“What exactly is that place? There were no signs that anyone had lived there in a long time.”

“A mage’s workshop.”

“Hm... I figured just in case, so I brought back everything that looked important.”

After nodding at the grimoire she had commissioned, Camilla turned her head toward the pile of scattered items beside it.

What caught her eye in particular was the wide assortment of accessories. There were also several notebooks that looked like research journals.

“How did you know where it was?”

“I heard.” 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“From who?”

It was in the mountains. Deep in the mountains, where no one ever went.

How had Camilla known about a place protected by magic meant to keep outsiders from intruding and told him to go there?

She had even explained in detail how to break the magic at the entrance.

“Did the dead tell you about this too?”

There was only one possible answer to that question.

“Yeah.”

Jayner asked in a voice full of curiosity, and Camilla answered as if it were nothing. Then she carefully inspected the items he had brought back one by one.

Since they were things Jishua had touched, there were surely magical measures placed on them...

“The person who asked you to find this, who are they? The real owner of these things?”

“Yeah.”

Since Camilla knew nothing at all about that sort of field, there was no way for her to tell what was what.

As she rummaged through Jishua’s belongings with an intrigued expression, something caught her eye. It was a bracelet with strange writing densely inscribed along the inside.

What kind of magic was on it?

I should ask Jishua directly.

Slide.

“...?”

Camilla had been turning over a rather pretty bracelet in her hands when she flinched at Jayner suddenly leaning in close, bringing his face right toward hers.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re cruel.”

“How?”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Can’t you at least look me in the eye while you talk to me?”

“......”

There it was again, that expression.

And he’s supposed to be the head of an assassin guild.

How could his smiling eyes be that cheap?

At Jayner, who smiled with the corners of his eyes folding so prettily, Camilla let out a short sigh.

“Anyway, good work.”

“Only with words?”

“I paid the commission fee, didn’t I? Why do you keep acting like I made you work for free every time? It’s enough to piss off the person who paid!”

At her fierce glare, Jayner burst out laughing.

Camilla stared at him as if dumbfounded, then in the end, a faint smile rose at the corner of her own mouth as well.

“Dive’s doing well, right?”

“Of course.”

After asking after Dive, who had returned to the Gracia Empire not long ago, she pulled something out from the desk drawer.

“Give this to the Duke of Esclara.”

“To Father?”

“I found it while sorting through Mother’s things.”

It was a small portrait of a young Ravi and their mother, Tia, sitting together.

Jayner looked at it quietly for a moment, then nodded without saying anything in particular. He carefully tucked the portrait away inside his coat, then dragged the corners of his mouth down with all his strength.

“What a shame.”

“What is?”

“I wanted to see it too. What you looked like as a child.”

Jayner, who had known that Camilla had been turned back into the body of a four-year-old by magic, was genuinely disappointed that he had not gotten to see it with his own eyes.

“Don’t you have any portraits of yourself as a child?”

“...Nothing like that exists.”

“You should’ve at least recorded some video when you got younger this time.”

“I said nothing like that exists!”

Elisha and Lila had taken an absurd amount of video, but she had no intention whatsoever of telling Jayner that.

“Any plans to cast that magic again?”

“Could you get out?”

Giggling at Camilla’s order to leave, Jayner said they would meet again next time and quickly vanished.

“I hope he at least hands over the portrait properly.”

Looking at the spot where Jayner had disappeared, Camilla clicked her tongue lightly.

She did not know how much that small portrait would help the Duke of Esclara, but it was better than nothing, at least.

Mother’s portrait?

“Yes.”

Do you really think memories I forgot for so many years would come back because of nothing more than a portrait?

Some things have been coming back to me lately. Faintly.

...Old memories?

Yes.

...All right. I’ll look for it.

Ever since learning about Camilla’s existence, he had kept thinking about the memories he had lost, and lately, vague fragments had been brushing past his mind from time to time.

Since he had said it might help if there were some sort of trigger, she had decided to send the portrait before anything else.

“Come to think of it, did he go there again?”

As Camilla gathered up the things Jayner had brought, she realized Jishua had been nowhere in sight for a while and got to her feet.

*****

Knock knock.

“Brother, what are you doing?”

