Resheph finished writing the letter and had a pigeon—more precisely, not a real pigeon, but a part of himself crafted into the shape of a pigeon—swallow it, then sent it flying.
An antiquated but inefficient method of communication.
But to evade the eyes of the guardian fairies, it couldn't be helped. The vision of the fairies, his former kin who dominated the underside of this world, was broad and keen. Taking a slightly roundabout path to surely hide one's shadow was, in the end, more efficient.
Tap, tap.
The pigeon knocked on the window of the room where Charles was staying. Charles approached the window and flung it open.
From the pigeon's head down to its chest, it split vertically and paper fell out.
From his junior.
Charles stroked Resheph's letter.
The existence that could wield the shadows Resheph handled and dominate the body of Ochanja was undoubtedly none other than a black magician.
How many hardships must he have endured to reach such a high realm? In this fallen world ruled by fairies.
He felt sympathy and doubt simultaneously. The latter was tied to what had been spoken through Resheph's body.
The doubt was not about why the junior black magician had imitated Ochanja. The truth of that riddle was simple. It must have been a means to hide his true identity from the guardian fairies.
Charles's doubt lay not in the tone of the conversation, but in its content. In that sentence saying he had found the flesh and blood of the Na family, a branded sacrifice.
It was a contract never before known outside Naju Pharmaceutical. Even Naihyeon, the party involved, would not know of it.
How on earth had he learned the truth of that old contract?
He wondered if the junior had seized Resheph's shadow and glimpsed his memories, but shook his head.
The circumstances suggested that a chimera with a structure similar to Ochanja had been prepared in advance as bait to lure Resheph out. Reviewing this, it was more reasonable to judge that the rookie black magician had already known of the Naju Pharmaceutical contract.
Had one who followed his trail and walked the path of sorcery finally reached even Hikarius? Or perhaps….
Charles recalled the scene of the demon summoning he had witnessed in the past.
'Did he succeed in extracting a suitable price from the demon?'
The demon that had infiltrated Hikarius must have perished after receiving due punishment from the Mother Fairy. But if the demon had succeeded in paying the price of the contract before retribution was carried out.
And if he had thereby succeeded in obtaining the truth of the Naju Pharmaceutical contract, a fragment of the Ascension Ritual to escape the Mother Fairy's tyranny….
Charles stroked his chin. If so, that junior was certainly a talented black magician, but not one with the temperament for longevity.
Too hasty. Summoning a demon, and attempting to dig into Ochanja's body to scrape out memories. He was rushing forward without thinking of the consequences.
A pattern of behavior desperate enough to be called frantic.
'But there is explosive power that only one who has been cornered can show.'
He looked forward to it.
Since the disappearance of the summoned demon's response in Hikarius, he had put aside expectations for the future, yet despite the Mother Fairy's direct intervention, the junior had ultimately not lost his identity as a black magician.
Furthermore, the will to climb higher, even if it meant devouring the sacrifice Charles had prepared. One with such desperate ambition for ascension was rare.
Charles wished for the sorcery of the nameless junior to reach full bloom. So splendidly that it would draw the vigilance of the entire Fairy Kingdom and then some.
So that he could lurk in the shadows beneath that brilliant backlight.
***
"Let's promise just this one thing. We must not fight the magical girls head-on. Don't even think about fighting them."
Raban shouted confidently. Inian opened her mouth in disbelief.
"Do you realize what kind of place you've arranged this undercover job for me at?"
"I mean, there's no need to fight so seriously, burning through mana like crazy. Do it moderately, moderately. Just enough that you won't get kicked out of the Ivory Tower for embezzlement."
"…Are you not telling me to just go through the motions?"
"Hey now. It'll be a problem if you take this as me telling you to just go through the motions. I'm telling you to go through the motions with soul."
Inian was feeling an increasingly strong need for a full investigation into Raban's work records from the Lamasute Holdings days.
It was something Raban would have found unfair if he heard. Though Inian disparaged Raban's intelligence as being on the level of a wild animal, weren't wild animals sensitive to threats to their life?
If he had been caught by Inian for lining his own pockets while working as a dispatched employee at Lamasute Holdings, his head and body would have become separated family members from that very day. No matter how rash Raban was, he wasn't the type to openly walk down a path to his death.
He prided himself on being a fairly diligent employee at Lamasute Holdings.
…By Raban's own standards.
