What he learned on the second day was that Freyja could not speak.
She had created the sigils needed to form a Circle, but had yet to carve any other sigils.
In other words, she had a Circle, but possessed no magic she could actually use.
So of course she would be so overjoyed by mere 1st Circle magic.
“Fire.”
Through the staff, fwoosh—a small flame bloomed.
Freyja hopped up and down, beaming brightly.
It was only natural that when the one watching grew so excited, the one putting on the show felt their spirits lift as well.
He cut off the mana flowing into the staff and poured power into a different sigil.
“This time, Aqua!”
In the place where the fire had vanished, a sphere of water bubbled into existence.
When he lowered the staff to Freyja’s eye level, she poked at the droplet again and again, delighted.
Her expression was a bright smile, but it did not emerge as sound.
There was something alien about it—she was clearly smiling, yet no sound came out, as if she were someone fundamentally incapable of producing sound.
Unable to bear the sight, Hio put on an even more enthusiastic display of magic.
Even with such simple, unglamorous magic, Freyja enjoyed it with a brighter expression than anyone else in the world.
They spent a long time watching the magic, sometimes even touching it directly, ran around the garden playing, and then sat side by side on a garden bench to rest.
Freyja was perfectly fine; it was Hio who was tired.
He hadn’t really done anything, yet he felt strangely drained.
‘…Is this the hardship of raising a child?’
- What did you even do to whine so much?
‘It’s not whining… *Sigh*, forget it. What would a ghost know.’
He let out a deep internal sigh and turned his gaze toward Freyja.
Freyja looked up at the sky with a bright expression, kicking her legs that didn’t touch the ground.
What words should he bring up?
How she had made her Circle, who had taught her, and what the situation in Arilleya was.
There were many things he was curious about.
But what came out was something entirely different.
“My first master, you see, was a wizard mocked by everyone in the world.”
“Even in an age that had lost magic, he lived out his whole life for a single flame.”
He was curious, but he didn’t want to extract information by deceiving such a young girl.
If he was curious, he could find out on his own.
Even if he used Freyja to gain scraps of information, what would change?
“So, Freyja, you mustn’t give up either. Even if your mana sometimes refuses to listen and your magic seems to twist against its will, if you don’t give up, a path will open up someday.”
After all, he would somehow reclaim the lost magic.
At those words, Freyja nodded energetically and held up two fingers.
Understanding that she wanted him to tell the story of his second master as well, he smiled faintly and continued.
“Hmm… My second master was an extremely evil necromancer.”
Freyja flinched in surprise at his words. She seemed to know what a necromancer was.
“He treats people and souls like ingredients, you know? And he talks so much, but when you actually listen, there’s no substance—just empty boasting…….”
- …What do you mean by that?
At those words, Freyja looked up at Hio with eyes full of worry.
“It’s fine. It’s fine. Besides, my second master is still ali— right?”
Freyja tapped Hio’s knees.
Seeing her, as if telling him to cheer up, a smile formed on his face unbidden.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
As the two chatted away, a thick shadow suddenly fell over them.
“Freyja. So you were here.”
A figure appeared late, as if busy with something, intending to take Freyja away.
It was Myutinseu, the envoy of the Kingdom of Arilleya.
“You were with her again today, Sir Hio Pavlenko.”
Myutinseu looked at Hio with the same rigid expression and sharp gaze as always.
“Yes. Freyja looked bored, so I was chatting with her for a bit.”
“…I see. I am grateful, but Freyja is not in good health, so it is a burden for her to be outside for long. If you will excuse us, may I take her in first?”
After she had played so energetically, what did he mean she was not in good health?
Of course, contrary to his thoughts, Hio smiled and nodded.
“By all means. Freyja. I had fun today as well.”
Without waiting for a reply, Myutinseu gave a slight bow and left with Freyja.
Hio smiled and waved at Freyja, who kept looking back.
And so the second day of the banquet passed.
* * *
The third day was slightly different from the previous two.
First, the number of attendees had decreased considerably, and the atmosphere was subdued overall.
Hardly anyone approached Hio to strike up a conversation, so he had enough time to keep an eye on the Arilleya side where Freyja was, but… there was no opening to be found.
It seemed Myutinseu was watching with fire in his eyes, determined not to let Freyja out of his sight this time.
And so Hio slipped out of the banquet hall and went to find Silvia.
The final day of the banquet.
The last event and festival of the enthronement ceremony.
Once this ended, what remained was war with Ataolpeu.
He went to find Silvia, who had briefly shown her face at the banquet hall before disappearing, and was able to meet her without difficulty.
“Ah, Hio! You came just in time. I had wanted to ask your opinion on a few things anyway…….”
