* * *

A very pleasant hum came out. It was a random song, but the combination of notes was plausible, so it was definitely his lucky day.

Garuel snapped his fingers and looked around leisurely. On his empty index finger was the [Ring of Fate] he had received from Cadel, and the red thread that connected it was trembling violently.

“Hmm, lurking in the distance.”

Rania, the capital of the Empire.

As the center of the Empire, Rania was a glittering city of opulent living, but the brighter the lights, the darker the shadows.

As he passed through the cramped alleyways, the daylight air that had been so vibrant just moments before settled heavily. There was a damp, fishy smell in the air, and the streets were dingy with rain.

The people walking around were thin and gaunt, dragging their tired bodies like burdens, and there was no sign of energy or motivation. In these gloomy back alleys, Garuel’s appearance stood out.

White hair that shone in the dull sunlight and vivid purple eyes that stood out from a mile away. Even when an eyepatch covered one of his eyes, his beauty and flawless features were enough to make you want to turn around.

Garuel picked at the red thread as he waded through the idle stares of the others.

“……Is this the place?”

The much shorter red thread pointed upstairs in an old inn.

“The Empire doesn’t treat heroes well.”

What a ramshackle inn. Cadel seemed to want his subordinates to be resting in peace in a good place, so if he had seen this place in person, he would have collapsed.

Garuel stumbled into the inn, passed the innkeeper dozing at the counter, and climbed the stairs. He continued straight ahead and soon found himself in a room connected to the red thread.

Cadel’s subordinates were here. He raised his hand to knock on the door, remembering the message he’d been asked to deliver, but before his knuckles could reach the door.

“Commander!”

The door burst open, revealing an urgent-looking man. Garuel flicked his eyes away, unperturbed by the man’s icy gaze that quickly hardened upon seeing his face.

“Geez, it doesn’t look like you’re under my command. You must have expected another commander, right?”

“You are…….”

“I’m Garuel Monzasi, commander of the Twilight Knight Order. You’re probably…… Van Herdos. Right? I remember you. You were a skilled berserker.”

Despite Garuel’s clever greeting, Van’s expression didn’t seem to ease. Even more so when he found the ring on Garuel’s index finger.

Garuel ignored Van’s disapproval and kept his gaze on the door.

“I’m here with some good news, so let me in.”

Any man who wore the ring Cadel was supposed to be wearing would have news of him. Eventually, Van gave in, as if he had no choice, and let Garuel in.

“Do you have any alcohol? I’ve been walking a long time and I’m a little thirsty.”

“No. We don’t even have a glass of water here, so let’s start with Commander’s condition. Is Commander okay? Did he get the healing right? Did he meet with the Emperor……. No, why did Commander send you in the first place?”

Garuel paced the room, unperturbed by Van’s rapid-fire questions. His eyes darted about as if searching for a flask, then landed on the corner of the worn bed. There lay Lydon, a palm-sized fairy, sleeping as if dead. The corner of his mouth twitched upward as he stared down at Lydon, unsurprised.

“Well, it’s hard to answer if you ask me all at once like that. Let’s do it one by one, one by one.”

Garuel, who casually walked up beside Lydon, looked back at Van, who was still paused at the door.

“Please listen to me calmly, for that was Sir Cadel’s first request.”

Van sat on a worn wooden stool with his head bent down, washing his face slowly and dryly. His slumped shoulders and hunched back showed the fatigue of a long day’s work.

“If Commander really plans to do that…….”

Van muttered in a quiet voice and slowly raised his eyes. Feeling the gaze, Garuel also stopped playing with Lydon like a toy.

“I guess there’s nothing I can do about it.”

The look in Van’s eyes was a mixture of disbelief, helplessness, and despair. He’d heard all about what his long-awaited commander had been through, and what he was going to do now, and Van was repulsed by the fact that he had no part in it.

“That’s what Sir Cadel meant. With me by his side, nothing dangerous will happen. So don’t worry and wait. If everything goes according to schedule, the meeting will start in three or four days, so you’d better rest in the meantime.”

“…….”

“If you want to see Sir Cadel right away, I can get you into the castle. It will be quite a hassle, but I am an honored guest of the Osma Empire. It’s not impossible.”

If necessary, they could have stayed together in one room. He had already made up that Cadel was a bed partner once, so why not twice?

As Garuel looked at Van with a shameless thought, Van shook his head with a dark face.

“If Commander hadn’t sought me out, that would mean my presence was unnecessary to the plan. ……Nothing dangerous will happen. I’m aware that it’s a dangerous plan just to try. I don’t want things to go wrong because of me, so I’d better wait calmly as Commander said.”

He was truly a dependable subordinate. Modeleine, his chosen successor, was also a man of great worth, but not in the same way. Van’s sense of being far above mere hierarchy was strong enough to reach Garuel, who had only recently met him.

Not knowing if it would be poison or medicine, but Garuel thought he might be able to understand this man a little bit.

“Well, now that I’ve told you the whole story, I’ll leave you to it. ……Ah, and make sure to feed the fairy there this medicine.”

Rising from his seat, Garuel took the small vial from his arm and placed it on Lydon’s side.

“My healing techniques won’t do much for a fairy. Instead, have him take this potion, one drop a day. It’ll speed up his return to consciousness, and since I made the potion myself, I can guarantee its efficacy.”

In addition to the message, Garuel was asked to heal Cadel’s subordinates. Because of this, he tried to heal Van first, but he quickly refused.

Lydon’s internal wounds would be difficult to heal without demonic energy, and even then, they seemed likely to worsen if demonic energy interfered. The best Garuel could do was hand him the medicine he’d packed just in case.

Instead of saying thank you separately, Van only nodded his head lightly. His expression showed no sign of gratitude, but Garuel merely smirked.

“Sir Cadel was very concerned about the condition of the two of you. You’d better find a good place to stay, at least.”

With those last words, Garuel left the room. As he closed the door behind him and crossed the hallway, he heard a sharp noise that sounded like something being thrown. Without bothering to check the source of the noise, Garuel strode leisurely out of the inn.

“Now that I’ve done all that, let’s go score some points.”

He was going to be sharing a room with Cadel for the next few days, and he was going to need a little bribery to get past his stiff demeanor and get close.

After a long time, when he had someone to work on, it seemed that his dull daily life was becoming lively.

“The more rivals there are, the more triumph the sense of victory is.”

Garuel picked up his pace, humming a merry tune that didn’t quite fit the mood of the rainy back alley.