Once Lillian learned that students from Minerva's would be attending the chess competition, her insomnia worsened. On the morning of the event, she woke up feeling awful once again. Outside, the sky was still dim.
She closed her eyes, intending to get a little more sleep, when the voice of her former friend resurfaced in her mind.
You'd be better off living in a mountain cabin somewhere far away from everyone else.
Those words had chipped away at her heart countless times already. Lillian sighed and pulled the blanket over her head.
A few moments later, she heard soft tapping and clacking sounds. Curious, she pulled the edge of the blanket slightly away from her face and looked toward the source of the noise.
"Oh, wait, I think I can do this… There we go! Heck yeah!"
"A strong move. But what will you do about this?"
"Ah, grr… but that's—"
On the floor of her bedroom sat her familiar, a black cat named Nero, and a beautiful woman dressed in a maid's outfit—Ryn, Louis's contracted spirit. They were gathered around a chessboard Lillian had recently purchased for practice.
At first, Lillian assumed they were playing chess. Then she noticed the pieces on their side, stacked into a tower in alternating black and white. Nero carefully picked up another piece with his paw and placed it on top—but the tower wobbled, lost its balance, and collapsed.
"Ah!" groaned the cat. "I knew my paws weren't meant for this!"
Frustrated, Nero slapped the chessboard with his foreleg. Ryn calmly began gathering the scattered pieces.
"What are you doing?" Lillian asked.
Without a hint of embarrassment, Nero held up a chess piece. "Playing chess!"
"We take turns stacking black and white pieces," Ryn explained. "Whoever causes them to fall loses."
That doesn't sound like the game I know, Lillian thought wryly as she got out of bed.
If Ryn was here, did that mean it was time for her regular report?
Nero, who had resumed stacking pieces with great concentration, looked up at Lillian. "Looks like she brought you a present."
"…A present?" Lillian repeated.
"Yes," said Ryn. "I have come bearing a gift from my master, addressed to the Silent Witch. Please accept it."
She picked up a paper-wrapped object that had been placed near the wall and—
"Durururur…"
With an impressively advanced roll of the tongue, she produced a strange sound.
"Oh, wait," Ryn continued flatly. "Pa-pa-pa-paan."
First a drumroll, then a trumpet fanfare.
Had a small child done it, it would have been adorable. Coming from a beautiful maid delivering the sounds in a monotone, however, it was deeply surreal.
"…Miss Ryn? What was that?"
"I read in a book that humans play instruments in situations like these. However, due to my lack of such abilities, I reproduced their sounds orally."
She was likely referring to ceremonies held in castles. Lillian had never heard of anyone playing instruments during a regular conversation. And it was probably for the best—if Ryn had actually brought instruments, the spectacle would have been impossible to ignore.
"In any case," Ryn said, holding out the package, "here you are."
The paper-wrapped gift was tied with a red ribbon.
"Thank you…"
Hesitantly, Lillian undid the ribbon. Inside, she found a navy-blue dress paired with a white coat. It wasn't the extravagant type worn to balls, but rather something suited for everyday wear. The design was simple and understated, which made Lillian all the more grateful.
"Wow… Is it really okay for me to have this?"
"It is," Ryn replied. "Lord Louis said to tell you: I suppose you can tell her it's a reward for capturing Victor Thornlee. You have to know when to punish and when to praise, after all. Ha-ha-ha."
Was she meant to repeat that last part verbatim?
Lillian managed a dry smile and held the dress and coat up to herself. They fit perfectly.
Maybe I'll wear this when I go shopping with Lana, she thought, smiling before bowing politely to Ryn. "Thank you. I'll write a letter of thanks to Mr. Louis—please wait a moment."
After hanging up the clothes, Lillian sat at her desk and took out her writing tools. She wanted to properly express her gratitude for the gift. As she began writing, Ryn stepped closer and spoke again.
"According to your previous report, you experienced an incursion by individuals posing as members of a trading company."
"Yes…"
"In light of this, Lord Louis requests that you submit a security plan for the day of the school festival with your next scheduled report."
"A security plan…"
She could do that, but there were far too many gaps to cover in a single report.
Ryn's pale green eyes studied her calmly. "For example, if you were an assassin, how would you go about killing the second prince?"
Nero immediately jumped onto the desk, puffing out his chest. "If Lillian were an assassin, she wouldn't need to sneak around at all! She could just blast the academy with a super high-power spell from far away and be done with it!"
"…Nero, that's not how assassinations work," Lillian said, startled by her familiar's enthusiasm. She then repeated what Louis had told her before. "The academy has a defensive barrier. You can't attack it from the outside."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Mr. Louis has barriers set up around every important facility in the empire. We don't need to worry about external attacks."
