Of course, these were also made by alchemists, and of course she had no idea where they were sold. She had only heard about it through rumors. Perhaps that was the kind that Carlon Delphine was using at that time. She activated the formula that she had written down somewhere beforehand, just in case.

“Too bad, I thought such things were my area.”

Reinhardt said, shaking his head. Valletta chuckled at the exaggerated drooping of his shoulders.

“We should go back to the inn first. Are you tired?”

“…… How did you know?”

“Master frowns when you get tired, and you often press this area with your thumb.”

Reinhardt tapped his temple area with his index finger. Valletta, who was watching with a smiling face, turned away. Come to think of it, it seems they had been together for a really long time. She couldn’t believe he even noticed this habit of hers.

“I didn’t know it was a habit.”

Valletta nodded rather than making excuses.

“I don’t have the energy. I feel like I’ve reached my limit.”

She was able to walk around, but her whole body felt heavy like wet cotton. If there was no need to move, she didn’t want to move.

“Oh, your hands are better now, but what about your dizziness?”

Valletta laughed small as Reinhardt bent down and looked up at her from below. He looked like a puppy who was begging for food. Reinhardt’s eyes grew bigger as he faced Valletta, who burst into laughter.

“I like it.”

‘’What?”

“It’s nice when you laugh. I laugh a lot.”

Glaring at him, Valletta swallowed her laugh at Reinhardt’s outlandish words.

As she turned away, Reinhardt blinked slowly. Valletta bent down and picked up Snorta, who was lying curled up in the shade of a tree.

Hmmm.

A sleepy voice escaped from Snorta’s mouth.

“Let’s go back.”

“Okay.”

As Valletta turned her body, Reinhardt stared at Snorta in Valletta’s arms. He strode closer to her.

“Master.”

“Yes?”

“Master, can I hold your hand?”

“…… I’m holding this child.”

At Valletta’s answer, Reinhardt was silent for a moment. He stared at Snorta and nodded.

“I know.”

“…….”

It was odd to see him retreat so honestly again. Valletta gave a low sigh, moved Snorta to her right arm, and held out her left hand to Reinhardt.

“Here you go.”

“Master, why are you so sweet all of a sudden?”

“Are you crazy? Why is this sweet?”

“Master has been weird for a while. Raising weird animals and calling the other guys’ names, and now you’re sweet to me too.”

…… this kid has gone a little crazy. Did he forget the meaning of the word ‘sweet’ because he was hit in the head? Frowning, she glanced at Reinhardt and shrugged.

“If you don’t want to, don’t worry.”

When Valletta tried to withdraw her hand, Reinhardt quickly grabbed it. His warmth flowed through her cold fingertips. Valletta sighed as she saw the deep smile on his face.

“Why are you being so picky?”

It was strange to walk hand in hand through the market. It was rare that she held hands with someone, which made her feel even weirder.

At Reinhardt’s warmth, she closed her eyes and then opened them. The future Reinhardt in her flickering memory made her frown.

“Master.”

“I told you to stop calling me that.”

“Valletta.”

The word, which came out of his mouth like a melted sweet candy, sent shivers down her spine. It felt as if someone was clawing and scratching her back along her spine.

“I like the sound ‘Master’ better.”

“…… Why is that?”

When Valletta asked with a deliberately nonchalant expression, Reinhardt suddenly stopped walking.

“I want to eat that.”

Reinhardt’s long, straight finger pointed to a place: a candy store with many different colors. It seemed to be a store that sold different kinds of snacks, to be precise. Among them, there was a clear jar of colorful round candy balls.

“…… candy?” (Valletta)

“Yes, buy it for me.” (Reinhardt)

“You have a lot of money. Do you have to steal it from a beggar like me?” (Valletta)

“I’ll give you money.” (Reinhardt)

Reinhardt’s eyes bent nicely in front of her. Valletta was rendered speechless for a moment as he bent his body slightly and acted cute. Of course, that was under the assumption that it was his charm, not a threat.

“If you’re going to give me money, you can buy it yourself.” (Valletta)

Is there any reason why she has to buy it for him? Even though she felt awkward, Valletta walked to the candy store. She thought that if she didn’t buy it for him, he would pester her nonstop, so she would give him what he wanted.

She sighed as she stared at the rusty, wobbly sign. As she entered the old candy shop, a wide variety of colorful candies caught her eyes. From among them, Reinhardt wanted a clear glass jar filled with candy. There was a cork stopper on it.

“Please give me this one.”

Valletta paid the owner, took the candy jar, and handed it to Reinhardt.

