After finishing a brief meeting with the guides in the eastern castle about what to do next, Kalos was returning to the main castle when he spotted Irene and stopped.

The same was true for Irene.

Jessie, who was following her, also saw Kalos and bowed deeply in greeting.

“I greet you, my lord.”

Kalos acknowledged the greeting with a nod, then looked at Irene.

Seeing her, he was reminded of how she looked in the library earlier.

The sight of her having a rather pleasant conversation with Abel.

Until recently, she couldn’t even make eye contact with Abel, but when did they become so close?

Seeing them chatting happily made him feel strangely twisted inside, so Kalos turned away without entering the library.

“…”

Thinking about it again made Kalos frown in irritation.

What was even more annoying was that he didn’t know why he felt this way.

When Kalos scowled, Irene fidgeted uneasily and turned to look at Jessie.

She asked with her eyes why Kalos was in a bad mood, and Jessie replied with her eyes that she didn’t know either.

‘In my opinion, perhaps things didn’t go well for him?’

‘Then it might be better if we don’t talk and just leave.’

‘But we need to get permission from the lord first…’

“Where are you going?”

As they were silently communicating with their eyes, Kalos suddenly spoke up, startling Irene and Jessie who turned to look at him.

Kalos was still looking at Irene.

Feeling obligated to answer, Irene swallowed dryly and parted her lips.

“I was… going for a walk in the eastern garden.”

Kalos tilted his head slightly.

“Didn’t you hear that the eastern area is currently occupied by magical beasts, so the eastern garden shouldn’t be used for the time being?”

Irene replied in flustered embarrassment.

“I-I’m sorry. When you gave permission to take care of Yomi, I thought you had also given permission for that… I’m truly sorry.”

At her repeated apologies, Kalos secretly let out a deep sigh.

He hadn’t particularly meant to receive an apology, but being so irritated by the library incident, his words had come out unintentionally harsh.

Come to think of it, he had something to tell Irene.

He had planned to find her again after the meeting, but since it had come to this, he thought it would be good to say it now and opened his mouth.

“When taking in a magical beast as a spirit, the contractor must give the beast a new name. This is how you completely subjugate the beast to yourself.”

“Does that mean I need to give Yomi a name?”

“Yes.”

Ah, I see.

Irene’s expression turned serious as she received this unexpected task, having thought she wouldn’t have to do anything until the summoning ceremony.

‘What kind of name should I give?’

Since Yomi might have to live with the name she gave for the rest of its life, she wanted to give it a good name.

“By when do I need to decide on a name?”

“You just need to decide by the time of the summoning ceremony.”

The time left until the summoning ceremony was about 6 hours.

It was a long time if you thought of it as long, and a short time if you thought of it as short.

This wasn’t the time to be leisurely taking a walk.

“Since I need to decide on Yomi’s name, would it be alright if I go back now?”

“Go ahead.”

As soon as she received permission, Irene bowed politely and headed back towards the main castle.

“Jessie.”

As Jessie was about to bow and leave as well, Kalos called out to her.

“…”

He must have called because he had something to say, but for some reason, Kalos didn’t say anything.

Why is he acting like this?

As Jessie was about to ask in confusion, someone else came looking for Kalos before her.

“My lord.”

It was Deuce.

Jessie startled and took a step back as Deuce suddenly emerged from Kalos’s shadow.

She knew that Deuce could move through shadows like Kalos, but she couldn’t help being surprised every time he suddenly popped out.

Couldn’t he give some kind of signal before appearing?

Feeling embarrassed at being the only one startled, Jessie grumbled inwardly.

Deuce didn’t spare a single glance towards Jessie and went straight to Kalos to report.

“Sergio is dead.”

*

As soon as Kalos received the report from Deuce, he headed to the underground prison of the magical beast training center where Sergio had been confined.

He had thought Sergio might have died from shock due to the somewhat cruel torture to make him reveal everything he knew, but that wasn’t the case.

“He was murdered.”

Kalos immediately realized this fact as soon as he saw Sergio’s dead body.

Deuce seemed to think the same, as he bowed his head deeply and knelt on one knee.

“I apologize. I should have monitored him more carefully…”

Kalos waved his hand dismissively.

“It’s fine. I was the one who said there was no need to monitor him, so don’t worry about it.”

Having obtained all the information he wanted, Kalos had left Sergio unguarded, not particularly caring whether he lived or died.

He also thought that with both legs broken and the iron bars firmly locked, Sergio wouldn’t be able to escape anyway.

But to think he would be murdered. This was unexpected.

However, Kalos didn’t regret not monitoring Sergio.

Even if he had been monitored, Deuce’s power wouldn’t have been enough to stop the culprit.

Although Deuce had gained powers stronger than an ordinary underground resident by becoming Kalos’s subordinate, he was no match for the lord of the underground.

So he must have come boldly to kill Sergio, that Dale.

“…”

Kalos picked up the identity tag that had fallen in front of Sergio.

The identity tag had Sergio’s name and the name of the temple he belonged to written on it.

