Chapter 37
“The seriously wounded to the left tent! The lightly wounded to the right tent!”
The expedition force, having repelled the Phantom Mantis attack without major losses, moved to a clearing not far from the site.
After regrouping here once, they would either continue onward or return to their territory.
They set up a makeshift tent and lit a campfire. They handed out stew to calm the shocked, exhausted soldiers.
In the tents, the priests tended to the wounded.
In expeditions like this, accidents were always bound to happen, so they always brought priests along in case of emergencies.
“How is the situation?”
“Two seriously wounded, seven lightly wounded. No fatalities.”
“That’s a real relief.”
Brun let out a sigh of relief.
It had been a situation where it wouldn’t have been strange if they’d been wiped out, but fortunately they’d overcome the danger without any deaths.
As commander, that was a tremendous relief.
Brun thanked the knights of Edelheid.
“It’s all thanks to all of you. I offer my gratitude on behalf of the house.”
“...I only did what I ought to have done.”
Lance’s expression looked rather troubled for someone who had just been praised.
And that made sense, because in this battle his accomplishments had been less than those of a slave.
He glanced around for the one who had been the star of the battle, but Leon was nowhere to be seen.
“Sir Sylvan, where did Candidate Leon go?”
“He went to wash up in the nearby valley. He was a mess.... Ah, there he comes.”
Sylvan gestured with his eyes. From the shadows of the forest, Leon emerged with the other candidates.
His wet hair clung to his forehead, as if he’d only rinsed off in the valley stream. Still, he looked far cleaner than before, when he’d been caked in slime.
Leon met Lance’s eyes. After looking around, Leon realized that gaze was directed at him and approached hesitantly.
“Candidate Leon, I’ve washed up in the valley.”
“...I see.”
A brief exchange passed, and an awkward silence fell.
“Do you know what it is you’ve just done?”
Immediately afterward, Sylvan rebuked him with a displeased expression. Clear anger was audible in his low voice.
“Huh? Catching the magical beast?”
“It was insubordination. Sir Brun clearly ordered you to maintain the circular formation and not leave your ranks. And yet you blatantly ignored that order and dashed out on your own.”
“That was because the situation was urgent....”
“Don’t make excuses!”
Sylvan cut Leon off and barked at him. Everyone in the clearing turned to look at the two of them.
“Do you think a good result excuses everything? Have you not considered that your arrogant, reckless solo action nearly shattered the formation and put your comrades in even greater danger!”
“....”
“The most important things for a knight are discipline and obedience. No matter how fine your swordsmanship may be, an uncontrolled blade is nothing more than a weapon that turns on allies.”
Sylvan glared down at Leon with disgust and snapped at him.
“Since you’re some lowborn slave, it seems you don’t even have the basic qualities a knight ought to possess.”
“...I’m sorry.”
Leon briefly bowed his head.
“But the young lady told me to do it this way.”
But then, as if nothing had happened, he lifted his head stiffly again.
“She said that if I went on an expedition, they’d obviously keep me from moving an inch, so I should jump out at the first chance I got.”
“What?”
“And you excluded me from every training session, didn’t you? It’s only natural I wouldn’t know anything since I wasn’t taught. You should’ve taught me, you know.”
“You little—?”
“Lastly, since you don’t even recognize me as a knight, why are you bringing up knightly discipline here...?”
Leon tilted his head with a truly innocent expression, as if he honestly didn’t understand.
“Please make it clear. If I’m a knight, I’ll obey your orders. But if I’m not a knight, then as nothing more than a slave, the only orders I’ll follow are the young lady’s.”
“That bastard, all the way to the end—!”
At his shameless attitude, a vein bulged on Sylvan’s forehead. He looked as though he might draw his sword at any moment.
“Now, now. Don’t fight, the two of you. In the end, nothing major happened, did it? Good is good, isn’t it?”
Brun approached with a genial smile and mediated between the two. Then he flashed Leon a broad smile.
“You must be the famous slave knight. I’ve heard about you from the lord. I hear you even made a showing in this battle?”
“I only got lucky. I’m sorry for disobeying orders.”
“It’s fine. Because of you, my men kept their lives. Take this mistake as a lesson and just don’t repeat it, wouldn’t you say? Isn’t that right?”
“...Since Sir Brun says so, I’ll let it go this once.”
Sylvan ground his teeth and glared at Leon. No longer finding him worth his time, he turned and left.
After the commotion died down, Leon sat by the campfire and began drying himself off.
Helena took the seat beside him as if it were only natural, smiling brightly.
“Good job, Leon. You really shone, didn’t you?”
“I got scolded, though.”
“Sir Sylvan’s words weren’t wrong either. Still, the commander praised you, didn’t he?”
Considering it was his first expedition, Helena added that it was quite the accomplishment.
“But how did you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Detecting the enemy in the mist. You even noticed exactly how many there were.”
“I told you last time that my mana sensitivity had improved. After honing it, I can see things to some extent.”
“Even with your eyes closed?”
“Yep.”
“Wow….”
Helena was dumbstruck in admiration.
Mind’s Eye.
A realm only a very small handful of experts can ever reach.
For Helena, who still couldn’t fully control mana, it was a distant realm she could scarcely even look at.
And Leon could do that.
Admiring it as impressive, she also felt a little anxious.
She couldn’t help thinking that the gap in ability was far too wide for two apprentice knights.
Leon, who had read those thoughts from Helena’s expression, curled one corner of his mouth into a grin.