“Here. What’s wrong with you today?” (Valletta)

“I just love being treated like a child by you.” (Reinhardt )

Reinhardt murmured, gently raising his lips. As if he had received an unexpected gift, he grasped Valletta’s hand tightly, looking at the candy jar for a moment in his other hand.

“You don’t know how much I wanted to get this.” (Reinhardt)

“You don’t like candy.” (Valletta)

“Me? What made you think that?” (Reinhardt)

Reinhardt’s eyes opened wide when he heard Valletta’s words. When he asked back, Valletta opened her mouth as she headed back to the inn.

“I saw you once steal a piece of candy from the desk in my room, but you spit it out right away.” (Valletta)

“Oh, really? I only like one candy.” (Reinhardt)

He ate it only once and fell in love with its taste. He thought all the candies tasted so sweet and pleasant. It wasn’t until he secretly ate the second candy that he realized the reality.

“I’ll put you to sleep, so go sleep.”

“If I go to sleep now, I’m not sure if I can wake up at night.”

“I’ll wake you up.”

Reinhardt said as he walked up to the inn room. He opened the door and stepped inside, taking off her robe himself and lowering Snorta to the floor.

“Oh, I forgot to buy food for Snorta.”

“I’ll get it. Go to sleep.”

Reinhardt laid Valletta down and said, stroking her cheek.

Valletta glanced at him and nodded. When she lowered her eyelids, the darkness came clearly. There was a slight rustling sound as if he was cleaning up, and then silence came.

She could feel his fingers caressing her forehead. She didn’t reject the sleep that was rushing in on the usual signal. Hearing her breathing change evenly, Reinhardt turned away.

He carefully turned the doorknob and stepped outside. Locking the door wasn’t enough, he even cast a protective spell that was invisible to others. Only then was he able to leave the doorway.

He naturally put on his robe and walked around the market. He walked with a relaxed gait, but his gaze was sharp. The market streets were buzzing with people. Even though it was a large town, it was certainly smaller than the capital or the city, so it wasn’t difficult to go around. The problem was that he couldn’t find any traces of magic or alchemy circles. He felt annoyed because he was walking around and not picking up anything.

Reinhardt’s eyebrows became wrinkled. He sighed lowly, stepped to a less populated area, and tapped the floor with his shoes. The magic circle widened and his vision flipped in an instant.

Reinhardt, who had reached just below the sky island, used his magic on it once more. He was soon inside the sky island, and went to the library. It was still daylight, so there were quite a few people in the library.

‘I’m also very eager to study.’

He glanced around the library thoughtfully. In all likelihood, he had missed something, but it was hard to tell what that something was that he had missed.

He took a suitable book from the corner of the bookshelf and sat down in a secluded spot, propping his chin up.

‘Lost, murder, and resurrected corpses, Lesir……’

The murdered body did not have any body parts. Or more accurately, there were those that lacked body parts. As if they were cut off, not torn.

They were the only ones that came back to life.

The ones that simply died of torn limbs did not come back to life. The ones that came back to life were the ones with very clean cuts. If those clean cut ones were the ones that had Lost, then…?

‘What if it wasn’t just a murder in the village, but Lost and a murder together?’

It was one question after another floating around in his head. Reinhardt tilted his head and blinked. It was possible that Lost itself was buried because of the murder. There was a mixture of bodies that had actually showed signs of Lost and those that had not. It also fit to some extent with what was said about people who died from Lost became Lesir.

Speaking of which….

He had only heard descriptions of Lost, where parts of the body suddenly disappear, but he had never seen it with his eyes. It would be easier to understand if he knew where the phenomenon would occur.

“Where is it?”

He had heard that it actually happened. Reinhardt tapped the desk with his fingers, his eyes drooping sluggishly.

“Come to think of it, I was in Sokor’s village the other day, and I saw something odd.”

He was cleared of his thoughts by nearby voices. Reinhardt slumped over and blinked his eyes.

“What’s strange?”

“The two-eyed Sokor walked briskly. Speaking of which, that town was a little strange…….”

Reinhardt’s lips curled up as he listened to the story. He bent his eyes and squeezed his robe a little tighter, then rose from his seat and approached the people who were talking.

“Can I listen to that story?”

The eyes of the gathered wizards opened wide at the sweet voice that suddenly interrupted. If it hadn’t been for how naturally he interrupted and how inhuman his voice sounded, they would have thought they were friends.

“Huh? Yes, of course.”

“Thank you.”

Reinhardt replied softly in a honeyed voice and positioned himself beside them, his red eyes downcast.

***