“… Please try getting up.”
Instead of the eldest son of Erengium, Ian went to help his servant who appeared to have suffered a serious injury to the upper body. While at it, Ian was chewing over in his head about what just occurred before his eyes.
‘Just… let me live in peace!’
Even in Ian’s opinion, Aploc’s skills were extraordinary.
Ian pondered at what it could mean.
‘It is not a matter of how much talent you have. My Young Master is already is capable of skillfully using mana.’
Ian thought about how Riley coughed out words of anguish as he swung his arms around. Ian’s hands were shaking. He could not hide his excitement.
‘Young Master is not ordinary. By now, he is probably capable of effortlessly controlling mana at will to the point that he can even fool the mana measurement.’
‘Since when did he?’
The thought gave Ian the chill down his spines and made him shiver.
‘Could it be that the Young Master is… a dragon out in human’s world for an amusement?’
Dragons were superior beings said to live well over ten thousand years.
Ian remembered stories about them, sometimes enjoying themselves posing and living amongst humans then he considered the possibility of Riley being one of those dragons shape-shifted into a human form.
‘This deadly aura, this mana… if that is not the case, none of these can be explained.’
However, soon Ian shook his head.
‘No way…’
It was because his theory was not possible.
The Young Master that Ian served was born from Iris’s womb, not from breaking through eggshells.
‘In that case… the lady Iris?’
‘Wait. If she really is a dragon, what was that about her coughing blood from mere poison?’
‘A powerful dragon coughing blood from mere poison meant for human? Is that possible? Because she is in a human form?’
Ian was chasing tail to tail on his theories and questions.
‘No way… Get a grip, Ian!’
Ian’s face was full of excitement.
However…
It was different from the last time when he collapsed in the mansion.
‘The important thing is that, as expected, what I thought about the Young Master’s abilities is not wrong.’
Gathering up his strength, Ian used his remaining arm to also shoulder Aploc and started to walk.
‘As I thought, Young Master is incredible!’
The tips of Ian’s mouth went up on their own.
Tears were forming around his eyes, which were wrinkled from age.
‘Of course! Definitely! I had faith in him! He is the master that I serve after all! Definitely!’
Ian was wiping off the tears from his eyes, but then he suddenly stopped walking.
‘Wait, hm…’
Ian remembered the favor that Iris asked of him.
“Please keep it a secret.”
On the carriage, on their way to Solia after slaying the goblin, Iris said that to Ian.
‘What? What I witnessed with my eyes today… I need to keep this secret?’
Ian’s face was overflowing with joy, but now it suddenly turned dark.
“Hello… Excuse me.”
Ian was walking while helping Aploc and his servant, but he heard a delicate voice coming from the back and that made his shoulders shiver.
It was not only delicate, but also somehow soft and fine.
Ian could also feel the presence of many people along with the voice, so he sharpened his eyes and turned his head.
There were about twenty people within Ian’s sight.
“… Um?”
The people were either wearing white clothing or armors.
Even at a glance, they were definitely people from the Solia Temple.
“What could have happened… Huk?!”
‘They are the people from the Solia Temple. What business do they have at the castle where the Swordsmanship Tournament is being held at the moment?’
With his eyes sharpened, Ian looked toward the people, and then,
“Huk!”
He gasped for air.
‘That… that person is?’
There was a person with a veil covering the face.
Ian found a girl who appeared to have come straight from the Temple and had holy knights and priests standing behind her.
“At this place…”
The girl with her face hidden behind the veil spoke.
As Ian thought about how she must be delivering divine messages or curing people with that voice, and that was making him overcome with a sense of piety. lightnovelbastion.com
“I heard that the guest who came to the temple yesterday is here.”
Pricia, the priestess from the Solia Temple, continued.
It looked like she was looking for someone.
“…”
Gulp.
Ian gulped.
‘That cannot be.’
Ian was picturing in his mind about the trouble that transpired at the temple yesterday.
“By chance.”
Pricia carefully walked toward Ian.
As if there was nothing to it, Pricia walked all the way to the front of Ian, and then she asked,
“Have you always known?”
“That is…”
Ian’s face turned completely pale.
This fragile-hearted butler was now thinking about what Riley said at the temple yesterday.
“Ugh, no matter how I look at you, you are ugly as hell!”
Just thinking about it made Ian’s heart pound like a little girl. Because of the predicament he was in, Ian looked like he could cry.
‘Ah, why is my memory so good?’
He blamed his sharp memory.
The three matches for the day ended.
She looked a little disappointed.
“How do I say this… Maybe it is because the contestant that I was rooting for lost. I don’t feel good.”
“I heard there isn’t anything like that in the rules.”
“That is too bad.”
