The Water Magician

The next day.

Accompanied by Ryo, who had visited the Kingdom Magic Research Institute in the morning, Abel headed to the Royal Alchemy Workshop.

Thanks to having made an appointment the day before, the alchemist Baron Kenneth Hayward was present in the workshop.

Ryo and Kenneth quickly bonded and began discussing alchemy.

Abel, having completed his purpose, returned to the Kingdom Magic Research Institute.

Upon entering the Ilalion office on the top floor, he found that the population had increased since the time he had left that morning.

There were about seven people present.

“Oh, Mr. Abel, I hope I'm not interrupting,” said the leader, Hero Roman, as he greeted Abel upon his return.

“Uh, yeah,” was all Abel could manage in response.

He spotted Lin, who had been on standby, and asked her the reason for the increase in people.

“Oh... apparently, someone just came from Duke Flitwick's residence.”

According to Lin, Nancy, the secretary of Viscount Oswin Fletcher, was the source of yesterday's problems.

Disguised as someone injured from an attack by Abel, she had provoked Gordon into attacking Abel.

However, by the time it was all over, Nancy had already vanished.

They all spent some time searching the area, but she was nowhere to be found.

Upon returning to the duke's residence, they discovered that Nancy was a foreign spy and had been sent to the public capital Carlyle.

Even after a night had passed, Hero Roman expressed disbelief in Viscount Fletcher, prompting the entire party to leave the duke's residence.

By the way, Gordon had remained huddled in the corner of the room since they arrived.

“Roman, being a hero, seems to have a strong intuition or a sixth sense about these things, as Priest Graham mentioned,” Lin added.

“I see... So that's why the number of people has increased...”

The Ilalion office was quite spacious, but with the number of people rising from three to ten, it felt noticeably crowded.

The original three were Abel, Lin, and Warren.

Rhea was still at the Central Sanctuary, and Ilalion had left three days ago and had yet to return.

“Seriously... where on earth has the old man gone?”

“Oh, speaking of which, a swift horse came from Stone Lake and left a message... I remember that the name ‘Ryo’ was murmured upon seeing that message,” Lin recalled.

“Ryo?”

“Yeah. But Ryo is in the royal capital, right?”

“Yeah. He’s probably discussing alchemy with Kenneth at the workshop right now...”

As they were talking, a sudden mechanical sound resembling “Wuuuuu~” echoed from a corner of the room.

If Ryo had heard it, he might have exclaimed, "Air raid siren from London!"

However, it was the first time for those present to hear that sound.

“What is that?”

“What’s going on?”

While Lin and Abel were in a flurry, the door opened and Soola, who served as Ilalion’s secretary, entered.

She walked to a corner of the room, pressed a button on a box, and the air raid siren sound ceased.

“This is Ilalion Mansion. Please proceed,” Soola spoke to the box.

Then a voice replied from the box.

Abel recalled the alchemical sphere given to him during infiltration.

It was a device that picked up voices and delivered them to a distant alchemical box.

“This is the Central Sanctuary. We have an emergency. Non-human beings are overflowing from the underground! If this continues, they will overflow into the royal capital. Immediate assistance is required!”

Abel looked towards Soola and nodded promptly.

When he turned to Hero Roman, he saw Roman nodding as well.

“Currently, Lord Ilalion is absent. However, the b-rank party, Red Sword, and Hero Roman’s party will head for assistance.”

Before Soola could finish her sentence, Red Sword and the Hero Party rushed out of the room.

As they burst out, Abel asked Soola to deliver a message.

“Please contact Ryo, who is at the Royal Alchemy Workshop.”

Gordon, who had been huddled in the corner, stood up straight and ran out of the room, following them.

In the Central Sanctuary of the Royal Capital Crystal Palace.