Holy Relic
Holy Relic
The reactions of the wyvern keepers after I received the permit were each a sight to behold.
"I never thought I'd live to see one of these confirmed."
And the expression of the chief manager, who held authority over them, was even more so. He stared at the permit in his hands for a long while, scratching the back of his head vigorously, before walking into the building where the keepers worked. Not long after, he came back holding something that looked like a branding iron and a badge.
"Confirmed. I, Chief Manager Lung-gan, on this day under the shining light of the royal house, do hereby convey to Sir Eldmia Ega, whose lawful ownership has been acknowledged, a crest certifying his wyvern ownership qualification through the right granted by the royal house."
With a rapid-fire speech that practically screamed a desire to process the matter quickly rather than follow some grand ceremony, he handed me a silver-glinting badge.
"You may affix it to your cloak or your belt. Should it be lost, it can be reissued at any time, so if such a thing ever occurs, please request it immediately from the nearest wyvern station. Beyond that, we need to brand the wyvern... is it a trained wyvern?"
"Uh... I'm not sure? It was captured from the Demon King's Army, so I don't really know. But it does listen well."
The moment my words ended, his expression began to shift into one that looked like a dog owner insisting 'My dog doesn't bite,' so before I could cause a pointless misunderstanding, I gave the wyvern an order. Just as it had always done, the creature very obediently understood my command, sat down, and lifted its neck.
"...You simply captured this creature?"
Only then did the chief manager, who had been scrutinizing the wyvern with an air of disbelief, fail to hide his bewilderment. Still, he diligently brought the branding iron to the wyvern's chest and incanted a spell. In an instant, the scales touched by the iron melted, and a single scale engraved with the familiar royal crest was completed.
"So it was a magic tool?"
"With a regular branding iron, not only might wyverns be startled by the heat, but there's also a risk of forgery. The mages seem able to explain the principles quite passionately, but I don't know the details myself, and Sir Ega has no particular need to know either. It is sufficient that you simply know, as long as this mark is present, there will be no misunderstandings in official settings."
I found myself nodding along at his eminently reasonable explanation. The chief manager, having finished his task, slowly walked away, telling me where my wyvern would be stationed if I stayed in the capital.
Listening to his words, I learned of tremendous benefits I'd had no idea about, since nothing had been written separately in the letters or documents I'd received from the royal house. Free feed, free management, free boarding, even free treatment if injured—at this utterly incomprehensible VIP service, I kept tilting my head and expressing my doubts, but the answer I got back was indifferent.
"In the first place, cases where wyverns are recognized as private property are so rare that there are no separate laws or regulations. It's a matter that already transcends such domains, as an individual personally owns a wyvern managed by the kingdom and royal house. Therefore, we simply manage Sir Ega's wyvern like all other royal wyverns."
At the very least, he said that in cases where families received permits, they would dispatch a wyvern keeper to train them with the necessary knowledge for a set period so they could manage the wyvern themselves... but even if our house had a yard, it was too small to house a wyvern, so that was meaningless to me.
Meanwhile, contrary to my worry that the creature might have separation anxiety or intermittent rage control disorder, the wyvern followed the keeper into the stable that would be its home, curled its tail up as if it were perfectly natural, and settled down to rest.
"Are the wyverns that Demonfolk ride all like that on average?"
"They weren't. I just got lucky."
"Hoo... well, that's a relief, then..."
I couldn't exactly say that it had listened surprisingly quickly after I'd trained it with Magic Power, so I left behind the chief manager, who was beginning to feel a sense of alarm about the Demon King's Army's wyvern training skills, and headed home.
The capital was the same as ever. Aside from the pedestrians' clothes having gotten thicker, nothing seemed to have changed much. Apart from the occasional stares my ragged attire drew from passersby, there was nothing particularly strange.
As I arrived home, newly feeling the peace I hadn't experienced on the battlefield I'd briefly tasted, I opened the door and walked in. Tie, who had been clattering dishes in the kitchen, turned her gaze toward me flatly, confirmed it was me, and bowed her head casually in greeting.
"You've returned. Have you eaten?"
Her attitude, as natural as greeting someone who'd just come back after a day or two away, made me chuckle for a moment.
"I ate lightly, so I am a bit hungry. Is there anything to eat?"
"I will prepare something while you wash up. Asilie said she would return before dinner."
"Where did big sis go?"
