Elijah couldn’t see the drawing Iris held out to him. Instead, Rose, who was beside Elijah, reacted to the drawing.
“It’s pretty. What’s this in the middle? Dew?”
“I don’t know, we’ll have to see it in person to know, right? The chain is silver and the pendant is blue.”
With Elijah remaining silent in the middle the whole time, Rose and Iris exchanged words.
“It must be a jewel. It’s really pretty. Let me see it too when you bring it back.”
“Rose likes shiny things? That’s so like you. But I don’t know if Master will allow it. Since it’s a Holy Relic.”
“What’s a Holy Relic?”
“I don’t really know either… Just that it’s a really dangerous object. Elijah, you know what a Holy Relic is, right? You’re the smartest among us.”
“……”
Following Iris’s question, silence fell among the three.
“Elijah…?”
Rose tilted her head and met Elijah’s eyes. Only then did Elijah’s gaze, which had been frozen in midair, slowly move to reach Rose.
“……I don’t want to be apart.”
He suddenly opened his mouth. His unfiltered feelings tumbled out roughly.
“I’m anxious.”
Iris, who was listening, giggled as if it was absurd.
“Elijah, is Rose really your princess or something? Don’t worry so much. Even though Igrit is a bit annoying, he’s not that bad of a kid. Plus Daisy and Clover will be there with him too.”
Iris’s words provided no comfort to Elijah whatsoever. He silently looked at Rose, who was gazing at him. Iris soon mixed in with the other peers and checked the things they had to do today.
“Elijah, don’t worry. I can wait quietly and well.”
“You might be able to, but Igrit won’t. He deliberately brought you here today to bother you too. That kid is mean.”
“It’s okay. I’m meaner.”
At the absurd words, Elijah furrowed his brow and let out a hollow laugh.
“Ah, you smiled.”
Rose stroked the corners of his eyes and lifted the corners of her mouth.
“Smile more, Elijah. When you smile, I feel good too. Okay?”
Soft fingertips gently rubbed his furrowed brow. Eventually Elijah relaxed his expression. Only then did Rose smile contentedly. Between the black curly hair, the rounded curved eyes tickled a corner of his heart for no reason.
“You’re pretty, Elijah.”
Who exactly was calling whom pretty… Pretty people must see everything as pretty. Elijah was certain that even if you brought any jewel or flower, it would be less pretty than Rose.
My princess, the most beautiful and pretty in the world.
Rose truly suited the title of princess better than anyone. In comparison, he was neither a prince nor a knight, but still, someday he wanted to protect Rose perfectly from all the dangers in the world.
“We’ve arrived.”
The cargo wagon carrying the children stopped. Iris, who had lifted the tarp of the cargo area, got off first. The street was still quiet. Elijah reluctantly got off the wagon following Iris and looked up at Rose.
“See you later, Elijah.”
Rose smiled and waved. The tarp came down. Elijah watched the slowly departing wagon for a long time.
It felt empty, as if a corner of his heart had been torn away.
* * *
Iris, wearing her cloak hood pulled down, turned around to check on Elijah. Following behind him, Elijah pulled his hood down deep and pulled up the mask covering his lower face up to above his nose. White breath dispersed between the thick mask.
“Look over there, there’s someone inside.”
Iris, standing at the corner of the alley, pointed somewhere. It was the inn where today’s target was staying. Of the windows on the second floor, only one window was covered with curtains.
“Let’s go in.”
Now that they’d confirmed the target, there was no reason to delay further. Elijah wanted to carry out the mission as quickly as possible, even if just by a second, and return to Rose.
“Welcome.”
As they entered the inn, the owner who had been dozing with his chin propped up stood and approached.
“Um… You look quite young, did a guardian accompany you?”
He tilted his head and examined the two people’s faces. However, covered by hoods and masks, only their eyes could barely be seen.
“We have an appointment with a guest staying here.”
“A guest, which one?”
The two already knew that there was currently only one team of guests at this inn. They were also aware that this was a question the owner deliberately asked to verify the truth of their words.
“We’ve come to see Leo Artes.”
Iris, having said the name Jade had told them in advance, pointed upward and asked.
“He’s inside right now, isn’t he?”
“Yes, that’s right. Go on up.”
Elijah and Iris quietly climbed the stairs. Master had said that in the guest room, including Leo Artes, there would be a total of three people. They were criminals who stole precious Holy Relics from the Magic Tower and engaged in secret dealings with black magic groups.
Iris handed Elijah a pair of black leather gloves. The gloves were a type of magic tool, protective equipment that must be worn when touching a Holy Relic, she had said.
