◇ ◇ ◇
Originally, the plan had been for everyone to leave Daruane today to return to Tsutrail.
Because of that, Selma-san and the others had begun making preparations for the journey back to Tsutrail.
As for me, I had wanted to continue the conversation with Fuuka from earlier, but after she finished breakfast she said she had something to do and went outside. With no other choice, I spent the time preparing for departure until she returned.
I had a pretty good idea who the person Fuuka wanted me to meet was.
It was most likely Christopher Downing.
"Make contact with the president of the Downing Trading Company, Christopher Downing."
Those were also words left behind by Gary.
The main branch of the Downing Trading Company was located in the Hitia Duchy.
And Fuuka had been living in the Hitia Duchy before she came to Tsutrail.
To me now, this coincidence could not possibly be accidental.
"Damn, the headache is getting worse again..."
The more deeply I thought about my own past, the more intense the headache became.
Fuuka had said she knew at least part of my real past.
It was almost certain that I had been subjected to recognition alteration by Philly Carpenter.
If that was the case, it made sense to assume the headache was a reaction to questioning the parts that had been rewritten by the recognition alteration.
It was probably a kind of warning not to think any deeper.
"...Thinking about it now is just a waste of time and effort. I am going to meet the person who knows my past soon enough. I can think deeply about it then."
I muttered this both to endure the headache and to convince myself not to dwell on the past.
Even so, it was impossible not to think about my own past at all.
I could not help but think about it.
Because of that, a dull headache had been lingering since morning.
Just thinking that this would probably continue for a while made me want to sigh.
As I was thinking such things, Inola-san, who served as attendant to Her Highness Lucila, called out to me.
"Good morning, Orun-sama. Do you have a moment?"
"Good morning, Inola-san. Yes, that is fine. Is something the matter?"
"Her Highness requests a meeting with you. Could you come to her room now?"
(Her Highness Lucila? What could she want?)
Honestly, I was already overwhelmed with my own issues.
However, with the kingdom at war with the empire, as an executive of the Night Sky Silver Rabbit I could not treat the princess rudely.
Explorers no longer went to the battlefield, but that was only the current situation.
Depending on how the war progressed, it was entirely possible that explorers would have no choice but to take the field.
If I built up some goodwill with Her Highness Lucila, she might take that into consideration when selecting personnel if such a situation arose.
The chances were low, but as a clan executive, I should do whatever I could if there was even the slightest chance it would keep my comrades off the battlefield.
"I understand. I will go to Her Highness Lucila."
"Thank you. I will show you the way."
As I followed behind Inola-san, I spotted Fuuka, who should have been out.
"Fuuka, are you already finished with your business?"
"Yes, I am done. Are you going to meet the princess now?"
Fuuka answered my question, glanced at Inola-san, and then asked.
"Yeah. It seems she has something she wants to talk to me about."
"I see. ...Hey, can I come along too?"
After hearing my reply, Fuuka turned to Inola-san and requested to accompany me.
"Yes, that is fine. Her Highness instructed me to allow it if you asked to join."
Surprised that Her Highness Lucila had anticipated this situation, Fuuka and I followed Inola-san's guidance to Her Highness Lucila's location.
◇
"Excuse me."
"Good morning, Orun. I am sorry for calling you so suddenly."
When I entered the room and greeted her, Her Highness Lucila noticed me and returned the greeting.
Her expression was not the usual gentle one. She looked somewhat dejected, as if she had something weighing on her mind.
"There is still some time before we depart, so it is no problem. What is the matter?"
I made an effort to smile and asked while conveying through my tone that I was not bothered.
"Before I speak, let me confirm one thing. Fuuka, I expected you would come along, but how much have you told him?"
"Nothing in detail."
"...I see. Understood."
I could not understand the content of their conversation.
Had the two of them already discussed Her Highness Lucila's business in my absence?
"I called Orun here because there is something I would like to ask of him."
That much I had expected.
I did not know the details, but I had guessed that calling me in meant some kind of request.
"Please continue."
"I would like you to go to the Hitia Duchy."
(...Again here. Everything involving me lately seems to be pointing toward the Hitia Duchy.)
