"We don't get along, I'm telling you. If he sees me, he won't cooperate."
"Just tell me where he is, and I'll meet him alone."
"He might report you to Lord Anelli."
"Hmm, then I'll just have to threaten him before he can report."
No matter how bold someone is, if I threaten them as Durahan, they'll surely understand. At my completely unbothered reply, Xenon scowled deeply.
I'm actually quite confident in my threatening abilities.
"Seriously, do you really have to meet him?"
"You said there are few people skilled in handling subspaces."
At my rebuttal, Xenon pressed his lips together as if at a loss for words. But he couldn't hide his displeased expression.
"What's your complaint?"
"Never mind. I'm always the strange one, just me."
"You have to tell me for me to understand."
"Even if I tell you, you won't understand."
"That's something we can only know after talking about it."
Wondering what was so disappointing, I tried gently coaxing him. Xenon, who had been looking away with a sour expression, grumbled in a slightly softened voice.
"I tell you our relationship is bad, and you don't care even a little bit..."
"It's you who doesn't get along with him, not me."
"I knew it would be like this."
Xenon shook his head. Wait, did I say something wrong?
"He's not a child. Is he saying that since he doesn't get along with someone, I shouldn't acknowledge them either?"
"That's not it. Wouldn't it hurt less if you at least pretended to take the side of the closer person first, even if just in empty words?"
"We haven't even met yet and we're already fighting? Whose side am I supposed to take?"
At my counter-question, Xenon fell silent for a moment. Then he let out a deep sigh and turned away.
"I'm more sensitive than others, so my emotions go up and down. Don't worry about it. Let's just eat quickly."
"Forget it. Expecting understanding from you was my mistake. Don't worry."
Hearing Xenon's reply, a voice I had forgotten suddenly came back to life.
Words from some distant day. At that time, the person who said those words seemed to have made an expression similar to Xenon's just now.
Or was it even worse?
Maxell had shuddered at my coldness and given up on the conversation. What conversation had we had that day?
"Lord Anelli?"
Right, it was the day I heard news that one of Maxell's knights had been seriously injured in battle with a monster, and I went to the Crown Prince's palace.
After being invested as Crown Prince, Maxell had a tendency to overtrust his own power, and I was always careful that his defeated political enemies might harm him.
That day too, upon hearing the news, I went immediately to warn Maxell about the gap that would occur due to the knight's absence.
"Aren't you going to eat?"
The injured knight was one of Maxell's confidants.
He was someone who had protected Maxell from close by, and I urged that his vacant position needed to be filled as soon as possible.
Maxell had scolded me, saying people aren't spare parts, asking how I could so easily cast them aside.
"Lord Anelli? Excuse me?"
That knight was no longer in condition to guard Maxell. He had already received sufficient compensation and had decided to retire.
So Maxell's statement that he would leave the position vacant for now, considering the disappointment the other person would feel, was completely unreasonable.
Furthermore, isn't Maxell the Crown Prince? He can't afford even a speck of carelessness.
"He was like a brother to me. I'm not ready to put someone else in his position."
"But Maxell."
"Stop. You won't understand anyway, so further conversation is meaningless. Go back now, Anelli."
To me, his safety was the highest priority. I simply didn't want the man I loved to be endangered by even a small carelessness. But Maxell looked at me with disappointment instead.
I found out later. That Lilian had comforted Maxell when he was downcast over losing his knight.
Even Maxell's feelings of feeling tender-hearted toward Lilian, who lamented and cried over news of an injury to a confidant whose face she didn't even know.
"Lord Anelli!"
Suddenly, a person's face appeared in my vision. Staring blankly at the other person, I recognized who they were a bit late.
Ah, Xenon.
Right. I died and came back to life, and Maxell is someone I'll never meet again.
"What are you thinking about so deeply?"
"It's nothing."
"Is it because of the magic tool?"
Instead of answering, I moved toward the food he had prepared in advance. Perhaps because of the old memory that surfaced unexpectedly, my head felt cold for no reason.
"I'll contact the magic tool artisan, so don't worry too much. I was just grumbling—I didn't mean I wouldn't take you there."
Seeing my expression, Xenon spoke as if soothing a child. When I didn't respond, he started self-deprecating, saying he was being petty.
"I know that acting emotionally in this situation is dangerous. I acknowledge that I was being childish."
It's really strange.