A locking spell was cast on the guest room door. Strangely enough, these criminals always put locking spells with specific patterns engraved on them and were vigilant about their surroundings, which Elijah found both funny and strange.
“A thief’s feet give him away”—this must be what that saying refers to. Well, there was no way those who stole Holy Relics could comfortably stretch out their legs and sleep in an inn in the middle of the city like this.
The hand wearing the oversized gloves pressed firmly on the door. Light creeping out from Elijah’s hand completely covered the guest room door. With a crumbling sound, from inside the door that collapsed like sand in an instant, three men jumped to their feet.
“You, you bastards what…!”
They couldn’t finish their words. Because simultaneously with Elijah releasing the locking spell, Iris’s golden word incantation that was cast blocked their mouths.
“Mmph, mmmm, mmph, mmph!”
Master had said that when infiltrating, the most important thing is to block the opponent’s mouth. Making it so they can’t even open their mouths is the very first thing, restraining their limbs is next.
Vines made of flash of light extended in an instant from beneath Elijah’s feet. With both feet and hands bound together, they fell forward onto the floor with a crash and groaned.
From Elijah and Iris opening the door to restraining the limbs of the three people—it didn’t even take 3 seconds. It was a coordination perfected through countless training sessions.
Elijah, who had mounted one of them, unfastened the other person’s front collar. Since they said it was a necklace, he’d be wearing it around his neck—it was an action stemming from that simple thought.
A navy blue cloak without a speck of dust came into his view. Even Elijah, who only knew about worldly matters to the extent Master had taught him, could recognize that the cloak was very fine clothing.
For a criminal group, why are they always able to wear such nice clothes, he wondered. People who do bad things should be impoverished by all rights, yet not a single one of the accessories on their hands or their clothing looked impoverished at all.
“Found it.”
Iris held up the necklace toward Elijah. The water drop-shaped pendant swaying under his hand was exactly the same shape as what they’d seen in the drawing. It didn’t look pretty enough to satisfy Rose’s expectations.
“If you found it, let’s go.”
Elijah stood up without lingering attachment.
“Wait!”
At that moment, the old man pinned under Iris opened his mouth. Iris was flustered. It was because no one had ever broken his golden word spell until now.
“You bastards, you’re Jade Ilisian’s disciples, aren’t you?”
It was the moment he was about to block the old man’s mouth again.
“I know Jade’s magic well, I was that guy’s classmate!”
“……”
Elijah and Iris looked at each other briefly in bewilderment. For them, this was the first unexpected situation they’d encountered.
“Tell Jade. To stop doing useless things and come back…! If you come back even now, I’ll overlook all the crimes you committed! Even without magic power, you’re still…”
At that moment, suddenly a huge explosion burst from outside. It was a large enough explosion that the shockwave was transmitted to the guest room walls. Even those who were tied up seemed not to have expected it, as shock filled their wide eyes.
With the unexpected situations occurring one after another, Elijah and Iris became anxious. That was clearly an explosion that occurred at the stable. That’s how it had been planned from the beginning.
But the problem was that it had gone off too early. Originally, the explosion should have started only after they had safely escaped from here.
“Let’s get out.”
Elijah grabbed Iris by the scruff and ran out of the guest room. The street was already pandemonium. They hadn’t told them to burn everything down this much… They just needed to create enough fire to startle the horses in the stable into running wild and cause a commotion to divert people’s attention.
But looking at the flames that shot up, rather than the horses being startled and rushing out, they seemed like they would have died instantly. The flames that devoured the small stable in an instant stretched their fire demon toward the inn right next to it, spewing black smoke.
Elijah’s thoughts stopped for a moment as he blankly stared at the flames. Rose is definitely safe, right. Surely she’s not still inside there… The other children are with her, so they must have already gotten out.
“Elijah, what are you doing? Hurry, this way!”
Iris grabbed his hand and led him. The two pushed through the crowd running from here and there to see the flames and headed to the promised location. At the end of the alley, far from the commotion, their wagon was there.
“Master!”
Iris, having spotted him, ran to the wagon in relief. Jade, who quickly grabbed the two children’s hands and pulled them up onto the driver’s seat, asked briefly.
“The necklace.”
“Here.”
Iris handed him the necklace she had been holding. Iris soon waited for the praise he would give. A short commendation like “well done” or “good work,” but only after hearing those words did she feel like the mission was completely finished.
“……”
But somehow Master said nothing. His face, which had been quietly looking at the necklace, filled with fury.
