Anessis, the second largest city in the Mireana Kingdom. A small dragon about 20cm in diameter flew above it with its small wings flapping.
The name of the dragon was Yellow. It was a familiar that Elena Kerebel, the daughter of Duke Kerebel, who governed Anessis, created using Dragon Language.
It had gone to Gilm to deliver its master"s letter, and in addition, under secret orders to find out what women were around Rei. Yellow had finally returned to its master"s place.
Using its special ability, it went straight into the city of Anessis and headed to the Duke"s residence. Because it was connected to Elena by magic, it flew straight to its master without any hesistation.
「Kyu!」
Yellow knocked against the window repeated with the sharp claws on its forefeet.
Of course, it was done with great care so that the window wouldn"t be damaged by its claws.
Elena, who was in the room, eventually noticed Yellow and opened her window with a smile.
「Yellow, you"re back. It doesn"t seem like you have any injuries.」
Elena, who was wearing a dress, hugged Yellow as she pushed it against her twin hills.
「Kyu! Kyukyu!」
Yellow wasn"t an ordinary creature, it was just a familiar made with magic. For that reason, it wouldn"t suffocate even if it didn"t breathe.
「Mm? Ahh, sorry. I was so happy that I lost myself for a moment. ……Well then, did you deliver the letter safely?」
While stroking Yellow to calm it down, she unwrapped the cloth around its body. Elena saw the envelope containing a letter within the cloth and gave a slight smile after seeing the sender of the envelope marked with 『Rei』.
Normally, the Princess General already displayed a sense of beauty. But, many people would have had their hearts taken away by the expression of the beautiful maiden in love.
「Elensama, pardon me. I"ve brought you some tea.」
It was, of course, Ara. A close friend of Elena from childhood and a member of knights who escorted her.
As soon as Ara entered the room, she almost dropped the tray in her hands when she saw Elena"s glowing expression.
However, as Ara had been brought up with Elena, she was able to leave her state of confusion in an instant.
「Elensama loooks very happy. ……Ah, Yellow? So that"s it. Did you receive a letter from Rei-dono?」
「Um? No, that is……well, you"re right.」
Elena tried to hide the fact as she was aware that she was smiling, but realising that Ara recognised her habits after being together for so many years and wouldn"t be tricked by that, she sighed and reluctantly admitted it.
Feeling somewhat shy as Ara looked at her while smiling, Elena took the letter out of the envelope.
Calming herself, she took a sip of the tea that Ara had brought as she read through the letter.
「Hmm, I see. A magic item? Thorns Spear is a really flashy name……but, if it"s performance is as stated in the letter, it"s certainly not a bad match with Rei"s fighting style of throwing sp……ea……rs…… 」
Twitch.
As Elena read through the letter, a sentence caught her eyes. She had an astonished expression. One of frustration. Confusion. ……And finally jealousy. The complex emotions on her face seemed to blend with each other.
「Elensama?」
Ara asked her master when she noticed Elena"s expression. Elena had reached the part where Rei had mentioned that the guild master was a beautiful Dark Elf.
Eventually, she brought her cup of tea to her mouth to calm herself, but her arms were shaking slightly due to her agitation, causing some ripples in the cup.
Still, she wasn"t so upset as to spill the tea. Or rather, she really was a young maiden to be agitated by something like that. Either way, Elena calmed down after drinking the tea and turned to Ara.
「Ara, you said you met with the guild master and acting lord in Baar?」
「Eh? Ah, yes. I did meet with them.」
Confused by the sudden change in topic, Ara nodded as she poured more tea into Elena"s empty cup.
「So, what kind of people were the two of them like?」
「Eh? I think I reported about that previously?」
「No, not that. I"m not asking about their skill and abilities but their personalities.」
「……Diarog-sama, who was the acting lord, was a man who didn"t care about the details about rules. Guild master Seis-sama was thoughtful and kind person at heart.」
「What did they look like? They should be at a decent age if they could become a lord and guild master.」
「Let me recall. I think both of them could be described as seniors.」
Ara nodded naturally.
Regardless of whether it was Diarog or Seis, they were adventurers. In other words, they had been ordinary people. If they had been n.o.bles, there would have been a possibility of being placed into an important position in their twenties. But it was impossible for ordinary people to do the same at that age unless something close to a miracle happened.
「Then, in that case, the Dark Elf mentioned in this letter would also be around that age. No, but in the case of Elves, they would definitely look youthful.」
Elena began to worry with a serious expression, but she eventually noticed the sleeping Yellow, curled up at the edge of the sofa she was sitting on.
Yes, out of the several orders she had given, one of them was to look out for any women who might hold some feelings for Rei.
「Yellow.」
「Kyu?」
Hearing its name called, Yellow turned towards Elena.
Holding its torso, Elena brought her forehead against Yellow"s.
