Baraha's territory, the Land of Five Lakes, had long been famed for its rich and varied natural environment: forests and mountains nestled among fertile plains, and five immense lakes and their branching rivers that kept the sunny, otherwise arid climate moist.

Where the Dakayn Plains produced vast quantities of grain from black soil struck by lightning every year, this land's pride was its orchards, laden with fruit as sweet as though steeped in sugar. Even now, grapevines hung heavy with fruit on either side of the road Turan and his companions were following.

"Those look rather delicious."

"They're not quite ripe yet. Want me to pick a few?"

"That would be stealing, my son."

"My son, my ass."

Turan chuckled at Solif's grumbling and led the way, leaning on his walking stick. Two days had passed since he donned his magical disguise. Unlike his somewhat awkward performance at first, he now looked every bit a man of his apparent age.

A young man impersonating an old one needed more than a slight change in speech. The important part was acting out details that were difficult to control consciously: movements suggesting subtly creaking joints, unlike those of the young, or the fatigue of a less capable body.

But his earlier impersonation of Onil Karmine had brought Turan's talent for observing and imitating others into full bloom. He now embodied a man in his twilight years so perfectly that even his two companions might not have recognized him with certainty had they met him elsewhere.

"Looks like we're nearly there."

Beneath the fading light of sunset, a city that would ordinarily have been pure white welcomed them, awash in orange.

Helio, the white city.

Surveying the city where the Head of Baraha would normally reside, Turan clicked his tongue softly.

"Something's odd."

"What is?"

"I've been noticing it on the way here, too. There are far too few wizards about. Normally, around a great house's capital, you should see knights everywhere, even on the outskirts..."

That was precisely why they had landed some distance away and walked in disguise rather than flying straight to the capital. Even if they flew high to avoid notice, a keen-eyed Baraha noble might spot them.

Solif gave a low, thoughtful hum.

"Maybe it's because of what happened on that island."

"Island?"

"You know, when I got caught."

"Oh."

The exchange was almost cryptic enough to be a coded document, but its meaning was easy to grasp. Hadn't Turan killed well over a dozen high-ranking nobles—the very elite of Baraha—while rescuing Solif?

Slightly weaker nobles would fill the gaps in security left by their deaths, and weaker nobles or knights would stretch themselves thin to fill the gaps those nobles left in turn... If such a chain reaction had occurred, fewer wizards guarding the capital's surroundings would hardly be surprising.

On top of that, the Head of Baraha was probably away on a distant journey. Naturally, a large escort of nobles had likely accompanied the House Head, so it was not all that strange for Helio to be virtually defenseless now.

"Let's hope that's really it. It'll make things easier."

With those final words from Turan, the three entered Helio without further conversation.

Since the sun was already setting, they found a suitable inn and spent the night. Their first stop afterward was the home where Solif's parents had originally lived. Neither was a particularly high-ranking noble, so they had resided in a mansion on the city's outskirts.

Upon arriving outside the mansion, Turan looked at Solif and shook his head slightly: he could sense no one inside. They had hoped otherwise, but it seemed Solif's mother had been moved elsewhere along with his father. Solif's face twisted at the realization.

"Damn it..."

"They'll be all right."

"Hang in there."

Patting his shoulder in comfort, Turan cast tracking magic to locate Solif's father, Godis. Immediately, a vivid sensation reached him, as though the target were right before him. From experience, that meant he was within a few kilometers—probably inside the city.

"Let's try this way first."

Following the tracking spell, the three soon reached a certain building. Solif murmured with a low groan.

"I expected as much, but they're inside the Temple of the Sun after all."

An ancient imperial building erected long ago for priests who worshipped the Silver Sun, it now served as the residence of Baraha's highest-ranking nobles. Its grandeur rivaled any other structure left by the old empire.

The first thing to catch the eye was the exterior wall of pure white marble. Unlike the other buildings, which quickly grew grimy and gray, its untouchable white radiance seemed almost sacred.

Above it, the roof was made of something resembling fired ceramic. Its brilliant gold caught the sunlight from overhead and illuminated the surroundings. Unlike Arabion's "wall of light," with its magic tools plastered all over it, this truly seemed like a small sun resting upon the earth.

'Stealth magic is out of the question with that much light.'

Turan had expected relatively lax security given their alliance with Zahar, but the building itself seemed designed to prevent infiltration by stealth magic. Perhaps the Silver Sun had built it long ago out of wariness toward the Night Hunter.

Simply looking and walking away might seem strange, so the party blended into the crowd as ordinary pilgrims and prayed before the Temple of the Sun. A passing knight noticed them and asked a question.

