There's Something Strange About the Gift (3)
There's Something Strange About the Gift (3)
"Gulp, gulp."
Water spewed from my mouth, and I barely managed to open my eyes.
The person standing in front of me was the female mercenary known as the Firebird Hunter.
'Am I not dead?'
I looked around, my consciousness only just returning.
In a corner, I saw a middle-aged knight scratching his head.
It seemed the last thing I'd seen before losing consciousness hadn't been an illusion.
"What happened?"
At my question, she looked apologetic, and the knight approached me and spoke.
"My apologies. I made a mistake because you were holding a sword engraved with the Firebird Crest. I thought you had stolen the young lady's... ah, no, the lady's belongings and were pursuing her..."
His voice was very low and pleasant.
At his words, though, she covered her face, and I shook my head inwardly.
Did he not realize that changing it to 'lady' didn't help at all?
There was no way a mercenary would be addressed as 'lady' by a knight, so, as he'd said, she had to be a young lady from some high noble family.
No, wait. Had he really thought that after looking at me?
"Pardon? Did you really think a kid like me could do that?"
I gestured toward my own body, dumbfounded.
She looked at me with an exasperated expression, but the knight apologized again, looking contrite.
"Well, there was an assassin who attacked me disguised as a child before... Anyway, I am sorry. Once again, I formally apologize as a knight."
"An apology as a knight?"
It seemed he'd heard the story from the Firebird Hunter while I was unconscious.
And it seemed he'd also heard that, whatever the case, I was a noble.
Otherwise, there was no way a knight would apologize.
But an apology as a knight? That was an unexpected stroke of luck.
An apology as a knight was a chivalric etiquette that had almost vanished.
I didn't know how high-ranking a knight he was, but he was just as stubborn and rigid as she was.
Seeing the two of them, both so rigid, I got to my feet.
I felt a bit dizzy, but once I circulated my mana, the dizziness vanished instantly. Long live mana.
"By the way, is he someone you know... No, now's not the time for that."
I'd been lying in the stone chamber of the collapsed tomb, and water was spilling out of a hole that had opened in the center.
How high was the water going to rise...?
"First, let's get out of here quickly."
Perhaps they'd stayed behind for my sake; they moved the moment I spoke.
She kept glancing back as she left the ruined tomb chamber, looking reluctant, but eventually stroked the shield and started retracing her steps.
The knight also ran remarkably well, despite being fully clad in heavy armor.
Thanks to the brief time I'd spent unconscious, my mana had fully replenished, and we were able to run quickly through the underground cave.
Running through the cave alongside the fleeing subterranean beasts, we managed to reach the bottom of the abandoned well we'd first descended into.
Water began to seep across the dry bottom of the well, and we climbed the walls with all our might to emerge onto the surface.
Fortunately, the stream of water chasing us stopped once it had filled the well halfway.
Once on the surface, I looked for Juan.
Fortunately, Juan was safe.
Though he had a large bruise around one eye, a cloth stuffed in his mouth, and ropes binding him tightly, he was otherwise unharmed, rolling around beside the well.
He squirmed when he saw the knight emerge from the well, but his eyes widened when he saw me climb out right after him.
The knight went to Juan first and untied the ropes binding him.
Juan spat out the cloth stuffed in his mouth and immediately asked about my well-being.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
I nodded to show that I was fine.
"There was a misunderstanding. It seems they are allies."
At my words, instead of apologizing, the knight looked at me and praised Juan.
"You have a good soldier."
It wasn't a proper apology, but it was his way of showing sincerity as a knight.
He'd only apologized because I was a noble, anyway; there was no way a knight would apologize to a commoner.
Juan also seemed satisfied with that much.
Still, having lived a past life in which everyone was outwardly equal, I was dissatisfied.
Though it was a thought ill-suited to this world, I didn't like that Juan hadn't received an apology.
Well, it's not like I had any intention of running around trying to abolish this world's class system.
Thanks to the class system, I had died many times and suffered a lot, but I'd also benefited from it quite a bit.
Rather than changing the class system, I wanted to make sure that neither I nor the people around me suffered because of it, but instead benefited from it.
Hmm, I feel like my mindset is shifting from what I originally thought...
While I was lost in those thoughts, she spoke up.
"I'm sorry, but something has come up, and I think I have to head back immediately."
It was as expected.
There was no way a knight would come looking for her without a reason. He must have been sent to fetch her.
It was fascinating that he'd found her here, but if she'd left a note at her lodging, it wasn't impossible.
More importantly, whatever the matter was, it seemed extremely urgent, just as she said.
It had to be urgent enough to send a knight who looked like a high-ranking knight from a decent order as a messenger.
They seemed to have discussed it while I was unconscious, and naturally, they had no intention of telling me.
Instead, she brought up another matter.
"But we can't just part ways like this..."
Well, if we'd simply found the treasure and split it according to the contract, there wouldn't have been any problem at all, but the current situation was completely different from what the contract covered.
As she agonized over it, every trace of her being a mercenary vanished. She hadn't really seemed like one before, but now she exuded the unmistakable aura of a high-ranking noble.
