Ch.152152. Organizing and Preparing (5)

Time never waits for me.

The timeline flows leisurely without a moment’s hesitation. I, a being riding upon it, have no strength to resist being dragged along.

And so, without ever having stopped the pendulum of a grandfather clock, I find myself helplessly watching as time flows by.

Finally, tomorrow morning, the carriage journey begins—who knows what precious experiences await.

“The Great Forest—”

The more I think about it, the more exhausted I feel.

Going to the Marquisate of Feiosha in the southern kingdom or to the capital was already tiresome and difficult enough.

Now having to travel from the westernmost point to the easternmost point doesn’t exactly thrill me.

“They said we’d travel non-stop through the royal capital all the way to the Marquisate of Kallia.”

Some elves’ love for the World Tree borders on fanaticism.

If among those Friel brought along is one who has dedicated their soul to such a massive tree…

A pointy-eared zealot insisting we must return quickly because they’re worried about the Great Forest. Someone who cherishes the World Tree so desperately would do anything to get closer to it.

As long as we have sufficient food and necessities, and the horses aren’t too exhausted to pull the carriage, they’ll likely urge us to depart immediately rather than rest for a day whenever we stop at intermediate villages.

‘I’m already tired.’

It’s so draining to deal with such lunatics without offending them.

I pray there aren’t any such crazed elves mixed in with this group.

And I hope that the blonde elf from House Arielt, who seems to have the highest authority, isn’t secretly harboring such radical ideologies.

“Speaking of the Marquisate of Kallia…”

The Marquisate of Kallia.

A house at the easternmost edge of the Kingdom of Aicilia, bordering the Empire.

One of the prestigious houses with a long tradition rivaling that of the counties.

Among all the information about the numerous houses I observed while assisting Sione at the royal palace banquet, this was one of the houses I considered most important.

I’m well aware of how faithfully they serve as soldiers, defending against foreign threats and earning the royal family’s favor.

“Well…”

The eldest daughter of the Marquisate of Kallia, Eunice Kallia.

Having briefly conversed with her, I know a little about her.

I turned my head to look at the short sword placed in the corner of my room.

A short sword too elegant and high-quality for a mere servant of humble birth.

That very sword was a gift Eunice Kallia gave me as a reward for indulging her story.

‘Eunice Kallia.’

I recalled the person named Eunice Kallia after a long time.

…A woman obsessed with true knights.

Perhaps because I not only conversed with her but was also dragged to her room to perform a sword dance…

My conversation with her remained quite vivid in my memory.

And the most memorable thing she said was…

“…Certainly.”

Nearly ten years ago, when the Imperial army was testing the waters at the border with small attacks.

At a time when they needed all the help they could get, instead, our marquis caused great confusion by indulging in pleasure with female knights.

She was bitterly criticizing the existence of that fake knight.

As far as I know, the Marquisate of Kallia has Eunice as the eldest daughter, with both the second and third children being sons. Apparently, one of them leads such a dissolute life.

‘How coincidental.’

In truth, if I weren’t around, Sione would still be living buried in her bed, mindlessly consuming sweets with her unruly figure.

It seems the Marquisate of Kallia also has its fair share of troublemakers behind closed doors.

How is it that precisely in this generation, when demons and their crazed female followers are running rampant, the two houses with the longest traditions and greatest power in the kingdom have developed such flaws?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“By the way…”

According to Siabel…

Eunice Kallia, who should normally be sweeping away the persistent Imperial forces at the border, is currently stationed inside the Great Forest.

Sione and I will also be entering and staying in the Great Forest with Friel Arielt.

So it seems unavoidable that I’ll cross paths with Eunice Kallia.

I closed my eyes tightly for a moment to organize my thoughts.

“Hmm…”

Eunice’s voice seems to faintly echo in my quiet room, around my ears.

—The Sianella and Kallia families had ancestors who were in sharp conflict. Because of that, the relationship between the two houses remains ambiguous to this day.

I wonder what reason those higher-ups had for fighting and causing me this trouble.

