Yuuri tried to look out from behind him, but Conrad blocked his view. He tried to quickly think of some way to distract him, but luckily something else did this.

He looked in the direction of his younger brother, who began to back away slowly with eyes wide with fear and disbelief until he finally turned on his heel and ran ahead, fleeing the square.

It must have taken Yuuri a few moments to understand what had happened because, for a moment, he stared dully at Wolfram's back, and only when he disappeared from their sight did he wake up, calling out for him and trying to go in the same direction.

Conrad wasn't sure if letting Yuuri talk to Wolfram now was a good idea. He might be able to lift people's spirits, but in this situation, he may have unknowingly said something that would only make matters worse. On the other hand, he couldn't leave him here with these statues and a corpse lying in the middle.

So he let him go, but he intended to keep him away from Wolfram once they found him. He hoped that asking Yuuri to let him talk to him first would be enough.

They ran down the alley and turned into the street where Wolfram had disappeared. There was no trace of him here anymore, but Yuuri continued running, turning into another street as if he knew perfectly well where to go. His king always managed to find Wolfram when others had no idea where he was, so Conrad decided to rely on his instincts.

They passed a mass of buildings that, at first glance, were no different from each other. The streets turned and forked every now and then. Going off the main avenues, it was easy to get lost in this city.

Finally, Yuuri stopped out of breath, panting and resting his hands on his knees. He stared at the building across from them. In the shadow of one of the columns, Wolfram could be seen.

Yuuri straightened up, but Conrad put a hand on his shoulder before he could take a step forward.

"Let me talk to him first."

Yuuri opened his mouth but turned first to Wolfram, then back to Conrad, and finally said nothing, only nodded.

Conrad approached the building. Two small steps led from the street to a narrow terrace with columns supporting the roof hanging over it. Leaning against one of them sat Wolfram, curled up and embracing his knees with his arms, with his head tucked in.

He was reminded of a similar sight from when they were still young children. Wolfram then first lost his control of the maryoku, burning down half his room. No one was hurt except for a few toys, but that was still enough to scare him. He then hid in the gardens and refused to talk to anyone. Only Conrad convinced him to return to the castle.

He cautiously approached the seated figure and sat beside him, but Wolfram did not react in any way.

During his time on duty, he had already taken someone's life several times, but the death of his own soldier, especially under these circumstances, would be overwhelming for anyone. Wolfram can't yet handle the death of normal people, even those not very close to him, so this is probably even worse for him. Frankly, Conrad wasn't sure he wanted him to ever be able to handle it.

"It's not your fault," he began cautiously, guessing what worried him most now.

Wolfram shuddered and looked at him. Conrad expected at least a trace of tears in the corners of his eyes but saw nothing of the sort. Wolfram's hands, however, were clenched tightly around his knees and turned white.

"I killed him," he whispered. He was able to control his voice, and there was no trembling in it. Conrad expected him to react the same way he did then in the garden, but it seemed that Wolfram was doing better than he assumed.

"That statue killed him."

"Which I controlled."

"But you didn't tell him to do it, did you? We still don't know how they work. Maybe they just reacted to an act of violence; after all, they're guards."

Wolfram averted his gaze, wandering it around blindly. He didn't speak for a moment, immersed in his thoughts.

Conrad looked toward Yuuri, who continued to stand where he had left him, watching them uncertainly. He smiled reassuringly, and Yuuri breathed a clear sigh of relief.

"I don't understand. Why did he do it?"

He turned back toward Wolfram, who was looking toward the main square.

"He looked like he was possessed by madness. But I hadn't noticed anything wrong with him before. He always behaved awkwardly. But now we won't know what it was." He rested his forehead against his knee, hugging it tighter with his arms. "Do you think it has anything to do with that monster?"

"We're not sure about that. We'll have to investigate it thoroughly."

"I'll ask Arwin and the others if they noticed anything. And I'll have to look into the matter of his death." He said the last sentence almost inaudibly.

"He tried to kill the king. So he will have to be treated like a traitor."

Wolfram scowled.

"We're not sure if he was really influenced by something. So we have to play by the rules."

"It's fortunate that at least he didn't have a family," he said bitterly and shook his head. "But I'm sure something possessed him. I know him too well."

Conrad himself was unable to say anything about the man. He didn't know Wolfram's men very well and knew little about them other than that they had strong maryoku, and he guessed that they were nobles from Bielefeld. He also knew that Wolfram had more men than the twenty he kept with him when he was in the capital. The rest remained in his territory for some reason, but he never asked why.

Yuuri walked over to them and crouched down next to Wolfram.

" Everything okay?"

"I'll be fine. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine." He smiled and lifted his head slightly as if to show him that there was no wound on his neck.

Conrad stood up and made way for his king, who smiled gratefully at him and sat down next to Wolfram.

"I'll go check the main square some more. And then we can go back to the tunnel."

Both boys nodded, and Conrad left them alone.

He tried to go back the same way they came here, but as he thought, it was difficult to find his way here. He finally pulled out the city plan that Wolfram had given him - fortunately, it had every street, even the smallest one, mapped out - and with it, he finally reached the alley.

When he entered the central square, everything was in the same position they had left it. The statues did not move. The pool of blood around Eckbert began to dry up.

Conrad stared at his body and looked at it closely. He found the dagger that flew out of the man's hand when the stone statue struck him and lifted it from the ground. He turned the object slowly in his hand, looking at it carefully. It was definitely not something that was in the standard equipment of soldiers.