The one who stole this identity tag was none other than Dale, so it was certain that he was the one who killed Sergio.

This confirmed that Dale was in the Esper territory.

The curious thing here was why Dale had come to kill Sergio, taking such a risk.

It was also incomprehensible why he had brought back the stolen identity tag.

“…”

Kalos fiddled with the gold-plated identity tag, pondering deeply why Dale had done these things.

Among the various hypotheses that came to mind, the most plausible one was that he had killed Sergio to silence him.

Was there anything in Sergio’s confession that could have implicated Dale?

Apart from being an eyewitness who had directly met Dale, who had been hiding until now, nothing particularly came to mind.

If he had wanted to hide that fact, Dale would have not only stolen Sergio’s identity tag but also killed him.

But the fact that he didn’t meant he didn’t particularly intend to hide it.

Then there must be another reason, but what could it be?

He didn’t know. No matter how much he thought about it, nothing came to mind, and his frustration only grew.

“Haa.”

Kalos let out a deep sigh and put Sergio’s identity tag in his pocket.

Usually, when a priest dies, the identity tag is returned to the temple, but Kalos had no intention of returning it until he found out why Dale had stolen it and why he had left it behind now.

Kalos nudged Sergio’s body with the tip of his foot and said to Deuce.

“Clean up this body properly and put it in a coffin. Make sure the gift wrapping is pretty too.”

The recipients of this gift would be the investigation team sent by the temple.

Just thinking about how they would react upon receiving this gift was already exciting.

“And have the knights search the Esper territory for anyone bearing the aura of a lord. If such a person is found, bring them before me regardless of their status.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And…”

After giving various instructions, Kalos checked his pocket watch.

There were about 4 hours left until the summoning ceremony, but he needed to head back soon to prepare various things.

“Then I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Kalos left the aftermath to Deuce and exited the prison.

*

As soon as Kalos returned to Esper Castle, Dewey asked.

“Was that pigeon really murdered?”

“Yes.”

“My goodness.”

Dewey’s eyes widened in great surprise.

“What kind of madman would come all the way here to kill a priest?”

Kalos smirked.

“You already have someone in mind, don’t you?”

“…”

Dewey was silent for a moment, then carefully asked back.

“Could it be… that person?”

The ‘that person’ Dewey was referring to was Dale.

Although he was a terrible person who had cursed Kalos, being the lord of the underground, Dewey couldn’t call him casually and referred to him as ‘that person’.

When Kalos nodded, Dewey’s expression became even more serious.

“With what happened during the summoning potion incident as well… So that person is indeed in the Esper territory.”

“Yes.”

He was clearly waiting for an opportunity to bite Kalos’s neck like a predator eyeing its prey.

“Then shouldn’t we cancel the summoning ceremony after all?”

During the summoning ceremony, Kalos would be temporarily defenseless, unable to attack or defend, as he connected humans and magical beasts.

If Dale were to attack at that time, it would be disastrous, so Dewey thought it would be right not to hold the summoning ceremony, but Kalos had a different opinion.

“No. We’ll proceed as planned.”

“What? But if that person appears…”

“Then that would be even better.”

Kalos replied as he took off his coat.

“We can use this opportunity to catch him for sure.”

Dewey received the coat Kalos had taken off and asked back.

“How do you plan to catch that person? It would be difficult to catch him if he attacks while you’re defenseless…”

Even without that, it was somewhat questionable whether Kalos could catch Dale in his current state.

So how could he speak so confidently?

“We have Abel, don’t we?”

“Ah.”

Dewey, who had been puzzled, nodded at the additional answer.

Although Kalos had weakened due to the curse, Abel hadn’t.

Abel and Dale’s powers were evenly matched, so even if he couldn’t defeat Dale, he could buy time until Kalos finished the summoning ceremony.

Then, with Kalos joining in after finishing the ceremony, they should be able to catch Dale.

The problem was…

“Would that person… not know about this?”

“He probably knows. If he attacks knowing this, it means he has a countermeasure.”

What in the…

Dewey was so surprised that he raised his voice.

“T-Then isn’t it too dangerous! We should really cancel the summoning ceremony…!”

“Any endeavor comes with its own price.”

In contrast, Kalos replied calmly.

“To catch a tiger, one must pay the appropriate price.”

“But my lord…”

“There’s no need to worry. The chances of Dale attacking during the summoning ceremony are almost zero.”

No matter what trick Dale might use, it was impossible for him to face two lords simultaneously and achieve victory.

His physical condition wasn’t even optimal due to paying the price for cursing Kalos.

So it was certain that he had been hiding without revealing himself for the past hundred years or so.

In any case, even if Dale were to attack during the summoning ceremony, his chances of winning were significantly low.

Dale must know this fact as well, so he wouldn’t move easily.

Unless he succumbs to overwhelming anger and charges in.

If that were the case, even Abel alone could subdue him, so there was no need to worry at all.

“Therefore, we will proceed with the summoning ceremony as scheduled.”