Chapter 49: It Wasn't Intentional (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 49: It Wasn't Intentional (1)
Kairisis, located in northern Kairis, was a land of short summers and long winters. As soon as September began, a cool morning breeze started to blow.
However, it wasn't yet cold enough to warrant closing the windows, so they remained open in Chermil Palace, where the two princes were sharing their meal.
A cool breeze drifted through an open window, rustling the petals of the flowers decorating the table. At the sudden movement, the eyes of the two silent princes fell upon the flowers.
Consequently, their gazes, which had not met once over the past few days, finally turned toward each other.
Randel looked at the second prince, who now sat in the place of the youngest who used to greet him every morning, and spoke.
"I heard you haven't touched a drop of alcohol since Calian left."
At first glance, it sounded like a compliment. It could have been.
Given how incessantly Franz had been drinking at such a young age, the remark could be taken as relief that he had finally corrected his bad habit.
If they were ordinary brothers, that would have surely been the meaning.
"Are you disappointed?"
But Franz, knowing it meant nothing of the sort, retorted.
Without answering, Randel stared into Franz's eyes for a moment. It was the same gaze Calian had once felt—one that pried deep into a person's innermost thoughts.
It was unclear what he found there, but Randel soon turned his gaze back to the plate in front of him. Then, in a casual tone, as if simply passing along a bit of news, he spoke.
"I hear Lenisita leaves were laid out in the square today."
Although everyone called them "leaves" because of their appearance, Lenisita leaves were actually the broad thorns of a cactus called Lenisita. They possessed the unique property of absorbing surrounding moisture.
Occasionally, the Kairis royal family would lay these Lenisita leaves on the grounds of Hatsuara Square. This was done before setting up a guillotine, to prevent blood from staining the square's white stone floor.
In other words, Randel was bringing up the execution of the culprit arrested for attacking Calian. It was not a particularly pleasant topic for the breakfast table.
Hearing Randel's words, the corner of Franz's mouth twitched. He realized why the usually silent Randel had gone out of his way to speak first.
"It seems you are deeply mistaken."
Franz's reply was aimed at Randel's unspoken question: whether Silike had made another move against Calian.
In truth, Randel had already suspected that this incident had nothing to do with Silike. He was not ignorant of her current situation. Therefore, without doubting Franz's words, Randel simply nodded and said, "Let's keep a low profile for just a bit longer."
The remark acknowledged the inevitable end of their temporary truce.
It meant that while they would eventually plunge daggers into each other's backs, now was not the time.
With those final words, Randel rose from his seat and walked out, leaving Franz sitting alone for a long moment.
Franz briefly considered who would be left standing at the very end—Randel or Calian—but soon gave up. Instead, his mind drifted to the last time he had seen Calian at the banquet hall, and what the younger prince had hidden. Staring at Randel's empty chair, Franz muttered, "How much quieter does he expect me to be?"
* * *
Calian furrowed his brow.
"This is all because of the rain."
This entire situation was the rain's fault.
When they departed from Latran, Calian had only intended to escort Sia to the edge of the Hiriska Forest.
However, because of the unusually heavy rain, a massive landslide had occurred, blocking the royal road—the only path through the mountains.
Since it wasn't a situation that could be resolved even with Arsen and Calian's magic, the group had no choice but to turn back. They returned to the estate of Viscount Hamptish, whom they had bid farewell to just that morning, and stayed for another day.
The same rain that had wreaked havoc on his emotions was now taking a toll on his body.
"Once we return to Kairisis, I'm going to have a teleportation device built," Calian declared.
Yan was absolutely delighted by his words, while Arsen pretended not to hear.
Knowing Calian, he would surely find the right person, dump the task on them, and merely supervise—and the most idle yet capable mage among Calian's current acquaintances was none other than Arsen.
In any case, since teleportation was a pipe dream for now, Calian's group took a detour. As they traveled along this new path, they ended up right in front of the Hiriska Forest.
After dropping Sia off, they were about to say their goodbyes when they realized they had nowhere suitable to spend the night, having taken an unplanned route.
"Come to the village with me. Luca is there. The elder is there too. Boss, sleep and go tomorrow."
Conveniently, Sia extended the invitation.
Since it was the most sensible thing Sia had said so far, Calian agreed. While he wanted to avoid sleeping outdoors, his curiosity to see an elven village was even greater. Naturally, Calian was not the only one who felt this way; upon hearing his response, the rest of the group looked absolutely thrilled.
Elven villages were invisible to human eyes.
Though it was unclear what method they used, one had to follow a path that only elves could find to enter the village.