"Pilgrims?"

"Yes, sir. We've come from Moro Village down south, hoping to receive the blessing of the most radiant sun..."

"Enough. Pay before you pray."

"Here you are."

Turan smiled and handed over the money, unperturbed by the apparent knight's irritable tone. Meanwhile, he cast tracking magic using the hair hidden in his sleeve.

'Inside... Something feels odd. Underground? I can't pinpoint it without going in.'

He could not sense mana within the temple either, suggesting it had some means of obstructing detection, much like Arabion's headquarters. It did not seem able to block Zahar's tracking magic, however.

Once they finished praying and left, Turan told his companions what he had found.

"I won't be able to learn much more without going inside."

"Infiltrate at night?"

"That's the plan."

Both swallowed hard and nodded.

* * *

Late that night, the three slipped carefully out of the inn and walked the nighttime streets. Roads bustling with people during the day were now as still as death.

At this hour, even the gambling dens and taverns were closed. The only people out were thieves and other criminals, or the police patrolling to catch them.

"Police up ahead."

At Turan's whisper, all three vanished.

Stealth magic. Though regarded as Zahar's exclusive privilege, ordinary wizards could use it with a little practice. They simply did not bother learning it, since the sounds and scents inevitably produced by living beings made it as good as useless against nobles.

An ordinary commoner policeman, of course, could not detect nobles using ordinary stealth magic. Watching the torchbearer pass, Solif breathed in admiration.

"Wow, this is incredible..."

"Keep quiet."

He had probably become overly excited trying to overcome his nerves. Turan reprimanded him sharply and looked ahead. There stood the Temple of the Sun, far dimmer than by day but still shining brightly.

"We've made it this far without trouble."

"Then... shall we go in? Where's the place you mentioned?"

"This way."

Though not as thorough as Arabion's main house, the Temple of the Sun had formidable defenses. Two nobles always guarded its sole main entrance, and another watched the sky using light magic. The underground approach, which might otherwise have been the only way in, was blocked by walls left by the old empire that could not be breached by ordinary means.

But who was Solif? As Baraha's heir, he had spent his youth in that very temple and knew its layout inside out. He even knew several secret passages accessible only to a select few of high status.

They reached a sewer about two hundred meters from the temple, opened its locked entrance without trouble, and descended into the filthy, pitch-dark tunnel. Before long, Solif pointed to one wall.

"Here."

He pressed a brick between two unusually close-set torch brackets, and the wall pivoted with a grinding creak. No mana emanated from it, so it seemed to use some sort of mechanical device. Perhaps long disuse had left it rusty, judging by the sound of parts failing to mesh properly.

"Let's go in."

"Wait."

Just as they each conjured a light and prepared to enter, Turan raised a hand to stop them.

"There's a barrier."

"A barrier?"

"Probably in case you came back. Someone must have known you knew about this passage."

Able to see the flow of mana, Turan discerned an invisible magical net woven across the narrow passage. Had Solif come alone, he would have walked straight into it without noticing. It was a highly effective method requiring very little effort—provided Turan wasn't there.

Turan activated the Earthkeeper bloodline and reshaped the stone wall into a passage around the barrier. As they continued along the narrow way, he suddenly sensed numerous wizards far overhead.

"Looks like we're inside the temple. Around sixty nobles... and perhaps seven hundred knights. The House Head doesn't seem to be here."

Their forces were certainly thin compared with Arabion's main house. That would be due to the elite nobles Turan had killed while rescuing Solif, and the escort that had accompanied the House Head.

What was a little curious was the considerable number of powerful nobles despite that. Had the House Head chosen lower-tier nobles for the escort?

"And my father?"

"One moment... He's close. We can head straight there from here. For now, there doesn't seem to be anyone outside."

Casting tracking magic again, Turan sensed Godis a short distance away. He stepped out of the passage and looked around.

"Where are we?"

"The wine cellar."

Sure enough, the smell of wine filled the air.

After confirming that Godis was underground, Turan explained the plan he had just devised: instead of going aboveground, they would tunnel directly to him.

"... Will that work?"

"I think it should. As far as I know, there aren't any separate defenses against underground intrusion inside the grounds."

With Solif's support, Turan's improvised tunneling plan was put into action immediately. He broke through the stone wall in the direction of the presence and carved a passage with the Earthkeeper bloodline. Solif and Maysa followed behind, hardening the tunnel to prevent a collapse.

"I never thought our mining experience would come in handy like this."

"Pfft!"

Perhaps hoping to ease the tense atmosphere, Maysa made a light joke, and Solif responded with exaggerated laughter.

