No Entry Except for the Master - Chapter 51

From the next day, more voices began to reach Lilith. The tones of the voices varied, and their whispering speeds were random. At first, it was just mumbling noise, but once Lilith recognized it as voices, the pronunciation and shapes became clearer.

Soaked in the flood of the pouring sounds, Lilith gradually started to understand the meaning of the words. She unconsciously imitated and mumbled along.

Hecate, who had disappeared without a word, came to Lilith’s balcony again the next day. Hecate was happy to meet a comrade who could hear the voices of the spirits.

He generously shared all the knowledge he knew with Lilith, even singing songs to make it easier for her to understand. After humming the songs with him several times, the stories quickly became clear.

“The power of spirits is similar in effect, even if their magic and ways of materialization differ.”

“Can I become a mage?”

“Not exactly a mage, but you can have such abilities. Spirits generously lend all their power to those they love.”

“Then can you do it, too?”

Leaning on the balcony, Lilith stretched her body toward the man and brightened her eyes. Seeing her expectant face, he wanted to immediately show his magnificent magic, but the time wasn’t right yet.

“Not yet for me. Maybe if the spirits love me more, it will be possible?”

“Would you like to have such powers?”

“Of course. The high status of mages in human society isn’t without reason. They can be very useful people.”

That made sense. Lilith readily agreed. Indeed, her former masters all pressured her, asking if she had any ability besides useless talents.

The only things she could do were switching between rabbit and human forms, having sharp hearing, and jumping well.

At least, they had given her assignments to use her strengths for spying on others, but none of her masters were satisfied with her.

If she gained the power of spirits, would Teia like it? Since he had always said he liked capable people, she thought he wouldn’t dislike it. If she had one more reason to stay by Teia’s side, that would be very good for Lilith. Her enthusiasm flared up.

“Will you come here tomorrow, too?”

“Of course. Since I’m a party participant, I don’t have many days left anyway.”

“Oh, are you a noble?”

“Now you’re curious? You still haven’t asked my name, you know?”

“Ah!”

If he hadn’t pointed that out, Lilith might not have asked his name even on the last day. Realizing this late, she hesitated.

“My name is Hecate, so feel free to call me that. And speak casually, too. I’m not really noble, and honestly, those weird polite expressions have bothered me from the start.”

Laughing lightly as if joking, Hecate replied, and Lilith quietly repeated his name inside her mouth.

“I hope the spirits lend me their power while Hecate is here. If I practice alone, it probably won’t go well.”

“That kind of mindset is important.”

As soon as she gained the spirit’s power, the first thing Lilith planned was to tell Teia. Gathering the greatest passion of her life to upgrade herself into a capable rabbit, this was a surprise gift meant just for him.

But unfortunately, every time Lilith prepared a surprise gift, it tended to become a very dangerous bomb. She never reported every detail to Teia, assuming he wouldn’t know anything.

Though Teia had been somewhat softer toward Lilith recently, his true nature had never changed. He had always placed watchers around Lilith, so he already knew about Hecate, who visited her every day.

Since Hecate never trespassed into the room itself, Teia had not taken any immediate action, but he disliked the man’s rambling stories and felt uncomfortable.

Teia tracked down every book written by Hecate. Hecate mostly wrote poems and fairy tales based on ancient history and mythology. Despite his fame, he had only a few published works, most of which were banned in the empire.

This was because his stories portrayed the empire’s heroic legends in a completely different way. The stories believed by the empire depicted the beastkin as traitors, and humans avenged themselves, resulting in a thoroughly satisfying human victory.

However, Hecate’s works told darker tales full of conspiracies, betrayals, and tragic deaths.

Teia was bothered not only by Hecate’s interest in spirits and beastkin but also by the way he depicted humans as the ones who had betrayed and nearly annihilated the beastkin.

More precisely, Teia disliked the fact that someone with such subversive ideas kept approaching Lilith.