Inside the estate of Marquis Seisole's House, Gaiska set his wine glass down on the table and turned his gaze toward the man before him... the mediator who had brokered the deal with Black Wolf.
His eyes were far from good-tempered; anyone working in this estate would have known better than to approach him right now.
The mediator stood before Gaiska, casting a servile gaze his way.
What Gaiska failed to notice, however, was that the mediator's demeanor was nothing more than a façade.
To the mediator, Gaiska was simply the sort of man who could be deceived with such an act.
And that assessment was not actually wrong.
"So, what was that commotion today? The ones I ordered you to hire were strictly Black Wolf alone. ......Do you think the likes of those worthless fools could do anything to Rei?"
Gaiska looked down on Rei and even harbored hatred for him, but he had to acknowledge his strength.
Rei had demonstrated precisely that level of power in today's mock battle.
But that was exactly why his hatred toward Rei only grew stronger.
Having heard from Deotres, standing beside him, that Rei had once again been active—and that the incident was likely Black Wolf's doing—Gaiska had summoned the mediator to hear him out. ......No, "interrogate" would be a more fitting description.
"Even if you ask me, I have no way to answer. This request has already been handed off to Black Wolf. That means I can't get involved in the work anymore. If they were taking completely meaningless actions, that'd be one thing, but I don't think that's the case here, do you?"
"Why not? You should have fully understood Rei's power from today's mock battle. If so, there's no need to keep watching. Tell him to kill him already."
At Gaiska's words, the mediator cast a contemptuous glance at him—for just a brief instant.
Naturally, the only one who noticed that look was Deotres; Gaiska showed no sign of awareness whatsoever.
"Well, I can't quite follow that logic myself, but... ultimately, it wouldn't be strange to conclude that a mock battle is nothing more than a mock battle, wouldn't you say?"
"Then what was the point of going to all that trouble to stage such a farce!"
His dissatisfaction plain to see, Gaiska slammed his wine glass down onto the table.
Normally, he might well have thrown it at the mediator, but the fact that he didn't suggested either that he had learned some degree of restraint, or simply that the man before him wasn't worth the effort.
"After all that groundwork, all you ended up doing was elevating Rei's reputation!?"
"Calm down. I don't think that mock battle was meaningless either. If anything, isn't it possible they judged Rei's power from that mock battle and staged today's incident as a finishing touch?"
"......The mock battle opponents included not just adventurers, but knights and soldiers employed by nobles. There was even another Alias Holder like Rei. Though seeing as they lost without even putting up a proper fight, I honestly wonder if that Alias Holder title is even legitimate."
As Gaiska spoke with genuine displeasure, the mediator took care not to let his exasperation show.
At the end of the day, what had taken place today was merely a mock battle.
It was not a true life-and-death contest, and both sides had done their utmost to avoid attacks that would spill over beyond the arena.
That the man couldn't grasp something so simple—the mediator found it impossible to suppress that thought.
Still, he somehow concealed it through sheer willpower and continued the conversation.
Holding a proper conversation with such a fool was difficult, but he reminded himself that this too was work.
"In any case, shall I take it that you're satisfied with Black Wolf's actions?"
Continuing to talk with Gaiska would only waste time. Judging so, the mediator spoke to bring the conversation to a close.
That said, he hadn't expected Gaiska to accept it so easily.
But contrary to the mediator's expectations, Gaiska waved his hand in an annoyed gesture, signaling him to leave.
The mediator, who had fully expected to be subjected to much more, found this slightly unexpected—but as if to say he had no desire to stay and endure further baseless complaints, he moved to exit the room.
"Hey."
The words from Gaiska's mouth stopped him in his tracks.
Gaiska wore an annoyed expression, but fortunately, since the mediator had his back turned, Gaiska couldn't see his face.
To the mediator's back, Gaiska called out in a voice laden with irritation.
"Listen. I'm paying you people a great deal of money. Don't you dare screw this up."
At those words, the mediator turned and nodded with subservience.
"Of course, sir."
Whether satisfied with the mediator's response or not, Gaiska said nothing further, his attitude making clear he should hurry up and disappear.
It was precisely the sort of gesture one would make to shoo away a stray dog.
Indeed, to Gaiska, the mediator was probably an existence no different from a stray dog.
Even understanding that, the mediator still couldn't help but find it galling.
Nevertheless, the fact that he kept Gaiska from realizing it to the very end was partly due to the mediator's skill in such matters—but more than anything, it was likely because the mediator simply wasn't someone Gaiska considered worth paying attention to.
Hmph. Gaiska snorted unpleasantly, glaring at the door through which the mediator had vanished.
"Fool. Completely useless. Wouldn't it have been better to find someone more competent?"
Gaiska muttered sullenly, looking at Deotres.
Dealing with someone who wasn't even a noble to begin with was unpleasant enough, but for that person to be incompetent made it infinitely worse.
However, to the displeased Gaiska, Deotres spoke in a calming tone.
"Young Master, let's calm down a bit. To begin with, the ones who were defeated by Rei today weren't your men, were they?"
