CH 135

I break the wax seal with my finger and pull out the letters inside.

Apparently, there are two in total. They didn’t have much written in them as I thought, and I felt like I could read them quickly right now.

“Let’s see……” I said.

After giving Alexia a small look, I examine the contents.

First of all, what was written was that they are relieved I was doing well and seemed to be fine for the time being. There were the Old Man’s habits and I had to read between the lines.

I don’t have any children, but if I had a child, I’m sure I’d be worried like this even after they left their parent’s house. It would be the same even if Miu was the child in question and we lived together, so it would be even more likely if she were my blood-related child.

In fact, even in the letters that I exchanged regularly with Alexia, I was wondering if she was doing well. Well, in her case, she’s doing even better for herself, almost too much from all her enthusiasm.

“… They’re really curious after all, huh…?”

And the next letter was about Miu.

As expected, this was not something that could be explained entirely by just mentioning her, so I remember writing about what happened after giving them quite a bit of background information.

Whatever the circumstances, an old child who hasn’t left his parent’s house for 45 years was suddenly taking care of someone else’s child. In any case, the words “explain in detail” were written rather strongly.

The Old Man told me not to come back until I find a bride, but it shouldn’t be a problem with the occasional trip home. In fact, it’s hard to explain everything about Miu with letters alone. Miu also just went on holiday from the Magician’s Academy, so the timing seems to be good.

I turned over the second letter while thinking that I’d probably be returning to Bidden Village sometime soon, then returned my attention to the remaining words.

“… Oh, come to think of it, it’s already that season, isn’t it?”

What was spelled out at the end is that if it was convenient for me, I should please come back to Bidden Village at once. It’s not an order, but more like if it really was possible for me.

Furthermore, that I was summoned back from the capital after being purposefully kicked out wasn’t just because of Miu.

“Is there something the matter?” Alexia called out after I finished reading.

Well, if I tell her, there is no problem at all. She also knows about Miu, and in the first place, she is a former disciple of the dojo at Bidden Village. Of course, she is familiar with the circumstances surrounding it.

“It’s almost trivial, really,” I said. “Do you want to see it?”

“… Am I allowed to?” Alexia asked hesitantly.

“At the very least, they didn’t write anything that would be a problem if you saw it, Alexia,” I said.

As I said, there wasn’t anything she shouldn’t see. I also explained the reason why I left Bidden Village from the start, so she knows what situation I’m in.

The addressee is me, but as far as the contents of the second half are concerned, this is for the Knight Order, or more precisely, it is addressed to Alexia.

Because when I return to Bidden Village, it means that I will leave the Knights for a certain period of time. Naturally, she holds the authority to grant or deny that as Knight-Captain.

“… Then, I’ll take your word for it and read it,” Alexia said a little hesitantly.

“Here you go,” I said, handing it over.

I don’t mind if I have to explain it verbally, but I have been given the role of a Special Instructor by the King. To let me go to another place for any significant length of time, I need a reason, even if it’s just a formality.

As a justification, if you just heard it verbally from the person involved, it feels a little weak. It would be possible for me to be granted leave now, but it would be more reasonable to add physical evidence instead of just saying so.

Well, of course, in terms of content, it’s so trivial that I might go home for a while. Even so, it is better to keep such a strong reason because it is an organization with the respect, authority, and power of the Knights of Rebelio. I don’t know what sort of knock-on effects on will happen to whoever if I leave.

“… I see,” Alexia said, raising her face as she finished reading while I was thinking.

She looked quite satisfied after reading the letter.

“If I recall correctly, it was this at this season every year, wasn’t it?” Alexia said.

“Right, right,” I said. “That’s why they want more hands to help.”

Naturally, Alexia has a good idea why my Old Man bothered to call me back.

It’s once a year. Generally in early to late summer. In other words, it fits perfectly with the current season.

It’s kind of like a festival. To be precise, every year around this time, there is a hunting event based on a certain phenomenon, and the village becomes lively as if it were a sideshow.

Of course, just having a festival is a small reason to call me back.

In other words, that hunting event requires a certain amount of strength.

“The scale of it… you still don’t know yet, do you?” Alexia said.

“That’s right,” I said. “I think I’m going to look into it from now on.”

I only know Bidden Village, but I think most frontier villages have something like this.

Although as a state, the Kingdom of Rebelis was well-established, if you were to ask if everything under its rule was safe, you would be completely wrong.

If something big happened, or if there was a big disaster, the Knight Orders and the Magic Division would move as expected. In some cases, even adventurers will move with them.

However, the number of knights is limited. Magicians are even more finite, and even adventurers and the Kingdom Garrison, both of which are more numerous than knights and mages both, only have so many heads to their names, too. Therefore, there is no choice but to establish a priority order for incidents.

In the process of setting that order, problems that cannot be ignored, but are not as serious as national crises, are put on the back burner.

I’m not saying it’s bad. Everyone has their limits, and every organization is trying to identify those limits and achieve maximum efficiency.

On the other hand, it’s precisely because we’ve solved such a delicate situation with our own residents is why we don’t want to go out of our way to ask Knights and Adventurers for help and pay their corresponding high fees.

