Once the departure date was set, Rowy became very busy. He’d decided to make the rounds of all the dessert shops in Kald before leaving. Since Van had surprisingly taken quite a liking to cheese fondue, the schedule became very tight as they had to visit fondue shops together as well.
Kald didn’t have a signature dessert, but perhaps because of that, there were often shops that gathered and sold desserts from various countries. Thanks to that, three hectic days passed as they ate honey ice cream and Mont Blanc for the first time in a while.
“Yawn, going around eating is tiring too….”
Having finished bathing, Rowy yawned with his languid body. Tomorrow would finally be the day they left Velstra. Thinking it was the last chance, he’d split his time to visit even more shops than yesterday, so it was a natural result that Rowy’s stamina was completely depleted. To Rowy, who lay in bed yawning continuously, Van spoke in a serious voice.
“…When we return to Seraphila, there’s something more to do.”
“Hm? What?”
“I need to train your stamina, master. You only ate all day and you’re this tired—even for a mage, this doesn’t make sense.”
“Yawn, let’s just sleep.”
Rowy naturally let Van’s words go in one ear and out the other as he burrowed into his arms. While embracing such a Rowy back, Van earnestly expounded on the benefits of exercise.
“If you exercise and become healthy, your stomach will grow so you can eat all the delicious desserts without leaving any.”
Hmm? Tempted by the dessert talk, Rowy subtly raised his head. Eat more desserts…? Seeing that Rowy seemed interested, Van subtly added one more thing.
“And… you won’t fall asleep after coming just once either.”
Aha, so that was the goal. With coldly cooled eyes, Rowy turned his head away again. Van brought up that story whenever he had the chance. It was to the point of being tiresome, making him resolve that next time he’d definitely make Van come first.
However, paying no heed to Rowy’s cold reaction, Van was still talking about exercise methods. Whether he was babbling about whatever, Rowy closed his eyes using that voice as a lullaby. Though he often spouted nonsense, Van’s voice was quite nice. Just as Rowy was about to fall asleep while vaguely listening to the content, Rowy’s closing eyes snapped open.
“Huh?”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
Van asked Rowy, who’d suddenly raised his head.
“That.”
“Yes?”
At the out-of-the-blue words, Van turned his head in the direction Rowy was pointing. What Rowy pointed at was… a communication device brightly glowing in the darkness. Late at night, it was a contact from Shane.
“Shane.”
“Hello.”
-Oh… I’ve contacted you too late at night. This is… oh….
Shane lost his words at the scene that entered his eyes. The two had answered the call in their pajamas, lying on the bed tightly embracing each other. Unlike Shane, who kept rolling his eyes not knowing where to place his gaze, Rowy and Van weren’t embarrassed at all. Still tightly embracing, the two brushed off Shane’s reaction and immediately asked about the business.
“So what is it?”
-Ah, it seems I’ve discovered something. Just in case, I thought I should let you know right away, so I contacted you….
Shane said, still blushing and not knowing what to do. Soon composing himself, Shane spoke again in a serious voice.
-…I think I’ve found an altar.
With those final words, Van sighed lowly at the scenery in the video device. An altar sitting alone in the middle of an empty cave and even goat bones placed on top of it. It was a very familiar scene to Van.
“So relics still remained.”
-Yes. It seems so.
“Has someone already taken it?”
-Yes, but since the monster rampage is following the commander’s party… I think you should check the group members. It may have fallen into someone’s hands.
At those words, Van nodded with a serious expression.
‘Relics?’
Only Rowy, who couldn’t understand the conversation, tilted his head.
“Alright, have a hard time for a while. Take care of yourself.”
-Yes, don’t worry. And… have, have a pleasant night….
Having given his final greeting with a thoroughly reddened face, Shane soon cut the communication. Rowy, who’d been waiting for the conversation to end, asked bluntly.
“What are relics?”
At Rowy’s question, Van answered in a serious voice.
“Literally fragments of Mammon. Of course they don’t exert as much power as Mammon, but they’re still power on a different dimension from ordinary demons.”
“Ah, the power to control monsters was Mammon’s power, right?”
Rowy recalled the story he’d heard from the Head Priest before. Van nodded at those words.
“Yes. It seems this matter is definitely related to those relics. …This is really serious if they’ve fallen into other people’s hands.”
“Why? Are you worried someone will control monsters?”
“Rather than that… the person who holds the relic receives a curse.”
Mammon’s curse at that. For a moment, Shane and Turner’s faces flashed through Van’s mind.
‘I can’t let that happen again….’
Rowy patted the back of Van, who’d become serious in an instant.
“Don’t worry. Now that we know, we can find it.”
“Sigh… I thought everything related to Mammon had been dealt with… I don’t know where these things keep popping up from.”
Rowy tightly embraced Van’s drooping shoulders.
* * *
Finally the day to leave Velstra, Rowy walked in among the group that had grown larger than when they departed from Marzen. As always, Van followed behind. Edner, who’d been conveying something to the knights at the front, spotted Rowy and soon approached the two.
“You’re here. We’ll be departing now, so please board the carriage. We’ll try our best to make you comfortable, but as I mentioned, the cause of the monster rampage still hasn’t been revealed. Just keep in mind that the same situation as before could occur again.”
“Mm… But.”
“Yes.”
“Are you sick somewhere?”
“…Pardon?”
At the unexpected words, Edner looked at Rowy.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Your complexion seems bad.”
“I’m fine.”
Then that’s settled. Rowy turned his head and headed toward the carriage. Van followed behind such a Rowy while continuously saying something. Having searched for motion sickness medicine so late last night, he probably intended to give him that.
“……”
Having watched the two board the carriage, Edner soon turned around.
‘…My complexion is bad?’
That couldn’t be. For a swordsman who’d surpassed the peak, getting sick was even more difficult. Edner, who’d dismissed Rowy’s words as trivial, called Dwyne and Kyle.
“Yes. Vice-Commander.”
“You two prepare for any unexpected situations. Stay by the carriage.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“Now, depart!”
Like that, the party began moving again toward the Empire. And just as feared….
“Block them!”
“Over here!”
“Don’t let them get to the back!”
As soon as they crossed the border, monsters swarmed again. Kieeeek! Kaaak! The monsters’ shrieks and screams filled all directions.
“How is it that even more seem to be swarming than last time!”
“It’s definitely strange! Wasn’t this area originally low in monsters?”
“And golems? Did golems live here?”
“Be quiet and just deal with them quickly!”
Though flustered by the much larger number of monsters than expected, the knights soon began breaking through and opening a path by charging forward in an instant. When the new mercenary company recruited this time joined in, the situation flowed even more stably. Thanks to that, Van could stay by Rowy’s side without entering combat.
Like that, the party advanced smoothly forward. To the point of arriving at the first villa, which they’d thought would take a full day, in just half a day. However… the problem occurred after arriving at the villa. The mercenary company that had newly joined from Velstra strongly voiced their complaints.
“This is something we weren’t told. Didn’t you only tell us it was a monster rampage? How is this a monster rampage!”
The voice was so loud it could even be heard by Rowy, who was still dizzy from motion sickness and hadn’t escaped from the carriage.
“Ugh, what? What’s going on?”
“…I’ll go check.”
At the ominous atmosphere outside, Van left Rowy and immediately went outside. Even in the midst of this, the mercenary was still loudly protesting.
“You didn’t mention that demons were involved, did you!”
