Rudger thought for a moment.

He didn't have anything urgent to do anyway.

The aftermath of what happened in the Elf Kingdom would be handled by them.

As for Roschen, they said they would contact him later, so he just had to wait.

If there was anything concerning, it was meeting Luther Wardot at his seat, and it seemed necessary to have a private audience with First Princess Eileen.

'If they want to hear more about what happened, they'll seek me out on their own.'

Considering all of that, there seemed to be nothing wrong with going along with Casey's request.

He was also curious about what kind of person Casey's sister, the head of Selmore, was.

'Come to think of it, it is strange. If she were that remarkable, she should have been on Hans' or my information network as a person of interest.'

What Rudger knew about Marias Selmore was that she was a mage with a color title like Casey.

Personality. Preferences. Main residence. Hobbies or habits.

None of these were properly known.

When he continued thinking with suspicion about the fact that nothing was known, there were quite a few suspicious points.

She was excessively hidden and concealed, not revealing herself.

'Why haven't I noticed until now?'

Come to think of it, she's that Casey Selmore's sister.

Looking at Casey's behavior and way of speaking, it was hard to shake off the feeling that she was quite controlled by her sister.

It seemed there would be no harm in meeting her.

"Alright. I accept the proposal."

"Re, really? Really? You definitely said you'd do it?"

"When you press like that, I'm starting to regret saying I would do it just now."

"No! No taking it back! Since you said you'd do it, you have to come with me first!"

"So, when should I visit?"

"It's not that urgent, but the sooner the better, right? The longer I delay, the more my sister will suspect me."

Casey kicked the floor with the tip of her shoe, seemingly quite annoyed just thinking about her sister.

If she disliked it that much, she could just tell her sister firmly not to do that, but the fact that she couldn't meant she must be scared.

"What kind of person is your sister?"

"Why suddenly?"

"Since we're going to meet anyway, it would be troublesome not to make any preparations. At the very least, I need to know what kind of person she is so I can prepare accordingly."

"Preparing according to the person?"

"Since I agreed to pretend to be your fiancé, I should at least try to appear as someone who can make a positive impression on her. Wouldn't that be easier for you too?"

While thinking Rudger's serious approach was somewhat unexpected, Casey pondered deeply about the answer to his question.

"Hmm. What kind of person is my sister...A weirdo?"

"Didn't you say that earlier too?"

"Not just any weirdo. The most extraordinary weirdo in the world."

"I can't tell if that's praise or criticism."

"Anyway, that kind of feeling?"

Rudger sighed and asked in response to Casey's words.

"...Are you really family?"

"We are, why?"

"I'm saying this because I think you know too little about your sister."

"What are you talking about! I definitely made a proper assessment!"

"Not that, but things like what she usually prefers, types of people she dislikes, or actions that absolutely shouldn't be done."

"That's..."

Casey fell into thought again and this time, the silence was much longer than before.

Rudger waited patiently for Casey to open her mouth.

After a while, what Casey said was quite unexpected even for Rudger.

"I don't, really know."

"...You don't know?"

"I know. I know it's strange, but I can't say I know much detail about my sister. I can talk about surface-level things, but that would probably be useless anyway. Because I don't think that's her real self in the first place."

"When you say it's not her real self...you mean she's wearing a mask."

"Right. That's why I called my sister a weirdo when I evaluated her. I mean, right? Who in the world acts like that, hiding their true feelings even from family?"

"Your sister does, doesn't she?"

"...Anyway!"

Casey declared to Rudger as if saying anyway was good enough.

"Just go along with what I say. I'll mainly deal with my sister. Got it?"

"Well, I'll do that. But I'll definitely get my compensation for helping you."

"Compensation? What, what are you going to do?"

"It's nothing much. I'm just a bit curious about your sister. There's something I'm looking for, and I wonder if she might know about it."

"Looking for something?"

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you. It's related to some magical or mysterious place."

"...If it's that, my sister would definitely know well. So when can you go? Isn't your schedule flexible since it's vacation now?"

Of course, Casey was thinking of giving about 3 days of time even considering that.

That would be enough time for Rudger to make preparations, and it would be appropriate for her to get things in order too.

"What's there to measure? Let's go right away."

"...Huh?"

* * *

Since Casey wasn't prepared, the two agreed to meet at the train station the next morning.

The two who met like that bought train tickets headed to their destination.

"The Kingdom of Seville, huh."

The Kingdom of Seville it's located in the southwest of the Kingdom of Yuta.

It's not that large of a nation.

If one had to compare, it's about the size of the Kingdom of Queoden, which became the prototype for Rudger Chelici’s identity.

Natural resources aren't that abundant, and it's not particularly powerful either.

Nevertheless, Seville Kingdom was famous for producing many outstanding talents due to their high enthusiasm for education.

A nation that produces many outstanding people through education instead of other excellent products.

Therefore, the Kingdom of Seville had many high-income earners relative to its population, and a high proportion of mages.

"Well, there's not much to see in this country. If anything, the natural scenery is good so the tourism industry is somewhat developed."

The train departed, and the two sat quietly in their seats.

Since it would take at least a few hours, Rudger started reading the documents he brought.

Casey, who was bored with nothing to do, watched the documents Rudger took out with interest.

"What's that?"

"Materials I looked up about your sister."

"Materials? There's more than I expected."

The papers in Rudger's hands looked to be at least 50 pages.

However, Rudger, who was quickly scanning them with his eyes, didn't seem very satisfied.

"There's just a lot of quantity, but they're all just well-crafted public images and masks."

"What's that supposed to mean? Is that your assessment as someone who's done similar work?"

"Let's say it is."