In fact, as far as I remember, we’ve never brought a large number of outsiders to Bidden Village for hunting. Occasionally, mercenaries and adventurers join as they were already staying at the village anyway, and they sometimes pitch in, but that’s about it.

“That’s why, if possible, I would like you to let me take a short vacation for two or three weeks,” I said.

“I don’t mind,” Alexia said. “After all, our making you Special Instructor wasn’t to bind you in any way.”

“I appreciate that,” I said.

And in order to participate in the hunt――to introduce Miu to my parents at their house, I applied for a leave of absence, and it was approved very easily.

Well, yeah, the supreme authority of this organization is Alexia, so if she nodded, it would be fine. I wondered if she would have me do some paperwork or something.

“Just in case, I’ll need you to sign some papers,” Alexia said.

“Oh, understood,” I said.

And just as I thought it, it turns out there was paperwork.

I also don’t want people to think I’m slacking on my own. I should at least make it formal.

“When are you leaving?” Alexia asked.

“Hmm… I’ll think about it after explaining the situation to Miu for now. It’s not right away, but it doesn’t make sense if it’s too late, either,” I said.

“Understood,” Alexia said.

I don’t know what specific procedures are required for me to take a vacation from my job as an instructor. It may be possible to get by with a single sheet of paper, or it may be a complicated procedure that I can’t even imagine the depth of.

But either way, if Alexia says she understands, it means it’s better to leave it to her.

She doesn’t respond to unreasonable requests with “I understand.”, and I think she wouldn’t allow anything unreasonable. I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to put too much trust in others, but she’s Alexia, and she’s pretty good at her job.

“Captain, Sir Beryl. Good morning.”

“Hey, good morning Sir Henblitz,” I said.

“Yes, good morning,” Alexia said.

And while we had that conversation, Vice-Captain of the Knight Order, Henblitz, showed up at the training ground.

He is also busy every day, though not as much as Alexia. Even so, the fact that he almost always comes to the training grounds shows how high his aspirations are.

His raw physical strength is a unique strength that neither I nor Alexia has. The only one who can compete with raw power is probably just Kuruni. Even Kuruni can hardly win if he fights her in a straight, serious match.

“Oh, that’s right,” I said. “Sir Henblitz, I’ve got something I’d like to talk about with you.”

“Yes, what is it?” Henblitz asked.

Since I have both of the Knight Order’s top executives, I’ll tell them both about my coming home for vacation. Alexia will probably share the news in the near future, but it would be better to inform the executive officers as soon as possible.

“Because of circumstances back home, it seems that I will be leaving the Knights for a while,” I said.

“… I see. How long do you plan to spend away?” Henblitz said.

“Probably two or three weeks,” I said.

“Understood, you may proceed,” Henblitz said.

It’s the same with Alexia, but discussing it with Henblitz is also a swift matter. The conservation ended in about 10 seconds.

It’s not a problem even if they wanted to dig deep into my reasoning, but I’m really grateful that they trust my words at face value like this.

There are many places where the title of Special Instructor works to my benefit. Still, it is a blessing to be trusted by the executives who are in charge of the organization I work for. I’m not thinking of doing anything bad.

“Going home is a good thing. Sometimes I need to stretch my wings, too,” Henblitz said with deep emotion.

“Oh, yeah, that’s not the only reason,” I said.

“And what else is there?” Henblitz asked.

To begin with, the Old Man told me not to come back until I found a wife. If this is simply because I wanted to stretch my wings and chose to go back home for no other particular reason, I would be permanently kicked out of the village in instant. My Old Man will do that much.

“Every year around this season, a flock of Saber Boas appears around the village,” I said. “That’s also why.”

“Saber boas…I see,” Henblitz said, nodding his head like he was completely convinced.

Saber Boas.

It’s a kind of boa subspecies that is widely known as a food source. The main difference is that sabers are much more temperamental than normal boas. It also has large fangs that seem designed for piercing prey. These would be their two differentiating factors.

You can also eat a saber boa by itself. The flesh is tightly packed and a little hard like normal boa meat, but it’s fairly tasty. Fangs and skins are also traded at reasonable prices.

However, due to the characteristics mentioned above, not many people bother to hunt them.

It’s too dangerous to target as a normal hunter, and it’s difficult to say whether there is a reward that matches the danger. Occasionally, the Adventurer’s Guild receives requests for extermination, but the completion rate isn’t that high. A long time ago, an adventurer who stayed in Bidden Village was complaining about it while we were making small talk.

So, it’s kind of troublesome, but even so, it’s hard to say it’s a big problem… and thus are put further and further into the backburners by public institutions.

As a result, small settlements like Bidden Village are forced to solve their own problems. And, fortunately, or unfortunately, Bidden Village had been able to resolve the problem by itself until now.

“In that case, you can return at once to investigate and grasp the scale of the herd, Sir Beryl,” Henblitz said. “After that, you’re going to send a request to the Knights or the Adventurers, right?”

“Eh, no, I’m not?” I said.

“You’re not?” Henblitz asked.

“Huh…?” Alexia asked.

That’s weird.

There is a discrepancy in understanding between me, Alexia, and Henblitz.