Ch.354Chapter 354 Epilogue – Who on Earth Is This Person? (1)

#

The time I spent with the little one named Flora, who tore at my heart with her heavy words delivered through an innocent and cute face, was already coming to an end.

“Miss, it’s time to go now.”

“Okay.”

After Flora nodded silently at Altair’s reminder that it was time, she moved away from Shizu’s side where they had been chatting.

“Goodbye. Have a good journey.”

Watching her bid farewell with polite manners.

“Be careful not to get lost on your way.”

With Shizu’s caring voice and waving hand as a signal.

“You have a good journey too.”

I also gave my farewell greeting while waving my hand.

“Bye~!!”

Led away by Altair’s hand, Flora continued waving goodbye until the moment she disappeared from our sight.

We also received Altair’s polite bow and farewell greeting as he took Flora away.

In response, we waved our hands appropriately until the two of them disappeared from our view.

“Mmmmm…!!”

Seeing this, Shizu let out a nasal sound of relief and refreshment while stretching lightly.

Though the stretching clearly conveyed a sense of refreshment.

Her expression, how should I put it, was peculiar and far from refreshed.

“What’s wrong?”

Since it was an expression she often showed when encountering something unsettling, I asked her the reason.

“Those two, I feel like we’ll see them around here often.”

Shizu’s muttered intuition about the departing pair reached my ears, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.

Well, if we meet often, then we meet often. We can just greet them warmly and acknowledge them, right?

“If we meet them, we can just welcome them warmly each time.”

So I expressed my nonchalance about it.

“Then, allow me to escort you.”

With a respectful voice, I knelt on one knee and extended my right hand to Shizu.

Since my body moved naturally before my mind could think, I kept my head bowed anxiously, not knowing how Shizu would react to this gesture.

“Hehe.”

A refreshing laugh like a gentle breeze reached my ears.

“I’ll be in your care.”

The owner of that laugh extended her right hand to me as I knelt on one knee and took my hand.

There was nothing grandiose about it; it was simply the beginning of our second day of travel, which would consist of walking along the beach and wandering here and there as our hearts desired.

#

Sometimes I notice something.

Shizu’s casual remarks about her intuitions, which she tosses out as if they’re nothing special, can be astonishingly accurate depending on the situation.

What exactly was accurate probably doesn’t need further explanation, but if I must explain:

“Ah! Hello, big sister. The food at this restaurant is really delicious!”

After parting with those two, filling ourselves with emotional stability while walking along the beach, and then entering a restaurant to fill our now hungry stomachs.

“Ah! Hello, mister! The cocoa they sell at this café is delicious!!”

And the café we entered to enjoy a suitable post-meal beverage.

Finally, when we entered our lodging at dusk after having lunch and exploring the area further:

“Ah! Are you staying here too, big sister? We’re staying here tonight too!!”

Flora greeted us cheerfully, and:

“We meet again.”

Altair greeted us politely, making Shizu’s words come true almost like a prophecy.

When I gave Shizu a surprised look, she closed her eyes with a smile, shrugged her shoulders, and calmly showed off her foresight to me.

How did she know they would stay here until nightfall when, before parting, they had talked as if they were about to return home immediately?

Is this what they call a woman’s intuition?

Since this seemed to be an area beyond my ability to deduce on my own:

“Hmm, we meet again.”

I greeted them with a familiar, calm tone.

If there was one fortunate thing about our paths crossing like this:

We only encountered them at places where we went to eat, drink, or sleep after creating memories, not at the places where we were actually making those memories during our day’s itinerary.

It’s not that meeting them was uncomfortable or anything.

I’m just satisfied with the fact that our private memory-making wasn’t interrupted.

Not only me, but Shizu seemed to feel the same way, greeting them warmly each time we met at different places.

“You two… haven’t gone home yet?”

When we met at the lodging, Shizu finally voiced the curiosity she had been harboring.

“The young miss really liked the scenery here…”

Altair scratched the lower part of his face with his right index finger, wearing an embarrassed expression as he answered politely.

“Hehe…”

Sensing something in Altair’s expression, Shizu let out a mischievous laugh that I rarely saw, while waving her hand.

Wondering what she had read in his face, I looked at Altair’s expression.

With my discernment, it was difficult to figure out exactly what was going on.

I could only see that despite his embarrassed expression, there was plenty of humor in it, though he couldn’t hide the beads of cold sweat on his forehead.

Recalling the first conversation between the two that I overheard when Altair appeared looking for Flora:

She had left home with just one butler as an escort without her parents’ knowledge, got lost, met us, calmed down, reunited with her butler, and was now supposed to return normally to her parents.

Unfortunately, it seemed that despite Altair’s strong wishes, things hadn’t gone according to plan, resulting in the current situation.

