Chapter 1 – Reunion

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A remarkably strong gust jolted the thicket, allowing summer’s sunlight to hit Tigre’s face as he was lurking within the brushwood. The youth furrowed his eyebrows lightly, but didn’t move at all beyond that. Something like this was an everyday occurrence when you were hunting. It was already a blessing if the sun didn’t hit your eyes.

Tigre was lying on his belly after having crawled into a thicket located in a dim forest. His left hand was gripping his family’s heirloom, a black bow, while his right hand was drawing on the nocked arrow.

While suppressing his breathing so as to melt with the forest’s atmosphere, Tigre was staring at a certain point. Around ten breaths later his prey showed up. A wolf clad in a fur cloak with a tinge of yellow. It was one size bigger than any ordinary wolf.

――It’s got black spots on its back. No doubt, that’s my target.

Two days ago Tigre stopped by a village near to this forest. There he had heard from the villagers that they were being plagued by a wolf. That individual, which had apparently strayed from its pack, was frequently attacking their fields and livestock.

The youth had offered to see whether he could do something about the beast.

After asking the villagers about all the details they knew, he walked around the forest, searching for the beast’s footsteps and feces. Once he had established a rough estimate of its routes, he had hid himself inside this thicket early in the morning.

Matching the wolf’s slow walk between the trees, Tigre faintly moved his body, adjusting his aim. Then he fully drew back the bowstring. The released arrow drew a gentle curve and homed in on the wolf’s head. Its body lightly bounced off the ground, before falling.

◆◇◆

Tigre’s official name was Tigrevurmud Vorn. At an age of seventeen he was the eldest son of the Earl Vorn family which ruled over Alsace, a fief situated at the remote border of Brune.

Currently he wasn’t in his homeland, but Zhcted’s Olmutz. He had received a secret decree from Brune’s King Faron.

Spring of this year Brune had forged an alliance with its neighbor Zhcted and invaded the southeastern Muozinel. Going by the conclusion, this invasion ended in failure and Brune as well as Zhcted’s armies had to retreat without achieving anything, but there was something several people in the alliance had noticed.

Someone was leaking information about the alliance to the enemy.

They couldn’t ignore this, and accordingly, Faron had ordered Tigre to ask Mila, the Vanadis whom he knew to be close with Tigre, for her cooperation. He didn’t tell him to track down the traitor, but entrusted him with the duty of being a contact person.

Seven Vanadis existed in Zhcted, but Tigre was especially close to Ludmila Lourie, the ruler of Olmutz. Both shared a relationship of being mutually in love with each other and they called each other with their pet names on all unofficial occasions.

Tigre had humbly accepted his appointment and journeyed to Zhcted together with his close aide Raphinaque. They crossed the Vosges, the mountain range serving as border between Brune and Zhcted, in a bit more than twenty days, arriving on Zhcted’s side five days ago.

Back when they had departed Alsace, the wind had still carried lingering traces of spring, but during their mountain crossing, summer had taken full control.

At present, they were around ten days away from Olmutz’s governmental residence.

◆◇◆

The villagers thanked Tigre exuberantly when he brought back a part of the wolf’s pelt.

“Man, you’re quite the hunter, aren’t you? Yet, I’ve heard that all Brunians are bad at archery.”

That evening the young village chief praised Tigre without restraint in the village’s small bar. While treating Tigre and Raphinaque to wine, which was the village’s treasure, he vividly described how much trouble the wolf had caused them while padding his tale with many gestures.

When he reached a breaking point in the story, he asked the two men where they were planning to go next.

“We’re on our way to the governmental residence. To meet someone,” Tigre replied.

Raphinaque revealed a grin at that way of phrasing. He had been introduced to the village as Tigre’s travel companion.

“No need to put on airs here. You can simply tell them that you’re going to meet your beloved.”

“Oohh, you have a lover?” The village chief cheerfully latched onto that small detail.

Tigre showed him a wry smile and dodged the question. After all, there was no way he could tell these people that he was going to meet the Vanadis ruling over this land.

“Oh right, speaking of the governmental residence, it seems like Lady Vanadis is soon going to pass this area.”

“Mi…Lady Vanadis is?”

He almost called her Mila by reflex, but immediately corrected himself. Probably thanks to the wine, the village chief didn’t notice Tigre’s blunder.

He deliberately ducked down and lowered his voice, “Yeah, I hear it’s about a dispute with our neighbors or some such.”

“Neighbors? You mean Leitmeritz?” Tigre imitated the young man and lowered his voice as well.

It was a famous fact that Mila and Eleonora, the Vanadis of Leitmeritz, shared a relationship like cat and dog. They’d glare at each other at every meeting. They’d hurl poisonous remarks and insults at each other in exchange for greetings. And things got close to them dueling each other more than one or two times. Those were the main rumors circulating among the people. And Tigre knew that all of this was true. He had heard so from Mila herself, and in the first place, one of the reasons for Olmutz to form a friendship with Alsace three years ago was to restrain Leitmeritz.

“No, not that one,” the village chief declined, waving a hand. “It’s the governor of the territory under the royal family’s control.”

Land of the royal family was situated between all the principalities ruled by the Vanadis. It was a measure adopted by the founding king of Zhcted so as to avoid the principalities having direct borders. Then again, those royal properties were that huge, and thus didn’t really impact the traffic between the principalities. If you checked the history of Zhcted, you’d find exchange and strife occurring between fellow Vanadis every now and then.

Such a royal land naturally existed between Olmutz and Leitmeritz as well, but a small discord had cropped up between the governor ruling that territory and Mila.

“Hoh, just what does that mean?”

Of course, the king was the one appointing the governors. Leaving aside their jurisdiction, they possessed more authority than average governors. When it came down to having a dispute with such people, it wouldn’t turn out very calmly.

“So far as I understand, it concerns the ownership of the forest that’s expanding all the way to the royal territory.”

“That sounds like a fairly troublesome issue…”

When Tigre pulled a corresponding face, the village chief nodded as if agreeing with Tigre.

“You can catch a lot of things in the forest, especially during this season. It’s somewhat exaggerated, but we also had a quarrel with the neighboring village over a single nut.”

“I totally get you,” Tigre supported the man wholeheartedly.

It wasn’t unusual for several territories to adjoin the same forests, river, or mountain. Just as the boundary line would change for some reason, nature would also change over time.”

It was said, 「If you yield one nut, three will be taken from you」. It meant people would take advantage of those being naive and easy-going. It was a Brunian proverb, but Mila and her mother Svetlana had taught Tigre that Zhcted possessed a similar saying. The youth guessed that it was something you’d be able to hear everywhere across the continent.

“Which reminds me, weird stories are making the rounds about that forest.”

This time the village chief inclined his head and peered at Tigre with upturned eyes.

“None of those who entered the forest have ever returned…”

The village chief’s expression and low tone would scare any child of tender age. However, Tigre and Raphinaque shrugged it off with a laugh.

“Hmm? It didn’t really scare you?”

“I think it’d work perfectly on children.”

“I see,” smiled the village chief and sat up straight. “Well, stories about people not coming back after entering a forest isn’t all that unusual during summer.”

The reason for this was simple. Just like the village chief had said earlier, you could catch and harvest an abundance of things in the forest. The summers of Zhcted were short, but the forests produced a lot during that short period of time, and the fish swimming in rivers also grew in size.

