Chapter 164

After meeting with Count Winslet, Sir Joseph returned and delivered a message: I was to come to the main estate’s third-floor study later tonight.

It was likely a decision made by my father, Count Winslet.

Was it that he didn’t want to see me in front of others?

As I quietly rested in the annex, recovering from the journey and waiting for evening to come, an unexpected guest came to visit.

It was a group of mages employed by House Winslet.

“What brings you here?”

“Um… Baron Winslet, if it wouldn’t be too presumptuous of us… would you be willing to teach us?”

Was it a lack of tact, or a lack of prejudice?

Mages were, by nature, detached when it came to academic knowledge and curiosity.

Even knowing that I wasn’t exactly welcomed in House Winslet, they still came to me seeking instruction.

This kind of mindset and attitude was something typically found among the mages of Karaf, but culture tends to spread along with knowledge, so it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

I decided to accept their request without hesitation.

After all, I had nothing else to do before dinner, and I didn’t know how many days I’d be spending

here until I got the information I needed from Count Winslet.

It seemed wise to build even a small circle of allies while I had the chance.

“Sure. What do you want to know?”

“It’s about the barrier. The three of us are in charge of maintaining the security barrier around the castle.”

“Security barrier?”

I tilted my head.

I hadn’t sensed any trace of such magic on my way here.

Sensing my doubt, the mages gave sheepish smiles.

“As expected, you noticed. The barrier stopped functioning a few days ago. We’ve tried to fix it, but there’s a part we just can’t figure out, and we’re at a loss.”

“Alright. Let’s go take a look.”

The mages led me to the top of a tower built on the outskirts of the main estate.

“Is it really okay to expose the core of the barrier to an outsider like this?”

“Huh? We didn’t really think about that… But, well, someone of your level could probably bypass the barrier and come and go as you please anyway, so it should be fine.”

Was it really fine though?

I couldn’t help but question the security awareness of the Winslet territory, but since this wasn’t my domain, I decided not to concern myself with it.

“This is the core of the barrier.”

At the top floor of the watchtower, in the center of the room on a raised platform, sat a crystalline structure resembling a miniature temple.

Its size was about that of an aged pumpkin.

I let out an involuntary murmur of admiration.

“They definitely spent some money on this.”

“Yes. I’ve heard that this artifact alone is worth as much as the entire lord’s manor.”

No surprise there.

The temple was composed of hundreds of small crystal fragments.

They were intricately and solidly interlocked, exchanging magical signals too fine to be seen with the naked eye.

In other words, each individual crystal was already a magical artifact.

“A compound spell barrier, huh? This is top-tier.”

A barrier designed so that multiple magical formulas complemented each other. When one part was damaged, it could self-repair, and even if a fault occurred, it could be easily dealt with.

All that was needed was to identify the faulty module and replace it.

One of the mages in charge of the barrier pointed to the fourth pillar on the right side of the crystal temple.

“This is the component that’s malfunctioning. The resolution of its detection field has dropped significantly.”

“I assume you’ve tried fixing it?”

“Yes. We tried swapping it with another component and even replaced it with a new one, but the same issue keeps occurring.”

“Then there’s only one answer….it’s interference caused by an external force.”

“Could the artifact itself be broken?”

“Nope.”

As I said that, I lightly tapped the side of my temple with my fingers.

“I can see it clearly.”

“Ooooh…”

The mages still looked a bit lost.

“But when you say interference from an external force, do you mean someone tampered with the barrier? It looks far too intact for that.”

It’s always harder to untangle a knotted thread than to just cut it.

Therefore, to tamper with this compound spell barrier without leaving any trace, one would have to be a mage at my level just as they mentioned earlier.

And this wasn’t Karaf, so the likelihood of such a mage being around here was slim to none.

But there was one other possibility.

“World field.”

“Ah.”

“The mana that makes up the world isn’t a static substance. You’ve at least heard the term ‘world field’ in your studies, haven’t you?”

“We’ve never really studied it in depth, but we were taught that it’s the massive flow of mana that circulates throughout the world.”

“Exactly. And humans are far too small to fully comprehend that immense flow. That’s why magical errors with no apparent cause are sometimes due to the world field itself.”

To use a modern-day analogy, it would be like your perfectly fine TV antenna malfunctioning due to a solar flare caused by a sunspot explosion or like a tsunami hitting your coastal town due to an earthquake on the other side of the world.

But in the world of Candela of Judgment, such analogies aren’t exactly easy to come by.

Which is probably why the theory of world fields remains a difficult subject even among the mages of Karaf.

“Well, that should answer your question, right?”

“Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, Baron, we’d be completely lost.”

“That’s some excessive flattery.”

