The subjugation force arrived at Gioni two days later than scheduled.

Arisan was dumbfounded seeing the town.

「The place is already battered.」

The outer wall that was created by piling up stones was mostly crumbling with only a part of it remaining. The buildings too, the wooden buildings were burned, while the stone or brick buildings were destroyed.

The fields stretching out around the town were also devastated, it felt like the town, or more precisely the whole Gioni had been driven to a corner until a state of utter destruction.

But, there were still people remaining.

Seeing the subjugation force arriving, there were people hiding in the houses that were still barely remaining, and there were also people glaring at them. Frankly speaking it was hard to say that they were being welcomed.

Sophisan looked down.

「……As I thought, we took too long to arrive here. It would be great if we rushed here quicker.」

Sophisan was a daughter of a feudal lord n.o.ble. She was born from a house that was only a house of va.s.sal knight, but it was still a house of a small feudal lord.

She might be reminded of her birthplace.

Arisan was feeling indignation.

「To begin with it"s wrong to take several weeks like this. It wouldn"t be like this if only the palace sent help right away.」

「It"s just like Aria said. Besides, the gathered soldiers are also problematic.」

The cause of the slow march in the first place was because of the partic.i.p.ants lack of training.

I could hear the Second"s sigh.

『Lyle, silence the two of them. The one who is feeling truly frustrated is……the residence of this town.』

I warned the two of them whose tone was getting rougher.

「Both of you, it"s better to not say that right now. It"s the people of this town who are feeling frustrated.」

When the two became quiet, the Fourth looked at the situation.

『People from the surrounding are also running away to here. They escaped to a town that has wall.』

The houses and buildings outside the wall were mostly destroyed completely. The fields were also devastated to a terrible degree.

The Fifth was questioning something.

『The situation is different from what we heard. ……If it"s like this, is it just like what we predicted?』

A person who seemed to be a higher-up of the town rushed out toward the arriving reinforcement.

The aging male was clinging on a horsed knight.

「Knight-sama, why didn"t you arrive quicker!?」

Normsan made a gloomy face and didn"t answer.

In exchange Morris-san dealt with the man.

「Aa~, can I ask your name?」

「I"m called Patto. Even the magistrate had run away, while the other higher-ups either ran away or died in battle. There is only me remaining.」

The higher-up who introduced himself as Patto seemed to be in charge of managing the craftsmen of the town.

There was one store in this small town. Other than that there were several buildings of the craftsmen.

It seemed there was also an inn, but it didn"t have the s.p.a.ce for 400 people to stay there.

「We have come so it"s already safe. We have this many soldiers. We won"t lose against the like of hippogriff so rest a.s.sured──」

Then Patto-san"s complexion changed.

「Wha, what are you saying? The one leading the monsters is a "griffon"! The one leading more than a thousand monsters is a griffon!」

Patto-san"s scream made Normsan who was disinterested until now to completely change.

She yelled angrily from the horseback.

「Idiot! I heard that it"s a hippogriff leading the monsters!」

「The, there"s no way it"s like that. Even the magistrate who ran away saw that it"s a griffon, the letter was also definitely mentioning that it"s a griffon!」

Even though they had risked their life sending the letter, the reinforcement that finally came thought that the enemy was a hippogriff.

Patto-san must want to cry right now.

Although, the feeling of wanting to cry was also the same with us subjugation force that thought our opponent would be a hippogriff.

It was a bolt from the blue.

──The royal capital.

In the palace, the n.o.bles working in the palace including Ralph were meeting.

Everyone was baron or viscount, and each of them had a post as elite bureaucrat.

The lineup gathered inside a room in the palace were talking about the true objective of dispatching soldiers to Gioni.

「The case this time is just the right chance.」

A fat baron began the talk with that sentence. The surrounding was also making a small laugh together in satisfaction.

「The monsters are also really thoughtful.」

「With this the capital will also become slightly cleaner.」

「It"s just the right chance to decrease the number.」

They had grasped the fact that it was a griffon attacking Gioni and not a hippogriff since the beginning.

The report of the magistrate running away from the town and the request that was sent to the palace by risking the messenger"s life informed them that fact. They knew it, and made use of it.

Ralph opened his mouth.