"Anyway! Starting tomorrow, I'm moving on to the next phase of the plan."
"You mean the plan to pull Naihyeon into the counseling room?"
Raban nodded. From here on, it was the realm of art. A backstory of being an employee of Naju Pharmaceutical who had lost his memory. And adding a spoonful of direction to the chance connection with Naihyeon to break down the dam in her heart that blocked negative thoughts.
In other words.
"Can't you request an advance payment from the Ivory Tower side and get more materials from the Naju Pharmaceutical end? If I'm going to get serious and bare my teeth, I'll need more background knowledge."
Inian looked at Raban with eyes filled with many emotions. To think he was telling her to ask for a salary advance on her first day of work.
"Humanly speaking, doesn't this sound insane?"
"You're not a human, you're a demon! Isn't it the job of a corporate executive to throw away their conscience and focus solely on management efficiency and cutting labor costs! Reclaim your identity!"
"This is slander against Lamasute Holdings!"
***
'Like a damned demon viscount.'
Raban (fearing retribution if he spoke it aloud) poured out his inward complaints toward Inian. That he had demoted the title in his mind from Demon Baron to only Demon Viscount was due to the last shred of conscience remaining in Raban.
To be honest, asking for money after just one day on the job was indeed an embarrassing thing even for a black magician who could still put up his conscience as collateral.
'If I can't expect support from that Demon Viscount fellow, from now on it all depends on my own ability…!'
Today happened to be the day Naihyeon was on duty at the counseling room. Raban naturally began scheming to keep her in the counseling room.
Familiar footsteps could be heard from afar. Raban began managing his expression. Similar to usual, but slightly shadowed. He had also carefully aligned the angle of the blinds for this moment.
Clack, the door opened.
"Hey mister, hiya. Didn't anyone come again today?"
"They didn't come."
"Aw, what. Guess everyone's gradually losing interest in the new teacher?"
"That's for the best. What help would it be to open up to me when I'm not even an expert? If they didn't come not because they don't trust me, but just because they don't have worries, that's even better."
Raban lifted his teacup and smiled. It was a forlorn smile—one he had practiced last night (Inian had responded with a feigned retch upon seeing it).
"…What. Mister, is something wrong?"
"...."
Here, he took a breath. Raban had more or less grasped Naihyeon's disposition. A kind and warm-hearted personality who treated people around her well. Therefore, she was bound to take the bait.
"Ihyeon."
"Yeah?"
"I'm not sure if I should tell you, but I somehow feel like you ought to know."
Naihyeon's pupils trembled faintly. Raban guessed her inner thoughts. If there was a common topic between Naihyeon and Raban, it could be none other than the matter of Naju Pharmaceutical.
"Could you stay behind briefly after school? I have something to tell you about my old workplace… a similar place."
***
After last night's battle, Naihyeon had agonized over many things.
The word "sacrifice of Naju Pharmaceutical." She had asked Papirun for help, but the full story of the Naju Pharmaceutical incident was an unknown realm even to the fairies.
The extent of what the fairies knew was limited to some internal documents that Nachalsu had leaked, and even that Nachalsu hadn't been aware of every operation conducted inside Naju Pharmaceutical.
Nachalsu had been an outsider even within the Na family due to his prickly temperament. It was ironic that such a personality was what allowed him to save others from the catastrophe of Naju Pharmaceutical.
A past where nothing could be certain. In the end, Naihyeon's conclusion was 'I'll just beat them up and see!'
It was a determination to face the coming hardships head-on, but it could also be seen as putting off the answer because no truth could be clearly known.
From a situation where she could only hesitate and endure, a victim of Naju Pharmaceutical called out to her.
With a clue to the past.
"Mister, I'm here."
In Raban's hand was a crystal ball. One from which a strange mana could be felt.
'Wait. This mana is…?'
It was the mana of the Ivory Tower.
If he was going to speak a truth Naihyeon didn't know, it was a crystal ball containing counterfeit Ivory Tower mana that Raban had earnestly drained from a monster.
If the guardian fairies were monitoring the current situation, he couldn't reveal his own dark mana.
"Ihyeon."
Raban spoke, brimming with pride in his own acting skills.
"Ever since I met your uncle last time, I've tried searching for my memories in various ways."
"What are you holding now?"
"This is…."
He shook his head once. Reciting prepared lines while calculating the intervals between sentences.
"The truth."
The script ended there. From now on, it was time for ad-libs.