Blaithe, who hit the back hidden under the blanket – “Ouch!” “That’s punishment for not sympathizing with my sorrow.” – handed over a few potions.

“I don’t have many small potions left since I gave a lot to the people of this territory…”

“It’s fine. It’s not that bad yet.”

Blaithe clicked his tongue.

“You still refuse liquids given by others. Wait. I have some aspi bark. Let’s steep it a bit and drink it now.”

“Thank you….”

“Have hope. Sir Leon has been working non-stop for weeks, so he might postpone his schedule and rest this morning. There aren’t just one or two knights here, right? It’s crowded when you include the mercenaries.”

But such hope was quickly dashed by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

“Lady Jade, Sir Leon is looking for you.”

“Tell him I’ll be there within half an hour.”

Jade snatched the aspi bark from Blaithe’s hand and started chewing it as is.

“Are you crazy? Isn’t it bitter?”

“Ugh.”

“See! That won’t release its compounds unless it’s at the right temperature!”

Jade wrapped a muffler around her neck, tied every string of her cloak, and even tucked in a magic stone that provided warmth. She looked like a bear.

“I’m going. Take care.”

“Tsk tsk. People might tell you to rest as soon as they hear your voice. Don’t lose hope.”

“I never had such a thing to begin with.”

I may not have other luck, but I was born with the luck of having work pour in. Jade said dejectedly as she left the room.

As soon as Jade poked her head into the meeting room, everyone’s attention focused on her.

“What’s with those clothes?”

Jenerson, who had become friendly over the past few weeks, chuckled.

“Even though this is the northern part of the El Sion Kingdom, it’s spring, spring.”

Everyone agreed and teased Jade. Knights and mages alike.

“Is it hard to maintain warmth in a small body?”

“I heard you were called a fire mage, but dressed so thickly. Haha.”

“You really grew up pampered in the south. How on earth do you survive in actual winter?”

Jade sniffled and snapped irritably.

“Hey, did any of you contribute to my sensitivity to cold?”

When her voice came out with messed up pitch due to her swollen throat, everyone simultaneously shut their mouths. Those who had been merrily teasing her all looked bewildered.

“Don’t tell me you have a cold?”

“Oh no….”

“I knew it. How pitiful to have such an unwise master….”

When Rigel cried out in dismay, Jade strode over and stomped hard on his foot.

“Aaagh!”

“Why are you being so rude to the foolish listener?”

“I was worried!”

“Who in this world shows worry like that!”

“Enough.”

When Axel spoke as if sighing, silence fell. His straight gaze was directed at her. His lips were tightly set, as if something displeased him.

“Lady Jade, you look unwell. It would be better to go back and rest.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“There’s no need to refuse. We have enough people.”

Jade shrugged her shoulders.

“I believe you entrusted me with overseeing the mage personnel. There’s no way we have enough.”

Not all mages were the same. There were mages who could participate in combat and those who couldn’t, and Blaithe was one who couldn’t participate in combat. She was in charge of healing at the base.

First, a few drop out like this. And there were two mages who were slightly injured by monsters a few days ago, and three mages on the verge of exhaustion due to slow mana recovery.

From the start, their numbers were small compared to the knights, so even this much was a big blow. So there was no way Jade could be absent tonight.

Somehow everyone looked silently distressed, so Jade quickly listed her hopes.

“Then I’d be grateful if you could let me rest for about three days after working hard this morning. No, two days…”

Seeing the looks around her, she quickly changed it.

“One day…?”

“…Alright, I’ll let you rest for two days.”

Axel nodded, still looking somewhat displeased.

Jade wanted to ask if it was so upsetting for her to rest, but there was no time. The meeting proceeded as is.

“The underground passage is bigger than expected. Seeing that it’s tunneled all the way to the bedrock, it seems monsters rather than people worked on it more.”

Looking at the map – probably – drawn by Belita on the table, the inside was more intricately tangled like a spider web than expected. Jade couldn’t help but marvel genuinely.

“Wow.”

The scale of the cave could be estimated in contrast to the appropriately drawn size of the house above. It was really big.

“How many monsters are in there?”

“Of course, it’s not certain, but.”

Jasper, whose complexion had turned pale white, slowly opened his mouth.

“The wind passage was blocked many, many times.”

“Not walls?”

