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The attendant was too flustered to properly explain the situation. Axel and Bael quickly followed the frantic attendant toward the Ivory Tower. The unease they had felt at the Elpinard estate only grew stronger as they neared the tower.

‘What on earth…’

Axel widened his eyes in surprise as soon as he stepped through the doors of the Ivory Tower. The usually individualistic and solitary scholars of the tower were huddled together, whispering amongst themselves. Scholars and wizards alike were notoriously difficult to unite, yet here they were, gathered together in a common cause.

What could have happened to bring them all together like this? The answer became clear soon enough.

At the center of the gathered scholars were two familiar faces—Reshia and Eugene. The two of them stood amid the murmuring crowd, looking deeply troubled and shrinking into their shoulders. It seemed they had been trying to resolve something quietly, only for things to spiral out of control.

‘What kind of trouble have they caused this time?’

“Reshia,” Axel sighed deeply, then pushed through the crowd to move toward the center. Although many people surrounded Reshia, it wasn’t difficult for Axel and Bael to reach her. The onlookers quickly stepped aside when they saw the young master of the Elpinard family and the Cardinal of the Central Church approaching.

“Axel! Bael!” Reshia, who had been anxiously fidgeting, looked relieved and overjoyed to see them. Axel’s eyes narrowed at her reaction.

‘She never reacts like this normally.’

It wasn’t unusual for Bael to elicit such a response, but for Reshia to be this glad to see him meant she must have been in a particularly difficult situation.

Despite his scoff, Axel felt a surge of satisfaction and, in a show of support, wrapped an arm around Reshia’s shoulders, glaring coldly at the gathered scholars.

“What’s going on here? Why are you all surrounding my sister like this?”

Bael quickly moved to Reshia’s other side, placing his arm over her remaining shoulder.

“If you’re threatening the Saintess, I won’t let it pass as the Cardinal of the Central Church, no matter who you are, even if you are scholars of the Ivory Tower.”

With the Tower Lord on her right and the Cardinal on her left, Reshia should have felt confident, but instead, she couldn’t bring herself to stand tall. Normally, she would have chimed in with, “That’s right! Don’t threaten me!” but her uncharacteristic silence left Axel and Bael puzzled.

Then, from among the scholars who had been standing around in a daze, someone shouted out.

“What? Threatening?”

The voice, full of indignation, belonged to Dr. Lukas.

“We weren’t threatening the Saintess; the Saintess and Eugene were threatening us!”

Threatening us! Threatening us! Threatening us!

Dr. Lukas’s voice echoed through the room.

“…What?”

“…Excuse me?”

Axel and Bael asked, dumbfounded.

Encouraged by the reactions of the two, the scholars, who had been silently enduring the threats, began to agree vocally.

“That’s right! We’re the victims here!”

“Exactly! We’re the ones who’ve been wronged!”

The protests of the scholars became a loud uproar that echoed through the Ivory Tower. Axel and Bael, as if to confirm the truth of what they were hearing, simultaneously turned their gaze to Eugene. They didn’t look at Reshia because they knew she was quite capable of intimidating the scholars herself. But Eugene? He wasn’t the type to do something like that, was he?

Eugene, now the focus of their stares, seemed embarrassed. His ears turned slightly red as he cleared his throat softly.

“It wasn’t so much a threat… more like a firm request.”

“A firm request? How can you call it a request when you said that opening the storage room peacefully would prevent a bloodbath?” Dr. Lukas retorted.

Axel and Bael thought simultaneously, ‘That’s definitely a threat.’ ‘It really is a threat.’

As their questioning gazes turned back to Eugene, he could only offer an awkward smile.

“Don’t blame Eugene. I’m the one who told him to do it,” Reshia interjected, carefully tugging at Axel and Bael’s sleeves as she whispered. “I’m the Saintess, after all. I thought it wouldn’t be dignified if I started talking about bloodbaths myself…”

“So, to maintain your dignity, you had Eugene lead the scholars to believe there would be a bloodbath?” Bael asked, half-amused, half-incredulous. Reshia, however, puffed out her chest proudly.