"Obviously. There's no way someone suffering from Drug Addiction could be among my subordinates."
Gaiska snorted just as before.
But the emotion contained within was vastly different.
Previously, he had been directly facing the mediator, so his irritation had surfaced as verbal complaints.
The hypothetical that those suffering from Drug Addiction were his subordinates, while certainly irritating, was still merely a hypothesis—making it a lesser source of irritation than what he felt toward the mediator.
"Right? Then there's no reason for you to be this angry about today's incident, is there?"
"Now that you mention it, true enough. But... what if they wastefully throw away Combat Power like today, and as a result, there isn't enough left when it's time to fight Rei?"
"Uh... Young Master. This incident was supposed to be an assassination of Rei, was it not? There's no need to fight him head-on, so I don't think you need to worry about running short on Combat Power."
In the first place, fighting Rei head-on meant that defeating him would be difficult—no, even calling it "difficult" was an optimistic assessment.
Thinking rationally, he wouldn't go so far as to say no one existed with the ability to take Rei down, but finding such a person would be inherently difficult.
Even if by some chance such a person were found, there was also the question of whether they could be hired.
Fundamentally, hiring Black Wolf was already a considerable stretch; hiring additional assassins was something Gaiska simply could not afford to do at this point.
(Was Black Wolf really the right choice? If I'm spending the same money, surely there was a more effective use for it, wasn't there?)
This incident had made him acutely feel that way.
If they failed to kill Rei at this rate, what would happen... that would, without question, be fatal for Gaiska.
After all, he was even using this very estate to gather funds.
The Black Wolf he had gone to such lengths to hire might actually turn out to be useless.
Gaiska's thoughts bred intense anxiety.
"......"
Deotres, who had been associated with Gaiska for a reasonably long time, naturally understood what Gaiska was currently thinking and what anxieties he held. Understanding that, Deotres still made no particular effort to call out to him.
From Deotres's perspective, Gaiska becoming emotionally unstable was actually what he desired.
If anything, he even found himself hoping Gaiska would become more anxious.
Not that he let any of that show.
"Young Master, let's calm down for now. Since there's nothing we can do at the moment, we have no choice but to trust Black Wolf."
At Deotres's words, delivered without revealing any of his inner thoughts, Gaiska still appeared somewhat dissatisfied, but nevertheless forced himself to shift his mood, reasoning that if his trusted subordinate said so, then so be it.
"In any case, that foolish spectacle of a mock battle is over. ...Which means the next stage is the New Year's celebration party."
"I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of outfit Rei shows up in, aren't you?"
"I won't deny that. For a mere adventurer to show up at a gathering of nobles. I'm extremely curious to see what kind of spectacle he'll treat us to."
At Deotres's words, Gaiska laughed happily—genuinely happily—as he brought the wine to his lips.
"Umm, like this?"
"No. The footwork is like this. You're concentrating too much on your right foot."
At Elena's correction, Rei focused his attention not just on his right foot but on his entire body.
...That said, focusing on his entire body naturally meant focusing on his face as well, which in turn meant seeing Elena's face up close, right in front of him.
Rei and Elena had kissed a few times before, but even so, seeing Elena's beauty—like that of a Goddess of Beauty—right next to his own face inevitably brought out a sense of bashfulness.
Unlike Rei, who was acutely conscious of it, Elena, the one being observed, showed no sign of noticing his feelings as she issued instruction after instruction.
Dancing was, naturally, a given at parties.
Since they would be attending such a party, Rei would of course have opportunities to dance. ...Though it was also an undeniable fact that Elena simply wanted to dance with Rei.
For Elena, dancing with Rei at the New Year's party carried multiple meanings.
As a maiden in love, it was only natural to want to dance with the person she cared for, and if she was dancing with Rei, she wouldn't have to worry about being approached by the countless men who might try to court her.
At the same time, if possible, she also wanted to show everyone around them that she and Rei shared a special relationship.
Though not to the same extent as Elena, Rei also had attractive features.
Being in his mid-teens, some might feel that someone younger wasn't to their taste, but conversely, there was also a possibility that others harbored a strong interest in younger partners.
As a deterrent against such individuals, Elena's beauty served as a powerful weapon.
That was precisely why Elena poured her energy into intensive dance training with Rei.
It was far too intense to be called post-meal exercise, yet Rei continued practicing while flustered by his sudden proximity to Elena.
Given that, with Rei's naturally good athletic ability, his dancing skills improved rapidly, and the number of corrections from Elena gradually decreased.
Just how long had they been practicing? Continuing without even a break, before they knew it, their dancing had become so accomplished that no one watching would have believed either of them was a beginner.
It was a dance with no music to rely on, nothing but each other's rhythm, but since Rei and Elena were fundamentally well-matched, they continued dancing without any issues whatsoever.
The intensity of their dancing was such that, if someone who knew nothing of the situation were to watch, they might momentarily mistake the scene for a ballroom.
Even while dancing like that, neither of them showed any sign of losing their breath.
If anything, they were merely glistening faintly with sweat.
In that state, the two of them continued dancing endlessly... until Ara came to fetch them.