By the way, after looking again, even their hair color was identical.

‘Why didn’t I notice before?’

The door-opening device and other things that the ‘eldest daughter’ in that house made were sophisticated things that only assassins could make. In addition, it was a house that Redias knew well.

All of those facts pointed to one thing.

I looked up at Vielle, who seemed to be waiting anxiously for an answer. There must be a reason why she didn’t go to the village and told me about it.

“Did Rielle’s father lose his life on the battlefield?”

“That is correct.”

Redias smiled regretfully.

“He loved his children more than anything else. I can still hear his voice saying that he didn’t want to die until the end.”

The children that he loved must be Rielle and Vielle. They didn’t seem to be on bad terms, but it was clear that there were some circumstances that made Vielle not leave and only worry about Rielle from afar.

“Your younger sister is fine.”

Vielle stopped noticeably at my words.

“If you are worried about your younger sister, you can visit the village.”

However, she resolutely shook her head at the following words.

“I don’t want to leave my assigned duties.”

It sounded like a voice with some kind of circumstance, more than just a sense of responsibility.

“…Then, I’ll order you to report separately about whether Rielle is fine. Is that okay with you?”

Vielle shook her head slightly at my words.

“I can’t receive such special treatment―”

“You told me that the Shadow Supply was created to relieve the worries of the frontline Argenta regarding their families.”

She was the one who told me that when she was handing over the supply management to me.

“That means it’s also supplies to make sure Vielle doesn’t worry, right?”

Vielle slowly nodded at my words.

“…Thank you very much.”

Her voice was calm but a little shaky, not like the usual Vielle. Still, maybe this was her true self, hidden behind the mask of coldness.

I gazed at her again.

Vielle, who had shown a friendly appearance since the first battlefield, seemed to like me more than I thought. Of course, I felt the same way. Unlike the original, in which she was only described as a cold cleaner, the real Vielle was a character that wasn’t as cold as I thought.

Especially…

“Master!”

The way she grabbed Diello by the back collar and dragged him away at the pool last time showed the sadness(?) of a subordinate who was struggling. She was more humane than I thought, and sometimes…

“This tea is good for fatigue.”

“If it’s hard to rest, would you like me to give you a massage?”

She seemed used to taking care of someone, and she felt like an older sister.

“By the way, this time it’s Alors, right…?”

I tilted my head slightly.

“It seems like an attempt to create problems with the Shadow Supply, shake the supply system, and make the atmosphere within the Argenta chaotic.”

Vielle neatly organized the information that was floating around in my head. When I met her eyes to say thank you, she smiled lightly. Every time something like this happened, it felt like I got along with her better than I thought.

“So now that we know the enemy, we need to deal with it, right?”

I immediately got up.

* * *

Late at night, Diello returned to the bedroom.

“I was busy, but I heard there was a problem today…”

He looked at me with an apologetic face as soon as he came in, and he continued, “I also heard that Krua handled everything well.”

I nodded slightly at those words.

“Even though it was a serious problem, it wasn’t a problem that was difficult to deal with.”

“It’s because you’re a capable person.”

With that, he handed me a glass of fruit wine.

“This is an apology. It’s also a token of appreciation.”

The fruit wine had a sweet apple scent.

“Isn’t this Krua’s favorite drink?”

I’ve heard that the Krua in the original story had a favorite drink. I grabbed the glass and savored the scent. It seemed that the original Krua and I had similar tastes.

I smiled without realizing it.

“Yes.”

Clink.

As I clinked glasses with him and gestured for him to come closer, Diello followed my gesture and sat on the bed, gazing at me.

“You saw and heard everything, right?”

“Of course.”

He replied lightly and tilted the glass. Maybe it was because he was someone associated with fire? As the scent of apples mixed with the strong scent of his body, the sweet scent seemed to be amplified as it entered my nose.

I took a small breath, but it felt dizzying.

Was this a strong alcoholic beverage? I couldn’t tell, even after shaking the drink once.

“Still, I would like to hear Krua’s thoughts as well.”

At that moment, as Diello looked back at me, I nodded. Hearing his voice felt like my mind was clearing up again.

“First, the broken supply routes are five out of the seven main routes on land.”

I got up after shaking the glass.

The next moment, I moved away from the bedside and approached a nearby table. It was something I had been looking at before he came.