“What else could I do? I needed to get into the storage room to check the prophecy book! They wouldn’t let just anyone in.”

“A prophecy book?” Bael’s eyes widened in surprise. Even though Reshia was a Saintess, her belief in the divine was faint, likely due to her memories of being a dark mage in a previous life. Despite her standing, she had never shown any interest in the prophecy said to be left by the gods.

“Why are you suddenly interested in the prophecy?” Axel, sharing the same curiosity, questioned Reshia with a suspicious look.

Reshia glanced around nervously, then gestured for Axel and Bael to come closer, indicating she had something confidential to share.

Axel noticed the scholars watching them intently and, with a casual flick of his fingers, summoned his magical power from within. Instantly, a shimmering barrier of light enveloped the four of them, completely isolating their conversation from the scholars.

“I’ve used a soundproofing spell, so it’s safe. You can speak freely,” Axel assured them. Eugene, fascinated, gazed at the glowing barrier. He had heard rumors about Axel Elpinard being an extraordinary White Mage, but this was his first time witnessing Axel’s magic up close.

However, Reshia and Bael, who were well accustomed to Axel’s dazzling displays of magic, showed no interest in the pretty lights. Reshia carefully pulled a book from her cloak.

“I wanted to compare this with the prophecy book,” she said, handing the book to Bael without hesitation. Axel frowned slightly, feeling a bit miffed that Bael, rather than himself, was given the book, but his annoyance quickly faded.

“What is this…?” Bael’s reaction upon opening the book was far from ordinary.

“Reshia, where did you get this?” Bael’s usual gentle and calm demeanor was completely absent. His voice was heavy, almost crushed under the weight of his shock.

Reshia simply shrugged lightly in response.

“Um… I brought it from the future.”

“Reshia, this is no time for jokes.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Reshia’s words flowed out, and Bael sternly shook his head. It was rare for Bael, who was usually so kind and gentle with Reshia, to be this firm. Axel, sensing how serious the situation must be, leaned in closer to get a better look at the book in Bael’s hands.

The book’s left page was filled with an unfamiliar script, while the right page was written in the Imperial language, making it easy to read.

‘That script on the left page… it looks familiar.’

Axel furrowed his brow as he tried to recall where he had seen it before, and then his eyes widened in realization.

“Wait a minute. Isn’t that the script from the prophecy book?”

Bael nodded gravely in response to Axel’s question.

“Yes. Not only is the script identical, but the content is as well. Although the text has never been properly deciphered… as a priest of the Central Church, I can recite it perfectly from memory.”

The original prophecy book was stored in the Ivory Tower at Elpinard, but a single copy had been made and was kept by the Pope at the Central Church. Because they feared altering the words of the divine, only one copy was ever made. As a precaution, all priests of the Central Church were required to memorize the prophecy. Since they couldn’t understand the script, it was almost like memorizing a series of drawings, and it often took years to commit the entire text to memory.

“This isn’t a joke, Bael. I really brought it from the future. Eugene witnessed it,” Reshia insisted.

Bael looked at Eugene as if to verify the truth, and Eugene gave a small nod before briefly explaining what had happened in the Sapphire Room: the flower exploding, both of them fainting, and the sudden appearance of the unfamiliar book next to Reshia when she regained consciousness.

After listening to Eugene’s calm explanation, Bael blinked in surprise.

“If Eugene says so, then it must be true.”

When Bael readily accepted the explanation, Reshia gaped in disbelief.

“You never believe anything I say!”

“Hmph. That’s the result of your own actions,” Axel scoffed, dismissing her complaint, and reached out to place his hand on Reshia’s forehead.

“?”

Reshia blinked at the sudden gesture, and Axel, looking her up and down, spoke in his usual blunt tone.

“You fainted, didn’t you? We need to check if anything else is wrong with you. Besides, bringing something from the future can’t come without a cost.”