"So, you're saying Ailin sent you?"
"That's what I'm saying."
I brought Chad up to my quiet room.
There was a lot to sort out.
"She was pretty worried about you, huh? Are you two, you know, like that?"
"...No."
The kind of joke only an older man would make, trying to force a romance line.
'Just how old is this person...'
It was impossible to gauge from appearance alone.
"Did you really come all this way just for that? I heard you were originally a knight affiliated with a territory; is it that easy to leave?"
I didn't know much about how this world worked, but even by common sense, that seemed strange.
"I quit."
"What?"
I couldn't help but ask again at the overly simple and clear answer.
"I said I quit. I'm a wandering knight now."
"Ah."
A sudden declaration of a job change.
A wandering knight was, simply put, a free knight who wandered around without any affiliation.
He seemed to have much more to say, but he remained calm as if that explanation was enough.
"Why in the world would you make such a choice..."
"Hmm? The contract conditions were like that from the start."
"Then what do you plan to do now?"
"I came because I had nothing to do."
Chad shrugged as if it was no big deal.
"Ailin praised you so much. So I just had a feeling. 'Ah, if I follow that guy, I won't be bored.' That's why I followed."
He had really come all this way for just that reason.
It sounded like a joke, but strangely, it didn't seem like a lie.
'Hmm, definitely not a normal person.'
I roughly got the idea.
It was certain that he knew Ailin, and his combat power was definitely above a certain level.
But that didn't mean I could just accept him blindly.
There was potential for conflict, and more than anything, that scene earlier... honestly, it was a bit shocking.
"Well... I'm fine with us traveling together, but I ought to know what kind of person you are."
At my words, he tilted his head, crossed his arms leisurely, and fell into thought.
"I already told you my name... what else is there to explain? I don't have many talents."
His tone was relaxed, but he somehow seemed to be seriously racking his brain.
Was he really a knight?
The knights I knew were those cool characters who appeared riding horses in shining full-body armor.
But no matter how I looked at him, the person in front of me seemed closer to a village watchman or mercenary.
On his head, he wore a helmet with a long protrusion like a bird's beak; at a glance, it reminded one of a plague doctor's mask.
Beneath it was a chain aventail covering his neck and shoulders, while his upper body was wrapped in thick black quilted armor reminiscent of a padded jacket.
The hem hung down to mid-thigh, and below that were sturdy thick trousers, mud-caked knee guards, and worn-out boots.
It was not an outfit that inspired much dignity.
Had I been prejudiced about knights, or was this person particularly strange?
Either way, one thing was certain.
His speech, behavior, and appearance were all far from ordinary, but he definitely seemed like someone who could fight.
"Ah! I know how to cook!"
His voice suddenly brightened.
Was that the best advantage he could think of?
At such a random answer, I blinked once for no real reason.
'...Cooking, in that getup?'
I tried to picture it in my head, but I couldn't imagine it at all.
The sight of him stirring a pot while wearing that beaked helmet.
"...What kind of dishes can you make?"
To my doubt-filled question, he spoke in a voice full of pride.
"I make amazingly good soup."
"......."
I see, so that's how it is.
I had been expecting some grand dish, but soup out of nowhere.
It was a self-promotion that felt like saying, 'I'm pretty good at getting the water level right for instant noodles.'
In the first place, Sailon was the one in charge of cooking.
Because of that, Chad's words didn't carry much weight.
Now that I thought about it, Sailon was surprisingly versatile.
Long-range support was a given, but he was also good at driving carriages, gathering herbs, and cooking.
He even knew how to read maps and handled errands and miscellaneous tasks with ease.
...The problem was his mouth and personality.
If not for the occasional nonsense that popped out of his mouth and his annoying tendency to try and slip away whenever he saw the chance, he would truly be useful talent.
Was that the price that made all that possible?
In other words, maybe it was because of that personality that he had been able to learn so many things, even if only superficially.
Perhaps because my expression looked quite displeased, he scratched his helmet awkwardly and laughed.
"Uh, um... hem."
He was clearly racking his brain to see if there was anything more he could appeal with.
It seemed like creaking sounds could be heard from inside the helmet.
"That's enough."
I cut him off with a sigh.
"For now, let's say we'll travel together at least until the Magic Tower. You heard why we're going, right?"
"Oh! Of course."
He answered with an unnecessary shrug.
He regained his vitality so quickly that one might wonder if he was the same person who had been awkward just moments ago.
"Then... what exactly is that relic?"
It was a point I had to ask about unconditionally, even if it made me uncomfortable.
"Simple."
He tapped his helmet and spoke.
"It's called the [Hounskull of Gluttony]."
As expected, it was the helmet.
The most eye-catching piece of equipment among what he wore.
Its shape protruded long like a bird's beak, made of a material that seemed to mix gold and iron of a peculiar quality.
It was clearly not ordinary equipment at a glance.
"So, it's because you're wearing that... is that it?"
I trailed off and averted my gaze.
The meaning of 'that' was something we both knew without having to say it out loud.
"Yeah."
Chad revealed it without much emotion.
"I get hungry. Sometimes it's hard to endure."
At those words, a chill ran down my spine.
The scene of him tearing apart and eating the chimera's corpse came to mind again.
"Well, I haven't gotten an upset stomach yet."
He laughed as if joking, but it wasn't funny at all.
"You can't control it at all?"
"Hmm, it depends on how much I move. So the more I use it, the hungrier I get."
It meant the more he used the ability, the greater the price he paid.
If that was the case, then him tearing into the corpse right after that battle...
"I moved quite a bit back then. It was a rather urgent situation, wasn't it?"
Chad shrugged as if it was nothing.
'...So that was it, after all.'
I could accept it. But understanding it was a different story.
