Allegiance (8)

"Mister, what kind of person is Duke Miller?" Estelle asked.

"Before that, could I ask what the young miss thinks about him?"

Normally, his behavior of asking a question back would be considered impolite and out of the line considering Estelle's status, but she did not dwell her mind upon such a trivial matter.

"Hmm, let's see. Not much is known about him, because he rarely shows up to the public eye. In fact, this will be my first meeting with him,"

"Is that so? Well, that's a shame. He has the leisure to only show up to special royal banquets.. Come to think of it, they are going to hold one soon, aren't they?" The steward, whose name had not been revealed yet led them to a secluded door located on the mansion's sidelines.

Their first step into the mansion was made, and they immediately felt a surge of energy go through them.

{The barrier detected us. It's... strange. Don't use any magical power before we meet the Duke.} Yulia pitched in to warn the others using the thought connection they installed.

[En, I also thought the same.] Estelle's expectation towards the Duke increased.

"Soon? For what occasion?" Estelle was puzzled. If her memory served her correctly, the princes are still far from reaching ten - years - old, in which they would be tested and selected for the Royal Academy. The birthday banquets are part of something they could refuse to attend, but the testing had to be witnessed by everyone.

"The third prince has been born," The steward replied in a concise manner.

"Third prince? Why have I not heard of the Queen's pregnancy?" Estelle raised her eyebrow.

"Because the mother isn't the Queen, duh. The King had an accidental affair with Count Irving's daughter, Adina. Apparently, the Queen refused to let Adina go, but would agree to keeping the baby, since the King's 'offspring' are all to be respected.. or something along that lines," Minerva jumped in, providing an explanation to the confusion. Minerva frequented the capital's popular bars, where information like these were spread without any care for repercussions.

"Accidental, huh?" Estelle chided in disgust. They entered the mansion without any disturbances. They had to be mindful of the barrier Yulia sensed, because it wouldn't be profitable if they got branded as a hostile presence by the sensors. Thus, their magic had to be masked and concealed. Estelle looked around, glancing at the minimal decorations that embellished the warm - toned mansion.

"Right. The Queen isn't someone the King could easily ignore, so he had to compromise with her. In the first place, he was rumored to not have been attracted to Adina, and the whole thing was set up by her schemes.. which, I guess, would make it not accidental," Minerva concluded.

"Hmm," Estelle hummed. She was reminded of her own mother's pregnancy. Although she was still unfamiliar with the idea of a younger sibling, she resolved to herself that she would try her hardest to be a great elder sister.

With their walking pace, by the time they finished chatting, they had arrived to the supposed meeting place the steward assigned.

"Please wait inside for the time being. I shall call the master," The steward opened the doors and revealed a cozy, tidy room bursting with the sense of comfort.

The steward then exited the room, leaving the quartet to themselves. They looked at each other, wondering how they were so trusted.

Looking around, her attention was drawn into the painting hung above the fireplace.

The picture depicted a couple embracing each other. The man, who was assumed to be Duke Miller in his prime age, was enveloping the woman who had jade - colored hair, a tan, honey - kissed skin and was blessed with beautiful features.

Upon closer investigation, Estelle frown and turned around to look for further paintings.

"As expected.." Estelle mumbled, holding a small framed painting in her hands. The person inside the pictures reminded her of someone.

"Have you been waiting long?" A man, whose voice was the same with the steward who let them in entered the room.

"..You really are Duke Miller," Estelle sighed. She had expected such a development ever since their trip to the inner branches of the mansion was completely unobstructed. No one paid attention to their group, everyone was oblivious to their presence, even though they were casually walking around the place.

"Illusion magic, right?" Yulia brushed off her shoulders after dispelling the concealment spell. The reason no one looked at them was simply because, no one could. The Duke Miller in front of them applied magic to them, and that, combined with the barrier check was what caused the surge of magic energy they felt.

Indeed, because they haven't been recognized by the mansion's barriers yet, casting searching magic would be counted as infiltration and would be noticed. Even so, for him to be able to envelop them in a complex magic like invisible shields without them being able to detect the source was admirable.

"Fret not. I've had those type of reactions as well. My magic is not that strong.. This is the result of my Unique Magic," Duke Miller explained.

"Unique Magic? You also have one?" Estelle pursed her lips. The majority of people around her had some sort of Unique Magic, it made her wonder how rare it really was.

"Yes.. although it doesn't provide me with offensive strength. I used to go on secretive missions with my comrades in the past, but my body has grown duller with the time, I'm not as agile as I used to be," Duke Miller glanced at his ankles, his eyes brimming with regret and frustration.

"Are we permitted to use magic here?" Estelle raised the question.

"Of course, your arrival is welcomed. Let us take a seat first," Duke Miller walked towards the wooden tables and offered the seats.

"May I take a look at your status?" Being daring, Estelle tried her luck.

"Feel free to do so. I'm afraid that if I refused, your grandfather will rise from the dead and blame me for not taking care of you," Duke Miller joked.

Strangely so, the old man allowed her to do her thing. Taking advantage of the permission, she peeked at his status.

