A potential help

<Your Majesty.>

<Who is that girl?>

<Savine Lorelei. She entered the temple as daughter of Honorary Count Erwin Lorelei, an agent Fest inside Magicracy. But our there says that Lorelei has no daughter.>

<Hm? >

<I thought that the Count might've hid her, as she was a mage and everything, but our agents insist Count's family has only one boy, youth of eighteen. An arrogant drunkard, who brags endlessly about his noble origins. But even drunk, he never mentioned any younger sister might have.< p>

<Due to that, I believe Savine was someone from the Magicracy that wanted join Temple. After all, for nameless mages, we are a much better alternative compared Magicracy.>

<Sigh… I never thought I'd say this, but sometimes wish we also had a slaving organization for our commoner mages…>

<Your Majesty.>

<I know, I know. …But if she's an outside-blood mage from the Magicracy, how did she come here as a Count's daughter? We only ever accept them commoners, right?>

<That… I'm not sure,> Kin said. <I've sent some men to the Fest duchy recently.>

<I see.>

<… >

<Do you think she's a spy from the Magicracy?>

<It's hard to say, Your Majesty. She's smart and capable, yes, but she's still quite young. Also, it's not like we are sure that the Count's daughter. Moreover, even if his biological daughter, he adopted her there documents prove it, can't really put blames on either party.>

Savine felt happy, hearing Kin speak up for her.

<So you're saying that before she was taken to the Temple, somehow got Count adopt her?>

<It's a big maybe, Your Majesty. But it's not impossible. It's like noble can't adopt commoner.>

There was something off about Kin's tone, suggesting and sarcastic.

<Investigate this matter more properly,> the Sovereign ordered levelly.

<Understood. >

As the conversation finished, Savine arrived at her destination.

She stared at the giant craftsman's building lodged among the luxurious architecture of nobility. The Sovereign warned her of a nauseating smell, but today seemed to be different.

She arrived before the house fence and rattled it a few times. Since there were no bells and since knocking wouldn't do anything, this was the only thing she could do.

A few seconds later, the door opened, and a young boy of maybe 14, 15 appeared. His hair was a mess and his clothes looked shabby. There was an air of unwillingness surrounding him and when he looked at Savine, he looked extremely annoyed.

"What do you want?" he shouted from the door.

Savine only waved the two letters, The one from the Sovereign and the one she wrote herself.

Grumbling, the boy walked over. He tried to snatch the letter from Savine's hand, but failed to do so.

"What? Aren't you a messenger?"

"No, I was sent to meet your master. This is a letter of introduction from his disciple."

"Master Oran isn't here."

"Is that so? Any idea when he's coming?"

"No."

Savine brought out the metal toy she created during the walk. It was a small metallic butterfly, designed to flap its wings and fly if provided with mana. The guide to activating it was written on her letter.

"Hm… Unfortunate. In any case, give him these two letters and this toy. Please make sure to not read them yourself, as they come from the Sovereign," Savine said, pointing at the regal wax seal. "As for the toy, you can admire it, but don't try to dismantle it without your master's supervision."

The boy stared at the metal butterfly, curiosity apparent in his eyes.

"Who made this?"

"Me."

The curiosity was immediately replaced by jealousy, unwillingness, doubt, and eventually, an expression of opportunism.

'Goddammit.'

Savine sighed. Since this was something that could get her more Vasas, she wasn't going to slack off.

"Is there anyone else inside there with you?"

"…No."

Savine sighed again and checked the house with her gift. Firstly, the Mr. Oran wasn't there.

A thirty something woman in glasses and a messy ponytail sat behind a messy desk, dejectedly staring at a broken glass tube and something blue and gooey leaking out of it.

'Liquid mana…' Savine quickly realized what the woman was trying to do. 'You're still quite far off from that.'

She shook her head inwardly and searched the room for any letters, certificates, diaries, anything that would reveal the woman's name. She soon found a stack of letters tucked inside a dustbin. It was hard to read anything from the pile, but Savine managed to find a name.

"Please bring out Ms. Jasnah."

"She's not here."

Savine groaned. Pulling out her Vasa, she shot a pebble towards a window on the house.

"No! What are you-"

It was impossible for the kid to stop Savine. A loud noise came from the impact and a second later, the woman peeked out of the window. She sent a chilling glare at the young boy and stared annoyedly at Savine.

"It wasn't me!" the young boy pleaded. "It was her! She threw a rock at your window!"

Savine only waved the letters again.

Since the woman had already failed her experiment, there wasn't really anything left for her to do. She grunted and went back inside.

Slowly, and very deliberately making sure that everyone knew just how much the act annoyed her, she walked out of the house. Arriving before the two, she slapped the boy on the head from above.

"Why?!"

The woman did not answer and stared at Savine flatly, her eyes asking questions.

"I'm here to deliver to Mr. Oran a letter from the palace," Savine said. "The other two are a little something from me. I wanted to leave the items in your junior's hands, but he's not being trustworthy."

"What?! How?!"

"I understand," the woman nodded in an amicable way. "Sorry for troubling you."

"What?!" the boy cried again.

"Please don't worry. I'll relay these items to our teacher when he returns."

The woman was definitely much more trustworthy. Savine nodded back and walked off.

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