A Gentle Noble's Vacation Recommendation

For example, what would have happened if I had jumped out in front of that person back then?

It was something not even worth thinking about. Nothing would have changed; in the end, it would have been taken away anyway.

Even if I tried to let him escape, I probably could have only held them up for a few seconds alone. And they weren’t the kind of opponent who could be shaken off with such a brief delay. No matter how much blood I spilled or how much I crawled on the ground, that peaceful and pure person never worried about me; he repeated the same words without concern.

That was fine. If he worried, I would be annoyed—wondering whose fault it was—and if I started to fret, I’d just say “Okay, sorry for the trouble” in frustration and never get involved again.

In that case, it would be far more meaningful to just watch quietly, gather the necessary information, and quickly relay it to the two who cherish him so dearly. It’s best to leave the counterattack—or rather, overwhelming force—to those who are more than capable.

“(Ah, but...)”

The man, who covered both his eyes with his bangs, concealed the smile twisting his exposed mouth with his hand.

It was pointless whether he bled or crawled on the ground, but he regretted only missing the opportunity for those sweet, gentle eyes to look at him approvingly.

“...So, they got away midway, and it’s unknown where the nobleman was taken.”

The fact that this was his only regret wasn’t something to laugh about, the man known as an elite soldier grimaced, the smile on his mouth twitching.

The location was Jill’s room. The owner of this room sat on the bed, having completely stopped the sword maintenance he had just been doing. His already rough face grew even rougher as if deep in thought, and the whetstone clenched in his hand cracked sharply, shards falling onto the floor.

“That’s Damascus steel,” the elite soldier thought as he put strength into the leg resting on the window, ready to flee anytime. From the start, he hadn’t fully entered the room so he could retreat immediately if something happened. But even if Jill tried to kill him seriously, it wouldn’t matter what he did; the elite soldier knew this was just a comfort.

‘Tell him not to kill.’

But that probably wouldn’t happen. The words Rizel whispered just before being taken away had already been conveyed to Jill as a premise of the information.

He wondered how the kidnapped man had taken it. If he hadn’t noticed their presence, it was just a plea for life; even if he noticed, he probably wouldn’t understand its meaning.

That was one of the messages directed at Jill and Eleven, and above all, a definite assurance of the elite soldiers’ lives. While genuinely grateful toward Rizel for being so thoughtful, the elite soldier pretended not to hear the sounds of people breaking apart and the intermittent screams coming from the room two doors down. He was glad he won rock-paper-scissors.

“Where is it?”

“Just outside the country.”

The elite soldier replied, assuming the meaning was where they got lost.

“Well, it was a trap. According to our self-proclaimed ‘sorcerer,’ it’s ‘a magic so insidious it deserves praise, so orderly it deserves insult, and so sensitive it’s unbearable to see.’”

The pursued target fled from the country of Astarnia into the jungle ahead and disappeared like mist. It was probably a prearranged magic; even if they tried to follow immediately, they were blocked by thick fog and couldn’t see ahead, and their sense of direction was completely lost as if something had been disturbed.

At that point, they were completely lost. But rather than reporting immediately, it was better to have more information. So the elite soldier called a man skilled in magic among them to investigate. The conclusion the man, who disliked being called a mage despite being one, gave was this ambiguous phrase—neither clearly praising nor criticizing.

“(Then the base is probably concealed by magic too, so finding it will be tough. The nobleman probably has no markers... he’s all about self-preservation after all.)”