Published: September 6, 2025
Because it had a double bottom, simply opening the bag and peeking inside from the top didn’t reveal its contents. Unless I cut into the bottom part, I couldn’t retrieve what was hidden. So I took out my stave and whispered “messer,” channeling extra mana into the knife.
This leather pouch was made from leather that didn’t conduct mana. It was crafted from the hide of a demonic beast, which repelled mana that wasn’t its own. In terms of blocking mana, it was similar to silver cloth, but a weapon made with a stave and powered by stronger mana than that of the demonic beast could cut it. Silver cloth blocks all mana, no matter how strong, but a plain metal blade can still cut it. There was a significant difference.
“If I start around here, maybe I won’t damage the contents inside?”
I tried to run the knife blade along the edge as much as possible. Because I was channeling extra mana, even a gentle stroke made a clean incision.
“Ryuken.”
I deactivated the stave’s transformation and vanished it, then nervously slipped my hand into the cut. I wondered what Ferdinand could possibly be hiding inside. My fingers brushed something crisp. I pulled it out and found an oval-shaped lump, about five centimeters long, wrapped in white paper. Then, a small folded piece of paper appeared.
I placed the white lump on the table and unfolded the paper first. It was written in Ferdinand’s handwriting. The characters were quite messy, as if hastily written.
“What’s this? The contents of this paper say it’s the name offering stone of someone named Quinta. Eventually, I will come to collect it, so please don’t touch it and keep it in your secret room where no one else can reach it… or something like that. This kind of half-hearted treatment isn’t right. Quinta would feel sorry if it wasn’t properly received.”
Why would he entrust me with it instead of receiving the name himself? Just then, I remembered whose name Quinta was.
“Ah! Eh? Isn’t Quinta Ferdinand’s real name!? Wait, then this means... this is Ferdinand’s name offering stone? Hold on. Why is it written as if it belongs to someone else...?”
Why wouldn’t he hide it in the room where he kept his own belongings in this mansion? Why wouldn’t he manage such an important item himself? Was it hidden at the bottom of the leather pouch that contained the recording magic tool? And if there was no one to offer it to, why bother making a name offering stone at all? One question after another filled my mind.
“Could it be that he offered his name to someone but got it returned? Hmm, I can’t quite picture Ferdinand offering his name to anyone, but since he made a name offering stone, that seems likely…”
Though I didn’t fully understand the situation, it was clear that there was a need to create a name offering stone—and it was right here in front of me.
When I was given this leather pouch, Ferdinand hadn’t yet acquired his secret room in Arensbach. Perhaps he didn’t have a safe place to hide it. Maybe it was too dangerous for him to keep it himself. Was there no one else he could entrust it to? And why, of all people, me?
“Could it be that Ferdinand trusts me? No, that’s hard to believe. There’s no way he could’ve predicted I’d learn his real name from Lady Aervelmine. Maybe he figured I wouldn’t bother touching a name offering stone that belonged to some stranger? Yeah, that sounds plausible.”
Looking at the lump wrapped in paper, I felt indescribable emotions. To think one couldn’t even keep their own stone close—it made me wonder just how dangerous Arensbach really was.
“I don’t want to be entrusted with something like this…”
The fragile lump rolled with just a gentle poke from my finger. Inside was the mana stone that held Ferdinand’s life and fate.
“Now that I know Ferdinand’s real name is Quinta, I could easily steal his name if I wanted to, you know? …Well, I’m not prepared to bear the burden of his life, so I’ll just leave it here as is.”