Diello silently followed me.

His shadow following me swayed with the light of the candle.

“Fortunately, there were no major casualties. There are some who were seriously injured, but Nias said that they would be fine after resting for about two months.”

That was fortunate news.

“The problem is that it was the work of the Alors, who pretended to be bandits?”

He responded gently to my words.

I nodded as I replied.

“Yes. It seems that the Alors intended to attack Argenta soon…”

It seemed like they couldn’t drag this out any longer. Logically, wouldn’t Argenta, who urgently needed Ferro’s awakening, have hurried to erase the lilies?

From the beginning, even though they seemed like a loving newlywed couple on the surface, the fact that the lilies still remained could seem suspicious and needed to be erased in a hurry. However, I couldn’t erase them now.

The real Ferro wasn’t here, and he needed to awaken properly to properly face the Alors.

The real Ferro should have shown up by now, so why wasn’t she showing up? I even gave the order to look for her directly because she wasn’t showing up.

“I’m looking for the Ferro, but I haven’t found her yet. I’m sorry.”

Neither Rick nor Nira reported finding any trace of Ferro.

…Why on earth? Like how my water control ability somehow strengthened, has the story completely changed?

Seeing my anxious expression, Diello reached out and grabbed my hand.

“The knights are preparing for that as well.”

He spoke calmly.

I nodded my head.

Despite the fact that Alors would attack us, Argenta had already prepared for an attack as well. In particular, when I told them ‘power amplifies near the source,’ they had formulated quite a few strategies using that.

Even if Duke Alors himself were to invade, it wouldn’t be easy to defeat them.

That didn’t mean it was advantageous, though.

In fact, there were those who were anxious that we would be facing the Alors before the head’s awakening.

Nevertheless, Argenta was uniting more solidly than expected, with the head leading them. Since Alors dared to touch the northwest, where the injured were, people of all ages were sharpening their swords.

“I heard that they are vigilantly preparing. However…”

I stopped thinking and pointed to the map.

There was something that was bothering me. The reason I had been looking at the map for a while was because of this.

“There’s one strange thing.”

Diello looked down at the map at my words.

“What?”

Heat seemed to be in his gaze as well. Thinking that the place he was looking at strangely felt hot, I tried to get rid of the distracting thoughts and calmly brought up the problem I had been thinking about.

“This supply point and this supply point.”

The places I pointed to on the map were quite a distance apart. Even on horseback, it would take a full day to get there at full speed.

“They were attacked in two places in half a day, but according to the stories of the injured, the weapons they used and the composition of the personnel were exactly the same.”

At my words, he lowered the hand that was holding the glass.

“…The same people attacked them?”

His eyes sharply scanned the map.

“Probably. Their faces were all covered, so I don’t know if they were really the same people.”

I frowned.

“There were over twenty people who attacked. They seemed to be well-trained elite soldiers.”

However…

“If the two places were attacked by separate groups, at least forty elite soldiers must have been dispatched from Alors, and there’s no way the Intelligence Department would miss that.”

“That’s true.”

Diello tilted his head slightly.

“Is it possible that they used the ability to control water and quickly moved along the river?”

His fingertips ran over the map—from the Alors mansion, following the winding river, to the place I was pointing at.

Tap.

His fingertips only touched it for a brief moment. I flinched at the heat that I felt without realizing it.

“…Even if they used Alors’ ability to move the soldiers by river, the distance to the second attack site is too far.”

Moreover, it was said that both of the attacked people were attacked while the sun was up.

“Hmm.”

Diello nodded at my words.

It meant that he understood what I was saying.

“Another way…”

Since they were definitely elite soldiers, and they used poison so naturally, the assassins directly under the family must have been dispatched.

…Wait, assassins directly under Alors?

“Ah.”

Regarding this, there was someone in Argenta I could ask for advice.

“Vielle.”

As I pulled the bell cord, Diello blinked and looked back at me. I smiled confidently at him and gestured to Vielle, who had entered.

“Call Sir Nira.”

Nira, who was from Alors’ group of assassins, might know the answer.

Not long after my order, Nira came up… and he gave an unexpected answer.

“They must have crossed here.”

The place his fingertips pointed to on the map was… between the two points, widely spread out.

“…They crossed here? The soldiers?”

It was a swamp.

—