She had been out for less than five minutes.

It seemed like they only discussed work, yet the conclusion was still ambiguous.

‘Should I ask now?’

Just then, noisy footsteps echoed from beyond the stairs.

“Attack! Attack[dash]! Ah, it’s Aileen!”

Louis charged toward me with a toy sword.

Evan followed behind.

Seemingly embarrassed by his toy, Evan discreetly hid his toy shield behind his back.

“Hello, Aileen.”

“Ah, a familiar face!”

Compared to Evan, who greeted me, Louis was more focused on Freesia.

Freesia too locked eyes with the children.

“You must be Prince Lihart’s sons.”

“Yes, that’s right. Greet her, your highnesses. This is Princess Freesia of Laksha.”

As if knowing they were in the presence of an important guest, Louis and Evan courteously greeted her.

They looked very dignified as they timed their greetings.

“Hello, Princess! I’m Evan, and this is Louis.”

“What are you doing? Don’t mess around in front of guests!”

“Evan is no fun!”

…They soon reverted to their usual selves.

“You’re cute! Please call me Freesia. I look forward to getting along!”

Without bothering about formalities, Freesia blushed.

“To be friends with us, you have to differentiate between me and Evan!”

“I’ll try my best. You’ll have to forgive me a few times?”

Freesia was kind even to the children.

She was indeed the perfect partner for Kashar I had been looking for.

As I was struggling with an emotion I couldn’t understand,

Freesia’s blue eyes sparkled mysteriously.

“……You’re certainly of Lihart royalty.”

Those eyes seemed to peer into Louis and Evan’s souls.

“I want to go play now! Ugh!”

“Hey, stay there! See you later, Aileen!”

Louis thwacked Evan on the head with his sword, and the children disappeared down the hallway.

Freesia’s gaze followed them.

An excellent magician knows how to recognize hidden talent.

I urgently inquired about the children.

“Do you see something?”

“……I feel a great concentration of magical power. It’s behind a door that hasn’t opened yet. It could be very dangerous or very promising.”

Freesia was right.

In the original story, the point where the children died was around the middle.

Unable to control their magic due to a sudden burst of magical power, they battled Kashar.

Seizing the opportunity, Kashar kills Louis and Evan one after the other.

‘At least in this current future, Kashar won’t be killing them.’

As their guardian, there’s no reason to draw a sword against them.
So all that was left for me to do was to prevent Kashar from becoming the Demon King and instigating a continental war, I thought.

However.

‘It could be dangerous if magic isn’t controlled properly.’

Magic going haywire was indeed a grave matter for mages.

“Can you introduce someone who can teach magic to the young princes?”

“I’d like to teach you myself, but I’m too busy to give you detailed instruction.”

Regretfully, as if missing out on promising talents, Frigia couldn’t take her eyes off the children.

“So that’s how it is? Then we should look for someone else…”

“Do you really need to?”

“Pardon?”

“There’s a SemiNamed mage here in this castle.”

‘SemiNamed’ was a rank just below a famous mage.

Though not a complete Named, sometimes SemiNamed mages outperformed Named ones.

‘A secluded expert, perhaps?’

Typically, they were people who had little contact with the outside world and devoted themselves to their research.

It was hard to believe that there was a SemiNamed in this castle.

But soon enough, someone came to mind.

“Could you be referring to Lieutenant Mikhail Evans?”

“Yes, exactly!”

Frigia nodded her head.

Quickly lowering her voice, she then asked in a secretive manner,

“Do you know what his nickname is in the tower?”

“What, what is it?”

The Mikhail I had met was an extremely cold person and inscrutable.

‘He didn’t have a significant role in the original story, either.’

He appeared and died as Kashar’s lieutenant; that was the extent of his narrative.

Is he more terrifying than I thought?

I waited for Frigia’s words, fully tensed.

“The Gray Oddball.”

“Phew…!”

I barely managed to cover my mouth before bursting out.

‘Why do I feel like I knew that even before hearing it?’

It was a fitting nickname.

I suppressed my laughter and asked again.

“Why does he have such a nickname?”

“Because his lab was entirely gray. Well, that’s not uncommon in the tower, but… his lab exploded once.”

Many mages mess up their labs, so up to that point, it was acceptable.

The issue was the change in the tower after the explosion.

“The entire tower turned gray.”

“…Is that even possible?”

“It happened.”

Frigia chuckled as if amused.

The tower, carved from a huge ancient magic stone, was considered one of the most beautiful architectures on the continent.

‘It’s also quite sturdy.’

Nothing had ever changed it throughout history.

Until Mikhail made his mark.

“Do you know what he said to me afterward?”

It was a highly anticipated sequel.

“‘It’s quite beautiful.'”

Mikhail complimented the tower, which had turned gray.

The only way to restore the gray tower was to carve away the changed parts.

“Mikhail was expelled from the tower after coughing up the cleaning costs. Thankfully, the tower’s owner was furious enough to want to tear him to pieces.”

Rumors said that the tower’s surface was reduced by approximately 1 cm.

‘…He’s weirder than I thought, isn’t he?’

Beneath that icy face, Mikhail hid considerable quirks.

‘Should I entrust the children to him?’

A sudden sense of unease washed over me.

Just as I was pondering whether to ask for another recommendation, Mikhail stood behind Frigia.

“I wonder what conversation you’re having that’s so enjoyable.”

The Gray Oddball had arrived.