“No. The scale must be very large. It easily exceeds two digits. It may approach three digits.”

He kept his mouth shut after that. Axel looked around and nodded.

“The lord of Lund, Callen, was confident they could get through tonight with their own strength. They’ve also newly recruited soldiers. Since most of the subjugation team is going out, it would be good to finish it for certain. First…”

Axel explained the plan while placing small stones on the crude map.

“Being in the cave, they’re likely to feel ground vibrations. We’ll divide into groups as small as possible, and from a certain point on, we’ll tie up the horses and proceed on foot.”

“It’s night. It’s when monsters become most powerful. With the uncertain numbers, don’t we need more investigation?”

In response to someone’s question, Axel laughed softly.

Despite his surprisingly handsome face, somehow that laugh had a way of making people uneasy. It might have been due to the fierceness in his eyes. Or maybe the strange angle of his mouth corners.

“I have no intention of sending anyone in there just for investigation. Even the vicinity is dangerous. And it doesn’t matter since we’ll deal with them after inflicting some damage.”

Question marks dangled from everyone’s gaze. But Axel just gestured for them to prepare to move.

The horses galloped across the land in formation. The sun that had already set left only a long tail of light beyond the horizon, making the surroundings dim.

Jade coughed briefly in the headwind. Cough, cough.

“Where’s your muffler?”

“It’s inside, cough, isn’t it.”

“You really are frail.”

It was too much for Rigel’s pride to hear. It was clearly Rigel Hias who had been complaining throughout the last subjugation.

“Hey.”

“It’s true, isn’t it? With a face that looks like it’s burning with fever.”

“I really have a lot to say, but I’ll hold back for now. Because unlike you, I’m an adult.”

“I’m an adult too. And now I’m taller than you.”

My hands too.

With a face that still had a clear boyish look, Rigel took off his gloves and spread his hands wide. The joints were long. Jade glanced at them and grumbled.

“Damn, boys. They grow up in an instant. Cough, cough!”

“How many times do I have to say I’m not a child?”

Showing slight annoyance, Rigel threw his gloves at her. Jade, riding her horse defensively, was hit in the chest with the gloves.

Jade asked in a gloomy voice.

“Are you challenging me to a duel…?”

“We are mages, not knights. We don’t do such stupid things. Anyway, wear an extra layer of gloves. It’ll help since we have to stay up all night.”

I’m much bigger and healthier than the frail Lady Jade.

Rigel, who spoke primly, suddenly became embarrassed under Jade’s obvious gaze and pulled on his reins to slowly move away. He even urged Arthur to lead his horse due to his own lack of riding skills.

Although he had moved quite far away, Jade noticed Rigel’s cheeks were clearly flushed and burst into laughter.

“That’s kind of cute.”

Jenerson, riding his horse next to her, chimed in with a grin.

“I held back my laughter because I was afraid Rigel would glare at me with those sharp eyes. It’s like child’s play, but still fresh.”

Jade chuckled and performed the feat of putting on gloves with only one hand while holding the reins with the other.

Rigel’s gloves, which had seemed much smaller due to his appearance, were actually much larger than expected, covering her gloves and then some. Her cold fingertips gradually warmed up.

After flexing her fingers a few times, Jade said in a nonchalant tone.

“Unnecessary rumors are forbidden, Sir Jenerson. Rigel and I have quite a deep friendship, so this much is nothing.”

It’s not nothing at all. Though he uses polite speech, for that sensitive kitten-like person to hand over gloves was moving enough to write in a diary. Remembering how prickly he was when they first met, she felt like she could cry.

But Rigel would soon be of age to receive marriage proposals, so caution was needed. There was no need to get caught up in unnecessary gossip.

There were cases of mages pairing with other mages, but it was rare for the head of a good family with many options like Rigel to do so.

Jenerson let out a hearty laugh.

“You don’t know how tight-lipped I am. The secrets I keep in my heart, how many there are. But what can we do when so many people have already seen?”

“Who saw?”

This time she asked with the intention of shutting that guy’s mouth.

“Well, first our commander-in-chief?”

Turning her head to the right, she could see a solid profile at some distance. His dark eyebrows and eyelids were swallowed by the darkness of night, making the direction of his gaze unclear.

Nevertheless, Jade was a little flustered. Just a little. She was really flustered without knowing why.