“I know you have nowhere to stay and nothing to eat right now.”

It was evident that the wages he had received so far had been confiscated under the pretext of compensation for damages. Beric was literally left with nothing.

He had been getting porridge from the tavern he used to frequent, but he couldn’t live like this for days on end. Beric furrowed his brows and glared at Ian.

“Damn it, did you drug me?”

“I guess it was that strong.”

“Now that I think about it, my physical condition was like that only after meeting you. I don’t know what it is, but it would be good for your well-being to come clean. I don’t fight in that manner.”

The feeling of blood boiling with fighting spirit. When he drove his fist in, he almost lost his mind from the pleasure. No matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t a normal reaction. The only common factor between the two experiences was that blond-haired kid.

“Hmm.”

Ian shook his head, smiling leisurely. His attitude seemed a bit disappointed.

“Your posture is good, but you’re more obtuse than I thought.”

“What?”

Beric faltered at the sudden remark. Ian leaned against the gate with his arms crossed. And he tapped his temple as if telling him to think carefully.

“The first time we met, the water I poured for you wasn’t mine but one of the trainees’. Also, didn’t you refuse the jerky?”

He didn’t drink a single sip of water other than that. Beric’s face gradually turned confused. In fact, he had come half-convinced.

“I can tell you what you’re curious about. But before that, you have to make a promise.”

Swish.

Ian’s eyes turned golden.

However, unlike before, he didn’t flow mana into Beric. Because if he went wild like a colt here, things could go awry.

“First, keep the golden eyes a secret.”

“No, yes! This!”

As Beric jumped up and shouted, the guards standing behind looked back in puzzlement. Ian had his back turned, so his face wasn’t visible.

“And don’t be disrespectful.”

Ian warned, looking at Beric indifferently. Due to the power of the mage knight that he needed, he had overlooked many aspects, but for Beric, that was too much. With his personality, he seemed likely to behave the same way even in front of Derga.

‘So that’s why mage knights are rare.’

A temperament that practically invites their own demise, sticking their neck out to be killed. The whip wounds that hadn’t healed yet were proof of that. Beric bit his lower lip and muttered.

“…Is that all?”

“Lastly, I want you to protect me from all kinds of dangers. If you do, I’ll make that day’s power entirely yours. To avoid any misunderstanding, let me add that I merely drew out the power hidden within you.”

Since he seemed to detest relying on external power, it seemed best to make that clear. Beric blinked in surprise.

“My power?”

“That’s the extent of my proposal. If you agree-“

“I’ll do it!”

“Please lower your voice.”

At Beric’s shouting, saying he didn’t need to think further, the guards began to show suspicious faces. They whispered to each other, discussing something.

“Being with me includes crossing the border. I don’t know if I’ll need you when I return.”

“Return? Here?”

How could a sacrificial offering sold for a truce return to Bratz? Even Beric knew it was impossible. But apart from that, his answer was clear.

“What’s the big deal about crossing the border? I have no home or family anyway.”

“Keep in mind that you may die.”

“If I stay here, I’ll starve to death.”

Right. He doesn’t use honorifics even if he’s about to die. Ian smiled wryly and looked up at him. And he was about to add something but stopped. He had been scolded numerous times, so this seemed like progress.

“So now tell me straight.”

Beric’s eyes blazed with heat. It was a simple gaze pursuing strength. Ian pondered for a moment, choosing easy words, and asked.

“Have you heard of mage knights?”

“No.”

“Then what about mana?”

“Neither.”

“…”

They looked at each other strangely and fell silent.

Even in the era when Ian was the emperor, it was possible for the uneducated. Let alone this rural frontier a century ago. It was natural for Beric, who had been wandering the streets as an orphan, to not know.

“Sir Ian, too much time has passed.”

“It’s time for a shift change.”

As the two stopped talking, the guards interjected, thinking it was their chance. Ian stroked his chin and instructed Beric.

“I’ll call for you soon, so wait.”

“Huh? Wait a minute.”

“Behave yourself.”

The last words were almost pleading. As the guards slowly pushed to close the huge gate, Beric leaped in as if clinging. It was thwarted by the long spear blocking him.

‘I clearly told him to wait.’

How does he break it the moment he’s ordered? He already had a lot to do, and now he had one more thing to worry about.

Ian clicked his tongue and moved towards the annex. Perhaps because it was an odd time, there wasn’t a single servant in the corridor. They must have all gone to rest after cleaning.

Knock, knock.

“It’s Ian.”

Ian opened the door without waiting for an answer.

He thought the tutor would surely be waiting, but the room was empty. Judging by the coat, bag, and half-cooled teacup, he hadn’t left.

“…Where did he go? Teacher?”

He thought he might have gone to the restroom, but there was no presence at all. Ian leaned his body against the back of the sofa and lay down, then suddenly raised his head and stared at the tutor’s bag.

‘He’s someone Derga assigned to watch me. There might be useful information.’