「After the subjugation force is annihilated and the town destroyed, we"ll dispatch the knight order as the actual subjugation force. If there is anyone who you wish to become independent, please make them partic.i.p.ate. It will be a chance to obtain achievement that allow them to become independent.」

The desired for the subjugation force to be annihilated.

The reason was because they wanted to decrease the number of house of n.o.ble in the lowest rank.

A baron nodded with a smile.

「I"m thinking to make the second son in my place to go independent. I"ll make him raise achievement in the subjugation this time so he can has his own house.」

If the subjugation force was annihilated, it was something that might become a shame for Bahnseim Kingdom, but in the first place the griffon was attacking a territory under the direct control of the royalty.

There was no feudal lord who would complain, and there would be no problem if the griffon was subjugated by the knight order in regular army.

Rather, the knight order"s reputation would increase because they subjugated such dangerous monster that had annihilated one subjugation force.

For the people in this place, the current subjugation force and the place called Gioni only had that much value. There would be damage, but they thought that it wouldn"t be a particularly great loss.

The territory of the kingdom was vast. With the lost of Gioni, the damage numerically wouldn"t be really much.

「I wonder if there will be people who deserted.」

「There might be some but, it"s unthinkable that the griffon will let them go.」

「IF they return to the capital, we can just judge them as deserting in the face of the enemy.」

They didn"t mind even if the knights and soldiers──and the volunteers they sent there were gone.

A lot of n.o.ble house would vanish from the case this time. Like that new n.o.bles would be born using the opened up spots.

Ralph matched his smile with the surrounding.

(With this the nuisance brats will also vanish. If Doris can marry with the right person later, this problem will also be taken care of.)

Sending away the unnecessary people altogether, that was how they were thinking of this──.

In a half-destroyed private house within the town of Gioni.

We parked Porter beside it and started preparing to camp.

Shannon talked to me.

「Hey, why is everyone relieved when it was hippogriff, and then depressed when it"s griffon?」

I was exasperated at Shannon"s question.

Certainly hippogriff was troublesome but it wasn"t undefeatable.

However, griffon was extremely dangerous.

「……You, what do you think a griffon is?」

「It"s similar with hippogriff isn"t it? I know because I saw it in a picture. They"re like relative right?」

Certainly the two monsters were similar.

They were both monster with eagle head and wings.

But, griffon had──a body of lion instead of horse. Their size was also bigger than hippogriff. They were ferocious and also smart. A dangerous monster.

If someone defeated a griffon, they would be treated as hero.

There was how great the difference between the two monsters……it would be fine to think of griffon as hippogriff"s superior version.

I explained about griffon, but Shannon didn"t seem to understand.

「……They"re relative just as I thought isn"t it?」

「I"m telling you they"re similar but different. Or rather, you only saw the picture but didn"t read the words huh. I"ll tell on you to Mirandsan later.」

「Wait. Don"t tell Onee-sama. I"ll give you candy so wait!」

Shannon begged with tearful eyes. Shannon couldn"t see from her birth so she couldn"t read letter. But, now that she became able to see she was in the middle of studying to read and write.

She should be punished for skipping her study.

「No good.」

「Uu~……Lyle you idiot!」

「I"m fine with being idiot. But, it"s you who"ll be scolded.」

When I sent her a smug smile, Shannon was,

「That face, somehow it looks exactly like Doris-oneesama"s boyfriend. That guy is also a gigolo as expected after all. You two are completely like each other.」

「What did you say!」

Shannon ran away when I got angry.

I sighed.

The matter of Shannon was of course a problem, but right now there was a mountain of problem that should be prioritized.

The morale of the subjugation corpse had dropped rock bottom. In addition, the faces of the townspeople toward such subjugation force were filled with disappointment.

Normsan declaring right away to retreat was also really bad.

There were also some who agreed, but Morris-san somehow stopped it, which led to now.

There was no way to win against griffon. That was why talking about running away wasn"t mistaken but……thinking of our position, that was a bad move.

The palace should be waiting for us to run away.

It was also fine if we were annihilated. It was fine even if the town was destroyed. It was fine even if we ran back. If we ran back to the capital, surely they intended to make up excuse and executed us.

Morris-san had guessed various things from how the palace was giving us false information.

Bluntly speaking it was fine to say that the situation was the worst.

But──.

