Contrary to what I expected, I realized that the child’s apparent affection stemmed from the pressure, not pressure, received from the servants.

I also learned that the former butler’s son had been hoarding the embezzled money without using it.

Even so, Lutis had no intention of bringing a dangerous element into the mansion. Even if the situation was taken into consideration and resulted in a light punishment, he did not plan to keep the child nearby.

“…For now, stop that.”

“But!”

“I’ll bring you paper and ink. So stop it.”

However, having directly witnessed such a situation, killing the former butler’s son seemed to be the only other option.

The situation was different from the craftsman who was silenced after being called for stone work on Aeli’s grave.

If word spread that the coffin was entangled in roots, it would only lead to ominous rumors, but the moment it leaked that Rattliffe’s son used magic, there would be those who would doubt the legitimacy and threaten his position.

Whether the child knew and did it, or did it unknowingly… Lutis’s worries grew.

After that day, besides investigating the auditory hallucinations he had heard and the child’s strange behavior, there was one more thing to look into.

[This is the timeline separator]

This was also why Lutis had intended to visit Rattliffe’s domain earlier than when he usually conducted territory inspections.

He had already checked all the ancient books in the capital mansion.

Moreover, when Aeli’s health began to deteriorate, he had the experience of compressing his schedule unreasonably, searching through the secret archives of Rattliffe’s domain in just two days, and returning.

Based on that experience, it was as good as impossible to find a solution to the problem within the mansion.

Although he failed to cure the illness of unknown cause at that time… there was one book that bothered him.

‘It wasn’t a treatment method, and it seemed more like an observation journal than research, so I only read a few lines and moved on.’

But now those few lines came back to him.

Since he had only skimmed through it before closing it, he didn’t remember the contents well, but it was worth checking.

Additionally, Lutis headed to the domain with the child, intending to find out how the child was able to use magic.

[My, my lord has disappeared……]

He had not expected such a thing to happen upon arriving at the domain.

[This is the timeline separator]

Unfortunately, the visit to the clothing shop was just before returning to the duke’s residence after finishing the street tour, causing night to fall suddenly.

Lutis was dazed with anxiety and anger for not finding the child by nightfall. When the brooch he had attached to the child’s clothes for precaution was about to break, he could barely remember what he had done.

While staring blankly at the brooch, he belatedly came to his senses and found himself already following a long trail of hair on the ground.

Hair neatly placed on the ground at regular intervals on this night.

“…From now on, follow this trail. Look carefully for any suspicious points along the way and report immediately if you find anything.”

“Yes, understood!”

Come to think of it, it was strange that he, whose title of Swordmaster seemed merely decorative, couldn’t do anything.

As if following this trail would lead the way, a ray of hope suddenly shone in the gloomy situation.

It was so dramatic that it seemed suspicious enough to make one wonder if it was a trap set to lure them in.

But Lutis simply moved forward.

Whatever was at the end of this path, he had to find the child, so he had no choice in the matter anyway.

As the hair trail ended, Lutis discovered a small, shabby building and stepped inside. While descending the spiral staircase, he strained his ears to check and heard various voices penetrating his ears.

By the time he realized that, unlike its outward appearance, the place was quite large when including the hidden underground space.

“You bastard, what is this! How can you use magic when I laid out the circuit?! Won’t you stop?!”

“I, I told you not to touch it! Waaah!”

A familiar sound was caught among the voices ringing in his ears.

He lifted his foot in front of the door he had reached following the sound.

Bang!

“You son of a– W-what?!”

“……”

How is it that those who commit such acts always utter the same lines?

Lutis ignored the gaze of the man who turned around spewing curses with the loud noise and rolled his eyes.

He noticed the shield spread out beneath the man’s feet and the child lying face down crying underneath it.

“……”

Perhaps due to walking around without shoes, there were dried bloodstains faintly visible on the dirty socks.

A thin, long cut across the ankle as if slashed by something sharp, and scrapes covering the arms and legs here and there.

Lastly, the sight of small wrists shackled with restraints fit for prisoners, treated like a dog.

Lutis slowly opened his mouth.

“…Take the child and wait outside. Identify and block all exits, and capture every rat inside without letting a single one escape. Release those who are being held captive.”

“Understood.”

“It doesn’t matter if you kill those who resist. However, the one who appears to be the ringleader must be captured alive and brought before me.”

As those words ended, the child’s tear-stained face slowly lifted.

Facing the reddened eyes, Lutis clenched his fist tightly, feeling his mind go blank for a moment.

It was clearly his fault for not managing things properly, yet the child always suffers the consequences.