Even as I thought this inwardly, Her Highness Lucila continued speaking.
"In truth, while calling on neighboring countries to form a coalition army, I also requested cooperation from the Hitia Duchy."
The Hitia Duchy was known as a great magical nation and held significant influence over other countries.
The main reason for that influence was that it had been founded by the fairy-tale hero known as the King of the Gifted.
The country had originally been a kingdom, but after the King of the Gifted passed away, no new monarch was chosen. Instead, high-ranking nobles took turns governing, which led to it becoming a duchy.
To summarize Her Highness Lucila's explanation, she had requested the loan of magical weapons from the Hitia Duchy, and it seemed the request had been approved.
As a condition for providing the magical weapons, the Hitia Duchy wanted a face-to-face handover.
They were probably concerned about the risk of losing the latest magical weapons during transport.
Originally, the plan had been for Her Highness Lucila to travel to the Hitia Duchy with the Jade Gale as escorts while the neighboring countries gathered their troops.
However, the war had begun sooner than she had anticipated.
In addition, although the Hero had not yet appeared on the battlefield, the empire seemed to have committed a large force from the very beginning. As a result, the schedule had been moved up, and Her Highness Lucila now had to head to the battlefield immediately with the coalition army.
That was why I had been chosen as the person to go to the Hitia Duchy.
"I am fully aware that this is an unreasonable request. However, in this situation, there is no one I can entrust this task to with more confidence than you. Would you please accept it?"
"I understand the situation. Just to confirm, this request is merely nominal, correct?"
When I asked that, Her Highness Lucila simply deepened her smile without saying anything.
But that was answer enough.
From the earlier conversation between Her Highness Lucila and Fuuka, it was clear that the two had already had some exchange behind my back.
Moreover, if the person Fuuka wanted me to meet was not in the Hitia Duchy, she would have interrupted the discussion.
That was how serious Fuuka's demeanor had been this morning.
"Inola, leave the room."
Her Highness Lucila spoke to Inola-san, who was standing beside her.
"But, Your Highness..."
"It is an order. I will not allow objections."
"...Understood."
When Her Highness Lucila spoke in a tone that brooked no argument, Inola-san left the room.
"Well then, shall we speak openly?"
Now that only Fuuka, Her Highness Lucila, and I remained in the room, Her Highness Lucila began to speak.
"As Orun said, this request is merely nominal. The talk of receiving support from the Hitia Duchy is true, but the condition they presented for providing that support was to accept Fuuka's demand."
"And Fuuka's demand was to take me to the Hitia Duchy, correct?"
Her Highness Lucila nodded at my confirmation.
"Yes, that is correct. I did not expect you to figure it out so precisely. I am surprised."
"Fuuka, may I ask one thing?"
After hearing Her Highness Lucila's explanation, I turned to Fuuka beside me.
"What is it?"
"Why did you go to the trouble of preparing such a just cause?"
"That is simple. Because we do not know where the enemy is hiding."
"Enemy?"
"Yes. Orun going to the Hitia Duchy is a far more significant event than you realize, so we need to be cautious. We will treat the request from Lucila as a secret order and make sure its contents are not revealed to anyone. If we are careless, everything could end before it even begins."
Fuuka, once again wrapped in a serious atmosphere, warned me firmly.
Gary had also said that if the cult learned of this, everything would be over.
So the enemy she spoke of referred to the Cyclamen Cult?
"I understand. I am afraid of what awaits, but I will keep it in mind."
"Yes, but you do not need to be so tense. Because your sword, me, will be by your side."
My sword...?
Come to think of it, during the martial arts tournament at last year's gratitude festival, Fuuka had said the same thing.
She had also said something about me becoming the enemy of the world.
At the time I had been too exhausted to think deeply about it, but what exactly did she mean?
"...What do you mean by my sword?"
"You do not need to worry about that now. You will understand eventually. It will not be long. ...And Lucila, here."
Fuuka, who had evaded answering my question, handed a bag with a magic stone attached to Her Highness Lucila.
"Is this perhaps..."
"Yes, the support goods from the Hitia Duchy. I have delivered them properly."
"I did not expect to receive them so quickly. Thank you."
Her Highness Lucila let out a surprised voice.