Therefore, people other than hunters and fishermen would keep entering the forests. They would head deeper and deeper into the forest while picking up all kinds of stuff, and once they realized their own situation, they’d be lost, unable to get out by themselves. Many people would lose their lives after trespassing into the turfs of wild beasts and getting attacked.

Tigre drank a mouthful of wine from his cup and returned to their main topic.

“About Lady Vanadis…if you don’t mind, would you allow us to stay in this village until Lady Vanadis passes this village? It’d become a great climax of our journey.”

“Let’s see…,” the village chief placed a hand on his chin, as if pondering. Then he pointed a stabbing look at Raphinaque, “The village girls are making a racket after having seen the lad over here, you know?”

Raphinaque, who was almost exactly ten years older than Tigre, had good looks, a tall figure, and a symmetric body build. He’d be a cool guy, if only he stayed silent, was a common comment about him in Alsace. There was no way that the village’s men would be amused seeing their girls getting all heated over an outsider.

“In that case, you don’t have to fret. He’s that sort of a man.”

Tigre exchanged an eye signal with Raphinaque. Raphinaque looked very hesitant, but he didn’t go against his lord’s wishes. Facing the village chief, Raphinaque smiled as if to show off his teeth. Seeing the two buckteeth, the village chief burst into laughter. With his face cast down, his whole body was trembling violently.

“Very well. I hear it’s going to take two or three days for Lady Vanadis to reach this village. Please use this bar to lodge. Ask for food and rest over here as well.”

“Thank you very much. If you allow, I have one more request to make.”

Tigre requested permission to enter the forest during their stay in the village.

“Of course, I won’t overhunt. The share will be two for us and eight for the village.”

The village chief gladly agreed to that.

◆◇◆

The next morning, Tigre immediately went into the forest with Raphinaque.

The sunlight was breaking through the gaps between the trees with their abundant leaf clothes, causing the forest to be rather bright. While being engulfed by a fresh, chilly air and the dense scent of greenery, the two men made their way through the forest at a relaxed pace. The ground was somewhat soft, making them feel as if they’d be able to walk on forever and ever.

“Man, walking on your own two feet feels really great,” Raphinaque commented jovially next to Tigre.

Tigre smiled teasingly at him, “That means your butt must already be fine, huh?”

When they had left Alsace, Tigre had planned to walk towards Olmutz. Because Raphinaque didn’t know how to ride a horse. Even during the war against Muozinel, he had followed Tigre as an infantryman.

But, thinking of Tigre, it was none other than Raphinaque who refused that notion.

“If you say it’s a decree by His Majesty the King, we should head to Olmutz as quickly as possible. Please don’t worry, Young Lord. I, Raphinaque, shall show you that I can learn to ride a horse during this journey.”

It also stemmed from him having his obstinacy as Tigre’s aide, but his words were mostly said out of consideration towards Tigre. Raphinaque knew about Tigre and Mila being in a romantic relationship. Tigre decided to rely on Raphinaque’s kindness.

And thus both left Alsace on horse, but Raphinaque got used to riding around the time when they had crossed the Vosges. During the journey, he had to frequently rest for a whole day due to muscular pain. And on some days he couldn’t even leave his bedding because of the pain coming from the skin on his butt.

“Thanks to you, the skin on my butt has become quite thick. Though I doubt I can keep up with you, Young Lord, in this regard,” Raphinaque retorted while smiling sarcastically.

Tigre lightly poked his flank.

“Still, the forests in Zhcted are different from the ones in Alsace, don’t you think?” Tigre raised his voice while looking around him.

Raphinaque responded with a doubtful look, “Really? Well, now that you mention it, it does feel different, but…”

“Yeah, it’s only natural for the trees and plants growing here to be different, but their hues and way of growing is somehow different, too.”

At times, Tigre spotted mushrooms and nuts, getting tempted into picking them, but he resisted the urge. Such things that could be harvested by anyone should be left to those who are no hunters. Not to mention the fact of Tigre being an outsider who entered the forest after asking for permission. It was necessary for him to demonstrate some prudence.

“But, it doesn’t seem like it’ll be that hard for the remaining two days in the village to turn into a hassle,” Raphinaque muttered while looking up at a tree.

Tigre tilted his head in puzzlement, “Did something irk you over there? They didn’t give me such a bad impression.”

He recalled last night’s conversation with the village chief. He wondered whether they’d be bullied by the jealous men of the village.

“No, it’s just, having to call you, Young Lord, Tigre inside the village… I wonder what Bertrand would say if he saw that.”

Bertrand was Urs’s personal attendant. He had had a big influence on Raphinaque calling Tigre as Young Lord nowadays.

“But, if you called me Young Lord, we’d draw unnecessary suspicions on us.”

Tigre and Raphinaque’s relation could be described as Brunian noble and his attendant, but Tigre was hiding his identity and he had told the village chief that they were a party of two travelers. Tigre was on the move after having received a secret directive, so even Tigre didn’t feel any need to reveal his standing without care about the other party.

“Maybe I should call you brother too.”

“Do I call you young brother then, Milord? That’s not bad. By the way, speaking of Bertrand――”

This again? Tigre put on a grim expression.

He didn’t know how often he had been confronted with this issue ever since leaving Alsace.

“Please take the matter with Titta into very careful consideration.”

“…I thought you approved of Mila and my relationship?”

“Of course I do. That’s why I even allowed myself to tease you about it in the village. But, those are two different cups of tea. I mean, Bertrand had been very clear about this to me as well, you see?”

Tigre fell silent while churning through his unruly, dark red hair. Titta was the maid who served the Vorn family. She was one year younger than Tigre and clearly in love with him. Tigre also liked her as a sort of little sister, so he was honestly happy when she confessed her love to him.

But, Tigre loved Ludmila Lourie as a man.

Problem was that Tigre’s standing didn’t easily allow him to “decline Titta’s love because he couldn’t accept it.” Tigre was the Vorn family’s eldest son and sooner or later he’d have to take over from his father as ruler of Alsace.

It wasn’t as though he didn’t have the option to ditch the Vorn family and make a fresh start in Zhcted. Tigre had a little brother called Dian. But, Dian was only two years old and an illegitimate child on top of that. At the present point in time, he couldn’t push all of the responsibility on his half-brother.

Moreover, Mila’s standing didn’t allow her to easily accept Tigre’s love either. She was the Vanadis governing the principality of Olmutz. A Vanadis was comparable in rank to a greater noble in Zhcted. It was out of the question for them to marry a foreign noble. To say nothing about a rural noble with a tiny territory in the sticks like the Vorns. If you spoke about status, a Vanadis was beyond any reach for Tigre.

And even if he could overcome this difference in standing, new problems would await him there, such as: Would the child born between Mila and Tigre be a member of the Vorn family?

The title of Vanadis wasn’t hereditary nor bound to a person by lifelong tenure. Officially they were chosen and appointed by the king, but as far as Mila had told Tigre, a weapon called viralt chose its wielder as Vanadis and the king only approved of that. Therefore even Mila couldn’t tell how long she’d remain a Vanadis.

Mila’s mother Lana had ruled over Olmutz as its Vanadis until roughly four years ago. Because she had suffered an injury during a battle against a demon, her viralt judged her as unfit to continue serving as Vanadis and chose Mila as its new Vanadis. And thus Lana stopped being a Vanadis.

Even so, Lana was respected and idolized by the people of Olmutz. Many royals and nobles also continued to stay in contact with her. In other words, Lana wielded a certain influential voice in Zhcted. Tigre assumed that Mila would eventually reach such a point as well, or rather, she had to reach that point.