Rather than seeing that sight any longer, it would be easier on his mind to tear off one of his own arms.

“M-mommy… D-daddy…”

Even as the child, held by the knight commander, reached out towards him with a tearful voice…

Lutis gritted his teeth, unable to do anything immediately.

The outstretched arms were indeed directed at him, but the child’s eyes were not looking at him.

Lutis felt chills down his spine at the subtle gaze that seemed to be looking at something beyond him.

As he stood still watching that sight, the child’s eyes suddenly filled with relief and quietly lowered the arms. At a glance, it looked like rubbing the cheeks, but the hands were clenched as if grasping something.

‘…Surely not,’

This was the first time he had directly encountered it. It was when Lutis stared intently at the retreating child with slightly dilated pupils.

“W-wait, I was just ordered to…”

Lutis lowered his gaze at the man who opened his mouth trembling.

He seemed to have guessed their identity from the emblem embroidered on the official cloaks worn by the knights who had followed Lutis in.

A warm liquid was flowing between the legs of the man who had collapsed on the floor.

“Huh.”

“P-please spare me…”

Lutis quietly drew his sword at the attitude that showed no backbone at all, despite having boldly carried out such an act.

Many had said such words to him before, apart from the battlefield.

Each time, he had offered a comfort of sorts by saying he would not kill them, but…

Slash.

This time was different.

“Aah… Aaagh! Hgh, huk, kuh…”

The man let out a piercing scream at the pain of having a body part carved off.

Lutis wiped the blood spatter on his cheek with the back of his hand as he moved.

He grabbed the hair of the man who was trying to escape, crying and in just enough pain not to faint.

“…It would be better not to think about dying peacefully.”

It was going to be a very long night.

[This is the timeline separator]

Lutis swung his sword in the air to shake off the blood and stepped out of the room.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed.

When he came out into the long corridor, it seemed the knights had already swept through once, as there were bloodstains everywhere.

Lutis furrowed his brow at the sight reminiscent of an abandoned mansion that might have a ghost story or two.

“I heard from the report that a slave auction was in progress.”

“Yes. As you ordered, we dealt with those trying to escape, and those who surrendered are gathered over there.”

Lutis clicked his tongue as he surveyed the already dead bodies strewn about and spotted those huddled together trembling on one side.

He was speechless at the sight of them still clutching the number plates they had received for auction participation, apparently too panicked to let go.

Bang!

“Ah, kyaaah!”

When he fired an aura blast to split in half the number plate held by a former nobleman, the lady next to him screamed in surprise.

Instead of saying more, Lutis intended to leave the place.

Given the scale of the auction hall and the complex web-like paths, there was a risk of missing places during the search if not careful.

‘There was no such place during the last inspection before deployment…’

Just as he felt the need to find out who had carried out such a thing in their own front yard in the span of a few years.

“My lord, I think you should check this personally.”

“…What is it?”

The knight who stopped Lutis as he was about to head back to the corridor spoke while handing something over.

“We captured Baron Armando’s eldest daughter, but she was found in the room where slaves were kept, along with the organizer, so we suspect she was not an auction participant.”

“……”

“Also, this was found among the organizer’s possessions…”

Lutis paused as he received the item handed over by the knight.

“…Black magic.”

Unlike regular magic that draws in natural mana from the air, black magic draws in evil energy from the dead.

Because of this, the tainted mana’s aura can be felt just by being nearby, so those who used black magic were almost all caught.

Were there still people who had learned this practically extinct field of study?

Lutis narrowed his eyes and looked at the object in his hand.

It was a magic stone with tainted mana stored inside and inscribed with formulas so that even those unfamiliar with magic could use it.

“Yes, but the strange thing is… while the mana used and the formulas are certainly black magic, there is no aura emanating from it at all. The same goes for when magic is used.”

“……”

As Lutis slowly rolled the magic stone in his hand, he lowered his gaze.

There was a story he had heard in passing a very long time ago when he attended the academy.

[Hey Lutis, did you know? I know a way to use black magic without it being detected.] […What? You don’t mean…!] [Are you crazy? If I had used that, I would have already been expelled from my family and my head would be hanging at the imperial city gates.] [……] [Anyway.]

Saying that he had secretly overheard his older brother, who had captured black magic users, reporting to their father, and that he shouldn’t tell anyone.

Aeli had said.

[Apparently, if you engrave magic formulas on an object, store mana in it, and have it purified at a temple, you can use the magic but the aura disappears so it can’t be detected.]

The face saying those words had been smiling mischievously.