A Rerouted Road
Before daylight had fully broken, the Varzian knights sprang into action in what had become known as the “Hatti Clan Rescue Operation.”
The Hatti had a fixed pattern of behavior: by day, they hid in the lake’s shadows, then slowly stirred and roamed once the moon rose. Up until now, they had never been recognized as enemies, so they hadn’t attacked people. But because they carried a shadow attribute, they were extremely sensitive to light magic and sacred power.
That was why they had chased Mimir in the first place.
There’s nothing with more sacred power than a branch of the World Tree.
If they had faced an absolute power like a dragon, they might have turned meek as lambs. But Mimir was only a divine artifact. The Hatti clan, sensing danger from Mimir’s strong holy aura, had bared its fangs all at once to protect the young growing in its new nest.
So it would have been far too dangerous to keep provoking them with sacred power again.
Fortunately, the Varzian side had a very suitable way to lure a fierce beast.
“Beast tamer?”
With the clan leader in front, more than twenty Hatti burst out from the lake’s shadow.
Woo-ooo—
Wooo-ooooo—!
Their howls rolled out like echoes. Almost as if spellbound, the Hatti that appeared before them one after another leapt straight into the other shadows laid out before them.
Airen, hearing Seherbian mutter under his breath, beamed with pride beside him. “That’s right. Kasi is an excellent beast tamer.”
“As long as he keeps his mouth shut, yes.”
Jin, who added that dry remark, still acknowledged Casio Drake’s skill as a beast tamer.
A beast tamer was someone who could summon nearby beasts, draw them in, and even direct them to attack a specific target.
A human with high beast affinity.
Beasts did not attack those who possessed the talent of a beast tamer, since they recognized them as kin.
The stronger the affinity, the more beasts gathered around them, and the wider the range of creatures they could handle. But because those beasts were drawn in purely by instinct, like butterflies to flowers, they could be dangerous if not properly trained. In fact, incidents caused by untrained beast tamers occurred frequently across different nations.
Casio Drake, however, was an excellent beast tamer professionally trained by the Varzian Knights.
Woo, woo—
The sight of an unarmed human resonating with a fierce beast as they pressed their foreheads together was almost mystical.
Casio opened his eyes at last, having stuffed the final one neatly into his own shadow. For a moment he still looked groggy, as though he’d just woken from sleep, but then he swung his fists around with lively energy.
“The whole wolf pack has been relocated, boss!”
“Excellent. Well done, Sir Kasi!”
“……Please, Sir Casio, at least try to be polite.”
Airen’s cheer and Jin’s facepalm came at the same time.
Casio, with his bandit-like build, merely grinned broadly at the commander’s praise, baring his teeth.
Just as Airen had promised before, the situation was resolved quickly. The Hatti would be kept in Casio’s shadow until a new home could be found for them.
With the worry neatly dealt with, Airen clapped his hands to gather the knights’ attention.
“All right! Then let’s get moving.”
“Where to?”
While everyone else was busily packing up, Seherbian alone stood there blankly and asked.
Thinking it was exactly the sort of question a rookie would ask, Airen smiled. “Back to Varzian, of course.”
* * *
“First things first, let’s at least introduce ourselves properly.”
Since Varzian was a knight order in name and practice, everyone owned a horse.
Except for the wagon carrying the baggage, each rider had the freedom to move as they pleased. Now that they had already reunited with their commander, there was no need to hurry, so they left Rosaria behind and crossed the plains at an easy pace.
At the rear of the procession, Casio Drake slowly guided his horse over and came alongside the white donkey.
“……?”
Seherbian, who had been nodding off on the donkey’s back, lifted sleepy eyes to look at him.
Mimir, transformed back from staff to donkey, trotted along obediently in a steady clatter of hooves.
“Now that you’ve joined Varzian, that makes you a new member too, Father.”
Casio grinned, his face all rough edges and bandit’s charm. Despite his intimidating looks, he was the sort of man who was always looking after the other knights with easy warmth, and he got along with everyone.
Seherbian stared at that gentle smile for a moment before nodding casually. “I suppose so.”
“Hah-ha. The name’s Casio Drake. Just call me Kasi.”
“Kasi?”
“Yep! Great to meet you, Father.”
It was a somewhat sly-sounding laugh, but Seherbian could tell Casio was genuinely welcoming him. He bowed his head politely in return.
“Come to think of it, what’s your name, Father?”
Seherbian thought for a moment before answering slowly, “Seorbi.”
“Father Seorbi? An honor to ride with you.”
Casio reached out first for a handshake. He was the type who made himself comfortable with people very quickly. By contrast, the silver dragon—whose social skills were, in real time, plummeting straight into the ground—could only stare blankly at the hand held out to him.
It should have been awkward, but Casio simply chuckled and withdrew his hand as naturally as anything.
“And over there, you know, you can call the boss ‘boss,’ not ‘Holy One.’”
“It’s Commander, not ‘boss,’ Drake.”
Before anyone noticed, Deputy Commander Jin Veronica had also moved up to the rear. Seeing the beast tamer with the loose tongue teaching the rookie the wrong way to address his superior, she clicked her tongue.
