Snow dyed the garden white.
The cold air could not enter the room that was lit by the gently dancing flames in the fireplace.
I am the type that likes the feeling of cold that cuts into your body, but my health is not good enough to be exposed to that.
It has already been two months of not being able to leave this room, the change of the scenery outside reminds me of the flow of time.
Even though I need to show my face in high society already, my body cannot keep up.
As I sighed and rubbed the fogged up window with a finger, I noticed the reflection of my servant opening the door with an unhappy expression.

“Origa-sama. How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. What is it?”
“Someone is here to visit you…”

Keika courteously turns away those that barge in, claiming to be visiting, so it is probably someone that she cannot refuse on her own as a servant.
I usually find her actions overprotective, but recently, I am thankful for that.
A gloomy depressed mood that you can’t change makes you unable to think properly and your mana becomes unstable.
n.o.body knows what can cause me to lose control over my magic.
Right now, I need rest.

“I see. I am sorry, but tell them I am not a state where I can meet them right now.”
“But it is……it is the son of Harvester-sama.”

Hearing the name of an unexpected visitor, my expression tensed a little.

“My apologies for this appearance.”
“No. It is I who am sorry for visiting so suddenly.”

After cleaning up the room a little and letting Atlas into the study, he handed over a bouquet as a gift.
The small bouquet centered around flowers that only bloom at the beginning of spring is a colourful one that let’s you forget that it is winter right now.
Since he is able to make any bouquet for a gift as long as he has the seeds, regardless of season, he should not have trouble courting any woman, thinking those bland thoughts, I stared at the bouquet that had been made with magic.
After all, although I have heard that unlike the Rujils, they are mainly dispatched to deal with natural disasters or agriculture related things, this is the first time I have actually seen their magic used this way.
When I conveyed my feelings of surprise and that I was impressed by the clan of wood, he bluntly responded that that is their main business.

“Are you unwell?”
“I still am, my body could not keep up when I used that much magic at once……was Atlas-sama alright?”

Did I hit the mark? Atlas scrunched his brows together and fell silent sullenly, that made me laugh a little.
Since I made him use wood magic, which is said to be a few times harder to control than fire magic, that recklessly, he probably could not even stand up for a while.
I thanked him without specifying for what and asked him to take a seat, then asked Keika to prepare tea.
There was only the sound of hot water being poured into the teapot as the soft fragrance filled the air.
Sitting opposite him, I quietly stared at him, waiting for him to speak first as he moved his gaze about, seeming to be hesitating over something.

I did not even think of asking what his reason was for the visit.
A ma.s.s of justice, the friend of the hero, the future leader of a clan of magicians.
There is no way someone with that setting would not have certain thoughts after seeing that battlefield. There is no way he did not notice.
It is exactly because he had proof of those suspicions that he visited me.

——but, originally, this was something they noticed, much later.

In the original story, this battle did not happen.
And at this stage, there were no magicians that had been sacrificed.
That is why they only noticed it when the story reached the final stage.
I only interfered with Gil-sama and the timing of Origa’s succession, there should not have been affects in other countries.
Yet, the developments have sped up, I cannot understand it, it makes me feel a chill go down my back.
Could I have, made a mistake somewhere?

“In that fortress, the number of corpses of magicians was too high.”

The first thing he spat out with dark eyes was the expected facts.
The magicians from our country that should have died in the fortress and the number of enemy magicians I burned.
The meaning of there being more magician corpses than that, is a dangerous one for the future of magicians.

“They were probably slaves with the apt.i.tude. They were not from our country. They were probably sent to that fortress by their country. Just that.”

Ah, but. There is nothing to be feared.
The main characters noticing this is also according to the original story.
It is just that the timing was brought forward.
That must be it.

“Without restraining circles, magicians cannot be captured by normal humans, and restraining circles meant for magicians have only been researched in our country. ……we are also looking into the same thing as Atlas-sama.”

He looked up with a tense look, his black eyes catching my gaze.
Those eyes are still filled with the brightness and confusion of growth, the difference with the impression of ‘him’ I have seen before is confusing.
‘His’ eyes when he looked at me, should have been filled with more suspicion and hatred.
Has Atlas also gotten too close to me, the irregular?

