And so the ambiguously pleasant time only for Rowy came to an end. Van kept grumbling that this was too cruel a treatment. However, Rowy was already half asleep.
“Hah…. No, isn’t this really too much as a fellow man? Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Yawn… Figure it out yourself.”
“Figure it out myself, that’s so irresponsible… Master?”
“……”
“Rowy.”
In the end, Rowy fell asleep just like that. Holding Rowy properly as his whole body went limp, Van made a tearful face.
“If you sleep like this….”
Van let out a big sigh. Still, the sleeping Rowy didn’t wake up. Aigh, sighing once more, Van carefully picked up Rowy and began wiping his body with a wet towel. Worried he might catch a cold, he even dressed the body he’d carefully wiped in new pajamas. Even up until the moment he laid the now fluffy Rowy back on the bed, Rowy was deep in sleep.
‘Well, he has reason to be tired.’
The battles they experienced while coming here had been quite fierce. Unable to ride the horse comfortably while breaking through the tremendous number of monsters, it must have been quite an arduous journey for Rowy. If this many monsters appeared again going forward, Rowy would surely fall ill first.
‘Come to think of it, I should look into the monster anomaly too.’
The monster rampage at the Penter Mountains was definitely suspicious. So much so that if the archdemon Mammon had been alive, he would have thought it was certainly that bastard’s doing.
‘Demons…’
Van looked at Rowy with thoughtful eyes.
“Uuung….”
Rowy must have been exhausted, as unlike usual, he was sleeping soundly with his mouth slightly open. If he was sleeping this deeply, it seemed he wouldn’t wake even once until tomorrow morning. In that case, first…
“……”
…I need to take care of mine first.
“Aigh.”
Van looked at his own member still standing tall, then slowly moved to the bathroom.
* * *
Rowy truly couldn’t wake up until noon the next day. Van moved carefully so as not to wake Rowy. He didn’t forget to prepare dessert on the side in case Rowy woke up when he wasn’t there. Van had asked the inn’s employee since early morning what desserts were famous in Velstra and which shops did them well.
‘Unfortunately, sweet desserts don’t seem to be very famous here.’
Velstra seemed to have mostly salty food-oriented cuisine like cheese. However, Rowy, with a childlike palate, only sought sweet things, so he reluctantly bought strawberry cake. It was because he remembered Rowy talking about strawberry cake before. After placing the cake beside him like that and stroking the hair of Rowy, who was still deeply absorbed in sleep, Van headed to the inn’s first floor.
It was to hear the briefing about the upcoming schedule. When he arrived at the meeting place prepared in one corner of the inn and opened the door, the Flame Knights members who had already arrived raised their heads.
“You’re here.”
“Come, sit over here!”
Those near the door stepped forward first to offer a seat, and the others also bowed their heads in greeting. Van, who bowed his head back to them, sat in an empty seat. The knights had been speaking quite familiarly since seeing Van’s skills, and underneath that lay a swordsman’s competitive spirit wanting to spar with a strong opponent they were seeing for the first time.
As a fellow knight, Van fully understood their feelings. Van was also inwardly looking forward to crossing swords with the Flame Knights. However, separate from feeling that passion, they didn’t bring up any talk of sparring with Van at all, probably because they were on a mission. It was truly regrettable.
“If everyone’s here, let’s begin.”
Edner, who confirmed Van had taken his seat, spoke up.
“There’s been a change in the schedule. The original plan was to travel overland through Banayl to Norbel, then use the magic circle there to return to the Empire… But when I reported the situation to His Grace the Duke, he ordered the fastest possible return.”
After briefly looking around at the knights, Edner continued.
“We’ve currently requested permission to use the long-distance magic circle in Banayl. So we’ll wait here briefly, then divide personnel according to the permission and return.”
“Yes!”
The knight order answered loudly. Van also nodded along with them.
‘Banayl…’
Combining the stories he heard from Rowy and what he grasped from the schedule meeting, Velstra and Banayl were countries that didn’t have very good relations with the Empire.
‘Setting aside that Velstra doesn’t have a long-distance magic circle….’