Heinrich apologized for not being able to give help I didn't even want, and now Xenon understands feelings I didn't even ask him to figure out. But the person who actually wanted all of that abandoned me.
Staring blankly at Xenon, I picked up my utensils with a calm expression and answered.
"I'll take your side."
"So... pardon?"
"I can also distinguish between those who are closer and those who are less close."
Xenon's cooking skills didn't disappoint my expectations. Once I put it in my mouth, my appetite, which I hadn't even known existed, returned, and my stomach clamored.
Quietly chewing the food, I suddenly noticed the silence around me and looked up. I saw Neschi, who had been chewing his share of meat, staring fixedly at me from some point. Nadav and Zigor were the same.
Turning my head to follow them, I flinched and shook my shoulders. Anyone could see Xenon was standing there with a moved expression, his lips trembling.
"...Are you crying?"
"I'm not crying. I was just moved."
I had no idea at what point he became moved, but I understood one thing.
[Tsk, what a weak-hearted male.]
[A loyal servant.]
[Boss, from now on I'll be even more loyal!]
It's truly fortunate that Xenon can't understand what the animals are saying.
* * *
Even while traveling with Xenon, I made time to speak separately with Zigor or Nadav.
Nadav was certain that Zigor knew many things, and I secretly hoped Zigor might resolve some of our questions.
However, contrary to our expectations, Zigor sat on top of Nadav's head and hunched his body sullenly.
[I'm sorry, Boss. No matter how much I think, only the whereabouts of one other knight comes to mind.]
"Well, it can't be helped."
[Instead, when my wings heal, I'll stand at the vanguard and detect enemy approach first!]
"...No. You don't need to stand at the vanguard."
The current appearance of him sitting on Nadav's head suits him quite well.
Zigor even seemed to really like Nadav's lush mane. Since Nadav is larger than a regular horse, from tiny Zigor's perspective, it could feel like a nest.
No matter how I looked at it, Zigor seemed more suited to the life of a small bird than a Durahan.
"Then how should I plan the route?"
The fellow knight Zigor remembered was said to be from a coastal city. He said he recalled that the knight used to grumble about having eaten so much seafood in his childhood that he was sick of fish.
If it's a coastal region where fishing is developed enough to make someone sick of fish, I know one such place.
Since I found Zigor using the hint of a wyvern from Nadav, the hint Zigor gives should also point to another Durahan's location.
Probably, this is how I'm supposed to gather the Durahans—through this kind of tail-chasing.
The problem was that the direction to the coast and the direction to get the subspace magic tool were completely opposite.
"I guess I should get the subspace magic tool first."
I don't know what kind of animal I might get at the seaside, so rather than taking on a Durahan right away, it would be better to first obtain a subspace to store these creatures.
If something difficult to bring along appears, it'll be a big problem.
I wanted to move as secretly as possible, so I was looking all over the map when Xenon, who had gone to contact the magic tool artisan, returned.
"Lord Anelli, it'll take about half a month."
"That's longer than I thought."
Did Xenon contact them and deliberately delay the work? Even though I said I'd request it myself, he insisted on doing it...
"...Creating a subspace magic tool in half a month is already crazy. Even if you do nothing and dedicate yourself entirely to this, you'd need a full month at minimum. And it's not just one or two, but ten... Do you know how much I had to sweet-talk them?"
"Usually for that kind of commission price, they don't ask questions."
"Ha... This person isn't that kind of person. Anyway, since you said you need it, I did make the request, but sigh..."
Xenon swept back his bangs with an exhausted expression. It must have been quite difficult to make contact.
Well, he did say they don't get along, so maybe he didn't want to do it even for a paid commission.
"So what did you tell them?"
"...You won't get angry, right?"
A serious counter-question came back to my casually thrown question. Looking at Xenon with a sour expression, I nodded, and he coughed and avoided my gaze.
"I told him it's for an extreme animal lover to use."
"An extreme animal lover?"
"Yes. So you just need to act like an extreme animal lover when you go. You absolutely must be extreme."
"...A regular animal lover won't do?"
"A regular animal lover doesn't pay a fortune to create a subspace magic tool for animals."
Now that I heard it, it made sense. Unless someone has a serious collection obsession or is compulsively attached, no one would spend that much money on something like this.
It was strangely persuasive, so I quenched my rising dissatisfaction and answered that I understood.
Me, an extreme animal lover.
If the people of Roam Mansion heard this title, they would have been shocked. It's a bit of a shame I can't see that ridiculous sight.