“What are you doing here?”

A man in a black robe spoke to another man in a black robe.

They were standing at the very top of the spire, the tallest building in the square.

“Whose idea was this anyway?”

“?”

“I mean, come on, black robes in this hot weather? Isn’t this too stereotypically ‘I’m a villain’?”

“This robe is not just for fashion.”

“It conceals our aura? What good is that when we look suspicious to everyone?”

“……”

As he closed his mouth, the grumbling man immediately asked with a grin.

“More importantly, did you see it?”

“I did.”

“Are you sure?”

“It was certain.”

“See? I told you so.”

Although more than half of his face was hidden by the deeply pulled-down robe, one could tell he was smiling pleasantly just from the shape of his mouth.

However, the other man’s expressionless face contorted, seemingly not feeling the same way.

“Whoever it is, they’re quite skilled. It was so well concealed that I couldn’t sense it at all until I touched it directly. Even though I was close by.”

“That’s what I’m saying. Anyway, watch carefully from now on. If we miss this time, it’ll be too late.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“If today goes well, I’m thinking of starting to move in earnest.”

“Understood.”

“Good.”

The man in the black robe nodded in satisfaction. The red ring on his hand, half-hidden by the robe’s sleeve, glinted in the sunlight.

“How’s the magical power?”

“It’s not enough, but it should do for today. Two of them, right?”

As the man fiddled with the ring on his finger, the red gem embedded in it glowed ominously.

Gazing at that red light in rapture, the man smiled a twisted smile.

“When are you going to do it?”

“During the finale. We’ve put in too much effort to prepare, so we should at least let them have that much.”

“Understood.”

The man who received the order disappeared from that place first, answering in a dry voice.

“Well then, shall we enjoy ourselves?”

The man in the black robe chuckled as if amused.

He stood at the very top of the spire, the starting point of the square, looking down, and soon threw himself backward.

He smiled slightly as he fell, looking at the clear blue sky without a single cloud.

“Nice weather. Perfect weather for causing trouble.”

He was falling from an incredible height, but he was relaxed.

However, a moment later, there was no one on the ground where he should have fallen.

[This is the timeline separator]

Eric entered the waiting tent with Alicia.

“Ah, just a moment.”

He had naturally expected it to be messy, but it was worse than he thought, so Eric started roughly clearing away the scattered items.

Rather than tidying up, he was just throwing things into other empty spaces.

Then he seated Alicia in the cleanest spot available.

“Sit here for now.”

“Don’t worry about me. You must be tired enough already.”

“If this is considered tiring, I’m rather grateful. Want some water?”

Eric took off his uniform jacket and tossed it aside, then looked at the state of a cup rolling around and just put it down.

“This won’t do. If you drink from this, you’ll end up being carried out.”

“It’s okay. I drank a lot in the VIP seats.”

Eric sat on the desk next to the chair where Alicia was sitting.

“What about Edward?”

“Among the audience, Edward was probably the most excited.”

“That’s good.”

“You were amazing.”

“…I practiced a lot.”

“It showed.”

As Alicia smiled, Eric picked up some scattered documents and started fanning himself.

“Are you still hot?”

“Aren’t you?”

“I’m fine.”

Alicia looked around, picked up some scattered papers, and started fanning Eric.

“You must have worked hard despite all your complaining.”

“That’s why I looked cool.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Stop now. You’ll get hot.”

Eric took away the paper Alicia was fanning with.

“Are you going to fan me now?”

When Alicia looked up with a smile, Eric avoided her gaze and started fanning.

Himself.

After watching this for a moment, Alicia asked worriedly.

“Eric. Are you feeling unwell? Did you get heatstroke?”

“No, that’s not… Maybe.”

Eric thought it might really be the case.

Otherwise, how could he be so hot and stuffy when Alicia in the same space was fine?

“I really need to rest after this is over.”

“That would be good.”

Just then, there was a commotion outside, and Allen called out to Eric in a loud voice.

“Captain!! It’s about time for you to go!”

“I hear you, so keep it down.”

“Aw, you were shouting so much earlier, I didn’t expect you to do it again here. My throat is gone.”

“Then why are you shouting even here?”

“No, I was worried you might be, you know, doing something.”

“Doing what?”

Eric picked up the uniform jacket he had carelessly thrown aside and looked at Allen’s silhouette on the tent with a bewildered expression.

“Hurry up and finish getting dressed.”

“Huh? Alright.”

At Alicia’s urging, Eric put on his jacket and started tidying up his appearance.

Watching him, Alicia stretched out her arm and called Eric.

“Come here.”

“Ah. Okay.”

As Eric obediently stood in front of her as told, Alicia started buttoning up his uniform.

“Why did you throw it anywhere? It’s all dusty now. And it’s black.”

“I didn’t have time to think about that then.”

Glaring gently at Eric, Alicia properly arranged even the sash and then brushed off the dust.

“There, it’s done.”

“Let’s go. I’ll assign someone to escort you to the VIP seats.”

“I can go alone.”

“It’s more complicated than you think. There are a lot of people. It would be troublesome if you got lost on the way.”

“Am I a child?”

Alicia grumbled softly as she followed Eric out.

Alicia, who was used to people around her, including her family, relying on her, had never been treated like a child anywhere.

Every time Eric did this, she felt a tickle at the end of her heart, an indescribable feeling that was troublesome.