The reason they had intended to go all the way to distant Norbel without using the magic circle despite there being one in nearby Banayl was also because of these inter-country relations. Van was learning all of this for the first time on this journey. Diplomacy and such were areas completely unrelated to Van from the start. But now….
‘If I’m going to stay by Rowy’s side from now on, I need to know these things well too.’
Van absorbed all the information with serious eyes. Nothing would change just by being sad about the difference in status. It was time for effort.
‘They say love is something you fight for originally.’
Last night, having finally made meaningful progress, Van burned with motivation.
“Right, you said you’re from Marzen? Do you know the Penter Mountains well too?”
While earnestly steeling his resolve like that, Edner asked Van. Everyone’s attention focused on Van.
“The Penter Mountains, yes.”
“Is this monster rampage a normal situation?”
“…No.”
Edner gestured with his chin as if telling him to continue. Van went on with his explanation.
“The monster movements in the beginning were certainly similar to a monster rampage, but the monster movements in the final gorge are absolutely not normal.”
“Then why do you think this happened?”
“Unless there’s a monster subjugation team we’re unaware of driving monsters from the opposite side… there are only two possible cases.”
“What are they?”
“Either it’s magic with someone’s intention behind it… or if not, it’s a demon’s curse.”
As Van’s words ended, silence briefly filled the room. Edner, who had been rubbing his brow, let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha, demons.”
Shaking his head, Edner ordered the knight order.
“First go find the garrison here and ask about monster subjugation teams. I’ll look into whether there was magic use, and just in case, we should reinforce with a mercenary company. Go to Count Grain here in the capital and request support.”
“Yes!”
“And you.”
Edner’s sharp gaze bore down on Van. Van also looked back at Edner. However, Edner only glared at Van silently for a long while.
“You….”
Edner let out a deep sigh and opened his mouth again.
“I’ll entrust Lord Rowy’s escort to you, so don’t leave Lord Rowy’s side.”
Van’s eyes widened at the unexpected words. Edner had officially entrusted Rowy’s escort to Van.
“Yes, don’t worry.”
Van answered immediately. Edner, who had been looking at Van’s face for a moment, spoke to everyone again.
“Then, as I said, wait here until permission for the teleportation magic circle comes through.”
Having finished speaking, Edner left the room with busy steps. He was probably going to make another report. Van, who had been staring blankly at that figure, soon got up as well. Then, Dwyne approached and spoke to Van.
“As expected, nothing gets resolved easily when our young master gets involved! You’re Van, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Dwyne Assel. As you know, I’m with the Flame Knights. I also serve as the vice-captain’s aide. And Lord Rowy… I was his escort briefly before. You could say I’m your senior.”
“…My master?”
Van naturally showed interest. Kyle, who was beside them, also joined the conversation.
“Right. This guy Dwyne escorted him for quite a while.”
“Since about this tall.”
Dwyne indicated around his waist with his hand.
“He was this tall.”
“……”
“Let’s do well. Okay?”
Van, who unconsciously recalled yesterday’s Rowy, nodded earnestly while hiding his startled inner thoughts.
* * *
And so their stay in Velstra, of unknown duration, began. And as for the monster matter… Van also planned to contact the temple and investigate on his own, not leaving it only to Edner. If it really was a demon’s doing, that was this side’s specialty.
In the past, he would have assumed that since the archdemon Mammon had been destroyed, there were naturally no demons with this level of power remaining. He probably would have looked for monster subjugation teams or mages like Edner.
‘But….’
Rowy’s curse still hadn’t been lifted. Since it was unclear which demon was involved, for Rowy’s safety, he had to prepare for everything.
‘To send news to the temple, I’ll need to use the communications office here.’
Van thought of Rowy, who would still be sleeping. The original plan was to go quickly by himself while Rowy was sleeping, but… now that Edner had entrusted Rowy directly to Van, he intended to stick closely to Rowy’s side from now on.
‘I should ask him to go to the communications office together.’
Having finished deliberating, Van moved back to the room where Rowy would be sleeping.