“Hey! I told you not to come in here!”

The moment Camilla arrived at Ravi’s workshop, she was greeted by his full-volume shout.

Maybe because of what had happened last time when she broke the mana stone, Ravi had laid down a strict order that she was not to set foot in his workshop ever again.

What a petty bastard.

I felt bad about that and made sure to give you top-grade mana stones in abundance.

Do you even know how rare and expensive those are? The kind of thing that costs whatever the seller wants to charge!

“So I’m really leaving?”

The corners of Camilla’s eyes drooped at once, all the sulkiness on her face vanishing.

“So I’m not allowed to come see my brother anymore?”

“W-What?”

The pitiful look in her eyes was a bonus. If she bit her lip just a little at a moment like this, even better.

Crying openly would have the opposite effect. Eyes just damp enough to make her look like an abandoned puppy—that level was perfect.

“Hey! W-When did I say you couldn’t come see me? I only said don’t come into the workshop!”

And just like that, she got an immediate reaction. Ravi, who had been yelling savagely just moments ago, was suddenly flustered and at a loss.

“...You’re already here, so come in.”

“Okay.”

Seeing him subtly watching her, like he was wondering whether she had really been hurt, Camilla laughed inwardly.

This is worrying.

How is our brother ever going to survive when he’s this easy to fool?

How do you fall for my acting every single time?

He was secretly kind of dumb in all the wrong ways.

“What’s all that?”

A little later, Ravi showed interest in the things Camilla was setting down on the table one by one. Why were there so many boxes?

“I went through great trouble to get them for you, Brother.”

“For me? What are they?”

[What? You already went and found them?]

Jishua, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly cut into the conversation in a hurry.

Knew it. He was here after all.

Ever since she had let him into the house, he had barely left Ravi’s side. Apparently he wanted to see what kind of magic mages these days studied and researched.

“This, this too... They’re all magic items?”

Ravi’s eyes widened the moment he opened the first box.

He recognized the magic formulas engraved into the bracelet and necklace at a glance, and he could not hide the curiosity in his eyes.

“Where did all of this come from?”

“This? I just happened to pick it u—”

“Don’t start with that nonsense about just happening to pick it up on the way.”

“...A mage who died a long time ago came to me and passed them on.”

“A... who?”

“A dead mage.”

“......”

Thunk.

The moment he heard that the items had come through a ghost, Ravi dropped what he was holding to the floor with a shocked look on his face.

What was wrong with him? She had told him the truth exactly as it was.

“A d-dead person gave them to you?”

“Yeah.”

“Y-You...!”

“Why? Don’t want them? Not going to take them? Then I’ll give them to someone else.”

[What are you talking about?!]

As Camilla tossed out the words the same way she always teased him, she looked straight at Jishua, who reacted before Ravi did.

[Giving them to someone else? Do you have any idea what these—!]

At Camilla’s narrowed stare, he froze for a moment, then seemed to realize his mistake and hurriedly turned his head away with an awkward expression.

He’s making it so obvious.

What was she supposed to do when he reacted that seriously to the idea of the grimoire and magical items going to someone other than Ravi?

It was impossible to pretend not to notice, even if she wanted to.

“Open that box too.”

Ignoring him for the moment, Camilla pushed another box toward Ravi.

Ravi still wore a dubious look, but he must have been too curious about what was inside, because he reached for it right away.

“This...”

“It’s a grimoire.”

“It looks pretty old.”

As though he could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary object, Ravi’s eyes shone, all sign that he had been scared gone in an instant.

“They say it’s the black dragon’s grimoire.”

“Yeah, just looking at it, it definitely seems incredibly ama—! What?”

“What?”

“You, you! What did you just say?”

“They said it’s the final grimoire left behind by Verkros.”

At those words, Ravi’s mouth dropped open, and he nearly let the grimoire in his hands fall to the floor.

Then, startled by his own movement as if his senses had finally returned, he hurriedly clutched the grimoire tight to his chest, like he had almost dropped something priceless.

“Th-This is the black dragon’s grimoire?”

“Yeah.”

“V-Verkros?”

“Yeah.”

Ravi’s eyes shook over and over, full of disbelief.