And that’s where the earlier issue came into play: What if a child was to be born between Mila and Tigre?

A child born by Mila would become the child of an important person in Zhcted, and assuming the Vorn family demanded “the child as part of this family since it has Tigre’s blood flow through its veins,” it was unthinkable that Mila or Tigre would be able to easily hand it over.

In such a case, Tigre would be required to have a child with another girl. A child that might rule over Alsace as Tigre’s heir in a distant future. And Titta was suited as candidate for this since she was born in Alsace, stayed by Tigre’s side since their early childhood, and loved him dearly.

“――Right now, we are the only ones here, so you can freely voice what you think,” Raphinaque said with a serious look while walking a step behind Tigre who had eased up on his pace a bit. “Titta giving birth to your child will also be for her sake. She will become the mother of the next lord after you, so she’ll be treated preciously by her surroundings and a stable life will be guaranteed for her. For peasants like us that’s a dream-like development. Maybe you should at least give her something else, if you can’t answer her feelings?”

Tigre stopped and deeply sucked in the forest’s chilly air. And then he sighed just as deeply. He wanted to bite back at Raphinaque that he shouldn’t meddle in other people’s business, but he knew that it’d be too naive to actually voice it out. The one asking for unreasonable things was no one other than himself after all.

“I will give you my answer until we get back to Alsace. I also cherish Titta, you know?”

“I understand. Then let us bring that topic to a close. With this I’ll be able to continue our journey without wrecking my brain on how to break things to Bertrand,” Raphinaque answered with a deliberately bright tone while smiling.

Tigre finally relaxed the tension in his shoulders and nodded back at his companion.

Both advanced through the forest at a lighter step now. On that day Tigre caught one copper pheasant and one wild rabbit.

†

It was just after noon when 「Snow Princess of the Frozen Ripples」 Ludmila Lourie visited that village. The villagers had gathered on both sides of the main road, watching their Vanadis and her attendants.

Six attendants were with Mila. All of them wore shiny armor and their cloaks were embroidered with golden threads. The horses underneath them all looked strong and sturdy and the harnesses were glittering in silver. At the tips of their spears fluttered the Black Dragon Flag, the banner of Zhcted, and Olmutz’s flag.

And the appearance of Mila as she led the little group on her white horse was so stunning that it made people wonder whether splendor had adopted the shape of a person here. She held her viralt in her hand. Her glossy, blue hair fluttered in the wind. Her gallant way of steering her horse made those looking at her feel a dignity as appropriate for the ruler of Olmutz. Seeing the profile of her majestic face, the villagers could only sigh in admiration, regardless of gender.

Suddenly only Mila’s head moved and she looked down at the villagers. She lightly waved a hand with a sweet smile on her lips.

This caused a stir. Many villagers waved back, yelling Mila’s name or her title. On the other hand, those villagers, who missed her smile, lamented in disappointment, looking so devastated that you could think they were at their wits’ end.

When Mila’s group arrived at the village’s center, the village chief appeared together with several men. They all bowed their heads respectfully.

“For Lady Vanadis to visit our humble, remote village is truly unexpected. It is a place with nothing worthy of mention, but we shall prepare the little we have to offer. Please, come inside and rest your body for a short period of time.”

“I will gratefully accept your consideration. I think I will allow myself to take a rest for half a koku.”

Around the time when Mila had just become a Vanadis, she had considered such things a useless waste of time. They were still in good shape and the sun was standing high in the firmament, so they should move on quickly, she thought.

But, if she were to turn down the village chief’s offer, it’d stain the reputation of this village. The nearby villages and towns would assess it as a village that couldn’t even entertain its own Vanadis. And such rumors spread at an astonishing rate. It wasn’t a rare occurrence for a rule to start falling apart from such places.

After noticing that, Mila had revised her thinking. The one who made her realize all that was her lover from another country.

“Very well, please allow me to guide you then.”

The village chief and his men started to walk and Mila’s party followed them.

While spurring on her horse, Mila let her eyes wander casually. And then her shoulders reflexively jumped by something that caught her eye. She almost cried out in addition to that.

――Tigre…!?

Her lover stood in the shadow of a building. In traveling clothes. Probably because she put too much strength into the hand holding the reins out of sheer surprise, her horse neighed loudly.

“――Lady Vanadis?”

Being called out to by one of her attendants, Mila finally came to her senses.

“It’s nothing. Everything’s fine…,” she answered with a faintly trembling voice while casually placing a hand on her own chest to calm herself.

Her forehead was drenched in sweat and she was wondering whether she was dreaming right now or whether she wanted to see him so fervently that she had started to see him around every corner.

――Come to think of it, he did mention he’d come to Olmutz, didn’t he?

Mila recalled that as they were guided to the bar.

――So he’s already come all the way here. Sheesh, it’s because he’s doing such childish stuff.

She had no doubt that Tigre was standing in that location to surprise her. If she had loudly called out to him at that moment, it’d have wasted all her pretty dignity as Vanadis. Yet, it was important to leave an impression at opportunities like this since she didn’t really visit this area all that much.

The bar felt compact, but it was big enough to allow the seven visitors to relax. The village chief poured wine into the silver cups which an attendant had prepared.

After thanking him once more, Mila asked about the situation in the village and its circumference. She asked whether some disaster had struck recently, whether bandits had shown up, or whether they had any problems with the neighboring villages.

The village chief answered with a smile, “Thanks to you, this area is very peaceful. Recently we had been troubled by a stray wolf who had devastated our fields and such, but several days ago a wandering hunter took him down for us.”

“I see, that is wonderful news.”

Mila immediately knew that Tigre was meant here. Thinking that she should forgive him for startling her, she revealed a broad smile.

“In addition――”

Speaking up to that point, Mila furrowed her eyebrows. Feeling eyes on her, she looked towards the window. She saw Tigre’s face in the window which was so small that seeing a person’s face was the most it could offer.

If it had been just that, Mila would have probably been able to go on without showing any reaction. But, Tigre had smeared soil on his forehead and cheeks. Moreover his eyes were wide open and the corners of his mouth were raised to the absolute limit.

At this moment, Mila mustered all the strength available to her and suppressed her body which was on the verge of bursting into laughter. Her viralt, which had been leaning right next to her, reacted and scattered cold air, making Mila’s immediate vicinity glitter white.

“Umm, Lady Vanadis…?” The village chief called out to Mila, who was still staring towards the window, with obvious bewilderment dyeing his voice.

Mila turned back to him and grinned broadly, “This wine is delicious. Thanks.”

She assumed that this would sufficiently reward the village chief’s efforts. Moreover, it also rewarded Mila’s effort as she managed to keep her smile as Vanadis up.

†††

So far as it went, Tigre had an excuse for his behavior.

For him village inspections were usually carried out in a relaxed, informal mood, except for times when some sort of incident took place. As a matter of fact, Tigre would call out to Alsace’s residents in an openhearted manner and in return, the residents would also interact with him respectfully and intimately. This was the common way things were handled in Alsace.

Of course, Tigre also understood that things were handled differently in this region. But, because he got happy over being able to meet Mila, he ended up getting carried away.

After taking a short break, Mila’s party left the village. Immediately following that, Tigre thanked the village chief for his hospitality and chased after Mila’s party on his horse.

However, when he started to see them in the distance, one of Mila’s attendants turned his horse around and headed towards Tigre and Raphinaque. It was an elderly knight with carefully combed down gray hair and a well-kept, short beard. Spotting him, Tigre and Raphinaque raised their voices in joy.”