“Ah, why are you like this, Deputy Commander? There’s nothing wrong with rookie education!”
“……How long do you intend to keep using that disgraceful address? Don’t forget there’s a limit to how much indulgence you’ll get from me.”
“The boss was the boss from the very beginning. What am I supposed to do when ‘boss’ is more familiar than the name?”
Casio muttered from horseback, lacing his fingers behind his head.
“Then throw away those wolf-dog habits of yours.”
But the deputy commander cut off his subordinate’s complaint without mercy.
“Never forget that we are the proud Varzian.”
His sky-blue hair, spilled over a healthy reddish-orange collar of skin, fluttered lightly in the wind. Those cool blue eyes then turned to Seherbian.
“The same goes for you, rookie. I’ll allow this to count as your adjustment period for now, but once we arrive in Varzian, you are no longer a priest or a noble. Keep that firmly in mind.”
“I’ll remember it.”
Smiling faintly, Seherbian patted the white donkey, which was snorting rough breaths as if genuinely offended.
Jin watched him in silence for a moment, then clucked to her horse and rode ahead again with a sharp, “Hyah!”
"Hostile intent detected. Hostile signal detected from companion Jin Veronica. Would you like to eliminate the threat?"
“That’s fine, Mimir. Dial down the caution a little from now on.”
“Warning. Lowering the caution threshold may delay security alerts and create risk.”
“I said it’s fine.”
Seherbian barely managed to calm the white donkey, which was snorting so fiercely it looked ready to charge after the sky-blue-haired deputy commander and ram her. Only after that did he let out a silent sigh.
“This is exactly why I couldn’t come outside Blanconia all this time.”
Ring…….
The white donkey drooped, the bell on its body jingling sadly as it understood its master’s meaning.
Mimir had existed for Seherbian’s sake from the moment it came into the world.
And that blind loyalty sometimes got in the way of Seherbian’s growth. Fortunately, because it was a divine artifact in the shape of a World Tree branch, once its master’s command was entered, it prioritized that order over its own feelings.
Sure enough, after forcibly lowering its caution level, Mimir’s behavior became much calmer.
Still, hostile intent……
Seherbian glanced toward Jin’s back, already far ahead.
Jin Veronica, the deputy commander of Varzian.
He had known from the start that she wasn’t welcoming him, but he hadn’t expected her to harbor such a strong hostility that even Mimir would warn him about it.
Odd. There shouldn’t really be a reason for her to be hostile.
They had met for the first time today, so there was no motive for resentment.
On top of that, he had even helped Airen, the commander of Varzian.
And yet if she still felt hostility toward him……
Was it a dislike of priests? Or of Winter Bell?
Seherbian’s sunset-colored eyes narrowed slightly.
It seemed he had gained a new task to solve before reaching Varzian.
* * *
Three days after leaving Rosaria Lake, the group ran into trouble.
“What? A curfew?”
At the entrance to the mountain leading to the next region, a line of soldiers was blocking the road.
Location: WyvernNest. Originally the habitat of green wyverns, this was a dormant volcanic site for roughly the past 300 years.
The clever white donkey swished its tail and added the explanation. Because volcanic activity had stopped for nearly three centuries, people had dug through the mountain and built a road, which had been used ever since without trouble.
The Varzian knights had also crossed this range when they came north.
But now the road was completely shut down.
“We understand that this is difficult for travelers, but a curfew has been issued for now, so please use another route.”
“No, this is the only road from here to the capital, mate.”
“Even so, it’s impossible. Please turn back.”
The soldiers, acting under orders from above, were firm.
After a long back-and-forth, Casio finally came trudging back.
“What happened?”
“Ah, damn it.”
Casio scratched at his shaggy hair in frustration at the situation refusing to go his way.
“Apparently the volcano that had been fine all this time started showing some suspicious movement……”
“The volcano?”
“They say signs of an imminent eruption were discovered. From the soldiers’ point of view, it was the royal mage responsible for safety at WyvernNest who said it, so they can’t exactly doubt it. Word is evacuation orders have already gone out to all the nearby villages.”
Hearing Casio’s report to the commander, the knights waiting behind him began to murmur among themselves.
“This was a volcano?”
“It’s been completely normal this whole time.”
“No wonder there were so few people on the road.”
The shops and inns they had seen while passing near the mountain had all been closed, and they had simply assumed it was because of a holiday. It turned out everyone had fled, leaving the place deserted.
Airen, who had been rubbing his chin with a troubled expression, gave a helpless laugh.
“Then we’ll have to give up on this road.”
“Yep, boss. At this point, we either have to turn around and go all the way back the way we came, or take the sea route.”
Groans rose from all around them.
To go back would mean not only retracing the distance they had covered over the past three days, but circling far north and taking an enormous detour. As for the sea route, they would need to rent a ship and crew, and since they hadn’t arranged that in advance, it was impossible to know how long they would be delayed by other merchants or travelers already waiting their turn.
“Hmm. Rather than turning back, maybe it’d be better to rent a ship even if it takes a little longer……”