「Yellow, show me the women you"ve seen near Rei.」
「Kyu!」
Leave it to me! Yellow seemed to say. As soon as it gave a cry, the scenes that Yellow had seen flowed through its forehead and into Elena.
As Elena received it, she frowned lightly at the pressure of the compressed images flowing through. The ability to see what Yellow had seen was one of the greatest merits of creating a familiar.
Such a high efficiency familiar was only possible due to the existence of Dragon Language magic.
In Elena"s mind were the figures of a catkin woman who openly tempted Rei and woman who conversed with Rei in a relaxed manner while teasing the catkin next to her.
Needless to say, they were the guild receptionists, Kenny and Lenora.
「……Seriously. Even though I gave you my lips, you"re still distracted by other women. However, there"s no sign of the guild master……I can"t really say much about her.」
Lenora aside, although Kenny was so clearly sending amorous glances at Rei, she didn"t really feel a sense of danger because in the memories Yellow shared with her, Rei didn"t seem to be attracted by Kenny. Maybe she was more distracted by the words describing the beautiful Dark Elf……only Elena herself would know. Or maybe, she didn"t know herself either.
Either way, as a result, Elena spent her time distressing over what kind of person the Dark Elf in Gilm was like.
She could have obtained some information using Duke Kerebel"s information network. However, because of the war that would definitely breakout next spring, it wasn"t a situation where she afford the people to do that.
And, Elena herself had the task of training herself and her soldiers for the war that wasn"t far away.
「Welcome, Rei-san」
The day after the battle with the Icebirds, Rei visited Baron Cisne with Set.
He was greeted by As.h.i.+e before being led to the reception room he had visited several times.
After entering and walking to the reception room, there wasn"t any particular conversation. However, Rei could easily tell that As.h.i.+e had cried a lot the day before as her eyes were still red and puffy.
But although she had cried like that the day before, it had no influence on her work att.i.tude.
Admiring the maid"s att.i.tude, as soon as Rei entered the reception room, Mouet stood up from the sofa he was sitting on and went up to Rei.
「Rei-san! Yesterday, really…….thank you, thank you very much.」
Mouet bowed deeply as he said that. Although some n.o.bles would be enraged seeing the loss of his pride as a n.o.ble, Mouet didn"t care about such things. Rei had protected his son, Baslero, from the attacks of Icebirds. Of course, because of his magic item, Rei was unharmed. But for Mouet, bowing was the best way to express his grat.i.tude.
Feeling his sincere grat.i.tude, Rei nodded as he spoke.
「Don"t worry about it. I told As.h.i.+e yesterday but I was requested to provide combat instruction, so yesterday"s battle can just be considered as part of it.」
「But……I heard that Baslero sneaked into the carriage without permission. If you hadn"t been there……」
Mouet raised his head and looked towards Baslero, who was also bowing after standing up from the sofa.
「……Fuu. Yesterday"s incident was certainly a dangerous event in various ways. However, as I said before, it"s not a waste if you consider that he managed to experience and see a real battle. But……」
Rei turned to glance at Baslero.
「The next time you do anything, you should think carefully about your own ability. If not, you will die along with your companions, not just yourself.」
「……Yes.」
At Rei"s words, Baslero nodded quietly. His expression had lost a lot of brightness compared to when he had sparred against Rei several days ago. He had cried as he was lectured to by Mouet, who had heard from As.h.i.+e that he had sneaked into a carriage and partic.i.p.ated in the battle with the Icebirds.
Seeing his father"s figure, Baslero once again realised how dangerous a thing he had done and wasn"t sure how to handle the seriousness of it all. The result was a kid that was vastly different today compared to a few days ago.
「Haah……okay, Baslero. Think about it like this. If you hadn"t experienced this, then the first time you encounter such a situation could have been more deadly. For adventurers who form a party, that is the moment of life and death. But fortunately, you"ve seen a real battle. And, Set and I were there, along with a rank C party, Milein and Ecryll. If you think about it, you were quite lucky with your actions.」
「……Yes.」
「So don"t repeat the same mistakes from now on. And make use of this experience. Whether you become an adventurer or the head of a n.o.ble family, if you can take advantage of your experience when you face a similar situation, then that is good enough.」
「Yes.」
Baslero immediately nodded at Rei"s words, somewhat more energetically.
Mouet and As.h.i.+e smiled slightly after seeing Baslero like that.
「Thank you very much. You"ve helped us significantly this time.」
「Again, it was within the scope of the request. Don"t worry about it. But, I guess…if you want to return the favour, just help me out the next time something happens. Of course I can help you as well.」
「Yes. I promise you in the name of Baron Cisne. ……If the the Cisne Barony is still around then.」
He tried to lighten the atmosphere. Mouet said that with a wry smile.
「For now, here is a certificate to show that the request has been completed. Please submit it at the guild.」
Rei received the doc.u.ment with Mouet"s name on it. There had be various unexpected events, but he had successfully completed the combat instruction request.