"Let us go as well."
"Yes."
While Norton and Loren spread out a cloth in a suitable spot, Alex and Ethan Kaldis walked the grassland and settled the exact boundaries of the land Alex would receive as compensation.
"From here to over there will do."
Alex had driven long wooden stakes into each corner, which made it easy to see.
"Hmm. That is smaller than I expected."
"This much is enough."
[He says he'll give you more. Why not take it?]
"Since we intend to travel here and there, too wide an area would be hard to manage."
"I see. It is difficult to give detailed instructions by letter."
[Ah, no telephones here, right?]
Ethan Kaldis, examining the land, asked,
"Have you decided who will manage it?"
"Hmm. I was thinking of commissioning the mercenary guild, or asking the people at the inn."
"Then we shall do it for you."
The young lord smiled at Alex's answer.
"We will manage it properly until you return."
[Oh. Not bad?]
"I would be grateful, in that case."
Land managed by the lord himself.
It would have been strange to refuse.
"Shall we put up buildings? Or make it into fields?"
"If you would keep people from entering, that will do."
Ethan Kaldis, who had been gauging the distance to the lord's castle and thinking about what to do with the land, looked at Alex with startled eyes.
"Keep people... from entering?"
"Yes. Noble, knight, or commoner, let no one in."
Hmm.
At so strange a request, Ethan Kaldis could only look at Alex. Then he nodded.
"Understood."
Thinking, no matter how decent a person he is, a mage is a mage after all.
"Is there anything else you need, then? This seems little as compensation."
[Money, then! The more money the better!]
At that, Alex looked for a moment at Leo and the children running about, and spoke.
Hearing it, Ethan Kaldis was briefly surprised, then laughed.
"Haha! You love your nephew a great deal."
[A nephew-doting fool, as always.]
Alex smiled contentedly at the compliment.
***
After looking over the land they went to the spot Butler Norton had prepared. Food and drink for lunch were laid out.
"Leo! Sophia! Time for lunch!"
"Arden!"
At the adults' call, the children, who had gone a little way off, came running. Their flushed faces in that short time told how much fun they had been having.
"Thank you for the meal!"
When Leo said it, the children said the same after him.
Even shy Arden raised his voice to say it, and Ethan Kaldis burst out laughing.
Lunch was the food made by the kitchen of the viscount's house and the packed lunch Hallon had labored over.
"This is a taste I've never had before!"
Noble cooking used spices, and it was clearly different from what she usually ate, so Sophia wore a startled expression.
Arden, on the other hand, tasting inn food for the first time, ate happily; it seemed to suit him.
A gentle breeze and delicious food besides.
Smiles came of their own accord.
"What have you been playing?"
At Alex's question, Leo and the children talked excitedly.
[Ah. I know plenty of fun games too.]
[Deadly The Rose of Sharon Has Bloomed... probably won't do.]
[Salgu, then?]
[This one you have to demonstrate in person. It's hard to explain in words.]
Having eaten a hearty lunch, the children went off to play again.
They gathered wildflowers and made flower crowns, and held contests over who could find the prettiest flower.
They played with toys Arden had brought, and took turns riding the horse Loren the knight had come on.
At one point Leo grew curious about what his uncle and the young lord were talking about and went closer.
"So Master Arden began learning his letters at four."
"In a noble house one begins early. Does Leo not know his letters yet?"
"No. I intend to teach him as we travel."
Yes! I don't think I need to hear this!
Six-year-old Leo fled at once to where Sophia and Arden were.
"I worry that the sword does not suit Arden at all."
At Ethan Kaldis' words, Alex recalled the fine knight who had fought demonkind so hard in the 'future'.
"Still, teaching him will help him someday. He may be better at it than you expect."
"I suppose you are right."
Ethan Kaldis nodded.
A little way off, Arden, running about at play, shivered at a sudden chill.
Playing so happily, they found the sun beginning to set.
"Time to head back."
At that the children were disappointed, but they obeyed the adults and boarded the carriage.
"So we're going to the inn now, Uncle?"
Leo said, sorry to see it end.
"There's somewhere to stop first."
"Somewhere to stop?"
The carriage carrying the puzzled children headed for the lord's castle.
