Chapter 41: Signs of Departure "Huh?"
I saw Captain-san coming this way on a horse while I was carrying a box filled with potions through the Research Inst.i.tute"s corridor. Does he have business with Director-san? How rare. Director-san usually went to the Knight Order barracks whenever he talked about something that involved them. Didn"t Hawk-sama only come to the Research Inst.i.tute whenever he escorted me?
"Hey, Sei. Is Johan here?" Captain-san joined me when I pa.s.sed through the entrance of the Research Inst.i.tute.
"h.e.l.lo. He"s in the Director"s Office." He did have business with Director-san. I told him that Director-san was in his room.
"Thanks."
Since Captain-san knew where that was, he headed straight towards the Director"s Office. Will they talk for a long time? Even though he was used to it, he could still be thirsty since he came here by horse. I thought and headed towards the dining hall to make tea after I transported the potions.
"Excuse me." I knocked on the door and waited for permission to enter the room before entering. The two turned to look at me and had grim expressions on their faces for some reason. They were talking about why Captain-san had come there. They may have been talking about something bad or difficult.
Captain-san and Director-san. It was something that the Captain of the 3rd Knight Order and the Research Inst.i.tute head would talk about. I thought that it wasn"t something I shouldn"t listen to, so I intended to leave after I put the tea, cake and cookies down onto the table. However, Director-san called out to me just as I was about to leave the room.
"Why don"t you sit down?" Director-san"s expression returned to normal and he invited me to sit.
"Weren"t you talking about something important?"
"We"ve already finished that conversation."
If they"ve finished talking about important matters then its fine, but is it really alright for me to stay? I"m still working. Besides, if I was going to have tea I would also like to get my own cup.
…………。Well, fine. I gave up on going to getting my own tea cup and sat next to Director-san. I glanced at Captain-san and he was sipping on his tea. He swallowed his tea and the winkles close to his eyebrows faded. He put a cookie into his mouth and his expression returned to normal.
It"s probably not something I should worry about, but I will worry if you make such a grave face. Furthermore both of them had the same expressions on their faces. I was satisfied that at least one of them was alright and then Captain-san quickly met my eyes.
Dammit. I stared at him thoughtlessly again. I was embarra.s.sed when he narrowed his eyes and looked at me sweetly so I quickly averted my gaze.
"Ah, have you forgotten my existence, you guys."
"No, we haven"t!" I reb.u.t.ted Director-san"s shocked voice, but it probably wasn"t convincing at all. Even though I didn"t forget that he was here.
"It seems that Al will be away from the Royal Capital for a while." Director-san suddenly said and I panicked, glancing sideways.
"Huh?" I inadvertently looked at Captain-san and he laughed in a troubled way.
"The area around the Royal Capital has settled down, so we"re planning to go to the other fiefs."
"Does that mean that the demons aren"t sp.a.w.ning as much?"
"Yes."
"Is everyone in the 3rd Knight Order going?"
"Some will remain behind, but most of us will be going on an expedition to that fief."
It"s finally here, was my first thought. Spring was around the corner so it was the perfect time to move. It was probably inevitable considering the current situation, but my body shook with anxiety. I had probably let my guard down a little since some time had pa.s.sed since we went to the West Forest.
Several months had already pa.s.sed since the last subjugation mission. There was a rumour that the sp.a.w.n rate of demons had decreased immediately after we returned from our mission, and it had been confirmed that the sp.a.w.n rate had remained that way even months after the mission. Because of that, the Royal Palace would probably be okay now.
The rumour of the sp.a.w.n rate decreasing spread throughout the Royal Palace, and the civil officials received a lot of requests. The requests were from the feudal lord of other fiefs. They requested that a Knight Order be sent to their fiefs. Even the fiefs were in tough situations since demons sp.a.w.ned a lot just like it previously did at the Royal Capital.
Just because the feudal lord had sent a requests didn"t mean that they didn"t try to do anything themselves. Regions outside of the Royal Capital originally hired mercenary groups to subjugate demons within their fief. They had managed to maintain balance even with the increase in demons in recent years by increasing the rate of subjugations. However, that had reached its limit. The demon sp.a.w.n rate was faster than the subjugation rate and now they were at their limits.
"Which way are you heading?"
"We"re heading to Klaussner for the time being. We"ll also check out the state of other fiefs on our way there."
"Klaussner? The place with the medicinal herbs?"
"That"s it."