Yet she was still her usual self, unchanged from before.
After pondering for a moment, she clapped her hands. It seemed she'd found a solution.
She asked me.
"At your age, you'll have to attend a proper educational institution in a few years, right?"
An educational institution. Did she mean a monastery or the Royal Academy in the capital?
My second brother... There'd been talk that it was about time for him to study abroad in the capital, so it seemed proper nobles either studied abroad or attended an educational institution like an academy in their early to mid-teens.
Well, there was also my older sister, who had gone to a monastery at a very young age...
But that didn't seem likely to happen in my case.
Even though I'd obtained the inherited ability, I was only a half-noble, so they wouldn't send me off. And with the Duchess perfectly fine and well, I'd probably just stay in the mansion like this.
I shook my head to indicate as much, but she didn't seem to mind.
"It might take some time, but if we send an invitation under our family's name, the Duke won't be able to just reject it. Besides, there's no way they would leave a genius like you to waste away."
At her words, the middle-aged knight spoke in a worried voice.
"But in these times, perhaps you should reconsider sending a formal invitation..."
She shook her head.
"There's no helping it. He is no longer an outsider. There are many things we need to verify as well. No one will object."
The knight tilted his head at her words. It seemed she hadn't told him what had happened while I was unconscious. Was it a secret?
But surely this invitation isn't to some biological laboratory, is it? The thought of becoming a lab rat sent a shiver down my spine.
I shook my head to brush away the useless thoughts.
More importantly, it was an invitation even the Duke would have to think carefully about.
Just what kind of noble was she?
"Excuse me, but I don't think it will be that easy. No, more importantly, you're not sending the invitation under the name 'Firebird Hunter', right?"
When I said that, she nodded.
"Originally, I was just going to part ways as the mercenary Firebird Hunter, but since things have turned out like this, I should tell you my real name."
Finally, I get to hear her name.
At the knight's signal, Juan moved some distance away.
Then she spoke.
"My name is Katrin de Rattenhamar. I am the second daughter of the Rattenhamar Count Family."
She added that I could call her Katrin.
A count family. As expected, she was a high noble.
Yet I felt a sense of doubt.
The second daughter. Being a woman and the second child meant she was highly unlikely to be the successor.
Given her actions and words so far, I'd thought she held an important position in her family...
But it seemed that wasn't actually the case.
Besides, would our Duke be swayed by an invitation from a count family? Unless there were some political considerations, that wouldn't be easy.
I tilted my head, puzzled by her words, which didn't quite add up.
But just then, the name of the Count family lingered in my mind.
Wait, hold on. The Rattenhamar Count Family? I'm sure I've heard that name somewhere before.
Soon, a certain person came to mind.
No... way?
I asked hurriedly.
"Wait a minute, I'm pretty sure the third Queen's maiden name is Rattenhamar."
At my words, she replied with a proud expression.
"That's right. She's my sister."
At those words, my jaw dropped.
The third Queen of our kingdom, and the mother of the Kingdom's only Princess, was her sister?
If so, the invitation sent to the Duke's estate would be coming from the Queen's family.
Naturally, even the Duke would find it hard to refuse. Now I understood completely.
No, no, this was no time to lose my mind.
The family of the third Queen. Unbelievable. They weren't just some well-to-do family. Why did it have to be the royal in-laws of all things?
If I'm not careful, I could get dragged into kingdom politics!
And how on earth am I going to explain this to the Duke!
She then gave me a warning.
"I'd like you to keep what happened in there a secret from others. It was part of our contract, and it's an important matter for our family."
That was perfectly understandable, but it made this even harder to explain!
But regardless of what I thought, she continued speaking, and after exchanging a few more words, the two of them were the first to leave the ruined village.
Once they were gone, Juan, who had been extremely tense, let out a deep sigh. He asked me in a tired voice.
"What in the world happened down there? First a knight barges in, and then all three of you come out soaking wet."
Juan had never asked me questions like that before, but this time, he couldn't seem to contain his curiosity.
If he'd known her true identity, he might not have dared to ask at all.
But I couldn't tell him that.
Still, since Juan had stood up to the knight for my sake, I felt I should tell him the story on our way back, leaving out a few secrets.
Before heading back, I looked around the village that the forest had swallowed. It was a village that had turned to ruins after the well dried up and the people left.
"Now that the dried-up well is filled with water, do you think this village can come back to life?"
At my question, Juan shook his head.
"That would be difficult. Back when it was still a village, the forest hadn't spread this far. Since the village is now buried deep within the forest, it will be hard for people to return. Besides, now that an underground waterway has formed, the forest might actually grow even larger."
I nodded in agreement at Juan's plausible reasoning.
Even if you undo a mistake, things that have already happened won't necessarily go back to the way they were.
That was only possible if one truly went back to the past and made the right choice.
The right choice...
Many things had happened, and many things had been repeated. Various things had been left behind, and it was certain that many more events would unfold in the future.
As we left the forest and returned to the city, I kept wondering whether I was making the right choices now.
Even amid those thoughts, the dagger at my waist and the gold coins filling my pockets brought me great comfort.