Because of Vanessa’s sudden change of attitude, the Council was unable to reach a decisive conclusion. However, some members eagerly searched for the guest house to meet Adelaide.
“Look at you,” Orpé scoffed as she glared at the council members, “I’ve memorized all your faces and names. I certainly won’t leave you alone.”
Meanwhile, their fellow wizards muttered tiredly behind Orpé.
“Orpé, can’t we just take a little rest?” asked one.
“How can we take a break when Grand Duke Kalion and his knights are currently missing? Let’s do our best and hurry,” Orpé replied. “Duchess Erna took the time to draw a draft for us, so we need to complete it as quickly as we can.”
“Easier said than done!”
One of the wizards exclaimed as if it was unfair. In her hand was the paperd Erna had handed over. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that she was supporting the piles of paper, which was high enough to be taller than an average human.
Looking at the pile, Orpé sighed again. Everything that was written on the papers was magic. It was also terribly complicated.
This morning, Erna had said that she wished for the wizards to complete one magic formula. Orpé was not too surprised at that. In the past, after Erna finished the basic design, the wizards would take over and complete the formula.
Creating magic formulas is the most difficult at the beginning, but after it is built to some extent, it becomes a battle of time and labor.
Orpé agreed to Erna’s favor without much thought, and soon regretted her decision. As soon as she answered yes, a wad of papers was placed on her desk with a thud.
“This, please,” she had said with a smile.
Orpé looked at the stack of papers with a puzzled face. She hadn’t seen Erna drawing anything like this until the day before. It was evident that she had drawn the magic formula during the night.
But how can a person do so much in one night? Orpé had wondered.
Rather than just writing down the letters or symbols, they must be placed in an appropriate position and order, and the compatibility with other letters must also be considered. She couldn’t have finished it overnight.
But the moment she lifted her head again and looked at Erna’s face, Orpé knew that Erna had been working all night. Erna looked exhausted, with dark circles around her eyes.
Orpé immediately went to the wizard’s building with the papers Erna had given and laid them on the long desk in the conference room to figure out the structure of the magic.
“Tracking and destroying… ”
As soon as she saw it, she knew it was a magic Erna created to find Kalion.
In fact, it was a little ambiguous to regard the state of Kalion and the knights as missing. At least now it was certain that they were in the Wynfield Valley. The question was: where were they in that long, wide valley?
Looking at the situation, there were quite a few strong and talented knights. No, perhaps there were so many that they could be called a unit. However they were plenty though, the knights were bound to lose their strength.
When Orpé herself first learned magic, she had been trapped in a space distorted by Erna for a few days. The moment she realized that she was hovering around the same spot, she became anxious and did not know what to do, even though she knew that Erna would unleash the magic if she waited. When a day had passed, she compulsively checked how much food was left every few minutes.
Even if the knights have been trained on a regular basis, they would not be able to perform at all in a situation where they have been isolated for more than two weeks.
I wish we could go, Orpé thought.
But she remembered the knights of Aether who were stationed far away from the capital. Seeing the shield Erna had made, they did not advance further. Instead, they closely monitored those leaving the capital. Perhaps it was to avoid contact with Haband and any attempts to seek Kalion.
Besides, I can’t even send all the wizards out.
Otherwise, the entire capital, including Erna and the Grand Castle, would be in danger. Eventually, they had to find another way to help Kalion while in the capital. The answer would be the blueprint of the magic formula that was now in front of them.
Orpé rubbed her eyes, which had become stiff from fatigue, and concentrated again.
One of the wizards next to her said weakly, “By the way, where did Grand Duchess Erna go? It would be much more convenient if we just had a little help from her…”
“She went somewhere else because she had work to do. Rather than depending on her, I want you all to focus.”
“All right, all right.” The wizard sighed in defeat and turned her eyes back to her papers. She stared intensely at the incomplete formula before her and muttered after a while, “But in order to properly target this, I think we need to have the same thing we have here… Is there anything like that?”