“What’s wrong?”

When Eric asked, Alicia shook her head, saying it was nothing.

“Let’s go.”

When Eric reached out his hand, Alicia naturally took small steps and held his hand.

As Eric opened the tent flap, Allen’s face appeared right in front of them.

“Ah, you scared me. Why are you standing so close?”

“Because you weren’t coming out.”

Allen answered with a grin, and Eric looked at him disapprovingly and asked curtly.

“What is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s with that smile?”

“Hehehe. Our captain is a man after all. And so bold, right here.”

“What nonsense are you talking about suddenly? Did you get heatstroke too?”

“Oh my, I heard everything! Lucky it was me. Don’t worry, my lips are sealed−.”

Allen made a gesture of sealing his lips and grinned again.

Eric frowned, seemingly displeased with Allen’s expression.

“Why are you making such a big deal? We didn’t say anything worth keeping secret.”

“Come on, senior. It’s not about what you said, but what you did−.”

“We didn’t do anything.”

Avoiding Eric’s death glare, Allen quickly composed himself and gave a polite greeting to Alicia.

“Then, sister-in-law. I’ll see you later. Captain, please come quickly. We don’t have much time.”

“That guy.”

As Allen grinned and quickly moved away from the two, Eric clicked his tongue in displeasure.

Alicia, who had been trying to hold back her laughter, gently grabbed Eric’s arm.

“Eric. You should go now too. Be careful not to get hurt.”

“See you later.”

“Okay.”

Eric patted Alicia’s hand on his arm regretfully and started walking away with Allen.

Alicia watched as Allen almost got hit once on the way and then ran away, and only then did she start walking with the subordinate Eric had assigned to her, trying to hold back her laughter.

[This is the timeline separator]

It was the most spectacular moment of the joint training.

Just as numerous brilliant fireworks exploded and flower petals were scattered in the sky to signal the end, an even louder sound shook the square.

The spire standing at the entrance of the square began to collapse with a scraping sound.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Ahhh!!”

Screams could be heard from all around.

“Edward! Come here.”

Alicia hurriedly grabbed Edward’s hand.

“My goodness, what’s happening?”

“My lady, we need to evacuate quickly!”

Duke Gloucester stood up from the VIP seats, supporting the Duchess whose face had turned pale.

“What’s that?”

Edward, being led away by Alicia’s hand, pointed towards where the spire had fallen with a surprised expression.

The Emperor, also moving to evacuate with the Empress from the imperial box, looked towards the spire and was shocked.

“Could it be…!”

“Your Majesty, we must go quickly!”

When the imperial guard knight urged the Emperor, he finally began to move reluctantly.

But the Emperor’s face was pale.

As the dust settled from the collapsed spire, a figure slowly approaching from within revealed itself. It was larger than a lion, covered in fur all over, with red eyes and two sharp fangs protruding from the corners of its mouth.

“It’s a magical beast!!”

People near the spire screamed.

People tangled and fell as they rushed to escape. Screams and shouts continued to ring out.

Alicia also hurried out of the VIP seats, urging the Duke and Duchess.

She turned back briefly to look at the square.

She could see knights moving busily in several groups.

And somewhere in there, Eric would probably be there too, and he would have to fight the magical beasts.

‘Eric…!’

“Sister, hurry!”

“Ah, yes. Let’s go.”

For now, she had to evacuate from here and take his parents and Edward to a safe place.

Only then would she have the face to see Eric later.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Don’t break formation! Remember what we’ve trained for!”

Eric gave orders while gripping his sword and slashed at the charging magical beast.

The fur hide was tough, making it difficult to pierce through with a sword in one strike, and the impact transmitted to the hand holding the sword was not insignificant.

‘This would be difficult for ordinary knights to handle alone.’

Eric frowned as he cut down another magical beast.

“Sir Eric!”

“What is it?”

“It seems the magical beasts haven’t appeared only here.”

Edinburgh pointed across the audience seats.

People who had fled outside the square were now running back inside.

“Where did they suddenly appear from?”

“There shouldn’t have been any reports of traces of magicians recently, right?”

The two conversed while each taking down magical beasts that lunged at them from front and back.

The magical beast fell, splattering black blood.

“Have you seen any other types of magical beasts?”

“No. They were all this kind.”

“Then there’s probably only one magician controlling them.”

“That’s somewhat fortunate, I suppose.”

The two continued their conversation while simultaneously slashing at approaching magical beasts with their swords.

As the bodies of fallen magical beasts piled up on the sides, the knights who had been hesitating in fear began to grip their swords again.

“Let’s go!!”

With a battle cry, they started charging at the magical beasts, following behind Eric and Edinburgh.

Eric took down another magical beast and grinned at his subordinates.

It was worth using all his strength from the beginning for the morale of the knights who were facing magical beasts for the first time, although it was also Eric’s first time.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Sister.”

“Shh. Be quiet.”

Alicia whispered softly as she stepped forward, blocking Edward.

Behind Edward, the Duchess was too frightened to say anything, and the Duke was supporting her from the side to prevent her from collapsing.

And in front of Alicia, a magical beast was growling, looking at her.

The magical beast’s eyes glowed red as it stared at Alicia, and drool dripped between its sharp teeth in its open mouth. It licked its lips with its dark red tongue, savoring the taste.