Chapter 50
The day after Aiorin and Princess Muriela, or more precisely, Solinor, had their conversation and parted ways.
Aiorin, having had plenty of rest at an inn, woke up in good spirits.
With the help of wind spirits, she was flying leisurely above Solineum while cloaked in a transparent distortion of light.
To be precise, it wasn’t true invisibility but rather a distortion of light. If someone specifically tried to find her with the intent of observing closely, it might have been a different story.
In such a case, they could have noticed the faint rippling effect caused by her movements.
However, who would intentionally do that without a reason?
Of course, with Solineum’s recent surge in unemployment, there were many who had nothing to do.
But even they had their own matters to worry about, leaving Aiorin undisturbed as she carried out Muriela’s request to find Katrina and Brandon.
Finally, her keen senses picked up on something meaningful as she followed the scent of Solinor and her own soul to locate the grandchildren.
‘Is it there?’
The scent led her to a small house on the outskirts of the capital.
Slowly, Aiorin began descending to the ground.
Flying with spirit magic was undoubtedly convenient, but it lacked speed and quick directional changes.
Fortunately, in situations like this, those drawbacks didn’t matter, allowing her to easily achieve her objective.
In front of the house stood a man in casual clothing.
Although he was trying not to make it obvious, Aiorin could tell he was guarding the house.
Even as he faced forward, his body language and expressions betrayed his focus, which was entirely directed toward what was happening behind him.
This man was one of Corbin’s operatives.
Following orders from his superior, he was protecting the exiled prince and princess at their residence.
The guards rotated shifts in pairs, and he was currently killing time while waiting for the next guard to bring food and supplies.
‘How do I get past him? He’s practically glued to the door, and opening the window would immediately expose me…’
The building Muriela occupied was high up in the Royal Palace, making it hard for anyone to see through the windows.
But this small house, located right along the main road, made it impossible to open a window without alerting the guard.
In other words, the only option was to enter through the door. However, with the guard leaning against it, that too was difficult.
Even checking the back or sides of the house revealed no viable entry points.
‘It would be easier to just knock him out and go in… Hmm…’
But Solinor had explicitly told her not to resort to violence.
Solinor had assumed Corbin had already taken measures, meaning there was a high likelihood that Katrina and Brandon were being protected adequately by Corbin’s subordinates.
In that case, Aiorin wouldn’t need to take any action.
She could just return to Solinor and report, ‘The children are being well-protected!’
However, the request Aiorin had received from Solinor was this:
‘Check on the grandchildren’s condition. If they seem fine, leave them be. But if they’re not being managed properly, take them somewhere safe.’
This left too much room for subjective judgment.
What exactly did “seem fine” mean? What constituted proper management?
Although Aiorin had abandoned her son and fled to the forest—and hadn’t visited her grandchildren even once since—they still stirred a sense of overzealous determination in her today.
It was the mindset of a grandmother overly scrutinizing her grandchildren during a summer visit to the countryside.
Her standards for what constituted “seeming fine” were sky-high.
But before anything else, she needed to check their condition.
And to do that, she had to enter the house.
‘Should I try seduction?’
It was a trick she occasionally used during her adventuring days.
It worked well when she needed to enter places guarded by enemies or bypass obstacles.
Since only she and Aryen were the beauties of the party, they often decided who would take on the task through rock-paper-scissors.
Of course, if the guard happened to be a woman, there was no need for debate—Solinor always stepped up.
Later, when Solinor became too famous and his face widely recognized, this method became unusable.
Aiorin could transform her appearance using spirit magic, but it wasn’t perfect.
Fine adjustments were necessary while observing the target’s face to ensure the disguise was convincing.
Solinor’s case was especially tricky because he was such a strikingly handsome man.
If she didn’t change much, the disguise wasn’t effective.
But if she altered too much, he would no longer appear handsome, making the disguise pointless.
As they say, the devil is in the details.
