* * *
The news that the lord had gone missing spread throughout the entire city in an instant. At the shocking news, the city did not sleep even until late at night.
Most of the beastkin were saddened by the lord’s disappearance, feared the situation without a lord, and were anxious about what kind of beastkin the next lord would be. If a knight had been affiliated with the city, he would have taken over the position, but there were no other knights in Centanid.
However, Kaniel’s party was not swept up in that tide. Following the recommendation of Dorbella, the butler, they moved their lodgings to the lord’s manor, ate dinner, and went to bed early.
Because they had things to do the next day.
“Ugh… My whole body aches… Why…?”
The next morning, Kaniel complained as he sat at the dining table in the second-floor reception room. He felt wronged that his whole body hurt like this when he hadn’t even done anything strenuous yesterday.
“You probably tensed up your whole body when you were startled during the fall.”
“Ahh…”
He had stiffened up in shock back then. But it hadn’t been that long, yet it hurt this much?
As Kaniel groaned and could barely reach for his sandwich, Taeyon pulled his chair close to him and began massaging his neck, shoulders, and arms.
“Uhuuk… Uuu… Thank you…”
The technique was exquisite, so it didn’t hurt much but his muscles loosened smoothly. Kaniel enjoyed the massage, unaware that Arkan was watching the scene with mystification from across the table.
“Ah, my arm that broke the rock wall yesterday seems to hurt too…”
“Just eat your breakfast, Arkan.”
“Yes.”
As expected, it doesn’t work. Arkan, who had exaggerated hoping Taeyon might have changed, shut his mouth and drank his soup. His eyes were still directed at Taeyon, who was massaging Kaniel’s body.
Could he have been subjected to some strange hypnosis or bewitchment…
“Taeyon-nim, by any chance some strange hypnosis or… Ow!”
A spoon that flew over hit Arkan squarely on the forehead.
“Nonsense.”
“I’m not saying that. You never know.”
“…I’m just concerned because Kaniel’s body is weak.”
“You are, Taeyon-nim?”
Why is he looking at me so suspiciously? Kaniel, who had become drowsy from the massage, shouted in indignation.
“Why do you keep talking that way?”
“What did I do?”
“You’re acting like Taeyon is some really indifferent person right now.”
Of course, when Kaniel first saw Taeyon, he thought he was scary because he was cold and distant. However, in the end, Taeyon hadn’t abandoned him when he was a suspicious existence, and not only provided him a place to sleep but even shared food with him.
Even when he didn’t know if he would be helpful or a hindrance. Moreover, as their time together continued, he became affectionate quite quickly.
“Taeyon is a kind and warm person! It’s rude to talk that way.”
“…Good heavens. Oh God…”
Is he mocking me? Kaniel glared suspiciously, but when Arkan tapped his forehead with his fist and opened his eyes again, his face was filled only with sincerity.
“Let me tell you what kind of person Taeyon-nim originally was. He’s someone who never once spared a glance even when trainees collapsed while running. Being concerned because someone has a weak body—I know that’s not the kind of person he is!”
It was excessively filled with sincerity.
When his opinion was rejected, Kaniel looked at Taeyon with an indignant face and pointed at Arkan.
“Taeyon, say something! Arkan keeps saying only bad things!”
After a moment of silence at the ridiculous tattling, Taeyon opened his mouth toward Arkan.
“It took six days from the center of Desiwood Forest to Antod Village.”
“…What?”
“He walked quite diligently.”
“……”
Kaniel looked between the two, wondering what that meant.
“He took a running start in front of a stream that could be easily jumped over even if it were three times wider.”
“…Uh, um…”
Taeyon pulled Kaniel’s hand and held it out. It was a white and soft hand.
“Look at the fingertips.”
“…Mm… They’re soft.”
“He doesn’t even have claws.”
“With these, what he can do is…”
“Nothing.”
He really did have fingernails. Kaniel realized the two were talking about not having the sharp, hard claws that beastkin had, and felt somehow wronged.
Isn’t that natural since he’s human!
“Humans don’t originally have sharp claws or anything.”
“His hearing is bad too.”
“My hearing isn’t particularly bad.”
“You have no sense of feeling your surroundings at all.”
