Yuder hesitated for a moment before lowering his gaze. There wasn’t much written on the paper.

The House of Count Cantinto was a rather old noble family. They held a small domain located somewhere between the Central and Western regions, but aside from that, there was nothing particularly remarkable. The current Count Cantinto was a woman in her forties, and she was said to be a niece of Melach Cantinto.

The records within the family regarding the life of Melach Cantinto were extremely concise. He was born the fourth son of the family, and like most mages, he underwent a mana reaction test at a young age and became a mage. His first position was as an apprentice under a mage who had connections with his parents.

He spent many years gaining experience there and eventually entered the Royal Mage Office through recommendation. There, he served for nearly twenty years. He was diligent but had never made a name for himself through any noteworthy achievements.

Then, his final record was of being transferred from the Royal Mage Office to a newly established organization—the Imperial Mana Institute. He was dispatched to several posts there for a few years and eventually died in an accident at his final deployment site.

The Royal Mage Office paid substantial compensation as a gesture of condolence, and the Cantinto family, following Melach’s will and with no surviving family members, inherited and disposed of his assets.

It was truly an ordinary record. If the subject written about hadn’t been his grandfather, Yuder would have found it boring enough to yawn. He stared quietly at the paper before flipping to the next page. It contained records of the places where Melach Cantinto had worked.

“He lived such a plain life that it wasn’t easy to find any oddities. But there are still a few mages from his era who are alive, so we were able to find some leads and make a few guesses.”

Kishiar approached and pointed to a part of the paper Yuder was holding.

“See here? The mage who took Melach Cantinto as a disciple had a {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} few other students. All of them were from noble families, and there’s word that they all belonged to the same magical school.”

The same magical school. At that, Yuder recalled the face of Sallandin, whom he had met when he visited his hometown, and the mark on his grandfather’s arm that resembled a symbol.

“The one said to receive the ‘Blessing of the Great Mage’... That nameless magical sect.”

“Right. Since it didn’t demand any real activity, it seems close companions joined it in their youth with light intentions. But once Melach Cantinto entered the Royal Mage Office, it seems their ties began to fade.”

Kishiar pointed to a line below.

“Melach Cantinto transferred to the Royal Mage Office after his master’s death. The other mages who shared that master had also hoped to get in, but only Melach was accepted.”

It wasn’t because the other mages were inferior to Melach. The Royal Mage Office had selected him because they highly valued his mana sensitivity.

“At the time, the Royal Mage Office was preparing to establish a new institution to research the mana distribution across the Empire.”

Yes. That was the Imperial Mana Institute.

“They wanted to recruit someone suitable for that task, and they judged Melach to be the right candidate. But since no one knew the reason, there was apparently a lot of jealousy and resentment surrounding him.”

“Still, mana sensitivity is part of a mage’s skill, isn’t it? I don’t quite understand why they were so envious.”

“Even among mages, it’s common to undervalue invisible abilities.”

Kishiar smiled with a slight grimace.

“Think of it like this: a knight with little personal skill, but with a sharp eye for potential in others. The prevailing opinion was that mages with only high mana sensitivity were good for nothing more than screening young applicants.”

Yuder recalled what Kanna had read yesterday about the mage robe.

‘It’s not very flashy, but it’s a robe issued to those who served the Imperial Household. It seems the owner of this robe was very proud of that fact. Someone once said to them—so you’ve been acknowledged for being born with mana sensitivity, even if your power is mediocre. Congratulations... Cantinto.’

Could the person who said that have been a friend from Melach Cantinto’s youth? After hearing Kishiar’s explanation, it made sense now.

“Now then, this next part.”

Kishiar handed over a new sheet of paper.

“A summary of the final report pulled from the records of the Imperial Mana Institute.”

It was hard to believe this amount of information was something Kishiar had read only once and memorized. Even if he had copied it from the original, it would have been difficult to transcribe it this quickly.

“You don’t need to read it all. We already have a rough idea of the incident. What matters is from here onward—the records by the investigators who were dispatched afterward.”

The official name of the incident written on the paper was: The Airik Expedition Investigation Group Death Incident. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

“There were a total of sixteen people dispatched. Eight Royal Mages, seven support personnel, and one family member of a dispatched mage.”

It was a day in the late autumn, shifting into winter. A sudden monster outbreak occurred in the village where the dispatched mages were staying. It was assumed that the monsters involved were of various species, and among them were those capable of breathing fire.

Fire.

Among the support personnel was a knight who had accompanied them for protection, but in the end, including the dispatched group, around 50 villagers perished. The investigators who went to handle the aftermath wrote the following:

All testimonies agree that by the time rescue signals drew people from nearby villages and the base of the mountain, the village had already been almost completely burned down, with only faint embers remaining as the fire had mostly extinguished itself.

Two monsters remained alive, but they were wounded by fire and easily dealt with.

Due to the gruesome state of the scene, victim identification had to rely on personal belongings.

So the fire had nearly extinguished itself without human intervention?

Yuder focused more closely on the part related to the fire.

Since the fire was caused by monsters, it’s assumed it died down once the monsters perished.

The reason most of the monsters were already dead before rescuers arrived was presumed to be due to them attacking each other after the victims had already died.

The reason the fire didn’t spread beyond a certain range is unclear, but it roughly coincides with the area where a seven-layer defensive barrier had been installed around the village. A hypothesis was proposed that the mana stones used in that barrier might have prevented the fire from spreading further.

All mana stones were destroyed and melted, so their origin and grade could not be verified.

In other words, even the Royal Mage Office had questioned why the fire didn’t spread across the entire mountain range and why nearly all monsters were already dead upon discovery.

They ultimately couldn’t find a definite answer, and only included hypotheses and speculation in the record before closing the case. But their guesses weren’t entirely irrational.

Monsters turning on each other during an outbreak isn’t unheard of.

Still, the real answer likely lay elsewhere.

“When the rescuers arrived and found the monsters already dead, and the fire having died out without spreading—it all looks like evidence of the ‘Blessing of the Great Mage’ manifesting.”

“I thought so too.”

Kishiar nodded in agreement.

“I looked further into records of mages suspected of receiving the Great Mage’s Blessing in the past, and surprisingly, the events before and after look very similar. Flip to the back page.”

Yuder turned the page. In that brief time, Kishiar had somehow found and written down actual records from that period. It wasn’t just legend or hearsay—it looked like real documentation exchanged between the Pearl Tower and officials from that time.

“How... did you even find this? Did you contact the Pearl Tower?”

“Haha, not directly, but I have mage acquaintances too, you know.”

Kishiar smiled secretively.

“In any case, according to this, the mage at the center of the incident really did stop breathing and come back to life. That’s confirmed by attached temple records. There’s also testimony that he tried to save others before he died, and it seems the people whose lives were saved by that mage sent several letters of gratitude.”