“Lord Galyinin! Long time no see!”

That knight was someone very familiar to the two. During the earlier war against Muozinel, he had assisted Tigre and Raphinaque in some ways.

But, Galyinin blocked their way, pointing his spear at them.

“Lord Galyinin…?” Tigre asked, looking bewildered.

Galyinin spoke up with a calm expression as befitting of an attendant.

“Lord Tigrevurmud, allow me to pass on Milady’s message for you: 『You are to not come any closer than 500 alsin until we take a rest at the next village』. Over.”

Tigre’s face froze, turning into that of a stone statue. His stomach felt like it had been stuffed with lead and his vision became blurry. The sweat appearing on his forehead trickled down his cheeks.

“Is she so mad about it…?”

“No, not at all,” Galyinin replied with a smile. “You should regard this level of punishment as gentle instead. Hence, please use the time and come up with good words of apology. Even for us it’s extremely unpleasant to stay next to a mistress who is in a bad mood.”

Having said all that he needed to say, Galyinin elegantly turned his horse around and spurred his horse into a gallop so as to catch up with Mila’s party, leaving behind Tigre and Raphinaque in his wake.

“As I expected, Titta suits you a lot more, doesn’t she, Milord…?”

Raphinaque’s words――said while looking into the distance――pained Tigre’s ears.

†

The moon had risen high into the sky. It had a somewhat swollen, elliptical shape rather than being a plain half moon, but it brilliantly illuminated the surface with the night sky as backdrop.

Mila was calmly drinking black tea in her room located on the second floor of an inn. A lamp of lower quality hung from the ceiling, serving as the sole light source inside the room.

The bed for a night in this inn was being provided by the village. Her attendants also had a room prepared for them, allowing them to take a rest while guarding Mila’s room in shifts.

By the way, Mila had brought the tools and various leaves for brewing tea with her from her official, governmental residence.

You could see the moon through the window that had been left wide open. It was still summer, but as might expected, the air would cool down as the night advanced. Still, Lavias protected Mila from coldness as it was leaning against a nearby wall.

Suddenly, Mila’s hand with the tea cup stopped. She felt a presence outside the window. Followed by someone or something climbing a wall. But, she couldn’t sense any hostility.

Fingers clutched the window frame from outside, followed by a reserved voice.

“…Is it okay for me to come in?”

Mila sighed.

What is he talking about after having come all the way?

“Hurry up and get inside. What are you going to do if someone were to spot you climbing the wall?”

As soon as she said so, a youth nimbly climbed through the window, entering the room in a rather uncommon way. Of course, it was no one other than Tigre. His movements were as flexible as those of a cat and you could hardly hear any footsteps from him.

Tigre quickly turned around to Mila, sat down on the spot, and bowed his head deeply.

“I’m truly sorry for today. I went too far.”

Mila turned her face away, silently sipping on her tea. Her anger still hadn’t abated. She had only let Tigre into the room because it’d have turned into a huge uproar if Tigre had been discovered, damaging the honor of this village and her attendants.

Probably reacting to her wielder’s anger, Lavias blew a gust of cold air against Tigre’s head. Tigre’s body shivered reflexively, but he spun his apology without raising his head.

“Hearing that you’d visit that village, I wanted to surprise you. I knew that it’d be an inspection, but once I got the idea, I wanted to go through with it no matter what. I didn’t think it through properly…”

“No kidding, sheesh.”

Mila placed the almost empty white porcelain cup on the floor and picked up Lavias. Thrusting Lavias’s spearhead at him, she interrogated Tigre with a chilly voice.

“What do you think would have happened if I had burst into laughter on that occasion?”

“That in itself would have unexpectedly led to you befriending――”

Tigre stopped talking since Mila struck the back of his head with the spearhead.

“It’s not just an issue of my dignity as Vanadis. It’d have also destroyed the reputation of those villagers. If it had been done by some village children, you could still laugh it off and forgive them for it, but for a mere traveler to do something so rude… In the worst case, you wouldn’t have been able to leave the village unscathed.”

Tigre remained silent. But, perceiving that his silence was just a sign of him wanting to say something, Mila furrowed her eyebrows.

“If you want to say something, then speak up. I’ll listen to whatever you have to say as your final words.”

After waiting for around three breaths as if hesitating, Tigre answered timidly, “Umm, I think the village chief was a rather reasonable man…”

While objecting,” That’s not the problem here, you know?”, Mila remembered something. Tigre had stayed in that village for several days. He had also dealt with the wolf plaguing that village. In light of all that, his impressions of the village might be somewhat different from hers.

“I heard you killed a wolf, but how many days did that take you?”

Tigre was confused by the sudden question, but immediately answered, “Two days.”

――As expected.

It wasn’t as though Mila was particularly bad at hunting. The same also applied to her attendants.

But, if you asked her whether they’d be able to take down a wolf, even if it was just one beast, within two days, she’d have to deny it. Moreover, because Tigre had done it for them, they were able to proceed without any delays in their schedule.

Pursing her lips, she stared at Tigre while wondering what to do about this. At that moment, Tigre took something out of the inner part of his tunic. It seemed to be a piece of cloth that wrapped up something small.

“That’s…?”

Tigre raised his face, placed down the cloth in front of Mila, and carefully unfolded it. What came into sight were three, white flowers. Mila remembered having seen the shape of the leaves and the bulging petals. As she stared at the flowers in wonder, Tigre explained with his face cast down.

“After we were turned away by Lord Galyinin, I remembered that I had discovered these inside the forest next to that village. I quickly went back and got permission from the village chief to enter that forest once more.”

He didn’t have any plans to pick the flowers when he found them before. It had various uses such as being contorted as medicinal plants or being used as perfume and dye, but this was yet another precious resource for the village.

Tigre passed several copper coins to the village chief to be allowed to pluck the flowers. Then again, the village chief would have likely turned down the request, if Tigre hadn’t told him that he’d be taking those to his lover, in addition to paying money for them.

As Mila was thoroughly scrutinizing the three flowers, a light knocking could be heard from the other side of the room’s door.

“――Lady Vanadis, is something the matter?” The attendant on watch duty asked with a suspicious tone through the door, probably having heard their voices.

“It’s nothing. I was just voicing out my thoughts a bit. Don’t worry about it.”

After deceiving her attendant like that, Mila faced Tigre once more.

“…Did you pick those for me while knowing that they were Vila flowers?” She suddenly asked after a pause.

Tigre nodded.

The memories of the two about this flower dated back to three years when Tigre was staying in Olmutz. Mila had served him black tea with a petal of this flower floating on the surface.

――If you let one Vila petal float on black tea using these tea leaves, it’ll change the aroma. I consider the person, who discovered this, to be incredible.

Mila had explained to Tigre, who was praising the difference, with her eyes sparkling.

Mila sighed once more. However, this time it was for the sake of ejecting her anger.

“――This will cost you some points,” Mila said after returning Lavias to the wall. “I haven’t forgiven you yet, but I’ll give you a chance to redeem yourself. It doesn’t matter what. Just satisfy me in some way. Got it?”

If Galyinin had been present, he might have commented that this was almost as if she had completely forgiven Tigre.

Tigre nodded powerfully so as to exhibit his determination. After seeing that, Mila cast a sweet smile on him.

“Long time no see, Tigre. I didn’t expect that we’d be able to meet again so quickly.”