『Griffon. With this Lyle too will become a full adult huh.』

『Griffon, nice!』

『I want to obtain the materials and magic stone. They will fetch a really high price.』

『I didn"t get many chance and could only bring down two when I was alive.』

『As expected griffon extermination cannot be missed for a man! Lyle, you"re lucky!』

『Stuffing. Let"s stuff it. Let"s make the griffon Lyle defeated as stuffed animal for decoration!』

──The mood of the ancestors was horrible.

For Walt House that seldom got the chance for dragon subjugation, griffon subjugation was treated as proof of adulthood.

That"s not it. It"s wrong. This is wrong.

Thinking with common sense, a griffon was something at the level where you had to resolve yourself to die when something like that came out.

The Second sounded frustrated.

『If Lyle can take command, then he should be able to bring it into one-on-one. However, if it"s Norma in command then it"ll be difficult isn"t it?』

The Sixth denied that opinion.

『On the opposite there"s also the possibility of Lyle"s group getting pushed aside. Well, she"s an idiot who tried to run away in this situation, so isn"t that possibility be the higher one? ──Hm?』

Suddenly the Sixth"s att.i.tude changed.

It seemed he had familiarity with the surrounding scenery.

『This scenery, it feels like I"ve seen it somewhere……if I remember right……come to think of it, when speaking of Gioni there was a small village at my era……』

『What"s with you? Perhaps you once came here in the past?』

The Fifth addressed him, so the Sixth spoke after a pause.

『……ah』

It seemed he recalled something, but suddenly he fell silent. The ancestors also got curious seeing the Sixth like that and pressed him with questions. But, the Sixth wouldn"t open his mouth.

Arisan came to where I was.

「Lyle, I found someone who will show us around the town.」

「Thank you very much. A local person is valuable after all.」

It would be a great difference whether we had a guide or not.

Anyway there wouldn"t be any way to form a plan without studying the current situation.

Arisan scratched her head.

「No, I don"t know how I should say it but……come here, give your greeting.」

Hiding behind Arisan was a really small kid.

His age might be around six or seven I guessed?

「Could it be you"re the guide?」

The kid nodded nervously.

He had tanned skin. The scratch on his exposed skin stood out.

「Most of the men are……. This kid, when he heard me talking, he said that he is a son of hunter. It seems he know a lot about this area from his father"s talk.」

「Err……that"s」

I was at a loss for words. The inside of the Jewel was completely silent must be because they had realized just how severe the present situation was without a doubt. I was thinking so.

The kid bowed at me.

「Ni, nice to meet you. My name is Luka. I"ll do my best so please hire me.」

I intended to prepare reward for the guide, but I never even imagined that a kid this young would come.

While I was worrying about what to do, the Second and the Third were──.

『……Dewy』

『Dewy-niisan……how』

They muttered a different name from "Luka" with a sad voice.

The kid"s name was Luka.

His father who was a hunter died. He took the request to become a guide to earn money even just for a bit. The remaining male labor were gathered by the subjugation force under Normsan"s lead, so we couldn"t find anyone else except Luka.

It seemed that the Second"s son and the Third"s big brother──Dewy had very similar appearance with him.

However, the two of them were reluctant to speak about the circ.u.mstance.

It was a relief that the voices inside the Jewel were quiet.

I walked behind Luka.

「Over here, Lyle-sama.」

「Lyle-sama……you can call me without honorific.」

「Tha, that"s no good. Kasan told me, if I"m receiving money then I have to do my work properly.」

He was a laudable boy who was trying to protect his mother in the place of his dead father.

Seeing his back figure made me felt ashamed myself.

I had no memory of when I was his age. It was really vague.

If I was asked whether I was as earnest as him at that time……I had no confidence. Frankly speaking, he was even more levelheaded than the me a little while ago. Yes, compared to the me when I left from the house, this boy was definitely more levelheaded to a marked degree.

Not just showing the way, he even knew in detail about which wall had broken or which part was brittle.

「This part is repaired every time, but it will break right away.」

「Ri, right.」

「The bridge here is fragile, so it"ll be dangerous when several adults are crossing it.」

「Ye, yeah.」

「Over here──」

「Ye, yep.」

When I asked, it seemed he was knowledgeable from helping his father and playing in the town. It was great that I was able to learn various things, but somehow I ended up feeling really down from comparing myself with him.

