The inn room we finally got to stay in after camping all along was of no use.
Because by the time I subdued the assassins and pondered how to deal with them, the sun had already risen.
I couldn't even properly use the bed, hastily dealt with food as if eating or not, and quickly left the place.
For now, I decided to send the captured assassins to the Temple. The official pretext was the charge of attempting to assassinate Samuel, the holy knight.
"I will call the holy knights."
"It will be faster if you take them yourself."
"Then will you wait for me?"
Wait? Assassins have come; I must leave this place immediately.
Samuel probably didn't ask expecting me to truly wait. Rather, he was likely curious whether his place by my side would still be there when he returned.
I gave him the words he wanted to hear.
"You can find me wherever I am anyway. Entrust them to the Temple and come back. I won't stop you from rejoining."
Samuel seemed quite displeased, but ultimately decided to follow my will. Not that he had much choice...
From what I heard, there seemed to be a Temple prison in a nearby region. Samuel set off early in the morning, leading the assassins in a line.
However, he left one behind to uncover the mastermind, and that was the one now before my eyes.
'It's fortunate this is a small village.'
If it had been a city or such, finding such a secluded spot would have been difficult. I glanced toward the village hidden by the foliage, then turned my gaze back.
The assassin was buried in the ground with only his head exposed. As an assassin who must have undergone harsh training, he now had an utterly exhausted face, barely gasping for breath.
"Xenon, is he still alive?"
"With this level of magic resistance, he cannot deflect my magic."
Xenon had just demonstrated several spells to subdue this assassin without killing him.
"......"
Seeing that, I couldn't help but admire his remarkably clean and powerful magic.
Frankly, when I heard he was the Tower Master's disciple, I was worried about the Magic Tower's future, but it seems they don't just pick anyone as a successor.
It appears that skill is the top priority for becoming the Tower Master. A timid disposition can probably be covered up by ability, it seems.
"But he looks like he could die any moment."
"I have the ability to keep him awake for hours in this state, so you need not worry."
As I looked at the assassin with concern, Xenon tightened his lips and slightly lifted his chin.
"He is alive. Ask whatever you wish."
Seeing Xenon trying hard to act dignified, I chuckled softly and stared intently at the assassin.
'How did the assassins attach themselves to me, who is using appearance-altering magic to change my looks?'
Finding the answer to that question was easy. Because Xenon's magic worked all too well on the assassin.
The link through which they found me was, in other words, the Dullahan.
"Ah, Cheche..."
They had associated the Dullahan with me, and it seemed they obtained information about our party from Cheche, who had recently listened to her story seriously.
The description of me was also conveyed by Cheche, after all.
Then they likely tried to lure me out by spreading rumors that the Dullahan had appeared. Although I didn't appear in this village because of those rumors.
'That troublesome hunter, she ends up tripping me up like this after all.'
I roughly swept back my bangs and looked down at the assassin before me.
"I didn't expect another person who would lend an ear to her words to appear."
Xenon, who had his hand on the assassin's crown, muttered irritably.
He had made a blatantly disgusted expression when Cheche's story came from the assassin's mouth.
"That hunter spread rumors everywhere that she saw the Dullahan, so it's unavoidable."
"I should have shut her mouth."
Xenon's words, which shot out in one breath, were quite fierce. Internally impressed, I replied in a nonchalant voice.
"You can say such scary things too?"
"You don't think I only know how to use illusion magic, do you?"
If I only knew how to use illusion magic, how could I have become the Tower Master's successor?
Shaking my head with a laugh, I muttered in a sighing voice.
"It's already too late to shut her mouth."
"What if these kinds of people increase?"
Xenon glanced at the assassin, unable to hide his concern.
"At least the hunter named Cheche won't be able to talk about me anymore."
Speaking indifferently, I pressed my temple firmly. A slight headache surged, perhaps because of the fact that a troublesome tail had attached itself.
"They wouldn't have just left her alone, right?"
"Ah..."
"More importantly, we need to find out who hired these bastards."
At my words, Xenon nodded. He activated a mental magic spell for smooth interrogation.
When Xenon asked questions while casting magic, the assassin answered obediently with a dazed face.
Though it had the drawback of a short application time, the information we needed to find out was only a couple of things at most, so that part wasn't a problem.
A shimmering magic coiled around the assassin's head. Calmly maintaining the spell, Xenon asked about the client.
"Kgh..."
As the assassin let out a feeble groan, a sharp spark shot from Xenon's hand. Xenon flinched and withdrew his hand.
Even after Xenon removed his hand, the spark above the assassin's head did not disappear. The assassin, with only his head exposed above ground, rolled his eyes back and convulsed.