Silvia was practically buried in paperwork. She had been like this immediately after the enthronement ceremony ended.
She already had much to do as a new Emperor, but now she had to prepare for war on top of that; in a way, it was only natural.
All the officials in the Imperial Palace were likely in a similar state.
Once again, he felt that being Emperor was simply not a job for a human being.
The conversation naturally began with the upcoming war.
Heuk’a, the largest and most heinous criminal organization on the continent.
Although Ataolpeu was said to be the core of Heuk’a, such notoriety naturally attracted a corresponding number of people.
Perhaps if they were merely repelling an attack by Heuk’a, it would be one thing.
To strike their main base and bring about their complete collapse, they would have to face all of that, which was why preparations on the scale of war were necessary.
“These are the troops promised by the houses that lost their children in this recent disaster…….”
The discussion stretched on longer than expected.
Well, the organization and composition of the troops were things other officials would handle well enough, but there were many other variables at play.
The first variable was Airaicheu.
Could they truly trust her?
Airaicheu had no reason to betray them, but she also had no reason not to.
She was someone whose inner thoughts were impossible to read; they could neither wholly trust her nor unconditionally reject her.
The second was whether Airaicheu could lure Ataolpeu out of Baal Forest.
He had said he trusted her, but they had to account for failure as well. In the worst case, they would have to plan for a battle within Ataolpeu’s domain.
And the third variable… was none other than Hio himself.
Would he be able to kill Ataolpeu on that fierce battlefield?
Whether he could pierce through the black fog imbued with killing intent and finish him off for certain—that, too, could be called a variable if there ever was one.
The conversation continued for quite some time, and the subject gradually shifted.
From talk of war, they moved briefly to everyday matters.
To the disaster at the Academy, and even to stories of the past the three of them had shared.
The conversation flowed until it finally reached what Hio had been aiming for.
“I’ve compiled a separate list of those with empty souls.”
A list compiled using one of Silvia’s abilities—her Soul Sight.
He had mentioned it before.
That there were some with empty souls.
Hearing that one of them was Silbert, he had thought of something.
He had wondered if perhaps all possessors lacked souls.
So he had asked Silvia how his own soul appeared to her.
- I can’t see Hio’s soul. It feels like someone has blocked it from sight.
That only complicated matters further.
In any case, the list compiled this time contained the personal information of the possessors in the Imperial Palace.
As Hio skimmed through it, his gaze stopped at one particular entry.
Because he saw a familiar name.
He had already heard of it from Silbert.
That guy who always held the spot at rank 2, right below the Supreme Heavenly Demon, was in the Imperial Palace.
But… there was no need to meet him immediately.
The guy likely knew of Hio’s existence, just as Hio knew of his.
“For now, watch them without making it obvious. They probably won’t cause any major trouble, but don’t take your eyes off of them.”
And once the conversation reached that point, it was time to speak.
“Those with empty souls… what exactly are they?”
What they were. What events awaited them in the future.
Hio opened his mouth because he would need to lay everything bare to Silvia, at the very least, to receive her active help.
Where they had come from.
What would happen in the future.
Of course, not all of it was true.
A mixture of appropriate lies and truths was conveyed through Hio’s mouth, and Silvia maintained an expression of disbelief throughout, only to let out a deep sigh once the story of the Abyss came to an end.
Only two days had passed since the coronation, yet a veritable deluge of work had burst upon her.
“Really… If it weren’t you saying this, Hio, I would never have believed it.”
That was just how absurd the story was.
An Abyss they had never heard of was invading, and those who had crossed over from another world to oppose it.
To think that was the true nature of those with empty souls.
Who would believe such a tale?
“Anyway, quite a few of those with empty souls are acting in ways that are hard to understand, so you’ll need to watch them closely.”
Leaving Silvia lost in grave thought, he slipped out of the room.
After overcoming countless twists and turns to barely become Emperor, only to be told the nation could collapse at any moment—how could her feelings not be complicated?
He thought once again: being Emperor truly was not a job for a human…
Tap, tap!
The sensation of someone tapping his leg broke Hio’s train of thought.
When he turned around, there she was—the green-haired girl, waving with a bright smile.
“Freyja!”
It was Freyja who had come to find Hio first.
“My, do you want to play magic with me?”
When he scooped Freyja up and asked, she surprisingly shook her head.
Instead, she rummaged in her pocket and handed him a stone about the size of her palm.
A flat stone imbued with magical power.
“This is… an artifact?”
- It’s called a Whispering Stone. A communication artifact, though in our era it’s treated as practically a prehistoric relic……
As Hio accepted it, Freyja took out another stone of the same appearance from her pocket.