This boy, he might be more dependable than me.

After we finished looking around the town, the sun was already setting.

At first I wondered if one silver coin would be alright but……my grat.i.tude to Luka who was doing his best and thinking of his living from here on, I handed him three silver coins.

「Is it alright for me to receive this many?」

「It"s fine, just take it. Your mother……take care of her.」

「Yes!」

I saw off the boy who was going home while waving his hand energetically, then I returned to where my party members were staying.

──The city"s inn.

The knights and the men of the town gathered there.

There was also Lionel"s figure among them.

Everyone was disheartened. The more they listened to the present situation, the more they learned how bad the situation was. Their complexion was also bad.

Lionel was terribly fl.u.s.tered inside his heart.

(Lies. Something like this is absolutely a lie. Because, they said that it"s a hippogriff! Even though I heard that it"ll be alright because there"s a ten-knight squad leader with us!)

Where did the information become awry?

Perhaps the townspeople were lying, or there was a misunderstanding. He thought that several times but, when he listened at the damage of the town and the surrounding area, it was unthinkable that it was a lie.

Norma was also looking pale while only listening.

Morris was continuing the talk in her place.

「Several hippogriffs are obeying the griffon?」

「That"s right! Don"t make me say it over and over!」

The att.i.tude of the townspeople was also getting worse. That was because the knights they thought were coming to help were unreliable.

「How many hippogriff?」

「You think I know. We once saw four at the same time. But, as for their accurate number……」

The men of the town. And then the men who escaped here from the surrounding area.

Many of the people who fought bravely died, while the remaining people almost had no willpower left to fight.

Lionel tried to ask his question, but then,

「I, it"s bad! The griffon is outside!」

When everyone hurriedly rushed out, there was a griffon swooping down on the town"s outer wall and looked down at Lionel and co.

When they looked up to the sky, there were six silhouettes in the evening glow that seemed to be hippogriffs.

(Hu, huge.)

Lionel was surprised by the griffon"s size. Although the outer wall wasn"t as big as the royal capital"s wall, he still needed to look up at it. But that wall looked small with the griffon standing on it.

The griffon opened its mouth broadly as though it was smirking, then it spread open its large wings and flew away.

It led the hippogriff and went away to the distance.

(Sca, scary……that"s a griffon.)

A monster that came out in story and fairy-tale. Those who defeated it would be called hero. In front of such monster, Lionel"s body was paralyzed and couldn"t move.

It seemed Norma was also in the same state.

She fell from her knees and then she held her head.

「I once heard about it. When Griffon is enjoying the hunt……it"s over. We"re going to get toyed around by that monster before getting killed.」

When the commander lost their nerve, it would quickly spread to the whole army.

「Commander, just what are you saying! We have to immediately act in order to take countermeasure, or else we"ll really get killed!」

Morris reached out to make her stood up, but Norma slapped away that hand and yelled.

「You"re idiot! Only the elite even among the knight order can face that monster! How are we going to face it with this kind of mishmash group and battered city!?」

Norma held his head and started crying on the spot.

Seeing her like that, Lionel thought.

(I gotta run. I can"t die in this kind of place. Even though I finally obtained a chance. I need escape to a safe place and aim at the next chance to marry into the family.)

Lionel was leaving that place with an unsteady gait──.

Night.

We were eating dinner around a bonfire. When we finished,

As expected it seemed everyone was also shocked that a griffon showed up. But, the ancestors had been mentioning how this request was suspicious from the beginning, so my heart was somewhat composed.

「The opponent is griffon huh.」

Arisan responded to my muttering.

「How can you act that calm!? It"s like we are deceived here!」

Clarsan corrected Arisan"s opinion.

「No, we are deceived for real. I heard that the magistrate ran away and reported to the palace. I also heard that the request the town sent also reached the palace. The palace should know about the correct state of this case.」

There was no doubt that they knew. With that many things could be explained. How someone hated became the captain, and the disordered mishmash of n.o.bles and soldiers.

Arisan was dumbfounded.

「……Just why are they doing something like this.」

I also felt the same. But, it was the current palace that was wishing for this.

Clarsan looked at me.

