44.
“Lexion!”
Philomel called out, her voice bright with delight.
“I saw you just the day before yesterday, but it feels like it’s been forever. It’s good to see you, Phil.”
Lexion replied, his eyes crinkling. But he wasn’t alone.
“Wow! So you’re Philomel?”
A brown-haired man bustled over, trailing behind him.
“And who might this be…?”
Philomel asked, her expression guarded.
“Nice to meet you! My name is Cadin! I’m your eldest brother! Well, if we’re being precise, Lexion is the eldest, but you can just think of me as the eldest! I’m the most reliable among my brothers! Wow, this feels like a dream! I’ve been praying for a little sister since I was a boy, and my wish has finally come true!”
The man introduced himself as Cadin, spinning around Philomel while spilling words at a dizzying pace. His green eyes sparkled with frantic energy.
“……Haha. It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Faced with this sudden quartet of wealthy, powerful men, Philomel offered the only polite response she could muster.
Eventually, with Lexion and Cadin added to the group, five people sat around the table under the canopy.
“So, what brings all of you here?”
“Didn’t Leguin tell you?”
“What do you expect? He always leaves out the important details.”
“That’s true.”
Listening to the exchange, it seemed Leguin held little trust among his three sons.
The untrusted father spoke up.
“Quiet. Introduce yourselves to Phil first. You’re all equally insolent, so it’s hard to tell who is who.”
“Shall we?”
As long as one had eyes, it seemed unlikely they would confuse these distinctive brothers.
Lexion took the lead. He pulled something from his pocket and handed it to Philomel.
“We’ve already exchanged names, but I am Lexion. I work in the Magic Tool Management Department at the Magic Tower. Here is my business card.”
“Ah, thank you.”
On the small slip of paper, beneath Lexion’s name, was the title: ‘Tower Master’s Secretary and Chief Mage of the Magic Tool Management Department.’
Cadin followed.
“I’m Cadin! If you’re comfortable with it, I’d like you to call me ‘Oppa’!”
“……I’ll try.”
Philomel replied, her tone lukewarm.
“You idiot. Give your introduction, not your wishlist.”
Jeremiah clicked his tongue from the side.
Cadin laughed good-naturedly and added, “I’m the second of the brothers. For your information, this grumpy guy is my younger brother, Jeremiah. His personality isn’t great, but if you get to know him, he actually has a surprisingly kind side… Argh!”
Jeremiah stomped firmly on Cadin’s foot, bringing the long-winded introduction to a sharp end.
Finally, Jeremiah spoke with clipped precision.
“As you heard, I’m Jeremiah.”
Once the introductions were done, Philomel asked the question that had been burning in her mind.
“So, why are you three here? And how did you even get into the Maze Garden?”
Lexion answered for them.
“To answer that, we just climbed over the wall like normal people.”
“……Excuse me?”
That was not, by any definition, normal.
The maze wall, made of thick, dense shrubbery, was two heads taller than an adult man. Even with high physical ability, no sane person would dream of scaling it.
‘Besides, this is the Imperial Garden.’
Was there a funeral planned for trespassers?
Lexion continued, unbothered.
“As for our purpose for coming to the Imperial Palace…… let’s just say we’ve applied to become Court Mages.”
“Court Mages, you say…….”
Her earlier conversation with Nasar flashed through Philomel’s mind. He had mentioned accompanying three mages who intended to apply for the position. The number matched perfectly.
No…….
‘It wasn’t a coincidence.’
The mages who had accompanied Nasar to the capital were these three.
“Originally, all of us planned to apply, but Jeremiah insisted he didn’t want to.”
“Why would I do such a thing? I didn’t want to come here in the first place. When I returned to the Magic Tower for an ‘emergency,’ I was just dragged here against my will.”
At Jeremiah’s grumbling, Cadin slammed the table.
