“Zieghardt! I hear your illness has been healed. Is Irene also safe?!”
I opened the door to the Renant Defense Force Headquarters and entered the office.
Both of them smiled cheerfully when they saw me.
“Ranvalt-nii-sama!”
“Ranvalt-oniisama!”
It was my younger brother, Zieghardt, sitting at the desk organizing papers, and my younger sister, Irene, sitting on the guest sofa drinking orange juice.
I had received word that my brother had fallen ill with a mysterious fever while I was on duty as the commander in the defensive city of Zadol Toshe, with high fever and near unconsciousness. My sister had been advised not to visit due to the risk of contagion, but she apparently ignored it and went by carriage to check on him.
Then, there were urgent reports about her being attacked by bandits. While some soldiers had fallen, my sister had apparently made it through unscathed. These unsettling messages continued to come in.
Even after hearing they were safe, I couldn’t sit still, and I rushed alone on horseback to Renant.
Finally, seeing them both unharmed, I could breathe a sigh of relief.
I had not received any updates on Zieghardt’s illness, so when I asked the gatekeeper of the town, I did not know he had fully recovered. I had been quite worried.
“Brother! A wonderful woman and a demon helped me! Her name is Iriya !”
“I also received medicine from her… I wanted to buy the same one to repay her, but I can’t find it anywhere. Do you know where I can get it?”
…Iriya ? Come to think of it, she had mentioned that she was based in Renant! My mind had gone blank… So, both of my siblings were helped by her?
“…I too was helped by them when they came to the defensive city. I really owe them a great deal.”
“Ranvalt-nii-sama, you too!? That’s amazing!”
We all laughed in surprise.
Then, Zieghardt took out the bottle of medicine he had received. After just two doses, his fever had been cured, and he said there was still one dose left.
Indeed, I had never seen this medicine being sold.
Wait, the amber color. I’ve seen it somewhere. It was in a paulownia box, securely stored away.
Could it be… the royal palace!?
“Could this be…?”
“Brother? Do you know about this?”
I took the bottle, shook it, and observed it closely. The medicine had a flow of light magic—this must be it.
“…Did you show this to anyone at a shop, asking if they had something like this?”
“I don’t think I’d find anything like this in this town, so I was planning to ask in the capital…”
“Don’t show it to anyone! If my memory serves me correctly, this is not something that should be circulating in the common market.”
It was good that I managed to stop it before anyone else noticed. If it had been found, people would have started asking questions about where it came from and who made it. She had said she didn’t want to stand out.
Irene watched the medicine in my hand with a suspicious look.
“Is it really such a precious item?”
“…It’s Soma. A medicine said to cure all diseases. I’ve seen it at the royal palace.”
“Could it really be such a valuable thing…?”
Zieghardt stared at the bottle, but he probably couldn’t understand. He wasn’t very knowledgeable about magic.
“…Now that I think about it, she did say that she makes Soma. Thinking back, it sounded like she had already made it before.”
“She made it… Could she really give me such an important thing, even after I hurt her…?”
“…What do you mean by ‘hurt her’?”
What an absurd thing to say…
“Actually, some time ago, a shady shop had moved into town and was doing some bad business. Since she arrived around the same time, I… began to doubt her. After all, no one else had ever come to this town with such a strong demon. I thought maybe she was involved with that shop, or perhaps a foreign agent…”
I couldn’t believe my ears. My serious younger brother could be so stubborn. Once he starts suspecting something, he becomes blind to everything else.
It’s troubling how much he’s like our father in that regard…
“You’re an idiot! There’s no way she’s working with those shady shop people if she’s contracted with that demon! Even the country can’t handle something like that! You have no reason to worry at all!! You’d better learn to judge people better, or you won’t have enough lives to spare!”
“Y-yes, I’ll be more careful from now on!”
I shouted in frustration. Irene seemed surprised and was left speechless. Sigh…
“We’ll go apologize now. I’ll apologize too, so please guide me.”
It seemed that she had a house in Renant.
It was quite a spacious house. When I knocked, the door opened, and I saw her lovely, light purple hair flowing gently.
“My, Zieghardt-sama and Irene-sama, and even Ranvalt-sama together…”
“We’re grateful for your help in the defensive city. We’ve come today to apologize for my brother’s mistake.”
When I bowed, she looked puzzled for a moment, then seemed to realize something and placed her hand over her mouth.
“Brother…? Ah! You both are from the Hegstett family, aren’t you? I didn’t realize, my apologies.”
“No, no, we’re the ones who came to apologize.”
How could my brother ever have suspected someone like this woman? I don’t understand it at all.
I had wanted her to become Zieghardt’s wife, but I guess it’s impossible. If she were a commoner, our father would never approve… what a waste.
We were invited inside and seated on the sofas in the living room. There were two two-person sofas across from each other at the table. My brother and I sat on one side, and my sister and she sat together on the other. The table was set with warm tea and light snacks like cookies.
“First, I want to apologize for the unpleasant experience my brother caused you. I apologize on his behalf, and I hope you can forgive him.”
“No, not at all. It’s already in the past…”
She gave that troubled smile of hers again.