†

As luck had it, Mila had one of the tea leaf types, which would change their aroma thanks to the Vila petals, on her. She brewed the black tea inside the white porcelain cups and handed Tigre his cup.

“Thanks,” he said and tasted the tea.

The refreshing aroma hitting his nose, the tea’s heat, and the faint sweetness all calmed his senses. After having a fill of those, Mila plucked off a petal and gently let it float in his. This added a faint sweetness to the tea’s aroma, causing Tigre to sigh unconsciously. As he held the tea in his mouth, the taste also changed subtly.

Mila brewed another tea for herself and enjoyed its taste and aroma after adding a petal.

“The difference in aroma clearly comes out with freshly picked flowers. You found something nice there.”

For a while both enjoyed their tea in silence. Around the time when both had emptied their cups, Mila put on an appalled expression as if she had remembered it just now.

“Still, why did you enter through the window? Had you spoken to Galyinin, you would have been able to enter normally, right?”

“No, the sun had set around the time when I reached this village,” Tigre ransacked his dark red hair while looking embarrassed.

Tigre and Raphinaque had driven their horses like mad after he plucked the Vila flower, but by the time they arrived in this village, it was already dark outside. Although they somehow managed to receive permission for entering the village by explaining that they were looking for an inn as travelers and paying some small change, they had been guided to the stable.

“We have big guests in this village today. Please don’t leave this stable until dawn.”

When Tigre asked further, he was told that young villagers were patrolling the inn’s perimeter. From the village’s point of view, this was probably a reasonable measure. Them allowing Tigre and Raphinaque into the village seemed to also stem from the calculation that it’d be better to lock the two away in the stable than letting them wander around outside the village after refusing their request.

Of course, Tigre had no intention to obediently do as told. He secretly slipped out of the stable when the villagers weren’t looking, and approached the inn while using the darkness to his advantage. And then he met Galyinin, who had been patrolling the surroundings together with the young villagers, got him to distract the youngsters, and swiftly climbed the wall himself.

“Sir Galyinin was sure that I’d come here. I cannot thank him enough. It was also a help for the moon to be out. I mean, it’s my first time in this village.”

“Galyinin is a bit too soft on you,” Mila giggled while brewing another tea.

But, her face immediately turned serious.

“Just what happened for you to come to Zhcted?”

Tigre told her about the secret decree he had received from King Faron and that there might have been a traitor during the previous war.

Mila lowered her eyes on the remaining half of her tea.

“I’ve also heard talks about the possibility of a traitor.”

“I see. So Zhcted shares similar suspicions, huh? That means it’s no false assumption, I guess.”

Mila revealed a teasing smile in response to his words, “But, he told you to act as a contact person, but not to search for the traitor, right…? Considering it’s a personal order by the king, I really can’t tell whether he’s expecting anything from this.”

“I doubt he hopes to get any results out of this,” Tigre readily admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “His Majesty took an interest in me because Sir Roland had told him about me. If we speak about the things that could have drawn Sir Roland’s attention during the war against Muozinel, it’d be me defeating the war elephants with bow and arrow or me having been close to you, I think. Given that His Majesty knew that the exchange between Alsace and Olmutz isn’t just a front, he thought that he could at least entrust me to act as contact person…. Isn’t it something along these lines?”

Mila slightly widened her eyes at this explanation, looking at him with a tinge of admiration.

“You’re awfully calm about this, aren’t you?”

“To be honest here, I was kind of elated over this until I left Alsace.”

During the journey, even Tigre had attempted to analyze many times over why he had really received that secret decree.

“Of course, I’m going to carry out my contact duty properly. I’ll also search for the traitor as far as it’s possible for me. But, I think that I might be one of His Majesty’s moves to lead the traitor on a wrong track. Since I was able to reunite with like this, I’ve got nothing to complain, though.”

Mila couldn’t reply to Tigre right away. Frowning like a researcher who’s faced with a challenging problem, she stared at the lamp hanging from the ceiling.

“Is something wrong?” Tigre asked, considering her behavior strange.

Mila returned her eyes to her lover, “It’s just something I feel for some reason or another, but…I wonder whether someone else besides Sir Roland might have recommended you to King Faron. ――Like Prince Regnas for example.”

Tigre cocked his head in response, putting on an expression of denial.

“I don’t really think that His Highness still remembers me. I haven’t met with His Highness ever since the hunting festival…”

It was something that took place seven years ago when Tigre was still ten years old. King Faron had invited domestic and foreign nobles to a hunting festival. At the hunting ground of Vincennes located east of Brune’s capital Nice.

Generations of Brunian kings have repeatedly held hunting festivals, trying to deepen the friendship with the domestic nobles and foreign guests of honor by inviting all of them to join the hunt. Many nobles had attended King Faron’s festival, too. Tigre’s father Urs had taken him there as one of the participants.

During that event, Tigre had met Prince Regnas who had sneaked away from his chaperon. Because Tigre hadn’t had the time to properly greet the prince and since he was the only young noble using a bow, the prince had remembered Tigre.

Archery was scorned as the craft of cowards in Brune and you could safely claim that no noble or knight would try to train his archery skills.

“So you truly can use the bow?”

Being asked so by the prince who had the same age as him, Tigre showed him how he easily took down a bird with his bow. Tigre’s mood improved when he saw the prince’s sparkling eyes and he quickly lit a fire, prepared the bird, grilled it over the fire, and sprinkled salt on the brown meat. Then he offered it to the prince. The young royal hesitated at first, but watching Tigre heartily bite into the tender meat, he extended a hand. Having bitten into the freshly roasted meat, the prince became all excited and told Tigre with a broad smile, “It’s my first time to have eaten freshly-roasted, hot meat.”

Up until now he hadn’t told anyone other than Mila about this.He kept a secret from Raphinaque, Bertrand, Titta, and even his father. The son of a rural noble hadn’t shown an ounce of politeness as would be appropriate towards a royal, had cockily hunted a bird, and had offered the kingdom’s prince meat without knowing whether it was safe――though Tigre did try it first. Calling it disrespectful would still be kind.

If the prince had told someone about all of this, things wouldn’t have ended nicely for Tigre and the Vorn family. Considering it like that, it was unthinkable for him being able to reveal this to anyone. And he had only told Mila about it because she was a Zhcted person.

For a while after the hunting festival had ended, Tigre had trembled in fear while reflecting on his own actions, but just as there was no summon by the royal palace afterwards, no royal messenger had appeared in Alsace either, so he had interpreted it as the prince having very likely kept it secret. Thinking about it now, the prince having secretly slipped out had probably played a role as well. Tigre assumed that the prince might not have had the option to talk to someone else about this.

“You’re right. Maybe I’m overthinking it.”

It wasn’t as though Mila had some basis to believe so. If forced to say, you could call it a sort of her playing favorites with Tigre by thinking that someone other than Roland might hold Tigre in high esteem. But, it was nothing she would insist on.

Pulling herself together, Mila smiled gently. It was a face she only showed to Tigre.

“I now understand the circumstances. Of course, I’ll welcome you. Besides, searching for the traitor is also of utmost importance for Zhcted. Let’s make sure to definitely find them.”

“Thanks. I was certain you’d say so.”

The two exchanged a smile underneath the dim lamp. Immediately following, Mila pulled a troubled face as if having realized something.

“Sorry, I haven’t talked about my schedule yet, have I? The inspection of the villages around here is something I’m just doing since I have the chance to do it now. An important talk is slated to take place in two days. I will go back to my official residence afterwards.”