「We don"t have the equipment to face griffon. Lyle-san, have you considered retreating?」

Clarsan calmly spoke the pertinent opinion as an adventurer. In respond, Arisan stood up.

「Wait! Are you saying to abandon the people here!?」

「……It"ll be ideal to save everyone, but we also should understand that we aren"t strong enough for that.」

「But……such thing……」

Warm drink was poured into the cup I received after the meal.

The steam could be seen clearly in the night"s cold air.

I put the cup on my mouth and took a sip.

Shannon was in a dither while looking for help at Mirandsan.

「Onee-sama, can"t something be done?」

「As expected it"s impossible to rally back from this state. Besides everyone don"t have the motivation.」

Evsan was also sitting down.

「Griffon is it……I cannot see how we can manage it somehow with our current lineup. Or rather, it"s your father who gave this request wasn"t it? He will do this kind of foul play toward his daughters?」

Mirandsan crossed her legs and placed her elbow on her knee. She placed her chin on her hand. Her figure when answering Evsan"s question looked somewhat annoyed.

「He is that kind of parent. At this point it also become clear the reason he tried to detain me from coming. That guy, he planned to kill Lyle here. ……He is really a pathetic guy.」

That guy, she must mean Ralph-san. She called her own parent as that guy……but, no one was able to reproach her that she said too much.

Gazes gathered on Shannon who fell into silence.

The one asked to stay behind was only Mirandsan……I understood that Ralph-san"s thinking was focused on his house but, like this it was just too pitiful for Shannon.

Sophisan asked Evsan.

「Is there any legend that might be useful? Like the way the heroes defeated the griffon.」

「It"s troubling even if you ask me. It"ll be a different story if I"ve seen it directly but, in the first place legend or song has some exaggeration in them.」

「I, is that so.」

Sophisan was in a low spirit.

Monica was just like usual.

「I will manage somehow if it"s one-on-one though. As expected flying is unfair. Even I cannot fly without supplemental equipment.」

……This fellow, she"s useless when it"s crucial.

Novem was looking at me, waiting for my word.

The inside of the Jewel was completely silent since some time ago. I was troubled of what to do. From the reaction of the ancestors, there must be a way to fight griffon.

However, they didn"t say anything right now.

Could it be they were testing me?

「Anyway let"s rest for now. They said that the griffon only came for reconnaissance after all, even if we"re running away it"ll be too dangerous to do it at night.」

We decided the night watch turn and then slept.

I sent my consciousness inside the Jewel.

Inside the Jewel.

The Third was talking with the Second with an unusually serious face. The other ancestors were watching that quietly.

『They look similar.』

『To think that we would meet a kid who looks exactly like Dewy-niisan. I never even dreamed about that.』

Originally it was Dewy-san who should become the third head of Walt House.

The Second talked with a complicated expression that looked slightly sad and also happy.

『It wouldn"t be strange for a kid with similar appearance to exist somewhere but, I wonder if this is what they called fate.』

The Third also nodded a bit.

『Isn"t this good? If the Second vanished early, you wouldn"t be able to meet with Lukkun. Lyle only came here by coincidence but, with this Lukkun can be saved.』

『You"re right. I want to save him.』

Dewy-san died before he became the head of the house.

Because of that, the second say Sleigh inherited the house.

It wasn"t a guarantee that the eldest son would always inherit the house safely.

That was why, people had more than one son.

However, the increased number of children sometimes would also quarrel for the headship of the family.

Fortunately something like that never happened in Walt House. No, if such thing occurred, then surely the house wouldn"t be able to grasp its current glory.

I who couldn"t inherit that glory didn"t have any right to say anything though.

The Second looked at me.

『It"s mysterious.』

「E, err……yes.」

I could guess that something must have happened. Dewy-san died and the Third became the heir. Even I could guess that.

But, I didn"t know the detail.

『……It"s also awkward to keep it unclear like this.』

When the Second said that, the Third scratched his head.

『You"re right. We want Lyle to do his best after all. We should tell him the reason.』

The reason why the Second and the Third were fixated to the boy named Luka.

The Third straightened his posture.

『It"s not like there was a complicated circ.u.mstance. But, I want Lyle to know. About our feeling.』

The Second stood up.

『Lyle, come with us for a bit.』

The Second"s memory room.

Even though usually it was sunny, it was raining only for today. Furthermore the rain was a heavy one. The visibility was poor.

