This Party... It's Really Okay?
This Party... It's Really Okay?
"Excuse me? What do you mean, you're closing for the next four days?"
Ivan stared at me.
"Something came up."
"...Is it because you're escorting this person?"
He pointed at Amelia, who was securing her baggage to the saddle.
Not completely oblivious, then.
"That's right. We're going to Lilyan. Temporary closure until then."
"Ah..."
A groan escaped Ivan as he slumped to the ground, the picture of despair.
"No, this can't be! I've been waiting for today... Is there any chance I could at least get a bowl of Gukbap before you leave...?"
I shook my head.
The kitchen fire was already completely cold.
Besides, Amelia was about to depart, and I couldn't waste time making Gukbap.
"Not happening."
"Ah..."
As Ivan sank to his knees in defeat, Lancelot clicked his tongue regretfully.
"Ahem, one cannot forcibly prevent an establishment from resting for a few days. In that case, Ivan, why don't you simply accompany Sir Lucas?"
"What?"
Ivan's eyes lit up.
"Sir Lucas, what do you say? Ivan is a formidable fighter. He can confidently claim to have reached a realm approaching Master. He'd be useful—why not take him along? Ivan gets to see the world, and you get an extra pair of hands. A mutually beneficial arrangement, I'd say."
Bring Ivan to Lilyan.
If this had been the Ivan I first met, I would've refused on the spot.
The guy was a walking time bomb—you never knew when or how he'd blow.
Isn't that how those romance-fantasy male leads always are?
Self-centered, stubborn as hell, and itching for a fight at the slightest provocation.
'He's mellowed out a little now.'
At the very least, you could shove food in his face and threaten him into obedience.
A trained dog on a leash.
"And for guarding a noble personage, the more skilled swords you have, the better."
Lancelot's eyes drifted toward the Saint, Amelia.
Before we packed, I'd asked Andrea to dress her in the sort of plain clothes any village woman might wear. She'd also bound her hair in a kerchief, hiding as much of her pink hair as possible.
At a glance, she was indistinguishable from a country girl.
Every visible detail showed effort to conceal her identity until we reached Lilyan.
He'd seen right through it, hadn't he?
All that work to keep a low profile, and apparently Lancelot hadn't been fooled in the slightest.
"How did you know?"
Amelia asked. Lancelot smiled.
"No matter how one disguises the exterior, innate grace cannot be hidden. And as for me—I can see the halo that rests above the heads of the exalted."
"...."
Lancelot turned back to me.
"Take Ivan with you. I would accompany you myself if I could, but my duty is to protect this place."
"I'll give it my all! Fighting is my specialty!"
The character development was real.
The old Ivan would never have spoken like that—pride alone would've stopped him.
He'd have bristled like a wounded wolf and refused to bow his head.
'Maybe a hot bowl of Gukbap really did change him.'
Lucas had no idea.
No idea what Gukbap had become for Ivan, how precious it now was to him.
Or just how intense his fixation on it had grown.
"Two conditions."
I held up two fingers.
"One: you never let Saint Amelia out of your sight."
"I can absolutely do that!"
"Two: you don't start any pointless fights with other people."
I'd seen him get into it with other customers while extolling the virtues of Gukbap—including his habit of leaving aggressive comment-replies to bad reviews.
Better to defuse the risk ahead of time.
"If Sir Lucas commands it, I shall obey."
"Good. The party heading to Lilyan will be myself, Andrea, and Ivan."
I pulled Lancelot aside, away from the others who were watching.
"Sir Lancelot, I have a favor to ask."
"What is it?"
I glanced briefly toward Amelia, then spoke.
"There's a knight order from the western nobles that attacked the Saint. Beyond the knights here and the Viscount, no one knows she came to this castle. But."
"The intruders may have followed her trail and arrived. Is that it?"
"Exactly."
That was why I wasn't taking Bldi.
If something went down here, she'd be more than enough help.
"...You truly think a pursuit force is coming?"
I shook my head.
Amelia had stayed here for three days without any sign of suspicious movement nearby.
"Just preparing for the worst."
Complacency was the enemy.
"Western nobles bold enough to assault a Saint... then it can only be Bellosa."
"...You're quick."
"The insight that comes with age. None of their knights are particularly exceptional. Even if they do come storming in, myself and the knights stationed here should be more than enough to hold them off."
I bowed my head in thanks.
"Thank you."
"No thanks needed. It's the least I should do."
Lancelot studied me for a moment, then asked:
"Are you planning to bring the Sword of the Lake?"
"...? Why would I bring that?"
"Don't tell me you seriously use that sword for..."
"You can't kill a man with a butcher's blade. It's unlucky."
"...Haah. Understood."
After we'd finished preparations and Viscount Britten had heard the news of the Saint's departure to Lilyan, we set out on the journey with his send-off.
***
The journey to Lilyan was remarkably smooth.
The empire's south was famous for being peaceful and boring.
Public order was stable. With no front lines anywhere nearby, the land was free of both bandits and monsters.
On top of that, our party included three fighters who far exceeded ordinary standards.
Andrea was a warrior of exceptional rank even among elves; Ivan was a knight strong enough to nearly touch the Master realm.
And we had a Saint who could support them both.
Short of a knight order containing a Master, I was confident no one could beat our party.
Me? What was I doing?
Standing in the back and cheering them on, mostly.
I thought the whole trip would be uneventful.
And it was.
"I want to get back to Lilyan as soon as possible and hear what's happened to the other knights."
Amelia spent the entire return journey worrying about the knights who had taken up the pursuit in her stead.
Even during travel, she prayed for them, beseeching God's blessing and care to reach them.
At times like this, she was every inch the Saint.
But the moment mealtime arrived, she became a different person entirely.
Seeing the vegetable Gimbap and sausage Gimbap, Amelia couldn't meet my eyes—her head dropped low.
"This is, that... that thing. G-Gimbap."
"It is. But why the long face?"
"N-nothing at all."
She clasped her hands together and prayed.
"Let this weak girl not fall into evil."
As she prayed, the Saint tried to scatter the thoughts swirling in her head.
"Haah... haah..."
Yet every now and then, her breathing grew rough.
"Ah, Lord..."
Watching this, Andrea let out a deep sigh and picked up a piece of Gimbap.
"A devil's crawled into the Saint's head. The end times are here. Truly the end times."
"...."
That was when it happened.
Ivan, who had been quietly observing, opened his mouth with a grave expression.
"Hm, couldn't you just eat Gukbap in peace? Lady Saint— I mean, Lady Amelia, we could simply remove the meat from her bowl."
"Any dish that uses even a trace of meat is absolutely forbidden during pilgrimage."
"Are you stupid or what?"
Ivan's words were met with an instant joint rebuttal from the Saint and the elf, speaking almost as one.
"Ahem, I was merely making a suggestion."
Overwhelmed by the combined force of the two women, Ivan turned to me.
"Sir Lucas, is there no soup? I've always believed a knight's meal must contain a broth! Only once a hot broth has filled the stomach can one truly say a meal has been eaten!"
That was the griping of a die-hard Gukbap fanatic if I'd ever heard it.
"Where would we get the luxury of soup on the road? Just eat it as is. If your throat gets dry, drink water."
"Ah... To have to content myself with water—a terribly un-knightly diet. But to overcome even this lack when circumstances demand it—that is the knight's spirit. I understand the lesson you meant to impart. I have learned something new once again."