The next day, late afternoon.
BAM! Romeo's door was roughly thrown open.
It was Calix who opened the door and entered.
Romeo, who had been conversing with Griffith who had returned an hour ago, made an expression that if saying, "I knew it."
After all, there was no one else who Calix who would disregard etiquette so completely and kick the and door to enter.
"Hey! Lellia has disappeared!"
What?
Griffith and and Romeo's expressions crumpled.
Calix was wildly waving a thin piece of paper. and Romeo took it and read it. it turned out to be a letter Lellia had left behind.
The letter stated that she would be going to her hometown first, along with words of apology and and gratitude.
"...."
"Poor guy... He probably thought we were all perverts just because he's a cross-dressing man. and got hurt. all because of you, Griffith and and Romeo. you heartless bastards."
"...."
"...."
Griffith and and Romeo looked at Calix as if he were watching the village idiot.
Calix, who had been muttering something sullenly, said "Ah!" and added one more thing.
"By the way, where did Oscar go? I went to the mansion he said he was staying at, but no one was there? He didn't go somewhere else too, did he?"
At those words, Griffith and and Romeo's eyes flashed.
Could it it...!
Romeo and Griffith ran to Lellia's room and let out hollow laughs.
Griffith asked, "Is tracking possible?"
"...She left behind everything I attached for tracking."
Romeo answered, and Griffith frowned.
"Then what's that?"
Griffith asked, pointing to a bundle of medicine bottles.
"Those are mine! I separately requested something special."
Calix answered as gathering the medicine bottles.
They were painkillers and sedatives Lellia had left behind for him. Calix pinched the the bridge of his nose as if holding back tears.
"This bastard really knows how to move people..."
Romeo and and Griffith ignored him as he was he was overcome with emotion.
Leaving the fool alone for now.
"Is tracking possible?"
"It won't be difficult."
Romeo answered lightly, taking out a fountain pen from his inner pocket.
Romeo's magic power was now stabilizing. So he just like when he found Leo's fountain pen before, all he had to do was track it.
Romeo immediately began tracking.
However he didn't know how she Lellia figured out the tracking magic was placed on his cuff buttons. but the fountain pen wouldn't know. Originally, it wasn't designed for that purpose.
Besides, even if Lellia knew the fountain pen could be tracked, the would never throw it away.
Because that child is Leo.
"Wait... what's going on?"
Romeo tilted his head. He thought tracking would be possible immediately, but tracking through magic stone was impossible.
It felt like being blocked by a wall that magic power couldn't penetrate. What on earth?
"No good?"
"......"
Romeo held his head.
His magic power was currently very stable, yet tracking didn't work?
It made no sense.
Lellia had no magic power, anything similar, or divine power. What method could she have used?
Seeing Romeo confused, Griffith said.
"...Then try tracking Oscar."
At that, Romeo said "Ah!" and immediately grabbed the fountain pen again.
The magic stone glowed, absorbing magic power flowing from Romeo's fingertips.
After a moment.
"This bastard..."
Romeo cursed low.
Oscar's fountain pen was also impossible to track. Clearly he had blocked it somehow.
Griffith raised one corner of his mouth as if expecting this.
'Did that guy find out too?'
It was certain.
Judging by his attitude yesterday, being unusually friendly to Lellia.
After parting ways at the temple when young, when meeting friends again.
Griffith thought Oscar had gone mad. Oscar had lost those old, soft, gentle eyes.
His red pupils were lifeless like artificially created beads.
Oscar would sit alone hugging his knees whenever he had a chance, muttering unintelligible words.
What drove him mad was 'Leo's' death.
When the demonic sword fell into Oscar's hands, Griffith instinctively sensed it.
That child could bring destruction to this world.
Oscar even began freely wielding the demonic sword's power, difficult to handle.
And now that demonic sword would have absorbed an unimaginable amount of blood.
It was a terrible power that could never be called clean. That dark power would grow stronger and larger.
That's why, at this very moment, Griffith felt irritated and impatient.
His obsession with Leo was at a level ordinary people could never understand.
He didn't know what that madman might do to Leo.
Having learned that Leo, whom he obsessed over, was alive, he would be capable of anything.
He had to separate them.
He must never let Leo fall into Oscar's clutches.
Because that obsession and madness would surely ruin Leo.
04. Superion Territory
One week after leaving the capital.
Lellia ran and ran across the vast grasslands near the border.
Now, passing through one large territory and one small territory, she would arrive at Superion Territory.
Though traveling alone was lonely, it was a worthwhile experience in its own way.
Riding horses, camping, gathering food.
Things she could only do now.
Everything would have been perfect if only she didn't miss her friends.
Still, the thought of meeting family upon reaching the territory was comforting.
Especially her uncle, whom she hadn't seen since he left for the battlefield, so she missed him dearly.
After passing through the vast grasslands, she entered the territory of Count Treich.
This place was famous for having the Kreuz Church's sacred site. Many people came for pilgrimage, making it a tourist city as well.
As a sacred site, it had an enormous temple, and he heard they directly dispatched priests from the neutral divine zone to manage it.
Perhaps for that reason, priests in temple robes were visible immediately upon entering the territory.
Lellia planned to stay at the Count's residence tonight.
There was a Count's castle in this city.
The Count was acquainted with her father, so she intended to visit and ask to stay one night.
After handing her horse to the stable keeper and entering the castle, commotion erupted from a dining hall.
Turning to look, a man was being dragged away by people rushing in from outside.
"I'm not! I'm not a coin thief! Save me!"
The man thrashed and screamed. He appeared to have been dragged away while eating, as he held a spoon in his hand.
Lellia, about to pass by, stopped walking at the sight.
Though it wasn't her business, she couldn't ignore someone potentially innocent being dragged off.
In the end, unable to stand by, Lellia moved toward the commotion.
"Catch him! That bastard stole the donation box!"
The priests shouted while dragging the man.
Lellia's eyes turned cold.
She had been thinking the priests looked noble, but now she felt like she was looking at demons wearing human masks.