1

“Hey, Rubelmel. I really don’t like this city.”

“Oh my, what is the matter, Lord Darius?”

Rubelmel peeked at Darius as he walked with a grimace on his face.

Darius wiped his neck with a small towel, but the discomfort he felt still could not be wiped away.

“Why does the wind here feel so disgusting, like it’s sticking to my skin? And the smell too. It’s unbearable.”

“The smell, you say?”

“Yes. It reeks of fish.”

“Is this your first time in a port city, Lord Darius?”

Rubelmel drew in a deep breath, filling her chest with the air Darius found unpleasant.

Darius and the others were on their way to a port city.

The road had been maintained, but it did not go as far as the stone pavement of the Santia Kingdom. A gravel road that looked like packed-down earth continued onward.

The two walked sporadically along the open gravel road.

There were no trees around them, and even the ones that existed were nothing but bare trunks without leaves. The terribly dreary scenery and the fishy wind put Darius in a gloomy mood.

“This is my first time. Father seems to have visited several times, but I was never allowed to accompany him.”

Darius sneered, saying that he had been shocked when he had not been allowed to accompany him back then, but now it no longer mattered.

So it really was his first time, Rubelmel thought with a small smile, then licked her own arm.

“Lord Darius, why not try licking your hand or arm?”

“What are you saying all of a sudden? Of course I refuse. That’s filthy.”

“Oh, then would you like to lick my arm?”

Rubelmel held out her arm, which had black spell formulas engraved across it, in front of Darius’s eyes.

Darius wrinkled his brow and pushed Rubelmel’s arm away.

“Your arm is just as filthy as mine. Why did you think I would lick your arm?”

“To call a maiden’s soft skin filthy, Lord Darius, you really do not understand a woman’s heart, do you? Could it be that you were not popular with women?”

Darius gave an annoyed sigh at Rubelmel’s jest and refused to deal with her.

“Rubelmel, enough nonsense. So what if this is my first time in a port city?”

At Darius, who showed no sign of embarrassment, Rubelmel sadly withdrew her arm.

“A port city is a town facing the sea. The wind that blows through it is sea breeze from the ocean. What you find unpleasant, Lord Darius, is caused by that smell and the salt contained within it.”

“The sea, huh. I have heard of it. So this is what sea breeze is. I cannot bring myself to like it.”

“It is premature to say you dislike the sea before seeing it, Lord Darius. Once you see its vast form, I am certain even your blackened heart will be washed clean.”

“Shut up.”

Darius walked along the gravel road while enduring the sea breeze he could not bring himself to like.

If the wind from the sea had reached them, then that meant the port city was already nearby.

Just a little more patience. Once he arrived in the city, the first thing he would do was wash away this sticky feeling on his skin at a bathhouse, Darius decided as he put the small towel into his pocket.

“Even so, why are we heading to a port city? What is there?”

“A port city facing the sea is a center of trade. Most of the food and goods that flow in from other countries enter the Santia Kingdom through the port city.”

Almost every merchant with a mansion in the commercial district of the Santia Kingdom frequently visited the port city to receive their goods.

In other words, that meant the movement of goods was that active.

“Is that where the objective of you Next-Era Luminaries lies?”

“Not just us. You are also a member of the Next-Era Luminaries, Lord Darius.”

“…I still cannot get used to it. Though part of that is because I have only met you, Rubelmel.”

“Please get used to it, Lord Darius. You came to our side of your own will.”

As the two continued walking, the sight of a city lined with buildings gradually came into view.

“Our objective is to paralyze the port city where trade is actively conducted. The paralysis of the port city will directly lead to shortages of goods and food within the country. In addition, ties with the other countries that serve as trade partners will also weaken. The dissatisfaction of the citizens born from that will ultimately turn toward the current king.”

“It will lead to the collapse of royal authority, then. If that happens, it will become even easier for you—no, for us, the Next-Era Luminaries, to cause chaos within the country.”

Darius could understand the principle, but he had lived a wealthy life far removed from that of ordinary citizens. He could not imagine what sort of dissatisfaction would be born or how it would fall into chaos.

The current king, King Wenceslav, had suppressed the Next-Era Luminaries, who used such despicable schemes, until now and continued to maintain peace within the country. As royalty, he must have considerable endurance.

No, was it precisely because he had not fully suppressed them that they were now maneuvering in various places throughout the country, like Darius and Rubelmel?

Perhaps, far more than Darius thought, the seeds of chaos had already been secretly sown throughout the country.

“But can just the two of us carry out such a large scheme?”

“There are collaborators in the city for this operation. Once we arrive, let us meet with them first.”

As the checkpoint drew closer, Rubelmel put on a jacket and hid the spell formulas engraved on her exposed arm beneath it.

The smell of the tide gradually grew stronger.

This was Darius’s first job since joining the Next-Era Luminaries. He felt a new emotion in which many things were mixed together: a slight tension, excitement toward the city he was visiting for the first time, and the discomfort of the sea breeze clinging to his skin.

A line had formed in front of the checkpoint, waiting for inspection.

Darius and Rubelmel obediently lined up as well. There was no need to cause pointless trouble here.

But the inspection itself was also quite perfunctory, and baggage checks were basically done only verbally. Only in the case of cargo wagons did they finally check inside.

It was something that maintained appearances but was sloppy and lacked substance. That was precisely why a dangerous person like Rubelmel could stand in line so carefree like this.

“Whatever the case, all I want is to wash this unpleasant body of mine at a bathhouse as soon as possible.”

“Oh my. Lord Darius, do you want to wash each other’s bodies with me again? As I thought, perhaps my body was just a little too stimulating for an innocent Lord Darius…”

As Rubelmel deliberately moved as if twisting her body, Darius let out a deep breath.

“You really have a fine personality. If I were still a member of the Sobi House, you would be thrown into prison by now.”

“But now you are merely Lord Darius, are you not?”

“Yes, that is right. So that was just nonsense to go along with your jest. …It seems to be our turn.”