Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 120

Annette continued with a disapproving look.

“It was the citizens like us who fought for independence, and now those citizens want to elect their own president and build a nation! Honestly, the nerve of those nobles… They’re making me want to wake my parents and brothers from their graves.”

“…”

“They have the gall to come crawling back after running off to another country when we were fighting for independence. And now they want to reinstate the caste system? Who do they think they are! Honestly, even if this wasn’t about Lily, I would still step up.”

Annette grumbled, her demeanor a stark contrast to her usual gentle and soft-spoken self, then looked at Lilliana.

“So! Don’t worry too much! Looking at the flow of history, those old fogies are nothing. The guys bothering you will crumble soon enough. But since you’re struggling, I want to help them crumble even faster. I told you, I know a lot of people in this field. I’ll be better than anyone at gathering information. And I’ve seen and heard enough to know how to handle situations like this.”

“Annette…!”

Lilliana looked at her with gratitude, and Annette, suddenly shy, waved her hand dismissively.

“Oh my, it’s not that big of a deal… I just know a lot of people in that circle, it’s not like I’m going to be running around doing fieldwork.”

She laughed awkwardly.

“Ms. Annette, thank you for your kindness, but this isn’t something to take lightly. You could be put in harm’s way…”

Damian tried to dissuade her, but she waved him off.

“Was the independence movement safe?”

Annette’s resolve seemed firm. Damian groaned and scratched his head. Lilliana, staring at the troubled Damian, muttered,

“Then should we just leave? It might be better for us to leave and live somewhere else than to have Annette get caught up in this because of us.”

Annette jumped up and grabbed Lilliana’s shoulders.

“No, Lily! Please let me join you! I told you! If this keeps up, my parents will rise from their graves! Now that I know this much, I can’t just ignore those people! This is a matter of our family’s pride!”

“Uh… but…”

As Lilliana hesitated, Annette’s eyes widened.

“I’m already involved. Now that I am, I can’t pretend I don’t know anything. If I’m in danger, you guys can protect me, right?”

“That’s right. Annette’s right. Now that the golem has discovered our whereabouts, Annette is already involved. In that case, it’s better for her to be with us than to be left alone.”

At Casey’s explanation, Lilliana frowned and sighed.

“I’m sorry, everyone. Because of me…”

Seeing her visibly dejected, Damian said firmly,

“This isn’t Lilliana’s fault.”

“That’s right! Lily, you didn’t do anything wrong!” Annette chimed in. Casey rested his head in his hands, leaning back against the sofa.

“But it’s not like we don’t have any countermeasures. We can buy some more magic from Soliel. We need to confuse them about the location of this house. And while we’re at it, we can request magic to protect Annette.”

“You know Soliel?”

“Of course, Pascal bought the Rain of Oblivion from Soliel.”

“What’s the Rain of Oblivion?”

“…”

Casey’s face fell as he looked at Damian. Damian stared at Casey for a moment, exasperated, then simply explained, “When Lilliana escaped from where she was hiding before, we used magic to blur the memories of the people in that village. That’s the Rain of Oblivion.”

“How do you know that?”

“Casey told me.”

Lilliana narrowed her eyes, looking back and forth between Damian and Casey, then asked, “Did you hear anything else from my brother that I don’t know about?”

“No.”

Lilliana, with a distinct lack of trust in her tone, asked Damian again, “What did you hear?”

“Just about what you were doing there.”

“That ‘just’ is a whole lot of things I don’t know!”

“Ask Casey for more details.”

When Damian shut his mouth firmly, Lilliana sighed deeply. She felt betrayed by Damian and Casey being on the same side. But even if she switched targets and asked Casey again, her brother didn’t seem any different from Damian.

Casey smiled brightly at Lilliana, who was glaring at him, and changed the subject in a way that was obvious to everyone.

“Since we’re on the topic, shall we go to Soliel’s shop tomorrow?”

Lilliana couldn’t refuse. It was because Annette was looking at Casey with sparkling eyes.

“A wizard? We’re going to see a wizard?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Take me with you.”

“Well… I was planning to take you anyway. We’re buying magic for Annette. Is that okay?”

Casey looked at Damian as if asking for permission, and Damian shrugged.

“It’s not like anything major will happen.”

“Really?! Thank you!”

“And I want to show this golem to Soliel.”

Casey placed the dead crow he had been holding at his feet onto the coffee table.

Everyone except Casey carefully examined the crow.

“Isn’t this just a crow?”

Annette poked the golem, which was almost indistinguishable from a normal crow, with her fingertip. The texture of the feathers felt incredibly real.

“The base is probably a real crow.”

Casey held out his hand to Damian, who quickly understood his intention and handed him a knife.

Casey cut open the crow’s belly with the knife. As he said, the base leather and skeleton seemed to be from a real crow, but instead of internal organs, it was filled with a sand-like substance.

“What is this?”

Damian rubbed the sand between his fingers. It was finer than ordinary sand and shimmered with a golden hue.

“That’s just filler, it’s not important.”

Casey rummaged around where the crow’s heart should be and pulled something out. It looked like an ordinary pebble with Damian’s bullet lodged in the center.

“How did you hit that when you couldn’t even see it?”

Annette exclaimed in admiration, but Damian just shrugged with a nonchalant expression.

“Is that the magic stone?”

Casey nodded at Damian’s question.

“Soliel will know where and how this magic stone was made.”

“What’s a magic stone?”

Annette asked, and Lilliana answered, “It’s a stone with condensed magical power. Simply put, it’s like a magic battery. It’s used for casting spells and as an energy source for golems like this.”

“So this is a golem the wizard sent to find us?”

Damian scratched his head.

“If this was their method, it really was just a matter of time before we were found. Birds can go anywhere. And it seems like there weren’t just one or two of them.”

He recalled the other crow that had escaped his gunfire.

“We caught one, but the one that escaped must have reported our location to Seidel, right?”

“Hmm… Even so, I don’t think they know the exact location of this house. It ran away before it could follow us because I caught it.”

Casey clicked his tongue.

“They only confirmed their suspicion that Lily was in the capital. It’s a matter of time, but we still have time to prepare. So I was thinking of showing this magic stone to Soliel and trying to track them back in turn.”

“Won’t it be dangerous?” Lilliana asked, frowning.

Casey blinked and replied, “Of course it’s dangerous. But it’s dangerous even if we do nothing.”

“He’s right, Lilliana. It’s a matter of who makes the first move. We have to accept the risk that comes with it,” Damian said firmly, and Lilliana reluctantly nodded.

“Let’s go to Soliel tomorrow and make a plan based on what we find out.”

Casey lightly tossed the magic stone up and down a few times.

“Any objections?”

No one disagreed.

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