Rei, having encountered Bluitt, abandoned his plan to visit the library and decided to have tea with him instead.
Strictly speaking, it would be more accurate to call it a light meal rather than tea.
Normally, with the party starting in just a few hours, it would be common sense to avoid eating too much beforehand in preparation for the food that would be served there.
But such common sense did not apply to Rei and Bluitt, who were busy enjoying sandwiches prepared by Miranda along with several dishes from Rei's Misty Ring.
"This soup is good. Did you buy it in Anesis?" Bluitt asked.
"No, it's from Gilm," Rei replied.
"...I see."
Eating the soup loaded with Orc meat and vegetables, Rei denied Bluitt's assumption.
For Bluitt's part, he probably wanted to visit the shop if this soup was available in Anesis.
Unfortunately, since Rei had purchased that soup at an eatery in Gilm, Bluitt wouldn't be able to fully savor it.
(Though it would be a different story if he came to Gilm.)
With that thought in mind, Rei continued his conversation with Bluitt.
"Come to think of it, among the nobles gathering today, there are some who have taken in former adventurers to serve as their bodyguards. Did you know that?"
"Don't you think asking me about nobles is fundamentally the wrong approach?" Rei countered.
"...Is it? Well, now that you mention it, maybe you're right."
Bluitt pondered Rei's words for a moment, but quickly accepted that Rei was correct.
"At any rate, that kind of person exists."
"Hmm. So, what do you want me to do about it? Honestly, even if I knew that adventurer, I don't think meeting them would mean anything."
"Is that so? You're both adventurers, right?"
"Then let me ask you this: do you feel a sense of kinship with every single noble?"
Bluitt faltered at those words.
Originally, when it came to the mere fact of being a noble, Bluitt could be called an extraordinary existence.
Because of that, when asked whether he felt kinship toward other nobles, as Rei had pointed out, he couldn't honestly nod in agreement.
"My bad."
That was precisely why Bluitt apologized so readily.
"No, it's not really something you need to apologize that seriously for. Besides, it's not like I can deny the possibility that the adventurer might be an acquaintance of mine."
When all was said and done, since coming to this world of Elgin, Rei had interacted with a great many adventurers.
The possibility that one of them might—truly, only might—have entered a noble's service could not be entirely dismissed.
Of course, considering the number of adventurers in Elgin... no, in the Kingdom of Mireana, running into an acquaintance by sheer coincidence was unlikely.
"So, do you have any other topics?"
"You say that, but I'm not exactly well-versed in noble relationships either. Oh, but... I did see Gaiska's father."
"...Gaiska's, huh."
At Bluitt's words, Rei unconsciously made a displeased expression.
For Rei, Gaiska was not someone he would willingly approach.
He suspected that Gaiska was likely the one who had hired Black Wolf, but there was no evidence to support it.
Being told that Gaiska's father had come did not put Rei in a pleasant mood.
However, Bluitt smiled at Rei's demeanor and spoke.
"I'm telling you, Marquis Seisole is on a completely different level from Gaiska. You could say they're different in caliber."
"...That much?"
"Yeah. To begin with, Marquis Seisole's House holds considerable influence even within the Noble's Faction. Rei, you might think you understand just from seeing Gaiska, but Gaiska and Marquis Seisole cannot be thought of in the same way."
Bluitt's expression as he said this was not joking but serious.
Shown such an expression, Rei couldn't just laugh it off.
"That much?"
"Yeah. They say that Marquis Seisole's House has grown significantly in power under the current lord."
For example, even among those of the same rank, differences naturally arose depending on the strength of the territory each noble held.
Beyond that, various factors—the actual abilities of the lord and their children, among many others—created disparities in power.
Rei nodded, understanding that this was what Bluitt meant.
"Come to think of it, I have heard the same," Miranda chimed in. "Marquis Seisole's House was, several generations ago, on the brink of losing its marquisate. Successive lords managed to gradually increase their power, but under the current lord, its influence expanded dramatically all at once."
Miranda, though of a baron's house, was still a noble's daughter.
She was well aware of how difficult it was for a noble to increase their house's power.
That was why her tone carried strong respect and, simultaneously, awe.
Expanding one's influence that much in a single generation was not something achievable through legitimate means alone.
Given that, it was a certainty that some underhanded methods had been employed, and knowing that was precisely why she felt awe.
Though perhaps the fact that it was awe rather than fear was proof of Miranda's noble upbringing.
"Is he really that amazing? ...With a father that remarkable, how did Gaiska turn out the way he did?" Rei asked.
"That's..."
Miranda trailed off, but Bluitt, paying no mind to her hesitation, spoke right up.
"Simply because he didn't bother training himself and lived however he pleased. ...Well, when it comes to socializing with other nobles, he apparently handles it reasonably well."
There was a slight hint of jealousy in Bluitt's expression as he said this.
From Rei's perspective, there seemed to be absolutely nothing about Gaiska that Bluitt should be jealous of... but the fact that it still showed on his face meant he must have had complicated feelings about it.
(The likely explanation is his interactions with other nobles. At the very least, Bluitt isn't the type to casually socialize with ordinary nobles. ...It's pretty obvious, given that he gets along with me.)