And she scribbled something on it with her little finger.
A moment later, faint light emanated from the Whispering Stone in Hio’s hand, and letters began to appear.
『I’m Freyja! (˶• ֊ •˶)』
It seemed to be an artifact used to write and exchange messages in this manner.
“Oh! It’s a nice artifact. If I write, does it go straight to you too?”
Freyja, perched on one of Hio’s arms, squirmed as she wrote more letters.
Hio could see everything she was writing, but pretended not to as he looked at what appeared on the Whispering Stone.
『Yes! But the number of uses is limited, so we can’t use it too much! ( •︠-•︡ )』
“I see. Then we’ll have to use it sparingly.”
Freyja nodded vigorously.
『We have to go back now! I’ll give you this, so could you come visit Arilleya to play?』
That was welcome news indeed.
“I’d like to, but too many people are preventing me… for example, someone like Regareuda… So, you see.”
Hio spoke to Freyja suggestively.
“Couldn’t you invite me if you ask nicely? Then I think I’d be able to go.”
That distant island nation to the far west. The Kingdom of Arilleya.
Coming from such a place to the Empire’s capital was no ordinary feat in itself.
And it was the Emperor’s enthronement ceremony, no less. It was not a place a child who looked barely ten years old could normally attend.
Indeed, even if one searched high and low among the attendees of this banquet, not a single person who appeared to be Freyja’s age could be found.
Which meant Freyja’s status was anything but ordinary.
『Hmm……』
She pondered Hio’s words for a moment.
『Got it! I’ll ask nicely! •᷅ ʚ •᷄』
Freya made her solemn vow.
Hio smiled and brushed back Freya’s bright green hair.
“Sure, sure. I’ll be counting on you.”
That did not mean he had any great expectations.
No matter how high her status might be, she was still only a child.
Even if she held the rank of a princess, she would not be able to lift a blockade order that had been in place for so long.
And so, as he strolled down the corridor with Freya held in one arm—
“…Good heavens……!”
Mutins appeared, as he always did.
The sight of him looking back and forth between Hio and Freya in Hio’s arms, then rushing over in horror, was rather worth seeing.
“What in the world……!”
His face was full of things he wanted to say, yet could not bring himself to say.
When Hio set Freya down, Mutins took her hand without another word and turned away.
“…We will be going.”
Leaving those words behind, Mutins disappeared at a brisk pace with Freya in tow.
If he was going to be that startled, he should have kept a better eye on Freya. Thinking him a truly strange fellow, Hio also turned his steps toward his room.
Thus ended the third day of the banquet.
The envoys from each nation who had come to visit all hurried back to avoid the looming clouds of war.
Their empty places were filled instead by the clatter of knights’ armor and the sounds of weapons being moved.
War was not far off.
“…Lady Freya.”
Inside the carriage leaving the imperial palace.
Mutins was wholly occupied with trying to placate Freya, who was thoroughly sulking.
“Are you not the wise Lady Freya, wiser than anyone? That is why I believe you will understand.”
Freya kept her head turned away, only fidgeting with her fingers.
And a moment later, Mutins’s Whispering Stone lit up.
『Uncle Hio Pavlenko really is a mage!』
After checking the message, Mutins shook his head.
“You know this very well, do you not? Magic cannot exist on this continent. And to say he gained enough martial power to become a guardian knight of the Empire through magic? That is absurd.”
In short, Hio Pavlenko was a fraud for the ages.
He barely managed to stop those words from slipping out.
If he said that, he might truly be unable to see Freya for some time.
『No. I confirmed it. He really did use magic.』
“Lady Freya. He is a man who deceived the Empire and rose to the position of guardian knight. That is simply what swindlers are like by nature. They seem as though they could never deceive you, but if you listen to them quietly, before you know it, you have been completely taken in.”
It was obvious.
He must have used some sort of skill and passed it off as magic, thereby obtaining the position of imperial guardian knight.
Being that sort of fraud, winning over the young Freya would have been nothing to him.
“When you grow a little older, Lady Freya, you will understand what I mean.”
So there truly was no helping it.
Even if Freya disliked him a little for it, he had no choice but to be firm.
『…I’m not going to play with Mutins anymore!』
Truly.
What kind of disaster was this, all because of one swindler?
“I am sorry, Lady Freya.”
Freya was now firmly sulking, but it would not be long before she got over it.
She was not a hardhearted child.
Once she saw the sea again, her mood would soften, and even now she was surely worrying inwardly over whether she had spoken too harshly.
That was the kind of child she was.
Freya Yenis.
She was this tenderhearted a child.
The last descendant of the dragon remaining in this world.