“What am I supposed to feel around me…?”
No one answered Kaniel’s question. Instead, gazes close to confusion and sympathy poured from Arkan. He looked over Kaniel’s small frame as if examining it, then nodded heavily.
“Yes. I roughly understand what you mean. The human race is originally quite… frail, is that it? Fragile enough to break if not handled carefully?”
“Right.”
Right?! Kaniel felt somehow betrayed and looked back at Taeyon. As soon as their eyes met, he stabbed a sausage with his fork and handed it over.
It was exasperating. Being treated well was nice, but he didn’t want to be treated like a weak animal this way. I should say something…!
Kaniel, who had been thinking that far, suddenly had a thought and obediently bit into the sausage.
He didn’t like this, but it also wasn’t entirely unpleasant. He was very happy that Taeyon always helped and considered him whenever things were difficult. But wasn’t it too arrogant to demand of someone who cared so much: “I like some things and dislike others, so please be good to me only as much as I want”? What if he got offended after saying that and stopped doing this and that altogether? Taeyon wasn’t that petty, but…
Just thinking about it made him gloomy.
“Humans are just like that originally…”
Let’s insist it’s not that he’s particularly weak, but a racial characteristic.
Of course, among humans there were people who diligently built muscle, and Kaniel was on the side of not enjoying physical activity even among monster tamers, but he decided not to mention that.
“Well, that’s probably why they went extinct.”
“We’re not extinct!”
Kaniel shouted indignantly.
“Everyone’s living peacefully and well on the Floating Island. I don’t understand why there’s a rumor we went extinct in the first place. We live in exchange with the Winged Tribe beastkin. Conversely, we thought only the Winged Tribe beastkin lived on the Surface…”
Kaniel, who had been pouring out his words, suddenly became blank as he realized the truth hidden in his own words.
“The Winged Tribe… deceived us humans.”
It was the Winged Tribe who said only the Winged Tribe existed on the Surface. Since exchanges between humans and the Winged Tribe were always conducted only through the Winged Tribe’s visits, there was no way for humans to know the truth.
Then could it be that the rumor that humans went extinct was also spread by…?
Kaniel repeated his thoughts with a confused face, then ruffled his own hair as if tired.
“Anyway, so Arkan, stop saying strange things.”
Taeyon glanced at Kaniel, then became lost in thought.
“Yes, understood.”
Arkan, who answered cheerfully, began eating his food heartily as if his worries had been resolved and he felt relieved. Somehow, at that reaction, Kaniel felt a surge of indignation as if only he had been left with a strange worry.
* * *
“Terion-nim, I don’t think we should leave that as is.”
Arkan, who had been standing by the window, said this when the party had almost finished preparing to search the cave again.
Wondering what was going on, they went to the window and saw guard members lined up in the garden in front of the lord’s manor. Taeyon, who had approached, checked outside over Kaniel’s head and frowned.
“What a foolish thing to do…”
Muttering so, Taeyon clicked his tongue, then hesitated as he tried to jump out the window. The reason for his hesitation was Kaniel. Taeyon reached out to Kaniel, grabbed him, and jumped out the window together.
At the sudden sensation of falling, Kaniel let out a silent scream. Though they landed on the ground smoothly without incident, cold sweat poured down once he was standing on both feet.
‘I really don’t seem to be compatible with high places…’
Who knows how many times he’d experienced this feeling since the Floating Island. Kaniel tried to follow Taeyon but staggered as his legs lost strength. The one who caught him was Arkan. His eyes were full of sympathy and pity, which somehow hurt Kaniel’s pride.
“There, what are you doing?”
“Ah. Sir Knight!”
The one who greeted them with a tired but pleased expression was Captain Oderic. He was dressed in the leather armor he only wore when going on operations.
“We’re going to join the search as well. Since even the lord has gone missing, we can’t just sit still.”
Next to him, the butler Dorbella also nodded. She too was helping the search proceed smoothly, such as ordering the lord’s manor’s cook to prepare sandwich lunches.
They didn’t seem to get along well with each other, but seeing that they knew how to join forces at such an important moment, it seemed the lord’s eye for people wasn’t bad.
However, this was a bad judgment.