Rei understood that he himself didn't get along well with ordinary nobles.
Since someone like that could converse amicably with him, it was easy to predict that Bluitt similarly wouldn't get along with ordinary nobles.
"Oh, come to think of it..."
Perhaps sensing something in Rei's gaze, Bluitt changed the subject.
"What happened with that incident during the mock battle the other day?"
"The mock battle incident... oh, you mean those guys who attacked. There's no particular progress. They weren't in a normal state to begin with—apparently under the influence of some kind of drug—so they couldn't extract any information from them."
Strictly speaking, Black Wolf, who was likely the one who had orchestrated that incident, had appeared yesterday... but Rei didn't want to drag Bluitt into the Black Wolf matter.
And he didn't want to drag Miranda into it either.
Of course, while that applied to Bluitt, Miranda worked here at the Duke Kerebel Mansion.
If so, it wouldn't be strange for her to know that Black Wolf had infiltrated the estate last night.
(But from the looks of it, she probably doesn't know.)
Perhaps Leodanis, who was close to Miranda, might know about those circumstances... but Leodanis wouldn't want to involve Miranda in this matter either.
Rei could vaguely understand that Leodanis was not the type to casually share secrets learned in the course of his duties.
Rei had been thinking along those lines when Bluitt suddenly shifted the topic.
No, to be precise, he hadn't actually changed the subject—but to someone who knew nothing, it would have seemed like he had.
"Come to think of it, I heard someone broke into this estate yesterday. I never thought there'd be someone fool enough to infiltrate the Duke Kerebel Mansion, but the fact that they succeeded is even more surprising."
For a moment—truly just a moment—Rei wondered if Bluitt might be talking about Count Ceresse, who had attacked Set. But looking into Bluitt's eyes, he could tell it was not that at all, but something else entirely... the Black Wolf incident.
Of course, Bluitt hadn't realized that the intruder was Black Wolf, and seemed to simply assume it was someone else.
"Yeah. Well, I suppose the Duke Kerebel's House has its own various circumstances. There was a party going on, too."
"Ah, the servants. ...Thinking about it that way, maybe it couldn't be helped. Though even taking that into consideration, the one who infiltrated must be quite skilled. You think so too, right?"
Bluitt's gaze was directed at Miranda.
Miranda was in charge of Rei, but she showed no sign of objecting to Bluitt's words and nodded plainly.
For Miranda, the strict security of the Duke Kerebel Mansion was an ordinary—indeed, common-sense—state of affairs.
The fact that someone unknown had infiltrated despite that was genuinely unsettling.
"That's right. I would hope the intruder is caught as soon as possible, but... that won't be easy either."
Seeing her murmur earnestly, Bluitt nodded as if in agreement.
"Probably not. Thinking about it normally, I can't imagine there are many people who would sneak into a place with such heavy security. If so, then that person's target would be..."
That gaze was directed at Rei, and without needing to finish the sentence, both Rei and Miranda understood what Bluitt was trying to say.
"I won't deny that, but if so, there's also the possibility that I could be targeted while the residents of the Duke Kerebel Mansion suffer no harm."
"...Could there be? It's not that rare for someone's skill and personality to be mismatched, you know."
I shouldn't have said that, Rei thought.
He judged that Bluitt's words were something he could say precisely because he had never seen Black Wolf with his own eyes.
That said, Black Wolf had used drugs to make people attack Rei, Set, and Bluitt, so the idea that Black Wolf wouldn't cause harm to anyone other than the target was essentially half Rei's own assumption.
Even so, given the current situation, he could still manage to deflect it.
"I'm certainly not saying it's absolute, but based on my experiences so far, that's generally how it tends to be."
"Is that so."
Bluitt said that, but Rei couldn't tell whether he was actually convinced.
At any rate, he had managed to gloss over it for now, so he decided to accept it.
"Yeah. Of course, there are those who are highly skilled but have the worst personalities, so I'm not saying it's always the case."
In fact, there was no causal relationship between a person's personality and their skill level.
There were those with terrible personalities who were extremely strong, and many who had good personalities but were weak.
For that matter, Rei himself, sitting here right now, couldn't exactly be said to have a good personality.
At the very least, a person with a good personality wouldn't go bandit hunting and claim the treasure the Bandits had stolen as their own, nor would they sell captured Bandits into slavery.
"Right. If every skilled person had a good personality, wars and everything else should have disappeared long ago."
Bluitt said that, but Rei couldn't fully agree.
The current discussion was premised on the assumption that skilled individuals had good personalities.
But those who commanded military force, such as armies, were basically kings, emperors, or their equivalents—not necessarily the strongest individuals themselves.
By Bluitt's logic, it was equivalent to saying that wars would continue as long as the king or emperor, the nation's leader, was not strong.
Given that, it meant that wars would never end.
(I've never met the King of Mireana, but the Emperor of the Bestia Empire seemed like the type who would normally seek out battle. ...Though right now, the Bestia Empire shows no signs of attacking.)
For Rei, as long as the people at the top of the nation didn't make strange decisions, there was no particular problem.
However, conversely, that meant if strange decisions were made, there would be problems.
Considering those circumstances, Rei deeply hoped that regardless of whether they were strong or not, national leaders would at least possess clear judgment.