How could my brother ever have tried to hurt such a humble woman…!
“And, Zieghardt-sama, Belial-sama also caused you injury… I truly apologize for that.”
“No, my brother’s a knight, so a wound is nothing more than a badge of honor.”
She apologized again. If he had angered a noble demon and survived, I’d say he was lucky. I need to teach him more about summoning contracts and demons.
“Um, Iriya -san, the medicine you gave to Zieg brother… is it Soma?”
“You know well. That’s correct.”
When my younger sister Irene asked hesitantly, Iriya -san smiled and nodded.
So it really is Soma… This is adding to the debts I can’t repay.
“I was given Elixir, and my brother was given Soma, and you saved my sister’s life… I have no way to repay you.”
“Tools are meant to be used. Irene-sama was just passing by.”
People may say that anyone would do the same, but that’s certainly not true. Even nobles don’t have that medicine readily available, and few would risk their lives to help a carriage under attack by thieves.
“Brother… what do you mean by Elixir?”
Come to think of it, I had been trying not to tell anyone.
I got her permission and made sure no one, not even the rest of the family, would know, before I began explaining the events in the defense city.
If Father, who has a strong suspicion about things, finds out, he’ll probably say something ridiculous like we’re plotting to overthrow the country… Although he’s gotten better than before…
Both of them were very surprised, and Zieg was completely frozen.
It’s no surprise, if a wide-area attack magic is cast in this town, it would be disastrous. And with a demon capable of defeating a mid-level dragon or a Zumw Dragon, no less.
They would say to think of who we can’t afford to make enemies of.
Zieg, who had only seen her use mid-level magic, should at least realize that any human using such magic would wield it at far greater power than normal mid-level magic, but… he doesn’t seem to get it.
“By the way, what happened to that Bikneze person?”
“Ah, that’s right. We got a statement confirming they ordered the murder, so we were able to arrest them. The crimes committed in other towns are slowly being uncovered, so they’ll be properly tried. There’s no need to worry anymore. When you were there, Bikaneal called you out to Lake Snias, he must have heard you talking about going to gather herbs at the street market the day before and saw it as an opportunity.”
Zieg snapped back to his senses and started explaining.
That merchant, to think he was planning to abduct Iriya -san even at the cost of injuring her… If he had succeeded, this entire town would have been dragged into danger.
It seems that Zieg’s illness was also the work of this merchant. The demon was summoned to infect him with a fatal fever in order to replace the defense officer with one of his own. The demon would make it appear as an illness and kill him.
It appears that this merchant had used similar methods in other towns, so I’m relieved Zieg was safe. By the way, the summoner who performed such an act without proper knowledge was killed by the demon.
Suddenly, the sound of someone running outside grew louder.
“Zieg! We heard you were here!”
The footsteps stopped in front of the door and someone knocked, calling for Zieg.
Zieg immediately stood up and headed toward the door. It seemed to be one of his subordinates.
“If it’s me, I’m here. What’s going on?!”
“Yes, we’ve received word that a dragon has been spotted near your family’s residence, and a hunting team has been dispatched!”
A dragon!? I asked the soldier behind Zieg as I followed him.
“…Do you know what class of dragon it is?”
“Ah, so Lord Ranvalt is here too! We believe it is a mid-level Blizzard Dragon!”
The soldier noticed my presence and bowed before answering.
A mid-level dragon would use a breath attack, so we definitely need defense magic specifically for breath attacks. Lower-class dragons typically don’t use breath attacks.
“Mid-level… I should bring Baraha along.”
I had learned breath defense magic from Iriya -san, but…
“Brother, what will we do!?”
With the Blizzard Dragon spotted near the mansion, Zieg seemed to be in a panic. My eldest brother is stationed at a fort near the mansion, but I’m not sure how well he can handle a dragon.
“There’s hardly any record of fighting mid-level dragons in our territory. I’m worried about the house, let’s go!”
“I’ll come too.”
“Iriya -san…”
It was reassuring to know that Iriya -san was coming, but I also felt guilty for involving her again.
“Sister, you stay here.”
Irene looked up at us with worry as she heard that Iriya -san would be going.
“Irene will stay in Renant. Don’t worry, just wait with the defense team.”
Zieg patted Irene’s head. I was also against bringing her with us.
She excused herself and bowed before walking down the hallway.
“What about Lord Belial? Since the dragon has appeared, would you like to come along to see the situation?”
“Oh! Another hunt, of course! I will go!”
He sounded so cheerful… Thinking back, he single-handedly defeated a mid-level Firedrake.
With him here, I had no worries.
Rather, what concerned me was Father and my eldest brother. I hoped nothing rude would happen.
“Iriya -san, I need to return to the mansion to greet my parents. Father might make things uncomfortable, so if you don’t like it, feel free to leave.”
“…? Yes, I will make sure not to overstay my welcome.”
I left Irene in the care of the defense team and rode out with Iriya -san. She used flight magic while we rode on horseback to the mansion.
Zieg’s subordinates offered to escort us, but with the dragon involved, I thought it would only increase the risk, so I declined.