Louis Miller was known as the Barrier Mage. As his title suggested, barrier magic was his specialty. The scale, strength, precision, and duration of his barriers far surpassed those of any other mage. Serendia Academy, too, was protected by a massive barrier into which Louis had poured considerable effort.
"It's probably a wide-range, large-scale defensive barrier with an added detection formula," Lillian continued. "Normally it's inactive, but it activates the moment it detects an external attack. It's likely hidden somewhere obscure—where no one would think to investigate."
However, the barrier had one weakness: it could not respond to attacks originating from within. Once inside the academy, a criminal could theoretically rewrite the barrier's formula and disable it.
When Lillian voiced this concern, Ryn replied flatly, "That will not be an issue. No one can rewrite the barrier."
"They can't?"
"At a previous time," Ryn said, sitting up straight, "Lord Louis said the following." In a perfectly monotone voice, she mimicked him:
"My defensive barrier has deadly traps installed. If someone wants to rewrite it, they're welcome to try. Ha-ha-ha."
Nero groaned. "…What kind of lunatic packs deadly traps into a barrier?"
"There was an incident at another facility where an intruder attempted to rewrite the formula," Ryn explained. "After that, Lord Louis embedded traps that activate upon tampering."
That's very Louis-like, Lillian thought with a strained smile.
Nero stared at her in disbelief. "A killer barrier… Never heard of one. The Seven Sages really are a bunch of crazies."
Lillian didn't disagree. Instead, she changed the topic.
"In that case, anyone trying to harm the second prince would have to attack from inside the academy—using magic, weapons, or poison."
Like Casey did…
After that night, Casey Grove, daughter of Count Bright, had cooperated with the investigation. Lillian's father, Gerald, had entered a secret agreement with the count on her behalf. Count Bright claimed full responsibility for the incident and denied any ties to the Kingdom of Landor. Gerald, however, suspected Landor's involvement and was investigating how they had acquired the Spiralfalme—the lethal magic item Casey had intended to use.
"They've tightened security since then," Lillian continued, setting down her pen. "But since outsiders will be welcomed today, security may actually be more lax."
She looked up. "I think I'll observe today's arrangements before writing the report. Nero, could you keep watch for any strange mana? And Miss Ryn, wind spirits can hear distant sounds, right? Please keep an ear out for any suspicious conversations."
"Agreed!" said Nero, throwing a paw high into the air.
"Understood." Ryn nodded before raising her own hand and making a suggestion. "I was actually talking with Sir Black Cat about ways to remain inconspicuous while guarding the prince on campus."
"Yeah, that's right," Nero cut in. "Check this out, Lillian!"
A black shroud and golden mist wrapped around Nero's and Ryn's bodies. Behind the veils, their forms twisted and distorted. When the mist dissipated, two young men wearing Serendia Academy uniforms stood in their place—one tall with black hair, the other slender with blond hair.
The black-haired one was clearly Nero. Which meant the blond-haired man was—
"…Is that you, Miss Ryn?"
The blond man bowed. "It is indeed. I am Rynzbelfeid, the contracted spirit of Louis Miller."
Lillian had read that spirits possess no fixed gender and could transform into either male or female forms when manifesting as humans. Still, witnessing the transformation firsthand was startling. Ryn's frame was now unmistakably that of an adult man, her voice noticeably deeper, and the long blond hair she usually wore tied behind her was now cut short.
"What do you think of that?" Nero said proudly. "Now we can hang around the school without anyone batting an eyelid."
Beside him, Ryn impassively held up a romance novel. "In this book, the heroine is pestered by a bad man. In one scene, the man she is secretly in love with interrupts and says, 'Don't lay a hand on my woman.'"
"…I see," Lillian replied.
"If you are pestered in the same way, I will recreate this scene. Please be at ease and feel free to involve yourself with bad men."
Lillian was speechless.
Nero's eyes glowed. "Hey, that sounds fun! I want to try it too!"
"Then it shall be a love triangle among the Silent Witch, Lord Black Cat, and me. My heart dances at this development."
Lillian's heart was not dancing at all. She pressed a hand to her forehead. "Both of you," she said. "If you look like adults wearing student uniforms, you'll only stand out more…"
The black- and blond-haired men froze.
"Wh-what!?" Nero exclaimed, half meowing.
"Oh my goodness," said Ryn.
Neither of them seemed aware of how old they appeared. In human form, both looked to be in their mid-twenties—an age that would undoubtedly draw suspicion when paired with academy uniforms.
Once Lillian explained this, the two of them leaned together and began strategizing—arguing over what clothes they should wear instead. From the start, Nero could transform into a cat and Ryn into a bird, so there was no real need for them to disguise themselves as humans at all. However, they debated outfits with such seriousness that Lillian decided to leave them to it and went to make her usual morning coffee.