An unwelcome relationship between houses.

—If you sell me your time, House Sianella can earn the favor of me, the next head of House Kallia.

That’s why I sold my time to Eunice Kallia and performed a sword dance.

I only hope she won’t show sharp thorns to me for being with Sione Sianella, as per her promise then.

I opened my eyes and stood up.

I’m fully awake now, and it’s time to wake up Sione, who’s probably still peacefully sleeping rolled up in her blanket.

“…I’ll manage somehow.”

With the thought of leaving future matters to my future self.

I’ll simply perform the duties I need to do.

* * *

Today passed by in a flash.

I made final checks on whether the clothes I had prepared for Sione and myself were sufficient.

Not only did I maintain the weapons we would need to bring…

I also spent the whole day deeply worried about how to hide the spirit stone—a gift that Siabel, our mentor and supposed knight, had stolen and given to me.

Before I knew it, the sun had passed its zenith and was gradually setting, creating long dark shadows everywhere.

Finally, after finishing my work and returning to Sione’s room to rest, I found Sione watching me quietly from the bed as I occasionally returned to her room.

She opened her eyes wide and ran toward me.

“Hmm.”

With a small hum, she surprisingly didn’t eat all the cookies herself. She picked up one of the few remaining cookies.

“Ray, ah—”

She suddenly opened her mouth wide and looked at me.

“…?”

“Ah—”

“…”

Was she that proud of eating her own cookie?

As I stared at her, wondering why she was opening her mouth wide in front of me while looking at me with sparkling eyes…

“…Ray, open your mouth. Sweet things are good when you’re tired.”

“Ah.”

It seems she wasn’t showing off her eating but trying to feed me.

If that was the case, she could have just said “ah.” Why did she open her own mouth wide as if she was going to stuff the remaining cookie in it?

I finally accepted the cookie from Sione, and for some reason, she seemed pleased about it. She just smiled at me for a while before briefly looking out the window.

As we spent time like that, footsteps began to be heard from beyond the quiet door.

Thud, thud.

Knock, knock.

Soon after, the owner of the presence knocked on the door.

“I’ll check who it is.”

“I can do it—”

“Ray, you’ve been busy all day. Take a rest for a moment. I’ll handle something this simple.”

Unusually, Sione got up to greet the uninvited guest beyond the door.

Creeeeak.

The door opened, and a man appeared in the gap.

The moment Sione faced him, she suppressed the brightness in her eyes and assumed a calm expression.

“…Sion, what brings you to my room?”

The man was Sion Sianella.

Even after watching her on the day she broke through the wall, and after seeing and hearing stories about her fierce battle with numerous monsters on top of the castle wall…

The siblings whose conflict had still not been clearly resolved.

For some reason, he had come to Sione Sianella’s room dressed in priest’s attire.

“I heard from Mother. I was told you’re going to the Great Forest.”

At Sion’s emotionless, flat voice, Sione merely nodded coldly.

Unlike the relationship between Sione and Siabel, there was no warmth left between the siblings Sione and Sion.

They didn’t seem interested in exchanging pleasantries to liven up the conversation.

“Um…”

The atmosphere had suddenly grown cold.

It felt awkward for a mere servant like me to just sit there in such a situation.

As I stood up, Sione’s voice rang out.

“…Yes, I’ll be leaving the count’s residence tomorrow with the elves. So… Sion, I doubt you came here just to ask such a simple question. Why did you come to my room?”

“That’s—”

Sion looked at Sione silently for a moment, then lowered his head.

“Sigh…”

After a brief sigh, he took out a box with the church’s unique seal drawn on it from his pocket.

As if he had hit his head or something…

“…I came to give you this.”

He handed the gift to Sione.

“What…?”

Sione involuntarily questioned in disbelief at the mention of a gift from Sion.

I too had all sorts of thoughts looking at Sion.

‘That temperament of his… giving something to Sione?’

They say people change drastically when they’re about to die.

Was the combat priest training that difficult?

The day before departing for the Great Forest.

A sudden, strange confrontation between Sion and Sione began.