I lay comfortably with my eyes closed, patiently waiting for him to return.
BANG!
Instead of food, I was startled awake by a loud, unexpected noise. I jumped up, rushing to see Kalz standing by the door, his fist tightly clenched.
“What are you doing? You’re not seriously trying to break it down, are you?”
“It’s locked. What else can we do?”
“But is this really okay? This isn’t just any random place—it’s the treasure vault. What if someone sneaks in after you bust the door open?”
“Come on. Who else would be sneaking around in this castle? Or are you admitting you’re planning a heist yourself?”
“A heist? Who are you calling a phantom thief? Fine, do what you want. Get robbed and end up broke—it’s none of my business.”
Kalz snickered softly and raised his fist again.
“Step back; you might get hurt.”
I obediently moved away. If the castle’s owner himself didn’t care, who was I to stop him? Honestly, I wanted out of here as soon as possible. My hunger was bad enough, but holding back the urge to run to the bathroom was pure torture.
Kalz measured the door carefully, then struck with his full strength.
BAM! …CRASH!
With an even louder impact, one side of the door tilted precariously, losing balance and toppling forward.
Whoa, that actually worked?
Seeing the heavy door crumble after just two hits made me laugh in disbelief. Kalz casually pushed aside the fallen door as if it were nothing.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah, just a second.”
When I came back out with Kalz’s coat and the cloth that had been covering me, he was holding something in his hand too, studying it with a strange expression.
“Butler Squawk?”
For some reason, Butler Squawk was lying there, completely unconscious.
“What happened? Why is he like this?”
“I was wondering the same. He was here when I moved the door. Looks like he got knocked out—probably crushed under it.”
“He must’ve come to open the door and got caught underneath…”
If I’d known this would happen, maybe I should’ve stopped Kalz when he started swinging. Seeing Butler Squawk limp like that made me feel a twinge of guilt, but it was too late now.
“He doesn’t seem badly hurt. He should wake up once he’s had a bit of rest. Just leave the cloth and let’s go.”
“Okay. But… are we really leaving the door like that? It’s completely wide open now.”
“We’ll fix it later.”
“You’re not saying I have to fix it, right?”
“Of course not. Sorry, but I don’t trust a cat to guard the fish.”
There he goes again. Annoying, but honestly, the less work for me, the better. I’d been dying to get out of here earlier, but now that I knew I wouldn’t be coming back, I felt strangely reluctant. It would’ve been nice to look around properly just once.
Feeling a bit wistful, I turned for one last glance into the storage room. I wanted to take it all in before we left. But something caught my eye—something that hadn’t been there when we came in.
“Was there always a painting on that wall?”
A massive frame now hung on the front wall. No way I’d miss something that big… Oh! The cloth Kalz gave me—that’s where it came from. It had been covering this.
The exposed artwork was a portrait. The face was obscured by shadows, but judging from the seated pose, it was clearly meant to be a formal one. Long black hair fell past the shoulders, but the clothing and build were definitely masculine.
Whose portrait is that?
My curiosity pulled me in, and I started stepping closer without realizing—until a voice called out from behind.
“What’re you doing? I thought you were starving. Was that just for show?”
“It wasn’t for show! Just a minute…”
“I’m warning you now—starvation compensation isn’t part of your contract.”
“Ugh, stingy. Fine, I’m coming!”
In the end, Kalz’s prodding pulled me away before I could get a good look at the portrait’s face.
***
On my next day off, I went down to the village at the crack of dawn and headed straight to Leon’s estate. It must’ve been pretty early—he came out to greet me in his pajamas, a rare sight.
“It really is you, Bell. When the butler said we had a visitor, I thought, ‘No way.’ You surprised me.”
“Sorry for dropping by so early.”
“No worries. I’m glad to see you. Still, you’re here a lot earlier than usual. Something up?”
“Not really.”
If Leon had gotten permission from his father, there was no telling how long it might take to comb through the records. If he hadn’t, I’d need to head somewhere else to do the research, and that would take time too. Either way, the smartest move was to get started as early as possible to make the most of the day.
“I just wasn’t sure how today would go.”
“Oh, you mean this?”
