Under the night sky, the moon had replaced the sun and hung high above.
Tonight, it was neither full nor crescent—like a plate with a missing corner.
From time to time, drifting clouds veiled it, yet soon it would peek out again, scattering its soft light across the land and draping the world in a silvery frost.
At this hour, though not everyone had gone to bed, there were far fewer people walking the streets.
And the Frenzel residence was no exception.
No longer as lively as it had been during the day, it now exuded a faintly tranquil atmosphere. Aside from the patrolling guards making their rounds, everyone else had finished dinner, washed up, and returned to their rooms.
Riezel was in his room as well.
Beside him sat Euryale—but unlike during the day, she was now wide awake and full of energy.
He himself sat at the wooden table in the center of the room, before which lay an assortment of treasures.
Euryale crouched beside him, curiously pawing through the treasures—sometimes swinging a staff or scepter, sometimes rubbing a jewel or necklace—making her look less like a woman dazzled by fine ornaments and more like a small creature excited by shiny things.
Riezel let the queen play with his burial treasures while he sank into a dilemma.
"Which one should I pick as the gift?"
Indeed, Riezel was trying to choose a gift for Yuri.
All the treasures spread out on the table were ancient items he had brought from Euryale's tomb. He had already used appraisal magic to identify every mystical artifact among them and knew their effects inside and out, yet even so, choosing one to give to Yuri turned out to be unexpectedly difficult.
He couldn't help it.
"Yuri doesn't really lack anything, does she?"
Only now did Riezel realize the problem.
As the head of the Franzel family, a marquis, and both the Chief Court Magician and a Strategic-Class Magician, Yuri hardly lacked any magic items.
Yuri had even once entered the royal treasury and chosen a mystical artifact for herself, so it wasn't as if she had none—at the very least, she possessed one on par with Raven's Rebellion or Moniz, both ancient artifacts of considerable power.
"I think she mentioned before that she picked a staff, didn't she?"
For a magician, the most important weapon was, of course, a staff, a scepter, or a wand—just as a swordsman couldn't be without a blade—so naturally, given the rare chance to choose from the royal treasury, Yuri would have preferred a powerful staff as her main weapon.
Although she had never explained what kind of power her staff held, since it came from the royal treasury, it couldn't be much inferior to Divine Meloe.
"In that case, anything staff-related is off the list."
Riezel pushed all the staffs, wands, scepters, and other weapons for magicians aside, leaving them to Euryale's curious handling.
In the end, after some thought, he also moved the jewels and crystals aside.
"If I'm giving a gift, it should be something that can actually strengthen her abilities."
Because some of the jewels or crystals were magic items, while others were simply rare materials—useful only in special situations and not for improving the bearer's own strength—Riezel ruled them out as well, since he wanted something Yuri could wear as equipment, something that would truly enhance her strength.
"Well, that leaves these, I guess?"
Riezel glanced over the remaining necklaces, rings, amulets, belts, and bracers, then ruled out the belts, bracers, and amulets too.
Why?
Simple.
After knowing Yuri for so long as one of her few close friends, he was well aware of her tastes.
Yuri had never liked wearing belts, bracers, or amulets, and had openly said she wasn't used to them, so Riezel eliminated those as well, leaving only necklaces, rings, and bracelets—the kind of adornments women tended to favor.
Soon enough, after another round of careful selection, Riezel filtered out the items that were of little use to magicians.
"Necklaces are out too."
Riezel suddenly remembered that Yuri already wore one, and it seemed to be a rare magic item itself, so he handed the remaining necklaces to Euryale, who accepted them eagerly.
"Looks like it's down to rings or bracelets."
At last, Riezel felt the choice narrowing.
Among the remaining mystical artifacts, rings and bracelets seemed the most suitable to give to Yuri, but even then, with over a dozen rings and several bracelets left, he still couldn't decide.
"Which one should I pick?"
Having never seriously chosen a gift for a woman before, Riezel stared at the table full of glittering options, suffering from a rare bout of decision paralysis.
Just then, a pleasant chime suddenly rang from within his body.
"Hm?"
Euryale looked up at the sound and tilted her head, her jewel-like red eyes shifting toward Riezel as she set down the blood-red gem in her hand.
"What's that...?"
Riezel snapped out of his indecisive daze, blinked, and then seemed to recall something before reaching into his clothes and pulling out an item.
It was a magic crystal—his seldom-used 'Communication Magic Crystal.'
Right now, it was glowing faintly and producing a clear, melodic sound, which indicated that someone was contacting him through it.
"Who could it be?"
Perplexed, Riezel followed the usual procedure, channeling magical energy into the crystal to accept the call.
A moment later, a voice he hadn't expected echoed from within the crystal.
"Good evening, Sir Riezel."
It was a clear, pleasant, birdlike female voice—light and melodious as a lark's song.
Riezel immediately recognized its owner.
"Miss Serena?" Riezel said, surprised.
Indeed, the one contacting him through the Communication Magic Crystal was none other than Serena Cordelion—the prodigious young lady of the Cordelion family, who was already a Tactical-Class Magician at her young age.
"It's been ages." Riezel greeted, setting aside his surprise.
However, his words seemed to puzzle her.
