The day after the party, Rei ended up waking considerably later than usual, partly because he had stayed up late.
After being woken by Miranda and getting ready, Rei, having nothing in particular he needed to do, decided to walk around the Duke Kerebel Mansion after breakfast.
Incidentally, regarding the clothes he had worn to the party—which Miranda had come to collect before he went to bed the previous night—Miranda declared with certainty that she would return them later looking as good as new.
For Rei, wearing those clothes meant attending a party hosted by nobles, so while Miranda's sentiment was appreciated, he felt conflicted about it.
That said, there was no denying that he had ultimately expressed his gratitude.
And so, at present, here he was...
"Gruu! Grururururu!"
Enjoying a walk with Set, who was purring happily.
As long as Set was with him, there was naturally no way they could walk inside the mansion. Granted, given the size of the Duke Kerebel Mansion, it was spacious enough for Set to walk around, but still, considering what might happen in an emergency, it was only natural that Set had no desire to go inside.
Besides, no matter how spacious the Duke Kerebel Mansion was and how easily Set could walk around normally, if something were to happen, it could end up being a repeat of the time Set destroyed the stable to repel attackers.
The fact that such thoughts came to mind was undoubtedly because of everything that had happened before.
(Besides, Set looks happier outside anyway.)
Given Set's large body, he probably preferred places where he didn't have to worry about his surroundings.
...That said, Set also enjoyed playing with people.
"Is Ielo probably sleeping together with Elena right now?"
"Gruur."
In response to Rei's words, Set purred as if to say that's right.
Since being welcomed as a guest at the Duke Kerebel Mansion, Ielo had spent a considerable amount of time together with Set.
Even when they were in Gilm, Ielo had spent quite a lot of time with Set, but after all, the fact that this was the Duke Kerebel Mansion in Anesis—in other words, Ielo's home—was likely a factor as well.
From Ielo's perspective, it was as though Set had come to visit his home right now.
And if this was the first time, there was no way Ielo wouldn't welcome Set.
That said, Ielo was still a child.
Playing with Set—his beloved friend, perhaps even deserving to be called his best friend—was fun, but it was only natural that he also wanted to be with Elena, who had brought him into being, so to speak his mother figure.
"Set, you enjoyed being with Ielo too, huh?"
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a happy cry.
Set loved Rei, but naturally, he had others he liked besides Rei.
That was why being able to play together with Ielo had been extremely enjoyable for him.
As they walked and exchanged words, suddenly a spirited shout reached their ears.
Since Rei could hear it, Set had naturally heard it as well, but Set didn't seem to pay it any mind.
Rei could tell that Set was tuning it out, so without particularly worrying about it, he proceeded together with Set toward the direction the voice had come from.
(The voice I can hear is one I don't recognize. At the very least, it's certain that it doesn't belong to someone from the Duke Kerebel's Knight Order. And above all, it's high-pitched... or rather, young?)
Rei hadn't perfectly memorized the voices of everyone in the Duke Kerebel's Knight Order, but he had at least sparred with nearly all of them.
Given that, if the owner of such a spirited shout were among them, it wouldn't have been strange for him to recall who it was the moment he heard their voice.
"Well now, who could it be?"
It wasn't as though he had any particular business with the owner of that voice.
He didn't, but there was no mistaking that his interest had been piqued.
(A guard? Well, guards would train too, I suppose. But what I'm hearing is only one person's voice, after all.)
If guards were training, then it would be strange not to hear the voices of several... or in some cases, dozens of people.
But what Rei and Set could hear coming from ahead was, after all, a single voice.
Proceeding through the garden of the Duke Kerebel Mansion... eventually, the scene came into view.
As expected, what entered Rei's field of vision was a single boy.
No, rather than a boy, it might be better to describe him as a youth, or perhaps a child.
From Rei's perspective, his age appeared to be around ten years old.
He didn't look like a guard by any stretch, and at the same time, the reason for the high-pitched voice was understandable when one considered that he hadn't gone through puberty yet.
That said, even for a child whose voice hadn't changed, judging from the way he was training, he was serious about it.
It was obvious even to an observer that this was no mere child's play.
"Ei, yaaah, tooh!"
Shouting with spirit, the child sharply thrust the spear he held.
That form was far from refined; rather, the word clumsy would be more appropriate.
But even so, his expression was dead serious, showing just how earnestly he was approaching his spear training.
"Gruu?"
Set purred toward Rei, who had been watching the child.
Are we still staying here? — that was what his attitude conveyed.
For Set, it was only natural to want to continue walking with Rei, since they were already out together.
"Yeah, you're right. Then... hm?"
Rei had been about to suggest they go somewhere else, but he suddenly noticed that the child's voice, which he had been hearing moments ago, had gone silent.
When Rei casually turned his gaze in that direction, he saw the child looking at him with sparkling eyes for some reason.
What lay in that gaze was an intense admiration.
Rei couldn't help but wonder why he was receiving such a look, but then reconsidered that given he was an Alias Holder, it wouldn't be strange to be looked at that way.
"U-um, you're Crimson Rei, aren't you!"
"That's right, I'm sometimes called that."
The reason the child had recognized the person before him as Rei was undoubtedly Set's presence.
With his Dragon Robe hood pulled up, it would be difficult for anyone observing from the outside to recognize Rei.
But seeing Set beside him, anyone who had heard the rumors of the Crimson could identify him as Rei.