“It’s not flattery. It’s the truth.”

The three mages in charge of the barrier looked at me with the faces of baby chicks gazing up at a mother hen as they spoke:

“We were really worried the barrier might’ve been broken.”

“You were… worried? Not concerned?”

“Yes. We were worried about which day would be best to sneak away in the middle of the night.”

“……”

“But I guess it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. We learned something even better today. From now on, whenever we run into a problem we don’t understand, we’ll just blame it on the flow of the world field! How convenient is that?”

…Yeah, these guys definitely have some issues with their work ethic.

But hey, they’re not my employees. Count Winslet can deal with them however he wants.

After checking on the barrier and returning, I found that dinner had been prepared in the annex.

There seemed to be dozens of different dishes laid out, but only one chair.

I stopped a servant who was setting the table and asked,

“Dahlia… Where’s the maid who came with me?”

“There’s no separate dining area for attendants in the annex. She’s probably having dinner back at the main estate with the other servants.”

While passing through the other territories of Lofield, my maid had always been treated as a guest of honor—

But here, she was being treated as just another servant.

Honestly, it didn’t feel great.

Still, I decided to hold my tongue. In a way, bringing Dahlia into the main estate meant the Count’s household had accepted her into their inner circle.

The long rectangular table, the gleaming white tablecloth, and the lavish dinner spread out before me….it was all far too extravagant, far too excessive for just one person.

Thinking I’d just sample a little of each dish, I began cautiously moving my fork and knife.

But before I could even touch some of them, the servants whisked the plates away.

“……?”

I wondered if they were playing a prank on me.

But it turned out that any dish that had cooled even slightly was removed from the table.

And instead of being reheated, it was replaced entirely with a new one.

I’d heard often enough that the Winslet family was wealthy.

And sure, no one hates wealth—

But this level of extravagance was almost off-putting.

In the end, I barely managed to taste a tenth of the dishes brought out before the meal was over.

Feeling oddly rushed and left with a lingering discomfort, I looked up to see Dahlia returning from the main estate.

“Did you have a good meal?”

“Huh? Oh… no, I mean…what?”

But something was off about her.

Her face was frozen in a daze.

She was breathing hard, like she’d been running from something.

Before I realized it, my voice sharpened.

“What happened?”

“I, um… I ran away!”

“Ran away? From whom? Weren’t you just having dinner with the other servants at the main estate?”

“That’s what I thought too, but……”

“But?”

When I frowned and pressed her for an answer, Dahlia’s lips trembled as she finally spoke.

“Miss Anna called me aside.”

From the moment we arrived at the estate, she’d been looking to pick a fight—

So had she finally grabbed hold of Dahlia and caused a scene?

That’s what I thought… until Dahlia said something completely unexpected.

“And then she took me somewhere private, and suddenly started grabbing my hands and… fiddling with them…”

“……?”

Fiddling with her hands…what?

Dahlia continued.

“She kept trying to press things into my hand, telling me to take them. So I…”

“So you?”

“I ran away.”

“……?”

“W-Was that wrong of me? I just… I felt overwhelmed. And kind of scared…”

I let out a sigh.

Well, at least it wasn’t what I had feared.

“She was probably trying to apologize for what she said earlier today. Most likely it was a gift. She wouldn’t have known what you like, so she probably just picked out some expensive trinket.”

Dahlia tilted her head, still looking confused.

“But what happened earlier was my fault. If I hadn’t gotten sick, I wouldn’t have needed to join you on this trip. And if I hadn’t come along, she wouldn’t have seen me and misunderstood things with you…”

I shook my head.

This was a whole new level of mutual awkwardness.

One side had too much pride to apologize—

And the other had such low self-esteem, she didn’t know how to accept one.

I’d never seen a pair so completely out of sync…

Well, whatever.

They’d figure it out.

There are far worse relationships in the world….maybe this one wasn’t so bad after all.

“Go get some rest. If you haven’t eaten yet, let the kitchen staff know.”

Dahlia bowed her head and headed up to her room.

And so, time passed, and night fell.

Seeing the sky outside turn pitch black through the window, I quietly rose from my chair.

Then I made my way to the third floor of the main estate. To the study of Count Winslet.

I had already asked the servants about its location, so I had no trouble finding it.

Slide.

The well-oiled study door opened without a sound, and a reddish glow spilled out through the crack.

Deep inside, a small lamp was lit, casting the shadow of an old man onto the wall beside it.

I stepped closer to the light, adding my own shadow to his.

The older shadow spoke.

“Well, you’ve certainly gone and caused quite the stir. My son, why have you returned to this place?”

“I’ve come seeking answers, Father.”