When I spread my hands, I could only see the rain but unable to touch it. But, there was certainly the sensation of stepping on muddy ground.

The mud splashed when I walked, but my clothes didn"t get dirtied. This was a memory room.

The sensation of not getting wet under a heavy rain was a strange feeling.

The Second was walking in front of me.

The fierce rain and the bad visibility would make me lose sight of the second if I didn"t focus.

「Did something happen?」

『You"ll understand if you follow me.』

The Second was a man of few words. We walked until a certain place wordlessly and then stopped.

『This isn"t just my memory. Sleigh──the Third"s memory is also mixed in. It"s something that I have never seen before until now.』

The Jewel was a mysterious item.

When the Second stopped walking, he started talking about that day.

『That day I promised to Dewy and Sleigh──to the two of them. I promised to see their bow training. But, I left the mansion because of a sudden business. The weather was good at the morning, but from the afternoon it was raining heavily when I returned.』

Perhaps it was an unforgettable day for the Second. He remembered even the small details. It seemed he felt bad toward his sons and brought present for them.

『When I returned, the people in the mansion were panicked because the two of them hadn"t returned home. Everyone was searching around for them, yelling to each other where they had gone. I thought that perhaps they remembered the promise and rushed out.』

I could hear the talking voices inside the heavy rain.

When I turned my gaze toward the voices, there were two children there.

And then……a one-horned rabbit with a horn jutting out from its forehead was lowering its head and raising its b.u.t.t high in a preparation stance to jump anytime.

『Nii-chan!』

A soaked wet blonde haired boy was crying. He must be the young Third.

The other boy was Luka──no, the boy was really similar but it must be Dewy.

『Sleigh, get behind Nii-chan! I, it"ll be fine.』

A one-horned rabbit entered the village.

Perhaps it was a trivial monster if it was against an adult, but it was a threat from the perspective of two children.

Dewy readied his training bow.

『I, I"m not going to let you harm my little brother!』

The boy was dependable even though he was still so young, but the one-horned rabbit was seething with killing intent. I couldn"t bear watching and took a step forward to do something, but the Second lost his self-control earlier than me and rushed out to stand in front of the one-horned rabbit. However, the one-horned rabbit pa.s.sed through the Second──jumping at Dewy.

The sharp horn stabbed the chest of the still young boy.

Sleigh cried out loudly. Dewy was struggling in anguish. I couldn"t touch him even when I reached out. It was impossible to touch him.

The Second"s face looked like he was going to cry.

The one-horned rabbit didn"t stop. It pulled out its horn and aimed at Sleigh this time.

The instant it jumped toward him.

Inside the rain, a sharp arrow pierced the one-horned rabbit"s body.

It didn"t stop with just one. Several arrows stabbed the one-horned rabbit"s body. The force of the arrows changed the direction of the one-horned rabbit"s body midair. It then fell on the ground and stopped moving.

When I looked at the direction the arrow came from, the Second──Cra.s.sel"s figure holding a bow was there.

Cra.s.sel hurriedly ran closer. Sleigh was crying while pleading to him.

『Nii-chan. Nii-chan is!』

Cra.s.sel hugged Dewy"s body.

The blood overflowing from his chest was mixing with rain while flowing to the ground.

『Dewy!? Oi, Dewy!!』

He called to him, but Dewy"s gaze was blank and he only moved his mouth slightly. His words couldn"t be heard because of the rain and Sleigh"s crying voice.

Cra.s.sel placed his hands on Dewy"s chest to stop his bleeding, but blood was flowing rapidly from between his fingers.

『It"s fine. I"ll bring you to the mansion right away. Kasanmother is waiting there. Your Bachangrandmother too──even your Jii-changrandfather is waiting for you.』

I could do nothing except watching this scene.

The wound was obviously fatal from a glance.

The panicked Cra.s.sel called at Dewy many times but there was no reply.

The small life vanished in his arms…….

『I"m sorry I didn"t make it in time. It must be hurt. It must be tough. ……I"m really sorry.』

He strongly and gently hugged him, and then he loudly cried and shouted toward the sky.

The Second looked embarra.s.sed seeing himself.

『……It was really pathetic. It makes me hate myself.』

「Tha, that"s not」

Before I finished speaking, the Second shook his head.