“I heard this in the village. They said you’re quarreling with the governor of the royal family’s land over a forest neighboring your territory?”

Mila revealed a wry smile in response.

“It helps that I don’t have to explain from the beginning, but I’m not very happy about the rumors spreading.”

“Everyone probably wants to enter the forests during this season. So it can’t be helped that such a matter easily draws attention,” Tigre consoled Mila.

Mila removed the petal from her now lukewarm tea and drank the rest in one go.

“What are you going to do? You should generally know the route to the official residence from here. You could go back first, greet my mother, and――”

“If possible, I’d like to keep accompanying you,” Tigre interrupted her with a grin. “I know that I can’t join the meeting. But, I think it’d be fine for me to at least watch over you from a distance.”

Mila’s cheeks blushed as she stared at the floor while holding the cup in both hands. After a short moment, she looked up to Tigre.

“You want to stay by my side so much…?”

Her provocation――brimming with plenty of fawn――had a devastating effect. Tigre sidled up to Mila while on his knees.

“If you allow it, I’d even like to hug you right here and now.”

“T-That won’t do.”

Mila drew back in a hurry, grabbed Lavias, and thrust it in front of Tigre’s nose. He reflexively bent back when hit with a wall of cold air coming from the spear’s tip. As if fed-up with this, the ruby embedded in the spearhead’s center started to blink.

“I told you that you lost some points, didn’t I? Such things are strictly off-limits until you redeem yourself. I mean it’s not like I permitted you that thing from before either.”

“…That thing from before?”

He could easily imagine what she meant, but he deliberately asked with a smile. He suspected she was talking about their farewell after the war against Muozinel had ended. Tigre had stolen her lips through a surprise attack back then.

As she apparently saw through his thoughts from his expression, she knocked Tigre’s head with Lavias.

Tigre asked while rubbing his head, “Is there something worrying you about the meeting with the governor?”

The part that caught Tigre’s intention here was how Lima had tried to have him go ahead of her to the official governmental residence. Of course, she was a girl who was quite capable of being considerate of others in such a way, but he felt like another reason was at play here this time around.

Apparently wavering, Mila stared at the tip of Lavias which was resting in her hand. But, it looked like her trust in Tigre won out in the end. She raised her face and directed her blue eyes at her lover.

“We’re quarreling over the forest…that’s what you’ve heard, right? What do you know about the details?”

“If I remember correctly, it’s about property rights.”

“Property rights, huh? You’re not wrong there. If that’s the rumor going around, I feel it’s within a permissible range.”

Mila revealed a smile tinged with a faint tinge of sarcasm as Tigre answered her after searching his memory.She drew a simple map on the ground with her finger.

“My Olmutz, the land of the royal family, and Eleonora’s Leitmeritz. The forest extends across those three territories. In the shape of cutting the edges of each. Over here it’s called the Forest of Kuttner, but――” Mila continued with a grave expression, “――it looks like that forest is expanding.”

Tigre looked bewildered by her odd words. An unnatural silence spread between the two.

“…It’s a forest located at the edge of your territory, right? In such a case, such things do happen occasionally as well, don’t they?” Tigre asked with a solemn expression, having suddenly understood a certain fact.

Edge of territory also meant opportunities to visit the area would be extremely rare. Accordingly, maps would easily lack accuracy, too. After all, it’d be difficult to check whether a map was correct. Moreover, if a harsh, natural environment was left to its own devices, border lines would become even more ambiguous because you wouldn’t be able to simply go into the area.

Under these circumstances it was possible for mountainous areas and forests at the edge of a territory to grow or shrink. Even Tigre’s homeland Alsace was a bit dodgy around the edges on the maps created by generations of lords, if you excluded the locations of roads and villages.

But, Milla shook her head at Tigre’s comment, pulling a troubled face.

“At first I also thought that it was something which would often happen at the edges of a territory, but…”

Once she looked into it, the forest seemed to be truly expanding. The closest village was around five belsta away from the forest, but she had received reports telling her that the forest had clearly drawn closer. Moreover, the reports also mentioned that most of the people who had entered the forest, never came back out again.

Mila had dispatched her knights after deciding to have the forest investigated, but an unexpected nuisance joined the fray. The governor of the royal land, Leszek, sent the knights away when they tried to enter the forest.

“Since the forest belongs to the royal family, it’s forbidden for people of Olmutz to enter it. So they were told. My subordinates asked him over and over again without trying to force their way through, but they told me that he didn’t lend them an ear.”

“I guess that’s inevitable. I mean, it’d be bad to get on the wrong side of a governor ruling over royal land.”

Mila’s decision had been swift. She sent a messenger to Leszek to question him about the matter in question while taking a few attendants with her to head over to the forest herself.

“I got a response from Sir Leszek on the way. He said he’d like to settle the dispute about the property rights.”

Confidence and daringness were absent on Mila’s face as she said this. Tigre found that to be odd. Usually, she would never falter away just because the other party happened to be a governor of royal land.

“Are you bad with him or something? Does he have a weird quirk in the way he talks or is he extremely pushy?”

“It’s a problem on my side. Well, to be frank, it should be called a blunder on our side. The boundary line around the vicinity of the forest has been always rather vague in Olmutz’s records. ――Do you know why that is so?”

A gleam of wanting to test her lover lit up inside Mila’s eyes. Tigre felt a tinge of relief. If she was still able to interact with him in a way of teacher and student, her usual composure was still there just fine.

“Is it because it’s more convenient to keep it that way? For example, because that area is prone to experiencing forest fires?”

Assuming a fire occurred in a forest extending into two territories, both lords would push responsibility for that forest, and thus the ownership, on the other.

「A fire has occurred in the forest owned by you and it even caused damage to my territory. What are you going to do about this?」

Considering such a possibility, many lords didn’t define the ownership of forests extending into their territory clearly.

Mila placed her index finger on her lips as if peeved or hesitant, and brooded, but after breathing out lightly, she grinned at Tigre.

“Right. I’ll let it pass as the correct answer.”

Feeling that she wasn’t fully satisfied with something in his answer, Tigre leaned his body forward a bit and asked, “Is the official answer a different one?”

“That’s not it. Forty to fifty years ago, around the time when my great-grandmother used to be Olmutz’s Vanadis, bandits caused a lot of damage in the region centered around that forest. The bandits used the woods as base and raided villages and towns not only in Olmutz, but also Leitmeritz and the royal land. At this time, all three parties denied ownership over the forest, deliberately keeping the boundary line unclear.”

“I see,” Tigre agreed.

If bandits nested in a forest, the lord, who owned that forest, would have to deal with those bandits. All would be fine if the bandits could be reliably defeated with a single campaign, but if they managed to escape, it’d make it necessary to stay vigilant in this area for a long period of time. That would be quite vexing for a lord.

However, Mila’s story didn’t end there.

“Next, thirty to forty years ago, during the time when my grandmother was Vanadis, they apparently discovered a settlement close to the forest. It consisted of former bandits, former mercenaries, and other people who had escaped after being unable to bear the strict rule in other territories… It’s said all sorts of people had gathered there. Because this settlement touched upon the three territories in a weird way, the three parties argued under whose jurisdiction the settlement was. And because of that, they obscured the boundary lines once again.”

“I see,” Tigre agreed.

