After classes ended that day, we returned to the mansion as usual in the Valerion family carriage.
What Professor Bern of the Department of Special Familiar Studies had told us still lingered in my mind.
It was still too early for a formal familiar contract.
An ordinary contract circle could be dangerous.
First, we had to confirm the stabilization of our resonance.
And the power inside me was, as expected, not something ordinary.
Curled up on Elysia’s lap, I felt the swaying of the carriage.
The mana vibrations unique to the magic carriage were still a little unpleasant, but they were no longer as difficult to endure as they had been at first.
Perhaps I was gradually getting used to them.
Or maybe the demonic energy inside me was unconsciously blocking the turbulence of the mana.
‘……There’s too much to think about.’
I let out a small breath.
Just then, Elysia’s hand came down onto my back.
“Haku, are you all right?”
‘Yeah. I’m just a little tired.’
“A lot happened today, too.”
Worry tinged Elysia’s voice.
I only gave a slight nod.
It hadn’t even been long since we came to the academy, yet incidents were piling up around me at an oddly fast pace.
And most of those incidents were growing larger regardless of my will.
‘I just want to live quietly.’
I meant it.
Eating beside Elysia in peace, taking naps,
occasionally making foxfire, and helping a little with the flow of Elysia’s aura.
I thought that would be enough.
But this world did not flow as meekly as I wished.
The carriage arrived at the mansion.
The door opened, and Mina greeted us in front of the entrance.
“Welcome back, my lady. Lord Haku, you’ve returned safely as well.”
Elysia got out of the carriage with me in her arms.
But today, the atmosphere was a little different from usual.
The inside of the entrance hall was strangely quiet.
No, rather than quiet, there was an air as though someone were waiting.
Elysia must have sensed it too, because she stopped walking.
“Mina?”
Mina smiled, looking somewhat troubled.
“Well…… my lady. You have guests today.”
“Guests?”
“Rather than guests…… they are members of your family.”
Family.
At that word, Elysia’s shoulders stiffened ever so slightly.
I perked my ears a little in her arms.
Family?
I wondered if it was Duke Leopold and Lady Isolde, but Mina’s next words followed immediately.
“His Grace and Her Grace are still occupied with work,
and today, Young Master Lucius, Lady Camilla,
and the former duke, Lord Gradeon, are here.”
Elysia’s expression subtly hardened.
“My brother, Camilla, and Grandfather?”
“Yes. They said they wished to see you and Lord Haku for a moment once you returned.”
Hearing that, I slowly blinked.
So the parents weren’t here, and instead her older brother, younger sister, and grandfather had come.
Was this some kind of family interview?
I curled myself a little smaller in Elysia’s arms.
‘I’m tired right now, though.’
As if she had sensed my thoughts, Elysia stroked my back very softly.
“It’s all right. It won’t take long.”
Would it really?
In my experience, things people said that about usually took a long time.
Mina guided us carefully.
“They are in the reception room.”
Elysia took a moment to steady her breathing and nodded.
“Understood.”
We passed through the entrance hall and headed for the reception room.
The corridors of the Valerion mansion were still broad and quiet.
Swords, shields, and old banners that looked as if they had been used on battlefields adorned the walls.
A family of the sword.
It was a space that made those words feel real.
And when we reached the door to the reception room at the end of that corridor,
I pricked up my ears at the presences I sensed beyond the door.
One.
A straight, cold presence.
Like a well-trained sword, it had few openings.
Another.
A splendid yet sharp presence.
It gave the impression of a flower, but one with thorns.
And the last.
Heavy.
Not simply heavy.
Like an old blade inside an aged scabbard, its exterior was quiet, yet the edge within was still alive.
‘……That must be the grandfather.’
I instinctively felt so.
Elysia drew in a light breath before the door.
“It is Elysia.”
A low voice came from inside.
“Come in.”
The door opened.
There were three people in the reception room.
The first to catch my eye was the young man standing by the window.
Neatly arranged blond hair.
Blue eyes characteristic of the Valerions.
An impeccable posture and a tidy uniform.
He was a little more mature than Elysia, and just as flawless.
That man was probably Lucius.
The heir to the Valerion ducal house.
On the sofa beside him sat a girl.
Her blond hair, tinged with a bright rosy hue, was arranged elegantly,
and restrained military-style ornaments adorned her luxurious dress.
She still retained a somewhat youthful air, but her gaze was unmistakably firm.
Beautiful, but rather than gentle, her impression was splendid and vivid.
Her blue eyes resembled Elysia’s, but they seemed far more candid and proud.
Camilla.
And lastly.
At the innermost part of the reception room, on a chair beside the fireplace, sat an old man.
Hair and beard gone completely white.
A slightly bent back.
But his fingertips were astonishingly still, and his eyes had not aged.
