Chapter 24.1

Of all the nonsensical things that Bertram had said, this was the most incomprehensible garbage that had come out of his mouth. With a truly disconcerted expression, Carla shook her head from side to side.

“That’s not right! I can’t do that!”

“You can do it, ma’am! Your daughter has already!”

“W-what in the world has that girl been saying to you!”

Carla gave up on resisting any longer. Better to grab ahold of her daughter and wrestle it out of her instead!

While she was returning the emergency aid kit to its proper position, Bertram squatted down in his spot and cleaned up the powdered medicine and drops of blood that had fallen while she had been bandaging him.

Seeing that, Carla huffed out incredulously.

“Mr. Bertram, it’s great that you clean so meticulously well, but… Is it okay to use that fur cloak as a rag?”

He had been wiping up the floor with his black fur coat.

Since he was staying in the village these days, it was true that he rarely had the occasion to put the cloak on, but to think of using it there.

The fact that he was using a fur cloak like a rag was funny enough, but that coat was undoubtedly an expensive item.

Bertram shook off the fur cloak completely nonchalantly.

“One side of it absorbs water quite quickly and dries off just as quickly, so it has been doing me well as a rag.”

“Looked expensive, though.”

“It is something that only collected dust in the storage at our house. Using it where it can be used is best.”

The Cloak of Celestial Fenryl.

It was a national treasure that had been carefully safeguarded in the palace treasure chamber.

If the treasure keeper had heard him use the expression ‘collecting dust,’ he surely would have beat his own chest, but since Carla had no way of knowing that, she only shrugged.

“I guess that’s not my business. You sit here obediently until your blood stops flowing, and then you can come down at lunchtime.”

“Oh, if you’re going now, could you please relay a message to the vigilantes for me? I think I know why the mountain goats and wolves came down, you see.”

“Eh? Is, is that true?”

“Yes. Looking at the back legs of the wolves, it appeared that they were being hunted by humans.”

“Hunted? Maybe some nomads have come nearby?”

The villagers did not approach wolves unless the wolves attacked first.

Those who would provoke wolves on their end first would have to be the nomadic tribes, who lived in the far-off plains raising sheep and horses.

But Bertram shook his head.

“The wounds were too neat to be traces from nomads. It looked as if a trained soldier had attacked the wolves.”

At the word ‘soldier,’ Carla’s face momentarily paled.

Though three years had passed since the war had ended, the terror of those days still remained.

Emotionlessly, yet quickly, Bertram elaborated further.

“I doubt it is anything noteworthy. It might have been from an aristocrat with bodyguards passing through the plains. I’m sure the guards went ahead to chase away any wild goats or wolves, and those animals panicked and came all the way to this village.”

“I don’t like that either. That bigwig wouldn’t come to this town, right? I’ve never seen anything good come out of any visits we’ve had from folks like them!”

For a brief second, Bertram remembered what had happened in the city.

According to Lara, the only person who’d chased after him was a knight by the name of Erich.

“…Doubtful. Nothing will happen in the village.”

However, Bertram’s prediction—which seconded also as his hope—was proven to be wrong.

The ‘bigwig’ was, in the meantime, already paying a gracious visit to the biggest building in town, Anna’s restaurant, with four other soldiers.

At the sudden sound of thudding hoofbeats, Anna ran out into the front yard.

Though it wasn’t time to open yet, if travelers had come en masse like it sounded like, she couldn’t miss a chance like that.

Strangely enough, they had six horses but only five people. Wondering if she could demand feed payment from the horse, too, Anna greeted her customers.

“Welcome! How many people? Are you here for a meal? We also have drinks!”

“…meal? So meals exist in a village like this one, too.”

The one who had not learned how to communicate the most answered first.

After muttering those words all by himself, he leapt off the horse.

Striking gold hair fluttered in the wind. Sharp blue eyes, and a well-built body on tall stature. He was a handsome man that anyone would gape at.

With a cold voice, he spoke to Anna.

“I am the knight Franz Gerhart. I am looking for a man named Bertram. Have you heard of this man?”

Had she heard of Bertram?

Oh, yes she had. Quite a lot, indeed.

While Anna was hesitating on her response, the knight who’d identified himself as Franz lowered himself, rounding his back, as if he thought she hadn’t heard him properly due to their immense height difference. He spoke again.

“I asked if you haven’t seen a man called Bertram, kiddy lady.”

“I’m not a kid though.”

“Is that important?”

“Yes. It’s already been a couple years since I turned twenty, so stop treating me like a kid.”

Franz’s eyes widened, as if he was a bit surprised. Behind him, a soldier who’d been in the middle of taking out a piece of candy put the candy back into his pocket. Anna felt a flash of regret.

‘Maybe I should’ve just stood there with my mouth shut and get myself some candy.’

Franz, however, had no offerings for her as he began moving his irritating mouth once more.

“Little lady. I’m looking for a man named Bertram. He is very tall, he has black hair, and his eyes are blue. Seen him?”

“Oh my! How scary. Is he a brutal criminal?”

Without knowing their objective, she could not respond to them carelessly. Anna subtly changed the subject, and Franz reacted to this immediately.

“Who do you think you’re calling a brutal…!

“Huh?”

“Ahem, hm. No. He is not a criminal.”

“Then why are you looking for him?”

“I cannot say.”

Anna contemplated what she should do now.

They seemed to be the people who were looking for Bertram last time in the city, so alerting Bertram came first.

And in order to do so, she would need to first tie these condescending men (on first sight!) down where they couldn’t move.