Visiting the Senior
“Alone?”
“Yeah. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Senior’s face, and I want to catch up on the current situation while I’m at it.”
While I was at it, I could align our stories and get some advice, and most importantly, escape Aegina’s latest menu experiments. The longer I stayed away, the more time I’d have to spend with Rofena as well.
Aegina tilted her head, thinking for a moment, but there was no real reason for her to refuse. Even if it was by chance, I’d already given my input, so I could say I’d done my part.
“Well, that sounds fine. I would have liked a little more help from you, though.”
In that instant, I read the look in Aegina’s eyes. It was the expectant yet firm gaze that said she wanted me to help with the new menu once I returned.
“If you go, tell Senior I said hello, Anak.”
Rowell looked a little disappointed as well, but if an imperial envoy was truly coming, having him stay by her side would be far more beneficial in many ways. Everyone knew that the Hero Rowell and Aegina belonged to the Ayman Kingdom, but knowing it in your head and facing it directly at the negotiation table carried a different weight.
“What about me?”
“It’s fine. Bagloros, you stay here.”
I rose from my seat.
“Anak? You’re leaving right now?”
“Might as well, since the topic came up.”
“But you haven’t even prepared a letter or gifts yet.”
I had intended to simply walk out, but Aegina’s words made me pause. Senior wouldn’t care much for formalities, but this wasn’t just a personal visit. The Ayman Kingdom was officially requesting assistance from the Kruse Merchant Coalition, so observing some degree of protocol wouldn’t hurt.
Depending on the situation, I might even have to meet not Senior, but the head of the Kruse Merchant Coalition—Julian’s father.
“You’re right. Then prepare a letter signed in the royal family’s name, and… what would make a good gift?”
Gifts exchanged between royalty and nobility as a matter of courtesy had always been a troublesome subject for me. Giving something simply out of goodwill, something the recipient would like, was one thing. But a gift brought purely to observe etiquette carried complicated and subtle standards.
The recipient’s rank, the purpose of the visit, the level of familiarity—simply bringing something expensive and high-quality wasn’t enough. An item that didn’t suit the occasion, no matter how valuable, often led to being labeled a snob or even outright ignored.
I understood the general rules. The higher the recipient’s status, the more inappropriate it was to give overly expensive gifts. This was especially true when there was little familiarity between the parties. Sometimes, an item with no monetary value but full of sincerity was far better. Yet because every case depended on the specific situation and person, it remained difficult unless one had grown up observing such customs and developed an instinctive sense for them.
“The Kruse Merchant Coalition is renowned for its valor, to the point of being called the Kruse Fleet. Since this isn’t an official visit and you’re already acquainted, a royal sword and a pair of iron gauntlets from the palace should suffice.”
Indeed, rare or expensive items would hold little meaning for the head of a merchant coalition. What they valued more were honors that couldn’t be bought with money. A sword and iron gauntlets bestowed by the royal family symbolized recognition of one’s valor, and they would make a perfectly adequate gift.
“Good. Then prepare them for me. I’ll go pack some clothes and other necessities. Also, find out where they’re currently located.”
After greeting the ministers and scholars who bowed their heads to me, I left the conference room. The elderly scholar who had given meaning to my meaningless remark kept watching me with undisguised disappointment, stirring a faint sense of guilt.
He probably wanted to discuss something privately after the meeting. But Elder, you already found an answer in that meaningless comment of mine. You don’t need to talk to me to find it.
Afterward, I finished my preparations. Through Medrup and the Ayman Kingdom’s intelligence division, I learned the movements of the Kruse Merchant Coalition. I packed clothes, provisions, and the letter and gifts Aegina had given me. Just in case, I also layered on a portable barrier.
“I’ll be back. It might take some time.”
After bidding farewell to Rowell, Aegina, and Bagloros who had come to see me off, I mounted my horse. Behind them stood the king, Regent Ed, over twenty ministers, the scholars from earlier, and even the royal guards lined up in a long row to see me off.
Wait, I already said my goodbyes earlier. Why were they all coming out here again? The unfamiliar attention made me feel oddly apologetic and uncomfortable.
“Right. Travel safely.”
“Aren’t you going to call Erill?”
“No. The places I’m heading to from now on won’t have much that Erill would enjoy.”
There wouldn’t be any wild monsters, and Erill didn’t particularly like leaving her territory too often. Besides, unlike last time, I wasn’t going to meet any acquaintances she knew.
“But the Nitron region is quite far. And if they’re on the move, will you be able to catch up?”
“I won’t.”
And I had no particular desire to.
“I don’t feel like barging in while they’re in the middle of a deal. Once their land trade is roughly finished, they’ll head toward Kaltik to board a ship, so I’ll wait there. That way, the timing should work out perfectly.”
“Then there’s no need to leave right now.”
Aegina said it playfully, pointing out that I was using the excuse to avoid troublesome matters and her new menu experiments.
