Some time after Gilead and Gion had left, Eugene called out, “Nina.”

“Please allow me to go and prepare your meal,” Nina offered.

“Good, but before you do that,” Eugene said as he got out of bed and picked up Wynnyd. “Keep whatever happens from now on a secret between the two of us.”

“...Yes, sir?”

“Even if I collapse again, don’t tell anyone.”

“...Do you really need to try to do something like that now?” Nina asked in concern.

“I just need to check something, so I probably won’t fall unconscious again,” Eugene reassured her before infusing mana into Wynnyd. 

Luckily for him, there wasn’t a repeat of the previous incident. But Eugene’s brow still furrowed at this as he felt a slight dissatisfaction. Instead, a spirit that was only the size of his palm began hovering around him. 

It was a sylph, a lesser spirit of the wind. Composed of a mass of wind, it didn’t even have a proper shape. However, with Eugene's small amount of mana, it was normal for him to have summoned a sylph.

Just in case, Eugene tried to mentally ask the sylph, ‘Hey, have you heard anything from your king?’

However, there was no reply. It seemed that it was impossible to converse with a spirit that had such low intelligence. With a click of his tongue, Eugene brandished Wynnyd.

Eugene began his test by calling out an incantation in his head, ‘Wind-blade.’

Once he had done so, an opaque stream of wind formed around his sword. Eugene glanced down at this wavering blade-shaped wind...