I was surprised to hear the name of the place that I"d been hearing a lot about lately. Klaussner is that place; the place that had been causing problems for the Research Inst.i.tute and was famous for its medicinal herbs. The Research Inst.i.tute had a ban on potion manufacturing because Klaussner had barely shipped any medicinal herbs to the Royal Capital. Did they cause problems for the Royal Palace as well? Director-san answered my question, "It"s a problem that the Royal Capital isn"t getting any medicinal herbs."
"Is it?"
"Yes, it"s troublesome for you guys as well, isn"t it?"
"Yes, it is. It"s also causing problems for the Knight Order too, right?"
"Yeah. Even though the demons have decrease that didn"t mean they didn"t show up at all."
Like Captain-san said, it wasn"t like demons stopped appearing. The Knight Orders had dropped their subjugation rate but they were still going out there. Potions were still a necessity. That was why the effect of the medicinal herb shortage didn"t just affect the Research Inst.i.tute, it also affected the Knight Orders. That was probably why the Royal Palace decided to dispatch the Knight Order.
"So, when will you depart?"
"We need to make preparations, so in about 2 weeks."
"Okay. Then I"ll also get my preparations done by then."
"Your preparations?" Captain-san and Director looked at me questionably. Huh?
"Why do you need to prepare? Oh, do you need to prepare potions for the expedition?"
"There"s that too, but I have to prepare other things as well, don"t I? Like clothes……"
"Clothes?"
We kept talking but their expressions didn"t change. I felt like we were on different pages. Perhaps, did I jump to conclusions?
"You…… Were you planning to go?" Director-san asked, understanding my intentions.
"Didn"t we talk about this before?"
They had a talk about it and decided that I wouldn"t be partic.i.p.ating in this expedition. That was what I understood from looking at their surprised faces. How weird. I"m sure Director-san said that I would be heading out to another fief soon when we talked about the rumour going around the Royal Palace.
"We probably did…… Even so, you"re quite eager."
"Mhm……"
"Don"t hide anything. Confess." Director-san pressed me for answers, probably because he thought it was strange that I was so eager to go on the expedition. I couldn"t blame him for being suspicious since I"ve been running away from things that have to do with the【Saint】. Actually, when I talked to Director-san about the rumours before, I wasn"t thrilled because I thought that I had to go on the expedition. Well, I liked researching at the Research Inst.i.tute more than expeditions. There was only one reason why I was excited to go on the expedition.
"Klaussner is called a sacred place for pharmacists, is it not?" Director-san must have understood from that one sentence, because he looked shocked. I"m sorry. But I feel that if this opportunity wasn"t there, then I wouldn"t go. Captain-san didn"t understand why I wanted to go and looked curious. Director-san noticed this and explained it to him. Captain-san must have recalled why I was so eager during the explanation and he smiled.
"I see. Sei, you want to go to Klaussner because you want to learn more about medicinal herbs?"
"That"s right……"
It felt like my reason was too light and it made me uncomfortable when someone who was going to go on a dangerous job said that with a smile on their face. I reflexively dropped my gaze to the ground. But Captain-san and Director weren"t worried.
"That"s right. There"s a lot of information about medicinal herbs at Klaussner that we don"t know about. It might be nice to go check it out."
"We"ll be staying there for a while."
"Can I come with you?" The two looked at each other and smiled wryly.
"Rather, I"m the one who would like to ask you to go."
"Actually, the people at the Royal Palace told me that they want you to go on this expedition."
"They did?"
"Yes, but we were against it. We were talking about how to refuse them."
There was a request from the Royal Palace asking me to go on the expedition, but Captain-san and Director-san was against it because I couldn"t stabilise and activate the 【Saint】technique. The Royal Palace wanted to send the 【Saint】because they wanted to appease and lessen the feudal lords" displeasure. However, these two were worried that if they sent me, and I couldn"t use the technique, then I would also be on the receiving end of their criticism. In addition, they also wanted to refuse it because I didn"t seem very thrill on the idea.
"I"m sorry for troubling you."
"No, don"t worry about it. We were overdoing it."
"That"s right, you don"t have to worry about anything."
I apologised. They laughed and told me not to worry about it. Even this time too, they"ve always been protecting me. I haven"t had any bad experiences with the Royal Palace since I came to the Research Inst.i.tute.
Translator: Blushy
Editor: SenjiQ
I"m slowly making some changes..
Thanks for reading!