Before long, they completed an underground passage connecting two large buildings, a distance of roughly four hundred meters. Emerging at the exit, Turan examined the presences he sensed beyond.

["Two middle-tier nobles and one knight. The knight is aboveground; the two nobles are underground."]

They were now close enough to be overheard, so he used a wind channel to keep their voices from carrying.

["Those are probably my parents. The knight must be the jailer."]

["Jailer?"]

["This is a prison."]

At Solif's words, Turan looked around with fresh eyes. Unlike the bleak space of iron bars where he had once been confined, this corridor was decorated with various ornaments, far too lavish to call a prison. Perhaps that was standard for a corridor housing imprisoned nobles. He had never seen a prison for nobles before.

["Let's go in first."]

Heading straight toward Solif's parents, the party soon encountered a large iron door. Mana suffused not only the door but the surrounding walls, suggesting they were made of materials enchanted against breakage, just like the residences of House Heads.

The door was even secured with three thick padlocks, likewise enchanted to resist ordinary attempts to break them. Forcing their way through all of this would make a great deal of noise.

Yet these defenses crumbled before a simple spell from Turan.

'They didn't prepare for unlocking magic. Then again, they probably don't even know it exists.'

Each time he pointed, a metal padlock clicked helplessly open. Such a feat was impossible for anyone but a wizard of the Storm Bloodline skilled in wind magic. Of course, expecting precautions against such a method this far from Arabion would be asking too much.

Opening the door and stepping inside, Turan found Godis, whom he had met not so long ago, asleep in bed beside a middle-aged woman.

'That's Solif's mother.'

Romi, Solif's mother. Though this was their first meeting, he recognized her at once from the portrait he had seen made with the thought-imprinting technique.

The room was reasonably furnished, but confinement here clearly had not been pleasant: both looked haggard.

"Father, Mother..."

It was a murmur so faint that a sleeping person should not have heard it. Yet the middle-aged couple caught it and opened their eyes immediately. Was it because they had heard the voice of the child they had never expected to hear?

They gasped at the three people who had entered their room, particularly Solif, who had deactivated his mask.

"You...?"

"How?"

At that moment, Solif looked not at his parents but at Turan beside him. Turan took a deep breath, drawing in the couple's scent and the emotions within them. Confusion, concern, fear, and... the sort of affection that often emanated from those who cared for someone. Only after Turan nodded did Solif's face brighten.

"Why... why are you locked up here?"

Perhaps he had been too worried. Even as he realized that his parents truly loved him as their child, Solif unwittingly spoke in a half-reproachful tone. Godis answered gruffly.

"Why do you think? Because our idiot son suddenly went mad and ran away from the house."

Unlike the formal, old-fashioned way he had spoken when meeting Turan, his manner toward Solif was much like any other father's. Beside him, Solif's mother Romi nudged his side and cut him off.

"More importantly, are you hurt? How on earth did you get here?"

"I'm not hurt, so don't worry. Let's get out first, then talk..."

Though they had infiltrated without leaving a trace, this was still Baraha's prison. Nothing good could come of lingering. Then Godis looked at Turan and Maysa and spoke quietly.

"Did you not deliver my letter?"

"I did. Coming here was his choice."

Strictly speaking, Solif had agonized over whether he should seek his parents out right up until their arrival. If even that letter had been a trap, he would have lost his very last shred of hope.

But seeing his parents effectively imprisoned here, coming had clearly been the right choice. While Solif spoke with his mother, Turan questioned Godis.

"How long have you been confined here?"

"About two months for me. Romi has been here over a year and a half already."

As Godis went on to explain, he had searched as far as the western wilderness for Solif before returning. With his wife Romi held hostage, he had searched diligently, but his failure to bring back results had been taken as deliberate shirking. He sighed softly.

"They said they would forgive him if I persuaded him to return, but I never believed that in the first place. I know all too well how this house works. They would surely have killed him and given his mana to other promising children."

"It might have been even worse than that."

"Pardon?"

"Let's discuss it later. It's a very complicated story."

Judging by his words, Godis seemed to know nothing of the gods' secret. A minute or two would hardly suffice to explain it. In fact, for his safety, it might be better not to explain at all.

"There's something else I'd like to ask. When you were raising him..."

Turan had been about to ask whether the higher-ups had ordered them to mold Solif's personality and habits into a fixed pattern, and if so, what reason they had given. Instead, he stopped speaking and stared intently at the stone ceiling.

"What's wrong?"

Without even hearing Godis's question, Turan extended the Holy Relic's senses and felt the movement aboveground. Dozens of nobles and hundreds of knights who had been asleep were now all moving busily, as though they had detected an intruder.