Then it passed through the gate and stopped beneath a stone wall guarded by soldiers.
"Come now, everyone out."
At Ethan Kaldis' words the children climbed down and looked up at the high stone wall. With soldiers there as well, they felt a little tense.
"This way."
Loren the knight led the way.
Ethan Kaldis and the children, Alex and Butler Norton followed behind.
They opened a wooden door and went in, and there were stairs made of stone. The children marveled at the stone staircase spiraling round and round along a circular wall.
"Where is this, Uncle?"
Alex answered Leo's question.
"This is the stone tower. You saw it when we came into the castle, remember? That very tall tower."
"Ah! I know! So this is the tower!"
At that, Leo's and Sophia's eyes lit up.
There was no missing the stone tower standing at the far end of the lord's castle.
"But aren't we not supposed to come here, brother?"
At Arden's words, Ethan Kaldis smiled and said,
"Normally you cannot go in, but Alex said he wanted to show it to Leo."
At that, Leo looked at Alex with round eyes. Alex smiled and said,
"You said you wanted to go up it, Leo. So I asked."
Recalling the conversation he had had with his uncle before the gate a few days ago, Leo's small mouth fell open. Then he broke into a wide smile.
"Uncle, you're the best!"
The praise came pouring out before he had even seen the view. Alex laughed, Hahaha!
At that pleasant sight of uncle and nephew, smiles spread over everyone else's faces as well.
And so the children and the adults climbed the stone stairs.
How far had they gone?
A wooden door came into view, firmly shut.
Loren, walking at the front, opened it.
A cool wind came in, along with orange sunset light.
The children went out through the door with expectant faces. But all they could see was a gray stone wall.
They were too short, and the railing that came to the adults' waists blocked their view.
"Here, Leo."
Alex lifted little Leo up.
And a whole other world spread out before Leo's eyes.
Beneath the slowly setting sunset light,
FLUTTER— birds took wing, and the bustling interior of the lord's castle could be taken in at a glance.
Smoke was rising from the chimneys of houses large and small, and there was even a cat asleep on a roof.
And since they had come up so high, they could see the shrunken people moving this way and that.
"...Whoa...!"
For Leo, who had marveled even at the height of a second floor, it was a view that drew wonder out of him on its own.
"Bello Village is over that way."
"...Whoa!"
When Alex pointed south as he spoke, Leo looked hard in that direction. He almost felt he could see the village.
"Really, really! I love it so much!"
Leo looked at Alex with his sky-blue eyes shining, and then hugged him tight!
"Thank you, Uncle! I'll never forget this as long as I live!"
He loved his uncle so, so much for not forgetting what he had said about wanting to climb the wall and showing him like this.
[Bwahaha!]
[He'll never forget it as long as he lives!]
Two Hundred burst out laughing at the grown-up thanks of a six-year-old boy, and Alex laughed too.
[But it really is spectacular!]
[It even makes your heart feel lighter!]
[The sunset is splendid too.]
[We timed it well!]
Two Hundred looked out over the lord's castle through Alex's eyes and marveled as well.
"That's our inn over there!"
Sophia, held up by Butler Norton to see, cried out with a thoroughly excited face.
Beside her, Ethan Kaldis, lifting his brother up, spoke in a serious voice.
"This is the Kaldis domain, which we must protect. Well? Isn't it truly splendid?"
Eight-year-old Arden felt his chest swelling. The domain that his brother and he had to protect.
"...Yes! It is truly splendid!"
Just as Leo had said.
This moment, surely, they would never forget as long as they lived.
***
After watching the sun go down for a while, the party came back down from the stone tower.
Now it really was time to go home.
But Arden did not want to part.
"Leo is leaving tomorrow, brother."
At Arden's disappointment, Alex smiled and suggested,
"Then why not have dinner at the inn? This time we shall be the hosts."
At that, Arden looked at his brother with pleading eyes. Ethan Kaldis smiled and nodded.
"Let us do that."
And so the party headed for the Lake House.
"! Papa! Mama!"
At the inn were Kane the soldier, who had finished his treatment and come home, and his wife Jenna.
Sophia jumped down from the carriage and ran into their arms with a beaming face.
