Meanwhile, at the border region of the Auraria Empire.
A single man wearing a black robe and riding a white horse crossed the border.
The soldiers who had let him through whispered among themselves with excited expressions.
Their excitement came from having witnessed one of the heroes who had distinguished himself in the battle against the Mad Dragon.
A man with beautiful features who bore the name 'Griffith'.
He crossed the border and quickly headed toward the capital of the Auraria Empire.
That night.
Kalix lay down on his bed but could not sleep all night.
It was because of his thoughts about Rellia.
From what he had observed during this time, that fellow was a truly good person.
He had felt it earlier when he went to ask her to keep a secret.
"You. That... about what happened last night when I was a bit... like that, you mustn't tell anyone."
"...Of course. Don't worry. By the way, are you alright?"
"Uh... well, I'm fine."
He had gone to sternly warn her in case she might tell Romeo about his episode.
But Rellia nodded as if it were only natural and instead worried about him.
At that sight, his trust in her grew even deeper.
Truly a loyal and reliable fellow.
'Though I didn't know she had such pain in her past...'
Anyway, seeing her reminded him of Leo, so Kalix had taken a liking to Rellia.
'No wonder, even though she's a woman, she didn't feel so uncomfortable to be around.'
Kalix had found it difficult to talk with women since he was young.
To put it nicely, he was simple; to put it poorly, his behavior was rough and uncouth.
In front of women, he felt unnecessarily obliged to be more polite and well-mannered, making it difficult for him to deal with them.
Yet Rellia had felt comfortable to be around from the very beginning.
Perhaps because she resembled Leo.
Thinking about Rellia through the night, Kalix came up with another hypothesis.
'Or maybe she was originally a man but was raised as a princess?'
Back in his mercenary days, he had heard a similar story somewhere.
It was something that had happened long ago in a certain kingdom where only men could inherit the throne. Out of fear that they would pose a threat to the succession, there was someone who was raised as a woman despite being a man.
It was a quite plausible hypothesis.
If Romeo had been right beside him, he would have said, "Stop writing novels and just go to sleep," but Kalix was genuinely serious and earnest about this.
Thus Kalix spent the night burning with various imaginings.