“A little sister! Has appeared! If that’s not an emergency, what is? It’s been my dream since forever to have a little sister! That’s why I rushed over while I was in the middle of beating up a Great Wyvern, and I have no regrets at all!”
Leguin covered his ears.
“Ugh, so noisy. Someone keep him quiet.”
“It’s impossible to do it voluntarily,” Lexion replied nonchalantly. “Otherwise, the soundproofing walls of the Magic Tower wouldn’t have needed such extensive reinforcement.”
*Whoosh!*
Cadin finally stopped talking when a burst of light from Leguin’s hand struck him squarely in the mouth.
“Quiet at last.”
“Mmph, mmph.”
Bound by ropes of light, Cadin rolled on the floor, whimpering.
Jeremiah looked down at his older brother with cold, pathetic eyes.
“Lexion. So, how did the interview go?”
“I, of course, passed. Cadin barely scraped by.”
“To pass that idiot, those Court Mages must have gone blind.”
“I honestly thought he would fail when he grabbed the interviewer by the collar. Fortunately, the qualifications required for those in charge of Communication Stones are quite low.”
“A son and student of the Tower Master doing nothing but supplying magic to Communication Stones. If this gets out, Leguin’s reputation will hit rock bottom.”
“It’s already there—is there anywhere left to fall?”
*Whoosh!*
“That’s funny. Tell me more.”
As the same rays of light flickered from Leguin’s hand, both brothers clamped their mouths shut.
Philomel felt a surge of confusion.
It was hard to believe they had come all this way simply to take jobs at the Imperial Palace.
“……Anyway, congratulations on achieving what you wanted. It’s nice for me to see all three of your faces, too.”
Philomel suppressed her chaotic thoughts and offered the empty pleasantry.
Lexion replied casually.
“We’ve certainly achieved our initial goal now that we’ve seen you, Phil. We became Court Mages just for that.”
“Mmph, mmph, mmph!”
Cadin, still rolling on the floor, managed to crawl over and nod in vigorous agreement.
“Pardon? Wait a minute. What does meeting me have to do with becoming Court Mages?”
“It stems from a small misunderstanding,” Lexion explained, not bothering to look at Cadin. “When we heard the rumor that you had been caught by the Security Force and dragged to the capital, we assumed you had been arrested as a criminal with no way out.”
“Mmph!”
“Leguin-nim went ahead, but because of the barrier, we couldn’t use Movement Magic to get in. Posing as applicants was our only way to gain entry.”
“How troublesome. You could have just left it to Leguin.”
“Can you trust Leguin-nim enough to send him alone into the heart of the Empire?”
After addressing Jeremiah’s complaint, Lexion continued.
“And this morning, through Leguin-nim’s Communication Stone, we learned you weren’t in a prison cell and were doing fine. It was a bit different from our expectations, but since we had come this far, we decided to take the interview anyway.”
Philomel listened quietly before raising a question.
“You could have just requested an audience to meet me.”
Thinking of Nasar’s visit, it wasn’t as if she were strictly prohibited from seeing outsiders.
Lexion laughed softly, holding up two fingers.
“There are two reasons we specifically wanted to become Court Mages.”
“What are they?”
“We considered two scenarios. First, if you wanted to leave this place but couldn’t, being an insider would make it easier to get you out.”
“And the second?”
“It’s if you wish to remain here of your own volition. Since the Imperial Palace isn’t a place one can enter or leave as one pleases, only by becoming Court Mages can we see you often and spend time with you.”
“Mmph!”
“It seems Cadin feels the same way.”
Watching their smiling faces, Philomel was stunned.
She couldn’t grasp why they would go to such lengths for such trivial reasons. Even though they were siblings, they had only known each other for a few days. She had been meeting Cadin for the very first time.
“What were you planning to do if I had said I wanted to go to the Magic Tower immediately?”
Philomel asked, her voice trembling.
“Well, I suppose I would have had to submit my resignation one day after getting the job.”
The dream workplace that so many mages envied suddenly looked entirely different in her eyes.