『It"s my own responsibility of being unable to protect Dewy. It would be okay if only I kept my promise.』

The children who were gone to practice bow.

The rain fell so they took shelter from rain, but it didn"t stop even after waiting for a while so they tried going back to the mansion even if they got wet from it.

While they were running under the rain unable to see well because of it, Sleight crashed on a one-horned rabbit.

Watching Cra.s.sel and Sleigh crying, I realized what kind of feeling the two of them had when seeing Dewy"s figure overlapping on Luka.

And then the reason why the First until the Third were hating one-horned rabbit also became clear. I was puzzled why they hated that monster so much but, I understood after knowing the reason.

……I also somehow understood why the three of them didn"t speak of the reason clearly. Surely they didn"t want to touch the happening of this day. No, perhaps they were unable to bring themselves to touch it.

「Second, I──」

『……I"m changing the scenery.』

The Second"s words cut me off.

When the rain stopped, the scenery changed to grey color. It was slowly changing color to a different scenery. When color returned to the scenery, it was a bow training place.

There a smiling Cra.s.sel was teaching bow to Dewy and Sleigh.

It seemed he made small bows for use of children and the two of them were practicing using those.

Dewy hit the target with his arrow.

The distance was short and it wouldn"t be hard to hit the target, but Cra.s.sel looked happy.

『You did great, Dewy!』

『Yep!』

On the other hand, Sleigh couldn"t do it well so it looked like he wanted to cry. Seeing that, Cra.s.sel ran to him in panic and talked to him.

『Sleigh, hold your bow more firmly. Right, like that……no good huh.』

Sleigh who couldn"t do it well looked at his big brother Dewy and cried.

『Let"s work harder, Sleigh.』

『……yes』

The Second was looking at that scene with a sad smile.

『Sleigh was obedient. You wouldn"t be able to imagine it right now but, he was always following behind Dewy and playing. Dewy was honest and kind. He was also taking care of Sleigh often because he was the big brother. Perhaps……this was the time when I was the most happiest.』

Cra.s.sel who was having fun teaching bow and the children training diligently.

『I was awkward after all. I didn"t understand they way to play. My father was like that after all, I couldn"t remember what he did for me at my childhood.』

The First. Basil, even from my standpoint he was an awkward person.

I didn"t know if he ever played properly with his child.

The Second looked back at me.

『Lyle……I don"t want to see that kid die. I also understand that he isn"t Dewy but, this is a request from me.』

He was saying that he wanted me to protect Luka.

I silently nodded and looked at Dewy"s figure.

He looked similar with Luka. No, I guess it was Luka who looked similar with Dewy.

The Second scratched his head in embarra.s.sment.

『I really didn"t want to show myself looking like that.』

「They why are you showing me now?」

『……Well, for various reasons. If I"m going to ask for a favor, then I believe that I also have to explain the reason.』

The Second"s face turned serious.

『Say, I"m changing the topic but……. You, actually can use my Art can"t you?』

I became unable to look at the Second"s face hearing those words. I felt my gaze wandering around.

『I"m not blaming you. Certainly I was angry several times but……I got the feeling that you failed on purpose.』

「……It"s true that I was unable to do it.」

『Really?』

When I fell silent, the Second smiled slightly.

『You, you made the same reaction like Sleigh.』

When I lifted my head, the surrounding scenery started changing once more.

This time it seemed that several years had pa.s.sed.

Sleigh had grown.

But, his hand was holding a sword instead of a bow.

Cra.s.sel was making a troubled face.

『Sleigh, do you hate bow?』

Sleigh looked down and wouldn"t look at Cra.s.sel"s face. And then, his gaze wandered.

『……I don"t hate it. It"s just I"m not good using it. I"m just training using sword which I"m good with.』

Seeing Sleigh making the same reaction like me made me felt embarra.s.sed for some reason.

If he was honest Cra.s.sel wanted him to train using bow, but the obstinate Sleigh was swinging sword in training.

The Second watched that scene while,

『Thinking back now……Sleight might be dragging along that day with him all this time.』

Perhaps he would be able to protect his big brother if he brought a sword instead of a bow?

I didn"t know whether he was thinking like that, but Sleigh wouldn"t even look at bow anymore since he lost his big brother.