How long had I waited, tilting my head in puzzlement?
Finally, beyond the rocky mountain, a black dot revealed itself. The figure with its black wings spread wide was immensely imposing.
The black hawk seemed to be hovering high in the sky, observing us from above. Yet, it flapped its wings as if it might descend at any moment.
However, for some reason, it only looked down and did not come toward us.
"Why is it acting like that?"
Pallides muttered in a puzzled voice. At that moment, the hawk made a wide circle in the air and then swiftly flew away behind the rocky mountain.
……Huh?
“……It seems it was just a real hawk.”
At Pallides's awkward remark, Zigore spoke with a tone of disbelief.
[That doesn't seem right…….]
The Dullahans, who had been whispering, gathered opinions to try calling out loudly once more. The animals huddled together were just about to let out a loud cry in unison.
"Huh? It's back agai……!"
Pallides, who had parted his lips in a delighted tone, looked up at the sky with a bewildered face.
Behind the black hawk, a line of small-bodied birds could be seen following. Though too distant to see clearly, they seemed like fledgling hawks.
The Dullahans murmured in a definitive tone.
[Ah, it's Soana.]
[That's right, it's Soana.]
[Wow, Soana.]
I grew a little uneasy.
……First Morico, who was a life-hating misanthrope, and now, could it be that a nanny Dullahan has appeared this time?
* * *
The temporary residence we were staying in was pitifully small and old compared to the original Roam mansion.
Perhaps because of that, the air in the study was exceedingly cold. And if one were to receive Duke Roam's icy gaze within it, how much worse would it feel?
Sayri's already poor complexion had turned ashen like a patient's. Her pale cheeks trembled faintly.
Sayri, who had been looking at her parents with eyes that seemed on the verge of tears, struggled to open her mouth.
"It's true. It was a Dullahan."
Duke Roam stared expressionlessly at Sayri. The Duchess of Roam, who had been watching her frail son with worried eyes, also could not hold back a sigh this time.
"Sayri."
"Mother, please believe me. The cat, that cat! It was all the little sister's doing!"
On the day the Roam mansion burned, Sayri insisted she had met Anelli.
At first, everyone listened to her words. If Sayri had not immediately afterward spoken about a cat that transformed into a Dullahan, they might have maintained their serious attitude.
A Dullahan? A Dullahan appeared at the Roam mansion, threatened only Sayri, and then vanished without a trace?
"Sayri, have you forgotten that Anelli received the guarantee of being the goddess's Resurrected One?"
Unable to listen any longer, Duke Roam asked in a stern voice. But Sayri only stamped her foot as if frustrated and kept emphasizing.
"I saw it with my own eyes!"
"Sayri, I know you were very interested in Anelli's animals. But a Dullahan? Do you know how much damage would occur if such a Monster appeared in the heart of the capital?"
Places where Monsters run amok leave traces. And there were no signs of a Monster at the Roam mansion.
Perhaps traces of a merciless conflagration, but not a Monster.
Yet, even at the Duchess's words, Sayri remained unyielding in her opinion.
"The little sister was controlling them!"
"Couldn't you have seen an illusion, startled by the fire?"
Finally, a dishonorable suspicion sprang from Duke Roam's lips.
The Duchess, her face pale, interjected.
"Dear, an illusion!"
Duke Roam gave his wife a glance, then turned his gaze back to Sayri.
"Sayri. Judge rationally. You must understand how a single word from you can come back as a weakness."
That gaze was so cold and heavy that Sayri stood there, shoulders hunched as if crushed by a massive rock.
"It seems I haven't regulated your life enough until now. Use this opportunity to properly put an end to your childish ways. Stop running around the gardens as well."
As even his few hobbies were forbidden, Sayri's complexion turned pale. But Sayri could not properly protest.
"You may leave now."
Sayri, who had been hesitating, ultimately failed to utter a single proper word and turned away.
The Duchess, who glanced at Sayri's slumped shoulders, swallowed a sigh and spoke.
"He is not a child who would fabricate lies."
"Then, are you asking me to believe that Anelli is now controlling a Dullahan that transforms into an animal, threatened Sayri, and left?"
Even as he spoke, perhaps because an absurd feeling welled up, Duke Roam let out a hollow laugh.
The Duchess, staring at Duke Roam with weary eyes, spoke in a tired voice.
"It is true that the animals used to enter and leave Anelli's room with unusual frequency."
"Even if that were true, we must prevent rumors from spreading that the second daughter of Roam knows how to command a Dullahan."
The Roam family, already plagued by endless gossip lately, was troubled enough by the existence of the eldest daughter who left the family through a wretched, hasty marriage.
