Creak, creak.

“Ugh… cough, cough.”

A faint groan was detected from the far end of the corridor where flames were spreading.

There was no time to think. Joseph’s magic cleared away all the surrounding debris and covered the passage with a water barrier.

In the dark interior filled with smoke, visibility was somewhat secured at last.

“Lord… Joseph?”

As expected. The groans and coughs were Sergei’s.

He was looking for a way out beyond there, carrying Kardiel on his back and holding a large bag.

The unconscious Kardiel and the whimpering puppy in the bag could be seen.

Joseph quickly went over and picked up Kardiel. His condition was critical. Damn it.

“How did you… More importantly, what did you just do?”

“Let’s explain later. What’s important now is not that, but to breathe as little as possible.”

It was an urgent situation. Magic or not, surviving was the priority now rather than being discovered.

Moreover, the other person was none other than Sergei.

“We’ll go straight out of the mansion. It’ll be hard, but come closer.”

“……”

Sergei didn’t ask further and came closer as Joseph said.

At that moment, a transparent barrier formed around them. It was a field magic that created a protective shield.

Bang bang bang bang. The drawback of field magic was that it pushed out everything except objects permitted by the caster during casting.

In an instant, the surrounding debris was pushed away. As a result, even the pillars that were barely maintaining their shape began to collapse.

“…!”

“Don’t move.”

It was when Sergei instinctively crouched to avoid the rafters falling from the ceiling. Joseph held him back with a firm voice.

Thud! The rafters hit the ceiling of the barrier but soon bounced off.

No impact was transmitted inside. Only then did he seem to grasp the situation.

“Magic…”

“Come a little closer. The floor will collapse too.”

Rumble, as he said that, the barrier’s wall pushed away even the floor.

The collapsed floor completely exposed the lower floor, but as if gravity was controlled, there was no immediate fall.

The circumstances of the arsonist Leopold Jose were not important.

However, it was revealed that he had planned this to take revenge on me and Lord Joseph.

He first set fire to the first floor, and after waiting for the fire to spread sufficiently, he threw a Molotov cocktail into the chimney to cause an explosion.

He had even prepared oil with the intention of starting a proper fire.

Did he intend to die in those flames himself?

To be honest, I didn’t care whether that bastard lived or died.

What I need to know now is something else. Namely, the fate of my children and servants, and the safety of the person who went in to rescue them.

“It’s the young lord, the young lord has come out!”

“The sage!”

“Count!”

After anxiously focusing all efforts on extinguishing the fire in the mansion for about an hour, I was finally able to see the sight I had been waiting for.

Lord Joseph appeared at the barely maintained entrance of the mansion, carrying Kardiel.

Fortunately, Sergei, whom I was worried about, was with him as well.

“Kardiel!”

I nearly tripped over my own feet as I rushed over. It didn’t matter. What mattered was my child’s condition.

“How’s Kar? Is Kardiel alright?”

“It would be best to have him examined by the physician first.”

The waiting physician immediately examined Kardiel.

After checking his condition, he let out a sigh of relief and reassured me that it would have been a close call if they had been any later.

But Kardiel wasn’t the only patient. Sergei’s condition was also dire.

“Lord Sergei! Your eyes…!”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine at all!”

His beautiful golden hair was completely burnt at the ends.

His whole body was a mess from burns, and the most serious was the injury to his left eye.

“Doctor, there are other doctors too.”

Fortunately, all the doctors that could be reached in the imperial capital had already been called.

Thanks to that, Sergei was also able to receive immediate treatment. The doctor who saw his condition frowned deeply, but it seemed there was no danger to his life.

Lord Joseph was not unscathed either.

He had burns here and there, especially severe on his right palm. That’s why I told him not to go in recklessly…!

Oh?

‘…Only this much?’

Come to think of it, he had rushed into the burning mansion without any preparation.

Yet for someone who did that, just some minor burns and a slightly more severe burn on his palm…

Isn’t he too unscathed?