If the settlement belonged to a specific territory, its lord would be able to take taxes. They’d also be able to conscript from the settlement during wars. It’d likely be possible to take a rest there as well, if it was a small unit. Then again, all of this would only apply if the people living in that settlement were to show an openness to obey the lord and his rules. It’d be one thing if the people in that settlement only said that they would obey, but if they actively attacked other villages in the area, they would need to be labeled as bandits and put down.

Considering it from the measures Mila’s grandmother took, they apparently didn’t obey either way.

“And then fifteen to sixteen years ago, around the time when my mother was Vanadis…”

“There’s still more to this?” Tigre blurted out instinctively.

“This is the last one,” Mila assured him with a wry smile and continued, “A forest fire occurred, burning down almost half of the forest.”

As if it was natural, Lana had obscured the boundary lines.

“…Quite a challenging problem.”

Tigre couldn’t say anything besides that after listening to the end. The royal land’s administration would naturally have those records as well, he suspected. Even if Mila were to suddenly claim ownership now, the governor would simply use those records against her.

“I don’t plan to blame my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. I’d have doubtlessly done the same, if I had been in their shoes. If the other party is landed nobility, I can easily take care of them, though.”

Mila shrugged her shoulders. Vanadis were next in rank after the king in Zhcted, so few nobles would act cocky towards them. Moreover, landed nobility often made tangible and intangible deals to cope with such situations, so it’d be easy to tell them, 「I’m going to accommodate you on the next occasion, so please concede this time」.

But, this time the other party was a governor who had been appointed by the royal family. Even if it affected his honor, he likely wouldn’t pull back readily.

“Eleonora, was it? What does the Vanadis of Leitmeritz intend to do? The forest is also extending into her principality, isn’t it?” Tigre asked the questions, which had suddenly crossed his mind, after a short moment of hesitation.

And sure enough, Mila frowned, pouted, and pulled an unhappy expression.

“Don’t know and don’t care either,” she turned her face away after being very curt about it.

Tigre asked himself whether he should ask, 「How about I meet her and ask her myself?」, but decided to shelve that idea for now. He supposed he should wait for the next opportunity.

“Is there anything I can do?”

It wasn’t as though he had some ingenious idea. But, Tigre still wanted to assist her as much as he could.

Tilting her head slightly to the side, Mila cast a teasing smile at him, “You’re going to watch over me, right? That’ll be plenty.”

“Got it.”

For now I’ll gratefully accept her consideration, Tigre thought and nodded. I have a lot of things I must learn during my stay in Olmutz. After all, it’s my wish to stay next to Mila.

“Now then――” Mila stretched herself lightly, “――We’ve only been talking about formal stuff. Let’s now speak about something else, okay? How many days did you stay in that village? I also want to hear how you brought down that wolf in just two days.”

Tigre broke into a smile. He thought he should at least tell her some fun things to make her relax a bit.

“We arrived at that village five days before you…”

The moon, as it shone through the window, now stood higher in the sky compared to when Tigre had entered this room. While paying attention to not be heard outside, the two happily chatted with each other.

†

Close to the Forest of Kuttner, on top of a small hill surrounded by grassland, stood a villa with the name 「Domovoj Mansion」. It was a holiday house belonging to Mila, or to be more precise, the Vanadis of Olmutz. More than twenty such villas were spread across Olmutz and they’d be used by the Vanadis when she went on inspection in the distant corners of her principality, met with neighboring lords, or took a rest.

Domovoj was a fairy appearing in Zhcted’s folklore. They were said to protect homes while lurking in hearths and entry halls. Alongside Kikimora, a fairy that also protected homes, these two were often used in the names of the villas.

Governor Leszek had agreed to meet with Mila in this villa.

Two days after Mila’s nightly chat with Tigre, around noon when the sun only needed a little push to reach its zenith, they had arrived at Domovoj Mansion. As far as Mila was concerned, she had planned to move while keeping her calm, but when she advanced her horse all the way to the front of the mansion, she recognized the figures of several horses and people, causing her to be assailed by an unforeseen surprise.

“It has been a long time, Lady Vanadis.”

A man, his fat body hidden underneath the gray uniform of an official, stepped out in front of her. He was in the midst of his thirties, and his round face was so red that you’d suspected he had drunk too much vodka, but this was something he had since his birth. Freckles dotted his cheeks. Short, black hair adorned only the top of his head. Like a strawberry’s calyx.

This was Governor Leszek. His small eyes twinkled with blatant hostility.

――「Strawberry Head」 fits him truly perfectly.

Mila muttered in her mind. It was the nickname his haters had attached to this man. Behind Leszek stood people wearing the same gray uniform as him. Mila assumed them to be his subordinates. All of them looked very formal and stiff.

“I arrived here this morning, just to be surprised by no one else being present here. Although you told me that it would be an important meeting, you only now arrive here, leisurely trotting on your horse. Did you find some scenery that drew your attention on the way here?”

Mila warded the governor’s biting comment off with a bright smile.

“Oh my, I see you kindly came here in quite a hurry, Sir Leszek. I don’t have many opportunities to come all the way out here, so I listened to the worries and concerns of the people in the villages where I stayed. If something were to happen to the principality which His Majesty the King entrusted with me, I would feel terribly bad as his retainer.”

“What a splendid display of loyalty. I feel the same way you do. And as fellow servants of His Majesty, we should make sure to not complicate things unnecessarily.”

“Indeed. How about we share a fruitful discussion today?” Mila observed Leszek’s face while getting off her horse.

She only felt discomfort from him twisting his lips as if to mock her. Before leaving her governmental residence, Mila had her people investigate Leszek. She had met him on several occasions until now, but because she never had any serious disputes with him, she hadn’t paid him much attention.

He seemed to be quite excellent as governor. But, on the other hand, there were rumors about him being an extremely malicious man.

There was a small room next to the office where Leszek would carry out his governor’s work. He’d sent the subordinates, who made mistakes, in there and force them to recite words of repentance for one koku. Regardless of whether they got hungry or had to relieve themselves, he’d have them start over from the beginning whenever they made a verbal slip-up without letting them out of the room until they finished.

――Mother described this guy as a treacherous, petty official, but…

Mila entrusted her horse to Galyinin, and opened the door of the villa while guiding Leszek’s group. An old person clad in a white robe was drawn on the door ―― Domovoj.

The inside of the villa was clean and the air was cool. In addition to a villager from a nearby village regularly cleaning this place, she had dispatched people ahead of time to get the villa cleaned in preparation.

“Would you like to drink something? I will brew black tea for you, so please tell me.”

“Hoh, It is too much of an honor for me to partake in your famous black tea, Lady Vanadis.”

Mila exchanged some trivial talk with Leszek while keeping up an impeccable, artificial smile. But, there was no sign of the hostility having vanished from the governor’s eyes. Looking at his subordinates, Mila saw how each of them carried large bags on either shoulder. Those bags seemed pretty heavy because all of them pulled strained faces.

Mila suspected that the bags were stuffed with various documents that Leszek would use during their upcoming discussion. Mila had her attendants carry three times as many.

――I guess this is impossible.

Mila sighed quietly while walking through a hallway.

†

Tigre and Raphinaque were currently in a place just 300 alsin away from 「Domovoj Mansion」. They had sat down in the meadows while still in their traveling clothes, gazing at the villa that stood all alone on a hill. Two horses were peacefully grazing next to the two.

The sky was azure and the sunlight dazzling. The heat was somewhat softened by the wind passing through the grassland. Raphinaque had thrown himself on the ground and casually talked while chewing on a short stalk of grass.

