Legend of the Southern
Legend of the Southern
The food that Asilie and Tie had been preparing since lunch and kept piling on throughout the evening was a considerable amount, but with five big eaters at the table, it vanished at a truly alarming rate.
Yes, five. Alongside me, Yekaterina, Sheryl, and Asilie, even Ragnis had now joined the ranks of the heavy eaters!
"Hoo, it's because the training's been brutal."
The Ragnis of my last memory had been a light eater who'd put her hands up after one bowl of stew, but now she'd already demolished two bowls all on her own. She'd also gone through two of those baguette-sized loaves of bread for dipping, and she hadn't stopped there—now she was elegantly working her fork and knife to dismantle a piece of chicken.
Sheryl, who'd been staring at Ragnis as the latter flushed red under our horrified gazes and offered excuses, ignored all matters of etiquette and tore into a drumstick like Yekaterina, muttering as she did so.
"At this rate, isn't she gonna turn into a hulking battle mage like Sir Radnelbandes in a few years...?"
"My master was born that way, you know."
Was he really? Whatever the hell kind of training she was doing, Ragnis's body had undergone a dramatic transformation even to the naked eye. Her frame hadn't exactly become gigantic, but her shoulders had broadened enough that you'd believe she was a knight, and her forearms had practically doubled in thickness compared to before.
She'd blown past the level of those celebrities who get personal training to completely remake their bodies in a short time. Anyone who remembered Ragnis from the Imperial Academy would've been shocked to see her now, wouldn't they?
Since getting healthier was never a bad thing, I didn't particularly care, but I still found myself tilting my head for a number of reasons.
"Weren't you supposed to be talented at magic? You keep turning more into a warrior."
"...It's a bit ridiculous saying this myself, but if I only learn magic, I end up with time left over, so I'm learning spearmanship too."
Time left over? Now that was some classic talent-bloodsucker talk.
The problem was that it wasn't just her own idea—it was the result of Sir Radnelbandes's judgment as well, so it wasn't empty boasting. As if on cue, Seneran and Rellie, both mages, showed the greatest interest and started talking to her. The conversation that followed was typical mage talk—had she seen the stars, what color did she make them shine—and since in my current state I couldn't understand a damn thing even hearing it, my attention naturally drifted elsewhere.
"Come to think of it, the royal court said they'd like to arrange an occasion to commend your achievements. They say they feel it's about time for at least one formal event, lest other talk starts to circulate."
My teacher had conveniently tossed out the topic. Honestly, aside from Seneran, the only one with any direct connection to my teacher was Sheryl at best, and since there was no way those two had anything to talk about, he'd been eating quietly until just now, and this was the first thing he'd brought up.
The gist was that movements by people who could annoy me were on the rise—people with the mindset of, 'They helped that much and the royal court hasn't even said a public thank-you? Are they on bad terms? Maybe I should approach first?'—so I'd decided to consider it positively this time. I'd been planning to play along at least once ever since the Archdemon beheading got exposed anyway.
As the two of us were talking, Sheryl cut in quietly from the side.
"The Empire's been saying they'd like to commend your achievements soon too. Maybe it'll end up being a joint thing to showcase friendly relations between the Empire and the Kingdom?"
"Mm. I'd heard word that the Empire had made inquiries first. I understand the royal court is also considering it positively."
Was that... normally the sort of thing that leaked so easily...? Feeling anew just how far from ordinary the people gathered here were, I suddenly voiced a question that popped into my head.
"If it ends up being held jointly, who would be the one awarding it?"
"The Emperor can hardly come in person, so from the Empire it would be the First Princess, whom you helped... As for us, I'm not sure. I expect His Majesty the King would do it himself."
"Since the First Princess, the most likely candidate for the next Emperor, is coming, having a prince or princess whose succession rights are still uncertain step forward could look bad in many ways."
Thanks to the two of them nodding along to each other's opinions, sorting out my thoughts became wonderfully easy. So there was a high probability that Esmue would be coming. I glanced over at Zikmel, who I figured would be most interested in this sort of talk, and the bastard slowly shook his head when our eyes met.
I'd only just learned the guy had a talent for silently saying 'I'm not selling info to others. I'm not interested' with his eyes, and I was chuckling quietly when Yekaterina spoke up, her voice noticeably quieter than before.
"Eldmia, do you have any particular plans this time?"
"Plans?"
"Like, taking a request, resting, or maybe traveling alone?"
"Ah... no. If anything, having no plans at all is the plan."