Something felt off. However, at that time, I couldn’t guess what it was.

I first dealt with the mansion.

I treated the injured and extinguished the fire in the mansion with the help of other volunteers including the guards from the imperial capital.

It was past 3 am when the fire was completely put out.

Fortunately, no servants were left behind. Everyone was successfully rescued.

The problem was…

“Mr. Saul Rogier passed away at 2:18 am.”

At the physician’s pronouncement, I felt as if my chest had been hollowed out.

On that day when I left behind my family and house without attachment, I had to bid farewell to the person I trusted and relied on most in the world.

The Daiern mansion was all but completely burnt down.

It felt empty to see the ancient house that had been maintained for over a thousand years turn to ashes in an instant.

But even more empty was the death of Mr. Saul Rogier, who was no less than my spiritual pillar.

The funeral was held modestly.

The giant who once made the Envar Trading Company a legend of the continent closed his eyes under cold earth barely twelve hours after his passing.

Afterwards, the Daiern family members including myself and the children who lost their place to stay are currently residing in an unused annex of the imperial palace.

It was thanks to the great consideration of Prince Raphael, as we were in trouble unable to find a hotel.

Of course, even so, non-royals cannot stay long in the imperial palace.

Inevitably, I had to make a big decision.

This social season ends here. I decided to return to the Daiern dukedom with the children.

We will leave as soon as the children recover and the carriage is prepared.

Knock knock.

“Come in.”

The one who entered the room with a light knock was Lord Joseph.

He had a very dark expression, which had been shadowing his face since the day after Mr. Rogier’s death.

“May I sit for a moment?”

I seemed to know the reason. And I had something to say about it too.

I was about to tell him to sit when there was another knock.

Knock knock.

My eyes met with Lord Joseph’s. I wondered if he had come with someone.

But he also had a face that didn’t know. Just an expression that seemed to guess.

“It must be Lord Sergei.”

“Will that be alright?”

Lord Joseph nodded.

I signaled to come in, and indeed Lord Sergei entered.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’ve received treatment, so I’m fine.”

He said so, but in fact Sergei’s condition was not at a level that could be called fine.

First, his long golden hair had to be cut short.

Needless to say, his whole body was tightly wrapped in bandages due to burns, but actually the most serious was his eye.

His left eye was completely blinded.

It seemed that sparks had flown into his eye in the process of supporting and bringing out Kardiel.

I felt both sorry and grateful at the same time.

“How is Lord Joseph’s hand, by the way?”

“…My hand will be fine soon.”

While saying that’s fortunate, Sergei sighed.

“But Lord Joseph came first. Lord Sergei, could you come back later?”

“Actually, I was looking for Lord Joseph.”

“Hmm.”

As it turned out, Sergei had something to say to Joseph.

I don’t know what it was about, but Lord Joseph seemed to have a general idea.

I was about to tell them to talk, but Lord Joseph shook his head.

“It’s alright. I think you should hear this too, madam.”

What is he going to talk about?

I was puzzled, but since both of them agreed, I sat down bewilderedly.

Sergei was the first to speak.

“First, I want to thank you for saving me at the mansion back then.”

“It’s nothing. Even if it wasn’t me, Lord Sergei would have made it out safely.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. I am the successor of Chronomancy.”

“So that’s how you were able to use elemental magic freely. No wonder, I thought you were handling magic at a level that even most magicians from the age of magic couldn’t follow.”

Cough, cough.

It was fortunate I wasn’t drinking tea.

I choked on nothing. Both of them turned to me and asked if I was alright at the same time. I who barely recovered straightened my posture.

Chronomancy? I don’t know what that is, but I could infer enough just from the language.

It refers to time magic.

That wasn’t the only surprising thing.

What, elemental magic?

I swear I’m hearing about this for the first time.

But thinking about it, the reason Lord Joseph, who entered the burning mansion without any preparation, could come out safely is hard to explain without such an ability.