Homecoming (5)

It was already dark outside the tavern. The bustling market was extremely noisy. Smoke rose here and there as food was cooked, while merchants lit small lamps, clapped their hands, and threw themselves into the final stretch of business.

Victor sighed as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me away from the crowd.

“So, who exactly were those people?”

“They belong to the Troll’s Right Calf Mercenary Company.”

“The troll’s…… what?”

He looked confused. I raised the hilt of my sword for him to see.

“They paint a small picture of a troll’s leg on their armor and weapons. They’re one of the units directly under Mercenary King Yaji. They’re skilled mercenaries who travel across the entire continent.”

Victor fell silent for a moment before asking again.

“I see. What did you discuss?”

“I asked about the monsters’ movements. It seemed strange that we had encountered so many monsters throughout the journey.”

“Indeed. The appearance of an urg is no ordinary matter.”

His expression became grave. I let out a short sigh.

“They did not know the exact reason either. But it seems they are conducting their own investigation. They promised to inform me once they had their results.”

“Understood. I should look into it as well once we return to the territory.”

Victor nodded with the face of a lord. Then, as though he had suddenly realized something, he whipped his head around to look at me.

“No, wait. Why did you come all the way here to investigate it personally? You could have ordered the knights to do it.”

“But it’s most reliable when I do it myself.”

I blinked innocently.

Most of the knights probably did not know how to strike up a conversation with mercenaries or conduct a transaction. And even if some did, I honestly felt uneasy about sending them into a place like that. From what I had observed over the past several days, most of the knights in our party were nearly as weak as Jeffrey of Sutherland.

Victor heaved a deep sigh.

“Marion, my knights may be frivolous, but they are not unreliable. They are perfectly capable of gathering information.”

“But what if someone picked a fight with them in a place like that?”

Victor’s expression became extremely strange. I continued worriedly.

“It’s a travelers’ village where all kinds of people gather. They would obviously be badly injured if they encountered even a swordsman of my level.”

“Marion, that…….”

Victor hesitated, at a loss for words. It was an exceptionally rare sight.

“……There are not many swordsmen at your level.”

“What do you mean? There’s you, Victor. Of course, you are stronger than I am.”

A smile naturally escaped me as I thought of his swordsmanship. Having a powerful knight nearby whom I could watch and learn from was a swordsman’s joy.

Strangely, however, Victor looked slightly haggard. He opened and closed his mouth as though he wanted to say something, then merely rubbed both hands over his face.

“……In any case, please at least tell me before going out next time. Do you know how startled I was?”

“It wasn’t as though much time had passed.”

“I thought you had suddenly disappeared.”

I quietly looked up at him. A faint anxiety lingered over his beautiful face. Smiling, I tightly clasped his hand.

“Where would I possibly go?”

“……That is true.”

Victor pressed a kiss to my palm. I jerked my hand away as though I had touched fire.

Having already returned to being the shameless Grand Duke, he pulled me close and kissed my cheek several times.

“I told you not to do this where there are so many people!”

My feeble resistance was buried beneath his laughter.

Before long, the surroundings had become unmistakably northern. The trees’ leaves grew narrow, and instead of dense vegetation, the wasteland was littered with enormous rocks and thornbushes. I was glad to be free of the sweltering heat, but Kaltz, who came from the south, looked completely drained.

“This is why I kept staying in the capital. I absolutely hate the cold.”

“Then why did you become a knight of Mort?”

“It was a cruel twist of fate.”

He heaved a long sigh.

“To think the place I entered for knightly training would be a winter land inhabited by a vicious dragon……. This is why you must thoroughly investigate everything before making a decision.”

“I think it would have been quieter and better without you as well.”

Victor smoothly retorted from across from me. As the journey continued, Victor’s insomnia gradually improved, and he had now completely regained his former composure. He slid the sword he had finished maintaining into its scabbard and spoke gently.

“It would be nice if I could cut you and Leonard apart, then combine the opposite halves. You are far too outspoken, while Leonard is far too rigid.”

Leonard, who had been dragged into the chilling remark for no reason, flinched.

Kaltz swiftly changed the subject.

“In any case, Mort is quite cold, though not as cold as the kingdom. I suffered quite a bit during knightly training as well. I swung my sword in the snow all day in the middle of winter, and whenever we went out to subjugate monsters, we shivered without even being able to light a fire…….”

I smiled quietly.

