I’m Looking for the Male Lead for the Ending - Chapter 69

Chapter 35.2

His aide, Liam, spotted Estieren approaching and acknowledged him. Reflexively, Vien turned his gaze at the sound, only to feel a sharp pain in his finger, causing him to flinch.

“What…?”

Startled, he quickly checked his hand, but it was perfectly clean, with not even a small scratch. In disbelief, Vien opened and closed his hand before straightening up and turning to face Estieren.

He nodded slightly at Estieren’s greeting and then gestured toward the Boundary Forest, from which Estieren had emerged.

“Have you found out anything?”

In response to Vien’s question, Estieren remained silent. As the Emperor’s representative, he could not report uncertain information.

“I think we need a bit more time.”

The corner of Vien’s mouth twitched upward at Estieren’s words.

With the demeanor of a benevolent ruler, Vien addressed Estieren.

“It seems that even the Grand Duke, who excels on the battlefield, finds it challenging to investigate a simple murder case.”

“….”

“Still, we must work hard to catch the culprit. It wouldn’t reflect well on the hero of Arbonis if he can’t even apprehend one murderer.”

As Ban, standing behind Estieren, looked ready to speak up, Estieren raised a hand to stop him.

Vien narrowed his eyes, intensifying his provocation when he saw that Estieren didn’t even blink.

“And I trust the Grand Duke will ensure that this matter doesn’t leak to the public.”

“….”

“We can’t burden His Majesty with such issues.”

As soon as Vien left, creating a chill in his wake, Ban’s face crumpled in frustration.

“Who would’ve thought His Highness the Crown Prince could be so childish?”

“….”

“Hah! It’s obvious to anyone that he’s acting out of jealousy toward you, Captain, who’s considered a hero by the citizens of the Empire.”

“Enough.”

Ban lowered his head, feeling the weight of Estieren’s piercing gaze.

“…I spoke out of turn again. I’m sorry, Captain.”

With a sigh, Estieren turned to the now downcast Ban and asked.

“We’ll deal with that later. Has the identity of the deceased been confirmed?”

“Ah, the body is so badly disfigured that it might be hard to identify. However, most of the belongings seem to belong to the Efren Principality.”

At his words, Estieren turned his gaze back to the man.

Ban continued.

“I also noticed footprints in the forest that suggest he was being chased, but there are no signs of whoever was pursuing him. We’re currently re-investigating that part because it doesn’t add up.”

“….”

“Additionally, a Philoia was found in the bag the man was carrying. It’s likely he came here to collect it and was killed.”

Hearing this, Estieren rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

The last time they found footprints near the Elkar tribe’s corpse, they thoroughly searched the Boundary Forest and the area around Neitzia. Since they hadn’t found anything, it seemed the deceased had been hiding from the knights who were searching the forest.

He must’ve been trying to harvest the Philoia that grew in Neitzia.

‘Should I have had some of the knights continue tracking the footprints we found back then, regardless of the whereabouts of the third prince of the Elkar tribe?’

His mind was in turmoil at the realization that such an incident occurred shortly after they halted the search. As he kept his mouth tightly shut, feeling despondent, he heard Lev’s voice nearby.

“What’s everyone doing here?”

“Where have you been?”

“I prefer to avoid people I don’t like.”

Ban pressed his forehead against Lev’s nonchalant response.

Perhaps because of the history of the imperial family of Arbonis persecuting wizards, Lev held a particular dislike for them. Not too long ago, Ban would have scolded him for acting this way, especially as someone benefiting from the country, but today, at least, he found himself agreeing with him.

Estieren glanced at Lev, who was making a disgusted face at Ban’s gaze as if he were looking at a comrade.

“So, what were the findings?”

“I’ll be able to share more once I have clearer information, but there are quite a few odd details.”

“What kind of details?”

As Estieren asked again, Lev ruffled the back of his head, looking somewhat embarrassed. After a moment of hesitation, he sighed and opened his mouth.

“To be honest, it didn’t seem like an ordinary death, so I wondered if it might be related to magic and looked into it.”

“Are you saying it’s the work of the master of the magic tower again?”

When Ban interjected, his eyes wide with surprise at those words, Lev shot him a glare before continuing.

“It’s not certain, but there appears to be a mix of magical energy from the deceased, so I plan to investigate further.”

“What do you mean by mixed?”

After pondering Estieren’s question for a moment, Lev finally parted his tightly closed lips.

“To give a common example, it’s similar to when I treated the Marquis’s daughter’s maid last time—there was someone who initially cast the spell, and then someone else, like me, who injected magical energy for a specific purpose.”

The three of them turned their gazes toward the corpse.

‘Does this mean there could be a witness?’

In that moment, all three of them shared the same thought.