Hopefully, at Your Mercy - Chapter 26

Chapter 14.1

I see. It made sense to first confirm the authenticity of the spirit stones before finalizing the contract. The duke wouldn’t have made such a rash decision without thinking it through first, would he?

Of course not. There’s no way he’d gamble the grand mansion on something so uncertain.

When Delinda first possessed a body for the second time, Lord Cavila’s behavior had screamed “con-artist,” while the duke had seemed far too naive. Those were the red flags she’d spotted.

But now, a wave of relief washed over her.

“No, Father. I just wanted to double-check. It’s hard to believe we’ve been blessed with such a fortune.”

She made up an excuse, pretending to feel along the wall with her hand. She didn’t know how to use magic, but she felt compelled to reassure the duke somehow.

“Can you still detect them, even without the ring?” the duke asked, his voice tinged with confusion.

Delinda froze, quickly lowering her hand.

The ring.

A few days ago, she had snatched the most expensive-looking item from the drawer, which happened to be a magic amplification ring. It had glowed in response to her power, catching Iskan’s attention.

Now it made sense why there was a magic ring in her drawer… Delinda must have used it frequently.

Everything was finally starting to fall into place. Why there was a magic ring, why the duke was so willing to make such a risky investment.

‘If this isn’t a scam, then maybe House Schultz really has a chance to recover.’

Delinda felt a glimmer of hope.

Following Iskan’s advice, Delinda had brought the ring and made a show of putting it on in front of the duke. She felt along the wall until her fingers brushed against a small gem.

‘If I press my hand against it, I should be able to confirm if it’s genuine.’

She pressed her palm firmly against the gem, angling herself so only the duke could see. A faint flame flickered to life under her touch.

‘It’s real, Father!’

‘I see, Delinda!’

The two exchanged a glance, communicating their thoughts through their eyes.

“Shall we return to the castle and discuss the contract further?” Lord Cavila’s voice interrupted from behind them.

“Yes, let’s do that!”

Delinda quickly extinguished the flame before he could notice. She didn’t fully understand magic, but it seemed that as long as she had magical powers, she could interact with items like this just fine.

Now, all that remained was to carefully review the contract.

* * *

Meanwhile, Iskan scouted the forest around the cave, his sharp eyes scanning the area.

Though he had joined the group, only the duke’s family knew his true identity as Prince Iskan Anagrok. He had specifically asked them to keep his title a secret from everyone else.

Most high-ranking nobles rarely, if ever, met imperial royalty, making it easy for him to blend in unnoticed.

He couldn’t stand the attention. The fuss people made just from his presence was something he preferred to avoid. Life in the palace already had more than enough of that.

As the duke’s party and Lord Cavila’s group exited the cave, Iskan turned to Carlot.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m on it.”

Carlot didn’t even need to hear it. He simply began strolling toward the mine, muttering complaints under his breath.

When Carlot reached the entrance of the cave, he stepped into the empty tunnel and, with a playful snap of his fingers, sent a pulse of magic spiraling through the air.

The sparkling magic arced gracefully before sinking into the cave walls, illuminating them in a bright light.

“Hmm… Nothing impressive here on the surface… as for the quality… Aha… but there’s something much deeper…”

After several minutes of investigation, Carlot nodded, satisfied. The amount of magic he had expended far exceeded what Lord Cavila’s mage friend could manage, and he showed no sign of fatigue as he left the cave.

About ten minutes later, Carlot rejoined the group in the forest where Iskan waited.

“It’s an ordinary spirit stone cave. It looks like the duke should be able to recover his investment. There’s a bigger deposit farther down, but it’s too deep for my magic to reach. Still, I doubt it’s anything special.”

Iskan nodded, acknowledging Carlot’s effort.

Behind him, someone stirred. Sir Rowton, the knights’ commander, sat up groggily from where he had been peacefully napping atop a large rock.

He yawned and stretched, his muscular, weapon-like frame shifting lazily.

Carlot grumbled under his breath.

“But, Your Highness, why did you bring him along? All he ever does is sleep! At least I’m useful, unlike him.”

While Carlot had been setting up camp in the forest, brewing tea for Iskan, scouting the mine, and showing off his magical prowess, Rowton had spent the entire time sleeping.

He claimed he was “keeping watch” even while asleep. Pfft. Yeah, right.

Rowton scratched his ear, clearly unimpressed. His hearing was sharp enough to pick up Carlot’s grumbling.

“That’s because I can protect His Highness better than you, nerd.”

“What?! That’s ridiculous! One shot of my long-range attacks and you’d be toast, you musclehead!”