Aiorin decided to try this method and sought a secluded alley to deactivate her invisibility.
Soon, she appeared in front of the operative, brushing her hair back with a smile.
“Hello? Isn’t the weather wonderful today?”
The sudden appearance of a beauty left the operative confused.
Seeing his flustered expression, Aiorin rejoiced internally.
‘If I’ve gotten this far, I’m halfway there.’
However, the operative quickly regained his composure and replied calmly.
“Yes, the weather is nice. What brings you here?”
“Do you live here? What a beautiful house this is.”
A beautiful house, my foot.
It was just a small, shabby house on the outskirts of the capital.
But with Aiorin’s near-perfect beauty, it usually worked.
Her words were just the garnish.
“Ah, yes. This is my house. Thank you for your kind words.”
But he wasn’t that easy to deal with.
The operative positioned himself more firmly in front of the door, blocking her path.
If it had been some random thug or bandit, they would’ve been easily swayed.
But this was an elite trained under Corbin’s rigorous guidance.
Even operatives were trained to counter seduction tactics.
For Aiorin, who had only lightly disguised herself with elf-like ears and a half-hearted plan, this was a formidable opponent.
‘What? Normally, this much is enough.’
If the target didn’t move, the next step was to lower their guard and use spirit magic to make nearby objects move.
While they were distracted, she could knock them unconscious in one blow.
But the problem was that it was broad daylight, with people constantly passing by.
And far from lowering his guard, the operative now looked at her with even more suspicion.
Moreover, Solinor had strictly forbidden her from using violence.
Only now did Aiorin realize how poorly thought-out her plan had been.
But she had already started talking.
If she left and came back later, it would only raise more suspicion.
She had to settle this here and now.
“Uh, I’m really thirsty. Could I have a glass of water?”
Running out of time, she hastily came up with an answer, but the operative’s wary expression remained unchanged.
“I don’t see why I should do that for you. There’s a shop nearby that sells drinks. You see that over there? You’d better quench your thirst there.”
‘Ugh! Why isn’t this working? Could it be that my beauty no longer affects humans? What? Have I aged without realizing it? No, that’s impossible!’
Of course, it wasn’t. She wasn’t even an adult yet.
But once someone’s mind spirals into misunderstanding, there’s no reasoning with them.
Internally screaming, Aiorin stepped back with an awkward smile, unable to hide her shock.
***
Meanwhile, Solinor remained oblivious to the trouble his wife was facing outside.
He sat on the bed, swinging his legs back and forth, still preoccupied with the unresolved issue of contacting Sylvius and Corbin.
‘Zephyr is just so unreliable… Ugh… Is it because he’s an inexperienced baby spirit? Oh, wait.’
As he mulled over his frustrations with the incompetent new recruit, Solinor suddenly stumbled upon a critical idea.
‘Zephyr definitely saw Aiorin, so it’s possible to contact her. Why didn’t I think of using her to reach Corbin directly? Isn’t that the most reliable method?’
Why hadn’t this occurred to him sooner?
Solinor felt disappointed in himself.
If he’d thought of this yesterday, he could’ve told Aiorin to meet Corbin first.
Then, he wouldn’t have to trouble her with finding Katrina and Brandon.
He could’ve easily confirmed their status and started planning to dethrone Eldric.
But Solinor was the type to learn from regret. There was no better time than now.
“Zephyr, are you here?”
‘Yes, Princess.’
The inexperienced spirit responded immediately, snapping to attention.
“You remember the elf spirit mage you saw yesterday, right?”
‘Yes, I remember. Her appearance and her scent.’
“Find her and tell her to meet Corbin at the palace intelligence office. Let him know my identity. Don’t make any mistakes!”
‘Understood! I won’t fail!’
Watching Zephyr quickly dart out through the gap in the window, Solinor sighed.
Hopefully, this time, the message would be delivered without any mistakes.
—
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