“Uh.”

However, Mastopju paid little attention to her words.

“Why aren’t you coming in?”

“What are you talking about?”

“My presence here!! Who leaked it?”

Mastopju, enraged like a child, glared at Sesenia with a furious face.

“No one leaked it, Mastopju. Before getting off the carriage earlier, I overheard what others were saying. No matter how long they waited, no one had met Mastopju. That means Mastopju was absent… If there were important matters, you would have surely posted a notice. That’s common, you know. Going without any announcement… It can only be explained as avoiding work at the Mastop.”

“…….”

“A person like Mastopju, who is called the Mastopju, wouldn’t be such an irresponsible person, right?”

Sesenia smiled at him. With a harmless expression and a harmless voice.

“Right, Mastopju?”

“Hehehe. Well, that’s true.”

“But, Miss. Avoiding work is also irresponsible…”

“Ehehehem. I am not irresponsible.”

He slowly stroked his long white beard.

White hair and beard that could hardly be seen as silver. Matching wrinkles on the face. Despite claiming that his age couldn’t be guessed, Mastopju had both childlike and stern aspects at the same time.

Sesenia had never directly met him before, neither in the past nor the present. There was no connection.

The words “childlike” meant he was straightforward, and “stern” meant he was hard to control. In a way to confirm this, Mastopju did not even appear at important events or ceremonies of the empire.

‘Now I understand why that saying came up.’

He was an extreme character. People say that as one ages, their temperament is reflected on their face, and that was exactly his appearance. An unusually skinny body and a scowled face.

“Anyway! So what! Knowing that I’m here has nothing to do with knowing that I’m avoiding work! Who leaked it? There must be someone who leaked it!”

“There isn’t. If Mastopju were to avoid work, where would he go? The Mastop? The uproar at the Mastop, where countless people would enter, is certainly not like that. If he hadn’t gone far, it’s obvious where he would escape to, the shanty near the Mastop.”

“…It’s not just one or two shanties…”

“They’ve done quite well for shanties used by servants. Of course, it’s not conspicuous, but it’s not difficult to find. Even after saying this, did someone else tell you?”

Mastopju’s expression strangely changed. Slowly stroking his long white beard, he nodded very slowly.

“Well. I knew, to be honest. I came directly here without contacting anyone else. I knew.”

“That’s right. Since you are Mastopju, who knows everything about the world’s affairs, I thought you would know for sure.”
“Hmm. Well. So why did you come looking for me? What do you want to discuss? Did I do something?”

With a slightly spaced-out expression, his demeanor gradually changed at her words. It wasn’t just a single word that changed him. Sesenia had entered the realm of Mastopju’s curiosity.

Deliberately, she told him everything.

How she found Mastopju. She didn’t just vaguely know; she explained it in detail to pique his interest. Due to living for so long, Mastopju had lost interest in worldly affairs.

Meeting anyone or doing anything, everything seemed uninteresting, and he didn’t even want to bother.

The only time such a person showed interest was when he himself had curiosity. Like a god, he was quite lenient about situations and people he found favorable in his heart.

No matter what she said. So, instead of going to Mastop, Sesenia came here and caused these incidents, thinking that Mastopju would be interested in her.

‘Although I’ve never directly seen Mastopju, I know what he said. He said that humans are all stupid. He even said that those who can use magic in the Mastop are stupid and annoying. The empire keeps winning wars, so only stupid people are increasing, he said.’

So he wanted smart humans. Anyone smart fascinated him.

However, people became fools in front of Mastopju. A pioneer and sage with great power. Who would dare to say they were smart in front of such a person?

“What do you want from me?”

When Sesenia silently stared at him, Mastopju urged her again.

“Do you see the slave behind me?”

“Yes, I see him. He’s quite visible.”

“Do you feel anything strange from him by any chance?”

“Well, imprisoning him?”

“Mastopju, besides restraining him, does the shackle have any other functions? Something other than restricting him?”

Sesenia asked just in case. If there were any differences between past and present Teddy, it was whether he was wearing the shackle or not.

Maybe she thought the shackle was changing his hair, but Mastopju firmly shook his head.

“None.”

“I see. Then, my slave has suffered a terrible thing.”

“A terrible thing?”

“Yes, his hair is in that condition without any magical devices. It’s a complete mess.”

Sesenia touched Teddy’s hair with her hands.

“Huh? What about hair like this? Isn’t black hair much better? It’s better than turning completely white with age!”

Perhaps Mastopju had quite a pride in his white hair, as he approached Teddy and touched his hair.