The rumors about Demonfolk spreading on the way here bothered me a bit, but... those kinds of vague rumors weren't something you'd be too late to act on after watching how things developed and waiting for them to solidify. Rather, right now the priority was properly resting, getting more familiar with the helmet I'd received from Luwiming and Kakula's axe, and receiving instruction from my teacher and Seneran to further refine my Magic Organ.
Originally I'd had some thought of moving a little faster, but I decided to give myself some leeway time-wise, because I felt I now had some inkling of what the World Tree seed I'd received this time meant.
It seemed to be connected to what the seed and the message Lady Epaga had conveyed through the Saintess.
At the time, Lady Epaga had clearly said, 'The day will come when we meet face to face through a firm path.' Until now, I'd assumed those words meant something like a revisit from the Saintess, but my thinking had shifted considerably after getting my hands on a sacred artifact that would steadily expose me to Divine Power and let me gradually grow accustomed to it just by carrying it.
Flying off to the west with Kakula had been nothing but coincidence for me... but from the gods' perspective, could there have been something predictable up to that point?
If so, then the 'firm path' she'd spoken of then—could that have meant the moment when I grew accustomed to the World Tree's seed, responded to Lady Epaga's call, and conversation became possible?
If I framed it that way, there was a feeling it would slide toward the skeptical conclusion of, 'So all the deeds I thought were coincidence and blamed on bad luck were ultimately just a fixed future called fate, weren't they?'... but I didn't think that was the case.
If fate truly existed, then the chaos that would surge at the end of divine protection wouldn't have been mentioned as something even Lady Epaga herself couldn't fathom.
I still couldn't concretely know what intention she held, but from a god's eyes, it was more reasonable to see it as a future sufficiently predictable to that extent, and that through it she'd merely sought to stop me from recklessly crawling toward a fatal dead-end of my own accord.
And if the god who'd given me a second life wanted that, it was reason enough to wait a little while.
"Then would you take a guild request with us next week? The guild leader asked."
Yekaterina's face brightened at my mention of resting, but what she said made me tilt my head. It seemed unlikely the guild leader had forgotten I'd said I'd help out a bit because I felt bad about grinding through a bunch of red-rank requests before getting tangled up with the orcs, but going through Yekaterina specifically to make a request to me?
"Ah, to be precise, it's a request made to the 'Gaendal Party.' Mr. Gin and Mr. Gaendal are both returning next week because of it."
Fortunately, the supplementary explanation Yekaterina quickly tacked on made the misunderstanding fizzle out fast. In its place, a different question welled up.
"Can't you handle most requests without any trouble just among yourselves?"
To the point of needing me specifically? It wasn't like I couldn't help if asked, but I couldn't help wondering what the hell kind of request would warrant it. This time, Rellie, who'd been tearing into bread next to me, continued the explanation.
"They want to bring in an expert. Demonfolk sightings have suddenly increased near Mandela Port. It looks quite likely they're real Demonfolk, and among us, isn't Sir Ega the one with the most experience fighting Demonfolk?"
I hadn't expected a matter I'd just said wouldn't be too late to watch and wait on to come knocking right at my doorstep. Seneran's eyes instantly ballooned wide, but I had no intention of agreeing blindly either.
"Isn't that outside the capital's jurisdiction? Don't tell me it's another support request."
"I don't know that far. They said it was a situation where they had no choice but to accept, so I just glossed over it. They'd probably answer if you went and asked, wouldn't they?"
"No!"
Clink-clink! Everyone's eyes gathered on Seneran, who'd drawn attention not by banging on the table but by a mysterious method of cleanly licking the fork and knife she'd been using for her meal and then clashing them above her head.
I wasn't curious why she'd reacted like that. It was far too obvious.
"An entire month! A month! This is a breach of contract!"
At a cry that was undeniably correct and left me with no rebuttal, most of the people present produced question marks above their heads.
Truthfully, I also considered traipsing all the way out to the eastern outskirts again just on the basis of one possibility to be a massive waste of time. Still, since the ones asking were Yekaterina and Rellie, I'd been mulling it over slightly, but Seneran seemed to take my hesitation differently. Eyes blazing with fighting spirit, she shouted resolutely.
"If you really want to help, I'll go and help them instead! Eldmia stays here and helps Widra with the research!"
I'd assumed I'd have nothing to say even if a one-sided demand came out, but what came from her mouth was a suggestion that wasn't bad at all.
No, it was actually a good suggestion.
If you really wanted to split hairs, she was closer to being a 'real' Demonfolk expert.