“Wh-what?”
Timid Anthony’s eyes trembled with fear. This wasn’t the Rowen who usually acted warm and friendly like the warm sun. The person before him was a knight brimming with murderous intent, looking ready to draw the sword at his waist at any moment.
“Nigel has disappeared. You think I don’t know what you Alchemy Department bastards have been gossiping about?”
Rowen grabbed Anthony by the collar and pulled him close. Their noses were now so close they almost touched. Rowen’s bright blue eyes burned hotter than any fire.
“If anything happens to Nigel… I’ll burn down this entire school if I have to, to find him. And whoever’s responsible, I’ll personally hand them over to the Imperial Court for trial.”
“I-I really don’t know anything! I swear!”
Anthony, held tightly by the collar, was nearly in tears. The students watching the two quietly whispered things like “Even Rowen Ashfield doesn’t know why His Highness the Crown Prince is absent” and “Right? Isn’t this really serious?”
Rowen glared at Anthony for a moment, then shoved him away roughly. Because of that, Anthony had no choice but to fall on his backside.
“…It’s true, Rowen. I don’t know about the other guys, but would I dare harm Lord Nigel?”
Even from his fallen position, Anthony defended himself. Because Rowen had rushed at him so terrifyingly, it was difficult to speak confidently even though he was truly innocent.
“If you, or any of you Alchemy Department bastards, have pulled even the slightest trick…”
Rowen bent down slightly and whispered while glaring at Anthony.
“You’d better be prepared. My patience only goes this far.”
With those final words, Rowen turned around without hesitation.
Dong——
Only then did the bell signaling the start of class ring through the corridor, but Rowen’s steps were heading in the opposite direction from the classroom.
‘Where should I search? The Student Council room? No. When I went this morning, no one knew anything about Nigel’s whereabouts.’
He was walking up the S-shaped staircase in the main building.
Rowen was planning to visit either Headmaster Silvanus’s office or the Administration Department that managed the academy. If this was truly a dangerous situation, it wasn’t the time to sit still and wait.
That’s when it happened.
“Oh? Who do we have here?”
An unbearably arrogant voice came from the opposite direction. Loosened tie and bright red hair rarely seen in the Empire. It was Veil Khalid.
He too must have heard the bell, but as if classes meant nothing to him, he was walking leisurely with a sandwich in hand.
“Khalid.”
The relationship between Rowen Ashfield and Veil Khalid actually wasn’t that bad. This was partly because Veil Khalid only kept Nigel in check and didn’t try to actively enter into a close relationship.
Basically, the two maintained courtesy as long as each protected what the other considered important, and they tacitly acknowledged each other. Whether it was swordsmanship or magic, it meant they understood each other’s domains.
But the current Rowen was too busy to respect that.
“Going to the Administration Office? Did a frog get into your dormitory too?”
At Khalid’s words, Rowen’s head whipped around.
“…What?”
A frog? The memory from this morning flashed through Rowen’s mind. That very creature he’d discovered in Nigel’s room, brought to his own room, and left trapped in a glass cup. Come to think of it, why was there a frog in Nigel’s room?
“When I explained it to Duffy at the Administration Office, he threw a fit saying the academy’s barrier couldn’t possibly let such creatures through. The maids even handed these out, saying they were trying to calm people down.”
Saying “these,” Khalid waved the sandwich in his hand once. So that’s why he had a sandwich.
Anyway, this wasn’t what mattered.
“…Nigel was absent from class today.”
After saying that, Rowen moved his steps toward the upper floor where the Administration Office was located.
“So I’m going to ask the Administration Office.”
He had climbed a few steps of the staircase landing when Veil Khalid, whom he thought he’d passed, stuck his head out from the lower floor and asked.
“Say that again. ‘That’ Nigel was absent? Really?”
Veil’s face as he asked showed none of his usual cockiness.
“I don’t have time to deal with you, Khalid. If you’re curious, go check for yourself.”
Rowen answered curtly, but Khalid immediately followed quickly up the stairs.
“I’ll go with you. I needed an excuse to skip class anyway, so this works out.”
Khalid lightly ignored Rowen’s dismissal and stuck to his side. Rowen, not having the energy to argue with him, shrugged as if to say suit yourself.
Well, two people would be better than one for finding someone. There was no need to refuse Veil Khalid’s connections or abilities.
And so the search began.