Following Sia deep into the winding forest, the village suddenly appeared before them, to their utter amazement. If they took a single step back, a dense forest stretched out before them, but if they took a step forward, a proper village with a large valley and several stone houses materialized out of thin air.
After guiding them to the village, Sia vanished somewhere, saying he would explain the situation to the elder. Not long after, another elf approached the group and asked, "Who is the king of the humans?"
At those words, Calian looked at Yan, momentarily bewildered. Yan, however, was staring right back at him.
When Calian glanced around, he saw that everyone in the group was looking at him. Seeing this, the elf approached Calian, prompting him to quickly clarify.
"There is no one so grand as a 'king of humans' here."
"Is that so? The elder wishes to meet the king of the humans."
"Then he won't be meeting him in this lifetime."
Calian distinctly recalled that the elves had sent a congratulatory delegation during Lemain's birthday festival, but unlike them, the elves here seemed quite ignorant of human hierarchy. In any case, deciding there was no need to explain all of that right now, he said, "I am not the king of humans, but it is true that I am the leader of this group."
The elf nodded. "Very well. Follow me."
Calian followed the elf and came face-to-face with the elder in the largest house in the village. The elder, a remarkably handsome man with silver hair just like Hina's, spoke as soon as he saw Calian.
"I am Jer, the elder of Hiriska Village. Sia is my son."
Calian was inwardly surprised. It wasn't so much that Sia was the elder's son, but that the son of an elder had been running around selling woodcarvings. If he was the elder of a village, wouldn't that make him equivalent to a lord in human terms?
In any case, since he had been greeted and his counterpart was not human, Calian gave a brief nod and introduced himself.
"Calian. Calian Rain Kairis."
At that, Jer's pointed ears twitched once. He looked at Calian and said, "Pleasure to meet you."
"I heard you wanted to see me."
He had asked expecting to receive a standard expression of gratitude for bringing Sia back safely. However, Jer's response was vastly different from what Calian had anticipated.
"Indeed. I asked to see you because there is a favor I wish to ask of you."
Calian's eyes widened. They had just met, and instead of offering thanks to the person who saved his son, he was abruptly asking for a favor.
"Whatever it is, I find it hard to understand why I, having just arrived, should do a favor for the elves."
To Calian's words, which were a perfect mix of fatigue and irritation, the elven elder Jer replied, "Because you are the king of the human tribe."
"Kairis is not a tribe. And I am a prince, not a king."
"Same difference."
Calian gave Jer a sharp, humorless smile. The elf was saying things that could get him beheaded if the wrong person overheard.
"They mean slightly—no, very—different things."
Watching this unfold, unable to say a single word, Yan felt like tearing his hair out.
"At any rate, I would like you to help us with our problem."
Jer, who spoke with a lack of common sense that defied imagination, continued without even asking for Calian's opinion.
"Luca, who returned not long ago, left the village again, this time taking two other elves with him."
"No, wait a minute—"
"They haven't returned for over ten days. Three days ago, two more went out to find them, but they haven't returned either."
Calian wanted to ask what on earth that had to do with him, but Jer's words flowed without pause. There was simply no gap to cut in.
"Even though I told them the human world is not so easy, they insisted on going out and ended up disappearing. Thus, I would like you to help find them. The elves here do not know the human world well. We cannot afford to send only elves out anymore."
"You want me to find five missing elves? Why should I?"
"Because you are the king of the human tribe."
It was like a broken record.
It seemed to boil down to this: some elves had disappeared in human territory, and because the villagers didn't know the outside world well enough to search for them, they needed the help of Calian, who had conveniently arrived.
Even so, the reasoning was incredibly flimsy, and the attitude with which the favor was being asked was far from pleasant.
"What absolute nonsense."
Ultimately, Calian rose from his seat.
Although darkness had already fallen, he intended to leave the elven village right then and there. He would rather sleep outdoors than spend an uncomfortable night in a place like this.
At that, Jer spoke again, stopping Calian in his tracks.
"I am not asking you to help for free. I will compensate you. Of course, I will also pay you for saving Sia."
Calian recalled hearing something from Yan once. Elves were of a nature that they could not bear to remain in debt; if they received even a shred of help, they would always repay it with compensation fitting their own standards.
His eyes briefly drifted toward Kyrie. Kyrie, who was a half-elf, had been the same way.
The elder looked at the standing Calian and asked, "I hear you are on your way to the land of Siegfried. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
The elder nodded. "The human roads are too slow, but if you use the forest paths, you can reduce the travel time to a quarter."
A journey that would take over two months. He was offering to cut it down to a quarter of the time.
A two-month journey in just fifteen days?
Calian's shoulders twitched.
He quickly spun around and sat back down.
Five elves had gone missing!
Of course he had to help.