“Good morning, Klad.”
Contrary to Klad’s expectation that Jake would remain absorbed in his own achievement for quite a while longer, Jake came to his senses the very next day. It was good news for Klad, who had no desire to be pushed around by a Jake fallen into foolish arrogance.
Soon the innkeeper brought breakfast for Jake and the map he had requested in advance.
Their plan was to watch the situation once the festival started and leave the city before the Duke appeared. Since there would be no time to discuss things once the situation hit, they needed to plan their movements in advance.
“The plan to go to Audrit remains unchanged, right?”
“Of course. The Hero’s Sword is definitely there.”
“Good. With this incident, the Duke has discovered our location and range of movement. So we need to choose our next destination more carefully.”
“I know.”
“Pick the route from these that the Duke is least likely to choose.”
Klad marked several paths leading to Audrit and held them out to Jake.
“I’m good at grasping my father’s mind, not knowing everything about him.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Though there are many times when you seem to grasp my father better than I do.”
“Ah, geez. Did someone threaten not to let it slide if you couldn’t predict the Duke’s actions? It’s okay to be wrong, so don’t feel pressured and just make a guess, a guess.”
“When you could make that guess yourself.”
The number of knights employed by House Duke West was enough to be believable even if called the Imperial family’s own. If they mobilized them to track every road connected to the city, it would only be a matter of time before Jake was caught.
However, even the Duke couldn’t increase the scale of the search party this time. He would need to add personnel to the demon subjugation, and the Emperor, who had been tolerating most of the House of West’s tyranny due to their burdensome prestige, was about to notice that something unusual was happening.
If he didn’t want to reveal to the entire world that he couldn’t even control a single Hero and was floundering, the Duke would move carefully.
Jake just needed to aim for that gap.
If there was a path the Duke missed due to lack of manpower or some other similar reason, all Jake had to do was walk along it.
“But I fear that I might make the wrong choice and face the worst outcome.”
“I’ll help you then.”
“……”
Jake stared at the map seriously.
“Here.”
“Why did you choose this place?”
“My father doesn’t know that my companion is an excellent mage. So when he gauges my escape route, he’ll base his standards on me.”
It meant that the Duke would distinguish roads Jake couldn’t take with his own abilities and send people to other areas first, so conversely, they should choose an area known to be dangerous.
However, the path Jake chose was a safe road known to have almost no monsters.
“Aren’t you underestimating yourself too much? You can travel this road alone. The distance is short, and it doesn’t go through mountains either.”
“That’s not it.”
“Then are you underestimating me? I can protect you well enough, so you can choose a more dangerous path.”
“No. This path is perfect.”
It was a firm attitude for someone who had been afraid that his choice might lead to the worst outcome.
“My father knows my personality well, so he’ll see through my thinking.”
“So you chose a comfortable path in reverse instead.”
“That’s right.”
“If you choose too easy an option, the Duke might send forces elsewhere and pour the remaining troops into this place.”
“There’s one more reason I chose this path.”
And that was the main reason for this choice.
Jake turned to Klad with a serious face.
“If we move according to this route, we won’t pass through a single place with a temple to the chief god.”
For the Hero to move away from temples was more dangerous than breaking through danger zones crawling with monsters.
Jake’s purpose wasn’t to endure hardship and adversity, but to safely escape the Duke’s hands. The Duke wouldn’t think that even Jake would make such a risky choice.
Because he didn’t know that the Hero’s companion was an excellent mage.
“An ordinary companion might be able to eliminate monsters, but can’t do anything about losing strength in the body. But I can help. You made this choice knowing that.”
“Yes. Because you’re an excellent support mage.”
Jake had chosen this path remembering how his body had become light and fast with Klad’s magic before. For something thought up in such a short time, it was quite good… no, it was the best plan that could be derived from the current situation.
“Will you be alright, Klad?”
“With what?”
“The Hero moving away from temples doesn’t just mean having no strength in your limbs. I’ll become more useless than you can imagine. I’m asking if you can carry such a me around.”
“Don’t worry.”
Klad smiled as if such things didn’t matter at all.
“You weren’t particularly useful to begin with.”
“……”
How dare he call a noble useless. It was outrageous, but since it wasn’t wrong, he decided to let it pass.
