79.
“You’re saying every kidnapping case that’s happened recently was the work of the heretics?”
The aide muttered as he picked up and set down the documents scattered messily across the desk.
“I said so, didn’t I? How many times are you going to ask?”
“But to carry out something of this scale in the imperial capital……”
“Enough.”
The duke cut off the fruitless argument.
Perched on a chair, I consciously stilled the leg I had been bouncing in small tremors.
We had succeeded in reading their plan and movements in advance, but…….
The problem now was that we had not discovered the base where the ritual would actually take place.
‘Where on earth is it? Knowing it’s only somewhere near the imperial capital doesn’t…….’
We had tried contacting the temple as well, but they had no information of note either.
To begin with, the two organizations had not exactly been working in close cooperation.
They would probably move separately.
As I swept my hair back in frustration, the duke stood before me.
“Baron.”
“…….”
“Have you had any change of heart since then?”
I had a feeling.
The aide, noticing the sign, quickly cut in.
“But Your Grace, is there any need to take such a risk? If we search a little more, surely there will be another way……”
The duke was still looking at me.
After I had poured out everything earlier in a disorganized rush, there was something I had asked him.
‘There must be something I can do to help.’
‘There is.’
‘If that happens. Without prejudice, and without personal feelings. Will you use me?’
‘I will.’
And the duke kept his promise.
“There is one thing I need you to do.”
Raising a hand to stop the aide from speaking, the duke continued.
“Of course, it will be dangerous, and you may be hurt.”
The moment I heard those words, my mouth opened on its own.
“If I refuse this.”
“…….”
“Can I live the rest of my life without ever being in danger, and without ever getting hurt?”
The duke gazed at me.
“If that is what you want.”
As if he would make it so, no matter what it took.
Caught off guard by the unexpected answer, I hesitated, then shook my head.
“That isn’t why I asked.”
He lowered his gaze and answered.
“I know.”
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and an elderly gentleman entered the room.
“Your Grace, did you call for me?”
“He is a mage of House Gladinare.”
The duke introduced him to me.
The old man lifted his silver-gray eyes and looked me over.
“This person is……”
He answered himself.
“Baron Roxan, I see.”
I might have been rather famous among mages.
Everyone recognized me on sight.
“From now on, you will cast location-tracking magic on the baron.”
“I beg your pardon, but casting location-tracking magic on a civilian who is not a criminal is strictly prohibited.”
It seemed that once one was a family mage, one acquired the temperament to talk back even to the duke.
Of course, the duke did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
“Cast it.”
“……Then I will at least need the consent of the person in question.”
The old man turned sharply toward me.
“Baron, do you consent to having location-tracking magic that can last three or four days or more cast on yourself?”
I looked back and forth between the duke and the old man.
“Have you been informed that while this magic remains in effect, your real-time location may be shared with myself and others?”
“…….”
“Are you also aware that if the life signs of the person in question disappear, the magic may be forcibly dispelled?”
……By “if the life signs of the person in question disappear,” he meant that if I died, they wouldn’t be able to track my location anymore, right?
After that, the old man seemed ready to continue with a long list of related explanations, but I raised my hand and said briefly.
“That’s enough. Please do it.”
At my answer, the old man looked back and forth between the duke and me with pitiful eyes, as if to say, “This one and that one both…….”
He demanded my hand, then began chanting a spell and engraving the magic.
Now and then, the duke made requests of some sort, and though the old man frowned, he added something each time he heard one.
Only after the magic circle, which at first had shown empty spaces, was packed full did the duke close his mouth in satisfaction.
The magic circle floating above my palm began to glow faintly.
As if responding to it, the bracelet on my left wrist was stained red for a very brief moment, but soon returned to its opaque white.
‘Could it be…… because I don’t perceive this as a bad act?’
Just then, the magic circle suddenly sank into my palm.
“It is done.”
I stared blankly down at my released palm.
‘Did it work?’
I could not feel anything at all.
I turned toward the duke.
“So, what do I have to do now?”
“You did all that without knowing……”
Whether or not the old man scowled, the duke answered.
“Be kidnapped.”
“……Pardon?”
“From now on, you simply need to get yourself kidnapped.”
From across the table, the duke slid a document toward me.
I picked it up.
“There is someone on the heretics’ abduction list who has yet to suffer any particular issue with her safety, and who happens to have a similar appearance to yours.”
Dark chestnut hair, tawny eyes.
The youngest daughter of a humble viscount family who had come up to the imperial capital this year.