His cloudy gray-blue eyes turned toward Elysia, then immediately lowered to me.
At that moment,
a strange sensation brushed down my spine.
The old man’s gaze did not see me as a cute little fox.
Or more precisely, it tried to see me that way, but it had not missed whatever lay deeper within.
Like someone who had held a sword for a long time recognizing the weight of the blade inside its scabbard.
‘……This person is a little dangerous.’
I didn’t mean that he was dangerous to me.
This man was perceptive.
Holding me in her arms, Elysia bowed politely.
“Brother, Camilla, Grandfather. I have returned.”
Lucius spoke first.
“You’ve worked hard, Elysia.”
His voice was calm.
But his gaze was directed straight at me.
“Is that child Haku?”
A little strength entered Elysia’s arms.
“Yes. This is my familiar, Haku.”
Familiar.
That word settled quietly inside the reception room.
Camilla looked at me with her arms crossed.
“I heard the rumors, but…… he’s even smaller than I expected.”
I looked up at her.
Small.
I had been hearing that word far too often lately.
Camilla narrowed her eyes and added,
“Since he was the familiar everyone in the academy was talking about, I imagined something a little more intimidating.”
‘Sorry for being fluffy.’
Of course, my words did not reach her.
But perhaps a little of my feelings had reached Elysia, because she pressed her lips together ever so slightly.
As if holding back laughter.
Lucius did not miss Elysia’s reaction.
“Elysia.”
“Yes.”
“Did you just laugh?”
“Ah, no. It’s just……”
When Elysia became slightly flustered, Camilla raised an eyebrow with interest.
“Did Haku do something, Sister?”
“It’s not that Haku did anything……”
I pretended not to know and rested my chin in Elysia’s arms.
As though I were a fox who knew nothing at all.
I had become rather used to this by now.
Just then, Gradeon, who was sitting by the fireplace, gave a low laugh.
“Hmm.”
With that short sound alone, the atmosphere in the reception room changed.
Lucius and Camilla naturally fell silent.
Still seated in his chair, Gradeon looked at me.
An old Sword Saint.
That phrase suited his gaze.
“Come closer, Elysia.”
Elysia hesitated for a moment, but soon carried me over to Gradeon.
Inwardly, I grew tense.
This old man was different.
He wasn’t like the students or Mina, who came running because they thought I was cute, nor was he like Lucius, who seemed intent on analyzing me.
He wasn’t like Camilla either, with her curiosity mixed with pride.
Gradeon was simply looking.
But the way he looked was the problem.
It was as though he were seeing not my outward appearance, but the core inside me.
Gradeon slowly reached out a hand.
Elysia stiffened slightly.
“Grandfather.”
“I will not touch him.”
Saying that, Gradeon stopped his hand above my head.
His fingertips were very close, but they did not make contact.
He remained like that for a moment, then narrowed his eyes.
“Strange.”
Camilla immediately asked,
“What is, Grandfather?”
Gradeon did not answer and continued looking at me.
Instinctively, I met his eyes.
At that moment, the air in the reception room became still for a very brief instant.
Gradeon’s gaze was like a blade.
But there was no hostility in it.
It was merely a gaze trying to confirm something.
I did not pointlessly avert my eyes.
Though I was in the body of a small fox, I felt that I should not look away.
After a long while, Gradeon said in a low voice,
“He is small, but he is not shallow.”
The reception room fell silent.
Lucius’s gaze changed minutely.
Camilla looked at me again.
Elysia held me a little more tightly in her arms.
Gradeon withdrew his hand.
“He is no ordinary familiar.”
I broke into a cold sweat inwardly.
No, isn’t that far too accurate for a first meeting?
Lucius asked quietly,
“Grandfather, do you mean he is dangerous?”
“Dangerous and deep are two different things.”
Gradeon leaned back against the chair.
“If that child had intended to harm Elysia, something would have happened before any of you could ask about it here.”
‘Oof.’
That was a strong way to put it.
‘Well, if it were Woryeong, it would have been possible.’
Camilla’s face stiffened slightly.
“To that extent?”
“I do not know.”
Gradeon spoke calmly.
“Because I do not know, I will not speak recklessly. But there is one thing I do understand.”
His gaze turned to Elysia.
“Elysia’s presence has changed.”
Elysia held her breath.
“My presence?”
“One who wields a sword can tell simply by watching how another walks. Your center has changed a little.”
Gradeon’s voice was low but clear.
“Before, your flow clashed. What overflowed within could not move outward, and it was obstructing your sword.
It is still unpolished now, but a path has begun to form.”
Elysia’s eyes wavered.
Gradeon looked at me again.
“Is it because of that child?”
Elysia could not answer immediately.
I also stayed still for a moment.
It would be difficult to lie here.
But she could not say everything either.
Elysia looked down at me once, then answered carefully.