Jake sat by the window with a much more relaxed heart and enjoyed his breakfast. Perhaps because things were going well, even the weather felt better today and he liked the scenery outside the window.
Especially, the sight of all the people staying at the inn leaving their places together was something not easily seen…
“…Hm?”
Wait. Why were people leaving the inn?
Jake, worried that something might have happened, urgently looked for Klad.
“Klad. People are leaving the inn. What’s going on?”
“The lord must have ordered them to vacate the inn.”
“Ah.”
Jake wasn’t naive enough not to understand the meaning of those words.
Baron Nolson ordering the inn vacated wasn’t for Jake staying here. It was because if any unnecessary friction occurred and Jake blamed Baron Nolson, the lord of the city, for it, he would have to take responsibility without being able to make a peep.
“It’s strange.”
“What now?”
“They’re in a position of being kicked out, but why do they look so happy?”
“They must have received generous compensation for vacating the place.”
“The innkeeper looks the happiest.”
“Since he’s the owner, he must have received the most compensation.”
“……”
Jake’s expression became serious.
“What’s wrong?”
“When I was searching for the Hero’s Sword, if I stopped at a village without an inn, someone from the village would vacate their house.”
“And?”
“And… I just realized why they weren’t happy when they vacated their houses.”
Jake had never once arranged compensation for them. They hadn’t vacated their houses—they had been kicked out.
Though he took aristocratic privilege for granted, he considered it a right that came with responsibility. Jake was visibly disappointed, as he didn’t want it to become an opportunity to oppress someone.
This way, he was no different from his father.
“You didn’t know they’d dislike being kicked out without compensation?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Let me hear why you thought that way.”
“They said helping the Hero was an honor for their family, so I thought it was like that.”
That was probably something forced out of anxiety that if the heir of House Duke West felt uncomfortable about a night spent in the village, they might have to bear the responsibility. It meant Jake had taken at face value the empty flattery mixed with servility thrown out for the village’s stability and peace.
Imagining Jake being pleased, thinking that staying in their houses was for their sake, made even Klad feel complicated.
“How about trying to understand others’ feelings better from now on?”
“I think I understand others well.”
“How do you think I’m feeling right now?”
“You don’t look happy.”
“Why do you think that?”
“You are my person, so it’s natural for you to share emotions with me. Since I’m not in a good mood, wouldn’t you be feeling the same emotion?”
Not a single word in that long sentence was correct. Klad pressed his forehead.
“You’re feeling a headache now.”
“Thanks for noticing.”
“Pressing your forehead was a big hint.”
Jake felt proud, completely failing to notice that Klad’s tone was sarcastic.
“Honestly, grasping your thoughts is more difficult than looking at others.”
“I guess you find it easy to figure out others’ thoughts besides mine?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re not my father’s person.”
Klad frowned as he looked at Jake.
He had wondered if Jake had learned sarcasm from somewhere, but Jake wore an expression without even a hint of lies or pretense mixed in.
“What does me not being the Duke’s person have to do with this?”
“You’re the first person who isn’t my father’s person to stay by my side, so I can’t gauge at all what you’re thinking.”
“…Hah.”
“When I was alone, making decisions wasn’t difficult, but thinking that my choices might harm you makes even choosing the next destination hard.”
It meant that the reason he had been particularly lacking confidence when looking at the map was ultimately because he was worried about Klad.
Klad was at a complete loss for words. There had been times when he felt so irritated talking with West that he wanted to destroy everything, but this was the first time he was speechless.
“You—”
Bang bang bang.
At the sudden sound of knocking on the door, Klad couldn’t finish his words.
“Klad. We have a visitor.”
“What?”
“The only one who would come is Baron Nolson, so he must have sent someone to deliver news.”
“Are you telling me to go greet the visitor now?”
“You’re my servant, so isn’t that natural?”
“……”
“What are you doing, Klad? Hurry up and move.”
This time he was speechless in a different sense.
Could he be trying to change the subject because he was embarrassed about revealing his true feelings? Klad looked at Jake’s expression several times over, but it didn’t particularly seem that way.
Jake sincerely wanted ‘servant Klad’ to greet the visitor in his place.
‘What a troublesome and bothersome West.’
Klad cleanly erased his concern for Jake and headed for the door.