"She went to handle a guild request."
She'd been taking requests quite diligently even before I left, and she was still at it? I would have thought she was going out because she was bored alone, but Tie had unexpectedly become an excellent conversation partner for her, so I could be sure that wasn't the reason, and a small spark of curiosity stirred in me.
"The letters that arrived for Eldmia during your absence have been organized on the desk in the bedroom. Will you check them while you eat?"
But that curiosity didn't last long. Because the fact that so many letters had arrived that they needed to be organized while I was gone was far more surprising.
"Was it written where they came from?"
"I only recall an official royal communiqué, Hero Siegfried, and one from the mage Seneran. The rest appeared to be invitations from nobles I'd never heard of before."
Wow, things like that actually came for me.
I figured they were people who'd completely lost their marbles or had no interest in rumors, and I decided to unpack and take a bath first.
◈
After enjoying a bath that was second to none with warm water, and incidentally giving Laika a wash despite there being no real need, what greeted me when I came out feeling refreshed was Tie's cooking spread all across the table.
"Your skills seem to have gotten even better?"
"I think so too. You improve as you do it often. By the way, the seasoning in the meat is a homemade recipe. Asilie liked it as well."
Looking at Tie puffing out that chest with pride over a sauce she made herself despite usually showing so little expression, how was I supposed to see a first-rate spy from a fantasy world? She was a skilled first-rate cook.
I shuddered at the fact that if it weren't for her, I'd have had to make my own meals. Taking a spoonful of the corn soup with steam gently rising from it, I felt the warmth spread from my stomach as I looked through the letters Tie had brought me.
I was tempted to chuck every single invitation straight into the fireplace, but then I thought some might be related to the academy, so I decided to hold off. The royal communiqué I checked first, just in case, was nothing more than a kind of additional supporting document related to the wyvern, so it held no particular meaning. The letter from Siegfried, which I opened next, was an exceedingly ordinary letter.
To be more precise, it was about the things Siegfried had experienced on the front lines while I'd been fighting tooth and nail in Levien.
The Demon King's Army was stronger than he thought, but his own allies were also oddly fighting well. It seemed like the average level of the people he saw in the Empire was being far exceeded, and so on. The letter, filled with a sense of disconnect similar to what I felt, and sent with questions, even included a request that if I read it late, I should tell him how things had been in Levien.
The fact that we, as fellow Reincarnators, shared similar sensations only deepened my questions.
"Tie, back when you were working, did you ever hear any specific talk about the front lines?"
The reason I asked Tie directly was because of that. No matter what anyone said, she had been among the elite talent in the order she belonged to.
"What do you mean by specific?"
And Tie, rather than acting like she had no idea, attempted to make my question more specific, raising my expectations just a little.
"Nothing major... just talk about how the Human Race is holding out against the Demon King's Army better than expected, or the reasons how that's possible."
"Ah... I had no opportunity to hear such things during missions, but within the order, the topic came up frequently. Most were speculations that the gods may be trying to strike a Balance."
"Balance?"
"Yes. We believe we live, always achieving Balance, within the lives the gods permit. That is why we make no distinction between what the world calls evil or good, and solely accept a just monetary price."
Perhaps because she hadn't eaten yet herself, Tie naturally sat down, tearing bread and slowly soaking it in the soup as she continued.
"This applies equally to the war between Demonfolk and the Human Race. To us, it is no different from the wars between kingdoms that commonly occur in the western regions. But unlike them, Demonfolk can wield Magic Power, and thus exert relatively overwhelming power. If the war were to continue in an ordinary manner, it would naturally lead to the annihilation of the Human Race. The hypothesis is that the gods, not wishing for this, are adjusting the Balance."
"...Don't elves hold a similar philosophy?"
"You knew of it? Correct. The elves, who have lived lives far longer than our order's history, operate on a similar way of thinking."
Had the conversation with Luwiming, which had felt so brief, actually pierced to the heart of the matter? Since I'd need to think about it a bit more when writing my reply later, I carefully set Siegfried's letter aside as well. Finally, I opened the letter from Seneran.
"...Did something happen to Seneran or the teacher?"
"I have heard nothing, but is there something bad written?"
"No, it's not that..."
Usually, her letters were filled with laments about her circumstances alongside detailed content, but what was written in her letter was exactly one line.
[I think you should come. Come to Ogwen first.]