[V11C15] A Spirited Lady With No Stopper

Two weeks had passed since the large-scale dragon disaster in the capital. The Silent Witch, Monica Everett, had returned to the port town of Sazandol for the first time in a month, greeted by a refreshing early summer breeze.

She was also accompanied by two reliable companions.

“…A bustling port town… This is a complete mismatch for a shaman like me… I’m so out of place that I could die… I can already feel the sea salt in the air… It’s melting me… melting…”

“Ugh, gross. Why do I have to go with this slug? This time of year is supposed to be the garden party in the palace.”

“…How could this happen…? Of all the people, why did they put me with her…? I sense the incredible malice of the guy who made this decision…”

“Hey Slug, can you do anything but whine!? Don’t make me kick your ass into the sea!”

“Uh… y-you two are kind of standing out right now, so um…”

Beside Monica was Ray, who looked pale enough to melt in the sunlight, and his polar opposite Melissa, who strutted the streets in a flashy dress.

Thanks to Monica’s best efforts in mediation, Melissa clicked her tongue and went silent.

Monica had returned home to Sazandol with her fellow Sage Ray Albright, as well as the former Sage Melissa Roseberg. There were several reasons for why they had to accompany her.

With her stomach still churning from the stressful argument, Monica recalled the circumstances leading up to this point.

＊　＊　＊

Bradford and Raul had returned from the Minerva Institute for Mages around the same time that Monica was given her penalty for attacking the Dragon Knights in Dalsmore.

Her punishment was to be one month of house confinement——in other words, she was to remain on standby in Sazandol.

The current and former Sages held their usual meeting, including their disciples, and the provisional moderator Louis began the proceedings like this:

“This is actually quite convenient.”

Monica had mixed feelings about her punishment of house confinement being called “convenient”, but what Louis said was quite true.

The Starseer Witch, Mary Harvey, had mentioned three terms in her prophecy: “Sazandol, Silent Witch, and Black Dragon”. Thus, it was all but certain that Monica needed to be sent to Sazandol.

On the other hand, the Noble Council wanted to strengthen the capital’s defenses following the recent large-scale dragon disaster. A considerable portion of them advocated for the Silent Witch to remain in the capital, given her previous victory over a black dragon.

But if the Silent Witch needed to be “under house confinement”, she would have the perfect excuse to leave the capital.

“The next issue is how to allocate our forces,” said Gideon Rutherford, the Smoke Mage.

Though Rutherford had no real affiliation with the Seven Sages, he was attending this meeting as a representative of Minerva.

With the loss of the Starseer Witch, the Seven Sages had lost their moderator, and honestly, the Sages had never been very united to begin with.

Most of the Sages generally did as they pleased, leaving the Starseer Witch to smooth out any issues with the royal family and the Noble Council.

She served as the king’s main advisor, and being from a noble family herself, held a decent amount of influence over the Council.

In her absence, Louis Miller the Barrier Mage took on her role of managing the Sages and coordinating with the Council. Meanwhile, Rutherford served as his assistant or, perhaps more accurately, his critic.

Though Professor Rutherford could always be seen with a smoking pipe in hand, it was now replaced with the staff of an advanced mage.

Lifting a staff far longer than his childlike body, he pointed at the map on the table.

“As much as I’d love to send everyone to Sazandol, we can’t neglect the capital’s defenses. The Silent Witch obviously needs to be in Sazandol, so the issue is who we send with her.”

Louis could no longer regenerate mana. Since this limit would prevent him from doing much in Sazandol, his role was pretty clear cut; he should stay in the palace and continue coordinating the Sages.

The question was who among the remaining four Sages should be sent to Sazandol.

Louis glanced at Ray and asked, “Abyss Shaman-dono. How is your analysis on the shadows?”

“W-We’re making good progress thanks to the samples… But there’s still a long way to go…”

“In that case, let’s pair you with Silent Witch-dono.”

A specialist in magical formulas was required in order to develop countermeasures against dark magic. However, Ray was a shaman, so he knew little about the magical formulas of mages.

On the other hand, Monica was the greatest expert on magical formulas in the entire country. If she needed to be in Sazandol, then naturally, Ray should go with her in order to maintain the speed of their joint research.