"Fufu, has it been that long?" Serena chuckled softly. "Didn't we just meet not too long ago?"
From her point of view, their last meeting at the Hydromel Restaurant had only been about a month ago.
However, from Riezel's perspective, it truly had been quite some time since he had heard her voice, because after that meeting, he had traveled to the world of Overlord for five months, then to the world of Faerie Britain for another three, so when including his time spent on the Akasha Continent, nearly a year had passed.
Given that, to him, it had indeed been a long time.
Naturally, though, Riezel didn't bother explaining all that.
"Perhaps not long for you, Miss Serena, but I've been to many places and seen quite a lot since then, so it feels like it's been ages to me."
Riezel's calm reply made Serena laugh softly.
"Fufu, that's true. You've been busy—first the Mavros Territory, then the Neutral Territory, Sinielle. You've certainly been through a lot."
Serena's tone made Riezel's own voice take on a subtle edge.
"Hmm, you seem awfully well-informed about my whereabouts."
Riezel wasn't wrong.
Given that his trip to the Mavros Territory had been a proper journey by ship and carriage, there was no way the Cordelion family, with its influence, wouldn't know of it, especially since he had caused quite a stir there.
However, the Neutral Territory was a different matter.
He hadn't told anyone except Yuri about that, and he had returned to the Mavros Territory via Gate, then teleported across the border unseen, arriving secretly in Sinielle—and that had happened only recently, so word of his exploits in Sinielle might not have even reached Jinas yet.
And yet, Serena already knew.
It was clear, then, just how closely the Cordelion family had been watching him.
"At this point, I doubt there's a single person among the kingdom's upper ranks who isn't keeping tabs on Sir Riezel's movements." Serena said frankly. "Even if I didn't pay special attention myself, my family would still take the initiative. All I have to do is ask about you, and they'll start talking endlessly."
In truth, it was Sergius—the duke's son, often praised as the strongest candidate for the next king—who had been keeping the closest eye on Riezel.
Ever since Riezel defeated Raven and word spread that he possessed extraordinary space magic, Sergius's interest in him had risen to the highest level.
Serena herself hadn't issued any instructions or taken much interest in the matter, but even if she did nothing, her exceptionally capable older brother would still report everything to her in great detail.
In fact, this time's contact was actually made at Sergius's request—otherwise, Serena wouldn't have reached out to Riezel on her own.
Not that she didn't want to, of course.
In fact, Serena had long wanted to get closer to Riezel, to build some rapport and—perhaps—provoke a bit of competitive tension between herself and her 'rival.'
Unfortunately, Riezel had soon left the royal capital for the foreign land, and with him away, Serena couldn't just contact him out of the blue for small talk, so the idea was shelved indefinitely.
It wasn't until Sergius confirmed that Riezel had returned to the royal capital that Serena finally reached out.
Still, this call wasn't purely friendly.
"Go ahead." Riezel said directly. "What do you need from me?"
As the saying goes, 'one doesn't visit a temple without a cause.'
He seriously doubted Serena would contact him at this hour just for casual chat.
And sure enough, the matter had everything to do with him.
"Princess Lizbeth has already entered the palace, hasn't she?" Serena asked in a serious tone. "She hasn't returned, right?"
At these words, Riezel's eyes flashed sharply.
"...Something happened?" Riezel asked back, his tone so cold that few had ever heard it from him before.
"Something like that..." Serena admitted softly.
Even though Riezel's sudden cold voice had startled her, she steadied herself and continued.
"I just received some reports saying something happened in the royal palace today."
Serena's tone grew serious as she explained.
"Princess Lizbeth was summoned by His Majesty the King and attended an audience in the throne room, and after seeing her, His Majesty reportedly dismissed everyone else—as if intending to do something privately."
"But after that, Princess Lizbeth was confined by His Majesty himself and not allowed to leave the palace."
It was clearly fresh intelligence—brief, uncertain, and vague—but the facts alone were enough.
"Confined, huh..." Riezel stayed silent for a moment before speaking again. "I knew nothing about this. Bold of him to try something like that."
He had assumed Hendrick wouldn't dare harm Lizbeth or act against her so recklessly, but now, it seemed he had underestimated him.
"Um… please calm down a little first..." Serena said with a nervous laugh, sensing the dangerous chill in his tone. "It's only confinement, okay? He hasn't done anything too extreme, as far as we know. Maybe His Majesty's just being cautious about you or something?"
Given the fact that she used three hesitant phrases in a row, it was obvious that even she hadn't expected Riezel to react like this.
"Don't worry, I'm calm..." Riezel replied, his voice level as ever. "What's the reason? Why did he confine her?"
"Our people are still investigating." Serena answered carefully, choosing her words. "My brother just thought we should inform you first, so you can be prepared."
"All right..." Riezel said simply. "Thank your brother for me. I'll remember this favor."
"Mm, I'll let him know." Serena exhaled quietly, relieved that the call had gone as intended.
After all, her brother had asked her to contact Riezel precisely for this—to show goodwill.
"We'll hurry the investigation and find out why His Majesty suddenly acted this way." Serena added.
However—
"Nah, that won't be necessary." Riezel said calmly, his voice became colder. "I'll go and bring her back myself."
===
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