Someone raised the possibility that a plague was spreading. Quite a few people were also loudly claiming that a rebellion was about to break out in Deluah.
Leopold was no different. Aghast, he sent a messenger to the palace and then spent the entire day debating with his classmates over what the truth behind that bizarre rumor could be.
Teron Meyer disappeared the next day. Or perhaps the day before. Lloyd had no idea when Teron had vanished from their shared dormitory room. In any case, the following day Teron Meyer failed to show up for a single class.
Leopold went looking for Teron once at the library, once at the pine forest. Teron was nowhere to be found. Leopold concluded that he had used his teleportation magic again and was off wandering wherever he pleased. When he came back, Leopold decided, he'd give him a sharp warning.
On the third day of the new term, a telegram reached the capital confirming that the marquis was indeed dead. On top of that came the shocking news that nearly all of the estate's servants and knights had been slaughtered.
There was no longer any reason to disbelieve it. Something unprecedented in Deluah, no, something without precedent even before Deluah's founding, had happened.
Who's the culprit? To that question came an absurd answer.
They say a single man killed the marquis's household and hundreds of knights all at once.
Every single witness was shouting the same thing.
It defied all common sense. There was no way anyone that strong could exist, no way such a person would suddenly wipe out two noble houses, no way such a person would don a robe and murder a marquis and a count.
And there was absolutely no way every one of the corpses would rot away black.
Everyone, including the students of the Royal Academy, suspected the royal family. The royals swiftly denied any involvement. They were genuinely indignant and anxious.
Vowing to catch the culprit no matter what, they even dispatched an investigation team to the provinces. Those who had harbored suspicions soon came to their senses.
The royal family had no reason whatsoever to move against Count Luden and Marquis Rapel.
They had been faithful servants of Deluah for two hundred years. And to say the king had gone mad, well, he was still far too sound of mind for that.
Then who?
A rumor spread that a curse had fallen over Deluah. Some believed a band of criminals was running rampant in the provinces. Others were convinced it was the work of monsters.
Throughout all of this, Teron Meyer never once showed his face.
Not a soul cared about Teron.
No one but Leopold.
“Several knights have set out, so please, put your mind at ease.”
“It's already been two days since they left. And they still haven't arrived?”
“The kingdom is vast, Your Highness. There's no way word could reach us so quickly.”
“...Is there not a single knight among them who can use teleportation magic?”
“I'm not sure I follow, Your Highness...”
“Can't they use teleportation magic to reach Luden in one go?”
“Pardon? Your Highness, teleportation magic is only used when one wishes to travel from, say, the bedroom to the kitchen. And most knights don't even know how to draw a teleportation circle.”
A headache flared up, and Leopold drove the reporting knight out. He thumped his head against the wall. Lloyd van Acker, who had been sitting quietly beside him, muttered,
“Is he actually dead, or what...”
Leopold warned him in a rough voice.
“Watch your mouth, Lloyd. There's a proper way to say things.”
“...I was just talking. Common sense says there's no way that bastard would die. A guy that vicious and low, he'd be the one doing the killing.”
Would he? Leopold wanted to believe that, but the unease simply wouldn't settle. He chewed at his lips, then rubbed his face with both hands.
“Should I just go to Luden myself?”
“Leo, get a grip. By your own account, Teron Meyer loves gallivanting all over the place. He could be holed up somewhere reading a book.”
“No. He'd have gone home the moment he heard the rumor that Count Luden had been murdered! I should have brought Lady Adeline to the capital ages ago. I should have done it even if it made him angry...!”
“...”
“With his temperament there's no way he'd ever ask me for anything, he hates me that much... I should have just handled it myself.”
It was the first time in his life Lloyd had seen Leopold react this way. At first he was baffled, but as Leopold carried on as if something terrible had happened, he found himself growing anxious too.
Normally Lloyd would have snapped at him to quit talking nonsense, but instead he lost his words and just fidgeted with his hands.