And on top of that, if rumors now circulated that Roam's second daughter had been resurrected as a Monster, wouldn't that also be a stain on the name of Roam!
To Duke Roam, it was an exceedingly simple and obvious calculation. The reason he was particularly angry at Sayri's narrow perspective, which failed to consider this, lay here.
"Even stepping forward to silence tongues won't be enough, and yet you speak so thoughtlessly!"
The Duchess understood her husband's anger. So she quietly closed her lips.
"If you truly believe Sayri is fit to be established as the heir, then you too must stop coddling the child."
"Yes, my thinking was short-sighted."
Duke Roam, who had been staring at the Duchess as she obediently nodded, irritably averted his gaze.
Duke Roam's eyes swept over the study. The temporary study, pitifully small and shabby compared to the one in the main Roam mansion.
Seeing this utterly unfamiliar space, a different kind of seething anger surged within Duke Roam.
"However, the point about Anelli being suspicious... yes. That seems plausible."
"Hmm?"
"The study safe was robbed."
As he said this, Duke Roam's face had already grown cold.
Though the main building and annexes were said to have burned completely, the secret safe was intact. It was only natural, as it had undergone special treatment and was even protected by magic.
From the mansion, which had been engulfed in massive flames and burned hideously, Duke Roam checked the safe first. The safe was empty.
"It's presumed to have been the day of the fire. We're searching for traces, but due to the fire, it's difficult to find anything."
"What would Anelli want to use the items from the safe for……."
The Duchess muttered awkwardly. Duke Roam also wondered about that.
The items in the safe pertained to Roam's secret slush funds and private soldiers. While they could threaten Roam's political life, it was hard to readily guess what Anelli, who was not active in the political arena, intended to do with those items.
He even wondered if she might be planning to hand them over to Heinri. Meaning, to grasp Roam's weaknesses and shake them.
But if she wanted Roam to support Heinri, wouldn't she have expressed her intention long ago?
Thinking this, Duke Roam recalled another person who held much resentment toward Roam.
"If not Anelli, perhaps it's the Phrygian."
"The Phrygian?"
"Baron Kendal's movements are unusual. He's been acting as if he knows something. Since he couldn't have found out anything on his own, isn't the Phrygian likely moving behind the scenes?"
Duke Roam remembered how resentful the Phrygian had been after being deprived of the minor duchy.
The Phrygian would do his utmost to reclaim that position. Duke Roam was not unaware that the Phrygian's sudden marriage was, in his own way, a chosen expedient.
But he merely thought that with Anelli present, the cloistered Phrygian wouldn't be able to do much.
"Now that Anelli is gone, I doubt that child will remain idle."
At Duke Roam's muttering, the Duchess furrowed her brow.
"Do you mean he would dare to attack Roam?"
"In your opinion, does it seem unlikely?"
The Duchess recalled the Phrygian's letters, which she had put away in a drawer without even reading.
Now, even if she wanted to check, she couldn't. They would have all burned.
But she could probably guess their contents.
“……I will try to speak with that child."
The Duchess replied in a subdued voice. Duke Roam did not bother to respond to her words.
It was tacit agreement.
* * *
Soana did not descend.
It was an incomprehensible matter, but I had no skill to forcibly capture and bring down a hawk that only circled in the sky.
And I couldn't exactly shoot an arrow at the hawk.
"Let's camp nearby and wait for now."
It was Xenon's suggestion. Though I was reluctant to camp when there was a small town nearby, I decided to accept his proposal, thinking it would be troublesome to leave and then have to return.
Around that time, Samuel, who had sent Cheche back and returned, joined us, and we set up tents for the first time in a while and prepared to camp.
"It's been a while, so I put some care into it."
Naturally, Xenon was on dinner duty.
"The menu is different."
"You just eat what you're given."
"Being a mage makes you petty, I see."
"What's a paladin, who's like a bug-eater, saying?"
……After the somewhat boisterous dinner, which felt like too long a time had passed, night quickly fell. The rocky mountain was hidden in darkness, not even a shadow visible, with only the crackling campfire illuminating a narrow radius.
Xenon, perhaps a little tired, went to bed early, and Samuel said he had to offer evening prayers and retreated to his tent. Thanks to that, only the Dullahans and I were now sitting outside around the fire.
The topic among the Dullahans gathered around the campfire was Soana. Having regained a considerable amount of memory by now, the recollections that emerged were varied.
[Soana was a strict teacher.]
Tristan, who was clinging to Bark's fur, said.
The sixth knight, Soana, was said to have been a priest who served the goddess of dawn in the old days. Perhaps because of that, he was erudite and often taught something to those around him.