Soon after, he foamed at the mouth and went limp.
"Oh dear."
Xenon, who was clenching and unclenching his hand, made an awkward expression. Quickly placing his fingers on the assassin's nape, he clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"A prohibition has activated."
"Prohibition?"
"Yes. It seems a prohibition was placed to prevent disclosing information about the client. This kind of contract magic cannot be broken from the start. Probably... it was a magic that imposed sanctions just by recalling information about the client."
"Dead?"
"Yes."
Well, when commissioning an assassination, not placing such a prohibition would be stranger. I quickly decided to abandon any lingering thoughts.
After all, regarding the client, it wasn't that I didn't know and wanted to interrogate, but merely to confirm what I already knew.
"Fine. I can roughly guess who it is."
"Really?"
Xenon, who had been crouching while using magic on the assassin, stopped halfway while getting up and widened his eyes.
I shrugged toward him.
"It's obvious who would hate me enough to want me dead."
"Roam?"
Hearing the name that immediately popped out somehow felt amusing. To Xenon too, the people of Roam must seem cold and ruthless.
Seeing him suspect them first without a moment's hesitation.
Of course, I also thought of Roam at first. I just excluded them quickly.
"Roam dislikes such flashy methods. If they were determined, they would have approached much more covertly."
Rather than recklessly spreading false Dullahan sighting reports to draw me out, they would have tried to track and follow my movements as secretly as possible.
They would have approached meticulously so I wouldn't know a tail was attached.
As I firmly denied it, Xenon immediately brought up another candidate.
"If not them, then surely that, trash bastard?"
Even without mentioning the name, I understood who he meant. I stared at Xenon with bewildered eyes.
Since when does Xenon mix all sorts of insults whenever referring to Maxel? Is it my imagination?
After a brief silence, I asked in a calm tone.
"...Xenon, you remember he is the Crown Prince, right?"
"He's the Crown Prince, but he's trash."
That's true.
Easily persuaded by Xenon, I decided to accept his degrading yet fitting expression.
That Maxel is trash is an objective fact.
"He may be trash, but the assassins aren't his doing. Unless it's someone by his side."
Maxel assassinate me? He wasn't the type to have the guts for such a thing. Rather, the one who would show such underhanded methods would be Lilia.
Lilia already had a record of sending Fressian after me. Usually, the first time is difficult, but the next time is easy, isn't it?
"Attempting assassination only now is far too late. If they had tried even in Roam, the success rate would have been much higher."
Lilia, who schemes without relying on prophecy, is clumsy.
Originally, she was a woman who preferred manipulating her followers from behind to make them step forward voluntarily.
Assassinations, or things of that sort, were probably all handled by Fressian.
But he died because of the Dullahans...
'Still, she must have resolved herself fiercely in her own way.'
I scoffed at Lilia's clumsy maneuvering and turned around. It was to leave this place by carriage.
Xenon closely followed behind me and asked in a troubled voice.
"Why would she?"
"Because I am the goddess's proxy."
Xenon didn't seem to properly understand my answer.
I subtly added an explanation for him.
"She thinks she is the protagonist of this world. Her prophecy is a novel starring herself. I am the villainess in that novel, and the male lead is Maxel."
"...She was completely insane?"
He shuddered and muttered as if to himself.
"A trash Crown Prince and his fiancée is insane. I doubt if this country has any hope. The country will soon fall."
His voice was full of lament. Just hearing it, one might feel the empire was already a ruined nation.
Xenon, who had burst out laughing as if it were absurd, soon urged with a serious face.
"Even if the empire falls, the Magic Tower won't. There are many ways to offer to Lady Anelli. We can get there quickly from here too."
Throughout the carriage ride, Xenon explained to me how safe the Magic Tower was from external threats, and how convenient and good its facilities were.
"Yes, it's an amazing place."
As I appropriately chimed in, perhaps excited, his descriptions became more detailed. His enriched vocabulary was filled with affection.
Since it was the first time I heard him talk about the Magic Tower in such detail, I only realized now that he cherished the Tower and its people immensely.
At first, it was merely cute, but the more I listened, the stranger it became.
"......"
I looked at Xenon with a subtle gaze and boarded the carriage. Xenon, describing the Magic Tower in an excited voice, fortunately didn't seem to notice my mood.
"Sometimes, if you look outside from the top floor in the morning, clouds are spread beneath your feet, you know? If you see it, you'll surely be amazed."
The Magic Tower was where Xenon would return. He had a place to return to. There, people who cherished him would be waiting.
"Next time, I'll definitely show you that scenery."
"...Alright."
To Xenon, who was smiling brightly, I quietly nodded.
Though I don't actually want to go there.