“In addition, we should investigate to see if Theodore Maxwell left any clues in Sazandol.”

Louis continued, turning his attention to Melissa.

“That is why I would like you, Fourth Thorn Witch-dono, to conduct an investigation there. You have met Theodore in Sazandol, yes?”

“Ugh… What a pain…”

Melissa groaned, before reluctantly nodding in agreement.

Only Monica and Melissa had spoken to Theodore when he was working under Throth, so this was also a reasonable decision.

Bradford crossed his arms and glanced at the map, before commenting.

“So we’ve got the Silent Witch, the Abyss Shaman, and the previous Thorn Witch going to Sazandol… Three, huh? I know one has experience against a black dragon, but they sound a bit understaffed to me. Maybe we should send one more person as backup?”

“No, we should keep the rest on standby in the capital.”

With the youthful voice of a boy, Rutherford disagreed with Bradford, tapping the location of Sazandol with the tip of his staff as he continued.

“Sazandol is at the western edge of Ridill. If we allocate too many of our forces there, we’ll be slow to react if an incident occurs in the central or eastern regions. We have no clue when or where Theodore will show up next, and the dragon disaster Mary predicted may not necessarily happen in Sazandol. As you all know, eastern Ridill has the biggest risk of dragons.”

“I agree,” Louis followed.

Despite constantly arguing with each other, the master-disciple pair of Rutherford and Louis seemed perfectly capable of agreeing when it came to strategy.

“Next, I will assign three people to act as relays between the capital and Sazandol: Dragon Slayer Mage-dono, my contracted spirit Ryn, and my disciple Glenn. Depending on the situation, I may ask you to handle other incidents as well.”

“Yeah, leave it to us,” Silas said, giving a strong nod.

“Roger that,” Glenn followed.

Several bandages were visible on Glenn’s hands and face. He had been suffering minor burns due to training in multiple reinforcement spells for a while now.

But in contrast to his battered state, Glenn’s eyes were filled with determination.

“I wish I could go to Sazandol too,” Raul muttered, expressing a bit of disappointment.

However, Raul’s Rose Fortress was the backbone of the capital’s defense now that Louis was sidelined.

In addition, House Roseberg was already in chaos with two of their top witches out of the picture. As the head of House Roseberg, Raul could not easily leave the capital and abandon his family.

Louis adjusted his monocle and continued.

“Thorn Witch-dono, I want you to check the Forbidden Archives of the Ascard Great Library for any books related to Gluttonous Zoe. It seems the Noble Council was negligent in their search eight years ago.”

“Ugh… I have to go to the Forbidden Archives…?”

House Roseberg possessed a strong connection to the Ascard Great Library, making them one of the few families permitted to enter the deepest layer of the Forbidden Archives.

One reason was that it was impossible for people with low mana resistance to stay in the Forbidden Archives for an extended period of time. Of course, this didn’t apply to Raul, the man with the most mana in the country.

Louis went on to assign roles to everyone else in the room.

The Aquamancy Mage and Thunder Mage were to coordinate with the Mage Association and various mage training institutions.

Meanwhile, the disciples of Sages were to assist their masters. As the unconscious Starseer Witch’s disciple, Clarence Hall the Astronomy Mage was assigned to analyze the details of Mary’s stargazing results.

“Recovering Gluttonous Zoe is our top priority, but we also have permission to destroy it if it can be done discreetly. Either way, we won’t be able to hide the truth forever now that Minerva has been attacked.”

Louis surveyed the room with sharp eyes before continuing.

“We have three objectives: the recovery or destruction of Gluttonous Zoe, the capture of Theodore Maxwell, and preventing the dragon disaster prophesied by the Starseer Witch.”

Challenging tasks, but backing down was not an option.

Everyone here intended to wake the victims from their coma and reclaim what was taken.

And so, the Seven Sages moved into action, preparing for Theodore Maxwell’s next move, as well as the worst dragon disaster in history.

＊　＊　＊

Once she arrived in Sazandol, Monica quickly headed home, temporarily parting ways with Melissa and Ray, who had gone to their lodgings.

Her first priority was to talk to Nero regarding the Starseer Witch’s prophesy.

However, neither Nero nor Isaac was at home.