“Did you know?”
“Of course not. But.”

If I had known, I would have forced myself to defend the fortress before it fell.
But the world is moving faster than expected.
I do not know the details of the world’s movements that could not be seen from the hero’s side, but I know that it is squirming with conspiracies.
Even if the shadows are peeking out a lot earlier than in the original story, since a fortress with magicians fell in just a day, it can only be that flow of events.

“We should judge that the enemy has conducted research that renders magicians powerless and it has shown a certain amount of results on that battlefield.”

The silence that fell in the room, was too heavy.

“Keika, more tea please.”

While I was resting, I had Keika advance the investigation, so she also roughly knows what is going on.
But I cannot let her hear this, even if she is ‘Origa’s’ servant.
Keika seemed to narrow her brows a little, but she left the room with a proper bow.
Feeling the flickering of her mana recede, I muttered softly.

“It was one day until I was thrown into the battlefield. Even if they rushed to respond, they could not have fully pulled out the experiment results. I do not know how much information got through, but I did what I could.”

The result was that I lost the initiative, but I burned away everything there.
Even if the spies hidden among us moved after we secure the place, the remaining experiment data should not have gotten through to the enemy country.

“……why didn’t you report this?”
“Because I do not know who is a traitor. Atlas-sama should have noticed too.”

The face reflected in the water in my cup, is still the young, undependable face of a child——who wouldn’t make light of a child that has not even become twelve yet?
A child is the head of a clan of magic, the strongest protector of this country and the symbol of magicians.
——I might be the reasons developments sped up.

“Both you and I have been put under surveillance. But I do not know who they belong to, so I cannot carelessly lay a hand on them……but it is most likely someone of quite a high position.”

Is it exactly because Origa succeeded as head at the age of fifteen that those magicians did not die in the original story?
Is my delaying of the report right now also going to connect to someone’s death?
My trembling hand shook the water surface and erased ‘Origa’s’ uneasy expression.

“If magic is sealed, then this country will be destroyed. What are those idiots thinking…!”

Atlas’s low voice as he growled in anger signaled that the ‘story’ has begun moving on a large scale.
The world has finally, finally, moved.

Centered around magicians, a standard hero’s story. A story centered around the future of the kingdom and magicians.
That is why I am not the one that will resolve this conspiracy.
From now on, is the main characters’ story.
But I can lend them a hand just a little.
This can be the last time, after this I can just stop having anything to do with Atlas. That way, he will definitely suffer less.

“About a year ago, the Vasilis company started up. Based on the numbers, their movements are sound, but the n.o.bles they are involved with are a little suspicious. I think this itself is a dummy……but could I have you investigate it?”
“If father or you moved openly, the dummy along with all the evidence will be destroyed?”
“Yes. And there is not many people that I can ask.”

When I handed over the doc.u.ments I had gathered, the will lighting his dark eyes fixed onto me, trying to discern my true intentions.
They, who can cut open their path with believes, who can walk the righteous path, cannot understand.
That openness overlapped with Gil-sama and while recognising in a corner of my head the muddy emotion that was born in my heart, I stuck on a fake smile.

“In this situation, the only one I can rely on is you.”
“The Rujils.”
“……no idea. We are a clan that shifts as power moves. The situation would change just with a candidate. Just how many years can I stay as the head?”

Keika is a good example.
She does not believe in me, she is simply drawn by my power.
That is why she betrayed father and followed me.
I also depend on her but I do not trust her——after all, she is a character that did not come up in the light novel.
A character that did not move for Gil-sama in the original story cannot be trusted.
Even if that is someone who vowed lifelong loyalty to ‘me’.

“……please rest a.s.sured. I will take responsibility to investigate and deal with what the enemy is researching. Can I leave the traitors to the Harvester clan?”
“——understood. I’ll report to father too.”

Even while he is slightly confused when I forcefully cut off the topic, since hearing the answer I wanted, I closed my eyes.