Iris laughed as if she thought it was funny, and then she asked Sera,
“Well then, did we watch all of the matches for the day? Somehow, if feels like they ended rather quickly?”
“hm.”
“That makes sense.”
All of today’s matches now concluded.
Sera and Iris followed and stood up from their seats.
“Anyway, they were surprising. The house of Erengium.”
Sera murmured as she got up and tidied up the place.
“That much?”
“Hm. What if you compared him to Riley?”
“In comparison to the Young Master? Hm…”
Sera held her finger at her chin as she tilted her head.
Even for Sera, it was a question that she could not come to a conclusion easily.
‘When it comes to skills, our Young Master Riley is definitely steps ahead.’
Sera predicted that, unlike the Erengium House’s second born son, Riley was different from him starting with the attitude in holding a sword.
Not only his attitude, but based on the swordsmanship alone, she thought that Riley definitely had an upper hand.
If there was one problem,
‘Difference in mana must be…’
She was thinking that there must be a difference in mana.
It was the talents related to mana.
In comparison, Erengium’s second born son appeared to have substantially superior talent in mana.
This was the one thing that kept Sera from making a conclusive assessment.
“Well, I am not sure.”
Because of this, Sera turned her head toward Riley to ask directly.
“Young Master, what do you think… Huh? Young Master?”
Sera blinked her eyes.
It was because Riley, who was with her only a moment ago, disappeared and appeared to have gone somewhere.
“He said that since Ian is still not here, he should go escort him here. He took his leave before us.”
Based on the look on Sera, it appeared that Iris guessed what Sera wanted to know. Iris told Sera where Riley went.
“Now that I think about it, Mr. Ian is still…”
Did he eat something bad?
While thinking about Ian, who was still not with them, Sera scratched her cheek.
‘Um. Is it going to be all right for the Young Master to roam around by himself?’
Sera was thinking she should scold Ian when he returns.
Iris smiled nonchalantly toward Sera and tossed a question.
“You never know? While he had the time to spare, maybe he went to find himself a bride?”
“…”
Sera’s face turned red.
“What you said from a while ago, that was not a joke?”
“…”
Iris only smiled without saying anything else.
This time, she didn’t reply to say that it was a joke.
“Ah, ah haha.”
In light of Iris’s smile, Sera started to laugh, but she quickly shut her mouth when she felt the presence of many in front of her. She looked toward them.
“Um?”
The nobilities, who were on their way to exit the seating area, were gathered at the exit.
It looked like someone was blocking the way.
‘What’s going on?’
Curious, Iris was tilting her head. She decided to go with Sera toward the exit to find out what was going on.
“Huh? Sera, over there… Isn’t that Ian?”
“Please come again?”
Looking past the shoulders of nobilities murmuring in front of her, Sera found a butler who looked like he lost his soul. Flabbergasted, Sera’s eyes opened wide.
“That… that’s right? It is Mr. Ian. Why is Mr. Ian over there?”
‘Mr. Ian is blocking the way? Why? For what reason?’
Questions on Sera’s mind were only leading to yet another question. Sera rolled her eyes in search of Riley, and soon, she found people dressed in white standing along side of Ian.
“Uh?”
They were holy knights and priests from the Solia Temple.
Several additional questions marks floated up on Sera’s face.
“We apologize for blocking the way. Right now… we are looking for the people from the house of Iphelleta.”
Eventually, among the people from the Solia Temple, a girl with a veil covering her face spoke.
Because Sera was from Solia, her face changed fast once she heard the familiar voice that she seemed to have heard from somewhere.
‘Oh my… Pr… Priestess Pricia?!’
On the corner of the Solia Castle’s Swordmanship Tournament Arena, Riley leaned toward the wall and avoided the gazes of people. He then took out a hard object from his pocket.
“I am glad that I bought this yesterday in advance.”
Yesterday, when Riley was with his mother at Solia’s main plaza, he purchased this from a street vendor. It was a mask.
It could also be worn to cover up his hair if the mask was put on from the top, so the design was such that it would not be wrong to call it a full mask.
“I hope he is keeping up the good work and watching his mouth.”
Riley twiddled with the mask.
Remembering the Erengium House that he warned a moment ago, Riley was looking for Aploc’s energy.
“If things get out of hand, it is going to be inconvenient.” lightnovelbastion.com
As he murmured, he quickly turned his head.
The direction he was looking at was toward lower Solia.
“… Man… Of all places.”
‘Why is Erengium House heading toward lower Solia?’
However, other than that question, what bothered Riley was the fact that they were moving along the outermost eastline, the furthest location from here. Feeling lazy, Riley cringed.
“What a bother.”
After scaling up the Solia Castle’s walls, Riley put strength to his heels and then made a leap toward the direction of the main plaza.
The destination was the lower Solia, the place Erengium House must be headed.