“It’s better to finish the job and come back right away, isn’t it? If I want to see the sea for the first time in a while and relax a bit, I should go now.”
“You don’t really like the sea, though.”
“Well, that’s true.”
It was a fact. I didn’t particularly care for the sea. Not only had I suffered severe seasickness on my first voyage during the Great War, but I’d also had to fight off sea monsters that attacked us.
“Still, just looking at it is fine, right? There’s also that unique atmosphere ports have.”
Smiling helplessly, I nodded to Aegina and Rowell before spurring my horse forward. To avoid drawing unnecessary attention, I wore far plainer clothes than usual and covered my face slightly. I left through the rear gate. Though the sound of hooves drew a few glances, people merely assumed I was a messenger and went about their business.
“So that’s why you came so early?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Once I was far from the royal capital and reached the surrounding forest, I tied up my horse and headed straight for the study. Rofena, who had come out to greet me earlier than expected, looked genuinely delighted and rushed toward me.
I had wondered if she might have actually burned some books, but after a quick look around, it seemed nothing of the sort had happened.
“Good job. Keep doing it this way from now on.”
She approached and patted my head. I reflexively stepped back, but her hand remained on my head. Seeing my discomfort, she smiled.
“Well, it’s not because you missed me, but because you were anxious. Still, since you came quickly, I’ll let it slide.”
She withdrew her hand and smiled at me. Then she turned and returned to the place where she had originally been sealed, stepping up as if nothing had changed.
“……?”
Wondering what she was doing, I watched quietly as she placed her palm against the empty air, pretending as though the barrier were still there.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, I was planning to do this when you arrived.”
Her imitation was quite convincing. When I looked at her with surprise, she laughed like a child and flew back toward me.
“But I was so happy to see you that I forgot.”
For a moment, I thought she looked incredibly beautiful and adorable. Imagining her thinking of such a prank while waiting for me, not knowing when I would come, made it impossible to believe she was the same person I had fought during the Great War. She was also different from the Rofena I had seen over the past few years.
“You must have been very bored.”
And happy, too. She still seemed excited by the fact that she was no longer imprisoned and that I had made that choice.
I told her everything that had happened today, speaking to her as she floated around me in the air. How I had dozed off in the conference room because of her and ended up answering questions at random. How that meaningless answer had somehow turned into a brilliant move.
“Really?”
She found the story amusing.
“Then it’s thanks to me?”
She added playfully, demanding credit for her share. We laughed for a while after that. I continued talking about my standing in the Ayman Kingdom, the importance of the image people held of me, and how that image could shape and distort reality.
Though I did most of the talking, she kept responding and seemed genuinely entertained.
“By the way, Rofena, do you happen to know why the dwarves stopped participating in the war midway through?”
Even years after the war ended, the reason remained unknown. Moreover, they still hadn’t emerged. Though they had sent envoys with letters and lavish gifts praising the Hero Rowell and our accomplishments in the name of the dwarven lords and Kanmrung, they had neither invited us to their city nor reopened their sealed gates.
“Hmm? I’m not sure. Ah! Now that you mention it, that guy Denatel used to mock the dwarves, calling them fools. And after that, Thanatos told us we no longer needed to worry about the dwarves. Once the goddess Nyx descended, everything would become meaningless anyway.”
So the Demon King’s army had known what the dwarves were planning.
“By the way, Rofena.”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but for someone who held the rank of Demon Commander, you don’t seem to know very much. The invasion of Peljurang that you led turned out to be nothing more than a feint to distract us while they raided the Kingdom of Kuzmel for the sacred sword Ard Jaripum.”
Because Rofena and her Flame Legion had invaded Peljurang, one of the final defensive fortresses, the allied forces and we had been forced to defend it. In reality, the Demon King’s army had targeted the city-state of Kuzmel, where the sacred sword Ard Jaripum was kept.
Though it was a small city, Kuzmel had been protected by the sacred power of Ard Jaripum and powerful shamans. Even so, they couldn’t stop Georges, the Death King and one of the Demon Commanders. The only silver lining was that Georges had taken only the sacred sword Ard Jaripum. He hadn’t destroyed the city, and aside from the few powerful individuals who had tried to stop him to the end, he had taken no lives.
“…Anak?”
She smiled quietly and summoned flames in her palm. Even though I knew it was just a joke, a chill ran down the back of my neck.
“I was wrong, wasn’t I?”
“Yes. I misspoke.”
Only after my apology did she extinguish the flames.
“Hmph! I never cared about that sort of thing in the first place. Schemes and deceptions like that don’t suit my temperament.”
No, even so, a Demon Commander shouldn’t say things like that.
“Well, thanks to that, we might still be alive right now.”
“Exactly. So you should be grateful to me.”
“Yes. Thank you, Rofena.”
I quickly reached out and took her hand to stop her from summoning flames again. She stared at my face for a moment before turning away, slightly embarrassed, and gently pulled her hand free.
“…More importantly, that senior you’re going to visit this time—is it the guy you mentioned before?”