Her face was not widely known, and her own disposition was on the quiet side, so even if the heretics approached her, there was a high chance they would not be able to distinguish the real one from a fake.
I understood at once.
“I can change my hair color like last time.”
“I have already secured her family’s cooperation.”
Of course there would be no family who would object when someone offered to be taken in place of their own daughter.
I nodded.
“If I can just be safely taken all the way to their base……”
Then naturally, the location of the base would be transmitted to the duke and his subordinates.
“Yes. So the most important thing for you is.”
“…….”
“To stay safe and alive, together with everyone, until I arrive.”
“…….”
“Can you do that?”
I nodded firmly.
“Yes.”
Safely.
Together with everyone.
For some reason, my heart began to pound.
* * *
Dark chestnut hair, a calm deep-green dress, lace gloves, and a parasol held in one hand.
After wandering aimlessly for two full days, dressed like a young lady out for a brief stroll no matter who saw me.
I was just about to turn into an alley for the last time.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and clamped over my mouth.
A scent I had never smelled before was forced into my nose. Just like that, I……. Just like that, my consciousness…….
‘I’m not losing it?’
After hesitating for a moment, I let my body go limp. The parasol fell to the ground with a thud.
The suspicious man carrying me over his shoulder as if I were a sack of luggage entered a back alley.
Then he swiftly shoved me into the cargo bed of a freight wagon he had waiting in advance.
Immediately after, he tied my arms and bound my ankles.
As if he had done this countless times before, there was no hesitation in his movements.
Thud! The cargo cover slammed shut.
“Move out!”
As the wagon began to rattle into motion, I opened my eyes in the lightless cargo bed.
After waiting until my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I slowly raised my upper body.
I tried pushing against the cargo cover, but as expected, it did not budge.
The freight wagon was rattling along at breakneck speed toward the outskirts of the imperial capital.
Inside the cargo bed, too, the distinctive, pungent scent I had smelled earlier hung thick in the air.
‘It does make my head hurt, but it’s bearable…….’
In the darkness, I suddenly sensed a faint glow.
It was my bracelet.
The bracelet, heated until it glowed crimson, felt slightly hot whenever it touched my skin.
For some reason, I felt like I must not let this be discovered.
Having no other choice, I tore off a bit of the hem of my petticoat and wrapped it loosely around the bracelet.
Then I tugged down the sleeve of my dress until it covered the back of my hand.
‘Anyway, is this a dangerous…… scent?’
Since they had been kidnapping both nobles and commoners of the imperial capital indiscriminately, I had assumed they must have prepared some kind of method.
And that method was this scent.
In case anything happened, I focused on memorizing the smell.
‘I hope they’re following me properly…….’
Thinking of the knights who had agreed to follow me from afar in preparation for any unforeseen situation, I lay back down comfortably and stretched out my legs.
“…….”
Getting kidnapped.
It was too easy, wasn’t it?
After that, I had to change wagons several times.
At times, I had to be transported while trapped in a space beneath food supplies, (of course, even then I had to pretend to be limp and unconscious) and in the end, I was even loaded onto a boat that crossed an underground waterway leading outside the outer walls of the imperial capital.
Several of their tricks were so exceedingly cunning that I grew less and less certain whether the knights were still following me properly.
Even if they had lost me, it did not matter.
I opened my palm.
‘Because they’ll know my location.’
At the same time, I recalled the last warning I had been given.
‘There is not absolutely no chance that the location-tracking magic will be detected just before you reach their base. They, too, will likely have a last resort to maintain their security. If that happens…….’
I was to prioritize my life above all else.
And if possible, in the deepest part of their base…….
The last wagon carrying me came to a stop.
At the same moment I closed my eyes, the cargo cover was thrown wide open.
“Is this the final sacrifice?”
My arm was seized, and I was dragged out.
“Didn’t you make her inhale too much of the scent?”
“Better than having her wake up midway and become a nuisance. In any case, she only needs to wake up before the ritual begins.”
“She’s far prettier than what I saw in the documents. Honestly, it’s almost a waste to use her as a sacrifice.”
One of them muttered while smacking his lips repeatedly.
“You do know you’ll be executed if you defile a sacrifice, right?”
“Well……. I suppose even my junior will have no choice but to behave this time.”
“Let’s hope she presents us with a crystal stone as beautiful as she is.”
“That would be nice.”
The two suspicious men snickered like that as they untied the ropes binding my arms and ankles.
Then they ordered me.
“Get up.”