixed with a sigh.
"It's already too late to silence her."
"What if more of these people increase?"
Xenon glanced at the assassin, unable to hide his worry.
"At least that hunter named Cheche won't be able to talk about me anymore."
Speaking listlessly, I pressed my temples firmly. Perhaps because of the troublesome tail that had attached itself to me, a slight headache was rising.
"They wouldn't have left her alone, right?"
"Ah..."
"More importantly, we need to find out who these fellows' client is."
At my words, Xenon nodded. He activated mental magic for smooth interrogation.
When Xenon asked questions while activating the magic, the assassin answered obediently with a dazed face.
There was the drawback that the magic's duration was short, but there were only a couple of pieces of information to obtain, so that wasn't a problem.
Sparkling magic wound around the assassin's head. With the magic calmly deployed, Xenon asked about the client.
"Ugh..."
As the assassin let out a weak groan, sharp sparks flew from Xenon's hand. Xenon started and pulled his hand away.
Even after Xenon removed his hand, the sparks didn't disappear from above the assassin's head. The assassin, with only his head above ground, rolled his eyes back and convulsed.
Soon he foamed at the mouth and went limp.
"Oh dear."
Xenon, opening and closing his hand, wore an awkward expression. Quickly placing his fingers on the assassin's nape, Xenon clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"A restriction has been triggered."
"Restriction?"
"Yes. It seems they placed a restriction to prevent information about the client from being revealed. This type of contract magic cannot be undone from the start. Perhaps... it was a magic that imposes penalties just from recalling information about the client."
"Is he dead?"
"Yes."
Indeed, it would be stranger not to place such a restriction when commissioning an assassination. I decided to quickly let go of any regret.
After all, regarding the client, I wasn't trying to investigate the unknown but merely wanted to confirm what I already knew.
"Forget it. I have a rough idea who it is."
"Really?"
Xenon, who had been crouching to use magic on the assassin, stopped midway as he was rising and widened his eyes.
I shrugged my shoulders at him.
"There are only so many people who would hate me enough to want me dead."
"Roam?"
Hearing the name that immediately popped out, I found it somewhat amusing. Even to Xenon, the people of Roam must seem cold and heartless.
Seeing how he suspected them first without a moment's hesitation.
Of course, I too initially thought of Roam. Though I quickly ruled them out.
"Roam dislikes such loud methods. If they were determined, they would have approached much more secretly."
Rather than spreading false Dullahan sighting reports to draw me out, they would have tried to track and follow my trail as secretly as possible.
They would have approached meticulously so I wouldn't notice a tail attached to me.
When I firmly denied it, Xenon immediately brought up another candidate.
"If not them, then surely not that, trash bastard?"
Even without mentioning the name, I understood who he was referring to. I looked at Xenon with a bewildered gaze.
It seems like lately Xenon has been mixing in all kinds of profanity whenever referring to Maxel, or is it my imagination?
After a brief silence, I asked in a calm tone.
"...Xenon, you remember that he is the Crown Prince, right?"
"He's the Crown Prince, but he's still trash."
That's true.
Easily persuaded by Xenon, I decided to accept his intense but appropriate expression.
After all, Maxel being trash is an objective fact.
"He may be trash, but the assassins aren't his doing. Unless it's someone who would be by his side."
Maxel assassinate me? He's not someone with the nerve to do such a thing. Rather, someone who would show such ruthlessness would be Lilia.
Lilia already had a history of sending Precy after me. After all, isn't the first time always the hardest for anything, and the next time easier?
"Attempting assassination only now, they're quite late. At least if they tried in Roam, the success rate would have been much higher."
Lilia, who schemes without relying on prophecies, is clumsy.
In the first place, she was a woman who preferred manipulating from behind, letting her followers volunteer themselves.
Assassinations and such matters were probably all handled by Precy.
But he was killed by the Dullahans...
'Still, she must have made up her mind to be ruthless in her own way.'
Mocking Lilia's utterly clumsy scheming, I turned my body. To board the carriage and leave this place.
Behind me, Xenon followed closely and asked in a troubled voice.
"Why would she?"
"Because I am God's Proxy."
Xenon didn't seem to properly understand my answer.
I gently added an explanation for him.
"She thinks she's the protagonist of this world. Her prophecies are a novel with herself as the main character. I'm the villainess in that novel, and Maxel is the male lead."
"...So she's a completely crazy woman?"
Shuddering, he muttered as if to himself.
"A trash Crown Prince and his fiancée is crazy. I doubt if there's any hope for this country. The country will soon fall."
His voice was full of lamentation. Just hearing it made it feel like the Empire was already a fallen nation.
Laughing in disbelief, Xenon soon spoke earnestly with a serious face.
"Even if the Empire falls, the Magic Tower won't. And there are many ways I can offer to Lady Aneli. We can go there quickly from here too."
All the way to the carriage, Xenon explained to me how safe the Magic Tower was from external threats, and how convenient and excellent its facilities were.
"Yes, it sounds like an amazing place."
When I added appropriate interjections, perhaps getting excited, his descriptions became more detailed. His enriched vocabulary was filled with affection.
It was the first time I heard him speak so detailedly about the Magic Tower, and I now realized that he cherished the Tower and its people very much.
At first it was just cute, but as I listened, it gradually became strange.
"..."
I looked at Xenon with a subtle expression before boarding the carriage. Xenon, describing the Magic Tower in an excited voice, fortunately didn't seem to notice my mood.
"Sometimes in the morning, when you look outside from the top floor, clouds are spread beneath your feet, you know? You'll surely be amazed when you see it."
The Magic Tower was the place Xenon would return to. A place to return to existed for him. People who cherished him would be waiting there.
"I'll definitely show you that scenery next time."
"...Alright."
To the brightly smiling Xenon, I quietly nodded.
Actually, I don't want to go there, though.