Becoming a high-ranking knight was actually an extremely difficult feat. One had to undergo harsh swordsmanship and physical training from childhood, then prove sufficient skill as a squire before finally receiving a formal knighthood.

Because my circumstances had been unusual, I had been knighted at fourteen, but ordinarily, one could not become a full knight until around the age of twenty. Naturally, the knights of Mort must also have endured extremely difficult training.

Kaltz now seemed completely lost in his memories.

“Once, Leonard, His Highness, and I went griffin hunting together. I think it was because griffin feathers were supposedly useful for something?”

“At the time, decorating one’s scabbard with monster feathers was fashionable.”

Leonard added. Kaltz nodded excitedly.

“That’s right. We were all at that immature age when we liked such things. His Highness was an especially notorious troublemaker, so he took the lead in raiding the nest.”

“When will my chief of staff finally learn to keep his mouth shut?”

Victor’s voice became dangerously gentle.

But I wanted to hear the rest of the story.

“And then?”

“We crossed the mountain and climbed a cliff before finding the nest. His Highness was already an invincible swordsman even then, so he disposed of two griffins in an instant. We also plucked handfuls of the finest, largest feathers. But then…….”

Kaltz’s tone became grave.

“After causing all that commotion, we grew hungry. We were freezing to death, had a long way to go, and there were no wild animals anywhere……. While we were complaining, His Highness seriously said, ‘Shall we eat this instead?’”

“What? Surely not.”

“Yes. Griffins look somewhat like birds, do they not? We eat chickens and pigeons, so we thought a griffin would be…… something along those lines.”

I burst into laughter. I felt as though I already knew the tragic ending of the story.

“Griffin meat is poisonous.”

“Yes, and we did not know that. Of course we didn’t. Who would ever bother teaching such a thing? Who would expect lunatics to roast and eat a griffin?”

Kaltz shrugged.

“The ending is exactly as you imagine. All three of us suffered terrible stomachaches and rolled around on the ground. We groaned until sunset, and only survived because a search party found us.”

“To reach a griffin’s nest after sunset, the leader of the search party must have been very skilled.”

Kaltz’s mouth abruptly snapped shut.

Huh? When I widened my eyes and looked at Leonard, he too was suddenly staring straight ahead with a stiff expression.

Victor, who had been quietly stroking his sword, called my name.

“Marion.”

When I turned, he was smiling exceedingly sweetly.

“What would you like to eat when we reach the next village?”

I stared at him. Even my oblivious eyes could clearly see that he was trying to change the subject.

Why was he suddenly acting like that? The obvious question arose, but since Victor wanted it that way, I did not wish to press him further. So I merely smiled and answered.

“Roast pigeon.”

However, the day when I could eat roast pigeon did not come easily. Villages became increasingly scarce the closer we drew to Mort. Apparently, rather than living near Mort, it was safer to pay more taxes and live within the Grand Duchy itself. As a result, no matter how far we traveled, there was nothing but wasteland. Thanks to that, we had to camp almost every day.

While the knights expertly raised the tents, Dideric poured dried vegetables and water into a heated pot and brought them to a boil. Adding a little spice, dried meat, and goat’s milk produced a hot cream soup. It did not look like a particularly difficult dish, yet somehow it always tasted delicious whenever he made it.

Having been chased away from the tent-pitching site because I was Madam, I hovered nearby holding a bowl like a dog waiting to be fed. Dideric, who was stirring the soup, apologized to me.

“I am sorry that you have been forced to eat such meager food every day, Madam.”

“What are you talking about?”

I was so genuinely startled that I nearly jumped. Apologizing while making food that delicious was an insult to cooking itself.

The butler chuckled and continued.

“Once you arrive in Mort, you will be able to enjoy many delicious dishes. I shall have them prepare your favorite turkey dish as soon as we arrive.”

My cheeks reddened with excitement and embarrassment.

Just before leaving the capital, I had eaten so well that I had nearly lost interest in food altogether, so it was amusing even to me that I had returned to my old self after only two weeks.

But it could not be helped. I had literally spent my entire life living for the sake of eating my fill.

Dideric spoke warmly.

“Still, I cannot express how glad I am that you eat so well. His Highness has always had a small appetite.”

“Did you also see Victor when he was a child, Dideric?”

At my question, he smiled quietly.

“Yes. At the time, I was not a butler, but an attendant to the Grand Duke two generations ago. His Highness was exceptionally strong from an early age.”

I quietly nodded.

The old butler’s eyes were filled with nostalgia.