By the way, even though she clearly looks like a young lady from a wealthy family, does she have enough travel funds to freely move around, eat, and stay at places like this with just one butler in tow?

Although the lodging establishments in the southern region of the Central Continent are known for attracting tourists with their reasonable pricing:

Today’s lodging where Shizu is staying is among the more expensive ones, prepared with the best services for fairly wealthy people…

“When escorting the young miss, I follow the master and madam’s orders to ensure she lacks nothing, even if it’s an outing that borders on running awa—”

“It’s not running away!”

Oh, that startled me.

I turned my gaze to where I heard Altair answering as if he had read my thoughts, and Flora hastily interrupting him with a flustered expression.

I could see Altair calmly taking something out of his pocket under Shizu’s concerned gaze.

It was a pouch. A pouch visibly full of gold coins.

It looked heavy just by sight, but the fact that it wasn’t noticeable until he took it out of his pocket confirmed my initial impression that his movements were not those of an ordinary person.

“Let’s see…”

The moment I saw what came out along with Altair’s hand as he opened the pouch to take out its contents:

“Oh…”

I struggled to suppress the exclamation that involuntarily escaped my lips.

Not just gold coins, but platinum coins made from platinum mined from recently discovered platinum mines in the southwestern part of the continent. Who wouldn’t be surprised?

Platinum, no less. Even one Imperial gold coin is enough to enjoy such tourist destinations without any lack.

One platinum coin, equivalent to 100 Imperial gold coins, would more than suffice for living luxuriously at such a tourist spot.

But looking carefully, its appearance was slightly different from the Imperial common platinum coin.

Instead of the sun symbolizing Solarium that should have been engraved on the surface, there was a lily.

I knew that in southern tourist areas like this, currency from countries or regions other than the Empire could be accepted for payment, so it wasn’t that strange.

‘Is there a place on another continent where coins with lilies engraved on the surface are circulated?’

The problem was that searching through the numerous memories stored in my head, I couldn’t recall any region that made platinum coins with lilies engraved on the surface.

It was a moment when my initial intuition that they were not people from the Empire proved correct.

And as that intuition was confirmed, another curiosity sprouted in my mind.

This girl and butler who didn’t seem to be from the Empire or any other continent.

Perhaps… another wor—

“Flora!”

A sturdy and heavy voice coming from somewhere awakened my mind, which had been filled with various thoughts upon seeing a single platinum coin.

“…Eek!”

Flora startled as if her head was on fire.

“…Hah.”

Altair let out a laugh with a strange sense of relief, as if he had expected this.

“…Huh?”

And as a bonus, there was Shizu’s voice, clearly showing signs of surprise as she turned her head toward the source of the voice.

“They look alike.”

…What looks alike?

Following Shizu’s gaze as she calmly commented on what she had observed:

“Oh my, you little one, you could have waited just one day and gone with daddy, but you couldn’t be patient and snuck out on your own.”

I could see a man who had instantly closed the distance from where the voice had been heard to here, picking up Flora and uttering what seemed to be either nagging or relief.

The sight of a man suddenly approaching and lifting a much smaller girl might seem dangerous to others:

“D-Daddy, I’m sorr—mmph.”

But seeing Flora’s attitude, starting to speak in surprise before her cheeks were pinched, cutting off her words:

It seemed this was Flora’s father who had rushed here in one breath to find his daughter who had gone on a distant runaw—ah, I keep saying running away when it’s just an outing.

“You, you, you little wild pony. At least you’re safe, that’s what matters.”

Anyway, since he appeared to be Flora’s father who had rushed here to find his daughter who had gone on a distant excursion, there seemed to be no need to worry much.

Only the back of the man is visible. Filling my field of vision completely.

The physique of the man holding his daughter was robust. Even by my standards, the word “solid” naturally came to mind.

I could tell just by looking.

That’s why the body of the young man who appeared to be a mere butler serving such a master was also extraordinary.

Seeing how he first called him “master” and then quickly changed it to “lord,” privately he must be a disciple who received training in swordsmanship or something from him.

That’s why he would also serve the man’s daughter with utmost devotion.

Anyway, to say more about the man’s physique:

Compared to the physique of Director Belpheus, who survived the Great Temple and still works as an active duty at the Cradle, this man’s physique was not inferior… no, it was overwhelming. I never thought I’d see someone with such a physique.

Ah, now is not the time to focus on the physical perfection of someone I’m seeing for the first time.

After being momentarily captivated by the overwhelming physical perfection that suddenly appeared, I regained my senses and observed the man.

I could understand why Shizu said they looked alike when she saw this man who suddenly appeared.

Red hair. The man holding Flora had moderately long, bright red hair that shimmered with a level of saturation similar to my own hair, which manifested due to the special constitution inherited from dragon blood.