"What kind of ability does it have that you keep using it? Wouldn't it be better to just take it off at that point?"
It was an extremely reasonable question.
Was there a reason to endure such bizarre side effects?
"Ability? While wearing this, I basically don't get tired, and I can exert much greater strength than usual."
"Oh..."
It was simple, but a better effect than I had thought.
Stamina that didn't tire, enhanced strength.
I didn't know to what extent, but it was performance that anyone who used their body would covet.
As expected of something called a relic.
"Instead, once you put it on, you can't take it off."
"...What?"
What kind of bullshit was this?
"I'm serious. To take it off, either I have to die, or it'd be faster to cut off and replace everything below the neck entirely."
He gripped the helmet with both hands as if to demonstrate, trying to take it off.
Crack, crack.
As force entered his grip, unpleasant joint sounds rang out continuously from his shoulders and neck.
And yet the helmet didn't budge at all, as if thick layers of adhesive had been smeared onto his head.
Watching that attempt blankly, I felt a chill run down my spine for no reason.
"...So it was true."
"I told you so. Why else do you think I grew my hair out?"
Chad tilted his head slightly inside the helmet and tossed his hair back over his shoulder.
Crimson hair like a lion's mane flowed down over his damp armor.
That color, somehow holding light within it, looked especially vivid even inside the damp inn.
Thanks to his low voice and thug-like manner of speaking, there was no room for confusion, but it was long enough that one might easily mistake him at a distance.
"Can't you just... cut the part that comes out below the helmet?"
"What? My hair is beautiful! Why would I cut that?"
He really was insane.
Just moments ago he had said he only grew it because of the helmet, but now his story was completely different.
Looking at this person's speech and behavior, I wondered if he was really a knight.
If all other knights were like this too, it would be quite disappointing.
Did chivalry not exist in this world?
"We were originally planning to leave tomorrow—no, today. But things turned out this way... so we'll probably depart later than that. Let's talk again tomorrow."
"Really? You must be tired. Then I should look for a room too."
He spoke nonchalantly and went straight downstairs.
I gazed at the door he had left through for a long time, lost in thought.
'In the end, I couldn't ask about that.'
The Man-Eating Knight.
I had definitely intended to ask about that title clearly, but strangely, the conversation had kept missing the mark.
Instead, I had ended up rambling about useless things.
...Perhaps that had been his intention.
***
After causing such a commotion at dawn, it wasn't until around late lunch that we finally opened our eyes.
The moment I woke up, I first checked the condition of Baldik and Sailon lying in the other beds.
We had moved them with the help of the innkeeper and a merchant.
Fortunately, Baldik's expression looked much more comfortable than yesterday.
His breathing was even, and the cold sweat on his forehead had disappeared.
Though I wasn't a doctor, it was clear his condition had improved greatly.
As for Sailon... well, he looked fine as always.
'Whew, that's a relief at least.'
That aside.
[Passive Ability: Water-Self Unity]...
I recalled the dream I had had at dawn.
Thanks to the fuss at dawn, I had expected there would definitely be a level up this time.
When I closed my eyes, I headed to the familiar level-up stage as expected.
There were two level-ups in total.
The first was the usual all-around stat package.
I chose the safe greenish mana increase card, and the next choice that appeared was a shock in itself.
A purple card.
Even excluding enhancement options, it was a passive ability card I had never seen before.
[Passive Ability: Water-Self Unity]
It had a slightly different, pun-like meaning from the Water-Self Unity I knew.
The description proved that to be the case.
[When your body is submerged in water above a certain level, mana regeneration speed and physical regeneration speed increase, and mana consumption when using magic decreases. Increase rate and consumption amount adjust depending on state, and some effects are limitedly manifested even in high-humidity environments.]
Just reading it, the effect was no joke.
The moment I saw it, I picked it up as if entranced, unable to stop myself.
'If only I had had this at dawn...'
The result wouldn't have changed much, but I might have been able to hold out longer with my comrades until Chad arrived.
What good was regret now?
I quickly shook off idle thoughts and opened the inn room door, going down to the first floor.
"Liev! *Munch* Good morning. *Munch* No, is it afternoon?"
"... ."
On the first-floor dining hall, Chad was stuffing bread and soup into his mouth like crazy.
Whether he had always eaten this much, or whether he had done something while I was away.
Either way, judging by the stacks of empty plates piled on the table, he seemed to have been sitting there for quite a while.
Taking my eyes off that absurd sight, I suddenly saw the outer wall that had collapsed at dawn.
When had it been repaired? Wooden planks were already nailed over it. He must have gotten his hands on it in that time.
Since I couldn't keep ignoring him, I went to the seat across from Chad and dragged a chair to sit down.
The moment I sat across from him, his face lit up as he welcomed me.
"Oh, are you by any chance not going to eat that sausage?"
"Huh? What sausage—"
"Sausages are delicious. Please."
I couldn't grasp what he was talking about at all.
But a desperate expression could be felt even beyond the helmet.
Pushed by that expression, I ended up ordering bread, soup, and sausage.
The innkeeper swept his gaze over Chad with a strange look, then silently went into the kitchen.
Shortly after, the meal came out.
Clatter.
As the wooden plate was placed on the table, Chad stared at the sausage as if he would bore a hole through it.
Like a cat eyeing fish, a strange fixation could be felt.
"Shall I give you half—"
"Yes! ......Ahem."
Before I could even finish speaking, he shot out an answer like a shout.
Embarrassed, he scratched his helmet, but soon took the sausage and began his meal again with combat-like fervor.
A knight... could he actually be broke?
I couldn't help but look at Chad with a stony gaze.
He seemed completely unaware that I was sending such a gaze, burying his nose in his plate as he continued eating.
Silently swallowing a sigh, I picked up my spoon and bit into a hardened piece of bread.