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“By the way, Ains, what did you do?”
Laika ate her soup after dipping bread into it.
“Hm? What do you mean, what did I do?”
Ains had no idea what she was talking about and brought the soup to his mouth after blowing on it to cool it.
“Kirishiya. I met her today, and I was surprised. Her whole atmosphere had changed from before.”
“Kirishiya?”
“Yes. How should I put it… the strength in her eyes had grown compared to before. And there was more weight to her words at unexpected moments.”
“Huh. That sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? Isn’t it good for someone connected to the royal family to have more weight in their words?”
“It is, but… this was after that whole incident with Darius and the Next-Era Luminaries, you know? You definitely did something, Ains!”
“Yeah, if anything happened, it was definitely this guy.”
Talidge said that while biting into some bread.
“…Ains-sama’s words do carry influence.”
Sophia quietly started on her appetizer.
“So it was you after all, Ains. You said something to Kirishiya, didn’t you?”
“Mmm, what was it again? I tend to say whatever fits the moment without especially meaning it, so I do not really remember the details.”
Ains tried to search his memory for whether he had said something that touched a chord in Kirishiya, but the pleasant taste of the perfectly toasted bread derailed his thoughts.
“…You gave Kirishiya some sort of chance to change, so at least try to remember it.”
Laika spoke in an exasperated tone.
“I’ll remember it next time.”
But Ains did not even turn toward Laika, his eyes remaining fixed only on the dishes spread across the table.
Seeing that, Laika gave up, certain that he would absolutely forget it without giving it a second thought.
“By the way, Ains. What are you going to do now? It sounds like you have lost interest in the Sorcery Academy.”
“Yeah, Seidel-san asked me the same thing. I was thinking I might go to another city for a bit.”
“Another city? You mean you’re leaving Kirk?”
“That’s right. If Sophia and Talidge are fine with it, that is.”
Ains turned his gaze toward both Sophia and Talidge.
Sophia stopped moving her hands quietly and wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“I, of course, shall accompany Ains-sama.”
Since Ains had already known what Sophia’s answer would be, he nodded along.
“I’m fine with it too. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do, and there are still things Ains hasn’t taught me yet.”
“That’s unexpected. Since it’s you, Talidge, I thought you’d say, ‘Too much trouble, I pass.’”
A journey was more enjoyable with two people than alone, and with three people than two. On top of that, being alone with Sophia would make him feel stifled beyond endurance, so Ains was honestly glad that Talidge said he would come along.
“So, Laika, with that settled, do you know any good places?”
“Honestly, decide that much yourself. Or rather, why not ask Sophia-san and Talidge?”
Laika brushed him off as she answered.
Talidge was getting uselessly hung up on the small matter of “…Why does she get an honorific, while I’m just plain Talidge?” Perhaps that too was because Sophia was the sort of person he mixed with like oil and water.
“I was basically in the Ains Domain the whole time, so I do not know much about anywhere else. I had business in Kirk a few times, but aside from that, I know next to nothing.”
“I don’t know either. I used to be in Gairin, but all I ever did over there was swing a sword around. I don’t even know my own country that well, so I know even less about Santia.”
“As for me… well, that goes without saying, right?”
“Honestly… can the three of you really manage a journey like this? …Well, whatever.”
And so Laika thought it over. In the Santia Kingdom, the place with the highest level of magical culture was the Royal Capital Kirk. And the only things that ever drew Ains’s interest were magic and sorcery.
“(Where else am I supposed to tell him to go?)”
With a troubled look, Laika’s gaze fell upon Ains, who was casually savoring a meat dish.
“Why not try heading south?”
“South? What’s there?”
“There’s a port city. Just as the name suggests, it’s a city facing a vast sea. It’s the center of distribution and the center of seafood too. Even the fish we’re eating came from the port city.”
“A port city…”
Ains looked upward and repeated the unfamiliar term.
Sophia at his side and Talidge seated opposite him also seemed not to have grasped it immediately.
“Yeah. That does sound interesting. It’s been quite a long time since I last saw the sea, so I think I’d like to go.”
With a single snap of his fingers, Ains decided their next destination.
“Ains, you don’t look like you can swim. Will you be alright?”
“It’s true that I can’t swim, but I can use magic, so it’s not like I’d drown.”
Right, Ains excelled at magic, Laika thought. At that point, it suddenly occurred to her how he managed when bathing alone. Given Ains’s body, with one arm missing and one leg gone below the knee, Laika imagined that getting into and out of a bath would be quite a struggle for him.
But she decided that was not something to bring up here, and kept it to herself.
“Then, Ains-sama, our next destination will be…”
Sophia sought confirmation from Ains.
“Yeah. Let’s head for the port city. I’m counting on you two to come with me!”
Sophia placed a hand over her chest, bowed her head lightly, and said, “As you wish.”
Talidge looked toward Sophia and said, “We’re traveling by carriage, obviously, right? …Wait, we’re not?” but she ignored him.
“Once Kansas-san gets back, let’s thank him and say our goodbyes before we leave.”
Ains returned to his meal.
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