Monica had mostly stayed in the Magic Corps headquarters after returning from Lugoroa, and she could not think of a good excuse to meet Prince Felix, aka Isaac, in the palace. As such, she did not know what he was up to.

(I wonder if Ike is still in the palace. Or did he return to Erin already?)

Just to be sure, Monica wrote a letter informing Isaac of her house arrest in Sazandol and how Ray and Melissa were accompanying her. Copies of this letter were sent to the palace and his residence in Erin, so that should avoid any mishaps of Isaac bumping into Melissa.

Monica unpacked her luggage in the empty house, occasionally glancing at the window Nero usually used.

(…Nero, you’re still in Sazandol, right? Please don’t tell me you went off somewhere…)

Unlike Cyril and Thule, Monica and Nero did not have any contract binding them together.

Nero had simply declared, “I’ll follow you,” and the two have lived together ever since.

If Nero was to go off on his own, Monica would have no clue where he was, or what he was doing.

(…Nero, please come back soon.)

The anxiety ate at her chest.

Monica paused her unpacking and absentmindedly glanced at the window again.

Nero still wasn’t there… but she could hear voices coming from outside, followed by a loud knock on her door.

“Moni-Moni! I’ve come all this way to get you, so hurry up and open the door.”

This was Melissa’s voice, and Monica knew that Melissa would pinch her cheeks for making a gloomy face.

She pressed down on her cheeks with both hands, trying to fix her face as much as possible, then opened the front door.

Standing in front of her house was Melissa, in the flashy rose-patterned dress she usually wore, as well as Ray, wearing a plain black robe.

Monica and Ray had been instructed to conceal their identity as Sages while in Sazandol, since Theodore’s ability to create servants required knowledge of the target’s name.

Similarly to the casual attire of Melissa and Ray, Monica was wearing a simple blouse and skirt, so none of them looked like mages.

…However, it seems the combination of a lady in a flashy dress and a man in all black ended up drawing a decent amount of attention.

In Ray’s case, his pink hair was practically a self-introduction by itself, so he had to cover his face with a hood. This only amplified his gloomy aura, making him stand out even more.

“Ah… Just walking the streets makes me feel so out of place that I could die… A port town in early summer would never love me… I knew it… I knew this would happen…”

Ray grumbled complaints while holding a set of research materials against his chest.

After giving Ray a glare, Melissa scoffed.

“I had to walk alongside this depressing guy, so consider my feelings too… Well, whatever. More importantly, Moni-Moni, are you done unpacking yet?”

“Y-Yes!”

To be honest, she wasn’t entirely done, but she had finished shoving everything in her room. That was good enough.

Monica believed that they were going to continue the dark magic analysis at her home. Since Ray had brought the research materials, he seemed to have the same idea.

However, their expectations were blown away by Melissa’s declaration.

“Alright, then it’s time to go shopping.”

Monica and Ray stared at Melissa in complete silence.

Melissa pursed her lips, saying, “What’s with those looks?”

“Onee-san… um… well… What about the research…?”

“If you want to go shopping, just go by yourself…”

Unfortunately, the feeble protests of Monica and Ray had no effect on Melissa.

“Why are you assuming I want to skip out on work and play around? Don’t be stupid.”

With the dignity of an older woman, Melissa explained her reasoning.

“We need to learn the roads of Sazandol; it could be the difference between life and death. I don’t want to hear anyone going ‘oh no, I’m lost’ when an emergency happens.”

“I-I see…” Monica muttered.

Having obtained Monica’s understanding, Melissa puffed out her chest and continued in a more lively tone.

“Plus, it’s already certain that we’ll be staying in Sazandol for an extended duration. In that case, we’ll need some new sets of clothes in order to conceal our identities, right?”

“I’m fine with just this robe…”

Ray mumbled a retort, but Melissa only gave him a disapproving stare.

“Are you telling me to walk alongside a garbage bag again?”

“A garbage bag!! I’ve finally been downgraded from a slug to a garbage bag!! …Wait, hold on. Which is better between a slug and a garbage bag…?”

“That’s why I’m telling you to buy clothes better than that garbage bag. Come on, Moni-Moni, hurry up and bring us there.”

Melissa gestured toward Monica, who timidly mumbled, “Um, where exactly…?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Your friend’s trading company.”

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