The dark red handle was edgy and rough, uncomfortable to hold. Embedded in it was a small, milky white crystal. It seemed to be filled with mist inside, which was occasionally crossed by black streaks. He had an unpleasant feeling about it, so he preferred not to touch it, and so he wrapped it in a piece of cloth and tucked it behind his belt.

He hastily searched Eckbert's body without finding anything more unusual, then stood up, glancing toward the tunnel. Arwin should still be waiting there with Greta. It would be a good idea to ask him if he knew anything about the dagger before Wolfram joined them.

He moved on, following the same main road they had entered. Before he left the square, he looked over his shoulder once more at the stone soldiers, but they stood as still as statues.

He smiled slightly under his nose and moved on.

He found Adwin standing near the exit of the tunnel and Greta watching something by the water wall illuminated by the fireball floating beside it. The girl moved a few steps to the side, and the fire followed her. Conrad raised an eyebrow. Was this a coincidence, or could Wolfram somehow create a personal light source for her? In the city earlier, all the fireballs were moving slowly, some following them, so he didn't pay much attention to it. Well, if his brother could make his bullets follow the target, it doesn't seem too well for... anyone.

"Is something wrong?" Arwin approached him worriedly, looking behind him toward the city.

"Where are Yuuri and Wolfram?" Greta noticed him when Arwin spoke up and approached him as well.

"I'll go after them right away. I just wanted to ask something first." He smiled reassuringly at her and patted her on the head, then pulled a dagger from behind his belt and showed it to Arwin. "Do you know anything about this weapon?"

The boy furrowed his brow. He was the same age as Wolfram, and Conrad knew the two had known each other since childhood. The son of some important Bielefeld nobleman.

"It's Eckbert. Has something happened? Why do you ask that?"

Conrad looked at Greta, who was watching them, and back at the boy.

"For now, just tell me everything you know about the subject."

Arwin frowned, looking at him suspiciously for a moment, but finally sighed and began to speak.

"He said he got it from someone as a gift, but he didn't want to admit from whom. We only saw him take it out a few times during his free time, and he usually kept it hidden in his room. I didn't think he could take it with him now, especially since, for some reason, he didn't want Wolfram to find out about it." He shook his head and sighed again. "Did he do something stupid? He usually kept to himself, so I couldn't imagine him causing trouble."

"We'll discuss it once we get to the surface." He looked at Greta again and smiled. "Now we can go and get Yuuri and Wolfram."

"No need anymore." Greta pointed toward the city, then ran in that direction.

Yuuri and Wolfram just stepped out from between the buildings, holding hands and looking towards Greta, who was running towards them. Conrad sighed and relaxed, hiding the dagger.

The road through the tunnel passed them in silence. Greta and Arwin tried at first to question them about what had happened, but after answering that they would talk about it outside, they didn't speak again.

From time to time, Conrad looked at his younger brother, who was still holding Yuuri's hand. He was slightly stiff but other than that, there was nothing on him to indicate that he was agitated. He was handling it better than Conrad had assumed.

They finally came to the surface, where the rest of the soldiers greeted them in relief. Conrad suggested they go to rest, to which Yuuri immediately took Greta toward the tent. Wolfram, however, stayed by his side, sending Arwin off to gather the rest of his squad.

"You should also go rest. I'll take care of everything."

"There's no need." Wolfram extended his hand toward him as if expecting to get something from him. "Eckbert is still my subordinate, so it's my duty to lead this case."

Wolfram stared at him expectantly until Conrad finally understood what he meant and handed him the dagger. Then, holding the weapon in his hand, his younger brother headed toward the soldiers in blue uniforms who had gathered nearby.

He watched for a while as Wolfram questioned the rest of his subordinates about the dagger but got no new information. Finally, he decided to see how Yuuri was doing. He still wasn't sure how the young king would react to Eckbert's death. He still showed nothing of himself. For now, he tried to explain to Greta what had happened. Quite clumsily, as he tried to leave out the unpleasant details.

Greta would probably find out everything from the gossiping servants anyway. They didn't spare details and often added new ones.

They are unlikely to stay here as long as they initially assumed. He doubted that anyone would feel like resting here after this event.

Before they left, he would ask Yuuri to remove the tunnel leading to the city. There was no need to tell his soldiers to keep its existence a secret, and Wolfram's men probably won't feel like telling anyone about the discovery either.

Their shocked faces told that Wolfram had finally explained to them what had happened. Standing between his soldiers, there was no longer a trace of the boy who sat curled up next to the column. Looking at him now, Conrad had the feeling that this child hiding in the garden had already completely disappeared, and for some reason, it didn't exactly make him happy.

After so many years, when their relationship was anything but good, Conrad was happy that Wolfram had finally started to rely on him and ask him for help. Therefore, seeing now how he no longer needed this help, he felt... disappointed?

In his mind, his younger brother was still a small child who had trouble understanding the world around him and his own feelings.

But now, among the soldiers, there was no child standing. It was still hard to call him an adult, but Conrad had a feeling he could handle the situation.

Wolfram must have already finished talking to his soldiers and started heading toward the tent. But he stopped next to Conrad, with his hands clasped on his shoulders and his eyes directed toward Yuuri and Greta.

"Are you okay?" Conrad asked.

"I'll be fine," he said. He fell silent for a moment, then moved his lips again. He opened and closed them soundlessly for a moment but finally got something out. "Thank you. " After which, he moved on without any further explanation.

Conrad followed him with his eyes, watching as Greta hugged him immediately after he sat down next to her. Despite Yuuri's clumsy explanations, she still had to understand that something unpleasant had happened.

He smiled to himself and went to talk to his own soldiers, who were uncertainly hanging around nearby, not yet understanding what had happened.