Ian rummaged through his bag and checked the stack of papers. Most of them were reference materials for the lesson.

The rest was a thesis titled <Correlation between Climate Change in the Great Desert and the Blister Sea>, and in the middle, there was an academic journal published last year. Surprisingly, the publisher was Bariel University.

‘He did say he graduated from a university, but it was Bariel.’

It was possible to guess why a genius among geniuses was in the Bratz frontier. Because “Great Desert” referred to the base of the Cheonrye tribe. And “Blister Sea” was the sea at the edge of the desert, bordering the East.

Swish.

He searched through the bottom of the bag, but there was nothing special. Ian neatly put the materials back in and rummaged through the old coat. Aside from the garbage in the pocket, it was clean.

“Hmm?”

Deep inside the sleeve. There was a clothing store label attached. It was the name of the person who designed and made the clothes, and the seal next to it looked familiar.

‘…It looks similar to the seal Sir Mollin used.’

He traced each line with his fingertip and drew it. It was very similar to Mollin’s gesture in his memory.

At that moment, the academic journal from Bariel University caught his eye again. Bariel University was a state-run institution, so didn’t it have many opportunities to be connected with people in the government? Ian burst out laughing without realizing it.

‘The tutor was Mollin’s eyes and ears.’

Thinking that way, it made sense. Servants couldn’t know information like sending letters to the Cheonrye tribe. Ian sat on the sofa as if nothing had happened, tidying up the coat.

‘Does the tutor know? That I joined hands with Sir Mollin?’

If he was a simple informant, there would be no need to inform him that far, and if he was more than that, he would be monitoring Ian doubly from behind.

It was then.

Creak.

“Sir Ian?”

The tutor, who had hurriedly entered, flinched upon discovering Ian. Slightly sweating and flushed face. It seemed he had done something quite risky and returned.

In such cases, it was usually a secret meeting, spying, or theft. Judging by his empty-handed state, the possibility of spying was high.

“I had something to take care of, so I’m a bit late. Where have you been?”

“The, the restroom.”

“If it’s the restroom, there’s one in the room.”

“Well, that’s, um…”

His eyes rolled around. Ian waved his hand as if he was done and sat at the desk.

“I have to write the letter today. You heard from Father, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. I received the content and have already written it. You just need to copy it, Sir Ian.”

The sound of a sigh of relief could be heard from here. It was an attitude of being fortunate that Ian didn’t pay much attention.

How could he be so clumsy? Rather than planting an informant as a tutor, the hypothesis that the tutor turned out to be a distant relative seemed more plausible.

“Teacher, it seems like it will be late today. Shall I have someone contact your home? Since the time is ambiguous, have dinner before you go.”

Ian asked to test him. Then the tutor wiped his sweat, showing a troubled expression.

“It’s alright. There’s no one waiting for me anyway. I’ll have dinner at home.”

Single. In his late thirties, a poor nobleman struggling alone in a foreign land. His life, driven by his obsession with research, was vividly apparent.

When he was in the palace, very rarely, such individuals would sometimes show remarkable achievements.

‘It makes sense that he lacked motivation for the lesson.’

Because he had to finish quickly, go back, and do his own research.

Ian copied the letters while closely observing the tutor. Indeed, the atmosphere was strangely tense, as if he was up to something.

Scratch, scratch.

The sound of the parchment being scraped echoed quietly in the room. Ian silently thought.

‘It seems like he was trying to do something under Mollin’s orders. But the time would have been too tight to go to Derga’s office.’

Ian’s room was on the third floor of the annex, and Derga’s office was at the top of the main building. He couldn’t have gone there when he didn’t know when his student would arrive. Then it meant he had certainly taken care of something somewhere in the annex.

On the first floor, there was a small kitchen, a bathroom used by the servants, and a warehouse. On the second floor were the quarters of the steward and the lower staff. The third floor and above were all guest rooms and empty rooms.

“The steward…”

Did he visit the steward’s room? Ian deliberately let his words trail off and turned to the tutor. He seemed to have a talent for answering silently. His face turned black and stiff.

“The steward isn’t bringing snacks today. Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m, I’m fine.”

Ian smiled and wrote down the rest of the letter. From Mollin’s perspective, it was naturally safer to keep multiple possibilities open.

If Ian were to fail, and if it were to be discovered by Derga, how would he handle the aftermath? The tutor must have also received some kind of instruction.

‘It seems he had business with the steward.’

The master key? But it was rare for the head of the family to grant the steward access to the seal. It would be a different story if he entrusted the authority of financial transactions. Given Derga’s temperament, it didn’t seem likely.

‘Then…’

The only way was to find out directly.

Ian skillfully copied and looked at the tutor. For now, he didn’t seem to know that he had joined hands with Mollin. He was fidgeting and sweating like that.

In that case, Ian had no reason to reveal it either. The tutor gave an awkward smile at the child’s brightly smiling face, as if relieved.