Augustine Miller | Human

HP : 47.000/47.000

Title :

- [Contractor]

Core Purity : 51%

Mana : 4.300/4.300

Affinity : [Wind]

Unique Magic : [Spectre's Magic Code]

Skill : [Spectre's Cloud]

{Not bad, but a bit lackluster if we take his feats into mind.} Yulia commented.

The spell [Spectre's Cloud] was the one mentioned by the Duke, the one that allowed him to mask the quartet from the surroundings. Assisted by the Unique Magic [Spectre's Magic Code], It ignored the power difference between them. If anything, Duke Miller was a true support.

If the concealment magic was cast by someone weaker than the target, the effects would be decreased as well. However, since Duke Miller's Unique Magic bypassed that rule, he would be a great help to a party of high - statused individuals.

[Spectre's Magic Code?] Estelle frowned at the uncommon naming sense.

{It means that the magic he possesses is incomplete. The parent magic should be called [Spectre Magic], what he has is just a subsidiary element. Though, I haven't heard of someone with [Spectre Magic].}

[I see..] Estelle was trying to figure out how it was all connected.

"So.. the conversation we had on the way here was a test?" Estelle rubbed her temples at the man's sudden personality change.

"Not exactly a test, it was just something I did on a whim. You bunches were so interesting, it would be considered blasphemy to not play around for a while. It was funny seeing how you guys were wary and careful at everything,"

"You have some huge guts, don't you?" Minerva took a bite of the snack the house provided. A casual reminder, bringing their real statuses as terrifying hegemons to light.

Maybe, to the majority of people, they would be filled with pressure and lace every action they take with caution. However, Duke Augustine Miller was different.

"If I didn't have huge guts, I wouldn't have survived this long," Augustine's tone hardened. "I know what you are searching for, Reichter's granddaughter,"

Reichter Clareste was the name of Estelle's paternal grandfather, or in other words, the previous Duke Clareste.

Estelle recalled the portraits she saw of the man. Reichter Clareste had passed away years before Estelle was born. Along with the death of Reichter, her father, Alan, was bestowed the title along with the lands based on the will.

According to the stories, Reichter Clareste was someone with a free soul, just like his wife. Although he was a noble, the things he did would always stray farther and farther from the boundaries placed on nobles.

Reichter and his wife, Silvanna, was a pair to behold. Silvanna came from unknown origins, so she was scorned and disliked by the nobles that aspired to acquire the Clareste Dukedom's standing.

Silvanna's clouded family tree was a perfect chance for the Duke's enemies to condemn the pair and possibly cause rifts between the relationship. They hoped that they would be able to stain the Duke's name by thwarting Silvanna off the stage.

However, the royals never got their hands on Reichter.

Estelle's mind began spinning in theories and possibilities.

The Duke Miller before her was a part of Reichter's wild entourage. The brotherhood they shared must've meant that he held some of Reichter's secrets.

"Then, what would be your answer?"

Inside her mind, she was grateful that the Duke already knew what she came here for.

"I cannot pass down the information you need," With a solemn look, Augustine rubbed his fingers against each other, his thoughts jumbled.

"It relieves me to hear that we are on the same page. I also do not desire to extract valuable information from you without any forms of compensation," Estelle responded.

"No, I didn't mean it that way. It's not that I don't want to pass it down, and I'm not talking about compensation. It's that the current you is not worthy of the knowledge," Clearing things up, Duke Miller laughed as he watched Estelle become even more confused.

"By that, you mean..?" Estelle was puzzled.

"The things I can say are limited,"

[Understandable.] Estelle knew that the mission she went on wasn't an easy one.

She didn't expect the answer to be served to her on a silver platter either.

"It's a good thing that you were not rash in making your decisions. If you tried to tinker with the teleportation spell at your mansion before being acknowledged, you would've faced harsh repercussions," Instead of directly answering Estelle, he talked about the spell.

By his words, it got confirmed that the spell was for teleportation.

-Not a space rift, but a teleportation.

Estelle began to ponder over the mystery. Eliminating choices that are impossible.

In the end, she still didn't understand.

"...I got it. I will come back soon. What are the hints that you can give me?" Instead of wasting time scraping at nothing, she decided to take it a step backwards and think it over once she goes back home.

She was still inside Duke Miller's mansion, in which barriers of unknown levels existed. Her research was also restricted, not performing at its best level.

"The hints.. history, I suppose. Look into the history. Be careful of misleading information, don't get fooled," Augustine warned.

Since this was the medieval times, unauthorized books could also make their way up to the history section. It was hard to tell which ones were the truth.

However, a Dukedom's library was frequently checked, its contents would be verified multiple times. Estelle found it strange that Duke Miller challenged a Dukedom's literature's truth.

-[Could it be that the history books are false.. or something like that..?]

This was a possibility. Since there was prejudice against Duke Clareste, perhaps the history books were deliberately distorted.

If that was the case, who was she supposed to look for?

"Understood. One more thing.. can I explore this mansion freely?" Becoming more confused, Estelle pinched her temples and continued asking.

"...Of course you can," Smiling, Augustine gave his permission.

"Any restricted areas?"

"No," Augustine readily replied.

Nodding in agreement, Estelle and the rest bid their farewells as they left the room. Each and every single one of them had complicated thoughts plaguing their minds.