Chapter 33: 33

Lloyd often went to the old mansion southeast of Escial Palace. That day as well, he visited just after noon.

At first, the researchers who were holed up in the building had given him a wide berth, but now they had become more accustomed to him.

Lloyd went to a corner room on the third floor, which he assumed used to be a study.”

As usual, the owner of the room was conducting experiments on a long table arranged with unfamiliar equipment and tools.

“Master Labra.”

“Oh, Mr. Lloyd. You came just in time.”

Benjamin Labra, the head of magical research at the Institute for the Control of Magic, looked up and answered him.

“What do you mean, just in time?”

“I heard the other day that you sparred with the young lord of the Arturo family from Folces. Did he use magical swordsmanship as well? How did it go?”

Lloyd pondered for a moment. When Labra asked him how it went, he wasn’t talking about Hermann’s skill. He probably meant what kind of magic the Arturos used.

“I think it was a simple enhancement-type magic. It was a textbook example. There was nothing unusual about it. Of course, it was magic that only used mana.”

“I see. Well, I heard that Arturo started to incorporate magical swordsmanship recently, and that is still praiseworthy. It would be a mistake to use you as the standard, Mr. Lloyd.”

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“You were the one who taught me magic, Master Labra.”

Labra smiled shyly. The head of research, who should be close to fifty, was devoted to magic research and there were never any rumors of him having a lover, let alone married. Perhaps because of that, there was a simplicity to him, and there were people who ridiculed him as having no dignity.

However, he was certainly a leading figure in the field of magical research. He was the only person who Lloyd studied under for such a long time.

He had studied under court magicians who used advanced magic, but they used magic based on their own theories and intuitions, and they were also very secretive.

If Lloyd attempted to exceed their abilities, they would immediately stop him and prevent him from doing so.

With his golden eyes, Lloyd looked at the cluster of tubes lined up on the long table. The tubes were filled with different concentrations of miasma, sealed in the form of black sand.

“…Have you found out anything about the miasma?”

“No, nothing at all.”

Labra’s answer was short. Lloyd was also not really expecting an answer today.

The study of the miasma was essential to the study of magic. Mana, the source of magic, was a mutated form of miasma.

“I just can’t help but wish that that person were still alive.”

Labra smiled a weak and sad smile.

——That person.

Lloyd understood who Labra meant by that when he spoke of this from time to time.

The one called the Black Witch. The enchantress. The purple-eyed villainess.

(…Wisteria Irene Lafferty.)

It was the name of the woman who became the Guardian of the <Grey Lands> more than twenty years ago.

According to the records of the Institute for the Control of Magic, Wisteria Irene Lafferty had a peculiar constitution.

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To the point that she was called a witch and an enchantress for it.

Lloyd asked casually.

“…I’ve heard that that woman likes miasma.”

“She didn’t like it. She had a tolerance for it.”

Labra shook his head and denied it in a tone that was strong for him.

“She was…in no way a villainess. She was gentle and intelligent–strong and beautiful.”

He said, as though he was looking at a beautiful scene that was far away and only in his memory.

Lloyd refrained from refuting him.

Labra was said to be one of the people who had contact with Wisteria Irene Lafferty.

Because he actually knew that person, he said the exact opposite of what the records said.

But Lloyd knew how Labra was talked about by others.

“I think he was deceived. He is, as you can see, completely preoccupied by research and has no experience with the opposite sex. That villainess was said to be a sight to behold, even admired by some. With her looks, she praised Labra’s research, which other ladies took no notice of, and pretended to understand it. It must have been easy to deceive such a naive young man.”

Lloyd couldn’t tell which was the truth. But it was true that Labra was a bit too soft-hearted, and it was also true that many people, excluding Labra, shared the same view as the records of the Institute for the Control of Magic.

According to the records, because Wisteria Irene Lafferty was a villainess not only in her constitution but also her personality–another noble girl was initially considered as a candidate, but it was decided to have her shoulder the role of a Guardian. In other words, she was discreetly banished. Her family name was also stripped from her at that time.

But Lloyd could tell that some of the records were intentionally obscured.

There was only one entry on what crime Wisteria Irene had actually committed.

The theft of the holy sword <Salutis>–that was all.

It seemed that she tried to sell the sword to another country, but was caught before she was able to do so, and when she was banished to the <Grey Lands>, she took the sword with her.

What caught Lloyd‘s interest was the fact that the sword, which was supposed to choose its master, was so easily taken by the guilty woman. What means had the woman used? And what was her intention in deliberately stealing the sword, which was not a valuable jewel but a useless antique?

It was hard to grasp what kind of person Wisteria Irene Lafferty was.

Besides Labra, there was someone who would know more about her, someone close to Lloyd.

But it was forbidden to ask her.

“…Don’t ask about her. Especially never speak about her in front of Rosalie.”

His father–the Duke of Reuning, Bright, said this with a stern face he had never shown before.

Even though they weren’t related by blood, Wisteria Irene was the adoptive sister of his wife Rosalie. Perhaps he was avoiding any talk of her because of the great ugliness of the banishment of someone who could be considered a relative.

His father’s dislike of magic was also thought to be connected to the <Grey Lands> and the Guardian by extension.

Lloyd let out a long sigh. He was bored and frustrated, which was the only reason he was beginning to think about such unnecessary things.

(Something more…)

He wanted something to shake off this cold feeling.

Something to disturb his heart——

Like fireworks, Esther’s voice scattered in the back of his ear, and then disappeared

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