Published: January 22, 2026
Oswell MacLeod, known as "the Doctor" and one of the executives of the Cyclamen Cult, sat in a chair inside a certain room within the imperial castle of the Sobel Empire, lost in thought.
(Gary is dead, and on top of that, we've lost the farm. My future pleasures have diminished... Now then, what should I do to pass the time?)
“The Emperor’s patience is about at its limit,” said Oswell’s twin sister, Lueria Inglot, who was in the same room, her expression weary as she spoke to him.
Hearing her voice, Oswell frowned and pulled himself back from the depths of his thoughts.
“What a hassle... Lueria, can you handle him somehow?”
“Please don’t make me. Seeing that old man’s incompetence firsthand makes me want to just cut him down.”
“That’s a dangerous thing to say.”
“Are you the one who turned me into this?”
“Well, I don’t have a comeback for that. Sigh... I suppose I’ll have to calm him down myself. Not that I’m eager to.”
“If that’s the case, shall I provide you with some information that might interest you?”
Just as Oswell gathered the last of his dwindling motivation to head toward the Emperor, a man entered the room and spoke to him.
The man was Stieg Stroem, a young assistant to “the Doctor,” responsible for managing the farm.
“…You have some nerve showing your face here, Stieg,” Oswell said sharply, his eyes narrowing as he addressed him in a low voice.
But Stieg seemed unfazed by Oswell’s change in demeanor and wore his usual innocent smile.
“As for the farm, it was unavoidable. Even if I had stayed, I couldn’t have stopped White Demon. Even if you, the Doctor, had been there, nothing would have changed.”
“I know. That’s just me taking out my frustration. So, what do you want?”
“I came to formally greet you.”
“...Greet me?”
“Yes. I have recently been bestowed the title of Rakshasa by Belia-sama and have joined the ranks of the executives in the Cyclamen Cult. I am making my rounds to greet everyone.”
“Hmph, how commendable.”
“I heard that this is the first step in building relationships. Also, though it was unavoidable, I caused trouble by losing the farm and dealing with Gary’s outcome. As an apology, I have something for you.”
Stieg said this as he produced a piece of paper from a storage magical tool.
He then spread it out on Oswell’s desk so he could read the contents.
“…A newspaper?”
The paper was a newspaper previously published by Blanka, a news agency in Tsutolairu.
“Yes, that’s right. I thought you’d find this article intriguing, so I bought it.”
Lueria, who had been silently listening to their conversation, glanced over the article.
“—!”
Her eyes widened, and she gasped softly.
Her expression seemed more puzzled than shocked.
Ignoring Lueria’s reaction, Oswell skimmed through the article carefully.
“...Are they trying to say Caroline is still alive...?”
The article focused on the second squad of the Silver Rabbits of the Night Sky, an A-rank party.
It gave detailed information about the Twilight Moonbow, including Luna, the former hero, Sophia, sister of the S-rank seeker Selma, and mentioned that all party members were supernatural ability users—details more thorough than those about other parties.
“No way. That one’s already useless. Isn’t there a more interesting person? Someone with knowledge of supernatural abilities like you should notice.”
Provoked by Stieg’s words, Oswell frowned and read the article more attentively.
“...Hm? All members of the Twilight Moonbow are supernatural ability users?”
At Oswell’s murmur, Stieg’s smile deepened.
“Yes. And interestingly, the eastern part of the Nohitant Kingdom is said to have strong ties with neighboring countries.”
In Oswell’s mind, new experimental possibilities to kill time began to take shape.
From his research, he had reached a conclusion about supernatural abilities:
There is a close link between supernatural abilities and bloodlines.
Moreover, these abilities manifest only once every few generations, and when they do, relatives closely related by blood do not manifest new supernatural abilities.