The Seed Thief

“That’s the mage’s hideout.”

The villager pointed to a cave in the middle of the opposite cliff, his face etched with fear. It was understandable. The mage who lived in that cave had terrorized the area for a long time. A mage who had suddenly appeared one day, harming people, threatening them, and exploiting them.

They had sought help far and wide, but no one had been willing to come to aid a small, remote village. Until now.

The villager looked at the people standing behind him. Prince Ervandas, the renowned former commander of the Temple Knights. And his wife, Lulu, the current Master of the Magic Tower. At first, he had been wary of her red hair, but after witnessing her power, he no longer cared about her hair color. Anyone who could help them was a savior.

“I understand. You can return to the village now.”

“Y-Yes, Your Highness! Please… be careful.”

At Ervandas’s words, the villager hastily ran past the forest and disappeared. He was clearly terrified of that mage.

‘He has every right to be.’

Ervandas thought about the atrocities the mage had committed in the village and looked at the cave again. Lulu stood before him, her gaze fixed on the cave with an unusually serious expression.

“Er, are you ready?”

“Of course.”

“Then, you and I will go first and investigate. Everyone else crosses over only when we give the signal. Got it?”

The other knights and mages, waiting behind them, nodded. The mage’s hideout was located in a cave in the middle of a cliff, making it inaccessible without flight magic. And based on eyewitness accounts, the mage was quite powerful.

In situations like this, it was customary for the mages and knights to advise their superiors against taking risks, but not when it came to Lulu and Ervandas.

“Shouldn’t it be fine with just the two of you?”

“Right? We feel like we’re just here to clean up.”

The two were so overwhelmingly powerful that the others worried about becoming a burden. This time was no different. If their opponent was tricky and their movements were restricted, it would be most efficient for the two of them to act alone.

“Let’s go then.”

Lulu cast a silencing spell and a flight spell on herself and Ervandas. They lifted into the air and flew towards the cave.

* * *

“He’s dead.”

“Indeed.”

Deep within the cave, Lulu and Ervandas murmured, staring at the half-mummified corpse. The villagers had mentioned that they hadn’t seen the mage for several days and were starting to get suspicious. But they never imagined he would be dead.

“But he was sighted just a few days ago… He didn’t just die of natural causes.”

“Right. It seems he dabbled in some dangerous magic.”

If he had died just a few days ago, his body wouldn’t be this desiccated. This state, as if his life force had been sucked out, was a common symptom of a failed forbidden magic spell. It seemed he had tried to cast some dangerous magic and died, unable to control its power.

“Let’s hurry and rescue the people who are being held captive.”

“Understood.”

The number of people who had disappeared from the village wasn’t small. Groans, carried by the wind, echoed from a dark tunnel branching off to the side. Ervandas moved quickly. As expected, there were people bound inside. Upon closer inspection, he found that although some were injured or weakened, none were dead.

“Please tend to their wounds.”

“Okay!”

As Lulu cast a healing spell, a man with a deep gash on his chest regained consciousness. He blinked, looking at the two of them, and then suddenly began to plead,

“Are you the ones who came to rescue us? Please! Please, save my daughter too!”

“Daughter?”

The man looked to be in his early thirties. His daughter must be very young, but there were no children in sight.

“That mage bastard took her away. Said he needed to… test something…

Her name is Laura. Please, our child…

”

As the man coughed up blood, Ervandas patted his shoulder, silencing him, and stood up.

“I’ll investigate the other tunnels.”

“Okay. Be careful, Er. Call me if anything happens!”

Lulu’s voice, filled with concern, echoed behind him as he ventured deeper into the cave. The balls of light she had conjured illuminated the passage, but the tunnels were narrow, twisting and turning, so his visibility was limited.

And then, he heard it. A child’s cry.

Following the sound, he reached the end of the tunnel, where a deep pit had been dug.

Ervandas approached the pit.

