CH 80

[A Visitor]

“Welcome back. Did you get any new information?”

Noelia and Susana welcome me who have come back from collecting information.

“No, there’s nothing in particular… Just that, the people hunting seem to have subsided, and I didn’t find any suspicious figures around here.”

“I see…”

“So, did the Noelia and co have any harvest?”

Noelia had written a letter describing the current situation here and tied it to the leg of her familiar bird and had it fly to Youg Hannotes.

The distance from this Devon Village to Youg Hannotes is so far that she couldn’t share sight and hearing, and the best she could do was just pointing out the destination.

However, she managed to succeed in the long-distance employment by receiving various advices from the master of Employment magic Cinzia.

“Yes, we have. The familiar I sent to father returned with a letter.”

Noelia, who had been forced to concentrate for a long time, have a slightly haggard face.

She had been forced to concentrate for the last ten days.

So that the connection with her familiar wouldn’t broke, she didn’t even have a moment of rest time.

Let’s have her rest for a while to get back in shape.

In the beginning, the plan was to have me fly it by using Employment magic, since I have a lot of magic power.

However, according to Cinzia, Employment magic is a delicate magic, so she transferred the role to Noelia who is proficient in magic and has a substantial amount of magic power as she is more likely to succeed than me who has uselessly lot of magic power and rough in control.

“That’s great. You must be pretty tired from using long distance Employment magic, so you should rest for a while. Your face looks a little pale after all.”

After I receive the letter Noelia handed out, I bend down and look into her icy blue eyes.

“No, I am fine. I am also an adventurer, so my physical condition is—”

Noelia who said so collapses toward me.

“Look, you even staggered like this; take a good rest. Let me continue to collect information.”

“P-pardon me. To think I would stagger just by this…”

“Noelia is also underestimating Employing magic, I see~. Concentration of the mind is more burdensome to the body than the consumption of large amount of magic power, so rest for a while as Frick said, ‘kay~.”

Cinzia, who before I knew it had made the inside of my cloak as her nest, flies out and circles above Noelia’s head.

“It’s as Cinzia-sama said. Suzana, can you prepare the bed for Noelia?”

“Yes, it is already prepared.”

When Suzana opens the door, a blanket is already laid down on the bed.

“Then I’ll carry you there. It’s okay, right?”

“Eh? P-p-p-p-p-pardon me!? It’s fine!? I can walk on my own!?”

“No, in your current state, you might collapse on the way. Let me carry you.”

I forcibly pickup Noelia who is leaning against me and carry her to the bed in the back of the room and put her on the bed.

Noelia who is lying on the bed has bright red face, then she murmurs,

“T-thank you… B-but I am also a proper adult… so I also have some things I find embarrassing, you know.”

Crap…

She might be thinking that I’m treating her like a younger girl.

Come to think of it, Noelia is the same age as me.

When I think that way, the thought that what I did was very embarrassing for her arise within me.

“I-I’m sorry! Just that, you looked tired, so I—”

“I understand. It was because Frick-sama is a very kind person. Yes, because he is a kind person.”

Just for a moment, Noelia makes a sad face, and then she covers her face in her blanket.

“I’m truly… sorry.”

Unable to stay any longer, I leave the room and gently close the door.

“Frick-sama, that was just Noelia Ojou-sama hiding her embarrassment, so please don’t take it to heart. It was just because she is not used to interacting with a man of the same age as her.”

Suzana gives me comforting words when I when I left the room.

“I-is that so? It wasn’t because my action offends her?”

“I don’t think that is the case. Yes, it is fine. I who have been by her side for a long time guarantee that.”

Since Suzana assured me that Noelia wasn’t offended by my action, I feel a little relieved.

“Mouuu-, it’s irritatiiiing. You’re still young, so you should be more passionate y’know. Passionate. You should have ride on the momentuuum. Ahhh! Don’t eat meee! Dimol, let me goooo!”

Cinzia, who is flying above, says something, but she is preyed upon by Dimol who is plunging from the sky and is taken away.

“Now then, since Noelia-sama has gone to bed, I will be the one who explain to you the content of the letter sent by Master.”

After Suzana and I moved to another room, I decide to examine the content of the letter sent by Frontier Count Lloyd.

As I read through the handed letter, my hand trembles at the unbelievable truth written in it.

The content is very concise, but …

In short, there seems to be a high possibility that Gile is involved.

Moreover, since the Frontier Count is also monitored, it is written that the details will be informed by the people he dispatched who is familiar with the facts discovered over there.

“This truly is… a serious affair for the kingdom…”

“Yes, Master has been suspicious of Gile who has been appealing for a reduction in the budget for Abyss Walker countermeasures since the beginning, but his behavior is understandable if he is on the side that moves Abyss Walkers.”

“But that’s impossible, he’s the commander of the Royal Guard Knight Order after all, and his father is a great noble who is even appointed as the Prime Minister… No matter how rotten nobles are, such thing is…”

“To begin with, the Radcliffe family was the noble who gained the most benefit from the Great Invasion, I think it wouldn’t be strange if that family aimed for a second one…”

Suzana, who is familiar with various noble’s circumstances, frowns and says so indignantly.

Normally, you wouldn’t think of causing turmoil in your own kingdom and taking advantage of that turmoil to increase your own power.

Moreover, the Radcliffe family is the second largest noble after the royal family.

The king’s trust in them is also strong, so why…

I find out that the pillar supporting the kingdom in which I live in is secretly shaking.

“Anyway, until the people who knows the situation in detail come, we have to continue collecting information and do something about the mine.”

“You are right. It cannot be left as is; and if the Radcliffe family knew that the frontier count family is involved in this situation, they wouldn’t be able to easily shelve the matter.”

While I’m having a conversation with Suzana like that, I suddenly hear the village turns noisy.

“O-oi! It’s Marco! Marco is back!”

“Though it’s been treated, he has terrible injuries! The wound must be examined immediately!”

“Go call Chief Eugene! And call Frick-sama as well, we need his healing magic right away!”

The voice from outside grows louder and louder; before long, the door of the house we are in is knocked, and the villagers with urgent faces call out.

“Frick-sama, we have an injured person. Can you examine him right away?”

Before being taken care of in Devon Village, I was healing various injuries and illnesses of villagers of the surrounding villages as a traveling healer with the healing magic I learned from Noelia.

The act of medical treatment was a good lubricant to release the alertness of the other party, and thus, when I was collecting information, the villagers talked to me in a friendly manner.

“It looks like an injured person has come to the village. I’ll go see it for a bit. Suzana should take a look at Noelia’s condition.”

“Understood. In case the injured person needs to be treated in earnest, please bring him here.”

“Ahh, got it. I’m off.”

After opening the door that was making *bang, bang* sounds, I decided to go see the injured person in response to the villagers’ call.