Naturally, the academy’s administrative department knew absolutely nothing about Nigel’s absence. With those disappointing results in hand, the two thoroughly combed through the academy’s vast campus.
Veil Khalid first used a tracking spell to find Nigel, but there was no response. Rowen checked the results as if he’d expected as much, then started moving on his own.
They thoroughly searched the deepest rare book corner of the Central Library that Nigel frequented, the rooftop of the deserted annex, and even the forest behind the training grounds that he would never visit, saying he hated dirty places.
But the Crown Prince was nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, time passed quickly. The sun that had been floating in the center of the sky tilted westward, casting long, dark shadows over the academy’s pure white marble buildings.
“…Haah, he’s really not here. Just like my tracking spell showed! While we’re on the subject, why didn’t you believe it?”
Khalid grumbled while wiping the sweat from his forehead. At first, he’d thought of it as just an interesting treasure hunt, but as time passed, the laughter gradually disappeared from his face too.
“Rowen, I think we have to admit it at this point. The Crown Prince isn’t anywhere in this academy right now.”
“……”
Rowen didn’t answer. He was sitting on a bench, gasping for breath. His clenched palms bore deep nail marks that were bleeding, but he didn’t even feel the pain.
His anxiety had now transformed into fear approaching certainty. Nigel hadn’t disappeared on his own. Something had definitely happened.
If he wasn’t inside the academy, then outside? Then kidnapping? Or had he been in an accident? All sorts of terrible imaginings were gnawing at his mind.
Before he knew it, dusk had settled, and one by one, magic lamps began to light up across the campus. The school, with all classes finished, was eerily quiet.
“…The dormitory.”
Rowen muttered in a cracked voice.
“What?”
“I need to go back to the dormitory. Maybe he came back while I was out.”
“……”
Khalid stared quietly at Rowen’s desperate expression. Unlike his usual slick attitude, his amber eyes were shining calmly, as if understanding Rowen’s feelings.
“Alright, go. I’ll check the Administration Office. If something happened, it’s Duffy’s fault anyway. He should at least give us the barrier records.”
It was an unexpected offer. When Rowen looked at him with surprised eyes, Khalid waved his hand as if it were nothing and disappeared in the opposite direction.
* * *
Click.
Nigel’s room was submerged in pitch-black darkness. As expected, no one was there. He had searched for him all day, but he hadn’t returned. Rowen pressed the switch by the door with a just-in-case feeling.
“…Nigel? Are you here?”
There was no answer. The room was exactly as it had been when he’d visited that morning, suffocatingly quiet. Looking at the empty bed sheet made him feel dizzy.
That’s when it happened.
In the middle of the white bed sheet, something incongruous caught his eye.
A vivid red color he hadn’t seen in the morning.
What is that?
Rowen approached it as if entranced. There sat a fist-sized frog, crouched obediently. It was the very creature Rowen had trapped inside a glass cup that morning.
“Why are you here…?”
No, more than that, what’s with that ribbon? A ribbon tied around the frog’s body like someone’s prank sat cutely. As if it were a gift.
Rowen called out to the frog waiting on Nigel’s bed.
“…You.”
At that voice, he saw the frog’s large closed eyes slowly open. It looked like it had been sleeping like that for a while. Its tiny pupils moved and met his gaze in mid-air.
Rowen’s eyes widened.
As soon as the frog saw Rowen, as if it had been waiting, it croaked softly and hopped toward him. As if it had been waiting for him for a long time.
In that moment, an indescribable emotion welled up from deep within Rowen’s chest. Whether it was relief, helplessness, or compassion for this small creature, he couldn’t tell.
But one thing was certain. Right now, in this empty room, the only living thing was this creature.
Rowen sat down by the bedside and stroked the frog with trembling hands. Its damp, small body fit right into his palm.
“…Were you alone?”
Croak, a small sound flowed from within the creature’s body.
“Let’s go, it’s too cold here.”
Rowen placed the frog deep inside his shirt and slowly walked toward his own room.
Thump, thump. Through the thin shirt, he could hear a regular heartbeat. Nigel, who had been trembling all day on the cold floor in fear, unconsciously curled his body toward that rough yet warm heat.
It was strange. Within the common sense he knew, human body temperature could be dangerously high for a frog, yet the moment Rowen’s warmth touched him, he wanted to cling to it as if only that could save him.
For some reason, it seemed he couldn’t leave this creature alone. That was true not only for Rowen, but also for Nigel, held in his embrace.
