The Devil (3)

After Frondier exited the room.

"Did everyone see that?"

Lily spoke, her eyes sparkling as she glanced around.

"I kind of liked him from the first time I saw him, but now I'm sure."

Lily declared with those words.

"He's mine!"

"Lily. As I said before, that man is Enfer's son."

The man who advised Lily was Medart de Thebes, the oldest of the current Zodiacs. Medart was around the same age as Heldre, who was now deceased.

"That doesn't matter anymore. I'm going to have him. Don't anyone try to stop me!"

Lily seemed determined. The surrounding Zodiacs sighed and shook their heads.

However, among them, one person.

"No, you can't."

Monty stepped forward and spoke to Lily.

"I'm going to raise him."

"What?"

"He's a promising young man. He's not scared at all even in front of us, and he's smart."

"You're kidding! Raise him? I'm taking him, I said!"

"He's a second-year student, right? As soon as he graduates... No, that's a waste of time. Working under me will be more beneficial for his future than some educational institution. I need to get started right away."

"Hey! Are you listening!"

He wasn't.

Monty was already thinking about how to develop Frondier, regardless of Lily's declaration.

Of course, neither of them considered Frondier's opinion at all.

"...It was an amazing technique."

"Right."

Daisy and Ludovic, who were watching the two argue, spoke up.

"If my eyes aren't mistaken, what Frondier manifested was definitely a 'rune'."

"Frondier was here as soon as the incident happened. He had to protect the Emperor. So he didn't have time to draw a rune. It makes even less sense that he drew it beforehand knowing the incident would occur."

"In other words, he manifested the rune 'without drawing' it."

Ludovic sighed at Daisy's summary.

"What an absurd guy."

"And after manifesting that rune, he created a pencil and paper in the air. He showed us writing his name on the paper floating in the air without lifting a finger."

"That was a kind of warning. A warning like, 'If I wanted to, I could create a weapon behind your back and stab you at any time'."

"Ahaha. That seems a bit excessive. Well, it wouldn't be impossible."

Daisy laughed first, and Ludovic followed with a relaxed expression, but their tension still lingered.

The reason was clear.

"That's not all that's surprising."

Medart, who had given advice to Lily, spoke.

"Look at this."

The spot where Medart pointed his finger.

There, invisible to the naked eye, a mana cylinder stretched vertically from floor to ceiling. Its size was large enough for one person to comfortably fit inside.

Its identity was obvious.

"He 'shrunk' the rune he created and left it here."

"...He doesn't need to draw it, and he can adjust its size after creating it. What an absurd idea."

"Look at the symbols and arrangement, it's so dense I can't even tell what's what. Lines this detailed and thin can't be drawn by a human. These are completely pure mana lines."

The Zodiacs observed the 'Menosorpo' rune that Frondier had left behind. The symbols were only recognizable by those with exceptional mana sensitivity, but that wasn't a problem for the Zodiacs.

"The fact that he left this here, small like this..."

"Means he'll use it later. If he made it big, the enemy would know he manifested the rune, so he confined it to this size."

"In other words, it's because of Ludovic."

"Ugh."

Ludovic groaned at Daisy's painful words.

Certainly, if Ludovic hadn't said 'prove it', Frondier wouldn't have needed to unfold this rune in advance.

"...Or maybe this has meaning too."

Lily muttered.

"If he wanted to prove his strength, there were plenty of other ways. Since he's such a smart kid, there might be a reason why he chose this method!"

"...It's a bit of a biased analysis, but it's not impossible."

Monty shook his head, looking at Lily, who seemed to have become completely on Frondier's side.

"Well, the way I see it, it didn't take that long for him to manifest this rune. If he didn't want the enemy to know anyway, he could have just used it later. Is there any need to shrink it and then expand it again?"

"He was muttering something earlier, something about sorpo... Maybe it needs a trigger word?"

"Even if that's the case, I don't think the enemy would be able to silence Frondier first without knowing this information."

Hmm, everyone fell into thought.

Before they knew it, the Zodiacs were racking their brains as if the rune Frondier had left behind was some kind of 'riddle'.

They were unconsciously following the trail of that cheeky little brat.