...Though, of course, whether someone who had heard Rei's rumors would believe them outright was another matter entirely.
But fortunately, the child looking at Rei with a gaze of admiration didn't seem to harbor any doubts.
"Um... I saw the mock battle the other day. It was amazing!"
Saying he had seen the mock battle, and training with a spear in the garden of the Duke Kerebel Mansion.
Considering that, what kind of existence this child was became clear without needing to think.
If it were only about having seen the mock battle, it wouldn't be strange for him to be a resident of Anesis.
But being here, he was naturally someone connected to the nobility.
(A noble who was invited to yesterday's party had some reason to stay at this mansion, and that child is... theirs, perhaps?)
While making what was likely an accurate guess, Rei was about to say something in response, but at that moment Set looked behind them.
At that abrupt action, Rei stopped opening his mouth and redirected his gaze in that direction.
What kept him from feeling alarmed was that Set behaved the same as always.
Following the actions of Set and Rei, the child also traced their gaze with a puzzled expression, but there was nothing to be seen.
However... a few seconds later, the sound of someone running could be heard.
"Leodanis?"
Yes, the person there was without a doubt Leodanis.
Among the Duke Kerebel's Knight Order, he was arguably the one closest to Rei... it wouldn't be strange to assert that.
Leodanis approached Rei and the others, his breathing slightly rough.
"Jeez, going for a walk is fine, but at least tell someone which direction you're heading or something. It's a problem otherwise."
Saying this in a tone of complaint, Leodanis drew closer.
Watching Leodanis's state, Rei glanced at the child.
Compared to Leodanis, who had only jogged over, this child, who had been continuously training with a spear, was undoubtedly more exhausted.
The child, who had received Rei's glance, didn't understand why he was being looked at that way. He somehow held back his roughening breath and tilted his head.
The child probably didn't want to show weakness while Rei was present, but while he could manage to suppress his heavy breathing, the steam rising from his body was impossible to hide.
(Hm? Do you also call it "steam" in this kind of situation?)
Rei briefly wondered about that, but Leodanis addressed him.
"Got a minute? There was something I thought I should let you know about."
"...I get a slightly bad feeling about this."
From his past experiences... or perhaps from the influence of the manga, novels, and anime he had read while in Japan, Rei felt a faint sense of foreboding at Leodanis's words.
But Rei understood better than anyone that in this situation, the option of not listening didn't exist.
Rather, if he heard nothing in this situation, it would likely lead to the worst possible future.
Rei had a premonition strong enough to convince him of that.
Whatever he thought of Rei's attitude, Leodanis flashed a faint smile and asked.
"So? What'll it be? Personally, I don't mind heading back right now."
"...Fine. Tell me. If you just leave now, I feel like I'll get dragged into all sorts of troublesome things later."
At Rei's words of surrender, Leodanis floated a satisfied smile and opened his mouth.
"Heh, that's fine then. I'll tell you."
Rei felt slight irritation at Leodanis's somewhat pompous way of speaking, but he judged that hearing what Leodanis had to say took priority for now, and prompted him to continue.
"So? What's this information you said you should've told me about? Judging by how you're acting, it must be something pretty serious. ...If you've strung me along this long and it turns out to be some trivial matter..."
He didn't say any more, simply smiling.
But that very attitude was what frightened Leodanis.
If the information truly failed to capture Rei's interest, what on earth would be done to him?
Had it been a mistake to vent his frustration at Rei just because he had been made to search all over?
For a brief moment, such a thought crossed his mind, but it was already too late.
No matter what he said now, in this situation, there was no going back.
"Apparently, the people of Marquis Seisole's House have been moving around quite a bit since last night. And they've deployed a significant number of personnel."
"...Marquis Seisole's House?"
Surprising.
That was probably the expression currently on Rei's face.
Granted, when he thought about it, it wasn't that surprising, but still, the first thing he felt was that sense of surprise.
"Yeah. It's been since after last night's party ended. To be precise, it seems to be after the Head of Marquis Seisole's House returned to his own mansion. Though, this is just hearsay, so I can't say for certain."
"Hearsay, huh. Even so, information is information. ...I understand why you were looking for me."
It was fairly well known that Rei had clashed with Gaiska of Marquis Seisole's House.
Given that, there was no way Rei wouldn't be interested in the affairs of Marquis Seisole's House.
...That said, in the end, what had happened and how.
Without knowing the detailed circumstances, it was meaningless.
"So, there's no detailed information about all that? I'd have liked to hear more specifics, if possible."
Rei asked while staring intently at Leodanis, but what came back was a shake of the head.
At present, no information had been gathered at all.
In the first place, the fact that Marquis Seisole's House had moved in secret made this matter suspicious enough.
The other side surely understood that as well, which was why they had wanted to keep these movements hidden from others if at all possible.
Though, in the end, it had reached Rei's ears like this.
"Their movements became more active after Zaskal returned to his own mansion. If that's the case, what I can think of is..."
Several pieces of information organized themselves in Rei's mind.
Zaskal himself had seemed to desire a relationship with him.
Given that, if they were moving on the scale Leodanis described, the number of possibilities wasn't great.
And above all, the most troublesome thing that could be imagined in this situation was...
"Did Gaiska, who was under house arrest, escape or something?"
Half by intuition, Rei arrived at the correct answer.
...That said, it was merely intuition, and Rei had no way of knowing whether it was actually true.