“Don’t be discouraged. I’m your opponent.”
“You just wait. I’ll do the same to you later.”
“Ah, then do your best. I’ll be waiting here.”
Just as Leon and Helena were resting and exchanging useless jokes, someone approached them.
It was apprentice knight Euclis.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“......”
“If you called, say something.”
“Thanks. Tch.”
Euclis tossed out the words as if throwing away trash, then disappeared.
“...What was that?”
“He came to thank you. Leon helped him earlier, remember? Maybe he was just embarrassed.”
“They really are kids. Cute.”
“Exactly. You’re the youngest one here, after all.”
***
The expedition was over.
Originally they were supposed to camp overnight, but after discussion among the knights, they decided to return.
The troublesome magical beast had been mostly dealt with, the wounded needed treatment, and above all...
“Looks like it’s going to rain.”
Helena said, looking toward the distant sky. The mist had cleared, and now dark clouds were rolling in.
Signs of rain were showing. For those and several other reasons, the expedition force returned to Aulderin.
“Thank you for today. Please lend us your strength again sometime.”
“I look forward to seeing you then.”
We parted ways with the lord’s knights and returned to the mansion.
“Everyone, good work. Go wash up and rest.”
“Yes!”
“Helena, good work.”
“I didn’t do much. Leon had it harder. Get some rest.”
I parted with Helena as well. Just as I was about to wash up and head into the mansion, I spotted Vivi coming out of the front gate.
“Vivi?”
“Sir Leon. It looks like you’ve returned from the expedition. I’m glad to see you’re safe.”
“Yes. But where are you going? That’s not your maid uniform, is it?”
Vivi was wearing a brown dress, with a cloth wrapped around her head, and holding a small square bag in both hands.
Vivi straightened her shoulders and said with a proud expression.
“I’m on vacation. A slave like Candidate Leon will never get one in his lifetime.”
“...But what should I do? It looks like it’s going to rain soon, and this isn’t a good start to vacation. How unfortunate.”
The dark clouds that had begun gathering earlier had already covered the sky. Raindrops were starting to fall one by one.
But Vivi didn’t mind at all.
“It’s fine. Vacation itself brings unparalleled happiness. Ah, but Candidate Leon hasn’t experienced it, so I suppose you wouldn’t know. Because you’re a slave.”
“If Vivi goes on vacation, the house might collapse, so are you really going out?”
“Then you should run away even faster. If a house falls apart just because one maid is gone, you should be running away as quickly as possible, shouldn’t you?”
“Fair enough.”
It was certainly sound logic, so why did it make me feel so annoyed?
“For that reason, while I’m away, please take good care of the young lady. Especially in weather like this.”
“Why are you telling me that...”
“Well then, I’ll be off.”
Vivi left with a light, springy step, humming a tune.
“I’m so jealous.”
I’m generous enough that ordinary boasting doesn’t really work on me, but that one was genuinely enviable.
‘Would they give me leave too if I asked for it?’
At first, outings, then vacation, and finally, freedom.
Perfect.
I went straight to see Lenoa.
“Young lady, we’ve just returned from the expedition.”
Reporting in wasn’t the role of a mere candidate, but I was a special case.
Since she was so worried I’d run away, Lenoa ordered me to report in as soon as I came back.
‘At any rate, I can’t run away anyway because of the contract.’
I do like yandere heroines, but Lenoa’s obsession is frightening enough.
“Any unusual matters?”
“Nothing in particular. Just that I got scolded a bit by Sir Sylvan?”
“Why were you scolded?”
“I rushed out when he told me to keep formation. He got angry and said it was insubordination.”
“And then? Did you just stand there?”
“I argued back, asking why he was treating me like a candidate when he wouldn’t even acknowledge me as one. I also told him to teach me during training if he had complaints.”
“And then?”
“His face turned bright red and he got all worked up. It was a whole scene.”
Then Lenoa’s lips curved upward. She smiled, looking satisfied.
“Good. You don’t need to be intimidated by them. What you need to prioritize is my orders. Keep doing what you did today from now on too.”
“Thank you. Then since I did well, will you give me a reward?”
“…What do you want?”
Since the mood was unusually good, I slipped in my request.
“Vacation? Like, a two-night, three-day one?”
“I’ll let you rest for the rest of your life.”
“I was about to say that~ Being by your side is the best vacation, young lady.”
Well, of course.
Vacation was still a long way off, apparently.
“Come to think of it, I saw Vivi leaving earlier, and she was bragging about going on vacation.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. She even said that since the house is doomed anyway, it’s better to escape as fast as possible, and she was singing as she went. It must be really hard serving you, young lady.”
“When she gets back, we’ll have a nice little chat.”
“Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.”
How dare you make fun of me?
You need to be punished.
“Then I’ll be off to rest—”
-Flash! KABOOM!
In an instant, the world outside the window turned pure white as if it were broad daylight, and an enormous boom that seemed ready to tear my eardrums apart shook the mansion.
“Yikes, that startled me.”
I flinched before I knew it at the lightning that had struck without warning.
Thunder and lightning struck almost at the same time. The sound was incredibly loud.
“Haha. That thunder was huge... huh?”
Just as I turned my head with an awkward laugh, embarrassed at being startled by thunder—
Lenoa, with her usual cold, composed gaze,
“Eek…….”
was curled up in a ball on her chair.
Her eyes were squeezed shut, and both hands were covering her ears.
“Huh?”
“…Huh?”