"Papa! Didn't you say you'd come tomorrow?"
"I heard Alex is leaving tomorrow, so I came early to thank him first."
"How are you feeling?"
Kane nodded at Alex's question. And offered his thanks.
"If not for you, Alex, I would not have come back. Thank you truly for saving me."
"Not at all."
Kane, in the middle of talking with Alex, wore a startled expression at the young lord appearing behind him, then quickly composed his face.
"How is your condition, Kane?"
"Fully healed. Thank you for your concern, my lord."
With those greetings exchanged, everyone went into the inn.
Since it was a dinner held for Alex and Leo, there was not a single other guest.
Thanks to that, the Kaldis brothers, Loren the knight, and Butler Norton could eat in comfort as well.
Hallon and Matthew, who had been nervous, quietly let out sighs of relief at the Kaldis brothers enjoying the inn's cooking.
After the pleasant dinner ended,
Ethan Kaldis looked out the window.
"It has gone fully dark. Time to head back, Arden."
"Yes."
It was a shame, but nothing could be done.
"You have to come and see me when you're at the lord's castle, Leo!"
"Yes! I will!"
The adults laughed at Arden, Sophia, and Leo clasping hands and declaring, It's a promise!
"Master Ethan, Master Arden. Might you have a moment before you go?"
"We have the time, but?"
Alex led the puzzled group out to the backyard.
The backyard had gone completely dark, lit only by the lanterns Matthew and Hallon had set out, and Alex put out every last one of them.
Darkness settled in.
"What are you doing, Uncle?"
"Uncle said he'd show you magic, remember?"
At that, Leo and Sophia, Arden and Matthew, all had shining eyes. So did the adults.
At those faces full of expectation, Alex smiled and drew a line on the ground in front of the children's feet.
"It's dangerous past this, so don't come out."
"Okay! I understand!"
"Yes! We absolutely won't cross it!"
When all the preparations were done, Alex spoke the activation word.
"「Fire」"
A single flame appeared in midair.
"Whoa!"
Wonder spilled from the children's mouths.
[I'll show you something even better!]
Alex moved the 「Fire」 as Two Hundred had taught him.
The flame spun round and round and flew upward. Then it split into small flames and scattered in every direction.
Just like fireworks.
"!!!"
It was splendid enough to leave no room even to gasp.
"「Fire」"
Alex created three more flames. He moved them about again, then burst them all at once.
[No gunpowder, I suppose.]
[There's no sound.]
Even so, it was more than enough to enchant the children and the adults.
"Whoaaaa!"
The children could not hold back their cheers at the 「Fire」 bursting and glittering one after another. They felt as though their bodies might burst with excitement.
And it did not end there.
Alex threw the things he had prepared in advance into the air and created flames at their positions.
The flames, which had been red, turned yellow. And blue flames, green flames, and white flames appeared one after another.
"Whoaaaa!!"
"Amazing!!"
At the many-colored flames Alex created, not only the children but the adults as well could not close their mouths.
[This is science that looks like magic!]
What Alex had prepared was salt and copper powder, along with herbs bought from the herb shop they had stopped at on the way.
[Salt makes yellow. Copper makes blue-green!]
[The herb powders work well too!]
The materials reacted with the flames to produce the colored fire.
"That's really amazing, Uncle!"
"It's beautiful!"
Leo and the children, seeing magic this splendid for the first time, marveled with their whole bodies. The adults let out cries of wonder too and could not take their eyes off the flames.
Alex watched them quietly.
Scenes of the 'future' flashed past.
Kane, who had died, and his wife, and the baby in her womb.
Matthew, who became a soldier and died.
Hallon, an old man grown worn and weary.
Sixteen-year-old Sophia, who had looked so lonely and forlorn.
And.
The young lord and Loren the knight, dead in the corrupted dungeon.
Arden, who survived alone and fought demonkind.
It was good to see all of them safe and laughing happily.
"Uncle, you're the best!"
At Leo's wide smile, Alex smiled too, truly and happily.
And he resolved to work so that such a 'future' would never come.
[Splendid!]
[Come to think of it, fireworks are flowers too.]
[This must be a flower path as well, Alex!]
He would make Leo's [flower path] together with this fellow.