A Certain White Wizard’s Scheme

One afternoon, Erica and Owen were summoned to the office by Alvin.

“I guess it’s still about the matter of the potions that Owen-san and I are being called in…?”

“Maybe.”

“Will I be able to hide about Nina-san properly? I’m really not good at lying to Alvin-sama….”

“I’m not sure Erica is good at lying to anyone.”

While they were talking about that, they arrived at the office. Owen knocked on the door and announced his name. Immediately, he heard a voice from inside saying, “Come in.”

“Excuse me.”

“Sorry to bother you.”

“Yes.”

“So, what’s going on?”

“I need to check something.”

Alvin offered them to sit on the sofa and they all sit down facing each other. He called the maid to prepare tea.

Owen, who had been staring at Alvin, noticed that he looked remarkably good. When he mentioned this, he was met with a surprisingly gentle smile.

“I’ve been sleeping well these past few nights.”

“…. You’re not on any strange drugs, are you?”

“Drugs, huh? I think it might be close to that.”

Owen knew that Alvin had been having trouble sleeping since Nina disappeared. While he was happy for him, he couldn’t help but feel an unspeakable sense of discomfort.

“Come to think of it, I feel like His Majesty was in a good mood today. I wonder if there was some good news.”

“It’s probably because I finally told him I was getting married.”

“Heh, so it’s because of that…… Marriage?”

“I had turned down all the offers of marriage, and now I’ve made the offer myself. I’m sure he’s crying with joy with the ministers right now.”

Alvin sipped from his teacup in a nonchalant manner, while Erica, who was sitting next to him, folded her hands together and congratulated him, saying, “Eh, congratulations! Who is your partner?”.

And soon, Owen realized.

“…. You’ve found Nina.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t blame me for knowing and not telling you?”

“I knew you would have done it anyway.”

Putting aside Erika’s bewildered face out of the corner of my eye, not knowing whether to be pleased or not, Owen apologized and Alvin smiled at him and said, “It’s fine.”

“Where is Nina now?”

“She’s in a safe place. I’m not going to let you guys see her until Erica finishes her duties as a saintess. Only Erica can see her for her magic lessons.”

“I’ll still get to meet Nina-san? I’m so happy….! I’ll do my best! But I feel sorry that Theo-san and everyone else can’t see her…..”

No, it was because of Alvin. He probably intended to completely enclose Nina in the meantime. Nina, as expected, must have accepted Alvin.

“I called you both in today to get a better idea of what’s going to happen next. I don’t want to make Nina feel uneasy.”

“Umm, the big events after this are… my kidnapping, demons appearing in large numbers in the northern forest, and the appearance of the Evil Dragon. I think all of them couldn’t be avoided.”

“I see… It really is an absurd world.”

With a self-mocking smile, Alvin continued.

”You don’t know the time for all of them, except for the Evil Dragon in five months’ time, right?”