Chapter 09
“Actually, I don’t know either. The Marquis only told me that if someone worthy of inheriting his will appeared, I should show them this safe before he left.”
When I declared that I would rebuild the Marquisate, Adam must have become convinced that it was time to show it to me.
I narrowed my eyes and looked up at him.
“How can you be sure there’s something valuable inside?”
“I was told it was something precious to the Marquis, something with value in the study of spirits. And… something that could greatly benefit the nation.”
Well, just by looking at it, the massive safe practically screamed, I’m hiding something important.
Something related to spirits.
As far as I knew, there weren’t many spirit-related objects in this world.
After all, spirit arts depended almost entirely on a spirit master’s affinity with spirits.
And if it was something that could help the nation…
What could it possibly be?
“Can’t we just break it open with something like a drill?”
I lightly knocked on the safe with my soft little fist.
Hmm… It’s sturdier than I expected.
“What’s a drill?”
“A saw, then. Or… anything with brute force.”
But Adam shook his head.
“The safe is made of magic stone. Without the keys, it is absolutely impossible to open.”
“And I’m supposed to find those keys?”
Honestly, I hadn’t expected it to be that easy.
Like an NPC handing out a quest, Adam nodded.
“The Marquis said that whoever inherited his will would surely be able to find them.”
Right. Considering the trust fund at Hugobrint Bank alone, I had already figured that nothing valuable would fall into my hands easily.
“As a matter of fact, I already have one of the keys.”
I looked up at him in surprise.
“For over ten years, I’ve kept it safe while waiting for the person who would inherit the Marquis’s will.”
Smiling warmly, Adam reached into his pocket and handed me a round stone.
Holding it carefully with both hands, my eyes lit up.
“Wow!”
The stone was flat, marbled with brown and blue. It felt heavy and cool in my hands.
So this was one of the three keys?
When I placed it into the circular slot, it fit perfectly with a click.
“It fits perfectly! So now we only have to find the triangle and the square, right?”
One out of three.
Two remained.
“I have a good idea where one of the remaining two is.”
Adam continued,
“The Grand Duke’s family in the northern territory—the Marquis’s birthplace. I once heard him say he left one there.”
I recalled what I knew about the northern territory.
A frozen wasteland where endless snow stretched as far as the eye could see.
If you kept advancing while fighting White Bears, the apex predators of the icy plains, you would eventually see towering ice walls that seemed to reach the sky.
Behind those walls stood soldiers clad in armor forged from a metal that neither rusted nor froze.
And ruling over that land…
The Grand Duchy of Mayla.
They were said to be as cold and ruthless as ice itself, dividing people into nothing more than allies and enemies.
I never imagined my father was the son of the Northern Grand Duke.
The original novel described the Mayla Grand Duchy as the stereotypical northern ducal family from romance fantasy novels.
But my father, the Grand Duke’s second son…
He looked so gentle. Nothing like someone from that family.
At least, judging from his portrait.
Well, I supposed even a Northern Grand Duke didn’t necessarily have children who all looked alike.
The real problem was that I had no idea what they would think of me.
Father had already left the family and received his own title from the Empire.
I’d never met any of them even once.
I’d never even met my father, and now I was suddenly expected to meet my paternal relatives.
“You said you contacted the Grand Duchy before, didn’t you?”
“Yes. But we haven’t received a reply from the messenger bird yet. It’s an extremely difficult place to reach, so it may take some time.”
“…Then we’ll think about it once they respond.”
Just imagining meeting my grandfather and my relatives made me nervous.
I continued,
“Then what about the last key? Where is it?”
“I believe the Marquis entrusted it to one of the spirit masters he was close to.”
“A spirit master?”
“Yes. That’s why I contacted the newspaper and had them publish an article about your arrival in the capital. Once people learned that the heir of the Mayla Marquisate had returned, the spirit master holding the inheritance key would surely react.”
“Ah…”
So Adam had thought this through.
“But judging by the lack of response…”
“Yes. Either they’re a spirit master who lives far removed from high society and hasn’t heard the news, or they don’t realize the significance of what the Marquis entrusted to them. Spirit masters are often people who care little for worldly affairs, so… we may have to search for them one by one.”
Adam sounded as though it might become quite difficult.
No. Don’t get discouraged.
If there was a safe and there were keys, then surely they were meant to be found.
It might take time and effort, but someday I would open it.
“So neither of the remaining keys will be easy to obtain right away. Please keep looking, Adam.”
“Understood, Miss.”
I stared thoughtfully at the safe.
Just what was hidden inside?
* * *
Beyond the towering fortress walls, where a snowstorm raged outside the Grand Duke’s castle, a newspaper carried by the wind was suddenly pierced by a sword thrust skyward.
The old man wore a uniform as sturdy as armor. Snow had settled into his white hair, frozen solid as always, barely moving even in the fierce wind.
He slowly lowered his sword.
The newspaper skewered on its blade rustled as he took it into his hand.
Standing beneath the shadow of the fortress wall, his sharp teal eyes followed the printed words.
One article in the corner caught his attention.
The daughter of the former Great Spirit Master, Marquis Mayla—Arinel Mayla (11)—has returned to the capital.
In the black-and-white photograph produced through alchemy, a young girl with a soft, round face like a cream bun smiled brightly, her blonde hair tied into twin tails.
For a long time, the old man silently stared at the child’s picture with cold, piercing eyes.
“Your Grace.”
“Your Grace.”
A man and a woman in armor approached one after the other, placing a hand over their chests and bowing according to the strict etiquette of the Grand Duke’s family.
Their hair was frozen stiff, and their eyes were as sharp as hawks’.
“A messenger bird has arrived.”
The armored woman with her blonde hair tied into a ponytail reported in a rough, weathered voice.
“…It’s Hyzen’s child.”
The armored man beside her continued.
The twins were the eldest son and eldest daughter of the great House of Mayla.
They were also legendary hunters, inheritors of the Mayla bloodline, capable of driving a single sword through the thick hide of a White Bear and killing it instantly.
Whoosh—
The icy wind howled against the fortress walls, freezing the mustaches of the soldiers standing guard.
The Grand Duke silently watched the newspaper as it gradually froze in his hands.
Finally, he spoke.
“Send a reply. Tell them that when summer arrives… we will be there.”
Although the season of warm southern winds had begun elsewhere, the north remained cold, and the savage enemies beyond its borders were still active.
A sharp light gleamed in the Grand Duke’s eyes.