“On days like these I feel like getting on a horse and riding wherever the wind takes me.”

Tigre looked at his aide and cracked a teasing smile, “Since I’m going to hold onto the reins at such a time, make sure to cling to the horse’s neck.”

Although he’d finally gotten used to riding a horse, Raphinaque’s posture as he steered his horse was still dodgy at best. If he were to spur his horse into a genuine gallop, he’d likely be thrown off his mount within a hundred alsin, Tigre assumed.

Seeing his young lord’s expression having softened, Raphinaque changed the topic.

“I do know how you feel, but worrying about things won’t change anything, Young Lord.”

A shadow crossed Tigre’s expression.

“…You think things will go well for Mila?”

“If I judge based on what I’ve heard from you, I’d say that’s impossible. Lord Galyinin didn’t give me the impression of being confident either. So I think it’d be best for you to come up with some words of encouragement and comfort.”

After a long sigh, Tigre casually shifted his eyes. A big forest that looked deep black was visible in the distant west. This was the Kuttner Forest mentioned by Mila. The only things of notice you could find in the vicinity of the forest were grasslands and the hill with the villa on top.

If it’s this kind of terrain, it’s definitely difficult to fully grasp the size of the forest, Tigre assessed. Whether you’re told it’s expanding or it’s remained the same all the time; both options appear quite believable.

It was at this moment that a weird shiver ran through Tigre’s body.

――Eh…?

Tigre reflexively grabbed his black bow and stood up, staring at the Kuttner Forest while putting himself on guard. Apparently puzzled by the youth’s sudden actions, Raphinaque called out to him, but his words didn’t enter Tigre’s ears at all. His palms were drenched in sweat and his heart was beating hard from nervousness.

――Am I being watched?

It took place for just an instant, but Tigre definitely sensed a gaze on himself. Something or someone had looked at them from inside the forest.

“Is something the matter, Young Lord?” Raphinaque got up and tapped Tigre’s shoulder.

Tigre pointed at the forest, about to tell him about what had happened just now, but he swallowed his words. The distance from their current location to the forest was around five to six hundred alsin going by eye measurement. Assuming someone had looked at them from such a distance, would Tigre really notice it?

Apparently misunderstanding Tigre’s silence, Raphinaque revealed a wry smile.

“You’re not thinking of something silly like sneaking into that forest for the sake of your princess, are you?”

“No, thanks. It’d be really scary if something went wrong there.”

If he got spotted and caught on top of people finding out about him being close to Mila, it wouldn’t just end with giving her trouble. Tigre didn’t dare to brave such a danger.

“Raphinaque, do you feel something while looking at that forest?”

“Let’s see… I think it’s pretty huge, as might be expected of a forest spanning over three territories,” answered Raphinaque while tilting his head.

――Is it just my imagination?

Tigre asked himself, but strangely he couldn’t tear his eyes off the Kuttner Forest.

†

The talks between Mila and Leszek finished in the evening with a breakdown of negotiations.

The Strawberry Head brought forth all records of the royal territory, claiming that the royal land had complete ownership over the forest. He insisted that he didn’t plan to allow any people of Olmutz to enter the forest.

Mila showed her willingness to compromise several times, and although she didn’t accept Leszek’s claim of owning the entire forest, she recognized a part of it belonging to the royal land and offered that it’d be fine for her side to pay a usage fee in accordance to that, but Leszek didn’t agree to this. He remained unmoving and inflexible throughout their whole discussion. He rejected the story about the forest expanding, claiming that it had been initially measured by eye anyway. Given that many people went missing after entering the forest, Mila requested that she’d like to launch an investigation into that matter.

In response to that, Leszek smiled contemptuously and said, “Many people enter the forest around this time of the year, so it’s only natural for the number of missing people to grow in proportion. It’s something any ruler knows. I think you received similar reports last year and the year before that as well, but did you send your subordinates into the forest each time this happened? If you did, I’d like you to show me the records of that.”

“Of course, there was no way for such records to exist. But, Mila hung on here.

“Sir Leszek, you seem to put awfully much faith in records, but I think every ruler knows that records will sometimes be kept halfheartedly. In reality, you can see several parts where the records you prepared and the ones I prepared run counter to each other. Shouldn’t we let records be records for a moment and instead listen to the recent requests of the residents?”

“I see. So you’re saying you believe the voices of your residents over your own records, Lady Vanadis?”

“Depending on the circumstances, yes.”

Once Mila answered in such a way, Leszek narrowed his eyes into a hateful glare.

“Your mother said the same thing in the past as well. Like mother, like daughter, I guess.”

“Indeed, I’m very proud of my mother.”

There were times when their conversation was on the verge of derailing like this as well, but starting from the conclusion, their negotiations didn’t bear any fruits whatsoever.

Since the sun had gone down when they finished, Mila and her company rested their bodies in the villa, but Leszek’s group didn’t leave their guest rooms, obviously refusing to have even the slightest lighthearted chat.

Once dawn broke, both parties quickly departed from the villa.

“Holy cow, what an inflexible man he is, that Strawberry Head. Sure, our side has plenty of issues as well, but I cannot avoid the impression that he simply wanted to harass me.”

While riding through the grasslands with Tigre next to her, Mila explained the details of the negotiation while venting her complaints without hiding any of her unhappiness. Galyinin and Raphinaque rode behind those two.

Currently they were heading for the Kuttner Forest.

By the way, Tigre and Raphinaque had spent the night camping near the villa. It had naturally been unthinkable for them to be allowed inside, but hearing the story from Mila, it seemed staying outside had been the right choice. Tigre assumed that the mood in the villa must have been quite terrible.

For a short while the youth silently listened to her talking, but thinking of a certain possibility, Tigre tried asking when Mila had reached a stopping point in her tale.

“Mila, how long is that Leszek guy serving as governor of the royal land?”

“If I remember correctly, this year should be his 7th. What about it?”

“That person being so obstinate doesn’t stem from him having experienced something terrible at Lady Lana’s hand, right? I haven’t met him, so I can only make guesses.”

Mila started long and hard at Tigre and then faced forward as if to avert her eyes.

“It’s possible. No, I’m sure something happened…”

Mila recalled yesterday’s conversation with Leszek once more. And while at it, she also remembered how Lana had evaluated him.

With a deep sigh, she dropped her shoulders. Her blue hair was also hanging down powerlessly.

“I still have a long way to go. I should have thought of this ahead of time and taken measures.”

Lavias, which was hooked to the saddle, blew a cold breath at Mila so as to console her.

Eventually they arrived in front of the forest. They had no plans to head inside. They just wanted to take a look from close-by.

“Mila, do you feel something?” Tigre asked.

He had already told her about the gaze he had sensed yesterday. Looking up through the dense vegetation, Mila furrowed her eyebrows.

“Nothing in particular… It seems to be the same for Lavias, too.”

The viralt, which Mila was tightly grasping in her hand, was silent without even making its spearhead shine.

“We could go inside…”

“No, I must have been mistaken after all. Besides, we won’t get any results out of walking around a bit with such a huge forest.”

Staring at the forest, Mila agreed with Tigre while looking vexed.

“Let’s go back?”

She turned the head of her horse around with her blue hair fluttering. Tigre and Olmutz’s knights followed. Galyinin supported Raphinaque, who was somewhat struggling, from the side.

The sky was blue today as well. But, the wind blowing across the grasslands felt cold to Tigre and his friends.

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