Then a question occurred to him, and he spoke up.
“Leo, you seem certain that commoner bastard went to Luden. If so, he'd be on his way back to the capital by now. Luden is so far from here. And if he's bringing his birth mother along too, how long is that going to take?”
“That's not possible. Teron can use teleportation magic.”
“You keep going on about teleportation magic. Get a grip, and stop saying such strange things.”
Leopold hesitated, but in the end he said it. Teron would curse him for it, but that hardly mattered anymore.
“Not the ordinary teleportation magic we're talking about, with a single spell he can travel back and forth across the kingdom. Why wouldn't he use a power like that?”
“Get a grip. I really think you're not feeling well.”
“Does it sound like a joke?”
Lloyd lost his words for a moment, mouth hanging open, then barely gathered himself to reply.
“You saw it?”
“Yes, I watched him use the magic and come back. And even then Teron said he'd been to Luden and back.”
“You believe that barking nonsense? Leopold, you're not the kind of kid who'd be dumb enough to fall for something like this.”
“Do I look like I can't see through a single one of Teron Meyer's lies? Is my judgment that laughable to you?”
It was preposterous. It made no sense. It made just as little sense as the fact that a count and a marquis were dead.
And yet Lloyd believed Leopold. The First Prince was the sharpest boy of everyone he knew. His insight always saw far, far ahead, and even when it seemed strange at first, in the end it proclaimed nothing but the right answer.
And that First Prince was more certain now than ever before. Lloyd's mind filled with confusion until, in the end, it went utterly blank.
“...I don't know anymore. But that commoner bastard has to be alive.”
“Hard as it is to believe, it's true. Yes, Teron will be alive.”
“That bastard isn't a god. How does that make any sense? It's no different from the rumor about a robed criminal single-handedly wiping out a count's estate and a marquis's estate in one day. Teron Meyer, a robed criminal... now we've got two gods who can teleport across the kingdom in an instant.”
Then he snickered, tickled by his own joke. Leopold blinked blankly. Soon he blurted out something absurd.
“You're right. You're absolutely right.”
“Ugh, now what are you on about?”
“That murderer used teleportation magic too.”
“...”
“Common sense says there's no way there'd be two people committing murder in a way like that.”
“...Is that so?”
Then Leopold suddenly shot up from his chair and paced slowly around the room.
“No, or maybe there's a band of criminals like that. A whole group that kills that same way. Could that even be behind the rumors that people keep dying out in the provinces?”
“That actually holds up. I think so too. A mad criminal organization has sprung up in Deluah. Though the story about everyone rotting away black is hard to believe.”
“...This is maddening.”
Face gone pale, Leopold struggled to calm himself. He'd already done everything he could to find Teron. Now all that was left was to wait.
Even so, the anxiety was nearly enough to drive him out of his mind. Whether he wanted them or not, ominous thoughts kept drifting through his head.
Returning to his dormitory late that night, Leopold still couldn't fall asleep.
He merely sat perched on the edge of his bed, gazing blankly at the floating moon, lost in thought.
Should I go to Luden? It's only been two weeks. Maybe I'm making too much of a fuss. But then, why on earth hasn't he come back? What's really behind these rumors of people dying? What in the world is happening in Deluah?
As he brooded and brooded, around the time the moonlight fell straight into the center of the room,
he was met with a truly astonishing sight.
A blue rift opened in the room. Leopold reflexively took up his sword on guard, but the one who emerged from that familiar magic circle was Teron.
Eyes wide, the First Prince muttered,
“Am I seeing a hallucination?”
The black-haired boy answered,
“No.”
Leopold cried out, his face lighting up.
“So this sight is real? Teron Meyer, have you lost your mind? What on earth have you been doing!”
But there wasn't the slightest flicker in Teron's expression.
Brow furrowed slightly as if with fatigue, he beckoned to Leopold.
