The Former Royal Aide.

Arriving in the town of Bayle, they immediately headed for the lord’s estate.

It was easy to spot, being the largest building in town.

Vim spoke to the guard standing watch at the gate.

“My name is Vim Abel. I was sent here on recommendation from His Majesty, the King. I would like to see Count Bayle.”

Vim pulled out his S-Rank adventurer card from his coat and presented it.

“Please wait a moment.”

After the guard said that, they waited for a short while.

A few minutes later, an elderly man wearing a tailcoat stepped out from inside the mansion.

“Lord Vim and companions, I presume? The Count will see you now. Please follow me.”

Guided by the butler, they were led inside the estate.

“Please wait here for just a little longer.”

They were ushered into a reception room, took a seat on the sofa, and waited.

About ten minutes later, the door to the reception room opened once more.

“Forgive the wait. I am Grain Bayle, holder of the title of Count.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I am Vim Abel.”

Vim and Bayle shook hands.

Bayle appeared to be in his 40s.

He was still quite young for a head of the family, and certainly too young to retire from active duty.

“Does this catch your eye?”

Count Bayle spoke up, likely noticing where Vim was looking.

“My apologies.”

There was a large scar near the Count’s right eye.

“No, think nothing of it. It’s completely natural for first-timers to be taken aback.”

“Was it a demonic beast?”

Vim remembered seeing similar scars on someone who had been attacked by a demonic beast before.

“No, a stray arrow struck me during a battle some time ago. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to see well out of my right eye.”

Count Bayle said, touching his scar.

“I see… Forgive me for asking such an insensitive question.”

“There is no need to be formal. With an eye like this, I could no longer serve as His Majesty’s aide, so now I can focus entirely on managing my territory like this.”

To have been His Majesty’s aide at such a young age, he must have been an exceptionally competent man.

Vim recalled His Majesty lamenting about it once before.

“I’ve heard about you from His Majesty. He mentioned that the Sorcerer of the Abyss was a rather fascinating individual.”

“I’m really not that interesting.”

“I wonder about that. After all, isn’t that the Spirit King of Light standing right beside you?”

Count Bayle shifted his gaze toward Diana.

“So you can tell?”

“Yes, she exudes an aura that is clearly not human. It feels closer to spiritual power than mana. But she isn’t just an ordinary spirit.”

“Indeed. She is Diana, the Spirit King of Light, and my contracted spirit.”

“For someone capable of contracting with a Spirit King to call himself uninteresting… isn’t that a bit too humble?”

He offered a wry smile.

“It has been a while since a human was able to see right through me,” Diana remarked, looking rather pleased.

Since her appearance was entirely human, telling her apart from a normal person based on looks alone was difficult.

However, as a spirit, her very life force was different from that of a human.

Spirits maintain their lives through spiritual power rather than mana.

When Vim used magic, he drew upon the power of spirits, a technique closely resembling spirit arts.

Because of this, Vim’s mana felt exceptionally comfortable to Diana.

“Furthermore, the fact that you are here means you must have already wiped out the horde of demonic beasts that appeared at the border, correct?”

“You figured that out as well, huh?”

“Yes, I was the one who reported the appearance of the horde to His Majesty in the first place. High-ranking adventurers in the capital were sent south to slay the wyverns, while the First through Third Knight Orders were dispatched to defend the eastern border. Naturally, the only high-ranking adventurer left available would be the Sorcerer of the Abyss and his party.”

As expected of the man who once served right by the King’s side.

Despite being so far away from the capital, he possessed an accurate grasp of the situation in both the capital and the nation.

“That’s correct. We wiped out the horde of demonic beasts. I came here partly to report that.”

“Thank you. Had things remained as they were, this area would have suffered devastating damage. I shall write a formal letter to His Majesty as well.”

“No need for thanks, it was just a job. Since I fired off several massive spells, the terrain might have changed a bit, though.”

“Understood. I will handle the cleanup for that on our end.”

“Sorry for the trouble. Well then, we shall take our leave.”

The royal capital was currently suffering from a severe shortage of fighting strength.

Vim couldn’t afford to stay away from the capital for too long.

Just having an S-Rank adventurer present served as a powerful deterrent.

“Yes, please have a safe journey back.”

Upon exiting Count Bayle’s estate, they moved to a spot hidden from public view, deployed spatial magic just as they had done when coming here, and connected the path straight back to Vim’s mansion in the royal capital.