***

The capital of the Crombell Empire was always crowded. Finding people in a place like this was as difficult as picking the stars in the sky.

“It’s not here either. I don’t see any reaction.”

“……”

“Are you going to keep doing that? Benjamin.”

“……”

“Ha.”

Benjamin did not answer. Belluna sighed heavily, sweeping her hair. It had been quite some time since they arrived, but they could not find a single hair of their master. Like fate, or like a miracle, they didn’t even come across their master by chance.

‘Maybe we didn’t recognize our master even if we ran into her.’

Thinking like that, no matter how much Belluna was, it was inevitable that her body would sag from disappointment. It seemed the same with Benjamin.

“Until when will you stop bringing it with you again? Tsk.”

Benjamin had been sitting on the ground for a while, taking out a note left by his master and looking at it. Their master originally communicated by creating letters above her head with mana. Then, sometimes on a good day, she would tear the paper like this and write them by hand, and Benjamin morbidly put them together in a bottle.

“Do you still have it?”

“There is nothing to throw away from the words that Master left. All together……”

Belluna glanced at the note Benjamin was looking at.

[Benjamin, you were dozing off, right? You got caught. It’s no use pretending not to be.]

Indeed, there was nothing to throw away. Belluna shook her head as she looked at Benjamin, who was cherishing the words their master had given him as a joke.

“Get up. There’s no time to waste here. If you’re going to stay here, I’ll go find her by myself.”

“……That’s right.”

Benjamin staggered to his feet, tucking the notes he was reading into his arms. Fatigue blatantly descended beneath his eyes. It was because he continued to push through the arduous schedule without sleeping a wink. Looking at him, she wondered if it was right for them to be so hung up and obsessed with their master like that. It would never be what their master wanted. She could be sure of that. But Belluna once again moved her steps and murmured as she watched Benjamin spread his mana wide and long.

“After all, who am I to only say that to Benjamin?”

Belluna’s voice, which was scattered bitterly, was unfathomably weak. Like Benjamin, she took out a piece of paper she had kept in her arms and looked at it.

[Belluna, my disciple who shines like a star. Thank you always. This is a secret from other children, but……. I’m sure you’ll succeed me one day when I’m no longer the head of the magic tower. Belluna, I believe you will be able to lead the magic tower excellently. I always, always believe in you. My heart is at ease because of you.]

It was a note that their master had secretly handed to her a few days before she disappeared. From then on, Belluna knew that their master was preparing to leave. Even though she knew, she went out to find their master, not convinced. Swallowing her sigh, Belluna followed Benjamin and spread her mana. At the same time, the space between them distorted and a gentle wind began to blow. Noticing who was coming here from the color of magic, Benjamin narrowed his brows and muttered.

“……He’s here.”

And at that moment, Oliven appeared.

“Hi, dear friends!”

Benjamin’s face was beautifully distorted by Oliven’s clear and powerful voice.

“Did you leave me and have some income?”

As she saw Oliven provoking Benjamin as soon as he arrived, Belluna grabbed the back of his neck with one hand and asked.

“Why are you here now? With your skills, you could have arrived earlier than us, right?”

“Hey, Belluna…… Put me down!”

“You won’t say you’re only here now because you’ve been throwing up all the time, right?”

“Of, of course. Miss Belluna. So please let go of me and talk things out.”

Oliven crouched his shoulders as he saw Belluna’s sparkling eyes. Benjamin was always angry and quarreling with him, but the most frightening one when getting angry was Belluna. Oliven was more afraid of Belluna, who quietly warned him with her eyes, than Benjamin, who rushed to kill him. As she quietly nodded her head, Belluna could not hide her displeasure and let Oliven go.

“Phew!”

Oliven sighed with great relief and took a few steps back from Belluna and Benjamin. It was a very small measure to protect himself.

“I thought if I followed you guys, you’d be so devastated, so I used my brain a little bit.”

Oliven shrugged his shoulders and smiled brightly as if he was relieved of the distance.

“I told you. Just as we’re obsessed with Master, we need to find the power that Master is obsessed with.”

With that said, Oliven rummaged through his arms and pulled out a small clothed moneybag, and turned it over. Then small jewels poured down from the clothed moneybag.

“Oliven, these are……”

“That’s right. They are magic stones that contain ‘that’ power that Master is obsessed with.”

“Don’t tell me you stole them from Master’s lab?”

At Belluna’s startling words, Oliven blinked slowly as if something was wrong.

“I can’t help it? In order to find the hidden Master, you have to do something that makes Master appear.”

“Oliven!”

“And I wasn’t the only one thinking this, right?”

“What?”

“These are all the magic stones in Master’s lab. That’s why I only brought these with me.”

“No way……”

Belluna looked at the magic stones rolling at Oliven’s feet. Even if she looked at it roughly, that number was not enough. Originally, it had to be so many that it was enough to fill Master’s laboratory.

“No way.”

Belluna’s eyes filled with reasonable doubts turned to Benjamin.

“……”

Seeing Benjamin secretly avoiding her gaze, Belluna shook her head with a throbbing headache.

“Master……, why did you only raise these jerks like this?”

At the sound of Belluna’s groaning, both Oliven and Benjamin were furious at the same time.

“What’s wrong with us?!”

“Don’t tie me up with Oliven. Because it’s unpleasant.”

Belluna chewed them out without letting them parry first.

“I’ll confiscate them all.”

“Aing, Belluna.”

“Confiscate.”

“……So mean!”

Oliven tried to act cute, but Belluna cut it like a knife and held out her hand. In the end, he collected the magic stones that fell on the floor and placed them in Belluna’s hand.

“Benjamin, you too.”

“……Not mine. I need to use them.”

“What are you going to do with all that? Didn’t Master said that she wouldn’t tolerate anything that harms you?”

Silver mana began to swirl in Belluna’s hand. What she said was no joke. Those magic stones contained the power that Master was studying. It was a power that took away the life force. If it was not the owner of that power who dealt with them, or if it was impossible to pay for the life force of another dimension like Master, those magic stones should not be touched recklessly.

“They’re dangerous items. I’ll have to put them back in Master’s lab.”

“But Belluna……, I’ve already used them.”

“What?”

“I already used them. About two.”

“Oliven!”

Belluna screamed in astonishment. She, who rarely lost her cool, was so angry that Oliven had to contemplate for a moment.

“Belluna. It’s a power that’s not a big deal to Master. As she always said, you just vomit some blood.”

“You……, do you really want to die at my hands?”

Belluna’s mana quickly strangled Oliven. Oliven’s two feet fell off the ground and struggled.

“Keok, hey, that’s too much……!”

“Just throwing up blood? Do you really think so? Huh?”

Oliven looked at Belluna with his eyes rolling and shook his head from side to side with difficulty.

“Stop it, Belluna.”

Benjamin, who usually didn’t care if Oliven was dead or not, grabbed Belluna’s arm and began to stop her. As such, the killing intent flowing out of Belluna was real. Oliven realized that if he nodded his head here even slightly, Belluna would break his head without hesitation.

“Benjamin, if you think so too, you will die at my hands first before you can see Master again.”

“I never think that way. The same goes for Oliven.”

“……”

“That bastard just got heartbroken, by Master. Didn’t you know that he’s such a foolish bastard like that?”

At Benjamin’s words, Belluna slowly lowered Oliven back to the ground.