Still, it was better than not checking at all, so Rudger read all the information thoroughly.

The express train that ran without stopping finally arrived at Tartenon, the capital of the Kingdom of Seville.

As Rudger and Casey got off the train with their luggage, someone was waiting to greet them.

"Welcome, Miss. And Miss' fiancé. I am Frederick, a servant from the Selmore family."

Rudger asked Casey about the elderly gentleman who was politely greeting them.

"Did you perhaps give them advance notice that we were coming?"

"How could I? You know I didn't even have time for that since we left right away."

"Yet he welcomed us as if he had been waiting."

It was safe to assume that Marias Selmore knew every move Casey made which meant that he, who was accompanying her, was also under observation by their information network.

'This is getting interesting from the start.'

Isn't this behavior like saying 'I know everything about you'?

Perhaps a weak-hearted person would have felt some sort of pressure and inexplicable fear from this point but Rudger was different.

"Let's go."

"Re, really?"

"They even sent a servant to come out, it would be awkward to refuse, wouldn't it?"

Rudger said that while glancing slightly at Frederick.

"Right?"

"I am grateful for your fiancé's consideration."

When probed slightly, the elderly servant bowed his head without changing his expression at all.

Like master, like servant, is that it?

As Rudger shrugged his shoulders, Frederick opened the door of the pre-arranged vehicle.

Before getting into the opened back door first, Rudger yielded to Casey.

"Why?"

"Ladies first."

"...Suddenly?"

"What do you mean suddenly? Isn't this natural behavior as a fiancé?"

Casey belatedly realized there were eyes watching here.

"Ah~. Right. That's right? Ohoho. Thank you."

She accepted Rudger's consideration with an awkward smile.

Of course, while acting like that, goosebumps were rising all over her skin.

The steam-powered vehicle driven by Frederick headed to a large mansion.

The Selmore family mansion was Casey's childhood home where she was born and raised.

Casey's expression, returning home after a long time, contained strange emotions.

She seemed to miss it but also looked somewhat tense but to Rudger, the latter seemed stronger.

She came to confront her sister with a fake fiancé right away.

It would be a lie if she wasn't nervous.

'Even the weather is blatantly making the atmosphere heavy.'

Despite it being daytime, the sky was full of gloomy gray clouds creating a somewhat bleak atmosphere.

Finally, when they entered the mansion, several servants came out to greet them.

"The number of servants seems quite small compared to the size of the mansion."

"Our family isn't the type to employ many people carelessly."

"Why?"

"That way there's less gossip spreading outside."

It meant they only dealt with minimal personnel to maintain the family's secretive atmosphere.

The one who decided that was naturally Casey's sister Marias.

"The head of the family is waiting."

Surprisingly, the place Frederick guided them to was not the reception room but the dining room.

When they went inside, dishes were laid out on the table as if prepared in advance.

The dishes were steaming hot as if they had just been made.

Rudger got slight goosebumps there.

Unless they knew exactly when they would arrive down to the second, such a scene couldn't have been orchestrated.

'Well, I came here initially out of interest and curiosity. But it seems I've walked into the tiger's mouth.'

Rudger's gaze turned to the woman sitting at the end of the table.

Her hair color was similar to Casey Selmore's sky blue.

However, it was a slightly whiter and brighter shade than Casey's.

Despite being sisters, this subtle difference in hair color was probably due to the nature of the magical power they possessed.

"Welcome."

Marias Selmore smiled brightly while looking at Casey with long, narrow eyes.

Her face had similar features to Casey's, proving they were sisters, and she was quite beautiful.

She looked like how Casey might turn out after growing up and aging a bit more.

Unlike Casey, she had long hair reaching down to her waist and somehow gave off a calm impression.

She seemed like an innocent sheep, mature unlike Casey who was somewhat sharp and did things her own way.

"My lovely sister."

"Ugh. Why don't you drop the words you don't even mean?"

Casey stuck out her tongue as if thoroughly disgusted.

It was quite an impolite action, but Marias didn't point out Casey's attitude as if this sort of thing happened often.

'Yet the atmosphere is already overwhelming Casey.'

Rather than simply crushing with enormous charisma, it felt like slowly tightening the neck in a subtle atmosphere.

Eventually, Marias's gaze turned to Rudger beside Casey.

"Nice to meet you. Casey's fiancé. That is...Mr. Rudger Chelici, right?"

She knew this side's name without any introduction.

"A teacher at Theon. A genius who created new magic. Also a former soldier, and someone who made great achievements in the imperial capital. Ah, I also heard about your lecture at the Arcane Chamber. It was quite interesting."

The path this side had walked came flowing out of her mouth one by one.

Though she was beautiful and her smiling face was charming, there was still something that couldn't be hidden but Rudger gave a light bow without changing his expression.

"I'm at a loss for words of gratitude that the head of Selmore would evaluate me so favorably."

At his attitude of speaking confidently in a clear voice, Marias' smile grew even deeper.

"My goodness. I was quite worried when I heard our Casey had met a good man, but at this level, I can at least give a passing grade."

"That's too generous an evaluation."

"Whether it's too generous or not, we'll find out gradually."

"Sister. Did you call us like this just to interrogate someone else's fiancé?"

At that moment, Casey's cold voice cut in between the two.

"Of course not. I was just so curious about my sister's fiancé that I couldn't help but talk too much. Please sit. You haven't eaten yet, right?"

There's no way they had.

In the first place, Marias had prepared this banquet knowing they hadn't eaten anything on the train but neither Rudger, Casey, nor anyone else pointed out Marias' behavior because from the moment they entered the mansion, an invisible battle had already begun.

In that suffocating atmosphere Marias raised the first question.

"So when is the wedding?"