Was there some other magic cast here? Despite the light orbs Lulu had created floating around, he couldn’t see anything inside the pit where the cries were coming from.

“Laura, are you there?”

He called out the name he had heard from the man, and the crying stopped.

“Wh-Who… Who’s there?”

“I’m someone who came at your father’s request. I’m going to rescue you now, just wait.”

“Yes! Yes! Please, save me!”

The child’s desperate pleas reached his ears. Hearing her voice, Ervandas thought of his daughter, Heinel, playing at the royal palace. To think that such a young child was imprisoned in this place…

Filled with a mixture of pity and anger, Ervandas hurriedly reached into the pit. And then,

“…!”

Suddenly, the darkness within the pit seemed to come alive, swirling and engulfing him. He blinked rapidly, momentarily blinded by the sudden darkness. 

But a moment later, his vision cleared as if nothing had happened, and the unchanged scenery came into view.

‘What was that?’

Confused, Ervandas looked around, then froze as his gaze fell back on the pit. A young girl, filthy and emaciated, sat huddled in the space that had been filled with darkness just a moment ago, staring at him with fear-filled eyes.

‘Where did the darkness go?’

The darkness that had filled the pit had vanished without a trace. He looked around, but it was nowhere to be seen.

“Please, help me… Papa… Papa…”

The girl burst into tears, looking at him. Rescuing her was his top priority. Fortunately, the pit wasn’t too deep. The girl clung desperately to his outstretched arm, and he was able to pull her up without much effort. Ervandas examined the child.

She was filthy and thin from lack of food and hygiene, but she seemed to be unharmed. He needed to get her back to her father quickly.

As Ervandas returned with the child, the man, who had been half-collapsed, scrambled to his feet and rushed towards them.

“Laura!”

“Papa!”

As they watched the emotional reunion, Lulu approached Ervandas. She took a step back and looked him over, then said,

“Er, did something happen in there? I sense traces of strange magic.”

Lulu frowned, her expression laced with unease. Ervandas recalled what had happened just now. The darkness that had filled the pit. And then the darkness that had surged towards him and vanished.

“Actually…”

Ervandas recounted the incident to her.

* * *

The rest of the cave search proceeded without incident. After completing their investigation, the two gave the signal, and the mages and the knights, who had been assisting them, entered the cave and carried the people outside. Everything, from the objects inside the cave to the dead mage’s body.

After a moment of contemplation, Lulu instructed them to transport everything to the Magic Tower. It seemed inappropriate to bring them to the royal palace.

“Let’s examine the magic cast on Er at the palace later.”

“Understood.”

However, an urgent matter at the Magic Tower required her presence.

“But…”

“Don’t worry and go back to the Magic Tower. There are mages at the royal palace, so I’ll leave it to them for now. If anything’s wrong, I’ll contact you immediately.”

“But still…”

“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. It’s better to finish things quickly and come back so we can be together longer, right?”

“…Alright.”

After repeatedly reminding him to contact her immediately if anything felt wrong, Lulu left.

Upon returning to the royal palace, Ervandas went to look for Heinel.

“Lady Heinel is visiting the villa, Your Highness. She’ll be back in a week.”

Ervandas, who had rushed back, eager to see his daughter, learned that Heinel had gone on a trip with her cousins. 

Returning to the detached palace alone, the silence felt even more profound without Lulu and Heinel. He tried to pass the time by reading books, polishing his sword, even dismissing the servants, and cleaning the palace himself, but time seemed to crawl by.

‘Was it always this spacious?’

Without the two of them, the palace felt unusually vast and empty today. He ate dinner and went to bed early. Contrary to his expectations, sleep came quickly.

“…Gah!”

He bolted upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat. For a moment, he was disoriented, struggling to remember where he was, who he was. Instinctively, he reached out to the side. But his hand only met cold sheets.

‘Lulu isn’t here.’

That realization brought him back to reality.