Perhaps the business Fuuka had taken care of this morning had been to receive these.
◇
"Well then, Orun-san, we will head back to Tsutrail first!"
The five members of Twilight Moon Rainbow, along with Selma-san, had finished their preparations to return. As we saw them off, Sophie spoke on behalf of the group.
"I am sorry we cannot return together. With this group I am not worried, but be careful on the road."
"We are more worried about you, Orun. It is a secret order from Lucy, but is there really no danger?"
Selma-san asked with a worried expression after hearing my words.
The only ones who knew I would be heading to the Hitia Duchy were Inola-san, who had been present for the conversation with Her Highness Lucila, and my traveling companions Fuuka and Hart-san.
Because of Fuuka's earlier warning, I had only told Selma-san and the others that I would be taking separate action due to a secret order from Her Highness Lucila.
"Yeah. It is not a request that puts my life in danger. I will finish it quickly and return to Tsutrail soon, so do not worry."
I was about to learn about my own past.
Whatever awaited me was frightening, but it would not change who I was now.
Right now I was an explorer of the Night Sky Silver Rabbit.
The place I returned to was the Night Sky Silver Rabbit.
"I see. If anything happens, contact me or the clan. We will come right away."
"We will too! We believe you will finish it without any trouble, Master, but if by any chance something troubles you, please rely on us without hesitation!"
"Thank you, Selma-san, Log. That is reassuring. If anything comes up, I will definitely call for help."
"Master, come back soon! I want you to see our rapid progress up close!"
Carol spoke next.
Her rapid progress likely referred to the conquest of the great southern labyrinth.
Twilight Moon Rainbow had reached the lower floors shortly after the new year.
Normally, even after reaching the lower floors smoothly, the pace of conquest would drop sharply due to the open environment unlike the cave-like upper floors and the strength of the magical beasts.
That applied to them as well, but after the recent incident, Sophie and Carol had grown significantly in spirit.
Combined with Log and Luna, I believed the current Twilight Moon Rainbow could reach the deep floors of the great labyrinth.
"Yeah. I will do my best to return to Tsutrail as soon as possible so that I do not get left behind by you all."
After finishing conversations with all the members, the members of Twilight Moon Rainbow and Selma-san boarded the carriage.
The carriage carrying them slowly began moving toward Tsutrail.
The size of the carriage in my view gradually grew smaller.
In inverse proportion to that, I felt a restless unease growing inside my chest.
Perhaps I was feeling sentimental about being separated from my disciples and comrades again.
"...Well then, let us head to the Hitia Duchy as well."
After confirming the carriage was no longer visible, I spoke to Fuuka and Hart-san beside me.
"Understood. Man, it has been a while since I went to the Hitia Duchy."
Hart-san replied to my call in his usual relaxed, drawn-out tone.
"You and Fuuka were living in the Hitia Duchy before coming to Tsutrail, right?"
"Yeah. We left our homeland in the Far East a few years ago to escape a civil war, then after various things we lived in the Hitia Duchy for about a year, and after more various things we ended up becoming explorers in Tsutrail. Looking back, life really is unpredictable."
I had asked something rather personal, but Hart-san answered lightly without seeming particularly bothered.
"In that case, you know the geography better than me, since I have never been to the Hitia Duchy. Is it all right if I leave the route selection during the journey to you?"
"Yeah, that was the plan from the start. I am thinking of using a somewhat special route."
"A special route?"
"That is something to look forward to when the time comes."
"Hart, on the way I want to eat the bird stew with lauroni from the Lauroni Kingdom and the gratin made with potatoes from the Tsaharib Kingdom, so choose a route that passes through places where those can be eaten."
Fuuka, who had been silently listening to my conversation with Hart-san, suddenly interjected.
"You really never change. It will not be too much of a detour, so that is fine."
While having such a conversation, we boarded the carriage prepared by Her Highness Lucila and departed from Daruane.
At that time, I never dreamed what kind of ending awaited me.
One day Fuuka had said this.
"Peace does not exist anywhere in this world. The everyday life we take for granted is nothing more than something built on thin ice that could shatter at any moment."
I was about to learn the true meaning of those words the hard way.