I had a rather unpleasant dream.
Or should I say, a memory.
I saw something like the remnants of knowledge absorbed from Frondier.
It was too fragmentary and vague for me to understand the details.
There was someone who secretly conveyed the information of the ancient language to Frondier.
But no matter how hard I tried to recall, I couldn’t figure out who he was.
‘…Maybe even Frondier can’t remember properly. What he said, what his voice was like, and what he looked like.’
Judging by the fact that I inadvertently referred to ‘him’, it seemed like he was a man.
Anyway, in the past, Frondier was told something strange by someone, and devoted themselves to interpreting the ancient language.
‘Given that Frondier managed to interpret the ancient language, he’s not stupid. There must have been something convincing about what that person said.’
Or perhaps he was enchanted or hypnotized by magic.
Either way, it’s necessary to be cautious about that man.
──So, where am I thinking about this?
“Uuh… Mmm.”
I was thinking while looking at Sybil, who was sleeping on my stomach in the hospital bed.
Somehow, it felt heavy to sleep.
I didn’t know since when she had been protecting me, but Sybil was sleeping soundly, unaware of the world.
She looked too comfortable sleeping on my stomach, so I felt sorry to wake her up.
…Even though I’m the patient.
///
Creak-
That’s when the door to the hospital room opened.
“Oh, Mr. Frondier. Are you awake?”
“Huh?!”
The one who reacted to the nurse’s words wasn’t me but Sybil.
She suddenly opened her eyes and quickly straightened up, fixing her posture.
The nurse laughed at her appearance.
“Your girlfriend has been here since yesterday taking care of you.”
“I-I’m not his girlfriend,” Sybil retorted flatly, despite sitting up straight.
“Sybil, pronunciation.”
“W-What?”
Sybil pressed both hands against her cheeks at my criticism.
…… Will that help her pronunciation?
“Sybil, you have a hair on your lip.”
“Oh, r-right.”
“There’s drool on your chin.”
“W-What?! R-Right.”
“And a booger.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Nope. Not a lie.”
That’s enough, I’m starting to enjoy this.
I turned away from Sybil, who was glaring daggers at me, and asked the nurse.
“How long was I out?”
“It’s been a day. Sybil and Elodie took turns nursing you.”
“…… Was I that bad off? To the point where I needed someone by my side?”
“Well……. I told them it was fine, but they insisted on taking care of you.”
I looked back at Sybil after hearing what the nurse said.
Sybil avoided making eye contact with me.
Then she said to me.
“No, it’s not like that. You just looked so pitiful. Could I just stand there and do nothing?”
“……Well, everyone was having a hard time in the cabin.”
“I-It’s not like that. It’s just that, for a long time now…… you seemed to be suffering.”
“Huh?”
What’s she talking about?
For a long time?
Ah, is it because of the reputation of being a ‘human sloth’?
One of the reasons why this happened was because of my bad reputation.
But honestly, that reputation doesn’t bother me that much.
People around me just ignore me, or avoid me. That’s about it.
I’ve never been bullied where it’s noticeable.
Well, I guess they were more afraid of the Roach family than me.
I said,
“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”
“……You’re used to it? To something like that?”
“Well, yeah. I’ve never been hurt or anything.”
“That’s because things were fine up until now!”
Sybil shouted, which was rare for her.
Her eyes seemed to be scolding me, or rather, trying to convince me of something.
“That’s what you’ve heard a hundred times…”
“…Huh?”
A hundred times?
A hundred times what?
“No, nevermind.”
Sybil shut her mouth.
I don’t understand why, but…
It feels weird because she looks at me with pity.
“Oh my.”
Then, another person entered the room.
She came up to me and smiled.
…Her expression is similar to Sybil’s.
“You’re awake, Frondeir.”
“Oh. Elodie.”
──After that.
I received information about the situation from the two of them.
First, Serf was confirmed dead.
He died instantly due to a penetrating wound on his forehead.
The weapon wasn’t visible, but it was concluded to be Sybil’s magic arrow.
And then there’s another leader, Grobel.
I wondered why only Serf was talking when we were in the forest, but Grobel was knocked out by Serf’s surprise attack before that.
Because Serf was trying to manipulate Rokbel.
So I guess he judged that Grobel was a hindrance.
Grobel was sent to the ‘Tyburn’s Rampart.’ [T/N: Tavern -> Tyburn]
Tyburn is the territory of the Urfa family, and it’s located on the complete opposite side of the border from our family’s territory, Yeranhes.
This area, which is managed by Ludwig Urfa, is more dangerous than Yeranhes.
Unlike Yeranhes, where my father Enfer’s excellent leadership and management completely prevented the invasion of magical beasts, Tyburn is not the same.
When winter comes, the magical beasts outside become hungrier, and they gradually crawl inward, following the smell of their prey.
Because of that, Tyburn suffers from fierce battles every winter.
In preparation for that winter defense, Grobel will be ‘honorably’ used as one of the soldiers.
For Grobel, the outcome was much worse than his own mistake.
Even though he was unconscious, Grobel was the apparent leader of ‘Indus’.
He made his own younger brother play a part, then arson, assault, and attempted murder.
Moreover, attempting to harm individuals from two of the most powerful noble families, including myself and Elodie, only compounded the situation.
Severe punishment was inevitable.
I asked, “When can I be discharged?”
“Today itself. The cause of your fainting isn’t serious, and there won’t be any aftereffects.”
“Hm, what was the cause?”
“…Mana depletion.”
Elodie spoke those words as if she was delivering a diagnosis of cancer.
Why talk about it like it’s such a big deal?
Mana depletion isn’t anything significant.
I nodded.
“I thought as much.”
I said it without much thought again.
However, Elodie and Sybil bowed their heads in response to my words.
…What’s with this atmosphere, seriously!
Then, as if remembering something, Elodie said, “Oh right, when you wake up, Ms. Ainen wanted me to thank you.”
“Ms. Ainen did?”
“Yes, you helped with something? A quiz, I heard?”
“…Ah, that.”
That must be about the dragon heart question.
“Thanks to that, someone won a department store gift card. Terst Department Store.”
“…Terst Department Store?”
Terst Department Store.
The name is easy to remember, a department store under royal management.
‘Adventurer’s quiz, the last question that no one would guess, Terst…’
I got a bad feeling about this.
*Ding*
As if in response to my thoughts.
My phone on the table made a sound.
I took the phone handed to me by Sybil.
It was a text message.
[Hello, this is Philly Terst.]
…What?
Who?
As I struggled to catch up with my thoughts, another message came in.
[Let’s meet up soon.]