I didn’t go into detail, but Leon immediately caught on and grinned, looking proud as he held something out. In his hand was a key. Wait—is that…?
“Is that the key to your dad’s study?”
“Yep. That’s the one.”
“Nice job, Leon!”
Seriously, if he wasn’t so stubborn and oblivious sometimes, he’d be perfect. He’s super reliable when it counts. Laughing, I reached out with both hands and ruffled his hair without thinking. His eyes widened in surprise.
Oops. I’d been petting the senior staff so often lately, I guess it became a habit. Thankfully, Leon just laughed.
“Haha! Is that your way of praising me? I’m not a puppy, you know.”
“Honestly, you kind of are. Or maybe more of a full-grown dog—you’re a bit too big to be a puppy.”
“What? That’s cold. Weren’t you the one who said I was a good friend?”
“Exactly. Dogs have always been humanity’s best friends. Anyway, where’s your dad’s study? We’re good to head in now, right?”
“Yeah, but… why don’t we eat breakfast first? I’d like to change out of these clothes too.”
“Fair enough. Lead the way.”
As we walked toward Leon’s room, I asked how he managed to get permission. His face turned a little sheepish.
“Honestly, I wasn’t too confident, but he gave me the okay right away. I felt kinda dumb for getting so worked up about it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I told him I wanted to look through some old village records, and he seemed genuinely pleased. He didn’t say it out loud, but I think he was a little hurt that I’ve never shown any interest in his work.”
Judging by how nervous Leon had been, I’d assumed his father was a stern, distant type. But maybe their relationship wasn’t so strained after all.
“When I was younger, he used to make me study all sorts of stuff—preparing me to take over as his successor. But I never enjoyed any of it. It just didn’t suit me.”
“Successor as in… the lord of the village?”
“Yeah. Normally, the title gets passed down to the child, and since I’m an only son, that meant me. Of course, that all went out the window once the class system was abolished.”
“Did that bother you?”
“Not even a little. I was relieved. I thought, ‘Finally, no more of this miserable studying.’ Of course, I didn’t show it. My dad was pretty upset.”
Understandably so. Losing both his title and his successor in one blow—it must’ve stung.
“So what does he do now?”
“Honestly? Not much has changed. Sure, they say the class system is gone, but everyday life hasn’t shifted all that much. The monarchy still exists, and a lot of folks around here still call him ‘Lord.’ He and his old staff still handle most of the village affairs. If anything’s changed, it’s just the nameplate on the door.”
“Huh. If people still rely on him even without the title, he must’ve been a pretty respected lord.”
“Yeah. He devoted his whole life to the village.”
Leon’s voice carried quiet pride, and the respect in his eyes said it all. Turns out, they were just a decent, close-knit father-son duo. No drama to worry about after all.
We had breakfast—fresh-baked bread and warm potato soup, the kind of comforting meal I rarely got back at the castle. Then we finally made our way to the study.
“Hold on, let me unlock it.”
“Got it.”
My heart skipped a beat as Leon slid the key into the lock. I had a good feeling about today—like we might finally stumble on a clue to the magic. As the door creaked open, the study revealed itself…
“…That’s it?”
“Hm?”
“I mean… it’s a bit underwhelming.”
The room was way smaller and humbler than I’d expected for a former lord’s study. Compared to my father’s reception room back home—ten times the size and dripping with luxury—this felt practically quaint. Then again, my boss did have a flair for the extravagant.
Leon caught my disappointed expression and chuckled.
“Haha. Not sure what you were expecting, but I told you—it’s just an office. Come on. The village records should be on that bookshelf in the back.”
Right. It wasn’t about the furniture. What mattered was the information. But when I followed his finger and saw the bookshelf in question, I was hit with another wave of disappointment.
“That’s it?”
A single shelf, barely taller than me, sparsely filled with papers and a few folders. That was the grand archive? I couldn’t hide my frustration. I’d dragged myself down here at dawn, mentally preparing for a long day of digging through mountains of data to find something—anything—related to magic from a hundred years ago. And this was all we had?
“Didn’t you say it had records dating back to when the village was first founded?”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. But I didn’t realize it was this little. I’ve always just walked past it without paying much attention.”
